Corrections: The Executive Committee Meeting minutes should read, Jill Baker won $250 (not $50) and the four Honorable Mention local winners won $25 each. Also I misspelled Diana Mossip’s last name. My most humble apologies.

You are invited to contribute your White Elephant Auction items to Permian Basin Mensa. Bring them to the next meeting or send them to: Robert Volkmann, 1302 W. Indiana Ave. Midland, TX 79701-6657.

When you patronize an advertiser, please tell the advertiser that you saw their ad in the PerMensa

Hugh White and Cathalene Martell tied for the Error Finding Contest in August. Deadline for contest entries and other submissions is the 20th of the month.

Submissions for publication can be mailed or e-mailed in plain text with no attachments to the editor. You can even hand deliver. Hey ..some items can even be called in.. The operative word here is… submit items/articles for publication. You’ll find the editor thankful for your submissions plus your name will look good in print!

Monthly Party/Meetings/Programs and Dine-outs are open to anyone in Mensa. Members may bring guests, spouses, etc. Bring anything you wish to drink and a dish of food to share. Smoking is permitted outside.

We could use more hosts for the monthly program. Any member may

host or suggest a program. To volunteer, register complaints, or make

suggestions, contact Robert Volkmann (915) 682-1865.

Thank You

SPECIAL ACTIVITY: Match Wits with Mensa, September 29, 2001 At Barnes and Noble in Midland. See Page 4.

Match Wits With Mensans Night

HEAR YEA, HEAR YEA. Come one, come all!

Come to try to make a Mensan fall.

Yea ‘tis verily true

Our members will be in a stew.

(Nah, never happen.)

At least not if we get lots of help. We are going to have a trivia contest between the public and Permian Basin Mensans. This is intended for a membership drive and to have a lot of fun. Emphasis on the fun.

Executive Committee: Pat Beck, Mike Craddock, Cathalene Martell,

Jim Stevens, Robert Volkmann.

LOC-SEC: Mike Craddock (800) 351-1464, or (915) 267-1000

Editor: Shirley C. Volkmann (915) 570-6209, 1302 W . Indiana Ave., Midland, 79701 e-mail Mensadance@T3wireless.com..

Financial Review Officer: Robert G. Volkmann, (915) 682-1865.

Ombudsman: Cathalene Martell, (915)728-5216 or (915)238-3039.

Scribe: Shirley C. Volkmann, (915) 570-6209.

Program Chair: Robert G. Volkmann, (915) 682-1865

Dining Out Chair: Cathalene Martell, 905 Walnut St., Colorado City, TX., 79512-4429, (915)728-5216 or (915) 238-3039.

Games Night Chair: Cathalene Martell, (915)728-5216.

Gifted Children Chair: Claudie Northcutt, (915) 366-3354 .

SIGHT Coordinator: Jim Stevens 2107 Western Drive, Midland, TX., 79705-7546, (915) 685-1636.

Scholarship Chair: Cathalene Martell, (915)728-5216 or

(915) 238-3039 and Terrance Stewart, 218 N. Park St., San Angelo, TX. 76901-3440, (915) 6593742.

Election Chair: Ryan Marvin (915) 367-8554.

Abilene Activities Coordinator: Seth Pace, (915) 695-7615.

Colorado City Coordinator: Cathalene Martell, (915)728-5216.

Odessa Activities Coordinator: Paul Wilhelm, 3928 Elderica Ct.,

Odessa, TX, (915)561-5603.

San Angelo Activities Coordinator: Dennis Hein, (915) 224-8186.

Sci-Fi Chair: Butch Colbert, Butchcolb@aol.com.

MENSAversaries

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There were a few readers who wrote to ask what "dog rays" were and one who said he always referred to the "broken rainbow" as sun dogs. At any rate, I was referred to a book I have been trying to buy for years, Rainbows, Halos and Glories by Robert Greenler.  This books covers most weather related optical phenomena and was recommended years ago in response to one of these queries.

The closest to an explanation was provided by a reader who wishes to

remain anonymous who wrote that the dog rays or sun dogs were caused by ice particles high in the atmosphere. The apparent location of the rays or rainbow segments is determined by the shape and elevation of the ice particles.

