This is Mensan.Eu a collaborative Mensa blog, open to any mensan in the world to signup and say their bit.
Inform, educate, entertain ... whatever, so long as its slightly relevant to Mensa the international High IQ society. Ie interesting to mensans or anyone interested in Mensa.
If you wish to become a site member and blog, contact me via this web form or email mensanblogger@gmail.com
You must be a member of Mensa (any country). Note. This blog is unaffiliated with and has no connection with Mensa. Not officially anyway!
David (Mensa Demographic…): I have only met one or tw… Buckshot (Mensa Demographic…): C’mon, be brave. Tell us… David (Intelligence and …): Occasionally it’s about M… Dusk (Intelligence and …): Nice site. This blog is n… David (Mensan Youth): I was 20 when I joined (1… Bob (Pivot 1.30 Beta 2…): And this is what a commen…
If it were ten times bigger. Its not impossible, though on the face of it unlikely. In the UK, 24,000 is just 2.4% of the top 2% of the population who could join. There are about a million potential members in the UK alone. 1% of the UK population is roughly 550,000. Imagine what it would be like with 250,000 members. There would still be only 5-10% active members but there'd be more groups- 3 to 4 times as many meetings- much larger weekend attendances. We'd be having to hire the Albert Hall or Earl's Court for AGs!
If you are the parent of a bright child aged 10 to 12 (or thereabouts), take a look at www.crathespress.co.nz sometime. Believe me, the booklets shown there are different. Written by a mensan for his gifted Grandson. E-mail if interested of if any questions. Cheers from kiwiland.
Folowing a bunch of new signups- Heres a full list of our Bloggers. David (aka Admin), Martyn, Robert, geoff, ros, tristan, George, john, pinkthing999, amod, ian, clayton, margaret, francis, william, jeff, rowena, tony, RobertL, tracey and phyllis.
Blogging - short for Web Logging, is just writing an online journal. There are something like 42 million blogs in existence. I for example have one at Davids Blog. They get written for many reasons. Self-therapy, informational, marketing a service or product, commenting, whinging, or just to demonstrate writing ability.
Perhaps they even send secret messages? Not encrypted messages but messages hidden within normal phrases. E.g. Take the first letter of each word in this sentence. "Just One Individual Newcomer Might Ease Nerves Says Albert".
The text from a letter from the Inland Revenue to a poor tax payer (Chris Addison) which was published in the Guardian newspaper in September 2003, has been circulating again in email circles.
It made me laugh, so I thought I'd share it with you.
A weekend away with a clutch of assorted Mensans and friends is always good for a laugh, and the gold panning weekend at Tyndrum was no different. Laughs there were a-plenty.
It was an interesting bunch - some well-known faces mixed in with others who were coming out to a Mensa event for the first time in many years, or who were at their first Scottish Mensa event.
25 June 06 - 14:14Mensa Membership Downward Trends
I wonder if the Internet and TV hasn't done for Mensa membership what it has for the Royal Family- over exposed and removed some of the mystique? Or could it be that some people see no point to their Mensa membership and leave? I really enjoy being in Mensa- there are some wonderful people and it certainly doesn't suffer the same woes as US Mensa has according to this chap.
In the Mid 80s, I can remember UK numbers were estimated at 40,000 but the figure now is 24,000 according to Mensa International here. Even in 1996 they were given as UK+Ireland 35608. (See the 1st June post).
Most people would agree that an improved IQ, i.e. becoming smarter is a good thing. The technical term for this is "Cognitive Enhancement" and nearly 7 million results on google suggests that it's a popular subject.
With all the publicity about the recent Nintendo game that trains your brain. (Hint- If anyone from Nintendo wants to supply a review copy, I'll review it here) its appropriate to look at what you can do to improve your IQ.
22 June 06 - 07:31Games that appeal to Mensans - Alternate Reality Games
I used to program computer games for a living, 20 years ago. CBM-64 and ZX Spectrum games. And I had a year at Microprose ( famous for Sid Meier's Civilization) in the early 90s as a game designer. But the internet seems to me to offer so many more possibilities. Not just games that you play on a board, or on a computer but that can affect your life. If you have seen the film 'The Game' you'll have an inkling of what A.R.G.s are like.
