mensa world journal including the chronicle december 2014
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Mensa World Journal including The Chronicle December 2014TRANSCRIPT
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mensa world journal
Congratulations to the Mensa International Photographer of the Year 2014, Ľubo Činčura
from Mensa Slovakia with his photo, Loves me!
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mensa wor ld journal
Log into the International website at
www.mensa.org for the calendar of
national events
from the editor,
News of the very successful Inter-national Board of Directors meeting held in Windsor, UK, is included in the Chairman’s article on page 3 of this issue.
Also this month:p2 Leaders of the pack display high ‘emotional intelligence’
p4 Well done, Karina - Mensa Cy-prus student excels academically
p5 LEAP program 2015
p6-7 Mensa International Photographer of the Year 2014
p8 Dogs recognise their species on screen
p9 Human faces are so variable because we evolved to look unique
p10 Mensa Foundation Scholarship Program 2015
p11 Puzzles by Therese Moodie-Bloom
p12 Supplementally...
I hope you enjoy the MWJ this month - please think about contrib-uting your ideas or articles; I’d love to hear from you!
With warm regards,Kate
02
The ability to understand emo-tions is a key ingredient in people who become leaders in groups with no formal authority, a new paper has found.
The findings come through two differ-ent studies using commerce students. Study participants were given an emotional abil-ity test as part of the study, as well as a self-analysis of their emotion-al skills. Then, they organized themselves into small groups or were randomly as-signed to small groups and were given a group project to do. At the end of the project they were asked to identify whom they thought had shown the greatest leadership. Those identified by their peers as leaders scored high on the emotional ability test, which included tasks such as identifying emotions in faces in a photograph, and rating the effective-ness of different emotion regulation strategies. People’s perceptions of their own emotional skills, however, did not predict leadership as reliably. The study adds to evidence that emotional intelligence is a separate trait from other leadership qualities such as having cognitive intelligence and being cooperative, open to ideas, and
conscientious. “Traditionally we’ve had the as-sumption that leaders have high IQ, are gregarious individuals, or happen to be dominant personalities,” says researcher Stéphane Côté, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and one of four researchers involved with the study. “But this shows it’s not just about
these tradi-tional factors,” says Prof. Côté. “It’s also about being able to process other people’s emo-tions. Anybody who wants to pursue a posi-tion of leader-ship and power
can benefit from these abilities.”
The study was published In the June 2010 issue of Leadership Quar-terly and was co-authored by Paulo N. Lopes of the Catholic University of Portugal, Peter Salovey of Yale Univer-sity, and Christopher T.H. Miners of Queen’s University.(http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/Connect/Media-Centre/NewsReleases/Leaders%20of%20the%20Pack%20Display%20High%20EQ.aspx)
Leaders of the pack display high ‘emotional intelligence’
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03
RewindLast year at the International Board of Directors (IBD) annual meeting in Cal-gary, Canada, no national Mensa group volunteered to host the 2014 meeting in Europe. Not to let an interesting opportunity pass by, Executive Direc-tor, Michael Feenan, and Kim Farr, Executive Assistant, decided to take up the challenge and offer a location in the English countryside for the IBD in 2014.
Old Windsor west of LondonMichael and Kim chose the Beaumont Estate, a complex of buildings, some dating to the 17th century and oth-ers designed for business conferences, all situated in beautifully landscaped grounds. The site proved to be ideal for our meetings, breaks, dinners, and casual interactions. For four days, we mingled, forged new connections, caught up with longtime friends, and in general had a productive IBD.
RecapThirty-two countries representing nearly 125,000 global Mensa members sent national representatives (NatReps) to the IBD. Several countries have more than one representative due to their higher membership numbers; therefore, the number of people sitting around the horseshoe-shaped table was 42. It was a challenge to notice the raised hands of those who wished to speak during the
2.5 day meeting. And even though only 12 of the 42 were native English speak-ers, almost all NatReps weighed in on the various motions, discussions, and presentations. It was encouraging to hear comments from the entire group; that shows most promi-nently, the deep desire of most Mensans to commu-nicate, be heard, and feel part of our global family.
