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05-20-2008, 08:28 PM
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#1
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 8,827
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Brains and wine...
... both improve with age.
This report mentions how the older brain is like a larger, fuller hard drive. We can recognize truthful patterns because we are taking an eagle's eye view that is not apparent to distractable younger people. Pattern recognition is better and transient distractions do not overwhelm.
It even glorifies the typical older person's "forgetfulness" -- we are searching and sorting a much larger database, discarding the irrelevant, and putting the "found records" in a more accurate context.
I've experienced examples of this personally. A medication came up today which a resident wanted to use on a patient. I couldn't recall the generic name (resident had used the brand name much to my disapproval). She came up with it a moment later, at about the same time it occurred to me that that one was part of a class of drugs that was later found to be too dangerous for most patients (though I still hadn't come up with the generic name). While she was rapidly zeroing in on the generic name, I had leap-frogged that and noted the drug to be dangerous based on a broader (if slower) knowledge base.
I sometimes babble on about preferring "just in time" learning (where I know how to quickly look up and access new information) to "just in case" learning where useless new information is memorized in the hope that it may become necessary soon -- which it rarely is, and clutters the field.
__________________
Rich
San Francisco Area
ESR'd March 2010. FIRE'd January 2011.
As if you didn't know..If the above message contains medical content, it's NOT intended as advice, and may not be accurate, applicable or sufficient. Don't rely on it for any purpose. Consult your own doctor for all medical advice.
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05-20-2008, 08:32 PM
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#2
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
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Im going to have another glass now..Hey wait what..?
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05-20-2008, 08:35 PM
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#3
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,924
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It is an interesting pastime: to observe might mind/body deteriorating right on schedule.
__________________
"Knowin' no one nowhere's gonna miss us when we're gone..."
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05-20-2008, 08:36 PM
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#4
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,021
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So...would the ability to spot a stealth spammer from 1,000 yards fall into this category?
__________________
Numbers is hard
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05-20-2008, 08:44 PM
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#5
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,502
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Are you sure that the older brain is just searching a large database, or is it just trying to clear the years of wine damage? Before big exams, I always make a point of stopping drinking 2-3 months before the exam. I'm not a doctor, but I do remember stuff a lot better if I don't drink.
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05-20-2008, 09:00 PM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 14,404
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Brad Paisley: Alcohol
In part:
'Cause since the day I left Milwaukee
Lynchburg and Bordeaux France
Been making a fool out of folks just like you
And helping white people dance
I'm medicine and I am poison
I can help you up or make you fall
You had some of the best times
You'll never remember with me
Alcohol
Alcohol
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05-20-2008, 09:01 PM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,889
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BunsGettingFirm
Before big exams, I always make a point of stopping drinking 2-3 months before the exam.
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2-3 months before? I guess that's not so bad, as long as you don't need to stop drinking for more than say, 24 hours. Just mark the calendar, 'exam in 3 months - no drinks today'.
-ERD50
Traffic, John Barleycorn
Quote:
The huntsman, he can't hunt the fox
Nor so loudly to blow his horn,
And the tinker, he can't mend kettle nor pots
without a little barley corn
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05-20-2008, 09:04 PM
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#8
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 8,827
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Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo
So...would the ability to spot a stealth spammer from 1,000 yards fall into this category?
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Pattern recognition at its best.
Of course that assumes you can still find your underpants and not lose your wallet in the refrigerator.
__________________
Rich
San Francisco Area
ESR'd March 2010. FIRE'd January 2011.
As if you didn't know..If the above message contains medical content, it's NOT intended as advice, and may not be accurate, applicable or sufficient. Don't rely on it for any purpose. Consult your own doctor for all medical advice.
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05-20-2008, 09:21 PM
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#9
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,021
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa
Of course that assumes you can still find your underpants and not lose your wallet in the refrigerator.
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Not a problem. I keep my wallet in my underpants...in the fridge.
__________________
Numbers is hard
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05-20-2008, 10:00 PM
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#10
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,860
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa
I sometimes babble on about preferring "just in time" learning...
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It's also a lot easier to do when technology enables you to replace your PDR with a PDA...
"Recognize the pattern? What pattern?!?" It's interesting watching our teen driver learn how to maintain a scan. Essentially she can either do the scan or do anything else, but not simultaneously. She grumbles about not being allowed to touch the audio, climate, or cruise controls while driving but frankly she can't do so without completely ignoring whatever's happening outside the windows. Right now (three weeks into her learner's permit, driving almost every day) she can't even hold up her end of a conversation without neglecting her driving. It's hard to believe until you're sitting next to it at 55 mph.
It's also interesting to watch older military officers dealing with the same situations as younger ones. The older ones cope because of survivor bias they've survived the earlier situations and generally expect to survive this one too. They've also learned to ignore the extraneous and focus on the one or two important things that are about to (or need to) happen. The younger ones have trouble coping because they haven't found out yet if they're going to survive, and everything is equally important because they can't decide what to ignore.
