I am sure most of you have heard of the news of a stolen iPhone? Anyway, here is the latest iPhone 4 model exposed by Gizmodo.


Caption: iPhone 4

Do you know:

There are many bad things that are good for us? For instance, drinking coffee. Initially, drinking a cup of coffee is a bad habbit, and is linked to the increase risk of heart disease (or heart attack), raised in blood pressure arthritis and stillbirth. However, in some studies, coffee is the best use stimulant drug that will keep us awake in the morning. It was also proven to improve a person's short term memory, boosts of muscle power and raises alertness. On the other hand, coffee is a major source of antioxidants that will help our body to fight againsts free radicals. Coffee also offer an important component for our body to reduce the risk of diabetes.

Our brain is originally a complex chemistry kit, and so, psychologist usually define the brain as a mechanism. In fact, the balance of our brain is important and will determine the efficacy of the entire brain circulation, for such, the psychometrics (e.g. emotion and behaviour) and memory. I will explain few approaches to enhance the human memory in this post, but first, I will briefly discuss the human memory. You may also wish to read some facts of human brain (if you have not) in some previous posts from this blog (click here for: part 1, part 2, part 3).


Caption: human brain structure


Caption: Baddeley and Hitch's working memory theory, 1974

Generally, there are 3 major components of the human memory; (1) short term (2) long term and the (3) episodic memory. In fact, there are other types of memory, i.e. semantic memory, sensory memory etc. but those are associate memories to the three main components defined above. In brief, the short term memory is a temporary memory store in human that store memory for only 2 to 20 seconds. The long term memory is a long term memory store intended to hold a piece of information for more than 15 years upon rehearsal. An effective method to transfer the information from our short term to the long term memory is by rehearsal. There is a calculation for memory rehearsal: every piece of information will be stored in our memory for 8 minutes, and will be enhanced upon rehearsal. For instance, reading through an identical code for one time should be stored in your memory for 8 minutes. When you try reading through and memorizing the code again, the item will be stored in your memory for 64 minutes (8 x 8 minutes). Anyway, the episodic memory refers to the personal experiences memory, e.g. times of meeting, places of meeting, and other associated emotions. The three types of memories were later combined, are classified as the working memory by some famous cognitive psychologists, including Baddeley and Hitch theory in 1974. The prefrontal lobe will govern the short term memory store while the hippocampus will control the episodic memory. The long term memory is rather complicated. When we remember new information by repeating them simultaneously, our brain is actually passing the information between the few brain components, such as the hippocampus, amygdala and the cerebral cortex. However, these three components are not the only brain regions controlling the three types of memories since memory involves other brain regions, such as the temporal lobe.


Caption: the hippocampal region


Caption: brain regions controlling the three memories

By the way, the hippocampus deals with directions and the long term memory (click HERE to read more about the hippocampus). The amygdala incorprate memories and emotions. The cerebral cortex (also known as the outer layer of the brain) stores the long term memory in many brain regions depending on the information types, namely the language, sensory input, problem solving, decision making etc.


Caption: indepth view of human brain

Anyway, I will not continue elaborating human memory or this post will end up with few hundred pages, and the main objective of this post is the approach to enhance human memory and not explaining about the brain. Our brain usually utilises the chemicals (known as the neurotransmitters) to communicate with the rest of our body. There is a story which explained the difficulty of enhancing our brain memory. The story goes like this: if only our brain is a computer, we could easily upgrade the processor speed and RAM (random access memory). This means that improving human memory requires slightly more effort.

Here are some tips to improve your human memory.

The psychological view has suggested 7 principles to enhance a person's memory. Here it is: (1) brush up your memory by using them regularly. Novelty and sensory stimulation is the foundation of brain exercise. This means that the more you work something novel with your brain, the better you will be able to think and process. Learning new strategy is also important to enhance your memory (2) Paying attention is important because the paying serious attention to something will help the information to be sent to the hippocampus and flow to the appropriate memory store, so try not doing any multitasking (i.e. study in a quiet room) when concentrating (3) try to include other senses when concentrating is an effective way to enhance your memory. Try to relate the information in a varied way, involving other senses, e.g. smell, touch, taste etc. A mixture of senses such as reading (visual) an article aloud (auditory) were proven helpful to enhance your memory (4) relate informations you have already know may help you to generate new knowledge from old knowledges in your brain (5) external representations such as writting down an information somewhere (e.g. a piece of paper) are additional approach to enhance a person's memory (6) interpreting a complex material in simplistic form may help you to focus on something easier and (7) regular rehearsal is effective to increase your working memory capacity.


