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Category Archives: Learning

Satire, 1819-style

From my research-pile, a snippet of one of the snarky songs of the late Regency period: WHEN full sedition’s stalking through the land, It then behoves each patriotic band      Of Noble Minded Yeomen Cavaliers; To sally forth and rush upon the mob, And execute the Magisterial Job      Of cutting off the Ragamuffin’s ears. HOW valiantly [...]

Posted 25 May 2010 † nickyp § History § Writing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Learning about learning

This week I attended back-to-back conferences on learning and the brain. The first was held at my favorite art-place, the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. I got a few tips on how to space my study hours and what not to say about “learning styles.” You can see my giant story on it on [...]

Posted 09 May 2010 † nickyp § Brain science ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Second draft hurtles into view

So, after a sluggish start and some mild howling about the first draft of my Manchester story, I managed to build a weekend’s-full of space to get down to reorganizing and shaping this behemoth. This is the revised sentence-for-scene outline, all 15.5 pages of it. It took me 17 hours over two days and the [...]

Posted 07 April 2010 † nickyp § Reading § Thinking § Writing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Grace Hopper, in at the beginning

Happy Ada Lovelace Day! As per findingada.com: “Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science.” One of the women who inspired me to continue my interest in science, even as I changed my major from engineering to [...]

Posted 24 March 2010 † nickyp § ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , ,

Gazing with new eyes

On a recent rainy Sunday afternoon in Baltimore, I joined a couple dozen people participating in an experiment in neuroaesthetics, helping researchers try to take a reading on what art does to our brains. The exhibit/experiment “Beauty and the Brain: A Neural Approach to Aesthetics” at the Walters Art Museum is a collaboration between the [...]

Posted 19 March 2010 † nickyp § Brain science § Playing ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , , ,

It’s Brain Awareness Week

This year it’s the 15th anniversary of the worldwide event to celebrate the brain. To paraphrase my dentist (who asks me every visit, “How is everything in your mouth?”), how is everything in your brain? To learn more, and maybe understand more, check out an BAW event this week–there are hundreds listed on the Dana [...]

Posted 14 March 2010 † nickyp § Brain science § Playing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Join the fun

Here are some of the things you can do during Brain Awareness Week, the global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. The video is from a BAW tour for school groups at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, DC, in 2009. The photos are from [...]

Posted 29 January 2010 † nickyp § Brain science ‡ Comments (0) °

Stay tuned

We are in final edits on a cute little video showing some of the fun stuff people do to celebrate Brain Awareness Week, which this year will be March 15–21. It’s my first foray into video-making since the early 1980s, and I am quite a bit rusty, so this will be an “unauthorized” version, but [...]

Posted 28 January 2010 † nickyp § Brain science § Playing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

H.M. Brain Dissection Live Online

The brain of Henry Molaison, the most famous amnesic and perhaps the most-studied neurological patient in history, will go under the knife starting Wednesday morning. Mr. Molaison, who died in December 2008, donated his brain to science; as part of the Brain Observatory Project, his contribution will help thousands of researchers worldwide. Brain Project scientists [...]

Posted 01 December 2009 † nickyp § Brain science ‡ Comments (0) °

Gaskell’s Mary Barton

Just finished MARY BARTON, by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in 1848 based on events in 1837-42 in Manchester, England. I have the Norton Critical edition (2008), but before I wander through its learned criticism, here are a few thoughts. Wow, what a difference from SHIRLEY. Though both Bronte and Gaskell use a chatty omniscient first-person [...]

Posted 15 September 2009 † nickyp § Books ‡ Comments (0) °