Free Let's Be Less Stupid: An Attempt to Maintain My Mental Faculties by Patricia Marx Page B

different questions will each provide all the enlightenment he needs, coffee-wise.
    1. “If I ask the other waiter whether your coffee is decaf, will he answer yes or no?”
    If Frank asks Zorba this question, and Zorba is the truth-teller, then Zorba will say that Nick, the liar, will say that no, Zorba’s coffee is not decaffeinated. If Zorba is a liar, then he will say that Nick will say yes, Zorba’s coffee is decaf. If Frank asks Nick this same question, the same logic applies. Thus no means yes and vice versa.
    2.“What would your answer be if I asked you if your coffee was decaf?”
    If Zorba is the truth-teller, he will say yes if his coffee is decaf, and no if it isn’t. If he is the liar and his coffee is decaf, he will lie about his lie and say no if his coffee is decaf and yes if his coffee is not decaf. Thus, in this hypothetical, yes means yes and no means no.
    You are on your own with figuring out the tip.

Pole-Vaulting My Way to Intellectual Heights. I Mean Stepping on a Kitchen Chair to Reach the Low-Fat Mayonnaise.

    A s someone whose favorite sport is sitting, I would just once like to hear some bad news about physical exercise. Why can’t researchers discover that lunges cause a decline in SAT scores or that spinning class makes you so addled you forget how to use a semicolon? Regrettably, you will hear nothing of the sort if you talk to neurologists. They will tell you that whether you are young or old, aerobic exertion—even a schlumpy amount—increases the number of blood vessels carrying oxygen to your upper level. They will say that tiring activities spur the growth of neurons and trigger the formation of a class of proteins that stimulate the growth of axons, enabling your brain cells to reach out and touch one another, thus expanding your circuitry up there. As if there were not already enough reasons to work out, neurologists, armed with clinical trials and studies, have added “better thinking” to the list.
    I sought an exercise routine that was suited to my strengths and schedule. No, not darts. Every day—dutifully, resentfully, tediously, miserably, and always without the slightest hint of an endorphin to cheer me along—I engaged in a high-intensity circuit training program comprised of twelve exercises, such as tricep dips (on the chair) and push-ups with side rotation (too boring to explain). The drill was developed by the Human Performance Institute and recommendedby the
New York Times
. In total, including the rests between the exercises, it lasts seven minutes.
    There is only one thing more boring than exercising. That is reading about exercising. Let us move on to the next paragraph because it is a hopeful one.
    Scientists are developing a pill that may mimic the beneficial cognitive effects of exercise. Essentially, the pill contains a hormone (FNDC5) that prods the expression of BDNF and other neurotrophic factors, which in turn activate genes involved in learning and memory. Now that is something to sit down and shout hooray about.
    This just in: Researchers in Norway have come up with the four-minute workout.

    You will have to flip to here for the answers. This counts as exercise.



 
    ANSWERS: 2, 4, 3

May I interrupt myself here and say that the way you’ve been turning the pages lately shows uncanny astuteness? Let’s see how smart you’ve become.

    This psychological test is designed to evaluate your planning, reasoning, and problem-solving skills as well as your ability to find a pencil. This maze could also be helpful in gauging your spatial learning and memory, especially if you are a rodent.
    DIRECTIONS:
    Trace a path from the mouse to the cheese. Try to avoid dead ends. No backtracking is permitted. You have seven days to complete the test.

Om, Um, Oy

    D uring my hitchhiking days—that would be in the 1970s, when I was in college—I was picked up by a free spirit in a VW Beetle. She wore beads and a dress seemingly made out of an old Indian bedspread