LAUGH . . . And Then Some!

A Pole goes to the ophthalmologist who shows him a card with the letters

'C Z W X N Q S T A C Z'.

"Can you read this?" he asks.

"Read it?" the Pole replies, "I know the guy!"

Laugh Like There's No Tomorrow: Over 2,000 jokes from the Internet, Volume 2

From Day #10 in a second complete manuscript compiled by Richard L. Weaver II

Motivate your life

by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

    
I am often asked, “how do you write so much?  Or “how do you come up with so many ideas?” or “what is it that keeps you going all the time?”  My answer is one that I tell fifth graders when I give my talk to them on the topic “Writing.”  As much as you can, whenever you can, you move as fast as you can, to capture the emotion of the moment.  We are all filled with emotions (they are omnipresent in our lives), and they often occur rapidly and sometimes intensely.  To go with the flow (the existence of the emotion) makes sense for that is the key to motivation — that is the stimulus, the inducement, and the inspiration that creates the enthusiasm and determination to do something.  It is, basically, what moves us to action.
    
For me as a writer, I simply try to capture in words the feelings I have.  Often, that is why I must write essays soon after (or even when) having the actual experience.  For example, I try to write my travel essays while on-the-go — traveling.  Not only in that moment do the words flow more rapidly, but the intensity of the feelings produce more and better adjectives to describe and explain the actual experience.  In other words, intense feelings produce a larger number of language choices which not only makes writing easier, but it makes my writing more vivid as well.
    
Now, I realize that most people are not writers.  And it may be, too, that most people do not have the wide range of experiences I have.  Nonetheless, most people do have an interest in motivating their lives — that is, they have a need to get their lives off dead center.
    
One of the keys to self-motivation is a change in attitude.  I often talked to my students about being the teacher.  That is, instead of taking the position that learning occurred to them as a result of an outside stimulus such as a teacher or a textbook, they should adopt a new attitude that learning occurred as a result of self-pursuit, self-stimulation, self-determination, and self-discovery.  The teacher, indeed, was inside of them not outside of them.  This simply means that the teacher is within them, and it puts the responsibility on their shoulders for the learning that takes place.  What they received from any experience was totally up to them!
    
There are many writers who offer suggestions for motivating your life; however, if the key just discussed (putting the teacher in yourself) is not adopted, it doesn’t matter what the suggestion is, it won’t work.  This can be an incredibly important awareness because it opens up the doors of knowledge, education, enlightenment, understanding, and even wisdom.  It makes you a student of life and a student of this world and everything in it as well.
    
At the web site Motivation and Money, the essay, “What Motivates Your Life,” (September 19, 2009), lists the five most common of life’s motivators: 1) Guilt: “[People] live their entire lives running from regrets and hiding their shame.” 2) Hatred and anger: “[People] hold on to hurts and never get over them.”  3) Peer pressure: “[People are] always being disturbed by what others might think.”  4) Materialism: “[People’s] desire to acquire becomes the only motivation of their lives.”  5) Fear: “[People’s] fear may be a result of a traumatic experience, unrealistic expectations, growing up with extraordinary strict parents, or even genetic predisposition.”
    
Fortunately, there are important positive motivators as well.  Certainly one of the ways to help erase or overcome guilt, hatred, anger, peer pressure, materialism, and fear, is through positive action and behavior.  For example, for me, I always focus on the end of a project.  Much of what takes place during the production of a college textbook can only be characterized as tedious, dull, and boring.  But, knowing the influence that my ideas can have on students, knowing what a beautiful and useful product McGraw-Hill delivers, and knowing how satisfied instructors are after using my textbooks, I focus on that result to keep me going.
    
When I don’t have an ongoing project, another way I have to motivate myself is to choose a goal.  For me, any goal works.. I recognize my own needs, limits, and aspirations. The point is simply that I want a goal to focus on now.  Many of these are lifted directly from my “to do list” (or my “honey-do” list!).  Maybe it’s cleaning my study or organizing the garage.  It could just as easily be losing ten pounds in a month, avoiding junk food, working through a new activity added to my regular exercise routine, or anything else I have a need or desire to attain.  
    
