Mensa world journal including the chronicle december 2014

december 2014 issue #023

me nsa w o r l d j o u r n al

Congratulations to the Mensa International Photographer of the Year 2014, Ľubo Činčura from Mensa Slovakia with his photo, Loves me!

m ensa wor ld j our na l Leaders of the pack display high ‘emotional intelligence’ The ability to understand emotions 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 different studies using commerce students.

Study participants were given an emotional ability test as part of the study, as well as a self-analysis of their emotional skills. Then, they organized themselves into small groups or were randomly assigned 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 effectiveness 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 mensa world journal december 2014

conscientious.

“Traditionally we’ve had the assumption 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 traditional factors,” says Prof. Côté.

“It’s also about being able to process other people’s emotions. Anybody who wants to pursue a position of leadership and power can benefit from these abilities.”

The study was published In the June 2010 issue of Leadership Quarterly and was co-authored by Paulo N. Lopes of the Catholic University of Portugal, Peter Salovey of Yale University, and Christopher T.H. Miners of Queen’s University. (http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/Connect/MediaCentre/NewsReleases/Leaders%20of%20the%20 Pack%20Display%20High%20EQ.aspx)

Log into the International website at www.mensa.org for the calendar of national events

from the editor, News of the very successful International 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 Cyprus 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 MoodieBloom p12 Supplementally...

I hope you enjoy the MWJ this month - please think about contributing your ideas or articles; I’d love to hear from you!

With warm regards, Kate 02

m ensa wor ld j our na l from the chairman, Elissa Rudolph...

From the English Perspective Rewind Last year at the International Board of Directors (IBD) annual meeting in Calgary, Canada, no national Mensa group volunteered to host the 2014 meeting in Europe. Not to let an interesting opportunity pass by, Executive Director, 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 London Michael and Kim chose the Beaumont Estate, a complex of buildings, some dating to the 17th century and others 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.

2.5 day meeting. And even though only 12 of the 42 were native English speakers, 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 prominently, the deep desire of most Mensans to communicate, be heard, and feel part of our global family.

Interesting Notes The meeting agenda, including reports, numbered 199 pages (see www.mensa.org to view).

Presentations included Social Media, Constitutions, Web Board Activities, Strategic Planning, Leadership Exchange Ambassadors Program (LEAP), Mensa Foundation, Adaptive Testing in Hungary, 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

Recap Thirty-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 The Future those who wished to speak during the There were bids from three countries mensa world journal december 2014

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 Belgrade. For 2016, the area of the world

Elissa Rudolph, Chairman of Internatinal Mensa, with Jay Menon, Chair Malaysian Mensa,

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 pattern for the IBD is two years of meetings 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;

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m ensa wor ld j our na l 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 attendance 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 meeting 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 enthusiasm are always in high gear. Why not join us at Novi Sad next year??

Elissa Rudolph Chair, International Mensa chairman-mil@mensa.org

Well done, Karina!

Congratulations to Karina Singh of Mensa Cyprus on her brilliant academic results.

Karina, who recently turned 16 years old, is a student of ISOP International School of Paphos in Cyprus. On the 3rd of October she was awarded the International School’s Academic Excellence 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 Japanese 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 completing A-level exams. She wants to be a specialist in quantitative economics.

Well done, Karina!

online journals Check 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 mensainternational@mensa.org with any queries. mensa world journal december 2014

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m ensa wor ld j our na l Leadership Exchange Ambassador Program 2015

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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 national 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:

LEAP Talks

LEAP Projects

The 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.

The second LEAP track is open for innovation: Volunteers can apply with their own ideas to exchange 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 leapcomm@mensa.org. mensa world journal december 2014

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m ensa wor ld j our na l 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 (Slovakia) for his entry, Loves me!

mensa world journal december 2014

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m ensa wor ld j our na l

(above) 2nd Place: Randall Fisher (USA) - Ethnic Cham Girl

(left) 3rd Place Barbara Lehtiniemi (Canada) -Winter Beauty

mensa world journal december 2014

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m ensa wor ld j our na l dog spots dog on screen 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 category of their own. They do that using visual cues alone, according to new research by Dr. Dominique Autier-Dérian from the LEEC and National Veterinary School in Lyon in France and her colleagues.

