I watched the movie “Contact” played by Jodie Foster tonight. And one phrase caught my attention and if you don’t mind, I would like to share it with you guys.

The phrase is Ockham’s Razor. It says that “All things being equal, the simplest solution/explanation tends to be the best one”

Basically it suggest that the simpler the solution/explanation, the better it is. For example, you saw your current girlfriend dating another handsome guy in a mall when she actually know that you will be shopping at the mall that time.

Natural response would be –

• “Is she cheating on me?”
• “But she knows that I will be shopping here today, maybe that’s her relative”
• “Maybe she knows I’ll be here, and she wants me to see her date to make me jealous”
• “Still, she should know that I’m not easily jealous, so she may want to spice things up with me, introducing jealousy”
• “Or did she trying to convey a message to take care of her better or else?”

The question will go on, until you forgot that magggi mee you are supposed to buy. The fact is all you know for sure is just that she went out with another guy. That’s it. All else are just assumptions. This is the simplest explanation you can come up at the moment. And according to Ockham’s Razor, this is the best explanation. It may not be the truth. But it is the best. So you may ask, why is this important? It is important because assumption is a very dangerous thing to have in a relationship. The danger is when you assume something totally out of emotion and you act on it.

The girl may be spending time with her beloved brother who just came back from oversea. Where as you may already start writing a break-up later that very moment out of anger.

So in short – Never ever assume in a relationship. If you must, don’t act on just mere assumption.

Actually the phrase is widely used in engineering, to provide the simplest solution with minimal assumption. I just find applying it in real life to be more interesting 🙂

————— Personal Note ————————–
Tomorrow, I will only be able to post from email, as I’m going back to KL.

It may not be that important, but I learn the “No-Assumption-Rule” from real life experience. For my wife, who may be reading this, No.. it’s not us. I’ve made some mistake like losing a friend because of assumption. You remember Nur Syikri I told you before. Ya well, at one point, I had made assumptions that he is talking behind my back about my secrets (way back in the 90s) hehe. Because of that alone, I started not contacting him. He may or may not be giving out my secrets, but I had act on it. And it cause me a very good friend. hmm do you guys ever did the same mistake? share it here.. so we may learn from each other.

Summary – The best technique to improve memory – Association
Sometime when I look back at my previous entries, my God!! The topic is very random. But to tell you the truth, they are actually all connected. At least in my mind they are.

I’m thinking of blog, then I remember my friends > then friendster > “long time already not login” > time = 1am > work tomorrow > wish for a holiday > langkawi > beach and so on

Yes, dear friends. That’s exactly how our mind works. Let’s do an experiment. Try reading again the thought connection example. This time at any one time, just connect the two words. You can either picture it in your mind or just imagine the rationale behind the connection. I can guarantee you that you can recite the whole bunch of words front, back and even from the middle. However the trick is to exaggerate any images we conjure.

Another example maybe? Try this list – Celllphone, towel, toothbrush, bag, clock, camera etc

Cellphone to Towel
Now this is the hardest part – using our imagination. Be aggresively exaggerating. (read this very carefully.. and picture everything in your mind) Picture your handphone which is like spongebob squarepants. It very spongy (you can see yourself squeezing your spongy handphone) and absorp all water in a bucket if you drop it in. Now picture you using the handphone to dry yourself out from the shower just like a towel. So now you already connect handphone to towel.

Towel to Toothbrush
Forget about the spongy handphone. now imagine your favorite towel. you are walking to the towel and are going to use it. Suddenly you realize that there are thousands of toothbrush sewed into your towel (all full of colors!!). There’s red, blue and even your favorite color. Towel – toothbrush

Toothbrush to Bags
You are now brushing your teeth very early in the morning. But this toothbrush is very special. With every stroke going out from your mouth, you can actually see bags of different size shot out from the toothbrush (Just like Doraemon items). Imagine if you brush your teeth with 10 stroke. you can already open up bag’s store 🙂

Bag to Clock
Now you are ready to go to work/school. You took your bag (just like the pupils in primary school are using). However there is a big yellow smiley clock on your back instead of the bag. And people are laughing at you!! 🙂 bag – clock

Clock to Camera
Running back to your house, you decided to go to bed instead. There is an alarm clock on your bedside table. You set the alarm to wake you up in 10 minutes. When the alarm go off… instead of the normal ringing noise, you hear the sound of camera (very loudly). And from your clock, millions of photos of you sleeping in embarassing position are being thrown all over the place (you know the camera where you can get instant picture, imagine that). Clock – camera

So can you recite back all the items now? How about backward? I am not taking any credit on this technique. Using this technique, you can actually remember things better. Never assume our mind is old and cannot function that well. We are not introducing anything new to our mind. They have been doing this every second of our entire life.

