A Flair of Renaissance - Knowledge Club Toastmasters Club Meeting August 27, 2011

Here is a recap of last Tuesday's (August 23, 2011) meeting of the Knowledge Club Toastmasters of Marietta, GA.

What a wonderful cultural awakening we experienced last night with Quincy's theme - A Flair of Renaissance. He did an excellent job as a first time Toastmaster.


The meeting started a few minutes after 7:00pm as we had some late arrivals and guests. Below are the roles that were undertaken by the following toastmasters:

Toastmaster:: Quincy 

Sergeant at Arms:	Quincy
Joke of the evening:	Tonie
Word of the day: Truncate	Sandi
Table Topics Master:	Danielle
Grammarian:	Shafik
General Evaluator:	Sandi
ah counter:	Shafik
Timer:	Shannan
Speaker #1:  Winston Agbebiyi  "You and Me:Making This World Even Better" Speaker #2:  Greg Palmer "Baseball"
Evaluator #1	Keith
Evaluator #2	Rogers

                           

Best Table Topics award - Kim

Keith and Rogers tie for the Best Evaluator Award

Best Speech went to Winston

During our breaktime

Greg Palmer

THE RENAISSANCE

The theme of the evening was a Flair of Renaissance presented by Toastmaster Quincy. He discussed the notable events, famous persons and the artistic, cultural and scientific achievements of this period of history. 

Notable Persons of the Renaissance

Michaelangelo

 Francis Bacon

  Joan of Arc

Shakespeare

  Leonardo Da Vinci

        

Notable Events

·         New World Discovery – Christopher Columbus

·         Protestant Reformation – Martin Luther (95 thesis)

·         Printing Press -  Bibles translated out of Latin to common folks

·         Copernicus Revolution broke 2000 years of solar system theory

Art/Music/Inventions

Telescope – Galileo
Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo

David by Donatello

Whiskey in Scotland

First golf ball invented

Blood transfusion

Mona Lisa painted

Life in the 1500's, something interesting to ponder. Those were not the "good old days"!

• Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."
• Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o.
• Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
• Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets... dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
• There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies. I wonder if this is where we get the saying "Good night and don't let the bed bugs bite"...
• Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
• Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes...for 400 years.