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Archive through March 02, 2006

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Hukdonreality
Member

09-29-2003

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 5:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Hukdonreality a private message Print Post    
Any chance you noticed any typos in that e-mail? Now THAT would be funny!

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 7:09 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Costacat a private message Print Post    
Buggles, I pretty much had the same scenario as Faery. And then, thru high school and college, I guess when you have a 4.0 GPA, they start looking back at your scores. I received letters from 'em all the way thru the '80s (and I think early 90's). And, like Faery, I finally told 'em to go away, I would never join. I hated being in the "gifted" classes, too. Although it was much worse in the 5th grade, when I was THE gifted student in a regular class. Although I got to do cool things (like decorate for Valentine's Day rather than taking a math test), I hated being singled out as "different."

And FWIW, no one I know or have known is a Mensa member.

And LOL @ OI. Y'know, I always wondered why she publishes a logic/counting/word puzzle every week.

Eacollins
Member

10-30-2003

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 9:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eacollins a private message Print Post    
I am a Mensa member.

It is not something I go around proclaiming to strangers because the comments in the forum are pretty typical of what one would receive in person. That and I’m still perfecting my cure for cancer. It’s been exceedingly difficult because I suck rocks big time at math and I could never publish my research because I am an atrocious speller. Perhaps if I spent less time at puzzles and reality TV forums I would have better success.

I find that most people really don’t understand what Mensa is. First it is more of a social organization; it is not a think tank. If you went to an event you are more likely to find people sharing bad puns and silly jokes over a beer than discussing astrophysics.

I have found through personal experience that though many people might qualify to join Mensa, it isn’t a good fit for everyone. There are some people out there who join to have a plaque to hang on their wall and something to put on their resume. They pay one year’s worth of dues then never go to a single meeting or even open the newsletter.

Others like myself and my husband joined because we enjoy the events. We’ve met some good friends and generally have a great time. I do suspect though it might because we’ve met very few Tareks over the years and more members like the Nerds on Amazing Race (I must clarify. I don’t know if the Nerds are Mensa members but I suspect if they aren’t they would surely qualify.)

Spoton
Member

09-16-2005

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 9:51 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spoton a private message Print Post    
Love this conversation - brings back old feelings about being separated into the "special" class - At least we had a whole class-full (I attended the largest elementary school in the state). Costa- that must have been painful to have been singled out in that way. I did love my class in 5th and 6th grade. But my IQ never translated into high scores in high school and especailly not in college. I think I was just a good test-taker and scored well in the IQ test!
About Mensa - Here at work, we recently had an applicant send a resume with THREE references to her Mensa membership! That won a lot of points with us ! (dripping sarcasm...)

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 10:52 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ladytex a private message Print Post    
very good post, eacollins, thanks ...

Puzzled
Member

08-27-2001

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 11:06 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Puzzled a private message Print Post    
I have a ridiculously high IQ and dyslexia, so that d@mn IQ was a curse. I just flunked my way through school, being told I was lazy, not trying, blah, blah, even though I was trying harder than anything.

So, I would never want to join any group that was based on IQ--they can take the IQ tests and shove them.

Buggles
Member

09-07-2002

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 11:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Buggles a private message Print Post    
thanks Faery & Costa - yup, same dreadful past for me too <shudder> :-)

hmm i've known a gazillion peeps with perfect tests scores and gpas but no one as far as i know were ever recruited or joined. and i'm in the most highly educated congressional district in the country..

it is comforting to know that so much giftedness is being channelled into the posts at tvch

Buggles
Member

09-07-2002

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 11:19 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Buggles a private message Print Post    
whoops - 'was ever'

Jasper
Member

09-14-2000

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 1:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jasper a private message Print Post    
I was in that "gifted" portion of the class as well and loved that we were able to do extra things, 6th grade is the year I remember most. Lots of fun. I have no idea what my IQ is, but I am one of those people who love crosswords, logic puzzles and those meaningless number puzzles. Everyday I take half an hour over coffee to do all the puzzles in the paper. I think it helps keep your mind nimble, jmo.

On Summer, I'm pretty sure she did inform Tarek that the phone calls had to be before the dinner hour. I did wonder why they had her focused one restaurants. I have never been in a Sam's Club (not sure they have them in Canada) but thought they were more along the lines of Staples/Business Depot, so better suited for an office environment.

Cathie
Member

08-16-2000

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 1:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cathie a private message Print Post    
Jasper,
Sam's Club has everything, groceries, furniture, business supplies, pharmacy, cleaning supplies, lawn & garden equipment, almost anything you would need. The big deal is that they sell mostly in bulk, so instead of buying 1 can of soup you buy 8 cans. Lots of bargains if you have the storage space. I think it caters to businesses, but almost everyone I know has a personal membership there.

