The Newsletter of Mid-Hudson Mensa
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Mid-Mensan
The Newsletter of Mid-Hudson Mensa |
October 1999 | |
| Cover: Millennium Boo! (30Kb) | |||
| Paws for Reflection | Ron McMurdy, Fabien and Miss Ella |
Greetings Everyone. October is here, and the leaves are starting to turn. You know what that means: Fall Foliage Day at Ron's house... bring a rake!!
Since I had to write this column BEFORE our RG took place... and, since you will be reading this AFTER the RG takes place... I'm going to need the help of the Mensa Psychic Hot line, in order to know what's going to happen at the RG, so I can thank everyone and relate what a good time everyone had! OK... here goes:
I'm pleased to announce that our RG was a resounding success, and a good time was had by all. I'd especially like to thank the members of the committee, Bill Zigo and Betsy Burke, for all their hard work. I'd like to thank RVC Deb Stone for her wonderful "RVC Walk & Talk." Thanks go out to Charlie Rovner, our quasi-official photographer for documenting the good times we had at the RG, Nancy Keyes-Crosby for pitch ing in and helping wherever needed, Tom Rankin for running an astron omy program, and everyone else who helped make our RG just a genuinely enjoyable, relaxing weekend.
Now, with the RG behind us, we can turn our attention to selling the Entertainment 2000 Books. The Entertainment books cost $25, of which Mid-Hudson Mensa makes $5 profit per book. This money goes to our scholarship fund, and it is one of our biggest fund-raisers for it. I'm coordinating the sales for Mid-Hudson Mensa, but EVERYONE is potentially a salesperson! Buy a book yourself and show it to other people. The books pay for themselves... if you USE them (hint hint), and they're very easy to sell. If you want a book, call me! We can accomplish much more together than we can individually.
In October there will be the MensAutumn RG in Connecticut. Then, on November 13th is National Testing Day. If you have a friend who is interested, please encourage him or her to come out and get tested on that day. Last year we tested ten people. With a little work, I'm sure we can double that number this year.
That's the news this month. Remem
ber there's no FUN without "U".
| From Under The Marmot | Bill Zigo |
I suppose we have to be fashionable and do a Y2K issue. I would have said millennium issue, but the new millennium doesn't officially start until 2001. But the general media doesn't seem to feel that's important to mention. We can take "consolation", however, with the reassurance that they will compensate with enough panic on Y2K problems.
As an IBM employee, I've been well aware of the potential problems a 2-digit value of "00" can generate. The product on which I work has been certified Y2K-compliant for several years already. But that still doesn't mean our customers might not have problems. So, unfortunately, that means we'll be there for them come New Year's Eve. For me, that translates to "don't go anywhere that week, and prepare to be called into work." So much for celebrating with my Mensa friends.
I don't know what's the bigger fear -
Y2K problems, or the media frenzy.
So I decided to put a little of each
into our Halloween issue.
| Snappy Science Snippets | Andi Weiss Bartczak, Ph.D. |
An article in "Paleoceanography" reports that decades-long bouts of megafloods hit the Mississippi River every 5-12 centuries over the past 5,000 years. The last bout ended about 300 years ago. The climate change which triggered these floods involved the Loop current, which goes through the Gulf of Mexico on the way to the Gulf Stream. When this current strengthens, the waters warm, winds pick up more moisture and more rain falls in the Midwest. (Science 1998, Volume 285, p. 1007)
Our biosphere is becoming saturated with nitrogen compounds, too much for the usual denitrifying microbes in wetlands andother wet places to con vert back to nitrogen gas. Widespread use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers coupled with the burning of fossil fuels, especially in cars, have lead to accumulations of fixed nitro gen compounds, causing algal blooms and dead spots in bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mexico. Nitrogen compounds displace valuable nutri ents from forest soils, leading to weakened vegetation. (Science 1998, Volume 279, p. 989)
The first two billion years of Earth's history included the beginning of life. For about 700,000 years rock bodies left over from the formation of our solar system kept battering Earth, vaporizing the oceans. At least one of those planetesimals was at least the size of Mars and dislodged a mass which became our Moon. The craters on the Moon testify to further bom bardments. Yet only a few hundred million years after the solid rain ended, simple organisms appeared; the most ancient fossils are 3.5 billion years ago but complex enough to signify a long history of evolution. It's possible that life arose several times and was exterminated by disasters. It's also possible that meteorites brought in life, possibly from Mars. After the heavy bombardment ended, Earth was close to an ice age because our young sun was faint and relatively cold. Perhaps methane-producing bacteria created a greenhouse effect, as methane lasts 20,000 years in a very low oxygen atmosphere. Photosynthesizing plants evolved and flooded the atmosphere with oxygen, possibly producing a snowball Earth by decomposing the methane atmosphere. (Science 1999, Volume 284, p. 2111)
Recent findings show that global climate patterns flip-flopped every few thousand years during the last ice age. There were 10 degree C temperature swings (average annual temperature) that sometimes happened in a few years. Such a temperature drop replaced Europe's forests with glacial tundra for a thousand years some 10-15 thousand years ago. Known as the ocean's conveyor belt, warm shallow waters from the North Pacific travel across the Indian Ocean, around Africa & up the Atlantic.
