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Palm-Mensa©
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Palm Beach County Mensa September, 2001
most recently updated Thursday, August 30th, 2001 |
Hurricane Watch! |
Contents
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News and Notices * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Big Deal in December. Our chapter is hosting the 4th quarter board meeting of the American Mensa Committee (AMC), November 30, December 1 & 2, at the Airport Hilton in West Palm Beach. We need 2 kinds of volunteers--transportation experts and hospitality experts--to help make this meeting a great success for the AMC. When AMC members deplane, it would be nice to have a friendly south Florida Mensan escort them to the Hilton. Most members arrive Friday afternoon. We will have a hospitality suite for Friday and Saturday nights; it would be great to a couple members stock the suite with snacks and drinks-we do get a subsidy from the National Office to offset costs. If you would like to volunteer to help make this event a fun one for all, please call Elissa, 561.272-0475 or email elissa12@bellsouth.net. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Member
Laura Michaels is interested in getting a science fiction group going
in Palm Beach County. If any local members are interested in SF, they
can check * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Four Mensa Admission Test Sessions are planned for October and November. In Delray Beach, Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, our group's proctors will be working hard on National Testing Day, October 20. In November there will be a session in West Palm Beach. If you know of someone who's been talking about joining Mensa, now's time to get their name and address to Elissa. We already have 100 prospects on the list. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thanks to Dan Tobias who has volunteered to bring Palm Beach County Mensa's Bylaws into compliance with the latest iterations from the National Office. We are also thinking of changing the name of our group to Palm Beach Area Mensa (instead of "county" since we take in more than one county). What do you think? Are you in favor? Not in favor? Have a better name in mind? Let's hear it! Email Barry or Elissa with your input. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Regional Gatherings October 12-14 - FloRanGe '01 in Hollywood, FL. Web site: www.geocities.com/broward_mensa/pages/florange.html or Registrar: Jerry Fortner, POB 100457, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33310;954.572.6049; drhea@mindspring.com January 25-27, 2002 - Heart of Florida's "Smarti Gras" in Orlando, FL. Registrar: Eddie Trulove, 3333 Honeysuckle Lane, Orlando, FL 32812; 407.855.9078; truluvs@cfl.rr.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Positions Filled! Hurray for Donna Bognar from Port Saint Lucie! She accepted the positions of Circulation Manager AND Membership Officer for our group. Our thanks goes to Amy Shaughnessy who served as Interim Cir. Mgr. for several months. Members in the Port Saint Lucie area-Donna will probably be calling on you to participate in an FSM. Don't know what that is? You'll find out! Positions still to be filled.... Editor-for this publication,Palm-Mensa. takes about 5-10 hours a month, is fun, can help you advance your writing skills. All you need to do is get it to Donna once you have camera-ready copy and she'll take it from there. Scholarship Chair-to distribute information to schools about Mensa's scholarship program that last year awarded over $50,000 to deserving students. Please contact Barry or Elissa if interested. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Furthermore... For Mensan birthdays, Mensaversaries, more details, see the Web site. As of 7/31/01, we gained five renewing members, one new member, one move-in member, and four members who reinstated after a lapse of more than a year for a total of 277. Welcome & please join us at an event! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Interesting statistics: Are you part of the "Silent Generation," "Generation X," "Baby Boom," or the "Lost Generation?" Yes, there is a Lost Generation (see below for age breaks). Region 10 has a higher percentage of Silents than any region (38%), higher even than the national overall percentage (33%). What does this mean? It could be a good thing. It could be that in Region 10 we have many mature, possibly retired people who have lots of time to participate in Mensa. Or it could be that the Silents are aptly named. What do you think? |
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Elissa Rudolph The Tenth Story (RVC column for Region 10) - September Are you part of the "Silent Generation," "Generation X," "Baby Boom," or the "Lost Generation?" Yes, there is a Lost Generation (see below for age breaks). While having fun with demographics, I found that our region has a higher percentage of Silents than any region (38%), higher even than the national overall percentage (33%). What does this mean? It could be a good thing. It could be that in Region 10 we have many mature, possibly retired people who have lots of time and interest to participate in Mensa. Or it could be that the Silents are aptly named. You know as well as I do that statistics can be manipulated to mean almost anything. You can have fun too-if you would like to know how your group's members scatter into the various categories, let me know and I will be glad to share! National Testing Day (NTD) looms on the horizon. By now, if your group is participating (I hope you all are, but I know we aren't a perfect 10 yet!), you would have received your Toolbox kits and local testing information form. By Sept. 4 your local testing details will be posted on the AML Web site and attached to the 