EAST TEXAS MENSA

ARTICLES

LOCSEC

Dues are Due . . . . New ETX Web Site

$49.00 will get you a lot if you resolve to get more out of Mensa. Attend local meetings or plan a meeting for your town and let us publicize it.

Check out some of the Mensa Web sites mentioned regularly by RVC Rik Hess. East Texas Mensa will soon have a web site, thanks to the hard work of Terry McFadden, Glenn Smith, Sean Healy, and Bill Hendricks. Many e-adresses from National bounced. E-mail Charles Dixon to get on the ETX list.

ETX Mensa Web Page
East Texas Mensa will soon have a web site, thanks to the hard work of Terry McFadden, Glenn Smith, Sean Healy, and Bill Hendricks. If you read this cover to cover, you already saw this much on the cover. Here are more details. Terry volunteered 10 MB of web space and some programming talent, and he will be our Web Master. Glenn, Sean and Bill have volunteered to help and will work with Terry in planning, programming, updating, etc. We tried to contact all who registered e-mail addresses with National, but many of their e-adresses bounced. If you haven't heard from us yet and want to be a part of ETX E-Mensa, then e-mail Charles Dixon to get on our ETX list.

STATE OF THE WORLD - 2000
(The title for the 17th annual environmental summary by the Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, or 1-800-555-2028)

The regular gloom and doom statistics depress, and selected progress reports create optimism. See which category you would designate for these:

In the early 70's southern Honduras farmers produced lots of cattle, sugar cane and cotton for export. The intensive farming reduced the soil's absorbency, causing more runoff and less evaporation, which reduced cloud cover and rainfall. The median average temperature went up from 73 degrees F in 1972 to 86 degrees F in 1990, killing off the malaria-carrying mosquitos, but also making the land much less productive.

Many farmers migrated to the new banana and other fruit plantations in the north, which were located on clearcut rainforests. Pesticide imports increased from 1600 tons in 1989 to 8000 tons in 1991 as the plantations got under way. Mosquitos soon developed resistance to all their insecticides, and malaria cases jumped to 90,000 in 1993. Hurricane Mitch stalled over the area in October 1998 and took revenge for the clearcuts. The forest roots that held the soil were gone, and huge mudslides resulted, knocking out 95% of the country's agriculture, displacing half the people, and washing away vital topsoil. Tens of thousands of additional cases of malaria, cholera and dengue fever followed the flooding.

Thirty to seventy per cent of the coral in the world is dead, apparently due to the warming trend in the oceans. One fourth of the protein for many developing countries comes from coral reef fish. 30% less calcium will be in the oceans with higher CO2 levels in the air and water, another problem for coral and coastal erosion.

60% less oil is being spilled in the oceans than in 1980, even though shipments have doubled. Antartica is protected from mining exploration until 2041 by a recent treaty. Elephants and whales are making comebacks after ivory bans and whaling limits and bans. Freon emmisions peaked in 1988, and have declined 87% since then. The World Trade Organization has ruled against Turtle Excluder Device requirements for tuna, against reuse requirements for beer bottles, against labels for genetically modified organisms, against European rules for limits on hormones in beef, and may rule against controls that limit introduction of harmful species or pests.

Average world temperature has increased from 57.2 degrees F to 58.0 degrees F from 1969-71 to 1996-98. Wind powered electric generators dropped 2/3 in cost in 15 years, with more and more installations. Solar cells, though more expensive, are also gaining acceptance. Zimbabwe is spending $70 million a month on the war in Congo, but only $1 million on AIDS prevention, while 25% of the adult population is HIV-positive. At the University of Durban-Westville, South Africa, 25% of the students are HIV-positive. Life expectancy will drop from 65 to about 40 in a number of these countries by 2010.

34% of all fish species are vulnerable to extinction or in immediate danger of extinction, including most of the best tasting ones. While the total fish catch leveled off 10 years ago, quality declines steadily as trash fish become required eating. 25% of all mammals and 11% of all birds are vulnerable or in danger. 60% of all newborns in India would be put in intensive care using California weight standards.

India depletes ground water at 8 times the US rate, and 3 times China's rate. What happens to half of India's people eating irrigated grain when the ground water is gone? West Texans can move after they pump it all out. Uganda and Thailand produced the best AIDS prevention programs, but both AIDS and environmental programs are being cut where World Bank reforms force economic restructuring.

NEW OFFICERS
Volunteers get Titles! By Charles Dixon

Amy Roberts took a leave of absence for the rest of her term to work on a(nother) Master's degree. Thanks for all the work on Gifted Children, help with the newsletters, and planning meetings for the Texarkana area!

Sheila Austin will take over as Assistant LocSec for the second year of Amy's term. Sheila moved back to her old stomping grounds of Tyler (from Austin) last year, and hosted meetings and has worked to make Mensa interesting to new members.

David Rodgers assumes duties as Tyler Area Coordinator. This position is recognized by the AMC, but varies from group to group. David wants to work with Sean to become a Proctor and encourage activities in the Tyler area.