Interesting NotesThe meeting agenda, including reports, num-bered 199 pages (see www.mensa.org to view). Presentations included Social Media, Constitu-tions, Web Board Activities, Strate-gic Planning, Leadership Exchange Ambassadors Program (LEAP), Mensa Foundation, Adaptive Testing in Hun-gary, and How to Double Stagnating Membership Numbers. Art Ilano, chair of Mensa Philippines, Peter Froehler of the Web Board, and Dr. Abbie Salny, International Honorary President, were honored guests. Jean Marc Rakotolahy, Constitutional Review Officer, was one of the invited guests, but as in years past, bureaucratic red tape in his home country of Madagascar held up his visa. Someday…
The FutureThere were bids from three countries
to hold the 2015 IBD meeting —Denmark, Serbia, and Slovakia. Their presentations were all tempting. Mensa Serbia was chosen to host the 2015 IBD meeting in Novi Sad near Bel-grade. For 2016, the area of the world
where an IBD meeting should take place was Australasia so both Mensa Korea and Mensa Japan gave visually appealing presentations for Seoul and Kyoto respectively. Final decision will be made later. The area of the world for the 2017 IBD will be Europe. The pat-tern for the IBD is two years of meet-ings in Europe to keep expenses as low as possible; a greater percentage of the NatReps live in Europe. Every third year the meeting is held in either the western hemisphere (Calgary in 2013, Orlando in 2006) or Australasia (2010 in Auckland, 2007 in Hong Kong). The pattern does not always hold true;
from the chairman, Elissa Rudolph...From the English Perspective
Elissa Rudolph, Chairman of Internatinal Mensa, with Jay Menon, Chair Malaysian Mensa,
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online journalsCheck out the mensa.org website to read and download the full, colour, 12-page version of the
Mensa World Journal and many other national journals.
You must be a member in good standing in your national Mensa. Register at www.mensa.org if you haven’t already done so.
Direct International Members contact [email protected] with any queries.
note the back-to-back more expensive locations in 2006 and 2007. There was a good reason however. Mensa’s 60th birthday was in 2006, and the Florida location was ideal for the large at-tendance expected. That largest-ever attendance figure still stands at over 2,200 people. Reyaan Uys, chairman of South Africa Mensa, noted that his country is neither western hemisphere nor Australasia and is, in fact, the Mensa group farthest away from any other Mensa group. South Africa Mensa may benefit hugely if an IBD meet-ing were to be held there; two recent LEAP participants hail from the tip of Africa, and it is a country with a relatively young membership. Stay tuned. From the English perspective or any other perspective, truly there is no more awesome experience than an IBD meeting where many cultures, languages, backgrounds, and ages mix smoothly and the energy and enthusi-asm are always in high gear. Why not join us at Novi Sad next year??
Elissa RudolphChair, International Mensa
Congratulations to Karina Singh of Mensa Cyprus on her brilliant academic results.
Karina, who recently turned 16 years old, is a student of ISOP Interna-tional School of Paphos in Cyprus. On the 3rd of Octo-ber she was awarded the International School’s Aca-demic Excel-lence Award in Platinum and received a scholarship for the academic year with the best marks overall. The prizes are awarded on the basis of a point system that takes into account the pupils’ examination marks at IGCSE, AS – or A-level. Karina had taken early examinations with A* in full
A-level Mathematics, 3 A’s and 7 A*s in IGCSE exams. Karina joined Mensa in 2011 when
she was 12 years old. She is fluent in five languages (Greek, English, German, French and Russian) and plans to learn Japa-nese in the near future. She loves chemistry, physics, mathematics and of course computers. Karina also loves sport and at the age of 13 she received her black belt in karate, followed one year
later with the 1st DAN.
Her dream is to continue studies in ETH Zurich University after complet-ing A-level exams. She wants to be a specialist in quantitative economics.Well done, Karina!
Well done, Karina!
