RVC Update - Ike Kullman

Notes From the Underground - Barry Karas

Member News and Updates - Glen Moulder

Happy Hours & Gatherings - Bill Whitesell/Barry Karas

Local Members Directory - Glen Moulder

Mexican Independence Day party review - Mabel Mendel

New Region 10! - Ike Kullman

Space Coast Area Mensa Regional Gathering in October

Leadership Development Workshop in November

AMC Office Candidates for 2001 - Cher Burnham/Maggie Rubin

1999 Holiday Party Announcement - Elissa Rudolph

Classified Advertisements - Glen Moulder

Editor's ForuM - Glen Moulder

RVC Update

Ike Kullman

As I write this, I am preparing for the Fall 2000 AMC meeting, so there will be more news in a couple of weeks. If there is anything of immediate note, I'll send it on to the newsletter editors, although it might still not get printed for another month.

I attended the North Alabama Mensa RG in August, and enjoyed myself greatly, as usual. There was a sharing of memories of David Mann, who was a member of that group. The Mensa in Georgia RG, Peachtreat! 2000, is Sept. 15, and I will be there. As a note about MiG, they have, as a group, donated $1000 to the MERF David Mann Scholarship Fund. The fund is about halfway to the goal of $20,000, and full endowment. Perhaps your group might meet their challenge to do likewise.

This month, October is one of preparation for the LDW coming up in Greenville, SC. There is a Regional Gathering at Space Coast Area Mensa, which I plan to attend. Except for the LDW, things should be quiet until the AMC meeting in early December.

National Testing Day, is of course coming up on November 11, and I hope that each local group with the ability, will participate. We get over a thousand responses each year, and many more contacts that become members later, so there is great value in this. Of course if your group doesn't have a Proctor, I will be happy to help you get one. I will personally be giving a test that day, as will all the available proctors in my group.

As always, I am open to questions and other communication from members, and I have been getting a steady flow each week. If you have something you need to know, and your LocSec can't help, feel free to contact me. Contact information should be in your newsletter; if not, ask your editor why. Peace to all.

 Notes From the Underground

Barry Karas

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. National Testing Day ("NTD") takes place this year on November 11th at Delray Beach and Fort Pierce. This is an annual event now. While we host other testing sessions during the year, this is a national event with most local chapters participating. Because of its scope, NTD received a lot of publicity (including from the television networks) last year. Since qualification is the first step in our membership process, I encourage you to "talk up" NTD with friends, relatives, and acquaintances who you think might qualify for membership. Contact Hank Colman in Boynton Beach or Allardyce Hamill in Ft. Pierce for more details. Two additional things to keep in mind:

1. Prospects can qualify instead of taking the test by submitting prior evidence (like pre-1994 SATs) - intelligence tests taken in prior years. Contact Hank or Allardyce for details, including qualifying scores.

2. Members of the press can take the test gratis; otherwise its $30.

GOOD TO SEE YOU. New member Paige Davis came on board. Members who reinstated after leaving us for a year or more are Michael Davis, Stephen Ring, and Sean Zullo.

ROLLIN' ON THE RIVER. Amazon, the bookseller changed its privacy policy recently. They decreed that the information you give to them (and any other information about you that they can obtain) is their property - information like your reading matter and habits, credit card numbers, social security number, etc. Whereas before you could opt out of this information processing, now you cannot. (I feel strongly about privacy, although I'm not overly paranoid about it. Some may say, "Get over it - your information is already public knowledge." True, much of my information is public knowledge, but that doesn't mean I have to roll over and play dead - i.e., make it easy for the information gatherers.) Also, Amazon was making it very difficult for us to obtain the associate fees that we were entitled to.Therefore, we are ending our association with Amazon.com. In the near future we will be establishing an associate relationship with another large bookseller.

ROSTER. We will defer printing this until November. Members who are reinstating/renewing late want to make sure they're included. If you don't want certain information published, please get in touch with Glen or me (see the article below).

Member News and Updates

Glen Moulder

PBCM membership on August 30th was 268, increasing our group size by 14 since July. The national office reported total membership at 43,268, up by 1,127. We welcome NEW member Paige Davis, renewing members Anne Matson, Charles L. Chipley, III, David Osofsky, Edward Sorensen, III, Aaron Lieberman, Karen Haney, Richard Haney, Dr. Samuel Askinas and Alan Damsky. Welcome back to reinstating members Stephen Ring, Sean Zullo and Michael Davis. And a big welcome to our area to Avraham Adler.

In September, the North County Gathering was at Bill Whitesell's home. In attendance were Lea Pratt, Laura Bulowski, Diana Roberts, Sean Crooks and Jennifer and Bill Whitesell. Additionally, Laura was escourted by Gee Bulawski who kept us quite entertained.