800 number (1-800-66-MENSA). Prospects who surf the Web site or call will get the information they need to be tested on October 20 in your city, town, village, intersection, whatever. Also prospects from about one year ago will be sent details for NTD. This program can boost your treasury and your membership numbers. Trickle down enthusiasm may also be an indirect benefit for other local events. Ellen Paul of Space Coast Area Mensa is our regional scholarship chair. Ellen served ably in this capacity previously; I know she will continue to do a great job. Essays from participating groups go to Ellen and her committee for coding and review. From there they go on to the national scholarship chairs, Tom and Elaine Ehrhorn, who oversee the Mensa Education and Research Foundation (MERF) National Scholarship Program. Your scholarship chair's name is already in the Ehrhorns' hands, right? Have a great September! Coming Attractions: FLoRanGe '01, Broward Mensa, October 12-14, Coral Springs (new location), hurricane or no hurricane, Registrar: Jerry Fortner, gfortner@mindspring.com AMC Meeting, Airport Hilton, West Palm Beach, November 30, December 1 & 2. Call me for details. AMC meetings are open to all Mensans. Join Palm Beach Mensans in welcoming the AMC on Friday night-hospitality Florida-style. AMC members are very happy to be coming to our warm Gold Coast for a December meeting.... Smarti Gras, Central Florida Mensa, January 25-27, 2002, Orlando, Registrar: Eddie Truelove, truluvs@cfl.rr.com. Elissa Rudolph |
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Barry Karas Numbers. As of June 22, there are 41,582 active members. (I expect this number to increase significantly soon because it may not reflect all of the renewals/reinstatements that came in around the March 31 deadline.) Our chapter has 277 members as of August 1, and out of 138 chapters in the country, our size ranking is #44. (For your information, the largest local group is Greater NY Mensa with 1848 members, closely followed by San Francisco Regional Mensa with 1800 members.) Welcome to new member Russell Semmel. Welcome to Daniel Amyx who moved from Tampa. And welcome back to these members who have been "gone" for over a year: William Greene and Michael Smollon. Goodbye to Tom Zarate who moved to California. We should have a listing of members, for active members only, on our web site in a few months. If any member wants a printed copy, it will be sent to the member. InterLoc. This is as good a time as any to encourage you to subscribe to InterLoc, "the communications link for involved Mensans." A subscription form is on this web page < www.us.mensa.org/member_resources/overview.php3>; choose "InterLoc" from the left side. For those members without Internet access, please give me a call. Money! Unfortunately, membership in Mensa doesn't qualify you (or me) for free money. And even though we're Mensans, none of us can predict on a long term basis what the stock market will do. Ed Gross sent an interesting article to me from Smart Money magazine about the Mensa investment club/SIG entitled "If We're so Smart, Why Aren't We Rich?" If you want a copy, please let me know. Teen SIG. A special interest group just for teen members. Please contact <tranquility@partlycloudy.com> or <wolfman@bigberthasbargainbasement.com> for info. Dinner meetings. After last night's dinner (08/17), Elissa pointed out that it was what Mensa is all about. Sure, it was a social occasion. Yes, there were some frivolous discussions (although what is "frivolous" is up to the individual member). But there were a number of "serious" conversations too. Dinners are opportunities to meet fellow PBC Mensa members (meet new people or see people you've met before but may not have seen in a while) in a fairly relaxed atmosphere for unstructured conversations. (For structured discussions, see "Discussion gatherings.") |
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Glen Moulder Please note: If you don't see your birthday shown in this section when it should appear, you probably indicated to the national office that this information should be withheld. If so, and you do want it to appear, simply contact the national office and change your information withholding preferences. |
Happy September MensAnniversary (year and persons) to:
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31 ! Robert Rosensweig 24 Anne Drolet 22 Marjorie Good-Helmling 19 Robert Dodd 14 Allan Hadhazy and Dale Ruth 13 Joanne Garner and Leona Pratt 11 Tamar Tamir 06 Frank Flynt 05 Irving Pearl 04 Sheldon Glassberg 03 Amy Rosensweig 02 Marc Manis and William Powers 01 Lawrence Clipper and Lester Long |
Happy September Birthday (day and persons) to:
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1st Angy Brooks 2nd Swartz Matthew 4th Norman Robbins 9th Paul Sauer 11th Henry Lenga 14th Robert Dodd 16th Glen Moulder 18th Keith Penska 21st Samuel Henson 23rd Harry Hahamovitch and James ReMite 27th Sharry Israel 28th Dr. Diane Carper and Gayle Cherro |
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MENSADVENTURE AT THE GRUMPY GROUPER - Barry Karas The dinner was a very nice event. The food was quite good - and reasonably priced - and the service was very good. (This opinion may have been colored by the fact that the Manager - Rick - bought us a round of drinks because the reservation we made was not kept for a few minutes.) Attendance was very good too for this type of event - there were 17 of us: BOB DOLSON, ELISSA RUDOLPH, SHARRON RONCO, BETTY PFAU, DON SPERO, PAT SPERO, KAREN HANEY, RICH HANEY, KEN OLSEN, JOHN SWICK, SALLY BECKER, GINO GIGLIO, MICHAEL SEUTTER, PRUDY BOARD, and me. Oh yeah - the steamed Ipswich clams that I had were excellent...dare I say as good or better than those I had around Boston. Figures though...they ship the good stuff to down here. |
