You’re reading MensaMag, the award-winning newsletter of Mensa Calgary. And Mensa Calgary itself is a double award-winner.

Find our events for February right Here. And talk to us on Facebook . Or read further for feasts of reason and flows of soul.

Interested in joining Mensa? The next scheduled testing is 1:30 pm, on Saturday, January 21, 2011, at the University of Calgary. Please feel welcome to share this information, and contact Marie Wildenborg directly for further details: mensa.proctor@shaw.ca.

Renew your Mensa Membership online at Mensa Canada.

Quote of the Month: “The charm of elegant manners, simplicity, and apparent candour was almost magical. It could never have occurred to him that all that candour and nobility, wit and lofty personal dignity, was perhaps only a magnificent artistic veneer. “ Dostoyevsky, The Idiot

For a great 3d game in which puzzle pieces must be shifted and unstuck, try
http://deadwhale.com/play.php?game=1752 [with thanks to Robert Conn]

How Old is Someone Born on February 29
Consider the position of the Registrar of Vital Statistics: if a birth takes place on February 29th, there’s no difficulty recording that date. From the passport angle, when a child applies for a passport, the birth date simply reads February 29 plus the birth year. In statutes that refer to age, usually the language is “has attained the age of” 16 years, or 18 years, as the case may be; for example the Age of Majority Act. Someone born on February 29 attains the age of one year on the following March 1st, two years on the following March 1, three years on the next March 1, and four years on the next February 29. Every industry in which age is a factor has a well-established means to deal with people born on February 29, because the question can’t be left to individual discretion. The only sensible uniformity exists if February 29 is the birth anniversary in a leap year, pushed forward nominally to March 1st in all other years, because this method counts the years after birth. On the other hand, irrational conduct is the staff of human life…

The following thoughts aren’t necessarily serious. Nor are they the views of Mensa Calgary or any affiliated persons or groups:
If incarceration were reduced in the US, the country’s unemployment numbers would soar, because so many of the imprisoned fall towards the bottom of the nation’s training and education ladders, and because the prison industry employs so many people. A similar principle applies to the defence sector. Simply expressed, following economic models, a modern society has to put people in cages and kill overseas to create jobs. On the other hand, others might argue that many in prison for minor property offences would volunteer to fight in the armed forces to escape a custodial term. If the latter is true, we could – as it were – kill two birds with one stone, and indirectly resurrect the death penalty for minor crimes… Or not.

Canada’s National Resources Minister said on January 9, 2012, that environmental radicals are subverting democracy. But perhaps, in reality, large oil and pipeline interests have bought the ear of our government and are threatening democracy from within, a kind of (could it be true?) quiet and subtle terrorism. A more charitable perspective perhaps is that our Prime Minister has grown too enamored of power and needs a holiday. He may be inadvertently selling the next two generations’ standards of living to fulfill an illusion that comforts can improve indefinitely. What kind of legacy will our Prime Minister leave? He could choose to thrash out with the provinces the mechanism for a national securities regulator, but he isn’t inclined to attempt this worthy effort. He might try to control in advance the inevitable fallout when the Vancouver housing bubble bursts, devastating the banks that have bent to the ground to support it, but he seems willing to allow the taxpayer to foot the bill. He could promote a national debate on soil and air contamination versus growth, acknowledging the need to prevent the first and promote the second, but he won’t lift a finger. Perhaps he is correct to perceive that we want our leaders to be omniscient. Woe is us.

Neil Macdonald of CBC news, a commentator whose photo seems to reflect constipation more than considered reflection, is getting tired and needs a break. His analyses are shopworn. They often weave back and forth between current events and potential conclusion, which is odd – if you care to study his writing – but he rarely touches the nerve at the centre of a debate. An example was January 9, 2012, when he discussed whether there was too much democracy in the US. I think it was John Jay who said it best, around 1793. Jay was the President of the Continental Congress at the time, and became the first Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, though I may have the sequence wrong. He said that the people who own the country ought to run it. And his wish has been fulfilled. Macdonald doesn’t have to lose sleep about too much democracy in the US, or Canada for that matter. The parameters of debate are set by large corporations, banks and financial institutions, which advertise in our newspapers and guide their content. They make the political contributions that make victory possible for a political party. And they’re largely excluded from control by the Courts (for example, misrepresentation and deception by financial advisors are rampant but rarely punished). No, we needn’t fret. Democracy is in safe hands.

