The organizers of the events listed on this calendar have expressed willingness for members elsewhere in the world to join in. Please don’t give them a bigger crowd than they can handle, and do be careful about time zones. The displayed time zone is GMT! If you add them to your own calendar, the time zone should convert to your specified time zone.
To have your virtual event added to this calendar, contact Matt C., the CAM International Calendar contact.
There may be other virtual events, as well as in-person events, which may be of interest to CAM members, hosted by various local groups listed on the American Mensa Calendar of Events.
1/ Tuesday
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ChiMe Activity Bulletin and Advertising Deadlines. Last day for these submissions to the November ChiMe. Interested in organizing and hosting a virtual or in-person event? Find out how by checking out our guide to hosting events.
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ChiMe Editorial Deadline. Last day for editorial submissions to the November ChiMe. Please submit original articles, insights, puzzles, brain teasers, or short poems. Your fellow Chicago Area Mensa members would love to hear from you.
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Zoom Lunch 1 PM. Perhaps the longest running Mensa event anywhere, Chicago’s Zoom Lunch (formerly known as the Downtown Lunch) is held every week, alternating between Tuesday and Thursday. Join us for conversation, laughs, and attempts to define words you’ll never use again. The Zoom id is 836 1178 6315 and the passcode is 190710; it is also included as part of your host Jon G.’s contact information if you prefer a link. Questions? Contact Jon via email or call/text him. You may also RSVP via Meetup. We’d love to have you join us!
Virtual Event!!
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Voter Registration Info
Illinois early voting starts Thursday, September 26th.
Illinois Vote By Mail Application
Many Illinois Counties have online applications so search for yours.
Chicago Vote By Mail Online Application
October 31 – November 3, 2024
Only 45 more days! Join us for a fun, long weekend with hundreds of Mensans, their families, and friends at the Westin in Wheeling including a multi-track program plus games as well as beverages, snacks, and most meals. Register for a discount by October 18th. Book your room by October 17th to take advantage of our group discount.2/ Wednesday
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Rosh Hashanah starts at sundown.
3/ Thursday
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Conversation with London Mensans 8 AM. Join a video chat with our kin from across the big pond in London at 2 PM BDT. I [Carey] participated previously, along with a few other CAM members, and had a very nice chat with some of our “siblings” in the London area. RSVP (via Meetup preferred) to local host Carey S. to receive the Zoom sign-in information. The London host is Ian David Moseley.
Virtual Event!!
9/ Wednesday
RSVP for Northern Exposure no later than 10 AM. RSVP via Meetup preferred.
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Northern Exposure Dinner 6:45 PM. ZIP code fall within the Arctic Circle? Then you should have dinner with us. Join us for dinner at a venue TBD in Lake County. Please RSVP on Meetup or via Janice’s email, jesser@chicago.us.mensa.org , so she can reserve a big enough table.
10/ Thursday
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Conversation with London Mensans 8 AM. See Thursday, October 3rd.
Virtual Event!!
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Zoom Lunch 1 PM. See Tuesday, October 1st.
11/ Friday
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Rockford-Area Dinner 6:30 PM. Join Dave and other Rockford-Area Mensans for dinner at the Thunder Bay Grille located at 7652 Potawatomi Trail in Rockford (NE corner of State St. and Bell School Rd., in front of the Holiday Inn). To RSVP , for more information, or to get on our email list, contact Dave L., our Rockford-Area Coördinator. RSVP required in case of cancellation, time, or venue change. Do not RSVP via Meetup. This event usually recurs on the second Friday of the month.
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Poetry Discussion 7:30 PM. Our poetry group is using Zoom for meetings. Please send a poem or two to Joe D. by Monday, October 7th. Interested persons who are not currently members of the poetry group can contact Joe D. , and he will email the poems to be discussed. Contact Bill K. for the Zoom links or any help you might need. Do NOT RSVP via Meetup. This event is usually held on the evening of the second Friday of the month.
Virtual Event!!
12/ Saturday
RSVP for Dinner Out West held on Monday, October 14th no later than Saturday, October 12th. RSVP via Meetup preferred.
