My trip to the Carolinah Mensa RG was fabulous! I greatly enjoyed the presentation on NASA by astronomer Rick Boozer who argues in his book that pork barrel politics is hindering Americas space program because politicians are forcing NASA to use antiquated technology the building of which brings jobs and money to states like Orrin Hatchs Utah among others. We really need to get with 21st century technology! Im discussing on Volant on Facebook a number of ideas for ftl drives, some science fiction, some real science, but then a lot of scientists have used science fiction stories as a springboard for ideas that have later come to fruition. Examples include waldoes and communications satellites, both appearing in stories by science fiction writers Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. Houdini escapes was a terrific presentation by real magician Larry Bounds who also gave the presentation on the Alamo with a beautiful model. You can look at my Facebook page to see all the pictures I took of the Alamo and other presentations and speakers and interesting people I met at the RG. I participated in the Blonde Bowl, a tongue-in-cheek but real competition in which they asked our teams questions drawn from a professional quiz tournament given to high school students. Im a college grad, but some of those questions were tough! You have to answer the question before the other team answers first. We all wore blonde wigs or white wigs. Its called the blonde bowl because by the end of the question its a giveaway answer. If you snooze you lose and the other team usually automatically gets the answer right because its often embedded at the end of the question as the blonde clue. Yes, it makes fun of blondes, but several women who are really blonde participated, and we all had a good time. Our team lost, but we had fun. I knew one answer (who is the twin brother of Artemis), but a teammate of mine tried to answer first, and then didnt know the answer or forgot what he was going to say; when that happens, the other team automatically gets a chance to answer, so, even though I knew the answer was Apollo, our team didnt get it. One question I got right was Who wrote the essay On the Jews and Their Lies (a vicious anti-semitic piece), and, when I said Martin Luther, someone asked me if I were Lutheran; when I replied, No, Im Catholic, the moderator (who was asking the questions) said, Know thy enemy and everyone laughed including me. We also had a professional musician and musical historian John Bartlett present The Birth of American Popular Music, and he played a quasi-piano, and I really enjoyed his rag-time songs. I also enjoyed the presentation by Chautauqua scholar Caroline McIntyre who dressed up as Mary Ingles, a woman who was captured by Indians, and playing the character she described her harrowing escape. It was interesting, informative, and entertaining at the same time. She answered questions afterwards in character and later, taking off her wig, as herself, the scholar. After lunch on Saturday was a brief author chat where I met a woman who wrote a book on grief. When I shared that I had lost my husband recently, we had a deeply interesting conversation. I said Id get her book on Kindle; I have her card somewhere in my bag. After that, we had another professional magician and attorney, Neil Caesar, gave us a glimpse of a magician who knew Houdini named Mulholland who wrote a secret book for the CIA on how to use magic techniques to escape detection when doing CIA things like putting a powder in someones drink or secreting away an item using misdirection and legerdemain. The book, written in the 40s or 50s I think, was declassified and published in 1997, if I remember right. Check out amazon for Mulhollands book, if youre interested. It was really fascinating. After dinner, we had a Luau Lunacy -- Escape to Paradise where they had drawings (I didnt win anything). I wasnt really paying attention because I was absorbed in a fascinating conversation at the dinner table with an elderly gentlemen named Al Godley-Davis about religion and Judaism and the Bible. He was a very nice guy. We finally ended our deeply intriguing conversation (he knew more than he realized), I finally went to bed around 1:00 in the morning with the end result that I overslept until 10:00 a.m. and barely got down in time to wolf down some sausage patties that were left from breakfast; they simply hadnt cleared them away yet; and some coffee. We had a champagne toast; even though it was early in the morning, its a Carolinah RG tradition, I found out. I just had one glass of champagne and kept drinking my coffee. For whatever reason, I never went to the game room. I went to the Grotto room once, but no one was there (its a socializing room). I just didnt have time because there were so many fascinating speakers and things to do! I donated six books that I happened to find in my car and didnt really want anymore; it went to the scholarship fund. I checked out, put all my stuff in the car along with my friends Freya Harris and Jim Powers (Oscar Zeiger couldnt make it because he had to work at the last minute), hung around for a while talking with a guy named Frazier who knew more answers than anyone at the blonde bowl (hes really sharp), meeting his son and daughter-in-law (if I dont have it backwards), and then Freya and Jim were standing there and obviously wanted to go and I was the driver, so we all got in the car, I filled up at South Carolina prices which are 30 cents cheaper than in Georgia, and we came home. I had a great time! Im only sorry I didnt discover the Carolinah RG before now! I left all my troubles behind for a while. It was really nice. Im sorry Charles wasnt there to enjoy it with me, but he was with me in spirit, Im sure. Peachtreat is this September. Freya and Jim want to go to the Birmingham, Alabama, RG, and I said Id like to go to, but well see, I would like to go visit a friend who lives in Huntsville, admittedly two hours away from Birmingham, but Ive not seen him in many years and would like to again. I thought I would ask my friends if theyd like to take a trip to the Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville (its in the research triangle and is a museum) on Sunday afternoon (its open 7 days a week 9:00 -- 5:00).
Posted on: Wed, 07 May 2014 16:10:55 +0000
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