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Palm-Mensa
Palm Beach County Mensa Newsletter
June, 2005
Contents
Coming Attractions!!
National Trivia Network--
NTN Trivia is a trivia game televised over a national network to over 3000 bars and restaurants in the United States and Canada
When: Any evening but Tuesday is the best. Start about 8 PM. End about 11 PM.
Where: Anyplace (usually a restaurant) that has NTN Trivia.
Who: All trivia players
For Details: Please call Barry Karas (561) 964-4360
Next Newsletter
Next Newsletter Information due: June 15
Send newsletter items, e-mail address changes, updates and announcements to mensa@ritchason.net
Notes from the Underground
by Barry Karas
BLOWHARD. It’s hurricane season again (June 1 to Nov. 1) – although I don’t get nervous until late August. It seems we (Palm Beach County and environs) get hit directly with the hurricanes during late August and all of September. Now I know there are exceptions to many of my rules but I don’t see any here. (A thunderstorm isn’t a hurricane.)
I am well acquainted with meteorological exceptions – I am from Boston, the home of exceptions (like the Red Sox winning the Series, contra to the curse of the Babe, and like snow during May (the kind that falls from the sky and is cold, not the kind that is snorted – although it being Boston…)).
I plan to visit Boston for a week this summer. I will have a chance to visit with some old friends and relatives, and maybe go to Fenway
Pahk (ed: Barry’s ‘Boston Talk’) if the Sox are playing. Perhaps I’ll take my grandson? (I just saw a movie that showed Fenway Park and the section where I used to sit. I’ve seen Fenway many times before now with nary a feeling. But now I felt intense nostalgia.)
Maybe I can arrange to stay in Boston during part of the hurricane season?
MOVED. I moved recently and it was a PITA. I’m just getting used to things, and voilą, the management company sold this building and it looks like I’m going to have to move…again…soon.
TEEVEE. I hate (well, not really hate, but dislike) when the networks in their infinite wisdom cancel shows. It seems that many of those shows were favorites of mine. Perhaps the networks should use what I like in determining what shows get cancelled?
RVC Column
By Elissa Rudolph
This is my last RVC 10 column. The next one will come from Maggie Truelove, my able successor. She will keep all of you on your toes, ready to answer questions, and guide you through tough times. My hat is off to her—you better be nice to her!
Seems just a short time ago, I was just getting to know you. And now, I might still get to know you, but as a plain vanilla member, rather than an elected official. Who knows how the race for Second Vice Chair will come out?
Five new games earned the Mensa Select® label during MindGames last month in Tampa. DaVinci’s Challenge, Ingenious, Loot, Niagara, and Zendo all challenged the 160+ Mensans gathered to rate the games. Fifty-one entries were tried with five rising to the top. MindGames 2006 will be held in April in Portland, OR.
I hope you voted. By now, all ballots are in and counted. A new AMC takes office after the Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Plan to be there to welcome these willing volunteers.
Advance notice: National Testing Day will be held on Saturday, October 22. If your group has yet to respond to this idea, get moving and return your participation form by mid-July. Don’t let your group be left out! This is such a great PR opportunity.
See you in the Big Easy?
MensAGumbo, July 6 – 10, in wonderful New Orleans. Laissez les bons ton roulet!
Elissa Rudolph
RVC10@us.mensa.org
5054 Lakefront Blvd., Apt. D
Delray Beach, FL 33484
561-496-0124
Member News
Palm Beach County Mensa ended February with 378 members. We gained 2 brand new, renewing or moving into our area. Welcome or welcome back to: Marvin F. Gordon, Holly Urban, Mrs. Toby Joan Rosenstrauch, Jo Anne Andrews, Wei Joon Brian Lam, and Alan L. Damsky. Come on out to an event (the First Friday is an event favorite), organize one yourself, or write an article for this newsletter.
