standardized tests cannot measure curiosity or awareness. mensa seems like a masturbatory experience.

Dear former MENSA member...

Turn in your card.

I just have to say that I admire your explanation points.

In reply to this comment by burdturgler:
lol .. I dont even want to reply to this. I just want to quote it so that I know it will be here forever and ever.


>> ^shinyblurry:

well, you've got me beat by two explanation points..i guess i've been outdone. there was something about you that was screaming genius, but I guess I got that confused with undigested corn.
>> ^burdturgler:
That's interesting for me on a personal level because, shortly after taking my S.A.T.'s, I received a letter in the mail from Mensa. It turns out that it wasn't my 151 IQ that caught their attention, but rather my ability to string 51 exclamation points together at the end of a sentence in order to drive my point in the essay home. I guess we're kindred souls after a fashion, if you'll pardon the pun.

lol .. I dont even want to reply to this. I just want to quote it so that I know it will be here forever and ever.


>> ^shinyblurry:

well, you've got me beat by two explanation points..i guess i've been outdone. there was something about you that was screaming genius, but I guess I got that confused with undigested corn.
>> ^burdturgler:
That's interesting for me on a personal level because, shortly after taking my S.A.T.'s, I received a letter in the mail from Mensa. It turns out that it wasn't my 151 IQ that caught their attention, but rather my ability to string 51 exclamation points together at the end of a sentence in order to drive my point in the essay home. I guess we're kindred souls after a fashion, if you'll pardon the pun.

well, you've got me beat by two explanation points..i guess i've been outdone. there was something about you that was screaming genius, but I guess I got that confused with undigested corn.

>> ^burdturgler:
That's interesting for me on a personal level because, shortly after taking my S.A.T.'s, I received a letter in the mail from Mensa. It turns out that it wasn't my 151 IQ that caught their attention, but rather my ability to string 51 exclamation points together at the end of a sentence in order to drive my point in the essay home. I guess we're kindred souls after a fashion, if you'll pardon the pun.

That's interesting for me on a personal level because, shortly after taking my S.A.T.'s, I received a letter in the mail from Mensa. It turns out that it wasn't my 151 IQ that caught their attention, but rather my ability to string 51 exclamation points together at the end of a sentence in order to drive my point in the essay home. I guess we're kindred souls after a fashion, if you'll pardon the pun.

Plutocracy anyone? Anyone?

Donald has been around for three weeks and went with the birther crap (to get his "base"; really pathetic); overnight he becomes the Tea Party front-runner and second place Republican (Tea Party members hiding behind a R). This should scare people as it OUTRIGHT shows that there is a huge amount of racism at play here.

It also shows us that the average intelligence is group oriented with very little concern for truth or even facts about Trump. Trump would be a crappy president for one character flaw that he has that is HUGE. He is insecure about himself. We're talking about someone that wears a hairpiece that makes Qaddafi look stylish...

Even when his business practices have failed he never once owned up to it and always found a scapegoat. All we can expect from him is a new Fox Reality show (not surprising with Fox's ties...), some new "one liners", his hairpiece coming off and flying through the air breaking Fabio's nose again, and the most self-absorbed/ego-driven president ever. He would eclipse Bush Jr. in a month (my wager).

P.S.- I noticed that he has a large tendency to flat out lie, but worse his Ego is the size of Jupiter and he creates lies to fulfill that ego. He literally believes that he'll jump in the chair and it will end... This is a nation-wide issue with a lot of people at fault and not helping. You have Republicans right now trying to shut-down the government so that Fox can spend four weeks talking it up (meanwhile Japan just had another quake at the 7.4 range); they did this to Clinton as well. They are completely useless and still people vote these morons in. We truly deserve our self-created fiasco. I hope it's good enough that we are NOT the number one power anymore, as Republicans hold onto that as though it's pre-ordained scripture. I don't think Trump realizes yet that the president, alone, has very little power--he seems to think that it grants you Godhood for four to eight years...

edit- My point about his ego showing up before they really even start the interview just watch the clip from about :44 to 1:05. He has a personality disorder, atleast! The Tea Party people need free funding for schooling as they need education BADLY... At 3:00 I thought he was going to go ahead and tell us how he belongs to MENSA and has been to MIT (on a tour, but those are just facts that can change, duh).

