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Hello Mensans,

The cover photo this time is by one of our youngest members in the country. I am assuming this is perhaps her first submission after becoming a member. She had made the submission with all due details that we request, which even several older members forget to include along with their submissions. “This one is going on the cover page this time,” I thought.

Aside of that, Mensa Delhi now seems to be growing into a competitor to Mensa Mumbai where the SIGs are highly active with regular meet-ups. I have included several photographs in this edition of the latest AGM held in Delhi. Another highlight in this edition is about the presentations done by two girls mentored under Tribal Mensa Nurturing Program at the ECHA conference in Croatia.

Please keep sending your contributions of whatever nature - articles, quizzes, puzzles, crosswords, photographs, poems and anything that you wish to be published in the forthcoming issues of MInd.

Send in your articles and contributions in plain text format and pictures in high resolution .jpg format to: editor.mensaindia@gmail.com

Krishnan V. Iyer Chief Editor, Mind

In this Issue:

Cover Story 2

Astro Photography 3

Events 4

Tech Talk 8

Mensa IBD Meet At Kuala Lampur 16 Tribal Mensa Alumni Presentation at ECHA Conference 19

Extracts from Mensa World Journal 21

Editorial Team: Puneet Khurana Raunak Onkar Sahil Jain Bhuvan Sharma Roshan Alva Kiran K Krishnan V. Iyer

Cover Photo:

By Megha Hegde, Mensa Bangalore

Disclaimer:

All contents in this magazine are opinions of the individual authors and contributors. Neither Mensa India, the society, its office bearers nor the editors are responsible for any content or views expresses.

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On The Cover

Solution to previous edition’s crossword:

1 A

R 2 C

T 3 I

C 4 Z

5 I

M 6 B

A 7 B

W 8 E

R R N N E U N

9 C

O Y O L S 10A

C A D E M I C

H P I 11U

H C P R

12A

C T I V I S T 13W

H E Y E Y

I I E U 14J

A P

15C

O C K 16 M

A G A Z I N 17 I

S T

18C

L R T

19V

E R S A I L L E S 20 F

I L 21 L

A B Y L 22 A

N A

23C

Y 24C

L I C 25A

I R C R E W S

U L N 26A

N C R S

27 I

C E B E R G S 28G

E L A T O

T G T N N R E

29Y

O G I S T I C 30S

T A Y E D

Sketch of Vijay Stambh, Chittorgarh

-by Megha Hegde, Mensa Bangalore

I am a Mensa member since 2018 associated with the Bangalore chapter. I am a Class 9 student of AECS Magnolia Maaruti Public School, Bangalore. Maths and Science are my favourite subjects. I enjoy playing outdoor sports esp. basketball and I am a trained swimmer and chess player. I like to paint. I am an extrovert and easily make friends. I love spending time with my friends and family. Former President APJ Adul Kalam and Malala Yusufzai have had a very positive influence on me. I am a staunch feminist and expect women to be treated equally.

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Astro Photography

I am presenting below the picture of Rosette Nebula. Rosette Nebula is a large spherical H II (Ionized Hydrogen) region located a little below the Orion Constellation. This picture has been captured from Mumbai City suburbs where I stay. This has been captured using Light Pollution filter which is required while taking Astro Pics from a light polluted region. The picture represents an Image which has been made by combining 30 * 1 min. of exposures i.e. total 30 mins. of data. This picture has also been made starless i.e. the stars have been removed from the picture to bring out the beauty of the Nebula.

Rosette Nebula, a large H II (ionized hydrogen) region, below Orion constellation captured from Mumbai on 6th Nov 2019. Distance to Earth: 5,219 light years Radius: 65 light years Sky Rover Astrograph scope Celestron Nexstar Evolution Mount & StarSense ZWO ASI 294MC Pro camera ZWO ASI 120MM Guide camera ZWO ASIAIR CLS filter 30x 60secs light frames 5x 60secs dark frames Processed in Pixinsight

To the right: This is my setup in action capturing the images. -Rupesh Sangoi, Mensa Mumbai

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Events

Mensa Delhi AGM 2019 Mensa Delhi held its AGM at The G.T Road restaurant in Connaught Place on September 29. Below are glimpses from the event:

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The boardgamers’ SIG stayed back for some time.

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Meanwhile at the Mensa Mumbai

Boardgamers’ SIG:

Mumbai Mensa’s Boardgaming SIG hosted by Manisha at her residence in Malabar Hill. Gamers enjoyed playing Shasn and CATAN games.

In the picture: Rajat Agarwal, Swati Agarwal, Kiran Mehta, Mrugank Mehta, Manisha Mehta, Jayesh Baviskar, Sarfaraz Memon.

