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![]() Newsletter of Project Renaissance and Win Wenger November 2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IN THIS ISSUE: * Quote of the Month * Announcements, News Items, Books * Events, Workshops * FEATURE ARTICLE: A Quick Short-List of Holistic Ways to Improve Your Intelligence, by Win Wenger * Comments, Feedback Win Wenger on Mechanism Design Theory Win Wenger on Google's $30 million Lunar X prize Michelle James on Improv Jonathan White on Image-Streaming in reverse * Organizational Notes * Links ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUOTE OF THE MONTH "Every choice before you represents the universe inviting you to remember who you are and what you want." - Contributed by Elan Sun Star ........................................................................ ANNOUNCEMENTS, NEWS, BOOKS ~~~ WELCOME to all new members who have joined us recently. We hope to hear from you and to give you much food for thought. Back issues are available upon request. Just add the month to the subject line: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=BackIssues Or see the online archives: http://www.winwenger.com/strmlist.htm ~~~ IMAGE-STREAMING PARTNERS Project Renaissance is organizing a partners' bureau or real-time chat resource online via Skype, msn or yahoo messenger for people looking for partners with whom to do live Image-Streaming. If you're interested in joining this resource, please send your contact information and preferences, such as time of day, language, type of Image-Streaming, and we will add you to a cross-reference index of partners to talk online. Contact: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=PartnersOnline . If you have already signed up, we will let you know as soon as the program goes live. ~~~
INTEREST GROUPS * is interested in learning and practicing Image-Streaming, in Italian or English. Please contact him if you are already knowledgeable in this technique and in the * at mailto:gerald.hawkins@gmail.com about starting a problem-solving and idea-testing group in the * attending meetings of Project Renaissance members in the * would like to meet with other members of Project Renaissance in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of * in attending meetings of Project Renaissance members in
the area. * NEW interested in joining an Image-Streaming group in the area. * would like to practice Image-Streaming with a live listener in his area. * if there is anyone in the Image-Streaming. ~~~ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| PROJECT RENAISSANCE'S NEW COREBOOKS www.winwenger.com/corebook.htm A series of compact handbooks of Win Wenger's key techniques. The first four volumes are now in print and easy to order from the publisher: * SUPER SKILLS FOR STUDENTS by Isa McKechnie * WIN WENGER'S IMAGE-STREAMING by Charles Roman * END WRITER'S BLOCK FOREVER! by Mark Bossert, Win Wenger * DYNAMIC TEACHING by Harman Benda and Win Wenger Order from the CoreBook storefront: www.lulu.com/ProjRen - great gifts! |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ~~~ MUSIC THERAPY This study comes out of researchers, noting that music therapy has already been shown to reduce pain, improve sleep quality, and improve mood in cancer patients undergoing therapy and multiple-sclerosis patients, wondered if music might alleviate depression as well. It does. They took 56 depressed subjects, had them listen to Beethoven's 3d and 5th piano sonatas for 15 minutes twice a week in a clean, otherwise quiet room -- and saw their depression scores on the standard Beck Depression Scale go up signficantly. No side effects! And music is cheap -- a lifetime of Beethoven for the price of a couple of weeks of Prozac. ~~~ GENE EXPLAINS WHY BREAST-FEEDING MAKES KIDS SMARTER http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071105/sc_nm/breastfeeding_iq_dc Breast-fed children had a higher IQ by about 6 to 7 points, but only if they had a variant that made the gene more efficiently process fatty acids. Six points here is almost as much as the advantage kids involved with music or art have over those not. To
misquote Dirkson: a half dozen points here, a dozen there, and pretty soon you're dealing with real IQ differences. - Win Wenger ~~~ PUSH FOR INFANT ACADEMICS MAY BE A MISTAKE www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/10/28/rush_little_baby Researchers from the National Institutes of Mental Health performed periodic MRI brain scans on children and teens ranging in age from 5 to 19, tracking the relationship between the thickness of the brain's outer mantle, or cortex, with the subject's IQ. They found that the people whose IQ scores put them in the "superior intelligence" category had cortexes that matured much later than those of average intelligence. The cortexes of the smartest kids peaked at around age 11 or 12, whereas the average kids' peaked by around age 8. The idea is, patience pays off. "It's like the tortoise and the hare," says Jay Giedd, one of the lead researchers, a psychiatrist and brain- imaging specialist. "I'm not suggesting that we tell people to celebrate if their child is not reading at age 6. But for many people who didn't read at age 2 - which is a ridiculous level - they may not only catch up, but actually surpass those few kids that did." The point, he says, is "that until the brain is at a certain level, a lot of that instruction is wasted." _____________ Win Wenger comments: It is also a matter of the thickness of the cortex, the layer