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There is a great posting over at mentalfloss.com that showcases 5 very interesting instruments and includes sound clips of each. Of particular interest to me was the mention of a study that says playing the didgeridoo can help with snoring and sleep apnea. I used to play didgeridoo all the time but my interests shifted. Hannah claims that I snore every now and then so I’ll have to pick it up again. I’m sure the kids will get a kick out of it. Check out the article at mentalfloss.com.

A few weeks ago I was quibbling to my dad about the failed state of a project I was working on. A couple days later he sent me the following email:

I was cleaning out my e-mail and ran across this short story that I think is great.

“Here’s a story I heard from Alexander Kjerulf, who was talking about David Bayles’s book Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking:

A ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of the work they produced. All those on the right would be graded solely on their works’ quality.

His procedure was simple: On the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the quantity group; 50 pounds of pots rated an A, 40 pounds a B, and so on. Those being graded on quality, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an A.

At grading time, the works with the highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity.

It seems that while the quantity group was busily churning out piles of work — and learning from their mistakes — the quality group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of clay.”

What a great lesson and an interesting look at the quantity vs. quality concept that more produces less quality and less produces higher quality.

So what is there to benefit from failing? I have decided that it is better to produce failed projects than none at all. At least that way I have the opportunity to learn from experience.

Gameloft has released Brain Challenge for iPods. Brain Challenge is a brain exercising game in the same category as the Nintendo DS franchise, Brain Age or Lumosity. The game makes a modest edition to your iPod’s game library at a little over 33mb.

I purchased the game over my lunch break and spent about 10 minutes with it before I had to get back to work. Upon first launch you are given the opportunity to play 5 mini-games to set your baseline for brain activity. I ranked in at 7% and I’d be interested in knowing where everyone else ranked initially. I rushed through the instructions and so the scales game through me for a loop. Fortunately there is a training mode that allows you to play through your unlocked games (more are unlocked as you improve) without hurting your overall score.

I look forward to pooping playing exercising with this piece of software more. I’ll also mention that recently I had been drooling over the Nintendo DS Lite and Brain Age so I am glad that this $5 solution has come my way.

Over the last year I have heard references made to Moleskine and their life altering variety of notebooks. Last week I got one, not knowing exactly how I would use it. My first model is the ruled Moleskine of the pocket sized persuasion. So far I have used it to jot a couple of notes related to changes that I want to make to my vocabulary and from a staff meeting. There is a large movement of people on the web who are using their Moleskines as productivity aids varying from simple to-do list management to GTD hacks. I am trying out these hacks at a leisurely pace and you will only read more Moleskine adventures from me if I deem this pretty little book blogworthy.

Here are a couple of useful links from 43folders.
Moleskine Hacks

More Moleskine Hacks

One of my favorite brain strengthening website has upgraded with some great new features. I’ve blogged about my affection for Lumosity.com before and they are wooing me even more with

• Two new games
  • Word Bubbles - a verbal fluency task
  • Chalkboard Challenge - a numerical reasoning task
• Brain Performance Index
  • From the site: Check your BPI Lumosity calculates a BPI (Brain Performance Index) based on your game results. Your BPI reflects your skill in each exercise, and is based on data from over 500,000 results. You can measure and track your improvement in each cognitive area using BPI.
• Speed Boost Module 
  • Designed to improve processing speed, our newest 10 session training course focuses on games exercises that help you think faster.

A compelling upgrade for sure. They even offered me a deep discount again as a thank you for beta testing. If you have not yet tried out Lumosity, give it a go today. They offer a free 30 day trial.

I’ve always had a hard time with math in my head. I just have so much trouble keeping track of all the numbers floating around in my head. listverse.com comes to my rescue with 10 great tips for calculating in your head. Until now, I never understood how my friends were multiplying by nines with their hands…seriously. Go forth and learn.

Brain health has become increasingly important to me in recent months. I’ve come to realize that I don’t use mine nearly as much as I could. Several months ago I received an invitation to join the beta testing program for a website called Lumosity.

Lumosity provides brain exercising games via Flash and tracks your progress over a 30 day/30 session period. Each session can be completed in about 10 minutes or less. Lumosity clains that “Lumosity is a scientifically designed brain fitness program” and they have an impressive list of advisers from the scientific community.

During beta testing I was able to participate in 28 of the 30 sessions before testing ended. In a short amount of time I improved my scores for each game and moved on to more advanced levels. In addition to improving my scores I also noticed:

• Increased focus after my session finished and throughout the day
• Better processing of my peripheral vision
• Faster reaction times
• Improved memory (a previously weak area for me)

Overall, I felt like Lumosity contributed positively to my mental health and I looked forward to each daily session. Lumosity is not free, however, and that’s okay. It’s a good product. Improving your brain health will set you back $9.95 a month or &6.95 a month if you buy a year at a time. Of course you can try before you buy, Lumosity offers a 14 day free trial with no credit card necessary.

If you use Lumosity I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.