Once I have selected a goal, I break it into steps.  When I taught this process to my students, I would break the process of developing a speech (the final goal) into steps for them. For example, as the first step, I had them select the topic.  They would choose three, and I would then select the best one. Their next job was to frame their topic as a proposition. Next, they had to collect evidence to support their proposition.  Following their research effort, they had to organize and outline their speech.  The final step was to present me a complete, fully-written-out manuscript for the speech as they came before the class to deliver it.   
    
Someone choosing to lose weight, would break their exercise routine into daily units and even map out their healthy eating habits.
    
At the end of every successful project, I invent an appropriate reward.  Often, it is time off for good behavior, engaging in another likable project, going to the library, reading (and reviewing) another book, taking a short vacation, or having an extra beer at the end of a long day.  Everyone has his or her own desires that can be used for rewards.
    
I have always found that one of the joys of keeping a “to-do” list is checking things off that I’ve accomplished.  Often, that check mark alone is sufficient reward.
    
Nobody on earth has the same interest in your success as you do.  Motivating your life is a result of habit.  Bad habits such as procrastination and laziness stand in your way, but the best way to break bad habits is by replacing them with clear goals and careful planning.  Every reasonable thing you want in life is possible if you change your attitude.  Capitalize on your positive emotions.  You will gain confidence from small victories, and small victories lead to larger ones.  Remember that the most successful people in the world are not always the brightest, or the best looking.  It will be your success over both small and large tasks that will motivate your life, give you confidence, and allow you to move forward with perseverance, strength, determination, and conviction.
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Erin Falconer, has a great essay, “How To Motivate Yourself – Self Motivation,” at the Pickyourbrain web site, in which she says that the primary reasons we lose motivation is lack of confidence, focus, and direction.  She claims: “There is no simple solution for a lack of motivation. Even after beating it, the problem reappears at the first sign of failure. The key is understanding your thoughts and how they drive your emotions. By learning how to nurture motivating thoughts, neutralize negative ones, and focus on the task at hand, you can pull yourself out of a slump before it gains momentum.”  I loved her emphasis on emotions; hers is a terrific essay.

At Lifeorganizer, Donald Latumahina has a great essay, “Self-motivation: How to motivate yourself,” says, “If you want to excel in life, self motivation is essential. You must know how to motivate yourself. You must be able to keep your spirit high no matter how discouraging a situation is. That’s the only way to get the power you need to overcome difficulties. Those who are discouraged in difficult times are certain to lose even before the battle is over.”  He offers six methods: 1) Have a cause.  2) Have a dream. A big dream.  3) Be hungry.  4) Run your own race.  5) Take one more step.  6) Let go of the past.
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Copyright February, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.


    
    
    
    
   

Be patient in what you expect of yourself.

SMOERs: Words of Wisdom"There are three secrets to managing.  The first secret is have patience.  The second is be patient.  And the third most important secret is patience."  ---Chuck Tanner
  Day #296 - Be patient in what you expect of yourself.

SMOERs: Self-Motivation, Optimism, Encouragement Rules! - Daily Reminders for Outstanding Living An everyday guide full of quotations to uplift your spirits.  This is one of four motivational quotations for Day #296.  

Free 30-Day sample: smoers.com

And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of Thursday's essay, "Motivate your life," reads as follows: 
 I am often asked, “how do you write so much?  Or “how do you come up with so many ideas?” or “what is it that keeps you going all the time?”  My answer is one that I tell fifth graders when I give my talk to them on the topic “Writing.”  As much as you can, whenever you can, you move as fast as you can, to capture the emotion of the moment.  We are all filled with emotions (they are omnipresent in our lives), and they often occur rapidly and sometimes intensely.  To go with the flow (the existence of the emotion) makes sense for that is the key to motivation — that is the stimulus, the inducement, and the inspiration that creates the enthusiasm and determination to do something.  It is, basically, what moves us to action.