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Share and gain knowledge with volunteers all over the world!Innovative ideas, success stories and a great international network: Launched in 2009, LEAP helps national Mensas grow by exchanging the leadership experiences and best practices with other na-tional groups.
LEAP provides a network of potential leaders who are able to learn from each other and pass the knowledge to their native groups: from conflict resolution to gifted children and Logical Olympics to marketing. LEAP has two tracks:
Leadership Exchange Ambassador Program 2015
LEAP TalksThe original set up: A group of LEAPers will travel to international gatherings to present on leadership experience and best practices that have helped their own Mensas grow.Previous contributions can be found here:www.animusm.com/leap.Best practice reports are thus available to Mensa groups all over the world.Participants will receive travel allowances from Mensa International.
LEAP ProjectsThe second LEAP track is open for innovation: Volunteers can apply with their own ideas to ex-change knowledge between Mensa groups.With limited budget, inventiveness is needed.Tell us what you want to do, how much money your project will require and what the benefits would be.We look forward to your ideas!
Any member worldwide can be nominated.Applying for LEAP Talks or LEAP Projects will open January next;
all National Mensas will be informed.
If you have questions please contact the LEAP Committee at [email protected].
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Mensa International photographer of the year
This year’s Photocup was as successful as in previous years with entrants from 22 countries participating.
Congratulations to the winner, Ľubo Činčura (Slova-kia) for his entry, Loves me!
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(above) 2nd Place:Randall Fisher (USA)- Ethnic Cham Girl
(left) 3rd PlaceBarbara Lehtiniemi (Canada) -Winter Beauty
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Dogs pick out faces of other dogs, irrespective of breeds, among human and other domestic and wild animal faces and can group them into a cat-egory of their own. They do that using visual cues alone, according to new research by Dr. Dominique Autier-Dérian from the LEEC and National Vet-erinary School in Lyon in France and her colleagues. Their work, the first to test dogs’ ability to discriminate between spe-cies and form a “dog” category in spite of the huge variability within the dog species, is published online in Springer’s journal Animal Cognition. Individuals from the same species get together for social life. These gath-erings require recognition of similarities between individuals who belong to the same species and to a certain group. Re-search to date has shown that in some species, individuals recognize more easily, or are more attracted by images of, individuals belonging to their own species than those belonging to another species. Autier-Derian and team studied this phenomenon among domestic dogs, which have the largest morphologi-cal variety among all animal species. Indeed, more than 400 pure breeds of dogs have been registered. The authors explored whether this large morpho-logical diversity presented a cognitive challenge to dogs trying to recognize
their species, when confronted with other species, using visual cues alone. On a computer screen, the research-ers showed nine pet dogs pictures of faces from various dog breeds and cross-breeds, and simultaneously faces
of other ani-mal species, including human faces. They exposed the dogs to diverse stimuli: im-ages of dog
faces; images of non-dog species from 40 different species, including domestic and wild animals; and humans. Overall, the dogs were shown more than 144 pairs of pictures to select from. The au-thors observed whether the nine dogs could discriminate any type of dog from other species, and could group all dogs together, whatever their breed, into a single category. The results suggest that dogs can form a visual category of dog faces and group pictures of very different dogs into a single category, despite the diversity in dog breeds. Indeed, all nine dogs were able to group all the images of dogs within the same category. The authors conclude: “The fact that dogs are able to recognize their own species visually, and that they have great olfactory discriminative capaci-ties, insures that social behavior and mating between different breeds is still potentially possible. Although humans have stretched the Canis familiaris species to its morphological limits, its biological entity has been preserved.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com
dog spots dog on screen A Mensan’s Research Project: Linguistic Representations of GiftednessI am researching how concepts such as giftedness, talent, and ability, etc. are represented in languages world-wide, and would appreciate help from native speakers! I’d need: (1) the terms themselves, (2) if necessary, a transcription, (3) where they come from, and, (4) what they evoke and what is associated with them, so that I can fully under-stand the concept. Please email me at [email protected] Thanks!