Officers, Definitions: At least 3 elected officers are required. We elect LocSec, Assistant LocSec, and Treasurer. Proctors are nominated locally, but approved by AMC. We appoint the Newsletter Editor, Area Coordinators, GC Coordinator and the newly required positions of Ombudsman and Mediator. New By-Laws could change some of the appointed jobs to elective and name some to an executive committee. The old By-Laws have "quorums" that were difficult to meet.

PS: Web Master joined the list of appointed jobs last month.

We've had up to 4 Area Coordinators when we had enough volunteers. You can call your neighbors on the ETX Membership List enclosed and do what Area Coordinators do - get acquainted with folks in your area, listen to their suggestions, and call them again the next month. We have only one ETX member who is a local phone call for me, so e-mail is cheaper!

The new E-Newsletter has an expanded humor section, with your "Fwd's" welcome. We can't print most E-Fwd's without permission of the anonymous writers, but we can Fwd them to our e-friends.

E-Newsletters were sent to all e-dresses listed in AMC's membership list. If you didn't get one, it bounced back and I deleted your name from my master list. (Nearly half bounced.) Send me your e-mail address (again) for a simplified e-mail version of the newsletter. (With added humor, etc.) I'm sending them in 2-3 parts with 10-15K each so I don't overload anyone's e-mail account.

Humor

Financial Statement Send an email to the LOCSEC to receive this information.

Rik's RVC Ramblings #30 Rik Hess, Region 6 RVC

E-mail: rvc6@us.mensa.org
Phone: 817-292-6477 (before 10 PM)

In early January it feels like spring is here already. I fear how warm our summer may be, but I am really enjoying it right now. Looking back over 1999, it was a very special year for the region. Three of the local groups in our region hosted their first RGs in one year. I am impressed that all three were both profitable and successful. I judge success subjectively as I see if the attendees had fun. Mensa76's New Year's Eve Y2K RG capped the year perfectly. Over 70 people attended, and experienced a real "computer crash" - from a 20 foot ladder!

And now, the WINNER IS - Permian Basin Mensa. As of January 1, 2000, 72.0% of their members were paid up for this membership year. For this feat, I will be sending them a $50.00 reward for their treasury. Way to go! FYI, the average rate for the region was 25.8%.

The membership numbers from the national office show we are continuing to grow. At the end of December, we had 44,886 members. At the end of the membership year last March, when our counts are the highest for the year, we had only 44,825. There are still three more months to add to this year's total. Some of these new members resulted from the National Testing Day held last November. I have not heard a final count yet, but it looks like we tested about 1,600 people as a result of that effort.

And a reminder to our members who took advantage of the Millennium membership offer five years ago ~ most of these Millennium memberships expire this March. Watch for your renewal slips, if you haven't already renewed. I want to thank each of you who participated in that offer. You had a direct impact on helping make Mensa the strong, growing organization we are today. The money raised by this effort funded the move of our national office from New York and paid for the new computer system.

Plan now to participate in Mensa's own contest ~ for members only. Culture Quest XI will be held on Sunday, April 16. Deadline for entries is March 20, so get a team (or several) together and get registered.

Wrapping up this month's column, I would like to mention the RGs scheduled for 2000 in our region. Where I have details, here is the information:

Region 6 RGs for 2000
Memorial Day weekend, May 26-29, 2000 - Gulf Coast Mensa's "SynRG 2000" (Houston). Registration $40 to 3/31; $45 to 4/30; $50 after. Child rate. Checks payable to Gulf Coast Mensa RG. Contact: Michael McMillin, POB 25267, Houston, TX 77265 281-998-1733.

October 6-8, 2000 - Lonestar Mensa's "Crime and PUNishment" RG II (Austin). Registration $30 to 3/31; $35 to 7/17; $40 to 8/14; $45 to 9/11; $50 after. Child rate. Registration contact: Andrew York (wandrew@compuserve.com), or PO Box 201117, Austin, TX 78720. Reserve rooms at the Holiday Inn Northwest, phone 512-343-0888; ask for the Mensa rate of $69.00 per night.

Thanksgiving Day weekend, 2000 - North Texas Mensa's RG (Dallas). No details available yet.

Thank you,
Rik Hess

Region 6 Website
Region 6 Email List (Mensa business) ("subscribe" in the message)
Region 6 Email Chat List (for member fun) ("subscribe" in the message)
Region 6 Club (the "Bunkhouse" for social on-line contact): Send a request to join to LoriCrews@t-three.com (Include your membership number)
American Mensa's Home Page (Includes links to many U.S. groups, such as the great web page for the Houston area's Gulf Coast Mensa.

Happy Birthday to these ETX Mensans!

Phil Fairchild, Crockett, 2-11
Dr. Evelyne De Long Flint, Pine Overlook, 2-22
Kenneth Kreckel, Tyler, 2-24