Some of these items come from me, some from newspapers, and some from The Week magazine, a wonderful sheet that hits all sides of a story.
01. Famous Book Sale. The well-known Smith College in Massachusetts has an active alumni group in Maryland. They put on an annual book sale that is a book-lover's dream. I first discovered the sale while I was waiting for my first daughter to be born at a Baltimore hospital. (I won't tell you how many years ago that was because maybe my daughter doesn't want you to know how old she is.)
Over the years, I purchased thousands of books for my collection, mainly at their sales. (They sell gently-used books on any and all subjects.) When we made plans to move to our current location, I realized that I could not take all of these books with me, so I boxed them up, knowing that I could always donate them to the current year's sale. However, when the time came, I was told that they already had so many books to sell, they had no place to put my 118 boxes of books. (I have already written how I finally got rid of the books, so, if you want to know, call me up or search my blogs for Salvation Army.)
Anyway, this year's sale is the 52nd annual sale. It will take place on April 9-11 at the exhibition hall of the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, MD. Apparently that is the only site big enough to hold all of the books. I guarantee that if you go, you will get hooked, and start to amass your own gigantic library of great books. (... at cheap prices)
02. Intelligent Billing: Elaine got a bill today from a well-known company. It was a bill for $0.00 ! A nasty note was attached, saying, in effect, "If we do not receive your payment by March 31st, you will be required to pay a $0.00 late fee!"
03. Tricky Timing: The usually completely accurate magazine I mentioned above, gave the following information: "2010 is the year of Mark Twain, ... it marks the 100th anniversary of the American author's birth, and the 125th of the publication of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn..." He sure was a darn good writer to get stuff published even before he was born.
03 1/2. Telephone Help Desk: At today's AARP meeting, I was able to give my stand-up routine about a telephone call I made a while ago.
I called the 800 # for a well-known Internet provider. I had a problem and was not able to access the web. The call went something like this:
"Allo, wat is your name?"
"Joseph Vaughan"
"Allo, Yosef, wat is your broblem?"
"I cannot access the Internet."
"Yosef, do you ave dial-up or dsl?"
"I have cable."
"Yosef, wat is gable? I do not understand gable."
"May I speak to your supervisor?"
"May I help you?"
"Yes, I cannot access the internet."
"Wat is your name, sir?"
"Joseph Vaughan."
"OK, Yosef, do you ave dial-up or dsl?"
"I have cable."
"Yosef, wat is gable? I don't know wat is gable."
"It's an electric line running into my house, like a telephone line."
"OK, Yosef, I will look that up. Where do you live?"
"I live in the U.S. In Maryland."
"I don't know wat is merrylend."
"Maryland is a State in the U.S."
"I'm sorry, Yosef, but I ave no record of merrylend."
"Do you have Massachusetts?"
"Yes, I see that, but no merrylend."
"Oh.. to hell with it! Goodbye!"
After explaining my frustrating experience to a County administrator, I was given a local number for the company involved. I called the number and a guy said: "Hey, how ya doin? What can I do for you?"
I told him my problem, he went away for one minute, came back and said, "is it ok now?" I checked, and it was. Total time for call and fix.. about two minutes.
04. Traffic cameras: We've talked before about speed cameras and red-light cameras.. now we have "rolling right turn" cameras. In Los Angeles, there now is a fine of over $400 for doing a rolling right turn. This must be a real money-maker, because it's hard for me to believe that the word has gotten out that you must make a full stop before making a right turn on a red light.
05. Air Traffic Controllers: They are getting younger and younger. Check out the youngster who gave instructions to several planes recently at the JFK Airport.(I know that President Reagan fired a lot of controllers years ago, but I didn't know that the Government had dropped the age requirement so they could hire more of them.)
06. Oink:Oink - This is the tenth anniversary of the successful cloning of a pig. (Name of Deli?)
07. IQ: An Israeli study has found that the lower a person's IQ is, the more likely that person is a heavy smoker. (Us former-smoker now-smart guys knew that already.)