Dr. Tanja Gabriele BaudsonVertretungsprofessur Pädagogische
und psychologische DiagnostikUniversität Duisburg-Essen
Sniffing out PoliticsLead author of a recent study Dr Rose McDermott has found that people find the smell of others with similar political opinions to be at-tractive, suggesting that one of the reasons why so many spouses share similar political views is because they were initially and subcon-sciously attracted to each other’s body odor. During the American Journal of Political Science study, 146 partici-pants rated the attractiveness of the body odor of unknown strong liber-als and strong conservatives, without ever seeing the individuals whose smells they were evaluating. “People could not predict the political ideology of others by smell if you asked them, but they differen-tially found the smell of those who aligned with them more attractive,” said Dr McDermott.
http://www.sciencedaily.com
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The amazing variety of human faces - far greater than that of most other animals - is the result of evolution-ary pressure to make each of us unique and easily recognizable, ac-cording to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, scientists. Our highly visual social interac-tions are almost certainly the driver of this evolutionary trend,” said behav-ioral ecologist Michael J. Sheehan, a postdoctoral fellow in UC Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. “Many animals use smell or vocalization to identify individuals, making distinctive facial features unimportant, especially for animals that roam after dark”, he said. But humans are different.“Humans are phenomenally good at recognizing faces; there is a part of the brain specialized for that,” Sheehan said. “Our study now shows that hu-mans have been selected to be unique and easily recognizable. It is clearly beneficial for me to recognize others, but also beneficial for me to be recog-nizable. Otherwise, we would all look more similar.” “The idea that social interaction may have facilitated or led to selection for us to be individually recognizable implies that human social structure has driven the evolution of how we look,” said coauthor Michael Nachman, a population geneticist, professor of integrative biology and director of the UC Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. In the study, Sheehan said, “we
asked, ‘Are traits such as distance between the eyes or width of the nose variable just by chance, or has there been evolutionary selection to be more variable than they would be otherwise; more distinctive and more unique?’”As predicted, the researchers found that facial traits are much more variable than other bodily traits, such as the length of the hand, and that facial traits are independent of other facial traits, unlike most body measures. People with longer arms, for example, typically have longer legs, while people with wider noses or widely spaced eyes don’t have longer noses. Both findings suggest that facial variation has been enhanced through evolution. Finally, they compared the genomes of people from around the world and found more genetic variation in the genomic regions that control facial characteristics than in other areas of the genome, a sign that variation is evolutionarily advantageous. “All three predictions were met: facial traits are more variable and less correlated than other traits, and the genes that underlie them show higher levels of variation,” Nachman said. “Lots of regions of the genome contribute to facial features, so you would expect the genetic variation to be subtle, and it is. But it is consistent and statistically significant.” Sheehan was able to assess human facial variability thanks to a U.S. Army database of body measurements com-piled from male and female personnel
in 1988. The Army Anthropometric Survey (ANSUR) data are used to de-sign and size everything from uniforms and protective clothing to vehicles and workstations. A statistical comparison of facial traits of European Americans and African Americans - forehead-chin distance, ear height, nose width and distance between pupils, for example, showed that facial traits are, on average, more varied than the others. The most variable traits are situated within the triangle of the eyes, mouth and nose. Sheehan and Nachman also had access to data collected by the 1000 Genome project, which has sequenced more than 1,000 human genomes since 2008 and catalogued nearly 40 mil-lion genetic variations among humans worldwide. Looking at regions of the human genome that have been identi-fied as determining the shape of the face, they found a much higher number of variants than for traits, such as height, not involving the face. “Genetic variation tends to be weeded out by natural selection in the case of traits that are essential to survival,” Nachman said. “Here it is the opposite; selection is maintaining variation. All of this is consistent with the idea that there has been selection for variation to facilitate recognition of individuals.”
