smart people can be dumb too

[Rookie]

Mensa is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher. A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco, and several members lunched at a local café. While dining, they discovered that their salt shaker contained pepper and their pepper shaker was full of salt. How could they swap the contents of the bottles without spilling, and using only the implements at hand? Clearly this was a job for Mensa! The group debated and presented ideas, and finally came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer. They called the waitress over to dazzle her with their solution. “Ma’am,” they said, “we couldn’t help but notice that the pepper shaker contains salt and the salt shaker pepper.” “Oh,” the waitress interrupted. “Sorry about that” She unscrewed the caps of both bottles and switched them.

 

[Redtbird]

I LOL'd big at that story! Thanks!

 

[chocktaw2]

 

[hoosierdoc]

Glad this wasn't about my DIY questions

 

[Supersport]

The first thing that comes to mind is WoW..... just goes to show what to much think does to some people.

 

[jsharmon7]

Glad this wasn't about my DIY questions

So you saw "smart people" in the thread title and just ASSUMED it was a thread about you. Interesting...

 

[hoosierdoc]

So you saw "smart people" in the thread title and just ASSUMED it was a thread about you. Interesting...

No, but my self-deprecating humor made me post about it. He just got done telling me how to do several things so it would have been a natural progression.

My wife may create a post like this though...

 

[kawtech87]

Ive noticed over and over again, The smarter some people think they are, the more arrogant they are, and the less common sense they have.

For example, Democratic party members.

 

[Mosinguy]

Ive noticed over and over again, The smarter some people think they are, the more arrogant they are, and the less common sense they have.

For example, Democratic party members.

I had this sub a few years ago in school, she was the most bitter hateful woman (supported Obama, go figure). Anyways, she'd always brag about how her husband was a part of Mensa. He was a nuclear engineer or some such. He had to ask his neighbor to start his lawnmower whenever he had to mow the lawn.

 

[kawtech87]

I had this sub a few years ago in school, she was the most bitter hateful woman (supported Obama, go figure). Anyways, she'd always brag about how her husband was a part of Mensa. He was a nuclear engineer or some such. He had to ask his neighbor to start his lawnmower whenever he had to mow the lawn.

Sounds about right.

I knew a guy once, Brilliant man, wasnt a mensa member but couldve walked into thier group and aced thier tests easy.

Couldnt figure out why his bike wouldnt start, He took the thing all apart had wiring diagrams and was testing the coils and battery, I walk over and flicked the kill swith the "RUN" position and pushed the start button,

Fired right up.

 

[CountryBoy19]

In the engineering world we call that "analysis paralysis". Engineers and 'smart people' in general tend to get sucked into solving the problem so much that they often overlook very simple solutions.

To be honest, I thought, "Why not pour it out on napkin then form the napkin into a funnel and pour in the other one?" But before I completed that thought the cap solution occurred to me and I narrowly avoided a case of "analysis paralysis".

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Sounds about right.

I knew a guy once, Brilliant man, wasnt a mensa member but couldve walked into thier group and aced thier tests easy.

Couldnt figure out why his bike wouldnt start, He took the thing all apart had wiring diagrams and was testing the coils and battery, I walk over and flicked the kill swith the "RUN" position and pushed the start button,

Fired right up.

Or "tain't got no gaas in it, hmmm". Actually I did ace their entry test, though I never joined. I must be the exception, since my first inclination was to switch the caps.

 

[mensajess]

I don't know how I feel about that joke.

 

[DR II]

im glad not to be in mensa

 

[Mosinguy]

im glad not to be in mensa

I think you get $500,000 in grant monies to do whatever you want with if you join.

 

[mensajess]

i didnt get $500,000! who do i need to call?

 

[hoosierdoc]

I think you get $500,000 in grant monies to do whatever you want with if you join.

reference? I highly doubt that

 

[CathyInBlue]

A) huge grants of money are not associated with membership in any high IQ society of which I am aware. No organization could survive like that unless their cut off IR was over 160. There are, however, "Genius Grants", which are generally limited to one grant a year to people with provably high IQs and a stated goal which resonates with the grant committee, but really, anybody can apply for them.

B) Mensa's cut-off is not 140. It's 132 on the Stanford-Binet. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Mensa_International#Membership_requirement Never heard of the Cantrell, so it must not be important enough.

C) This joke is not fair to brilliant people or stupid people because it didn't state that the labels were across the removable caps. The assumption would always be that the labels are on the bottles themselves, making their effort make sense.

I too could "walk onto the team" at Mensa, but I choose not to. I've investigated the entrance requirements of many high IQ societies and the one that appealed to me appears to have gone defunct.

 

[cwillour]

Sounds too familiar.

Over-analysis, the bane of my existence and the reason I have my job and get to work on the projects I work on (not that they are particularly great projects, but I enjoy the variety that comes from being asked by clients to work on issues/projects that are outside of our companies normal scope.)

 

[indiucky]

When in my early 20's I went out on a date with a girl who was HS Valedictorian and got a fool blown scholarship to a very good college.(I can't for the life of me remember which school but it was a good one.)

It was January and the date went well enough for a second....The Bald Eagles had just re-established themselves at Patoka Resevoir and I thought it would be a nice second date to take a drive up to see them and I asked her if she would like to go....She stared at me with this blank stare and looked me dead in the eye and said, "How stupid do you think I am?" I was a little taken back and said "Not at all...Why?"

Her response was classic.."It's winter and the ground is frozen...There is no way they can get to the worms.."

I said okay and I have no idea what happened to her after that...And I really didn't care...