Naja
Member

06-28-2003

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 2:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Naja a private message Print Post    
Speaking of Mensa, have any of you ever heard Steve Martin's "How I Joined Mensa"? This has to be one of my Steve bits ever...LOL

http://home.comcast.net/~naja3/HIJM.wma

Sunshyne4u
Member

06-17-2003

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 4:20 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sunshyne4u a private message Print Post    
OI Forget Mensa. It's a society of wannabes. They use their scores to prove they are 'great' or something.


I agree. The only person I know who belongs to Mensa gloats about it on a regular basis. Most of us find it very hard to stomach LOL
********

It is interesting how many of us are claiming to have been singled out as Gifted in school!! Wonder what the odds of that is? Quite amazing! I started to keep my mouth SHUT in class by Jt.highschool so it wasnt obvious. It was easier to 'fit in' that way.
***********

I agree with previous comments about how Intelligence and commonsense not necessarily being related to IQ. (and spelling and some types of math skills LOL)

((((By the way, I clicked that link for USA Mensa. I never knew that they would accept so many different tests!! I would love to know the actual numbers of high IQ people in the population compared to actual numbers of members.

I would also love to know if a previous membership
Stands, as is, if a person develops a cognitive disability or other 'thinking' disorder later in life.)))

Mewz
Member

08-16-2005

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 5:52 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mewz a private message Print Post    
Yes, once you've qualified, you never have to "Retest," although that is a common joke among us Mensans.

I was a bit dismayed to see Tarek announce that he was a Mensan. I, too, don't like people who gloat about their IQ, and if he turns out to be a jerk or a nerd, he'll give the rest of us a bad name! Oh wait.. that's what this is about... he already did, didn't he?

I like eacollins' post. She's right on about what Mensa is really all about. It's more a social organization where we don't have to explain the punch lines to our jokes. We rarely talk about astrophysics or curing cancer, but do like to play NTN Trivia and Sudoku.

Oh.. and Spoton, was that my resume? I only mention it once, though. I figure if they don't want to hire me because I'm a Mensan, then I probably don't want to work there. Back before I was one, and I was in the position of hiring people, I figured being a Mensan was a plus most of the time...that I wouldn't have to tell them how to do things more than once.

It's interesting the perspective non-Mensans have of Mensa. My ex told my daughter that Ms were all weird nerds, so she had to join to spite him. We're really not! Okay, some may be....

Curlyq
Member

07-10-2002

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 6:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Curlyq a private message Print Post    
Jasper, that's exactly why this "so-called 'intelligent'" person loves logic puzzles, crosswords, cryptograms, and all those other "meaningless" endeavors. They keep your mind sharp while letting you relax.

Life can't always be about curing diseases or saving the world, no matter how intelligent you are. You need to lighten up and have some fun, too. I'm sure people who read that column in the paper do spend time on more important work, but why begrudge them a challenging puzzle? Perhaps they put that in there for those who find the regular puzzles too easy.

Heck, look at all the gifted people who are spending time watching TV and posting on message boards about it.

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 6:20 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Costacat a private message Print Post    
My entire 6th grade class was a gifted class, so I only had to suffer thru 5th grade. (I was asked if I wanted to skip 3rd grade, but didn't. I seem to recall special treatment in 4th grade, but it didn't seem to affect me much.)

I spent a lot of time in my youth trying to prove I wasn't different. By 8th grade, when I discovered boyz, I found common ground and being gifted became a nonissue. Thank gawd! I do have to credit my brains for getting me thru high school though. I cut so many classes for so many years, yet still managed to transfer schools with a straight A average. Apparently, some teachers really like it when you make them work (for example, my psych teacher was a total Freudian and I was more into Jung; I'd make her explain every theory because I didn't buy into what she was saying; she must've loved it since she transferred me with an A and I never took a single test or did a single lab!).

IQs above 140 are not the norm. I'm in the 99th percentile.

Oh yeah, Sam's Club is like a Costco. They are perfect for small businesses, but their market is not ONLY small businesses. Just like Costco. (Although I'm not sure what the requirements are for obtaining membership since I go to Costco.)

I remember Summer telling Tarek at the beginning that it was a bad time to call restaurants, but I don't recall her saying anything else to him later on. But still, she was pretty much incoherent in the boardroom. And when put on the spot by Carolyn (no less than THREE times), she couldn't answer. On that alone, hasta la vista, bay-bee! :-)

Hukdonreality
Member

09-29-2003

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 7:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Hukdonreality a private message Print Post    
I don't have my mensa cycle anymore. I had a hysterectomy 17 years ago. Now, THAT is smart.

Pamy
Member

01-02-2002

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 7:15 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Pamy a private message Print Post    
ROTF!