21 June 06 - 09:12The "Washington Post Mensa Invitational"
This doesn't actually exist, but the Washington post Style Invitational does and is going strong. Many years ago they had a contest where they asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. That was back in 1998. Somehow it got corrupted to be the Mensa invitational and words like these crop up all over the internet. (more)
Keen Obeservers will spot an extra couple of links on the top right. These go to the map page where i've added major Mensa events (i.e. the kind likely to have their own websites).
Also added is a Bio page for the site bloggers. If you include any webpage link, blog links, photo links and the lat/long for your address, I'll add them in.
19 June 06 - 20:43Mensan running for Cancer Research
Maxine Bates, a Mensan who lives in Nottingham, England is entering the 5 km 'Race For Life' around the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham on Sunday 30th July 2006 in aid of Cancer Research UK.
19 June 06 - 09:26How commercial should Mensa be? My thoughts.
Although in theory Mensa is one organisation, in truth, it’s more like a federation of National Mensas. Each country has it’s own entry requirements which while similar are not the same. American Mensa for example recognises 200 accredited IQ tests as being valid for entry while admission to UK Mensa is almost always by the Mensa administered test.
The problem is that to administer an organisation with thousands of members requires an office, staff and money to pay wages, print magazines, and advertise for new members. Each national Mensa is funded by subscription, with assistance given to new Mensa from Mensa International Ltd, itself funded from National Mensas.
This isn't just a blog- I actually host it so it has the potential of a website with database, scripting etc... though the Blog will always be the home page. I have a few ideas...
The new British Mensa website wil be produced by sift.com. I believe it goes live at the AG weekend in Nottingham. This page has a few details about the technology.
(more)
Though not a major world problem, there is no easy and convenient way of determining if someone is a current member of Mensa. Someone bringing a copy of the current Mensa mag to a meeting is one way. Membership of a SIG (in the UK anyway) is another way as it is controlled from Mensa house and they know if someone is current. Being a techy geek I had a think on this and here is a suggestion.
(more)
Now don't get too excited. Its just I'd like to have a better top banner than the one thats here. its not bad but not very Mensaish. I'll buy everyone who enters a drink at the Mensa AG in Nottingham. (Well the first ten anyway). All entries will be displayed here and we'll let the readers(s) decide whose is the best. Democracy in action- doncha love it! Oh and purlease .. you can incorporate the Mensa logo (don't forget the all import circled r) but don't change it- if there is one thing guaranteed to wind up officers in Mensa its doing that!
Searching around the web, it is amazing how many other high-iq societies exist. Mensa of course is the best known but there are well over a dozen with higher iq entry requirements. Mensa is 98th meaning only the top 2% get in while at the other end you need an IQ of 164 or more than 4.25 standard deviations from the normal. ( A standard deviation is a measure of spread- look it up on wikipedia.(more)
There are scores of free intelligence tests online and many claim to be accurate. Ultimately of course, unless you take a properly validated IQ test you shouldn't place too much emphasis on the results.
This Search found nearly 10 million results. Heres a few.
This blog will not be serious all the time; I came across this 'You may be a Mensan if' list. here
Numbers 1 and 2 (shown below) are definitely me! (more)
Some of you may know me as an occasional participant at London Mensa meetings. Some of you may know of my activities in East Africa, working on the problems of water supply, sanitation and agriculture. Would anyone be interested in knowing more? I will gladly post some stuff here if anyone is interested.
If you want to find out who owns a domain you look up a relevant whois. For .eu domains this is www.whois.eu For this domain you can see my details.
If you enter mensa it gets kind of interesting.
01 June 06 - 10:15Number of Mensa Members Worldwide
These figures were accurate in 1996 so will have changed a bit- if anyone could send me newer figures, as well as newer countries I'll gladly update this and keep it up to date.
WORLDWIDE NUMBER OF MEMBERS
Country Members
USA 50483 New Zealand 327
UK+Ireland 35608 Denmark 295
Canada 2546 Austria 287
Malaysia 2181 Channel Islands 257
Germany 1204 Spain 251
Finland 1107 Singapore 245
Yugoslavia 1100 India 200
Australia 961 Sweden 146
Netherlands 922 Belgium 117
Czechoslovakia 715 Japan 101
France 708 Switzerland 101
Poland 700 Hong Kong 100
Italy 400 OTHER 320
South Africa 395
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total Worldwide Membership 101813
I found these here which despite it's age is well worth reading. It's a pretty good ad for Mensa.