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Tech Talk

The Changing role of the Government in

Innovation & Technology

Ronald Reagan said, ‘The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help’. Nowadays, we see that governmentsacross the world are involved in all key technology developments, mostly to regulate them but sometimes to encourage them. Never does a day go by without news ofthe government’s view on a diverse range of topics from Data privacy and e-commerce to Genomics andElectric Vehicles. Has it always been like this? The government has always had deep rooted connections with technology. Great leaps of growth result from technological innovation and no one understands that better than governments. But the role of the government, and the way it associates with technological innovation has evolved over the years. The Early Years – Co-opt and Acquire At the start of the 20th century several new technologies had begun to show promise.Marconi had made the first contact with a sea faring vessel over radio in 1901. The principles of generating electricity had been developed and electrical power hit the streets in 1882. The Wright Brothers had flown the first airplane in 1903. But the real impetus for adopting these technologies and adding scale to them came with World War 1 . The British government realized the benefit of improving technologies invented before the war and putting them to use in battle. Radio became an indispensable tool in military units. Electricity was used by armies and navies on all sides of the war. Airplanes were quickly adapted for war use as scout aircraft to track enemy military formations. These, and numerous other technologies developed by individual inventors before the war were co-opted by governments for use on the battlefield. Naturally, many of these individuals were inducted into the nation’s service and received grants, infrastructure support and a ready to test ‘market’ for their innovations. The government found it beneficial to deploy their scarce resources to enhance already existing technologies instead of trying to develop them from scratch. Thanks to the widespread use of these technologies in World War 1, they achieved commercial status after the war ended – the first commercial flight flew in 1919. From WW2 to the Cold War – Develop and Improve World War 1 was an awakening of sorts for many nations. During the first few battles on the Western front, German precision planning clashed with the archaic French cavalry carrying swords and dressed in finery that looked as if it was imported from Napoleon’s era . France encountered a rude shock when they realized that the Germans had invested heavily in advanced weaponry against which their 19th century strategy was no match. A key learning that all nations took away from the war was that the next battlefield will not be won by gallantry and bravery but by technology. In the period from the beginning of World War 2 to the end of Cold war, the reins of technological innovation were held firmly by governments. Most major innovations during the period had a strong government imperative behind them. Moreover, the resources required to invest in and conduct basic research were only available with the state. The Manhattan project that led to the development of fission technology was a state sponsored initiative that brought together the best minds in the field of theoretical physics, engineering and

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weapons technology. The private sector was no way involved due to reasons of secrecy but also because of the lack of foreseeable viable commercial applications. The space race between the US and the USSR that started with the launch of Sputnik and ended with Neil Armstrong landing on the moon led to several innovations. For instance, GPS was originally developed as an exclusive military technology. Only after enough satellites were in the sky to make GPS a reality did the US Department of Defence announce the broadcast of GPS on two different frequencies, one for civilian and the other for military use. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was setup in 1958 by the US government to work on R&D projects. The Internet, as we know it now, originated in DARPA and was called ARPANET. The DARPA also invested in developing technologies that were key to US efforts in the cold war. The DARPA also funded projects that led to the development of several technologies that form the bedrock of the current connected world, key amongst them were networking and graphical user interface. Thus, we saw the role of the government changing from one that would adopt technology developed by individuals for state use to one investing and sponsoring the development of new technologies. As the Encyclopaedia Britannica rightly says ‘The wars were thus responsible for speeding the transformation from “little science,” with research still largely restricted to small-scale efforts by a few isolated scientists, to “big science,” with the emphasis on large research teams sponsored by governments and corporations, working collectively on the development and application of new techniques’. Public - Private Innovation – Partner and Compete The relative peace that followed World War II, and the unabashed pursuit of capitalism and consumerism allowed the formation and growth of private corporations. With time, these corporations built a large enough war chest that allowed them to invest in R&D of new technologies that had development cycles spanning several years. Governments also started seeing them as mostly partners, but sometimes also as competitors. The microchip, which is now present in almost every electronic device that we touch, was developed by private corporations. Governments saw their application in space exploration and missile projects and were the first large scale users for this technology . Resulting orders led to mass production and drove the price down allowing corporations to further invest in R&D and improve the technology. This eventually led to commercial applications like personal computers and smartphones. A similar symbiotic relationship occurred in the Super Computer space where private companies developed the technology on demand by government departments for use in military and civilian applications. A more interesting case study of the relationship between the state and private enterprise is in the field of genomics. The Human Genome Project (HGP) was launched by the National Institute of Health (NIH) - a US government department in 1983 with the objective of sequencing all 3 billion base pairs of DNA. Craig Venter, a little known neurobiologist at the NIH proposed a shortcut to the genome sequencing technique being followed for the project. This put him at loggerheads with the old-guard at NIH. Unhappy with the conflicts, Venter left NIH in 1992 to launch his own private gene-sequencing institute called Celera. Celera was flushed with funds from private investors and Venter’s radical approach gave the HGP a run for its money. As news of the race between Celera and the HGP reached the oval office, President Clinton realized that this could become an embarrassment for the government if Celera completed the sequencing first. A truce was thus engineered between the HGP team and Venter to make a joint announcement of the sequencing of the human genome in June 2000. Finally, in February of 2001, the HGP and Celera simultaneously published their research papers in Nature and Science magazine respectively. Another instance of competition, albeit completely different, was seen when in 2004, DARPA launched the Grand Challenge to invite private participants to build an autonomous vehicle that would traverse a