>> ^SDGundamX:

>> ^westy:
I think what this video inadvertantly highlights is that Education is directly tied with atheism the more intellectual/educated sum-one is the harder it is for them to believe in bullshit and the more likely it is they will do things based on facts of reality to improve reality.

You should check out this study, which basically shows that isn't the case. The high proportion of atheist scientists compared to the general population seems to be a function of upbringing (i.e. they were raised in homes that didn't place much importance on religion). The increased education seems to have little effect on those who enter the field with religious convictions. In other words, those raised in non-religious households seem to self-select disproportionately highly into the sciences. The study states that more investigation is required before coming to any conclusions as to why, but they didn't see any indication of people giving up their religious beliefs as they advanced in their education or career.


One interesting aspect coming out in psychological studies versus genetic backgrounds shows one interesting aspect of people that have Asperger's being unable to relate to religion and are constantly looking for a more rational explanation for any event. Likewise, some people may show an inclination to be religious via their genetics.

Most likely this is due to a preference in the way the brain decides to use information. Such as: the right hemisphere versus the left; or even to the extent of specific areas on one side--like math over chemistry.

This is VERY new information. Their was another study out on Friday I believe (look for it at physorg.com) that showed that people that were religious tended to be more healthy both mentally and physically. However, the study (from what I could find) doesn't really say whether they took the disparity between population numbers into account. Also they never took into account situations like autistic savants, Asperger's, bi-polar, and other conditions that tend to "create" extremely smart people, comparatively(I'm guessing this might happen as they tend to favor the left hemisphere and also have a very different perspectives than your normal healthy average human--giving them "fresh eyes" and a new perception intrinsically).

This video is definitely made to provoke. I don't necessarily like how it does it and I'm atheist. While I disagree with religion in any capacity where it wants to use faith/belief to solve a situation instead of the logical tried and true method, that is where I draw a line in the sand (like Creationism; it's useless to us in every aspect: it explains nothing, is useless in practice, and assumes everything). Religion doesn't necessarily bother me when it's used in a social setting. The only time this isn't true is when it crosses the "religion/state" barrier and rights of others; as is the case for many gay people. I know a lot of religious people that sit on a logical side of the fence and many that sit on the other side and try to (in my estimation) usurp the rights of others for poor reasons and in fact religious ones (state vs. religion again).

Lot's of the religious people (I'm in Utah so I know my situation is semi-unique) I know that refute many logical tenets, like evolution, tend to do so in a way that shows they are INCREDIBLY insecure when it comes to "smarts". I've had some people tell me they belong to MENSA and in the same sentence tell me evolution is fraud and it should be obvious as to why this is true (they usually have no "logical" reason to explain why this is true other than faith; I have yet to hear a good reason...). This may also be an indication that even in religion there is a disparity between other religious people and that it may even be a psychological/physical condition that causes it via genetics.

It would be a new world if you could wager whether someone is religious or not, before they are even born. To me that is a game changer, but to others I know they will not see why that is true.

/edit

>> ^KrazyKat42:
these dudes need to get laid, bad.


Dude, you know how much Mensa pussy they're gonna get after this?

Intelligence=highly over-rated mate....one's MENSA eligibility has nothing to do with practicalities of life such as, how to properly use a shovel or dealing with the mental illness of a loved one-This is simply another form of diversion designed to allocate your mind's valuable resources to some battle for reason and self-evident truths....There are much more desperate and timely subjects worthy of one's daily mentations-Perhaps a better one would be why the governments of the west are simply control mechanisms or how the public education system if held up to the litmus of recorded history is akin to beating your child in the head with a baseball bat.

In reply to this comment by nanrod:
I wonder if it ever occurs to Kirk that maybe there's a correlation between higher IQ's and lack of religious belief.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'dumbass of the day, dumbass, kicking concrete, mensa, Bad Idea, legcrushing goodness' to 'kicking concrete, mensa, Bad Idea, crushed, fibula, tibia, leg' - edited by SlipperyPete

1. I had an ex-boyfriend violently try to kill himself in front of me. It fucked me up and I dropped out of life for about four years. All my friends gave up on trying to get me out of my shell. As of right now, I have no physical friends aside from my family. I beat myself up about shutting everyone out so completely.

