Smarter Than Average ?? Telltale Signs

So I have been a member of MENSA for 41 years, I am anxious (of sorts ) but often for the wrong reasons . I was an early reader, can be funny... started life as a lefty ( the curse of the devil) until Mom and Dad applied adhesive tape to this cirse of the devil and turned me out as a right handed chapie ....music lessons oy vey .... how they tried Piano, Guitar, Flute and Trumpet but appeared tone deaf and preferred to pay soccer and cricket as a left turned righty.... so the question is really are  IQ and  Intelligence synonymous .

Intelligence, or IQ, isn’t what you know, but rather the pace at which you acquire new information. Longitudinal studies have shown that IQ is fixed at an early age, so you’re stuck with what you’ve got.

While IQ is far from being the only thing that determines success in life—research shows that it isn’t even the most important factor—a high IQ still isn’t a bad thing to have. In fact, I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t mind having one.
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” -Albert Einstein

Most of us move through life never knowing exactly how smart we are. IQ is a difficult thing to measure, and unless you’re willing to fork over several hundred dollars to a trained professional, you’ll never know for certain what your IQ is.

New research provides some interesting clues linking early life experiences to, among other things, high intelligence. If any of the following apply to you, you just might have a high IQ.

You’re anxious. It’s hard to think of anxiety as a good thing, but evidence suggests that it might not be all bad. Psychiatrist Jeremy Coplan studied patients with anxiety disorders and found that the people with the worst symptoms had higher IQ scores than those with milder symptoms. Other studies have found higher verbal IQ scores in people with higher levels of anxiety. And then there was a more complex experiment conducted at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel. Researchers asked participants to evaluate artwork presented by a software program and then triggered a fake computer virus, making it look as if it was the result of something that the participant did. They then sent the participants on an urgent mission to get tech support, only to throw yet another series of obstacles in their way. They found that the most anxious participants were also the most focused and effective at executing tasks. The next time somebody tells you to stop worrying so much, just tell them it’s your oversized intellect getting in the way.

You were an early reader. A British study of 2,000 pairs of identical twins found that, despite their identical genes, the children who started reading earlier had higher IQ scores (both verbal and nonverbal) than their siblings. On the surface, this one seems easy enough to explain away: the kids who learned to read early did so because they were smarter. But that wasn’t the case. The researchers concluded that learning to read early actually had a developmental impact—it made the kids smarter. So, if you were an early reader, it might not be because you’re smart. It may be that you’re smart because you were an early reader.

You’re left-handed. It turns out that all of those teachers who tried to force lefties to write with their right hands may have had it backward. While there is a small and, as of yet, unexplained correlation between being left-handed and being a criminal, there are some intellectual benefits to being a southpaw. One large study demonstrated that left-handedness is associated with divergent thinking, all the more so in males. This unique ability to combine two unrelated objects in a meaningful way is a sign of intelligence.

You took music lessons as a kid. There are a number of studies demonstrating that musical training enhances verbal intelligence and executive function, a skill that’s critical to focus and self-control. In a study conducted by psychologist Sylvain Moreno, 48 children between the ages of four and six participated in a computerized training program that was led by a teacher. For one hour per day, five days a week for four weeks, half the students completed a musical program, and the other half completed a visual arts program. At the end of the experiment, 90% of the children who received the musical training showed improvements in verbal IQ. So, if you took music lessons when you were a kid, that’s a good sign.

You’re funny. Class clowns rejoice! Research shows a strong connection between being funny and having high scores in both verbal intelligence and abstract reasoning. It appears that your witty banter is the product of a sharp mind. Now, you just need to come up with a joke about that.
Bringing It All Together

This list is far from exhaustive, so if none of the items above apply to you, it doesn’t exclude you from having a high IQ. But if a lot of these items do apply to you, you just might be smarter than the average bear.

