Memory magic

Brad Williams

Do you remember every day in your life? Would you like to have that kind of memory or there are some moments you would like to forget? What if you and I, we all, could remember each detail of our life, its every single day? Brad Williams, a mnemonist, can remember it all! 

"Since I was three years old I could remember every day from my life. I remember where I was and what I was doing, what was on the news. I don't have any particular method of memorizing. If you ask me what I was eating 10 years ago for breakfast I can tell you that precisely."

Give Brad Williams a date, and he can usually tell you not only what he was doing but what world events happened that day. He can do this for almost every day of his life.

Williams is one of only three people in the world identified with this off-the-charts autobiographical memory, according to researchers at the University of California-Irvine who gave the condition its name: hyperthymestic syndrome, from the Greek words for excessive (hyper) and remembering (thymesis).

The California researchers are studying Williams and the two others with hyperthymestic syndrome, a man in Ohio and woman in California, hoping to gain new insights into how a superior memory works.

The goal of the study is to find a way to help people with failing memory.

However Williams himself didn't think he was special at all. "I always thought everyone could remember everything". Maybe we will be able one day... 

Can you really change your life?

You've all probably heard a lot about the old Buddhist say: "Change your mind and your life will change". But do you believe in it? Have you tried to change  your life by taking a positive attitude? Let's try to be honest: it's not easy, not everyone is mentally ready for a change. 

Positive attitude can change your life. It requires a lot of hard work from you, as it is an ongoing process. When you have a positive thinking mindset you automatically have positive thoughts and you continually recite positive affirmations. Your positive affirmations bring you positive emotions and you feel happy and content with your life. This way you bring into your life happiness, health and success. Sounds easy, not so easy on practice. 


Before you start,  do not forget that positive thinking should be a life-changing process. Start in the morning, wake up and say thank you for things in life you already have. Don't think about what you're missing. You have it all, it just takes time to arrive to you. During the day ask yourself if your thoughts are positive or negative. Think of what you want now. Is it money, love, family, health? Take your time and think about it. What is it that you want? 
As soon as you know the answer, tell yourself you already have it. Embrace the joy of being healthy, having money and a happy relationship. Feel good when you think about it. Think of all the things you could do if you had it. Imagine you are already there. Tell yourself that you are loved, that you are healthy, that you are rich.


You will have it all. You deserve to have it all. Just open your mind to the Universe and send your message. The Universe is a living being and we make a part of it. You and I, we all are connected to this common intelligence. Don't lose the connection. Feel happy today!

A must-see when you visit Rome: Transfiguration

The Transfiguration is considered the last painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raffaello Sanzio.

This painting was created by Raffaello and was believed to express a connection between God and his people.

The Transfiguration was created in 1516 and is another high end altarpiece. It was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici who was made arch bishop of Narbon and became Pope Clement VII.

Following Raffaello's premature death in 1520, the cardinal retained the picture rather than send it to France. He subsequently donated it to the church of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome. It was taken by French troops to Paris in 1797, but after 1815 it was brought to the Vatican, to its present location.

A mosaic copy of the painting was installed in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City in 1774.

The composition of the Transfiguration is divided into two distinct parts: the Miracle of the Possessed Boy on a lower level; and the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, in the background. The transfigured Christ floats in an aura of light and clouds above the hill, accompanied by Moses and Elijah. Below, on the ground, are his disciples. Some are dazzled by the light of glory, others are in prayer. The gestures of the crowd beholding at the miracle link the two parts together: the raised hands of the crowd converge toward the figure of Christ. In this very grand composition Raffaello has summed up all the elements present in the best of contemporary painting, including references to classical antiquity, Leonardo da Vinci (without doubt based on his recall of impressions garnered during his stay in Florence) and - not without a certain narcissism - himself. The works set the stage (just as surely as Michelangelo's Doni Tondo) for Mannerism.

This is Raffaello's last painting and appears as the spiritual testament of the artist. The work is considered in his biography, written by the famous artist and biographer of the 16th century, Giorgio Vasari, "the most famous, the most beautiful and most divine".
The picture is now housed in the Pinacoteca Vaticana of the Vatican Museum in the Vatican City.

Visit the Vatican Museum:

Viale Vaticano, 00165  Rome

Info: tel. 0039 06 69884676 - 0039 06 69883145

the world's genius turnes down a million dollar prize

"I don’t want to be on display like an animal in a zoo. I’m not a hero of mathematics. I’m not even that successful. That is why I don’t want to have everybody looking at me", - says Grigori Perelman, probably the world's greatest mathematician, who lives in Saint-Petersburg with his mother.

He worked out a solution to one of the seven great unsolved mathematical problems, the Poincaré conjecture, in 2002 - almost a century after it was first posed, and just two years after the Clay Mathematics Institute offered a one-million-dollar prize for its solution. It was a magnificent achievement. Honours, cash, offers of world lecture tours and lucrative teaching posts were hurled at the Russian theorist. But Perelman turned down the Fields medal, the mathematical world's equivalent of a Nobel prize. What was even more astonishing was that he turned down a million of dollars that the Clay Institute wanted to give him for his work. 
One of my friends admires him so much, he said this was such a rare gesture it is almost impossible to believe it.

Grigori Perelman is now 45 (he was born on June 13th 1966). Ever since he was a child he was obsessed with mathematics. He turned down a scholarship to study in the United States and he graduated in Leningrad (now Saint-Petersburg). Since the begginning of the 1990's he worked at the prestigious Institute of Mathematics named after Steklov in Saint-Petersburg.
Now, he has given up his job as mathematician and has no contact with media at all. He lives in his own fragile world, filled with books and his manuscripts.

Some might argue that monetary awards for mathematical work are inappropriate, or that the Poincaré Conjecture is of little practical value and not worth the one-million-dollar prize. But do we owe respect to him? Yes, and not only as a mathematician. We must respect his gesture, a rare gesture in the world where money decides everything.