Latest news with #memory
The Independent
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Memory cafes at the National Comedy Center ignite laughter and connection for dementia patients
Side by side on a sofa inside the National Comedy Center, Gail and Mario Cirasunda chuckled at a clip from the 1980s sitcom 'Family Ties' that was playing on a TV screen. The show's oldest daughter, Mallory, was introducing her unconventional artist boyfriend Nick to her bewildered television family. 'I think our daughter brought him home once. Maybe two of our daughters!' Gail said with a laugh over coffee and donuts later. 'Five daughters, two sons,' her husband Mario, 85, chimed in. 'Sometimes I'd wonder,' he smiled, shaking his head at the memories of the couple's own family antics over their 59-year marriage. Moments like this are what brought the Cirasundas to the comedy museum in western New York and the memory cafe taking place inside. The monthly events invite people with Alzheimer's, dementia, or other memory loss, and their caregivers, to spend time at the interactive museum. For visitors like Mario, who has dementia, and his wife, the scenes and artifacts from funny shows and comedians have a way of triggering shared laughs and connection, and, as comedy center staff have found, memories. Gail, 78, treasures the moments when Mario — who still vividly recalls his childhood route to school and the names of old friends — also recollects experiences from their shared life. A 1965 blind date after Mario got out of the Navy led to seven children, 24 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, careers and moves. However, memories made over a lifetime together have become increasingly elusive over the past several years, since about the time Mario started to get lost driving and forget whether he likes a particular food. At a recent memory cafe, the Cirasundas, from suburban Buffalo, and others spent the morning walking through the museum that was inspired by 'I Love Lucy' star Lucille Ball in her hometown of Jamestown. Gail kept a guiding hand on her husband's elbow as they smiled through Johnny Carson bits from 'The Tonight Show' in the center's late night studio, browsed standup comic George Carlin's personal notes and comedian Bob Hope artifacts, and laughed out loud at a display of classic comedy props like the banana peel and pie in the face. During a break in the museum's restaurant, the 'Family Ties' video evoked scenes from real life. 'The moments are precious because he might not remember it,' Gail explained, 'but when you're there talking about it, you're remembering. Five minutes later, it's gone — but you had that moment.' The Alzheimer's Association estimates 7.2 million Americans over the age of 65 are living with Alzheimer's dementia, and an even higher number of people care for an impacted friend or family member. Memory cafes have emerged around the world in recent years as a way to connect and support individuals and caregivers, and provide information and resources. Many of the more than 600 cafes regularly running in the U.S. — often meeting in libraries and community centers — bring in speakers and engage participants with physical activity, music and art, all of which are good for the brain, experts say. The National Comedy Center held its first one earlier this year. It seemed a natural fit after staff heard from patrons about the museum's impact on their loved ones. Spokesman Gary Hahn sees the center as a kind of time machine, with exhibits memorializing comedy from Vaudeville to viral memes that can transport visitors back, no matter their age. Even before the formal memory cafes began, a visitor told the center's staff that his wife with dementia seldom spoke — but would become more verbal while walking through the museum and laughing alongside him. 'There was a stimulation of the part of the brain, whether it's because of the nostalgia or the comedy, that had an impact on her,' said Journey Gunderson, the center's executive director. Shelia Kennison, an author and psychology professor at Oklahoma State University, said humor positively affects physiology in many ways. 'It takes most of your brain to process what's being said or being shown to you and then to find the humor, and then once that happens, it sets off this cascade of brain activity and physiological changes that affects the whole body," said Kennison, who studies how humor is involved in cognition, memory and overall wellbeing. "So it really is a whole brain workout and a whole body workout when you get that really funny joke that makes you laugh and slap your knee and rock back and forth.' Laughter has always been important to Gail and Mario Cirasunda, whose children often gave their father Peter Sellers ' 'Pink Panther' movies as gifts so they could see him laugh. 'Keep a sense of humor in your marriage,' Gail's boss told her before she got married. Even through the challenges, she said, she's followed the advice.
The Sun
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
You have a sky high IQ if you can name all 10 karaoke songs in this picture quiz – how many can you master?