If someone knows more about this, please let me know.

Thomas Nelson of Rhinelander sent in the query for this month. I thought it was something most of us here in Wisconsin could relate to in the summer.

"Here is a question that occurred to me while I was being bitten by a mosquito. How does the mosquito draw the blood from the flesh into its proboscis? It does not seem to seek a blood vessel to draw from but can draw blood from about anywhere it lands. The proboscis is far too large to interact with a capillary. The sac into which the blood is drawn is not muscular so it could not provide a suction. Yet it fills with blood. Does the clever insect use osmosis or diffusion? Does it draw through a hole in the end of the proboscis or through semi-permeable membrane in the walls?

Clearly it’s not enough to say the mosquito sticks its pointy thing in you and sucks out some blood. There is much more detail in the physical science of it

and an interesting inquiry to boot. Does anyone know the answer?"

The segment of highway north of Brokaw that I referred to in a previous column has been resurfaced and is no longer banked the wrong way. This is still

a beautiful stretch of road but no longer has the same level of interest that it did before.

I’d like to hear from those of you who have things you’ve wondered about and haven’t taken the time to find an answer. As you can see, any sort of query

is welcome.

appreciate the art of creation itself. Literature is my passion, and I am horrified to see the way it is mangled in schools. I have devoured books since I was young, and the great authors became role models for me rather than the stereotypical television star. I write constantly, and no division exists in my mind between writing for school and for pleasure. All writing is pleasurable, and it is that connection with the act of creation that transforms writing into an art.

Sadly, this respect for literature is dying away. Sound bites and magazines replace novels and poetry. I see apathy on the faces of teachers and students alike in my literature courses. My peers are taught to hate poetry as they are fed literary formulas, and their dull eyes glaze over. My teacher paraphrases Keats and dismisses Milton. Still, I read on and struggle to keep my passion alive. I write in as many different forms as I am able. I participate in journalism, literary criticism, formal writing, poetry, and the assembly of literary magazines, and through it all I still feel the dull eyes staring through me. I have always wanted to become an author. However, if at last I write a novel of such depth and strength that it would cut a reader to his very soul, and if those dull eyes remain in classrooms, there will be no one to read my words.

So I shall write and create entire worlds with my pen, but, more importantly, I will brighten those dull eyes and teach them the truth. Poetry is not a formula or an equation. Past authors have not set a rigid precedent for row after row of students. We will not become brilliant and successful if we blindly accept and mimic what has been done before. No one has told these dull eyes that the great ones were great because they questioned the status quo and created something new out of the old. Each time that passion is burned down, a new form is resurrected from the smoldering ashes.

Every day that I sit in a classroom where no one learns and no one cares that there is no love of knowledge and creation present, my disgust and rage solidify into a steady conviction that I could stop it. I will bring the apathy to a standstill in one classroom and turn the currents of education. Understanding, application, and originality shall be prized in my class over memorization of facts that may be looked up in a book by any fool. My students will learn that there is no end result, no final goal, to education. Love of knowledge is love of life itself. I cannot let this conviction pass away because my life is founded upon it. By teaching this love of knowledge to others, I will fulfill myself. If not, I will have betrayed everything I hold dear. If I can teach this love to my students, I will send out at least a handful of people who will, along with others scattered far and wide, resurrect this passion once again.

the SIGHT program; a motion was passed at the last AMC meeting that is essentially a bylaws amendment; and, do you wish to let a marketing firm have access to all of your contact information?
The SIGHT program — Traditionally, if an office has not been filled locally (such as SIGHT coordinator) the LocSec is the default contact. A plan in underway

