HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jcooley@miracle.com (John Cooley)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Re: hello
Date: 23 Nov 92 19:38:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: miracle.23Nov92153849
Organization: Miracle Computer Consultants

>> corey@amiganet.chi.il.us (Corey Sweeney) writes:
>>Would someone like to tell me what mensa does?

phz@cadence.com (Pete Zakel) writes:
>Argues, talks, drinks, debauches, contemplates, sleeps...

Argues?!

Ha!

We never argue!

Instead we sit around drinking expresso, playing chess and discussing
greek philosophy in a very civilized manner.

-NOT!





 ==========================================================================
       John Cooley              Zappa as a waste management engineer: 
                                  "Hey, there, Brother!  Whatcha
    jcooley@miracle.com            doing with that Cosmic Debris?"
From: jcooley@miracle.com (John Cooley)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Re: grad students killing professors
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 16:52:33 EDT
Organization: Miracle Computer Consultants

mcwg9235@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Marsha Woodbury ) writes:
>While lurking around mensa this morning, it occurred (sp?)
>to me that folks in mensa could help me with my quest--
>i have a story about a guy named Fabrikant who went crazy
>and killed some people on a college campus.  I don't think
>this is Urban Legend, but I need the name of the school,
>the country (Canada?  US?) and year, etc.
>We mensans are smart, right?  So we flip out under
>pressure, right?  I hope wrong.  If you can't tell me
>about Frabrikant, let me know about any others you
>have heard of.

 
Marsha,

Sorry I can't help you with any information on Fabrikant;
but judging from your post it sounds like you're a grad
student....

Are you planning a little something, Ms. Woodbury?  ;^)

-John


 ==========================================================================
       John Cooley              Zappa as a waste management engineer: 
                                  "Hey, there, Brother!  Whatcha
    jcooley@miracle.com            doing with that Cosmic Debris?"
From: jcooley@miracle.com (John Cooley)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Re: Special Interest Groups
Date: 16 Nov 92 15:29:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: miracle.16Nov92112902
Organization: Miracle Computer Consultants

egyed@LNS62.TN.CORNELL.EDU (zoltan egyed) writes:
>In article <1992Nov13.172442.17475@gossip.urich.edu>, creamer@urvax.urich.edu (Kevin J.T. Creamer) writes:
>>I am curious to hear what Mensa members might have to say about the various
>>Special Interest Groups Mensa has to offer.  I have joined one or two, and
>>found them to be fairly interesting (most notably the Classical Music group). 
>>What other groups has anyone explored, and what did you think of them?
>>
>>Kevin J.T. Creamer
>>creamer@urvax.urich.edu
>
>It would be a good thing to have new Usenet groups,
>like rec.org.mensa.[your_favorite_sig_here], to be able to use the
>advantages of Usenet to its fullest. Without it, the SIGs communicate
>with their newsletters, or personal contacts, if the participants are
>in the same area. Having a subgroup for sigs that are going to use it
>would speed up communication by orders of magnitude.
>
>  Zoltan Egyed

Although you'll find many of the Boston Mensa members active on
the newsgroups & Internet, I'm constantly reminded by many from
my local chapter that something like 90% or more DO NOT have access
to e-mail or Internet in any way shape or form.

As one of the people who rallied Mensans to vote for the creation of
rec.org.mensa, I tend to think that creating an additional sub hierarchy
bellow rec.org.mensa will just be creating more needless newsgroups.
(Also a number of local sysadmin people may just refuse the whole package
due to maintainablity issues.)

                                             - John Cooley
                                               LocSec, Boston Mensa


 ==========================================================================
       John Cooley              Zappa as a waste management engineer: 
                                  "Hey, there, Brother!  Whatcha
    jcooley@miracle.com            doing with that Cosmic Debris?"
From: mcwg9235@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Marsha Woodbury )
Subject: Re: grad students killing professors
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 00:44:25 GMT

I have changed my mind.
We shouldn't tell incoming grad students "that's just the way it is."
We should tell them it is wrong to have their work appropriated
by someone else.  We should urge all profs to give credit where
credit is due, and nourish their grad students.
If we don't try to make this a better world, it will only get
worse.  (How in the hell can we accomplish change, though???)
-- 
Marsha Woodbury   marsha-w@uiuc.edu
A simile is like a metaphor.
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
From: gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart)
Subject: Re: Race vs. Intelligence
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 16:48:26 GMT