Buggles
Member

09-07-2002

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 8:22 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Buggles a private message Print Post    
lol Hukdon - brilliant

Legalboxer
Member

11-17-2003

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 10:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Legalboxer a private message Print Post    
There is nothing wrong with being smart or being gifted, as there is nothing wrong with being proud about who you are - and I personally am not liking the attacks on Mensa - and I say this as a NON-Mensa person - there are jerks in every race, class, IQ level, ethnicity etc and group shouldn’t be put down as wannabes or arrogant or self centered just because some may some across as such.

I think one of the issues I keep reading above is that some didn’t like being singled out because they felt different for being smart - but in my view, the posts are coming across with the wrong message - there is nothing wrong with being smart or being selected as gifted and while that may have been the place where a person felt different, it shouldn’t come across as if being different because you are smart is a bad thing or automatically means you are egoistical about it... we all have things where we felt different and wanted to difference ourselves from having that divide but the focus should be on that natural desire to feel normal and included and not what we felt different about. I know I hated feeling singled out because I couldn’t talk and did everything possible to be treated normally in that realm but at the same time, I loved each and every gifted and talented class I was in and I couldn’t be prouder each time I scored above 95% all through elementary and jr high school on all those aptitude tests - I was proud at how smart I was, and I still feel that way - and being proud for your accomplishments does not mean you are egoistical or high and mighty about them. I guess what I am trying to say is I totally understand how some may have felt a need not to be in the selected group because they didn’t want to be different from all the rest but we all feel like that in different areas of life and it shouldn’t be contributed to the fact that it was a result of being labeled gifted... being proud of who you are and being egoistical are two different things which can be found in any type of person - and so just as I always find it wrong to label rich people as greedy or uncaring or arrogant, or when people on welfare are labeled lazy or stupid, I don’t like it when intelligent people are attacked as a group as being patronizing or jerks.

And as I said before, editing! For all we know, Trump could have mentioned it when asking questions about the contestants. Assumptions without facts only lead to frustration and hurt feelings.

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 8:25 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Costacat a private message Print Post    
Legal, I kinda think the thing that bugged most of is was... well, two things:

1. Mensa kept getting shoved into our faces as the be all and end all of intelligence.

2. Lots of people COULD BE Mensa members, but choose not to be.

Had Trump now fawned all over Tarek, I doubt we'd all be saying much! :-)

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 8:33 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
I’m still enjoying this show a lot. Trump is Trump.

With respect to the Mensa issue, announcing that you are a Mensa member is in some respects the equivalent of walking into a crowded room and saying that you are very very smart. Naturally it makes you the focus of attention with people wanting to see if you truly demonstrate that quality. No surprises there.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 9:34 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Lots of people could also be firemen (or in a book club, a jaycee or in a scrapbooking group, etc.) but chose not to be. I have no problem if someone wants to be a Mensa member. In fact I know two people who are. And just like in "normal" society, one of those people is a braggart and uses his membership to make him feel better about himself. The other is not at all a braggart and goes to Mensa as a type of a social club.

The problem I had with Tarek is that he seemed closer to the person who used Mensa as a form of validation.

Sadiesmom
Member

03-13-2002

Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 4:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sadiesmom a private message Print Post    
Back to this show. What amazed me was the lack of real business accumen in getting these memberships.
How much money did they spend to get 83 memberships? 3 blimps, 500 hurry up orders of totebags, free manicures and massages???
Now this Russian man that was supposed to know the area did not seem to clue them in that Rutgers University with several colleges were within a stoness trhow of Sam's. What I would have done was pain the blimp with a black knight on a red background and offer 1 day discounts on memberships for College students. Id required. A slight rebate on the memberships would be cheaper than the massages and bags and would sign up members that would continue to spend at Sam's long after this show was over.

Mensa/non-Mensa, it was a silly thing for him to bring up on a reality show where everything is eventually mocked anyway.

Buggles
Member

09-07-2002

Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 5:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Buggles a private message Print Post    
It was a little bizarre. Who examines blimp messages and follows them? I don't think I've even seen a blimp since the 80s. Maybe its a regional thing..

And I am still put off by this idea of massaging as many strangers on the street as you can to get an exec position with the Trump org. If nothing else it is getting boring

Sadiesmom
Member

03-13-2002

Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 8:20 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sadiesmom a private message Print Post    
Blimps fly over my house a lot. Blimp school is a few miles from my house. I used to sit in my office on boring days and stare out at the blimps as they learned to dive and recover. Then the main blimp airport for this area is about 8 or 9 miles west. There was the terrible storm that came on suddenly and almost landed a blimp on my house, barely skirting the 300 year old oak trees. I could see in the windows and saw how sick every one looked from their bumpy ride - But... so silly was I, that I forgot to take a picture. I really think a lot of people don't believe that really happened... but it did.

I also live a 1/2 hour from the task site. The blimps probably passed by my house. So maybe it is a regional thing, my region.