October 2015 - Tampa Bay Mensa

Tampa
TampaBay
BaySounding
Sounding
A Publication
A Publication
of of
Tampa
Tampa
BayBay
Mensa
Mensa
Vol. 40, No. 9
October 2015
October
Welcome to Tampa Bay Mensa!......................................................3
October Birthdays.................................................................................. 3
LocSec Column........................................................................................ 4
RVC Column for Region 10................................................................5
The Fraud of Man-Made Global Warming, Once Again.......6
October Mensaversaries......................................................................7
Calendar of Events.................................................................................8
October 2015 Calendar.........................................................................9
Member Book Review.........................................................................11
Letter to the Editor..............................................................................12
Treasurer's Report................................................................................13
News & Notes: October 2015..........................................................22
Cryptopoem............................................................................................ 24
Serial Fillers............................................................................................ 26
Fall Picnic 2015
Coming Soon!!
A Publication of
Tampa Bay Mensa
Tampa Bay Sounding (USPS 305-830)
Tampa Bay Mensa
5001 Terrace Palms Cir Unit 101
Temple Terrace, FL 33617
Mensa is an international society whose sole
qualification for membership is a score at or
above the 98th percentile on a standard IQ
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those of the individual authors, and not
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Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, and
Sumter counties.
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Tampa Bay Sounding is the official newsletter
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Page 2
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
Welcome to Tampa Bay Mensa!
Brenda Broers
Irv Frankel
Luke Lewis
* Benjamin Sherwin
* Nicholas Sherwin
* New members.
October Birthdays
10/01
10/03
10/04
10/05
10/06
10/08
10/10
10/11
10/12
10/14
10/15
10/16
10/17
10/18
10/19
10/20
10/22
10/23
10/24
10/25
10/26
10/27
10/30
10/31
Fredrik Tucker
Anne Murray, Karen Stowe
Patricia Bowker, Tammy Hicks, Craig Hutchinson
Jacquelyn Payson, Thomas Richards
Victoria Humphrey
Daniel Holloway, Ross Richardson
William Dattisman, Keven McGinn
H Beaumont, Paul Frappollo, Arthur Schwartz
Robert Farabee, Linda Raymond
Peter Profiro, Frank Valenti
James Kennedy
Douglas Woolley
John Martz, Rodney Phillips
Michael Cusumano
Lori Brown, Douglas Linkhart, Joshua Shields
Elizabeth Iadarola, Ann Kaufman, Robert Smith
R Rawls
Frederick Carlson
Dave Bryant, Debborah Dabaj
Eriq Breland, Joel Morris
Ron Austin, Ruth Beckman, Michael Garrett,
Phillip Geisinger, Damian Kondrotas, Jacki Nesbitt
Don Chase
John Emerson
Robin Burngasser, Christopher Chapman, Cathleen Dunn,
Lee Hargrave, Micheal Oldenburg, George Wetzel
Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 3
LocSec Column
Sylvia Holt Zadorozny
Here, There, and Everywhere!
Good news! We have new Circulation Officers! Lisa & Bryce Blair volunteered to take
on responsibility for Tampa Bay Sounding preparation and delivery to the post office.
Thank you both, and thank you also to Art Schwartz, who performed the job dutifully
for four years and who oversaw a difficult transition from the St. Pete Post Office to
the Tampa one.
TBM recently joined Manasota Mensa for a Thai Brunch at a Buddhist temple in
Tampa. We chose from a wide variety of exotic food selections and enjoyed perfect
weather, eating at a picnic table under the trees, next to the Palm River. After dining,
some of us went inside the Wat (temple) and learned about the tenets of Buddhism
from a guide there. It was all very beautiful!
Brunch attendees: Charles Shadrick, Theresa Hohmann, Molly Shadrick, Nancy Heinrich, Carol
Cancilla, Ruth Danielle, Don Davis, Isabelle Hohmann, Ronan Heffernan, Sylvia Zadorozny.
Continued on page 14
Please consider submitting articles, personal anecdotes,
poetry, short fiction, photographs – virtually anything
that interests you – to [email protected], for
publication in the Tampa Bay Sounding !
