Trying to get into exclusive club...

[Atash Hagmahani]

I want to join Ultranet.

It requires me to have an IQ of 164 or more, or "equivalent".

Getting an IQ tested is not easy. Most tests max out at 140. Mensa won't disclose test results, so having passed their admission test tells me little. The minimum isn't even 140! Much less 164. You have to find a psychologist who administers IQ tests. First of all they're hard to find. Look up psychometric testing, and you get a very few referrals to...psychologists who do testing for the court system to decide what's wrong with you. :(

While searching for clues as to where to find what I'm looking for, I found lots of articles regarding testing of children for certain highly competitive schools. Reading the articles was discouraging. A lot of severely neurotic yuppies seem to feel that having a psychologist give their kids some puzzles to solve is going to traumatize the kid for life.    The problem is more likely to be the parent than the kid.

I had my IQ tested when I was a kid, a couple times. One time it came out 141, another time 150. 141 < 164. Problem? Not necessarily. I think IQ is somewhat fluid. I'm probably doing better than when I was a kid, due to improved environment. To raise your IQ, play lots of pattern-matching games and puzzles. In fact, IQs are normed but over time they've been rising in absolute terms--the "Flynn Effect"--due to young people playing with too many electronic gadgets. 

Unfortunately it's rewiring their brains for higher IQ but lower executive functioning. 

Anyway if I'm going to pay someone $300 for testing services he'd better come up with the magic number 164 or greater. So I'd better train up to it.

Wish there were a good self-test I could use for feedback to see if I'm even in the ballpark, and going in the right direction. It would be sad if I got dumber. I'm afraid that's probably possible too. There have been times in my life when I've been pretty dumb. I was probably getting dumber and dumber in school and especially in college.

IQ tests are usually heavily-weighted to pattern matching. The Mensa IQ test I took had some other types of problems, which is good but probably still not really a wide measure of intelligence. The problem with Mensa is that it's full of people who are good at puzzles but not much else. :(  That might be my problem too.

A few puzzles a day, a few games of skill one or twice a week, plus stuff I'm always doing.

[silverseeds]

     do you have any friends involved? I had these guys trying to get me to join for years. They knew my IQ last I tested it was 155....

     So I dont think you HAVE to have a 164 IQ....

[Atash Hagmahani]

Well, according to their website, you're right, they let in a few exceptions, but I didn't want to count on other personal merits to try to make the case for me. 

I don't even know if it's right for me--I just found the founder's personality to be intriguing. Might be a good place to find some seriously "outside-the-box" problem-solvers.

And I'm not intimidated by the prospect of trying to raise my IQ to join a club. Worst case, I fall flat on my face and I'm out $300.  Nothing life-threatening.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Weeeeelll. Look what just showed up in my mailbox:

a link to this website:

http://brainworkshop.sourceforge.net/download.html

How timely. That's called "Ike" (ee-kay). Positive thoughts attract positive people and events, and negative thoughts attract negative people and events. I've been thinking good thoughts so someone sent me something I need to fulfil my intentions.   

I'll start playing with it this evening when I'm doing my other exercises.

Here's an article about it:

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/04/smart_software

[Atash Hagmahani]

>>do you have any friends involved?

Oops, forgot to answer your question...no, I don't. Buuut...I've been thinking positive thoughts, and those are going to attract good things. After all...I stumbled onto the club in the first place...so all that's needed is commitment, discipline, and time for the yeast to make the dough rise.

[silverseeds]

Might be a good place to find some seriously "outside-the-box" problem-solvers.

Back in the hey day of american online, when if you were online those days you might remember there were TONS of chat rooms, it was easy to talk to people from nearly any walk of life. I REALLY miss that, and I guess its on some other social medias or so Im told, but I dont think its like it was then...

anyway.... I made friends with a guy from there. We talked for a few years or so. he hinted at me joining more then once, and then at one point set up a chat just so some of his buddies from the club could all talk to me.

What they liked about me WAS my out of the box problem solving skills. According to them, there was few in their group like me.(none of them personally knew any but knew of some in the group) they said most usually talk about other peoples ideas, and even those who seemingly have their own were just really good at incorporating other folks works even when the originators hadnt seen the full potentials.... they called me socrates because of this. We talked philosophy at the time alot, which probably played into that. Come to think of it, now that I actually AM working on out of the box things, I wonder what those folks might think now.

Id say youve all ready done a pretty good job at collecting out of the box thinkers, along with those actually willing to take action in their personal lives. Not that you cant do better. honestly though I think your doing rather well with what you have from what I know. theres a quality to the thought processes displayed by pretty much everyone here that is a rare thing.

