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Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
High IQ people may think something is wrong with them
Teachers gave special attention to the intellectually gifted Mel Jäger ever since the first grade - without making the young student "stand out." "There was no outing: the IQ test didn't change anything in my life," says Jäger, now 34, and a board member of the German chapter of the Mensa association for the highly gifted. To be accepted to the group you need an IQ of at least 130. However not every Mensa member gets such good support. Quite a few feel held back or that they rub people the wrong way, and have been bullied. Sometimes those with a high IQ think they are the problem, Mensa members said in a meeting of the group in Mainz in western Germany. Some only come to realize during psychotherapy that their problems are related to their giftedness. Mensa has many gifted people recognized later in life "All my life I thought I had a screw loose," says an engineer from the Ruhr area, who wants to remain anonymous except for his first name, Peter. After taking the IQ test at the age of 54, he only then understood "why I was always an intellectual outsider and lonely." At work, he usually had to take a back seat. "I did everything on the side to get ahead. That was 30 years of hard work," says Peter, 59. "Late bloomers make up a huge part of our community," says Sybille Beyer, spokeswoman for Mensa Germany. That feeling of relief after finding out they have a high IQ happens often, she says. It's the feeling that "I'm not wrong, I'm just different." She says it's similar to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the ugly duckling that wanders around, feeling like he doesn't fit in - until he stumbles upon a flock of swans and realizes he's not a duck but a beautiful swan. Beyer, 61, knows what they are talking about. In primary school, she taught herself to read, was top of the class for years, but was held back. "Nah, I'm not taking you on now, you always know everything anyway," she says, describing her experience with teachers. Later, she often had the feeling that, as a person, she was "always running into a brick wall." A book about highly gifted people that she got from her hairdresser was the turning point for Beyer. She was already 53 years old at the time. "As I read, I thought, someone is writing about my life," she says. And her relief: "You can throw off all the guilt about not being able to fit in." Expert: Highly intelligent people on average more satisfied "On average, highly intelligent people get through school, college and training better, are more successful in their careers, and are healthier and happier in life than non-highly gifted people," says Detlef H Rost, an emeritus psychology professor at the University of Marburg. "So giftedness is more of a protective factor than a risk factor for development and coping with life," he says. "It is not giftedness itself that leads to problems for a person, but the behaviour displayed" – and that of their important caregivers, Rost says. Good standardized tests are "very meaningful" in Rost's view. They are even among the best diagnostic tools in psychology. Highly gifted people have an IQ of at least 130 Of the roughly 70 million adults living in Germany, around 1.4 million are highly gifted, says Rost. According to its own figures, the Mensa association, founded in 1979, now has more than 18,000 members, making it the largest network for highly intelligent people in Germany. That means the vast majority are not organized in an association. "Here you can develop acquaintances you can work with immediately - within five minutes or after two sentences," says Peter from the Ruhr area. The realization that she is highly gifted has changed her private life, reports Beyer. Mensa helped her find her way out of loneliness. The average age of Mensa members in Germany is around 38, says Jäger, who prefers plural pronouns. Around two-thirds are men and one-third women, with the proportion of diverse people growing. The professional field is diverse, and the number of members is increasing significantly, partly because autism and ADHD are being tested more frequently and the IQ is often determined from those tests, says Jäger. "You meet interesting people here and learn unexpected things that you would never come across otherwise," says Annette, 54, who does not want to give her last name. She's learned about tax returns, elementary physics, archaeology and artificialintelligence from the group, she says. "You get very interesting ideas here," says another Mensa member named Peter, from Cologne, talking about a 62-kilometre route in Nepal to Mount Everest Basecamp. The computer scientist is now studying physics so that he won't get bored after retirement. There are many facets to giftedness, says Beyer. The Mensa association's activities are therefore very diverse. Both the regulars' tables and the German meetings, such as the one in Mainz, welcome non-members. "It's not as if you're a completely different person with an IQ of 130 or more." Global links too Mensa members say a few preferences and behaviours are often found among the highly gifted: fast speech, an aversion to "meaningless small talk" but a tendency to jump quickly from topic to topic in conversations – and a penchant for tricky games. "Loud noises, harsh light, too many people, a mad rush – that's something that many of us find very difficult to take," reports Beyer. And younger people in particular usually seek contact with older people. Annette, a pharmacist, has daughters who are also highly gifted. She can't say whether this makes family life easier. "At any rate, we've put up a 'nerd sanctuary' sign at home." "Mensa is my chosen family," says Jäger from Münster. "You come into contact with people you wouldn't otherwise have known." This applies worldwide, as the umbrella organization has 150,000 members. "With the Couchsurfing programme, for example, you can find a place to stay anywhere at any time," says Jäger. They have already planned their entire holiday with Mensa members from around the world.