You’re reading MensaMag, the award winning newsletter of Mensa Calgary, which itself won two Alberta tourism awards in the past twelve months.

Find our events for January right Here. And talk to us on Facebook . Or read further for feasts of reason and flows of soul.

Interested in joining Mensa? The next scheduled testing is 1:30 pm, on Saturday, January 21, 2011, at the University of Calgary. Please feel welcome to share this information, and contact Marie Wildenborg directly for further details: mensa.proctor@shaw.ca.

Renew your Mensa membership online at http://www.mensacanada.org/renewalpublicstarten.php.

There is something deeply wrong with Canadian diplomacy these days. Our Environment Minister in Durban (early December) made some deeply offensive remarks about countries including India, to which India had the audacity to respond. Should we be surprised at this? And yet our Minister immediately rebuked India in reply. We started the chain of insult. But Canada’s posture, even before the talks began, had been more truculent and negative than we’d expect. Perhaps amateurs have taken charge of a segment of Canada’s international presence. You can make a point in many ways, but courtesy is the lubricant best framed to gain us friends when we need them in the future. Antagonizing other countries is childish and counterproductive. But also note the repeated attacks launched by our Finance Minister recently against European nations. Does he really believe that those countries don’t understand the importance of a financial accord, an accord that works, in the short and long term, that voters will support, that markets will take in a positive light? Does he think that devising such an accord is easy, or that Europe needs Canada’s long-distance criticism? No. There has been a directive from a higher source, likely the PMO, that signals a new voice for Canada. Pity that it’s a savage simple-minded uncivilized voice. We deserve better.

I used to strongly support the Kyoto accords and similar efforts to reduce emissions. I still endorse the complex science that has uncovered our warming impact on the environment, and that considers recovery will grow more and more difficult as time passes. The loss of the ozone layer is another factor, which this science has uncovered. The trend seems clear; Canada borrows to improve its standard of living, and prays that its future citizens will become more sober-minded or realistic. At the same time, the developing world has to share the burden if it wants countries such as Canada to reduce emissions. It isn’t enough to argue that China must burn coal to catch up to Canada. Why should China suddenly reverse course once most of its population lives on a par with Canadians? That is a premise difficult to swallow; we’d be naive to believe it. Reluctantly, I adhere to a tough line on Kyoto and its sister endeavours.

Canada’s job market is shrinking, and the employed are working harder and harder for less pay. Attawapiskat received ten visits from federal civil servants over the last year, yet Ottawa claims the town’s terrible conditions are a complete surprise. Women in Afghanistan, where our soldiers have died to defend freedom, are forced to marry their rapists. Enough. We need the NDP to get its act together and become a respectable government in waiting. The opposition must create national policies that appeal to the majority of Canadians and lift us out of the circle of deceit and PR hacks that define or confine our federal leadership. That would be a great service to Canada. It doesn’t matter what the NDP was. Let the past rest in peace. The NDP must hammer the current government and offer us a real choice at the polls. That’s what we need most, a real choice.

Analysis of how the rich pay less tax is interesting, but becomes more sinister when linked to the failure of justice to tackle their misdeeds, in particular the misdeeds by way of fraud and deceit that caused the 2008 crisis. I’m thinking, for example, of mortgages granted on the basis of stated income without proof (also called liar loans) in exchange for a few percent higher interest. The analysis is needed, because it documents the impression held by so many that our political system fails to provide even-handed justice. In a nutshell, it’s corrupt. This isn’t an impartiality issue, but rather whether we should all be held to the same ethical standard. The awfulness of our system was shown when democratically elected leaders used the money of the majority to rescue the deceitful few. But the subtext of such analysis is even more trenchant, that nothing has been done – in either the regulatory or enforcement fields – to prevent similar frauds in the future. Neither Canada nor the US have set in place anything of the kind. And if that’s not bad enough, both governments currently criticize Europe, pretending that the 2008 crisis wasn’t caused by the financial sector in North America, and by deliberate decisions by consecutive governments in Canada and the US to ignore the problem, hoping the present financial disaster won’t endure. Wouldn’t it be entertaining to live an extra 50 years, and see the excuses our leaders will parade to excuse themselves from the next crisis? No wonder young people don’t vote.

We’re getting good at lying. When the roof of Vancouver’s stadium leaked before the Gray Cup game, the response from management was: the leak is good. Better now than during the game. Besides, it isn’t a serious leak. Presumably, a serious leak has a frown and lines across its forehead. Presumably also, it’s good that the economy is dreadful and young people can’t find jobs. A prerequisite to influence these days is the ability to tell lies with a straight face. Maybe it has always been thus, and we’ve just noticed. But one day we’ll grow tired of lies. How do the husbands and wives of these people live with them? Don’t they say, when their spouses come home at night, did you believe the trash that spilled from your lips on television today? A few angry wives and husbands might improve public life in this country.

You’re reading MensaMag, the award winning newsletter of Mensa Calgary, which itself won two Alberta tourism awards in the past twelve months.

Find our events for December right Here. And talk to us on Facebook . Or read further for feasts of reason and flows of soul.

Interested in joining Mensa? The next scheduled testing is 1:30 pm, on Saturday, January 21, 2011, at the University of Calgary. Please feel welcome to share this information, and contact Marie Wildenborg directly for further details: mensa.proctor@shaw.ca.

Renew your Mensa membership online at http://www.mensacanada.org/renewalpublicstarten.php.

BC and Ontario can’t continue negotiations for a new RCMP contract. Don’t they see what’s in the offing? Suppose that BC reaches agreement with the RCMP. Three years from now, allegations arise that the RCMP is sexually harassing members of the public and its own staff. The abused persons will have a legitimate claim against BC as well as the RCMP. The claim against BC will be that the province knew or ought to have known that the RCMP engaged in sexual assault and abuse, that BC knew or ought to have known that it was exposing BC residents to these practices when it signed the new contract with the force, and that BC is jointly and severally liable in negligence for the injury and damage caused by this abuse. I don’t mean that any particular allegations will be true, but only a blind and indifferent government would place the public in risk of such harm. Blind, indifferent, or careless because its not the Minister’s personal savings that are at risk but the tax dollars of the public.

The G20 meeting of early November was a signal failure. Harper is correct that the Greek crisis hijacked the agenda. What he didn’t say was that the economic outlook for the world is grim if a minor player such as Greece (about 2% of European business) can shake the European financial system and cause world markets to tremble. This isn’t a slur against Greeks, but an observation that we’re tied together in ways previously unforeseen. Moreover, the political climate seems to be in permanent dyspepsia. Obama can’t persuade his own country to adopt his agenda. Italy and Spain are lined up next to suffer crises. Merkel’s hands are tied by her countrymen’s recollection of Weimar. Sarkozy’s approval ratings are in the basement with an election approaching, and China is a massive stew that seems attractive only if a tight lid is kept on the pot; one false step and the disappointed majority or throttled minorities or empoverished educated urban elite may surprise the west and threaten the Asian tiger. Who would have predicted that the Ming, or Qing for that matter, would fall when they did, or even that Mao would succeed? There were no solutions to unemployment at the G20. Not even progress. The same is true for the crisis of aging populations and pollution’s impact two decades from now that will make public health of 2011 look like a paradise. No progress, no solutions. I’d say the meeting was a failure. The wonder is that capable persons still want to enter the political arena. They aren’t exactly thick on the ground, but they’re there. A miracle suitable for Christmas.

Hot Off the Press: Mensa Calgary has collected two 2011 Alberta Tourism Awards. On October 24, we learned that we won the Friends of Tourism Award, and the Award for Marketing Excellence under $5,000. These arise from our AGM, a glittering celebration which we produced in Banff. Congratulations to everyone who devoted so much time and energy to the award-winning weekend. A job well done. And for those interested in fun the Mensa Way, you have another chance to enjoy the frolics. Come to the Regional Meeting which we’re planning for Banff in 2013!

