[ Locsec | Editors | Members | Election | Wine | Events | Calendar | School | Running ]
Greetings to all,
I hope you are all beginning to thaw out as our long awaited Rochester Spring weather arrives. Many thanks to Bob Horner, Eric Murphy and Wayne Strauss for their efforts regarding the Mensa admissions test held on March 29th. The admissions tests are one of the best ways to gain new members for Mensa in general and RAM in particular, we appreciate you donating your time and energy to help make this test session a success. Also, thanks to John Bland and Sue Keller for hosting a hike and bird watching event at Braddock Bay State Park later this month. Please check the calendar for more info.
We are trying a new venue for First Thirstday this month as we stop at Buffalo Wild Wings in Henrietta. They offer much more than chicken wings on their menu, but if you love wings you should really check them out. B.W.W.’s web site is listed on the calendar if you’d like to check them out before coming.
I hope you will come out and join us for some of our fun activities. Check out the calendar for this month’s events. As always, if you have an idea for an event or know of a fun place to hold an event please let me know about it. This is your group, have fun with it and share your experiences with the rest of us.
I hope to see you at this month’s events.
|
Best regards, |
|
Jeff Gould |
|
Rochester Area Mensa Locsec |
Member input for the newsletter is welcome. Deadline for publication in the May newsletter is April 15, 2008. Email either a Microsoft Word document or .rtf file to
Members
|
Welcome to New Members: Greta Buerman |
Aimee Mallery |
|
Welcome to Reinstating Member: Jason Eisele |
Welcome to Move-In Member: Rebecca L. Dimmig |
(back to top )
The Electoral Committee (Karen Sherrill, Bob MacArthur, and Jack Mindy) nominate the following candidates:
Eric Murphy Karen Steiner Wayne Strauss
Local Secretary (LocSec)
George Gerspacher
Deputy Local Secretary
Kristin Naiko (formerly Culkowski)
Treasurer
Jeff Gould
Board of Directors
Miklos Karner
Additional nominations may be made by submitting a petition signed by 10 RAM members to Karen Sherrill (585-334-1829) by April 15, 2008. Per our bylaws , if no additional candidates have been identified by the closing of petitions, this slate of officers will be declared elected, without balloting.
(back to top )
Good Wine Cheap (and good food to go with it)
By John Grover
One of the most dependable websites for recipes is Epicurious. Put an ingredient that happens to be in your refrigerator into their recipe search engine and, MIRACLE OF MIRACLES!, a dozen or so good recipes pop up. This is how we came across this month’s recipe. It is a very good idea to read the reviews found after most of the recipes. These will give suggestions for preparation and serving.
This month’s wine shows that it is still possible to find a good, yet affordable, red wine produced in California. It is the 2004 “TIZred” from the TIZ Winery of Santa Rosa. It is a blend of classic grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. This combination offers a pleasant fruit filled nose followed by a rich berry taste with a hint of oak. The soft tannins provide a smooth velvety finish. A California wine of this quality and complexity is a steal at $8 a bottle.
Marinated Skirt Steak (The New American Steakhouse Cookbook, by David Walzog and Andrew Freidman, 2005, Broadway Books, as printed on the Epicurious website)
Ingredients:
(You can easily cut this recipe in half.)
Put all ingredients, except the steak, in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the marinade over the skirt steak in a non-reactive pan. Marinate, refrigerated, for 3 to 4 hours before grilling, but no more than 10 hours. (We marinated the steak for about 5 or 6 hours. This cut of meat requires no less marinating time than the minimum noted above. The balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce need that amount of time to break down the connective tissue and to produce a tender piece of meat.)
Remove the skirt steak from the marinade and clean away any excess marinade with the back of a knife. Grill the steak over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes per side to serve it rare to medium-rare. (Our Steaks were rather thin. We found that 2 to 3 minutes on a side resulted in medium rare.)
When cooked, slice the steak thinly against the grain, starting at one corner and cutting on the bias. Serve either hot or at room temperature. The authors recommended serving this dish with tabbouleh salad. We used it for fajitas, stuffing the meat into soft taco shells with an avocado salsa.
John Grover is a member of Mensa of Northeastern New York. He lives with his wife Sharon in the Hudson Valley of New York.
(back to top )
Thursday, April 3rd @ 8:00 PM, “First Thirstday” at Buffalo Wild Wings, 382 Jefferson Rd. (in CompUSA Plaza), 427-9464. Come and enjoy some fine wings or other menu items. It’s a fun atmosphere and they serve a selection of sandwiches, burgers, wraps & ribs along with their famous wings. Check ‘em out, www.buffalowildwings.com .
