COMensarations
Monday, April 02, 2007
The 2008 AG
Imagery, anyone?
We have an opportunity to develop and print our own signage, banners and posters for this activity.
To lift a line from Ghostbusters; “We have the tools. We have the skill.” And indeed we do.
We’ve got a number of talented people in the group. We’ve access to a number of tools; computers, software, printers.
I know a number of us have talent with respect to graphic design. Others are talented with cameras. Some of us, including myself, have powerful computers and graphic software, e.g., PhotoShop and Illustrator. Then again, we’ve got access to a large-format (44” width) printer that is capable of printing for outside use, as well as inside.
Why shouldn’t we avail ourselves of all of this and create our own marketing program?
Therefore, I solicit our fellow Ms to contribute to the development of the logos, signage and other advertising to support the coming event. Just comment here on what you think would be a good motif and/or what you could contribute to this effort.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Planning a Conference?
There’s a new item to consider in the negotiations with the hosting venue.
Here is an interesting report on how hotels are trying to rip-off we high-flying hi-tech laptop owners while attending conferences in their facilities.
Consider the possibility of having to spend, now get this....$175 for wifi access during the course of the conference. It actually happened. And if Denver Mensa IS going to host the 2008 Annual Gathering, we need to be aware of that aspect of the conference facilities.
Yeah. I know we got Latter-Day Luddites amongst us. But some of us are rather computer savvy.
What should we do about this?
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
The 2008 Mile High AG
A message from National.
Got an e-mail message from Russ Bakke, Chairman of American Mensa Limited, about the proposed 2008 AG in Denver.
Here’s the text of the e-mail.....
Monday, July 17, 2006
Temper Tantrums In Denver Mensa
Mario resigns! So what else is new?
In a fit of pique Mario de Benedittis has resigned his position as Local Secretary of the Denver Chapter of Mensa.
Why? Well. Just because he feels like it. And he feels like it because he’s Mario de Benedittis. That’s why.
What caused this sudden decision? Because someone wanted to throw a big party and didn’t ask his permission. Yes. that ‘someone’ is American Mensa Limited. And the party is the 2008 Annual Gathering. And, for some strange reason—yet to be fully understood—Mario seems to have been left out of the ‘decision process’.
There’s a LOT that isn’t known on how this all came about. I trust we’ll find out in due time. We’ve got a couple of years before this thing is to take place. That is IF it takes place. But I feel there is no need for people to go jumping out of 15th story windows over it.....yet.
In the meantime, it’s ALL ABOUT MARIO!
Here’s my fisking of a letter he sent me after I suggested he calm down.....
Friday, May 05, 2006
Outrageous!
Has the Denver Mensa LocSec flipped his lid?
The latest e-mail on the Denver Mensa listserv seems to be over the top and into the proverbial deep-end.
Of late, we’ve noticed a flurry of traffic on the listserv that indicated that all was not well in the ‘state of Denver Mensa’. This included the recent resignation of the Editor and the announcement that the RVC is planning on a little ‘visit’. However, those were mere politics compared to the message sent out by the LocSec this morning....
Friday, November 11, 2005
Tempests, Teapots and Denver Mensa — 051111
The Denver Mensa kerfuffle continues.
And, as always, the story grows in the telling.
Well. It WAS a three way race for the position of LocSec; Doug Smith, Mario De Benedittis and Sarah Welborn.
But, yesterday, Sarah dropped out of the race.
Not so much of a problem, but it seems that some people who voted for Sarah had already mailed in their ballots; well ahead of the deadline. Now they want to vote for someone other than Sarah.
Mario thinks that anyone who has already voted should not be allowed to change their ballot.
Doug reports that there is nothing in the by-laws that addresses this situation. He thinks that being so, the Election Committee should decide the issue.
His statement, if correct—I haven’t reviewed the by-laws since that long reading of them at an ExComm meeting in 2002—makes good sense to me. I don’t recall there being anything in there that deals with the situation either; if they had not been changed. There is a mechanism that the Election Committee could establish to deal with this sort of situation. And the mechanism could be incorporated into the by-laws.
Who knew that being on the Election Committee could be so ‘interesting’?
What I’m intrigued with is the difference in approach that the two candidates for LocSec are espousing. One is arbitrary. The other is (1) working within the system, i.e., observing the Rule of Law, and (2) flexible, allowing the system to do what it is supposed to do.
That IS significant and, I think, indicative of how they would manage the chapter’s business. Considering that participation is strictly voluntary and most of us are something in the way of being totally free thinkers and considerably independent, the decision of who is going to be LocSec could have serious ramifications on the next years activities.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Jokers and Riddlers
On could think that just simply destroying Denver Mensa would be a bad thing in the first place. But someone thinks there are scenarios that are far worse.
Another Denver Mensan writes....
I like the Joker analogy, but I find Mario to be a bit more like the Riddler, as his impulsive, in your face nature will eventually be his downfall. Like Edward Nigma, Mario wishes to harness all the mental energy of Denver Mensa to make it his very own. He probably even has some sort of machine that will suck the intelligence out of the members. After all, he would have to have some sort of intelligence sucking machine in order to get Denver Mensans to support him for LocSec.
I know some people who have joined Isolated M as a result of what has been going on in Denver Mensa of late.
I disagree with that particular tactic. It always results in defeat. Better to BE than not to be. Again, this points to issues I have, personally, with apathy. I loath it. And I think it is essential for people to get involved in something. What was it some wag said...
All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.
The same applies at all levels of life; family, school, city, county, state, federal, fraternal, associative. It makes no difference. As Scientologists know, evil people will be attracted to the top of any organization. And, once there, corrupt it to their own purposes. Not the purposes of the organization as a whole.
So, what is Mario? Joker? Who would destroy the organization? Or Riddler? Who would make it into an appendage of his own will?
Hard to say. I guess the key indicator here would be if Mario has been making sounds like he’d run for Regional Vice Chair or a place at the national level. Not having talked with him of late, I can’t tell. Maybe someone could provide some additional information.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Denver Mensa Imitates the Movies….
Welcome to Gotham City of the Front Range.
Heck. The Library looks like it was inspired by the city overview set.
I should not have watched Batman, the movie, the other night.
Here comes Mario, with his e-mail campaign as to why HE should be LocSec for Denver Mensa in ‘06.
1) Which one of the three candidates organized this years election committee?
2) Which one of the three candidate has proactively worked, and is continuing to work, to solve any election related problems?
3) Which two candidates have sat on their respective lazy asses and not done one damn thing to facilitate this election?
4) Which candidate is Arrogant!! ?
5) Which current LocSec has exhibited a complete lack of leadership?
(Hint: He!! has not called for a single ExComm Meeting this year. It was me, the Publicity Officer, who is having to call next months ExComm Meeting.)
6) Which candidate is completely whacked out and doesn’t have a clue? (At least no one can say that Mensa discriminates against the handicapped.)
I look forward to meeting with you on Sunday and also look forward to working with you. By the way, will your tall, stunningly beautiful, super model girlfriend be joining us?
—E-mail from Mario, the other day.
I’m having flashbacks to the Joker’s television announcement of the parade, where he derides Batman.
My personal experiences with Mario have determined he is highly intelligent, energetic and mercurial. Just like the Joker. Look at Joker. Has a girl and kills her. Has a Number 1 Guy, his good right hand hit-man. And, in a moment of pique, kills him too. Not that Bill had done anything wrong, himself. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time; vicinity of the Joker.
Then there’s the business of projection.
In the movie, Joker is continually projecting on Batman the bad traits he has himself. Here we seem to have Mario doing essentially the same, e.g., “arrogant”, “wacked out”, “clueless”.
And what happens next? We have Mario sending signals out about a ‘stunningly beautiful, super model girlfriend’. Again, we see the Joker parallel. Actually Joker had a girl, but as I mentioned, he killed her and was going after Kim Bassinger, who was interested in Batman’s alter-ego, Bruce Wayne.