Page 4
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
RVC Column for Region 10
Thomas George Thomas
Over Labor Day weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Broward Mensa Regional
Gathering, “Another Excuse to Eat Chocolate”. It was very well attended, as befits the
last RG they will have until 2019 (more on that in a moment). Co-chair Robin Rhea an nounced that over 140 guests attended, including a standing-room only kids’ track on
Sunday. There were many excellent programs, including presentations on air traffic
control, Thailand, DNA sequencing, and use of a drop spindle for spinning, among several others. There was also a Cabaret performance on Saturday night, along with several games tournaments. A couple of my favorite programs were a home-brewed mead
tasting on Friday night with Jay Bertolet, a presentation on the ecology of the Galapagos Archipelago, and an interactive program on leading difficult people. With all the
activity, I was exhausted by the end of the long weekend on Monday! Congratulations
to Robin Rhea, Marci Barlolotta, Kris Martin, Micki Hawn, Alice Silver, Heidi Jameson,
Jason Knight, and many others (I know I’m forgetting some important volunteers) who
created this wonderful event.
Aside from the RG, I took a trip during the weekend to visit the Diplomat resort in
Hollywood with Marc Lederman, Chairman of the 2017 Annual Gathering. Because of
this major event, Broward will not be hosting an RG that year, which they usually do
in odd-numbered years. Many people from throughout the region will be working hard
to make this Annual Gathering a success, and Marc has already tapped many good lo cal people to help in important positions. The hotel itself is a beautiful venue, with di rect access to the beach for sun-worshippers.
At this writing, I am in Arlington, TX for a meeting of the American Mensa Committee
(AMC) scheduled for September 12, which will be long over by the time you read this.
Unfortunately, due to newsletter deadlines, I can’t provide the results of the meeting
for this column, but I can mention the major agenda items. The first is a holdover
from the July meeting, where a motion was presented to add an RVC to the Executive
Committee (ExComm) of the AMC. It was postponed at that time, but there are good
points on both sides of this issue. On one hand, the ExComm currently consists of the
five nationally-elected officers, who have a legitimate claim to a mandate from the full
voting membership of American Mensa. On the other hand, every voting member of
the board, whether elected nationally or by a regional subset of the members, has the
same fiscal responsibility for the organization. And RVCs have greater day-to-day interactions with local groups of all sizes and therefore have a better – or at least different
– sense of the members’ needs and preferences. There will undoubtedly be a spirited
discussion of this motion.
Additional motions regard changes to the Name and Logo policies. One motion proposes creating special “Members of Mensa” logos and banners for use in events of
members’ choosing, allowing them to participate in political or socially-related events
without suggesting that Mensa itself promotes or has any opinion on said event. I
don’t like this motion because while saying that the bearer of such a banner represents the members and not the organization may be technically true, it’s a distinction
that will be lost on outside observers, who will just see the logo on a banner and as sume it represents a Mensa position.
Continued on page 10
Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 5
The Fraud of Man-Made Global Warming, Once Again
Ronnie Dubs
Boyle has his law, Avogadro has his number, and no one argues the surreal implications of Einstein’s theory of special relativity -- so what great scientist puts their impri matur on the fraud known as Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW)? Please tell us
Deniers just what great scientific mind has proven this and will hang their reputation
upon it?
Unlike the NOAA data currently being changed, back-dated, manipulated and fabricated
to make us believe what is not happening really is happening, the geological ice core
data is relatively pure of man-made manipulation and fraud. For hundreds of thousands of years, changes in CO2 levels trailed behind changes in climate temperatures
sometimes by hundreds of years. Yet never in this 800,000 year-long geologic record
have CO2 levels ever shown themselves in any way to be a predictor of either warming
or cooling to follow, which is what the Global Warming hucksters would have us believe.
Simply explained, the warmer the climate, the more vegetation is exposed to the at mosphere, and the higher temperatures accelerate the decomposition of it -- putting
more CO2 into the atmosphere. That's basic chemistry and easy to understand, quite
unlike the convoluted, incomprehensible junk science the Believers use to sell their
nonsense to the ignorant and foolish masses as genuine science.
