Seattle - Portland
Morning all from Portland in Oregon.
Portland is a cool city - a bit like Seattle - in that it's not only quite laid back, but also freezing. Portland is one of only 2 cities in the US with an extinct volcano in the city limits!
Anyway, we've been chilling around Portland and staying in a cool youth hostel. It has an "Eco-roof" which involves growing plants on the roof surface in order to filter water. Our room looks right out onto the eco-roof which is quite bizarre.
Anyway, we set out for Sacramento (California's capital and home of Arnie) tonight on an overnight bus - yikes! Although it does save us money on a bed for the night...
As soon as we go kayaking with killer whales or swimming with sharks we'll be sure to keep you posted ;-)
Portland is a cool city - a bit like Seattle - in that it's not only quite laid back, but also freezing. Portland is one of only 2 cities in the US with an extinct volcano in the city limits!
Anyway, we've been chilling around Portland and staying in a cool youth hostel. It has an "Eco-roof" which involves growing plants on the roof surface in order to filter water. Our room looks right out onto the eco-roof which is quite bizarre.
Anyway, we set out for Sacramento (California's capital and home of Arnie) tonight on an overnight bus - yikes! Although it does save us money on a bed for the night...
As soon as we go kayaking with killer whales or swimming with sharks we'll be sure to keep you posted ;-)
posted by Iff at
11:17 am
15 Comments:
An AMERICAN QUESTION! What is the other city with an extinct volcano????
By
Anonymous, At
2:28 pm
Someplace in Ohio I think. A more definitive answer soon...
By
Iff, At
6:40 pm
Ohio! Ohio! Come on, what rubbish!
Iff your lack of knowledge on all things American is only surpassed by Trace's. (What colour is the bottom stripe on "The Flag"? & What's the 2nd largest state in America? Need I go on :) )
Anyway, what Iff meant to say was, A more definitive answer soon....in fact as soon as my more intelligent brother "Tam 'MENSA' Noden" next visits the site!
The answer is, as everyone should know off the top off their head is obviously the city of Bend which also happens to be in Oregon. The name Bend was derived from "Farewell Bend," the designation used by early pioneers to refer to the location along the Deschutes River where the town eventually was platted, one of the few fordable points along the river. Anyway, the name of the extinct volcano is Pilot Butte. Which if memory services me correctly, and it usually does, stands at 4131 ft above sea level.
Has he made it all up, you decide.
By
Anonymous, At
3:47 am
Wow - what a guy that "t 'mensa' noden. He is really clever. I've read a lot of his posts on our website and, in all honesty, his posts have made me more intelligent. Oh if only I could have such extensive general knowledge - specially about America.
By
Anonymous, At
4:32 am
That "T 'Mensa' Noden" must be a certified genius! Thanks for the fact - it's the most interesting thing we've learned on this trip :) Please post some more and spread you're brainpower throughout the world.
And by the way what does mensa stand for. Reading your post I'm guessing its:-
Mentally Enlightened (with) Notoriatably Sound Accademia
By
Anonymous, At
4:38 am
Well, the only reason I'm on this blog is to gain some useful knowledge from T Mensa. He's fab!
Mensa as we all know comes from the Lat 'in mensa stat', which roughly translates as 'Tam Be Scafe'. :)
By
Lib, At
5:39 am
Lib's correct with her fact about the origins of Mensa. But knowledge of that fact alone doesn't gain you entry to Mensa. Nor does knowing Latin. Although in this case I did study a Cambridge course in Latin.
However back to the point:-
"Mensa" is not an acronym. The word is Latin for "table" and signifies the round table nature of the organisation, wherein all members are treated as equals. However as a former member George Orwell famously wrote "All animals are equal but some are more equal than others" and this applies particularly for T Mensa Noden who is in the upper percentiles of intelligence of all Mensa memebers (Generally though, we don't spend our time sitting around comparing IQs. Such behavior is considered rude). We are well aware the word means other things in other languages (e.g.: "cafeteria" in German, "stupid woman" in Mexican slang). We don't care - we're about that level of intellectual thinking.
By
Anonymous, At
7:04 am
But hang on... Mensa originated in Mexico...
Which would make T 'Mensa' Noden....
By
Lib, At
8:20 am
Duh! How wrong could Lib “doofus” Noden be!
She is wrong, wrong, so wrong. Here is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth:-
An Australian, Roland Berrill and an Englishman, Lancelot Ware founded Mensa in 1946 in Oxford. Ware had an idea of "the society of superior minds", that could be of significant help in finding solutions to various important problems in the world, such as peace, ethics, psychology, education etc.
Firstly, Mensa began to grow in Great Britain, later expanding to Europe and the rest of the world. Mensa struggled to take hold in America due to unfortunate intelligence demographics (and I’m not talking solely about the Pentagon!). Berrill died a few years after founding the organisation, and Ware, after a few years of absence from the society, is now an honorary member bearing the title "Fons et Origo", (Or just “The Fonz” to other Mensa members) as the creator of the original idea of the society.
So Lib's original claim that Mensa started in Mexico makes her, what we call in Mensa, a "Chutney brain".
By
Anonymous, At
8:59 am
Duh! How wrong could Lib “doofus” Noden be!
She is wrong, wrong, so wrong. Here is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth:-
An Australian, Roland Berrill and an Englishman, Lancelot Ware founded Mensa in 1946 in Oxford. Ware had an idea of "the society of superior minds", that could be of significant help in finding solutions to various important problems in the world, such as peace, ethics, psychology, education etc.
Firstly, Mensa began to grow in Great Britain, later expanding to Europe and the rest of the world. Mensa struggled to take hold in America due to unfortunate intelligence demographics (and I’m not talking solely about the Pentagon!). Berrill died a few years after founding the organisation, and Ware, after a few years of absence from the society, is now an honorary member bearing the title "Fons et Origo", (Or just “The Fonz” to other Mensa members) as the creator of the original idea of the society.
So Lib's original claim that Mensa started in Mexico makes her, what we call in Mensa, a "Chutney brain".
By
Anonymous, At
9:00 am
Posting that twice was completely deliberate - er....honest. Anyway, if something is important it's worth saying it twice. plus repeating yourself is an intelligent trait.
By
Anonymous, At
9:02 am
No wonder you are so good at cards given that you're so clever Tom. Is that why neither Chris or I have ever beaten you at "Set-back", "Tomfoolery" or "Hearts".
By
Anonymous, At
11:06 am
Hey, Tam. I'd honestly say you are the most intelligent in the family and while I'm at it I'd also irelevantly say you have the best singing voice too. In fact there's only one thing sharper than Tam's intelligence and that, my friends, is Tam's wit.
By
Anonymous, At
11:11 am
Good God!
The standard of comments being left on this blog has really fallen recently...
I must have forgotten my username and password because I wasn't signed in when I made those comments... And I must be suffering from amnesia because I don't remember posting that stuff either...
Maybe it's time to turn comment moderation back on?
Hmmm...
By
Iff, At
7:42 pm
PS It sounds awfully like your definition came from here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend%2C_OR
By
Iff, At
7:44 pm
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