The Thinking Blog ~ Knowledge Grows When Shared!

Brain blogger Alvaro Fernandez from Sharp Brains is here to explain how this works and how to go about solving this puzzle:

First, you have to use your mental rotation and mental imagery skills to visualize potential answers for this puzzle. You can create a mental image of a cake and rotate it in your mind's eye. In doing so, you are using your visual cortex in the occipital lobes (the part of the cortex which is in the back of your head), your somatosensory cortex in your parietal lobes (in the superior part of your head), and then exercise your executive functions in your frontal lobes (right behind your forehead) when you evaluate your hypotheses and refine them until you find the answer.

The so-called "executive functions" are named that way because, like the director of an orchestra or the CEO of a corporation, they are critical to direct and manage the other parts of our brain as needed (as if they were different instruments in the sympony our mind can create).

Alvaro is a leading voice and thought-leader in the growing science-based brain fitness field.




If you still couldn't solve the puzzle, don't worry - here is the answer!



Enjoyed this little puzzle? You can find more brain teasers here.

Knitta members AKrylik and PolyCotN founded the group as a way to deal with frustration over unfinished projects such as half-knitted sweaters. It started with a doorknob cozy for the front door of PolyCotN's boutique. She loved it and, unexpectedly, so did those who passed by the store. That is when they thought, "Let's do more."

The name of the group and the nicknames of the members were inspired by a desire to "resemble graffiti, but with knitted items." The group mixed crafting terminology with a hip-hop style, then changed the spelling "to represent traditional street art monikers." Current members' names include Purl Nekklas, P-Knitty, The Knotorious N.I.T., MascuKnitity, and Granny SQ.

The crew marks holidays by theming their work, using, for example, pink yarn for their Valentine's Day pieces and sparkly yarn for New Years. When Knitta is not working with a theme, they work on projects, tagging specific targets or specific areas.

This video pretty much sums it all up (except for the last minute and a half, which is about an art car parade?) and you can find more of their work on Knitta flickr page.


via

Nature Intelligence (NI) at work.

I'm also intrigued by the report that they seem to be using sonar to locate the vortex in the water, since that would be a fairly amazing bit of audio analysis.

The New Thinking Associate Editor

We are pleased to announce Jon Percepto as the new Associate Editor in our team, a thinker who has already made five contributions to our blog. He will be posting regularly (currently one article per month) and keep us thinking. It was an easy choice for us because if you read his blog, his aim is quite similar with ours. From Eclectic Commons about page:

"This Blog provides a starting point to bring to light and discuss relevant issues from eclectic subjects that we encounter in the course of our lives. To raise questions we ask internally, but may be too distracted to give serious attention to. To provoke thoughts and hopefully to help us discover who we are individually and collectively, what our reality is, and how we can effect and perhaps change the course of our lives. My intention was not to provide answers. It is each persons’ responsibility to resolve their own issues, find their own solutions, and formulate their own views on life."

Let's all welcome Jon to his new 'second' home at TTB!

More Thinking Editor Positions Available

This means we are still looking for more writers who are willing to regularly contribute articles and enjoy the fruits of being a TTB editor. Let's look at what these positions are and what benefits they will bring you:

Associate Editors

Writes, edits, proofreads, and copyedits articles. Plans and prepares stories for online dissemination. Prepares page layouts to position and space images, photos, illustrations and videos in the story. Has knowledge of commonly-used concepts, practices, and procedures within a particular field and apply it to the interests of The Thinking Blog readers. Supports the selection process of upcoming articles; potentially suggesting new topics; investigating authoritative source documents etc. Assures that all copies meet the requirements for publishing and adheres to editorial standards of quality. Must have a demonstrated aptitude for and interest in writing.

Contributing Editors

Writes, edits, and proofreads articles. Maintains a publishing programme and contributes to marketing activities. Has knowledge of commonly-used concepts, practices, and procedures within a particular field and apply it to the interests of The Thinking Blog readers. Assures that all copies meet the requirements for publishing and adheres to editorial standards of quality. Primary job functions do not typically require exercising independent judgment. Must have a demonstrated aptitude for and interest in writing.

