Offending People with Names

I've offended people in many different ways. One of the biggest ways to offend someone is to forget their name after meeting them once or twice. Since I'm terrible at this, I've used a little help for myself. I have to - otherwise I wouldn't be able to know anyone out of the mass of people on the weekends.

I'm going to share the secret with you. I use a help to remember names. Why do I use it? Because names are important to us. They identify who we are.

I use a 3rd party software program on my Treo smartphone by Mapletop called "SuperMemo 2.0." It helps me learn 10-50 time faster people's names. Apparently it uses a proven scientific method in constant development since 1987 using repetition spacing algorithms. It can also be used as an easy way to memorize your own facts, numbers, foreign languages, etc. I simply type in a name and the context I've met the person, and it will begin to test me. For example, I would type in...

NAME: John Doe CONTEXT: met at Burger King in line when he didn't have any money, he's there every Tuesday

In a nutshell, the program 'learns' the names that I don't know best and tests me more often on those names. It keeps score for me so I don't have to recall which names of people I don't know. It magically knows to test me on the names that I've gotten most wrong over time. If you wanted to learn other databases of 'useful' (subjective) information, here is a sampling at the following link.

1. Multiplication Table through 10x10 - If you still do not remember 5x7, 8x6 or 4x9.
2. Multiplication Table through 20x20 - Learn not only 7x8 but also 8x15, 7x14 and 15x17 by heart and throw away your calculator
3. MS Excel Shortcuts - Use your keyboard instead of mouse to speed up your work with this spreadsheet.
4. MS Word Shortcuts - Speed up your work with this text editor using shortcuts like Ctrl+L, Alt+Ctrl+N, etc.
5. Braille Alphabet - Learn the alphabet used by blind people for tactile reading, invented by a young French boy.
6. Chemical Elements - Are you sure you still know what is Sb, Mo or Ag? And what symbol is used for antimony, gold or potassium?
7. Morse Code - International - Learn the international radiotelegraph alphabet used worldwide.
8. Morse Code - American - The original code as created by Samuel Morse and used in American landline telegraph.
9. English Proverbs - All that glitters is not gold. Every cloud has a silver lining. Honesty is the best policy. Did you know that?
10. English Idioms - More than 1,000 phrases that make no sense when translated word for word and must be learned by heart.
11. English Vocabulary - Over 5,000 English words with their meanings and example sentences.
12. English Irregular Verbs - Present form, past tense and past participle of the most often used English verbs.
13. Basic Spanish - The most common Spanish words, with verbs and other words that tie together sentences.
14. Intermediate Spanish - Some 1,200 Spanish-English word pairs.
15. Advanced Spanish - More than 2,600 Spanish words in 30 categories.
16. Human Body in Spanish - Names of parts of a human body in English and Spanish.
17. Basic French - A starting point for new learners of French. Almost 700 word pairs including basic French irregular verbs.
18. Intermediate French - Some 1,500 cards with French vocabulary and sample sentences.
19. Basic German - Over 200 words in German. Learn the directions, days of week, numbers, or basic verbs.
20. Intermediate German - 700 German cards for intermediate English speaking students of German.
21. German Irregular Verbs - Present form, past tense and past participle of the most often used German verbs.
22. German Business - English-German cards about accounting, finance, management, employment, etc.
23. German Christian - Words useful for reading the Luther translation of the Bible.
24. German Computers - English-German vocabulary about hardware (e.g. cables and printers) and software (e.g. cut, paste, save).
25. German Finance - Financial terms with their explanations in German language.
26. German Materials Science - Technical terms used in fields like ceramics, metallurgy or plastics.
27. German Travel - Vocabulary related to all forms of transportation or about hotels.
28. Scientific German - Basic vocabulary for all fields of scientific work.
29. German-Latin Medical Terms - Latin terms for German speaking medical students and doctors.
30. Basic Japanese - Basic vocabulary, phrases and counting in Japanese language.
