Palm-Mensa

Palm Beach County Mensa Newsletter
January, 2004

The Tenth Story - Elissa Rudolph
Palm Beach County Library
Notes From The Underground - Barry Karas
Mindgames 2004
Ranking
Test The Nation
Volunteer Opportunities
MERF Award
Never Lie To Your Mother - Barb Graffield
Take Note...

THE TENTH STORY - JANUARY 2004
By Elissa Rudolph

It's amazing, but in only two months of really pushing the idea, we have nearly 10,000 proxies, 38%+ of the goal (as of this writing in mid-December). Central Florida Mensa is still ahead in Region 10 with 29.1% of their members submitting proxies. The rest of the region-11 groups-have percentages between 17% and 19%, not too bad for this point in the challenge. We have until the end of June to collect the others. Think we can do it?? I do!! Encourage your members to go to http://www.us.mensa.org/ and click on "ProxyQuest" and tender their proxies. The sooner Ms respond, the less expenditure of money and energy there will be to continue contacting the quiet ones. From now until the end of the ProxyQuest campaign, our officer mailings will include a flag to show whether a member's proxy was received (or not). This takes a lot of the guessing out of who did and who didn't. A focused telephone or email campaign could then bring quick results. Think about doing this in your group-you could gather a few unshy Ms and heat up those telephone cables taking turns contacting Ms never heard from.

I hope 2004 is a great year for you. See you in Orlando?

Coming Soon… great Mensa Gathering events!!

January 30, 31, February 1, Smarti Gras 2004, hosted by Central Florida Mensa, at the Holiday Inn Select, Orlando; registration fee: $60 til 10/31/2003, includes meals except Sat. night; 24- hour hospitality; King cake, hurricanes & touffee, Olympic-sized hot tub, armchair treasure hunt, & more. Registrar: Eddie Truelove (407-855-9078), etruelove@cfl.rr.com.

February 13-15, ValenTime, hosted by Northwest Florida Mensa at the Holiday Inn of Destin; registration fee $35 til Jan. 31; white sand beaches, lavish hospitality overlooking those Gulf of Mexico beaches, chocolate, games, speakers, & more. Registrar: John Mochan (850-863-3599), jmochan@cox.net.

Elissa Rudolph
RVC10@us.mensa.org
5054 Lakefront Blvd., Apt. D
Delray Beach, FL 33484
561-496-0124

PALM BEACH COUNTY LIBRARY

To learn about the events happening at your Palm Beach County library, go to their website: http://www.pbclibrary.org

NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
By: Barry Karas

BLACKOUT. Some people claim that last August's blackout was caused by a computer virus/worm, the Blaster. This bad thingy supposedly attacked electricity generators in electrical plants in the affected areas. And since the computers were networked…. Plus the IT (computer fixit) people were doing all sorts of weird things on the computers - just the way people act when they are trying to find/get rid of a computer virus.

Bad thingies have knocked out telephones and ATMs. These sorts of things are now predictable - and preventable. We will see more of the things that adversely affect computers. And since more and more things depend on computerized operating systems to function, it's only a matter of time before things go really wrong.

RENEWAL. Members whose memberships are expiring March 31, 2004 will be receiving notices during January.

NATIONAL TESTING DAY (NTD) was a great success: 1393 people took the test.

FANTASY. During November, I received a mailing from National, nothing strange about that. It told about a fantasy about Medicare. The winner left behind a set of extensively used programs (1593 exams taken/ 1020 passed the exam w/ score of points in the 98%+ category).

PROXY. PLEASE CONTACT THE NATIONAL OFFICE WITH YOUR PROXY. IN ORDER TO ELECT NATIONAL OFFICERS, ETC. THE ELECTORATE MUST PERSONALLY ATTEND THE NATIONAL MEETING. THIS PROXY ALLOWS FOR MEMBERS TO VOTE BY MAIL, AND WITH FEWER MEMBERS VOTING TO QUALIFY THE ELECTION AS VALID.

Barry Karas, LocSec
bkaras@mindspring.com

MINDGAMES 2004

Registrations are ongoing for Mensa Mind Games™ 2004 in Chicago on April 16-18. Judges spend three days playing and rating the newest board games on the market. At the end of the competition, the judges rank their favorites. The top-scoring games earn Mensa Select® distinction and may use the Mensa Select® seal on their packaging and advertising. For more information about participating, visit the Mind Games™ web site at mindgames.us.mensa.org.

RANKING

As of September, Palm Beach County Mensa tied for forty-first of one hundred thirty-five chapters in American Mensa Ltd., with 333 members.

TEST THE NATION

On March 5th, Fox stations nationwide are scheduled to air Test the Nation 2. So you have a second chance, if you missed the opportunity last June, to encourage friends and relatives to test their intelligence and maybe join Mensa as a bonus. Mensa will once again be assisting with preparations for the program. More details will be coming from American Mensa.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Palm Beach County Mensa needs an editor for the newsletter. Contact Elissa Rudolph or Kathy Hickok at addresses on page 11

MERF AWARD

The Mensa Education and Research Foundation announces an annual award of $500 to a Mensa member who has made the most outstanding creative achievement during the year. The Copper Black Award for Creative Achievement is made possible by a bequest in the will of the late Ms. Copper Black.

The creative achievement may be an invention, an innovation, or a unique improvement that has actually worked. Artistic accomplishments are not eligible.

You may nominate yourself or another Mensan. For the nomination form and instructions about supporting documentation, write to:

Copper Black Award for Creative Achievement
Mensa Education and Research Foundation
1229 Corporate Drive West
Arlington TX 76006-6103

Completed forms must arrive by February 1, 2004.

NEVER LIE TO YOUR MOTHER
By Barb Graffield
Lifted Shamelessly From The Newsletter Of North Dakota Mensa

Brian Hester invited his mother over for dinner. During the meal, Brian's mother couldn't help noticing how beautiful Brian's roommate Stephanie was. Mrs. Hester was already suspicious of the relationship between Brian and Stephanie, and this only made her more curious.

Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, Mrs. Hester continued wondering if there was more between Brian and Stephanie than the two let on. Reading his mom's thoughts, Brian volunteered, "I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you Stephanie and I are just roommates."

About a week later, Stephanie came to Brian saying, "Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the beautiful silver gravy ladle. You don't suppose she took it, do you?"

Brian said, "Well, I doubt it, but I'll send her an e-mail and ask just to be sure." So he wrote:

Dear Mother,

I'm not saying that you "did" take the gravy ladle from the house, I'm not saying that you "did not" take the gravy ladle. But the fact remains that one has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.

Love, Brian

Several days later, he received a letter from his mother:

Dear Son,

I'm not saying that you "do" sleep with Stephanie, and I'm not saying you "do not" sleep with Stephanie. But the fact remains that if she were sleeping in her own bed, she would have found the gravy ladle by now.

Love, Mom.

Take Note...

ProxyQuest

Don’t delay!! Either complete and send in the card that was enclosed in the last Mensa Bulletin or go to the website www.us.mensa.org and click on "ProxyQuest." Don’t let Central Florida beat us!

MERF

January 15 - Completed Mensa Education and Research Foundation scholarship applications must be postmarked by today. Go to http://merf.us.mensa.org/scholarships/zipfinder.php for official entry form.

Visit our website

http://palmbeach.us.mensa.org/ Dan Tobias is doing an outstanding job for us.

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.