The US Hamster Wheel

[Chuks]

I found my refrigerator and I have started training religiously. In other words, I tried to pick the stupid thing up, strained my back, and said, "Jesus Christ!" I think I need one of those broad leather belts I see weightlifters wearing before I try this again. It was bad enough seeing Hillary go down in flames; I don't want to lose the appliance toss as well.

AA, and 500N, while I work on my strength, have you two thought about joining Mensa? You both think you are smarter than me, and I got in, so what's stopping you two? Here's the website: http://www.mensa.org/ and they're always looking for new members, since finding people in that upper 2% is not as easy as one might think.

What Mr. Reilly wrote is nonsense, just a joke, of course. He's probably one of those sneaky Mensa members who just doesn't want to let anyone else join, by making it out to be a big deal. It is getting kind of crowded. With about 57,000 members, American Mensa is the largest one worldwide, and they make it quite easy to join. Just think about all those college-educated liberals, all those stupid Harvard graduates, AA; you just have to be smarter than 98% of them, right?

Here's a link to a list of qualifying test scores for American Mensa, AA: https://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscore ... st-scores/ It doesn't even have to be an IQ test. If you have a composite SAT1 score of just 1300, for example, you're in!

Australian Mensa only has about 1,600 members, which is puzzling because joining is just a matter of being more intelligent than 98% of the population of Australia, probably including cane toads. I have no idea what the problem with that might be. I guess you would have to contact Australian Mensa to find out about that, 500N. Here's the link: https://www.mensa.org.au/

Anyway, good luck, guys, and I hope that the next time you call me stupid you can flash that "Me Mensa! Me Smart!" card they issue, just to make it stick.

[IJ Reilly]

Being an official, card carrying Mensa member must be like that old joke about an expert: the guy who knows 100 different ways to make love to a woman, but doesn't know any women.

Chuks, it's just like a Mensa member to go through all the trouble to calculate weights, fulcrum points, leverage, lifting angles, yet not realize the damn fridge is anchored to the floor. Sometimes the geniuses miss the obvious things.

[Chuks]

Damn! I thought I was losing my strength! That must be the answer.

[Airborne Aircrew]

Chuks:

I've found your problem... You're a member of Mensa, an organization I have many acquaintances in. In fact for a few years I "sat in on" their Friday night "getting out of mummies basement" events in the local hostelry.

I have to say, these **** were brilliant and a lovely bunch of people if you could get past their little "social issues"... In some cases their personal hygiene had been set aside for the more important intellectual pursuits but if I thought ahead I could find a seat in the "low hum zone"... I don't hold that against the offenders. But the thing that always struck me was their common sense... More importantly their utter **** lack of it. Any one of the group could solve problems that boggle the mind of the average Joe but, between them, they can't take a toilet roll holder off a wall without damaging the drywall.

I'm afraid that, bar the obvious bragging rights thing that membership of Mensa brings, most people see it as a quaint little group of people that are out of touch with the real world. Strangely, that seems to describe you...

For reference, tested by the RAF and taking a few other tests in my life I've never tested lower than 145... Take that as you will... I don't care for the number because I know how inadequate the people who maximize that number can be. The really funny thing is that many I have met that claim to be Mensa are people who are insecure about their brain power and have to pass that test to prove to everyone how smart they are... They usually aren't really that smart...

You're a good, no Great, example...

[Chuks]

That's very interesting, AA.

1. You are smarter than I am.

2. I am literally a genius, simply meaning that I score in the top 2% on various intelligence tests. (I still might trying to pick up a refrigerator that is bolted down, so that I might not be a very smart genius! There is that.)

3. You are a genius too, just adding 1 plus 2 to get here, to 3.

4. I never met a genius who was so, well, crap, at writing and reasoning as you are. What's the deal? Any recent accidents ... that you can remember? Fresh lobotomy scars, perhaps? Something that might induce a real liking for Donald Trump is what you should be looking for in your medical history.

[500N]

Chuks:
For reference, tested by the RAF and taking a few other tests in my life I've never tested lower than 145... Take that as you will... I don't care for the number because I know how inadequate the people who maximize that number can be. The really funny thing is that many I have met that claim to be Mensa are people who are insecure about their brain power and have to pass that test to prove to everyone how smart they are... They usually aren't really that smart...

You're a good, no Great, example...

AA

Likewise, although not as high as you.