Caption: exercising

Here are some health habbits that were proven helpful to improve a person's memory (1) regular exercise will increase oxygen in your brain, reduces risk of diseases related to memory loss, such as diabetes and heart disease, and enhances brain chemicals for a better brain (2) monitoring stress is important since our brain produces cortisol (a hormone or plaque that damages the hippocampus region, click HERE to read more about cortisol). Usually, stress will not allow us to pay serious attention when concentrating something and so, we are not learning something (3) sleeping is important for memory consolidation and (4) smoking is strictly prohibitted since it may damage arteries that deliver oxygen to the brain.


Caption: water

Foods, drinks and nutrients are extremely important sources for brain memories. It is extremely important to NOT dehyrate your brain since water is the best brain booster (click HERE to read about water consumption). However, try steer clear of caffeine and alcohol, e.g coffee, wine etc. Those may mess up your emotion (including mood, behaviour and stress) and destruct your brain in a long term condition. There are some facts proposed by some nutrient experts, stating carefully that some vegetable fats (also known as trans-fats) may reduce the efficacy of a person's brain. Examples of trans-fats are fats found from margerine and low fat spreads. So try avoid consuming them regularly.


Caption: rich nutrient foods

Anyway, poor nutrition and lifestyle can easily upset the balance of your brain chemicals. If you have problems with memory, particularly loosing your mobiles, wallets etc. or forgetting a person's name repeatedly, or difficulties to memorize phone numbers after trying out for many times, then you definitely need some brain foods (nutritions) since these nutrients are extremely important and may help you to solve these problems. Here are some examples of brain foods you need for a healthy brain. Essential fatty acids, antioxidants, proteins and vitamin B are extremely important for your brain. (Click HERE to read about antioxidants. Click HERE to read more about vitamin B and B complex). Equaly of interest, though not conclusive, consume some foods with carbohydrate is essential. Carbohydrate will be converted into glucose, and is an extremely important fuel for the entire body organs, particularly brain memory. However, try NOT exceed the intake of carbohydrate (or glucose) or this may lead to some serious disease, e.g. diabetes. These are some foods examples treated as brain fuels: Salmon, tuna, sardines, chicken, lean white meats, tofu, eggs, avacados, spinash, peas, beans, berries, brown rice, whole grains, oats, barley, nuts and seeds.


Caption: the deficiencies of nutrients; stress

There are some special herbs and suppliments recommended by some food nutritionists. They are ideal components for brain memory enhancement.

1. Vitamin B (particularly vitamin B6 and B12) and folic acid are important to protect neurons from breaking down. These vitamin B complex are helpful to produce red blood cells by mean of carrying oxygen from one body organ to another. If you do not consume suppliment pills, then the best source of these vitamin B are dark leafy green vegetables such as spinash, brocolli, asparagus, and some other fruits including strawberries, melons, black beans, soya beans and citrus fruits (e.g. grape fruit).

2. Fatty Acids such as the Omega-3 are concentrated acids associated with the cognitive functions. These healthy fats are opposed to saturated and trans fats, and helps protecting againsts inflammation and high cholestrols. Best source of fatty acids include cold water fish (e.g. salmon, tuna and mackerel) and nuts such as walnuts.

3. Ginko Biloba is a herbal suppliment that was believe to be helpful to increase cognitive functions. It was known as the memory herb.

4. Choline is important to enhance a person's brain function, their mental acuity and neurological systems. Here are some examples of foods contain choline; soya beans, nuts, organic fish such as sardines, and organic eggs.

5. Lecithin may help to restore your brain creativity and thoughts. There are evidences stating that our brain are built up with 20 per cent of lecithin. Foods rich in lecithin are eggs, grains, soya beans and nuts.


