Southeast Michigan Mensa

7:00 pm (ET) Saturday, June 20, 2026, now via Zoom only

Tracking the developmental milestones toward Artificial General Intelligence, this presentation introduces AI as computer intelligence that learns, makes decisions, and solves problems, emphasizing its rapid advancement due to the abundance of data, powerful computers (GPUs), and smarter algorithms like deep learning. It highlights AI’s presence in daily life through smartphones, social media, online shopping, healthcare, and self-driving cars. We will discuss “the Singularity”: the point where AI surpasses human intelligence and can rapidly improve itself, leading to unpredictable changes. 

Gus J. Mondalek is a Chief Information Officer & Chief Technology Officer at OmniResponse. Descended from a family of secular religious scholars, our speaker’s personal history is a conduit between East and West. Born in Kuwait to an expatriate family, he spent his formative years in Lebanon during that country’s civil war. He is a graduate of the American University in Beirut, and holds multiple advanced degrees from Lawrence Technological University. 

Mondalek has been instrumental in establishing and leading technology initiatives across diverse industries, focusing on the strategic application of software development, artificial intelligence, and IT management for government agencies and Fortune 500 enterprises.

Virtual Presentation (Zoom)

The Zoom room opens at 6:30 P.M. (ET) for mingling. 

There is no charge for the Zoom presentation, but, due to rising costs (Meetup charges alone were up 70% during the past year!), your donation via PayPal is greatly appreciated.

• Click PayPal.com
• Log in (or sign up)
• Click the “Send/Request” button
• Enter the e-mail address: treasurer@nullmensadetroit.com
• Click the “Next” button
• Enter payment amount ($5 is recommended, but feel free to send any amount)
• Fill “What’s this for” with “SEMM Zoom Presentations”
• Click the “Next” button
• Select your payment method
• Click “Send”

NEW!! If you prefer to donate using a credit or debit card, scan this QR code to make your donation: 

Please remember that all Zoom attendees need to pre-register:

• Click tinyurl.com/SEMM-Gathering
• Choose “June 20, 2026 6:30 pm” from the drop-down box
• Fill in your name and email address
• Click the “Register” button

7:00 pm (ET) Saturday, May 16, 2026 Live and via Zoom

People often associate fairy tales with Disney films, and with the male authors from whom Disney often drew inspiration – notably Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen. In these portrayals, the princess is a passive, compliant figure. By contrast, in her book The Lost Princess, author Dr. Anne E. Duggan shows that classic fairy tales such as ‘Cinderella’, ‘Rapunzel’, and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ have a much richer, more complex history than Disney’s saccharine depictions. Dr. Duggan recovers the voices of women writers, who penned popular tales about ogre-killing, pregnant, cross-dressing, dynamic heroines who saved the day. This new history will appeal to anyone who wants to know more about the lost, plucky heroines of historic fairy tales.

Dr. Anne E. Duggan is a professor of French Studies and a member of the Academy of Scholars at Wayne State University. She is the author of three monographs, two of which have been translated into French and Chinese, and she has edited numerous volumes on fairy-tale cultures. Professor Duggan served as associate and co-editor of the journal Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, for 25 years, and she currently edits the Donald Haase Series in Fairy-Tale Studies at Wayne State University. She is currently working on a book about politically committed animated tales.

Live Presentation

If you are able to attend the live presentation, you have the opportunity to mingle with your fellow Mensans and guests at our usual location:
Northwest Unitarian Universalist Church in Southfield
23925 Northwestern Highway
Southfield, MI 48075

Doors open at 6:30 pm (ET). The program begins at 7:00 pm (ET).

Ticket prices for the in-person program:

• Adult Members – $5 or buy a strip of 4 tickets for $15
• Guests – $7
• Children 12 & under: $2
• Members receive free admission in the month of their birthday

Following the presentation, please join us for dinner at:
Buddy’s Pizza
31646 Northwestern Highway
Farmington Hills, MI 38334

(Just northeast of Middlebelt Rd)

Virtual Presentation (Zoom)

If you can’t join us in person, the Zoom room opens at 6:30 P.M. (ET) for mingling. 

