Skip to content

Category Archives: Playing

Active Learning

[by me for the Dana Foundation blog. See more great stuff there!] Despite falling SAT scores and employers reporting that high-school grads can’t run the cash register, researchers, educators, and parents each have some pieces of the puzzle of how children learn best. But somehow, all these experts don’t always share what they know. Consider [...]

Posted 19 September 2011 † nickyp § Brain science § Just fun ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

The country’s library

This past Saturday I got to tour the Library of Congress with my some of my buddies from Washington Romance Writers. A WRW member, Virginia Virtucci, worked at LoC for 38 years and now volunteers as a docent, and she took us down hallways, up stairs and all around, describing just a few of the [...]

Posted 09 June 2011 † nickyp § Books § Learning ‡ Comments (0) °

Still Feeling the Spirit

The new bust of Frank Zappa was still dressed in holiday cheer last weekend. The statue was created by fans from Lithuania, an ex-Soviet Baltic state Zappa never visited; it’s a copy of one that that has stood Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, since 1995 (more on why). It was unveiled during a block party in my [...]

Posted 12 January 2011 † nickyp § Just fun ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Hope Cleo is not doing this

Found this video over at videosift.com: It really fires up around the :25 mark, but watching the whole thing reminds me how much we move around when we are “sleeping quietly.” The video credit on videosift is “by Perky,” on YouTube it’s “derrobsi.” Here’s where I found it: http://videosift.com/video/Time-lapse-man-sleeping-with-cat I wandered across it because I [...]

Posted 16 December 2010 † nickyp § Brain science § Learning § Thinking ‡ Comments (0) °

Housekeeping

Last month’s book-club pick was Marilynne Robinson’s HOUSEKEEPING, and it has taken me weeks to decide how I feel about it. Actually, I knew how I felt right away but discounted it because it doesn’t seem to match the tide of accolades the book has received. But I just didn’t enjoy it. It seems to [...]

Posted 30 April 2010 † nickyp § Books ‡ Comments (1) ° 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 § Learning ‡ 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 § Learning ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Return of Spring

The last snowpile is only inches high, and in the backyard the crocuses herald a break in the weather. This is the only bunch of white ones; all the others are lilac, like below:

Posted 13 March 2010 † nickyp § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Spring break

Where have I been? Austin! Best “club” show: Classical guitar stars Duo Melis at the Northwest Hills United Methodist Church. Best food this time: migas outside at Juanita’s (formerly a red caboose) at 1120 W. Fifth. Best exercise: Urban Dare Austin (we came in 51st of 150-some). Close second: Frisbee challenge in Wii Sports Resort. [...]

Posted 10 March 2010 † nickyp § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Snowpocalypse, take four

We in the Washington, DC, area have broken our total winter snowfall record, and it’s only Feb. 11. Right now we stand at 55.9 inches, far beyond our season average of 10.4 inches. (And at the moment, Baltimore’s 79.9 is beating Syracuse at 75.9 and Rochester at 63.9, according to Golden Snow Globe.) Yesterday, just [...]

Posted 11 February 2010 † nickyp § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: