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The Treasure's Trove

#1

Hi Folks -

I just ran across what I think is the most interesting thing.

An author named Michael Stadther has written a book called The
Treasure’s Trove, about “…about twelve forest creatures whose
mates disappear after being crystallized by a dark dust that falls
every evening.”

According to his Web site, www.atreasurestrove.com, “Concealed in
the pages of this wonderful, classically-written story are the clues
to twelve very real and very valuable treasures that are hidden
around the continental USA – treasures similar to the crystallized
forest creatures in the story – beautiful jewels worth over
$1,000,000!”

Master jeweler Robert Underhill was commissioned to make the jeweled
creatures, pictures of which can be found here:
http://atreasurestrove.com/Public/TheTreasureHunt/TheJewels/index.cfm

The jewels will be on display in Tucson from February 10-13 at the
Tucson Gem and Mineral Society Show. The Web site shows other dates
and locations.

According to the Web site: “To find one of these fabulous jewels,
decipher the clues in A Treasure’s Trove and go to an exact location
to find a gold token. The gold token will give you the information
you need to get your jewel. Twelve gold tokens, each one redeemable
for one of the 12 jewels, are hidden in 12 separate locations across
the continental USA. The tokens are located so that at least one is
within a days’s drive of anyone in the continental USA. The tokens
are not hidden on private property, or in dangerous places, but in
places accessible to everyone. The tokens are not buried. Nothing
has to be moved or lifted to find them.” This sure sounds like fun to
me. Have any other Orchidians heard about this? Is anybody
participating?

Linda

#2

This is a marketing ploy to sell the book. A similar venture was done
a few years ago, (the name of which escapes me.)

As far as I know, it is not a scam, and is quite legitimate. It is
certainly a clever way to get publicity to sell books.

David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157

#3

Hello Linda,

My best friend got me the book for Christmas when the author and
jewels were hosted in Phoenix. It’s a darling book and very
exciting to think that 12 amazing pieces of jewelry can be had. I
keep picking up the book and wishing I were one of the Mensa folks!
If wishes were horses…sigh

Marta, now in Georgetown, CA - surrounded by wonderful trees and
critters

#4

Just for your both my wife and I are Mensans, and it
ain’t nothing special.

Mensa is basically a social club for people who do very well on I.Q.
tests.

Doing well on I.Q. tests ONLY means that one has a talent for doing
well on I.Q. tests.

I enjoy going to Mensa functions because I can always find several
intelligent discussions going on, BUT, other than their I.Q.s, the
people are a mix of pretty normal and pretty weird (just like MOST
parties.

David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157

#5

David,

What you describe as intelligent discussions, are the same ones that
I find with artists. The IQ’s are pretty up there, but you are right,
Mensa to me only proves you are adept at tests. My SAT scores rivaled
my shoe size. I don’t take tests well at all. I skated through high
school, bs’ng my teachers and finding the loopholes in the system.
In our senior year, we were able to sign up for classes, similar to a
college system. I figured out that if you didn’t sign up for a
particular time slot, say the period after lunch, you basically
disappeared off the grid and nobody found out. My lunch time was an
one and half hours, plenty of time for a nice stretch on the beach
with a book. I graduated with honors.

You can’t “test” for this kind of kid, but thank Buddha they arrive
at my school. They are the ones who are savants at the bench because
nobody in high school in Massachusetts tests for dexterity,
ingenuity or creativity. Today, school kids in Massachusetts are
trained to remember dates and names, which is fine if you want to
excel at Trivial Pursuit.

One of my favorite college art professors taught modern art history.
We spent a lot of time learning the names of artists and the year
that their work was completed. Ok fine I said, Picasso and Braque
painted much of his seminal work in Cubism in the 1910-20’s. Big
whoop. Ah, but when I visited the Philadelphia Art Museum (where
everyone should go at least once), everything changed for me. The
Philly Art Museum arranged its exhibitions in groupings by 2-3
decades. Paintings were with furniture, sculpture or examples of
family living. Seeing Picasso and Braque’s work in this context made
me understand how forward thinking these two artists were. It all
made sense to me, because the artwork had context.

My point is, unless you combine the stories with names and the
dates, reading, writing and arithmetic won’t mean anything.

-k

Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
Ph. 781/891-3854 Fax 3857
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Jewelry/Metalarts School & Cooperative Studio

#6 
    Just for your both my wife and I are Mensans, and
it ain't nothing special. Mensa is basically a social club for
people who do very well on I.Q. tests.

