3 comments

  • vunderba 10 hours ago

    Peg system – it's a very simple rhyming mnemonic that helps you memorize a list of 10–20 items by quickly assigning visual imagery to each number. It's more of a parlor trick than anything, but it's pretty fun.

    Here's the list for ten (but you can go much farther than this)

      1 - Sun
      2 - Shoe
      3 - Tree
      4 - Gore
      5 - Hive
      6 - Sticks
      7 - Heaven
      8 - Gate
      9 - Vine
      10 - Hen
    
    
    Then you take the list of things (grocery list, etc) you want to quickly memorize:

      1 - Viking
      2 - Ink Pot
      3 - Matador
      ...
    
    and quickly create tiny visuals for each one:

    1 - A longboat rows around the spherical face of the sun each of vikings dipping their flagons into the solar flares

    2 - A old man accidentally knocks over his ink pot spilling it onto his shoes

    3 - An Tree ent holds a cape and taunts the uruk-hai into charging at him

    You'll find its trivial for somebody to call out a number and to recall the associated item. Over time you'll also find yourself getting extremely quick at it as well.

  • blev 11 hours ago

    The algorithm I mentioned in the OP is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_rule

    I practiced the algorithm by replacing my doomscrolling time on a trainer app (https://whattheday.com/) over the last 3 weeks. I went from taking 2-20 minutes to usually get the wrong result to about 95% accuracy in 10 seconds.

    This training app to teach you to play piano by ear and to sight read also got posted today: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46556210

  • austin-cheney 10 hours ago

    1. Rubiks cube

    2. Wordle. It’s much more a game of probability than anything else so start by eliminating the most common consonants and vowels. I am averaging word selection on the third row.

    3. As a typical software developer can get a better job by memorizing all the details of common digital transmission mechanisms from the specifications. It’s how I escaped JavaScript insanity.

    4. You can get a gardening green thumb by memorizing plant details, knowing the chemistry of your dirt, and buying old bananas by the case for conversion into a fertilizer slurry.