Clipmarks | Memory Clips

How to improve your memory - Techniques

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 03:48:31 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu

Clip Source: www.mindtools.com

Memory Improvement Tools

Introduction to Memory Techniques

Remembering a Simple List - The Link Method and Story Method

Remembering Ordered Lists - The Number/Rhyme Mnemonic

Remembering Ordered Lists - The Number/Shape Mnemonic

Remembering Middle Length Lists - The Alphabet Technique

Remembering Long Lists - The Journey System

Remembering Grouped Information - The Roman Room System

Remembering Very Long Numbers - The Major System

Using Concept Maps to Remember Structured Information

Memory Games - Have fun while you improve your memory

How to... Learn a Foreign Language

How to... Remember Information for Exams

How to... Remember People's Names

How to... Remember Lists and Long Numbers

Other Memory Tools - Reviewed... - Our reviews of other important memory resources

Download this section of Mind Tools in PDF format to read and print at your leisure

Tags: memory, brain, science, health, people, life

Why windows takes so long to start up.

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 05:57:28 GMT

clipped by: ragendem

Clip Source: www.intelliadmin.com

Most of us have had a brand new computer at one time. It's a great feeling. You boot up windows and within 30 seconds you are surfing the net, checking your email, or playing your favorite game. 10 months down the road things aren't so nice anymore. You power up your computer and it seems to take forever to load.

1. The prefetch cache

Here is how it works: Yesterday you used MS Word, and Duke Nukem 3D. Today you boot your system to check e-mail. It sees parts of these two programs in the prefetch folder and loads them into memory before windows completes the boot process. The benefit is faster application launch times. If you really wanted to use MS Word, it would pop up really quick when you double clicked on it.

What can be done about it? Well there are a few things we can do to tweak the prefetch cache. One method is to disable it partially, and this can be done quite easily.

Simply browse to the windows folder (Ex: C:\Windows) and under there you should see the prefetch folder. Go into the prefetch folder and delete all the files (Careful! It should look like this c:\windows\prefetch) And here is a screenshot of one if you still have questions

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

2 - Boot : The prefetch only caches boot system files.

2. Hard drive fragmentation

3. Disconnected network drives

4. Spyware & Adware

5. File and Printer Sharing

One other item that can significantly impact is the "File and Printer Sharing" feature within windows. Obviously, if you are sharing your printer, or folders you don't want to disable this - so this tip is not for you. If you never use it, then why waste your time waiting for it to load?

Here is how to turn it off:

Go into the control panel. Click on "Network Connections"

Now right click on "Local Area Connection" and click on properties

Uncheck the "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks"

Click OK, and reboot.

Tags: software, technology, windows, microsoft, howto

70 Ways to Better Brain Power

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:59:27 GMT

clipped by: nhorn

Clip Source: www.mindpowernews.com

70 Ways to Increase Your Brain Power

1. Breath deep. More air in means more oxygen in the blood and therefore in the brain. Breath through your nose and you'll notice that you use your diaphragm more, drawing air deeper into your lungs. Several deep breaths can also help to relax you, which is conducive to clearer thinking.

2. Meditate. A simple meditation you can do right now is just closing your eyes and paying attention to your breath. Tensing up your muscles and then relaxing them to start may help. When your mind wanders, just bring your attention back to your breath. Five or ten minutes of this will usually relax you, clear your mind, and leave you more ready for any mental task. For more on meditation, you can visit http://www.TheMeditationSite.com.

3. Sit up straight. Posture affects your thinking process. Prove it to yourself by doing math in your head while slouching, looking at the floor and letting your mouth hang open. Then do the mental math while sitting up straight, keeping your mouth closed and looking forward or slightly upwards. You'll notice that it's easier to think with the latter posture.

4. Phosphotidyl Serine (PS). This supplement has been shown in clinical studies to increase lucidity and rate of learning. It activates cell-to-cell communication, helps regulate cell growth, improves the functioning of the special receptors found on cells, and prepares cells for activity. In other words, it can help your brain power. It's also thought to reverse memory decline. Phosphatidylserine has no known adverse side effects.