I am into web searching, using Google and to a lesser extent the desktop search application copernic. If something is on the web I can usually find it. (So long as search engiens have it indexed of course). This morning I came across http://swicki.eurekster.com/ which appears to offer a way for targetted search results to be refined by humans.
If it were ten times bigger. Its not impossible, though on the face of it unlikely. In the UK, 24,000 is just 2.4% of the top 2% of the population who could join. There are about a million potential members in the UK alone. 1% of the UK population is roughly 550,000. Imagine what it would be like with 250,000 members. There would still be only 5-10% active members but there'd be more groups- 3 to 4 times as many meetings- much larger weekend attendances. We'd be having to hire the Albert Hall or Earl's Court for AGs!
If you are the parent of a bright child aged 10 to 12 (or thereabouts), take a look at www.crathespress.co.nz sometime. Believe me, the booklets shown there are different. Written by a mensan for his gifted Grandson. E-mail if interested of if any questions. Cheers from kiwiland.
Folowing a bunch of new signups- Heres a full list of our Bloggers. David (aka Admin), Martyn, Robert, geoff, ros, tristan, George, john, pinkthing999, amod, ian, clayton, margaret, francis, william, jeff, rowena, tony, RobertL, tracey and phyllis.
Blogging - short for Web Logging, is just writing an online journal. There are something like 42 million blogs in existence. I for example have one at Davids Blog. They get written for many reasons. Self-therapy, informational, marketing a service or product, commenting, whinging, or just to demonstrate writing ability.
Perhaps they even send secret messages? Not encrypted messages but messages hidden within normal phrases. E.g. Take the first letter of each word in this sentence. "Just One Individual Newcomer Might Ease Nerves Says Albert".
The text from a letter from the Inland Revenue to a poor tax payer (Chris Addison) which was published in the Guardian newspaper in September 2003, has been circulating again in email circles.
It made me laugh, so I thought I'd share it with you.
A weekend away with a clutch of assorted Mensans and friends is always good for a laugh, and the gold panning weekend at Tyndrum was no different. Laughs there were a-plenty.
It was an interesting bunch - some well-known faces mixed in with others who were coming out to a Mensa event for the first time in many years, or who were at their first Scottish Mensa event.
I wonder if the Internet and TV hasn't done for Mensa membership what it has for the Royal Family- over exposed and removed some of the mystique? Or could it be that some people see no point to their Mensa membership and leave? I really enjoy being in Mensa- there are some wonderful people and it certainly doesn't suffer the same woes as US Mensa has according to this chap.
In the Mid 80s, I can remember UK numbers were estimated at 40,000 but the figure now is 24,000 according to Mensa International here. Even in 1996 they were given as UK+Ireland 35608. (See the 1st June post).
Most people would agree that an improved IQ, i.e. becoming smarter is a good thing. The technical term for this is "Cognitive Enhancement" and nearly 7 million results on google suggests that it's a popular subject.
With all the publicity about the recent Nintendo game that trains your brain. (Hint- If anyone from Nintendo wants to supply a review copy, I'll review it here) its appropriate to look at what you can do to improve your IQ.
22 06 06 07:31Games that appeal to Mensans - Alternate Reality Games
I used to program computer games for a living, 20 years ago. CBM-64 and ZX Spectrum games. And I had a year at Microprose ( famous for Sid Meier's Civilization) in the early 90s as a game designer. But the internet seems to me to offer so many more possibilities. Not just games that you play on a board, or on a computer but that can affect your life. If you have seen the film 'The Game' you'll have an inkling of what A.R.G.s are like.
21 06 06 09:12The "Washington Post Mensa Invitational"
This doesn't actually exist, but the Washington post Style Invitational does and is going strong. Many years ago they had a contest where they asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. That was back in 1998. Somehow it got corrupted to be the Mensa invitational and words like these crop up all over the internet. (more)
Keen Obeservers will spot an extra couple of links on the top right. These go to the map page where i've added major Mensa events (i.e. the kind likely to have their own websites).