Daily Mail
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
The man behind one of the most audacious military operations ever: RICHARD PENDLEBURY reveals the sensational inside story of Operation Spider's Web
In the annals of high espionage, derring-do and successful madcap military schemes, Artem Tymofieiev surely deserves his place. The Russians would certainly like to know his whereabouts today. A nationwide manhunt is underway. The mysterious Mr Tymofieiev has been identified as the Ukrainian secret agent who ran one of the most audacious and brilliantly executed military operations in modern history. Operation Chastise, the Dambusters Raid – in which RAF Lancasters breached two Ruhr dams with bouncing bombs in 1943 – has long been the yardstick against which other unlikely coups de main have been measured. I would argue that Operation Spider's Web, which the Ukrainian Secret Service – the SBU – executed on Sunday afternoon, exceeds even that exploit in breathtaking scope and impact. Simultaneously, across three time zones and thousands of miles from the Ukrainian border, swarms of FPV (first-person view) kamikaze drones struck four Russian air bases. These were home to the Kremlin's strategic long-range bombers. Yesterday Kyiv claimed that in a stroke it had destroyed 34 per cent of Russia 's heavy bomber fleet, inflicting some $7billion worth of damage. Mobile phone footage of palls of smoke rising from the bases during the attacks, video feed from the drones and satellite images of the aftermath: all seem to bear out the claim. The operation was an astonishing triumph. Russian military bloggers have likened the attack's surprise and devastation to that inflicted by the Japanese on the US Navy at Pearl Harbour. But how on earth did the Ukrainians manage to pull it off? As more information emerges from a triumphant Kyiv and a humiliated Moscow, we can start to piece together the Spider's Web story. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Russia's heavy bomber fleet has caused widespread death and destruction. Originally designed during the Cold War as strategic nuclear bombers, the aircraft have been repurposed to carry conventional 'stand-off' cruise missiles. These are launched from inside Russian airspace, well out of reach of Ukrainian air defence systems. All three of the heavy bomber variants in service have immense payloads. The TU-95 'Bear', a turboprop relic of the 1950s, can carry 16 air-launched cruise missiles. The TU-22 'Blinder', Russia's first supersonic bomber, has the capacity to launch the supersonic Kh-22 missile, which has the speed to evade most Ukrainian air defences. The TU-160 'Blackjack', Russia's most modern strategic bomber, can carry up to 24 Kh-15 cruise missiles on one mission. These planes have brought nightly terror to Ukrainian cities. Nothing could be done to stop them, it seemed. Due to the growing range and accuracy of the Ukrainian attack drone fleet, the bombers had been moved to bases deep inside Russia that weren't vulnerable to retaliation. Some were as far away as Siberia and the Arctic Circle. So, 18 months ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky summoned SBU chief Lieutenant General Vasyl Maliuk and told him to find a way to take the war to the heavy bombers' hideouts. How though to strike thousands of kilometres beyond the range of Ukraine's furthest- reaching missile or drone? Not to mention penetrating one of the world's most sophisticated air defence systems? Then someone had an idea that must have sounded crazy at first – like Barnes Wallis suggesting his bouncing bomb. Why not drive the kamikaze drones in trucks up to the perimeter of the air bases and launch them over the fence? To do this, the drones would need to be smuggled into Russia and hidden somewhere secure. When the time came to attack, the UAV swarms would have to be concealed on commercial vehicles that would not arouse suspicion. And that is aside from the issue of launching the drones at the targets in such a way that would not expose the operators or agents on the ground to immediate reprisal or capture. A base was needed inside the Russian Federation from which the Spider's Web logistics could be marshalled and the attack launched. That meant, of course, there would have to be a Ukrainian agent on the ground, far behind enemy lines, at enormous personal risk. The indications are that the location chosen for Spider's Web's Russian 'office' – as President Zelensky called it – was the small city of Chelyabinsk. It lies more than 1,000 miles east of Moscow but – and this might have been significant for the smuggling aspect of the operation – only 85 miles by