08. Brushes: A lady named Dawn Stephens has invented an all-in-one toilet-bowl-cleaning brush. (My grandfather, Arthur Stephens Vaughan, in 1900, invented the all-in-one shoe brush, consisting of a "polish dauber" on the end of a handled "polishing brush.") If I could figure out how to put pictures on this blog, I would show what his prototype looks like today. I have it on display in my den.
09. Cursing: Nepal has an annual "cursing festival". One of the curses I like best is: "May your buffaloes all die of diarrhea!"
10. Fusion? Bloom Energy says they have developed a fuel cell that can generate energy without going through the process of combustion. More power to them!
11. Crabby? Marylanders love their crabs, but sometimes they get careless about getting them. Recently, Maryland environmental police found and pulled up over 1,500 abandoned or lost crab pots from inlets to the Chesapeake Bay. These pots endanger fish and crabs. I wonder what they did with any crabs (or their skeletons) found in these pots.
12. Exercise? I read that there is an aerobic exercise called "spinning"... please don't tell me what that is, I want to conjure up an image of this exercise... in my mind's eye.. just as I did years ago listening to the radio and visualizing the scene being described. Visualization is a great exercise for the brain.
... enough!
Showing posts with label IQ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IQ. Show all posts
Friday, March 05, 2010
Saturday, November 07, 2009
More Wait Wait Info from Nov 7, 2009
One learns so much from NPR's great show: Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! For instance, today I was amazed to learn this information:
01. The 7-11 stores will be selling their own brand of wine shortly. (As this was mentioned, the music in the background had what sounded like these lyrics: "I've got cheap wine, and free time...")
02. The hard hat was invented by Franz Kafka. (I find this utterly fantastic, but one should not be too surprised by anything that Mr. Kafka created.)
03. Someone somewhere has combined an MP3 player with a tazer.
04. Coco Krispies boxes boasted that the cereal could boost children's immunity. (But probably not to diabetes, someone said.) According to a television report last night, the company may have agreed to take the boast off the box.
05. According to a study, 22% of male texters are ending their messages with "hugs and kisses" symbols. (Cute!)
06. It was reported that a judge somewhere visited x-rated adult book stores hundreds of times recently. The judge said that he went to the store because they had such delicious chicken soup in their vending machine.
07. A Canadian study found that pregnant women who have a lot of morning sickness end up with babies with high IQ's. (Ok, fellow Mensa members, what do you think of that?)
08. Another study found that bad drivers are not to blame for their problems.. they inherited the traits from genes passed on from their parents.
09. In Germany, some inventive advertising person placed banners on flies legs and they displayed his messages as they flew about the audience.
10. South Korean cab drivers are now allowed to watch TV while they drive.
11. A woman called 911 to report that she was driving drunk. (or maybe to report all those cars that were driving on the wrong side of the freeway.)
...........................................................................................................................
01. The 7-11 stores will be selling their own brand of wine shortly. (As this was mentioned, the music in the background had what sounded like these lyrics: "I've got cheap wine, and free time...")
02. The hard hat was invented by Franz Kafka. (I find this utterly fantastic, but one should not be too surprised by anything that Mr. Kafka created.)
03. Someone somewhere has combined an MP3 player with a tazer.
04. Coco Krispies boxes boasted that the cereal could boost children's immunity. (But probably not to diabetes, someone said.) According to a television report last night, the company may have agreed to take the boast off the box.
05. According to a study, 22% of male texters are ending their messages with "hugs and kisses" symbols. (Cute!)
06. It was reported that a judge somewhere visited x-rated adult book stores hundreds of times recently. The judge said that he went to the store because they had such delicious chicken soup in their vending machine.
07. A Canadian study found that pregnant women who have a lot of morning sickness end up with babies with high IQ's. (Ok, fellow Mensa members, what do you think of that?)
08. Another study found that bad drivers are not to blame for their problems.. they inherited the traits from genes passed on from their parents.
09. In Germany, some inventive advertising person placed banners on flies legs and they displayed his messages as they flew about the audience.
10. South Korean cab drivers are now allowed to watch TV while they drive.
11. A woman called 911 to report that she was driving drunk. (or maybe to report all those cars that were driving on the wrong side of the freeway.)
...........................................................................................................................
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Saturday News May 23, 2009
Its Saturday and time to bore you again with some probably useless information that I learned this morning from NPR, newspapers and magazines. I'll restrict myself to 10 items.
01. During a Belgian bodybuilding contest, all of the contestants disappeared suddenly when they learned that a steroid tester had arrived.
02. India has 41 cities with over one million people. The total Indian population of one billion is three times the population of the United States. (Genius level IQ is supposed to be had by 2% of any population. This means that India has 13 million more geniuses than the U.S.)
03. Paula Deen's husband is drinking Slim-Fast, trying to lose weight so that he can write a book with the title: I Lost 95 Pounds While Married to Paula Deen. Should be a best-seller.
04. I'm not sure I heard this right, but I think that one of Paula's recipes contains hamburger and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The doughnuts take the place of hamburger rolls.
05, The Car Talk guys talked about sounds coming from the trunk area of a Toyota Camry. (I have this problem.) Click and Clack suggested replacement of the "anti-sway bar bushings," whatever and wherever they are. (Elaine had her own suggestion: " Take the body out of the trunk!")
06. If you ever need to locate a tire that is grossly underinflated, touch all of them and the hottest one is the choice.
07. The careless co-pilot of the plane that crashed in Buffalo made $16,000 per year. (You get what you pay for, right?)
08. The Vatican now has a website called "Pope2You" (I figure that they might have wanted to use "Pope-Yes", but that was already taken by an American fast food company.)
09. A couple found a Cheetos bite that resembles Jesus. They plan to offer it on EBay.
10. A New York court has ruled that golfers are not legally required to yell "Fore!" when teeing off. The court said the the danger of getting hit is a natural risk of playing the game.
ENOUGH!
01. During a Belgian bodybuilding contest, all of the contestants disappeared suddenly when they learned that a steroid tester had arrived.
02. India has 41 cities with over one million people. The total Indian population of one billion is three times the population of the United States. (Genius level IQ is supposed to be had by 2% of any population. This means that India has 13 million more geniuses than the U.S.)
03. Paula Deen's husband is drinking Slim-Fast, trying to lose weight so that he can write a book with the title: I Lost 95 Pounds While Married to Paula Deen. Should be a best-seller.
04. I'm not sure I heard this right, but I think that one of Paula's recipes contains hamburger and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The doughnuts take the place of hamburger rolls.
05, The Car Talk guys talked about sounds coming from the trunk area of a Toyota Camry. (I have this problem.) Click and Clack suggested replacement of the "anti-sway bar bushings," whatever and wherever they are. (Elaine had her own suggestion: " Take the body out of the trunk!")
06. If you ever need to locate a tire that is grossly underinflated, touch all of them and the hottest one is the choice.
07. The careless co-pilot of the plane that crashed in Buffalo made $16,000 per year. (You get what you pay for, right?)
08. The Vatican now has a website called "Pope2You" (I figure that they might have wanted to use "Pope-Yes", but that was already taken by an American fast food company.)
09. A couple found a Cheetos bite that resembles Jesus. They plan to offer it on EBay.
10. A New York court has ruled that golfers are not legally required to yell "Fore!" when teeing off. The court said the the danger of getting hit is a natural risk of playing the game.
ENOUGH!
Monday, May 04, 2009
IQ
I keep getting bugged by Facebook to take their IQ test. As a member of Mensa and other high IQ groups, I am always interested in IQ tests. If you are too, I would suggest a book I just finished. The Big Book of IQ Tests by Norman Sullivan and Philip J. Carter. Its a great book, but I must warn you... these guys are "puzzle fiends".. and you will get a massive workout taking their tests.
Based on their scoring system.. with average being 100: I scored (variously) at 118, 132 150, 169, and 182. Now, according to research about the Stanford-Binet scoring system, which used to be the normal test that all school kids in Massachusetts took in the 4th grade: the average medical doctor has an IQ of 120. Under that system, 132 is considered "genius level" and 2% of the population should have that score. (According to that, there must be 20 million geniuses in China and 6 million in the U. S.)
