Official Business

Kevin Langdon

The main reason for the delay in publication of this issue of Noesis is lack of material. My own personal time limitations and technical problems at my end are responsible only for this issue not having been finished in February. Please send your contributions to Ron Hoeflin for inclusion in #157.

Due to some confusion at the printer that produced my issues ##152-154, the originals were returned to me but not a copy of the issues, even though I'm on the mailing list. Chris Cole supplied me with photocopies, but they're of poor quality. If there's anyone who doesn't permanently archive his or her copies of Noesis I'd appreciate copies for my files.

Although we intended that this should be the election issue, I've received only one candidacy statement (for Administrator) in addition to my own, to continue as an Editor of Noesis. Therefore, we're extending the call for candidates for society office (Administrator, Publisher, Editor[s], Internet Officer) for one more issue.

We also have six propositions to be voted on. Propositions 1 through 3, proposed by Ron Hoeflin, were printed as "Suggested Changes" in Noesis #155. Only the text of the propositions, and not Dr. Hoeflin's supporting arguments, are reproduced below.

Proposition 1

The Mega Society has been without an admissions test for more than a year, I believe. I suggest that my Titan Test be utilized as an admissions test as a stopgap until and unless some replacement test is found.

Proposition 2

The Society's constitution states in Article 1, Section 3 that "The name of the Mega Society's official journal is Noesis." I propose that the journal's name be changed to A Gem.

Because it conflicts with a provision of our recently-adopted Constitution, this proposition is a Constitutional amendment and requires a 2/3 vote for passage.

Proposition 3

Article IV, Section 3 of the Society's constitution states that "If a vacancy should occur during the year [in any of the elective offices], a call for candidates shall be published in the next issue of Noesis.... The officers, by majority vote, may appoint a temporary officer to serve until the results of balloting are known." To this I would add: "The office of Editor shall be deemed to be vacant if, for any reason, the person who holds that office fails to produce an issue of the Society's journal for any period exceeding three (3) calendar months, unless the delay is due to the Publisher's failure to send the Editor sufficient funds for an issue for that period of time, in which case the office of Publisher rather than Editor shall be deemed vacant.

This is a Constitutional amendment.

Proposition 4

The original form of this Constitutional amendment proposal, in my editorial in Noesis #152, was:

Members of the Pi Society as of July 1, 2001 shall be accepted into the Mega Society without proof of further testing.

However, it has come to my attention that we have a problem. Since these discussions began, three persons have been accepted into the Pi Society via Paul Cooijmans' spatial test, which has very serious psychometric defects. Therefore, I withdraw the original proposal and offer the following in its place:

Members who have been accepted into the Pi Society on the basis of the LAIT, the Mega Test, or the Titan Test, as of July 1, 2001, shall be accepted into the Mega Society without proof of further testing.

We would like to include the members of Pi on the mailing list for this issue of Noesis, but Nik Lygeros has not responded to my request for a list of members' addresses. Eligible Pi members who are interested in running for Mega Society office may submit candidacy statements contingent on passage of this proposal.

Proposition 5

An Amendment to the Mega Constitution:

The Mega Society Constitution, Article IV, Section 11, provides that:

When there is more than one alternative initiative or amendment on the same subject or more than two candidates for an office to be voted on (other than Editor), voting shall be preferential. On the first tally the first-place votes shall be counted. If no candidate or alternative has a majority the candidate(s) or alternative(s) with the lowest total shall be eliminated and votes for that candidate [or alternative] shall be distributed to the remaining candidates or alternatives according to second-place votes for that office or proposal, and so on. This shall continue until only one candidate or alternative is left or there is a tie. Ties shall be broken by means of a second round of balloting.

The bracketed phrase is not part of the Constitution. Its omission was a clerical error. Therefore, I propose that:

In Article IV, Section 11, the words "or alternative" shall be inserted between the words "candidate" and "shall".

Proposition 6

The proposed Mega logo drawn by Benoit Desjardins, which appears on the covers of Noesis ##152-154 and the present issue, shall be the official logo of the Mega Society.

All comments received on the proposals so far have been printed in this issue. They are "Chris Cole Replies to Ron Hoeflin's Journal Renaming Proposal," item #10 in this issue, and my "Reply to Ron Hoeflin on Suggested Changes," #11, commenting on Propositions 1-3. Additional comments will be printed in #157, and a ballot will be mailed to Mega members with that issue.

With this election, we'll be using a new voting system. You will be able to vote either by regular mail, as always, or by e-mail. Each ballot will have a preprinted authentication number. The ballots will be shuffled and stuffed at random into the envelopes containing members' copies of Noesis. You can vote using either method mentioned above, but each authentication number can be used only once.