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| I sort of knew this guy. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 7 2015, 07:03 PM (659 Views) | |
| Horace | Mar 7 2015, 07:03 PM Post #1 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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It may be none of my business to post this, but forgive me. Or not. In the late 90s I suffered a concussion, and got pretty foggy for a while. During that time I became interested in how the brain might work, and I did some web searching. I found a forum called the BrainBoard3 which was ostensibly about discussion of cognition and IQ and that sort of thing. I think it might have had around 20 regular posters, all of whom were interesting. It was the sort of place where personalities came through; not just academic stuff. I managed to fit in. It was my introduction to message boards. Around that time a guy (link) decided to start a high IQ society to rival and better Mensa, and to achieve some of the higher goals one might expect of the gifted. He himself was extraordinarily gifted, and had made several million dollars on Wall Street by his mid 20s. He apparently found the work less than satisfying and "retired" in his late 20s to concentrate on his IQ society, which he called the New York High IQ Society. With a small-world internet at the time, his IQ society forum eventually met BrainBoard3. And a good ol' fashioned rivalry ensued. Think TNCR vs WTF. Same sort of thing. The New York High IQ Society eventually grew into the International High IQ Society. It charged membership; couldn't see the forums anymore without paying. And of course it had its nominal entrance requirement, which anybody, if motivated, could pass. You could take the tests as many times as you wanted, and you didn't have to pay until you passed. Eventually the BrainBoard3 died off, and IHIQS survived as a business and message board. They called it a society, but the society was in its essence the message board. There were maybe once a year events where a handful of members got together, and there was even at least one marriage (going strong to this day). But any social glue that existed was all about the message board. So there were high minded ideals put into play. There was something called the Hamiltonian Institute, designed to be a subset of the larger society, which gathered the best people, minds, and ideas with the intent to tackle the worlds greatest problems. There was the magazine, with submissions from members. Creative writing, science, math, puzzles, trivia, pop culture, anything anybody might find interesting. With a take by someone with a high IQ. There was an entirely separate IQ society, torr.org, with a much stricter entrance requirement of real tests and a 1 in 760 score. Well, in practice, the message board became a high school cafeteria. Attempts to moderate backfired, the usual thing. NH was the leading poster (highest post count) for a few years after the society's inception; he was overtaken at some point and within a week the ranking of post counts was taken down from the main page. Now nobody knew who had the most posts. He became less active on the forums, but owned the society for several years more. In 2012, an abrupt announcement was made that he was selling the society to a guy who owns lots of internet IQ test businesses. Because that's what the International High IQ society had become - a purveyor of IQ tests and certificates. Everybody who passed the test and actually purchased a certificate, became a member of the society - which meant they got access to the IHIQS forums. And it was a pretty decent business, by all accounts. But nobody stayed on the forums. The forums had been dying for years. 15 posts a day, maybe. By 4 or 5 regulars. And none too compelling. There was no society. After the sale, he apparently moved to Boulder, Co. A few days ago, intelligent and pragmatic as always, he drove one very late or very early time, to the local police station, laid down next to his car, and shot himself. He was 40. I can't claim this affects me in any way other than wonderment. I am not emotionally devastated. But I am very sure that he was a decent person and his heart was completely in the right place. |
| As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good? | |
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| Copper | Mar 7 2015, 07:13 PM Post #2 |
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Shortstop
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My Dad was in Mensa for a while back in the 60's. He never got much respect for it, we all made fun of his yellow lapel map pin. So he gave it up pretty quickly. I think he figured that it was really just a scam on smart people. It might be more than that now. |
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The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy | |
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| brenda | Mar 7 2015, 09:01 PM Post #3 |
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..............
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Even though he wasn't a close friend, it still affects us when someone we know chooses suicide. One of the workmen who sheetrocked and painted our new addition committed suicide several months later. He left behind a great family. I don't know what made him choose to do it. It's such a sad thing. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| Steve Miller | Mar 7 2015, 09:32 PM Post #4 |
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Bull-Carp
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Yes. Yes it is. |
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Wag more Bark less | |
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| Mikhailoh | Mar 8 2015, 03:22 AM Post #5 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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At 40? The old saw about the line between genius and madness comes to mind. A waste. Did he have a family? |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| Jolly | Mar 8 2015, 03:54 AM Post #6 |
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Geaux Tigers!
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Through early morning fog I see visions of the things to be the pains that are withheld for me I realize and I can see... [REFRAIN]: that suicide is painless it brings on many changes and I can take or leave it if I please. I try to find a way to make all our little joys relate without that ever-present hate but now I know that it's too late, and... [REFRAIN] The game of life is hard to play I'm gonna lose it anyway The losing card I'll someday lay so this is all I have to say. [REFRAIN] The only way to win is cheat And lay it down before I'm beat and to another give my seat for that's the only painless feat. [REFRAIN] The sword of time will pierce our skins It doesn't hurt when it begins But as it works its way on in The pain grows stronger...watch it grin, but... [REFRAIN] A brave man once requested me to answer questions that are key is it to be or not to be and I replied 'oh why ask me?' [REFRAIN] 'Cause suicide is painless it brings on many changes and I can take or leave it if I please. ...and you can do the same thing if you please. |
| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
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| Horace | Mar 8 2015, 03:49 PM Post #7 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Mother, father, brother, sisters. That's what I don't get. But no children. No spouse. |
| As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good? | |
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| Horace | Aug 11 2015, 01:38 AM Post #8 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Hm. A journalist from a local Boulder periodical PMed me today about this and wanted to chat, or at least get my "corroboration" (can one corroborate oneself?) about what I said about that society. I actually elided a few things, a day after I wrote the original post, to make it less googlable, knowing that people would probably try to search the story, at some point. Well everything there is my honest perception. Maybe it'll show up in some local Boulder periodical at some point. That's no TNCR, but it's something. |
| As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good? | |
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12:48 AM Jul 11