Hi David, List…

Absolutely correct…

This Saturday night ours has a get-together to watch a couple of
movies on widescreen at a member’s place, and chat and such…

The movies…“Hellboy” and “Catwoman”……

The national magazine is also usually of interest…

Gary W. Bourbonais
A.J.P. (GIA)

#7

Hello Orchid land,

David Barsilay said it well: Just for your both my wife
and I are Mensans, and it ain’t nothing special. Mensa is basically
a social club for people who do very well on I.Q. tests. Doing well
on I.Q. tests ONLY means that one has a talent for doing well on
I.Q. tests.

I’d add that Mensans usually understand four syllable words and
don’t consider their use pretentious… Judy in Kansas, where that
Ol’ Man Winter is back breathin’ down my back! Can’t wait to get to
Tucson.

#8

Yes, David!

Just for your both my wife and I are Mensans, and it
ain't nothing special.

I am too, and I agree!

Mensa is basically a social club for people who do very well on
I.Q. tests.

Right! It started out with grandiose ideas of research, but —.
I’ve decided that this was inevitable, in an organization where
everyone is at least capable of being a “chief” -and many of them
want to be!–, and no “indians!” And without some other interests in
common, as are found in most organizations.

Doing well on I.Q. tests ONLY means that one has a talent for
doing well on I.Q. tests. <g>

<:-}} Yes, I think the psychologists haven’t figured out just what
they are measuring, or want to measure!

I enjoy going to Mensa functions because I can always find several
intelligent discussions going on, BUT, other than their I.Q.s, the
people are a mix of pretty normal and pretty weird (just like MOST
parties.

The parties I went to (this was in the early days of Mensa – and
also in the LA area) turned out to be mostly a few people trying to
show how smart they were. A person (and often he was a guest who had
tried to get in but flunked the test, and was trying to show what a
mistake Mensa had made!) would pick some obscure subject he was
really expert at, and that nobody else happened to specialize in, and
bore everyone to tears with that. And I think that, generally, that’s
not what people (even smart people) really want. Anyhow, I dropped
out pretty quickly.

Margaret

#9

Hi Linda,

I hadn’t heard about “A Treasure’s Trove,” but I have seen other
versions of the idea of a book filled with clues to a hidden
treasure. One of my favorite books as a kid (I still have it!) was
Kit Williams’ “Masquerade,” in which the illustrations, as well as
the verses, held clues as to the location of a golden brooch in the
shape of a hare, hidden somewhere in the U.K. I’m sure that someone
must have found the bauble by now, but the book is a treasure in
itself - the illustrations are stunning, just absolutely luscious
with details obvious and otherwise.

Kit Williams has since published at least one other book along the
same vein - can’t recall the title, but I’m now kicking myself for
not buying it when I saw it in that used bookstore…

Good luck on your treasure hunt!

Jessee Smith
www.silverspotstudio.com

#10

I, for one, am very impressed by the brain power we have on this
list.

Makes me wonder if any of you have tried deciphering the clues
yet…

Linda

#11

My best friend is bipolar and he is a genious one of our mutaual
friends is an electrical engineer and cant accept the fact that bob
is a whole lot more intelligent than him they have taken I Q test and
bob blows him away but my friend bob being the genious that he is
explained it to him like this." you have a job a house and a car you
also have a wife and two kids I am an ex con living in a studio
apartment and have no car and no job no wife and no kids who do you
think is smarter" Bob graduated from college with a philosphy degree
and is the most interesting person in the world to talk to. I
understand what genius is by knowing him but I am not able to put it
in words other than to say that when we play games he has all his
moves figured out before we start and his moves determin my moves so
he always wins unless he gets tired of winning and lets me cheat.

Kevin

#12

David & Margaret, I flunked the test by a few points (yrs ago), and I
always wondered what the meetings are like. Glad to hear that I’m
probably not missing anything,

LOL. Hugs, Dawn B.

#13

Dawn, I’m not saying that Mensa is useless. I do enjoy getting
together with other Mensans, and most of our close friends are
members. I used to be much more active in the organization than I am
now.

BTW, one does not have to be a member to attend Mensa
functions…guests and prospective mambers are welcome.

David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157

#14

I definitely agrre with those of you who understand about high IQs.
I have 2 children-a 19 year old son and a 22 year old daughter. My
son is of average to above average intelligence, scored well in high
school, is very laid back, is very talented musically, is liked alot
by all who meet him, and works at an everyday, ordinary fulltime
job. He seems to be relatively happy in his life.Whereas my daughter
has scored so high in testing that she is practically forced into
special programs at college, yet she is nearly socially
non-functional, with almost no friends, struggles to keep jobs at
menial tasks, can hold lengthy discourses in literature, math,
sciences, and theoretical subjects, and lives in her own little
strictly organized world. Her intelligence level has proven to be a
handicapping liability, rather than an asset. When she does manage
to find a friend, it usually doesn’t last long, and those who have
stuck around, are all ones that most of us would consider to be
extreme pocket-protector wearing nerds- those who can hold the same
kinds of discussions. Generally we believe that even when she is
trying her best to fit in, she tends to intellectually intimidate
people subconsciously. After seeing her struggles in life, I
wouldn’t wish super intelligence on anyone.

Ed in Kokomo

#15 
 After seeing her struggles in life, I wouldn't wish super
intelligence on anyone.

I’m sorry to hear about your daughter’s difficulties.

I have a number of profoundly gifted people in my life. Yes, that’s
a real term. They are happy, well adjusted and successful.

If anyone has a gifted child in their lives and needs resources,
please write to me off list and I will help you.

Elaine
Elaine Luther
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com
Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay

#16

Ed, I can definitely empathize with your daughter. From Kindergarten
through second grade, I was in the New York City school system, and
put into advanced placement classes (they still had them back in the
Dark Ages.) When we moved to the suburbs, I didn’t ‘fit in’ with my
third grade class, so I was skipped into the fifth grade. It
hampered my social development from then on.

I have since developed a personal crusade to try to ‘talk them out
of it’ when a friend relative or even a STRANGER, is contemplating
having their child skip a grade.

David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157

#17

Yes, bipolar people have been known to be at genius level that’s a
well-known fact. Michelangelo was bipolar and he achieved much in his
life time.

When I took an IQ Test mine was very high as well. I cannot recall
the numbers but bipolar people are very intelligent and a lot of
them are geniuses.

Thanks for your story Kevin. If you want to contact me privately,
feel free to do so.

Best wishes,
Tina
@Tina_Ratner

#18 
I have since developed a personal crusade to try to 'talk them out
of it' when a friend relative or even a STRANGER, is contemplating
having their child skip a grade.

I held back on this subject, partly because it isn’t about
metalsmithing, but I can’t keep my “mouth shut” another moment.

I’m sorry, of course, to hear about anyone suffering from not
fitting in, and intelligence is certainly no guarantee of happiness.
But it’s no handicap, either! The super-intelligent child who
suffers through life is not necessarily suffering solely because of
intelligence-- and plenty of “super-intelligent” people contribute
more than their fair share to progress in this world! It may be a
mistake to move a kid forward two grades without the needed support
in non-academic areas, but it is surely a mistake to make an
advanced student miserable in boring, unchallenging classes because
they may not fit in socially. (This was me-- I was not allowed to
advance to where I belonged academically because I was tiny and
looked immature. My mother wisely-- and at great personal
sacrifice-- sent me to private school. I didn’t fit in there
socially, but it got me into the University of Chicago, where I fit
in at last.)

There is no one-size-fits-all answer.

–Noel

#19

David,

I was also labeled as gifted, but in math in the fifth grade. My
teached demanded that I skip a grade, but just in math. Ever since
then, I have been terrible at math, always sure I have no idea what
I’m doing and anything much more complicated than basic algebra
eludes me. I too try and dissuade people from having their children
skip a grade!

Jocelyn
Jocelyn Broyles
Designer/President
www.jocelynbroyles.com
Costa Rica ph(011 506) 376.6417
U.S. fax (253) 669.1679

#20 
Generally we believe that even when she is trying her best to fit
in, she tends to intellectually intimidate people subconsciously.
After seeing her struggles in life, I wouldn't wish super
intelligence on anyone.

Ed in Kokomo

Oh Ed – it’s not her hyperintellect that is the issue; it is her
lack of socialization. As the oldest, she probably interacted
mostly with adults when she was very young. That tends to create a
child who wants to please and impress, rather than one who wants to
play and interact.

My son tested as a genius (he’s now 21). He was an only child, so I
used to take him to the park every day to play with other kids his
own age. As you might guess, little kids are all over the map with
some being nice, and others being little felons-in-the-making. By
interacting with a diverse population, he learned the social skills
to be able to communicate with all types of people. He still has
those skills, and because of them, lots of friends.

(I have to say, though, he certainly didn’t turn out to be the
pocket-protector type. He’s very intelligent but very charming. He
is majoring in Information Systems Management; and at 21, he already
has five patents and a musician girlfriend – lol.)

Terri