Talk about interesting parallels. I wonder how many television sets Mario has destroyed. Hopefully, Mario does not have a degree in chemistry.
Halloween is just a few days away. I wonder what sort of costume Mario has in mind for this year.
ADDITIONALLY....
Monday, October 17, 2005
A Denver Mensan Comments….
Someone from Denver writes, saying…
I wonder if it has dawned on anyone that since Mario has declared himself the “leader”, by both his own choice and by default, of Denver Mensa, that he may in reality be one of the root causes of apathy in the rest of the group. He is the reason that people like myself have chosen not to become more involved, and the more he declares himself to be the leadership of the group, the less many will become involved. He even declares his discussion group to be the “unofficial” discussion group for Denver Mensa, and moderates the group based upon his whim and his moods. There seems to be a significantly negative correlation between the fact that our chapter membership grows each month (according to the Matrix), and the fact that fewer people become involved in the chapter’s activities and meetings. One would think that if more people are joining, that more people would become involved. Just food for thought.
Mario has the advantage of being the only one who seems to be interested in doing the job. His motivations for this are unknown to me. I do remember him as being energetic. That’s a plus. However, I also remember him as being mercurial, and that could well be a minus. I recall when I was LocSec and he was Treasurer, he walked into a Mut Fodle event at our house in Englewood, put down a brief case containing all the Treasurer’s information, said, “I don’t like you,” to me, quit and walked out. I would not be surprised if he were to do the same in this position as LocSec. The Assistant LocSec would be well advised to be prepared to pick-up the reins at the drop of a similar hat.
Whether or not Mario’s coup d’etat is the reason for people’s apathy is subject to considerable discussion. I’d say it is not so much a result as it is a contributor. As I said, apathy was a growing problem some years ago.
Getting ‘involved’ in Denver Mensa does not necessitate getting involved with Mario. The life of Denver Mensa was found its SIGs. Not in its ExComm. If one wants to ‘get involved’ all one needs do is go to a SIG. If there’s no SIG that deals with what one is interested in doing, start a SIG to do it. It’s as simple as that, and, of course, publishing what you SIG is going to be doing, when and where in the Matrix.
Someone in my Men’s Group at church, in Denver, sent me an article that I think touches very close to this matter; apathy. Not only that, but to life in general and how getting ‘stuck’ in our ways has a detremental impact on our life, including how long we ‘live’. I think I’ll address that come tomorrow, or the day after. Stay tuned....
Sunday, October 16, 2005
The Demise of Denver Mensa
Thinks are rotten in the chapter of Denver.—Hamlet (paraphrased)
I see that Mario is the only candidate for the position of LocSec for Denver Mensa. That’s interesting. Not in the idea that Mario is incompetent. Rather, it is interesting in light of the fact that no one other than Mario is interested in holding the position, not to mention a lack of interest in others holding things together. It apparently is to the point that Mario suggests doing away with the election process, as only he and some others are willing to do the jobs necessary to keep the operation going; one per office.
And it’s sad too. I was commenting to a fellow M from Denver a few weeks ago, when it was mentioned that thinks were going downhill up in Denver, that apathy was the root cause of the problem. I had published an issue of Matrix based on the concept of Apathy back while the editor of the monthly ‘newsletter’ there. The cover depicted an angel weeping, its head on a stone, face covered by its arms.
Alva has mentioned, many times, his concerns for young people. He would start up a theater operation and the young folk would show up expecting to be entertained. Not having a clue that it was expected of them to work in order to entertain other people.
This business is particularly interesting as I suspect that this is the way of empire. A lot of people, due to necessity, build up an organization, be it a company, a community, a nation. Then when things are working smoothly, their follow-ons, i.e., grand children, think everything is fine, just as it is. So they figure that society owes THEM everything. They have no concept of the necessity to work in order to maintain the status quo. Not to mention working harder, in order to improve things. And therein begins the back-slide into oblivion.
We seem to be watching this sort of back-sliding with regards to Denver Mensa, if not American Mensa, as a whole.
The question becomes, how does one reverse the process?