The Barn Blog

Jerry Ragano invited a guest speaker, Jim Higgins from Citrin Cooperman Certified Public Accountants.  Jim spoke about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and how it affects us.  What we learned is that doesn’t affect us directly, since it’s mostly geared toward low income workers and the unemployed. But we’re hopeful that it may stimulate the economy, which will help everyone. A lively conversation ensued, thanks to Brian, who’s a CPA. He asked some pointed questions to the group which really got us thinking about the subject of taxation and the politics behind it.

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Bob DeGennaro, pilot and air traffic controller led a discussion on the topic of aviation. He began with an explanation of what air traffic controllers do. He showed us an example of the “ticket” they use to interpret all pertinent details about a particular flight. He also showed us an image of the radar screen used by air traffic controllers to see where plains are on the ground and in the sky. He explained the unbelievable complexity of our local airports and how on a single runway up to 50 flights can take off, land, and taxi across within one hour. One of the highlights of the presentation was an audio recording of a gripping conversation  between an air traffic controller and a pilot suffering from hypoxia or lack of oxygen to the brain due to incorrect cabin pressure. Bob gave us the inside story on US Airways Flight 1549 that landed in the Hudson River earlier this month. He also described his experience in the control tower on Sept 11, 2001.  Bob was barraged with questions and did a great job of answering them. He really demystified the topic  for us and left us all with a great deal of respect for this very challenging profession.

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Khalil Shalabi is a foremost authority on energy. He’s held senior positions at ConEdison, Indian Point and The New York Power Authority among others. Khalil lead a discussion on a variety of energy topics including dependence on foreign oil, natural gas, nuclear power, wind power and other alternative energy sources. His presentation included numerous graphs and charts showing the interrelationships between these energy sources and their utilization over time. Khalil explained how supply and demand cause the fluxuations in gasoline prices we’ve been experiencing lately. And he helped us to understand some of the info contained in our utility bills. It was a lively discussion especially when politics entered into the consideration.

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Our speaker was Tom McCandless, an investment professional with over 25 years of experience, including over 20 years as a nationally ranked institutional financial services analyst. Tom gave us a detailed history of the stock market and shared his perspective on today’s financial crisis. He referred to much of what we’re going through as “unchartered territory” yet showed how certain aspects follow predictable trends. He explained the difference between Technical and Fundamental Analysis and gave some advice on how much of ones portfolio should be invested in the stock market. Tom’s PowerPoint Presentation, including his stock recommendations can be found in the Investments area of this website (lower right).

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Sgt. John Cullen, USMC (retired) gave an exciting presetation on Military History. He began with a short biography of his military career and told some engaging stories. John described his passion for military history and gave a presentation on the history of the conflict in the Middle East, beginning with the story of Abraham from the Old Testament. Some of the audience members chimed in on occasion, filling in some blanks and challenging certain statements. A lively discussion ensued, including an emotional viewpoint from Khalil, who is of Palestinian descent and was born and raised in the Middle East. Afterwards, Mike Palumbo gave a brief talk on his experience in the Navy, serving on board the U.S.S. Stark. He brought some memoribilia and told some entertaining stories. This was probably the most well attended barn night to date, with over 35 men, some of them staying until 3am.

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Classic Car Night was presented by Ken Martin. We had 3 cars: A 1967 Corvette, a 1967 Chevelle SS, and a 1972 Buick Skylark. The owners of the cars each gave a 20 minute presentation as we gathered around.

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Charles Hayes, local resident and founding member of the barn led a discussion on the subject of drugs — legal, illegal, over-the-counter, and prescription. He discussed their relative dangers and benefits, and policies that could increase awareness about them while reducing their harm. Charles focused on the topic of psychedelic plants and chemicals, some of which are used legally in religious ceremonies and are once again being used in legal scientific research to treat such medical issues as PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) in victims of violent crime and war, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), cluster headaches, opiate and alcohol addiction, and end of life depression and anxiety.

An open discussion ensued in which there was some controversy, especially from two attendees who are former law enforcement agents. Of particular interest was how best to talk about drugs with young people. For the most part everyone kept an open mind and left with some good information and new ideas. After the presentation, Charles gave out signed copies of his book, Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures.

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Jim Fatsi from Motion Golf, who is a PGA teaching professional told us about his state-of-the-art technology for analyzing and improving your golf swing. Jim shared some of the most common mistakes golfers make and how to correct them. He answered numerous questions about stances, swings, putting and ways of improving one’s game. As a courtesty Jim extended a limited 25% off promomotion to all friends of the barn. For details see the lower right section of this blog entitled “Golf”. A highlight of the evening was the police arriving at 1am and ordering the Barn Band to unplug.

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