A Major Brain Health Day

Today has been one of those major brain health days. A search on the term “brain health” brings up thousands of links like the Alzheimers Association site. This site explains how staying mentally active by engaging in stimulating activities like reading, writing and working crossword puzzles will keep your brain in good working order. In my humble opinion, untangling messes like malfunctioning links covers all those bases, and I spend enough time every day on such activities that my brain should remain sharp for at least 250 years.

I got started with today’s exercise first thing this morning when I discovered that the link to the audio file in last night’s post wasn’t working as it should. My search for a more reliable audio file parking site ate a sizeable chunk of the day, and led me through a succession of virtual junkyards.

In the process I discovered that there is an endless list of sites that are willing to host large files, at no charge, and most will hold them indefinitely. As you may expect, these sites are mostly supported by advertising. Many of similar to MySpace in promoting visibility and sharing among members. Any link to your uploaded file loads your member page with the player for the file. That page has links to all sort of other members, many of which are blatantly not family-friendly. That was an adventure.

Finally, I found FileDen, a low-key, tasteful site with a generous amount of space available at no cost, and far more available by subscription. You can upload any sort of file to their site, and link to it seamlessly from other sites. The audio file link opens in the standard QuickTime player rather than requiring you to download the file or look at trash. One of these months I'm going to venture into creating a short narrated photo-based movie with Microsoft's free PhotoStory 3 software. This will be a great place to store that for your viewing enjoyment.

You can also use this site to park files for friends and family to download. If you want to record a batch of stories, you can park them there and let people know where to go pick them up.

Lifestory writing itself is an excellent way to keep your brain healthy. The basic writing exercise is good, and so is the satisfaction of knowing you’ve produced a fine piece of work. Besides, it’s fun. If you take the next step of virtual wrestling as you master more technology and forge new paths in both cyberspace and your own gray matter, so much the better.

Write on,

Sharon Lippincott, aka Ritergal