The Newsletter of Mid-Hudson Mensa
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Mid-Mensan
The Newsletter of Mid-Hudson Mensa |
November 1999 | |
| Cover: Jokes 2 (51Kb) | |||
| Paws for Reflection | Ron McMurdy, Fabien and Miss Ella |
Greetings everyone. I'm glad to report that our RG was a resounding success, and the predictions turned out to be remarkably accurate. I should start asking my psychic for lottery numbers. Seriously, our RG had a few less people than last year, but everyone had a good time. This year we shared space at Ashokan with the NY Mycological (Mushroom) Society. This turned out to be a good match, and we have invited them to join us at Ashokan next year. So, if you have an interest in mushrooms, you should consider attending our RG next year, September 8-10.
I mentioned it last month, but this month I need to mention it again:
Buy an Entertainment 2000® Book!
They cost $25, of which Mid-Hudson Mensa makes $5 profit per book. This money goes to our scholarship fund, and this is our largest fund-raiser for the scholarship. I'm coordinating the sales for Mid-Hud-
son 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! I will get the book to you; in person if I can, if not I'll mail it.
November 13th is National Testing Day. If you have a friend who is interested, please encourage them to come out and get tested on that day. They need to make a reservation, so please have them call Betsy Burke. Her phone number and e-mail are on the inside back cover. [Under Scholarship contact - Ed.]
Now, proceeding on to one of my favorite subjects: Marmots. I was watching a TV program the other night discussing the possibility of time travel, and they kept discussing these things called worm-holes as a possible means to accomplish this. I, for one, am shocked and appalled! Worm-holes indeed! Pick up your pen and write to your favorite theoretical physicist today. We need to have these re-named to MARMOT-HOLES immediately.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and
don't eat too much turkey, or watch
too much football (if that's possible!)
| From Under The Marmot | Bill Zigo |
Hollywood does it all the time, so why can't we? I'm talking about exploiting prior success with a sequel. Our October 1998 issue was our first "Inside Jokes" issue, which covered Mid-Hudson specialties such as marmots, Fig 1, flamingoes and Trudy. I've accumulated enough other goodies to print our own sequel.
This month's cover art was provided by Alan Hauck. Hopefully you will recognize it as a parody of the ad for one of the most popular movie sequels of all time, Jaws 2.
I'll keep my column short this month,
as we have a lot of new inside jokes
in this issue. Enjoy!
| Snappy Science Snippets | Andi Weiss Bartczak, Ph.D. |
Diamonds are valued by people be cause they are rare and beautiful and because they are valued by society. Industry values diamonds for their hardness. The science of diamonds is as interesting as watching a diamond interact with light.
Carbon is the 4th most abundant element in the solar system after hydrogen, helium and oxygen. Diamond, graphite, lonsdaleite and fullerene are the forms of pure carbon. Some diamonds were created in supernovae explosions before the solar system was formed, some were created when the solar system was formed and some were formed on Earth in its deep interior or in asteroid impacts and meteorite craters. They can't be directly dated; the ages of mineral inclusions can be determined from radioactive decay products. Its properties include covalent bonding, clarity, extreme hardness, high thermal conductivity and electrical resistance.
Diamond is the stable form of carbon at pressures greater than 5 gigapascals. Industrial-scale production is from amorphous carbon or graphite in high-temperature (1200°-1400°C) and high pressure presses (5-7 gigapascals) with a solvent and catalyst or minute diamond seeds.
Diamonds are carried from the earth's interior from depths of more than 180 kilometers in highly explosive, rapidly injected magma known as kimberlites. Only a few kimberlite deposits contain diamonds, in concentrations of 1-5 parts per million. High speed transport is thought necessary to avoid transformation of diamond to graphite or the burning of diamond to gas. Diamonds range from millimeter size to the famous Cullinan diamond of 3108 carats, but diamonds larger than 500 carats are rare. Green transparent diamonds show radiation damage, while green opaque or green opaque-coated diamonds contain mineral and fluid inclusions. Brown and pink diamonds have been deformed. Yellow and greenish-yellow diamonds contain nitrogen substituting for carbon and semiconducting blue diamonds have trace amounts of boron.
Crustal diamonds, found in crustal rock, probably formed from the continent collisions that produced the Eurasian supercontinent. They are typically a few tens of micrometers (0.001 meters - a meter is about 39") across and have been found in Kazakhstan, Norway and China.
Diamonds were first known in India
around 2000 BC and much later in
Brazil and South Africa. The major
producers today are Africa, Australia
and Russia with smaller outputs from
China, Brazil and India. The first
mine in the world-class deposits in
Arctic Canada opened in 1998.
| Pun of the Month | Jim Jelacic |
These quickies are from Dave Raften, a friend from Wappingers Falls.
Evidence has been found that Wil liam Tell and his family were avid bowlers. However, all the league records were unfortunately destroyed in a fire. Thus we'll never know for whom the Tells bowled.A man rushed into the doctor's office and shouted, "Doctor! I think I'm shrinking!" The doctor calmly responded, "Now, settle down. You'll just have to be a little patient."
A marine biologist developed a race of genetically engineered dolphins that could live forever if they were fed a steady diet of seagulls. One day his supply of the birds ran out, so he had to go out and trap some more. On the way back, he spied two lions asleep on the road. Afraid to wake them, he gingerly stepped over them. Immediately, he was arrested and charged with transporting gulls across sedate lions for immortal porpoises.
Send your favorite groaner to
PUNS c/o Jim Jelacic.
| Insults To Our Intelligence |
Do you know the IQ of a cop?
TO PROTECT AND SERVE: Robert Jordan sued the New Haven, Conn., police department after it rejected him as a police officer because he scored too high on an intelligence test [This is True, June 15, 1997]. But U.S. District Judge Peter C. Dorsey has dismissed Jordan's suit, ruling that he "may have been disqualified unwisely, but he was not denied equal protection" as defined by law. Jordan's IQ is approximately 125, versus a national average police officer IQ of 104. New Haven argued that a too-smart cop "could soon get bored with police work and quit after undergoing costly academy training."
...More likely, the brass realized he'd
outrank them within two years.
| Living Smarter | Bill Zigo |
Holiday baking season is upon us again, so I'd like to share a number of tips I've acquired the last few years, from various sources:
Tips for better cookies
Don't use baking pans with raised edges. These help contain the heat within and can cause your cookies to burn. If you must use this kind of pan for baking cookies, turn it over and bake the cookies on the bottom side.
If you are making several sheets of cookies, let the cookie sheet cool before putting on the next batch, otherwise the cookies will start cooking before they're in the oven. To cool the sheets faster, place them in the freezer for a few minutes before reusing them.
If your cookies spread too thinly, try increasing the heat of the oven by 25°. This will help the cookies set more quickly. Or, the next time you use that recipe, reduce the amount of sugar slightly. Most cookies have an abundance of sugar already.
Baking substitutions
If a cake recipe calls for more than one egg, and you're one egg short, two tablespoons of mayonnaise (not lite) may be substituted for the egg.
If you are baking a cake from a mix, instead of dusting the pan with flour, substitute a small amount of the cake mix instead, or cocoa for a chocolate cake.
If a recipe calls for cake flour and you don't have any, you may substitute 7/8 cup all-purpose flour for each cup of cake flour.
One cup of flour plus one teaspoon of baking powder may be substituted for one cup of self-rising flour.
½ teaspoon cream of tartar plus ¼ teaspoon of baking soda may be substituted for one teaspoon of baking powder.
If you're out of baking chocolate, squares or liquid, you can use three tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa plus one tablespoon of oil for each ounce of baking chocolate.
And if you like chocolate...
... add more vanilla to your recipe.
Vanilla enhances the flavor of chocolate. I use about 25% more than the
recipe lists.
| Are You Game? | Bill Zigo |
When I was in college, the semi-official card game of the college -- which became my favorite card game -- was pitch. Pitch is also called All Fours, or High, Low, Jack (Game). Since graduating, I have found a few co-workers and Mensa friends who are familiar with the game, but aside from college reunions, I've never found enough people at one time to play. So this month I'm providing the rules in the hope that some of you might be interested at future games nights or gatherings.