EVERYONE has their go-to song they choose at karaoke, but how many of the most popular belters are you familiar with. For International Karaoke Day on 19th July, Betboo has analysed popular karaoke songs and created a brainteaser for you to guess which songs are which - can you figure it out? 2 There are ten songs in total to figure out each with a cryptic clue to the title of the hit. While some images recreate the music video for the song, others give visual hints to help you on your way. Some are trickier than others so take your time mulling these over. Still struggling to work some out? Don't worry, scroll down to find the answers. Certain brainteasers and optical illusions, particularly those that involve patterns or sequences, can help strengthen both short-term and long-term memory. By working through puzzles on a regular basis, you will actively engage the brain's memory systems and directly improve your future attempts at visual challenges. Many brainteasers, like this one, require challengers thinking outside the box. This improves creative problem-solving skills by encouraging the brain to come up with innovative solutions. It also translates to real-life situations where you might need to approach challenges in new and inventive ways. If you're after another brainteaser to challenge yourself, try this one - as apparently only those with a high IQ are able to find the heart hidden among the spring flowers. How can optical illusions and brainteasers help me? Engaging in activities like solving optical illusions and brainteasers can have many cognitive benefits as it can stimulate various brain regions. Some benefits include: Cognitive stimulation: Engaging in these activities challenges the brain, promoting mental agility and flexibility. Problem-solving skills: Regular practice enhances analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Memory improvement: These challenges often require memory recall and can contribute to better memory function. Creativity: They encourage thinking outside the box, fostering creativity and innovative thought processes. Focus and attention: Working on optical illusions and brainteasers requires concentration, contributing to improved focus. Stress relief: The enjoyable nature of these puzzles can act as a form of relaxation and stress relief. Or you can have a go at figuring out the hidden message in this band's cover art that has confused fans for years. Lastly, puzzle fanatics have been left scratching their heads trying to find the lost feather in just 12 seconds. 2
Android Authority
21 hours ago
- Android Authority
I'm using Samsung's Voice Recorder to avoid this app's premium plan
Ryan Whitwam / Android Authority I can't be alone in wishing I'd kept a journal over the years. I'd love to reflect on what I was up to on certain days 20 years ago and how I was processing it all. Other than a few batches of photos and my increasingly fading memory, the records of my various travel adventures have mostly been lost. And those were the exciting times — the humdrum days in between have been almost entirely condemned to the mists of time. I don't beat myself up about not keeping a journal because I know I wouldn't have stuck with it. Having to sit down and write or type for 15 minutes in the evening would have fallen by the wayside pretty quickly. But recent advances in AI have made me rethink this. Now, belatedly, I'm journaling every day. It takes around two minutes before bed each night to do it via Samsung Voice Recorder, and I even realized I can use it to avoid the premium plan on one of the best journaling apps. A tale of two apps: Voice Recorder and Day One Matt Horne / Android Authority After upgrading to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus last year, I started playing around with the new Galaxy AI features. The AI transcription in Samsung Voice Recorder inspired me to use it for journaling. I'm aware that some Android phones have had live transcription features for a while, but I was particularly impressed with how quickly and easily Voice Recorder can both transcribe the voice notes after the fact and use AI to tidy them up. This got me 90% of the way towards the plan of a quick brain dump each evening, but I was also wary of leaving the transcribed notes scattered about in an unordered fashion. You can arrange them in categories in both Voice Recorder and Samsung Notes, but what I really wanted was an organized journal setup in which I just dictate an entry, and it labels and stores it in an easy-to-reference way later. The simplest option was to use a journaling app with AI transcription baked in. That left me with two imperfect solutions I could combine to meet my needs. The Day One app fit the bill almost perfectly. It's a polished journaling app popular on both iOS and Android that lets you log text, photos, and audio entries, plus it can sync across devices. The only snag was that, while the app has a free tier to record entries, you have to pay for the premium plan if you want to use the transcription feature. That left me with two imperfect solutions I could combine to meet my needs. Now, each evening, I do the following. Open Voice Recorder and hit Record, then talk about my day for a minute or two. Stop the recording and save it, then tap on it and press Transcribe. A recording of that length takes around ten seconds to process. Tap and hold the text and select Copy all. Three taps to exit Voice Recorder, open the Day One app, and press New entry. Paste the text, and I'm done. The whole process takes two to three minutes. Admittedly, the Galaxy AI transcriptions aren't always perfect as I'm usually tiredly rambling into the phone. This isn't an issue for me as I'm not planning to publish my memoirs. I just want enough to jog my memory, and it's more than adequate for that purpose. Am I in the wrong for not paying? Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority For the record, I'm not against paying for premium plans on apps if they're offering a genuine benefit — Duolingo is one example of an app that has certainly done well out of me financially. Day One is a great app, and I'd urge anyone who can benefit from the premium tier to sign up if it fits your budget. In my case, I'm just minimally using the app while getting the one premium tier feature I need for free on my device. Almost all of the many premium perks would go unused if I signed up. At over $40 per year, I find that expense hard to justify. But I'll let you judge my actions in the poll below. Would you use a free workaround rather than pay for a premium app feature? 1 votes Yes, if it gets the job done it's fair game 100 % No, I'd rather pay for convenience and support the app 0 % Depends on how much it costs 0 % This setup might not work for everyone, but it's been a game-changer for me. I've finally found a low-effort way to keep track of my days, and it's made me weirdly excited to look back at them someday. If AI is going to take over our lives anyway, it might as well help us remember the good old days when it was just a novelty.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Panmnesia Introduces Today's and Tomorrow's AI Infrastructure, Including a Supercluster Architecture That Integrates NVLink, UALink, and HBM via CXL
DAEJEON, South Korea, July 18, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Panmnesia has released a technical report titled "Compute Can't Handle the Truth: Why Communication Tax Prioritizes Memory and Interconnects in Modern AI Infrastructure." In this report, Panmnesia outlines the trends in modern AI models, the limitations of current AI infrastructure in handling them, and how emerging memory and interconnect technologies—including Compute Express Link (CXL), NVLink, Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink), and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)—can be leveraged to improve AI infrastructure. Panmnesia aims to address the current challenges in AI infrastructure, by building flexible, scalable, and communication-efficient architecture using diverse interconnect technologies, instead of fixed GPU-based configurations. Panmnesia's CEO, Dr. Myoungsoo Jung, explained, "This technical report was written to more clearly and accessibly share the ideas on AI infrastructure that we presented during a keynote last August. We aimed to explain AI and large language models (LLMs) in a way that even readers without deep technical backgrounds could understand. We also explored how AI infrastructure may evolve in the future, considering the unique characteristics of AI services." He added, "We hope this report proves helpful to those interested in the field." Overview of the Technical ReportPanmnesia's technical report is divided into three main parts: Trends in AI and Modern Data Center Architectures for AI Workloads CXL Composable Architectures: Improving Data Center Architecture using CXL and Acceleration Case Studies Beyond CXL: Optimizing AI Resource Connectivity in Data Center via Hybrid Link Architectures (CXL-over-XLink Supercluster) 1. Trends in AI and Modern Data Center Architectures for AI Workloads1AI applications based on sequence models—such as chatbots, image generation, and video processing—are now widely integrated into everyday life. This technical report begins with an overview of sequence models, their underlying mechanisms, and the evolution from recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to large language models (LLMs). It then explains how current AI infrastructures handle these models and discusses their limitations. In particular, Panmnesia identifies two major challenges in modern AI infrastructures: (1) communication overhead during synchronization and (2) low resource utilization resulting from rigid, GPU-centric architectures. 2. CXL Composable Architectures: Improving Data Center Architecture Using CXL and Acceleration Case Studies2To address the aforementioned challenges, Panmnesia proposes a solution built on CXL, an emerging interconnect technology. The report offers a thorough explanation of CXL's core concepts and features, emphasizing how it can minimize unnecessary communication through automatic cache coherence management and enables flexible resource expansion—ultimately addressing key challenges of conventional AI infrastructure. Panmnesia also introduces its CXL 3.0-compliant real-system prototype developed using its core technologies, including CXL IPs and CXL Switches. The report then shows how this prototype has been applied to accelerate real-world AI applications—such as RAG and deep learning recommendation models (DLRM)—demonstrating the practicality and effectiveness of CXL-based infrastructure. 3. Beyond CXL: Optimizing AI Resource Connectivity in Data Center via Hybrid Link Architectures (CXL-over-XLink Supercluster)3This technical report is not limited to CXL alone. Panmnesia goes further by proposing methods to build more advanced AI infrastructure through the integration of diverse interconnect technologies alongside CXL. At the core of this approach is the CXL-over-XLink supercluster architecture, which uses CXL to enhance scalability, compatibility, and communication efficiency across clusters connected via accelerator-centric interconnects—collectively referred to as XLink—including UALink, NVLink, and NVLink Fusion. The report explains how the integration of these interconnect technologies enables an architecture that combines the advantages of each. It then concludes with a discussion on the practical application of emerging technologies such as HBM and silicon photonics. ConclusionWith the release of this technical report, Panmnesia reinforces its leadership in next-generation interconnect technologies such as CXL and UALink. In parallel, the company continues to actively participate in various consortia related to AI infrastructure, including the CXL Consortium, UALink Consortium, PCI-SIG, and the Open Compute Project. Recently, Panmnesia also unveiled its "link solution" product lineup, designed to realize its vision for next-generation AI infrastructure and further strengthen its brand identity. Dr. Myoungsoo Jung, CEO of Panmnesia, stated, "We will continue to lead efforts to build better AI infrastructure by developing diverse link solutions and sharing our insights openly." The full technical report on AI infrastructure is available on Panmnesia's website: 1 This corresponds to Sections 2 and 3 of the technical report. 