(Extracted from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140916112240.htm?utm_source=feedburner)
Human faces are so variable because we evolved to look unique
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Chair: Ms Elissa Rudolph, 14210 Nesting Way Apt C, Delray Beach, Florida 33484 USA [email protected] Director Admin: Ms Therese Moodie-Bloom, 17/23 Waiwera St, Lavender Bay 2060 Australia [email protected] Director Development: Mr Björn Liljeqvist, Knektvägen 1, 196 30 Kungsängen Sweden [email protected] Treasurer: Mr Rudy Challupner [email protected] Dir. Smaller National Mensas:: Mr Lars Endre Kjølstad, Grønligata 20a, NO3188 Horten, [email protected]. President: Dr Abbie Salny, 407 Breckenridge, Wayne NJ 07470 USA Tel: +1 973 305 0055SIGHTCoordinator: Mr Pierpaulo Vittorio [email protected]. SIG Coordinator: Ms Barbara Kryvko [email protected]: Mr Martyn Davies [email protected] Director: Mr Michael Feenan, Slate Barn, Church Lane, Caythorpe, Lincolnshire NG32 3EL, UKTel/Fax+44(0)1400272 675 [email protected]
Editorial StaffEditor: Ms Kate Nacard, 407/23 Corunna Rd, Stanmore NSW 2048 Australia [email protected] T: +61 2 9516 1024Science: Mr John Blinke [email protected]: Mr Tom Elliott [email protected] Articles: Position Vacant
officer directory
The Mensa World Journal (MWJ) is produced under the auspices of the Mensa International Board of Directors. Mandatory content as identified by the MWJ editor must be published in every national Mensa magazine. Publication of other content is recommended but optional. Opinions expressed in the MWJ are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other individual or any official Mensa body. Submission Guidelines: Language: English only. Text: MS Word (Windows), .rtf (Word/Mac), plain text, PageMaker (Windows), InDesign (Windows) Length: 500 word limit. Send by e-mail, fax, snail mail to the Editor. The Editor reserves the right to include or edit submissions for space and content considerations. All unoriginal submissions must be accompanied by written permis-sion for publication from the original author.Permission is granted for MWJ articles to be reprinted in any Mensa publication provided that the author, MWJ and MWJ’s editor are acknowledged. Permission must be sought from the MWJ editor for reprinting of any part of the MWJ in non-Mensa publications.
The Mensa Foundation recognizes, encourages, and communicates excel-lence in human intelligence globally through education, research, and rec-ognition programs. Its international scholarship programs directly benefit students who are pursuing their aca-demic goals around the world. The Mensa International Schol-arship program provides funds for international students enrolled at accredited colleges or universities in a country other than the United States. Eligibility is limited to Mensa mem-bers (except American Mensa). The Ed Vincent International
Mensa Foundation Scholarship ProgramScholarship program provides funds for international students enrolled at accredited colleges or universities in the United States. Eligibility is limited to Mensa members (except American Mensa) or their children/dependents. Mensa Foundation scholarships are awarded on the basis of an essay that describes the applicant’s career, vocational, and/or academic goals along with information that shows how the applicant intends to achieve the stated goal. The scholarships are unrestricted regarding age, race, gender, level of education, grade point average, or financial need.
Eligible students can apply online at www.mensafoundation.org/scholar-ships. The site also includes more information, rules/guidelines, and an application. The submission period for the international scholarship programs begins on September 30, 2014. All ap-plications must be submitted online by 05:59 GMT on January 15, 2015. The Mensa Education & Research Foundation is a philanthropic, non-profit organization funded by gifts from Mensa members, Mensa Interna-tional, and other donors.
11
MEN
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--14
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--15
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37
11
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--10
. Can
you
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--11
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mensa world journal december 2014
mensa wor ld journal
Hallucigenia ScienceDaily, August 17, 2014. “Evolu-tionary Misfit: Misunderstood Worm-Like Fossil Finds its Place in the Tree of Life.” (Nature) Remember Hal-lucigenia? That’s the strange 505 million year old fossil creature from the Burgess Shale that seemed to have two rows of pointy feet and a row of tentacles on its back. Scientists eventually figured out that they had the fossil upside down and backwards after the second row of “tentacles” was discovered to be embedded in the rock that bore it. Still, it seemed to be a dead end species with no modern relatives. However, it is now certain that Hallucigenia was a relative of modern velvet worms, according to University of Cambridge. This is established by the structure of the clawed feet, which are built from concentric layers of cuticle — just like velvet worms.