IQ vs. Intelligence



Intelligence is a broad term used to describe the mind of a person. It is a person’s capability to think, to solve problems, to reason out things, to study, to understand and to use language. It is just the depiction of personality, knowledge, creativity, performance, wisdom of an individual. The various theories related to intelligence are classified based on varied intelligences. General intelligence theory was introduced by Charles Darwin.

IQ stands for intelligence quotient. Intelligence is just a broad term whereas IQ is used to describe the calculated value of a person’s mind. There are various tests done to know the intelligence of a person and then the IQ score is calculated. This was introduced by William Stern from Germany. The various tests conducted to assess the IQ are Wechsler adult intelligence scale and Gaussian bell curve. The factors which influence the IQ of a person is mortality and morbidity, parental IQ, social status of parents and substantial degree. There are no such factors present for intelligence.

IQ is calculated using the score achieved in an intelligence test. It can be calculated as a ratio by a formula. It states IQ = MA/CA x 100, where IQ is an intelligent quotient, CA is the chronological age and MA is the mental age.

There is no such formula for intelligence instead there is intelligence test being conducted. There are various problems with the intelligence test and hence should not be conducted when there is a need to decide major decisions like a child’s education and career. The results will vary and are not correct. Hence, dependence on intelligence test should not be done to assess the intelligence.

There are various types of intelligence like emotional,  numerical, verbal, reasoning, perceptual speed, fluency, musical, linguistic, spatial, intrapersonal, logical-mathematical, interpersonal and so on. The person is also well versed according to the type of intelligence whereas there are no such types of intelligence quotient.

The IQ test is done to determine the type of intelligence of an individual. Hence, both are interconnected. These IQ tests determine mostly the mathematical knowledge and literacy of a person where as other skills like dance, art, music, cooking, foreign languages, defeating an enemy in war, caring for a baby are all not enhanced in this IQ tests whereas intelligence determines all skills of an individual and classifies them accordingly.

IQ tests concentrate mostly on civilization and their importance whereas intelligence concentrates on everything like religion, law, philosophy, science, economy and technology.

So here are the conclusions:

• Intelligence is a broad term whereas IQ is a specific term.
• .Intelligence determines the overall personality and specialization of a person whereas IQ concentrates on only study.
• Intelligence is of various types but IQ does not have many types.
• IQ is a ratio. There is no such ratio for intelligence.
• There are various theories for intelligence but no such theory for IQ.

The Benevolent Godfather of Silicon Wadi.-Yossi Vardi

Yossi Vardi, considered the godfather of the Israeli high-tech industry, says entrepreneurship "cannot be taught, it can only be unleashed" ,He insists that the divided Israeli society must "agree on a vision of a shared future" if it is ever to unite.

No name is more synonymous with the Israeli high-tech revolution than Yossi Vardi. Vardi was a pioneer in the industry, starting ATL-Advanced Technology Ltd., one of the country's first software houses, in 1969. Since then, he has started or been an early investor in more than 100 companies, by some counts, involved in the internet, telecommunications, energy and cleantech industries, and much more.

Among these was Mirabilis, co-founded in 1996 by his son, Arik, which developed ICQ, the first instant messaging program for the internet. Less than two years later, Mirabilis was bought by AOL for $407 million, inspiring a wave of internet entrepreneurship and helping to transform Israel into the Startup Nation.

Vardi has also served in a number of senior government positions, as director general of the Development and Energy ministries among other esteemed posts. He served on the boards of many public and private corporations and universities, was chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation and participated in negotiations on peace, regional cooperation and economic development with Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and the Palestinian Authority.

Yossi Vardi was interviewed  at  the 2016 Forbes Under 30 Summit, which brought together young entrepreneurs from America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The summit was an extension of Forbes magazine's annual 30 Under 30 list, which identifies 30 of the brightest young entrepreneurs, talents and change agents in each of 20 different sectors, such as consumer technology, media, and education.

Vardi answered questions on the high-tech industry as well as more general socio-economic and political issues. Vardi's sharp, direct answers demonstrated why he remains the "godfather" and guru of Israeli high-tech and a much sought-after adviser in both the private and public sectors.