    

Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

Nobody on earth has the same interest in your success as you do.  Motivating your life is a result of habit.  Bad habits such as procrastination and laziness stand in your way, but the best way to break bad habits is by replacing them with clear goals and careful planning.  Every reasonable thing you want in life is possible if you change your attitude.  Capitalize on your positive emotions.  You will gain confidence from small victories, and small victories lead to larger ones.  Remember that the most successful people in the world are not always the brightest, or the best looking.  It will be your success over both small and large tasks that will motivate your life, give you confidence, and allow you to move forward with perseverance, strength, determination, and conviction.


And Then Some News

The New York Times presents Smarter by Sunday: 52 Weekends of Essential Knowledge for the Curious Mind

By the staff of Elizabeth Publishing (and a group of academic and professional writers.)  General Editor: John W. Wright; Executive Editor: Matt Fisher



Book review by Richard L. Weaver II


I liked this book.  Any book designed to increase the knowledge and information of readers is to be encouraged.  Also, The New York Times is a trusted source of information throughout the world. (As is always true with knowledge and information, facts may need to be checked but, in general, the credibility of the source does not require investigation.)


Admittedly, I did not read every one of its 550 pages.  Also, there was a great deal of information here with which I was already familiar and a great deal, too, with which I had no interest whatever.  For example, I really had no interest in a brief history of Japan, a political and cultural history of Ancient Egypt, a brief history of physics, the European novel, painting in the 19th century, ancient Rome, or mathematics.  Many of these cover subjects I took in high school or college, and I don’t need a summary/review of previous course work.


There was a great deal of information I found interesting such as “The Computer Revolution,” “The Written Word,” “The Renaissance,” “Great American Writers,” “American Popular Music,” “Philosophy: The Life of the Mind,” “Modern Thought,” “Languages of the World,” and “American Film.”  What I enjoyed as much as the review of information and ideas is how the material would make me stop and think.  I wasn’t particularly challenged as much as simply engaged.  (Whether or not I can actually make use of the knowledge/information in the writing I do is yet to be determined.)


I am not suggesting that it would not have benefitted me to have read the information on subjects that held no current interest, but as in all things in life, I simply have to devote my time to things of interest.


I found the information throughout this book well presented and clear—better, in fact, than most of my classroom teachers presented their information.  Remember, it is the editor’s objective “to present our readers with essential information on a variety of subjects that together make up the basic elements of what is commonly called a ‘well-rounded education’” (p. x).  The format of the book “is based on the 52 weekends in a calendar year.  Each weekend is centered on a single topic (‘The Universe,’ ‘Rome,’ ‘The Renaissance,’ ‘The Novel,’ ‘American Popular Music,’ etc.) . . .” (p. x).


What I found most interesting was that readers could pick and choose among topics.  One does not build on any other.  If someone were to read everything in this book, however, they would surely possess rudimentary knowledge in art, music, literature, history, religion, economics, philosophy, and science.  Because most of the readers of The New York Times live in North America, the book is overly devoted to matters that concern Western history, art, literature, and science.


This book is a “must read” for high school or college students, and I think it could be a source book (reference work?) for a capstone seminar (or workshop) on “Essential Knowledge.”  Why not make the command of knowledge/information such as this a requirement (with attendant examinations) for graduation?



The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday: 52 Weekends of Essential Knowledge for the Curious Mind at Amazon.com

LAUGH . . . And Then Some!

A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan.  She asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the roadside, wounded and bleeding, what would you do?”  A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, “I think I'd throw up.”

Laugh Like There's No Tomorrow: Over 2,000 jokes from the Internet, Volume 2

From Day #8 in a second complete manuscript compiled by Richard L. Weaver II

Life is a game

by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

  
The first thing I think of when a game (any game) is mentioned, is “fun.”  Games are fun.  And to think that a game (any game) can be an accurate metaphor for life is mistaken.  There are times, it is true, when life is pure fun, but much of life is not — more of life is not fun.  It is serious business and not to take it seriously can sometimes be disastrous.   It was Thomas L. Holdcroft who said, “Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.”
    
