For the life of me I can’t remember where I first came across this. So I can’t thank them.
If all the world was like eBay.
customer: I’d like to buy this HDMI cable thanks.
shop assistant: Sure, that will be $10 please.
customer: [hands over $10]
shop assistant: Thanks friend!! That was a fast and seamless transaction. You are a 100%, AAA+++ shopper! What a pleasant and uplifting experience 
I will happily sell to you in the future and fully recommend you to other stores!!!!!
Posted in none of the above
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Any spot on earth
From William Steig’s Caldecott Award acceptance speech, 1970:
Art, including juvenile literature, has the power to make any spot on earth the living center of the universe, and unlike science, which often gives us the illusion of understanding things we really do not understand, it helps us to know life in a way that still keeps before us the mystery of things. It enhances the sense of wonder. And wonder is respect for life.
I have nothing to add.
Read the whole speech here [brought to my attention by gizo]
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On Dr Seuss and iPhones
This morning I listed to episode 30 of The Daily Edition with Dan Benjamin, one of the 5by5 stable of podcasts.
Dan’s guest for this episode was Michel Kripalani, president of Oceanhouse Media who are the developers responsible for adapting Dr Seuss’s books for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Among other things, he talked about the process of adapting the books for these devices while maintaining the whole point of the original books – to help kids learn to read. Worth a listen.
I have dutifully downloaded The cat in the hat but am yet to test it on my kids.
Posted in books for kids, tech
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Perhaps the words I need to hear…
But if you want to be a writer, than be a writer, for god’s sake. It’s not that hard, and it doesn’t require that much effort on a day to day basis. Find the time or make the time. Sit down, shut up and put your words together. Work at it and keep working at it. And if you need inspiration, think of yourself on your deathbed saying “well, at least I watched a lot of TV.” If saying such a thing as your life ebbs away fills you with existential horror, well, then. I think you know what to do.
Get the rest of the kick up the pants over at Scalzi’s blog.
The home project 1: My favourite photographer
My sweetheart spends a lot of her time behind the camera. Sometimes people give her a hard time about it, but she captures memories that would otherwise fade far too quickly.
2011 is the year you get to see her on the other side of the lens.
Because she is beautiful and I love her.
– -
The Home Project was inspired by Bon.
The idea is to post a photo of my beloved every Monday. To be honest, I can’t promise a photo every week, but let’s see how we do.
Posted in me
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