Their work, the first to test dogs’ ability to discriminate between species 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 gatherings require recognition of similarities between individuals who belong to the same species and to a certain group. Research 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 morphological variety among all animal species.

Indeed, more than 400 pure breeds of dogs have been registered. The authors explored whether this large morphological diversity presented a cognitive challenge to dogs trying to recognize mensa world journal december 2014

their species, when confronted with other species, using visual cues alone.

On a computer screen, the researchers showed nine pet dogs pictures of faces from various dog breeds and cross-breeds, and simultaneously faces of other animal species, including human faces.

They exposed the dogs to diverse stimuli: images 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 authors 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 capacities, 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

A Mensan’s Research Project: Linguistic Representations of Giftedness

I am researching how concepts such as giftedness, talent, and ability, etc. are represented in languages worldwide, 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 understand the concept. Please email me at tanja.baudson@uni-due.de Thanks!

Dr. Tanja Gabriele Baudson Vertretungsprofessur Pädagogische und psychologische Diagnostik Universität Duisburg-Essen

Sniffing out Politics

Lead author of a recent study Dr Rose McDermott has found that people find the smell of others with similar political opinions to be attractive, suggesting that one of the reasons why so many spouses share similar political views is because they were initially and subconsciously attracted to each other’s body odor.

During the American Journal of Political Science study, 146 participants rated the attractiveness of the body odor of unknown strong liberals 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 differentially found the smell of those who aligned with them more attractive,” said Dr McDermott.

http://www.sciencedaily.com

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m ensa wor ld j our na l Human faces are so variable because we evolved to look unique The amazing variety of human faces - far greater than that of most other animals - is the result of evolutionary pressure to make each of us unique and easily recognizable, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, scientists.

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 Our highly visual social interaclength of the hand, and that facial traits tions are almost certainly the driver of are independent of other facial traits, this evolutionary trend,” said behavunlike most body measures. ioral ecologist Michael J. Sheehan, a People with longer arms, for postdoctoral fellow in UC Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. “Many example, typically have longer legs, while people with wider noses or animals use smell or vocalization to identify individuals, making distinctive widely spaced eyes don’t have longer noses. Both findings suggest that facial facial features unimportant, especially variation has been enhanced through for animals that roam after dark”, he evolution. said. But humans are different.

Finally, they compared the genomes “Humans are phenomenally good at recognizing faces; there is a part of the of people from around the world and found more genetic variation in the brain specialized for that,” Sheehan genomic regions that control facial said. “Our study now shows that hucharacteristics than in other areas of mans have been selected to be unique the genome, a sign that variation is and easily recognizable. It is clearly evolutionarily advantageous. beneficial for me to recognize others, “All three predictions were met: but also beneficial for me to be recogfacial traits are more variable and nizable. Otherwise, we would all look less correlated than other traits, and more similar.” the genes that underlie them show “The idea that social interaction higher levels of variation,” Nachman may have facilitated or led to selection said. “Lots of regions of the genome for us to be individually recognizable contribute to facial features, so you implies that human social structure would expect the genetic variation to has driven the evolution of how we look,” said coauthor Michael Nachman, be subtle, and it is. But it is consistent and statistically significant.” a population geneticist, professor of Sheehan was able to assess human integrative biology and director of the facial variability thanks to a U.S. Army UC Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate database of body measurements comZoology. piled from male and female personnel In the study, Sheehan said, “we mensa world journal december 2014

in 1988. The Army Anthropometric Survey (ANSUR) data are used to design 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 million genetic variations among humans worldwide. Looking at regions of the human genome that have been identified 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)

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m ensa wor ld j our na l Mensa Foundation Scholarship Program The Mensa Foundation recognizes, encourages, and communicates excellence in human intelligence globally through education, research, and recognition programs. Its international scholarship programs directly benefit students who are pursuing their academic goals around the world.