Caption: the coverage of memory in brain

Elder adults are usually prone to the deficiencies of vitamin B12 and folic acid, so I strictly suggest to consume suppliments. Try buying Omega-3 suppliment if you do not like eating fish. Overall, water is still the best nutrient for our body and brain, when compared to all other nutrients, so please drink a lot of water every day. Anyway. I do hope that this guide will help some of you to enhance your brain memory, and do share it with all of us (i.e. tag board) on this blog if it work out for you.

Truthfully, I am writting this post for an extremely important person around me, and so, I will just write some facts that I think is really important for you. I am not here to nag you. Instead, I am here to help. The only way I could help you is to provide you some insight of what gives you a healthier life. Why? The fact is that I truly care about empowering everyone around me, particularly my family members, relatives and friends to be healthier with their lives. For that, a healthy life is often raise within our hands, and that aimed at the foods and drinks that we consume everyday.


Caption: water

I assume everyone know what water is. The combination of the two chemical substances, hydrogen and oxygen are extremely important for our body. Water covers approximately 70% of the earth surface, so does human body. The question here is, how much do we understand about water, particularly the importance of water for our body?


Caption: some disease: migraine

You may find this briefly through conversations with any medical doctors. Thus, they will advice the same explanation: water is extremely important for your body because it helps to flush the toxics off your body. Water is classified as a natural remedy. Drinking plenty of water do cure almost ALL types of diseases, ranging from minor to serious diseases. Water is also a transporter that helps your body to transport nutritions from one part to another part of your body.

Water can lower the incidence of the following diseases: Headache (migraine), body ache, heart system, arthritis, fast heart beat, epilepsy, excess fatness, bronchitis asthma, TB, meningitis, kidney and urine diseases, vomiting, gastritis, diarrhea, piles, diabetes, constipation, all eye diseases, womb, cancer and menstrual disorders, ear nose and throat diseases. It has been a tradition for most Japanese to drink two cups of water every morning, before breakfast (and before brushing their teeth). The first cup of water should flush those mucus sticking in our intestine out of our body and the second cup of water should absorb by our bowel. In other words, please drink water on empty stomach because it was proven scientifically that it could cure these diseases (stated on the above) in a rate of 100%. Even our body muscles and brain consist of 75 percent water. This means that a reduction of water in our body may lead to diminishing of body functions, particularly in the digestive system, and lack of energy in both body and brain power. You may sometimes realize a slow reaction time in your body if lack of water. Water also play an extremely important role in every component of body tissues. In other words, without sufficient amount of water, our body will produce the following problem in: digestion, assimilation, elimination, metabolism (or dieting), respiration and body temperature.


Caption: tap water

Tap water may not be the best source of water for every human although it is easy to get. However, it is not ideal since tap water contain undesirable elements such as chlorine, aluminium, floride, oestrogens and of course copper. However, these water may also contain lead if the water pipes are leaded. Besides that, the addition of copper in tap water may lead to inbalances of our body if ingested. Therefore, filtered water is highly recommended. As long as the water is filtered, e.g. jug filters, fitted water filters, reverse osmosis (RO) filtered water etc., then these water should be safe to drink or consume.


Caption: you need 2 bottles of these waters a day (1 litre per bottle)

So how much should I drink on daily basis? Experts recommended 2 litre of water a day. Two litre by mean 8 small glasses of water. Approximately 2 litre of water a day is highly recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since we have to take into account that heavy exercises, e.g. gym, yoga etc (this may include sweating) may result in significant water loss. So, drinking plenty of plain water is definitely beneficial. Remember, 2 litre of water does not include tea, coffee, alcohol and soft drinks because these are dehydrating and can lead to nutrient loss. However, fluids such as herbal teas and vegetable juices are esecially useful and should be counted as daily water intake. It was proven that the mineral content of vegetable juices will stay longer in a person's body and thus, better for hydrating the body cells. There are other possibilities to get away from drinking water, that is to consume foods with high fluid content. Some foods contain lots of water, i.e. fruits and dark green vegetables.

Remember, you can never underestimate the importance of water in our body!

Chinese people always suggest to avoid consuming heaty foods when you are having illness, sore throat, ulcers etc. But what heaty foods really are? The difference between heaty and cooling foods is always referred to the capacity of our body in generating sensation; though these foods do not aim at the temperature of the food itself, the sensation of the food will affect our body.