Even BiggerCNN.com, September 5, 2014. “Meet Dreadnoughtus, Perhaps the Biggest Creature to Ever Walk the Planet.” Contributed by Dave Hornstein. Every now and then, a new ‘biggest’ dinosaur is reported. These estimates are usually based on a very few bones.
But the latest one, an Argentinian tita-nosaur called Dreadnoughtus schrani, left us 70% of its skeleton. So scien-tists are more than usually confident when they say the 77 million year old
creature prob-ably weighed 65 tons and was 85 feet long. The neck bones were three feet wide. The creature also had a 30 foot long “weaponized” whip tail that
could have swatted any predators fool-ish enough to approach. This was defi-nitely not the biggest dino of this kind to walk the Earth because it wasn’t an adult. We can only wonder how big Mom and Dad had been!
Fish Feat theaustralian.com, August 28, 2014. Mail One. “Fish Out of Water Can Quickly Find Their Feet.” (Nature) Contributed by Bruce Watson. How did creatures move from the ocean to the land 400 million years ago? An air breathing African fish
named Polypterus (pictured at right) gives us a clue. Researchers at University of Ottawa kept a hundred of the strange creatures out of water for a year, starting at birth. The scientists
expected to rescue them at some point
in the experiment. Instead, the fish seemed comfortable and happy, and they even modified their behavior to get around more effectively without water to support them. In the wild, polypterus move from one puddle to another as their habitat dries out every summer.
Gut Bugs Again ScienceDaily, August 25, 2014. “Gut Bacteria that Protect Against Food Al-lergies Identified.” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.)Gut bacteria are getting the blame for more and more ailments. Obesity is one. Ulcers are another. And now there are food allergies. It seems that one of our normal intestinal flora can help us stay healthy. Clostridia incite our bod-ies to produce antibodies. These lock up allergens before they can get into our
blood and cause symptoms. If we deci-mate the good bugs with antibiotics or bad diets, then they can’t do that for us. In the future, it might be possible to inoculate people with probiotics that contain clostridia. For now, this is an experimental treatment that can cure food allergies in lab mice.
john [email protected]
supplementally... john blinke
The Chronicle | Nov 2014
Mensa SA NG 2014 - The Tribe has Spoken! Words: Amanda Horn Photography: Nicolette de Lange I received the mail about the National Gathering to be held in Gauteng this year. At first glance it looked like a good idea to attend... a weekend away in a beautiful setting... why not? But admittedly, I was also reluctant. I am pretty new to Mensa, so I didn’t know what to expect. I also don’t know many people in Mensa and seeing that I can be quite shy and reserved around ‘strangers’, I was really not sure if attending would be a good idea. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and do it anyway. Quite honestly, I am glad I did! I can tell you about the beautiful venue; the majestic Magalies Manor nestled in a valley on the banks of the Magalies River. It is an elegant and exclusive establishment with a slogan that reads: ‘Where minds meet and souls renew’. Their beautifully decorated rooms are hidden amongst the exquisite landscaped gardens and the poolside view of the Magalies Mountains is indescribable. I can tell you about the delectable, freshly prepared stir-fried Asian food we enjoyed as our first meal of the weekend or about the succulent spitbraai of the second evening. I can tell you about the breakfasts and the lunch we had at the peculiarly eccentric Goblins Cove.