Call for Articles
We are looking for articles and requests for articles from our members. The Ms in our county have a diverse knowledge of all kinds of fascinating things. Email the editor with your ideas: mensa@ritchason.net
The First Friday Event Report
By Barry Karas, Local Secretary
(held on the second Friday in May)
May 13, 2005
Yep, it was on Friday the 13th, but all who attended were (and are) fine. I wish that I could write that someone there won the lottery, but no such luck. But I can write that my dinner, as well as everyone elses', was very good. In fact, my dinner was excellent - but then again I like hot (as in spiciness) food, and the chef at Payathai does an excellent job. Attending were: Patrick Burke and his wife, Debbie, Jan Carnelli, Gino Giglio and his friend Judy Olsen, Ann Kasper, Kay Lindgren, Kirk Orlovsky, and last, but not least <g>, me.
Summer Solstice
In 2005, June 21, at 2:46 AM EDT, is the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and of winter in the southern hemisphere. This is the Summer Solstice, when the angle of the sun to the earth has changed to bathe the northern hemisphere with more sunlight than the southern hemisphere. On June 21, there are 24 hours of daylight above the Arctic Circle and 24 hours of darkness below the Antarctic Circle, due to the angle of the sun to earth’s equator.
To show just how important that angle is, the earth is furthest from the sun around July 3rd, and is closest to the sun around January 4th.
BTW: June 30 is Leap Second Adjustment Time, one of the times favored for the addition or subtraction of a second from clock time to coordinate atomic and astronomical time.
Scholarships
By Janice Johnson, Scholarship Chair
Congratulations to Teresa Knox Raphael of Coral Springs who won a $300 Mensa Education and Research Foundation Scholarship. She submitted an essay to our annual scholarship contestdescribing how she returned to college after 16 years to study to become an elementary teacher with an emphasis in gifted education.
Happenings at the Palm Beach County Library System
Definitely check this out!!
http://www.pbclibrary.org/jun05Happenings.pdf
"MensAGumbo is amazing -- wish you were here!"
By The AG 2005 Committee
Don't let that be the message you get from your Mensan friends who attend AG 2005 in New Orleans July 6-10. It's going to be one of the Big Easy's biggest, brainiest parties -- but it won't be as much fun if you're not there! Besides, have you seen the latest on what you'd miss?
Saturday night's keynote speaker will be Mensan Glenne Headly, who will relate some of her experiences from almost 25 years in the entertainment industry as a stage, screen and television actress. Ms. Headly is known for recurring television characters on "ER" and "Monk" and has more than 40 film credits including roles in "Mr. Holland's Opus," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Dick Tracy." She has received two Emmy nominations for outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or special, one in 1997 for "Bastard Out of Carolina" and one in 1989 for "Lonesome Dove" parts I, II and III.
"Make It Funky!", the documentary on the legacy of New Orleans music, will premiere at the AG, hosted by director/producer Michael Murphy. Performers from all walks of music came together in spring 2004 for a concert that followed the course of New Orleans music; among others, the concert featured Keith Richards and Bonnie Raitt. The performances complement the personal recollections of the life and history of this remarkable city, with a narration by Art Neville.
Who will wear the crown of Mr. Mensa 2005? Mensa's best men will parade cross the stage in bathing suits and eveningwear, showcase a talent and answer tough interview questions. Contestants will be auctioned off for a date to the Saturday dance, with all proceeds going to the Mensa Education & Research Foundation.
See the sights with your fellow Mensans! Guaranteed to be a feast for the senses as well as the brain, the tour list includes everything from walking tours to space tours (well, a tour of the Stennis Space Center, anyway). Reservations are going fast! Get all the specifics at http://www.ag.us.mensa.org/Tours.php.
Curious about what else you'd miss? View each day's schedule at http://www.ag.us.mensa.org/schedules/days_display.php
So what are you waiting for? Make your reservations online at http://www.ag.us.mensa.org/registration/register.php Don't forget to make your room reservations through http://www.ag.us.mensa.org/Hotels.php before June 16; rooms are filling up fast and what is available after that date may not be at the Mensa rate. Round out your registration by signing up for a meal plan and be eligible for door prizes including a grand-prize trip to the World Gathering in Orlando in August 2006!
We'll see you there!
Andy Ritchason
mensa@ritchason.net
23053 Old Inlet Bridge Dr
Boca Raton. FL
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.