The Mensa International Scholarship 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 members (except American Mensa).

The Ed Vincent International

Scholarship 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/scholarships. 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 applications must be submitted online by 05:59 GMT on January 15, 2015.

The Mensa Education & Research Foundation is a philanthropic, nonprofit organization funded by gifts from Mensa members, Mensa International, and other donors.

officer directory

Chair: Ms Elissa Rudolph, 14210 Nesting Way Apt C, Delray Beach, Florida 33484 USA chairman-mil@mensa.org Director Admin: Ms Therese Moodie-Bloom, 17/23 Waiwera St, Lavender Bay 2060 Australia admin-mil@mensa.org Director Development: Mr Björn Liljeqvist, Knektvägen 1, 196 30 Kungsängen Sweden development-mil@mensa.org Treasurer: Mr Rudy Challupner treasurer-mil@mensa.org Dir. Smaller National Mensas:: Mr Lars Endre Kjølstad, Grønligata 20a, NO3188 Horten, Norway

dsnm-mil@mensa.org Hon. President: Dr Abbie Salny, 407 Breckenridge, Wayne NJ 07470 USA Tel: +1 973 305 0055 SIGHTCoordinator: Mr Pierpaulo Vittorio SIGHT@mensa.org Int. SIG Coordinator: Ms Barbara Kryvko sigs@mensa.org Ombudsman: Mr Martyn Davies ombudsman@mensa.org Executive Director: Mr Michael Feenan, Slate Barn, Church Lane, Caythorpe, Lincolnshire NG32 3EL, UK Tel/Fax+44(0)1400272 675 mensainternational@mensa.org

Editorial Staff Editor: Ms Kate Nacard, 407/23 Corunna Rd, Stanmore NSW 2048 Australia mwjeditor@mensa.org T: +61 2 9516 1024 Science: Mr John Blinke Johnb44221@cs.com Books: Mr Tom Elliott tme@verizon.net Feature Articles: Position Vacant 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 permission 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. mensa world journal december 2014

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LYING

WARD

HEM

WITH

GO

BO

17 19 ? 76 3 4

3 42 14

74 87

37 11

56

15

8. The number on each stone represents the difference between the numbers in the two stones on which it sits. Can you work out the five two-digit numbers on the bottom stones? Each of the digits 0-9 is used once only in the bottom row. .

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

e) EQUINE COAST

d) STINGY TITLE

c) SNARES ROLES

b) BITES ROTATION

a) FIRM LISTS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------7. If HALT MAIL = STOP POST, and EVENING OBJECT = NIGHT THING, which pairs of anagrams are synonyms for:

7 4 21 68 3 17

-------------------------------------------------------------------------6.

5. Can you think of a nine-letter occupation that is spelt using only these letters?

AISOT

Consonants

-------------------------------------------------------------------------12. Which three-letter word can be put in front of each of the following words to make four new seven-letter words?

PARK BIDE DING AWAY

Consecutive letters of the alphabet

Roman numerals

Vowels

-------------------------------------------------------------------------11. Each colour represents a different letter. Use the clues below to fill in the wordsquare. The square will have four proper words reading across the rows and the same four words reading down the columns.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------10. Can you think of an eight-letter word which has the letter sequence LTD in it?

9. It flies without wings, yet drags for some things. What is it?

J K I A G

E R T V N

H P M U L

S O Z W X

There once was a young Russian Who’d rather have been a Rajah.

He roamed in all parts Of the East, studying He really became quite a

-------------------------------------------------------------------------15. The same four letters can be re-arranged to form different words to fill in the blanks.

B Y F C D

13. If 70 per cent of the road was washed away by heavy rains, another tenth covered by rockslides, a quarter of the remainder blocked by roadworks and a fifth of what was left still underwater, how much of the 10-kilometre road remains ‘normal’?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------14. All of the letters of the alphabet are in the grid right, except for Q. Can you find an 11-letter word by moving from square to touching square, either up, down, sideways or diagonally? Each square may be entered once only.