Q: How is the new generation, the new under-30s, different from previous generations?

"If you look at the high-tech ecosystem, it can be divided roughly into three levels. The first level is the digital immigrants -- people who were analog most of their lives. Today, they are around 55 and up. They are the investors.

"The second level is the digital pioneers. They were analog when they were young, but by the age of 15 or 20 were digital. They may remember rotary phones, but most of their lives they used push-button phones. This is the 'desert generation' [an allusion to the Israelites wandering in the desert after the exodus from Egypt]. They are ages 35 to 55. They started the internet 20 years ago. Today they are in managerial positions.

"The third level is the digital natives. They were born into the computer age, and began using personal computers from the age of 2. Today, when they see a picture in a magazine, they try to swipe it like a cellphone. They never saw a rotary phone. They represent the cutting edge of technology.

"Understanding these strata, this structure, is key to sourcing good technologies and good executives."

Q: It's a unique situation that will never return, isn't it?

"Yes. Twenty years ago, the executives were digital immigrants, and still analog, and those in the desert generation were the product people. And because the executives didn't understand what was going on, the Yahoos and Googles were able to step into the place of the huge media monsters, who were resisting change."

But this is no longer the case. As time passes, fewer and fewer technology experts, entrepreneurs, executives, and even investors will remember the analog era.

"That's why people are excited about the 30 Under 30," Vardi explains. "They are our future, and they are all digital natives."

Q: Is entrepreneurship something that can be taught or do you have to be born with it?

"It cannot be taught; it can be unleashed. There is a big difference. An ultra-Orthodox Jew or an Arab Israeli or someone from the periphery who is very entrepreneurial has no opportunity to access the high-tech market. The barriers to entry are too high. And entrepreneurship doesn't belong to a certain level of income or to a certain background. You have entrepreneurs in every community. There is the guy who provides services and the guy who provides transportation and the guy who opens a grocery. All of these are entrepreneurs. In different circumstances, they could have been great entrepreneurs. Never mind that they came from humble beginnings. The question is how to unleash their entrepreneurship and provide them with opportunities."

Q: You've sat on the boards of many universities. With so many new frameworks for education opening up, do you see the role of universities changing, particularly in the area of technology?

"The role of the universities is changing, but some of the core functions of the great institutions of higher education will continue. For example, in order to do research, you need laboratories, you need faculty, and this will definitely continue, though frontal education may change.

"But what is more interesting is the number of new disciplines that are opening up compared to 10 years ago. For instance, algorithms became a very important discipline. For many years, algorithms were just one of the many disciplines of mathematics. Today, mathematicians dealing with algorithms are the single highest-paid sector in internet [businesses], all over the world. Who would have thought that the mathematicians would be king?

"Also, another thing that is very important: The phenomenon of the internet opened an avenue in high-tech to many people who were not necessarily coders. You need to tell a story, you need to do a design, you need a compelling page. So it opened a wide opportunity to people who were not traditionally regarded as high-tech.

"And the very good institutions of higher education are providing something that is not easy to replicate. You know, if you have a Ph.D. from Stanford, you have a good chance of being hired by Google."

Q: Israel is more materially developed and comfortable than ever before. Does this material comfort reduce one's entrepreneurial drive?

"There's a big fallacy in what you say. I want to set you straight. This material comfort affects less than 10% of the country. I always say this is not a startup nation, it's a startup fraction. For 90% of the people, the whole thing looks strange. Only 8.7% of the workforce is involved in high-tech. For this 8.7%, yes, life is terrific."

Q: Does high-tech increase or decrease the gaps between rich and poor?

"High-tech does two contradictory things. First, when the tide comes in, all the boats rise -- even the boats of the poor people. This was demonstrated in a recent publication by [Tel Aviv University Professor] Dan Ben-David. He provides very good statistics. On the other hand, some boats rise more than others, so the gaps increase. High-tech raises the bottom, but it raises the top much more. In Israel, because of the dominance of high-tech, the gaps are the highest among the Western world.