14/ Monday
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Dinner Out West: Old World style 6:30 PM. We’re going to Riganato Old World Grille, a well-rated Italian (and some Greek) restaurant at 700 E. State St. in Geneva. This is a GOBS-subsidized event. GOBS will cover ½ of your meal cost, including tax and tip (rounded up to the nearest dollar), up to a maximum subsidy of $15, for each CAM member and their guest. Cash, Zelle, or PayPal for your portion. Limit 20 people. Reservations are required so Beth knows how big of a table to reserve. RSVP via Meetup (strongly preferred) or directly to Beth W. no later than Saturday, October 12th.
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Indigenous People Day
Columbus Day
(Federal Holiday).
The actual day that Columbus reached land in North America was the 12th.
15/ Tuesday
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MELT at Alexander’s Cafe 11:30 AM. Join us for the first MELT (Mensans Eating Lunch Together) at Alexander’s Cafe, 1725 N. State St. in Elgin. You can have breakfast or lunch—it’s up to you. Check out their menu. We can accommodate 12 people. RSVP by Thursday, October 17th via Meetup (strongly preferred) or directly to Beth W.
New Recurring Event!!
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Zoom Lunch 1 PM. See Tuesday, October 1st.
17/ Thursday
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Conversation with London Mensans 8 AM. See Thursday, October 3rd.
Virtual Event!!
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WeeM 48: Road Trippin’ Hotel Discount Deadline! Today is the last day you can book a hotel room at the WeeM discount rate of $129 at the Chicago North Shore Westin in Wheeling. So book now while this great rate is still available.
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Supermoon Viewing tonight. Also a Hunter’s Moon. This is third of four consecutive supermoons and the closest. For more information about supermoons, visit earthsky.org.
18/ Friday
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WeeM 48: Road Trippin’ Preregistration Deadline Alert! Join the fun at WeeM at the Chicago North Shore Westin in Wheeling starting Thursday, October 31st through Sunday, November 3rd. Friday, October 18th is the last day you can preregister for WeeM and qualify for a discount. Preregistering means you won’t have to fill out any forms at registration, you’ll get a pre-printed badge, and you can pay via PayPal. And best of all, it’ll be much quicker to get your registration packet when you arrive. Also, if you’re paying by check, it must be received no later than today or any discount for which you qualified at the time of registration will not be honored.
19/ Saturday
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Conservatives Lunch 11:30 AM. Join other members of the Mensan cell of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy for lunch and civilized un-PC conversation. No forbidden questions, no unchallengeable answers. This lunch happens on the third Saturday every month, but the location changes and can’t always be determined in time to make the ChiMe schedule. If you’re curious about the location at this month’s meeting place, email Jim Z. the event coördinator. You may also RSVP via Meetup. Open to non-Mensans; bring a curious friend.
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Beverly Area Saturday Salon (B.A.S.S.) ~Noon. Spontaneous conversation in far SSW Chicago, approximate vicinity of 107th St. & Western Ave. Please contact Rick E. the Beverly Area Coördinator, for this month’s location and the exact time as well as more information; if emailing, put “BASS” in the subject line. This event usually recurs midday on the 3rd Saturday of the month.
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Rainbow Mensans Restaurant Outing 5:30 PM. We’re going once again to All Meal Prep Kitchen & Café , located at 1100 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. in Chicago (Edgewater). Please contact Jim, the Rainbow SIG Coördinator (email or text preferred) by the evening of Thursday, October 17th, so that we can reserve sufficient seating. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jim C. via email or visit our website at RainbowM.org.
20/ Sunday
Dr. Gary Kitmacher
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SFRM: NASA Virtual Presentation 4:30 PM. Doctor Gary Kitmacher has worked for NASA at Johnson Space Center, Marshall Space Center, and NASA Headquarters for 44 years. He was especially involved as a designer of the ISS and Mir space station modules. He has served as a Principal Investigator for several experiments and flight activities.
Register by Sunday, September 15th to vote for one of the space engineering topics below.
- Science and Technology and the NASA human spaceflight program
- Living and working on board the ISS
- Colonies in Space
- The Design of Spacecraft for Human Spaceflight
- Gary's extensive career at NASA over 43+ years, working on the tail end of Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab, Shuttle, ISS, NASA Mir, Commercial programs, and the design of future Lunar and Mars missions
- Shuttle/Mir Space Program
For more details, visit the SFRM Zoom RSVPs FB Group. To register and vote for one of the above topics, visit San Francisco Regional Mensa (SFRM)’s registration signup for this event.
Virtual Event!!
21/ Monday
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Irish Mensa Lecture and Discussion: Tatoos 1 PM. Irish Mensa meets virtually on the third Monday of each month at 7 PM Irish Time; a discussion then follows the lecture.
Tattoos are one of the 'distinguishing marks' specified in police descriptions, and long recorded on British passports. They have also often been seen as a form of writing on the body that conveys deeper messages about the bearer’s identity, especially for criminals.
This lecture will discuss the original debates about the tattoo as a sign of criminal identity among 19th century European police and criminal anthropologists. It will conclude the series with some final reflections on the subjective and objective dimensions of identity and identification covered by these lectures.
Professor Jane Caplan is Visiting Professor at Birkbeck, University of London, and Emeritus Fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. She is a world-renowned historian specialising in Nazi Germany and the history of the documentation of individual identity.
For the full write-up and to join, visit the American Mensa event. One does not have to register for the event — simply click on the Zoom link at the appropriate date and time.
Virtual Event!!
22/ Tuesday
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Breakfast in Mount Prospect 10 AM. Breakfast or lunch and conversation at Jelly Café located at 1784 W. Golf Rd. in Mount Prospect (northwest corner of Golf Rd. and Busse Hwy.), featuring a large and diverse menu. Separate checks are available. Use Meetup, but if not on Meetup, RSVP to Ken L. via email. If you RSVP by email, your reservation is not confirmed until you receive a confirmation email.
23/ Wednesday
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Mole Day
Avogadro’s Number (6.02 × 1023)
24/ Thursday
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Conversation with London Mensans 8 AM. See Thursday, October 3rd.
Virtual Event!!
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Zoom Lunch 1 PM. See Tuesday, October 1st.
27/ Sunday
RSVP for NNW Dinner held on Tuesday, October 29th no later than 10 PM on Sunday, October 27th. RSVP via Meetup preferred.
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Theodore Talk: Above and Beyond: The James Webb Space Telescope 2:30 PM. The James Webb Space Telescope, successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, is the largest space telescope ever constructed and is giving humanity its first high-definition view of the infrared universe. The JWST is observing early epochs of the universe, revealing how its galaxies and structure have evolved over cosmic time, exploring how stars and planetary systems form and evolve, and is searching exoplanet atmospheres for evidence of life.
Goddard Space Flight Center astrophysicist Matt Greenhouse has served on the James Webb Space Telescope senior staff as Project Scientist for the science instrument payload since 1997. He will discuss the science instrument payload package, which includes four sensor systems that provide imagery, coronagraphy, and spectroscopy over the near- and mid-infrared spectrum, and how these instruments are being used to accomplish the JWST mission and goals.
Greenhouse is the recipient of more than 20 individual performance awards and honors, including the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and the Robert H. Goddard award for Exceptional Achievement in Science. See the full write-up and find contact info on the American Mensa Events website. Even if you can’t attend the live talk, provided you register, you will receive a link to a recording of the event. Closed captioning enabled.
Virtual Event!!
29/ Tuesday
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Zoom Lunch 1 PM. See Tuesday, October 1st.
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NNW Dinner: Serbian in Mount Prospect 6 PM. We will be dining at Balkan Taste for a casual Serbian dinner. It is located at 2354 S. Elmhurst Rd. in Mount Prospect (in a strip mall on the northwest corner of Elmhurst Rd. (IL Route 83) & Oakton Ave.). This is a GOBS-subsidized event where ½ the total cost (including tax plus a 20% tip, rounded up to the nearest dollar) —for a maximum of $20/person—of a CAM member’s and one guest’s dinner will be covered for a maximum of 15 people. Payment must be via PayPal or in cash; no coins will be accepted. RSVP Ken L. (Meetuppreferred; otherwise via email) by 10 PM, Sunday, October 27th. If you RSVP by email, your reservation is not confirmed until you receive a confirmation email.
30/ Wednesday
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GOBS Request Deadline Noon. Today is the last day to submit a request for GOBS funds to be approved at this Sunday’s Business Meeting for any planned, eligible event, activity, or class taking place after Sunday, November 3rd and through Sunday, November 3rd or later; to be eligible, events involving CAM members must be published in the issue of ChiMe corresponding to the month in which they occur. For CAM events, it’s recommended you submit the GOBS request and get it approved before submitting your event information for publication in ChiMe — so no later than today for events planned for January. January events need to be submitted by the 1st of November to the activities editor to be included in the January ChiMe. An article must be featured in the January ChiMe for GOBS-subsidized February events with an RSVP deadline in January (same 1st of November deadline but article emailed to the editor; see editorial deadline).
31/ Thursday
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Zoom Lunch 1 PM. See Tuesday, October 1st.
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HalloweeM 48: Road Trippin’ Starts! WeeM officially starts at 5 PM when you can pick up your registration information (but please come earlier if you want to help out with the setup—we need you). You can still register at the door if you chose not to preregister. The Games room opens earlier than registration, usually ~4 PM, based upon availability. Enjoy dinner, our program, tournaments, and more. Check out the PAAG (when it becomes available) for the starting times of today’s events. Donate books and media to the book sale at WeeM. Also, please consider donating an hour or two of your time — it’s the volunteers that make this RG so great. For those arriving early and interested in visiting some local sites — check out Things to Do Nearby. This year, all roads lead to HalloweeM!
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1 November/ Friday
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Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 AM. Remember to reset your clocks back and sleep a bit longer.
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ChiMe Activity Bulletin and Advertising Deadlines. Last day for these submissions to the December ChiMe. Interested in organizing and hosting a virtual or in-person event? There’s bound to be an activity or a restaurant you want to try, but you just want some other people to experience it with you. So invite your fellow Mensans. Find out how by visiting our guide to hosting events.
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ChiMe Editorial Deadline. Last day for editorial submissions to the December ChiMe. Please submit original articles, insights, puzzles, brain teasers, photographs, or short poems. Your fellow Chicago Area Mensa members would love to hear from you.
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HalloweeM 48: Road Trippin’ Continues! all day. It’s Halloween weekend and you want to dress up and go to a party tonight, or you just want to pretend to be someone else for the night. This is a fun opportunity to attend the largest Halloween party by coming to the RG today. See great costumes, participate in the contest (best & worst pun, traditional, best group, best theme-related, etc.), enjoy a delicious meal, imbibe if you like, meet Mensans from all over the world, and dance the night away. It’s the perfect party, so preregister today!
Activities Bulletin
October 2024
Already a CAM Discord member?
Simply open up the Discord app, look for the
CAM 
icon on the very left, and tap/click on it. You’ll often find fellow gamers online
even when no official CAM event is taking place.
New?
A few days before the event, check out the Introductory Guide to Discord as well as our CAM Discord FAQ for instructions about downloading the Discord app on the device you’ll be using, and registering yourself. Read the doc and/or peruse the various questions and answers to familiarize yourself with our customized version.
About three days prior to the event, the Invitation Link, needed only by new CAM Discord users, will be available as part of the event host’s contact info as a button. Tap/click on the button, then tap/click on the Invitation Link, and it will open the Discord app you installed. You must acknowledge the displayed Code of Conduct to see all the rooms (aka channels). Do this by tapping/clicking on the emoji symbol at the bottom that best describes Your membership category. Once you’ve done that, you’re in and won’t need an Invitation Link again.
When you join a Discord event you won’t automatically see all the participants like in Zoom when the host lets you in or you join a meeting in progress. Instead you’ll scroll down and find the channel specified as part of the event info. You get to see the list of names indicating who is in the channel before you tap/click on it to join. And if there is someone presenting, you’ll need to tap/click on the presenter’s feed or double-click the Live button next to the presenter’s name to enlarge the feed.
It may feel weird at first but the learning curve is pretty short and chances are you’ll like it better than Zoom and choose to use it to video call a fellow Mensa member/group who is part of the CAM Discord community and definitely to play online games while chatting with everyone participating.
RSVPs - Always contact the CAM event host as specified in the event details — email , phone , text , or Meetup .
Meetup
Chicago Mensa Meetup - All our events are listed; see who signed up, get notifications, and add the event(s) to your personal calendar. Check out the October calendar.
Chicago Mensa Meetup - All our events are listed; see who signed up, get notifications, and add the event(s) to your personal calendar. Check out the October calendar.