Smokies Signal c/o American Mensa, Ltd. 1200 E Copeland Rd. Ste 550 Arlington, TX 76011-1344 Smokies Signal is the publication of Smoky Mountain Mensa, Group 377, Region 5 of American Mensa, Ltd. All material is copyrighted. Any opinions expressed are entirely the responsibility of the author and may not reflect the position of the organization or other members. Past issues may be found online at: us.mensa.org/read/group-newsletters In This Issue: Upcoming Activities: LocSec Notes 2 Monthly Meetings (Mon. 7 PM typically preceded by 6:30 Ex Comm meeting): Christmas Party 2 Oct 21- Taste of Thai, 8926 Town and Country Circle, Knoxville Vouchers 2 Nov 18- Puleo’s Grille, 352 Fountain View Circle, Alcoa Among the Puzzle Mavens 3 Morristown Gatherings (Fri. 7 PM): Oct 11 (Old Town Grill New Tazewell), Nov 8, The Forgotten Dec 13. Contact Randal Turner at 865-674-2819. Champions 4 Deck the Halls 5 Cheers and Jeers (visiting different restaurants in Knoxville areas Wed evenings): Meeting Recaps 5 Contact Gregg Butler [email protected] to be sure you get a seat. Autumn Trivia 6 County Names 7 Trivia (varies, check emails): Contact Gregg Butler [email protected]. New Members 8 Wednesday Luncheons (Wed 11:30 AM Dean’s in Oak Ridge, 239 Jackson Square): Treasurer’s Report 9 Oct 23, Nov 27. Contact Clarence Juneau [email protected]. Nancy’s Notes 10 Mensa Admissions Test Saturday, Nov 9 (see page 2 for details) Please submit material for Christmas Party Saturday, Dec 14 (see page 2 for details) future issues at [email protected] There will be no Newsletter Folding Party this quarter. Photos, travel notes, puzzles are all welcome. Smokies Signal October 2019 LocSec Notes John Raymond, SMM Local Secretary I would wish everyone a Happy Fall if the weather had not been so capricious lately! Perhaps that will have changed by the time you read this, but at any rate I wanted to point out two important dates that are covered in more detail elsewhere in this newsletter. The testing date on November 9 will provide an opportunity for the group to grow and the Christmas gathering / book swap on December 14 will give folks a chance to relax and bond. Many thanks to the Browns for arranging the venue for both of these events and to Baker Ring for finding time in his schedule to come and proctor the exam. It is the desire of your Executive Committee to address the needs and interests of all and we ask that you do not hesitate to express any suggestions or concerns. We are also seeking those who are interested in serving the group in a leadership role since a volunteer organization is only as strong as the participation of its members. There are a number of positions available, including a member-at-large slot on the Committee, so there are many ways to help. Please make your willingness known to any of the current officers or appointees and details will be provided. Thanks in advance to all who step forward! Christmas Party The SMM annual Christmas Party returns to the Meadows Condominiums Clubhouse Saturday, December 14 at 7914 Gleason Dr. in Knoxville starting at 6 PM. SMM will provide the main course and beverages. Guests are welcome to bring a side dish or dessert. There has typically been a book swap where you bring a wrapped book and everyone then draws some new reading material from the pile. If you have participated in a poll, submitted a photo or other newsletter material, we have teased you with the chance to win a prize in the end-of-year drawing to be held at the December 14 Christmas party. We are going to increase your chances to win by granting another entry to anyone who participates in an activity for the rest of the year (Morristown dinner, Cheers and Jeers, monthly meeting, Wednesday lunch and the Christmas party itself), up to 10 entries per person. What will that get the winner? • Two consolation prizes of either a Mensa store item up to $25 or meal paid at a 2020 restaurant meeting up to that amount • Grand prize (Ex Comm members and newsletter editor not eligible) of choice of: 1 registration for 2020 Annual Gathering, 2 registrations for a 2020 Regional Gathering, or a 3 year renewal of membership. Vouchers and Mensa Admissions Test You should have gotten an email with a code to invite someone to take the Mensa Admissions Test free up through December 31. Please use it to encourage a smart friend, relative, or co-worker to take the test. Usually a test is set up after there have been some requests to take it, but with this excellent offer SMM has arranged for a test at 1 PM on Saturday, November 9. The location is the clubhouse at Meadows Condominiums, 7914 Gleason Dr. Knoxville. Because SMM does not have a test proctor, this will be administered by former Region RVC Baker Ring (now Middle TN LocSec). If you might consider being a proctor in the future, please drop by to see what test-day preparations are required. We will have a casual snack reception following the exam that members are welcome to join around 3 PM. If you are not bringing a test taker you can bring a snack. Volume 42 Issue 4 Page 2 Smokies Signal October 2019 My Month Among the Puzzle Mavens You may have gotten an email sent to Mensa members with text like the research study below and filed it with the past ones about TV show casting calls. I had replied and didn’t properly apply for Challenge 1 (which the next invite email said had over 800 Mensans among the participants), so signed up again for Challenge 2 in June. I was given a random account name and assigned two incognito teammates who both happened to be dog-owning IT professionals. We agreed to post notes about our suppositions and conclusions during the week and vote on the answer if there wasn’t agreement. Each week we were assigned a set of problems that would be due that weekend. They would post the answers without analysis and post the following week’s set. Having clicked a non-disclosure agreement about the problems, I will reveal that some of the problem types were: • Complex patterns where there might be a grid of images and multiple-choice options of the missing piece. Although I usually see patterns in puzzle books, I was never able to reason through half the puzzles of this kind. • Threat assessments where you have information people have submitted about a person and you decide what level of danger the individual poses to the community or specific other people in your department. I think we agreed with the official levels the first time, then had one where we were too cautious (gave a higher threat rating than deserved) and later overcompensated and used that experience to underweight another one. • Identify use of some arcane item (multiple choice answer). Don’t think there was one that I knew for sure what it was. • Statements such as “Truth is beauty and you are ugly so you must be lying” would be given and you would choose one of the multiple statements that use the same logic, which were not difficult. • Analysis of a political situation where you have to choose what actions to take based on limited resources (including time), and write justification for your choices. These usually had some team discussions and we came up with reasonable plans. Some problems gave you some guessing data (you think this will happen 25% of the time, or what has happened in the past) along with an analysis of what will happen in the future (40% of the people are allied with this group and have a 50% chance of doing something). Two of us thought the guess data was a red herring and should be ignored for future purposes and the other person basically laid out his reasoning but didn’t convince us. Answer key the next week showed the “right” way was to factor in the guess. • There was one big puzzle like a “Clue” game with a number of characters, homes, pets, favorite things, modes of transportation, etc. and the team had to assemble all the connections and colors of things based on a list of statements like “the vegan hears the owner of the red house drive by while sipping a latte with her white cat”. • Another that happened only once was a zero-sum strategy game where all teams had equal resources and the object was to divide your resources in a fixed number of activities where you compete against all other teams and try to get the highest score. So if you put 100% of the resources in slot B you are guaranteed at least a draw and probably a win there but also guarantee a loss or tie on all the other activities. I would have said there is no “right” answer as you are guessing that all the other teams are analyzing in a way to give them the best chance (as opposed to some pro sports analogy where you try to be entertainingly close but lose enough to get the first draft pick). Volume 42 Issue 4 Page 3 Smokies Signal October 2019 • But the most remarkable one to me was the geolocation puzzles where you were shown an image (sometimes with key clues blanked out) and asked for continent, country, city, street, and year.