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THE PROBE
NEWSLETTER OF THE PROBUS CLUB OF VANCOUVER WEST PO Box 60506 Granville Park, Vancouver, BC V6H 4B9
http://probusvancouverwest.com
January 1, 2016 #21
UPCOMING EVENTS: NEXT MEETING: Thursday, January 14, 9:30 a.m at Marine Drive Golf Club. PHILOSOPHER’S CAFÉ: See report (and challenge) from Gerhard Sixta. BUCKET LIST FESTIVAL: Saturday, January 16, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens. Details below. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: Thursday, February 11, 2016 and election of new executive. Nominations from the floor by Tuesday, January 12, 2016. Details below. VSO ALEXANDER MELNIKOV CONCERT: Monday, MARCH 14, 2016, 8:00 p.m. Special Ticket prices for members. Details below. SPEAKER FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2016 DR. JULIO MONTANER, OC, OBC, MD, FRCPC, FCCP Director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS; Director of IDC and
Physician Program Director for HIV/AIDS PHC TREATMENT AS PREVENTION: THE KEY TO GLOBAL CONTROL OF HIV/AIDS The son of an Argentinian respiratory specialist, Dr. Julio Montaner received his medical degree in Buenos Aires then settled in British Columbia in 1981 planning to follow in his father’s footsteps in a
respiratory medicine-‐training program. “This is when the AIDS epidemic started, and I got involved with fighting HIV without knowing it. That's because the first symptom was this pneumonia that was killing people left, right and centre.”
Since that time, Dr. Montaner has spent decades leading the fight against HIV/AIDS. His research led to the creation of an antiretroviral drug “cocktail” that dramatically slowed the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and established a new global standard of care.
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“I remember still today, my friends telling me, 'Julio, you are making a very dramatic change, I mean you invested all these years into your respiratory medicine credentials and you are now saying you are going to dedicate yourself to the development of anti-‐retroviral therapy?' I don't know how this happened, but I had this conviction I was following a path to solving the medical challenges of the day.” His many accomplishments include pioneering the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and the model of Treatment as Prevention (TasP). That health model is used to decrease the progression of HIV to AIDS and to stop HIV transmission. Last September, the United Nations endorsed Dr. Montaner's TasP plan to eradicate the AIDS pandemic by 2030. When he received the Officer of the Order of Canada in 2014, Montaner said: “I had a unique opportunity to help a population that, in the beginning, few wanted to work with . . . I will continue in my life-‐long pursuit to eliminate HIV and AIDS in BC, in Canada and the world, so that we can truly achieve an AIDS-‐free generation globally." Dr. Montaner has received numerous awards and distinctions for his research work, among them the Knowledge Translation Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health (CIHR), Prix Galien Award, Albert Einstein World of Science Award, Hope is a Vaccine Award from the Global Alliance to Immunize against AIDS, and the David Barry DART Achievement Award that is given in recognition of invaluable contributions to the field of HIV drug discovery. He is a Member of the Order of British Columbia and an Officer of the Order of Canada. He has been inducted into the Royal Society of Canada: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences (RSC) and into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FOR JANUARY 2016 I wonder if any of us could truly wrap our heads around the physics that Dr. Shawn Bullock was trying to explain. I have read quite extensively about this stuff and was only able to partially grasp what he was trying to say. Particle physics and cosmology are way out there. Nonetheless he was a fascinating and interesting speaker. This is really an excellent example of how attending PROBUS meetings can exercise our minds. Even though I have followed the science on the universe, I try not to think about it too much because for me it always makes me realize how truly insignificant we all are.
As those of you who attended know, our Christmas party came off without a hitch. Wally and his crew did a first class job. I was very pleased to be able to get to know our members better. I am certain that many of you had the same experience. Hopefully we will be able to repeat this event next year.