At the Counseling Resource web site, Gordon Shippey has an essay titled “Life is Not a Game (But Maybe It Should Be),” in which he says: “My point is not to say that everything in life needs to be as fun and engaging as a game. Rather, that we have choices of how to structure our schools and our workplaces to make important work easier or harder. Remembering how important feedback is to the gaming experience, could we not make more regular feedback a part of our work and school life?  When we realize that high-risk situations work against creativity and challenging ourselves to go further, would it make sense to reevaluate the high-stakes testing in our schools?  Knowing that narrative flow fosters engagement, what are we to make of a disjointed school day or a job riddled with interruptions and requiring high levels of multi-tasking?  If being able to control the pace of an experience is important, why do we walk students lock-step through their lessons when self-paced alternatives like the Kahn Academy exist?  In the long run, harnessing the engaging properties of games may become a serious productivity driver.”
    
There is a book by Cherie Carter-Scott, If Life is a Game, These Are the Rules.  Blaine Greenfield, from Belle Mead, New Jersey, reviewed the book at Amazon, and since I have not read the book, I cite Greenfield’s distillation of Carter-Scott’s rules (condensed even further here): 1) You will receive a body.  You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth. 2) You will be presented with lessons.  You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life."  Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.  3) There are no mistakes, only lessons.  Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work.  4) A lesson is repeated until learned.
Lessons will repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can then go on to the next lesson.
    
There are five additional rules.  5)  Learning does not end.  There is no part of life that does not contain lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.  6) "There" is no better than "here."  When you’re "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain a "there" that will look better to you than your present "here."  7) Others are only mirrors of you.

You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.  8) What you make of your life is up to you.  You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you.  9) Your answers lie inside of you.

All you need to do is look, listen, and trust. 10) You will forget all of this at birth.  You can remember it if you want by unraveling the double helix of inner knowing.
    
Now, here’s the point.  Those are, indeed, basic rules, but they don’t come close to proving, establishing, or in any way suggesting that life is a game.  There is far more to any game than rules alone.  An effective game includes competition, alternative choices, problem-solving, risk-taking, built-in surprises, rewards, winning and losing, and a final goal — among other things.  If anyone thinks that life is a game, just think about how many characteristics exist in most games.      So much of life does not involve any of this.  More often than not, life is composed of typical, common, ordinary routine.  I would suggest that for many people in the world, it is more about merely surviving — finding enough to eat and seeking the finances to support themselves.   For others who have enough to eat and finances enough to support themselves, they just want to exist — quality of life is what they have and nothing more.
    
There is no question that there are parts of our lives that mimic games in some cases, like job seeking, project completion, and, perhaps, dating.  But I would contend that much like Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs," when life truly becomes a game, you have raised yourself much higher on “the hierarchy” — whatever the hierarchy is.   Although Cherie Carter-Scott’s book (mentioned above) is a basic (some reviewers said “elementary”), interesting read, the “rules” she writes about are close to the bottom of the hierarchy.
    
What I have discovered throughout my life has been to consider the comment “life is a game” as a cliche — a trite expression that has little meaning.  There is no doubt that when I was a university professor, I felt intense competition — for tenure, promotion, and merit.  The “publish or perish” impetus necessary to further my academic career supplied the motivation; however, more than anything else the motivation was internal since it was well honed throughout graduate school.  Even though there was competition, alternative choices, problem-solving, risk-taking, built-in surprises, rewards, winning and losing, and a final goal, I considered all of this an extension of my graduate training.  Yes, it could have been considered “a game,’ and there are many who do; however, for me, it didn’t change anything.  The elements were the same, and the needs wouldn’t change either.
    
