Mid-Mensan The Newsletter of Mid-Hudson Mensa	May 2000

As I begin writing this column, I am looking forward to the warm sunny May days, the chirping of the birds, busy with their nesting activities, flowers blooming, and people sneezing! Unfortunately, today's weather forecast (4/11) is for 1-3" of snow!!

I was able to chat with my previously anonymous $20 Scholarship Fund donor, and I am pleased to announce that, with his permission, I can tell you it is none other than new member Jules Shayo. I want to personally thank him for the donation, and to hint-hint nudge-nudge a few other people in hopes of extracting a similar contribution to our Scholarship Fund.

I mentioned our Scholarship Fund-raising garage sale last issue, and everyone should be getting a personal invitation to donate items, and stop over to buy other things.

Can you buy what you donated? Sure! If you have since concluded that you can't live without it, come on over and we'll be happy to sell it back to you. The Garage Sale is the weekend of May 20-21^st. Help us make this event a HUGE success.

Another upcoming event is the Hudson Valley Balloon Festival. This year it's combined with the WarBirds show and is scheduled for the weekend of June 9-11^th. I'll report more details on this next month.

Finally, from the dog arena, Casper has returned for more surgery, this time to fix a hip problem that was discovered when he was X-rayed after breaking his legs. He should be home shortly, with a couple of months of recovery to follow. I'm sure everyone joins me in wishing him, and owner Betsy, a speedy recovery.

I'm always looking for ways to mention more members of our chapter in our newsletter. Combine that with an enjoyment of tallying lists, and you have this month's theme. I acquired used copies of several of the "book of lists" books which were popular in the 1980's, and I thought surveying members of Mid-Hudson Mensa on various questions would be fun.

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in this exercise. If there's enough interest, perhaps we'll run a sequel to this in the future. I think you'll find the responses interesting, thought-provoking and in some cases downright humorous. In fact, one of the participants has agreed to provide a monthly list for the newsletter. You'll have to find his or her list on a subsequent page to determine who that is. For now, enjoy!

We begin, of course with the obligatory marmot-related question:

Five things Bill Hughes would train a pet marmot to do:

1. Purr like a cat
2. Wag its tail like a dog
3. Sort out junk mail
4. Converse endlessly with telemarketers
5. Whistle Sky Lark

PLANTS AND GREENHOUSE EFFECT WARMING

The Triassic-Jurassic boundary marks the third largest faunal mass extinction in Earth history. There was also a 95% extinction of floral species. Based on fossil leaf anatomy, McElwain et al. suggest that a large greenhouse warming effect meant that only plants with narrow, dissected leaves could avoid lethal leaf temperatures.

Science, Vol. 285, 8/27/99, p. 1386

A CURSING BRAIN?
THE HISTORIES OF
TOURETTE SYNDROME

...by Howard I. Kushner. Kushmer describes the radical changes in how this syndrome has been viewed since it was named in 1885. The syndrome can develop in childhood, adolescence or adulthood. Individuals can exhibit tics, blinking, barks, grunts, yelps, sexual gestures or displays, imitation of other's behaviors and vocalizations that range from muttering to loud cursing. The severity can vary over time and differs for different people. It is now thought to affect about 5 people per 10,000 in North America. The first cause was thought to be hereditary degeneration, then psychiatric and then post-infectious. Inflammation may be the most compatible with the chronic waxing and waning of the symptoms.

From a review by Julio Licinio in Science, Vol. 286, 10/1/99, p.56

BABY BRAINS

Newborn babies see in a narrow tunnel around the line of vision, with poor ability to resolve details, uncoordinated eyes and no depth vision. By the end of the first year of life, the baby sees little differently than adults. Research by Maurer et al. demonstrates that even a brief period of visual exposure in infants born with one or two opaque (eye) lens allows development of the visual system. Lack of exposure to visual stimuli prevents development of the complex nerve interconnections within the brain. Even one hour of cumulative exposure causes improvement in visual acuity in infants treated for congenital cataracts in one or both eyes. The test makes use of the tendency of young humans to look at objects containing more pattern than their surroundings. Deafness followed by sound in children with cochlear implants leads to an equivalent development of the brain structures associated with hearing.