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pre-set route of 240 km in the Mojave desert . None of the vehicles finished the route and the car travelling the farthest distance travelled only 11.78 km. No winner was declared. But in the second competition held in 2005, 5 vehicles completed the 212 km circuit. Undeniably, this competition put us on path for the commercial development of autonomous vehicles. Down but not out – Invest and Regulate But more recently, we have seen governments taking a more passive role in driving innovation. ‘Passive’ by no means indicates lack of interest. It merely means that governments realize that innovation requires a certain cultural mind-set that is hard to create under bureaucratic structures and that their role needs to evolve. In her book, The Entrepreneurial State (2013), Mazzucato reminds readers that “innovation is not just about the private sector developing new technologies and creating vibrant regional ecosystem. Rather it involves the state building up the infrastructures and core technologies that entrepreneurs need to succeed, and then staying involved with its unique capacity to shape markets and impose a direction for innovation.” Thus, we see that governments have now donned two new hats. Firstly, the government acts as a strategic investor through public institutions and public venture-capital funds like Yozma in Israel and Sitra in Finland . In China, the state-owned development bank offers loans to some of the countries most innovative companies. Closer home, the Startup India scheme launched in 2016 by the government provides a host of benefits to companies registered under the scheme. The second important role being played by governments is of regulating innovation and ensuring that equitable benefits accrue to the society. Technology developments if left entirely to the private sector have the ability to disrupt social hierarchy, invite wrath from the public and even destabilize governments. We have seen social networks being used in ways that have had unintended consequences for the state. When e-commerce started picking up, governments realized that it could have an impact on their tax revenues. Use of genomics, be it in the form of GM foods or gene therapy, is easily misunderstood and can quickly become a political issue. Thus, it is no wonder that governments are now, more than ever, keen on developing policies and regulations to keep the proliferation of new technologies in check. We thus see that the role of the government in supporting innovation and technology has evolved over the last century keeping in mind the social, economic and geo-political imperatives of that time.

Partner & Compete

Invest & Regulate

1900 2000 2020 1950

Co-opt & Acquire

Develop& Improve

Changing Role of Government in Innovation and Technology

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Clearly, the Government will continue to be involved – only its role will change. Proponents of modern laissez-faire economics would be hard pressed to point to a single economy where technology and markets had worked, alone, to create a vibrant, confident, high-growth economic model. The state was at the centre of every one.

- Vikram Agarwal, Mensa Mumbai

Vikram works with a Financial services company in Mumbai. He enjoys reading on topics related to science, technology & history and is currently studying Public Policy at Takshashila Institute

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “History of Technology”, Encyclopaedia Britannica “Science and Technology (Great Britain and Ireland)”, Matthew Ford, https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/science_and_technology_great_britain_and_ireland “Hardcore History – Blueprint for Armageddon”, podcast by Dan Carlin “The Government's Role in the Commercialization of New Technologies: Lessons for Space Policy”, Nancy L. Rose “A Brief History of the U.S. Federal Government and Innovation”, https://ethw.org/A_Brief_History_of_the_U.S._Federal_Government_and_Innovation_(Part_I):_From_Independence_to_World_War_I_(1787_%E2%80%93_1917) Federally Supported Innovations: 22 Examples of Major Technology Advances that Stem from Federal Research Support, Peter L. Singer From Concorde to the iPhone, state intervention drives technological innovation”, Paul Mason, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/27/concorde-iphone-history-state-intervention-technological-innovation “The Gene: An Intimate History”, Siddhartha Mukherjee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge “Want To Understand Today's Economy? Read These Three Women”, Nicolas Colin, https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolascolin/2018/10/15/want-to-understand-todays-economy-read-these-three-women/#3d6bb5da7ba0 “What is government’s role in sparking innovation?”, Mariana Mazzucato, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/04/what-is-governments-role-in-sparking-innovation/

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Screenshot over the IDL

Sun, Moon And The Pole

How often have we marvelled at the numerous mysteries of nature and have wondered

that how little does the mankind actually know about them. There are geographical

manifestations happening all around us and all we need to do is to sit-up and observe

them. I tend to look out for any interesting geographical occurrences happening around

me, specially from flights, and reading about them and anticipating the events in

advance ensures that the same are not missed. This write-up is not meant to be a

lesson in Geography but rather a compendium of interesting facts as experienced by

me in the past.

