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This wonderful newspaper is sponsored for your enjoyment and intellectual stimulation by The Braintenance Blog and Douglas E. Castle , as well as CFI Business Growth . Have fun while you sharpen your intellectual skills and memory. Gamification is a wonderful way to learn faster and with a longer-lasting reward. BRAIN GAMES! CHALLENGE YOUR MIND. Gamification At Its Best! For most of us, a challenge just doesn't feel stressful if it is packaged in the form of a game. Here are some of the week's best - just for you. Published by ...

You can solve any math problem if you know the formula (i.e., the proven shortcut to arriving at the answer without the need for giant chain calculations). These formulas are like keys to unlocking the secrets of arithmetic and mathematical puzzles and riddles. The tougher issues are those of knowing how to conduct a search (knowing the right search engine parameters to enter (hint: a Google search might be a good idea for your first pass at "asking a question " without asking a question) and finding the right formula to apply. This process sharpens your mind in that it requires that you 1 ) identify the problem; 2 ) formulate a question; 3 ) construct an efficient search engine query; and 4 ) glance through at least a small number of sites or articles about the issue which you want to address. Every one of these steps ratchets up a whole menu of cognitive skills to a higher level. Solving the problem is merely the proverbial icing atop the cake [an inexcusably cheap me...

Your mental capacity , plasticity, memory, recall and deductive reasoning are all dramatically enhanced by your ability to recognize patterns and to extrapolate (or generalize) from them. In some cerebral circles, the NICs ( nerds-in-charge ) refer to this phenomenon as "learning a rule." This notion has great applicability in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) , but it is the shining key to a means of improving our own intelligence as well as increasing the actual speed of thought . Imagine being able to think faster because you are able to make 'connections' more rapidly? This skill is valuable to cultivate. Not surprisingly, it is a skill that can be improved by simple exercise. Pattern recognition skills are involved in every aspect of gaming, athletics, problem-solving and life.  The more different (and complex) patterns that we are able to recognize from prior exposure, the easier and faster it will be for us to recognize new patterns. By the way, s...

Your mind is a muscle . The more that you use it, the stronger it becomes. Also, as in a regimen of physical exercise , you must not only increase the resistance (the Braintenance analogical equivalent for lifting progressively heavier weights would be solving more complex problems), but you must "confuse" the muscle (the Braintenance analogical equivalent for this mixing up the order and nature of exercises, or avoidance of excessively predictable patterning, would be to engage in different kinds of thought using different processing skills). For example, instead of doing Sudoku or crossword puzzles every day, you might "mix in" algebra problems, memorization and recall exercises, perceptual challenges, creative multi-sensorial visualization, meditation, acquiring and using new knowledge (vocabulary, trivial facts, historical perspectives, math formulas), mechanical reasoning, cause-and-effect logic, extrapolation and other mental muscle-builders. In caring for...