in the case of resignations in the face of Hearings that is in opposition to the process spelled out in the bylaws, and as such is an amendment to the bylaws. Amendments must be voted on by the members, they cannot be passed as a motion from the floor. The paragraph that is in conflict with the bylaws should be stricken down; if the action has merit it will be raised properly and handled according to the wishes of the members. I will be introducing a motion to strike the paragraph in question, look for it on the agenda.
The marketing firm — Mensa Int’l. has made a deal with a firm (LMCA) that American Mensa has had some dealings with in the past. The concept is that we will be offered the chance to fill out questionnaires, and that "Each completed survey returned by the stated deadline will earn the respondent an entry into a drawing for prizes, such as gathering registrations, membership renewals, gift certificates… and chocolate!" (Dave Remine, Int’l Chairman, in an email for general distribution). According to the information at hand we will not be offered items for sale. A motion currently proposed would allow American Mensa to provide this firm with the contact information of all members that did not "opt out" of sharing. My view is not to allow such sharing until after each member has had ample opportunity to review their options.
Your views make a difference, but only if they are known. Please make them known to me and to the other AMC officers.

THE BATTLE OF THE FLAG

Paul Markham

It is the soldier, not the reporter,

who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet,

who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,

who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, not the lawyer,

who has given us the right to a fair trail.

It is the soldier

who salutes the flag,

and who serves under the flag,

who allow the protester to burn the flag.

A protest raged on a courthouse lawn.

Round a makeshift stage they charged on.

Fifteen hundred or more they say,

Had come to burn a Flag that day.

A boy held up the folded Flag.

Cursed it, and called it a dirty rag.

An OLD MAN pushed through the angry crowd,

with a rusty shotgun shouldered proud.

His uniform jacket was old and tight.

He had polished each button, shiny and bright.

Hr crossed that stage with a soldier’s grace,

Until he and the boy stood face to face.

"FREEDOM OF SPEECH", the OLD MAN said,

"Is worth dying for, good men are dead,

So you can stand on courthouse lawn,

And talk us down from dusk to dawn,

But before any Flag gets burned today,

This OLD MAN IS GOING TO HAVE HIS SAY!!

In a war they said would end all war.

But Tommy and I wasn’t even full grown,

Before we fought in a war of our own.

And Tommy died on Iwo Jima’s beach.

In the show of a hill he couldn’t quite reach.

Where five good men raided this Flag so high,

That the WHOLE DAMN WORLD COULD SEE IT FLY.

I got this bum let that I still drag,

Fighting for this same old Flag.

Now there’s one shot in this old gun,

So now it’s time to decide which one,

Which one of you will follow our lead,

To stand and die for what you believe?

for as sure as there is a rising sun,

You’ll burn in Hell ‘fore this Flag burns son.

Now this riot never came to pass.

The crowd got quiet and that can of gas,

Got set aside as they walked away.

To talk about what they had heard this day.

And the boy who had called it a "dirty rag",

Handed the OLD SOLDIER the folded Flag.

So the battle of the Flag this day was won

By a tired OLD SOLDIER with a rusty gun,

Who for one last time, had to show to some,

THIS FLAG MAY FADE, YET THESE COLORS DON’T RUN

Thanks to all who have worked, and at times sacrificed to preserve our freedoms.

National Testing Day is October 20, 2001. Local testing will be done at Permian Basin Graduate Center, 105 E. Illinois. Contact Cathalene Martell: (915) 728-5216, or 721-8640; Robert or Shirley Volkmann (915) 682-1865; or Mike Craddock (800) 335-8252 for more details.

The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with the unsympathetic Genitals.

The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert.

Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten amendments.

The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.

The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultry.

Moses died before he ever reached Canada.

Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.

David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar.

He fought with the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.

Solomon, one of David’s sons had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

Jesus Was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.

Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule, which says to one to others before they do one to you.

The epistles were the wives of the apostles.

St Paul cavorted to Christianity, He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage.

Most religions teach us to have only one spouse. This is called monotony.

(Reprinted from WiscoM, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan Mensa, August, 2001.)

Solution to Cities and States

1. Selma (sell Ma) 2. Juneau (June know) 3. Nogales (No gal is) 4. Jonesboro (Jones burrow) 5. Carmel (Car mel)

Solution to Half-Eaten Foods

Solution to Music Jargon

1. alto (Al Toe) 2. Mozart (moats art) 3. sonata (so not a) 4. Haydn (hide in) 5. Sousa (sues a)