Host: Charlie Goodyear.
Speaker Mike Critelli. Bio Critelli, Mike
Outline of the electric grid. OUTLINE OF ELECTRIC POWER GRID
Month: April 2020
Pour yourself a Quarantini, or other adult beverage, and join your friends for a a bit socializing and cheer. Not great, but it beats the alternative. See you there.
Moses built an empire and lived like an emperor. He was held in fear – his dossiers could disgorge the dark secrets of anyone who opposed him. He was, he claimed, above politics, above deals; and through decade after decade, the newspapers and the public believed.
Meanwhile, he was developing his public authorities into a fourth branch of government known as “Triborough” – a government whose records were closed to the public, whose policies and plans were decided not by voters or elected officials but solely by Moses – an immense economic force directing pressure on labor unions, on banks, on all the city’s political and economic institutions, and on the press, and on the Church. He doled out millions of dollars’ worth of legal fees, insurance commissions, lucrative contracts on the basis of who could best pay him back in the only coin he coveted: power. He dominated the politics and politicians of his time – without ever having been elected to any office. He was, in essence, above our democratic system.
Robert Moses held power in the state for 44 years, through the governorships of Smith, Roosevelt, Lehman, Dewey, Harriman, and Rockefeller, and in the city for 34 years, through the mayoralties of La Guardia, O’Dwyer, Impellitteri, Wagner, and Lindsay. He personally conceived and carried through public works costing $27 billion – he was undoubtedly America’s greatest builder.
Mark Nunan was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1953. At an early age, he moved to Homewood and then Hoover, Ala. He graduated from Indian Springs High School in 1971, where he was editor of the school newspaper and literary magazine, member of the Student Judiciary group and member of the soccer team. Mark graduated from the University of Alabama in 1976. He continued his education at Stanford University, where he was awarded a master’s in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1983. During that same period, he was a George Lurcy Fellow at L’ENS normale supérieure and at the University of Paris-Sorbonne in Paris as part of his Ph.D. program. He was a member of Pi Kappa Phi academic honor society and participated in medical research in one of the largest blood pressure and cardiovascular disease research studies in the United States. Mark started his career with COS, Inc in 1982 in Palo Alto, Calif., and then transferred to Paris and New York City in 1980, where he retired as a senior vice president in 2018. COS is a private firm that provides business and economic development services, assisting companies and governments in researching, developing and implementing new business expansion opportunities, mainly in North America and Europe. Mark and his partner Isabelle live in Darien and have one son and a daughter-in-law and two grandsons living in Europe. He belongs to the Stanford Alumni Association, A-Ulm: Association des Anciens Eleves de I’Ecole normale supérieure and Phi Kappa Phi. His leisure activities include reading, investing, walking, hiking, travel, music and spectator sports; specifically, soccer and college football. Sponsored by Tom Haack
Slide presentation: DMA_RMOSES_MARKNUNAN_Final
John J. Barston, a resident of Darien, CT, passed away on April 8 at the age of 97.
Born on May 5, 1922, on Elizabeth Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, John grew up
in Woodhaven, Queens. After graduating from Franklin K. Lane High School, he was employed
by the Inland Marine Department of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company while attending New
York University at night. During World War II John was in the United States Army, 3188th
Signal Service Battalion, for forty months (1942-1946), predominantly stationed in France and
Germany. After returning home John continued his education, under the GI Bill of Rights,
returning to New York University and was ultimately awarded Bachelor of Laws and Master of
Laws degrees from Brooklyn Law School.
After admission to the New York State Bar Association in 1951, John co-founded the
independent law firm Barston, Wolynetz & Steck in New York that served the local immigrant
community on the Lower East Side. He was labor counsel for Associated Transport in NY, the
largest trucking company east of the Mississippi. John then became General Counsel of The
Trans-Lease Group, a privately held company in Westwood, MA.
John was founding Corporate Secretary and Director of the Ukrainian Museum and Library in
Stamford, CT, and a longtime member of the Count Team at St. Thomas More Church in
Darien where he was a parishioner for twenty-two years. He was most passionate about
leading the Darien Men’s Association “Wanderers” for eighteen years, organizing and leading
walking expeditions to unique neighborhoods in New York City, which always included a visit
to a historical local tavern.
John had a life-long love of sports, whether coaching his sons’ Little League teams, watching
from the sidelines at his grandchildren’s games, or running the annual March Madness
tournament pool.
