[geeks] Mensa

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Sat, 12 May 2007 @ 20:53 -0500, Lionel Peterson said:

> >From: Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com>
> >Date: 2007/05/11 Fri AM 09:02:31 CDT
> >To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
> >Subject: Re: [geeks] Mensa
> 
> >Aaron Finley wrote:
> >> As someone with a tested IQ of over 150 (way back in elementary
> >> school, so I imagine I've lost a bunch of that now), I find the 130
> >> cutoff for Mensa to be extremely pedestrian.
> >
> >You know what?  I'd probably wager that most people in here have 
> >well-above-average intelligence.  Otherwise the discourse in here would 
> >go far less *ahem* smoothly.
> 
> Being confined to on-line exchanges, we don't have a chance to play
> games like "pull my finger" or, say, send "stink" between two houses
> via a conduit... 

Those things are not mutually exclusive with genius.

If anything, pranks seem to be quite popular among the more intelligent
crowds.

Although, usually not the "pull my finger" variety or the stink between
houses.  That must be a localism... :)

> And many on this list (I fear), have had their share
> of "Redneck" moments, when you look at your buddies and say "watch
> this" and come within spitting distance of the after-life. Mine was
> pushing a crimson up a staircase with Caleb a few years ago, or
> sliding an E450 down the basement stairs on it's top (the stairs were
> carpeted and there was no one to help me ;^) - then agin, maybe we ARE
> smart, since we survived... It's a coin toss, really.

If I ever move anything with you, I'll have to remember this.

(shudders)

I did stuff like that when I was a kid. Eventually I stopped doing stuff
like that spontaneously and became more cautious.

However, I did have my near death moment.

When I was about 12, my cousin and I swam down to the bottom of a
mountain river, maybe 10 feet and stopped. We could feel the pull of
water downward, and just blackness in front of us. Back up we went.

It was just black, ice cold, and you could feel it pulling on you,
drawing you down. That probably scared me more than anything has since.


-- 
shannon           | There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not
                  | philosophers.