Faceblind or Super-Recogniser

Most people recognise family, work colleagues, friends and neighbours, but sufferers of prosopagnosia (face blindness) do not store memories of what people look like. Other people are at the other end of the spectrum and can see a face once and remember it for ever - the super-recognisers. The Cambridge Face Memory Test is a scientific assessment usually used to identify the faceblind, but can also identify the super-recognisers. Both face blindness and super-recognition can run in families.

The Metropolitan Police force set up its Super-Recogniser Unit (SRU) in 2015, after the London riots. SRs can identify people from CCTV footage, even with hats and hoods on; they can still recognise a face with a different hair cut, with a beard or starts to wear glasses. Face recognition software cannot match their success as the software needs a face full-on, without a smile or other expression, or start to wear a pair of glasses. The SRU charging rate (percentage of criminals for which suspects are charged) is between four and five times higher than the police average. But (in Feb. 2017) it is the only unit in the country and consists of just one sergeant and five constables on attachment.

You may be a super-recogniser if:

• You can recognise faces you have only glimpsed on a single occasion.
• You can pick out unknown actors playing minor roles across different television programmes.
• You recognise the faces of people you have not seen since childhood.
• You cantell when two photographs, taken a long time apart, are images of the same person.

You may have face blindness if:

• You struggle to follow the plot of a film as you don't know who the characters are. 
• When people change their hairstyle, or wear hats, you have problems recognising them.
• Anxiety about whether you will recognise people leads you to avoid certain social or professional situations. 
• You find it difficult to picture individual faces in your mind.

Take the Cambridge Face Memory Test at http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/news/test-are-you-a-super-recogniser-university-of-greenwich

Never forget a face ... or don't always recognise a friend? by Mary Ann Sieghart in Good Housekeeping, February 2017

Bullet Journalling

The system is the brainchild of US techie Ryder Carroll. It combines to do lists, diary and things to remember. Many people swear by it: I've not tried it, but here is how it works.

Use a ruled notebook of your choice.

• Number each page.
• First double page is an index of contents, update this as you go.
• Next four pages are your Future Log (i.e.calendar). Divide each page into three, a separate section for each month. This is your overview.
• Then set up pages for anything you want to log - daily schedules, list of books you'd like to read, days you've exercised, details for a work project. Add the page numbers to the index at the front.

Quick notes are marked with symbols.

* (bullet point) A task to be carried out (e.g. book dental appointment)
X (cross) Put this over completed tasks
O (open bullet) An event (e.g. friend's birthday)
> (more than) Migrated - not completed so need to carry forward
< (less than) Scheduled (e.g. optician's appointment)
- (dash) Notes - short thoughts you can expand on other pages (discussed getting dog with husband)

Source: Feature in Good Housekeeping, January 2017

Kirtan Kriya Meditation

Researchers found the 12-minute Kirtan Kriya exercise increased blood flow to the area of brain associated with memory.

1. Sit cross-legged on a rug on the floor if that is comfortable for you, or in a chair that helps you keep good posture.

2. The words you chant are Saa Taa Naa Maa. When you repeat each syllable, imagine the sound flowing in through the top of your head and out the middle of your forehead (the 'third eye chakra').

3. Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth when you make the sounds. This is thought to stimulate acupuncture points that help rebalance the body.

4. On Saa, touch the index fingers of each hand to the thumb. On Taa, touch your middle fingers to your thumbs. On Naa, touch your ring fingers to your thumbs. On Maa, touch your little fingers to your thumbs.

5. For 2 minutes sing Saa Taa Naa Maa in your normal voice, matching the finger movements to the syllables. For the next two minutes, sing in a whisper. Then for the next four minutes, say the sound silently to yourself. Then reverse the order, whispering for 2 minutes and then out loud for 2 minutes, for a total of 12 minutes.

6. Finish by taking a deep breath in and stretching your hands above your head, sweeping them down by your sides as you exhale.

Part of a feature on yoga in Good Housekeeping, January 2017.

Fixing Democracy

George Monbiot sees democracy as failing in the way political systems are currently set up. They are corrupted, no longer working as they were intended, and the population no longer trusts them, as seen in the recent Brexit and Donald Trump votes.

While GM recognizes there is no magic formula to solve our democratic problems, he has looked at various policies others have proposed. Here are those that seem to address the problems without bringing in further problems.

Reform Political Funding

# Radical reform of campaign finance (political funding). The power of money in politics poisons everything – the 'dirtiest' companies spend the most on politics to avoid being regulated out of existence, so they dominate politics.  "Banks designing dodgy financial instruments; pharmaceutical companies selling outdated drugs; gambling companies seeking to stifle controls; food companies selling obesogenic junk; retail companies exploiting their workers; accountants designing tax-avoidance packages: all have an enhanced incentive to buy political space, as all, in a fair system, would find themselves under pressure. The system buckles to accommodate their demands. GM"

# Reform party funding. Every party can only charge the same small fee for membership (£50?), matched by the state, with a fixed multiple. All other direct or indirect political funding would be illegal. Parties would then be forced to re-engage with voters. "The corruption of our politics by private money costs us hundreds of times more than a funding system for which we would pay directly. That corruption has led to financial crises caused by politicians’ failure to regulate the banks, environmental crises caused by the political power of the dirtiest companies, and lucrative contracts for political funders; and overcharging by well-connected drugs companies. GM"

Help voters make informed choices.

