By HELENA OLIVIERO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Originally Published on: 07/31/08

Eight-year-old Eddie Richardson begins every day with Cheerios and box scores.

He not only checks on his favorite player, Chipper Jones, but he zooms in on Ty Wigginton, third baseman for the Houston Astros. And Jose Arredondo, a relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels … and every other major league player whose daily stats are listed in the newspaper. All 750 of them.

Eddie Richardson spends his mornings with the box scores. Eddie claims to know every team’s roster, a feat that requires attention to injuries and trades, players being sent to the minors and players going on the disabled list, meaning of course, he knows our Braves very well.

So we threw a few Eddie’s way. And these were no softballs.

• Left field, San Diego Padres?

“Scott Hairston”

• Who is Andrew Sisco?

“Pitcher, Chicago White Sox, on the DL”

• Seattle Mariners, first base?

“Miguel Cairo”

For years, Eddie, who started reading at age 4, quietly studied the newspaper every morning.

His dad didn’t realize his son’s talent with baseball stats until last summer.

“By third day of golf camp, all of the golf pros surrounded Eddie and they kept quizzing him on baseball and they couldn’t stump him,” said his father, Ed Richardson. “The golf pro pulled me aside and said, ‘This is not normal.’ ”

It’s actually quite extraordinary especially when you consider Ed Richardson is not much a fan of baseball himself — though Eddie is changing that.

“Instead of me teaching him the game, it’s the reverse,” Ed Richardson said. “He is making me a fan of the game.”

On Friday, Eddie, a rising third-grader from Smyrna, will get a chance to meet some of the players before the 7:30 p.m. home game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Eddie, who was a pitcher for his little league team, the Bats, also has some thoughts on how to turn things around for the Braves. He said early Tuesday the Braves “need to make a big trade.”

He expected Mark Teixeira would likely be one of those traded.

As usual, he was right. A few hours later Tuesday, Teixeira was traded.

By Gary DeMar

An orthopedic surgeon friend told me about a phone call he received some years ago from another doctor. It was around 3 in the morning. His child had injuried one of his fingers. Dr. Barnes asked him what finger had. Probably because of stress and just waking from sleep, the flustered caller could not articulate which finger it was. In a calm way, Dr. Barnes asked if it was thumpkin, pointer, long-man, ring-man, or pinky. The elated caller blurted out, “Pinky!”

Remembering a short list of objects can be troublesome, but with these five designated and descriptive digits, it’s a breeze. Let’s say you have to go to the store to bring home five items. Who needs a written list when you have your five fingers? The list consists of eggs, bread, pastrami, two cans of frozen orange juice, and a can of tuna fish. Visualize your thumb crushing an egg. This will also help you to remember to open the egg container to make sure there are no broken eggs. A loaf of bread with a pointer going through it will help you recall this item. Your longest finger (long-man) can be visualized wrapping itself around a 1/2 pound of lean pastrami. The ring on your ring-man finger can be seen being squeezed over two cans of orange juice. The pinky can be made into a hook to capture a can of tuna fish.

You can thank orthopdeic surgeon extraordinaire Dr. Steve Barnes of the Piedmont Orthopedic Complex for this helpful memory device.

By Gary DeMar

I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I experience and I understand.       

        —Attributed to Confucious

This statement couldn’t be any more true. Using all our senses to remember, especially the visual sense, is the key to a good memory. But the best retention of information comes from being involved in the material we want to learn. Problem solving, for example, is a great memory enhancer. Students learn best when they have to dig for information and sort out fact from fiction and then defend their findings before a critical and questioning audience. Memory experts claim that it takes going over new material six times before a permanent memory groove is made.

By Gary DeMar

Diamonds
The first letter D designates the suit Diamonds. The consonant sound identifies the card number with Ace being one and the cards 10, Jack, Queen, and King designated as 10, 11, 12, and 13. The double digit cards are identified like the single digit cards with only a single consonant sound. These will need to be distinguished from 1, 2, and 3. Since 10 is the only card that will use the s or z consonant sound, there should be any confusion. I’ve supplied memory helps for Jack, Queen, and King.