If a person suffers from cold rheumatism, eating foods with a warm or hot energy would be helpful. However, if the person's acne condition deteriorate due to the consumption of fried foods, it is beneficial to consume cooling foods to counter heatiness and relieve symptoms. This is all depending on the balances between the consumption of heaty and cooling foods. Therefore, you will see most chinese are consuming the two types of foods equally; drinking a cup of tea (cool) with a plate of fried rice (hot) and a plate of black pepper chicken steak (hot). That person will also consume some fruits such as watermelon (cool) after the meal.

Please do remember that anyone who once (or currently) has the asthma allergy should NOT consume any cooling foods. You may consume cooling foods, but definitely not in a regular basis (i.e. eat some cooling food once a month?). So please put that in your mind !

In this post, I will try to name some foods, classifying them in groups of hot, neutral and cool.


Caption: cooling foods; strawberry and cucumber

Cool Foods:
Bamboo shoot, banana, bitter gourd, clam, crab, grapefruit, lettuce, persimmon, salt, seaweed, star fruit, sugar cane, water chestnut, watermelon, lotus root, cucumber, barley, bean curd, chicken egg white, marjoram, oyster, pear, peppermint, radish, strawberry, tangerine, and yogurt, broccoli, cauliflower, zuccini, corn, tomatoes, pineapple, turmeric.


Caption: neutral foods; beans and papaya

Neutral Foods:
Honey, corn, abalone, apricot, beef, beetroot, black fungus, carp, carrot, celery, chicken egg yolk, cuttlefish, duck, fig, kidney bean, lotus fruit and seed, milk, olive, oyster, papaya, pork, potato, pumpkin, radish leaf, red bean, plum, sunflower seed, sweet rice, sweet potato, white fungus, yellow soybean, brussels sprouts, snow peas, sweet potato, taro, dates, figs, raspberries, raisins, sage, rosemary, thyme, brown rice, apple.


Caption: hot foods; blackberries and ginger

Heaty (hot) Foods:
Pepper, cinnamon bark, ginger, soybean oil, red and green pepper, chicken, apricot seed, brown sugar, cherry, chestnut, chive, cinnamon twig, clove, coconut, coffee, coriander (Chinese parsley), date, dillseed, eel, garlic, grapefruit peel, green onion, guava, ham, leaf mustard, leek, longan, mutton, nutmeg, peach, raspberry, rosemary, shrimp, spearmint, sweet basil, tobacco, vinegar, walnut, jackfruit, durian, leek, shallots, spring onion, , apricots, blackberries, black currant, mangoes, peaches, cherry, mandarin orange, grape.

By the way, ice cube is originally hot, but beer is cold. Coconut is hot, but the water contained in the coconut contained sodium (cooling) that will increase the speed of recovery for fever. However, it will not always work out for fever. This is also a reason I will not encourage anyone to consume coconut juice when they are ill.

Woof ... woof ... grrrr

"Do we have any plans to bring any of these puppies home", I quirked my head in a peculiar way. Liz noded her head and said: Yes! and slowly glances through the window at Daryl who has just finished parking his car at the roadside. Let's run to Daryl and see what he thinks of getting one home.


Caption: Sugar


Caption: sleepy-head Sugar

I was brought up from a dog lover family. It has been many years since the last time we had a dog at home. Let see, we used to have at least 5 to 6 different dogs breeds at home, including Pomeranian, Dobberman, Shar Pei etc. Unfortunately, both my parents felt extremely upset when they died one by one and therefore, we did not keep any pets at home anymore. According to my mom, the longest lifespan of a particular dog can never exceed 15 years, though I have read some articles from some blogs, stated clearly that their dogs exceeded 18 years of age and still alive. But have you imagined when the dog dies. How would you feel? I mean, how would we feel? We have ever thought of that, too, but again, which living being will not die when their time is up? So, we still decide to bring a puppy home on that day.


Caption: how is it like to sleep with Sugar


Caption: we were about to bring her home from the pet shop


Caption: myself and Sugar at the pet shop

The reason I took so long to write this post is because the lack of photos taken with Sugar. I spend many nights (including few nights of sleep with her) just to capture as many photos as possible so I can share it over here.