2 This corresponds to Sections 4 and 5 of the technical report. 3 This corresponds to Section 6 of the technical report. View source version on Contacts Media Contact: Panmnesia, Hanyeoreum BaeEmail: hyrbae@ Website: Sign in to access your portfolio
WebMD
2 days ago
- Health
- WebMD
I Keep Losing Things
Does MS cause this, and what can I do about it? I've always had a problem with losing things, but lately it's gotten ridiculous. In the last four months, I've lost wallets, keys, a phone, a treasured kitchen knife, and even a couple of shirts. It's getting to be a major problem, so I have been asking for help, and I've found some really useful ideas. One doesn't have to have multiple sclerosis (MS) to lose things, but it helps. According to the National MS Society (NMSS), at least half of people with MS will experience some kind of unwanted changes in memory or thinking. 'Somewhere between 4 and 7 in every 10 people with MS,' they write, 'will experience some kind of changes in memory or thinking.' You can see how memory loss could make it harder to find things – Where did I put that pen? Where did I leave my car keys? Memory loss often leads to losing things. It happens to people as they age, so a lot of ways to cope with it have been discovered. I will divide them into two categories: losing things in the home and losing them in the outside world. Losing things at home is annoying and time wasting, but at least things usually get found eventually. The best way to prevent it is to have an ordered, uncluttered living space. When I was young, I often heard adults say, 'A place for everything, and everything in its place.' An excellent idea, but what if you have more things than places to put them? Or what if you have so many places that you can't remember what goes where? We might have to simplify our lives to make that work. Have less stuff. Personally, I like living simply; I've never enjoyed having lots of random stuff, but others disagree. The NMSS advises having a set place for essential things – like car keys, or your glasses – and always putting them there. Make the place specific; not just 'on the table by the door,' but 'in the blue bowl on the table by the door.' Then we have to train ourselves to consistently use the chosen space. Making organization a habit is the key. In remembering what goes where, labels are a big adult son recently came over and labeled many of our drawers and shelves with what's supposed to live there, which makes things easier to find. The NMSS suggests keeping important stuff in a place you visit frequently, like in a bag with pockets over the kitchen door. Label the pockets. When we do lose things, stressing out about it makes it and wait, try to visualize where you put the thing, and it may come to you. Sometimes my wife can find things I'm looking for, so I may ask her. And sometimes I can find things for her. I think people we live with may know our habits better than we know them ourselves, so may know where lost things are likely to be. Choosing exact spots for the disappearing things and using them consistently is key. Then you can expand to choosing exact spots for everything, 'from your scarves and belts to your receipts and house bills.' But you have to use the system. Don't cheat because you won't remember tomorrow where you put things today. That happened to me yesterday, and I almost lost another wallet. I have a shopping bag on my scooter where my wallet usually lives. I need to remember to put it back in the bag, but yesterday I bought something at the farmers' market, then moved on to the next booth. I kept the wallet in my lap instead of putting it back in the bag. When I got to the next purchase, the wallet was gone! I was freaked, but another shopper walking behind me had seen it fall out of my lap, picked it up, and returned it to me. Thank God for his honesty, but from now on, I have to be more consistent in putting it back. That gets much easier if I have fewer alternative places. Stop riding around with four or five bags and just have two: one for purchases and one for personal stuff. I also have to be slower and more careful about putting things in bags, because sometimes I think my hand is inside the bag when it's really between bags. Then things drop to the ground without me realizing it. That's how my last wallet got lost. I have to look at where I'm putting things to make sure they're really in there and to help me remember where I put them. Technology can help It's too bad I'm old and haven't grabbed on to the technological fixes younger people are using, but I'm going to start. For example, attaching a Bluetooth tracker to connect your keys or wallet or your glasses to your phone. You can call the wallet or maybe find it with a GPS tracker. Your phone manufacturer probably has a Find My Phone app that will show exactly where your phone is. Check out the manufacturer's website or store. There are also 'out of range finders' that you could put on a purse — or whatever you like — that will call your phone if it gets too far away. These devices are all battery powered and cost between $20 and $50 in most cases.