This is MensaMag, a journal whose goal is to delight the eye and stimulate the brain. Contribute your thoughts in an article or column. Send us your views. Meanwhile, in this issue, let your heart soar to love poetry, read about current events, try a new recipe, and enjoy the ninth episode of our thriller, CampaignScape.

Find our events this month right Here. And talk to us on Facebook .

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have published a paper that argues just 147 companies account for a large chunk of the total economic value of all the transnational companies around the world. Find this document in our Articles section. There’s a Film Review of The Damned Don’t Cry, a portrait of the hypocrisy that shouts Make Money and then whispers But Not If You’re A Woman. We outline the major myths about Afghanistan, Canada’s apparently shameful waste of lives and blood. And we explore our government’s clampdown on scientists speaking in public; it’s OK if the government knows, but research mustn’t escape political control. We also feature a recurrent note in our war on drugs, namely that it’s as futile as prohibition, and we should control and tax rather than criminalize the beast. Whatever the truth, satire would be more effective, but satire seems to demand more time and talent than the pundits possess. Enjoy the fun.

AND FINALLY. HERE ARE HOT SPOTS OF INTELLECTUAL MERIT

Math Challenged SIGHTING:
My daughter and I went through the McDonald’s take-out window and I gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a quarter.
She said, “You gave me too much money.”
I said, “Yes I know, but this way you can just give me a loonie back.”
She sighed and went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request.
I did so, and he handed me back the quarter, and said “We’re sorry but we cannot do that kind of thing.” The clerk then proceeded to give me back 75 cents in change.

Do not confuse the clerks at MacD‘s.

Math Challenged SIGHTING:
We had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a “large” enough motor on the opener.
I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest one Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower.
He shook his head and said, “Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower.”
I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4 and he said,
“NOOO, it‘s not. Four is larger than two…”

We haven’t used Sears repair since. Happened in Ottawa

What???:
I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbour call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: “Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don’t think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore.”

Story from Collingwood, Ontario.

Excuse me???:
My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for “minimal lettuce.”
He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg lettuce…

From Winnipeg, Manitoba .

Where’s the logic?:
I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, and “Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?”
To which I replied, “If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?”
He smiled knowingly and nodded, “That‘s why we ask. “

Happened in Toronto, Ontario.

IDIOT SIGHTING: The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it‘s safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged co-worker of mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red.
Appalled, she responded, “What on earth are blind people doing driving?”

She is a government employee in Montreal, P.Q.

HUH?:
When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it.
We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver’s side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked.
“Hey,” I announced to the technician, “it‘s open!”
His reply, “I know. I already got that side.”

This was at the Ford dealership in Guelph, Ontario

STAY ALERT! They walk among us…

The debate ended with victory for the side upholding the proposition that men are finished. Do you know why, and do you agree with the arguments? After you’ve resolved that social issue to your satisfaction, swing sideways to analyze why we’ve lost in Afghanistan, and how the wool is being pulled successfully over our eyes. Or do we not care? Perhaps we’re like the businessmen who argue that their short-term economic well-being is more important than the future of the planet. Really. If true, this would signify a bizarre end to ethics in human history. Perhaps we don’t care to debate anymore; and who could blame us?

Meanwhile, within this issue, let your heart soar to love poetry, try a new recipe, and enjoy the seventh episode of our thriller, CampaignScape. Read how America has learned nothing from the 1930s; their politicians disbelieve in modern economics just as they reject evolution. They won’t replace and improve the national infrastructure or invest heavily in education. Spending is anathema. The next generation will be as witless as the present one. The new political class wants to cast the country into a depression to increase their chances of winning the White House in 2012. The world has seen that a solemn commitment to pay debts is now, in America, flexible. They have torn up treaties and refused to ratify others. The world has lost faith in the United States probably more than its citizens have lost faith in themselves.

See how the same poll can result in diametrically opposite news stories. Read how economics has gone sadly astray, romanticizing and idealizing and sanitizing the world out of all recognition. Economists have predicted nothing in the real world for decades, including the problems with subprime mortgages and the bursting of the bubble that followed. We shouldn’t trust these people to recommend a restaurant, yet our government still – would you believe it? – still relies on them to decide policies that throw many thousands out of work.