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Way Up North - Bill Whitesell The northern contingent met at Norris' Restaurant last month. In attendance were Donna and David Bognar, Laura Bulawski, Bobbie and Julius Kadlecz, Janice Johnson, Alan Posner, Deche Hamill, Dick Hancock, and yours truly. We congratulated Donna on becoming our group's newsletter circulation manager; then she thanked us for volunteering to help her. |
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Perkophiles - Glen Moulder I had just gotten back from vacation and was entertaining an out of town relative, so didn't attend in August. But, I heard the Elissa Rudolph and Linda Madison met for a quiet breakfast and chat. |
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Miss Dustinea Jacquette |
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Summer reading is just the very best diversion where you pick up a book for fun or re-read one for old times' sake. "Grasshopper" by Barbara Vine was the fun book, although there is very little humor in Vine's psychological mysteries. When Ruth Rendell, award-winning British mystery author, writes as Vine, the stories take on an eerie twist, using everyday images in a bizarre fashion. In "Grasshopper," it's the highflying supports for electrical service, pylons that provide the underpinnings of the story. It begins with young Clodagh Brown's fascination with climbing to high places and the pylons, which she thinks of as giant grasshoppers, are beckoning to her. She climbs with her lover and he, in a masculine show of bravado and just plain ignorance, tries to light a cigarette from one of the transformers. Duh! He falls to his death; and Clodagh's obsession goes underground for a while when she moves to London. Soon though Clodagh meets a group of people who love high places as much as she does. Nightly they scramble across the steep roofs of London like mountain goats. This is where Vine introduces several other characters who take the story in many convoluted directions: Liv, a Swedish au pair who's abandoned her charges after a fender-bender auto accident, Jonny, Liv's gangsta boyfriend, Wim, climber extraordinaire, who comes and goes through an apartment window at unexpected times, and Silver, Clodagh's new boyfriend. Together, these friends fuel each other's addictions for roof hopping and their own set of moral certainties. Fate awaits, as all readers know, with the kinds of twists and turns only a master like Vine can imagine. |
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Rereading Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonsdawn," I was impressed again with her unique creation of another world where humans attempt to settle, bringing little of Earth's material goods but carrying all the old prejudices and arrogances. Pern (Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible), the new world, seems at first a paradise-greeny blue with fresh air and water, no large predators and lots of room to grow. Of course, there's no turning back because the mechanical means to get the humans to Pern must be dismantled to build other machines for an agronomic lifestyle. A unique lifeform-small flying lizards prove to be telepathic and extremely empathetic to humans-sort of a soul mate pet-that discusses its needs and thoughts with you right in your brain. These tiny dragons can also flit between dimensions when frightened. McCaffrey introduces a deadly peril into this paradise in the form of a weird living rain falling from the atmosphere, a fungus that eats organic matter. The only way to stop the rain, or "thread," as it is called, is to set fire to it. Here the little dragons prove their worth by massing in groups to char the thread with their fire breath. The citizens of Pern begin to imagine what a formidable weapon these dragons could be if they were large enough to ride and intelligent enough for their riders to aim their fire breath at more of the deadly thread. Enter genetic engineering and the first clutch of bionic dragons. McCaffrey's parallel world with its burgeoning civilization and telepathic dragons is fascinating and has been the subject of many books and short stories. "Dragonsdawn" is the beginning, when humans first arrive and are first imperiled by thread. It's also where the citizens discover the importance of dragons, both tiny and bionic. Follow this novel to "Dragonflight," "Dragonsquest," and "The White Dragon." You won't be disappointed! |
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A must read for all Florida residents, "The Everglades: River of Grass" by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, has lost none of its poetry over the 54 years since its original publication. If not for this book, President Harry Truman might not have designated the more than 2 million acres of the Everglades National Park in 1948. The area might have been drained, filled in, concreted and asphalted over, then planted with more Australian pine and Brazilian pepper trees. Holding back civilization has been the most difficult obstacle for the 60-mile wide, shallow flow of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Straits. Home to birds, alligators, panthers (what's left of them), mosquitoes, and certainly inhospitable to most humans, the Everglades has a mystery and timelessness about it. Stand on the observation deck in the Shark River slough and look in all directions. You will see nothing but sawgrass and palmetto hammocks. That's as it should be. Let's leave it that way. |
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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. |
© 2000-2007 Palm Beach County Mensa. The Mensa logo is a registered trademark of Mensa International Limited and American Mensa Limited, all rights reserved. Mensa does not hold any opinion or have, or express, any political or religious views.