The coffee loving caffeine junkie in me

Coffee - heaven in a cup. And mainly because it contains caffeine, the boot in the ass that gets me started on my day.

Caffeine is the most widely consumed pharmacologically active substance in the world. Its major action is to stimulate the central nervous system.

Chemically speaking caffeine belongs to the alkaloid family and the methylxanthine group. Caffeine is found in over 60 plant species of which the most well-known are cocoa-beans, tea and coffee. That’s why tea, coffee, cocoa and chocolate products have caffeine in them. Caffeine is also added to soft drinks and a variety of both prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

An average sized cup (150 ml) of ground roasted coffee contains around 85 mg of caffeine, instant coffee 60 mg, decaffeinated coffee 3 mg, leaf or bag tea 30 mg, instant tea 20 mg and cocoa or hot chocolate 4 mg caffeine.

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Leitner Flashcard Learning System

In the early 70’s a German psychologist named Sebastian Leitner devised a learning system that makes selective learning possible with less effort than the traditional method of studying a set of flashcards sequentially.

Leitner’s system consists of a cardboard box separated into a number of compartments. The compartments are filled with flashcards and the flashcards are moved from one compartment to another, according to the current level of knowledge. When a flashcard is answered correctly it is promoted to the next compartment. When a flashcard is answered incorrectly it is demoted to the first compartment.

How It Works

• When studying the flashcards in a given compartment you examine the flashcards sequentially and indicate success or failure.
• When all of the flashcards from the compartment have been answered you are presented with a summary of the results and allowed to make modifications. When the summary accurately reflects your study session you save the results to the system.
• When the results are saved all flashcards that were answered correctly are promoted to the next compartment. Flashcards that were not answered correctly are demoted to the first compartment.
• A cardfile is complete when all flashcards are in the highest compartment. Each flashcard needs to be consecutively answered successfully the same number of times for all flashcards to be in the final compartment.

The result of the Leitner system is that you are allowed to prioritize your studying, focusing on the flashcards that are troubling you when you are keen and reviewing the easier flashcards when you want a lighter study session.

Benefits

• Selective Learning: Prioritize your studying by focusing on the proper compartment—each compartment represents a degree of knowledge. This allows you to learn what you need to learn, when you want to learn it.
• Staggered Learning: Using the review scheduling system allows you to maintain properly spaced review sessions. Staggered learning minimizes the amount of time required to complete a cardfile and maximizes information retention.
• Assessment: By examinining the distribution of flashcards within the various compartments you can easily gague your mastery of the subject.

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Free Flashcard Learning

Ack! I found this great learning application It’s called jMemorise. And best of all, it’s open-source software!

jMemorise is a Java application that manages your flashcards by the famous Leitner system and makes memorizing facts not only more efficient but also more fun. It manages your whole learning progress and features categories, statistics and a visually appealing and intuitive interface.

A flashcard or flash card is a piece of paper that is used in schools as a learning aid (mainly in English-speaking countries). Flashcards can bear vocabulary, historical dates, formulas, etc. The purpose of using flashcards is memorization. You write a question on each card (and an answer overleaf), test yourself on them, and sort them into groups as you learn, according to your performance.

This strategy makes selective learning possible, that is: the more difficult the flashcards in a group, the more often you review that group. The result is, you save a lot of study time.

This method was proposed by the German psychologist Sebastian Leitner in the 1970s. Pimsleur language courses are based on a similar idea.

The basic idea is to divide the cards into different decks depending on the difficulty they present to you. This is done by repetitive quizzes in which you try to answer the question out of your mind. Every time you know the correct answer to a card, it is put on the next higher card deck. If you fail at a card, it is put back to the starting deck.
[The visual representation of decks in jMemorize]

This system is combined with time schedules. Cards that have been known, are considered to be learned until a specific expiration date has passed. The higher the deck, the more further away the expiration date is set. For example might a card that has been successfully checked for the first time be scheduled to be relearned one day later again, while a card that has been correctly answered three times in a row be considered as learned for about week. As long as a card is considered learned, it won’t appear in learn sessions.

As a whole, this system manages your personal learn sessions and allows you to focus on learning, while it automatically decides which facts should be learned right now to make the most out of your time.

Interested? Check out jMemorise now - it’s free!

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Lenovo Thinkpad X60s vs Toshiba Portege R500

Urgh. I’m getting Laptop Envy. My Lenovo Thinkpad X60s doesn’t seem that nice and shiny as compared to the latest notebook offerings in the market, considering:

1. It only has a 1024×768 screen, and it’s not really bright
2. It’s battery is much less than the claimed 4 hr and 9 hr for the normal and extended batteries respectively
3. The hard drive is only 60gb, and at 5400rpm, it’s pretty slow

Just check out this notebook from Toshiba! It’s cheaper than what I bought my Thinkpad X60s for, and so much more advanced! Only gripe I have about it is it’s slower processor speed

Toshiba Portege R500-E260

Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology Core 2 Duo ULV U7600
(1.2GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB);
Intel 945GMS Express Chipset;
1.5GB DDR2 SDRAM (no slot left);
120GB SATA Hard disk;
Built-in Ultra-slim DVD Super Multi Drive;
12.1″ WXGA Transflective LCD Display (LED Backlight Technology, 1280 x 800);
Intel GMA 950, up to 251MB shared video memory;
1 Type II PC Card slot;
USB 2.0 x 3; i.LINK (IEEE) 1394;
SD-Card slot;
Expansion Bus (for replicator);
Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN;
Built-in Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11b/g);
Built-in BlueTooth 2.0+EDR;
Touchpad;
Fingerprint Reader;
Intel High definition Audio Support;
Built-in Mono speakers;
Integrated Microphone;
Windows Vista Business;
Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium;
Microsoft Office 2007 Standard;
Notebook carrying case;
USB Optical Mouse;
1.09 kg (with 6-cell battery and integrated optical drive).
6-cell lithium ion battery with up to 10 hours of usage.

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Toastmaster Table Topic Ideas for Impromptu Speaking - Talking From Pictures

This is a great idea. In our club, table topics are usually written topics on a piece of paper, but I thought, “Why don’t we use pictures for a change?”

So I found some pictures off the Internet, and assigned a number to each of them. I had the table topics speakers come up and pick a number, and the appropriate picture would be flashed on screen for them to talk about.

They were supposed to describe what they think is happening in the picture, or of a story that the picture reminded them of (e.g. if the picture was of a beach, they could talk about an experience they had at the beach). Of course, no captions are attached to the pictures.

An alternative to downloading the pictures is to cut pictures from newspapers or magazines.

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Toastmaster Table Topic Ideas for Impromptu Speaking - Christmas Gifts

This table topic theme is great for Christmas-themed chapter meetings nearer the end of the year - not only is it fun, it helps bond members together by making their gift exchanges a really memorable one!

Here’s how it goes: A member picks a wrapped gift from under the ‘tree’ (or it could be any item, you could use a couch or podium), or steals one from another member. Then the member has to explain why he or she thinks that their gift is the most wonderful gift in the world.

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Recover Lost Windows XP Passwords Free!

Windows NT stores its user information, including crypted versions of the passwords, in a file called ’sam’, usually found in \winnt\system32\config. This file is a part of the registry, in a binary format previously undocumented, and not easily accessible. But now this software author has made a program that understands the registry.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

This is a utility to (re)set the password of any user that has a valid (local) account on your NT system (Windows XP is an NT system). You do not need to know the old password to set a new one.

This free program works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer and boot off a floppydisk or CD. In addition, it’ll detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts!

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