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Palm-Mensa
Palm Beach County Mensa Newsletter
June, 2003
Contents
To Ponder... in Latin!
Keres, Beothuk, Nahall, Burushaski, and Elamite--what are/were they? Which still exist and where? (Any guesses? Email elissa12@bellsouth.net and gain fame and accolades.)
in Latin! -- answers: Only one brave guesser responded -- John Swick very nearly got it. Pone ubi sol non lucet (Put it where the sun don't shine) and Vescere baccis meis (Eat my shorts). He had better luck with the two that went together: Exta fausta fuerunt! (The entrails were auspicious!) and Convalesce velociter!! (Get well soon!).
Notes From The Underground
By: Barry Karas
BANNED. A few days ago I heard and saw that an attorney in California was making a ruckus and wanted the cookies banned. I always knew that there was something wrong with Oreos 'cause they're (note the present tense) so good...and nothing can be so good without something being wrong. But I was saved from indulging in an illegal drug: the next day the attorney dropped the case.
TESTING. On June 9th, from 8:00 to 10:00 PM Test the Nation will be on the Fox network. I have a feeling that any member who takes this test at home will do very well. Encourage your friends, neighbors, and/or relatives to watch the program and to take the test. Those who do well may be good candidates.
GAMES. The Mind Game winners for 2003 have been announced. They are: Octiles®; TransAmerica™; Cityscape™; Blokus®; and Fire and Ice™. Details can be found on the web (notice the lower case "W") at: <http://mindgames.us.mensa.org/participant/past_winners.php>. You can contact me also -- I won't play any games but I can tell you about some of them.
LAPSES. Our plan year runs from April 1 through March 31 of the next year. Some of you may not have renewed. You can renew at American Mensa's website <http://www.us.mensa.org/> or by calling me (561-964-4360) for further directions.
INDEPENDENCE. On July 4, Laura Michaels is hosting a potluck dinner from 5:00 until 7:30 PM in Delray Beach. For RSVP'ing or more information, please contact <afn49349@afn.org> or you can call 561-637-9766 before 9 PM. There may be some IEEE members there so be on your best (??! <grin>) behavior.
NATIONAL TESTING DAY. NTD this year is October 18th. Please keep this in mind.
PROJECT INKSLINGER. This service replaces books, etc. in schools and libraries. Please contact me if you'd like to pursue this.
The Tenth Story
(RVC Column for Region 10)
June
By Elissa Rudolph
Wow! Again, our region has been recognized, over and over again, for the very hard (read, frustrating!) work involved in putting together newsletters and building Web sites. You can see the entire list of nominations on the National Web site, but here's just a brief mention, just the newsletter and group name, of our own region's stars: SCAM, Space Coast Area Mensa, up for several awards (print and Web site) including medium group owl; Tampa Bay Sounding, Tampa Bay Mensa, several awards (print and Web) including large group owl for their Web site; Flamenco, Miami Mensa, humor and essay awards; PensaMensa, Northwest Florida Mensa, photography award; 4M, Manasota Mensa, up for medium group owl award, in contention with SCAM; and Manasota Mensa's Web site was also nominated for several awards. I hope you all win and if you are not at the AG, I would be happy to carry home your awards for you. I am so proud of this region and not just its stars, but also all of its editors, writers, labelers, designers, proofers, hoofers, woofers, etc.
Speaking of Manasota Mensa, I attended a picnic in May in a lovely Sarasota park with about 30 of this group's members. Despite the fact that I had apparently developed "east coast syndrome" and could not differentiate between east of I75 and west of I75, I had a wonderful time meeting new and veteran Ms. The picnic foods were fab--that chocolate cake!--and the company even better.
The April LDW in Ft. Lauderdale was a smashing success with 35 attendees from six of our twelve regions. That is just outstanding! Better yet, most attendees stayed all day and many joined us for dinner that evening at the Rustic Inn. Southwest by South Mensa was represented as well as Tampa Bay Mensa, Central Florida Mensa, Space Coast Area Mensa, Miami Mensa, Broward Mensa, and Palm Beach County Mensa. You guys...thank you!! And big thanks and applause to our speakers, Jim Blackmore, national marketing director, Ike Kullman, RVC5, Bonnie Wilpon, Tampa Bay M, and Janice Johnson, Palm Beach County M. You all contributed to the success of this venture.
Hope we were able to meet in Rocky Point!
Dusty Reviews
by Miss Dustinea Jacquette,
retired, spinsterish librarian
There is certainly more of a bounce in my step since I returned from Tuscany and the compelling presence of Col. Braithwaite. But duty calls, dear readers. I know you have missed my cogent, en pointe reviews of current novels. So there follows a few words about the several tomes that sat on my night table throughout my stay in the purple Italian countryside. Why, of course, I read them! Eventually.
"The True Sources of the Nile" by Sarah Stone, a first time novelist, brings together an American human rights activist, Anne, and her lover, Jean-Pierre, an African politician, amidst a sultry, sensuous, dangerous, dark-continent environment. The Hutus and the Tutsis are still fighting in Burundi where Anne and Jean-Pierre conduct their passionate affair (the pages were hot!). Anne thinks that Jean-Pierre should come to America to visit her family, leave his warring homeland and embrace our apple-pie traditions. Just as the true source of the Nile (there are at least five "true" sites) may never be agreed upon, there may never be a solution to the civil unrest in Burundi. And no easy solution exists for Anne and Jean-Pierre. From vastly different worlds, they must find their own peace. The answer is not the same for both, not even on the same continent.