 There was no South County Gathering/4th Friday Happy Hour held in September.

Glen Moulder

Last month, we indicated we'll be publishing a directory of group members soon. This project is nearing the final stages of completion but there is still time to indicate your data field preferences. The directory will be a simple listing of local members that will be sent only to local members. The information fields about each member that will appear in the listing are shown in the form below. At a minimum, the directory will contain TITLE, FIRST NAME, MIDDLE INITIAL, LASTNAME and CITY. If you DO NOT wish to have the information in the other fields listed in the directory, please print and fill out this form and return it to Glen Moulder, 505 Spencer Dr. #204, West Palm Beach, FL 33409. You can also send it to Barry or any board member or call or e-mail us to indicate your preferences.

YES

NO

FIELD/QUESTION

X

-----

TITLE

X

-----

FIRST NAME

X

-----

MIDDLE INITIAL

X

-----

LAST NAME

STREET ADDRESS

X

-----

CITY

STATE

ZIPCODE

PHONE NUMBER

E-MAIL ADDRESS

Send me a printed copy of the directory

Name: ________________________

Street: ________________________

City/Zip: ________________________

Phone: ________________________

E-mail: ________________________

Mabel Mendel

Dinner at Sharron Ronco's beautiful Delray home on Saturday evening, September 16, was truly "una fiesta grande". We started with guacamole and two colors of tortilla chips, quesadillas stuffed with shrimp and other delectables and dynamite margaritas made with tequila, lime juice and COINTREAU instead of Triple Sec. Entrees were multiple and delicious. The piece de resistance (oops, wrong language) were individual flans topped with slivered almonds surrounded by fresh raspberries. Present were John Swick, Joan Harrison, Mabel Mendel, Dan Tobias, Bob Dolson, Allicyn and Tom Winchester, Kay Skoog, Lynn O'Dwyer and Barry Karas. To the rest of our usual group---you missed a good one! (Oh yes, Sharron was there too).

Ike Kullman

The long awaited creation of a Florida-only region will take place with the seating of the new AMC in July 2001. There will be an RVC from Florida on that AMC. Much of the procedures for what will happen are under study at this time. I will pass on what I know.

Anyone interested in being a candidate for RVC may get on the ballot by petition. The suggested petition form is included in the Code of Election Procedures. A total of 50 signatures will be required to qualify. Candidates must live within the region, petition signers should also live within the region, and only those within the region may vote for RVC 10. Candidates will also be required to sign a statement that they will run if accepted, and will serve if elected, so frivolous entries are discouraged. I know of some members who intend to run for RVC 10.

As far as those members who live in other states who are members of Florida groups, they will remain in the Florida region, and will vote in that election.

Although your members will be voting in Region 10 for RVC 10, you remain in Region 5 until the new AMC takes office. Therefore, until then, I will continue to serve you as your RVC. Should anyone need information or help with petitions, etc., please feel free to contact me. I have every expectation that the transition will be smooth, and that the end result will be a better Mensa for us all.

27 -29 October, 2000

Holiday Inn Oceanfront

2605 North Highway A1A

Melbourne, FL 32903

(321) 777-4100 or 1 (800) HOLIDAY

$79.00 per night (S/D/T/Q) guaranteed thru 1 October 2000

Registrations:

• $60.00 from 6/01/00 to 9/30/00
• $70.00 after 10/1/00

What's Planned:

• 24-Hour Hospitality In Our World-Famous Penthouse!
• Joke-Off
• Pundemonium
• Home-Made Dinner Friday Night
• Saturday Night "Eat Your Way Around The World" Dinner
• Saturday Night Dance / Costume Contest With DJs "Akbar And Jeff"
• Changeover to Eastern Standard Time on Sunday Morning will add 1 hour to the RG at no extra charge!

Registration Form

Name(s): _____

Address: _____

Phone: (____)______-___________

E-mail: ________________________________

Number of Meal Plans

(Saturday Dinner/Sunday Brunch)

@ $43.00 ea._________

Single Dinner @ $26.00 ea: ________

Single Brunch @ 18.00 ea: ________

___ Tshirts (Black w/detailed RG logo in silver) only $8.00 S-XL, 2x $10, 3X $12, 4X $13. Photo available at:

http://homepages.go.com/~spacecoastmensa/rgt.jpg

Doug Paul, Registrar

998 Woodsmere Cir,

Rockledge FL 32955 (321)639-6923

topgun@phonetech.com

November 17-19, 2000

Mensa leaders, both current and future, are invited to attend the Leadership Development Workshop being hosted by Piedmont Area Mensa in Greenville, SC on November 17-19, 2000. Mensans from the Southeast will meet to share ideas, problems and solutions for many issues that are important to local groups. There will be presentations, panels, and brainstorming sessions on such topics as: ExComm Basics, Publicity and Marketing, Editing and Newsletter Basics, Local Group Bylaws, and others.

