Mid-Mensan The Newsletter of Mid-Hudson Mensa

October 1997

Mid-Hudson's RG has come and gone. Sincere thanks to all of those members who helped in any way, but special thanks to: Bob Naborney for acting as registrar, Stephanie Walker for the arts and craft projects, Bill Hughes for name tags, general schlepping and everything else he does (including chairing the RG committee), Bill Zigo for hosting and putting together a wonderful game show called the Addams Family Feud, Ron McMurdy for helping with hospitality [And thank you too, Betsy - Ed.] and an emergency joke off, Charlie Rovner for being our unofficial photographer, Tom Rankin for bringing his telescope and running an astronomy track Saturday evening, and Mark Adams for his guitar playing and acting as trek escort.

The trek escort service is something Mark has done for several years at our RG. He led an actual HIKE. This year, in honor of two attendees from GNYM, Ellen Kesselman and Leonard Shaw, who had gotten married since the last RG, he led the trek to Honeymoon Gorge. Mark actually knows where he's going when he takes his group out. My group is another story.

This year, (for the 3rd time), I decided to lead my group (known as the amblers so as not to be confused with the hikers) to the Native American Village at Ashokan. I know the village is there as I take my fourth graders to it every year. However, for the 3rd time in a row, it looked as if the village decided to become a Brigadoon and hide from us. Luckily our group happened to meet Andy Angstrom, the director of the camp, who couldn't believe how we had managed to misplace this village. He lead us through the woods and allowed us to salvage our pride by suggesting at one point that it might be a good idea to go up a small hill. We did, and lo and behold the village appeared. Later, when I thanked him, he informed me that there is a trapper's hut at Ashokan. This might be our goal for the next 5 years unless Mark knows where it is.

We're selling Entertainment books again to help our scholarship fund. The cost is $25 of which we get to keep $5. So far the top seller is Pat Jelacic, who is the wife of member Jim Jelacic. If anyone wants to buy a book, contact Ron McMurdy or myself and we'll get one to you. These books are great holiday gifts as well as good money savers for those of us who eat out frequently. They also have coupons for dry cleaning, gasoline, video rentals and other practical stuff.

On a sad note, I had to have Lady Dawg euthanized. Cushing's Disease was really a problem and she was obviously dying. I miss my pup and Buster is unhappy as well. If anyone knows of a Westie we could adopt we'd be grateful.

Editors occasionally receive feedback from folks we call "The Grammar Police". Since becoming editor in March, I've had my share as well. Luckily, it usually began or ended with "The newsletter is great, but...", but inside there usually lurks comments on grammar, punctuation or terminology.

For the record, English was not my best subject (though for a Mensan, this often means, as was my case, being a B+ to A- student). So for me, writing columns - let alone correcting errors in those submitted by others - is sometimes a challenge. A good word processor on a computer can do basic spellchecking but is typically limited beyond that. Sometimes a spellchecking program can be very frustrating. Every month, I have to convince my software that the membership column is not being done by Bibi Sandstorm. (But when I'm in a really sadistic mood, I let the spellcheck software go crazy trying to check Jim Jelacic's cryptograms, or some of the obscure words in his trivia column.)

Everything beyond that must be done by humans. We have a running joke at FSM - to see how quickly Joanne Schultz can find the first error we missed after we've assembled the newsletter. Her record is 30 seconds after stapling the very first newsletter. We occasionally have some doozies. For example, in the last month's issue, Betsy Burke's Paws column has the sentence "People around us were kind at our group;" It was supposed to say, "People around us were kind of puzzled at our group;" Another September issue a few years ago listed an August calendar - we tried very hard to convince everyone that August was an adjective, not a calendar month.

One or more thorough proofreading sessions for each month's Mid-Mensan drafts is absolutely essential. Even though we don't have formal proofreading events listed in the calendar, I try to bring drafts of the newsletter to events within a week or so of FSM. A number of you offer to proofread the newsletter on a formal or informal basis whenever possible, and I'd like to thank you for your continued efforts here.

It's quite unlikely you'll hear me say I've got too many sets of eyes proofreading the newsletter. If you would like to add your eyes, grammar skills or editing skills to the list of people who review the newsletter before it's photocopied and assembled each month, please contact me. While it's okay to get comments like, "The newsletter is great but...", it's even better to get comments like, "I'd like to help prevent more errors before the newsletter goes out."

I finally found Karen Ditsch's "Mensa Mom" column for September, and it's in this issue. Karen is back online, and is hoping to recruit new M's for her remote section of Nebraska. Karen also says she'll continue to subscribe to Mid-Mensan, and that we're not free of her columns yet! (Yay!)

