No EC members were elected for the vacant positions of Secretary and Treasurer.
It signaled the beginning of the end of the system for democratically electing EC by the voting members.
Changes
The Inter-Hall and Inter-Faculty events now belong to the past.
On a bright note, female members were admitted. RUBC became a co-ed club. Several will later become RUBC Gold.
Inter-Institute competitions for men and women were contested keenly.
Anniversaries
We attended the 40th Anniversary Dinner held at a Kandawgyi Hotel in 1963.
In 2013, I served as a Contributing Editor for the 90th Anniversary Issue. I wrote a Prelude for each section. I also wrote three articles.
In 2019, I attended the 96th Anniversary Regatta of RUBC.
I met Old and Not so old Members. I talked with several Patrons of the YUBC OMA.
I learned that the restaurant owner (which had “possessed” the Club House) finally agreed to move out.
We no longer use the Regatta Island. Probably RUBC no longer has access to the Regatta Island.
We see lots of current and old members competing, but we do not see many fans, families and friends rooting for the crews.
We see lots of trophies (may be 28 sets), but there was an unintentional mix up in one event.
We see new boats and flags, but we wonder how students from the many universities and institutes (some far away) have passion, time and energy to take up competitive rowing without sacrificing their academic achievements.
Some old members are looking forward to the Centennial Celebrations in 2023.
The First RIT Grand Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe was hosted by RIT Alumni International in October 2000. It was a formal two day event. On October 29, the Reunion Dinner and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe was held at Embassy Suites Hotel. On October 30, a lunch gathering was held for the sayas, alumni, volunteers and family members.
Archives
Set of DVDs Converted from the VHS Tape (recorded at SPZP-2000)
Commemorative Issue of “RIT Alumni International Newsletter” Chief Editor : U Hla Min Associate Editors : U Thein Aung and Henry Lim
RIT website : Special web pages for SPZP-2000 Webmaster : U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ) Content Provider and Editor : U Hla Min
Countdown to the Reunion 64 posts by U Hla Min
Post-Reunion 36 posts by U Hla Min
Photos by official photographers and volunteer alumni
Organizers
RIT Alumni International President : Saya Allen Htay
Working Committee Co-chairs : Benny Tan and Maurice Chee
Arthur Samuel (IBM) was not a renowned Checkers player, but he developed a system (algorithm and data base) to play against human opponents (with rising level of competence). His program remembered “bad” moves and “good” moves. Over time, the program was able to beat a reasonably good Checkers player.
It was one of the early projects for Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Computer Chess
Chess Programs
Deep Blue was developed by IBM to compete against Gary Kasparov, World Champion in Chess.
Chess has many more possible moves than Checkers, but IBM hired three Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) graduates who developed Deep Thought (Computer Chess Champion that outplayed other chess programs). One graduate designed and implemented a special chip capable of fast multi-level pruning. The other two, who are knowledgeable in Chess, helped with the software (e.g. database of games and strategies).
Computer History Museum (CHM) had an exhibit on the evolution of Computer Chess and a panel discussion including AI experts and Computer Chess Pioneers.
Go Programs
The complexity of “Go” — which surpasses that of Chess — challenged AI researchers (e.g. Deep / Machine Learning) to develop “Go” systems capable of beating experienced human players.
Sayagyi U Yone Mo is RIT’s first Rector and our Rector.
For us he is more than a Rector because he is the father of our Mech72 Kyaw Moe. We treat him like our uncle. He was a very gentle and kind gentleman.
One evening during our school days, two of my “notorious” Mech72 friends were joyfully swimming in the Circle Pool in front of the main building, when they were suddenly caught by the Rector. Naturally they were very much afraid.
But SAYAGYI just told them, “You young gentlemen, this is not the swimming pool. There is the University swimming pool and if you want to swim please go there” and left. That’s all. You can see how much those notorious Mech 72 friends were relieved.
HlaMin 