The Mensa Bulletin

Out of darkness comes hope, and out of hope comes an unexpected passion and renewed sense of life ... if he can keep himself alive long enough to enjoy it. Rocket scientist/Star Trek writer/safari warrior/author Chester L. Richards asks: Is nature out to kill us? Maybe not. But someone is.

The Mensa Honor Society launched in 2013, the brainchild of then-Gifted Youth Specialist Lisa Van Gemert, to recognize Young Mensans ages 10 to 18 who use their intelligence to benefit humanity and encourage other YM’s to do the same.

In 1976, American Mensa established the first Special Interest Group for LGBTQ+ Mensans. Founded as GaySIG and later called Gay & Lesbian SIG, we are now named QueerSIG. This latest name change marks a critical inflection point toward greater inclusion of American Mensa’s LGBTQ+ members.

We might not be living in the Matrix, but that doesn’t make you real. If an advanced civilization could program our reality, could it not also make a physical model?

I remember Mom often retelling her biggest travel adventure. One time, she took an overnight train from Buffalo to Cleveland. Her most memorable tale from that journey was being able to sleep using her suitcase for a pillow. I often think of her when I am about to fall asleep on an intercontinental flight and say to myself, “Yes, Mom, we do travel well.”
 

Garth had always been proud of his cleverness in fooling people. In his teenage days, he had shoplifted frequently and gotten away with it. He had bragged to his friends about it. That was in another place and time. Now he was on to bigger and better things.

In the 1660s, I would have been burned at the stake for being a witch. In the 1760s, I would have been committed to Bedlam. In the 1860s, I would have been consigned to the role of old maid housekeeper (unpaid) for a male relation in need of domestic help. Mercifully, I grew up in the 1960s.

For 60 years, NASA's crawlers have rolled around their space vehicle cargo like a human standing on a short legged coffee table supported by four giant tortoises.

Dolph and his daughter-in-law were not always successful in their puzzling endeavors, including completing the Mensa Bulletin’s Brain Games, but the passion connected them and made him feel home in Mensa.

The space industry executive who paid his way aboard a Blue Origin flight wants to get others living and working in space and has plans to get us there.