The Chronicle | Nov 2014
I can tell you about our leisurely outing to the Lion and Rhino Park. I can tell you about the buffalo just strolling past the vehicles, warthog blissfully basking in the sun, rhino relaxing so close you feel you can touch them and the silhouettes of sable against the skyline. It is almost impossible to mention all of this and not make mention of the *Anthropoides paradisius prancing around. Afore mentioned set the most advantageous scene for that which I really should be telling you about... the copious amount of stimulating *intercourse we relished in. The fun, the laughter, the games and the friendships formed. Not a moment was wasted getting into it. So without further adieu... Upon arrival on the Friday we were handed beautiful welcome bags filled with all things bubbly. While committee members were wrapping up their meeting; the rest of us (armed with name tags), congregated around the bar and entertainment area where a pool competition was already well on its way. An icebreaker game of charades had us laughing and bonding in no time. Shy as I am, I felt right at home. The shenanigans carried on till the early hours of the morning and by this time, many of us already ‘lost our names’. On the Saturday morning, we all gathered in the conference room for feedback from the National Committee. Various committees communicated the happenings of the last year and some exciting decisions were made about the future of Mensa. It is in this meeting where I truly realised what Mensa as an organisation is about and for the first time I did not think: ‘What can Mensa do for me?’ but asked myself: ‘What can I do for Mensa?’. I realised that it was not the venue as such, but in Mensa itself ‘where minds meet and souls renew’. At the heart of it all are the people. And suddenly, I found myself, not among strangers but among tribe members, friends and family.
The rest of the weekend was purely about fun. Some went to visit a museum while others lounged around and basked in the afternoon sun. A photo competition kept the novice and professional photographers shooting away trying to capture the beauty and bliss of anything starting with a B. Card games, board games and then came THE quiz! The evil quiz master was brutal asking some obscure questions leading to risqué answers. Several questions stumped us all but we laughed and we learned.
On Sunday there was a prize giving and nobody went home empty handed. For me however, I went home with more than a goodie bag and a prize but with inside jokes and new friends and with a sense of belonging.
The Chronicle | Nov 2014
Thank you fellow Mensans for making me feel at home, thank you organisers – your efforts reflected in every detail of the weekend’s events and thank you committee members for your hard work and dedication. If you have missed this year’s National Gathering and you want to know more, please speak to your local committee members. And if you are, as I was, reluctant to attend events; step out of that comfort zone and connect. You might just be pleasantly surprised! Looking forward to next year’s Nat Gat in Cape Town! See you there As discovered during the quiz: * Anthropoides paradisius – Is the Blue Crane * A 4 letter word ending with a K for Intercourse is talk.
The Chronicle | Nov 2014
After having so much fun with our fellow ‘tribe’ members at the National Gathering this year, we deemed it necessary to start a group which would allow us to spend more time socialising with our fellow Mensans. 'Mensans at play' is an exciting new social group aiming to cater for this need. We are hoping to arrange all kinds of exciting social activities and get-togethers as frequently as possible. - Currently only for JHB & PTA members.
The Chronicle | Nov 2014
Glottal ghosts" - Ettiene Smook
In the woods there are big things
and small things alike.
In nooks and in crannies:
amorphous,
erudite.
Clandestine, concocting
and plotting at night
to send only shadows
and harm but through fright.
In the woods there are grey things
and they're hidden from sight.
Bumping and rustling
above and below.
Left and
right
there are things less than tactile,
no more than the flight
of your fancy or thinking:
the mind poised in spite.
In the mind there are forests
and paper oaks grown tall,
amongst which fierce tigers
of paper, also, prowl.
And though their growling be subtle
and their cardboard claws concealed
- some might venture 'tis mere myth -
the blood they draw is real.
The Chronicle | Nov 2014
Mensa SA would like to take the opportunity to say a heartfelt "Happy Birthday" to Mensa Malaysia, which has been going strong for 30 years!
The Chronicle | Nov 2014
Train daily in 5 disciplines designed to test all areas of your brain
Scientific Research Research has shown that regular brain training can significantly enhance fluid intelligence, which is the fundamental human ability to reason, detect patterns
and learn. Just like exercise contributes to your general well being, there is some evidence to suggest that regular brain training can help stave off depression.
It simply makes sense to take steps to keep every aspect of your body in good shape, why should your brain be any different?