The Workshop is absolutely free and open to all Mensans.

If you are someone who is considering becoming more involved in your local group, please join us. This program is designed to develop future leaders, as well as augmenting the skills of those currently in office. If you are currently a leader in Mensa, in addition to attending yourself, please take this opportunity to encourage those in your group to attend.

The Workshop will be held at the Wingate Inn - Airport. Located at 33 Beacon Drive, Greenville, SC 29615. Phone 864-281-1281 or fax 864-281-0406 to make your reservations. Rooms are $59 plus tax per night until November 3.

Hospitality will be open Friday evening and all day Saturday. A trip out to one of the local restaurants will be planned for Saturday dinner. A continental breakfast is provided by the hotel with each reservation.

Piedmont Area Mensa is very pleased to be hosting the workshop and we are looking forward to having you participate. Please RSVP to Stormie Kullman to reserve your place. We do need to know how many people are planning to attend in order to prepare the materials needed and provide plenty of snacks for everyone.

Contact information:

Stormie Kullman

59 Washington Drive

Piedmont, SC 29673

864-295-0524 (home), 864-239-1773 (work), e-mail StormieT4@aol.com

Cher Burnham

The following is a list of candidates for AMC offices who have chosen to run in the spring of 2001 through the Nominating Committee (NomComm). If you, or any other member of Mensa, has information regarding any of these candidates pertaining to their expected performance in the office for which they are running, please send it directly to me. I will then forward the information to the candidate for response before circulating it to the NomComm and all other interested parties.

OFFICER

CANDIDATE(S)

Chairman

Bob Beatty
Tony Jackowski

1st Vice Chairman

Jean Becker
Linda Hathaway

2nd Vice Chairman

Russ Bakke
Bob Cox

Secretary

Dan Burg

Treasurer

Jim Werdell

RVC 1

Betsy Burke

RVC 2

Sallie Banko

RVC 3

Wil Huff
Rick Magnus

RVC 4

Stacey Kirsch
Cyndi Kuyper

RVC 5

Ike Kullman
Oscar Ziegler

RVC 6

Ray O'Connor
Dan Wilterding

RVC 7

Steve Burnham
Marcia Lannan

RVC 8

Scott Rainey

RVC 9

Barbara Lytle

Elissa Rudolph

It's not too early to start thinking about our annual holiday party, folks. I will volunteer again this year to coordinate it but I need some volunteers to help out with setup, managing and cleanup. The community clubhouse where I live in Delray is available on Saturday, the second weekend in December. The details are to be announced, but for more information or to volunteer, call me at 561.272.0475 or send email to elissa12@bellsouth.net.

Glen Moulder

Serge Villani
Financial Consultant, Mensan since 1985

For all of your financial planning needs.
Please call with any questions.

26301 US Hwy 19N, Clearwater, Florida

727-799-5612 or toll free at 800-964-7931

Editor's ForuM - featuring member Sandra Thomas

Glen Moulder

I'd like to be able to say I wrote this folks, but I lifted it from Sandra.

Member Sandra Thomas is the founder of the American Hemochromatosis Society (AHS), a non-profit 501c3 organization serving victims of hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) and their families. Sandra, who carries the HH gene mutation, lost her mother to HH last year and has dedicated her life to helping others avoid a similar fate. HH is also known as iron overload disease, genetic iron poisoning, and the "Celtic Curse" (because it affects so many people of Irish/Celtic descent). It can be easily diagnosed through simple blood tests: serum iron, TIBC, and serum ferritin. Combined with a new DNA/genetic test kit that can be used painlessly at home, diagnosis can be achieved in less than a week.

Treatment of HH is achieved through blood donation. Those who donate regularly may be unknowingly protecting themselves from "iron overload". Symptoms of more advanced stages of HH include chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, arthritis, diabetes, heart attack/irregular heartbeat, elevated liver enzymes, cirrhosis of the liver, primary liver cancer, and heart and/or liver transplants. Many patients have no symptoms at all. Organ damage can be completely prevented with early testing and treatment.

Sandra's letter to Ann Landers about HH appeared in newspapers nationwide on July 1st, 2000. Sandra was also recently interviewed on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather to discuss genetic testing for hemochromatosis. She advocates genetic testing for HH for all men, women, and children in America.

Anyone wishing more information may visit the AHS web site at: www.americanhs.org or call the toll free information hotline: 1-888-655-IRON (4766) or send a SASE with three stamps to: AHS, 777 E. Atlantic Avenue, PMB Z-363, Delray Beach, FL, 33483-5352. Direct email is: ahs@emi.net

Note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and DO NOT reflect opinions of Palm Beach County Mensa, its officers, or of American Mensa, Ltd., which holds NO opinions.