5.Vinpocetine. This extract, derived from an alkaloid found in the Periwinkle plant, is used as a cerebral vasodilator. It increases blood flow to the brain, which improves its oxygenation and thereby increases mental alertness and acuity. Research suggests it may also be the most powerful memory enhancer available to date.

Tags: brain

Error Messages on Computer Screens in Japan

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 21:02:49 GMT

clipped by: sohil
clipper's remarks: I wonder if Vista will adopt this.

Clip Source: www.utdallas.edu

Error Messages From Japan:

Here are 16 actual error messages seen on the computer screens in Japan, where they are written in Haiku.
Aren't these better than, "your computer has performed an illegal operation"?
.......................................................
The Web site you seek cannot be located, but countless more exist.
-------------------------------------------------
Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return.
-------------------------------------------------
Program aborting: Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much.
-------------------------------------------------
Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams.
-------------------------------------------------
Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that.
-------------------------------------------------
Your file was so big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone.
-------------------------------------------------
Stay the patient course. Of little worth is your ire. The network is down.
-------------------------------------------------
A crash reduces your expensive computer to a simple stone.
-------------------------------------------------
Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has occurred.
-------------------------------------------------
You step in the stream, but the water has moved on. This page is not here.
-------------------------------------------------
Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, but we never will.
-------------------------------------------------
Having been erased, The document you're seeking must now be retyped.
-------------------------------------------------
Serious error. All shortcuts have disappeared. Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

Tags: internet, web, interesting, japan, funny, fun, humor

Reduce Firefox Memory Usage

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:27:03 GMT

clipped by: abbysname

Clip Source: www.helpero.com

How to lower the amount of memory that Firefox uses?

Fist of all you should see this: How to Reduce Firefox Memory Usage

But if you are in a hurry...

1. In your Firefox address bar, enter the following text: about:config

2. Scroll down to the entry titled browser.cache.memory.enable and make sure the Value is set to true. If it’s not, double-click anywhere in the browser.cache.memory.enable line and the status will change to true

3. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu

4. Enter browser.cache.memory.capacity in the New integer value pop-up box

5. You’ll need to enter a number in the Enter integer value, but that number depends on how much memory you have (specifically, how much you want to 'give' Firefox). If you have 256MB or less RAM, enter 4096 as the value. If you have 512MB of RAM, enter 6144 or 8192. If you have 128MB or less RAM, you may want to consider upgrading - memory is getting very inexpensive.

6. Confirm that the new entry has been created and the integer value is correct

7. If for any reason you wish to restore the default settings, change the browser.cache.memory.capacity integer value to -1 (that’s minus one).

Source: simplehelp.net

Tags: firefox, computer, memory, practical

104 Performance Tips for Windows XP.

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 03:16:43 GMT

clipped by: BitDrifter
clipper's remarks: The topics are in the clip. Visit the source for the 99 individual tips and how to do them.

Updated Source Link As Of 10-29-06, thanks paul:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1681

Clip Source: www.pcstats.com

Beginners Guides: 99 Performance Tips for Windows XP

From faster boot times, to speeding up your current hardware, PCstats has 99 Tips to make your computer run quicker, better, and more efficiently. - Version 1.0.0

Preparing Your System (1-8)

BIOS tweaks and Insight (9-13)

Overclocking your processor and memory (14-16)

WindowsXP Software and Registry Performance Tweaks (17-46)

Graphics Performance Tweaks (47-55)

Network and Internet Performance Tweaks (56-66)

WindowsXP User Interface Shortcuts and Hints (67-78)

Improving Windows XP boot speed (79-94)

Increasing XP shutdown speed (95-99)

Tags: windows, xp, win xp, windows xp, microsoft, tips, performance, guide, guides, improvements, internet, network, technology, computer, computers

9 Brain Quirks You Didn't Realise You Had

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:59:58 GMT

clipped by: sohil

Clip Source: www.lifehack.org

1) Your short-term memory has a max capacity of seven.

Humans have three forms of memory: sensory, long-term and short-term. Long-term memory is like hard-drive space, while short-term memory works like a very small RAM. This short-term memory can hold only about five to nine (average is seven) items at a time.

2) Chartreuse is the most visible color.

Your eyes have receptors for blue, green and red. Being in the middle, yellow-green triggers the most of these receptors to fire

3) Your subconscious is smarter than you are.