A 2% level or above in any recognized IQ test will get you a membership in Mensa. A 1% level will get you a membership in Intertel (not an International Police or Spy organization.) High scores on College Entrance Examinations might get you in also. Especially the LSAT.. except, for some reason, there aren't that many lawyers in Mensa. (I wonder why.) ;0)
I have always been good at taking tests and have always scored high. (Except for my first IQ test in the 4th grade, where Miss Savage reduced all my scores until they met her expectations for students in her jurisdiction. This is another story that I love to tell, and if I haven't already covered it in a blog yet.. I will.) Armed with these scores, I joined Mensa and Intertel and a couple of other groups of lesser renown.
Good test takers run in my family. Once, I took an Australian IQ test, supposed to be the toughest one around. There were only 10 essay questions. I was given credit for getting all questions right. And guess what.. my "long lost Brother" (another blog subject) took the same test and got 9 of the questions right. We had not conferred with each other about the test. I think that the Australian author wasn't prepared for two Americans to get such a high score, and went back to the "drawing board"... and hasn't been heard of since. (He never did learn that we were brothers. I have another brother.. and I bet he would do as well.. and my sister as well.)
We owe it all to the fact that we had the same super-intelligent mother. Thanks, Ma!
I know, this all sounds like bragging. Maybe so, but I haven't even told you about other people who have recorded astronomical IQ's, like Elaine's daughter and my three kids. 80)
Based on their scoring system.. with average being 100: I scored (variously) at 118, 132 150, 169, and 182. Now, according to research about the Stanford-Binet scoring system, which used to be the normal test that all school kids in Massachusetts took in the 4th grade: the average medical doctor has an IQ of 120. Under that system, 132 is considered "genius level" and 2% of the population should have that score. (According to that, there must be 20 million geniuses in China and 6 million in the U. S.)
A 2% level or above in any recognized IQ test will get you a membership in Mensa. A 1% level will get you a membership in Intertel (not an International Police or Spy organization.) High scores on College Entrance Examinations might get you in also. Especially the LSAT.. except, for some reason, there aren't that many lawyers in Mensa. (I wonder why.) ;0)
I have always been good at taking tests and have always scored high. (Except for my first IQ test in the 4th grade, where Miss Savage reduced all my scores until they met her expectations for students in her jurisdiction. This is another story that I love to tell, and if I haven't already covered it in a blog yet.. I will.) Armed with these scores, I joined Mensa and Intertel and a couple of other groups of lesser renown.
Good test takers run in my family. Once, I took an Australian IQ test, supposed to be the toughest one around. There were only 10 essay questions. I was given credit for getting all questions right. And guess what.. my "long lost Brother" (another blog subject) took the same test and got 9 of the questions right. We had not conferred with each other about the test. I think that the Australian author wasn't prepared for two Americans to get such a high score, and went back to the "drawing board"... and hasn't been heard of since. (He never did learn that we were brothers. I have another brother.. and I bet he would do as well.. and my sister as well.)
We owe it all to the fact that we had the same super-intelligent mother. Thanks, Ma!
I know, this all sounds like bragging. Maybe so, but I haven't even told you about other people who have recorded astronomical IQ's, like Elaine's daughter and my three kids. 80)
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tests
Do you like to do tests? I do, and thanks in part to my Grandfather's coaching, I'm pretty good at them. Puzzles and tests.. they are a lot alike. Most Americans took an IQ test when they were in the 4th grade. Lots of companies give IQ-like tests before hiring employees. I've mentioned before that I was tested for my Social Security Administration job in Baltimore by being asked two questions: What do you think of the Orioles? What do you think of the Colts? Luckily, I liked birds and horses and they hired me.
When I tell this, people start to say "that's just like the Government!" And then I have to confess that in order to have the Social Security job, I also had to pass the FSEE (Federal Service Entrance Examination) and the O+M test. The O+M test (Organization and Management) was a tough test in which you were given theoretical problem situations and asked what you would do in such situations. The test was very easy for me once I had this "brain storm". Who was the top manager in the US? Of course, it was the President, and at that time it was Lyndon Johnson. So, all I had to do was ask myself "What would LBJ do in this situation?" That was the answer I chose, and I "Ace'd" the test.
