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MarleysGh0st
- Posts: 27965
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:55 am
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#1
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by MarleysGh0st » Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:39 pm
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Earlier discussions about this show mentioned that they were searching specifically for members of Mensa, and we got to see one of the contestants chosen from that search. (I wonder if there will be any others?) And the guy did pretty well, although he made the rational decision not to gamble, sight unseen, on the $1 million question, so he still had to make the "I am not smarter than a 5th grader" confession.
Which isn't hard to do, for $500K.
But how many 5th graders could even find Kazakhstan on a map, much less know that it now has the longest border with Russia?
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silvercamaro
- Dog's Best Friend
- Posts: 9608
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#2
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by silvercamaro » Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:45 pm
I'm rather sad that Kazoo hasn't found us to let us know her opinion of the contestant.
If (as I sometimes suspected) she never read anybody else's posts, she may not even have known that the old board was going down.
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MarleysGh0st
- Posts: 27965
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:55 am
- Location: Elsewhere
#3
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by MarleysGh0st » Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:57 pm
silvercamaro wrote:I'm rather sad that Kazoo hasn't found us to let us know her opinion of the contestant.
If (as I sometimes suspected) she never read anybody else's posts, she may not even have known that the old board was going down.
If we settle on this place as our new home, we'll need to organize an effort to round up everyone who's been left behind. Beast's standings post will make an excellent list of everyone who's been at all active over the past three years.
Does anyone have an e-mail address for Kazoo? If so, pass the word to her!
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earendel
- Posts: 13831
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:25 am
- Location: mired in the bureaucracy
#4
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by earendel » Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:33 am
MarleysGh0st wrote:Earlier discussions about this show mentioned that they were searching specifically for members of Mensa, and we got to see one of the contestants chosen from that search. (I wonder if there will be any others?) And the guy did pretty well, although he made the rational decision not to gamble, sight unseen, on the $1 million question, so he still had to make the "I am not smarter than a 5th grader" confession.
Which isn't hard to do, for $500K.
But how many 5th graders could even find Kazakhstan on a map, much less know that it now has the longest border with Russia?
My reaction was this: What makes anyone think that a MENSA member is better at trivia than anyone else? MENSA is based on problem-solving, not on remembering arcane facts. I must also say that the contestant (whose name I can't remember) looked familiar for some reason, but I haven't been able to figure out where I might have seen him before.
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MarleysGh0st
- Posts: 27965
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:55 am
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#5
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by MarleysGh0st » Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:38 am
earendel wrote: My reaction was this: What makes anyone think that a MENSA member is better at trivia than anyone else? MENSA is based on problem-solving, not on remembering arcane facts.
Don't try using logic on a show that judges ability to answer obscure questions from anywhere in a text book as being "smarter than a 5th grader". What TPTB loved was that Mensa is a well-known society for high IQ people, so it's the perfect hook to be shot down on the show.
A society where 6 million Americans are eligible by definition--some exclusivity!

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SportsFan68
- No Scritches!!!
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- Location: God's Country
#6
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by SportsFan68 » Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:20 pm
silvercamaro wrote:I'm rather sad that Kazoo hasn't found us to let us know her opinion of the contestant.
If (as I sometimes suspected) she never read anybody else's posts, she may not even have known that the old board was going down.
Nothing would please me more around here than to have Kazoo show up.
I think she may have read the posts only in the threads she posted in. She did answer me once when I asked her where she was headed out West to visit friends. I was hoping it would be an easy drive and that she would agree to meet me at least for coffee, but the drive would have been far from easy. It would have been an easy airplane ride, although probably pretty spendy.
-- In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller
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MarleysGh0st
- Posts: 27965
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:55 am
- Location: Elsewhere
#7
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by MarleysGh0st » Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:14 am
SportsFan68 wrote: Nothing would please me more around here than to have Kazoo show up.
Has anyone been in touch with her since the move? Does anyone have an e-mail address?
Thanks to google, there's an organizational snail mail address that might get a letter to her, but that'd be a roundabout way of trying to make contact.