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Palm-Mensa
Palm Beach County Mensa Newsletter
July, 2005
Contents
Next Newsletter
Next Newsletter Information due: July 15
Send newsletter items, e-mail address changes, updates and announcements to mensa@ritchason.net
Notes from the Underground
by Barry Karas
DIRT ON SOME COMPOSERS (written by BK a long time ago)
Beethoven: His father was a mean drunk who harangued him no end that he just couldn't be as much of a child prodigy as Mozart.
Bach: His parents were brother and sister, both died before he was ten. Bach then married his cousin who died "unexpectedly." Many of his 13 children also died young, perhaps less unexpectedly.
Schubert: At the age of 11, was accepted into the Convict School, perhaps giving meaning to the term con artist.
Dvorak: (editor’s favorite) He was a bohemian whose passions, in addition to music, included train spotting, bird watching and holidays in Spillville, Iowa.
Chopin: Upon his death, instructed his sister to remove his heart from his corpse, entombing it within a pillar in the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw.
Brahms: He went around signing manifestos attacking the so-called "Music of the Future."
Vivaldi: As the head music instructor in an all-girl orphanage, he frequently traveled with a 16-year-old girl and her sister.
If you like gizmos, you may be interested:
What you don’t know, and probably why. . .
by Andy Ritchason
Flitch Day (July 19) is one of the first “reality shows”. Celebrated for centuries in Europe, possible as far back as the 11th century. A mock court of young unmarried men and women sat judgment on a couple that had been married for one year. The two newlyweds would testify that neither had ever wished that they had never been married. If a couple was judged to have been happy and neither had ever cheated on the other, a slab of bacon (a bit less than half a pig) was awarded to them. Once their neighbors finished recounting the gossip picked up by well, very few couples were award the bacon. This editor can’t find any awards being made after 1870.
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
RVC Column
By Maggie Truelove
RVC10 RVC10@cfl.rr.com
FAREWELL AND HELLO
FAREWELL -
From Elissa: To all of you who voted me into the office of Second Vice Chair of American Mensa, thank you for your support! My goal in the next two years is to be worthy of your confidence. We will have a great team working for you headed by Russ Bakke, whose many years as a Mensa official give him a solid foundation as Chairman. And with two Floridians on the board, how can our Mensa organization not succeed??
My successor, Maggie Truelove, will take
Region 10 beyond what we’ve accomplished in the past four years. Give her your
support. If you have a regional problem or question, call or email her. If your
problem goes beyond regional borders, call or email me. We’re there for you.
And now, here is your new regional representative . . .
HELLO –
From Maggie: I know you all join me in congratulating Elissa on her election to Second Vice Chair. She has done such a terrific job as RVC10, leaving me huge shoes to fill, and I am sure she will continue to do an excellent job in her new position on the AMC as the Second Vice Chair. As for me, I am pleased that I will still have her to work with as we both embark on our new journeys in new positions. I imagine I will lean on her a lot!
As for me, I have been giving serious thought to what I would like to see Region 10 accomplish over the next two years. I find myself setting some lofty goals for us. We may not be able to fully accomplish them, but I hope we can all give it the old college try. Notice that I said WE. These are not things I can accomplish on my own. The best I can do is facilitate, so that the region can improve and benefit. Over the next few months I will introduce these goals one at a time, and ask for your help in accomplishing them.
The first of these goals is to improve how we welcome new members. I have heard from several new or fairly new members that one of the hardest things they ever did was to venture into that first Mensa event, unless they already had a friend in the group. Every group has its own method – or not, and I would like to hear from someone from each of the twelve groups in Region 10 about what your group does to welcome new members. My hope is that sharing these ideas among the groups will help spread the things that work.
You should be reading this in the July issue of your local newsletters. I hope I will be seeing many of you during July at the Annual Gathering in New Orleans. Following this AG, we will focus attention and effort on the World Gathering to celebrate Mensa’s 60th birthday. If you haven’t heard already, this World Gathering (August 8-14, 2006) will be held right here, in the heart of Region 10, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. What an opportunity for all of us, to meet Mensans from around the world, right here at home. I imagine we will be seeing most of you at THIS event!
Until next month,
![[Picture: Maggie Truelove]](images/gen/Margaret_Truelove.jpg)
Maggie Truelove
Member News
Palm Beach County Mensa ended May with 324 members. We gained 4 brand new, renewing or moving into our area. Welcome or welcome back to: John Boyd, Derek R. Taube, David Praet, and Kenneth Paulsen. Come on out to an event (the First Friday is highly recommended!) or organize one yourself and let me know (mensa@ritchason.net)
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. Don’t be shy, this is a great way to advertise your knowledge! Email the editor with your ideas: mensa@ritchason.net
Help wanted
Joan Zieff has done a great job been handling circulation for more than 2 years and deserves a break. The job entails affixing labels (supplied from the National Office) and seals to close the folded newsletter. Once done, the mgr. then delivers the newsletters to the Boca Raton post office. This is an easy job that really helps the PBCM, and gives an M (new or old) a chance to be involved in the group. If you are interested please call Elissa Rudolph at 561-496-0124 for more info.
Scholarships
by Janice Johnson
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
Happenings at the Palm Beach County Library System
Definitely check this out!!
http://www.pbclibrary.org/jul05Happenings.pdf
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.