START TRAINING TODAY
The Chronicle | Dec 2014
Mensa SA directory Chairman: Reyaan Uys [email protected] Secretary: Miriam Jorna [email protected] Treasurer: Simoné Deyzel-O'Brien [email protected] Membership: Gareth Daniell [email protected] Administrative: Yvonne Steyn [email protected] Regional Chairs Jo'burg: Jacques Rossouw [email protected] KZN: Riaan Thomson [email protected] Pretoria: Beverley van der Merwe [email protected] Western Cape: Jac Kriek [email protected] Bloemfontein: Nicolette de Lange [email protected] MaGiC: Vacancy SiGHT: Meg Cowper-Lewis [email protected] The Chronicle: Russell Bennett [email protected] From the Editor Once upon a time, way back in my misspent and barely remembered youth, I was an avid cyclist. Having decided to rekindle those teenage thrills and improve my health simultaneously, I recently bought a bike and set to fettling it to my own tastes before undergoing what was always going to be a "trial by fire" reintroduction to this pastime. However it turned out that, surprisingly, the only pain my first ride would bring was financial! Although friends on the West Coast had warned me of the deadly (to inner tubes at least) threat of the prolific devil thorns in our area, I had set out to learn through personal experience and walked the last couple of kilometres home with two flats. So it was off to the local bike store for what I remembered as Permatubes, which used to be pricey at around R50 per tyre... To my horror the quote for what is now called a Tubeless Tyre System was a little steeper than that. No less than R1200 per tyre in fact! Which as per usual got me thinking, how have we allowed ourselves to come to the untenable situation we find ourselves in today? Biking is meant to be, first and foremost, a reliable mode of wheeled transport for the less well-heeled amongst us. Yet that noble aim has been twisted through greed and societal trends into something entirely different. Something which is today a dark parody of this original intent which reveals our so-called progress as a mockery of the advancement of our species through innovation and cooperation. Only we could have done this to ourselves. And only we could have stopped it. But we didn't, eternally hiding behind that old "what could we have done" mantra of ostriches everywhere.
The Chronicle | Nov 2014
Official AG 2014 Photo Competition Things that start with “B”
1. Professional photography winner Nicky de Lange!
2. Amateur photography winner Elda Landsberg!
The Chronicle | Nov 2014
3. Most unique “B” photo Miriam Jorna!
4. Battle of the “B”s Peter Smythe!
Notice Inviting Nominations for the International Election 2015 In accordance with Article X of the Constitution of Mensa, the International Election Committee (IEC) invites nominations for the following internationally elected offices:
INTERNATIONAL CHAIRMAN INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR-ADMINISTRATION
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR-DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL TREASURER
Nomination by National Mensas National Mensa committees may nominate a candidate or a slate of candidates for any or all offices by submitting the name(s) of such candidate(s). A national Mensa group may nominate more than one individual for each office. Nominations should be made on the National Mensa Committee nomination form available from the IEC. The identities of all nominating national Mensa groups shall be made public to all voters with the candidate material. Nomination by members Members may nominate a candidate or a slate of candidates for any or all offices by submitting:
1) the name(s) of such candidate(s); 2) a petition signed by at least 100 members who are in good standing as of January 1st, 2015; 3) verification of such good standing.
Petition signatures must be submitted on a form, which can be obtained from the IEC. Requirements for nominees Each candidate must:
1) be a member in good standing as of the date of nomination and continue to remain a member in good standing throughout the election period until May 31st, 2015;
2) have not served in the post they are nominated for in the previous two consecutive terms; 3) submit written acceptance of his or her nomination (using the form available from the IEC); 4) state his or her willingness to serve if elected; and 5) agree to abide by the rulings of the IEC and the International Ombudsman in the matter of
complaints and conflicts arising from the elections.
All nominations including petitions and acceptances must be sent in hard copy or in scanned electronic copies to the MIL office in time to ensure its arrival no later than January 28th, 2015 at the following address:
Mensa International Ltd. Slate Barn Church Lane Caythorpe, Lincolnshire NG32 3EL United Kingdom e-mail: [email protected]
Contact the IEC at [email protected] for all enquiries regarding the election including nomination forms.