Newsletter 5 -
Good day one and all, I hope you are fit and well this splendid autumnal day.
School’s back with a vengeance, so I expect all you under 18s to be linking like a bunch of good’uns in your respective classes this Michaelmas term. Saying that, there are quite a few teachers amongst you and it’s your duty, as keepers of our wonderful sprogs, to morph them into linkerettes.
Black Hole, Black Schmole..pah! The only holes the ‘oh-such-fun’ Swiss are good for are the cheese ones where Jerry hides from Tom.
Update
The ‘Hype’ page is now up and running, which includes various bits and bobs. I have a regular slot on BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire at 10.10am on Mondays on Annie Othen’s show for the month of September where I do a category a week. True, it’s not going to set the world alight but little acorns and all that nonsense. You can hear various recordings in the ‘Media’ section under ‘Hype’.
There is now a blog in action and the first topic is asking you for any classic mnemonics or acronyms that are out there. I am also after your thoughts on acronyms because I’m not a fan at all, as it’s an overused learning-tool.
I am sorry to ask and hope this doesn’t come across as desperate but I’d appreciate some of you getting involved with the Blog asap as there is a very good chance I will be the ‘Website of the Week’ on Steve Wright’s Drivetime Radio 2 tomorrow (Friday) around the 3.30pm/4.00pm mark. So a few comments on Bloggy Bloggy can do the world no harm.
This is what the blogs says……
The subject for this blog is to see what old classics are out there that have not been bunged up on the site to date. A gardening chum of mine came out with a superb way of remembering which way to tighten a nut….’Righty tighty, lefty loosy’.
My mother told me, many moons ago, a good way to know which months have 31 days if you can’t remember the ‘30 days have September..’ mnemonic. You put your knuckles together and starting from one end tap a knuckle saying ‘January’ followed by the gap between the knuckles saying ‘February’ and so on. Each knuckle has 31 days and the gaps don’t - ‘July to August’ is the nice touch here.
Another user came out with a clever way of working out squared numbers that end in the number 5 i.e 25, 35, 45, 55 squared..etc. You multiply the first number by itself plus 1 and then add 25 (5 x 5). For example 35 squared is 3 x (3 + 1) = 12 plus 25 (5 x5) i.e 1225. 45 squared is 4 x (4 + 1) = 20 plus 25 = 2025. I know that looks mad and you my have to read it a couple of times but when you get it, it’s in for life which is the idea of linking!
Acronyms are another good way of remembering things but they tend to be overused.
So if you have any goodies, let’s see ‘em but, be warned, they need to be memorable and to the point!! I saw a crowbarred one (and then some) in ‘Judy Parkinson’s book ‘i before e except after c’ which illustrates my point. It’s an acronym for the Seven Deadly Sins which was ‘PEWS ‘Ave GLu’ with each upper case letter representing the first letter of each sin. I won’t even start to pull this apart as it’s too easy…..let’s just say ‘Forgettable’ and move on. Acronyms have their place but they have to be catchy and relevant to what you’re trying to remember.
Take a peek at my method of remembering the Seven Deadly Sins (type in ‘Deadly’ in the search box at the top of the site). This is a sure-fire way of remembering them, as long as the links are strong enough of course!!
‘Acronyms schmacronyms’ is what I say!
Thinkalink is a global meeting place for ways to remember absolutely anything whatsoever, regardless of how bizarre the fact or link is. Who cares what people think? If it works for you and just one other person out there, then it’s worthwhile. Sharing wisdom is the way forward…
Your chance to get involved
The site is a meeting-place for linkers & learners alike. So if you have a link for anything, absolutely anything, regardless of how random, then submit it and I’ll bung it up and we’ll see if it gets a rip-roaring ‘team high 5’ or goes down like a bag of sick. If you have a link but can’t quite nail it, then submit it and I’ll tidy it up. If it's a beauty, it will go in the book (as will your name) and if it's a stratospheric puppy, then it will aided by a colour ‘toon’ scribed by one of England's finest, Bill Stott, the king of the jot. (Sorry)
Top Linkers
Congratulations to the following 10 linkers for having the highest average score, per link, as of the end of August.
The linker in the number 1 spot, come Dec 31st, will be crowned Champion Linker for 2008 and receive a trophy.
There’s no stopping Sussex Adams at the moment, who is sitting pretty for the silverware at the end of the year.
Bear in mind that this is how you will be known in the book. So it maybe worth changing your user name to your real name & city to prove to your friends that it is actually you! You can always be that shymonger and keep doing a moody swerve from the limelight.
1. Claire Adams, West Sussex, GB
2. Alan Newell, Bracknell, GB
3. Shane Fernando, London, GB
4. Phil Stubbs, Derbyshire, GB
5. alanjb
6. Dominic O’Brien, World Champion Memory Man
7. R.C.Cox
8. MARK KINGSTON
9. Nicci Williamson
10. Charley Park
Competition
Congratulations to Lan Pindo from Hong Kong for winning 100 worthless pounds (looking at the current exchange rate!) for getting the four correct answers to the poser in the last newsletter which were:
The Barber of Seville, Richter, Anthony Eden & Kenya
Oh, that’s a point, I’ve got to send over some Hong Kong Dollars to Lan the man.
Oh, admin, admin! Come on you UK residents, what’s the matter with you!!
You will see attached another competition with the same theme.
Email me the answers (andy.salmon@thinkalink.co.uk) and you will be entered into the draw for another 100 smackers.
Feedback
I would love to get your thoughts and observations on the site, good or bad. This has been a passion of mine since 1995 and it's finally come to fruition which is hugely exciting. It's new territory for me so any guidance or tips on what does and doesn't work will be warmly received - please let me know at andy.salmon@thinkalink.co.uk . If you would like something linked then let me know and we’ll see what we can do!
Future Newsletters
Please let me know if you would prefer me not to contact you in this way and I will take you off my newsletter circulation list. If that is the case, please accept my apologies.
I’ll leave you with a couple of recent belters..
The capital of Belarus is Minsk - ''Belle R Us - the 'Minx' Escort Agency''
The capital of Dutch Antilles is Willemstad - Prince Charles, William's dad, is going Dutch, Antilles King and Camilla isn't happy.
Oooooh linking is the danglers, don’t fight it, embrace it.
Toodle pip!
Sir Linkalot
+ 44 (0) 1323 811817
+ 44 (0) 7968 433675