Caption: brought Sugar back home

We returned home later. During the journey back home, she was sitting quietly in the car, around Liz's arm. She was shivering! She was crying! I could not sense the presence of her eyes since it was totally covered by her tears. She was feeling extremely scared and worried. The only thing we could do was to pet her, along with some cuddles to calm her down.


Caption: Sugar and I


Caption: Liz and I, and Sugar


Caption: some random photos

Truthfully, I did not observe any cute dogs, particularly annoying dogs like Chi Wa Wa because they are too noisy. As I walked passed the shop, glancing through the window, I could see at least 20 types of puppies locked inside the kennels. The first puppy I approached near was a black puppy. Brandon think it was ugly because of it's colour, but again, I ignored them. I kept spying on the so called black puppy without even looking at what dog breed and its price at all. Accidentally, I found out that this cute puppy is a Dobberman breed (unfortunately, I did not save a copy of the photo of this cute puppy Dobberman). Since then, I have never spy on that puppy anymore - Here is a story related to a puppy Dobberman: A friend touched his friend's dobberman because he found it cute. Suddenly, this cute little Dobberman accidentally bitten his finger. It suppose to be a minor injury since getting a bite from a 2 months puppy is not a big deal at all. Two days later, this friend found his hand paralyzed, and rushed to the hospital. He found out that he was infected with rabbies. For your information, rabbies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in warm-blooded animals.


Caption: Daryl and Sugar

So why have we chosen a Chow-Chow? What a tough question. To be frank, since young, my favourite dog should be a Golden Retriever. My only reason is that a retriever is so fluffy and cute, along with its special ability in assisting the disable people, particularly the blind people. My perception of a favourite dog is totally different as soon as I met Sugar. According to them, they said Sugar is a part of the champion breed. The champion breed means the dog's parents have won numerous awards from different events and shows. This explains why Sugar is quite different from other Chow-Chow puppies.


Caption: Sugar and her mom

Bringing a new puppy into your home will change your life indefinitely. Puppies are definitely a lot of work, but they could also bring plenty of joy to you. Whether or not of getting your first puppy or just need a refresher course, there are many things you'll have to know. However, it is definitely worth keeping one puppy pet at home, especially one that is really cute and comfortable to hug when you need someone around you at any time!


Caption: look at the position of her tail

Okay, here are some informations we have collected: The Chow-Chow is a beautiful and loyal dog breed with has a rich historical background for both companion and as working guard dog. One of the most remarkable feature of the Chow-Chow dog is that the blue black colour of its tongue. A part from that, the tail is always position to the north compared to other dog breeds. There are various descriptions given to a Chow-Chow dog. Some said that Chow-Chow can be a difficult pet due to its stubborness whilst some said this dog breed will only stick to one owner and not other people. It hate's getting wet as in showering and is perfect to be kept in any places including an apartment since it rarely bark at anyone, unless to strangers! A part from that, the Chow-Chow dog are meant to survive in cold places (i.e. colder temperature place), I assume too hot will peel off it's fluffy fur.


Caption: cotton-made sandals, Sugar's favourite toy


Caption: Sugar is playing with a cloth


Caption: says who a Chow-Chow dislike bathing?


Caption: super wet Sugar

Overall, Sugar is a little difer compared to what have been described on other blogs, from our experiences at least. She is only hyperactive IF you could find something to attract her attention. Else, she will prefer sitting down, or perhaps, lying down peacefully in the aircond room. I think the most attractive thing that will attract it is a towel. Besides that, something soft should ease its itch for the growth of its teeth. She can also be a very lazy dog where it can sleep for one whole day inside an aircond room. Oh, most importantly, she loves bathing. Says who a Chow-Chow dislike bathing? I can't believe when Sugar can be so obedient sitting down (or lying down) while bathing. By the way, Sugar is an extremely dicipline dog. She will only pee and stool at one place, when well trained. She will only wait until someone open the door so she can pee and poo outside the original spot. Sugar is also a quick learner. When we said: "Sugar, sit", she will definitely sit down. I think she has grown smarter now, and that she has understand some sign languages. When we move our fingers, asking her to sit down, she will obey and sit. Though we have not trained her to greet us with both her hands, but I am sure that she will learn it real quick. The information provided by other Chow-Chow owners are so much different than those I have observed myself. Therefore, I assume we can only conclude anything by experiencing it ourselves.