Do you consider life a game?   That’s perfectly fine.  Remember what Gordon Shippey said near the beginning of this essay: “In the long run, harnessing the engaging properties of games may become a serious productivity driver.”  The real determiner of success for your life is in the quotation by Abraham Lincoln: “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”
- - - - - - - -
At Scott H. Young’s web site, “Get More From Life,”  Young has an excellent essay, “Life as a Game,” and his last paragraph explains how important the “life as a game” metaphor can be: “The metaphors we use to describe life will decide how we behave and feel within it. Viewing life as a game can be incredibly freeing in seeing all our obstacles and problems as adding to the experience. By understanding that the game of life operates from a common sense set of rules we can understand these rules then utilize them to our effectiveness. Finally, by understanding that the game of life is about experiencing the journey with a purpose we can be successful and happy. Viewing life as a game isn’t without its fallacies, but you may want to try this perspective to see if it improves your own quality of experience.”

At the “Freedom from the Known,”  ivan campuzano web site, Campuzano has an essay, “Life is a Game: How Are You Playing It?” (April 27, 2011).  He gives readers of his blog instructions for how to create their own game.  He ends his essay saying, “I am assuming you will choose to play a game that will be full of joy and balance. This is your life, learn to play with it. Thank you for reading my post, be well. Your friend Ivan Campuzano.”
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Copyright February, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L. C.

Break out from conformity.

SMOERs: Words of Wisdom"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."  ---John F. Kennedy   Day #295 - Break out from conformity.

SMOERs: Self-Motivation, Optimism, Encouragement Rules! - Daily Reminders for Outstanding Living An everyday guide full of quotations to uplift your spirits.  This is one of four motivational quotations for Day #295.  

Free 30-Day sample: smoers.com

And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of Thursday's essay, "Life is a game," reads as follows:
The first thing I think of when a game (any game) is mentioned, is “fun.”  Games are fun.  And to think that a game (any game) can be an accurate metaphor for life is mistaken.  There are times, it is true, when life is pure fun, but much of life is not — more of life is not fun.  It is serious business and not to take it seriously can sometimes be disastrous.   It was Thomas L. Holdcroft who said, “Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.”





Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

Do you consider life a game?   That’s perfectly fine.  Remember what Gordon Shippey said near the beginning of this essay: “In the long run, harnessing the engaging properties of games may become a serious productivity driver.”  The real determiner of success for your life is in the quotation by Abraham Lincoln: “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”



And Then Some News

The Mammoth Book of Best New Jokes

By Geoff Tibballs



Book review by Richard L. Weaver II


One thing I don’t do is purchase joke books to memorize jokes and share them with others.  Sometimes, I buy them to find jokes to use in my speeches, essays, and other writing that I do — such as in the writing of my college textbooks (but I have found very few that I could use in this manner).


Tibballs had compiled jokes under close to 80 categories.  In 597 pages there are thousands, and many of them are from contemporary comedians and a number of them, too, deal with contemporary politicians such as Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, the Clintons, and George W. Bush.


There are six jokes in the Sarah Palin category.  Wyatt Cenac, an American stand-up comedian, writes, “The governor of Alaska is so dumb she thinks the capital of China is Chinatown and that soy milk is Spanish for “I am milk’” (p. 418).  Jokes by Jay Leno and Conan O’Brian are mentioned here as well.


There are seven jokes listed for Barack Obama.  My favorite is, “A lot of voters mistrust Barack Obama because they say he’s not a real American.  You can see what they mean—after all, he’s slim” (p. 409).


Nine jokes appear under the category “The Clintons.”  In my view, the best one (all are pretty bad!) Is: “Hillary went to a fortune teller who revealed: ‘I have some bad news.  Bill is going to die a horrible death.’
    Hillary said: ‘Just tell me one thing.  Will I be acquitted?’” (p. 130)


There are more than 14 jokes in the category, “College and University.”  I found this one to be the most relevant and incisive: “When a university student returned home for Christmas his mother asked: ‘How’s your history paper coming along?’
    ‘Well, my history professor suggested I use the Internet for research, and it’s been really helpful.’
    ‘Oh, that’s good.’
    ‘Yes.  So far I’ve noticed fourteen people who sell them’” (p. 133).