There is no charge for the Zoom presentation, but, due to rising costs (Meetup charges alone were up 70% during the past year!), your donation via PayPal is greatly appreciated.

• Click PayPal.com
• Log in (or sign up)
• Click the “Send/Request” button
• Enter the e-mail address: treasurer@nullmensadetroit.com
• Click the “Next” button
• Enter payment amount ($5 is recommended, but feel free to send any amount)
• Fill “What’s this for” with “SEMM Zoom Presentations”
• Click the “Next” button
• Select your payment method
• Click “Send”

NEW!! If you prefer to donate using a credit or debit card, scan this QR code to make your donation: 

Please remember that all Zoom attendees need to pre-register:

• Click tinyurl.com/SEMM-Gathering
• Choose “May 16, 2026 6:30 pm” from the drop-down box
• Fill in your name and email address
• Click the “Register” button

7:00 pm (ET) Saturday, April 18, 2026 Live and via Zoom

The Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. 

A series of Supreme Court decisions and other legal developments since 2017 have dramatically chipped away at the “wall of separation” between church and state.  Government funding for religious institutions has been approved; churches have been given autonomy from government regulation in their relations with religious employees and in church governance; broad religious exemptions from regulatory laws have privileged religious over secular objections to infringements of liberty; and secular laws have increasingly been aligned with religious doctrines. In this decade, our traditional notions of secularism in government and in the commercial marketplace are increasingly being thrown into question. Growing sentiment to define the United States as a “Christian nation” is reflected in many of these developments. 

Join us at 7:00 P.M. (EDT), on Saturday, April 18, when law professor Howard Friedman will lead us in a discussion of recent events affecting the independence of religion and the religious neutrality of the state. 

Howard M. Friedman is University of Toledo (Ohio) Professor of Law Emeritus. He taught at Toledo’s law school for over 30 years, focusing on the areas of constitutional law as well as corporate and securities law. He has published 4 books and over 25 articles and book chapters. He has also taught at the University of North Dakota, Notre Dame University, Case Western Reserve University and St. John’s University Law Schools. While at the University of Toledo, he was active in Ohio State Bar Association Committees and served in leadership positions in many secular and religious nonprofit organizations. He often spoke at continuing legal education conferences and testified before legislative committees.

Since retiring, Professor Friedman continues to publish Religion Clause blog, an award-winning source for current legal developments on religious liberty and church-state separation. It can be accessed at https://religionclause.blogspot.com/.  Since 2014, he has resided in suburban Detroit, where he often speaks to audiences of interested adult learners.

Live Presentation

If you are able to attend the live presentation, you have the opportunity to mingle with your fellow Mensans and guests at our usual location:
Northwest Unitarian Universalist Church in Southfield
23925 Northwestern Highway
Southfield, MI 48075

Doors open at 6:30 pm (ET). The program begins at 7:00 pm (ET).

Ticket prices for the in-person program:

• Adult Members – $5 or buy a strip of 4 tickets for $15
• Guests – $7
• Children 12 & under: $2
• Members receive free admission in the month of their birthday

Following the presentation, please join us for dinner at:
Buddy’s Pizza
31646 Northwestern Highway
Farmington Hills, MI 38334

(Just northeast of Middlebelt Rd)

Virtual Presentation (Zoom)

If you can’t join us in person, the Zoom room opens at 6:30 P.M. (ET) for mingling. 

There is no charge for the Zoom presentation, but, due to rising costs (Meetup charges alone were up 70% during the past year!), your donation via PayPal is greatly appreciated.

• Click PayPal.com
• Log in (or sign up)
• Click the “Send/Request” button
• Enter the e-mail address: treasurer@nullmensadetroit.com
• Click the “Next” button
• Enter payment amount ($5 is recommended, but feel free to send any amount)
• Fill “What’s this for” with “SEMM Zoom Presentations”
• Click the “Next” button
• Select your payment method
• Click “Send”

Please remember that all Zoom attendees need to pre-register:

• Click tinyurl.com/SEMM-Gathering
• Choose “April 18, 2026 6:30 pm” from the drop-down box
• Fill in your name and email address
• Click the “Register” button

7:00 pm (ET) Saturday, March 21, 2026 via Zoom

Al Capone was one of the most well-known, some would say “bigger than life” figures of the twentieth century. He was also Diane Patricia Capone’s Grandfather. His name is still known and talked about around the world almost eighty years after his death. Why the insatiable curiosity? Was he a cold-blooded villain? Was he a kind-hearted “Robin Hood”? He has been called Public Enemy Number One, the quintessential American “rags to riches” phenomenon, the most famous gangster of all time, a conundrum. and, by his grandchildren, “Papa”. What was he really like?