Or at least more powerful

4) You have two nervous systems.

One set controls excitation and the other controls inhibition

5) Your brain is awful at probability.

6) Your memory isn’t great either.

people are highly likely to misremember past events

it is incredibly easy to suggest a memory that never happened

7) You can perceive depth with one eye.

8 ) Long-term memory shuts down during sleep.

9) You have an instant playback feature.

Tags: brain, pyschology, quirks, interesting, human mind, dreams

Phone Menu of a Mental Hospital..

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:35:05 GMT

clipped by: tron2007

Clip Source: masalajokes.blogspot.com

Hello and thank you for calling The state Mental Hospital.

Please select from the following options menu:

If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.

If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5 and 6.

If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on
the

line so we can trace your call.

If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be forwarded to the

MotherShip.

If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will
tell

you which number to press.

If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press,

nothing will make you happy anyway.

If you are dyslexic, press 9696969696969696.

If you are bipolar, please leave a message after the beep or before
the

beep or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.

If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term

memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9.

Tags: humor, humour, general, funny, joke, jokes, sex

Cheat Sheet Roundup - Over 30 Cheatsheets for developers

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:01:30 GMT

clipped by: BigBadWolf

Clip Source: www.petefreitag.com

Cheat Sheet Roundup - Over 30 Cheatsheets for developers

Lets face it, unless you have a photographic memory, no developer can remember all the different functions, options, tags, etc. that exist. Documentation can be cumbersome at times, thats why I like cheat sheets. They are quick references that feature the most commonly forgotten things on a specific topic. You can print them out and hang them on your wall, or just keep them handy in your bookmarks for quick reference.

I have rounded up over 30 cheatsheets that developers might find useful.

Web Development Cheat Sheets

Databases / SQL Cheat Sheets

Language Cheat Sheets

Version Control Cheat Sheets

Other

Commercially Printed CheatSheets

Visibone - javascript, browsers, colors, fonts, html.
TechnoChallenged - web dev, programming, os, software

Am I missing any good ones? Feel free to post any others in the comments.

Updates:

Perl - thanks Dom.
Regex - thanks bjhanifin
Perl - thanks Derek
Subversion - nice reference card, thanks Andreas
Debian - thanks again Andreas
UML - Andreas again, thanks
PostgreSQL - thanks for the suggestion frank.

Tags: javascript, css, html, xhtml, mysql, sql, jsp, python, java, php, ruby

Repetition Makes False Beliefs Permanent

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 03:24:18 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: Politicians and other unscrupulous types have long exploited what psychological studies are now confirming: due to the neurophysiology of the learning process, simple repetitive association between two concepts is enough to make false propositions "feel" true and well-supported.

Worse, after enough exposure to such associations, subsequent denials can strengthen the perception of the falsehood instead of weakening it. (This is a major reason why the stigma of a false accusation can persist even after innocence is proven.)

Indeed, repetition seems to be a key culprit. Things that are repeated often become more accessible in memory, and one of the brain's subconscious rules of thumb is that easily recalled things are true.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Persistence of Myths Could Alter Public Policy Approach

Contrary to the conventional notion that people absorb information in a deliberate manner, the studies show that the brain uses subconscious "rules of thumb" that can bias it into thinking that false information is true. Clever manipulators can take advantage of this tendency.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

The experiments do not show that denials are completely useless; if that were true, everyone would believe the myths. But the mind's bias does affect many people, especially those who want to believe the myth for their own reasons, or those who are only peripherally interested and are less likely to invest the time and effort needed to firmly grasp the facts.

The research also highlights the disturbing reality that once an idea has been implanted in people's minds, it can be difficult to dislodge. Denials inherently require repeating the bad information, which may be one reason they can paradoxically reinforce it.

Tags: politics, psychology, bias, manipulation, urban legends, beliefs, brain, cognitive science, myths, learning

Funny Epitaphs

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:23:27 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: I clipped this for you alanocu to go with your *romantic* cemetary lady sculpture. *LOL*

Here lies an Atheist
All dressed up
And no place to go.

On an Auctioneer:

Jedediah Goodwin
Auctioneer
Born 1828

Going!
Going!!
Gone!!!