But what’s worse and even simpler to understand, see how the mayor of Toronto lied his way into office. Go ahead, the story is in our fourth feature this month.

All in MensaMag for September 2011.

We begin with photos from our recent AG in Banff (May 20 – 23):

We begin with our volunteer poster:

AG2011WantedPosterMarch2011

We begin with our poster:

AG2011WantedPosterMarch2011

AG2011WantedPosterMarch2011

Banff is even more lovely than Mount Fuji at the seasonal juncture each April and August, when the sun forms a diamond in the volcanic cone. Above you see Fuji viewed from Lake Tanukiko. Come to Banff in May and see sights more lovely than this.

But Mensa isn’t all fun and games. We have principles. Or do we? Below we see a typical sight which our media were happy to broadcast from Egypt recently. If political frustration surged in Canada about greed and lies among our members of parliament, if crowds took to the street urging resignation of our government of the day, would we want images of this kind shown, and – if we did – what side would we be on?

Perhaps Mensa Calgary is a social group. Our bland exterior may reflect the inner workings of the Mensan heart and we must accept what we are. We can, after all, promote social or political causes if we choose, but we needn’t all be Stilton in doing so; there’s nothing wrong with a wholesome Cheddar. If we’re the latter, what exactly do we stand for? Is it fair for critics to direct at us from the height of withering scorn: get a life?

In this issue of MensaMag, we do not ask what to do with habitable planets if we find them circling other stars. Would we be better off losing the data so that we don’t contaminate the planets? We do, however, examine the cause of the financial crisis of the last few years and what – if anything – governments have done to prevent another onslaught. We look, in addition, at the latest research into focussed meditation and brain growth. Are these important topics? Hmmm.

There’s consolation for us in this anecdote about Norbert Wiener, a brilliant mathematician at MIT in the first half of the 20th century (the years that some think began with 1900). Wiener was renowned for being absentminded. When he moved to a new home, his wife wrote the address down for him. Norbert rejected the idea that he’d forget something so important, but he kept the paper. Next day, he used the paper to scrawl some calculations and threw it away. Evening came and he couldn’t remember where he now lived. He walked to his old house and saw a little girl sitting outside. “Pardon me,” he asked, “but do you know where the Wieners have moved?” The little girl said, “That’s OK, Daddy. Mommy sent me to fetch you.”

In this month’s MensaMag: our Courts take deliberate steps to conceal that juries are the community standard, a safety valve. Juries have been empowered since the 17th century to find the most loathsome sadist (or Robin Hood!) not guilty of any crime whatever. The power or right is called jury nullification, and we publish a survey in breadth and depth of this phenomenon. Another feature shows that the big banks are back in unfettered charge of the derivatives market. Talk about putting the foxes in charge of the hen-house. They are scooping vast profits at the expense of the community as a whole, exactly the situation that caused the crash of 2008. And China has solved the problem we haven’t addressed yet – viz creating large numbers of excellently educated youth. But there’s nothing for them to do except congregate in slums and form a pool of potential social unrest. Shades of 1848. What would happen if China’s factory economy, the engine of our consumer society, stumbled or exported even 10% fewer goods? Prices would shoot up in the Walmarts of North America and stock markets would plummet. Repression in China or social order as it is charmingly called is far from an evil; it’s a necessity. Or is it? We choose to forget the workers killed and maimed in wage protests in our country. Perhaps this is a necessary oblivion. Naturally, neither our government nor opposition parties are grappling with such issues. Mssrs Harper and Ignatief have better things to do.

The Alberta government wants closer ties with China, and on the surface this is both sensible and inevitable. Albertans have invested heavily in the Chinese economy; men and material have gone east and assisted with development of China’s oil and gas fields. Many of these projects are managed by joint Canadian-Chinese ventures. The Chinese have borrowed or learned our techniques and there are more similarities than differences in the operation of facilities on our respective continents. Some would say the Chinese acquired our technology through practices frowned on by patent legislation and that they are also skilled at lifting ideas, but these are cavils. Where there is money to be made, Alberta is first through the door. And why not? There is nothing less prone to ideological barriers than a western government with dollar signs in sight.

