Welcome. My name is Jay, and you can call me Jay or Callanthae, I don't mind which.
Today's topic is: How to Exercise Your Brain.
With many people, the mind is the most neglected and least exercised muscle. I think it's more important than every other muscle in the body except for the heart. If you're having trouble exercising it, here are some ways to get the neurons firing.
1: Do puzzles.
Puzzles like Sudoku, Kakuro and crosswords are excellent for making you think. www.conceptispuzzles.com is a great site, featuring many different types of puzzles, though no crosswords. A good crossword site is www.lovatts.com which features other kinds of puzzles too.
Conceptis also provides tutorials on completing their puzzle types: I don't know about whether Lovatts does. You can also pick up Lovatts puzzle magazines cheaply at the local newsagent: they are definitely worth the money.
2: Play games.
Board games, card games and puzzle or strategy computer games are excellent tools to force you to think if you want to do well. www.kongregate.com provides these, but there are thousands of game sites across the web. It would take far too long to list even the best ones, so make a Google search and find them!
3: Read books.
Movies and television provide all the entertainment for you. Your brain has less activity watching TV than it does while you are asleep. With books, you need to use your imagination to fill out the details. It also improves your general knowledge and your vocabulary: excellent tools for intelligent people. I find the more I read, the greater my vocabulary, the wider the range of topics I am informed of, and the more I know about topics I already know. And it's fun! Even fiction can teach you these things.
4: Do riddles
Riddles are great for making you think because in order to get the answer, you need to reevaluate basic precepts about the puzzle, forcing your thinking into new horizons. Take this old riddle for example. You probably already know it.
A farmer has three objects: a fox, a chicken and a sack of corn. They get to a river, and they find a small raft there: but it is only big enough for the farmer to steer it and one object to fit on it. The problem is, the fox left unsupervised will eat the chicken, and the chicken left unsupervised will eat the corn. How does the farmer get all three across the river safely?
Now, the riddle seems simple. By process of elimination, the chicken has to go first. But then, no matter what you take next, when you leave to fetch the last item, an item will be eaten. The key is that you can take objects BACK across the river. Since it's not mentioned in the riddle, you have to think of it for yourself.
5: Think!
By far the best way to exercise your brain is to just use it! Think about things. When you are bored while waiting, think instead of just drifting off. And ASK QUESTIONS. Always ask questions, because then you learn more, and the more you know, the more you can make connections and open new thoughts. A wise man once said 'Knowledge is power'. I don't know about that, but knowledge definitely is intellect!
Once you start using these simple steps, you will open up new thought processes, and by exercising your brain, it will strengthen. It won't happen overnight, just like physical exercise, but just like physical exercise, it won't take long to notice the difference.
That's it for today: so now I'll leave you with the Daily Quote and the Daily Site.
Daily Quote: It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. -Albert Einstein
Daily Website: www.riddles.com. As the title suggests, this site is a database for riddles and brainteasers of all kind. Give it a whirl!
Until next time, may you take the time to enjoy a good puzzle.
-Callanthae.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
First Post
Welcome. My name is Jay, and you can call me Jay or Callanthae, I don't really mind. I suppose it's appropriate that my first post deals with the blog's origin, and with the all important question: Why. Why did I make a blog in the first place?
I mulled it over in my head for a few days before I made it. Why make a blog? I have a lot of thoughts I guess. Enough people have called me really smart, even 'genius', that I have come to believe it. So if people think I'm intelligent, my thoughts must have some value.
And yet: to reveal my thoughts to the world. It's a big step, and it implies something. It implies that I feel I have something to say. If I had nothing to say, what and why would I write? As Stephen King once wrote: "But whatever you do, do not come lightly to the blank page".
What he meant here was that if you were to write, you should have a message. He also wrote, when asked what to write about, an incredibly true comment. "Anything you like, so long as it's the truth."
So that gets to the heart of the matter: I want to write the truth. The reason I went through all this reasoning, even though I worked it out beforehand, was because a blog is an expression of thought. Without thought, you have nothing but a meaningless mess on a page. A blog should accomplish something. What I want to accomplish is to make you think.
Now, if you're not into thinking all that much, if you just came here to relax, you don't have to keep reading. I really don't mind, but if you want to stick around, you might just like it, even if it's not your cup of tea.
Another thing you may have guessed: I am quite verbose (that means I talk a lot.) which is fairly good for a blog I guess. As long as I don't ramble on for ages about something completely unrelated to the topic.
Luckily, my topic is my thoughts, so it's very open to interpretation.
The other reason I decided to write a blog was because I want to get my own thoughts straight. Simply writing them down is good, but also, a blog is a conversation almost. Comments are the lifeblood of the blogger. So, if you have something to say, you don't have to write your own blog. Just post on mine!
Now, a little about myself. My name is Jay. I'm 16, in Year 11, and I live in New South Wales, Australia. I'm currently studying for my High School Certificate.
I enjoy Chess, a card game called Magic: The Gathering (which, if you wish, you may learn about at www.playmagic.com) and computer games, whether online or offline.
Online, I am known as Zyderic on www.gaiaonline.com and www.fanfiction.net (Hey, I said I'd speak the truth) and Callanthae at www.kongregate.com and www.tribalwars.com. I was also known as Callanthae at www.globalgamenetwork.com but have since left that site. I left the first few chapters of a Chess guide, which I think is fairly good, if you want to check it out on the forums.