1876

Clip Source: www.usroots.com

On the grave of Ezekial Aikle in East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia:

Here lies
Ezekial Aikle
Age 102
The Good
Die Young.

In a London, England cemetery:

Ann Mann
Here lies Ann Mann,
Who lived an old maid
But died an old Mann.
Dec. 8, 1767

In a Ribbesford, England, cemetery:

Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread
And the Lord sent them manna,
Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife,
And the Devil sent him Anna.

Playing with names in a Ruidoso, New Mexico, cemetery:

Here lies
Johnny Yeast
Pardon me
For not rising.

In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery:

Here lays Butch,
We planted him raw.
He was quick on the trigger,
But slow on the draw.

A widow wrote this epitaph in a Vermont cemetery:

Sacred to the memory of
my husband John Barnes
who died January 3, 1803
His comely young widow, aged 23, has
many qualifications of a good wife, and
yearns to be comforted.
(ed: guess they did not have personal ads then)

A lawyer's epitaph in England:

Sir John Strange
Here lies an honest lawyer,
And that is Strange.

Tags: funny, humour, death, epitaphs, revenge, romance, alanocu

Physical exercise can boost brain

Tue, 22 May 2007 11:31:04 GMT

clipped by: nikmil

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Simply walking sedately for half an hour three times a week can improve abilities such as learning, concentration and abstract reasoning by 15 per cent.

There's another reason why your brain loves physical exercise: it promotes the growth of new brain cells. Until recently, received wisdom had it that we are born with a full complement of neurons and produce no new ones during our lifetime. Fred Gage from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, busted that myth in 2000 when he showed that even adults can grow new brain cells. He also found that exercise is one of the best ways to achieve this.

In mice, at least, the brain-building effects of exercise are strongest in the hippocampus, which is involved with learning and memory. This also happens to be the brain region that is damaged by elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol. So if you are feeling frazzled, do your brain a favour and go for a run.

Tags: vežbanje, exercise, mozak, brain

Simple trick to help your memory by moving your eyes

Sat, 12 May 2007 06:41:59 GMT

clipped by: RecordSage

Clip Source: v.mercola.com

Simple Trick to Help Your Memory by Moving Your Eyes

Moving your eyes horizontally, from side-to-side, for about 30 seconds may be all it takes to give your memory a boost, according to researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University in England.

After hearing a list of words, the study found that those who moved their eyes side-to-side for 30 seconds correctly remembered more than 10 percent more words, and falsely recognized about 15 percent fewer "lure" words, compared to those who moved their eyes up and down or did nothing.

Why would moving your eyes influence your memory?

The researchers suspect it's because the horizontal eye movements cause the two hemispheres of the brain to interact more, and communication between the left and right brain hemispheres is known to help us remember certain things.

Tags: memory, trick, eyes

Brain 'irrelevance filter' found

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:43:08 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Scientists believe they have located a new brain area essential for good memory - the "irrelevance filter".

People who are good at remembering things, even with distractions, have more activity in the basal ganglia on brain scans, the Swedish team found.

The work in Nature Neuroscience could help explain why some people are better at remembering things than others.

Clinically, it could also aid the understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The ability to hold information in the mind so that it is immediately accessible is known as working memory.

We use working memory all of the time - for example, when doing a simple maths calculation in our head or recalling a telephone number.

There will be many brain regions that filter irrelevant information, so it is too early to tell if these findings will have a bearing on conditions such as ADHD

Tags: brain, neuroscience, filter, irrelevance, memory

Ten Minutes Of Talking Improves Memory And Test Performance

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:33:02 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: good excuse to keep on talking

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Ten Minutes Of Talking Improves Memory And Test Performance

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2007) — Spending just 10 minutes talking to another person can help improve your memory and your performance on tests, according to a University of Michigan study to be published in the February 2008 issue of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

"In our study, socializing was just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance," said Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and a lead author of the study with ISR psychologist Eugene Burnstein and psychologist Piotr Winkielman from the University of California, San Diego.

In the article, Ybarra, Burnstein and colleagues report on findings from two types of studies they conducted on the relationship between social interactions and mental functioning.

the findings suggest that visiting with a friend or neighbor may be just as helpful in staying sharp

Tags: memory, brain