International Date Line (IDL). The IDL is well known to all of us. It is the imaginary,

roughly, North-South line, located generally East of Japan at approximately 180

Degrees (East or West as both are same) longitude that separates ‘yesterday’ from

‘today’ on the Earth. This means that during sunrise on the IDL, in areas to the West of

it, i.e. in Asia the Sun rise belongs to a day later than the sunrise in the Americas and

that the time of day East of IDL lags the time West of IDL by 24 hours. A difference of

180 Degrees’ longitude (like difference between the US and India) amounts to a lag of

12 hours and therefore difference of 360 Degrees means a lag of 24 hours.

A Google Map screenshot taken mid-flight over the IDL gives its

general alignment. We crossed the line in flight while travelling

Eastwards towards US from Hong Kong. The flight left Hong

Kong at 1430 Hours local time on 09 Jun and reached US at

1030 Hours local time on 09 Jun itself after crossing the IDL.

The flight duration was about12 hours but we gained an extra

one day in life and actually ‘travelled back in time’. The aspect

is well discussed in the famous Jules Verne Novel ‘Around the

Word in 80 days’ first published in 1873.

The ‘Polar One’ Flight. The Cathay Pacific Flight from New

York to Hong Kong was the first flight ‘over’ the North Pole and

hence is nicknamed as the ‘Polar One’ flight. In terms of

distance, it is much shorter travelling ‘over’ the Pole from US to

Asia than travelling Eastwards over the Atlantic.

So, the flight moves Northwards till the Pole, then crosses ‘over’ to the other side of the

Earth and travels Southwards till Hong Kong, though, without changing the ‘direction’ in

which the aircraft was moving. After reaching around 86 Degrees North, suddenly the

GPS started showing that we are heading South whereas the aircraft never took a turn.

Now we had crossed over’ the North Pole and were heading South. The analogy to

visualise the phenomena is similar to one crossing over the crest of the hill. Suddenly,

my West facing window became East facing and the Sun became the early morning

RUSSIA

US

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rising Sun in Asia as against the setting Sun over North America180 Degrees Longitude

apart. The Sun began to rise above the horizon as it does after a regular sunrise. A new

day was getting started in the Eastern Hemisphere as we crossed Siberia, Mongolia

and reached Hong Kong at around 1400 Hours local time the next day thus travelling for

about 12 hours while as per the ‘calendar time’ it had taken us 24 hours to cover the

distance.

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The Sun. This is a very interesting phenomena of nature.In summers, the Sun does not

set over the North Pole for Six

months and there is no night. I had

read about the phenomena in

advance and was looking forward

to see it from the flight. So here is

what happened. We started moving

Northwards from New York at

about 1430Hours local time. I was

sitting near the window facing West

for the best view.

Travelling South West, at 72 Degrees Latitude, on the ‘other side of the Pole’ on a Eastern

Longitude near Siberia

Sun viewed for 12 Hrs at North Pole during Summers

(http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/notes/chapter3/graphics/

sun_on_horizon.jpg)

Travelling North, at 84 Degrees Latitude (90 Degrees is the

Pole), on a Western Longitude, over Greenland

Interesting Screenshots Taken While Flying over the North Pole

GPS SCREENSHOT OVER GREENLAND

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Sun closer to the aircraft, without going down

Flipping of the Moon (Source:https://www.sciencealert.com/the-

moon-is-upside-down-in-the-northern-southern-

hemisphere-and-how-did-we-not-know-this)

Sun near the tip of the wing

The Sun appeared to be setting down till about 1900 Hours local time. This is the time

we crossed the Arctic Circle (66.5 Degrees North Latitude) over Canada moving from

South to North. At this point, the Sun appeared to have stopped setting. It moved from

West to East along the horizon almost in a circle as it moved along the wingspan of the

aircraft from tip of the wing to near the aircraft never going below the wing which meant

there was no sunset. It appeared as if I were standing in the centre of Wankhede

Stadium and a light was moving around the stadium along the stands.

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The North Pole. From around 40000 feet, the Pole and the Arctic Region do not

appear as spectacular as expected besides the Arctic Ocean appearing as a frozen lake

similar to one seen in the Himalayas. Glaciers flow like rivers into the sea and appear

similar to any other glacier.

