Mid-Mensan The Newsletter of Mid-Hudson Mensa

September 1997

Summer is winding down and I haven't had that much time to experience it yet. However, what I have experienced, I've enjoyed. First there was the Annual Gathering in Birmingham Alabama. As you remember, Mid-Hudson Mensa was nominated for 7 awards. Well... we didn't win any awards in the categories for which we were nominated, but we did earn one award. Ziggy's article on candidates got a special award. We also found out that even though we did not win the best home page award, we did very well in the competition.

The Annual Gathering was interesting as always. Ron McMurdy and I went down several days early so we could sight see and relax before we settled into the hard work of enjoying ourselves at the AG. We also volunteered to help unload supplies for hospitality. What an experience! Have you ever seen a five thousand dollar order of junk food and paper products? Mid-Hudson Mensa was also an event at the AG. For our own Regional Gathering we'll be playing the Addams Family Feud (a game sort of based on the old Family Feud). We needed to have a lot of people fill out a questionnaire. We've been taking this questionnaire to other RG's throughout the year but still needed more participants. About 40 people showed up on a Saturday afternoon to fill it out. Naturally, we were delighted.

Saturday night at the AG Chicago Mensa hosted a Halloween Costume Party. This was amazing. The costumes were wonderful but it was even more fun watching the confusion on the faces of the hotel staff at our antics. The winner went to a gentleman dressed as a Klingon Cross Dresser, but I enjoyed the two sisters dressed in army fatigues with fake rifles who performed a rifle drill. They were quite good, but we were perplexed until they announced that they'd just demonstrated sibling riflery (groan).

Coming home from the AG was even fun. About 12 of us found ourselves on the same flight out of Birmingham with a layover of several hours in Atlanta. We ended up keeping each other company and separating as it was time for our flights. People around us were kind of puzzled at our group; but then again, that often happens!

Our web page is getting quite a bit of attention, and I regularly get e-mail from people who have visited the site. This month's greeting goes to Andreas from Germany who has temporarily moved to New York and wanted to get in touch with Mensans. I've also heard from Phillippe Benthien who has just entered Marist. E-mail is certainly a great way to stay in touch.

News Bulletin from American Mensa Ltd...: I just got the latest mailing, and the list of scholarship winners was enclosed. Jacqueline R. Ahl from Feura Bush was awarded a two hundred dollar scholarship. Jean Hicks has been our local scholarship chairperson for a number of years now, and she would appreciate some additional volunteers. This is an excellent opportunity to help for those of you who want to volunteer but don't want to commit to an extended period of time. She especially needs volunteers to help read the entries. Please call or e-mail me if you're interested. Our own RG is this month. If you've never attended an RG you're missing out on the camaraderie of Mensa. Pam Donahoo, our new executive director, reported that this is one of the major benefits of Mensa membership and it's hard to explain to others. If you can't come for the entire weekend why not consider joining us for the day? You'll be pleasantly surprised at the goings on as well as the hospitality. Call our registrar, Bob Naborney for cost and directions. The RG is held at the Ashokan Field Campus of SUNY New Paltz, and it really is a pretty place.

I owe Karen Ditsch, "Mensa Mom", an apology, and an explanation.

The good news is that in July, Karen passed her bar exam. Congratulations, Karen! The bad news, for us anyway, is that Karen and her family have decided to move back to Nebraska, where both Karen and her husband can set up law practices, while Karen's children can be cared for by family.

But the good news was that Karen supposedly sent me at least one more column for the September issue. The bad news, again, is that the file I thought I had saved from her as her column was just a copy of one of our correspondences. In addition, Karen's computer was not available during her move, so she hasn't yet received my e-mail re-requesting a column (and her phone number was unlisted).

As happens every once in a while, just when someone becomes active in a local Mensa chapter, he or she sometimes moves. Whichever Nebraska chapter of Mensa gets Karen, they should consider themselves lucky to get her as a member. Karen, don't forget that it only costs $6.00 to subscribe to Mid-Mensan (make the check payable to Mid-Hudson Mensa).

Mid-Hudson Mensa has acquired an international flavor. In the past month, we've been contacted by Mensans from European countries who have either visited our region or are here for an extended stay.

Christian Bauernfeind is a Mensan from Germany who works for one of IBM's subsidiaries. Recently, he came to East Fishkill on a 3-year assignment. Christian currently lives in Beacon. He plans on retaining his membership in Mensa Germany, but he will be subscribing to "Mid-Mensan". In fact, Christian has already attended several events. We had an interesting and witty conversation at the After Meeting Dinner in August with Christian Bauernfeind, who gets to use his physics background in the systems analysis work he's doing.

Laurent Hayem is a member of Mensa France who is also an IBM employee. He contacted us recently, letting us know he would be in Somers for a few days the week of 8/18. He was interested in joining us for a local event (such as August Mirthday), but we realized that an hour's drive from Somers to Poughkeepsie and back for a (typically) 30-45 minute event was not worth his commute. However he promises to contact us again the next time he is in this area on business.

Philippe Benthien is also from Mensa France. He currently attends Marist College. Philippe is interested in transferring his membership to American Mensa, so he may become a member of our chapter for the duration of his education. Philippe currently lives in Poughkeepsie. He would like to attend local events, but he does not have a car. If anyone in the Poughkeepsie area would be interested in giving Philippe a ride to an event, please contact our calendar coordinator. Philippe is also looking for lodging during his school year. Once again, please get in touch if you have offers or information.

We should mention that in each case, we were initially contacted from the "e-mail us" section of our home page on the Internet. I hope this encourages neighboring chapters to pursue setting up their home pages. If a median-sized chapter gets this many contacts over a short period of time, think of how many contacts a home page for a large Mensa chapter would get.

The April 1997 column was a humorous look at owning a car. But that was enough lead-in for Demetri Kolokotronis to give us a more serious look at an alternative to cars:

You wrote about saving money operating a car. What about using a bicycle? Impractical? No other mode of travel is as efficient as a man on a bicycle; no land animal, no fish in the sea, no bird in the sky. Neither are any man-made inventions; no land vehicle, no ship, nor any plane in the sky. The average motor vehicle trip is less than five miles. If just one in ten of these trips were made by bicycle, we wouldn't need a single drop of oil from Iraq or Kuwait. United States dependence on foreign oil has increased since the Gulf War.

How realistic is it to expect Americans to use bicycles? Actually, Americans buy more bicycles each year than automobiles. Most of the bicycles are bought to be used by adults. True, most of these buyers only use their bicycles recreationally. However, why not use bicycles for commuting? Many do it. Talk about efficiency, how about commuting or errand running and getting exercise at the same time? A bicyclist flew a pedal-powered airplane for a distance of 70 miles. Yesterday I pedaled home with 80 pounds of cat food. Get out your bicycle, or buy one if you don't have one, and use it to commute or shop. Your own adventures are just a few pedal strokes away.

This is Bill talking again: Here's a few more things to ponder: If you bought a bicycle, how quickly could you make it pay for itself, by reduced gas use? How many of us drive to a gym, where we may ride a bicycle exercise machine? Many people won't ride a bicycle on main roads because of traffic concerns. Why aren't we doing something about that, such as better road shoulders, bicycle lanes, or better traffic control?

If you like card games and board games, you should like Trumpet (officially known as "The Trumpet Game"), by International Games, Inc. Trumpet was awarded "Games" magazine's Game Of The Year in 1991, and it is has been a popular game at conventions and games nights. Trumpet is a game for two to six players (we like it best with 6).

The cards are a deck of six suits (the regular 4 [though the clubs are actually shamrocks] plus stars and anchors) with ranks from 1 to 11, plus 3 "shields", or wild cards. At the start of each round, each player is dealt seven cards. The player to the dealer's left leads the first card. All players must follow suit, if they can, else they may play a card of another suit, or a wild card. The highest card played in the suit led wins, unless a wild card is played. If more than one wild card is played, the last wild card played wins. When you win a trick, you move your token forward along the game board and lead for the next trick. Whoever wins the last trick of the round leads next deal.

You can only advance around the board by winning tricks. Every so often on the board, there is a "Change Trump" square. When a player lands on that a trump suit must be chosen. The player selects one of 6 chips corresponding to the trump suits, and places it on a special spot on the board designating it as the trump suit. This suit, when played, now ranks higher than the other 5 suits, and the highest card of the trump suit will win any trick (if no wild cards are played).

But as other "Change Trump" squares are landed upon, each player must pick a new trump suit which has priority over all previous suits. Eventually, you wind up with a hierarchy among all six suits. However, this hierarchy also changes as the game continues; for each subsequent "Change Trump" square, the player landing on it must switch the order of two suits. So you may have been dealt a powerful hand, but very quickly your trump suit may have gone from most to least powerful, thanks to your opponents.

There are two other elements to the game which allow for strategy. The first is that only one player can occupy any square at one time, i.e. you leap over occupied spaces. That allows you to advance quickly over a crowded board, but you might also leap over a "Change Trump" space. The other element is the "home stretch" - the last section of the board. If two or more players are in this section of the board and one of them wins a trick, that player may either advance one square or move another player in the home stretch back one square. But beware, you can still change trump moving backwards.

Trumpet is a popular game because it can be played in a reasonable amount of time, usually less than an hour. It's easy to learn, and it does not require a lot of intense thinking.

This one is from Sharon Lydick of Pennsylvania:

After intensive investigation on both the Soviet and US parts, spokespersons from both space agencies have determined the cause for the accident which has placed the station and its resident personnel in jeopardy. In terse statements at a recent press conference, Soviet and US space agency spokespersons said: "We have concluded joint investigations concerning this potentially tragic accident, and each nation's team, separately, has arrived at identical conclusions for this incident. The accident was caused by one thing and one thing only ... OBJECTS IN MIR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR."

Send your groaners to PUNS c/o Jim Jelacic.

Easy:

RXUJAEWGJ PI RMJ EFPUPRT RX SJJY TXCA

IMPAR XW NMJW TXC'AJ MXR CWHJA RMJ

GXUUJA.

Hard - no punctuation, grouped in 5:

GWFPC SMZCF JPGEO JCDPS PEAEW ACIVC

VHVWE WXJVA WNZUW NEO

Answers near the end of this newsletter.

Misery Hours Returns!

For our newer members - if a Happy Hour is on a Friday, then a celebration on a Monday must be Misery Hours. This event returns after a 2-year hiatus. And while the time is the same, 5:30 on a Monday afternoon, the location will move for at least a few months. This will allow us to sample several places, until we either find another "permanent" home for the event, or decide to rotate it between several.

The weather for Moonlight Madness was almost perfect. A few clouds at sunset kept us from seeing the moon rise, but within 15 minutes they had moved an, and we had a clear view the rest of the evening. It was cooler than normal, but that helped keep the bugs away (which is cool in itself).

While our July Monthly Gathering speaker, Jerry DeMenna, gave us dozens of tips and useful tidbits of information about food and cooking, if you had to follow just one piece of his advice, it would be this: Stop eating foods which contain hydrogenated oils. Besides not being a natural product (thus more difficult, if not impossible, for the body to digest), the process of hydrogenating oils involves the use of metallic catalysts, some of which inevitably remain in the food. Many of these metals are toxic to humans in quantity. Margarine and shortening are almost 100% hydrogenated oil.

In Case You Missed It,  from Bibi Sandstrom:

At our August meeting, Sadie Penzato, author of Growing Up Female and Sicilian (in America, in a Small Town, in the Thirties), described the particular feelings growing up in a Sicilian family with its strong emphasis on honor, discipline, and obedience, as well as the particular kind of prejudice suffered at that point in history. Those of us with European parents nodded in recognition at her descriptions, but all of us empathized with her childhood memories; she had an incredible memory for details and feelings growing up in New Paltz at the height of the depression. We also learned about the hardships with publishers and the hard work and success in going from a book to a musical play. It was interesting hearing how a book can get distilled into catchy songs and acts.

Tina Casiano was a local 9 year old Girl Scout who died waiting for a heart donor. I helped with fund raising for the brief time I knew of her, made donations from my store, and told others how even I could donate $5. I tried not to be shocked at the many people who read the flyer then left, those that said they'd known for a month but still hadn't acted, and the fact that they make 3 times what I do.

The question "if people don't care about a dying child, why would they care about the gifted and talented children?" springs to mind. As your Gifted Children's Program Resource Coordinator, I don't have an answer for that.