Meet new member Trish Taylor:

Trish was born in South Egremont, MA, but moved to Poughkeepsie when she was 9. Her father holds the dubious honor of having owned and sold the land which eventually became the IBM/Casperkill Country Club. She attended Alfred University, Vassar College and the University of Pennsylvania for graduate work to "enhance my enjoyment of life and get the loose wiring in my head put together properly." Some time after that, Trish moved to California (which she calls possibly the second craziest thing she has ever done - the craziest? - moving back [maybe]). She has recently returned to the Hudson Valley after being away for more than thirty years. While living in southern California, she was most recently employed as a Project Coordinator for a water district. But today, her idea of ideal employment would include writing and especially traveling. Trish has a variety of interests including travel, museums, fine art, classical music (especially opera), reading, writing, movies, theater, archaeology, anthropology, history and sewing. She joined Mensa because "I wanted to meet interesting people."

It's impossible not to get into an interesting conversation with Trish. [I can vouch for that, having dined with Trish at our August Friday Frugal Feast - Ed.] With a philosophy of "To disrupt the natural order of the universe as little as humanly possible and to be kind to and understanding of my fellow creatures", an arsenal of favorite books including "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", "The Chalice & The Blade" and "Jane Eyre", and equally interesting movies, you are never at a loss for conversation. And Trish is equally interested in your own favorite works and hobbies.

Members In The News

Mark Adams had a 2 part article published in the Taconic Weekend newspaper. The September 11 edition printed "Anatomy of a Grand Championship-Part 2," it described how his daughter won the produce growing section of the Dutchess County Fair's Grand Championship by winning 13 blue ribbons. Mark has, I believe, a regular or at least frequent column in the Taconic Weekend newspaper - check it out for useful gardening tips too.

Move over Geena Davis! Mid-Hudson Mensa's own Janet Droll can be seen as an extra in the movie "In & Out", which premiered on September 19. Janet plays one of the townspeople in the audience in one of the crucial scenes near the end of the movie. There were 12 days of filming locally, and Janet had to be present for 9 of the 12 days. Originally she, and most of the members of the audience, had a speaking part where they would all stand up, a few at a time, and say something. But that scene was edited to the point where only a few major characters in the audience are now shown standing up and speaking (I can't reveal what they say, as it would spoil part of the movie). Janet also told me that originally this scene was filmed to be serious, but with editing and rewriting, it is now a more humorous scene. By the way, if you want to see Janet, during the graduation scene, watch for when Matt Dillon enters. As the camera pans back, you should see her in one of the upper rows on the right side of the aisle, 3 seats in.

Janet can also be seen in the movie "Tromeo and Juliet" which recently came to video stores and may be on cable soon. This is, as Janet puts it, "a schlocky horror comedy." Here, too, Janet originally had a speaking role, but her dialog again fell victim to editing. But she is still in several scenes, notably as Fr. Lawrence's secretary, at the costume ball dressed as Mae West, and as a solo dancer in the rock and roll club scene.

Easy:

ALTI BW-QLNNUS WOUT AZTSB BYWDNS PU QNWBUS VWK

KUOLZK.

Hard - no punctuation and grouped in 5:

DVSNW DDNSP LJFVL BWIIS RDVSV JGEPL

LAFMO MVLNJ DSMBS B

Answers near the end of this newsletter.

We need to make a few changes to our area contacts list. We are in need of a new Greene County area coordinator. Also, our Middletown area coordinator, Donna Hughes, recently moved to Cornwall-On-Hudson, and she feels she can no longer adequately represent Middletown.

If you'd like to be the contact for either of these areas - or your own area (we'll slice something out of an existing "area" if need be), please contact me. The primary responsibility of an area contact is to answer questions, usually through phone calls. These may be from me, as calendar editor, asking for ideas for activities in the area, sites for Pizza SIG, or perhaps directions to some spot. These calls may also be from future members interested in knowing what Mensa does in your area. They would probably have gotten your name from a complimentary issue of Mid-Mensan. Area contacts for our chapter would be listed with other officers in the March and September issues of the Mensa Bulletin. Area contacts also receive a subscription to InterLoc.

I wasn't always home bound with two little kids. I did quite well on the law school aptitude test, so when I was in law school I taught test taking skills for one of those big test prep places. I actually LIKED those silly games where A, B, and C are at a dinner party with 1,2, and 3 and no numbers can sit next to red letters. I attended one of those state schools with absolutely no admission requirements and a big football team, so some of my students weren't exactly, well... test-taking material. So I thought we could start out my little guy young, with an easy syllogism like: If A, then B; and if B, then C, THEREFORE if A then C.