Pitch is typically a game of four players, two against two. The object of the game is to be the first to reach 21 points, usually by a margin of at least two points. Each hand is worth up to four points. For each hand, players are dealt six cards each. Beginning with the player to the dealer's left, each person has the option of bidding on the number of points he or she believes the team can take if they get to name the trump suit, or passing. There are only four bids: two, three, four or shoot the moon. Each bid must be higher, and if no one bids, the dealer must take a contract of a two-point bid. The bidder establishes a trump suit and leads a card for the first trick. Each person must follow suit. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card, including trump. The highest played card or trump card wins the trick, and the winner leads for the next trick.
The game points are awarded based on cards in each team's tricks: High card of trump, low card of trump, Jack of trump and most game points. All high cards have game points: aces are worth four, kings three, queens two, jacks one and tens are worth ten points. So tens are very strategic towards game points. Obviously, you don't want to bid four game points unless you know the jack of trump is in the game. A bid of "shoot the moon" implies you are able to take all six tricks. If you do, you automatically win the game (not just the hand), but if you don't you lose the game.
After trump is announced but before the first trick is led, you may exchange cards in your hand. This may be as many as all of them, depending on how many cards are available. You cannot bury trump, and you must show any point cards you dis card.
There are undoubtedly slight variations to the rules in different locales.
Check these before playing.
| Movies --> Television TV Trivia | Jim Jelacic |
Nobody said a TV executive has to be creative, ingenious or imaginative -- not when they can steal ideas from movies and make them into TV series. Even with a heavy-hitting movie to copy, it doesn't guarantee a successful series. Here are the actors of movies and their TV counterparts. Name the show.
Answers near the end of this newsletter.
| Tele-Teasers | Bill Zigo |
Decode the phone numbers to determine the clues.
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This month's theme: TV characters
The numbers represent the names of characters from popular shows. Decode the
number to identify the character, then identify the TV show.
Note: This will be the last Tele-Teaser. Next month, I will be taking a cue from Jim Jelacic to create a music trivia column.
Answers near the end of this newsletter.
| CryptoGrams | Jim Jelacic |
Easy:
KMDN EAK EWXMVP GTQ XMSXMXEQ, EWQ
BMXRQTPQ GML WBUGM PEBOXLXEN, GML
X'U MKE PBTQ GHKBE EWQ SKTUQT.
Hard - no punctuation, grouped in 5:
LXJUP JKCIS FJCJM ISUJF IPYRU CUXJU
FJCFW IQYFQ RJQJK QRHAY FYFJH YAR
Answers near the end of this newsletter.
| Trivia, November '99 | Jim Jelacic |
Greetings, Fellow Trivians! There has been a challenge on Q38's ques tion of the origin of Paul Revere's famous ride. Buff McAllister gave me her sources for "Charlestown" as the starting place. I agree. since Charlestown seems to be a suburb of Boston. I am correcting Buff's total correct to 5 and Frank Wolfe's, who also had Charlestown, to 6 correct answers.
Here are the answers to September's questions:
Q47: Area 51, the secret base to study
UFOs, is supposedly 90 miles north
of what city?
A47: Las Vegas, Nevada.
Q48: What humorist, intellectual and
former game show host wrote the
music and words to Nat "King"
Cole's famous song Impossible?
A48: Steve Allen.
Q49: America's first turnpike, known
as the Little River Turnpike, was
authorized in 1785 by which state?
A49: Virginia.
Q50: Who wrote the self-help book
How to Win Friends and Influence
People?
A50: Dale Carnegie.
Q51: According to Greek mythology,
who fell in love with himself when he
saw his reflection in a pool of water?
A51: Narcissus.
Q52: True or False: Horace Greeley
originated the expression "Go West,
young man, go West"?
A52: False - John Lane Soule of the
Terre Haute, Indiana, Express said it
in 1851. Greeley reprinted it.