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Our speaker for January is Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS; Director of IDC and Physician Program Director for HIV/AIDS PHC. Dr. Montaner has authored over 650 scientific publications on HIV/AIDS. He has focused his research in the development of antiretroviral therapies and management strategies and has received many awards and distinctions for his research work, among them the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to Austria, The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for contributions to the field of HIV/AIDS, “Senador Domingo Faustino Sarmiento” from the Argentina Senate of the Nation presented to him by the Honorable Amado Boudou, Vice President of Argentina, and the Honorable Maria Laura Leguizamon, Senator of Buenos Aires, three Doctor of Science honoris causa degrees from Simon Fraser University, Cordoba University and the University of Buenos Aires, and an honorary fellow at Douglas College. He is a Member of the Order of British Columbia and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
On Thursday, February 11, actor Bob Frazer will speak on Vancouver Theatre and on Thursday, March 10 a representative from YVR will speak to us about what’s happening at the airport. As my term winds down, I would like to say that even though I took the job of president reluctantly, it has been more fun than I ever imagined. Or more colloquially, it has been a blast and one of the highlights of my life. Best of the season to all of you. I look forward to seeing you at our meeting January 14. Mark REPORT ON DECEMBER 10 MEETING WITH DR. SHAWN BULLOCK and A CHALLENGE FROM GERHARD SIXTA What a propitious coincidence for PROBUS to present a lecture on the physics of the universe December 10, when also on this day another Canadian professor received the Nobel Prize for having resolved a longstanding question, which relates to today’s presentation. Dr. Bullock gave a great lecture. It was fast paced without a redundant word; it was witty to the point of being memorable and it was comprehensible. It could even provide, I think, a platform from which we could expand. Anybody interested to explore, to speculate? Caution! Speculation is forbidden in science. But in philosophy it is encouraged; and Dr. Bullock is also a philosopher of science. He quoted Karl Popper, loved and hated in equal measure (Ludwig Wittgenstein hated him) for cosmological pluralism and propensity interpretation. Bullock also quoted Thomas Kuhn, known for introducing us to the paradigm shift.
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So, I will try something: I will throw out three concepts from his lecture which are borderline rational. You may take them as summary points of his lecture, or you may take them as jumping-‐off points for your own speculations. I will prime the pump in the paragraphs below; and you expand on it! If science and beyond is of interest to you, we could have a philosopher’s café sometime – “Beyond Science.” Here goes: The Cosmology Mindbender Challenge First, Space-‐Time: 13.7 billion years ago, one superheated explosion self-‐created space and time. Before that time there was no time. So far so good. But does that mean that 13.8 billion years ago nothing existed? Because there was no time to exist? But time is a collective concept: past-‐present-‐future. So, no past and no future!? But that still allows for an Elongated Now. Was there existence in an Ever-‐Now, or was it the opposite, what the first line of the First Book of Moses calls a tohu wabohu? Secondly, the Big Bang: Less than one second into the explosion, what appeared first? The big proton collider at CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) proved it was a radiation containing visible light. The original CERN publications of the 1980’s called the first period the Photon Epoch. It lasted a few minutes and then the first atoms appeared. Now compare that with an old creation story. If you have a bible, look up the first three lines. (Gn 1:3-‐4) Hint: It wasn’t turtles. Seriously, it wasn’t the Raven-‐on-‐the-‐Oyster either! What do you make of it? It gets even better when we unlock the meaning of tohu wabohu in the line before. Someone wrote that 3,500 year ago. Thirdly, today’s Nobel Prize: Neutrinos have mass after all! Dr. Bullock made reference to dark matter and showed that our physical world with its billions of galaxies amounts to only 5% of the cosmos. In other words, when we look into the starry night skies, we are not yet looking into the real world. Bullock said: “There may be Jupiter-‐sized planets out there that we just cannot observe!” Never mind “out there” -‐ we are embedded right here! Billions of neutrinos pass through each of us every second and if they have mass, well, they are dark matter. Now, speculate: If I imagine myself into the other, the dark matter world, would I see myself as I am here in this physical world? No, because we would be on different frequencies. I would pass through physical-‐me without knowing my physical presence. And so the question is: Who Are the Ghosts in the Real World? Just speculating, just trying to get your imagination. Let me know what you are thinking and a few of us may have coffee together – a philosopher’s cafe! GERHARD SIXTA [email protected]