My favourite site on the net would have to be www.kongregate.com. It has over 4,000 free games, as well as a badge system where you can earn points by completing challenges in some of the more popular and highly rated games on the site. It even has it's own collectible card game in beta (I'm a tester) and you earn cards by completing 'challenges' each week.
I'm new to blogging: I haven't actually read a blog before, but I've done a bit of research in preparation for this blog, and have learnt a lot of stuff. Chief among them is that a blog is a two-way thing: so I greatly welcome your comments and insights.
Because I have spent so much time just introducing myself and this blog, I don't have many deep thoughts to share today, so I thought I'd share a poem instead. It was written by a man named Dylan Thomas, and it is called Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. It can be found here at www.bigeye.com/donotgo.htm.
The poem, of course represents death. It's message is that you should fight death with your last breath, and that in death, all men become equal during that last battle. The last line: "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" is incredibly powerful and visceral. It is evocative, it has feeling. It is a very good poem. I don't know how famous it is, but it probably deserves more fame than it gets (much art does).
Well, that's probably enough for a first post. I'm fairly happy with it. If anyone wants to discuss anything I have written, feel free to. I'll check back at regular intervals. I also want to introduce one last feature of this blog, the Dailies. Each day (I hope to be able to post daily on this blog) I will post an interesting quote, and an interesting website, the quote to inspire or provoke thought, and the website for entertainment.
Daily Quote: By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. -Confucius
Daily Website: www.logicmazes.com. This site features mazes with a twist: These mazes have rules which govern how you may go through them. They are quite challenging and can be frustrating, but are a lot of fun: you can spend hours going around in circles in one of them, and this site has dozens!
Until next time, may you take the time to reflect on your motivations.
-Callanthae
I mulled it over in my head for a few days before I made it. Why make a blog? I have a lot of thoughts I guess. Enough people have called me really smart, even 'genius', that I have come to believe it. So if people think I'm intelligent, my thoughts must have some value.
And yet: to reveal my thoughts to the world. It's a big step, and it implies something. It implies that I feel I have something to say. If I had nothing to say, what and why would I write? As Stephen King once wrote: "But whatever you do, do not come lightly to the blank page".
What he meant here was that if you were to write, you should have a message. He also wrote, when asked what to write about, an incredibly true comment. "Anything you like, so long as it's the truth."
So that gets to the heart of the matter: I want to write the truth. The reason I went through all this reasoning, even though I worked it out beforehand, was because a blog is an expression of thought. Without thought, you have nothing but a meaningless mess on a page. A blog should accomplish something. What I want to accomplish is to make you think.
Now, if you're not into thinking all that much, if you just came here to relax, you don't have to keep reading. I really don't mind, but if you want to stick around, you might just like it, even if it's not your cup of tea.
Another thing you may have guessed: I am quite verbose (that means I talk a lot.) which is fairly good for a blog I guess. As long as I don't ramble on for ages about something completely unrelated to the topic.
Luckily, my topic is my thoughts, so it's very open to interpretation.
The other reason I decided to write a blog was because I want to get my own thoughts straight. Simply writing them down is good, but also, a blog is a conversation almost. Comments are the lifeblood of the blogger. So, if you have something to say, you don't have to write your own blog. Just post on mine!
Now, a little about myself. My name is Jay. I'm 16, in Year 11, and I live in New South Wales, Australia. I'm currently studying for my High School Certificate.
I enjoy Chess, a card game called Magic: The Gathering (which, if you wish, you may learn about at www.playmagic.com) and computer games, whether online or offline.
Online, I am known as Zyderic on www.gaiaonline.com and www.fanfiction.net (Hey, I said I'd speak the truth) and Callanthae at www.kongregate.com and www.tribalwars.com. I was also known as Callanthae at www.globalgamenetwork.com but have since left that site. I left the first few chapters of a Chess guide, which I think is fairly good, if you want to check it out on the forums.
My favourite site on the net would have to be www.kongregate.com. It has over 4,000 free games, as well as a badge system where you can earn points by completing challenges in some of the more popular and highly rated games on the site. It even has it's own collectible card game in beta (I'm a tester) and you earn cards by completing 'challenges' each week.
I'm new to blogging: I haven't actually read a blog before, but I've done a bit of research in preparation for this blog, and have learnt a lot of stuff. Chief among them is that a blog is a two-way thing: so I greatly welcome your comments and insights.
Because I have spent so much time just introducing myself and this blog, I don't have many deep thoughts to share today, so I thought I'd share a poem instead. It was written by a man named Dylan Thomas, and it is called Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. It can be found here at www.bigeye.com/donotgo.htm.
The poem, of course represents death. It's message is that you should fight death with your last breath, and that in death, all men become equal during that last battle. The last line: "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" is incredibly powerful and visceral. It is evocative, it has feeling. It is a very good poem. I don't know how famous it is, but it probably deserves more fame than it gets (much art does).
Well, that's probably enough for a first post. I'm fairly happy with it. If anyone wants to discuss anything I have written, feel free to. I'll check back at regular intervals. I also want to introduce one last feature of this blog, the Dailies. Each day (I hope to be able to post daily on this blog) I will post an interesting quote, and an interesting website, the quote to inspire or provoke thought, and the website for entertainment.
Daily Quote: By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. -Confucius
Daily Website: www.logicmazes.com. This site features mazes with a twist: These mazes have rules which govern how you may go through them. They are quite challenging and can be frustrating, but are a lot of fun: you can spend hours going around in circles in one of them, and this site has dozens!
Until next time, may you take the time to reflect on your motivations.
-Callanthae
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