Science, Vol. 286, 10/1/99, p. 59

BIRTH OF A PLANET

Our four centuries of telescopic observations are no more than a snapshot in the history of our universe. To determine how a planet is made, astronomers must find and compare stars in a wide variety of early solar lifespans. Nearby youthful stars are relatively scarce. Using new and more sensitive instruments, astronomers can now see past cosmic dust. Physical evidence is accumulating that planets coalesce out of the dust disks that surround many young stars. Probably a few million years after the star's birth, the dust particles remaining around it coalesce into larger bodies and eventually into planets. After a few hundred million more years, the gravity of any giant planet will move the remaining debris either inward to crash into the inner planets and moons or outward to be thrown out of the system, leaving a relatively dust-free planetary system like ours (under half a billion years for our solar system to clear). Observations show that many dust disks around older stars have a central dust-free area about the same size as our solar system. In the past five years, planets have been found by the tiny wobbles they create in the motion of the parent stars. And in 1997 the TWA Hya Association was identified as a young star-forming region, with some of its stars about 10 million years old, just when theorists expect planets to be born. Planet formation can be stopped by a star being part of a close binary or multiple star system or by being in a large star-forming region such as the Orion Nebula, where the massive young stars emit ultraviolet radiation that evaporates dust disks.

Science, Vol. 286, 10/1/99, p.66

Andi's Top 5 list
Of Inventions Or Discoveries Of The 20^th Century
From A Woman's Point Of View

(in no particular order)

• antibiotics
• oral contraceptive pill
• refrigerator
• washing machine
• computer

Five Places In The Mid-Hudson Valley
Where Les Herring Enjoys Dining

In no particular order:

• Another Roadside Attraction, Milan
• Hyde Park Brewing Company
• Ship to Shore, Kingston
• Kaare's Roadhouse Grill, Kingston
• The Terrapin, Shokan

Barbara Rankin's Five Favorite Museums

[Barbara Rankin is ye calendar editor's contact for museum trips.]

1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
2. Cooper Hewitt -- The National Design Institute
3. The Museum of Modern Art
4. The Guggenheim Museum of Art
   (and if Barb wins the lottery, she'll visit all 5: the two in NYC, plus Berlin, Venice and Bilbao)
5. The Frances Lehman Loeb Gallery of Art at Vassar College

Here are some quickies. The first one is from Helen Schimpf:

Mahatma Ghandi walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him very frail, and with his odd diet he suffered from bad breath. This made him what?

A Super Callused Fragile Mystic Plagued with Halitosis.

This one is from Tom Rankin:

What do you call a digitized photograph of a bird?

A Scandinavian.

Last, but not least, this one is from Bob Naborney:

Which letters are like Roman Emperors?

The C's are ...

Send your favorite groaner to PUNS c/o Jim Jelacic.

Five Memorable Mid-Hudson Mensa Events
Bibi Sandstrom has Attended

[As our membership officer, Bibi sends our potential new members introductory letters, which include some of our chapter's activities - Ed.]

1. Any of the wonderful Hudson Valley Balloon Festivals, which member Bill Hughes started.
2. The cruise on the Hudson River
3. Picking strawberries in the fields [at Grieg Farm in Upper Red Hook, I believe - Ed.], and then adjourning to Betsy Burke's for fresh strawberry sundaes and/or shortcake.
4. The December Monthly Gathering with Stu Quimby's Design Science Toys, followed by our Gimme Grabbee Gift Exchange.
5. The Twilight Zone Marathon Day followed by the evening's Mirthday party.

This is my second of two reviews of Cheapass Games® which I have played at recent Mensa conventions. The second game is called Give Me the Brain™.

The setting for this game is a bit unusual -- a fast food restaurant run by mindless zombies -- or is it?) The poor employees have a large number of tasks to perform in the course of a day and only one brain to pass between each other. Each player represents one employee. At the start of the game, you get a set of cards, many of which represent the tasks you need to do. To win, you must be the first person to get rid of your cards on your own turn.

There are three types of cards: bidding cards, Mindless Task cards and task cards which require the brain. (Cheapass Games recommend you use a 6-sided die as the brain, which you conveniently have to roll on occasion.) Task cards which require the brain may only be played when you actually have the brain. Mindless Task cards often involve some other game aspect, such as affecting the number of cards in your hand, or requiring the person who currently has the brain to drop it.

When someone drops the brain, the players bid for the right to use the brain with their bidding cards, which have a point value. The highest bidder gets to keep the brain... for now.

However, every time you perform a task which requires the brain, you must make a die roll to see whether you held on to the brain or not (the harder the task, the higher the roll necessary). If you fumble, the brain is up for bids again.

Give Me the Brain is a fast-paced and humorous card game which takes about 15 minutes to play. The cards and tasks -- particularly the bidding cards -- have hilarious quotes and illustrations on them. As you might expect, Mensans enjoy acting out the quotes or tasks on the cards.