Prior to getting the Social Security job, I tested for several other Government jobs. One test was called the "Foreign Service Entrance Examination". It consisted of several parts. I passed the general test, the French language test and the German test, but I completely screwed up the Geography test. This was a test where you were shown a map where the wording had been removed. You were supposed to figure out what part of the world the map represented. I had no clue. But, as I looked around the room I noticed that my fellow test takers were busily filling in their answers, without my look of panic on any of the faces. I later found out that some frat houses at Yale and Harvard conducted classes on these types of tests. This is, of course, perfectly legal.. I just was too dumb to find out what type of questions were going to be used on the test.
A similar test was given for the Secret Service. I passed all parts of the test and was told I had the job if I answered just one vital question. "Are you ashamed of any job you have ever had?" Like a jerk, I told them about one of the jobs I had while attending Boston University. I did telemarketing phone calls and talked some people into paying for entertainment that they probably didn't need and couldn't afford. I only had the job for a short time and got disgusted and quit. The Secret Service guys said that this was enough to disqualify me for the job.
Prior to my senior year at Boston University, I took a test for NSA (National Security Agency). I passed it and the interviewer said that the job was mine. When I asked if I could finish my degree work, he was surprized and thought that I had already graduated. However, he gave me his official NSA card and told me to call him on the day that I graduated and the job would be waiting for me. Accordingly, on the day that I graduated, I called the number on the card and asked to talk to him. "Nobody by that name works here." No matter what I did, I could not find anyone who had a record of my having been tested, interviewed, or promised a job. This was very disappointing to me because the type of work that NSA does is the type of work I had been trained to do.
IQ testing has also played an important part in my life and I would like to talk about that subject in another blog because what I say may shock you a bit.
When I tell this, people start to say "that's just like the Government!" And then I have to confess that in order to have the Social Security job, I also had to pass the FSEE (Federal Service Entrance Examination) and the O+M test. The O+M test (Organization and Management) was a tough test in which you were given theoretical problem situations and asked what you would do in such situations. The test was very easy for me once I had this "brain storm". Who was the top manager in the US? Of course, it was the President, and at that time it was Lyndon Johnson. So, all I had to do was ask myself "What would LBJ do in this situation?" That was the answer I chose, and I "Ace'd" the test.
Prior to getting the Social Security job, I tested for several other Government jobs. One test was called the "Foreign Service Entrance Examination". It consisted of several parts. I passed the general test, the French language test and the German test, but I completely screwed up the Geography test. This was a test where you were shown a map where the wording had been removed. You were supposed to figure out what part of the world the map represented. I had no clue. But, as I looked around the room I noticed that my fellow test takers were busily filling in their answers, without my look of panic on any of the faces. I later found out that some frat houses at Yale and Harvard conducted classes on these types of tests. This is, of course, perfectly legal.. I just was too dumb to find out what type of questions were going to be used on the test.
A similar test was given for the Secret Service. I passed all parts of the test and was told I had the job if I answered just one vital question. "Are you ashamed of any job you have ever had?" Like a jerk, I told them about one of the jobs I had while attending Boston University. I did telemarketing phone calls and talked some people into paying for entertainment that they probably didn't need and couldn't afford. I only had the job for a short time and got disgusted and quit. The Secret Service guys said that this was enough to disqualify me for the job.
Prior to my senior year at Boston University, I took a test for NSA (National Security Agency). I passed it and the interviewer said that the job was mine. When I asked if I could finish my degree work, he was surprized and thought that I had already graduated. However, he gave me his official NSA card and told me to call him on the day that I graduated and the job would be waiting for me. Accordingly, on the day that I graduated, I called the number on the card and asked to talk to him. "Nobody by that name works here." No matter what I did, I could not find anyone who had a record of my having been tested, interviewed, or promised a job. This was very disappointing to me because the type of work that NSA does is the type of work I had been trained to do.
IQ testing has also played an important part in my life and I would like to talk about that subject in another blog because what I say may shock you a bit.
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