The Moon. The night sky is way different in the

Southern Hemisphere than the Northern Hemisphere.

From the Southern hemisphere the Polaris or Dhruv Tara

or the Pole Star is not visible and the Great Bear or the

Saptarishi appears briefly near the Northern horizon.

The moon also appears flipped and the ‘Rabbit’s Ears’

which point ‘Upwards’ in the Northern Hemisphere, point

‘Downwards’ in the Southern Hemisphere.

I was on board a flight from Brazil to the US, travelling

across the Equator. The flight took off at around 2000

Hours Brazil Time and the Moon appeared as a crescent

with the concave side facing the ‘left’.

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We crossed the Equator at around Midnight and I observed that the crescent of the

moon had tilted and it acquired the famous ‘boat shape’ with concave face facing up. By

early morning as we were landing in New York, the moon had tilted the opposite side

and the crescent face was facing right. Thus I experienced flipping of the moon over a

single journey due to difference in the viewing plane.

Satellite Tracking. There is a plethora of free smart phone ‘apps’ available today

which accurately predict when a satellite is going to be overhead at any location and the

satellite can be clearly seen in the sky like a ‘shooting star’ with the naked eye. ISS

Detector is the recommended app for satellite viewing. The International Space Station

(ISS) and the Tiangong 2 make for the best watch. In fact, there is a live stream from

the ISS on You Tube permanently on. So, if we time it well, as we see the ISS above us

in the sky, the You Tube stream viewed simultaneously shows the ISS travelling over

India which is instantly recognisable from its peninsula.

Most of the above interesting geographical phenomena were experienced by me during

flights and made my senses tickle at the wonders of this beautiful universe. One can

observe a large number of geographical miracles happening around us every day. The

only effort required is the use of power of Google, to research the subject in advance

and then witness the events as they unfold live in front of us. On this note, I wish you a

Happy Viewing!

About the Author

The author is a serving officer of the Indian Army and interest in

Geography and Astronomy come naturally to him. Besides his profession,

the officer loves to read, write and is an avid mouth organ player. He can

be reached at ankush.a99@gmail.com

Point A

Point B Point A

Point B

Point B

Point A

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Mensa IBD Meeting in Kuala Lumpur I attended the meeting of Mensa India’s International Board of Directors in Kuala Lumpur as a special invitee representing Mensa India. The IBD comprises chapter heads from all Full National Mensas (FNMs), elected officers, the ISP, the MIL Treasurer and the International Ombudsman.

My presentation on Mensa India covered our normal Mensa chapter activities, TMNP and Mensa Project Dhruv. It went well. Dr. Narayan Desai had presented TMNP at the IBD in Zagreb last year. I summarized TMNP activities and elaborated on Mensa Project Dhruv. I got a loud applause from the delegates at the end of the presentation. When the question/answer phase on Mensa Project Dhruv finished, the Chairman of Mensa International, Bjorn Liljeqvist said, "This is a program that makes me proud to be in this organisation". And he added, "We definitely want to see Mensa India at this table". That won another applause.

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In the picture: Mr. Jens Weischler, Mensa Germany; Mr. Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon, Founder of Mensa

Malaysia, Chairman of Royal Selangor; Mr. Kishore Asthana, Former President – Mensa India, Head – Project Dhruv; Mr. Bjorn Liljeqvist, Chairman of Mensa International

After the meeting a few National Chapter heads came over to congratulate me on our initiative. One German representative, Peter Frohler, gave me a high five. The Chairman of Mensa Spain, Carlos Sejudo, said that Mensa Spain had surplus funds and would like to sponsor some Dhruv Scholars. So did Jens Wiechers of Mensa Germany. Incidentally, 10 Dhruv Scholars in Rishikesh were sponsored by Germans earlier after Der Spiegel published an article on our program last year.

At present Mensa India is an Emerging National Mensa (ENM). The next step is a Provisional National Mensa (PNM) and then Full National Mensa (FNM). During breaks in the meetings, I had discussions with the Chief Executive of Mensa International Ltd., Mr. Michael Feenan and the Mensa International Director of Development, Ms. Bibiana Balanyi re how best to go about obtaining PNM status. Based on their inputs, this should be fairly soon. In six months to a year after that, we can get FNM status. The outlook looks positive. The IBD was not all work. There was a gala dinner which had an 8 course menu with dishes such as chilled marinated jellyfish, double boiled dried scallop & mushroom soup, wok fried tiger prawns with savory marmite sauce, different satays etc. and a dessert of longan with sea coconut and lemon - all very tasty, complemented by a good wine and stimulating conversation. For our entertainment, there was

a traditional dancer who showed us a version of the Tari Topen Malangan, the Malaysian mask dance and a musician who played the Malay lute, called the Gambus.