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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND ELECTION OF NEW EXECUTIVE FEBRUARY 11, 2016 At the beginning of the February general meeting (9.30 a.m. at Marine Drive Golf Club), PROBUS Vancouver West will hold its annual general meeting. The nominating committee has selected a slate of officers for your approval at the meeting: President – Rosemary Wakefield; Vice-‐president – Peter Cook; Secretary – Michael Jacobson; Treasurer – Doug Cucheron. Any additional nominations from individual members (with the prior approval of the person nominated) must reach the nominations committee ([email protected]) no later than Tuesday, January 12. BUCKET LIST FESTIVAL JANUARY 16, 2016 Bucket List Festival on Saturday, January 16, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens. An upbeat informative session featuring expert speakers dealing with subjects such as: Travel: Travelling with ease for the unwell traveller. Communications skills: How to talk with your doctor and how to be supportive to family and friends who are not well. Legacy Making: How to create your legacy while you are well and also not so well. How to capture what you want to say. Living wakes and parties or celebrations of life. Legal: Advanced care planning. Legal documents such as representation agreements and powers of attorney. Medical: Pain management techniques and navigating community resources. These are just some of the topics that will be covered. Tickets are $25 and lunch and refreshments are included. For more information contact Anna Nyarady at 604-‐838-‐0859. VSO CONCERT AND TALK MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2016 ALEXANDER MELNIKOV CONCERT, Orpheum Theatre, 8:00 p.m. One of Russia’s most highly decorated pianists Distinguished conductor: Christopher Seaman PROGRAM Walton’s intense and powerful Symphony No. 1 Beethoven’s Piano Concert No. 5 in E flat major, “Emperor” Piano Concerto Pre-‐concert talk Nicolas Krusek, conductor, at 7:05pm in the auditorium, free to ticket holders. VSO special offer for PROBUS: Tickets at the generous price of $33 (normally $70). Because of the substantial discount, tickets will have to be purchased and paid for by February 12, 2016. No Refunds. This offer is open to members and friends.
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A form for the event is attached with the newsletter. Mail form and cheque made out to VSO to: Estelle Jacobson 1192 Nanton Avenue Vancouver, BC V6H 2C5
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL MEETING THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015
PROBUS CLUB VANCOUVER WEST Marine Drive Golf Club MARK WHITE in the chair Time: 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. ATTENDANCE: 70 members, 5 guests Announcements:
• Members interested in participating in clinical trials with respect to various health conditions can do so by registering at www.itstartswithme.ca.
• Membership forms are available at the cash desk for guests wishing to become members of our PROBUS club.
• Tony introduced two new members present, Lynn Kennedy and Gordon Dungate, as well as two absent today, Steve and Karen Dadson. Renewals of current memberships, including a cheque for $60, are due any time up to our AGM in February. Forms will be sent by email wherein members will be asked to update their information and to submit a photo headshot for the records.
• Estelle announced that the Activities Committee needs at least two new members, ideally but not necessarily men. There was a good show of hands about the possibility of visiting an Ismaili mosque in the New Year; the Buddhist Temple in Richmond is another potential destination. VSO tickets for the March 14th activity would make good Xmas gifts: Beethoven’s Concerto #5 and Walton’s Symphony in B minor, regular ticket price $70.00 reduced to $33.00 for PROBUS members.
• Rosemary reiterated the need for a new secretary for the 2016-‐2017 year. Peter Cook will serve as vice-‐president.
• Lunch will be served as usual in the dining lounge after the meeting today. At our next general meeting, December 10, edibles will be served in lieu of lunch as part of our holiday reception. Members who have not yet sent in their RSVP are asked to do so.
Speaker:
David Ostrow introduced Vancouver’s 35th Chief of Police, Adam Palmer. In Pat Ostrow’s absence, David also thanked Chief Palmer.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30. The next general meeting will be December 10 when our speaker will be Dr. Shawn Bullock.
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PROBUS VANCOUVER WEST MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
President Mark H. White [email protected]
Vice President Rosemary Wakefield
[email protected] Secretary Joan Hebb
[email protected] Treasurer
Douglas Cucheron [email protected]
Activities Sharon Baxter & Estelle Jacobson
[email protected] Communications Rooky Driver
[email protected] House
John Fraser [email protected]
Member Services Pat Sexsmith
[email protected] Membership Tony Weall
[email protected] Speakers John Fraser
[email protected] The PROBE editor Johanne Leach
Our journey is self-‐development. Our strength is fellowship. Our success is participation.
