ARTICLES
ARTICLES
LOCSEC
Mensa Essay Contest Winners
Mackenzie Stone, of Mt Pleasant, Texas received $200 from MERF for the Karen Cooper Memorial Scolarship in June, just about the time Spectrum went to press. Karen plans to become a pediatrician, and will continue her education at UT Austin this fall after finishing high school this spring with a 3.96 average. Voted "Most Likely to Succeed," she led or coordinated service projects such as SAFE-T Shelter for victims of domestic violence, canned food and toy drives, Special Olympics, and tutoring for mentally challenged children as vice-president of NHS. Best wishes and "Hook 'em Horns" as you study biology and pediatrics, Mackenzie!
A total of 17 winners reside in our region (which is one of NINE Mensa regions). They won a total of $5900. Region 6 winners were from San Antonio (2), Stratford, Hamilton, Dallas, Plano, Denton, Mt Pleasant, Cleveland, Humble, Austin, Amarillo, and El Paso, Texas, and Albuquerque and Jemez Springs, New Mexico, and Edmond and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
LocSec Charles Dixon
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You Are What You Read
Thanks to Manasota Mensa 6/2000
(Data from study reported in USA Today.)
This Magazine: Highest % of Readers Who:
Town & Country Have anxiety/depression.
NY Magazine Frequently buy rubber gloves.
Road & Track Eat regularly at Hooters Rest.
WorldWide Wrestling Eat Twinkies.
Womens Day Play Bingo a lot.
Soap Opera Digest Buy lots of instant potatoes.
Food & Wine Drink heavily.
American Legion Buy the most sympathy cards.
Bicycling Eat the most donuts.
Redbook Have four or more cats.
The Star Buy the most Spam.
Midwest Living Don't drink, smoke; are religious
and conservative.
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Happy Birthday to these ETX Mensans!
Jeremy Cowdery, Texarkana 7-2
Elizabeth Rudin, Quinlan 7-5
Janice High, Winnsboro 7-7
Charles Cowell, Whitehouse 7-7
Jeffrey Lewman, Trinity 7-8
Paul Fanning, Tyler 7-12
Michael Stewart, Jacksonville 7-24
Lawrence Fulton, Longview 7-28
Marshall Martin, Etoile 8-1
Wm Purcell, Honey Grove 8-3
Debbie Dixon Decatur 8-10
Bradley Starling, Tyler 8-22
Douglas Mehling, Tyler 8-26
Charley Dixon, Irving 8-29
Financial Statement Send an email to the LOCSEC to receive this information.
RVC Ramblings #36
Rik Hess, Region 6 RVC
E-mail: rvc6@us.mensa.org
Phone: 817-292-6477 (before 10 PM)
The MERF Scholarships have been announced, and Region 6 is well represented.
Of all the participants in this program, our region had the greatest number
of local groups participating of all regions! Thank you, Don Taylor, our
regional scholarship chair from Panhandle Mensa, for your enthusiasm and
hard work. We also had 3 of the 6 national scholarship awards issued this
year! Amazing! I am happy to announce that the Region 6 winners of these
national awards are:
Heather Thornton (San Antonio TX),
Ruth Woodling (Plano TX), and
Sonia Calloway (Cleveland TX)!
Way to go!! The only thing that I can see to be improved upon here is that we still fell short of 100% participation by our local groups. That's something we can work on.
The AG in Philadelphia ended on a sad note when David Mann died from a massive heart attack in his room Sunday morning. He will be missed in Mensa for all the time and effort he gave so freely to help others. If you wish to remember him, a scholarship fund has been established through MERF. Before the AG was over, there was already over $4,500 in the fund. Anyone wishing to contribute should send their checks (marked for David Mann Scholarship): to MERF, 1229 Corporate Drive West, Arlington, TX, 76006.
But that is not the only thing to remember about this year's AG. The AG committee did a great job of producing a wonderful event. The topping of the weekend, for me, was the Saturday dinner speaker, Ben Franklin. Totally in character for old Ben, the actor gave a short, delightful, motivational speech with many Mensa references throughout.
Of course the AG was filled with awards for the various programs run the previous year, and Region 6 collected it's share, thanks mostly to Gulf Coast Mensa. The Publications Recognition Program awards were again broken into two categories, printed newsletters and web presentations.
In the newsletter category, Pat Spence, editor of Gulf Coast Mensa's InforMensa, won for Service, Theme Issue, and Layout. "Sam" Phillips Beckerman won an award for "Best Tribute to a Mensa Friend", also in InforMensa. Karen Elder, editor of New Mexico's Menzia, won the Owl for a mid-size group.
For web sites, Lori Crews, web master for Gulf Coast Mensa, won for Most Effective Use of Text, and Most Revisitable. Then she topped it off by winning the large group Owl for the second consecutive year! Not bad as this has only been awarded for the past two years.
The other award won in our region was Lonestar Mensa who won a Community Service Award for their work in supporting public radio during their pledge drive.
