I have great news for you. The brain is extremely plastic. Read about neuroplasticity here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity

Rest assured that your capacity to acquire new skills and knowledge is massive.

You don't just get smarter. You get smarter at something in particular. Playing chess, doing IQ tests, running the 100m dash, programming, social skills, public speaking, etc. So you need to pick a particular skill or set of skills or vocation and decide to get smarter at that.

There are some general rules for improving brain function though. Here are a few:

1. Read books. Reading trains your brain to concentrate for long periods of time without fatigue or distraction. There is a growing school of thought that the short bursts of reading and frequent distractions we experience online are harming our ability for deep contemplation, introspection and concentration. See Nicholas Carr, The Shallows. http://n.pr/bnAfRV

2. Try to get 10 hours of sleep a night. Sleep improves mental and athletic performance. http://n.pr/9wQsXr

3. Maintain your cardiovascular fitness. I highly recommend running. After years of cycling, swimming, hiking, etc I've found that running gives my brain function the biggest boost and provides me with sustained mental energy through the day. A good cardiovascular system supplies your brain with plenty of healthy oxygen rich blood. It's like putting racing fuel in your car.

4. Eat well. Cook your own food. Avoid processed or pre-prepared foods and non-organic foods (mainly due to the pesticides). Fish is awesome, but watch out for mercury.

5. Don't drink anything stronger than wine. Don't do drugs. (just like your mom told you)

6. Watch your weight. I find the biggest source of mental fatigue is when I've gained a few pounds.

Good luck, and congratulations on making the decision at a relatively young age to focus on your mental fitness.

I'm not quite sure what the problem is. OkCupid's goal is to help its users find dates. People rarely date someone who's very significantly more or less attractive than they are. Directing people to users with whom they're much likelier to find success actually seems quite sensible, not "less than OK".

As I get older and grumpier I tend to appreciate Linus' point of view more and more. It's easy to get swept up by arguments of the expressiveness of a language, particularly in small examples. However, I think in the long run it's better to have very explicit code. The less jumping around and inference I have to do to figure out what a block of code does the more likely it is that I understand it and that I can quickly verify that it does what it needs to do. If that makes code a little more verbose I think it's usually still worth it.

For a fun exercise, try replacing "men" with "black people" and "women" with "white people" throughout this article, and speculate on whether The Atlantic would have published it.

"What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to white people?"

"White people live longer than black people. They do better in this economy. More of ’em graduate from college. They go into space and do everything black people do, and sometimes they do it a whole lot better. I mean, hell, get out of the way—these white people are going to leave us black people in the dust."

"Researchers have suggested any number of solutions. A movement is growing for more all-black schools and classes, and for respecting the individual learning styles of black people. Some people think that black people should be able to walk around in class, or take more time on tests, or have tests and books that cater to their interests."

OMG, I've been waiting for someone to build something like this forever.

I've always hated the fact that all major travel sites work based on the assumption that you already know exactly when and where you're going, rather than at least giving you the option to explore your options.