Redeeming TV - Another View

By Mike Johnson

We all know what a complete waste of time TV is for us smart Mensans, right? There’s Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones, Howard Stern … Some of us even brag of not having a TV set.

Wrong! I believe TV to be an incredibly powerful intellectual resource – if viewed selectively. Just for starters look at PBS. Browsing through my KAET program magazines I’m reminded of Nova, Frontline, Masterpiece Theater, The Three Tenors, History of the Internet, Andrea Bocelli in Concert, Journey to Mars, Venus, Science Odyssey, Fermat’s Last Theorem, Opera (in 10 minutes), Victor Borge, Einstein, Feynman, Les Mis, Cats ... the list goes on. And this is just PBS; those with cable find more wonders on the Discovery, History and other channels.

With all the brain power of Mensa it seemed to me that it might be fun to view and review some of these programs together so we’re going to try a new SIG – the TV VIEWS SIG.

Our first meeting will be at Jerry Corbin’s house on January 14; Frontline’s "Washington’s Other Scandal" about the selling of the presidency. Jerry will also demonstrate the backup PBS gives via the Internet; who’s paying for your representatives?

Come and view and give us your views. Non Mensans welcomed too. See the calendar for details.

Mike Johnson (956-0180), E-mail mikejohnson@home.com

MENSA INVESTMENT TYPHOONS (MITs) SIG - ANOTHER NEW MENSA EVENT

Want to get rich? A small group of us, the PITs - Phoenix Investment Typhoons (hot air going round in circles), have been meeting to discuss stock market investing from home. We’ve looked at Day trading, Options trading, on-line brokers, Cox cable Internet, real-time data services and more. We decided to broaden it to any type of investing. The intent is NOT to pool our finances, but to just to have informal monthly meetings to exchange ideas and experiences. Since the occasional Mensan can sometimes dominate such meetings we will give members about 10 minutes each to present their views on any topic of their choice. First meeting will be at the Cork and Cleaver at 6 p.m. on Monday January 4^th. Non Mensans are welcomed too.

Mike Johnson (956-0180), E-mail mikejohnson@home.com