[silverseeds]

  i was just reading more about them, it must of been towards the beginning of the group that this happened. I must of known the guy even before the group started it seems.

   As for positive vs. negative thoughts... I see it a bit differently. Like does attract like. and setting an intent for something and seeking it out will usually take you closer to it. But there are pitfalls within the idea of "think positive".... Most positive thinking folks i know will ignore truthful things they dont like, sometimes without realizing it, just to uphold their positive attitude. and im  guessing you know all this, but felt like elaborating anyway...

    for me it comes down to accepting life on lifes terms. when you do that, you can easily let in the joy. for instance, all the fear most folks hold, is near meaningless. Death for instance is a given. theres nothing gained in fearing it, in fretting over it. Same with aging. Embrace it, its part of the dance, let it be what it will be with or without your emotional issues. As a child as above so below.

     do that and you can be in the moment, fully embracing life for what it is. In such a state, often you are positive by default, even when faced with challenging issues because your embracing life at the same time its challenging you. Life IS struggle. accept it. This can be a much more engaging position then being positive lone...

[opsec]

I'd be interested in this sort of thing just to find out how many IQ points I've lost over the years. Back in grade school, I was tested and came out somewhere around 140, been too long to remember. What I do remember is not caring about it because all it meant to me was a couple days of testing where you could ignore the teacher and you didn't get any homework.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Opsec,  I haven't played it yet myself but you might want to download the brain training program that I linked to above. You of all people might enjoy the stimulation.

I have a spare book on Vedic math I could send your way. It's just a watered down version with a few tricks, but those tricks are good for doing mental math, which helps keep your working memory in top form. My own working memory has always been modest so this is a good area for me to work on. Doing math in your head instead of grabbing a calculator is a simple and easy way to keep your brain fit, that benefits you in everyday life.

[Lady Lilya]

Silverseeds, now that is FaceBook.  I belong to a few groups there. 

Right now I am learning a lot about biochemistry by spending time with a group of ladies that are trying to cure health problems.  They are mostly self-taught, and learning more all the time. 

[offdalip]

I am learning a lot about biochemistry

Let me know if you need anything, that is basically what I do.

I can answer your questions on the molecular or kinetic level

[Eddie]

I have a spare book on Vedic math I could send your way. It's just a watered down version with a few tricks, but those tricks are good for doing mental math, which helps keep your working memory in top form. My own working memory has always been modest so this is a good area for me to work on. Doing math in your head instead of grabbing a calculator is a simple and easy way to keep your brain fit, that benefits you in everyday life.

If he doesn't want it I'll take it. Or give me the name of it and I'll get it myself.

[Eddie]

What's the name of the book and I'll order it from Amazon.

I just got "Inside Job" DVD. It was good. It was on order through my library but i was somewhere around 638 on the waiting list. So I decided to buy it.

[Lady Lilya]

I am learning a lot about biochemistry

Let me know if you need anything, that is basically what I do.

I can answer your questions on the molecular or kinetic level

They are focusing on very practical stuff.  Like: for our liver to do such-and-such process to detox X, it needs inputs A, B, C, and D.  We need to eat foods with A and B, but our bodies can synthesize C and D from E, F and G.  But if we are short on H, our body will take all the E for alternate processes, etc etc etc.  So if we have symptoms of X deficiency, how can we figure out which of the items A-H are low based on other symptoms that would suggest other processes are slow?  Can we experiment by taking large doses of any of the inputs to see if there is a change?  You get the point. 

One of the ladies is making a website with a step-by-step process to deduce what your deficiency or toxicity might be.  Another is leading a team to create a program where you keep a food journal with a section to input how you feel at any given time of the day, and they hope with enough data for an individual they could identify food sensitivities.  For example, it will calculate "75% of the times that you ate corn, you had a skin rash 4-8 hours later."  Of course for this to work you would have to vary foods enough.  Otherwise you might be reacting to something you eat with every meal, and have symptoms all the time.

They also look at switches in our bodies that are governed by pairs of minerals.  Calcium/magnesium, copper/zinc, sodium/potassium.  And how if you are high in one of them but low in the other, switches get turned on and not off.  Or fail to be turned on. 

They try to figure out how to tailor each person's diet to get them the nutrients they need, working around restricted diets due to allergies or sensitivities.  And they try to figure out which forms of supplements are suitable (ie do you use magnesium sulfate, glycinate, citrate, chloride?) 

And they buy specialty foods and supplements in group purchases to cut costs. 

And when somebody needs something and can't afford it, it magically arrives in the mail.  They are also each other's emotional support. 

[silverseeds]

 VERY interesting lady lilya, Ive collected small amounts of similar info, but have never seen it all in one source.