Being of Sound and Disposing Mind, Memory and Understanding Form

The expression “of sound mind and disposing memory” was originally a term of art in law in the context of making a Last Will and Testament.Originally, it meant a good mental ability (sound mind) with a capable memory (disposing memory) for the legal purposes of making a Will. Those two aspects are still parts of the “testamentary capacity” of the person making a Will.The ultimate reason for using “disposing” was the idea that the person’s memory had to be capable of arranging or placing things for that particular legal purpose — from the Old French disposer, which was from Latin disponere (‘arrange’)In modern times and modern language, “disposing memory” is just another way of saying “sound or effective memory.”Thanks for the A2A.

As many of you know, the process of acquiring a student visa (F-1 visa) to the United States is nerve-racking for Indian families. Having gone through four years of college, graduating with a good GPA along with multiple summer research stints/internships, then applying to several US universities at considerable expense, and finally being rewarded with an acceptance letter from a respected school, Indian students are sometimes rejected from entering the US at the final hurdle—the visa interview at the US embassy.I recall the buildup to my interview four years ago. Many of my friends had theirs scheduled before mine, and they scared the bejeezus out of me recounting their horror show interviews involving scores of questions from grim interviewers with piercing glares boring into their souls trying to catch out any hesitation in their answers, any possible untruths.My parents did what any self-respecting Indian family does before their kid heads to an interview—they took me to a temple. And not just any temple—they took me about 1000 kilometers north of home to the searingly hot city of Baroda, Gujarat, to visit one particular Hanumanji temple (apparently this was our family God in our family temple, goodness knows why, we’re Tamils from Chennai—and I’m an atheist!)So after much prayer and puja, blessings from family members and well-wishes from friends, I stood outside the US embassy on a cloudy, muggy, summer day, shitting my pants under the narrow canopy that automatically opened over the street when it rained (a nice touch there, ‘Murica).My stomach churned as the line slowly moved forward. My heart leaped into my mouth as I passed through the gates, only to be confronted by armed security guards who proceeded to take away anything I had in my pockets—pens, coins, paper, etc.Please don’t take my clothes too, please don’t take my clothes too, I prayed silently.The guard gestured at my jeans. Resigned to my fate, I started to unzip them.“What are you doing?” he asked, amazed. “Just take off your belt and pass through the scanner.”….Finally through the gates, I was taken aback at how simple the next room looked. Then I understood why—it was just a queue room. A room for this damn queue.Half an hour later we passed into the Interview Room. People lined up in front of about a dozen booths, each with a White Man or White Lady inside (must be the Americans, I thought fearfully, please let them understand my accent).The room was air-conditioned. I was sweating.It was large and airy. I gasped for breath.Now I was in front of one of the White Men. He beckoned me forward.He smiled at me evil— no, pleasantly — it was a pleasant smile!“Hi there, how’s your day going?”He greeted me — what do I do? Is this part of the interview? Oh no, I don’t have an answer. Smile. Smiling is good. He won’t hate you if you smile.I smiled. He waited.Oh shit, he asked you a question. Answer it, jackass!“OH IT IS—you’re too loud, dolt—going well”, I whispered.He didn’t hear that last bit, but he nodded as if he did.“May I have your I-20?”“Here it is,” I breathed.He stared down at it for a minute. Then—“So, you’re going to Purdue?”Say yes, don’t say yup. And don’t shout.“YUP!” I shouted.“Ok then, you’re good to go” he said, stamping my passport.“What?” I yelped, staring at him in disbelief.“You’re good to go, sir, your application has been accepted.”You mean after all that stress you didn’t ask me a single question? Not one? Why?? Are you crazy, man? I even lied about my day, it was shitty as hell, you should quiz me on it! Make me grovel for that visa, like the bastards I know you interviewers are!“Good luck with your PhD, Mr.Raman, and enjoy your stay in the United States of America.”“Thank you,” I replied, my throat catching.I was going to America courtesy this senile interviewer. Thank you Hanumanji!