As simply as the connection between climate and CO2 can be explained, the fraud of
these Believers is explained as well. The climate seemed to be warming, so they blamed
man and demanded political power and MONEY. Logically, they need to satisfy both
sides of an equation to make their case: that the climate is indeed warming, and also
that man is responsible for that warming. They have yet to conclusively prove either
one of these two stipulations.
The Believers have yet to explain many things. They claim as fact how these rising sea
levels only seem to affect obscure island nations and not long established seaports and
other island nations, perhaps drawn there by the allure of MONEY promised them by
the global elitist promoters of this scam. They claim that 97, 98, or 99 % of all scien tists believe this nonsense – as fraudulent as anything else – as if science has ever been
based on consensus or that government-paid scientists are somehow more honest and
ethical than those in the private sector.
For many months now, I have been submitting to our national magazine a letter sim ply suggesting that we in Mensa could raise our profile and make ourselves more relevant to the nation by simply staging a public debate on this matter, being so rudely
pushed upon us with arrogance, insults, and lies. But National refuses to print any thing critical of their own liberal sacred cow. How sad for an organization based on rational intelligence.
The problem here is greater than if this supposed AGW is happening or not, but that it
undermines any real dialogue we might have, as friends and fellow Americans, as to issues of environmental stewardship. Dialogue on things we may well agree on, such as
abatement programs to prevent less developed nations from destroying their own
forests, or even rational discussions on water use, refuse and recycling – which all remain clouded by this fraud of AGW and prevent any fruitful discussions between us. 
Page 6
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
October Mensaversaries
51
47
44
39
37
33
32
31
30
28
24
22
21
19
18
16
15
13
12
11
10
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
years
9 years
8
7
5
4
3
2
years
years
years
years
years
years
Paul Frappollo
Norman Linton
Lee Hargrave
Charles Bell
Michelle Kurtz, Patricia Leslie
Marylou Seigel
Diane Campo
Mary Ann Pidick
Juana Harper
Mitchell Drucker
Larry Bush
Dennis Jauch, Arthur Kelland, David Starr
Robert Topper
Malcolm Haynes
Roger Zitman
Warren Hunnicutt, Michael Wenditz
Brett Husselbaugh, Charles Stewart
Wayne Johnson, John Martz, Joshua Shields
Trude Diamond, Angel Onesty
Micheal Oldenburg
Michael Becker, Daniel Holloway
Kenneth Berg, Robert Bradford, Kathleen Johnson,
Tom Warnes
Rebecca Erwin, Neil Rupani
Anthony Sommo
Garrett Cardwell, Susan Cornett
Nicholas DuBose, Lillian O'Neill
Alison Guinan, Jay Myers
Robert Farabee, Taylor Gregory, Robert Shackton
Note: Years are for continuous membership. Members who let their membership lapse start from
the date of reinstatement.
Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 7
For updated event information, check our online calendar: http://tampa.us.mensa.org/cal
Calendar of Events
Page 8
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
October 2015 Calendar
Except for rare cases that hosts will make clear, all events listed in our Calendar of
Events, whether hosted in private homes or public venues, are open to all Mensans,
their spouses, and accompanied guests.
While kitty amounts are mandatory, hosts often spend far more than the specified
amount. Donations in excess of the kitty amount will be appreciated. If you have
special needs or restrictions, it is prudent to discuss them with your host before at tending an event.
October 1 12:30pm Lunch Bunch
Location: Piccadilly Cafeteria, 11810 North Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa
We meet at Piccadilly Cafeteria (next to Barnes and Noble Bookstore), in Tampa.
For directions, descriptions, and/or encouragement to attend, call:
Jim Perry 813-837-3473 [email protected]
October 7 7pm Reading Group
Location: IHOP, 4910 West Spruce Street, Tampa
Read whatever you like and bring books you'd like to recommend, discuss, exchange, or give away.
Ronan Heffernan 727-537-6626 [email protected]
October 8 12:30pm Lunch Bunch
October 10 7pm Games Night
Location: 651 Timber Bay Circle West, Oldsmar
We play fun board and table games. Snacks and sodas provided ($2 kitty helps defray refreshment expenses). No smoking indoors.