Off Labrador & north of Iceland, winds absorb the heat, easing the chill in Europe by as much as 10 degrees C. Those winds also increase the water's salin ity, producing denser water which sinks and flows southward. The latest faltering of the conveyor belt may have been the Little Ice Age of the 17th & 18th centuries, with decreases of only 1 degree C. The greenhouse effect's moister air could interfere with the movement of oce anic heat from the equator to the northern Atlantic (Europe and Asia). Large oscillations may be caused by ice melting and dumping freshwater into the North Atlantic.
Therefore the greenhouse effect may
cause more rain in northern latitudes,
a cooler Europe and climate flickers
lasting 5-10 years with rapid changes
between climate extremes. (Science,
Volume 281, P.156)
| Insults To Our Intelligence |
There is a new commercial out from
Panasonic that advertises a "pore
vacuum" - a little hand held vacuum
cleaner that is supposed to suck out
blackheads and other blemishes. The
spokesperson is this perky little
blonde with perfect skin. In the mid
dle of the commercial she holds up
her before picture. In the picture, her
skin is still perfect, but there is a
startling difference. In the photo,
she's a brunette. Wow, powerful vac
uum... sucks out your hair color right
through your pores!
| Pun of the Month | Jim Jelacic |
This one was from the April 1998 issue of Sally Hemmings Memorial Newsletter, the newsletter of Thomas Jefferson Mensa, Didi Pancake editor, reprinted from the March 1997 issue of M-Press, the newsletter of Coastal Carolina Mensa, Gill Grebs editor.
In a poor, rural farming province of China, a gas station sold its gas for 150 yen per liter. Those few who had cars often would barter their produce for the gas, instead of paying in cash. This worked, provided the gas station manager allowed it, since he couldn't always use the motley collection of foodstuffs that would come in. A local cook, Chef Po, was renowned for a special heavy cream sauce which he sold for one yen per serving. The manager loved the stuff and always took Po's goods in exchange for the fuel.In time, the manager had to raise the price of gasoline to two hundred yen. Chef Po, who could ill-afford the increase, angrily stormed up to the manager's office door and protested the price by flinging two hundred spoonfuls of sauce against the door and walls. When the manager came in later and saw the mess, he cried, "Who did this?"
The attendant said, "It was Po! He was very angry at the price increase. What shall we do if he comes back?"
The manager looked at him and growled, "Do not gas Po! Do not collect two hundred dollops."
Send your favorite groaner to
PUNS c/o Jim Jelacic.
| Are You Game? | Bill Zigo |
There are probably games out there which deal with Y2K, but I'm not familiar with any of them. The clos est game of this genre with which I am familiar (but I don't own it and have never played it) is The Omega Virus®, by Milton Bradley™, which hit stores in 1993.
The premise is that a sophisticated computer virus has invaded a military space station. As you try to isolate the virus, it continues to spread to an increasing number of areas of the station. The game is battery operated, and it can thus simulate the effects of computers and the virus. As you race to prepare yourself for disaster while also trying to isolate the virus, alarms sound, panic sweeps the station, and the computer actually starts making announcements about how inferior humans are to machines. The game is both tense and humorous at the same time.
The Omega Virus was quite popular
when it first came out. It made
Games magazine's list of 100 best
games of the year for several years.
Sales were probably helped at the
time due to the fact that to many
people, the computer virus was just
becoming an interesting concept.
Over the past few years, interest in
the game has waned, and you can
probably find The Omega Virus on
sale at a garage sale or used game
store.
| Tele-Teasers | Bill Zigo |
Decode the phone numbers to determine the clues.