2. I also have an ex-boyfriend who is on death row and he's been there for 8 years. He killed some police officers and when they were fleeing, my friend Allen was gunned down.

3. I had a boyfriend who drowned in a lake. I don't like to call him an ex because we never broke up. He died. It's been almost ten years and I still go to his old LiveJournal and read all the entries and cry.

4. I had a terrifying experience in New Orleans when I was 16. It never showed itself to me, but made awful tapping noises all over my hotel room. Whenever I tried to wake up my parents, it would stop. I was so very very scared.. Even typing this now, I have to repress the urge to cry and turn on all my lights. I'm sweating. When I went to sleep that night, I curled against the headboard, with my back out towards the room. I woke up in the morning and took a hot shower and when I turned around, the hot water stung on my back. I looked at my back in the mirror and there were three long scratches spanning diagonally from the tops of my shoulders to my waist. Even though they had obviously bled and scabbed, there was no blood on my shirt or on the bra I had been wearing. That experience really fucked up my religious beliefs. I like to say that I'm a complete atheist, but whenever I say that, I think back to that night and I'm afraid of what an afterlife is and who or what exists in it.

5. I'm leaking breast milk all over my legs right now, but I'm ignoring the mess.

6. Mensa tried to recruit me as a little girl and it freaked me out. They sent so many letters and called to speak to me all the time. They tried to talk to me at school but I was convinced they were some kind of cult. Plus, they wanted me to spend my summer taking classes and doing homework. Crazy fuckers.

7. I had some rare kind of nerve cancer as a teenager and they cut the tumor from my chin when I was 16. The tumor and the consequent surgery left the lower part of my face numb and my lower lip a bit unresponsive. I drool on myself sometimes and when it's pointed out, I vehemently tell them I had cancer. It makes me laugh at how they scramble to apologize.

8. I used to be really into music and I've played with several bands, ranging from rock to jazz to blues to just jamming. I was really into it and I loved performing at dives and all the free beer. No one cards you when you're the band. But after my ex tried to kill himself, I fell out of that world, too. I regret that more than anything. I love music.. Now I just play for me and somehow it's not the same.

9. I play piano, clarinet, alto and soprano recorders[Hey, those are real instruments, too!], cello, violin, guitar, bass, any stringed instrument really, drum kit, hand drums, etc etc. I haven't really found an instrument I couldn't play. I like to sing a lot. My baby loves it when I sing. That pleases me greatly!! He's my number on fan.

10. I was expelled the last semester of my senior year from high school for doodling in my notebook a stick figure with a crude gun pointed at its head. It was accompanied by the sentence "I hate chemistry." The teacher walked by and saw it, seized it and dragged me to the principal. I was arrested for threatening students with a handgun. [My drawing wasn't specific, I mean, it could have been a sawed-off shotgun?? It was more of a sideways L..] I got 9 months of probation and had to get my diploma by correspondence. It was hilarious and fucked up all at the same time.

11. I had a neighbor freak out on cocaine and whatever else that guy was on. He came over and kept my roommates and I hostage and screamed at us about "sounding out" at night. He also put my roommate's Diamonda Galas CD on and played it full volume. That's what got the police there. Thank God for Diamonda's screeching voice or my other neighbor's wouldn't have called the cops. He also tried to strangle our cat. When the police finally busted down the back door, he was screaming about how he would kill us all. The cops took him to the ground and he told them he was the mayor and they would be fired. Heh.

12. I've been the victim of rape many times. I wonder sometimes if I have an aura that tells people it's ok to hurt me like that..

13. When my baby cried for almost 7 hours straight, I honestly contemplated smothering him. I feel evil because of that.

14. I had a college reading level by fourth grade and teachers would get upset that I wanted to read during recess. I read the same books as my mother and father and of course, some had "questionable" content. Whenever they confiscated one of my books, my dad would get royally pissed and scream at them over the phone. I still love to read. I read compulsively. I read all the labels of everything I buy just because. When I take a shit, if there's nothing to read, I read the back of the shampoo or whatever is close by. To my utter shame, I have read harlequin romance novels. I'll read anything within arms reach, even if it's utter shite. I really love a good book, though. Don't get me wrong!