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After having barbecued sting ray, sautéed clams and stuffed crabs on the way to KL, at Singapore, I think I have completed my quota of exotic seafood for 2019. I met a number of interesting people in KL. One of these was the Founder of Malaysian Mensa, Mr. Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon. He was the Chief Guest at the Gala dinner. He is also the Chairman of Royal Selangor, the world famous pewter manufacturer. We visited the Royal Selangor works the next day and were given an opportunity to make a pewter bowl with our name on it, using a traditional wooden hammer. This was given to us with a certificate of authenticity. Mr. Poh Kon wanted us to help him start a Dhruv like project in Malaysia. I spoke to the International Supervisory Psychologist, Dr. Kristof Kovacs and requested him to contact our NSP, Dr. Watve to decide on a test, perhaps similar to our MET- 4, for Mensa Malaysia. Dr. Watve has told me recently that she has received an email from the ISP on this matter and is looking into this. I also visited the ancient Batu caves in Kuala Lumpur as part of the planned excursion for delegates. To my great satisfaction, tinged with some surprise, I was only slightly breathless as I climbed the 272 steps up to the Murugan shrine and a further 101 steps to the Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave as well as the Ramayans Cave. This shrine is visited by millions of Hindu and non-Hindu pilgrims every year. I saw a few Arabs and a number of Chinese visitors there. It was a very useful, enjoying and rewarding visit. I now hope that we will find a permanent place on the IBD at the earliest. Kishore Asthana Former President – Mensa India, President – Project Dhruv

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Tribal Mensa Alumni At ECHA Conference In Croatia

The 1st Thematic ECHA Conference entitled Creativity Research & Innovation in Gifted Education: Social, Individual, and Educational Perspective was held from 16th to 18th October 2019 in the city of Dubrovnik, on the Croatian Adriatic coast. The central focus of this conference is the relevance of creativity perspectives and study approaches for giftedness theory, research, and everyday practice in gifted education. The European Council for High Ability aims to advance the study and development of potential excellence in people. This enterprise calls for easy access to communication so that new discoveries whether scientific or the fruits of experience can be readily shared between members of ECHA and others who are concerned about high ability. ECHA enjoys consultative status as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with the Council of Europe. (Website: https://www.echa.info)

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Chinmayee, Mayuri delivering their presentations. Tribal Mensa Nurturing Program is an initiative working to identify and nurture gifted children among underprivileged populations in India. TMNP team believes that there is a strong need to recognize gifted youth, as their accomplishments, potential, capacity to lead, their concerns about the world and ability to think creatively are in fact national assets. Once identified through Mensa India IQ tests, these children are nurtured through a series of non-academic workshops designed to ensure holistic learning and development of the child’s body, mind and brain. Team members make two trips a month to each school that we work with and conduct nurturing activities based on the ‘Pancha Kosha’ Model of Human Development which is derived from ancient Indian texts. Each student receives a “Nurturing Kit” which contains activity books and games that challenge the child’s intelligence. Individual counseling, assessments and teacher training programs are conducted to increase the effectiveness of the Gifted program. CONTACT DETAILS

Call +91-9822626835 | m.me/tribalmensa | tribalmensa@gmail.com | http://tribalmensa.org

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Pages From Mensa World Journal

From the Director of Smaller National Mensas

After an international election has taken place in Mensa, it is traditionally the European Mensas Annual

Gathering (EMAG) in early August where the newly elected ExComm members meet in person for the

first time, to discuss the goals and make plans for the upcoming term. This year was no exception, so the

new ExComm’s first face-to-face meeting was held on Friday and Saturday, August 9-10, during the EMAG

2019 in Ghent, Belgium. Having been elected by the IBD for a second term as Director of the Smaller

National Mensas (DSNM), I was honoured to take part in it.

Among the goals for the next two years that emerged from our two days of discussions, I would like to

highlight three major ones: the unification of ownership of the Mensa brand; the creation of our own IQ

test, and, the creation of an engaging online Mensa community.

Towards unified ownership of the Mensa brand

Besides Mensa International Limited (MIL), the owner of the Mensa trademark, there are currently five

National Mensas who own a Mensa trademark as well - due to historical peculiarities. This leads to a

cumbersome licensing process and an inability to make quick decisions, whenever licensing opportunities

arise. We therefore wish to set up a single entity that will own all Mensa trademarks worldwide. Other

entities that currently own the mark would have to agree to turn them over to this new entity, of course,

but we are confident that they will see the advantage in it. One entity will be better able to make timely

decisions, protect the Mensa name worldwide, and serve the interest of Mensa as a whole.