Also added is a Bio page for the site bloggers. If you include any webpage link, blog links, photo links and the lat/long for your address, I'll add them in.
Maxine Bates, a Mensan who lives in Nottingham, England is entering the 5 km 'Race For Life' around the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham on Sunday 30th July 2006 in aid of Cancer Research UK.
Although in theory Mensa is one organisation, in truth, it’s more like a federation of National Mensas. Each country has it’s own entry requirements which while similar are not the same. American Mensa for example recognises 200 accredited IQ tests as being valid for entry while admission to UK Mensa is almost always by the Mensa administered test.
The problem is that to administer an organisation with thousands of members requires an office, staff and money to pay wages, print magazines, and advertise for new members. Each national Mensa is funded by subscription, with assistance given to new Mensa from Mensa International Ltd, itself funded from National Mensas.
This isn't just a blog- I actually host it so it has the potential of a website with database, scripting etc... though the Blog will always be the home page. I have a few ideas...
The new British Mensa website wil be produced by sift.com. I believe it goes live at the AG weekend in Nottingham. This page has a few details about the technology.
(more)
Though not a major world problem, there is no easy and convenient way of determining if someone is a current member of Mensa. Someone bringing a copy of the current Mensa mag to a meeting is one way. Membership of a SIG (in the UK anyway) is another way as it is controlled from Mensa house and they know if someone is current. Being a techy geek I had a think on this and here is a suggestion.
(more)
Now don't get too excited. Its just I'd like to have a better top banner than the one thats here. its not bad but not very Mensaish. I'll buy everyone who enters a drink at the Mensa AG in Nottingham. (Well the first ten anyway). All entries will be displayed here and we'll let the readers(s) decide whose is the best. Democracy in action- doncha love it! Oh and purlease .. you can incorporate the Mensa logo (don't forget the all import circled r) but don't change it- if there is one thing guaranteed to wind up officers in Mensa its doing that!
Searching around the web, it is amazing how many other high-iq societies exist. Mensa of course is the best known but there are well over a dozen with higher iq entry requirements. Mensa is 98th meaning only the top 2% get in while at the other end you need an IQ of 164 or more than 4.25 standard deviations from the normal. ( A standard deviation is a measure of spread- look it up on wikipedia.(more)
There are scores of free intelligence tests online and many claim to be accurate. Ultimately of course, unless you take a properly validated IQ test you shouldn't place too much emphasis on the results.
This Search found nearly 10 million results. Heres a few.
This blog will not be serious all the time; I came across this 'You may be a Mensan if' list. here
Numbers 1 and 2 (shown below) are definitely me! (more)
Some of you may know me as an occasional participant at London Mensa meetings. Some of you may know of my activities in East Africa, working on the problems of water supply, sanitation and agriculture. Would anyone be interested in knowing more? I will gladly post some stuff here if anyone is interested.
If you want to find out who owns a domain you look up a relevant whois. For .eu domains this is www.whois.eu For this domain you can see my details.
If you enter mensa it gets kind of interesting.
These figures were accurate in 1996 so will have changed a bit- if anyone could send me newer figures, as well as newer countries I'll gladly update this and keep it up to date.
WORLDWIDE NUMBER OF MEMBERS
Country Members
USA 50483 New Zealand 327
UK+Ireland 35608 Denmark 295
Canada 2546 Austria 287
Malaysia 2181 Channel Islands 257
Germany 1204 Spain 251
Finland 1107 Singapore 245
Yugoslavia 1100 India 200
Australia 961 Sweden 146
Netherlands 922 Belgium 117
Czechoslovakia 715 Japan 101
France 708 Switzerland 101
Poland 700 Hong Kong 100
Italy 400 OTHER 320
South Africa 395
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total Worldwide Membership 101813
I found these here which despite it's age is well worth reading. It's a pretty good ad for Mensa.
I am into web searching, using Google and to a lesser extent the desktop search application copernic. If something is on the web I can usually find it. (So long as search engiens have it indexed of course). This morning I came across http://swicki.eurekster.com/ which appears to offer a way for targetted search results to be refined by humans.
Maxine Bates, a Mensan who lives in Nottingham, England is entering the 5 km 'Race For Life' around the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham on Sunday 30th July 2006 in aid of Cancer Research UK.