Of the 8 jokes in the category “Donald Trump,” all but one discuss his hair—which I find a bit disappointing.  That is, it’s such an easy target and requires no imagination whatsoever.


Under the subject, “Vacation and Leisure,” there are nearly 25 jokes.  There was one Steven Wright joke I hadn’t heard: “I want to hang a map of the world in my house.  Then I’m going to put pins into all the locations that I’ve traveled to.  But first I’m going to have to travel to the top two corners of the map so that it won’t fall off the wall” (p. 551).


Needless to say, I loved this book, not because of all the jokes by Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Homer Simpson, Jerry Seingeld, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, Margaret Cho and many others—including a number of English comedians I’ve never heard of (I guess I didn’t realize the English even had a sense of humor much less comedians who might display it! —Kidding, of course.), but because of the wide variety and range of jokes offered.  There will be at least one to satisfy every reader!


What led me to this book in the first place had to do with my interest in jokes.  Good thing, huh?  I had compiled more than 2,000 which I intended to include a book to be titled, “Laugh Like There’s No Tomorrow!” (a quote from Mark Twain that reflected the 365 days that contained an average of 4 jokes each day).  Tibballs’ book convinced me that such a book as mine would not sell.  That is, why would anyone buy a book with four or five jokes for each of 365 days when they could buy this one with well over 3,000 jokes arranged by categories?  I have even compiled enough jokes for a second and a third edition.  These books of mine did not go out of print, they never saw print.  The jokes, however, appear on Fridays on my blog.


One note of warning about Tibballs’ book.  He is British, and the English spelling of words, use of English references (such as their money), and the use of English comedian’s jokes occur throughout the book.  This really isn’t a handicap; however, it limits the effectiveness of some of the material here.


The Mammoth Book of Best New Jokes can be purchased from Amazon.com   

LAUGH . . . And Then Some!

Two blonds living in Oklahoma were sitting on a bench talking, and one blond says to the other, 'Which do you think is farther away...Florida or the moon?'
The other blond turns and says 'Helloooooooooo, can you see Florida ?????'

Laugh Like There's No Tomorrow: Over 2,000 jokes from the Internet, Volume 2

From Day #7 in a second complete manuscript compiled by Richard L. Weaver II

Boosting brain power

by Richard L. Weaver II
    
For me it hasn’t been about “boosting brain power,” it is more about “sustaining brain power.”  That is, I don’t like the thought of losing anything I have, and if I gain a little by doing things that will sustain what I have, then that is icing on the cake, or a positive byproduct that is greatly appreciated.  I try to do more than what it takes to keep my brain active just as I do more than what it takes to keep my body in shape.
    
My 98-year-old father-in-law gives credence to the comment by Elizabeth Zelinski, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Southern California, who said, “the research now suggests you have a good chance of keeping your brain sharp if you commit to the right kind of concentrated effort.”  This is a paraphrase by the unknown author of “Build a Better Brain,” an article in The Hartford’s Extra Mile bulletin (Winter, 2011, pp. 6-8).  Although my father-in-law engages in a limited amount of physical exercise (walking), a limited amount of contact with other people (mainly at mealtimes), he is a voracious reader of newspapers, magazines, and books.  His mind and memory are sharp as a tack.
    
Asking the question, “Can you build a better brain?” Sharon Begley, in a Newsweek essay of the same name (January 10 & 17, pp. 40-45), claims that “The quest for effective ways to boost cognitive capacity is not hopeless . . . The explosion in neuroscience is slowly revealing the mechanisms of cognition” (p. 42).  And here is a sentence most hardworking people will greatly appreciate: “. . . in people who excel at particular tasks, Stern’s neuroimaging studies show, brain circuits tend to be more efficient (using less energy even as cognitive demand increases), higher capacity, and more flexible” (p. 43).
    
