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Last week’s breakfast speaker was John Ydstie, a long-standing and important member of NPR in Washington, D.C. He, along with club member Jay Davies, grew up in a small community in North Dakota, some of which had unpaved roads leading to schools, etc. They married sisters. The pursuit of their expanding professional horizons over three decades has brought both of them to the Washington, D.C. area.

For the past 28 years, John Y. has been economic correspondent with NPR whose audience is expanded as people become more mobile. Primary communication is through internet and radio. Magazines are failing because of the diminishing commercial advertising. NPR’s primary funding is from individual and corporation contributions, but its outreach to smaller areas could not continue without at least 10% funding by the federal government. Next, Jon commented on our interest in betting on markets (national and international) since early in our democracy. This applies to various areas: financial markets as well as the periodic election returns. He observed that an expensive market in England has functioned for over 100 years.

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Past President Jim Manley’s wife, Susan, celebrated her 60th birthday last July by taking a trip with Jim to Tahiti & the Society Islands. Many pictures were taken, and many of them were shown last week. Places and events seen or visited included Bora Bora and “Bloody Mary’s restaurant, a Bastille Day parade, the island of Taha, Black pearls, Cook’s Bay, Marlo Brando’s Island, banana plants, fish traps & Jim’s blue shirt.