Saturday, April 12th @ 11:45 AM, Braddock Bay Raptor Research's 20th Bird of Prey Day, Braddock Bay Park, East Manitou Road just N of Lake Ontario State Parkway. Meet John & Sue at the lodge. 1-2 mile easy walk option. Munch lunch available from 9am-2pm. For more information go to www.bbbo.org .
Thursday, April 17th @ 6:30 PM, “International Food Night” at Beale Street Café, 1930 Empire Blvd. (across from Wegman’s Bay Rd. Store), 216-1070. Come out for some excellent food and a visit to sunny “Nawlens” with a stop at Beale Street.
Thursday, April 24th @ 7:00 - 10 PM, “Fold, Spindle & Mutilate Party” (newsletter production) at The Walton’s Home, 33 Whippletree Rd., Fairport, 377-1686. Come for snacks, pop, conversation and a first look at the May newsletter.
Thursday, May 1st @ 8:00 PM, “First Thirstday” at Flaherty’s Three Flags, 1200 Bay Rd., (next to Wegman’s), 671-0816. Come out and enjoy some good food and Mensan conversation at Flaherty’s.
Note: In the unlikely event there is a problem with our reservation when we arrive we may need to make a decision to move to another venue on the spot. We will wait a half hour before moving to allow for late arrivals so try not to arrive later than this so you know where we are in the event of a move.
Guests are welcome at all events, unless noted otherwise.
Please call the Mensaphone, 251-4167, for last minute changes in time or venue.
(back to top )
Same-Aged Classrooms
Everyone knows that the reason we put children in school by age for their instruction is that there are centuries of excellent research that proves this is the most effective way for children to learn, right? Well, no, actually, there is no such research at all. I think it had something to do with following the Henry Ford factory efficiency model and no one ever seemed to think of questioning its validity for the schooling of generations of children around the world.
In the "olden days" of mass public education, we had the one room schoolhouse. It worked quite well. Students proceeded through the curriculum at their own pace and worked with anyone else, of any age, who was ready for the same material and production. My goal is not to give a history lesson here but to point out that we no longer do this in schools. Whether you are ready for more or not, it is not allowed because the student will get ahead and, "What will we do with her next year?"
Here is a little IQ lesson, though. Whether or not you approve of the concept of IQs or IQ testing, the research shows that IQ results correlate with all kinds of real-life outcomes. The average IQ in the US is 100 and regular standardized tests that most people take in school (or when they enter the military) all start as low as around 50 IQ and as high as about 150 IQ. Yes, there are some other kinds of tests that have different scales, but that's not what I'm talking about now.
The average IQ difference between people who choose to marry each other is 12 points. Basically, they get each other's jokes. That old magic feeling of someone thinking we're amusing! The genetic mingling of the parents' genes gives them children who will usually be within 15 points higher or lower to their parental average. Same with siblings—only 15 points between them on average. Most people know that there is a bell curve shape for most human qualities, and IQ is no exception. There are more average people than there are very low or very high IQ people.
School is not a very happy time or place for many, many bright children.
American school classrooms are set up by age. Kindergarten screening tells the schools which children are most ahead and most behind others their age. The principal stacks the kids by ability and then considers gender, behavior, ethnicity, and socio-economic background, and then deals the kids out to the four different kindergarten classrooms so that every class has the same number of each kind of kid. This means that the four most advanced children will all be in different classrooms. No one will get their jokes except maybe the teacher! The typical IQ range in such a classroom is 70 to 80 IQ points, but we are generally comfortable with and drawn to people who are within about 12 points of us. Then we tell the kids that they need to learn to get along with their "peers." But peers might not be age-mates unless they—by some stroke of luck—are fairly close to us in intellect and get our jokes, get us.
|
Deborah L. Ruf, Ph.D. |
MENSAN CARTOONIST RUNNING BOSTON MARATHON FOR CHARITY
For years, Mensan Brian Lord’s hand has penned the comic strip, “Kick Irrational”, bringing smiles to thousands of Mensans in the US, Canada, and Israel. He’s now hoping his feet can do the same for those in Africa.
Brian Lord (Middle Tennessee Mensa) will be running the Boston Marathon April 21 to raise $5,000 for building wells in Africa through the international humanitarian organization, World Vision.
Lord was introduced to World Vision by his wife, Krista, whose singing group, The Darins, helped promote child sponsorships while on tour. The Lord family then went to work in earnest, raising $25,000 to help build an HIV health clinic in Swaziland near South Africa. Lord’s company also supported World Vision in funding a deep well and water project two years ago in Ghana.
A former DePauw University wide receiver, Lord comments, “I began running distance races shortly after graduation. When I learned about the opportunity to merge my passion for running with helping those in need through Team World Vision, I was hooked!”
For those interested in making a tax-deductible donation, you can do so online at www.firstgiving.org/brianlord .