road north of the border with neutral Kazakhstan. Russian mili-bloggers have identified a warehouse in Chelyabinsk as being the Spider's Web hub. Rented for 350,000 rubles (£3,250) a month, this was allegedly where the drones and their launchers were assembled and sent on their way. Zelensky also suggested that the 'office' was next door to the local headquarters of the FSB – the federal security service that replaced the KGB. He did not reveal the location. But who was to run this extremely complex and high stakes operation? The man whom the Russian Interior Ministry suspect of being the local mastermind is of course Artem Tymofieiev. His name and photograph are being circulated by the authorities, his capture a priority. According to Russian sources, Tymofieiev was born in the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr, lived in Kyiv and moved to Chelyabinsk 'several years ago', working as an 'entrepreneur'. Was he a sleeper agent from the start? If so, he made no secret of his support for Ukraine, friends are alleged to have said. But how could he be a threat in such a strategically insignificant place, thousands of miles from the war? He was, as one Russian blogger has put it, 'a wolf in sheep's clothing'. The drones were to be carried to the targets and launched remotely from wooden cabins carried on the flat beds of heavy lorries. According to President Zelensky they were then piloted remotely to their targets. Four air bases had been identified: Belaya airfield in Irkutsk oblast, Siberia, more than 4,000km from Ukraine; the Olenya air base in the Arctic Circle near Murmansk; the Diaghilev air base in Ryazan oblast; and a base near the city of Ivanovo. How to get the drones from the Kazakh border to these places? Chelyabinsk is 2,000 miles from Murmansk, 1,750 miles to Irkutsk and more than 1,000 miles to the other two bases. But such distances are routinely traversed by Russian lorry drivers. And that was the brilliantly simple method by which this high-tech attack was progressed. 'Artem' seems to have employed four unwitting heavy goods drivers to transport what they thought were simply wooden framed houses to different locations across the Russian Federation. According to the SBU, the drones were hidden under the house roofs. According to Russian sources, the trucks were all registered to 'Artem'. Driver Alexander Z, 55, from Chelyabinsk has reportedly told investigators he received an order to transport 'frame houses' to the Murmansk region from a businessman named Artem, who provided the truck. Driver Andrei M, 61, reportedly said he was told by Artem to transport wooden houses to Irkutsk. Driver Sergey, 46, had an identical story. He was told to transport modular houses to Ryazan. Another driver was sent to Ivanovo. So the scene was set for Spider's Web's spectacular denouement. The 48 hours leading up to Zero Hour saw Ukraine's intelligence services demonstrating its ability to launch ever deeper strikes into enemy territory – and Russia striking back with record ferocity. Last Friday, Ukraine struck targets in Vladivostok, on the Pacific coast. Seven thousand miles from the frontier, this was the furthest that Ukraine had hit inside Russia. The following night, at least seven people were killed and another 69 injured, after a train bound for Moscow was derailed by an explosion in Bryansk oblast, which borders Ukraine. Retaliation was not long coming. Within hours Russia launched its biggest drone blitz of the war – 472 UAVs in one night. The following morning, Sunday, June 1, a Russian missile struck a training ground in Dnipro oblast, killing 12 soldiers and wounding 60 more. This prompted the Commander of Land Forces Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi to tender his resignation. A blow for Ukraine. But as nothing to what it would strike in return. Sunday, June 1, approximately 1pm local time. It is Russia's Military Transport Aviation Day. While en route, Driver Alexander Z had been called on his mobile by an unknown person who told him exactly where to stop. This was the Rosneft petrol station next to the Olenya air base. Driver Andrei M had been briefed to park at the Teremok cafe in Usolye-Sibirskoye, beside the Belaya base. Almost as soon as the drivers stopped where instructed, the world seemed to explode around them. According to the SBU, the truck trailer roofs were 'remotely opened' and the drone swarms launched from within. They had only a few hundred metres to reach their targets. Surprise was complete and local defences helpless. As all four attacks were launched at the same time, it seems, no alert could be usefully circulated. Social media footage