The Chinese invested heavily in our oil sands during the recent buyers market. It is fair to say that the Chinese are essential for the growth of our oil and gas sector with its many thousands of jobs. Rather than regard the Chinese investment as a hostage to fortune, Alberta has taken the short view that it must please the new rich boy on the block. We shall see cultural ties strengthened and a staggering increase in visits by dignitaries. There will be urgent representations by Alberta to Ottawa in any crisis involving China. Don’t rock the boat, we shall say. China is crucial to Alberta, and Alberta is crucial to Canada’s energy supply. Watch as our diplomatic wiggle room shrinks. There is a quid pro quo in any business relationship, and the Chinese will expect loyalty if not fealty and friendship as part consideration for its heavy wad of cash. It’s a pity that Alberta hasn’t yet realized that the Chinese are embarrassed by their dollar holdings. They bought oil as a depressed asset, which will appreciate enormously, and simultaneously divested themselves of a thick slice of US currency. Good work, Beijing.

The similarities between Alberta and China run deep. Both are one party states. There are multiple currents in the Chinese Communist Party just as there are in Alberta’s PC government. Alberta had the Social Credit Party for decades. The PCs replaced Social Credit, but not much has changed except the name. On the Chinese side, there is no similarity between the party of Mao’s last years and the meritocracy of the 90s and 2000s. In fact it is arguable that China has shown more flexibility in its political and social structure. As for intelligence, the Three-Gorges Dam and China’s pollution are a looming disaster, just like Alberta health care. Neither government is known for foresight.

But free speech, a robust judiciary, freedom of choice; we enjoy these priceless treasures and the Chinese don’t. Aren’t we silly to compare the two systems? This is to ignore the very real climate of fear in Alberta. We know that the Americans are watching and listening to us. CSIS isn’t far behind. Indeed, CSIS doesn’t operate under the restraints that the Americans have installed through Congressional and Senate committees. Even if the machinations of Big Brother cannot be proved, the reign of terror in Alberta is real. My friends admit that they don’t feel free to criticize the Alberta government. There is disdain for Alberta’s health care system in private, but speak out in public and you place a warning label around your neck when you next visit an emergency room or require surgery. Your job is less secure, because your employer won’t get the contracts he wants. Banks are less receptive to making loans if the lender isn’t a friend of the government. Consider the government’s campaign to vilify Raj Sherman. Sherman is the Cabinet Minister and physician who dared to say aloud that the Emperor Has No Clothes, ie that our health care system is a nightmare. The government responded by planting stories that Sherman is mentally unbalanced. It phoned the College of Physicians who in turn made more phone calls. The government’s response, however, is as much threat to the public to keep its mouth shut as it is retribution against Sherman. China has nothing to learn from us about civility and respect for liberty. Alberta even wants to name a constituency after Ralph Klein, a former Premier best known for blowing up a hospital which must now be rebuilt, and presiding over the depletion of our Heritage Fund while the comparable fund in Alaska has flourished. The Chinese government isn’t much more insensitive or incompetent. Rather the reverse. In China, responsible officials are sometimes made to resign for corruption. Strange that this doesn’t happen in Alberta. The reason must be that there is no corruption.

Political debate in Alberta in non-existent. False or unknown though the underlying facts may be, the feeling is that if we utter sensitive words, CSIS and the Americans will open files with our names on the cover. Write a scathing critique about the police on a web site, and you’ll be watched. If CSIS or the Americans want to listen to your conversations, Alberta will oblige. That’s one side of the coin. Flip it over and the situation is worse. Someone who is arrested must have broken the law. Someone who is tasered brought it on themselves. The police do a tough job extremely well. Protestors aren’t defending the civil liberties that make us free; they’re troublemakers. The rare policeman who goes too far is the exception; the protestor who breaks the law is typical. There is an interweaving of the atmospheres in China and Alberta that runs deep. The friendship that Alberta wants isn’t just the product of economic ties. This isn’t a pact with the devil. This is the beginning of a rapprochement that was made in heaven, between a repressive regime in China that wants more wealth while it clings to power and…well…the same thing over here.