Re the bold bit, from my interactions with a few, one in particular, agree.

They are smart but jesus can they lack some common sense. One in particular, female officer cadet on my course,
would not accept she wasn't drinking enough water for the temperature, told she was coming down with heat stroke,
wouldn't get taken off the patrol because it (in my perception) looked weak, came on patrol and dropped from heat
stroke in the middle of effing nowhere where we ended up having to "no duff" and "end ex" while we evacuated her.

Simple judgements that she couldn't make and that was not the only example.

[Airborne Aircrew]

Chuks:

1. Yes, I am...

2. No, you're not...

3. I know...

4. At my level of intellect the day to day rules of spelling and grammar are mere suggestions...

Chuks, you are, and will always remain, deficient in rational conversation.

500N:

Her name wasn't Chuks or some derivation of that was it?

The smart have their place... It's why we have aircraft and guns and computers... but they conceive these things while those of us with common sense and a level of intellect make them functional...

Now, watch MA come up with a music video for that combination...

[500N]

No, it wasn't Chuks - but could have been a relative

Funny thing is, I bumped into her a few years later when I was in SF and she whatever
and we were doing Rappelling from Helos. During the safety briefing, the loady said that
all 6 of us has to drop from the skids at the same time - to stop any unbalancing of the aircraft.

Well, you guessed it, she cocked it up and froze every time. One time the helo was rocking like
it was going to crash.

Needless to say I was pissed off with her and told her so.

[IJ Reilly]

Well, I'm definitely an outlier in this august bunch. Not only am I not a genius, I lie some where in fat part of the bell curve, there with the state university graduates and Ford pickup drivers.

But hey, I'm trying to improve! I got Helga to loan me a few bucks, I paid the Mensa fee, and started the process. I even managed to get my head lodged firmly up my own a$s, so I'm well on the way to acting like a Mensa member. Now I'm taking the test, but I confess I need some help.

Question 97, for example, presents a dilemma: "What's the most effective way to show others how smart you are?" A). Show them your membership card, B). Hire an airplane to skywrite your name and Mensa number, C). Go on an anonymous internet forum and tell everybody that you are a certified genius, just like Kanye, or D). Shut the fu%k up and just let your deeds and character reveal your intellect.

Well, I don't know about you, but the obvious choice has to be "C"!

[BenThere]

I don't know whether I'd qualify as a Mensa - I always scored at the top tier, sometimes the 99th percentile of the tests I used to take, SAT, ACT, AFSAB, and such. I don't take such tests anymore, and I admit my mind isn't as quick, my retorts are not as devastating, and my eagerness to engage has flagged - but I was always a bit repelled by the Mensa premise. It seemed to be that you can say, "Here I am, one smart dude, certified."

I think intelligence measurements miss some key attributes the perfect person possesses. It doesn't capture perseverance, integrity, loyalty, reliability, and the ability to focus and achieve.

I think both Einstein and Edison were identified as idiotic and weird at points in their early development. Let that be a lesson to you.

[500N]

Add Freud to the names of people.


I'd also add Common Sense

[Capetonian]

For a start she's better looking than you, and possibly less of a racist too ........... or is it true that only whites can be racist?

[Chuks]

Thanks, AA (and 500N too).

I was wondering what sort of response that would draw, when you did not disappoint with these counterfactual arguments, these simple, lapidary even, replies of "1. Yes, I am.." and "2. No, you're not..." along with the breathtaking arrogance of, "4. At my level of intellect the day to day rules of spelling and grammar are mere suggestions..." (sic) (I love the way that you even break the rules when telling me that you don't need to follow the rules. If I thought that I knew what you were doing, that would be impressive.)

AA, at your level of intellect, you are simply not able to master the day-to-day rules of spelling and grammar, which are still rules, not suggestions, whatever you may dream that they are. Not long ago you were even citing one of those rules, about quotations, albeit mistakenly. Rules seemed to matter to you then.

All of that was spoken like a boss, like a Donald! Which is to say, like a supreme fantasist. You know, the sort of person who seeks high office without any real experience or qualifications, even with some disqualifications, and the sort of person who thinks that a Donald is a very good thing to have in high office, all simply because, "Why not?"

I shall now bow before your self-categorizing of yourself as a genius to leave it at that, AA. Crap spelling and grammar as a mark of genius ... why ever not? Hampsters could fly.

