5 for Friday

On this 5 for Friday, we have a variety of course from which you can pick and choose.

1 - Mr Brilliant (37Days readers will recognize this one) has his own blog now. He just celebrated his birthday. That didn't stop him from posting on his birthday:

An early study of attention and perception (or “How Many Items Can it Embrace at Once?”) popped out at me while muscling my way through another year of Nature magazine for 1871. The article was by W. Stanley Jevons ("The Power of Numerical Discrimination," 1871) who contributes an interesting and very early experimental bit on the success of the brain to correctly formulate an accurate memory when in a flash shown a number of items. (That is to say, when shown a certain group of X-number of items instantaneously and then removed, how often will the mind be able to remember the correct number upon recall--and without committing them to memory per se or counting them?) In this fascinating study Jevons records not only right/wrong answers but how "close" the remembered fit is to the original number, and in effect is a pioneering scientific effort towards understanding our abilities and limits in information processing.

Read the remainder of this posting here, or go to the top of his page and start with whatever you find.

2 - Weekend Entrepreneur

Melanie Benson-Strick is our weekend entrepreneur poster child for this week, and we congratulate her for not only making the escape from cubicle nation, but for persisting until she got it right, and then creating a template and system for other motivated would-be entrepreneurs to follow her footsteps…

Click through to read the full interview with Melanie

3 - And from Noel Kingsley we find out about the Alexander Technique

My 'work' with the Alexander Technique is about helping people improve their health and well being and be more successful. They learn to free themselves of unwanted postural habits to improve their balance and co-ordination. By making appropriate choices for themselves they rediscover the natural poise they enjoyed as young children. In principle it's a simple and practical technique that can bring profound benefits including enhancing abilities and performance in sport, business or the arts as well as reducing stress and building self-confidence. And it's usually great fun.

It's wonderful having so many different and interesting clients to see every day. But although they are all very different, the one thing that they have in common is the wish to help themselves. The Alexander Technique gives them a basis to do just that. I've been using the Alexander Technique for over thirty-three years and I can honestly say it's helped me make the most of myself in so many different ways and it underpins my view on life in general.

4 - And from Cellobella in Perth, Australia we find out about the Pillow Wall

A number of people I know are pregnant at the moment and they’ve reached that happy stage of the third trimester where everything is oh so slightly uncomfortable, including sleep.

Slowly over the months they have been collecting pillows one by one. Arranging one behind their back, one between their thighs, one under the belly - now full and heavy - until it takes at least ten minutes to settle in the right spot - cocooned on what was once Passion Central and is now divided by… The Pillow Wall.

Click through to observe the set up (yes, it is safe)

5 - And finally we hear from McBilly:

Hi, my name is McBilly Wilford Sy. Yes. McBilly is my real name. Weird? Theres a story behind it.

You see, the word Mc actually means son of and Billy is another word for William. So now you know my dad’s name. Cool isn’t it?!

I’m 18 years old and currently a working student taking up Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. What can I say, I just love the internet and I want to make a difference.

Other than being a student, I’m a freelance web designer, flash artist and internet entrepreneur. I’m not an expert, but I’ve earned enough from the web that I can honestly say that there is money in the internet.

Have fun cruising amongst these sites. One or more of these you just might find you need to add to your RSS Reader of choice.