# Germany has a "federal agency for civic education which publishes authoritative but accessible guides to the key political issues, organises film and theatre festivals, study tours and competitions, and tries to engage with groups that turn their backs on democratic politics. It is trusted and consulted by millions. GM"

# Switzerland has a Smartvote system, which presents a list of policy choices with which you can agree or disagree, then compares your answers with the policies of the parties and candidates contesting the election. A graphic shows which party / candidate most closely matches your interests. "There is some excellent civic technology produced by voluntary groups elsewhere (such as Democracy Club, Crowdpac and mySociety in the UK). But without the funding and capacity of the state, it struggles to reach people who are not already well informed. GM"

Reform Election Processes

# Move to proportional representation - the US presidential elections are distorted by the electoral college system and UK general elections allow a minority of the electorate to dictate to the majority. "Ideally, in parliamentary elections this would mix the national with the local by retaining constituency links, such as the single transferable vote or the additional member system. GM"

# Simply using proposals such as Sortition (randomly selecting delegates) or direct democracy (referendums and citizens’ initiatives) would be a recipe for disaster in populations as large and complex as ours. We will still need professional, full-time politicians. But both approaches could be used alongside representative democracy. Sortition might be seen as "political jury service, with citizens chosen by lot are presented with expert testimony then asked to make a decision. As an advisory tool, it could keep representative politics grounded in the real world. It could be used to create constituional conventions, at which proposals for better political systems are thrashed out. There might even be some virtue in the idea of a second parliamentary chamber (such as the House of Lords or the US Senate) being chosen by lot. GM"

But there are dangers - not system is immune to fraud. "The Westminster government’s first experiment with citizens’ juries (Gordon Brown’s attempt to determine whether doctors’ surgeries should be replaced with giant clinics) was corrupted from birth. Jurors were hand-picked and presented with one-sided evidence, then the results were buried when they came out “wrong”. GM"

# Ballot Initiatives. Once political funding is reformed, ballot initiatives (if you gather enough signatures you can demand a vote) become a powerful political instrument, enabling people to propose legislation without waiting for their representatives. But "without reform they are another means by which billionaires rig the system. GM". For some simple, especially local, issues (a new road be built?, should a tower block be demolished?) carefully designed ballot requests can enhance political transparency. NB. Referendums on big questions (eg. UK membership of the EU) suffer from an imbalance between the complexity of the issue and the simplicity of the tool: they demand impossible levels of political knowledge.

# Sociocracy is a system "designed to produce inclusive but unanimous decisions, by encouraging members of a group to keep objecting to a proposal until, between them, they produce an answer all of them can live with. A version designed by the Endenburg Electronics firm in the Netherlands is widely used in companies and cooperatives. While it might work better than the average local authority meeting, it might not scale up well without losing intelligibility. GM"

"Change happens when we decide what we want, rather than what we think we might get. Is a functioning democracy an outrageous demand?"

Our democracy is broken, debased and distrusted - but there are ways to fix it by George Monbiot in The Guardian, 25 Jan. 2017. Read in full:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/25/democracy-broken-distrusted-trump-brexit-political-system

Finding the Right Size Bra

Breast change shape and size over the years. As a teenager they are usually full in the cup. If you go on the pill they may get bigger. When you have babies they get bigger and might not go down to the original size. Post maternity and as you age they start to droop as there is little muscle tissue in the breast area. During menopause there can be an increase in breast size, sometimes due to HRT. If not on HRT, they can either increase or decrease in size due to hormonal changes. (The body stores  more fat after the menopause to top up dropping oestrogen levels - this fat is stored in the breasts and round the waist.)

Pulling bra straps tight to lift sagging breasts can cause shoulder and neck pain. Here's how to tell if your bra fits properly.

• Put the bra on and look in the mirror. Your breasts should not be touching each other.
• There should be a little gap between the breast and the underwiring, which should sit on the chest wall.
• The underwiring should not dig in anywhere, nor should the ends press into the breast itself.
• Lift your arms up. If the bra rises, it is the wrong size. As you move the bra should move with you and not move around.
• The back of the bra should be level with the underwiring and not riding up.
• You should have two breasts, not four (caused by too small a cup size).
• Put clothes on over the bra you are trying on to see how it looks.
• To put on a bra, put arms through straps, then lean forward so your breasts 'fall' into the cups. Then bring the strap ends together and fasten.
• Always try on bras before buying.

Source: Twiggy: a guide to looking and feeling fabulous over forty by Twiggy with Jenny Dyson. Michael Joseph, 2008.