over the white matter part of the brain. The thickness of the cortex layer reportedly correlates closely with intelligence, and is usually quite thick in highly gifted individuals. Part of this study - not clear how much of it - reflects the propensity of some people's cortex to "finish growing" sooner than does that of others, and larger cortices generally take longer to finish. Indeed, the study may be showing us instead just how much of the higher potential is wasted among our gifted people as measured in that study. The failure to clarify that point makes me think that this study may be yet another in a long line of attempts to "make it all right to be slow" or worse, in the same sense that "it's all right" for the current generation of youth to handle math and science. That's OK, nothing to be done about it, it's natural and may have a pleasant outcome, just close your eyes and forget about it, don't try to do anything about it. z-zzz-z ~~~ THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON OPTIMISM http://www.newsweek.com/id/61572 New research reveals the biological roots of positive thinking. How a rosy outlook can affect your health. We humans tend to be an optimistic bunch. In fact, it's long been established by psychologists that most people are likely to be irrationally positive. The optimism bias, as it's called, accounts for the fact that we expect to live longer and be more successful than the average and we tend to underestimate the likelihood of getting a serious disease or a divorce. This tendency is adaptive; many researchers have claimed that a positive outlook motivates us to plan for our future and may even have an effect on our long-term physical health. ~~~ MELTING ARCTIC SEA ICE - ONE PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/10/19/VI2007101902050.html Or locate it on this search results page: www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/NewsSearch?sb=-1&st=melting%20arctic Arctic sea ice floats on the surface and does not, directly, raise sea levels. Its exposure of the dark waters underneath, however, means a lot more sunlight getting absorbed in Arctic regions and the effect of THAT on mountain glaciation such as that in effect on sea levels - is one important question. That is part of the Albedo Driver, pushing whichever directions they are going until something flips them over. Further comment: Historically,
parts of green and agricultural: the Viking colony there thrived at first before the Little Ice Age moved in. Further further comment: Some scientific studies show ice deepening in some interior regions of are rapidly losing it. With science on both sides corrupted, it's a challenge to make enough sense out of the uproar to project what is actually happening.
- Win Wenger ~~~ www.fireflies.co.za/ This center uses The Better Baby book by Susan Wenger as its inspiration and guide. The center cares for babies aged newborn to 24 months. "This is the finest infant care center I've seen anywhere," observed Susan Wenger after visiting Fireflies. And Win Wenger remarked, "This day care system is a concrete result of some of our work, and a most excellent outcome. All the babies there were remarkably bright-eyed and bushy- tailed. Days-old infants were looking around their room clearly SEEing things and responding to them." Have a look at their website, www.fireflies.co.za . ~~~ AN INGENIOUS WAY TO TURN SALT WATER INTO FRESH WATER http://www.watercone.com/index.html
The WaterconeR is a solar-powered water desalinator that takes salt or brackish water and generates freshwater. It is simple to use, lightweight and mobile. The technology is simple in design and use and is described by simple pictograms. With max. 1.6 liters a Day, the WaterconeR is an ideal device to cover a child's daily need of freshwater. UNICEF: "every day 5000 children die as a result of diarrhea caused by drinking unsafe water." _____________ Win Wenger comments: This is a superbly simple evaporation trap system, usable in just about every setting. I hereby add this to the refrigerator-without- electricity, and the mosquito netting pre-sprayed with repellent, as examples of the kinds of invention I'd like to get created in an invention-training workshop tailored specifically to developing-world conditions. These can do a lot of people tremendous good. ~~~ EYE MOVEMENT CAN AFFECT PROBLEM-SOLVING http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070924122919.htm# Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Date: September 27, 2007 A pair of Beckman Institute researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has discovered that by directing the eye movements of test subjects they were able to affect the participants' ability to solve a problem, demonstrating that eye movement is not just a function of cognition but can actually affect our cognitive processes. Researchers found that by occasionally guiding the eye movements of participants with a tracking task unrelated to the problem, they were able to "substantially affect their chances of problem-solving success." ~~~ TRANSLATORS WANTED - in any language, to translate selected contents of the Project Renaissance website, the new CoreBooks series, and certain books by Win Wenger. Please contact Win at mailto:wwenger101@aol.com if you are able and interested in collaborating on these projects. ........................................................................ EVENTS ~~~ Sunday, December 2, 2007--Singing Yoga, in Maryland with Kathy Carroll and Lynne Feingold A joyful workshop as you learn to flow with sound and movement. https://secure.yogareg.com/wsyc/pub?action=addwkscart®optionid= 0100005dc00100007f0000 ~~~ Monday, December 3, 2007--Free monthly meeting of The High Thinktank of Capital Ideasmiths and Mensa's Creativity S.I.G. Open to the public. Don't miss this last session of the year, in Washington, D.C. Details: www.winwenger.com/events.htm#ongoing ~~~ THE FIREBIRD: Creativity, Danger and Transformation An evening of Story and Song Wednesday, December 12, 2007 7:00PM-? (however long you stay!) Cleveland Park Club House 3433 33rd Place, NW Washington, DC 20008 Presented by: Seth Kahn, change leadership specialist and master storyteller www.SethKahan.com and Laura Baron, award-winning singer/songwriter www.LauraBaronMusic.com Join us for wine, food and fun...and bring your business cards! $20 at the door - $15 with a dish to share Please RSVP to Michelle James, mailto:michelle@CreativeEmergence.com Capitol Creativity Network http://www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com ~~~ February 1-3, 2008 - Invention-on-Demand Training Workshop with Win Wenger and Chuck Roman, in Gaithersburg, MD. www.winwenger.com/iodtrain08.htm ~~~ May 23-29, 2008 - Annual Double Festival - Mark your calendar now! 16th Annual Conference on Creative Problem-Solving Methods and Enhanced/Accelerated Learning Techniques and Spring Workshops of Project Renaissance www.winwenger.com/upcoming.htm#DF ~~~ ........................................................................ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Feature Article: QUICK SHORT-LIST OF HOLISTIC WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR INTELLIGENCE by Win Wenger mailto:wwenger101@aol.com
To see quite a phenomenon on your own screen, go to Google search and type in "Brain Plasticity." Then sample some of the thousands of scientific studies that come onscreen for you, which examine one or more aspects of the brain's tendency to change its structure, its shape, its size and even its mass, to better handle the type and quantity of information it has been handling over the previous year or so. Each of the various hundreds of different "environmental factors" cited among these studies can be regarded, in a sense, as a technique for increasing intelligence. However, some of those "techniques" are more effective and efficient in improving intelligence than are others. And hundreds upon hundreds of techniques and "techniques" may be somewhat less than practical for you. So here, instead, is my "short list" of recommended ways you can use to increase and improve your own intelligence, or that of other human beings whom you care about. Here is that list: * ImageStreaming, as per the curriculum on that topic which begins at www.winwenger.com/imstream.htm * Improving your wind - especially the 3-week marathon self-improvement program via held-breath underwater swimming, as per www.winwenger.com/ebooks/guaran3.htm * Regular or frequent, light to moderate, physical exercise. The past few years of research have been demonstrating that some of the by- products of muscle use improve brain function. * Good nutrition. * De-congestant food and drink. Less congestion in and around the eyes makes for better eye-movement responses in the brain's patterns for seeking various kinds of information, so that the mind functions better. * Breathing away day-to-day frustrations and irritants, not only big issues, and pleasure-breathing generally - see Winsights No. 28, www.winwenger.com/part28.htm Winsights No. 29, www.winwenger.com/part29.htm * Learn to, or improve your skills to, sight-read and play music, which better integrates the brain (see www.winwenger.com/part73.htm). * Improvisation and Improvitaping - www.winwenger.com/archives/part13.htm for some of how, www.winwenger.com/feed1.htm for some of why. * Pursuit of art and the arts in their more subtle and elegant forms. Responding in some specific or concrete way to your awarenesses, reinforcing your ability to handle subtle matters. * Get good at table tennis and at complex, fast-response computer games requiring accuracy - see www.winwenger.com/part71.htm * Most or all of the measures on our website, including Image-Streaming, for engaging and communicating with your beyond-conscious. That means all problem-solving techniques, all accelerated learning techniques, all invention and innovation-finding techniques which are sitting there awaiting your exploration and use. * Get a few "wins" under your belt and build around them. Not only a matter of self-image, but "flow." Get on a roll, stay on a roll, get back on that roll as quickly as possible once you've fallen off it, keep on as other things fall into and become part of that roll. * Teach your best insights to a reasonably bright ten-year-old. This is more than the problem-solving technique described in www.winwenger.com/ideagen2.htm - a little of this action can go a long way toward making everything clearer for you and easier to sort through. * Portable Memory Bank or Flash-Catcher. Each time you let an idea or a perception get away from you, you reinforce the idea that your own ideas and perceptions aren't worth the bother. Each time you make some specific response to them instead, such as recording them in a pocket journal, you reinforce your own creativity and your own power of perceptiveness. * Each time you catch yourself noticing something which others haven't, and each time you come up with a good idea or observation, do something specific to give yourself a good mental pat on the back - as further good reinforcement for the associated behaviors and traits. * Decide to notice more of what's going on in and around you, then make practice of doing so. There are also some more formalized training and self-training programs emerging, two of which are based partly on the three-week brain-building marathon suggested in my now out-of-print book on building intelligence. One of these you can find through Yahoo at BrainMarathon@yahoogroups.com. The other is a new program currently being built by a friend and we will announce here when that becomes ready. Reinforcing any or all of the above is the question of intention. What will you do with that higher intelligence, once you have it? How will you know when you have it, or how will you know if you are progressing toward that goal? What (if anything) has been between you and that goal besides need of more intelligence? What are other things you intend to do or enjoy once you have higher intelligence? Clarifying and specifying your intention(s) will make all the difference when it comes to that extra effort that brings you the rest of the way toward success. Lastly, I'd like you to at least entertain the thought possibility that you are worth the effort. You are brighter than you think. You have seen things which no one else has seen, thought thoughts which no one else has thought, there are some things in your experience that you can feel pretty good about. There is much you can yet do that can make a positive difference. Improve your capabilities, and other good things will follow.
------------------------------------ To send feedback privately to Win Wenger, email to: mailto:wwenger101@aol.com?subject=Holistic To send your comments about this article to The Stream, write to: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=Holistic |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ........................................................................ COMMENTS and FEEDBACK ~~~ Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com ) writes:
"Mechanism Design Theory" awarded Nobel Prize http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071015/ts_nm/nobel_economics_dc_4 On Monday, October 15, 2007, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics to American economists Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson for laying the foundations of an economic theory that determines when markets are working effectively. The three established "mechanism design theory," which looks at how well different institutions fare in allocating resources and whether government intervention is needed. The academy said mechanism design theory now plays a central role in many areas of economics and parts of political science."Adam Smith's classical metaphor of the invisible hand refers to how the market, under ideal conditions, ensures an efficient allocation of scarce resources," the academy said. "But in practice conditions are usually not ideal," it added. "For example, competition is not completely free, consumers are not perfectly informed and privately desirable production and consumption may generate social costs and benefits." For "social costs and benefits," read the "external economies and diseconomies," or "externalities" and "indivisibilities," which have featured in our discussions in Incentives As A Preferred Instrument of Corporate and Public Policy ( www.winwenger.com/incentiv.htm ). It is gratifying to see someone at last starting to address these crucial issues. - Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com ) ~~~ Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com ) writes: Google to Sponsor $30 Million Lunar X Prize http://www.space.com/news/070913_google_xprize.html This is one more splendid reason to admire Google, best known for the convenience of its search service which has made Googling to doing research what Lectrolux once was to vacuums and Frigidaire once was to refrigerators. - And also best known for its amazing goal of making all human knowledge immediately available to every human being anywhere on the planet. I'm thinking that this prize could be a wonderful occasion for someone out there to create a foundation by subscription, to add substantially to that $30 million prize and incentive, to be awarded automatically to supplement whoever wins the Google prize. That could make a real difference, since the cost of developing such a vehicle would be much more than the $30 million, and firms might want to compete for more than the prestige of winning and prospective contracts down the line. Plenty of people would gladly contribute a hundred or so dollars to such a fund in return for appropriate acknowledgment and association with such an event and development. You saw the suggestion here first - pass it on to where it seems appropriate. - Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com ) ~~~ Michelle James ( mailto:michelle@creativeemergence.com ) writes: I know some of you are thinking about bringing/already do bring improv into your organization, your client's organizations or the government. The following is an interview I did with WTOP radio about using improv in the federal government. While this interview is short - about six minutes - and was a bit rushed (I needed that time just to get warmed up!), it's all part of the larger mission of "mainstreaming" creativity and improv principles and practices for positive change in community and organizational systems. (Perhaps you can use some of it to help your "case" for using improv in your own training.)
