Just wonderful

Don't you just love when life presents you with those purely wonderful tidbits of time?

bp's science: recalling facts

I recently read an article about the game show Jeopardy.  It is right there behind Wheel of Fortune as one of the longest running game shows ever.  The article mentioned that people enjoy it today almost as much as they did in the past, but the novelty of recalling facts is losing its coolness.  Because we can Google anything we want at pretty much any time we want, having the skill of remembering tidbits is no longer required or valued as highly.

Is this a good thing? Or a bad thing? Or does this even matter?  I certainly have not put any facts to long term memory recently.  I have memorized about eleven telephone numbers, but more than half of them I learned before age 15 and some are obsolete now.  The sharpness of our brains depends upon our working it.  We learn more vocabulary by reading. We become better problem solvers by routinely thinking creatively.  We hone our ability to recall things when we put our memory to the test often.  With so much info at our fingertips are we really smarter?  Or is Googling making us dumber?  I cannot say that I have read anywhere that this deluge of facts is making us less smart, but I have to wonder how it does affect our brains.

No science here, just questions. But isn't that where science begins?  Okay, enough with my philosophical questions.  I'd better get to memorizing a quote or verse of scripture or maybe even a poem from Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends.

at seventeen months

Ansel is an adventurer, he can run fast, and he loves to brush his 12 (soon to be 13) teeth.  His favorite books are On Market Street by Anita and Arnold Lobel and Circus Numbers by Rodney Peppé.  He loves a good tune and dances like a pro.  He likes to sing "Lollipop." He kicks the soccer ball and bounces the basketball. He gets excited about all technology items that begin with an "i."  And he very much enjoys being around people.  Friends, I present to you toddler Ansel.

Making sense of it all, part iv

Bah, I typed up a science post for this week.  It was almost done and then, bam, iPad out of battery power. It turned off and nothing was saved. Darn. I didn't have the energy to type it all up again, so no bp's science for this week. I'll try again next week :)

But this post is about a much cooler thing, Oliver.  He is such a fun kid. And a ham.

The other day he was swinging on the play set so very high and said, "Mom, I'm using all my allergy!"  He meant "energy."

He likes to make up words and give them meanings.  The latest: imbince, which is to make someone fall without them knowing what's coming.

The other day I taught him the art of drawing on magazine faces.  He took to it quite quickly and made a mustachioed man playing golf.

Oliver always asks how long it will be until we go to our planned event for the day.  Whether I reply 10 minutes or two hours he always says, "That's not very long."  Patient boy.

And just to add, Oliver got up before me (Jess was up and showering) one morning and did this.

It's his version of the phonetic alphabet.  My favorite: aich for H.