Can We be Too Skeptical?

Can We Be Too Skeptical?

Has your view about President Obama stayed the same since January 21st 2009,
or moved under the wheels of the bus? How about some hard numbers by the
poll with the most credibility?

The public perception on President Barack Obama on January 21, ’09 was a
(wow!) 70% approval rate. The latest Gallup poll reports a lead weight drop to 50%. What about the Disapproval figures? The Gallup Disapproval statistic has motored uptown from 10% to 42%.

If you were presidential Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, you would not
be laughing Gallup off because it is often the first sign of coming disaster in the next
(2010) Congressional election.

American Research Group, another excellent polling organization indicated President George W. Bush had his own negative track. In December 2008, the Bush approval was only 28%, and his Disapproval a hefty 67% - Mama Mia Spicy Meatballs.

By January 2009 G.W. showed an increase to 38% approval, and 54% disapproval.

Skeptical

Webster says skeptical aint so bad, it is just doubling, questioning or denying. Comes from Greek meaning to consider, examine or inquiring. We recommend Skeptic The Magazine which advocates reason, critical thinking, science and literacy.

The critical question we raise is when does skepticism become a way of rejecting anything new that deviates from our comfort-zone, status quo and homeostasis?

Three Quick 3rd Grade Jokes – Can You Remember And Repeat Them?

1. What do you call a Fish with no eyes?
Ans. A fsh.

2. Why don’t Aliens ever eat Clowns?
Ans. They taste funny.

3. What’s the difference between Chopped Beef and Pea Soup?
Ans. All of us can chop beef, but how many of us can Pea soup?

So What

Every time you activate your Prefrontal Cortex for reasoning of any kind, even
a silly joke, and point-and-click your Hippocampus for long-term memory, you
you trigger a neural network in your brain for Cognitive Reserve. So? It reinforces
your ability to resist dementia and Alzheimer in particular, up to 60%.

Yaacov Stern, Columbia University Medical Center coined the term Cognitive Reserve for lifelong learners who have amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
in their brain, but function as if they are healthy and youthful.

Reading, teaching, learning and being active, triggers your Cognitive Reserve.

Acrostics Improve Memory

Every time you activate your memory and learn something new, you make a deposit
to reduce the risk of senior memory loss and possible dementia. I admit that I am
lazy, impulsive, and impatient. I delete stuff in milliseconds. But I taught myself this list. Try it.

That said, learn this dumb sentence and build up your hippocampus for long-term memory. It doesn’t matter that you do not care a hoot about the Planets in our solar system, in their order from our sun. Do it to have a healthy brain and longevity.

“My Victims Eat Mostly Jerky Sandwiches Unless Nature Pays.”

Mercury – Venus – Earth – Mars – Jupiter – Saturn – Uranus – Neptune – Pluto.

Yeah, I know they evicted Mickey Mouse’s dog Pluto, but I still like him dwarf or not.

How Come

Why is it easier to remember the aforementioned sentence verses the eight planets
in order?

Answer: our brain remembers through Associations and Mental Visualizations.

It automatically creates mental movies of the symbols in this one-sentence story, and tracks the rhythm of the sounds of the words in our Primary Auditory Cortex.
We mentally see (Primary Visual Cortex) the words of the sentence, and hear words
we already know. Do you have to go to Webster to look up the eight planets? Nyet.

Now go back and overcome our laziness and impatience about learning something new. Did you know formal Education gives learning a bad name? You are investing
in your brain and longevity. Are you worth it?

One more thing. The Ancients associate your fingers with the following elements of
nature. Can you remember them for a future prize?

Both thumbs: Fire
Both index (fore fingers): Air
Both middle fingers: Ether
Both Ring fingers: Earth
Both Pinkies: Water

A Research Reports Inquiring Minds Need To Know

“Touch Helps Make The Connection Between Sight and Hearing”

We all have a dominant sense we use – 80% prefer Visual, 12% Auditory and
8% choose Kinesthetic (tactile, touch). We learn best when we receive information
directed to our dominant sense.

New research by Professor E. Gentaz, Universite de Savoie, France, published March 16, 2009 in the journal PloS One. Get this: to read words that are new to us,
we have to learn to Associate a visual stimulus (letter or combination that forms the
sound), with its corresponding auditory stimulus.

If you add your sense of touch (typing or writing) to seeing and hearing, you increase your learning skill (up to 32%). Seeing information alone, and we learn; hearing information alone, and we learn.

It is Additive if we add Kinesthetic (touch) to seeing, hearing or both. Use this Multisensory learning because it Cements the knowledge in your brain for long-term memory. This knowledge is for Inquiring Minds, not Lazybones.

Endwords

Would you be more competitive in school, career and relationships if you owned
the skill of reading and remembering three (3) books, articles, and reports in the
time your peers can hardly finish one?

For details: ask us for our free report.

See ya,

copyright © 2009 H. Bernard Wechsler
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