Middlefocus

What has happened to the tasks and dares that used to be printed on Starburst Wrappers? They weren't included in two recent purchases. As explained in this earlier post  I use the sweets in icebreaker sessions for meetings I facilitate. The tasks are fun and lift energy in the room. Hope they are brought back, meantime: Mental note to call their marketing team!

They've gone, what a pity! It has been great working these past two days with student teachers from Stranmillis and St Mary's University Colleges.  Memories of my own student days came flooding back, especially so today as I had some time by myself to wander around my old College of Education and see rooms used for new purposes. Technology is an obvious difference although alongside the electronic whiteboard in the lecture room was an overhead projector.  I was a big fan of the OHP and still think its a useful tool even though it isn't much used these days. Much was familiar and it was surprising to recall faces and events from over 40 years ago.  I well remember those aims and objectives, the lesson plans and visual aids - collages of magazine cut-outs pasted onto sheets of coloured manilla card. I reflected on the hopes, dreams and ambitions of the class of '73. Many of us, intent on changing the world, have now retired after lifetimes dedicated to the service o...

You know how it is, new technology comes along and replaces the older stuff. Problem is that the old stuff was once new and even though its operating system cannot be upgraded or it doesn't have the new bells and whistles, it still works. So what to do with the previous generations of stuff? What I've done is added a selection of driving tunes to the little shuffle. An audio lead connects with the car's radio and there you go a playlist for the road. The shuffle is tiny so can be left in the glove box. The old nano is set up to hold podcasts of favourite shows and sits in the study/office close to a supply of pens and paper. That way any useful snippets, quotes, suggestions or links can be jotted down and filed for future reference. Then there's the trusty iPod Touch. That got so much use in the past but the collection of music eventually exceeded capacity and these days it serves as a repository for audiobooks. Yes it sometimes travels in the car, especially for l...

All these books on the go at the same time?  Yes and many more too. At first glance it hardly seems to be a productive way to approach the matter of reading.... but if you can watch many different tv series over a week or a month - you can have several books on the go at the same time... Can't you? That all depends on our purpose for reading.  I read for pleasure, information, ideas and inspiration and reading for these purposes necessarily means having several books on the go at the same time. Take The Goldfinch there for example.  Now that's a BIG read and naturally involves a good investment of time.  I've cheated a bit with this one though to create room for others.  I've done that by downloading the Audible version as well. The "talking book" recording lasts a total of nearly 32 and a half hours! The audio version means that I can keep the book on the go while driving or doing other things and can resume the pleasure of reading again when I get th...

Planning out this post in my Moleskin Notebook At a recent exhibition, hosted in the Queen's University Belfast Naughton Gallery, I was taken by the inclusion of the notebook pictured below in one of the gallery bookcases. It was one of 47 kept by the engineer Peter Rice (1935-1992). The exhibition, entitled Traces of Peter Rice, included dozens of photographs and models of many of the projects worked on by this gifted and talented creative.  I needed to know more and purchased the accompanying book,  Traces of Peter Rice ,  Barry, K. (ed) Lilliput Press, Dublin, 2012. Towards the end of the text J. Philip O'Kane has provided an essay, On first looking into Rice's engineering notebooks.  It's a fascinating read that has preserved in my mind's eye an enduring image of a simple, black, A4 notebook. Notebook belonging to Peter Rice, engineer On the pages selected for display there are preparatory notes for a video-recorded lecture given to young ...