bodner088

 "Lord...um...excuse me. What's a 'cubit' ? " --------------- Notes of enormous importance : 1 )“Cubit’s Rube” is a sloppy spoonerism for “ Rubic’s Cube .”   2 ) Years ago, when I had a legitimate job in the fascinating field of accounting – fiscal voyeurism – my  boss said to me (in anticipation of a confrontation with a dissatisfied client who had just learned that he owed the Internal Revenue Service a large sum of money), “ Geez , Doug. The ‘ fit is going to hit the shan !” If you cannot figure that one out, you must turn off your computer, go to the supermarket, and purchase a copy of The National Enquirer and a large box of bon-bons immediately. You are exempt from reading any further. Congratulations.   3 ) A friend once asked me (in an attempt to be witty and engaging, despite his chronic halitosis and repellent reptilian skin condition), “Hey, Dougie! What’s the difference between a rooster and a lawyer?” When I failed to answer, he said, grinning, “A r...

Telekinesis  has long been the subject of scientific exploration, experimentation and some fiction, as well. Not as abstract and as difficult to quantify or evidence as  astral projection , ESP,  clairvoyance  and other fancy stuff,  telekinesis  is a phenomenon that could be  the subject of a controlled laboratory trial. The notion of moving objects with the power  of the mind (psycho bioenergetics) is physically measurable. A preferred term for this same phenomenon is psychokinesis. An interesting variation on this theme is mind-controlled or thought-manipulated robotics. There is a great deal of research into this area (like telekinesis, but perhaps with an intervening catalyst or machine) because of its unfathomably vast applicability. We might be getting closer than you'd imagined. If we are absolutely certain that no other forces are at play (such as gravity,  air currents , poltergeists, or an object that has the machinery or mechani...

Bnet 's The Live1 Program features an interview with Francis Cholle, author of The Intuitive Compass . It is very significant to note that Cholle defines intuition as being the "bridge between reason and instinct." While I do not fully agree with his definition (I separate instinct and intuition as two separate abilities, emanating from two different sources), his observations are as applicable to real-world, real-time business as they are enlightening. His observations account for the enormous success of some bold entrepreneurial enterprises, and his suggestions regarding brainstorming, 'play' and autonomy are worthy of incorporating in any business, project, or problem-solving task. Interestingly, his approach does not discard sound business judgment -- it simply integrates a much greater component of the "gut" feeling and the associative free flow of the individual mind's wandering. Cholle, who has been exceptionally successful in...

Analogies are the tiniest components of thoughts and communications. Constructing good analogies is a skill. Seeing the logic in partial analogies presented to you (i.e., where a term is missing) builds your associative intelligence, pattern recognition skills, cause and effect reasoning and your verbal acuity. Analogies are mental muscle builders. Here are several simple ones to give you a small jolt of electromagnetic and biochemical stimulation today. Enjoy them! Fill in each blank with the best possible answer . 1. Century is to __________ as dollar is to dime. 2. __________ is to bottom as up is to down. 3.Hawk is to _____________ as war is to peace. 4. Cat is to kitten as lion is to ______________. 5. Tree is to forest as star is to _____________. 6. _____________ is to stage as chemist is to laboratory. 7. Inventor is to Edison as _________________ is to Columbus. 8. China is to __________ as Canada is to North America. 9. __________ is to moon as day is to night. 10. Hand is ...

In my last post, I made some observations about the nature of intelligence, plasticity, cognition , learning and cognitive enhancement . Toward the end of that post, I left you with a group of simple (what a subjective term that is!) sequences to complete. Here they are again, with the next number (found through pattern recognition ) placed there for you in red . A) 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, ?  21 B) 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ?  21 C) 1000, 0100, 0010, 0001, 1000 ? 0100 D) 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 ? 36 E) 200, 3000, 40000, 500000, ? 6000000 F) 1, 100, 2, 99, 3, 98, 4, ? 97 G) 1.21, 2.32, 3.43, 4.54, ? 5.65 --------------------- I'll let you ponder on those answers for a day or so. If you can't figure out how we arrived at them, don't fret. Some were tough. And I will show you the pattern underlying each of these sequences of numbers. Observation : In verbal communications, we read between the lines. In numeric or alphanumeric pattern recognition, we must read between the items that comprise t...

Image via Wikipedia In our last posting, we discussed the notion of asymptotes , and I posed two problems for your consideration. One involved the eventual (but unreachable) sum of a convergent series of numbers, and the other involving a ever-more troubling fraction. You can quickly refresh your memory by clicking on http://braintenance.blogspot.com/2011/09/asymptotes-closer-but-never.html , and by then hitting your browser's "BACK" button. The answers are unsatisfying, but they were promised: 1) In adding the sum of the series 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8....and so forth, the sum will eventually approach, but never quite reach a limit of 2. 2) In dividing (n-1)/n, as n increases, the value of the expression approaches, but never reaches 1. There are examples of this type of complex conundrum in nature, in such things as trying to solve 22/7 (which is a never-ending decimal), and in determining the halflives of certain radioactive materials (isotopes), where one half of the ma...