In article <1992Nov21.091950.6118@tfs.com> ecsd@tfs.com (Eric C. S. Dynamic) writes:
>"Rodney Adams" <RADAMS@BNR.CA> writes:
>>Yes, I do believe that certain races are, on average, less intelligent than
>>others, but as you say, I cannot yet KNOW the truth.  Based upon my
>>personal observations, the scope of which have admittedly focussed upon
>>a sector of the population of higher-than-average intelligence, I would
>>conclude that Blacks and Hispanics have either a lower average intelligence
>>than Whites and Asians or that the former, as has been attributed to women,
>>have a more narrow distribution of intelligences than the latter.  Given
>
>Observations such as these - how much social-science is involved in them?
>If we can't know for sure in advance, we will have to do testing - over the
>objections of people who call even the hypothesis racist. If it's true, it's
>true, so let's just find out.
>Meanwhile - I prefer to err on the side of seeing no prima facie reason to

[ lots of interesting stuff deleted ]

I'm assuming this is just pontification and not debate, as it seems that
you two are agreeing on all points except that Rodney suspects that some
races are more or less intelligent than others and Eric suspects that that
is not true, and you both also agree that you don't really know either.

I think a summary would be:

1) Different races developed different characteristics due to different
environmental factors, different challenges, social pressures, etc..

2) Many of these factors are still different today and still acting,
and many are influenced by the different races and other groups themselves.

3) These differences apparently have resulted in different concentrations
of skills in different areas.

4) Predicting success in any area at all, be it physical or mental or
a combination of the two, is, at best, difficult.

5) Predicting success of an individual in any area based on any one
factor, being a sample of one, is impossible.

6) For large institutions, there may be a success rate in dealing
with the large samples to maximize their use of resources, which
causes them to continue to discriminate based on may different
criteria, from geographical location to IQ score to sex to age, etc.,
ad infinitum.

7) For an individual, like you or me, to predict success in any
area based on some single characteristic may be a human response
to ensure long-term survival of the species, but is unreliable,
and, therefore, to be avoided when not necessary.

I think personal analysis of our own criteria for "necessary" in light
of the possible real and ethical consequences to others is of tantamount
importance.

GMS
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
From: franklin@ug.cs.dal.ca (Steve Franklin)
Subject: Re: KEEPING YOU MENSA MEMBERSHIP A SECRET
Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 15:49:07 GMT

In <mike_steiner-171192112631@192.35.50.131> mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
>In article <16Nov92133624@miracle.com>, jcooley@miracle.com (John Cooley)
>wrote:

>>   Anyone have any positive stories concerning telling non-members you're
>>   a member?  Also, what are some of the bad reactions you've recieved?

>Well, how about that I got a job in a brand-new field (to me) and within
>two years quadrupled my annual income because I told a hiring-manager that
>I'm in Mensa?

   Listen Mike, this is not a flame or a presumptuous stab in the back, but
I have to try and get this straight. Your salary quadrupled because you told
your hiring-manager you're in Mensa? Will this work for scholarships and
marks too? Will I too quadruple my GPA to something unsurmountable, if I too
can get into Mensa? 
   I think this sort of reasoning is a tad scary, but I suspect it is a
slip-up of a well-meant generalization. What Mike meant to say was that it
was an assisting factor in his accelerated salary growth. Or, perhaps the
hiring manager found the Mensa membership intriguing, and consequently gave
Mike more consideration. After spending more time with Mike (and remember
Mensonian membership was the catalyst for this), he found he was worthy of
enhanced salary growth and responsibility. However, realize Mike, that he
should have come to this conclusion with or without Mensa membership. It's
merely that the membership in Mensa brought out your potential...
   There's also another point that has to be made... Mensa only requires
that you be in the top 2 % of the intelligence quotient of the projected
population distribution. Yippeee skip. One in 50 people. That isn't as big a
deal as you might think. Now, granted, most Mensonians argue that they are
improved by their membership, and also, it is often the more serious
individuals who perhaps reside in the even higher percentiles that apply.
But, being Mensan merely means that you are at least 1 in 50 individuals
intelligence wise. Not as big an asset as you depict. But, in any case, I'm
going to MY boss and prof on Monday morning and telling them about my Grade
5 spelling bee I won. Who knows, maybe there's a bit of money in it for me.

