TERRE HAUTE — Part of this column will be devoted to an announcement. Another part will be devoted to my claim that Hautians are among the brightest people on the planet. Finally I will discuss a public demonstration of how important remembering can be in everyday life.
An announcement
After this week, the Sharper Mind column will be published monthly instead of weekly. Why you might ask? To begin with, I have aged since beginning this column. I have been writing it for nearly two years.
So I clearly am not any younger than when I began. I was no spring chicken then. Now I am less so and have less energy for writing a weekly column. By writing the column just once a month, I will have three weeks to rest up between columns. Then I will strong be enough to write a useful piece on memory and thinking.
Indiana’s Intelligencia: Hautians
I came to a tremendous realization this past week. I don’t know why I did not realize this previously. I have concluded that Hautians are a highly bright lot, with excellent memory ability and excellent powers of thought. Now I am sure that you are wondering how I came to this conclusion.
I have been writing this column for nearly two years. During this period, I have received only five letters that asked me to address a particular topic about memory or thinking. I never quite understood why Hautian readers had no questions about how to acquire a Sharper Mind.
Then it hit me. Readers have not asked questions about a particular aspect of memory and thinking because the vast majority of them rarely need such advice. They certainly do not need sharper-mind advice every week. Perhaps they will need such advice some time, such as once a month.
Consider the implications of this conclusion. Whereas people almost everywhere find that their memory fails them too frequently and their thinking is flawed too often as well, this apparently is not the case for Hautians because their memory rarely fails them and their thinking is generally right most of the time.
Once people outside of Terre Haute hear about my discovery, they will be seeking our help on all manner of problems. Moreover, the state and the nation will possibly be seeking us Hautians to solve the serious problems of the world. Tell us the problem and we will remember the details. Ask us to solve it and we can apply our thinking skills to derive the solution needed. Hautians rule!
The Practicality Of Remembering
In the past few weeks the public arena has given us two examples of why a good memory is valuable and why certain claims of forgetting are not easily believed. Regardless of one’s political persuasion, these cases demonstrate that claiming one does not remember is not always believed. These two examples have implications for us as well.
This week, Alberto Gonzales painfully learned the lesson that one can get into a lot of trouble by simply not remembering. Mr. Gonzales testified several times before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he could not recall certain actions that he took as attorney general. The action that he could not remember was his directing the firing of some U.S. attorney who worked in the Justice Department.
A few weeks earlier, Scooter Libby also learned this painful lesson by simply not remembering. Mr. Libby testified during his trial that he could not remember taking a certain action when he served as an aide to Vice President Cheney. The action that he could not remember was the leaking of a CIA agent’s name to a member of the press.
Some people have suggested that no one in the work place, especially busy members of an administration, can be expected to remember all of the actions they take during the work day. No doubt it is impossible to remember all of one’s actions at work. Thus, it would be unfair to expect Alberto Gonzales and Scooter Libby to remember all of the actions that they take during the work day. Nevertheless, everyone can be expected to remember certain things, even on busy days.
No research exists to clearly indicate what actions taken at work a person can be expected to remember. The court of public opinion has asserted that certain actions can be remembered and that claims to have had certain kinds of memory failure are not credible. Specifically, people who carry out certain administrative actions can also be expected to remember these actions , especially when they involve firing individuals. In addition, people who commit potentially illegal acts can be expected to remember these actions and that such acts are hard to forget.
We all are in situations in which we take actions that are important to others and some people will expect us to remember such actions. Gonzales’ case and Libby’s case tell us something of value to each of us. These cases tell us to linger for a few seconds to register things that are important to others. If life is too hectic to make the effort to register things as they pass by, then we would be wise to take a couple of moments at the end of the day and ask ourselves, “Is there anything that happened today that others will expect me to remember in the future?” We owe it to others and to ourselves to ask ourselves this question.
The next Sharper Mind column will begin at the beginning of May. It happens because the beginning of May is next week. So there will be some memorable, thoughtful column then. After that, the next Sharper Mind column will appear in the first week in June. Until then, remember and think that which is important and forget the rest.
A Sharper Mind
April 25, 2007
A Sharper Mind: Politics of remembering and the intelligencia of Indiana
- A Sharper Mind
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- A Shaper Mind: A review of Sharper Mind columns Don’t worry. Just because I am providing a review in this column, it doesn’t mean I am going to give an exam afterward. I just want to go over some of the most important ideas discussed in this column previously. The reason that I am doing this is because this is my last column. I admit that I just could not remember any topic that had not been examined here.
- Holiday gift giving for the sharper mind This year, more than most years, gift giving during the holidays is going to be especially challenging. Gift-giving this year will require more accurate remembering and more problems solving than in previous years.
- The pros and cons of cell phones This column will, first, review why cell phones have a positive effect on our mind. Subsequently, we will consider the dangerous consequences of talking on a cell phone while driving and then the very dangerous consequences of text-messaging on a cell phone while driving,
- Activities of daily living that depend on memory Everyone forgets something that they are supposed to do in everyday life. They may have known what they should do for a long time or for after a minute or so. This column examines the role of memory in some common activities in one’s day.
- Why names and appointments are difficult to remember Everyone has weaknesses. Mine is popcorn and more popcorn. We also have weaknesses when it comes to memory. I don’t know your memory weaknesses and I don’t care to share mine. But I can tell you the memory weaknesses that most of us say we have.
- Consider thinking training It is possible to buy products that are supposed to improve one’s mind? Last month’s column discussed products that aim at improving a person’s memory. As promised, this month’s column reviews products (such as courses, books, tapes, CDs, and CD ROMS) that are aimed at improving a person’s ability to think.
- A Sharper Mind: The science behind commercial methods of mind improvement It is possible to buy products that are supposed to improve one’s mind. Most of these products aim at improving a person’s memory but many products aim at improving a person’s ability to think. This month’s column reviews products that are supposed to improve a person’s memory. Next month’s column will review products intended to improve a person’s thinking ability.
- Candidates, superdelegates not lying, just forgetful Recently, some presidential candidates have apparently forgotten something that others expected them to remember. Also some superdelegates have switched allegiance from one candidate to the other, revealing that they forgot the candidate they originally favored.
- The advantages and disadvantages of memorists Every family has one. Every group of friends has one, too: a person who tends to remember almost everything that is going on. This person knows all about upcoming events (concerts, lectures), what is at the movies, and what’s on TV. Sometimes, this person even knows what is going on among family members, friends and acquaintances. Accurate gossip is a valuable commodity.
- Drake sweeps ISU softball Friday, but Saturday's game called off Indiana State’s softball team played 19 games before ever stepping foot on the Price Field diamond Friday for a doubleheader against Drake. The homecoming wasn’t a happy one — Drake swept ISU with 5-1 and 6-2 victories — but the long-term concern is on the mound, where star pitcher Darcy Wood is battling a shoulder injury.
- Completing a medical history form at a doctor’s office These days, when you visit a doctor’s office for the first time, you are given a form on which you are supposed to record important facts about your medical history. Unfortunately, these forms ask for considerable information, much of which few human beings can recall. More unfortunate yet is that different doctors use different forms. Consequently, we are required to fill out medical history forms calling for essentially the same information all over again for each new doctor.
- Owls may get the credit for being wise, but you should want an elephant’s mind Just to be clear at the outset, this column does not endorse or reject the symbol of a political party. Also, the column has nothing to do with a rock group called Elephant Memory that Yoko Ono and John Lennon promoted in the early 1970s. Instead, the topic of this column is the memory of real live elephants.
- Sometimes we fail to remember something and feel guilty Some people regard memory as an open or shut case. We either remember or don’t remember.
- A Sharper Mind: Benefiting from each others memory failures We all are forgetful occasionally and leave something of ours behind in public places such as stores, shopping centers, and at the homes of family, friends and acquaintances. For example, we may forget to take with us things like a pair of gloves, an umbrella, a scarf or a jacket. Because we are all in this world together, we should forgive each other's memory failures.
- Don’t let others profit from your memory failures We all are forgetful on occasion. Some of us are more forgetful than others. If our forgetting inconveniences someone else, we hope that they will not be angry and will forgive our lapse. However, in addition to the possible anger or forgiving, there is another way someone might respond to our memory failure.
- A Sharper Mind: Learning how to get a bright idea In the past, this column has discussed the factors that facilitate problem solving and critical thinking. For example, such factors include understanding a problem in the first place, ignoring solutions tried previously, avoiding being fixated on a solution to a similar problem and by overloading one’s brain.
- A Sharper Mind: Reminiscences of meals past Much of our lives are spent eating. As a result, we have many memories of breakfast, lunch or dinner, as well as for in between snacks. Sometimes we may want to remember what we ate on a certain occasion. This column considers what is the best way to recover the memory of what was eaten.
- A Sharper Mind: Some amount of forgetting is normal, but just how much? We often hear that it is important to be normal. Certainly we prefer to have a normal body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure. However, we probably prefer not to be normal on some occasions. I am not saying we should prefer to be abnormal, but we want to be distinguished for something, to know something or do something better than others.
- A Sharper Mind: How to not look stupid (at least some of the time) I do not mean to suggest that you or I look stupid a lot of the time.
- A Sharper Mind: Politics of remembering and the intelligencia of Indiana Part of this column will be devoted to an announcement. Another part will be devoted to my claim that Hautians are among the brightest people on the planet. Finally I will discuss a public demonstration of how important remembering can be in everyday life.
- A Sharper Mind: Forgetting names is most annoying but we aren’t raised to remember Here is a topic that we haven’t covered for quite a while. It hasn’t been covered because there were so many other things to discuss. Nevertheless, it probably will be beneficial for most of us to review the key ideas about how to learn names.
- A Sharper Mind: Finally enough failures for Forgetting Hall of Fame III A few months back, this column honored noteworthy memory failures in the Forgetting Halls of Fame I and II. It looks like these Halls of Fame have been very helpful to readers because very few failures have been happening to the people around me.
- A Sharper Mind: Is it nature or nurture? Why memory differs for men, women Here is a topic that most people find interesting: the memory performance of men and women. I will review the results of a great deal of research about gender differences in memory in this column. The research indicates that women are superior at some memory tasks and men are superior at other memory tasks. Some of the results are not surprising; some are surprising. Regardless of how the results come out, there is one overriding question. Do men and women differ in memory performance because of differences in genetic ability or because of differences in how males and females are raised and treated as adults in our culture?
- A Sharper Mind: Changing of seasons makes for forgetful time of year Ah yes, spring is upon us. This is the time that our thoughts stray to — whatever. As wonderful as spring may be, we actually are especially vulnerable to forgetting when this season arrives. Each season we become accustomed to the season’s typical temperature and season’s typical appearance of the sky. When the environment changes unexpectedly, we lose environmental cues that remind us of things to do.
- A Sharper Mind: Consider the effort we give to thinking about our problems There is a famous statue of a nude person sitting with his head looking down, with his jaw resting on the fist of the right forearm, which rests on the person’s right knee. The sculptor, a Frenchman named Auguste Rodin, called this sculpture “the thinker.”
- A Sharper Mind: Memory performs up to cultural expectations People in different cultures vary in what memory tasks they are good at. A culture refers to a group of people who share beliefs and habits of communication. The workplace is made up of different cultures, management, skilled workers and unskilled workers. Each family has its own culture. Everyone belongs to one or more cultures.
- A Sharper Mind: Brilliant ideas more elusive, likely to be forgotten Some of our thoughts elude us because they pass through our mind so quickly that we cannot remember them later. For this article, we are concerned with just important elusive thoughts. These are thoughts about brilliant ideas we may want to act on or about ideas that are practically useful, such as for something we need to do.
- A Sharper Mind: Mental dictionary, spell check provide sharp language tools This column considers how sharp we are when it comes to language.
- Herrmann: Creativity: Something for all, no matter what you think Creativity is admired whenever it is noticed. We may recognize a new invention as creative.
- A Sharper Mind: As matter of courtesy, don’t be caught faking memory Courtesy is more than knowing what fork to use and when.
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