MWM's 2012 RG is On!

Hear ye, hear ye! Matrix 4: A Renaissance Affair is going to be taking place at the now-familiar Hyatt Dulles hotel, site of the recent 2011 RG (A Capital Time) and the upcoming 2012 Mind Games (r) taking place April 20-22, 2012. (http://mindgames.us.mensa.org) The 2012 RG will be taking place May 18-20, 2012.

Registration rates start at $79, reduced rates for minors. Room rates (double or king) are $99/night (single/double/triple/quad). See the January issue of CapM for the initial article by co-chairs Herb Guggenheim and Leslie Carroll, and the registration form. We've got PLENTY of space for lots of programs, Hospitality, and the games room. And, remember, along with plenty of games from members' personal collections, we will have a copy of all of the games that were played at 2012 Mind Games, many of which may be hard to find.

Come join us for what will be a great time!

Marbles: The Brain Store's post-testing Mensa Shopping Event

About a month ago, I held our very first testing session at the Marbles store in Montgomery Mall. (Our next such session is Sun., Feb. 19, 2012.) Marbles very generously offered to hold a Mensa Shopping Event during the first two hours after the conclusion of the test session, during which Marbles would give us 15% of their sales from the event. As the arrangements for the session (and, hence, the shopping event) was very much last-minute, we had precious little time to spread the word to get people to the store.

That said, though, the store's sales during that time period amounted to over $620, and MWM wound up getting over $90 from the whole deal. And I think that money will likely be put towards our scholarship fund. Way to go, everyone, who helped make this possible.

AML lawsuit

The lawsuit documents from the plaintiff's side have been secured and are posted in a few Yahoo groups (m-grapevine, M-Pol, and the Region 2 group, at least). As suspected by most, Barry Levine filed the suit; he is seeking reinstatement, a public (within Mensa context) apology, and attorney's fees.

Let's Get George Takei to Join In

Rob Salkin sent an invite on Facebook to George Takei to come to the 2012 AG. We're looking to get as many people adding posts to the thread and "Liking" it as possible. I've also added the idea of him coming to Mind Games (if he'd rather just be "another" participant)

If you're on FB, cross-post the thread to your Wall, "Like" the original, and add a comment to the original, encouraging others to do likewise. Let's see what this Facebook can accomplish.

https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei/posts/252729901457441?refid=52

Another AML lawsuit - sigh

Well, apparently there's another lawsuit. This time, AML is being sued for reinstatement of membership by a former (presumably expelled) member. However, AMC has decided, in its infinite lack of wisdom (IMO), to not state the name of the person who filed the case, what the jurisdiction is where the case was filed, or where we might be able to locate this typically public information.

I do not understand what the problem would be with giving any of the above facts. It is not admitting any guilt, not taking any position on the case or the merits thereof, nothing that could be used against AML in the court case itself. It would merely be stating the basic fact of what was alleged and by whom, and what our publicly filed response to the suit is.

I tried to find a record of it online myself and was unable to find any record where AML was the defendant in New York State, Tarrant County (where the National Office is in Texas), DeKalb or Fulton County (where Atlanta, GA is, former chapter of Barry Levine), Hawaii (former chapter of Eddie Conway), or Minnesota (a former webmaster out there, whose name escapes me at the moment). I don't know how long it takes for court filings in any of those areas to be placed online. Nor, obviously, do I know if I'm really even looking in the right places.

If someone has a Westlaw or LexisNexis account, it should be much easier to do a quick search rather than the hunt and peck method that is at my disposal.