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This month's theme: Creepy Kids (or Teens)
Answers near the end of this newsletter.
| CryptoGrams | Jim Jelacic |
Easy:
CVQ TDJ GVR WUFQUCQP CVQ SWABC GVQQZ
GMB MU WPWRC CVQ TDJ GVR WUFQUCQP CVQ
RCVQA CVAQQ
Hard - no punctuation, grouped in 5:
HDBZP AVDSQ WXFEE LIZWE LSFZP GWDSQ
WTOWP ERPWI WBD
Answers near the end of this newsletter.
| “What's My Line” TV Trivia | Jim Jelacic |
Every now and then, the public gets captured by a jingle or catch phrase they heard on TV. Before long, ev erybody is using it and becomes a part of the language. See if you can remember which TV show made these catch phrases popular.
Answers near the end of this newsletter.
| Trivia, October '99 | Jim Jelacic |
Greetings, Fellow Trivians! It's too soon for September's answers. Here are this month's questions:
Q57: Although Utah's Great Salt Lake is saltier than the ocean, it is not the saltiest lake in the world. What lake is?
Q58: What silent screen star won acclaim for his Civil War movie The General?
Q59: Everybody knows Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. What was the date of his last voyage to the New World?
Q60: What German playwright wrote Faust?
Q61: The “maser” was the predecessor to the laser. What does the acronym “maser” mean?
Q62: True or False: The bagpipe originated in the Middle East.
Q63: Name the state that has 56% of this nation's urban roads that are in poor or mediocre condition. (Submitted by Dave Cardall)
Q64: How old do you have to be to join AARP? (Submitted by Dave Cardall)
Q65: New York State's geographical center is 26 miles southwest of what city? (Submitted by Bill Zigo)
Send your answers and questions (with answers and references) to
TRIVIA CONTEST c/o Jim Jelacic
by October 31.
| What's Up? Current Topics in Astronomy |
Tom Rankin, President, Mid-Hudson Astronomy Assoc. |
Last time, I mentioned the planets and the Moon passing near several objects. Did you see any of these?
This month, Mars is the only early evening planet visible in the West. Saturn and Jupiter rise in the early evening in the East. By dawn, Venus is high in the Eastern sky also. The mornings of the 21st and 22nd are a good time to look for Orionid meteors emanating from the top of the constellation of Orion, the Hunter. The only problem is that the moon will be nearly full.
Other October Events:
10/05 The Moon is near Regulus
10/09 The Giacobinid meteor
shower can be seen this morning
10/23 Jupiter is closest to the Earth and is 'Up! All night'.
10/24 The Moon is near Jupiter
10/27 The Moon is near Aldebaran in the morning
10/30 Venus is high in the morning sky
10/31 Change your clocks back
tonight!
Astro News:
Scientists who will be performing medical research aboard the International Space Station say that big medical breakthroughs will be real ized from their research. Finally! Something better than Tang® may come out of the space program!
The Cassini spacecraft, bound for Saturn, recently flew past Earth, using us as a giant sling shot. Cassini now continues on to Saturn, having increased its speed by over 12,000 MPH, and in the process, slowed us down a tiny amount.
Recent discoveries are proposing to explain why ancient empires such as Egypt, Babylon and Rome collapsed. At least five times during the last 6,000 years, environmental disasters may have undermined civilizations around the world. Researchers say these upheavals may be linked to collisions with comets or cometary fragments.
A meteorite discovered last year contained the first extraterrestrial water ever found on Earth. Tiny bubbles of primordial water were locked inside crystals of halite, the mineral that makes up table salt. This water appears to be about 4.5 billion years old, giving scientists a chance to learn more about the early solar system.
Upcoming MHAA Events (for Southeastern New York State):
10/01 Wilcox Park 7:30 PM -
Saturn, Jupiter and the Andromeda Galaxy
10/08 Sam's Point 7:30 PM -
Saturn, Jupiter and the Andromeda Galaxy
10/19 Indoors meeting at SUNY New Paltz - 7:30 PM
Call (914) 485-5669 for the MHAA Hotline: Information, Astronomy News, etc. 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: November brings the return of the much hyped Leonid meteor shower! Clear skies!
MHAA Home Page: http://jump.to/mhaa
Puzzle answers follow, a page or so onward...
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Easy:
The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius.
Sid Caesar
Hard:
It's hard to be funny when you have to be clean.
Mae West