NOOOOOOO. You are talking to a military romance scammer. I received an email from the US Army that directly answers your question that is pasted below please keep reading.I believe you are the victim of a military Romance Scam whereas the person you are talking to is a foreign national posing as an American Soldier claiming to be stationed overseas on a peacekeeping mission. That's the key to the scam they always claim to be on a peacekeeping mission.Part of their scam is saying that they have no access to their money that their mission is highly dangerous.If your boyfriend girlfriend/future husband/wife is asking you to do the following or has exhibited this behavior, it is a most likely a scam:Moves to private messaging site immediately after meeting you on Facebook or SnapChat or Instagram or some dating or social media site. Often times they delete the site you met them on right after they asked you to move to a more private messaging siteProfesses love to you very quickly & seems to quote poems and song lyrics along with using their own sort of broken language, as they profess their love and devotion quickly. They also showed concern for your health and love for your family.Promises marriage as soon as he/she gets to state for leave that they asked you to pay for.They Requests money (wire transfers) and Amazon, iTune ,Verizon, etc gift cards, for medicine, religious practices, and leaves to come home, internet access, complete job assignments, help sick friend, get him out of trouble, or anything that sounds fishy.The military does provide all the soldier needs including food medical Care and transportation for leave. Trust me, I lived it, you are probably being scammed. I am just trying to show you examples that you are most likely being connned.Below is an email response I received after I sent an inquiry to the US government when I discovered I was scammed. I received this wonderful response back with lots of useful links on how to find and report your scammer. And how to learn more about Romance Scams.Right now you can also copy the picture he gave you and do a google image search and you will hopefully see the pictures of the real person he is impersonating. this doesn't always work and take some digging. if you find the real person you can direct message them and alert them that their image is being used for scamming.Good Luck to you and I'm sorry this may be happening to you. please continue reading the government response I received below it's very informative.   You have contacted an email that is monitored by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. Unfortunately, this is a common concern. We assure you there is never any reason to send money to anyone claiming to be a Soldier online. If you have only spoken with this person online, it is likely they are not a U.S. Soldier at all. If this is a suspected imposter social media profile, we urge you to report it to that platform as soon as possible. Please continue reading for more resources and answers to other frequently asked questions:  How to report an imposter Facebook profile: Caution-https://www.facebook.com/help/16... < Caution-https://www.facebook.com/help/16... >   Answers to frequently asked questions:  - Soldiers and their loved ones are not charged money so that the Soldier can go on leave.  - Soldiers are not charged money for secure communications or leave.  - Soldiers do not need permission to get married.  - Soldiers emails are in this format: john.doe.mil@mail.mil < Caution-mailto: john.doe.mil@mail.mil > anything ending in .us or .com is not an official email account.  - Soldiers have medical insurance, which pays for their medical costs when treated at civilian health care facilities worldwide – family and friends do not need to pay their medical expenses.  - Military aircraft are not used to transport Privately Owned Vehicles.  - Army financial offices are not used to help Soldiers buy or sell items of any kind.  - Soldiers deployed to Combat Zones do not need to solicit money from the public to feed or house themselves or their troops.  - Deployed Soldiers do not find large unclaimed sums of money and need your help to get that money out of the country.  Anyone who tells you one of the above-listed conditions/circumstances is true is likely posing as a Soldier and trying to steal money from you.  We would urge you to immediately cease all contact with this individual.  For more information on avoiding online scams and to report this crime, please see the following sites and articles:   This article may help clarify some of the tricks social media scammers try to use to take advantage of people: Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/61432/< Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/61432/>   CID advises vigilance against 'romance scams,' scammers impersonating Soldiers  Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/180749 < Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/180749 >   FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: Caution-http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx< Caution-http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx>   U.S. Army investigators warn public against romance scams: Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/130...< Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/130...>   DOD warns troops, families to be cybercrime smart -Caution-http://www.army.mil/article/1450...