15. I won a national short story contest for children when I was 12. The story was about a demon who disemboweled hapless victims during one cold winter night. I only really remember one part where the entrails steamed in the snow. What the fuck was wrong with those judges??

16. I talk way, way too much.

17. I have CPS involved in my life because I tested positive in my urine for marijuana when I went to the hospital to deliver my son. I hadn't smoked pot in almost six months. The CPS people call me a liar, but I'm not fucking lying. I read that pot can sometimes be detected up to 90 days after, but it had been twice that. Now I have to go to counseling twice a week for 6 months and they randomly drop by and drug test. They assess my whole house each time and write it up when I don't do the goddamn dishes. I hate CPS. Where were they when I was being abused as a child? Why didn't they care about rape and physical abuse? They ignored me when I begged for help..

18. I'm often way too candid.

19. I hold a grudge like a mother fucker. I try very very hard not to hate certain people. But I often fail.

20. I really love VideoSift. I used to be really into IRC. I have a long history of communicating and making friends over the internet. But the Sift is my favorite. I stopped for a long time and it was really hard not to come here and browse. I would find myself absent-mindedly typing the url. Oi.

21. I'm really into Facebook. It's the only way I talk to my estranged family and friends.

22. I love music, if you can't tell by the stuff I sift. Any and all types of music, except for bad music. Har har. Farhad's queue is one of my favorite places to peruse.

23. When I bare my soul to people, it never ever turns out right.

24. I tend to over-punctuate!!@!!!@1!!11!1!@!111one

25. I love to smile and be cheerful. I find humor in even the most dire of tragedies and I often get flack from that. People don't understand it, I guess.

I guess I've delayed this for too long, but here goes:

1. I've killed at least 250 birds
2. and I don't feel bad about it
3. As a kid I was a talented chess player
4. I used to be a member of MENSA, but it was too geeky and self-indulgent for me
5. My first car was a Seat Leon
6. I loved that car and still miss it
7. I've been involved in a serious car crash and was the only one to walk away unharmed
8. The only code I know is html
9. In school I made a fansite about Wesley Willis
10. I've dislocated both shoulders numerous times
11. I haven't been in a fight for over 6 years now (and I don't plan to)
12. I'm a big fan of Liverpool FC
13. I've never been to Liverpool
14. I own a 12 gauge shotgun and a .30-06 rifle
15. I'm not a big fan of handguns, but I used to have a Desert Eagle .45 (the kickback was fun and frightening at the same time)
16. I suffer from an autoimmune disease (it's not lupus )
17. Growing up, 3 different teachers encouraged me to see a therapist
18. I never did
19. I own a perfect replica of a Picasso self portrait. I love that picture.
20. I'm a terrible dancer
21. I love vintage clothing like hats and vests
22. I competed in the British national athletics championship final when I was 12 yrs old (100m hurdles and 4x100m relay)
23. I didn't win, but it was a a lot of fun
24. My favourite number is 46
25. I've never shot a man in Reno just to watch him die

I see it's another rousing meeting of the Mensa society.

Sure, sure - your point was fact, so of course it's valid I was just explaining why I mentioned Finnish (should have simply mentioned Estionian as well), trying to diminish the ego-tripping image of myself I'd created.

RE:Mensa - OK, I won't. Am probably too lazy to do actually join anyway

In reply to this comment by rasch187:
Yeah, Estonian is Finno-Ugric as well, but my point still stands I'm just trying to keep your feet on the ground, homeboy

edit: and after having read your 25 random facts post; whatever you do, don't join MENSA. It's just a huge ego trip that turns into boredome. Trust me.

In reply to this comment by EDD:
Except it just happens so that I meet and chat and hang around Estonians almost every other day. Just sayin

P.S. Don't think of me as someone too self-centered. Sure, I may queue up audio of myself talking in the background while jerking off, but that's the only way to get off for a lot of people, right?