Suggestions for "Brain training" software please

[James UK]

Hi all,

Can anyone recommend some freeware similar to "Dr. Kawashima's Brain
Training" on the Nintendo DS or like the similar stand-alone LCD game,
please?

(Nintendo DS version at http://tinyurl.com/pqr5e and stand-alone
version at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Trainer)

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[John Jay Smith]

That game may have some value... if you really want
to evolve your brain... there are far better ways....

I know some of them.. but not all of course.. because there
are many ways!

 

[James UK]

John Jay Smith leapt out of the bath and screamed "EUREKA!" before
typing in alt.comp.freeware:

That game may have some value... if you really want
to evolve your brain... there are far better ways....

I know some of them.. but not all of course.. because there
are many ways!

*Grins*

I should have mentioned this before, but it's for my 70 years + father
rather than my sprightly 34 year old self.

I set him up with a basic 1.3Ghz P4, with no internet connection, so he
could play some games / write the odd letter and stuff.

He's seen the DS adverts for the Dr K. thing and really likes the idea
behind it, as he's beginning to forget things now etc.

I have looked at children's software, but that doesn't really fit with
what he wants. (Plus he doesn't really like Big Bird, and the rest of
the Sesame Street gang... ;-))

 

[John Jay Smith]

dont you know that age has been redefined now?

He is not old at all... in fact he could do lots of things, learn lots of
things, and cultivate his talents. Given the fact that he has experience he
could use that as an asset.

I bet that with the proper information he could out do you in almost any
field. I know this information and I am studying it constantly.

 

[James UK]

James UK leapt out of the bath and screamed "EUREKA!" before typing
in alt.comp.freeware:

Can anyone recommend some freeware similar to "Dr. Kawashima's
Brain Training" on the Nintendo DS or like the similar stand-alone
LCD game, please?

If anyone is following this, I've just had this post land in my RSS
reader;

http://tinyurl.com/rjagt

Which is reference to a load of web based "brain" games... exactly what
I was looking for. Alas, my Father doesn't have web access, but this is
what I wanted really, if anyone else can help?

 

[mike]

Which is reference to a load of web based "brain" games... exactly what
I was looking for. Alas, my Father doesn't have web access, but this is
what I wanted really, if anyone else can help?

Sorry you did no better than JJS, there are people round here who know of
excellent freeware games sites - unfortunately I'm not one of them!

So keep trying.

I've got one or two, there's Boxworld, and Sokoban, and a game called
Linkz, which are nice small ones.

Then Cybermind, a pretty version on Mastermind, which is still available
around, Myhjonng, a nice shanghai mahjong solitaire, or the more
challenging Mahjong Wall, which is nearer the real thing.

I (unlike JJS) fully appreciate your Father's concern - I am of that sort
of age myself, and am very concerned to keep physically and mentally in
some sort of shape, so I swim, do Tai chi, am a memeber of a pretty good
choir, among other things, and am on the lookout for mental challenges.

If you cant find games to suit, (and keep rattling the cage here - there
are some subscribers who know a lot about sites with legacy games etc, I
got most of mine from this group), I can post some of mine up in the sky so
you can try them

mike

 

[meow2222]

Sorry you did no better than JJS, there are people round here who know of
excellent freeware games sites - unfortunately I'm not one of them!

So keep trying.

I've got one or two, there's Boxworld, and Sokoban, and a game called
Linkz, which are nice small ones.

Then Cybermind, a pretty version on Mastermind, which is still available
around, Myhjonng, a nice shanghai mahjong solitaire, or the more
challenging Mahjong Wall, which is nearer the real thing.

I (unlike JJS) fully appreciate your Father's concern - I am of that sort
of age myself, and am very concerned to keep physically and mentally in
some sort of shape, so I swim, do Tai chi, am a memeber of a pretty good
choir, among other things, and am on the lookout for mental challenges.

If you cant find games to suit, (and keep rattling the cage here - there
are some subscribers who know a lot about sites with legacy games etc, I
got most of mine from this group), I can post some of mine up in the sky so
you can try them

mike

playing games must be better than nothing, but I find it hard to
believe its really stimulating. Finding a subject and getting stuck in,
eg with usenet, is far more challenging, more diverse and more
rewarding. And a proper interest leaves people wanting more rather than
wondering why theyre wasting their time on a game.


NT

 

[John Jay Smith]

I (unlike JJS) fully appreciate your Father's concern - I am of that sort

Whattttt???????

Hey you didnt even understand what I was saying.. !

I support all efforts to simulate the brain and keep it creative.. in fact I
have helped elderly people achieve
better results than some young people.

Instread of bieng an like a baboon you could have asked me HOW I do this...
but noooo.. you prefer to be insulting and a smarty pants!

 

[John Jay Smith]

Download and transfer these videos so your father can watch them, you should
watch them also. Free..
courtesy of Mr. Doug Bench...

http://www.mind-your-brain.net/

You can thank me after you and your father see them

 

[mike]

Whattttt???????

Hey you didnt even understand what I was saying.. !

I quote your response in full

"That game may have some value... if you really want
to evolve your brain... there are far better ways....

I know some of them.. but not all of course.. because there
are many ways!"

Instread of bieng an like a baboon you could have asked me HOW I do
this... but noooo.. you prefer to be insulting and a smarty pants!

Perhaps you could point out the _helpful_ bit.

I was hoping someone like Henk de Jong would reply to James, but I see he
hasn't been around for a bit - it's hard to blame him


In the meantime I've found a copy of a CD I burnt for my sister, who's a
year older than me, and has been completely disabled for many years.

Its got 20 mind type games on it, I have acqired a few more since then, I'm
perfectly happy to data transfer, or post, this to the James if required.

I was hoping others would respond as some subscribers know a _lot_ more
about the subject than me.

Of course, so do you - another quote from you

"I bet that with the proper information he could out do you in almost any
field. I know this information and I am studying it constantly."

So why this link you supplied on alt comp freeware?

http://www.mind-your-brain.net/

which is a suck -in for a long hotgospelling type spiel to get you to part
with IIRO $100 for CD courses.

Anyhow, Ive spent more than enough time with you (for a lifetime), and if
you've muddied the water enough to put off another poster just looking for
an answer, I guess you've done your deed for the day, too.

 

[John Jay Smith]

If you want to play games you will have a mediocre or no result at all.

There are other ways.. far better.. ok?

start by watching these videos... they will at least open your mind towards
what potential exists.

http://www.mind-your-brain.net/

but this is mostly information, not a method... but I know that too.

 

[James UK]

mike leapt out of the bath and screamed "EUREKA!" before typing in
alt.comp.freeware:

If you cant find games to suit, (and keep rattling the cage here -
there are some subscribers who know a lot about sites with legacy
games etc, I got most of mine from this group), I can post some of
mine up in the sky so you can try them

mike

Thanks for those comments Mike, and the offer. Much appreciated.

I'll have a look for some of those you have already mentioned and post
back at some point to let you know he and I got on.

Regards.

 

[James UK]

leapt out of the bath and screamed "EUREKA!" before typing in
alt.comp.freeware:

playing games must be better than nothing, but I find it hard to
believe its really stimulating. Finding a subject and getting
stuck in, eg with usenet, is far more challenging, more diverse
and more rewarding. And a proper interest leaves people wanting
more rather than wondering why theyre wasting their time on a
game.

Very true...

I've tried to get him interested in doing a Family Tree, recording his
memoirs via type and / or audio, doing a webcam video to send to my
Brother, write a short novel, make up a photo DVD etc etc, but it's
hard to get him interested.

He's got a course booked at his local library for a "Beginners"
introduction to PCs coming up soon, so I'm hoping he'll come up with
something else he wants to do after that.

He's playing "MS Links 2001" at the moment, and pretty engrossed in
that, which is good. ;-)

Regards.

 

[James UK]

mike leapt out of the bath and screamed "EUREKA!" before typing in
alt.comp.freeware:

In the meantime I've found a copy of a CD I burnt for my sister,
who's a year older than me, and has been completely disabled for
many years.

Its got 20 mind type games on it, I have acqired a few more since
then, I'm perfectly happy to data transfer, or post, this to the
James if required.

Hi again Mike,

That's great! Are you able / willing to upload them to a Binary group
for me?

If they are freeware, then I'd suggest alt.binaries.freeware, but I
have a "pay-for" News service, so I should be able to get to most other
groups.

If they are fairly small when combined, and again, you are happy to do
so, let me know here and I'll give you a valid email you can mail to.

Anything you are looking for yourself that I can post?

What springs to mind is that I think I had a program hanging around the
other day that would let you type text and then save it as a "speaking"
mp3 / wav, if that might be of use for mailing messages / letters to
your Sister, for example?

Thanks again for taking the time to hunt it out.

Regards

 

[James UK]

John Jay Smith leapt out of the bath and screamed "EUREKA!" before
typing in alt.comp.freeware:

Download and transfer these videos so your father can watch them,
you should watch them also. Free..
courtesy of Mr. Doug Bench...

http://www.mind-your-brain.net/

You can thank me after you and your father see them

Thanks for the link. Having watched some of the first video, it reminds
me of the sort of techniques that you can use to memorize lists etc.,
like if the first item is a T-shirt, you say to yourself;

"Gun rhymes with one, so I imagine a T-Shirt with a gun on it"

Item two is a TV, so you say;

"New rhymes with two, so I imagine the TV in a retail store, with a
huge red "NEW!" sign on it"

and so on.

Regards

 

[John Jay Smith]

that has nothing to do with it...

You have understood something completely different.

 

[James UK]

John Jay Smith leapt out of the bath and screamed "EUREKA!" before
typing in alt.comp.freeware:

that has nothing to do with it...

You have understood something completely different.

Oh well, sorry I mis-understood. Thanks anyway for trying.

Regards

 

[mike]

Hi again Mike,

That's great! Are you able / willing to upload them to a Binary group
for me?

The CD is about 27 megs, but of course I could post the files separately.

This is a new area for me - I have webspace, but off the cuff I don't know
how much I can post - my site is pretty small, so I've never looked; I
don't know anything about alt,freeware.binaries, bu I imagine that might be
a way.

If they are fairly small when combined, and again, you are happy to do
so, let me know here and I'll give you a valid email you can mail to.

I'm not sure how much I can attach to an email - this is a whole new area
for me, but if it comes to burning and posting a disc, that's ok too.

Anything you are looking for yourself that I can post?

What springs to mind is that I think I had a program hanging around the
other day that would let you type text and then save it as a "speaking"
mp3 / wav, if that might be of use for mailing messages / letters to
your Sister, for example?

I could ask, but I think she does ok - she can surf, use videobooks and
such, and email - unfortunately she's had a long time to get used to it

Thanks again for taking the time to hunt it out.

I can't respond in more detail at the moment, as the choir has a scial
tonight, as we got away with it again on Saturday, and it's the end of our
year, tomorrow I'll have more time, and may have to ask for training on
data transfer methods; up till now I've just put stuff on my big hard disc
in the sky and let someone else read it off when they want.

("big hard disc" - you can tell I was raised on 20 and 40mB 386es)

mike

 

[meow2222]

leapt out of the bath and screamed "EUREKA!" before typing in
alt.comp.freeware:

Very true...

I've tried to get him interested in doing a Family Tree, recording his
memoirs via type and / or audio, doing a webcam video to send to my
Brother, write a short novel, make up a photo DVD etc etc, but it's
hard to get him interested.

maybe you need something intetresting and stimulating instead The
way I might approach it is ask him if there were no practical
considerations, what would he really like to do. You'll get the usual
impratical ideas first, but after that should come a trickle of things
where at least something can be followed up on. It may take several
days before such ideas show up. Each person is interested in different
things, so one needs to draw the buried interests out of them rather
than suggesting a few dull and pointless projects.


NT

 

[John Fitzsimons]

news:[email protected]:

Hi Mike,

The CD is about 27 megs, but of course I could post the files separately.

This is a new area for me - I have webspace, but off the cuff I don't know
how much I can post - my site is pretty small, so I've never looked; I
don't know anything about alt,freeware.binaries, bu I imagine that might be
a way.

I'm not sure how much I can attach to an email - this is a whole new area
for me, but if it comes to burning and posting a disc, that's ok too.

< snip >

Zip the 27MB. Then cut up the zip file into chunks. I think most ISPs
allow file attachments of up to about 5MB (after encoding).

Try it. Zipping will possibly get you a file closer to 12MB. Cut that
into four and encode and you should be okay.

Send one chunk only to see if James gets it. If so then send the rest.
You can create the chunks using something like Chainsaw.

Regards, John.

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