Radical Thoughts

Brainpower Newsletter

A friend asked me, "What if I just want to appear to be more intelligent?" That lead to this weeks article. It was fun to write, but you'll have to decide it seems fair to use these techniques. At least some of them really will help improve your thinking skills as well.

I have the first round of pages up (there will be many more), and the first few lessons of the "Radical Thinking Course" prepared. I think you'll like it, although I have to warn you that there are ideas here that may offend some people. There is going to be some very broad and open-minded thinking here. Check out the site and sign up for the course here:

Of course you would like to get smarter, but wouldn't you also like to appear to be more intelligent? Whether you want to get a promotion at work or just impress your friends and others, here are some tricks that will help. Fortunately, a few of these may actually improve your thinking skills as well.

1. Talk about what you know. You will always appear smarter if you stick to topics you know something about. In fact, if there are...

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- A recent survey found that when all other things were identical, products with metallic labels were chosen more often by consumers - about 10% to 25% more often depending on product type.

- Some teenagers in the U.S. have been using food coloring to tint their contact lenses. This can lead to eye infections and affect vision.

- Red dye was more valuable than gold to ancient Aztecs. The red dye of the day came from the female cochineal beetle. it took about a million insects to make a pound of extract.

Take the Luck Test and find out. Then find out how you can generate your own luck. Use the link here:

If eight chess players have to each play all the others just once during a tournament, how many chess games are necessary?

(Answer is below)

Did you know that happy people score higher on tests of cognitive function than depressed people? Relaxed people do better than stressed-out people too. So don't worry, be happy, and you'll have better brain function. Easier said than done, perhaps, but you can at least remember that when you are relaxed and happy it is time to get to work on those heavy mental tasks.

Group Brainstorming

Brainstorming is solving problems by having a group of people discuss them and spontaneously suggest ideas or solutions. A brainstorming session is meant to be very open and non-critical. A "bad" or "silly" idea may lead to an idea that is very helpful, so suggestions are left un-judged at first. It is best to set a rough deadline for this free-for-all part of the session, after which the ideas and solutions are evaluated for whatever usefulness they may have.

Again, it is very important that the ideas are not criticized when first presented. To brainstorm effectively, you can't stifle the creative process. If your group has a difficult time with this aspect of the exercise, you could...

The first time I saw the "American Inventor" program, I realized two things. The first thing I realized was that I loved the show. What a great idea! A parade of ingenuity - and sometimes silliness and total ignorance of marketing. The latter brought me to my second realization, that I wouldn't want to be a judge on that show for anything. You face the constant choice of either giving false hope or destroying dozens of people's hope in a single night.

If you haven't seen the show, it is essentially a bunch of amateur inventors demonstrating their inventions and ideas in front of a panel of judges (you'll find it on ABC). The four judges say either yes, the inventor goes to the next round, or no, he or she doesn't. "No" is a lot more common than "yes", especially with the many inventors of new kinds of toilets.

Apart from avoiding toilet inventions, what can you do to have a better chance of competing on American Inventor? Here are three...

Until next time,

Riddle Answer: 28

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