John was preceded in death by his parents, John Berezowski and Pauline Warchol
Berezowski, his sister Mary, and brother Michael. A family man, John is survived by his loving
wife Geraldine of sixty-six years and their three sons and their wives John (Jay) and Liliana of
Naples, FL, Daniel and Nancy of Auburn, MA and Michael and Diane of Darien, CT, as well as six
grandchildren, Claudia, Kate, Matthew, Nicole, Peter, and Stephen.
A memorial mass will be held in the fall. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to At
Home In Darien www.athomeindarien.org
Peter Igoe – Nuclear Submarine Operations
At our regular Zoom meeting on Wednesday, April 29, Peter Igoe (Tom Igoe’s brother) will lead a discussion on US nuclear submarine operations in the ’60s. This period was a tense time when our country and Russia were engaged as fierce competitors below the surface of the Atlantic.
Peter, who served as a Naval officer on two nuclear boats in that era, will describe operation of the main elements of the submarine’s nuclear propulsion system (including design and management of the reactor on board), the central role of Admiral Hyman Rickover in the development and oversight of strict nuclear safety standards for the US sub fleet, the command structure on board ship, the rules of engagement for a nuclear missile launch, and key advances in nuclear submarine technology that have taken place since the decade of the’60s.
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Peter was born in St. Louis, MO, in the summer of ’42. He attended college at Yale and was accepted into the US Navy “Regular” ROTC program. Peter graduated in 1964 from Yale with an AB in economics and was commissioned as an Ensign in the Regular Navy with a 5-year active duty commitment. He was immediately accepted into the US Navy nuclear submarine program and, after 18 months of training, served on two boats, the USS John Adams, SSBN 620 (5 Polaris patrols), and the USS Haddo, SSN 603 (special operations).
Following his service in the Navy, Peter obtained an MBA in finance from Stamford and went to work for Xerox, becoming Senior Vice President and CFO of Xerox Publications/Field Publications. Thereafter, he held the position of VP, Worldwide Operations, for Rodale Press.
Peter is married, with 3 children, 5 grandchildren and an 8-week old yellow lab who arrives home on May 2. He and his wife Ruth reside in Amelia Island, FL, and have a summer place on Beaver Island, in northern Lake Michigan.
Here is his presentation: Submarine Igoe
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers a fresh and compelling portrait of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold the country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally-and willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports-some released only recently-Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the cadre of close advisers who comprised Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” including his lovestruck private secretary, John Colville; newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook; and the Rasputin-like Frederick Lindemann. The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when-in the face of unrelenting horror-Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.
“Professor” Hester will lead a discussion of last week’s viewing of “Rising Tide: Climate Change and the World’s Oceans” from the Great Decisions series published by the Foreign Policy Association.
You can view the documentary it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA1ZxzkUHNI
Accepting that Climate Change is real and as a result, sea levels are on the rise, around the world. The video and next week’s discussion focuses on what we as citizens of the United States and citizens of the World can do about it. Is a reduction in the projection of average global temperature of 2 degrees Centigrade possible by 2050? Can the United States make a meaningful contribution by itself? Can, and should, the US be the global leader in reducing the causes of climate change?
Harris is a lecturer at NCC’s Lifetime Learners program. He plans to use some of this material in a course planned for next year. Harris’s CV Hester, Harris
The meeting will be held virtually. Logon credentials will be sent separately.
“Professor” Hester will introduce the documentary “Rising Tide: Climate Change and the World’s Oceans” from the Great Decisions series published by the Foreign Policy Association.
Accepting that Climate Change is real and as a result, sea levels are on the rise, around the world. The video and next week’s discussion focuses on what we as citizens of the United States and citizens of the World can do about it. Is a reduction in the projection of average global temperature of 2 degrees Centigrade possible by 2050? Can the United States make a meaningful contribution by itself? Can, and should, the US be the global leader in reducing the causes of climate change?
This is the first of a two part presentation. The documentary that we will see in Part 1, is 26 minutes long. You can view it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA1ZxzkUHNI Next week, Harris will discuss the questions raised above and take your comments and questions. Credentials for the meeting will be sent by email.
Harris is a lecturer at NCC’s Lifetime Learners program. He plans to use some of this material in a course planned for next year. Harris’s CV Hester, Harris