As always, trivia maven and erstwhile CNJM member (now of Florida) Don Richmond presents us with a fiendish challenge. It will be presided over by John Devoti, in one of the three hats he is donning this year.

Dr. Joel, as he likes to be called, will talk about motivating yourself to exercise and the best exercises for you, nutritional changes that make big differences, the importance of good posture in health, natural stress reduction, and vitality and longevity. He will give simple and practical information that you can put to use immediately. Dr. Joel is an experienced chiropractic physician who has over 20 years of training, practice experience and teaching experience in massage, neuromuscular therapy and rehabilitative exercise. A native of East Brunswick, he is a graduate of the University of Oregon and Western States Chiropractic College, where he taught gross anatomy and chiropractic technique. He is the author of The Rotator Cuff Exercise Manual, and presently practices in Old Bridge. Dr. Joel is passionate about natural health care. He looks forward to having a lively discussion with you.

The national fascination with this brand of poker has made its way to Snowball, albeit with a practical edge. Ron, who is a fan of all kinds of games, will lend us his teaching expertise tonight. With his talent for explanation and a bit of luck, you should be on your way to a winning hand this evening. Ron is also wearing the first of three hats this year—wait, maybe it’s four!

George brings us a serious but humorous look at our leaders, to see how many of them have harnessed the power of humor to become more effective. Also, walk with us on that thin line between career-making and career-breaking attempts at using humor. A fellow Mensan from CNJM, George is still reflecting on his achievement of being chosen as Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.” In real life, he is a humorist who gives presentations to corporations and associations to help people enhance the quality of their personal and professional lives through the use of humor and laughter.

Here is the place to start your weekend by connecting with your cohort, hosted by CNJM’s Gen X/Y coordinator, Hope Freeman. Whether you’re reuniting from other RGs or a first time attendee, Hope and Co. will see you through!

One of the warmest and most encouraging testing coordinators in Mensa, CNJM’s Martha McKeon, will be administering three different qualifying tests today.

From the marvels of Persepolis to the urban sprawl of Tehran, enjoy a slide show of Robin Marion's recent trip to Iran. Get a first-hand look at the climate (meterological and political), culture and the fabulous history of this land which is much in the news today. Robin is a systems professional and long-time Mensan with interests in archaeology and culture (as well as textiles and language and horseback-riding). This program is sure to entertain and enlighten.

Yep, this is election season in Mensa. As of this writing, we hope to have candidates for some of the national and regional offices here to speak with you, particularly those from Region 2, CNJM’s home region. Humor is always permitted, but all brass knuckles and blackjacks will be confiscated.

Through the use of a dynamic power point presentation, this world-class multimedia program is overflowing with provocative information, unique insights, and a practical approach to "rethinking" retirement. The seminar explores a number of themes including the reinvention of retirement and how you might prepare for the key "lifestyle changes" and "life stages" that lie ahead Your Power Years is an engaging, fun, and potentially life-changing program about what matters most to you including your dreams, your goals, and how to make the most of what should be a very exciting time - your retirement - your Power Years. Brian is an experienced financial advisor with Smith Barney, CNJM member and veteran presenter at Snowball.

Here’s John in the second of his three hats.

Let the Pizza Patrol guide you to a slice you can love-and then come back again for seconds, thirds...

Steve and Linda have made an art of puzzling Mensans for quite some time. They return to Snowball with a new version of their Archeology challenge—one that will prove just as entertaining and mind-stretching as ever. Bring your powers of observation and imagination!

(As opposed to “hysterical”—that comes later!) John Treffeisen, is, among other things, an amateur historian and has been a frequent contributor to the Arthurnet academic listserv beginning in 1995, where his arguments for a historic Arthur have withstood the scrutiny (and occasional ire) of professors, folklorists and authors who do this kind of stuff for a living. Today’s presentation delineates a biography for Arthur, which, for the first time, brings into a single consistent narrative the disparate sources from hagiography, historic annals and the bardic tradition. One of John’s other occupations is with the Pungo Players—another is working for a living for the government.

Here she is, J. Simone—Poet, Performer, Survivor and Superhero (and several other personalities). She is debuting this show at Snowball—several poems joined to construct a journey of self-discovery. J. has been weaving her extended poetic storylines for many audiences over a number of years. She can truly give a show! We are very excited to be able to give J. a mic—let her performance be your introduction to this artform if you have never experienced the like before. J. will be your welcoming committee!

Our own crafty registrar will take time to convene crafters and friends—bring your own stuff to work on, and enjoy like-minded company.

Perennial Snowball fave Ron Ruemmler once again attempts to quantify that which is generally regarded as unquantifiable. His fans come for a refresher every year, but if you have yet to be exposed to Ron’s theories, there’s no time like the present. Expect to be both amazed and amused!

"Doc" Harry will regale us with a concentrated version of last fall’s smashing sell-out Colloquium on Cosmology. He and his wife, Judy Keating, put together an astonishing group of folks who have spent their lives investigating and theorizing about the universe. It drew an international crowd of fellow scientists and enthusiasts, and Harry will tell us about it, complete with video. Harry is a favorite longtime Snowball speaker, well-known for his ability to explain science—especially physics—in ways we civilians can both understand and be entertained by.

Drawing heavily (read: stealing) from the rich vaudevillian tradition, the Pungo Players of Tidewater (Virginia) have been eliciting groans and guffaws from Mensa Gatherings for the past twenty years with their shameless mix of skewed show tunes, riotous comedic bits, and outrageous puns. Tonight’s show, MENSALOT, features their patented blend of high and low brow humor, as they go back to medieval England for the mythic founding of the very first High I.Q. society. The Pungos are (alphabetically): Roger Gregory, Dave Gunderlach, Joyce Gunderlach, Ryan Gunderlach, Leah Kinder, Ron Lee, J. Parsons, Kim Rouke, John Treffeisen, Lynn Treffeisen, John Williams, Pat Yaros (director) and Steve Yaros.

The Hilton is giving us a wonderful buffet for $20.00/person. You will have paid this at Snowball registration (either when you originally registered, or here at the hotel). You can also pay at the door, but there will be a limit! We recommend that you take advantage of the great food and convenience offered here. Or you can go to other restaurants, including another one in the Hilton. Just be sure to get back for the keynote.

The date is March 3, 2017. We still don't have flying cars, and if your computer refuses to open the pod bay doors, it's not because it's smart, but because you had to press Control-Alt-Delete for the third time that day. Fortunately, the past decade in physics makes it easy to bear the lack of progress in the rest of human affairs. New accelerators and observatories have opened up whole new worlds of particles, forces, and dimensions. I'll describe my 10 favorite discoveries in fundamental physics and cosmology during the years 2007-2017.

George Musser is a staff editor, writer, and troublemaker for Scientific American magazine in New York. He is a native of New Jersey (he spent most of childhood in Warren and now lives in Glen Ridge), although if this talk were being given in Texas, or the English Midlands, or Tehran, he would probably make a case he was a native of that place, too. He did his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering and mathematics at Brown University and his graduate studies in planetary science at Cornell University, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. His thesis work, done with Steve Squyres (latterly of Mars rover fame), modeled mantle convection on Venus in order to explain broad plateaus, known as coronae, mapped by the Magellan orbiter.

Although he had long done journalism as a hobby, writing on topics ranging from architecture to crack cocaine, his entry into science-writing was something of an accident having to do with a desire never to experience another winter in upstate New York. From 1994 to 1998, Musser served as editor of Mercury magazine and of The Universe in the Classroom tutorial series at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, a science and science-education nonprofit based in San Francisco. During his tenure, the San Francisco Examiner called Mercury “the most exciting and thought-provoking astronomy magazine for several light-years around.” As a firm believer in empirical science, he awaits confirmation of this assessment by the Voyager space probes over the next 10,000 years.

At Scientific American, his primary focus remains space science, meaning everything outside the ionosphere. Articles he solicited and edited regularly appear in The Best American Science Writing and The Best American Science & Nature Writing anthologies. Musser was the originator and one of the lead editors for the single-topic issue “A Matter of Time” (Sept. 2002), which won a National Magazine Award for editorial excellence, and he coordinated the single-topic issue “Crossroads for Planet Earth” (Sept. 2005), which won a Global Media Award from the Population Institute and was a National Magazine Award finalist.

For whatever you want to do. Nominally "supervised" by Neil Sachs and Howard Berkowitz, who have entertained us before, and lived to do it again.

Time for the annual rites of Terpsichore-some will be costumed, others just clothed. John will take requests and keep the party rolling until the wee smalls.

Whenever we go to the liquor store, we invariably stare at all those strange things we would love to taste, but we don't buy them because...well, what if they're not good?! Pretentious Tasting to the rescue! Join us for a taste of some of those libations, and discover how good (or bad) they really are. All participants must be 21+ and bring a valid ID. Entrance fee is one bottle of Pretentious Alcohol (which you will have coordinated with Hope Freeman) or $20 to go toward the price of liqueurs provided by the GenX fund. If you want to hang out and don't drink, please donate crackers and cheese, or $5.

Bring your items to Ron, arbiter of all things swap-worthy—if HE says it’s too old, out-of-date, incomplete and so on, you get to bring it home with you. If your items past muster, you’ll get a ticket to use to get another gently-used something when the Swap opens.

Now you can trade your ticket in for that book (game, what-have-you) you,ve had your eye on. Once the ticketed customers have their shot, the rest of the crowd can have a go. Remember: judgments of the Swapmeister are arbitrary and final...

The prizes are handed out, the thank-yous are proffered, the announcements are made…only thing left to do now is register (cheap) for Snowball XXXIV, see if there are any goodies left to sell in Hospitality, say goodbye to your cronies and safe home! See you next year!