Towards our own IQ test

Maybe this goal surprises you. After all, it has always been Mensa’s policy to use commercially available

IQ tests as admission tests. However, this approach has some disadvantages. The tests often suffer from

having outdated norms or from having been leaked online, so National Mensas have to replace their tests

regularly. To solve this recurring problem, we therefore propose a new long-term project. A team led by

our International Supervisory Psychologist (ISP) Kristof Kovacs will set out to create a culture-fair,

computerized adaptive test that will be exclusively owned by Mensa. It will be based on modern Item

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Response Theory rather than Classical Test Theory, and it is intended to be superior to the commercial

tests we are using now. The initial norming will be done by a professional company. When the test is

ready, our goal is to provide it royalty-free to the National Mensas, so they can use it as an admission test.

Towards an online Mensa community

As our Chairman, BjörnLiljeqvist, pointed out, National Mensas have a natural online community, but

Mensa International has not (yet). We have a new and much improved website, and we have a Facebook

group, which is a good start, but it leaves room for improvement. For example, it is hard to find old posts

on FB, so the same questions tend to get asked over and over again. Our goal is to create a truly effective,

vibrant online community with the Mensa International website at its centre.

The second ExComm meeting will be in October at the IBD meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where

we will discuss these ideas further with the IBD, fill in the details, and form action plans. In the long term,

we want to turn Mensa into the first address for the public on all matters of intelligence, make the Mensa

brand well known and respected, and create benefits for you that will make you proud to be a member of

the worldwide Mensa community.

Floreat Mensa, Mark Dettinger DSNM

Reprinted from the Mensa World Journal, November, 2019, issue 082, Editor Kate Nacard.

23

International Special Interest Groups

International Special Interest Groups (ISIGs) are SIGs that are open for Mensa members worldwide. They

are a platform for the members, worldwide, to join other SIGs, to exchange ideas and to get more out of

their membership. They also offer a tremendous opportunity for the members in the remote areas of the

world, especially the Direct International Members (DIMs), to get more involved in Mensa.

ISIGs may operate like a conventional SIG (e.g. distributing paper-based newsletters) or purely

electronically (e.g. via mailing-lists or web-forums). The latter are referred to as E-SIGs.

Some of the current ISIGs includeArt & Literature, Classical Music, Christian Forum, Creative Writers,

Dr Who, Ecology & Conservation, Economics, Finance & Trade, and, Gen-X, to name but a few. The

language mainly used is English, and a full list can be found at mensa.org/members/isigs.

Admission to an International SIG is open to any member of any national Mensa and any Direct

International Member. To join, please contact the administrator of the ISIG (listed with a full description

of the ISIG on the Mensa website).

To start an ISIG, please contact Barbara Kryvko at sigs@mensa.org

Reprinted from the Mensa World Journal, November, 2019, issue 082, Editor Kate Nacard.

24

Active Int-SIGHTs Henkhenk and TeeKay are pretty busy with many activities which include: • improving the visibility of SIGHT to all members thus creating more participation in SIGHT • designing leaflets and banners • preparing and giving presentations at various occasions • maintaining and expanding the map with hosts who agreed to be on the Google map of SIGHT hosts • responding to emails with questions from members, often redirecting them to the right persons • updating the information on mensa.org for SIGHT officers, • trying to reconnect with listed officers who do not respond • and a lot of other stuff! And, we’re always looking for volunteers who support us! Many thanks to all our Cont-SIGHTs, Nat-SIGHTs and Loc-SIGHTs!

More SIGHT – More Fun!

New SIGHT functionalities on the new international Mensa website

Mensa.org has a new website and SIGHT occupies a

prominent place! In the coming months we –

Henkhenk and TeeKay as International SIGHT

Coordinators, supported by a team of volunteers,

who enjoy editing websites – will work on providing

more functionalities for SIGHT hosts and surfers.

Already the relaunch enables every Mensan with an

account on the international website to select the

SIGHT marker to indicate they are willing to host or

guide someone in their home-town!

Just tick the SIGHT-box in your personal profile

https://www.mensa.org/members/sight/contacts

When looking at someone else’s profile you will also

see the marking “SIGHT-member”.

If you have not yet created your personal account on the MIL website

(www.mensa.org), this is the time to do it. Should you encounter a problem please contact your national

Mensa board and www.mensa.org simultaneously. After logging in you will see SIGHT in the blue ribbon.

Clicking on it you’ll find the list of national coordinators per country.