12 – 15 Genius material 9 – 11 Excellent lateral thinker 6–8 Very good 4–6 Good 0–4 Bad hair day

YOUR SCORE

SCORECARD: SCORE 1 POINT FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER

You can download the full-colour version of the Mensa World Journal from www.mensa.org

Now read down the centre boxes to find out what young Joe wants to do.

STAMP

FRIEND

COVER

MAN

CROSS

OVER

COD

UNDER

-------------------------------------------------------------------------4. Find a word for each pair of words below, which can be added to the end of the first word, and also to the beginning of the second word, to make two new words.

* fur

* a fortune

* a heraldic symbol

* a mound

* an ancient Roman weapon

* a building

-------------------------------------------------------------------------3. Which single word can mean all of the following?

VITAMIN P

-------------------------------------------------------------------------2. Decipher the puzzle in the box to discover what Reg is suffering from.

1. Which five-letter fruit can have its letters re-arranged to spell another fruit?

If you would like to discuss answers directly with MENSA, you can email Therese at therese@mensa.org.au

 Therese Moodie-Bloom 2008

MENSA MINI IQ CHALLENGE

1. Lemon (melon). 2. A Vitamin B deficiency. 3. Pile.

4. Take a girl out on a date. 5. Tattooist. 6. 51. 7. a/Stable tables. b/Nips spin. c/Traps parts. d/Mean name. e/Horse shore. 8. 13 92 87 56 40. 9. Time. 10. Meltdown.

11. Some Omen Mend Ends. 12. Car. 13. 1.2km 14. Atmospheric. 15. Tsar, arts, star.

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m ensa wor ld j our na l supplementally... john blinke Hallucigenia

ScienceDaily, August 17, 2014. “Evolutionary Misfit: Misunderstood WormLike Fossil Finds its Place in the Tree of Life.” (Nature) Remember Hallucigenia? 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 Bigger

CNN.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. mensa world journal december 2014

But the latest one, an Argentinian titanosaur called Dreadnoughtus schrani, left us 70% of its skeleton. So scientists are more than usually confident when they say the 77 million year old creature probably 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 foolish enough to approach. This was definitely 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!

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 Allergies 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 bodies to produce antibodies. These lock up allergens before they can get into our

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

blood and cause symptoms. If we decimate 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 blinke Johnb44221@cs.com

The Chronicle November 2014 Contents The Tribe has Spoken @ the Mensa SA National Gathering Join the Highveld socials with Mensans @ Play Glottal Ghosts by Etienne Smook Best Wishes to Mensa Malaysia Mensa SA Directory From the editor Official National Gathering 2014 photo competition Notice of International Election 2015

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 | Nov 2014

Mensa SA directory Chairman: Secretary: Treasurer: Membership: Administrative: Regional Chairs Jo'burg: KZN: Pretoria: Western Cape: Bloemfontein: MaGiC: SiGHT: The Chronicle:

Reyaan Uys Miriam Jorna SimonĂŠ Deyzel-O'Brien Gareth Daniell Yvonne Steyn

chairman@mensa.org.za secretary@mensa.org.za treasurer@mensa.org.za membership@mensa.org.za admin@mensa.org.za

Jacques Rossouw Riaan Thomson Beverley van der Merwe Jac Kriek Nicolette de Lange

chairman.joburg@mensa.org.za chairman.durban@mensa.org.za chairman.pta@mensa.org.za chairman.cape@mensa.org.za chairman.bloem@mensa.org.za Vacancy meg@isat.co.za editor@drivemagazine.co.za

Meg Cowper-Lewis Russell Bennett

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 | Dec 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!

The Chronicle | Nov 2014

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: mensainternational@mensa.org Contact the IEC at iec-chair@mensa.org for all enquiries regarding the election including nomination forms.