"Now, because this industry is regarded as a Tel Aviv industry, though you find it also in Herzliya, a little bit in Jerusalem, and in Rehovot, I think this is one of the reasons for the alienation between Tel Aviv and the rest of the country."

Q: The Knesset just passed a law that caps the salaries of banking executives at 2.5 million shekels (around $660,000) or 44 times the salary of the lowest-paid employee. Does this make sense economically, and will it help reduce the gaps between rich and poor?

"Yes, for sure it will help. But I think it is more symbolic than anything else, because really, how many people does it affect? But sometimes symbols play a role."

Q: Are we making strides in getting the ultra-Orthodox and Arabs into the high-tech workplace?

"Let me start with a very strong suggestion or observation: I think that the only solution to many of the problems that we have here is what I call radical inclusion."

Vardi goes on to describe how Israel is divided into different communities, each of which believes its own narrative. "And there is no need to try to agree on the narrative. People will never agree because everyone is right from his own point of view. What we should try to do is agree on a vision of a shared future. We should say: 'We cannot reconcile between the narratives. But what we can do is try as much as possible to converge around a vision of a shared future.'"

Q: Does this shared future include Palestinians and our other neighbors?

"No, I'm talking about within Israel. With the Palestinians, I think we should make peace. And the sooner, the better. And there is no scenario for peace that meets all the aspirations of the two parties. But within Israeli society, what I call radical inclusion is the solution."

Q: Can you comment on rumors about increasing business ties between Israel and the Arab world, for example in the Gulf states?

"I don't know about it. But for sure, the Middle East is totally different, and Europe is different from what it was five years ago, in a very profound way. And there are major opportunities and major risks. I think it's a very exciting time."

Q: Exciting? It seems very insecure.

"On the one hand. But on the other, it may be a time to reshuffle the cards. There are conflicts within the Arab countries that put us on the side of some entities and in conflict with others. The map is also being rewritten in the Far East. I think in 20 years, China will be the dominant power in the world."

Q: Do you see the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement as a threat to Israel, and in particular to Israel's high-tech industry?

"I'm not at all concerned about the economic effect of BDS. We have been subject to boycotts before. I've always said the two founders of Israeli high-tech are [former French President Charles] de Gaulle [who declared an arms embargo against Israel three days before the outbreak of the Six-Day War] and the Arab boycott.

"But I'll tell you the main problem with BDS: It provides a very low barrier of entry to people who want to delegitimize the State of Israel. If someone throws [Israeli] bell peppers on the supermarket floor, the damage is not the few dollars that they cost, but the fact that this shows his objection to the State of Israel. It's much easier to mobilize people to do this than to attend some intellectual discussion on the occupation. BDS is a lubricant for people who want to show their reservations about the State of Israel."

Q: What about the argument used so often in public diplomacy, that if you support BDS you'll have to throw out your computer and cellphone since they are full of Israeli technology? Is this argument compelling or silly?

"I think it's not an argument at all. I think that you have to deal with the issue, with what the occupation is leading to, and what you have to do to maintain the occupation."

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Amazon ... things you didn't know about Amazon

Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos

Amazon.com, now a $331 billion online powerhouse, is one of the most successful companies of the past several decades, and shares have multiplied an astounding 710 times since the company went public in 1997.

Here are  other facts you may not have known about the e-commerce darling.

1. Amazon might be in the early stages of its growth potential.

The Motley Fool

Consider: U.S. e-commerce sales now account for only 7.4% of total retail sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This percentage has steadily marched upward since 2006, when online sales accounted for 2.8% of total retail sales.

2. One in every 10 Americans -- 10.7% of the population, to be exact -- has an Amazon Prime membership.

What's more astounding is that Prime subscribers spend an average of $1,200 annually, compared with $700 for non-subscribers, according to GeekWire.

3. Prime Now, the company's on-call local delivery service, will probably push e-commerce sales further as the service expands.

Keep in mind that Prime Now is available in only 20 metro areas right now -- but that's up from zero just over one year ago.

4. Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson recently told us about the company's drone program, which aims to deliver items in 30 minutes.

He did so in an online ad for Amazon.

5. Amazon's fastest order delivered to date was a four-pack of Starbucks vanilla Frappuccino to a customer in Miami. The delivery was made in under 10 minutes.

6. Amazon owns the patent on any one-click online checkout process.

Other companies wanting to offer one-click checkout must license the patent from Amazon. (However, Amazon's patent on the technology will disappear in 2017.)

7. Amazon built a completely separate $6 billion-revenue business in under a decade.

Amazon's cloud-division revenue is now bigger than that of its four nearest competitors combined. In fact, Amazon finally pulled back the curtain on Amazon Web Services, or AWS, revealing that it generated $1.57 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter. Some estimates have pegged AWS's value at up to $50 billion.

8. Alphabet's Google went on record claiming that Amazon is its biggest competitor in search advertising.

In fact, Amazon's secretive engineering lab in Palo Alto, Calif., called A9, was originally built to unseat Google in search advertising. Fast-forward to today, and the lab is still relatively secretive and has advanced Amazon's product search and advertising technology.

9. Amazon and Google have been engaged in an engineer talent war for years.

The most publicized engineer to leave Amazon was Udi Manber, whom Google poached from A9 to lead its bread-and-butter search advertising business.

10. Jeff Bezos scored early investments in some of the biggest era-defining tech trends, including Twitter, AirBNB, and Uber.

Mike Segar/REUTERS

His net worth may also be a few billion dollars higher than what's been reported in the media. In 1998, Bezos cut Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin a $250,000 check to fund their start-up. It's estimated his cost basis in Google stock is anywhere from $0.04 to $0.06 per share. Unfortunately for curious outsiders, Bezos hasn't commented on whether he still owns shares.

11. Before founding Amazon, Bezos was a computer scientist at hedge-fund titan D.E. Shaw.

Jeff Bezos in 2003.

12. Amazon-owned shoe retailer Zappos is a pioneer in corporate culture.

The company recently underwent a massive shift by implementing what it calls "holocracy" -- an on-the-fringes culture and organizational structure in which hierarchy is nonexistent. Zappos offered employees a three-month severance if they didn't believe in the approach and desired to leave, and 14% of the workforce did just that.

13. Speaking of Zappos, Amazon strong-armed it into being bought out.

Zappos rebuffed Amazon's first acquisition offer, but Bezos didn't relent. He next built a website called Endless.com that specialized in selling shoes while undercutting Zappos on price. While Zappos' sales continued to skyrocket, the company hit a rough patch in 2008 after overextending itself with inventory purchases. That was the point at which conversations between the two companies changed, and Zappos soon agreed to be bought out for $850 million.

14. Amazon is so reliant on robots for order fulfillment that it purchased robotics and automation provider Kiva Systems for $775 million in 2012.

As of early 2015, Amazon employed a fleet of 15,000 robots.

15. Pause for one second. Amazon just shipped 35 items in that time frame.

The company's fulfillment process has become so efficient that company executives believe it can ship up to 1.5 million items per day from just one fulfillment center.

17. Amazon isn't shy about its desire to squeeze out its shipping partners.

Negotiations between its delivery and distribution partners have been fierce at times, and Amazon is slowly moving to take over shipping operations where possible. The company just purchased a fleet of trailers to move freight between fulfillment centers and is even in negotiations with Boeing to lease up to 20 767s.

18. Amazon is relentless in everything it does.

Whether it's efficiency, undercutting competitors on price, or its frenetic work environment that has taken some knocks in the media, the company always has the pedal pushed to the floor. Actually, type www.relentless.com into your Web browser and see the result.

19. Amazon is well known for its low margins and meager cash flow.

The Guardian

You might be surprised to hear that the company's actual cash flow is much lower than reported in financial statements. Chalk it up to (legal) accounting chicanery that determines when cash flows are recognized. For those wanting an accounting lesson on how this is possible, read this article from fellow Fool Timothy Green.