< Caution-http://www.army.mil/article/1450...>   Use caution with social networking  Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/146...< Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/146...>    Please see our frequently asked questions section under scams and legal issues. Caution-http://www.army.mil/faq/ < Caution-http://www.army.mil/faq/ > or visit Caution-http://www.cid.army.mil/ < Caution-http://www.cid.army.mil/ >.  The challenge with most scams is determining if an individual is a legitimate member of the US Army. Based on the Privacy Act of 1974, we cannot provide this information. If concerned about a scam you may contact the Better Business Bureau (if it involves a solicitation for money), or local law enforcement. If you're involved in a Facebook or dating site scam, you are free to contact us direct; (571) 305-4056.   If you have a social security number, you can find information about Soldiers online at Caution-https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/sc... < Caution-https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/sc... > . While this is a free search, it does not help you locate a retiree, but it can tell you if the Soldier is active duty or not.  If more information is needed such as current duty station or location, you can contact the Commander Soldier's Records Data Center (SRDC) by phone or mail and they will help you locate individuals on active duty only, not retirees. There is a fee of $3.50 for businesses to use this service. The check or money order must be made out to the U.S. Treasury. It is not refundable. The address is:  Commander Soldier's Records Data Center (SRDC) 8899 East 56th Street Indianapolis, IN 46249-5301 Phone: 1-866-771-6357  In addition, it is not possible to remove social networking site profiles without legitimate proof of identity theft or a scam. If you suspect fraud on this site, take a screenshot of any advances for money or impersonations and report the account on the social networking platform immediately.  Please submit all information you have on this incident to Caution-www.ic3.gov < Caution-http://www.ic3.gov > (FBI website, Internet Criminal Complaint Center), immediately stop contact with the scammer (you are potentially providing them more information which can be used to scam you), and learn how to protect yourself against these scams at Caution-http://www.ftc.gov < Caution-http://www.ftc.gov > (Federal Trade Commission's website)

Years ago I worked at document management company.  There is cool software that can automate aspects of hand-written forms.  We had an airport as a customer - they scanned plenty and (as I said before) this was several years ago...On your airport customs forms, the "boxes" that you 'need' to write on - are basically invisible to the scanner - but are used because then us humans will tend to write neater and clearer which make sit easier to recognize with a computer.  Any characters with less than X% accuracy based on a recognition engine are flagged and shown as an image zoomed into the particular character so a human operator can then say "that is an "A".   This way, you can rapidly go through most forms and output it to say - an SQL database, complete with link to original image of the form you filled in.If you see "black boxes" at three corners of the document - it is likely set up for scanning (they help to identify and orient the page digitally).  If there is a unique barcode on the document somewhere I would theorize there is an even higher likelihood of it being scanned - the document is of enough value to be printed individually which costs more, which means it is likely going to be used on the capture side.   (I've noticed in the past in Bahamas and some other Caribbean islands they use these sorts of capture mechanisms, but they have far fewer people entering than the US does everyday)The real answer is: it depends.  Depending on each country and its policies and procedures.  Generally I would be surprised if they scanned and held onto the paper.   In the US, they proably file those for a set period of time then destroy them, perhaps mining them for some data about travellers. In the end,  I suspect the "paper-to-data capture" likelihood of customs forms ranges somewhere on a spectrum like this:Third world Customs Guy has paper to show he did his job, paper gets thrown out at end of shift. ------>  We keep all the papers! everything is scanned as you pass by customs and unique barcodes identify which flight/gate/area the form was handed out at, so we co-ordinate with cameras in the airport and have captured your image.  We also know exactly how much vodka you brought into the country. :)