Here's the interview: www.federalnewsradio.com/?sid=1231658&nid=250
Scroll down to "Making it Up as We Go Along"...and also on their front page under "Audio files." Or type "Michelle James" in the search box. - Michelle James ( mailto:michelle@creativeemergence.com ) Chief Emergence Officer The Center for Creative Emergence www.creativeemergence.com www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com 703.760.9009 ~~~ Jonathan White ( mailto:jwhite2341@yahoo.com ) writes: I've really enjoyed Image-Streaming...and its benefits. There's a lot of buzz about "The Secret" and the "law of attraction." I've been doing a kind of reverse Image-Streaming. Describing goals in detail, just as I would describe random images, involving all the senses till I see them. Instead of mining the subconscious I'm sort of planting stuff in it. I've enjoyed many Nightingale/Conant programs over the years, and the Einstein Factor seems to unlock even more of the benefits of positive thinking and accelerated learning... The specific techniques of Image-Streaming reversed make it easier to maintain visions of goals and ideals both material and spiritual. Image- Streaming increases intelligence by means that are measurable; can it in reverse application increase satisfaction with life and more consistent achievment of goals and worthy ideals? P.S. Thanks again for the Einstein Factor. I saw it first at my library on cassette and bought the CDs at first opportunity. - Jonathan White ( mailto:jwhite2341@yahoo.com ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To send your comments to The Stream for possible publication here, write to: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=Comments ........................................................................ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ORGANIZATIONAL NOTES ~~~ STOLEN IDENTITY! It has come to our attention that spurious emails, spams and possibly infected emails are being sent out with thestream@winwenger.com or even wwenger101@aol.com as the alleged sender. Please be assured that they are not from us and do not have our consent. Anything with attachments is suspect - do NOT open them, even if they seem to be from us, until you've read the text that verifies it's from Win. If in doubt, email Win for verification first: mailto:wwenger101@aol.com . We regret that such ploys pollute the free and open communications of this wonderful medium. ~~~ TOPICAL INTEREST GROUPS: Our membership is large and diverse, and many of you have expressed an interest in communicating with other members who share your topic of concern or research interest. 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If you currently only subscribe to The Stream, you can upgrade your participation in Project Renaissance to full membership, free. Membership in Project Renaissance entitles members to additional benefits. If you're not yet a member, please register now, here: www.winwenger.com/regmem.htm or from the link on the homepage, www.winwenger.com . ~~~ DUPLICATE MAILING? If you received two (or more?) copies of this issue of The Stream, please let us know by replying to: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=duplicate ~~~ HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE... * The long-established, popular Image-Streaming egroup is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imagestream - requires Yahoo sign-in. * Submit articles, comments or questions for possible inclusion in The Stream: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=TotheEditor * Send questions or comments about the website, www.winwenger.com , to the webmaster, mailto:kate@gamepuzzles.com ........................................................................ LINKS * Back issues of THE STREAM by email upon request from mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=BackIssues * Index of feature articles in The Stream archives: www.winwenger.com/strmlist.htm Starting in January 2007, the archived copies have a special cover photo masthead courtesy of Elan Sun Star. Do take a look - they're gorgeous and restorative. * Archived copies of Capital Ideasmiths are here: www.winwenger.com/Capitalidea/capidea1.htm * Project Renaissance homepage: www.winwenger.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSUBSCRIBE: If you do not wish to continue receiving this newsletter from Project Renaissance, please send an email to mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=TheStream-unsubscribe ~~~ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Project Renaissance home page | The Stream Index |