I thought if we applied it to something in his life, Kyle would pick it right up. So we tried: If you color on the walls, it will make a mess. If you make a mess, mommy gets mad. Therefore, if you write on the walls, mommy gets mad.

Kyle may have understood this, but his logic pattern went more like this: If you get a marker, it is fun. Writing on the walls is fun. Gee, I wonder why mommy is mad? I better draw faster, she's coming to take the markers!

So we decided to go with something a little simpler. Like the simple acknowledgement of a repetitive pattern. Like the sun comes up every day. My son lives for the PBS show "Shining Time Station." This show is made up of Thomas the Tank Engine shorts interspersed with segments using live actors. Kyle LOVES the shorts. He does not care for the actor's segments. Thus, I tried to explain: Shining Time Station comes on every day. Every day there are live action parts and Thomas parts. If we wait patiently through the live action parts, Thomas will come on. If we don't wait patiently, it takes just as much time for Thomas to come on.

But Kyle made his own revisions and got: Shining Time Station comes on every day. Every day there are live action parts and Thomas parts. Therefore, I will yell and scream as if my poor little heart is broken every time the Thomas segment ends.

This could have been considered a disaster in the "teaching" realm, but I thought about it and realized that I got to learn the lesson this time. Two year olds are really just small (and immature) people. But they are most certainly human beings. And the important lesson that this little one taught me was to never underestimate the role that simple human emotion has to play even when considering human logic. Two year olds may not be as good at controlling their emotions, but haven't we all done just the same thing? For example:

The Yankees are my favorite baseball team.
They are playing tonight.
The outcome of the game has absolutely no effect on my day to day life.
My actions in my living room have absolutely no effect on the way the game is played.
Therefore, I will scream and yell so loud that my killer dog will hide under the table.

For all of the effort that we as Mensans may put into being intelligent, or into doing the reasonable/logical thing, human emotion still plays a huge part in our decisions and actions. What exactly is the logic in a Mensa Mom having three state bar admissions but staying at home with two little children? Human emotion is out to get us all!

This month's column was submitted by our treasurer, Nancy Keyes-Crosby:

Paying bills and staying current with my budget is not my favorite chore. So I've started using some short cuts. I signed up for PC banking and installed the software. I have to admit, I'm not taking full advantage right now, but there are some nice features, and my bank does not charge me anything for the use. I can have all my bills paid without writing checks or running to the post office to buy stamps and doing the mailing. One feature I use a lot is transferring money from and to my savings and my personal and business checking accounts. I can do this at any time, 24 hours a day. It sure beats running to the local branch when I've made a deposit boo-boo or overspent on a full shopping weekend.

One of the nicest services offered by many organizations is direct debit of payments from your account. I pay my telephone bill and my YMCA membership this way. I know some other utilities and even auto companies offer this payment method.

And talk about the lazy way to go: using an online service called Virtualpay, I can pay my gas card charges. And again, it's a 24 hours a day convenience that costs me nothing.

One cost I haven't been able to eliminate, but sure have cut down on is having checks printed. Last time I ordered them from the bank they cost almost $50.00. This time, I ordered them from a mail order house, and the cost was only $20.00, and they work just as well.

If anyone out there has any other tips to save me stamp money and real dollars on my banking fees, I'd love to know about them. Or, if you wish to donate, just send cash.

My idea for the first worldwide Girl Scout Thinking Day service project was voted IN on the WAGGGS-L (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) e-mail list recently! The list has approximately 940 members, and every Girl Scout & Girl Guide is automatically a member of it (millions of members). The list is for adults (there are separate ones for the girls).

When there was discussion of what we could do for Thinking Day (Baden Powells' birthdays, the founders, February 12th), a Guider from England said her group was too poor and remote to get in on many of the things that were being discussed (go to hospital, donate to poor, etc.). To make things all-inclusive, I suggested "Give a Flower on Thinking Day"; that way it could be applied from large troops planting loads for a nursing home (or donating in the cold weather areas), to the poor troops making tissue paper flowers to give to friends and family. After its approval, the name of the service project was been changed to "Service Is Blooming", and there will be a patch developed for those that participate in it.

Losing a love is autumn.

Losing a love means putting up a front,
As the trees do --
For the color itself means that life is fading away.

Losing a love is autumn.

Here is a quickie from Charlie Rovner:

A poet was strolling along the beach, trying to console himself after the death of his canary. He encountered a man carrying a small seabird with a broken wing. After a brief discussion, the poet gave the man one of his poems in exchange for the injured bird. Thus did the bereaved poet take a tern for the verse.

Send your groaners to PUNS c/o Jim Jelacic.

As someone who is tired of watching 99+% of the material on television, has seen only 2 first-run movies in the theater in the last 4 years, catches telemarketers off guard with interesting, non-threatening remarks and has trouble keeping a straight face while listening to paid political ads on the radio during election season, I have finally decided upon a way we as Mensans can express our discontent.

The idea is to come up with an annual "Insult To Our Intelligence" award, to be given to that item or concept which is the least credible or most inane to (hopefully) the majority of the American public. From a list of candidates which I hope you will send to me, a group of judges would select the item or concept which seems to have been created from the most prominent cranial void.

The nomination should be something which is easily accessible. That could be a product you buy in a store, a commercial or ad for such an item, or product of the media (movie, TV show, song, album, book, newspaper or magazine article, etc.). The more serious it takes itself, the better.

There are some gray areas, for certain. For controversial topics, such as the paranormal, religion/new age, UFO's, astrology, etc., sometimes it's not important what is being portrayed but how it's being portrayed. If it's done with entertainment in mind (such as "The Addams Family"), or is designed to be thought-provoking, it would be less likely to be a candidate than a documentary on a secret alien autopsy and/or its coverup.

For the first award, I would like the nominations to pertain to something current in 1997. If you have a candidate, please send it to me via whatever method is convenient - my address, e-mail address and phone number are on the inside back cover. If possible, include a brief explanation of why you feel your nomination truly insults the intelligence (sometimes a copy of the material by itself will suffice). I will print the nominations (or the best nominations, if we get that many) in the December newsletter. Even from discussing the idea with just a few other Mensans prior to printing it in the newsletter, I've already received several nominations!

I would also like to get a panel of 3-5 volunteers (myself included) to serve as judges; I'd be willing to modify that if I get more volunteers than that. We will award a mock trophy to our winner (the official trophy name TBD).

If this catches on, I hope other Mensa chapters try the idea as well, or maybe even American Mensa itself. Regardless of whether they are members or not, I would hope that the majority of Americans would appreciate anyone who steps forward to comment on just how poorly the intelligence of the American public is treated.

What's that strange dice game you may see us playing right on the table at a lunch or dinner event? It's Cosmic Wimpout®, by C³. Inc. The game, called Wimpout for short, is practically mandatory at RG's. Wimpout is a game which is fairly easy to learn. In fact, the easiest way to learn is to begin playing immediately and let everyone else explain what you do as you go. Wimpout is a game for any number of players.

Wimpout is a set of 5 dice. Each die has on it the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10. Four of the dice, usually white, are identical. The fifth die, usually black, has a joker (flaming sun) on it instead of a 3. This is the wild card.

The object of the game is to be the first to reach a predetermined score, usually 500, following the rules for rolling. In a nutshell, they are:

• You must roll the dice and produce a valid scoring combination on each roll. If you do, these dice are set aside for the moment, and those points are tallied. Under certain conditions, you must re-roll the remaining dice; under others, you may choose to stop and collect points you have accumulated this turn, which are added to your total score. If you re-roll and fail to produce additional score, all points you earned this round are lost.
• 5's and 10's singly, are worth 5 and 10 points, respectively.
• A combination of 3 of a kind, rolled all at once, is called a flash. A flash is worth 10 times the die value. When a flash is rolled, it must be "covered". This means you MUST re-roll the remaining dice (or all 5, if you used the last 3 to make the flash). Covering a flash means none of the re-rolled dice may have the same numerical value as the flash, yet you must still produce some score (so a flash of 5's or 10's is a little tougher to clear). If you roll the joker, and the joker would allow you to make a flash when you otherwise would not be able, you must make a flash.
• If you have scored with all 5 dice, you must continue re-rolling.
• Your first roll, to get "on the board" must be 35 points or more.
• If you roll 5 of a kind - called a freight train - of 2's, 3's 4's or 5's, the value is 100 times the roll. If you roll 5 6's, it's an automatic win. 5 10's is a supernova - too many points, you have blown yourself out of the game.
• When a player reaches 500 or more points, each player gets one final turn. This is called "last licks". Each player has one chance to exceed the score of the player over 500. If they cannot, they are out of the game.

The term "wimped out" is used for a turn where had already accumulated some score but failed to produce more score on a re-roll. The term "train wreck" is used for a roll of all 5 dice which produces no score.

One interesting game rule is that the players may alter the rules, if the majority of players agree. I'm aware of at least three slightly different sets of rules for Mid-Hudson Mensa, Greater New York Mensa, and Boston Mensa.

Greetings, Fellow Trivians! It's too soon for September's answers. Here are this month's questions:

Q62: King Canute invaded Britain and ruled over London in 1016-1035. Which Scandinavian country was he from?

Q63: Although there are about 40 movies made, the first "Tarzan" actor (1918) has a name that is comprised of a Sesame Street character's and a president's. Name him.

Q64: Name the ex-military President who participated in the first filmed (both TV and motion picture newsreel) presidential press conference.

Q65: Who won 4 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama for the plays "Beyond the Horizon", "Anna Christie", "Strange Interlude" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night"?

Q66: In what field of study would you find a bass register, treble keyboard and a bellows strap?

Q67: Does Angora wool come from Angora sheep?

Q68: On the TV series "Lassie", who played the role of Ruth Martin (Timmy's mom) before June Lockhart? (Submitted by Bill Zigo)

Q69: How many miles of fence were used for Woodstock 94 (+/- 5 miles)? (Submitted by Dave Cardall)

Q70: What are 2 of the longest English words that can be formed from a single row of typewriter keys? (Hint: there are 4 words) (Submitted by the Kosowski Family)

Send your answers and questions (with answers) to TRIVIA CONTEST c/o Jim Jelacic by October 31.

In September, I mentioned the planets as great observing targets. Did anyone Look for them? How many did you find?

The Planets: In October, the planets are still easy targets. Starting in the evening sky, Venus and Mars are getting closer and closer to each other, low in the southwest, as the month goes on. They will be only about 2ø apart (the width of your index finger with your hand outstretched) on the 25th. On the 11th, Mars will pass Antares, almost its twin in color and brightness. On the 16th, Venus, catching up to Mars, will pass Antares as well, on its way to its rendezvous with Mars. Jupiter continues to shine brightly in the southern sky for most of the night. Saturn comes up in the east around 7:00 pm, a bright yellow white 'star' under the great square of Pegasus, which sort of looks like a baseball diamond rising in the east.

Other October events:

Early October may actually offer us one more shot at an old friend that put on a spectacular show in March and April: Comet Hale-Bopp! If you get up early and want to see it, contact me for details.

10/09	-	Saturn rises at sunset and stays up all night long.
10/15 p.m.	-	The Moon passes very close to Saturn.
10/19 a.m.	-	The Moon passes very close to Aldebaran.
10/30 a.m.	-	The crescent Moon is less than a day from new as it rises ahead of the Sun.  Look about 45 minutes before sunrise.

The Orionid Meteor shower occurs this year on October 21st. The Orionids are actually remnants of Halley's Comet! This is a moderate shower, emanating above Orion. Once again, early morning is the best time to watch, but the moon will interfere this year.

Astro News:

Physicists have found evidence for a so-called 'exotic meson', composed of only 2 quarks, rather than the usual 3. What does this mean to us? Probably nothing.

By combining the Hubble Space Telescope, and the new Keck Telescope in Hawaii, astronomers have seen deeper into the Universe than ever before, imaging a galaxy over 13 billion light-years away, that while only 1/10th the size of our Milky Way, appears to be vastly more energetic, owing to a large number of supernova explosions that seem to be taking place. What does this mean to us? Probably nothing.

There I go again. Once in a while, I see questions like "Why are we wasting billions of dollars on space exploration?", or "Who cares if there's 100 zillion atoms in a drop of water?". My answer is that as humans, and especially Mensans, we are full of intellectual curiosity. Exploring the very small and the very large are ways to help us figure out what we're doing here, and try to make some sense of it all. But, that's just my opinion, and since I'm married, I must be wrong!

Upcoming MHAA Events (for Southeastern New York State):

10/04 - 7:30 PM   Outdoor meeting at Bowdoin Park
10/21 - 7:30 PM   Indoor meeting at SUNY - Topic - "Werner Von Braun"
10/28 - 7:30 PM   Outdoor meeting at SUNY, New Paltz, NY
10/31 - 7:30 PM   Outdoor meeting at Wilcox Park - Bring your mask!

Call (914) 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! Check out the MHAA Home Page -- don't miss the weekly trivia quiz!

Next Time: November brings the Roar of the Lion! Clear skies!   Tom Rankin

P.S. I'm now being read in 4 publications. Mid-Mensan, MONNY, II'2 Sense Worth (the regional Intertel publication), and Integra (the Intertel national publication), all carry my column. Most of my comments are universally applicable, but if you're unsure of a time or date for an event, feel free to contact me.

Cryptogram Answers:

Easy: Many so-called open minds should be closed for repairs.

Hard: The little boy who ripped the hymn book was a holy tearer.