25

SIGHT in Countries without a National Mensa

We are extremely proud that one of the most fascinating assets of SIGHT is the fact we now have

NationalSIGHT Coordinators (Nat-SIGHTs) even in countries without a National Mensa.

Since the IBD 2018 in Budapest, interested independent members can apply to be Nat-SIGHTs in their

countries, by asking us, the Int-SIGHTs. Special email addresses are then set up in the form of SIGHT-

country@mensa.org and are included in our list of Nat-SIGHTs on the international website.

If you take a peek at the Google map you will discover SIGHT is present in many more Asian countries

now, such as Thailand and Vietnam. Our wonderful Nat-SIGHTs in these countries are looking forward to

receiving your requests and look forward to being inspired by all the stories you can tell them about your

national Mensa at home. Contact them at SIGHT-Vietnam@mensa.org and SIGHT-Thailand@mensa.org

SIGHT Facebook

Despite all the data scandals in the past years, Facebook is still the preferred social media platform of

millions of people with the result that our SIGHT-facebook group keeps growing. Currently we have 46

moderators from many different countries who check possible admission requests; some are SIGHT

coordinators, some are not. The Facebook group is a good tool for finding each other: traveller and host,

and also for last minute plans and travels. Our FB page was founded by Andrea Schwelm, and we now

have 3547 members!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176942022394979/

SIGHT-MAP – still on Google but ready to move

The map with SIGHT hosts has also grown a bit, showing more and more SIGHT hosts. One of the most

important tasks of the future is to move it from Google onto the Mensa website. The quick link to the

map is: https://bit.ly/sightmensa

If you want to be added on the map please contact Henkhenk directly at SIGHT@mensa.nl

More on SIGHT next issue...

Tee Kay and HenkHenk

sight@mensa.org

Reprinted from the Mensa World Journal, November, 2019, issue 082, Editor Kate Nacard.

26

International Mensa PhotoCup Competition 2019

The equal winners of the Mensa International Photographer of the Year 2019, are Toshihiro

Kawasaki, from Japan with a photograph titled Parallel World (featured on the front cover of this

issue), and David Warner from the UK with his photo entitled Floating or Flying (below). The theme

for the competition was Optical Illusions. The two runners-up were Evangelia Kyriakidov (Greece):

Two Strangers, and Nandor Emil (Hungary): The Stair Study.

Congratulations to all!

This year, instead of having an external panel judge the entries, a jury selected the top twelve entries and

the International Board of Directors (IBD), plus those non-IBD members who registered for the weekend

(187 in all), were each given three unranked votes to distribute amongst the top 12 finalists. Certificates

were awarded by the International Chairman at the Gala Dinner to the Chairmen of the countries making

the short list.

Each year more countries are participating. This year, some twenty countries, as well as Direct

International Members, participated in the competition. These included, Cyprus, Canada, USA, Britain,

Australia, Hungary and France.

The other finalists were:

Peter Wood (South Africa)

Julia Boudin (France)

Wojciech Woszcz (Poland)

Kyzysztof Skorka (Poland)

Anezka Sostalova (Czech Republic)

Andree Schuesler( Netherlands)

Magda Burba (Switzerland)

Fernando Sanchez CastellanosVillafuerte (Mexico)

The theme for 2020 will be announced early next year. If you would like to be part of the PhotoCup

Committee (which of course would exclude you from entering the contest), please write to

tmb@ozemail.com.au

Reprinted from the Mensa World Journal, December, 2019, issue 083, Editor Kate Nacard

27

Mensa Youth (MY) in Germany – a success story

Founded in 2017, Mensa Youth (or in short, MY) offers various activities for Mensans between the

ages of 18 and 30. In the past two years, thanks to the

dedicated work of Mel Jäger, Martin Frassek (both Head of MY) and Martin Weiß (Board of Directors),

MY has grown significantly and the number of activities has skyrocketed.

To coordinate these various activities and events, as well as to develop and discuss new ideas, all MY

volunteers and selected people from other departments of Mensa Germany (such as the Board of

Directors, PR and Communications and even representatives of international Mensas) meet once

every year. This year our meeting took place in Olsberg in the middle of Germany, where the photo

(at right) of young Mensans posing as the Mensa logo was taken.

Around 30 people participated in Olsberg. We planned and discussed our website, Mensa-Shop, new

events, image videos and new ideas generally. Some international members from Switzerland, Great

Britain and the Netherlands) also attended the event.

Simone Dogu (Head of PR and Communications Mensa Germany)

Reprinted from the Mensa World Journal, December, 2019, issue 083, Editor Kate Nacard

28

Mensa India HQ

Jnana Prabodhini Institute of Psychology Jnana Prabodhini Bhavan, 510 Sadashiv Peth, Pune, Maharashtra 411030