853 Carnelli

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Thinking more about the previous entry's mention of Carnelli. I joined Mensa in Washington in about 1978, and I knew both Jan Carnell and Jim Lange well. I was there for the birth and toddlerhood of Carnelli.

We have a member here in the Hudson Valley who seems to think he knows everything. He likes to make arbitrary descisions affecting the group and membership, he exceeds his authority, and people let him get away with it because it's easier. He's the guy I've complained about before because he won't listen to a complaint or criticism unless it's also accompanied by the solution. So you can't mention to him that the website is broken "and someone should take a look at it" unless you're willing to fix it yourself. (The website has been broken for at least the past four years.) After butting heads with him a few times, I, like everyone else, gave up.

He likes to tell people how Carnelli works. He considers himself an expert. He's wrong. I know he has read the rules, because he likes to quote the line about the "timekeeper/judge whose decisions are arbitrary, capricious, and absolutely final." He quotes it with relish. He probably wishes that rule applied everywhere in his life. But that seems to be the only part he absorbed. He has no concept of the allowed connections - he's much too rigid - and seems to think that it's the timekeeper, not the participants, who challenges the connection.

That's probably why we've never attempted to play it here, in the local group.