When I was working in a garage up in Burlington, Vermont, home to the University of Vermont, a new mechanic suddenly appeared in the service bay next to mine, a tall bloke with a big, bushy head of hair, so that the natives soon nicknamed him "Haystacks." Very bright guy, but totally clueless, so that I often had to help him out of some mess he'd made of some simple task.

After a few days of that I asked Haystacks what the deal was, what sort of previous experience he'd had. Then he told me that he was a graduate math student at UVM who needed a bit of cash, when he thought of working as a mechanic, because he knew he was way more intelligent than the average mechanic. Well, yeah, he was probably just another genius, as to the smarts, but practical experience of working on cars? None whatsoever. He had just reasoned that being very, very intelligent was enough. I asked him if he understood now that slinging wrenches was really not as simple as he thought it was, that these greasy guys probably were not as stupid as he took them for? At the end of the week, no more Haystacks. I assume that he's a professor of theoretical math now, but I also assume that he takes his car to the garage instead of trying to fix it himself.

Trump really does seem to be yet another self-assessed genius, going by what he's said and also by his actions. This is where that "Peter Principle" must come into play, though:

'The Peter principle is a concept in management theory formulated by Laurence J. Peter and published in 1969. The theory is that the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate's performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and "managers rise to the level of their incompetence."' (Wikipedia)

It's not even so that Trump is all that competent. Four ego-driven bankruptcies would seem to prove that he's not such a hot businessman as all that. The fact that he's kept his tax returns out of the public eye suggests that he's got something to hide about his level of success as a businessman, among other things he wants to hide.

Trump being caught repeatedly in stupid lies makes him seem like an incompetent politician, since a politician needs his statements to have a certain amount of plausibility.

That such an obvious incompetent should have such strong appeal to so many other incompetents, particularly that "basket of deplorables," plus so many other voters so disenchanted with the status quo that they are willing to risk voting in an incompetent, was very sadly overlooked by the political establishment. Did they look at the hoi polloi and simply think, "We are smarter than that, and way smarter than Trump!" to leave it at that? Not very smart, doing that ....

Now we are left looking at whatever it is Trump can make of this Presidency he has won, or been gifted. So far, not so good, given the disorder in the transition team, actually the second transition team after the way poor old Christie has been put to the sword.

There you have it, in a way. Christie had once jugged the father of Jared Kushner, back when Christie had been a prosecutor. What was Christie thinking, to support Trump, putting up with some very rough treatment while doing that, while the son of a man he had put in prison was sat there whispering into Trump's ear? I guess it just shows how desperate Christie really is for a high place in American politics. I expect we will be shown many more such grotesque episodes during Trump's time in the White House.

The next episode should be Trump being forced to testify in the Trump University case. There's a hearing scheduled for this Friday afternoon, about whether the case should be postponed or else begin on November 28th with jury selection.

Another thing is a decision about whether Trump's campaign statements can be considered or else barred from consideration. (The funny thing with this one is that Trump's usual tactic, of dragging things out rather than settling, often used in over 3,500 cases so far, is one source of his present legal difficulties with regard to his fake "Trump University.") His lawyers are claiming that what Trump himself said should not be taken at face value, that it was "puffery," like what a used car salesman says about "only driven by a little old lady on Sunday, back and forth to church," when it turns out that her name was Dragstrip Annie. Who should believe a used car salesman, and, according to his own lawyers, who should believe Donald Trump?

Will it be taken as unfair for some of us to think that Donald Trump failed businessman and huckster is the same man as Donald Trump President of the United States of America? Probably!

Ben, take a look at that table of scores. If you have SATs above 1300 then you qualify, period; it really is not such a big deal. This image of Mensa being made up of those who need to flaunt their genius is a false one, I think, one put forth by people who fear, often rightly, that they could never get in. You may find a group of people who are right on your wavelength, even some who voted for Trump!

Here, I just got very tired of being called stupid by this obviously stupid person. Otherwise I would not have bothered to bring it up; it won't win you any points with the usual suspects to claim membership in Mensa, but it does somewhat refute being called stupid.

It's like some clown who drives a Pinto telling you that you can't drive, when you have a Corvette parked in your garage. Not that owning one makes you a great driver, just that a guy with a Corvette probably is a better driver than a guy with a Pinto, because he has more to work with.