Now, Begley reports one finding that should prompt everyone to vary what they do in life: “ . . . skills we’re already good at don’t make us much smarter; we don’t pay much attention to them.  In contrast, taking up a new cognitively demanding activity — ballroom dancing, a foreign language — is more likely to boost processing speed, strengthen synapses, and expand or create functional networks” (p. 43).  That is why the suggestions offered in The Hartford’s Extra Mile bulletin, cited above, make good sense.  The essay, as its first of seven “Tips to Enhance Brain Fitness,” suggests that we “Learn to play a new instrument” (p. 7).  It states that the reason is that “You’ll exercise several brain functions, related to sight, hearing, and movement.”  That’s true, but it is just as true that it will boost processing speed, strengthen synapses, and expand or create functional networks — which is likely to result in even greater rewards.
    
The Hartford’s Extra Mile bulletin also offers other tips besides learning to play a new instrument that may yield the same benefits.  These include making your hobbies harder, using your other hand, and walking on a rocky road.
    
In an online article (03-20-09), “Building a Better Brain,” at the web site, Isthmus, The Daily Page, Jennifer A. Smith, reports on a speech given by Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and psychiatry and director of University of Wisconsin’s Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience.  He “was speaking on neuroplasticity — the ability of the brain to remain flexible, adaptable and trainable,” she writes.  “It’s one of the foundations of his work.”
    
“The adult brain, scientists now realize,” Smith reports, “continues to make about 5,000 new cells per day. It is ever changing, or ‘plastic,’ throughout life.”  Now, citing Davidson, she quotes him as saying, "Traits formerly considered to be fixed are really not.  They’re characteristics that can be changed through training.  In other words, human beings have more control over [their] minds than previously thought. . . . We’re carrying our own laboratory between our ears, and we just need to use it," Davidson told the crowd.
    
At the Stanford Medical Magazine web site, (Fall 2005) Amy Adams has written an essay, “Building a better brain: It's never too late for renovation,” in which she cites the work of Eric Knudsen, PhD, a professor of neurobiology.  Knudsen said there is more to it than simply playing a new instrument, learning a foreign language, or beginning ballroom dancing.  It is all about laying the groundwork for growth.  He claims that, “. . . building the best possible brain is all about preparation. True, a child can’t learn algebra until the brain is ready. But how well the child picks up that new skill can be altered by early experiences that prime those neurons and their connections for action.”
    
Adams offers this conclusion to her online article: “What all this research adds up to is good news for those who had rich and rewarding early experiences. Their brains are primed for learning new skills throughout life. As for adults hoping to make late-term modifications to their brains’ wiring, all hope isn’t lost. Knudsen’s work shows that older [people] can still learn, if somewhat more slowly than juveniles. As with any remodel, it’s less efficient than starting from scratch, but with patience even fully mature brains can squeeze out some new connections.”
    
There is an almost contradictory finding in Begley’s Newsweek article which explains why my father-in-law has maintained his sharp mind and memory throughout his 97 years.  It has nothing to do with learning new skills or developing new abilities.  Begley writes that building brain power “requires tapping into one of the best-established phenomena in neuroscience — namely, that the more you use a circuit, the stronger it gets.  As a result, a skill you focus and train on improves, and even commandeers more neuronal real estate, with corresponding improvements in performance” (p. 44).
    
That is precisely what I have discovered as well.  That is, although I enjoy learning new skills (special ballroom dancing steps), having new experiences (cruising to Southeast Asia), and stretching the skills I already have (reading new books or writing new essays such as this one), I have discovered that the more I use the circuits I possess, the stronger they get.  That is why I said at the outset of this essay, “ it hasn’t been about ‘boosting brain power,’ it is more about ‘sustaining brain power.’” To me, that is the essential issue, and if I can boost brain power while sustaining brain power, all the more brain power to me!
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From the Stanford School of Medicine comes the Stanford Medicine Magazine (referred to in my essay), and the article by Amy Adams, “Building a better brain: It's never too late for renovation” (Fall, 2005).  This is really a very well-written, well-explained essay that is both thorough and comprehensive.  It is well worth a read.