Sylvia Holt Zadorozny 813-855-4939 [email protected]
October 15 12:30pm Lunch Bunch
October 21 7pm Reading Group
October 22 12:30pm Lunch Bunch
October 24 2pm TLC
Location: 18244 Collridge Dr, Tampa
It's time to Tape, Label, and Chat, as we prepare the next issue of Tampa Bay
Sounding for mailing. Come help out and be one of the first to get the latest issue.
Lisa & Bryce Blair 813-907-2418 [email protected]
October 29 12:30pm Lunch Bunch
Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 9
RVC Column for Region 10 (cont)
At the same time, a companion motion is being made to add a final review to any
Name and Logo Committee decision to make sure that new logos are not created that
could be interpreted as taking a political or social position. The impetus for this motion was the creation of a logo earlier this year that placed the Mensa emblem on a
rainbow background, to which some members have objected. This motion allows the
Name and Logo committee to take into account factors beyond whether the proposed
use meets the technical requirements of the policy, as this logo did. 
Page 1 0
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
Member Book Review
Jim Perry
David Hackett Fischer’s Historians’ Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought
Fischer offers, as promised, a survey of historians’ fallacies, organized in eleven chapters: Question-Framing, Factual Verification, Factual Significance, Generalization, Narration, Causation, Motivation, Composition, False Analogy, Semantical Distortion, and
Substantive Distraction. He gives and explains examples of each of these, taken from
the published work of a hundred and more well-known names including Charles
Beard, John Maynard Keynes, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Macaulay, Karl Marx, Ashley
Montagu, Samuel Eliot Morison, Bertrand Russell and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Most of
the fallacies were inadvertent, but they are all instructive for any reader.
Fischer proposes three specific principles in his positive and optimistic effort to find a
logic of historical thought, as follows:
1) Every true statement must be true to itself, to the evidence, and to all other statements accepted as true. (p. 40) This is a principle that must be applied to statements
made anywhere, e.g., in a court of law and in advertising. A statement of historical
fact, to be accepted as true, must not contradict itself; it must not deny or misrepresent the evidence available; and it must not contradict other statements accepted as
true, including the laws of physics.
2) Neutralize bias toward continuity or change. (p. 160) Fischer doesn’t have much to
say about this, but it is an enormous issue between those who want to preserve the
status quo and those who want to change it. Fabricating some facts and suppressing
others for the sake of social advantage is no business of historians.
3) Analogy (and, by analogy, any argument) is misused if it aims “to persuade without
proof, or to indoctrinate without understanding, or to settle an empirical question
without empirical evidence.” (p. 259) This seems to me to summarize what Fischer
aims to say: if historians don’t tell the truth, they will forfeit their most important
functions (see below). (I might add that, as Richard Feynman gleefully remarked, natural scientists try to prove themselves wrong. Social scientists, including historians, theologians, and educators, generally try to prove themselves right. Fischer is properly
ashamed of them for that. He might have added that the historian who doesn’t know
what evidence would disprove his claim, is proposing a definition, not a fact.)
Fischer also notes that they “have been known to write ‘always’ for ‘sometimes,’ and
‘sometimes’ for ‘occasionally.’” (p. 270) I encountered a tacit example of this in Max
Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber claims in his Chapter II
that in pre-Protestant times employers “repeatedly attempted to interest workers in
increasing their productivity by increasing the piece rate [but] workers responded to
the increase by decreasing their daily productivity.” Weber concludes that “People do
not wish ‘by nature’ to earn more and more money. Instead, they wish simply to live,
and to live as they have been accustomed and earn as much as is required to do so.”
I’m sure some people thought this way, and still do; but I am no less sure that others
earned as much as they could in anticipation of a long winter and eventual old age. Of
course, earning more requires a safe place to put it and a stout will to defend

Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 11
Member Book Review (cont)
against every begging relative and neighbor’s pleas and threats, but that’s a different
story.
I conclude with a list of what Fischer considers five important functions for history as
such. (pp. 315ff.) First, history helps clarify the contexts of contemporary problems.
Second, history helps establish trends, directions, and prospects for the future. Third,
history helps us refine theoretical knowledge, e.g., about “historical conditions in
which social stability, social freedom, and social equality have tended to be maximally
coexistent.” Fourth, history helps us find out who we are. (The history of philosophy
did that for me!) Fifth, history helps us to help us learn how to think historically in
the face of an unparalleled threat in modern times to the survival of the human race.