Caption: Sugar loves to travel by car


Caption: prepared to sleep with Sugar


Caption: she is extremely comfortable to sleep with

By the way, theres a myth saying that your very own puppy pet will sometimes has the ability to heal their owner or anyone they treat as their family member. If the myth is true, then the puppy will lick your wound and it should recover within a short period of time.


Caption: Sugar on my bed

We have some plans to mate Sugar with some special Chow-Chow breed in the future, and Liz had promised me to let me keep one of her baby, and I think I will not mind a male or a female Chow-Chow. I even have few special names for him or her, but will only reveal it when I own one of them, so I can have more time to choose a more suitable and cute name.

By the way, you can view more photos of Sugar through my facebook account. Feel free to discuss anything about a puppy Chow-Chow here, particularly when you need more information of it.

I found this article from my friend's blog. Every sentence do make some sense if we try to relate them:

Men say: beer is better than women, because:
(1) You can have more than one beer a night and not feel guilty;
(2) Beer dosen't care if you fall asleep after you've had it;
(3) Beer tastes good;
(4) You always know that you are the first one to pop a beer;
(5) After you have a beer, you are committed nothing more than dumping the empty bottle;
(6) With a glass of beer, you can always get good head;
(7) When you say you love beer, you really mean it;
(8) A beer has no problem with you taking its top off;
(9) Beer has no mother and can be mature within a year;
(10) Beer won't follow you around for a week after you've had it;
(11) A beer makes everything OK, a woman makes everything a problem;
(12) A beer won't get upset if you come home and have another beer;
(13) Beer is happy to ride in the trunk of your car;
(14) It's easy to compliment a good beer;
(15) You can shoot a beer;
(16) Beer dosen't want foreplay before you have it;
(17) If a beer leaks all over the room, it smells kinda good for a while;
(18) You are never embarrased about the beer you take to the party;
(19) You can have a beer in public!
(20) A beer is always wet;
(21) A beer will always go down easily;
(22) BIG, FAT beers are nice to have;
(23) When you go to bar,you know you can always pick up a beer;
(24) Beer dosen't think football is stupid;
(25) Beer dosen't go crazy once a month on a regular basis;
(26) You can share a beer with your mates;
(27) Beer dosen't demand equality;
(28) Beer stains can easily be washed out;
(29) Beer dosen't make you go shopping;
(30) Beer always listens and never argues.

And women say: chocolate is better than men, because:
(1) Chocolate is rich, dark and satisfying;
(2) With chocolate, you are never disappointed when you open the wrapper;
(3) Chocolate dosen't care how many pieces you've eaten before;
(4) Chocolate always hits the spots;
(5) Chocolate dosen't secretly want to be eaten by your best friend;
(6) Chocolate dosen't think the shipping channel is stupid;
(7) Chocolate always smells good;
(8) Chocolate won't ask "am I the best?"/"how was it?"
(9) Chocolate dosen't sulk if you don't want it first thing in the morning;
(10) Chocolates are easy to pick up;
(11) Chocolate satisfies even when it has gone soft;
(12) You can suck a piece of chocolate in front of your mum;
(13) Chocolate never leaves a bad taste in your mouth;
(14) Chocolate dosen't mind what time of the month it is;
(15) You don't mind the brown stain left by chocolate;
(16) With chocolate, size dosen't really matter, it's always good;
(17) Chocolates do not wear white socks;
(18) Chocolate dosen't mind you bite its nuts; :
(19) With chocolate, you don't have to be a virgin more than once;
(20) "If you love me, you will swallow that" has real meaning with chocolate;
(21) You can have more than one chocolate a night without ruinning your reputation;
(22) Chocolate dosen't just think it's smooth;
(23) Chocolate aren't into rope and leather;
(24) With chocolate, you can tell just by looking at it, that it hasn't been in anyone else's mouth.

Sorry friends and readers, I am pretty busy lately to compose something. I will, I swear, as soon as I have completed all my experiments (it is completing very soon) as a part of my PhD work, and will write something truly interesting here.

Do you know:

Smiling will is essential because it was proven that will increase a person's lifespan. For instance, a research has stated that a person with honest grins lived an average of seven years longer than those who smile occasionally (or not at all), and usually five years longer than those who faked it.