Q53: Identify the order in which the
4 blood types appeared in human
evolution.
A53: Type-O, Type-A, Type-B and
Type AB (source: Eat Right For Your
Type, by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo.)
Q54: Name the US space shuttles.
A54: Columbia, Discovery, Endeavor
and Atlantis.
Q55: Who was the first federal official to be impeached and what was
the result?
A55: William Blount, senator from
Tennessee, was impeached on
12/17/1798. The charges were
dismissed on 01/14/1799.
Q56: At 3,307 miles, what country
has the world's longest wire-and-post
fence?
A56: Australia - it separates the din
gos in the north from the sheep in the
south.
The winner is Frank Wolf with a perfect 10 correct answers. Dave Cardall and Tom Rankin had 8 and Les Herring had 7 correct answers.
And now, this month's questions:
Q66: True or False: Reno, NV is east of Los Angeles, CA.
Q67: Which actor has played a single father the most times on prime time TV?
Q68: Did the South have a working government by the time Ft. Sumter was fired upon on April 13, 1861?
Q69: List these art periods in order from oldest to newest: Baroque, Classicism, Cubism, Impressionism, Pop.
Q70: What is the meaning of the Latin expression E Pluribus Unum?
Q71: True or False: If you dug a hole in the US deep enough, you'd come out in China.
Q72: True or False: Jupiter is more massive than all the other planets in our Solar System combined. (Submitted by Tom Rankin)
Q73: What is the only US state which allows individuals under the age of 18 to marry without parental consent? (Submitted by Bill Zigo)
Q74: What is the oldest National Park in the US? (Submitted by Dave Cardall)
Q75: What is the oldest National Park in the world? (Submitted by Dave Cardall)
Send your answers (and questions
with answers and references) to
TRIVIA CONTEST c/o Jim Jelacic
by November 30.
| What's Up? Current Topics in Astronomy |
Tom Rankin, President, Mid-Hudson Astronomy Assoc. |
Last time, I mentioned the planets and the Orionids. Did anyone see any?
This month, MHAA will sponsor a public program at the Museum of the Hudson Highlands in Cornwall-on-Hudson, on November 6th, with a rain date of the 13th. We'll start at 7:00 and look at Jupiter, Saturn, and whatever else is visible. If you can't make that and you're a morning person, Venus is visible in the early morning sky. Speaking of the planets, Mercury will transit the Sun on the 15th, a very rare event. This will take place around 4:00 and will require a solar filter to safely observe.
Other November Events:
11-06 - Saturn rises at sundown and is up all night
11-07 - The Moon is very slim in the dawn sky
11-08 - The Moon is very slim in the evening sky
11-13 - The Moon is near Mars
11-17 - Peak of the Leonids meteor shower (storm?!)
11-20 - The Moon is near Jupiter
11-21 - The Moon is near Saturn
11-23 - The Moon is near Aldebaran
Astro News:
UC Berkeley researchers announced that Neptune and Uranus may produce a "rain" of fine diamond dust. Let's go! [Tell Andi - Ed.]
Speaking of the two outermost gas planets, while they may be smaller than Jupiter and Saturn, other researchers using the ISO satellite's spectrograph have determined that they have 3 times more ice in their cores than Jupiter and Saturn.
The new Subaru telescope in Japan has discovered a new subtle halo around the ring nebula. Pics at http://www.naoj.org
There was also a picture released recently by the X-ray satellite Chandra, which showed the stunning view of the inner core of the Crab Nebula.For pictures, go to http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/photo.
Upcoming MHAA Events (for Southeastern New York State):
Nov 5, Wilcox Park, 07:30 PM - Jupiter and Saturn
Nov 12, Sam's Point, 07:30 PM - Jupiter and Saturn
Nov 16, Indoor 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: December brings the Geminid meteor shower. Clear skies!
MHAA Home Page: http://jump.to/mhaa
Puzzle answers follow, a page or so onward...
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Easy:
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Hard:
What can you say about a society that says God is dead and Elvis is alive?
Irv Kupcinet