“Reason is… a pathetically frail weapon in the face of such a threat. But it is the only
weapon we have.”
The book is far more interesting, optimistic, and funny than the title might lead us to
expect (think: Judi Dench’s Skin Blemishes). It runs to more than 300 pages and copies
are available at Amazon.com for little more than the cost of shipping. The book contains a 19-page index including two pages of the names of fallacies discussed in the
book. Fischer is the author of Washington’s Crossing, Albion’s Seed, and Liberty and Freedom. 
Letter to the Editor
I have been a Mensan for many years and am a lawyer by trade. I have recently
completed my first novel but, unfortunately, I have virtually no formal training in
literature. I feel that I have reached the maximum level of my ability with the current working draft. Is there a knowledgeable Mensan or two out there that may
be interested in assisting on a project of this type?
Briefly described, the book is a representation of society personified as a school of
fish. The story line focuses on addiction and its far-reaching effect upon a population as well as so many individuals. It has a fantasy aspect and targeted toward
the young adult. The content has real relevance to me having watched a loved one
run that solemn path through addiction and the devastation that follows.
I am willing to compensate for the time and expertise with the right person.
J.J. Nolan
Interested Mensans can contact J.J. Nolan at [email protected] for more information. -Ed.
Page 1 2
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
Treasurer's Report
ASSETS as of 06/30/14
Wells Fargo Checking
$ 18540.98
Wells Fargo Savings
$ 2951.22
2nd Class Mailing Account
$ 252.28
TOTAL
$ 21744.48
ASSETS as of 09/07/15
Wells Fargo Checking
$ 14780.17
Wells Fargo Savings
$ 5052.75
Treasurer’s Report
St. Pete Mailing Account
$ 103.55
June 30, 2014 to
Tampa Mailing Account
$ 199.76
September 7, 2015
TOTAL
$ 20136.23
By Kathy Crum
TBM Treasurer
CASH FLOW for 06/30/14 to 09/07/15
INCOME
This Treasurer’s report gives the general
membership a quick update on the finances of Tampa Bay Mensa. Our overall financial status is looking pretty good. Our
biggest expense besides the printing of the
Sounding is for our Socials, which occur approximately quarterly.
The report is showing a small net loss for
the 2014 RG, which was attributed to a
charge for the hospitality rooms that was
reimbursed after my previous report was
submitted. Even with that small loss, we
still had a ridiculously successful 2014 RG!
So much so that even our loss on the 2015
RG was covered. Some of the expenses on
the 2015 RG may still be recovered, since
most of the loss was for a supply of tshirts that we will be able to sell at future
RGs. We are in the planning stages for the
2016 RG now, so please volunteer to help
make it the best ever!
On a side note: The caricature that I use at
the head of my column was done years
ago at a Beach Bash RG by a long-time
member of TBM, the infamous Joe Joeb,
who passed away recently. He will be
missed!
Till next time…
Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Misc Income
Interest Income
National Support
$352.59
$ 1.65
$ 8222.62
Proctor Revenue
$ 325.00
RG ‘14: Net
$ -399.84
RG ‘15: Net
$ -1219.09
TOTAL INCOME
$ 7282.93
EXPENSES
Fees
$ 40.00
Miscellaneous Expenses
$ 204.71
Proctor Costs
$ 411.70
Postage - TBS
$ 1032.19
Postage - Misc
$ 2.45
Printing - TBS
$ 3323.02
Publicity
$ 150.00
Refreshments
$ 904.56
Retreat – Excomm
Socials (5)
$ 35.69
$ 2849.96
TOTAL EXPENSES
$ 8954.28
OVERALL GAIN/LOSS
$ -1671.35
Page 13
LocSec Column (cont)
Wat Mongkolratanaram, in Tampa.
The following weekend, I learned even more about Thai culture during a presentation
at the Broward Mensa Regional Gathering. 144 people from all over Florida (and beyond) attended this RG, where we listened to speakers, played games, and chatted in
hospitality. It was a lot of fun! (See RG pictures, below.)
