 Our guest speaker last week was Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa. He is originally from Sri Lanka but now lectures at Otago University. He makes a study of social media and the spread of disinformation amongst us. He assured us that there is a lot of disinformation and violent basis of criticism spread throughout New Zealand. He said that there is a lot of abuse against people of colour and against women. He cited the parliamentary protest as an example of deep discontent within segments of society. The pandemic was the accelerant for loss of trust, and trust has been an important part of our society until recently. Editors comment: Some members may have found Sanjana Hattotuwas revelations last week quite suprising, confronting, even scary! If you wish to further reflect on his presentation the slides which accompanied his talk can be downloaded from click here (including the wordcloud of hate directed at former P.M. Jacinda Ardern - slide 11) Please note that this is the intellectual property of Dr S. Hattotuwa and The Disinformation Project |
On Fri 17th there were 16 student volunteers turn up to help spread a huge load of 10T of mulch around the Hospice garden grounds. For the mostly second year Med students it was a chance to meet and get to know their fellow classmates, and help out in the community at the same time .
Debra Gibbs from The Rotary Club of Richmond is the project champion for the Rotary NZ project collaboration with Days for Girls to supply at least 18OO of the immaculately hand made sustainable and long lasting reusable sanitary kits for inclusion in Emergency Reponse Kits (ERK) destined for the Pacific Islands. The ERK’s are packed by Rotary volunteers under the coordination , management and guidance of Rotary NZ World Community Service (RNZWCS). Our club joined with many other clubs to contributed $1500 towards the project to include the Days for Girls kits in the ERKs for the Pacific which are scheduled to be shipped later this year.
Q. What element is denoted by the chemical symbol Sn in the periodic table? 
Rally Otago is on again on 1st April & we have been asked to provide 23 marshals
The combined-clubs wasp eradication project is getting underway next month, probably 5th and 12th March (morning). Anyone that wants to join the team should email 