It frustrating enough and more when you are not able to recall stuffs. I had issue too, and got worse during my early pre-medical career. I did lot of research and worked upon improving my skills and this is what i learnt. And i hope i can help you here.One important concept that you need to know is LAW OF FORGETTING CURVE and this applies to everyone. Lets take an example, say you learn a hard concept/chapter/journal anything for that matter. You really strain yourself and crunch the concepts down and you have aced the principles in 4 hours. Wow! well done. Now, you leave it there and come back to it,say one week after that . I shouldnt lie ;) kids/students hardly return to books,forgot about revising them ;)but then yea,say they come back to it maybe on eve of your presentation/exams/seminar session and now you realise you dnt remember few links in the scenario! phooo....vanished into thin air! thats how brain works.Brain is an amazing organ that stores all important info which you come across in daily life. But there is downside to this, since we see,do and listen to lot of things in daily life,brain ignores most of the details. A simple example-we tend to see lot of faces while we walk along the streets,movie halls,beaches etc but we ignore them as if they didnt exist. We glance and leave it there. Brain works accordingly.Look here, whatever you learn goes into short term memory in CONSCIOUS MIND and remains there for short while which as per psychologists can be retained only for 4-8 hours. If you want this information to into unconscious mind, you need to convince brain that you need to remember this in long term.And thats when you need to apply some techniques. Because only the unconscious mind helps you to recall things in long term. It like brain saves information in temporary files and when it finds it hasnt been used for a while,it kicks it into recycle bin.Whereas,if brain finds that an information is being used frequently,it realises the informationThis brings us to the point about how to take information from conscious to unconscious mind. 1.INCREASE THE NEURONAL LINK BETWEEN CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS MINDThe more you try to recall the events/topics from the short term memory,the better the brain realizes that the information keeps coming up in brain storage and it seems important and it transfers it to long term memory in unconscious mind and then your safe for your lifetime because nothing can leave your unconscious mind. Do you ever forget your math tables(it seems like its inbuilt in you right? :) )2. NOW,HOW DO YOU INCREASE THE NEURONAL LINKS-REVISION/RECITE THE EVENTS VERY FREQUENTLYkeep recalling the events very frequently in form of active recall. Passive recall techniques are less effective.ACTIVE METHODS OF REVISION:1. Do practice questions.2. Make flashcards3.Mindmaps4.discuss/teach someone5.write down the concepts in your own wordsIts not enough you revise,but you need to know when to revise too. :)Look at this graph, you will see timely revision of that topic can help you recall the content and reproduce it later whenever you want.ideal timing for revision:(say you learnt something today)1.day 22.day 43. day 74. day 215.day 30 trust me my friend, after 4th or 5th revision, things would be at your finger tip and this is called effective learning.The best part is there is logic to everything in science and so does this.good luck :)

Departments of education and school districts always have to make decisions about what to include in their curriculum.  There are a lot of life skills that people need that aren't taught in school.  The question is should those skills be taught in schools?I teach high school, so I'll talk about that.  The typical high school curriculum is supposed to give students a broad-based education that prepares them to be citizens in a democracy and to be able to think critically.  For a democracy to work, we need educated, discerning citizens with the ability to make good decisions based on evidence and objective thought.  In theory, people who are well informed about history, culture, science, mathematics, etc., and are capable of critical, unbiased thinking, will have the tools to participate in a democracy and make good decisions for themselves and for society at large.  In addition to that, they should be learning how to be learners, how to do effective, basic research, and collaborate with other people.  If that happens, figuring out how to do procedural tasks in real life should not provide much of a challenge.  We can't possibly teach every necessary life skill people need, but we can help students become better at knowing how to acquire the skills they need.  Should we teach them how to change a tire when they can easily consult a book or search the internet to find step by step instructions for that?  Should we teach them how to balance a check book or teach them how to think mathematically and make sense of problems so that the simple task of balancing a check book (which requires simple arithmetic and the ability to enter numbers and words in columns and rows in obvious ways) is easy for them to figure out.  If we teach them to be good at critical thinking and have some problem solving skills they will be able to apply those overarching skills to all sorts of every day tasks that shouldn't be difficult for someone with decent cognitive ability  to figure out.  It's analogous to asking why a culinary school didn't teach its students the steps and ingredients to a specific recipe.  The school taught them about more general food preparation and food science skills so that they can figure out how to make a lot of specific recipes without much trouble.  They're also able to create their own recipes.So, do we want citizens with very specific skill sets that they need to get through day to day life or do we want citizens with critical thinking, problem solving, and other overarching cognitive skills that will allow them to easily acquire ANY simple, procedural skill they may come to need at any point in their lives?