Fun and Games

While I studiously work on my own mysterious MindTweaking project, (you’ll get a sneak peak soon) here’s a mix of mind tweakish links to keep you busy.

1. ReactionEffect: Addictive, strange and pointless, what could be a better waste of time on a thursday than bleeping rotating squiggles? (Other than endless bubble wrap, of course)

2.50 Fun Ways to Maximize Your Brain Fitness Pointed out to me by Kelly at the Nursing School Search site, this list is a good reminder of just how many easy and effective ways there are to kick our brains into gear. How can you *not* like a list that says “eat blueberry pancakes” and “play with a pet”? [click to continue...]

If Zombie Kitteh didn’t finish off your brain, this will!

With thanks to
Free Sudoku
Puzzles for the script

MindTweak: “Math class is HARD!” - Teen Talk Barbie

What’s that you say? The Weekly Tweaks are supposed to be a MONDAY feature, and this is Wednesday night?? Oh dear. Um. Right. Would you believe me if I told you that in some isolated cultures, Monday falls on random weekdays?

Never mind all that, we have neurons to workout. For your brain-boosting pleasure, we proudly point you towards:

Questionaut!
(popup blockers off, please)

Produced for the BBC by the talented folks at Amanita Designs, Questionaut is a gorgeous point-and-click Flash game that is definitely time well spent. The quiz is aimed the Tweener age group, but unless you’ve recently been through refresher courses on fifth grade writing, math, and science, you may find yourself having to think about some of the answers.

(I actually missed one…. erm… Ok, I missed five. But I was busy admiring the animation and interactivity, dang it. I wasn’t paying attention… It doesn’t count! I demand a do-over!)

(Ahem. Ok, I’m better now)

But it’s not the quiz itself that I wanted to draw attention to - more important to note is how the game designers cleverly engage several learning styles, as well as different parts of the brain.

The story line, music, visuals, and motion each bring different areas of the brain into play. The point-and-click puzzle aspects bring action into the process. And the “quiz” (which includes language, math, and science questions) is only part of the brain workout. To get to each mini-quiz, you have to solve interactive puzzles, with no guidance or help — and many of them require (and teach) practical knowledge of applied science. And there is no obvious, familiar or simple means of navigation - you have to work it out on your own, with no hints or instructions.

It’s a serious step forward for educational games.

Links?

For more beautiful games & graphics: Amanita Designs
To launch the game from the BBC web site: BBC Questionaut
For more educational games from the BBC: BiteSize Games

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MindTweak: Originality: It does a brain good.

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Remember this Week’s Tweak?
You only *thought* the exercise was silly.
… you hadn’t yet seen my results!

<Clears throat for dramatic reading>

AHEM.

There was a little mouse,
Who had a little house
He ate a lot of corn,
And watched a lot of porn.

But then he tired of rhyme
And quite forgot the time
Ran up the famous clock,
Hickory Dickory Dock

He still did not go blind!
(though the porn was on his mind)
The old wives tale was false
And he remained the boss.
‘Cause rolling mice gather no moss!

Cute Ears.
No Tears.
More Cheese,
Please.

(are we amused?)

I’ve been so busy *not* writing about enlightenment, that I nearly forgot this week’s tweak. So I quickly whipped together a rather fun exercise, if I say so myself.

See the cute little mousie over there in the corner? Quiet little thing. Doesn’t have much to say, apparently. But everyone has a story to tell, so we’re going to help him tell his, by giving him words.

Ok, now… stop looking at me like I’m crazy. It’s just a simple word association game for gawd’s sake!

Now that we’ve settled the question of my sanity, you’ll need to print a copy of our victim’s little mousie self. There’s a full size version here (or you can just click on the image, that’ll work too). [click to continue...]

A Tweak-Worthy Web Comic

Earlier this week, I caught up to an old friend, and was thrilled to discover his lastest project: a thrice-a-week web comic that captures snapshots of his conscious and subconscious mind. With any luck (and a bit of cooperation from the Wordpress Gods) you’ll see more of his work here, but for now, here’s a glimpse of what goes on Under The Lids: Floaty Rocks

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Free July Issue of Scientific American

The brainy publishing folks over at Sciam.com are kicking off the redesign of their magazine by making it available online, for free. So hop on over and grab your copy before the end of the month. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but there’s a promising article on how the mind makes memories. While you’re there, be sure and bookmark Scientific American Mind — the website and blog for their mind-focused edition.

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Nicole Kidman’s Brain

Nintendo’s Brain-Age for DS was one of the first commercial foray’s into the new brain-training market, and they’re following it up with a sequel, with the no-brainer title of Brain-Age 2. To go along with the UK release this week, Nintendo has gotten themselves a highpowered spokesperson for their UK release this week….. I have to admit she’s adorable in this.

The US release is scheduled for August.

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MindTWEAK: There’s always room for Tidbits.
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Yesterday I bit off a bit more than I could chew, post wise… an interview with an expert in identity, a lot of musing about plate spinning - even the “simple” posts on anonymity proved to be more time consuming than I expected. So you’ll have to wait a few more hours, at least, for an entree article. Meanwhile.. here’s some short ala carte stuff for YOU to chew on.

Lumosity’s “Name the Game” contest is in full swing. Mike and the rest of the gang at Lumosity have picked their top 4 contenders from user submissions, and its time for folks to vote on their favorite.

One of the final game-names just might be from someone you know. A blogger for instance. Like.. someone who wears a bag over their head.

And no, I’m not telling you which submission is mine! That would violate the fun.

Vote for Lumosity’s Brain Game Name

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I’m still struggling with the concept of short articles.

The trouble is that I get some of my best ideas while writing. The article then morphs to follow my developing thought process, and I end up with something resembling the Flying Spagetti Monster: Inspirational and yet… large and tangled.

So I used my free time this morning to see if I could find some help. I did: How To Write A Short Article In 500 Words Or Less.

It’s essentially a formula for writing a short article. I’m going to give it a test run soon, and I thought I’d share the link here.

After all.. if you plow through my long-winded dissertations, chances are that you tend to be a bit long-winded, too!

Name That Flock!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned Lumosity’s online brain-training system. It’s still in beta, and it’s still free.. yay!

They’ve just added a new game that plays on the Flanker effect — your ability to tune out distracting/conflicting information that “flanks” the intended focus.

I think their temp name, “Meet the Flankers” is kind of cute, but they’re looking for something else, and they’re holding a contest for the name.

You may need to sign in to see the rules, but they’re pretty simple. Just email them your name suggestions. They’ll pick their top four favorites, then put it up to a vote. The winner gets a lifetime membership, and their chosen name on the game.

Fun, huh?

As an aside, I’m doing ok with the Lumosity games, but Monster garden gives me anxiety attacks. It’s not the monsters. It’s the radishes. I had a horrific encounter with a radish as a child. For the love of gawd, don’t serve me those horrid radish roses!

And In The Category of More-Free-Stuff:

Centerpoint, the well-known-if-somewhat-pricey brain-entrainment company, is offering to send you a free Holosync demo CD. I haven’t ordered mine yet, so I can’t tell you much about it, but hey!It’s free, it’s entrainment, and the company is well known, so I trust that they haven’t buried any sort sort of hypnotic suggestion that alien-octopus are going to take over my medulla oblongata. If you order it, let me know what you think.

This demo tip was courtesy of Bruce Eisner’s Mindware Forum - his blog has pointed me towards a lot of cool stuff over the years, and I think he’s a part of their affiliate system, so if you’re feeling supportive, you might go over there and use his link to order your demo.