Check out our Facebook group, an Update of plans for our May Banff gathering, and the LocSec’s December message. The links are listed in the right margin of this Newsletter.

Our puzzles this month amount to a game and the giving of bread to starving children. How to win a game of lines and dots, is the first question. The second is which child will find more crust on his slice of bread.

The Articles contain a look at economic growth. How predictable is it, and what are the anatomy and physiology of this animal? We may be spending far too much time thinking about the beast and its dreadful dark cousins, recession and depression. If even the experts can’t say what is happening, perhaps we should just keep our heads down, invoke the deities that attract us most, and enjoy the day.

Susan Joyal has prepared a survey of our members and set out the conclusions in brilliant format. What do you believe are the reasonable inferences that can be drawn?

Most Americans are against the death penalty. This shocking result emerged from a respectable poll, and the best conclusions were published in Le Monde. On the assumption that we can scrape together enough savvy to grasp the main points of the article, we publish it here.

And many of us appreciate a glass of Champagne now and then. Well, a few bottles were recently raised from the seabed after 185 years. They taste fine, better than fine. For more information, see Feature 4.

December’s Update on the May 2011 Extravaganza is as follows:
1. Registration Statistics
a. 18 paid up registrants
b. 60 room nights booked

Remember that AG registration increases from $149 to $169 on January 1, 2011. Please also note it costs nothing to book your hotel room nights. The hotel will ask for credit card details to reserve your room. You do not have to pay the hotel until you check out in May 2011.

2. Hotel
A couple of interesting developments have occurred here. We have increased our room night commitment from 150 room nights to 200 room nights given the strong interest shown in our event.

The most interesting development is that the hotel had to withdraw its offer of the Vice Regal Suite and Wing. The reason is special guests will be sharing the hotel who require the extra security afforded in the Vice Regal Wing. My spidey-sense is telling me this may be the venue for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s honeymoon. The royal wedding is slated for April 29 so it is not out of the realm of possibilities that they would be in Banff 3 weeks later. What a coup if our royalty theme AG has attracted the future king and queen of England. If my spidey-sense is a Mensa delusion, we can create a challenge where our guests have to discover the identity of the VIP in the Vice Regal Wing.

3. Hospitality
Now for the good news…. To compensate for reneging on giving us the Vice Regal Suite for Hospitality the hotel benevolently offered to allow us to serve our own food and drinks in the Ivor Petrak Room which was going to serve as our Games Room and “dry” hospitality and meet up room. This is an absolute bonus because the Ivor Petrak room is located on the Mezzanine Level of the hotel adjacent to the elevators, next to Grapes wine bar, close to all our program venues and will have no after-hours noise restrictions.

Ginny Vassal is back in town and has started her Hospitality planning process already. Leslie Forward has offered to be night time Hospitality host bringing a 20-something sensibility to the nighttime Hospitalty Suite highjinks.

4. Program
Major progress has occurred in programming presenters for the AG. See some presenters on our AG website: http://www.mensa2011ag.ca/presenters.html
Presenters who have confirmed their participation but are not yet listed on our website are:

a. Jean-Yves St. Denis – Political Climate Behind the Rwandan Genocide
Former aide-de-camp to General Romeo Dallaire in Rwanda Jean-Yves witnessed the atrocities in Rwanda and gives a fascinating insider’s account of the events leading up to the genocide. Still suffering the effects of post traumatic stress disorder Jean-Yves would also like to participate in a forum to discuss PTSD. Jean-Yves has yet to deliver his official profile for our website.

b. Raihan Khan – A Former Muslim’s Views on Islam
Our very own Raihan Khan recently had his views on Afghanis published in the New York Times. Raihan is writing a book on the subject and will share his views with us in Banff.

c. Dan Fraser – How Hypnotism Really Works
Dan Fraser is a passionate speaker, trainer and mental skills coach. He is a Certified Consulting Hypnotist and Sports Hypnotist with the National Guild of Hypnotists and is trained in Guided Imagery and Verbal Trauma Control. As an adventure racer and Ironman triathlete, Dan has seen great success in harnessing the power of the mind to improve athletic performance. As a full time law enforcement trainer, he uses these skills to give police officers the mental edge in winning violent encounters. Dan is currently the President of the Hypnosis Society of Alberta.

