happy nyc marathon day!

Joan Benoit Samuelson, the matriarch of American distance running, winner of the first Olympic marathon for women in 1984 and pioneer in bringing acceptance to women’s distance running said: “Marathoning is a metaphor for life, so there are a lot of parallels you can draw. I tell people to follow your dream, follow your heart, follow your passion, run your own race and believe in yourself. I think anybody who wants to succeed has to have passion.” above: exhaustion gives way to elation as runners round the bottom of the park and head towards the finish check out the course and run it in three and a half minutes flat here.

books and muffin crumbs

Anne Fadiman (b. 1953) believes that if you truly love a book, you should sleep with it, write in it, read aloud from it, and fill its pages with muffin crumbs. Excuse me but I must leave this instant to buy some Muffins For Work.

Why did the chicken cross 125th Street?

"That’s what some East Harlem residents are trying to figure out. A bunch of chickens and a big white turkey appeared near the corner of 125th Street and Second Avenue last week and began pecking in traffic." The New York Times. Read more here.

Psychologically Sound Picture Book

Kate Kellaway, in a review of Children's picture books, 2-5 years (which appeared in the Observer on Sunday October 26 on p25 of the Features and reviews section) called How To Be A Baby: By Me, The Big Sister "the most psychologically sound, entertaining story to shore up the dented ego of an older child faced with a new baby." The Professor would certainly agree. The review is also in the Guardian online and you can read it here.

tech tips, basically

What are the basic computer basics-that-you-thought-everyone-knew? In a piece in the New York Times, Pogue lists some I had no idea about ... like if you hit the space bar it scrolls down one page's worth and if you add the shift key it goes back up. Cool. Also Google does maths for you. What about this Experiment. Try typing in this horrid head-achey equation: 23*15.3+15/3= (what does that even mean?) and then hit Enter. (On the computer, as we totally already knew of course, * means "times" and / means "divided by.") Want to know more? You can read Pogue's Tech Tips here and even add some of your own. Sorry excuse me but I have to go and practice my equations and scrolls now.

world magazine article

Susan Olasky very kindly came and interviewed me and wrote an article and you can read it here.

very funny

Recently, at an undisclosed facility, in a top secret location, an Expert tested out How To Be A Baby: By Me, The Big Sister. (He is, of course, Professor of Tinyness at Baby University in Teeny-Weeny-on-Thames.)

Here are the results.





His eloquence is stunning and scholars are unanimous: his argument is water-tight and irrefutable.

The Biblioburro

what about this? a mobile library in Colombia run by Luis Soriano. it's called the "Biblioburro" and he started it because he believes taking books to people who do not have them can somehow improve this impoverished region. on his way he stops to read stories to children. how great to have books you can biblioburro borrow. as the New York Times says... this "Acclaimed Colombian Institutions has 4,800 books and 10 legs". More here.