31. Japanese Verbs - Cards with Japanese verbs in romanji with their different grammatical forms.
32. Japanese Adjectives - A set of Japanese adjectives (in romanji) and their translation in English..
33. Japanese Time - Time and dates in Japanese romanji and in English.
34. Spanish-Japanese - Spanish to Japanese database of vocabulary and phrases.
35. Russian - Over 1,000 English-Russian cards in four categories for intermediate or advanced English/Russian students.
36. Basic Turkish - Nearly 500 basic words in Turkish language.
37. Basic Swedish - Phrases and words in Swedish organized by topics.
38. Advanced Korean - For English speaking learners of Korean or for Korean learners of English (great for TOEFL, TOEIC or other tests).
39. Esperanto - Learn this easy international language and join the millions of Esperanto users worldwide.
40. Lotus Notes Quiz - Multiple choice quiz for Lotus Notes exams.
41. Phobias - Names of pathological fears of spiders (arachnophobia), heights (acrophobia), closed spaces (claustrophobia), or the like.
42. Internet Acronyms - Not sure what RTFM, BTW, YMMV, TIA or ROTFL means? This list of more than 1,100 internet acronyms will help you.
43. World Capitals - Capital cities of the world countries and major island plus their population, currency names and ISO codes.
44. US States - Abbreviations, capitals and nicknames of the fifty states of the USA.
45. Musical Scales - The Major scale and its notes as well as the Modes.
46. Black Jack - The basic strategy for playing single deck blackjack.
47. Mega Memory - Support database for Kevin Trudeau's system for memorizing long numbers.
48. Micronutrients - Common micronutrients, their sources, side efects and deficiency states.
49. English Football League - More than 1,000 cards for fans including team nicknames, home grounds, wins and more.
50. Aviation Flashcards - A set of 3 databases for the FAA Airmen Knowledge Test.
51. ICAO Alphabet - International Civil Aviation Organization codes for the English alphabet.
52. Technician Class Amateur Radio - Technician Class (the first one) Amateur Radio License flash cards.
53. General Class Amateur Radio - General Class (the second one) Amateur Radio License flash cards.
54. Extra Class Amateur Radio - Extra Class (the third one) Amateur Radio License flash cards.
55. Inventions and Discoveries - Inventions, discoveries and events with their dates, inventors and their nationalities.
56. Science Facts - Various interesting scientific facts in several categories (e.g. Beaufort windspeed scale, metric prefixes, etc.).
57. Tree Names - Latin names of some fairly common trees.
58. UK Roads - Road numbers for some regions in the UK.
59. Guitar Chords - Learn the basic guitar chords with SuperMemo.
60. Musical Terms - Over sixty musical terms like Andante, Adagio or Allegro and their meanings.
61. English Musical Vocabulary - Musical terms for learners of English interested in music.
62. Academy Awards - Movie fans can find Oscar lists of the Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress here.
63. Aikido - Japanese-English Aikido glossary for 7th through 5th Kiu examinations.
64. Karate White Belt - All the moves, terms and katas for the White Belt in Karate, Goyju-ryu Style, Meibu-Kai School.
65. Basic HTML - Over 150 basic HTML commands for web authors.
66. Financial Phrases - Almost 6,000 cards with financial phrases, terms and abbreviations.
67. Templates - A few sample SuperMemo category templates for your inspiration.
68. True-False - Sample database that shows how to prepare true-false quizzes in SuperMemo.
69. Multiple Choice - Sample database that shows how to prepare multiple choice quizzes in SuperMemo.

Now if it would only allow me to magically take a snapshot picture of their face! That would be great.

Isn't it great that God knows us (Jeremiah 1:5) - including our name. Names are important to God too. Why else would he change people's names in the Bible to reflect their new spiritual condition? It's because names are important to God too. It's why we know the 12 disciples by name. It's why we have names for God.
He Knows My Name Words and Music by Tommy Walker © 1996 Doulos Publishing I have a Maker He formed my heart Before even time began My life was in his hands Chorus He knows my name He knows my every thought He sees each tear that falls and He hears me when I call I have a Father He calls me His own He'll never leave me No matter where I go