Next we fly from scary Africa to Virginia's horse country, where there's nothing worse than...murder. Mrs. Murphy, the whip-smart tiger cat, Pewter the gray lazybones, and Tucker the witty corgi band together to solve a series of murders in "Claws and Effect" by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. A thoroughly enjoyable tale (or tail) combining small town gossip at the local post office, fox hunting, where the fox laughs at his pursuers and is never really captured, and the bad guys, this is the latest in the Browns' series of mysteries. With its animal stars and their wise cracking comments, this story will cause you to look at your own animal friends and wonder--just what are they thinking? Are we as slow as they think we are? Yes, I think we are. Give Fluffy the cat and Beau the dog an extra treat tonight.
What we all look for in a mystery is in "Gone for Good" by Harlan Coben: The story doubles back on itself while you, the reader, get sucked into its premise only to find that you followed a nowhere lead. Tightly wound, character heavy (a white supremacist turned yogi? A white street walker who'd rather be black?), the story builds around lies and deception, then breaks them apart, and begins again with a new hand. Will Klein doesn't know whether or not his brother killed the girl next door, or why, if he didn't, he ran away. Will doesn't know why his current girlfriend disappears suddenly one morning leaving a note that says she will love him always. Will doesn't see the connection between these two events, and others further into the book, until this girlfriend is found murdered in a similar fashion to the neighbor girl. Who was also his girlfriend. "The ugliest truth, in the end, was still better than the prettiest of lies," Will says as the story winds down. You will be captivated until the last page. Then seek out the other eight Coben books. I know I will.
Well, my pretties, remember your best friend could very well be a good book. Til next time, patronize your local library and smile at the librarian.
Scholarship Announced
The Mensa Education and Research Foundation has selected Samantha Roddy of Palm City to receive the $300 Diana Mossip Memorial Scholarship. Samantha attends South Fork High School in Martin County where, in addition to her studies, she works as an aid to the special education teachers. She also volunteers in the ARC after school program. Samantha's essay outlined her please change the information for the North County June get-together - we will be meeting at the focused efforts toward her goal -- to become a Special Education Teacher. Congratulations!
If you have a friend who works in a high school or college in Palm Beach, Martin, Okeechobee or St. Lucie counties, notify Janice Johnson at (772) 463-0495, janice@aposner.net. Janice is the Scholarship Chair for our group and is seeking contacts to increase the visiblity of the Mensa scholarships next year.
Event Reviews
P.F. Chang's new meaning for the word "wait": "We don't take no reservations, but you can call ahead for a table."
Dinner at P.F. Chang's in Boca Raton was a bit spontaneous--it was not advertised in the newsletter. Instead, an email announcement went out and quite a large group spontaneously decided to attend. Sam and Jeanette Obstbaum, Jennifer and Ann Marie Johnson, Dan Tobias, Joan Zieff, Jim Blackmore*, Ike Kullman*, Kay Skoog, Barry Karas, Bettye Pfau, Ann Kasper, and Elissa Rudolph all enjoyed the food but not the wait, the conversation, but not the server, the atmosphere, but not the noise. Oh, well, we don't have to go back... *Jim and Ike were speakers for the LDW held the next day.
LDW -- not a food event, not a party, not a game...
At last, we have an event that is not food-, game-, or party- oriented and many Ms attended, took notes, and went back to their local groups with valuable information. About 35 Ms from Broward Mensa, Miami Mensa, Space Coast Area Mensa, Central Florida Mensa, Tampa Bay Mensa, Southwest by South Mensa, and Palm Beach County Mensa met on a rainy Saturday in Ft. Lauderdale for six worthy Leadership Development Workshop sessions covering what to do with problem members, how to get more volunteers, why you should get involved in your community, and national office resources.
Eighteen Ms stayed for dinner that evening at the Rustic Inn, known for their garlic crabs. Thank goodness no crabs attended the LDWs....
All in all it was a great day to feel a part of a larger organization that is willing to help and encourage those in the local groups. Next time an LDW is advertised, think about attending. You won't regret it!
Notes & Newsworthy Items
As of the end of April Palm Beach County Mensa had 305 members -- 65 have lapsed (to be expected during renewal time), 9 entered the group as new, reinstated or moving in members. Welcome or welcome back to Joseph Bensler, Jupiter; Elliott Block, Boca Raton; Christopher Chopin, West Palm Beach; R. Dean Hawley, Port St. Lucie; Sabra Ingeman, Tequesta; Emma Parkerson, Jupiter; Grant Ruple, Jupiter; Murray Sabloff, Delray Beach; and John F. Schutz, Esq., Wellington. It seems like Jupiter's M population is swelling--another possibility for a subgroup?? Come out to an event and let us meet you or organize one in your area and meet other Mensans!
Our condolences to the family of John B. Owens of Stuart. Mr. Owens, a long time Mensa member, passed away recently.
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.