of the Belaya attack appears to show drones emerging from the rear trailer of Andrei M's articulated wagon. It is parked on the far side of a busy highway which runs alongside the air base perimeter. What looks like roofing panels are lying on the ground beside the truck, suggesting that they were blown off rather than hinged. Driver Sergey did not even get the chance to stop before the roof of his Scania truck's trailer blew off and more drones began flying out and towards the target base. Some 117 kamikaze drones were used in the attacks, according to President Zelensky, controlled by the same number of pilots. Each air base could have been hit by as many as 30 drones simultaneously. Sources suggest that the SBU used Russia's own mobile network to communicate with and guide the large 'quadcopter' drones. To do so they must have had Russian sim cards or modems. The targets were sitting ducks, the destruction immense. The Ukrainians released video from a drone flying over a line of Russian heavy bombers neatly parked at Belaya. One of the bombers is hit by another drone, which explodes as the camera drone approaches. Among the 41 aircraft claimed destroyed by the Ukrainians is a Beriev A-50 early warning and control plane, of which Russia has fewer than ten. The first satellite images of the aftermath at Belaya appear to show six TU-22 type bombers destroyed and a TU-95MS visibly damaged. 'We will strike them at sea, in the air and on the ground,' the SBU declared. 'If needed we'll get them from the underground too.' And what of the mysterious Mr Tymofieiev? All those behind the operation 'have been in Ukraine for a long time' now, the SBU claims. Spider's Web's triumph, it seems, is complete.
Times
19-05-2025
- Times
The fun, under-the-radar German city that's now easier to reach
Second World War bombs destroyed nearly all of Münster's large, shield-shaped Altstadt, or old town. Yet rather than opting for a contemporary look, the city mostly recreated streets in an ersatz historic style. The results, especially along the focal Prinzipalmarkt street, are impressive, with a handsome riot of cobbles, red bricks, arcades, alleys and gabled houses, plus 90-odd churches whose bells seem to permanently be tolling. Even so, this compact city, north of the Ruhr in western Germany, is far from fusty. Students, contributing a youthful energy, account for 20 per cent of inhabitants while bicycles — most prominent along the three-mile Promenade, a moat turned leafy cycleway and footpath that encloses the Altstadt — outnumber everyone. Other reasons to board new flights from Stansted range from a heavyweight contemporary art scene and some thrillingly bloody history to the chance to try or buy superlative, farm-fresh examples of Germany's beloved white asparagus. • Morning: St-Paulus-Dom cathedral• Lunch: Wochenmarkt• Afternoon: LWL Museum of Art and Culture• Drink at: Balthazar• Evening: Stadthafen• Dinner: Altes Gasthaus Leve • Morning: Old town walking tour• Lunch: Die 3 Schwestern• Afternoon: Münster Botanic Garden• Drink at: Pinkus Müller Altbierküche• Evening: Lake Aasee• Dinner: Global Tarsusi ● The colossal cathedral at the heart of the Altstadt, St-Paulus-Dom, contains gleaming golden reliquaries, porthole-like stained-glass windows and a still-operational, 16th-century astronomical clock. Ornate and enormous, this produces a glockenspiel-soundtracked display at noon as figurines representing the Magi appear twice and bow to Mary and Jesus. Arrive by 11.45 for a clear vantage point. ● Spread over two floors of cavernous rooms, the LWL Museum of Art and Culture's regionally centred exhibits run through the centuries, ranging from Madonna statues and Luther bibles to Yves Klein monochromes and an Edvard Munch nude. You can also see works from the Skulptur Projekte Münster, which changes every ten years, the next edition starting in 2027 (£9; ● Stadthafen, Münster's 'port', where grand industrial buildings line a basin off the Dortmund-Ems Canal, has been gentrified into a buzzy hub of creative agencies and water-facing bar-restaurants with big terraces. As the latter are all a bit overpriced, opt instead for some hazelnut ice cream from MaMa's, just inland (scoops from £2; ● Take a local-led tour of the handsome Altstadt. Its Peace Hall — where Louis XIV and other European dignitaries ended the Thirty Years War — and grand, gothic St Lambert's Church, complete with cages where the mutilated corpses of three Protestant revolutionaries were once shockingly displayed, are the headline acts (tours £61pp for two; ● Walk or pedal around the lime tree-canopied Promenade to the Schloss Münster, a baroque bishop's palace