flynn012

You can solve any math problem if you know the formula (i.e., the proven shortcut to arriving at the answer without the need for giant chain calculations). These formulas are like keys to unlocking the secrets of arithmetic and mathematical puzzles and riddles. The tougher issues are those of knowing how to conduct a search (knowing the right search engine parameters to enter (hint: a Google search might be a good idea for your first pass at "asking a question " without asking a question) and finding the right formula to apply. This process sharpens your mind in that it requires that you 1 ) identify the problem; 2 ) formulate a question; 3 ) construct an efficient search engine query; and 4 ) glance through at least a small number of sites or articles about the issue which you want to address. Every one of these steps ratchets up a whole menu of cognitive skills to a higher level. Solving the problem is merely the proverbial icing atop the cake [an inexcusably cheap me...

When I was merely a young lad (with very little promise), my elementary teachers would frequently inquire of me, "Douglas -- are you sitting on your brains ?" {for some reason, the the 1960s, each of us had "brains" - plural - but none of us actually had a brain - singular - or half a brain. While we are speaking etymologically, one of my favorites when when a teacher would observe, hands on hips, with bitter sarcasm, " If you had half a brain, you'd be dangerous! " They saw this as a clever way of saying that we (the underachievers, daydreamers and juvenile delinquents ) each had less than half of a brain. I saw it as something different -- to me, I knew that I had a whole brain (albeit impaired in functionality) -- I just thought it axiomatic that if  reduced to half-brain status , anyone might be dangerous. With this logic, I managed to avoid being personally insulted. My teachers likely thought that I was just too stupid to be rightly insulted. B...

Several observations -- and do not look at your watch because you will be wasting valuable, irreplaceable time by the act of tracking it! Since you've been kind enough to stay with me for this length of time, I will attempt to add some "party conversation starting quotation" value to this post, with a quote from my closest associate, Mr. Douglas E. Castle : "Prepare for the future, because the present moment becomes history all too quickly." More Quotes follow, invoking paradoxes or infinitely self-recursive statements which provoke deeper and more expansive thought. The Human Mind, when challenged by a concept that warrants analysis (actually "validation" or acceptable analogy). "You cannot make up for lost time. No matter how expediently and ambitiously you accelerate the pace of your work, the unproductive present moment is permanently gone, except for its persistence in memory." "You cannot change the speed of the passage of time ...