Dot: Ace of Diamonds
Dine: Two of Diamonds
Dome: Three of Diamonds
Deer: Four of Diamonds
Dill: Five of Diamonds
Dash: Six of Diamonds
Dike: Seven of Diamonds
Duff: Eight of Diamonds
Dip: Nine of Diamonds
Dice: Ten of Diamonds
Date: Jack (11) of Diamonds (the 11th is a very important date for Jack)
Diana: Queen (12) of Diamonds (Queen Diana)
Dom: King (13) of Diamonds (King Dom as in Dominic from dominus which means “lord”)

Spades
The first letter S designates the suit Spades. The consonant sound identifies the card number with Ace being one and the cards 10, Jack, Queen, and King designated as 10, 11, 12, and 13. The double digit cards are identified like the single digit cards with only a single consonant sound. These will need to be distinguished from 1, 2, and 3. Since 10 is the only card that will use the s or z consonant sound, there should be any confusion. I’ve supplied memory helps for Jack, Queen, and King.

Seed: Ace of Spades
Sun: Two of Spades
Sumo: Three of Spades
Sir: Four of Spades
Sail: Five of Spades
Sash: Six of Spades
Sack: Seven of Spades
Safe: Eight of Spades
Soap: Nine of Spades
Size: Ten of Spades
Suit: Jack (11) of Spades (Jack wore a suit to the card game)
Son: Queen (12) of Spades (the Queen has a son who loved to work with a spade)
Sam: King (13) of Spades (King Sam)

Hearts
The first letter H designates the suit Hearts. The consonant sound identifies the card number with Ace being one and the cards 10, Jack, Queen, and King designated as 10, 11, 12, and 13. The double digit cards are identified like the single digit cards with only a single consonant sound. These will need to be distinguished from 1, 2, and 3. Since 10 is the only card that will use the s or z consonant sound, there should be any confusion. I’ve supplied memory helps for Jack, Queen, and King.

Hat: Ace of Hearts
Hen: Two of Hearts
Ham: Three of Hearts
Hare: Four of Hearts
Hill: Five of Hearts
Hash: Six of Hearts
Hag: Seven of Hearts
Hive: Eight of Hearts
Hub: Nine of Hearts
Hose: Ten of Hearts
Hit: Jack (11) of Hearts (Jack got hit in the heart)
Hun: Queen (12) of Hearts (the Queen loves a Hun)
Home: King (13) of Hearts (the King likes to stay at home where the heart is)

Clubs
The first letter C designates the suit Clubs. The consonant sound identifies the card number with Ace being one and the cards 10, Jack, Queen, and King designated as 10, 11, 12, and 13. The double digit cards are identified like the single digit cards with only a single consonant sound. These will need to be distinguished from 1, 2, and 3. Since 10 is the only card that will use the s or z consonant sound, there should be any confusion. I’ve supplied memory helps for Jack, Queen, and King.

Cut: Ace of Clubs
Cane: Two of Clubs
Comb: Three of Clubs
Car: Four of Clubs
Coal: Five of Clubs
Cash: Six of Clubs
Cake: Seven of Clubs
Cave: Eight of Clubs
Cape: Nine of Clubs
Coat: Jack (11) 11 of Clubs (Jack wore a coat to the club)
Cone: Queen (12) of Clubs (the Queen wore a cone for a crown)
Coma: King (13) of Clubs (the King is in a coma after being beaten with a club)

By Gary DeMar

Developing a system to memorize playing cards is every card player’s dream. What makes memorization easy is that it’s always the same 52 cards. What makes memorization hard is that the majority of playing cards are numbers, and numbers are notoriously difficult to visualize as concrete objects. There is also the problem of dealing with four sets of 13 cards with the same numbers and names with only their suits differing. An additional problem is that each new game brings with it a change in the order of cards played.

In addition to learning a technique to memorize playing cards for a game like Gin Rummy, it can also be used to impress people. Once the card memory system is learned, it’s an easy step to link them in the order they are pulled out of the deck and say them back in the same order.

So how does the system work? The first step is to memorize the permanent list of 52 words—tie to lion—found on pages 50–52 of Memory Mechanics.

The second step is to learn the list of words that identify all 52 cards in a standard deck of playing cards. The 52 playing card names are different from the first 52 words used in Memory Mechanics since the hard C sound does not appear until you get to numbers 70 through 79 so there will be no confusion.

The third step is the hardest and not one I’ve tested. It would require linking each card played to your permanent list of 52 words. For example, if an eight of diamonds is played first (duff), a linking association would be made with tie (1 on the permanent list)—a duffer strangling himself with his tie after missing an easy golf shot).

I suggest that the 52 permanent words be broken up into 4 lists of 13 for easy recall.

Check out the July 22, 2008 article for the list of words that can be used to memorize all 52 playing cards.

By Gary DeMar

Have you ever had a great thought that you were convinced you would remember when pen and paper were handy? It’s happend to me a lot. I would get an idea for an article just before going to bed, and I was sure I’d rememeber it in the morning. No such luck. To solve the problem, I carry a small notebook around with me that slips easily in my back pocket with my wallet. It’s filled with thoughts, book title ideas, notes on something I’ve heard on the radio, and titles of books I might like to order. The notebooks are produced by Moleskine, and have an interesting history, with Pablo Picasso being one of the most famous users. You can find acceptable knockoffs at stores that sell business supplies. The nice thing about these small notebooks is that pages are sewn in so they won’t fall out. Now there may be somegthing even handier. The following is from a Technology Review article:

“It’s Jott, a Seattle startup founded by two former Microsoft employees who want to help people capture their thoughts and ideas electronically, even if they’re nowhere near a computer keyboard. You can ‘jott’ by calling Jott’s toll-free number [1-866-JOTT-123] from your cell phone, specifying who should receive your message (for example, ‘myself’ or ‘family’), and dictating for up to 30 seconds. Within minutes, your message or reminder is transcribed and e-mailed or text-messaged to the appropriate parties.”

At the present, the Jott service is free. Give it a try, but also get yourself a little black book.

By Gary DeMar 

As I point out in Memory Mechanics, the development of memory techniques has a long history that go back to the Hebrews and Greeks. There have been more recent expressions of mixing visuals and rhyming as a way to help children learn new material. One of the most well known is found in the New England Primer that was first published in 1698 (order here).  Children, most of whom were familair with Bible stories before they learned to read or write, could make easy association links to help them learn the alphabet and pick up some theology along the way. In addition, many of the examples are based on everyday events that children would have been familiar with. This is the essence of memory development: associate the familiar with the unfamiliar. This well-known night-time prayer was also included in the original 90-page primer:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep;

If I should die before I wake,

I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.

By Gary DeMar

July 1, 2008

“Dates and names, this is what I hate about history.” History can be very interesting and even exciting if the stories of history are told. There are the “what ifs” of history. What if those who conceived the Gunpowder Plot had been successful? With the death of King James and his Parliamentary supporters, would there ever have been a Jamestown and later English settlements? Playing a game of what if can go a long way to engage young people in how ideas and actions have consequnces. It’s important to know that the Gunpowder Plot was planned for November 5, 1605 and Jamestown was founded in 1607. In these cases, dates do matter.

The number 1605 can be turned into the words dish (16) and law (05), while 1607 becomes dish (16) and key (07). By visualizing a dish with a law book sitting on a keg of gunpowder, the date is fixed in the mind. By adding some visualized pyrotechnics in for effect, the image is retained forever The same technique can be used to remember the date for the founding of Jamestown. As the passangers disembark from the ship, they carry a dish with a giant key on it representing the opening of the New World to the Old World. To learn how to use this memory technique, get a copy of Memory Mechanics.

By Gary DeMar

June 25, 2008

One of the best guy movies of all time is The Dirty Dozen (1967). Twelve military misfits behind bars are given a second chance in the war against Germany. There’s a great scene in the chick-flick Sleepless in Seattle (1993) that pays tribute to it. It’s quite funny. Even Rita Wilson can’t keep from laughing as Tom Hanks and Victor Garber retell the famous Jim Brown scene (you can see it here).

Anyway, there’s a scene just before the men are about to parachute to their intended target where we get a glimpse of some of their “academic training.” In order to help each man remember his task, a memory device was created. If any one man was unable to complete his job, anyone could fill in because he had memorized all the tasks based on the location system coupled with number association, rhyming, and visualization (a model was built of the intended target). These techniques are similar to what you will find in my book Memory Mechanics. You can view the scene here.

Matthew McConaughey, who plays Coach Jack Lengyel in the movie We are Marshall (2006),  applies a memory technique that he says he learned from Redbook magazine to help him remember names.

As I mention in Memory Mechanics, the opening scene of Hitchcock’s 39 Steps (1935) begins with a display of factual recall by a man named “Mr. Memory.” You can view the entire movie here. The scene begins at about 1 min. 50 secs. into the movie.

Powerful New Book By Gary DeMar

You don’t have to be a genius to develop a great memory; it’s all about technique. Memory Mechanics shows how memory works and develops proven methods to make learning new material a breeze. A good memory is not just for the young. Anyone, at any age, can apply the system found in Memory Mechanics to improve even the most stale and forgetful memory.

While most memory books explain these useful memory techniques, there are very few that illustrate how to use them. In this unique presentation, each memory technique is illustrated. Memory Mechanics practices what it teaches.

If you have children who struggle in school, Memory Mechanics will change their life. You will see their self-esteem increase as they gain mastery over material that used to frustrate them.

Click here to order your copy of Memory Mechanics today.