Please note the reduced rates for the AG 2001 below!
October 6-8, 2000 - Lonestar Mensa's "Crime and PUNishment" RG II (Austin). $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 S/D/T/Q.
Thanksgiving Day weekend, Nov. 22-26, 2000 - North Texas Mensa's "Feast of Pleasures and Delights XXII RG" (Dallas). Registration $35 to 8/31; $40 to 11/15; $45 after. Registration contact: Ron Wheeler, 3010 Ridgeview Ln., Irving, TX 75062. Reserve rooms at the Dallas Mariot Quorum (new hotel), 14901 Dallas Parkway, phone 800-811-8664, ask for the Mensa rate - $62.00 per night S/D. More info at http://www.northtexasmensa.org/rgreg.htm
July 4-8, 2001 - AG 2001 "The Annual Gathering" hosted by North Texas Mensa (Dallas). Registration $55 through 1/31/01, $65 through 4/30/01, $75 through 6/30/01, $85 through 7/7/0 (walk-in rate), Young Ms (13-20) will be $10 less than the current rate on the date it's received, Children (6 - 12) will be = the current rate on the date it's received, Little Kids (5 and under) will be free. Contact the web site at http://ag.us.mensa.org. Reserve rooms at the Hotel InterContinental - 15201 Dallas Parkway, Dallas, TX 75248 (972-386-6000).
Thank you,
Rik Hess, Region 6 RVC
6052 Wormar Ave. Fort Worth, Texas 76133
phone: 817-292-6477 (before 10:00 PM)
Email: rvc6@us.mensa.org
Region 6 Website:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/2413/
Region 6 Email Talk List (for Mensa business) to join send to: majordomo@lists.us.mensa.org
("subscribe region6-talk" in the message).
Region 6 Email Chat List (for member fun conversations) to join send
to: majordomo@lists.us.mensa.org
("subscribe region6-chat" in the message).
Articles
WHALES
ONE: Some male humpback whales lengthened their songs while others ceased to sing altogether when exposed to low-frequency sonar tests off the coast of Hawaii in 1998, suggesting that sonar transmissions by the U.S. Navy could disrupt whale breeding and cause other behavioral changes, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. On average, the whales' songs were 30 percent longer than normal, a strong shift given that the sonar was tested at less than full strength, said Patrick Miller, lead study author and a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Still, he said the researchers didn't notice any "extreme reactions" in the whales such as breaching. Many environmentalists are calling on the Navy to end some of its uses of sonar, saying that it can disorient and kill whales.
TWO: Underwater noise or explosions caused healthy beaked whales to beach themselves in the Bahamas in March just as the Navy was conducting underwater tests in the area, according to a report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report does not say outright that the Navy sonar tests or explosions caused the deaths, but its findings raise a "red flag" and are "reason for concern," said Darlene Ketten, an auditory specialist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who helped conduct necropsies on six of the whales. The Navy has been experimenting with sonar systems that emit loud blasts of noise underwater, and in the past has denied that the systems can disorient and kill whales and other sea mammals, despite environmentalists' arguments to the contrary.
THREE: The U.S. Navy has given up its controversial plans to test sonar systems off the New Jersey shore after enviros and federal regulators protested that the tests could harm whales and other marine animals. Two months ago, a dozen whales beached themselves and died in the Bahamas one day after Navy sonar exercises. Many scientists believe that ocean animals can be harmed by the extremely high-decibel sounds of sonar systems. In other whale news, enviros are cheering an announcement by the South African government that it will soon designate the nation's first whale sanctuary, and that Mexico cancelled expansion of the Baja salt works due to the whale nursery there.
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Jane Thompson - "Birdie's Story" - September 8, 1900
My friend, Bailey Hankins, (if you're still with me) has been after me to submit my stories to you. I'm Jane Thompson, a member of North Texas Mensa. "Birdie's Story" was written for the occasion of the 100-year anniversary of the Galveston hurricane, coming up in September. If you are interested, you can get a picture of the Bishop's Palace on Galveston.com.
Every year my father loaded all of us up and we took a National Lampoon-type summer vacation. They were just awful--seven people in an un-airconditioned car in August with the goal of seeing how many miles could be driven in two weeks. I knew every greasy spoon on Route 66 and can especially remember the time spent by the side of the road changing tires before the invention of the tubeless tire (everyone over the age of 50 is right with me on that one). While the trips were nightmares, they're the kind of thing that I'm glad I did a half-century later -- I learned a lot and saw of lot of things I wouldn't have otherwise. Still, I wouldn't do it again for anything.
There was one really good part to every vacation--the first three days. The first three days every year were spent driving to the Gulf Coast to spend time in Galveston. No matter where we were going on vacation -- California, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota. When we were little, we didn't question that part of the trip -- it was just a great time on the beach before the long, hot days cooped up in the car.
Later, we realized that little side trip resulted from a promise my father made when he and my mother got engaged at the University of Texas. She was born and raised in Houston and her biggest reservation about moving to Oklahoma City was leaving her beloved Gulf behind. My father promised her she could visit it once a year, and, to his credit, kept his promise for sixty years. We loved our trips to the beach as much as our mother--Galveston with its white beaches, palm trees, and colorful houses seemed exotic after central Oklahoma. We knew we were there when we heard our mother's unvarying cry, "Look -- oleanders!"
As children, we were confused by our Houston grandmother's refusal to join us on our beach jaunts. She refused, with no explanation, to ever go to the beach with us. Even for a picnic, even for an afternoon. Our mother tried to explain to us that she was afraid of the waves, of the noise, of the smell of the ocean. We thought that was ridiculous and laughed at such an idea. Afraid of the Gulf of Mexico's three-foot waves? We reveled in them and competed to see how far we could swim out. We had no understanding of what happened to my grandmother when she was ten years old or that she had never recovered from it.
My grandmother, Birdie, was born in 1890 and raised on Galveston Island. At that time, Galveston was the port of Texas and an honest-to-God boom town, with more millionaires per capita than any other city in the country. It must have been a beautiful place to live then, because it still is, even with many more people on the island. Then the population of Galveston Island was 38,000; now it is 59,000. The sky was the limit -- it was an excellent place for my great-grandfather, Patrick Rabitt, a civil engineer and architect, to make his fortune.
Patrick was a member of the firm of N.J. Clayton, Architects, who built schools, churches, and opulent homes for the scions of the gilded age, some of which can still be seen towering over the streets of the city. The most important one in my grandmother's story was the Gresham home, begun in 1886 and finished in 1893. Walter Gresham was a cotton baron and U.S. Congressmen; he was also a man who hedged his bets, for he charged his architects with building a home that would withstand any storm. He gave them an almost unlimited budget; the house cost $250,000 to build.
The house now known as the Bishop's Palace is undoubtedly one of the finest examples of the excesses of the gay nineties. It was constructed of two layers of bricks laid end-to-end and faced with stone. Of course it had huge windows to make the most of the sea breeze, with wide verandas and all the modern conveniences, including gas, electricity, and running water. Gresham had his architects build in fourteen fireplaces to counteract the winter damp and panel the inside of the house in rare woods. The windows are stained glass, deeply recessed, and equipped with built-in hurricane shutters. The "ground" floor of the house is fifteen feet up and built over a deep cellar; Gresham wanted plenty of room for flooding.
One hundred years ago, weather forecasting was in its infancy and American optimism was at its apex. People knew a hurricane could be devastating to tiny, shallow Galveston Island, but hoped it could dodge a direct hit. The Gulf is normally a placid sea; people just assumed it would always be. On September 8, 1900, they were proved so wrong.
As the storm grew and the waters rose, the architects who had poured their expertise into building the perfect storm-proof structure moved their families into the shelter of the Gresham home. Two hundred people spent the most horrifying night ever in that house, my grandmother, only ten years old, among them. The rains poured, the winds blew away the weather instruments, and the tidal surge rose to 15 feet. The Gresham house sustained no damage, but when the 200 emerged the next morning, they were met with a scene of indescribable chaos and horror.
Over half the town was destroyed, and between 6,000 and 10,000 people were dead -- no one knows exactly how many. I wish I could tell you about my grandmother's memories of that horrible night and that awful scene and the days that followed, but she never spoke of it. Not ever -- not to her parents, not to her husband, children or her grandchildren. My grandmother was to grow up without aunts and uncles and cousins. Her father could have stayed in Galveston and made a good living because, incredibly, the town decided to rebuild: to build a 17-foot stone seawall, to raise the level of the town 17 feet, and to replace the destroyed structures. But their personal losses were too great and the Rabitt family relocated by the first day of 1901.
There was no diagnosis of post-traumatic stress syndrome in 1900, no thought of counseling. People dealt with their shock as best they could, and most of them came through, but quirks remained -- like a terrible fear of storms that never left.
My mother told us that the shadows of the storm always remained. Her mother was unhappy that her children chose to ride the interurban to the beach at every opportunity and was nervous until they returned safely home. Whenever a storm blew over the Gulf, my grandmother shut the windows, drew the curtains, and sat in the dark, praying the rosary over and over--probably just as she had in 1900. In Oklahoma City, thunderstorms are so common and so violent that they become a form of entertainment -- but not to my grandmother. Again, she prayed through them when she visited.
When our family buried a relative, we walked away, never to return to the grave to "visit" or leave flowers. It took me a while to figure out that my grandmother had never done these things because after the hurricane there were no bodies to honor -- people were swept out to sea or the bodies burned on the beach -- so the tradition of tending graves was one that was just never followed in my family.
But my sister and I have found a way to visit the graves of those lost in the storm of 1900. This year we planned our annual vacation to the beach to coincide with the commemoration ceremonies for the victims of the hurricane so we can honor those members of the family who died that night. We'll be there -- unless the weather se