Mensa bemoans membership numbers, uses recruitment and our future as election issues, and leaves their national GCC position empty for months. I have e-mailed 25 GCCs; only two have told me of attended events, both in metropolitan areas. My call for volunteers to make one phone call to help compile a resource list went unanswered.

What is happening here? Is there a mass-insecurity of some smart kid showing us up? Were many of us treated like a freak in our own childhood, and we're avoiding painful flashbacks? Intelligence is our common bond, but the effect it's had on our hearts and our spirits isn't addressed. Being exceptionally different can break our spirit, causing us to console our egos in intelligence to hide our closed hearts. I've seen it bring Mensans to self-destructive and heartless acts. If not serving us well in real life, is our intelligence all it's cracked up to be?

Bob Peck asked at our monthly meeting "who meditates?" and only three hands raised: mine, my daughter's, and a visitor's. Perhaps some quiet time to nurture our busy minds would be a sensible start to healing. When in pain, one thinks only of themselves, with little inclination towards service work. After healing, children would sense we had something real to offer them: intelligence used well.

Children are attracted to love, not intelligence. They could be the heart of our organization, but they would be our teachers. Mensa would have to be willing to learn their lesson: that with a good heart, one stands a chance to live.

"The child is father to the man."

I have a pet turtle --
He is a friend
Who, when he gets frightened,
Pulls in his tail end.

He has four webbed feet
Which help him swim well;
But when he is frightened
They hide in his shell.

It seems to me
He is very ill-bred;
When he doesn't like someone
He pulls in his head.

The trouble with this
Is that then he can't see;
Nor can he move
To where he'd like to be.

My turtle, like you,
If he wants to live well
And know life's great joys,
Must come out of his shell.

And you, like my turtle,
In moving about
Can never progress
Till you stick your neck out.

Greetings, Fellow Trivians!

Here are the answers to June and July/August's questions:

Q31: What is the capitol and chief port of Lebanon?
A31: Beirut.

Q32: Whose theme song is "Thanks for the Memories?"
A32: Bob Hope.

Q33: Which president consulted the "kitchen cabinet?"
A33: Andrew Jackson.

Q34: Who wrote "The Deerslayer?"
A34: James Fenimore Cooper.

Q35: In what field of study would you find a lorgnette, a monocle and a pince-nez?
A35: These are types of eyeglasses.

Q36: By NY law, you must signal a turn at least how many feet before turning?
A36: 100 ft.

Q37: What are the 3 secondary colors?
A37: Orange, green and purple/violet.

Q38: In what game would you find a Mystical Tutor, a Snow-Covered Forest and an Archangel?
A38: "Magic: the Gathering" card game.

Q39: What are numismatics?
A39: The study or collection of coins, money and medals.

Q40: Who was the first Polish American US Senator?
A40: Senator Edmund Muskie.

Q41: How much DNA do humans have in common with our closest relative, the chimp? (+/- 5%)
A41: 98.7%.

Q42: Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution. Who was the second?
A42: Pennsylvania.

Q43: In which movie did Humphrey Bogart win an Oscar for taking Katharine Hepburn down a river during World War I?
A43: "The African Queen".

Q44: What war saw the first submarine attack?
A44: The Revolutionary War - On 9/6/1776, "The Turtle", built by David Bushnell, was unsuccessful in sinking Adm. Richard Howe's flagship in New York Bay.

Q45: Who composed a suite called "The Planets?"
A45: Gustav Holst.

Q46: In which field of study would you find a float ball, shutoff valve and a trip lever?
A46: Plumbing - these are parts of a toilet.

Q47: True or false - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Song of Hiawatha" was based on a real person.
A47: True - It was based on Chief Hiawatha of the Onondaga tribe.

Q48: What word contains all 5 vowels in alphabetical order?
A48: Facetious.

Q49: Who was the only Speaker of the House ever elected President?
A49: James Polk.

Q50: What game has variations called Bergen and Matador?
A50: Dominoes.

Q51: Who said "I don't know anything about music. In my line, I don't have to."?
A51: Elvis Presley.