turned university building. Hidden behind is the Münster Botanic Garden; a circuit here reveals humid, lemon-scented glasshouses with boardwalks across ponds; a slumberous, lily-padded lake; bumpy rock gardens; and dappled copses studded with benches (free; ● Lake Aasee extends from the Altstadt's southwestern fringe. On sunny evenings, as locals festoon its flanks, ride the electric Solariis ferry (from £4; last service 5.30pm) to a museum of relocated historic buildings, headlined by a 17th-century post mill (£7; or look for Henry Moore's bronze amid a walking trail of former Skulptur Projekte works ( • 10 of the best places to visit in Germany On Saturdays and Wednesdays, the square surrounding the cathedral, Domplatz, hosts a large market. Food's the focus, with farm stalls selling punnets of strawberries alongside honey specialists and pumpernickel producers. The western side contains dozens of food trucks. Winterhoffs Flammkuchen serves crispy, pizza-like tarte flambées studded with bacon and onion for about £6, plus glasses of rosé ( Seconds from the deconsecrated Dominican Church, inside which Gerhard Richter's pendulum installation hypnotically proves the Earth's rotation, is the traditional Altes Gasthaus Leve inn. Full of cosy, dark-wood corners, this is the place to try typical Westphalian dishes: white asparagus with potatoes; open pumpernickel sandwiches; or veal ragout (mains from £14; On Wolbecker Strasse, this faintly beatnik vegan café majors in brilliant and beautifully presented brunch bowls. These might incorporate homemade banana bread, avocado, granola or kiwi fruit alongside smoothies or good coffee. Chilled-out beats play and it's common to queue for a seat (dishes from £5; Head east along the going-hip Wolbecker Strasseto find Münster's best cocktail bar. Decked out in jungle-green colours, compact Balthazar has a solar-system-themed menu. The Sun (gin, lemon sherbet, curaçao and yuzu saké) is the most popular, but I opt for a Venus, in which rich apricot, rhubarb and raspberry flavours riff with rye whisky and saké (cocktails from £10; Of the 150 breweries that once produced dark, malty altbier in Münster, only Pinkus Müller remains in business. Its century-old complex includes a simple restaurant with outdoor drinking tables. The classic summer order is altbierbowle, in which preserved strawberries or raspberries are added to the staple, chilled beer (beers from £3; Like all German cities, Münster has tons of Turkish restaurants. Offering more of a Mediterranean-wide outlook, this neighbourhood joint might be the best, aided by superb service. Sit out on the buzzy street and order herby minced lamb wrapped in freshly baked flatbread alongside homemade aioli (mains from £7; • Read our full guide to Germany This article contains affiliate links, which can earn us revenue Great design and gourmet foodRight on the Promenade, and very handy for the airport bus, this beautiful design hotel mixes mid-century furniture with oak-parquet floors, monochrome photography and moody taupes or greys. It also rents out bikes and has an ambitious but informal ground-floor restaurant, Reckos, whose white asparagus soup is outstanding (B&B doubles from £157; Simple style near greeneryIn a safe, residential area out near the Botanic Garden and Lake Aasee, adults-only Hotel Jellentrup's red-brick building contains 21 rooms exclusively on its first and second floors, but no lift. Expect simple but spacious furnishings in subdued colours, and to pay extra for a balcony with outdoor seating. Breakfast is a small but high-quality buffet (B&B doubles from £106; Private hostel rooms for a songDespite the name, this hostel inside the altstadt isn't just dormitories. There are also some capacious double or twin rooms with sitting areas, bathrooms and wardrobes. Drinks and coffee are available in the buzzy lounge, where pale woods and exposed bricks set a post-industrial tone. Expect a little late-night noise as younger guests return home (B&B doubles from £68; On March 30, Ryanair began flying four times a week from London Stansted to Münster Osnabrück; taking 60 minutes, these services will continue until October 25. The S50 bus, going to Munster Hbf from stop H outside the terminal, takes 40 minutes to reach central Münster and every half-hour (£8 one-way; Taxis cost about £60. If you want to join Münster's cycling swarms, or go rural and follow the 100 Castles Route cycling path to moated mansions and river valleys ( the Radstation shop by Münster Central Station has bikes from £9 per day. Electric options are also available ( Mellor was a guest of the German National Tourist Board ( and Münster Marketing (