Speaking of RGs, TBM is now in the planning stages for its own RG over Memorial Day
weekend in May. More details should be available soon, I hope, and eventually we
should be getting a registration form up on the website.
May is still a long way away, though, and it would be nice to see more fun events on
the calendar in the meantime. If you have an idea for a Mensa event, especially if
you’re willing to host it yourself, email me, and we’ll see if we can make it happen. In
the past we’ve had successful bowling nights, visits to museums, ethnic food dinearounds, etc. We still have the Reading Group, Lunch Bunch, and Games Night, but it
would be nice to see other events too.
I’m not sure if it will make it on the calendar in time for publication in the written
Sounding, but we also will be having a fall picnic soon. Please check online for the
date, time, and place: <http://tampa.us.mensa.org>
On a completely unrelated topic, a few members complained about a column that appeared in a recent Tampa Bay Sounding issue. They felt the author went too far expressing controversial, bigoted opinions. The thing is, although you and I may not agree
with the author, he does have a right to his own opinions. But that doesn’t mean TBM
has to print them in the Sounding. Accordingly, the ExComm is now

Page 1 4
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
LocSec Column (cont)
asking TBM’s editorial board to preview newsletter submissions before the Sounding
goes to press. And before anyone yells “Censorship!”, please remember that this is a private organization putting out a newsletter for the enjoyment of its membership and
(hopefully) to attract new members. Political attacks in our local newsletter alienate
members and, at least in my opinion, don’t reflect positively on TBM. (Note: I’m not on
the editorial board.)
Finally, since we’ll be convening a new ExComm soon, there’s a chance this might be
my last LocSec column. If it is, I want to thank you all for reading. It’s been fun.
Now for my promised photos from the Broward Regional Gathering:
After dinner and mead tasting, I went to a program on the Galapagos Islands. The presenter had
discovered this turtle sleeping underwater there.
Judy Ford beat me to win the Scrabble tournament.

Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 15
LocSec Column (cont)
Tammy Hicks, Evvy Rabin,Bob Haley, and I joined forces to assemble this
tough vocabulary jigsaw puzzle.
The presenters of the program on Thailand – they showed lots of wonderful
pictures, but unfortunately my photos turned out fuzzy.

Page 1 6
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
LocSec Column (cont)
Jene Kapela’s presentation topic was listed as “Leading Difficult People”, but she
actually spoke about different personality types.
Maran Fulvi taught us all about drop spindle spinning. I didn’t know that
it pre-dates the wheel!

Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 17
LocSec Column (cont)
Spinning is harder than it looks!
During a game of Power Grid, all my cities blacked out when I couldn’t afford fuel (oops!)
with Maran Fulvi, Jennifer Michel, and Ryan Martin.

Page 1 8
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
LocSec Column (cont)
Saturday evening’s cabaret featured a talented, but rather strange, cast.
The kids’ track displayed cute owls they made from cotton balls.

Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 19
LocSec Column (cont)
At the RVC Rap, Thomas Thomas informed us what was happening at
the national level in Mensa.
Monday’s going-away brunch in the hospitality suite.

Page 2 0
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
LocSec Column (cont)
The winning Treasure Hunt team—Broward’s Treasure Hunt is
very different from Tampa Bay Mensa’s.
Be cool -- advertise your business at Tampa Bay Mensa events!
TBM is looking to obtain large capacity wheeled coolers to be used
at Regional Gatherings, picnics, etc.
If you are willing to donate large wheeled cooler(s) in working
condition, not only would our group greatly appreciate it, but you
could put your business logo or advertising on top for all to see.
For more info, contact Art Schwartz - [email protected] or 727-418-0172.
Thanks!
Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 21
News & Notes: October 2015
Happenings & Celebrations:
4th: World Animal Day
5th: World Teachers Day
9th: Fire Prevention Day
24th: Make a Difference Day
Resources:
World Animal Day is celebrated on the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi, the patron
saint of animals. If you’re an animal lover, explore these fun animal sites:
•
National Geographic Kids has lots of information about a wide range of animals kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals.
•
The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., is part of the Smithsonian. It has animal webcams that allow you to bring the zoo into your living room.
nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/webcams.