At eMedExpert, the essay, “14 Research-Proven Ways To Boost Brain Power,” is excellent.  Not only are the suggestions right on target, but at the end of the essay each of the 47 “Sources and References” that support the essay are not just listed in their correct entirety, but in each case there is a link so that you can go to the research and read it for yourself.  This is an absolutely terrific essay.
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Copyright January, 2012, by And Then Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.

Intertwine with others.

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And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

For me it hasn’t been about “boosting brain power,” it is more about “sustaining brain power.”  That is, I don’t like the thought of losing anything I have, and if I gain a little by doing things that will sustain what I have, then that is icing on the cake, or a positive byproduct that is greatly appreciated.  I try to do more than what it takes to keep my brain active just as I do more than what it takes to keep my body in shape.

Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

That is precisely what I have discovered as well.  That is, although I enjoy learning new skills (special ballroom dancing steps), having new experiences (cruising to Southeast Asia), and stretching the skills I already have (reading new books or writing new essays such as this one), I have discovered that the more I use the circuits I possess, the stronger they get.  That is why I said at the outset of this essay, “ it hasn’t been about ‘boosting brain power,’ it is more about ‘sustaining brain power.’” To me, that is the essential issue, and if I can boost brain power while sustaining brain power, all the more brain power to me!
   



And Then Some News

WRONG: Why experts keep failing us --- and how to know when not to trust them

By David H. Freedman



Book review by Richard L. Weaver II


The author is :a science and business journalist.”  Outside of appendices, notes, and index, the text is 230 pages long, and there are 11 pages of notes.


There are a number of reasons I liked this book.  First, it is very well-written.  Second, it covers areas (finance, doctors, relationship gurus, celebrity CEOs, consultants, health, and more) with which I have some interest (although no expertise).


The third reason I liked this book is that it offers great evidence, interesting facts, and fascinating statistics and insights I would probably never gather elsewhere.  The fourth reason is that it produces skeptics.  Whether you accept Freedman’s ideas or not, he certainly opens your eyes and makes you question — something we all should be doing all of the time.  (If nothing else, it is what colleges and universities should be good at promoting.)


I enjoyed Freedman’s examination of the various safeguards that we have to try to root out and address fraud.  As I was preparing this review of his book (on January 6, 2011), the British Medical Journal (BMJ) just pronounced a Lancet study by lead scientist Andrew Wakefield, M.D., that connected the Mumps, Measles, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism as an “elaborate fraud.”  An ironic juxtaposition, to say the least.


On page 120 Freedman writes, “Thank goodness for peer review, the 350-year-old research-journal tradition of sending candidate articles out to knowledgeable researchers for vetting and comments.” — even though he admits that peer review provides only a minimal assurance of quality, and that “lousy research can slip past peer review into journals” (p. 121).  Having been part of a number of peer-review teams during my tenure as a university professor, I have to agree with Freedman; however, I also agree that there is really little other way to prevent lousy research from getting published.  The Internet makes “publication” an easy process.


What Freedman does is open the whole area of fraud and “the fraudulent police” to further discussion.  His chapter conclusions (see page 124) are right on target about scientists.


Freedman’s comment about determining whether or not Internet information is accurate was well taken: “ . . . we’re back to that problem of whether most people in the public are equipped to track down high-quality information on the Internet, as opposed to ending up with advice that may look convincing but is in fact junk” (p. 201).  Of course, with respect to students (and the public, too), this isn’t a new concern, it is simply a much bigger concern with the glut of information at our fingertips.


Every student should be required to read Chapter 9, “Eleven Simple Never-Fail Rules for Not Being Misled by Experts” (pp. 203-230).  Even though the rules are generic, they are important and well explained here.  His “Typical Characteristics of Less Trustworthy Expert Advice,” “Characteristics of Expert Advice We Should Ignore,” and “Some Characteristics of More Trustworthy Expert Advice” is priceless, essential, practical, and incredibly relevant in today’s information-saturated world.


WRONG: Why experts keep failing us—and how to know when not to trust them can be purchased at Amazon.com