Jezebel 
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New York, 11:45 PM
Thu Nov 12
67 posts in the last 24 hours
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04/14/09
04/13/09
Though just after I was diagnosed with dyslexia as a kid, I discovered dyslexia was an anagram for 'daily sex' (tehee)... but damn 8th grade teacher subjected me to a whole bunch of scary IQ/word tests after that, which I failed. Principal threatened to hold me back (though I did well in school), and thank god my mother had the sense to transfer me out asap. went to boarding school, ended up at Harvard, now a doctor, so fuck IQ tests! I'm fine now, but I still confuse simulate and stimulate in front of my patients :)
04/13/09
04/13/09
Aaaaaaand that's the attitude that has so many of the people on this board slamming Mensa, Dr. Jezebel didn't say a single disparaging thing about Mensa, except to talk about the word, and go on to talk about his/her own experiences with dyslexia and IQ tests.
I can see why you feel defensive, what with some of the comments here being completely inane. I am not in Mensa, but I also don't see any reason to assault the organization. That said, maybe you should reserve your "5 years of Latin" snark for someone who is Actually Attacking the organization you hold so dear.
04/14/09
@RedVelvetCake: I don't know what my IQ is, but I can comfortably assure you that I am most definitely not clever enough to join Mensa. I never took Latin. I'm terrible at maths. Cryptic crossword puzzles enrage and confuzzle me. But I do have one thing going for me: I know when it's time to keep quiet and allow my arguments speak for themselves.
@yousername: Thanks, friend. I raise my cup of tea to your eloquence. And my biscuit. It's a good biscuit, too: a dark chocolate Hobnob. Dead posh.
04/14/09
04/13/09
04/13/09
Instead of intelligence, it tests the individual's "intelligence quotient," which really seems to be mostly a predictor of the individual's ability to do well in school, as well as standardized tests such as the SAT. My personal, completely biased opinion is that it seems to be a test whose results generally predict the individual's propensity to perform well on tests.
Or, basically, it's a largely useless thing that is highly overrated in our society.
Based upon all this, I figure that Marilyn Vos Savant has, at most, an obligation to do well on tests. I'm not entirely sure what potential good she could do humanity with that, but there you go.
04/13/09
04/13/09
"How do you know he's a king?"
"Cause he hasn't got shit all over him".
04/13/09
Ah, that organization gives me the giggles every time.
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04/13/09
I got tested when I moved in second grade, and my mother hasn't ever told me the result. I just got put in the gifted program immediately. But you know, I could have an IQ of 75. I don't know.
Who knows--I'm 27 and a server and don't have my BA; BF tested at 154 and he's a bartender.
04/13/09
People with IQ's of 75 are not likely to be computer savvy enough to get to Jezzie and enjoy it. Most computer chat people are high scorers in language and we probably have scorers in math from medium to high.
My husband's IQ is in your BF's range. There are concepts that he can describe to me that beyond a certain point I can't follow. He's a high scorer in Math as well. He has skills in music as well. I am a visual arts type and have intuitions that he doesn't get.
As a result we LOVE to talk to one another.
04/13/09
I was a rough child, but I was fairly clever. I could put together KNEX figures in record time and I came up with brilliant plans on getting cookies from the cookie jar. But because I had behavioral problems and a slight learning disability, it completely shadowed my potential.
A lot of smart people have social issues, not because they're "geeks", but because they might have social issues that have been overlooked. But that doesn't mean smart people can't have normal, productive lives. They just need more support and understanding from people.
04/13/09
It was ok I guess. (It was nice to meet more people to play Go with.)
I'm brilliant and everyone seems to like me just fine. I try hard at whatever I'm doing. Being smart is never a curse but it's hardly the blessing people make it out to be. Life is just as hard, just in different ways.
And who says answering people's questions and having breakfast with the inventor of the artificial heart isn't a great achievement? In fact it's like she's a diplomat for eggheads everywhere. And that seems pretty good to me.
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Being brilliant doesn't make you any more likely to have common sense, though. (says the genius who leaves the oven on regularly, and who can't figure out how to hook up the DVD/cable/VCR/TV combo without help)
04/13/09
04/13/09
I hated him when I first met him, because I thought he was an arrogant douche. It took two months of being forced to hang out through odd circumstances that helped me see that he wasn't. But I never would have given him that chance had I not been basically forced to. A lot of these "smart" people who blame their lack of friends on how smart they are really just don't know how to communicate with people.
When we were kids, my sister and I made a graph. On the x-axis was intelligence. On the y-axis was people skills. It was kindof a bell curve, but we argued over that :D My father is a very book-smart kind of guy, but he sucks at understanding people and recently has started bitching about how he'll never get women. It makes me mad. Also, he just doesn't listen whatsoever and will interrupt you to tell you you're wrong. ARGH.
Intelligence in IQ doesn't measure a person's drive or will to succeed. It measures how well you retain information and respond to questions and measures basic functions, but it doesn't account for personality or anything like that.