How to Think Better – Write!

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How to Think Better – Write!

While writing may not literally increase your working memory, many cognitive scientists now believe that such external representations may form important parts of our cognition. This externalized cognition extends the space of thinking and literally makes us smarter, even if our brains are just the same as before.

Just as writing helps with numerical and mnemonic tasks, it can help you think more clearly about your life problems as well.

First, by jotting down your thoughts on paper, you can hold more ideas than you could in your limited working memory. This means you can more easily work through thoughts that have several parts which are difficult to keep in mind simultaneously.

Second, writing allows editing. If I write down an idea, then later notice a contradiction further down the page, I can go back and edit it. Editing mentally quickly becomes exhausting as, like in the n-back task, the old information interferes with the new.

Third, writing allows for longer thoughts. Have you ever had a conversation where, as you were listening, you forgot the point you were eager to make? Ideas bubble up and pop all the time in our minds, it’s only with writing that you can capture it.

This is a list of the 50 coolest municipalities to go during the month of June, according to the NCEI Gridded Normals

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This is a list of the 50 coolest municipalities to go during the month of June, according to the NCEI Gridded Normals.

County Municipality Average High
Essex North Elba town 68.5
Essex Keene town 69.5
Essex St. Armand town 70.4
Ulster Hardenburgh town 70.5
Lewis Montague town 70.6
Essex Newcomb town 70.6
Hamilton Morehouse town 70.8
Hamilton Inlet town 71.0
Hamilton Arietta town 71.2
Franklin Harrietstown town 71.3
Essex Jay town 71.4
Hamilton Indian Lake town 71.4
Clinton Ellenburg town 71.6
Clinton Dannemora town 71.6
Lewis Harrisburg town 71.7
Lewis Pinckney town 71.7
Herkimer Webb town 71.7
Lewis West Turin town 71.7
Hamilton Lake Pleasant town 71.8
Hamilton Long Lake town 71.8
Jefferson Worth town 71.9
Franklin Bellmont town 71.9
Franklin Franklin town 71.9
Herkimer Ohio town 72.0
Lewis Osceola town 72.0
Lewis Martinsburg town 72.1
Delaware Middletown town 72.2
Franklin Duane town 72.2
Essex Wilmington town 72.4
Warren Johnsburg town 72.5
Franklin Brighton town 72.6
Greene Jewett town 72.7
Clinton Saranac town 72.8
Essex North Hudson town 72.8
Lewis Greig town 72.8
Essex Minerva town 72.8
Jefferson Rutland town 72.8
Franklin Tupper Lake town 72.8
Lewis Watson town 72.9
Greene Halcott town 72.9
Franklin Santa Clara town 72.9
Hamilton Wells town 72.9
St. Lawrence Piercefield town 73.0
Oswego Redfield town 73.0
Lewis Turin town 73.0
Lewis Lewis town 73.0
Franklin Chateaugay town 73.0
Jefferson Rodman town 73.1
Clinton Clinton town 73.1
Franklin Waverly town 73.1

Swimming hole with a good book

Half of the pandemic’s unemployment money may have been stolen – Axios

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Half of the pandemic’s unemployment money may have been stolen – Axios

Criminals may have stolen as much as half of the unemployment benefits the U.S. has been pumping out over the past year, some experts say.

Why it matters: Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion, according to some estimates, and the bulk of the money likely ended in the hands of foreign crime syndicates — making this not just theft, but a matter of national security.

Another jump in prices tightens the squeeze on US consumers – syracuse.com

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Another jump in prices tightens the squeeze on US consumers – syracuse.com

Washington — American consumers absorbed another surge in prices in May — a 0.6% increase over April and 5% over the past year, the biggest 12-month inflation spike since 2008.

The May rise in consumer prices that the Labor Department reported Thursday reflected a range of goods and services now in growing demand as people increasingly shop, travel, dine out and attend entertainment events in a rapidly reopening economy.

NPR

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How The Price Of A Toyota Truck Helps Explain Surging Inflation : NPR

Prices for a lot of things are surging across the U.S., and John McConnell's recent car-shopping experience helps explain why.

McConnell, from Colorado Springs, Colo., was recently looking for a Toyota Tacoma to replace his two-year-old Nissan Altima and was shocked to see the one he wanted priced several thousand dollars above the sticker price.

He plans to buy it anyway.

"I'm not going through a midlife crisis. I just kind of have an itch for this," McConnell says. "I'm willing to pay a little bit more right now, I guess, because right now I can afford to."

After a year of the coronavirus pandemic, McConnell was itching to go camping more and do more outdoor activities. And like many Americans who were able to continue working through the pandemic, he had the money.