Eric Kollenberg's Top 5 Reasons
To Reanimate the Dead

(after watching way too many "B" Movies):

5. They're easy to beat at checkers and arm-wrestling, especially if in an advanced state of decay.

4. "Ha Ha! Kneel before me, for I command the legions of the dead!"-- an effective threat when seeking world domination.

3. The smell of putrification helps mask embarrassing pet odors.

2. You can have Dick Nixon to kick around again.

And the number one reason for reanimating the dead:

1. What could possibly go horribly wrong?

Filene's [a perennial favorite for this column - Ed.] had their "Biggest sale of the season" the second week of April. Since Spring was only two weeks old, did that mean none of their sales through mid-June would be any good?

One has to wonder what the TV programming executive was thinking about when he put on shows so bad they didn't even last more than a few episodes. Here is a list of show descriptions. Which are the real One Month Wonders and which are from my fledgling programming executive imagination? Don't blink or you'll miss it.

1. Animal Hospital - An animal show where the patients of a small veterinary clinic are found by the doctor's pet dog, Hippocrates.
2. The Boys - A sitcom where a hip young writer with writer's block joins a weekly card game with 3 grumpy old men.
3. The Boys of Twilight - A western where the sheriff and his deputies have to adjust to their little town of Twilight rapidly growing to become the new trendy getaway place for the rich and famous.
4. The Bobby Gentry Show - A musical variety show starring Bobby Gentry of Ode to Billy Joe fame.
5. Built to Last - A sitcom of a computer whiz giving up his career to help run his family's small construction business.
6. Common Law - A sitcom where a long-haired, down-to-earth Hispanic lawyer joins an upscale, up-tight Manhattan law firm.
7. Concrete Cowboys - An adventure show where two cowpokes ride the highways in a camper playing cards, doing odd jobs and looking for adventure.
8. Detective in the House - A detective show where a successful engineer changes careers to become a private detective and teams up with a retired PI to learn the ropes.
9. Draegan - A drama where a reformed alcoholic doctor opens a clinic in Chicago's South Side with the help of a nun.
10. Dudley - A sitcom where a famous New York composer and pianist has private life troubles due to his inability to make a commitment.

Answers near the end of this newsletter.

Each of these recording acts took his/her/their name from an unusual source. Can you determine the name of the act from the clues?

1. This popular dance and party band from Athens, Georgia, named themselves after a slang form of the bouffant wigs the female group members wore.
2. This British supergroup of the 1980's, who provided the theme song to one of the James Bond movies, took their name from the villain in the Jane Fonda movie Barbarella.
3. This trio of women formed in the early 1990s and almost immediately had three #1 songs. The group name was the last names of the group members, all of whom were daughters of artists from groups which were very popular in the 1960s.
4. A popular British techno-disco band of the 1980s and 1990s, this group's name is French for "fast fashion."
5. This progressive rock band, famous for its flute-playing founder, named itself after an 18^th century agriculturist.
6. This crooner of the 1960s and 1970s, who had his own musical variety show in 1970 was born Arnold George Dorsey, but someone suggested he instead take the name of a famous German opera composer.
7. This one-hit wonder group hit the Top 5 with a song called Heart and Soul in 1987. They named themselves after a prominent Vulcan princess who appeared in a single episode of the original Star Trek series (but who also had a cameo appearance in the first Star Trek movie).
8. Doing only slightly better, this two-hit wonder from 1973, a trio from Toronto, had one big hit called Last Song. They took their name from a character from Winnie The Pooh.
9. This rap trio based their name on the fact that their combined weight exceeded 750 pounds.
10. This American group from the 1960s and 1970s based their name on very cold evenings in Aboriginal Australia -- the number of animals who served as your "blankets."

Answers near the end of this newsletter.

Easy:

GXJ L WLI GVDOP GLIC L GYRQ YB L

MYU WJBCQAJ CV BVWQ EQVEOQ. GXJ L

WLI GVDOP GLIC CGV GYFQB YB L

MYULWJBCQAJ.

Hard - no punctuation, grouped in 5:

ZLPDO SKBBS NRNQS NORSW TKLFQ NPDOS

BSARN QSZKL FQNPD OSABL ELDSZ

Answers near the end of this newsletter.

Greetings, Fellow Trivians! Here are the answers to March's questions:

Q1: What South American country outlawed slavery in 1813, 63 years before the United States' Thirteenth Amendment?

A1: Argentina.

Q2: What was the name of Murphy Brown's baby?

A2: Avery.

Q3: Who was the War Chief who led the Native Americans in the battle at Little Big Horn?

A3: Crazy Horse. Sitting Bull was a Sioux Medicine Man who stayed behind the lines.

Q4: Who is the author of the "Harry Potter" children's book series?

A4: J. K. Rowling.

Q5: Scientists recently announced that chromosome 22 is the first human chromosome to have almost all of its DNA sequence mapped. Excluding the X and Y chromosomes, how many pairs of chromosomes are in the human cell?

A5: 22 pairs.

Q6: True or False: The British Navy stopped giving British sailors their rum ration in 1970.

A6: True - July 31, 1970 to be exact.

Q7: Name the only person to be the governor of more than one state.

A7: Sam Houston (Tennessee and Texas).

Q8: New York State resident Charles W. Howard was founder of what type of school?

A8: A school for Santa Clauses. After WWII, he was Macy's parade Santa for two decades.

Q9: Within ± 2000 miles per second, what is the speed of light in water?

A9: 139,500 miles per second.

The winner is Ed Quinn with 8 correct answers. Philippe Benthien had 7, Elizabeth McAllister had 6 and Les Herring and Tom Rankin had 4 correct answers. Sorry, Les, I can't print your Best Off-The-Wall Answer to what is Murphy Brown's baby's name.

And now, this month's questions:

Q21: True or False: Mexico is the official name of that country.

Q22: Who wrote Mr. Tambourine Man and Blowin' in the Wind?

Q23: In 1903, the Boston Red Sox was the first team to do what against the Pittsburgh Pirates?

Q24: Did Mary Ann Evans write Silas Marner and Adam Bede?

Q25: Who, in 1939, invented the first successful helicopter?

Q26: Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

Q27: What is the only element with three possible chemical symbols? (Submitted by Bill Zigo)

Q28: When was Instant Coffee first marketed (± 5 years)? (Submitted by Tom Rankin)

Q29: What is the most frequently broken bone in the human body? (Submitted by Ed Quinn)

Q30: In NYC subways, how many volts are on the 3^rd rail (± 100)? (Submitted by Dave Cardall)

Q31: The movie Tammy and the Bachelor was inspired by what book? (Submitted by Dave Cardall)

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

Last time, I mentioned that lots of planets would be visible. Did anyone see any?

In May, most of the planets will be too close to the sun to be seen, but you may be able to see Mars at the start of the month in the evening in the west, possibly Jupiter and Saturn at the end of the month, in the morning sky in the east, and possibly Mercury in the west at the end of the month after sunset.

5/4 - There will be a very slim moon, just after sunset, in the west

5/5 - The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks in the early morning hours

5/17 - Venus is .01 degrees from Jupiter in the morning sky in the east (but probably not visible)

5/18 - Mercury is near Mars (difficult to spot though)

5/19 - Mercury is near Mars (difficult to spot though)

5/28 - Jupiter and Saturn are closest together, very low in the east in the morning.

Astronomers searching for planets orbiting other stars have found two planets smaller than Saturn, giving them more confidence that they are not merely finding tiny, failed stars. The smallest star would have to slightly larger than Jupiter, so finding something ¼ of this mass rules out it being a small star.

The solar activity cycle is peaking now, meaning we could experience increased satellite problems, and power grid problems at high latitudes. It is also a great time to view the sun (with a solar filter or by projection) to observe sun spots. Sun spots are magnetic disturbances on the sun that appear darker than the rest of the sun because they are 1000 cooler than the normal solar surface.

A privately funded mission to restore the Mir space station to operational status was (supposedly) launched from Russia April 4^th.

There is growing evidence that many of the features on Mars may have been shaped by glaciers, rather than by liquid water. The discovery that many Martian features are similar to terrestrial glacier-caused features was made by Pascal Lee, a NASA Ames Research Center planetary scientist.

Upcoming MHAA events (for southeastern New York state):

May 5 - Sam's Point - 8:00 PM Galaxies

May 16 - SUNY New Paltz - 7:30 PM Linda Zimmermann, Mars: Myths and Facts More

May 26 - Wilcox Park - 8:30 PM Galaxies, Milky Way

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: June brings the Bootid Meteor shower, and short, warm, summer nights! Clear skies!

Tom Rankin

MHAA Home Page: http://jump.to/mhaa

Cryptogram Answers:

Easy:

Why a man would want a wife is a big mystery to some people. Why a man would want two wives is a bigamystery.

Hard:

Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

“One Month Wonders” TV Trivia Answers:

1) Animal Hospital and 9) Draegan are the phony shows.
All of the rest are real prime time shows lasting about a month or less.

“Where'd You Get That Name?” Music Trivia Answers:

1. The B-52s
2. Duran Duran
3. Wilson Phillips
4. Depeche Mode
5. Jethro Tull
6. Engelbert Humperdinck
7. T'Pau
8. Edward Bear
9. The Fat Boys
10. Three Dog Night