Steve Franklin
-- 
aasdSteveFranklin-Subliminal Psychology Major.ks;dlasBlueJaysRULEkasdfeahsdbfl
sd;lfaswoq[eBuyMeAQuadra!!!mbnZMXCNdfsba;KdSPAMiuroqiyetIBMSuxiweuryth'ewr;mxn
qpuepriuPartyOneqtuj;,n.,xnc,kjasFlameMeNot!;lkj;lkgkjd;askElvisLivesjhfquweru
zx.cfranklin@ug.cs.dal.ca,sk;t;lrut[Superboy@ac.dal.cav.zx,Physics!eq3rwkh;oHA
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
From: nicolas@stam.nl (Nico Veenkamp)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Re: RE. IG in Flevehoff
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 11:36:44 CET
Organization: Stam Tijdschriften bv, Rijswijk, The Netherlands

matt@severian.chi.il.us (Matt Crawford) writes:

> wicks@meena.cc.uregina.ca writes:
> > Flevehoff had may 200 attendees from about 20 countries. 
> 
> Wow.
> 
> I'm kind of new still, so tell me -- is there just one IG per year?
> If so, it seems very strange that it doesn't pull more people than a
> good-sized monthly meeting of my local chapter.
> 
Major drawback probably is the travelmoney for most people. I think. The 
Netherlands has some 900 members in total of which maybe a 100-150 will 
attend meetings etc. 

And yes, there is only one IG per year.



      *================================================================*
      |  Nico Veenkamp	        | You write, we publish                |
      |  Stam Tijdschriften bv  | -------------------------------------|
      |  P.O. Box 235           | Internet : nicolas@stam.nl           |
      |  2280 AE  Rijswijk      | FidoNet  : 2:281/1.7                 |
      |  The Netherlands        | BIX      : nicolas                   |
      *================================================================*
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
From: scott@bogus.net.address (Scott Tai)
Subject: t: Tai
Reply-To: scott@bogus.net.address (Scott Tai)
Organization: Dorothea Dix Hospital
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 03:25:19 GMT


mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
: Well, we can all relax now.  I've found out the real name of the person who
: posts under the aliases of Scott Andrew Tai and other names.
: 
: His real name is Richard Cranium.

How odious you are!  It is easy enough for you to insult me, isn't it?

It's my opinion Mike Steiner is simply a fool.  Does that not explain
everything?  Before, when I was told to consider him clever, I kept looking
for his ability and thought I must be too stupid myself to see his 
cleverness; but directly I said to myself, he's a fool - it all became
quite clear.  I'd no alternative.  One of us had to be a fool.  And, well,
you know one can't say that of oneself...

--
Scott Tai
From: mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Re: t: Moral Kiosk (a test)
Date: 24 Nov 92 02:17:24 GMT
Followup-To: rec.org.mensa

In article <9211141954.AA09852@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us>,
tai@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us (Scott Andrew Tai) wrote:
> 
> 
> I'm here not either to amuse you or enjoy your society.

No.  You're here to prove that you're an ass--and you have been doing an
admirable job of it.  However, despite your intentions, you are
amusing--just like a 5 year-old girl dressed in her mother's dress and
shoes is amusing.  It is usually fun to watch a child try to act like a
grown up and failing miserably.  Stick around; we need the laughs.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Now that I have a reader that can do .sigs, I can't think of a witty |
|one to put here, so I won't.  All normal disclaimers apply.          |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
From: eager@eagercon.com (Michael J. Eager)
Subject: Re: Keeping Your Mensa Membership A Secret
Reply-To: eager@eagercon.com
Organization: Eager Consulting
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 05:01:12 GMT

In article 171192112631@192.35.50.131, mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
>Well, how about that I got a job in a brand-new field (to me) and within
>two years quadrupled my annual income because I told a hiring-manager that
>I'm in Mensa?

Because?  Not in spite of?

Who can I tell to quadruple my income?

I can see it now, late night TV, babes on my arms, standing on my yacht with
the ocean in the background.  And the pitch is "You can become rich joining
Mensa, just send $99 for the plan to your fortune".