The winners for June are Les Herring and Ed Quinn with 9 correct answers each. The Kosowski family, ineligible this year for winning last year, had 10 correct answers. The winner for July/August is Ed Quinn with a perfect 10 correct answers. Dave Cardall had 7, Tom Rankin had 6 and Les Herring had 5 correct answers.

And now, this month's questions:

Q52: It was discovered by Rodrigo de Bastidas, sailing with Columbus in 1502, but found notoriety when Vasco de Balboa crossed it and "discovered" the Pacific Ocean. What country is this?

Q53: He was the original leader of "Mission: Impossible" and now is the only surviving original cast member of a present TV show. Who is he?

Q54: Daniel Boone blazed the Wilderness Trail to this state to make it the first area west of the Alleghenies settled by American pioneers. Which state is this?

Q55: Who wrote "The Prince", considered the bible for medieval government procedures?

Q56: In which field of study would you find a bowl, a stummel and a stem?

Q57: According to NY Department of Motor Vehicle, what is the fine for parking in a disabled space?

Q58: What play got Mae West jailed in New York City in 1927? (Submitted by David Nuss)

Q59: Who coined the phrase "the survival of the fittest?" (Submitted by Ed Quinn)

Q60: How many species of owls are native to North America (± 2)? (Submitted by Bill Zigo)

Q61: How many windows are in the Empire State Building (± 5000)? (Submitted by Dave Cardall)

Send your answers and questions (with answers and references) to TRIVIA CONTEST c/o Jim Jelacic by September 30.

In July/August, I mentioned the planets galore and the Perseid Meteor shower. Did anyone see any meteors?

The Planets: In September, the planets continue their show of strength. Starting in the evening sky, brilliant Venus leads the way, followed by Ruddy Mars. It will be edging closer and to Antares (which means the "Rival of Mars") as the month goes on. Jupiter dominates the southern sky almost all night long. The detail in a telescope and the moon activity has been great this summer. Rising by 8:00 by the end of the month in the East, Saturn follows Jupiter by a few hours. Finally, if you're up in the early morning, Mercury makes an excellent appearance around 1 hour before sunrise in the middle of the month. This may be one of the best times to see Mercury for several years!

Other September events:
09-18 a.m.   Moon passes 0.2° North of Saturn
09-21 p.m.   Moon passes 0.3° North of Aldebaran
09-22 p.m.   Equinox - everywhere on earth has 12 hours of sunlight

Mars: Well, by now, I'm sure you've read or seen or surfed about as much as you can stand on Mars. I'll just briefly summarize: The lander landed successfully, deployed the rover successfully, and is operating "nominally" s they would say at NASA, meaning 100% correctly. It's made many observations of several rocks, which have a varied chemical/geological make up. It's snapped some nifty pictures of the Martian terrain. There is strong evidence of water having flowed here, in enormous quantities. No life yet.

Frankly, I thought I'd be more excited. Oh well, I hope you are...

Astro News in brief:

The Galileo space probe has discovered an atmosphere around Europa, a moon of Jupiter that may have liquid oceans to boot.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have finally been able to determine that Gamma Ray Bursters come from distant galaxies, implying that they are a relic of the early Universe.

Astronomers report discovering a region of space near a white dwarf star that, due to expanding gases, is actually colder than the universal 3 degree back ground radiation. How'd they do that?

Upcoming MHAA Events (If you're in the southeast New York state area):

9/02 - 8:00 PM   Outdoor meeting at Suny New Paltz
9/05 - 8:00 PM   Outdoor meeting at Wilcox Park
9/13 - 8:00 PM   Outdoor meeting at Bowdoin Park
9/16 - 7:30 PM   Indoor meeting at SUNY - Topic - "Show and Tell"
9/26 - 7:30 PM   Outdoor meeting at Wilcox Park

Call 473-7602 for the MHAA Hotline: Information, Astronomy News, and more! Would you like to borrow a telescope from the Club for a month? Let me know! We've got several 'loaner' scopes that are very easy to use. We have lots of other Astro stuff to lend as well!

Next Time: October brings the Orionid Meteor shower. Clear skies!   Tom Rankin

Cryptogram Answers:

Easy:

Tolerance is the ability to keep your shirt on when you're hot under the collar.

Hard:

Social grace is the ability to yawn and not open your mouth.