World Teachers day is celebrated every year on October 5 th and is a day devoted to appreciating, assessing and empowering the educators of the world. Take the opportunity to celebrate the teachers in your life.
Fire Prevention Day: Remember “EDITH”, which stands for “Exit Drills in the Home”.
Today is a good day to have a practice drill. www.sparky.org allows kids to explore
and learn about fire safety in a safe and interactive environment.
Make a Difference Day: Make a commitment to help others in your community. Millions of Americans participate in community improvement projects. How do you plan
to participate? You can find a project near you or start your own by going to
www.makeadifferenceday.com
Triviality:
·
Even though October is the tenth month in the calendar, its name is from the
Latin “octo” meaning "eight" because in the original Roman calendar it was the eighth
month. We can’t change to the Latin for “ten,” because that’s taken – by December.
·
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in America.
·
On October 31, 1864, Nevada became the 36th state of the United States.
·
In the Southern hemisphere, October is the seasonal equivalent to April.

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Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
News & Notes: October 2015 (cont)
It’s Your Birthday!
If you were born in October, you share your birthday month with the 39th U.S. President Jimmy Carter (1st), Julie Andrews (1st), Kate Winslet (5th), R.L. Stine (8th), Matt Damon (8th), John Lennon (9 th), Eleanor Roosevelt (11 th), William Penn (14 th), Ralph
Lauren (14th), User (14th), Oscar Wilde (16th), Pope John Paul I (17th), Chuck Berry (18th),
Johnny Carson (23rd), Pablo Picasso (25th), Hillary Clinton (26th), Theodore Roosevelt
(27th), Julia Roberts (28th), and Juliette Gordon Low (31st)
xkcd.org
Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 23
Cryptopoem
Sylvia Holt Zadorozny
ILW KIEPIDWY TREAD AH SQUAWK FLAP
GPQB ‘HWEIL NQRP GWWI EK QH NQR KIPEN
EDQHZ ILW HEPPQF ILPWEY-DAOW VEIL,
ILAK SQQD QSIQMWP YEN. …
QH WUWPN KAYW ILW ZQDYWH PQY’K
DQHZ, ZPESWGRD VDRBWK QG IEFHN ZQDY
EHY EZWPEIRB’K VRPVDW MDQQB —
ILW MEHHWPK QG ILW FQDY.
ILW KIRMMDW QG ILW CRHW-PWEVWY FLWEI
KIEHYK RV AH MPAKIDAHZ PEHOK QG KVWEPK,
AIK ZQDY AK SQUWPWY HQF FAIL GPQKI,
DAOW FEPPAQPK ZPWN FAIL NWEPK. …

Page 2 4
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
Cryptopoem (cont)
ILWPW AH ILW KIPWEB MWHWEIL ILW WDBK,
ILW DWEUWK, DAOW KLAVK QG DAD’VRI, GEAP,
YPAGI YQFH, KEHK PRYYWPK EHY KEHK KEADK
IQ VQPIK ILEI DAW HQFLWPW.
~ CEBWK WYFAH SEBVMWDD, “ILPQRZL QSIQMWP
GAWDYK”
Answer to the September Cryptopoem:
A pretty deer is dear to me,
A hare with downy hair,
A hart I love with all my heart,
But barely bear a bear. …
Quails do not quail before the storm,
A bough will bow before it;
We cannot rein the rain at all—
No earthly power reigns o’er it. …
The springs shoot forth each spring, and shoots
Shoot forward one and all;
Though summer kills the flowers, it leaves
The leaves to fall in fall.
~from The Beauties of English Orthography, anonymous
Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 25
Serial Fillers
To round-out the page count for publication, here is some not-quite-random public domain content. If you would like to submit articles, stories, etc. for publication, please see
the Submission Guidelines on page 2.
THE JUNGLE BOOK
By Rudyard Kipling
It was seven o'clock of a very warm
evening in the Seeonee hills when Father
Wolf woke up from his day's rest,
scratched himself, yawned, and spread out
his paws one after the other to get rid of
the sleepy feeling in their tips. Mother
Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped
across her four tumbling, squealing cubs,
and the moon shone into the mouth of
the cave where they all lived. "Augrh!"
said Father Wolf. "It is time to hunt
again." He was going to spring down hill
when a little shadow with a bushy tail
crossed the threshold and whined: "Good
luck go with you, O Chief of the Wolves.