Here is what American Mensa says : "As a member, you have the opportunity to meet other smart people at local, regional and national levels. You can attend entertaining, intellectually stimulating events and exchange ideas with others through a variety of publications and our online Community. You can also work to help others in your community by volunteering for community-oriented activities and working with the Mensa Foundation. And you can take advantage of our variety of member benefits and services."

[Capetonian]

Well done Chuk-up.

1369 words (no, I didn't waste my time counting them on my fingers and toes) of meaningless and mostly irrelevant, but well-written, drivel.

Your mother must have been so proud of you. Shame your village lost its idiot.

[Chuks]

Carptoonian, if you don't like it, don't read it, let alone bother counting how many words make it up! What is your problem? Turn those binoculars around and do some bird-watching, instead of staring at your navel through the wrong end.

Do not let this come as a shock to you, but you are not part of my intended audience. If my prose annoys you by its mere presence, so much the better.

Did your lips get real tired, reading all those words?

[Capetonian]

I can assure you I didn't read it in the conventional sense, I am skilled at skimming or speed reading, from my old day job where I was often presented with verbose and pompous reams of meaningless garbage, where perhaps 5% was germane to the project.

No, my lips and fingers did not get tired, not even 'real tired' as you write it in your substandard 'English'.

[Chuks]

Welcome to the wonderful world of pedantry, Carptoonian. I thought that one would hook you, and it did. Worked real good, didn't it?

If we are going to be two pedants going at it, let us know about the "comma splice," why not to write, "I can assure you I didn't read it in the conventional sense, I am skilled .... " Otherwise, you might want to retreat into a sulky silence for a while. I find that works for me.

[Pinky the pilot]

All this talk of Mensa and just how intelligent one is if one is a member thereof;

Well, I am proud to say that I am a fully paid up, carded etc member of the opposing club.

Densa
Official motto; '"As are two, short hardwood planks"

Seriously; some People need to come back down to Earth.

Ptp walks off muttering to himself; Opens another bottle of that '12 Shiraz....

[IJ Reilly]

I always liked what William F. Buckley (no intellectual slouch, himself) said: "I'd rather be ruled by the first 2000 people in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty."

I think there's a lot of truth in that.

Our political system was meant to capture that concept, with the House being comprised of everyday people from every walk of life, performing a public duty for a short term, and then returning to their farms, shops and families. The Senate would be comprised of the stodgy, deliberative types, the intellectuals of the day, serving longer terms.

That we have turned both houses into gilded, life-tenured positions, with members feeding the growing bureaucracy around Washington, is a big part of our problem.

Have you been to D.C. lately, Chuks? Have you seen the massive new buildings, the construction cranes, the glass offices? The bars and restaurants filled with upwardly-mobile geniuses, the brightest kids in their class, enjoying $15 drinks on K-street expense accounts? All that is Federal money, mine and Ben's and AA's, going for what purpose nobody seems to know. It's a mystery to me how some geniuses think that this is a sustainable enterprise, this massive, bloated, ever-growing Federal government. I had one genius tell me that it was all about how government accounting was done; he was ex-Enron, of course, "one of the smartest guys in the room."

Can Donald fix it? Of course not. I'm not convinced he wants to, nor has the attention span to sit through his first budget briefing. But he can, perhaps, change direction a bit, reset the clock a couple of years, enough for the next guy or gal to go back to "business as usual."

By the way, that description of the Mensa club from their website reveals the shallowness of that bunch. They seem to be the insecure ones, needing a wallet-sized card to validate their intellect. Join the Rotary Club, your favorite local hobby group, the March of Dimes or any other charity group. There you'll find a variety of very smart folks, enjoying each other's company, helping the less fortunate, and pursuing common interests. What you won't find are people who are so incredibly insecure that they need to tell each other how smart they are.

[Airborne Aircrew]

Chuks:

If proof was ever needed regarding the utter humorlessness if your average leftie it lies solely in this passage from your pointless diatribe:-

along with the breathtaking arrogance of, "4. At my level of intellect the day to day rules of spelling and grammar are mere suggestions..." (sic) (I love the way that you even break the rules when telling me that you don't need to follow the rules. If I thought that I knew what you were doing, that would be impressive.)

It's stuff like that that gets you into Mensa and makes you one of their favorite's on their "getting out of mummy's basement" nights... You should be very, very proud...