Talk:Odyssey of the Mind/Archive 1

Olympics of the Mind, name change?
The article cites the "late 80s" for the name change, but I seem to recall it earlier than that. My memory is that it changed between the 82-83 season and the 83-84 season--it was only "Olympics of the Mind" during my first year in the program (seventh grade), when we did "Humor from Homer"--make a comedy of a scene in "The Odyssey"--and then after that, it became "Odyssey of the Mind." I remember it mainly because I assumed they pulled "Odyssey" from the recent problem. However, my personal memory does not, as far I know, count as a legitimate source, for the good reason that I may be entirely mistaken. Does someone have a source for the "late 80s" date? Miss w 08:27, 6 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I wrote the part about the name change in the "late 80s". I can't find any written articles about the change, but I'm merely basing it on my memory.  I participated in "Olympics of the Mind" in 86-87, so I'm deducing that the name was changed some time between 87-88.  I too would like to find proof so we can have an exact date in the paragraph.  If anyone finds that I am wrong about the "late 80s", please change it because I want the article to be correct.  Thanks.  --Mtjaws 21:19, 2 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I struck an incorrect comment about it still being "Olympics of the Mind" in 1986-87, because this is not true. It was "Olympics" the first year I participated (1981-82, 6th grade for me), it changed sometime while I was in junior high (1982-1984), and it was definitely "Odyssey" when I was in high school.  I also added that Worlds were held at the University of Akron for 1985-86, because I was there as a spectator, having placed second in my State competition that year, also held at the University of Akron the month previous.  This jives with what other commentators have said. --JulieC (talk) 20:02, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Sam Micklus speaks in 4/10/85 deposition* of having formed the "Odyssey of the Mind" corporation 1 1/2 years prior to that: "We were served notice a while back from the U.S. Olympic Committee when we tried to copyright the trademark OM ... we weren't allowed to use the word Olympics ... We dropped the word Olympics and moved to OM, just plain OM, and should the Olympic Committee come back and say OM still stands for Olympic ... I have a way to say it stands for Odyssey of the Mind.". That would put the name change in 1983, which is consistent with the formation of the OM Association itself around that time, and corroborates Miss w's memory. [*Superior Court of NJ ... Docket No. C-2261-84] Bokabu 09:45, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

The name "Olympics of the Mind" is also associated with the NAACP's Afro-Academic, Cultural Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO), also founded in 1978. (See Logo, here) Bokabu (talk) 05:34, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Ah, I found the name change at the OM Association, Inc. web site in the wayback machine. http://web.archive.org/web/19980521192024/odyssey.org/History/html/1984-85.html talks of discontinuing Olympics, and http://web.archive.org/web/19980521192154/odyssey.org/History/html/1986-87.html of the new name Odyssey. The court deposition must refer to work to prepare for these changes. Bokabu (talk) 05:25, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Balsa
I changed the wording on the balsa problem to say that the goal is 'typically' to hold the most weight, instead of 'always'. Every few years, the problem is a ratio problem, in which the goal is not to hold the most weight possible. Brianga 11:29, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Founders
Dr. Theodore Gourley is a co-founder. 1999 press release 1982's "Creativity with Bill Moyers" -- see segment 7 plot summary Bokabu (talk) 06:12, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Tags
The objections at the top of the main page are very off-putting from an elementary school point of view. For a page about an activity that is primarily for school children the word inappropriate is a heavy one indeed.

What exactly is inappropriate about the page? (Even just for a wiki) Why has there been no discussion about resolving these issues in the time they have been up? (July 2010)

The tags are: additional references or sources for verification. sources or references that appear in third-party publications. material not appropriate for an encyclopedia.

How does one figure out what sections have been tagged for which reason? I think this information is easily sourceable (most on OOM's home page http://www.odysseyofthemind.com ) and I would happily stamp out this fire if I knew where to put my feet.

I can't help but suspect that some of this may be "agressive marketing" from their competitor DestinImagn.

Corsetti (talk) 15:59, 23 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't know whether DI has anything to do with the tags, but if no one is willing specify the problems, then the tags need to be removed. — The Hanged Man (talk) 21:18, 25 August 2011 (UTC)