__________________
*
Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
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05-20-2008, 11:44 PM
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#11
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 415
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nords
It's interesting watching our teen driver learn how to maintain a scan. Essentially she can either do the scan or do anything else, but not simultaneously. She grumbles about not being allowed to touch the audio, climate, or cruise controls while driving but frankly she can't do so without completely ignoring whatever's happening outside the windows.
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Reminds me of when i taught my daughter to drive. I would sit in the car with her and make her close her eyes, and learn to reach down, change the radio stations, insert CDs and eject them, pick up lipsticks off the floor, and pick up her phone, flip it open, answer it, and hang up, without looking. When she graduated from that, I made her focus straight ahead and read a book on the dash, while doing all the afore mentioned stuff, and then tested her on the information that she had read. Only when I was satisfied that she could do all that, would I let her actually start the car, and begin to move. Periodically, I would have her do some of that while driving around the parking lot, to be sure that she could do it. She was quite exasperated with me at the time, but now, some 14 years later, she says that it certainly saved her on a number of occasions that she hadn't told me about at the time. I knew she was going to do all that stuff anyway, so I wanted here able to do it without losing focus on the road.
Now if I could just figure out how to get all those cell phone talking, fast food eating, newspaper reading drivers on the road today, to learn how to do it, without crossing over into my lane, I would feel safer for myself.
__________________
Mens ability to see the future is limited by their horizons of today!
Unknown!
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05-21-2008, 06:14 AM
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#12
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,340
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nords
It's interesting watching our teen driver learn how to maintain a scan. Essentially she can either do the scan or do anything else, but not simultaneously.
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What I remember most about learning to fly an airplane was the frustration of not knowing how to split attention, or what to focus on when. Didn't have (or don't remember) that in driving - lots of bike riding is good preparation?
Pay attention to heading, altitude goes off.
Watch altitude, engine rpm goes off.
Watch that, one wing is low and turning (again!)
Change a radio frequency - where are we?
And on and on....
Now I'm going to get a glass of wine.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
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05-21-2008, 06:22 AM
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#13
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gone traveling
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,146
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Brain.....
Wine and your Brain......
Look what happens.....
See Newguy..... Be afraid be very careful, Wine...
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05-21-2008, 07:46 AM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nords
"Recognize the pattern? What pattern?!?" It's interesting watching our teen driver learn how to maintain a scan. Essentially she can either do the scan or do anything else, but not simultaneously. She grumbles about not being allowed to touch the audio, climate, or cruise controls while driving but frankly she can't do so without completely ignoring whatever's happening outside the windows. Right now (three weeks into her learner's permit, driving almost every day) she can't even hold up her end of a conversation without neglecting her driving. It's hard to believe until you're sitting next to it at 55 mph.
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Heck, I used to roll a jay while steering with my knee...
__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire
...not doing anything of true substance...
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05-21-2008, 08:14 AM
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#15
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Losing my whump
Posts: 22,708
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Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo
Not a problem. I keep my wallet in my underpants...in the fridge.
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Just...no fridge in the underpants please...
__________________
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.
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05-21-2008, 08:51 AM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 6,506
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Maybe, youthful brain does not have a lot of connective bits between discrete information. My older brain full is of stuff. (go ahead, its and opening) Mostly obsolete knowledge. Used to like to call it "situational awareness"
Being retired, "situational awareness" is not as important as when there can be unintended rapid oxidization, two things attempting to occupy the same space at the same time, or other mayhem.
So I lift my glass to soften the view.
__________________
There must be moderation in everything, including moderation.
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05-21-2008, 09:39 AM
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#17
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,296
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What's a jay?
__________________
There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
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05-21-2008, 09:46 AM
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#18
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,860
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Thanks, Whitestick, we're going to have to try that someday. Just turning on the headlights can still be a challenge.
Alas, some advanced driving skills training will have to be outsourced to the professionals...
__________________
*
Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
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05-21-2008, 10:01 AM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
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now if only i could access the defrag function.
during certain trance or dreamstates, mind can multiply attention spans so that instead of looking through one point of view, consciousness divides like through a prism whereby you can simultaneously put your full attention to remembering your day, to enjoying a dream, planning tomorrow, working with a completely different dream or two from your other dream which you continue to monitor, create musical scores, each instrument of the orchestra completely auditory & under control, experience some other things that i won't even go into because who's gonna believe that when just what i'm describing is so counter our ordinary state of being, etc.
memory afterwards is one of having had separate events during the same time period yet without disjuncture or discordance and fully brings to bare the notion that time is what keeps everything from happening at once.
still, i prefer to pull off the road to take a phone call.
__________________
"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin
"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
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05-21-2008, 11:17 AM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
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Comes after "i"...
__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire
...not doing anything of true substance...
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