---
Michael J. Eager		Michael.Eager@eagercon.com
Eager Consulting		(415) 325-8077 
1960 Park Boulevard, Palo Alto, CA 94306-1141

Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
From: gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart)
Subject: Re: Tai's fake news headers
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 16:33:39 GMT

In article <1992Nov21.082516.28696@tfs.com> ecsd@tfs.com (Eric C. S. Dynamic) writes:
>jwp@chem.ucsd.edu (John Pierce) writes:
>>I've gotten somewhat tired of the fact that "Tai" hides behind a bogus
>>news header.  In the ten or twelve years I've been running news, it's
>>always been considered exceptionally bad form to allow people at your
>>organization to fake news headers.  Since it appears from the headers
>>that he's posting via a machine at NCSU, I've asked people there to see
>>if they can put an end to the header faking.
>
>I wouldn't worry about it, it may be bad form but Tai is not malicious.
>I never got around to having my local hack go after him, and by now it
>doesn't mean anything. I guess I'll tease Tai and say that when he's
>able to afford his own mailid, or actually gets an official, granted id
>to write from, he will.
>
>Meanwhile, Tai's private mail address is: mensa@nyx.cs.du.edu
>
>Let's overlook each other's wild ways, shall we? While no real harm is done.
>-ecsd

I can understand what you're saying here, and I don't want to come off
as harsh, but the longer I live, the more I have found something particularly
surprising to be true.  There are very few people in the world I really
need to associate with.  That is, there are very few people in the world
that are necessary for me to interact with.  There are lots of people that
I have to tolerate, and, in my opinion, respect, simply out of fairness
and pracitcality.  But although in my youth I thought it was very important
to make people like me, I realize now that it is a waste of my time and
their time to contact or respond to anyone that doesn't entertain or
interest me.  Some people may want to consider this in their lives as
well in an objective, practical way, and who knows, it may be a stress
reliever.  It also helps in ignoring those that cause you unpleasantness.
Call me dense, but this seemingly obvious notion just dawned on me one
day, and I realized life was just too short not to focus exclusively
on the important people in your life.

GMS
From: mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Re: Marylin Vos Savant.  Personal info request <=****
Date: 16 Nov 92 20:10:47 GMT
Followup-To: rec.org.mensa

In article <1992Nov12.233947.25691@cbnewse.cb.att.com>,
gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart) wrote:
> 
> In article <mike_steiner-121192114014@192.35.50.131> mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
> >In article <1992Nov10.165452.9185@cbnewse.cb.att.com>,
> >gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart) wrote:
> >> 
> >> In article <09Nov92200433@miracle.com> jcooley@miracle.com (John Cooley) writes:
> >> >edp@math.zk3.dec.com (Eric Postpischil) writes:
> >> >>In article <R1PVTB4w165w@iowegia.uucp>, quest@iowegia.uucp (Steve J.
> >> >>Quest) writes:
> >> >>
> >> >>>My first reaction to the name is "what a lucky person to have a 
> >> >>>last name of Savant".
> >> >>
> >> >>It might not be luck; a family might have been named for their
> >> >>characteristics.  I've been told "Postpischil" is Czechoslovakian for
> >> >>"quick witted".
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>                                -- edp (Eric Postpischil)
> >> >>                                "Always mount a scratch monkey."
> >> >>                                edp@rusure.enet.dec.com
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >Eric, isn't Postpischil a German name though?
> >> >
> >> >                                   -- John who name has many meanings
> >> 
> >> I think it's Austrian for "One who has made yellow snow."
> >
> >No, it means after the one who has made yellow snow--you forgot the
> >pre-Post.
> >
> 
> Funny.  All this time I thought "has" was already past tense.

right, "has" is past tense; but the "post" means after the event--so it
means "One who comes after one who has made yellow snow."

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Now that I have a reader that can do .sigs, I can't think of a witty |
|one to put here, so I won't.  All normal disclaimers apply.          |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
From: sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller)
Subject: Re: t: Re: t: social rejection
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 21:52:02 GMT

In article <9767@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> nick+@pitt.edu (Nick C De Mello) writes:
>In article <1992Nov17.031902.14345@ncsu.edu> scott@bogus.net.address (Scott Tai) writes:
>>
>>mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
>>: scott@bogus.net.address (The Great Brain) wrote:
>>: > mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
>>: > : scott@bogus.network.address (Scott Tai) wrote:
>>: > : > mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
>
> 
>Request:  Could you guys trim your articles a little more? When it's piled
>          six levels deep I have a great deal of trouble making any 
>          sense of it...