Join us at 7:00 P.M. (EDT) on March 21 to hear Diane’s personal recollections of her grandfather and learn what it was like to grow up as a Capone. 

Diane was born in Miami Beach and raised in Miami Shores. She attended St. Mary’s Catholic School and then Notre Dame Academy for Girls before moving to Palo Alto, CA, in the early 60’s, where Diane graduated from Palo Alto High School. She married, completed college, and raised her family in the San Francisco Bay Area communities of Sunnyvale, Cupertino, and Los Altos. She worked in administration in high tech and venture capital before completing a Master’s in Counseling. She then became a Counselor at Mission College in Santa Clara for twenty years, and retired to the Sierra Nevada Foothills.

Please note that this program will be presented only via Zoom.

Virtual Presentation (Zoom)

Please, pre-register:

• Click tinyurl.com/SEMM-Gathering
• Choose “March 21, 2026 6:30 pm” from the drop-down box
• Fill in your name and email address
• Click the “Register” button

The Zoom room opens at 6:30 pm (ET) for mingling. The program starts at 7:00 pm (ET).

There is no charge for the Zoom presentation, but, due to rising costs, your donation via PayPal is greatly appreciated.

• Click PayPal.com
• Log in (or sign up)
• Click the “Send/Request” button
• Enter the e-mail address: treasurer@nullmensadetroit.com
• Click the “Next” button
• Enter payment amount ($5 is recommended, but feel free to send any amount)
• Fill “What’s this for” with “SEMM Zoom Presentations”
• Click the “Next” button
• Select your payment method
• Click “Send”

NEW!! If you prefer to donate using a credit or debit card, scan this QR code to make your donation: 

7:00 pm (ET) Saturday, February 21, 2026 via Zoom

Join us at 7:00 p.m. (EST) on Saturday, February 21, for a look behind the scenes at the U.N., when attorney and former U.N. investigator Peter Gallo will provide us with a unique insider’s view of his claim that the U.N. failed to properly investigate allegations that some Gaza staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or “UNRWA,” played an active role in the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7. He will also discuss charges that UNRWA operations there were infiltrated and influenced by Hamas.

Before joining the U.N.’s Investigations Division of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS/ID), Attorney Peter Gallo worked in the private sector in Asia for nineteen years, 18 of which were spent as an investigator and consultant specializing in counterterrorism financing and anti-money laundering. During this time, he was recognized as one of the leading authorities on the methodologies of money laundering.

Mr. Gallo has also done some part-time university lecturing on investigation management, spoken at numerous conferences, and authored about two dozen articles published in various professional journals and news magazines. He is a lawyer admitted to practice in Scotland, Hong Kong, and New York.

Please note that this program will be presented only via Zoom.

Virtual Presentation (Zoom)

Please, pre-register:

• Click tinyurl.com/SEMM-Gathering
• Choose “February 21, 2026 6:30 pm” from the drop-down box
• Fill in your name and email address
• Click the “Register” button

The Zoom room opens at 6:30 pm (ET) for mingling. The program starts at 7:00 pm (ET).

There is no charge for the Zoom presentation, but, due to rising costs, your donation via PayPal is greatly appreciated.

• Click PayPal.com
• Log in (or sign up)
• Click the “Send/Request” button
• Enter the e-mail address: treasurer@nullmensadetroit.com
• Click the “Next” button
• Enter payment amount ($5 is recommended, but feel free to send any amount)
• Fill “What’s this for” with “SEMM Zoom Presentations”
• Click the “Next” button
• Select your payment method
• Click “Send”
• Bask in our appreciation