Rule of thumb

• exaggerate
• use colors
• sex related imagination is easier to remember
• the more ridiculous, the better
• watch cartoons to be more graphic 🙂
• Associate with emotion; embarassing, angry, sad
• practise, practise and practise

————— Personal Note ————————–
Personally when I first started this memory thing. I can actually remember up to 30 things in order. Using the technique, it is not that difficult. The problem however is that I took nearly 1 hour just to memorize them ehehe. I guess with practise it will get better. But who actually remember 30 items to buy at supermarket? I myself prefer using paper and pen. But it’s always nice to know we can actually do such things 🙂 So guys, any other methods to remember things?

A couple went golfing one day and being a beginner the wife shanked her shot right through the window of the biggest house adjacent to the course. So the couple walked up to the house and knocked on the door to apologize. A warm voice said, “Come on in.” When they opened the door they saw the damage that was done: glass was all over the place and a broken antique bottle was lying on its side near the broken window.

A man (genie) reclining on the couch asked, “Are you the people that broke my bottle?”

Husband : “Uh…yeah, sir. We’re very sorry about that,”

Genie : “Oh, no apology is necessary. Actually I want to thank you. You see, I’m a genie and I’ve been trapped in that bottle for a thousand years. Now that you’ve released me, I’m allowed to grant three wishes. I’ll give you each one wish, but if you don’t mind, I’ll keep the last one for myself.”

Husband : “Wow, that’s great! hmmm I’d like a million dollars a year for the rest of my life.”

Genie : “No problem, You’ve got it, it’s the least I can do. And I’ll guarantee you a long, healthy life! And now you, young lady, what do you want?”

Wife : “I’d like to own a gorgeous home complete with servants in every country in the world.”

Genie : “Consider it done, and your homes will always be safe from fire, burglary and natural disasters!”

Husband & Wife : “And now, what’s your wish, genie?”

Genie : “Well, since I’ve been trapped in that bottle and haven’t been with a woman in more than a thousand years, my wish is to have sex with your wife.”

The husband looked at his wife and said, “Gee, honey, you know we both now have a fortune and all those houses. What do you think?”

She mulled it over for a few moments and said, “You know, you’re right. Considering our good fortune, I guess I wouldn’t mind. But what about you, honey?”

“You know I love you sweetheart,” said the husband. “I’d do the same for you!”

So the genie and the woman went upstairs where they spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying each other. The genie was insatiable. After about three hours of nonstop sex, the genie rolled over and looked directly into the wife’s eyes. “How old are you and your husband?”

“Why, we’re both 35,” she responded breathlessly.

“No kidding! Thirty-five years old and both of you still believe in genies?”

Lesson learnt :

• When something seems too good to be true, it usually is
• This is actually the strategy used by most scams nowadays, they excite you with offer and rewards. They will make you feel like an idiot if letting this go. You then trust them a bit and maybe spend a few ringgit. What’s the harm right? they then offer you with super attractive rewards, if only you spend a bit more. By the time you realise that this is all a scam, the money spent is not claimable.
• Sometime being paranoid is ok. Hm maybe paranoid is too strong a word, be cautious 🙂

————— Personal Note ————————–
My first scam experience is probably those chain letter persuading you to donate RM2 to the first person in the list. Then you make another list, erasing his name and change the sequence with your name at the bottom of the list. Then the letter must be distributed to 20 other people. I was Form 2 when I got the letter, and I actually donated the RM2.. Thats RM2 I’m never going to see again. :p

Last wednesday was my wife’s birthday and I have to admit I am clueless about choosing a gift for woman. I just can’t make up head or tails on what they (in this specific case, my wife) like or dislike. So here what I did, last week, one week earlier from her birthday, I told her I cannot make it to her birthday, and brought her shopping. Knowing her, she just window shopping with me not buying anything. But the main purpose for me to bring her is just to know what she likes and dislikes. So the other day when I was planning for her surprise party, I went back to the shopping mall, and bought the handbag which I noticed she like so much, but don’t want to tell me. I am telling you, if I buy the handbag by my own preference, the handbag will so ugly she may cry on the spot.

Anybody else agree on this, that man will not be able to comprehend what woman would prefer and not prefer in term of shoes and handbag? Or do you guys know any man who did understand exactly how to buy those sacred items. 🙂 Is man’s mind and woman’s were really just that different?