Scott Tai, piled 6 levels deep.  Definitely an uphill battle to
make any sense of such a thread. 

>
>-- 
>   _/   _/  _/  _/_/_/   _/   _/  Sea Shells to C shls,  Waikiki to
>  _/_/ _/  _/  _/   _/  _/_/_/     the Internet, a wave, is a wave...
> _/ _/_/  _/  _/       _/ _/                   
>_/   _/  _/   _/_/_/  _/   _/                       Nick+@pitt.edu

Nice effect there.  I don't usually think much of "graphical" .sigs
but that one looks cool.
From: mcwg9235@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Marsha Woodbury )
Subject: grad students killing professors
Summary: smart people
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 11:49:28 GMT
Keywords: need info

While lurking around mensa this morning, it occurred (sp?)
to me that folks in mensa could help me with my quest--
i have a story about a guy named Fabrikant who went crazy
and killed some people on a college campus.  I don't think
this is Urban Legend, but I need the name of the school,
the country (Canada?  US?) and year, etc.
We mensans are smart, right?  So we flip out under
pressure, right?  I hope wrong.  If you can't tell me
about Frabrikant, let me know about any others you
have heard of.
Thanks in advance!
-- 
Marsha Woodbury   marsha-w@uiuc.edu
A simile is like a metaphor.
University of Illinois, Middle of Nowhere
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
From: edp@math.zk3.dec.com (Eric Postpischil)
Subject: Things not said
Reply-To: edp@math.zk3.dec.com (Eric Postpischil)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 13:58:56 GMT

In article <1992Nov19.200425.27491@walter.cray.com>,
sonic@bearpit.cray.com (Curtis Swanson) writes:

>Also, there have been other points raised that you haven't responded to:
>Does this mean you agree with them?

Absolutely not.  I categorically deny implicit agreement with statements
I have not addressed.  There are tens of thousands of statements made on
the net; I cannot possibly respond to all of those I disagree with.  My
silence is never to be taken as agreement.

>I can only assume agreement from 
>you in regards to all the points raised in this discussion (and, by 
>extension, all other discussions) based on your previous actions and 
>explanations of them if you do not deign to respond.

That is a poor assumption.  I gave you one reason for not responding in
one case.  That single reason cannot correctly be generalized to explain
my not responding in all cases.  Often, I do not respond because I do
not think a statement is worthwhile.  For example, I have ignored many
ad hominem comments which are unworthy of acknowledging.

>In your previous post (Re: And again, Voting Analysis), you write " I did 
>not deny that the sample from group X is needed, . . ."  Had you written
>that a month ago, a lot of points would never have needed to have been
>raised.

The statement you point out is only a clarification, not a change -- it
is not inconsistent with previous statements, so it does not move to a
different position.  It simply points out how previous statements do in
fact describe a possible situation, since it says those previous
statements do not deny a sample is needed.


                                -- edp (Eric Postpischil)
                                "Always mount a scratch monkey."
                                edp@rusure.enet.dec.com
From: nicolas@stam.nl (Nico Veenkamp)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Re: Special Interest Groups
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 10:32:43 CET
Organization: Stam Tijdschriften bv, Rijswijk, The Netherlands

matt@severian.chi.il.us (Matt Crawford) writes:

> > And while we are at it. Why not start an 
> > Internet SIG (Special Internet Group :-) that you can join when you have 
> > an @ address or are able to post on the 'net?
> 
> Excellent.  Call it @SIG.  Let me look for my old paperwork on
> starting SIGs ...

And of course organize @-parties at gatherings :-)


      *================================================================*
      |  Nico Veenkamp	        | You write, we publish                |
      |  Stam Tijdschriften bv  | -------------------------------------|
      |  P.O. Box 235           | Internet : nicolas@stam.nl           |
      |  2280 AE  Rijswijk      | FidoNet  : 2:281/1.7                 |
      |  The Netherlands        | BIX      : nicolas                   |
      *================================================================*
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa