Ask A Genius 726: Covid Numbers Dropping Fast

[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What's the most recent update on Covid numbers? Rick Rosner: Covid numbers are dropping fast in a lot of countries. England, the U.S where I live in L.A County Covid numbers are down about 95% from the Omicron peak of six weeks ago or a month ago but there's still …

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Ask A Genius 725: 9/11

[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: When 9/11 happened everybody pulled together under President Bush, a Republican and his approval rating rose into the mid ‘80s; the highest ever and peaked in one poll at 92%. So far the Republicans haven't pulled together behind Biden in time of war. So there is a further risk to America …

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Ask A Genius 724: Russian and Ukraine Escalation

[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Some people have been saying this is the worst day since the German invasion of Poland prior to or at the start of World War II. Is the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the most recent escalation of the Russo Ukrainian conflict that bad or is it bad but not …

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Ask A Genius 723: Pinky Addendum to Lost Session

[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Addendum to yesterday, finishing the Harvard story. Go ahead. Rick Rosner: Okay so we've established that I in my 20s and into my early 30s even will go on Hinky for modeling assignment/auditions just for the possibility that they'll be weird and then I get out of there before any …

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Ask A Genius 721: High-IQ Societies

[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: We're discussing high-IQ societies for the magazine of the World Intelligence Network, founded by Evangelos Katsioulis. What was the original purpose of founding a high-IQ society? Rick Rosner: Mensa, one of the earliest high-IQ societies, was formed shortly after World War II in England, a time when the world was …

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Ask A Genius 720: New Work, New Place, New Comments

[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: You just moved into a new place which sounds great; your place of employment which is this giant equestrian joint catering to dozens and dozens of horses and riders and competitors and you have a really great apartment there and that led us to talking about living spaces. So I can …

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Ask A Genius 719: Jewish Comedy

[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is Jewish comedy? Rick Rosner: Modern comedy emerged after World War II. Comedy went from Vaudeville; guys just standing on a stage telling jokes that weren't specific to the comedian to very personal comedy that originated mostly in the ‘60s. Then really exploded in the ‘70s and ‘80s where …

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Ask A Genius 718: Things Suck in an Age of Marvels

[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How come things suck in an age of Marvels? Rick Rosner: It's not how come; it's that they do it. It sucks that things suck in an age of Marvels. We are nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century, which is a science fiction century. When people …

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Ask A Genius 717: Triumph of Make-Believe

[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: You came up with a really great phrase right before recording and it was the triumph of make-believe and I was talking about some personalities which is part of a larger phenomena of people who live in a self-made world of make-believe and so my question to you is what …

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