d. Vicki Herd – A Personal Genographic Journey
Since the Dearborn AG where I heard about National Geographic’s Genographic Project I have purchased 6 DNA kits. I have traced my Mitochondrial DNA back 150,000 years and discovered my maternal ancestor’s migratory route out of Africa. I have done the same for my son and boyfriend’s paternal ancestry. All 3 results are stunningly different with 3 distinct migratory patterns which all jive with our understanding of the locations of our ancestors a few generations back. I am taking 3 DNA kits to Australia and plan to trace my father’s paternal and maternal DNA as well as my step-daughter’s maternal DNA. My step-daughter’s mother is 75% Chinese and 25% Polynesian so it should provide a diverging migratory pattern. My talk will centre on the impact the DNA results have on my family’s view of their place in the world and of their ancestors.

Yet to be confirmed presenters are:

e. Jack Major – A Retired Supreme Court Justice
f. Bob Herold – Afghanistan Veteran to talk about the conflict in Afghanistan
g. Patricia Paterson – Learning Leader from the Gifted and Talented Education Program at Queen Elizabeth High School along with an exceptionally gifted student
h. Ted Bain/Holly Bain – Everything to Do With Cats
Former Mensa Calgary members Ted and Holly have been running A Purrfect Place, a 5-star state of the art cattery, successfully for more than 10 years making them cat (and cat owner) experts.

5. Entertainment
Serendipity plays a large part in organizing successful events only when one’s radar is constantly scanning for AG relevant activities. I may have accessed the “almost free” services of a big band to play for us in Banff. A member from Lethbridge is playing tenor sax with a Calgary-based big band.

6. Other Planning Activities
Our Committee members should be prepared to give an update on their planning processes in early January. We want everything nailed down by the end of February so the Committee has 3 months to fill any gaps in its programming and activities.

I would like to wish a happy holiday season to all.

Vicki Herd

We have a new swathe of Directors, whose names and addresses appear inside these pages. No excuse now not to send your comments to those who can make changes quickly.

The Events page (below) lists our monthly coffees, movies, dinners and other occasions. Thank you Rob for your excellent work. Readers can run their mouse over the indicated word on the Events page and – voila – our calendar appears.

This month we present puzzles that are comparatively easy, or so they seem. Cast your eye over them, then click the archives for past issues and try your luck at the single malt variety. They’re the real thing. The taste is smooth, the gratification stellar.

As to Features, we attracted the attention last month of our friends in Florida who so ably promote the sales of orange juice. We reprint their comment on our October OJ article. Not much is apropos, but I might be wrong, and to decide for yourself is the challenge. Read the October issue for the original piece.

Our second Feature explains why democracy in North America has reached a crisis point. There may not be much time to rescue this much-cherished form of government. If only there were a place to lay bets on the question. It has always baffled students why the Romans switched from a democracy of sorts to dictatorship, and such a smooth transition it was. Perhaps we’ll find out why and how from a contemporary guise.

We’ve heard that work colleagues and friends can break into our PCs, but most of us haven’t troubled to learn the methods. We’re too trusting by far. Perhaps. Here are three easy techniques to pry your way into the heart of your neighbour’s life. Are we going to investigate and follow the easy directions, or will we resist?

Another Feature this month explores the gap between rich and poor in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, using as tentative example a 27-storey house built by the richest of the rich. Calgary unashamedly expounds the merit of seeking one’s own wealth, an approach which seems to be our creed. Well, why not? One day we may experience the same divisions as India, but it hardly seems likely. Isn’t it fun meanwhile to read about how the other half lives?

Penultimately, we see how a certain soft drug could return 17 billion dollars to the American economy if it were legalized. Whatever the truth of this preposterous allegation, we’d never follow the Americans down this path. Far too many politicians have pinned their colours to the mast, announcing the evils of the demon hemp. And we know how principled our politicians are.

And an interview with Arianna Huffington makes sad reading about the politics and economy of our neighbour to the south. Insofar as we follow in their footsteps, our decline and fall are prefigured in the analysis of this arresting figure, whose mind is not to be easily discounted.