Benefits:

This is a great opportunity to expose yourself to a whole new audience and also get some link love at the same time. Readers who enjoy your style will definitely click through and even subscribe to your RSS feed. Since you can link to anywhere relevant in the post, including your own blog, it means more traffic for you. Apart from these benefits, you will also get a link on the sidebar worth $30 per month. The link which is displayed site wide is visible to readers of all pages (remember we have 10k visitors on average per day). There will be bonuses (read $$$) if your article somehow becomes popular on the Internet. You will also have access to make use of our services (graphic design, marketing, ad network and others) at lower rates and sometimes even free if you are an active Associate editor. After submitting in several posts, based on the response from regular readers, we will offer you something you can't refuse (hint hint) and hope to see you in the "Thinking" family. Perhaps this might bring more credibility to your name as a writer but, above all, working together will be more fun than you might imagine!

Application:

There are no application deadlines and the process is on-going until further update on this post. All you need to do is email your entry with the subject "TTB - [insert appropriate catchy HEADLINE here]", our Chief Editor will edit and publish it when it's ready. We will be working on drafts together via email. If you don't have a topic to write about, our editors will help you out on that too. Also don't forget to include your name and blog URL with your entry so we can give the appropriate credit with the post. If you wish to introduce what you write about on your blog, feel free to include a short descriptive sentence like "[NAME] writes many times a week about [TOPIC]." Important: We will not publish duplicate content. Please submit original articles exclusively for The Thinking Blog and don't post it elsewhere on the net.


Articles of Previous Thinking Writers and Guests

Starting with those who contributed the most, here is the list of people who submitted articles in the past. As you can see Jon has had five posts prior to us contacting him for the position. We would like to thank each and every one of the following for their most excellent entries - and hope to see more in the future:

Jon Percepto thought:

- How To Help Someone Who Is Choking
- Removing the Veil
- The Good, The Bad, The Cause: Understanding Karma
- Being a Good Parent
- Living Up To Your Full Potential


Alvaro Fernandez thought:

- Being a Pavlov Dog in Holiday Season Shopping Spree
- 7 Tips to Deal with TMI (Too Much Information)
- Shrink Your Brain in 8 Easy Steps


Steve Levenstein thought:

- Latest Japanese Trend: Weird Themed Cafes
- Top 5 Most Outrageous Japanese Female Celebrity Nicknames
- Latest Japanese Craze: Bandage Fetish


Mark Dykeman thought:

- Does Your Brain Play Tricks On You?
- Jamais Vu - The Reality You Have Never Seen Before


Justin Swatsenbarg thought:

- Woman Sues Doctors After Failed Abortion
- Microsoft is Not Making a Difference?


Mert Erkal thought New Era in Social Networking

Michael Beck thought Free Internet Is Under Threat

Jeremy Miller thought The Future: Ubiquitous Computing

Jennifer Hitchcock thought Aurora Borealis: Nature Lights Up the Skies

Shankar Ganesh thought Minority Report PC Becomes Reality

Jake Olson thought To Bargain or Not To Bargain

Mark Harris thought Green Burial: When Dust Really Returns to Dust

Asgeir Hoem thought STUDY: How To Be More Creative

Andy Tilley thought Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Rehuel Lobato de Mesquita thought Reclaim Your Brain Before It's Too Late

Michelle Dyer thought Blind People Can Drive Cars Too

Oswald-Ong Thomas thought Top 3 Female Star Convicts

Elmer Aquino thought Weirdest Named Places on Earth

Rob Neville thought Define: Critical Thinking Skills

Saboma thought Please Do Not Feed Internet Trolls

Kanute thought Gmail Hack: Use Your Account Space Like Extended Drive

Srikanth thought How Supermassive Black Holes Merge

Pearl thought Meeting Your Virtual Friends

Speeding Computer thought 10 Crazy Ways To Cool Your Computer

Blue Dreamer thought 2000 Year Old Terraces Carved By Hand

You can bookmark this post to come back and read the rest when you have more time. It is definitely worth it. If you enjoyed these subscribe to the RSS feed and don't miss a single article!

As you all know, we have an ongoing series of posts called the "Pictures Worth A Thousand Words" and over the past year we published 15 pictures that we thought were worth the pause and pondering. However, in order to choose the "best" - or shall we say, the one that made us think the most - we will need your help. Here the pictures of 2006 for your viewing and voting pleasure: