Educational Osmosis....

Take the blue pill, man!

You need to differentiate between the tricks and the real feats of memory.

There are people who can really memorize several shuffled decks of cards (I can't remember the record...ho ho).

However there are standard ways of arranging a deck which appear random, yet are remembered by easy mnemonics.

The techniques for improving memory are well documented...

Take up serious duplicate bridge and you will soon be able to recall a hand of 13 cards from say 30 which you held the night before....now was it the 3 of spades or the 5 that I discarded at trick 2 ?

Yes yes. I am quite stunned with my own ability to recall. Part numbers, invoices, numeric strings, license plates etc. But what about plugging in a probe to ones head and gaining understanding and info and the likes?

I have seen a radio controlled rat. very disturbing watching the man with the controls guiding the little critter 'wireless'. And that is the stuff a University publicized! Let alone the shadowy, secret shite!

And the worms ate into his brain.

I have caught some things through osmosis that have left me sadder but wiser. Does that count?

The Romans were the first to develop the most effective method of mnemonics. The Senators of Rome were required to recite exceedingly long speeches without missing a word. How they did this is simple, yet takes years of practice to perfect. They would envision a hall or great building with say 20 rooms and in each room there would be 10 columns. On each column would be a series of words or visual representations of those words. After reviewing a room and remembering each column and word, they would move into the next room and do it all over again. This was all done in their head. To remember a grocery list for example. Imagine your living room. Close your eyes and imagine broken eggs on the couch, spilt milk on your television, bread slices stacked on the carpet, a bag of sugar cut open and leaking into your stereo and your wifes tampons being chewed by the dog. (terrible image, but I am trying to make a point) You can do this with say five items, then go to your kitchen and imagine five more objects placed randomly about the room in places they DONT belong. With practice, you can remember thousands of objects, names or even the placement of cards in a deck. This is exactly how the record memory holders do it, no one with a photographic memory has ever won the competition. I think the record for remembering shuffled decks is something like twenty eight. With practice you can remember hundreds of rooms with thousands of objects. It is best if you use a building that you are very familiar with. It is said that one guy was able to build a memory building with as many a twelve hundred rooms and hundreds of thousands of objects. Keep in mind that this is done in the mind but based on reality. It is believed that the Romans used the halls of the Senate along with the Parthenon etc to build their "memory banks". I hope this answers your question. There are several articles online on how to do this, its origin and anything else you want to remember about it. Yes, I have tried it, yes it works, no I have not perfected it. Have a great day, hope your memory improves. Impress your friends by memorizing the phone book and reciting it at the next super bowl. You be the death of the party......ZGRINCH....

This was used vigorously just prior to the invention of the printing press and was taught in all European Universities. It was called "theater of the mind" before radio stoled the title...

Oh, and don't forget, Rome also gave us serfdom... "Baldric, remember this or I'll kill you."

"Yes, me Lud."

Yes, yes. The history is all very good. But what of today? What of tomorrow; radio control rats and micrscopic IC's, and subliminal submersion? What of these things?

Yeh, wot of it?

I asked you first! Perhaps a remote control cat is in the works. Alarming thought, eh?

Nah..

Cats and Women....

No chance of getting 'em to do what you want.

Of course the converse is completely the opposite.

Any cat or woman worth their salt can wrap a man around their tail/little finger!

remote control rodents here

here

and here

Awesome. And the critters don't need batteries!

I once tried to absorb the dictionary by osmosis. I put the dictonary on one side of the room and I stood on the other. Then, I ran towards the dictionary as fast as I could and with my head down.

Now everytime I get a haircut the barber asks what does yranoitciD mean?