And good luck and strong white teeth go
with noble children that they may never
forget the hungry in this world."
It was the jackal—Tabaqui, the Dish-licker
—and the wolves of India despise Tabaqui
because he runs about making mischief,
and telling tales, and eating rags and
pieces of leather from the village rubbishheaps. But they are afraid of him too, because Tabaqui, more than anyone else in
the jungle, is apt to go mad, and then he
forgets that he was ever afraid of anyone,
and runs through the forest biting everything in his way. Even the tiger runs and
hides when little Tabaqui goes mad, for
madness is the most disgraceful thing
that can overtake a wild creature. We call
it hydrophobia, but they call it dewanee—
the madness—and run.
"Enter, then, and look," said Father Wolf
stiffly, "but there is no food here."
Page 2 6
"For a wolf, no," said Tabaqui, "but for so
mean a person as myself a dry bone is a
good feast. Who are we, the Gidur-log [the
jackal people], to pick and choose?" He
scuttled to the back of the cave, where he
found the bone of a buck with some meat
on it, and sat cracking the end merrily.
"All thanks for this good meal," he said,
licking his lips. "How beautiful are the noble children! How large are their eyes!
And so young too! Indeed, indeed, I might
have remembered that the children of
kings are men from the beginning."
Now, Tabaqui knew as well as anyone
else that there is nothing so unlucky as to
compliment children to their faces. It
pleased him to see Mother and Father
Wolf look uncomfortable.
Tabaqui sat still, rejoicing in the mischief
that he had made, and then he said spitefully:
"Shere Khan, the Big One, has shifted his
hunting grounds. He will hunt among
these hills for the next moon, so he has
told me."
Shere Khan was the tiger who lived near
the Waingunga River, twenty miles away.
"He has no right!" Father Wolf began angrily—"By the Law of the Jungle he has no
right to change his quarters without due
warning. He will frighten every head of
game within ten miles, and I—I have to
kill for two, these days."
The rest of this story and thousands of
other public domain works are available
at www.gutenberg.org
Tamp a B ay Soun d in g
2014-2015 Tampa Bay Mensa Officers
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
➢Local Secretary
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Kevin Brawner
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David Schwartz
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webmaster@
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OTHER OFFICERS
➢Editor
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Thomas George Thomas
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Melissa Stephens
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ASSISTANT OFFICERS
➢Asst Treasurer
Kay Shapiro
➢Asst Webmaster
Kevin Brawner
Tanya Stay
[email protected]
➢Asst GYC
➢Membership Officer
➢Asst Programs Officer
Steve Shapiro
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membership@
tampa.us.mensa.org
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Coordinator
Melissa Stephens
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Tampa , FL 33612
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giftedyouth@
tampa.us.mensa.org
➢Editorial Board
Kay Shapiro
Melissa Stephens
Jen Michel
➢Election Committee
Pending 2016 election
➢Election Supervisor
Pending 2016 election
➢Ombudsman
Kay & Steve Shapiro
Art Schwartz
➢Asst Publicity Officer
Art Schwartz
➢Asst Editor
Jen Michel & Kay Shapiro
➢Asst Membership Officer
Kay Shapiro
➢Asst Circulation Officer
David Schwartz
REGIONAL CONTACTS
➢RVC, Region 10
Thomas George Thomas
27647 Sky Lake Circle
Wesley Chapel, FL 33544
813-994-3981
[email protected]
Text: [email protected]
Tampa Bay Sounding (USPS 305-830) is
published monthly by Tampa Bay Mensa
at 5001 Terrace Palms Cir Unit 101
Temple Terrace, FL 33617.
Periodicals postage paid at Tampa, FL
Pending
ombudsman@
tampa.us.mensa.org
Oc tob e r 2 01 5
Page 27
TIME SENSITIVE MATERIAL
Tampa Bay Sounding
c/o American Mensa Ltd.
1229 Corporate Drive West
Arlington, TX 76006-6103
Periodicals Postage Paid
At Tampa Florida