Hi there. This home page tells a bit about my background and interests.
Brief biography:
I spent most of my childhood growing up overseas. My late father worked for
UNICEF, so my family moved from country to country pretty often.
Lived in New Delhi, India; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Paris, France.
Spent junior high and high school in Scarsdale, New York.
Studied engineering and liberal arts as an undergraduate. Graduated with a degree in
philosophy. Then I had a three year brush with the law. (Law school.)
I didn't find the law to my liking, so shifted career paths
to one of my true loves - - - teaching.
Taught computers in elementary and junior high school for about four years.
Then quit teaching to develop educational software full time.
While doing the software thing I did quite a bit of freelance writing
about educational technology. Wrote for some Scholastic publications,
Quality Computer's "Enhance," and a few other publications.
Did freelance writing work for Apple Computer.
Hobbies and Interests: Doing two things at the same time;
finding new ways of doing things; breaking the rules;
sharing discoveries with others; hearing about other people's discoveries.
Community volunteering; writing; user groups; the freenet movement;
playing guitar; spending time with children and computers;
going to the library; spending time with friends; thinking about things;
hearing from others who have been thinking about things;
working on collaborative projects; reading computer news on the web;
downloading files with intriguing descriptions;
meeting people of shared interest; answering e-mail.
MP3 Children's Stories
My friend Katie Davis, formerly of National Public Radio, has been very kindly helping me
make mp3 sound files from various children's stories and nonfiction I've written. I'm hoping
to assemble an hour's worth of mp3 files that kids could listen to on their Diamond Rio while
on long car trips.
One of my stories I like most myself is The Story of Tommy Trimble, whose
passion is to trim things. One day Tommy completely disappears. Find out why
by listening to The Story of Tommy Trimble.
One of the first children's stories I wrote tells the true tale of how
the Apollo 11 astronauts snuck an acorn with them to plant on the moon.
Find out more about their plans in They Forgot to Plant the Acorn on the Moon.
Did you know that many Canadian children learn to ice skate before they
learn to walk? Learn all about Canadian walking rinks.
Have you ever gotten thirsty while scuba diving? Well now there is a way
for you to drink underwater.
What happens when a young bat can't fall asleep because he's afraid
of the light? Learn how a mom bat comes to the rescue in
Barry the Bat.
Feedback about these stories is always welcome at: pshapiro@his.com
Other children's stories and nonfiction I've written can be found
on my original web site.
A big thanks is owed to Tripod for giving me free web space to put the
mp3 versions of my children's stories. Hope others have as much fun
listening to these stories as I had in listening to my imagination.
For those who might be interested, here are some tips on listening to mp3 sound
files. My favorite Mac freeware mp3 sound player is Norman Franke's outstanding
SoundApp program.
Another good Mac program for listening to mp3 sound files is MacAMP.
On the Windows side of things, one of the most popular mp3 sound players is the shareware WinAMP.
The Windows Media Player also theoretically plays mp3 sound files.
To listen to the stories I've written you might need to configure your web browser's
helper application so that your browser knows which program you like to use
to listen to mp3 sound files delivered over the Internet. In Netscape 4.x you can
specify your helper applications by choosing "Preferences" under the "Edit" menu.
For those of you who'd like to make your own mp3 sound files, I can highly recommend
the Mac freeware program called MPecker.
And I've heard many good things about AudioCatalyst, a commercial mp3 encoder program
available for both Mac and Windows computers.
Joe Pollon, sales manager at Xing Technology, the publisher of AudioCatalyst,
went out of his way to answer my questions about AudioCatalyst.
Communities I'm a member of:
Tripod
Kidsphere
CapAccess
America OnlineWashington Apple PiCapital PC Users GroupOne World Media CenterBerkeley Macintosh Users GroupCommunity Technology Centers' NetworkFriends of the Chevy Chase DC Library
Federation of the Friends of DC Public Libraries
Society for Greater Mischief and More Giggling Worldwide
Society for Laziness, Effortlessness, and Procrastination (SLEAP)
Publications I enjoy reading:
Net-Happenings
Boardwatch Magazine
Computer Retail Week
Network World
Interactive Age
The Washington Post
The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal
MacWorld
MacWeek
Children's Software Revue
Electronic Learning
TidBits
Flash Magazine
MacSense
Time
Newsweek
Harpers
Whole Earth Review
Popular Science
Publisher's Weekly
Harvard Business Review
Scientific American
Business Week
Sensitive Poets Weekly
Journal of Computer Mediated Communications
Electronic Journal of Virtual Culture
Library Journal
Online
Seidman's Online Insider
DCWatch
Right Brain Times
Current Cites
Technology Connection
ClarisWorks Journal
Mottos to live by:
"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."
Helen Keller.
"A life is only as important as the effect it has on other lives."
Jackie Robinson.
"If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else."
Booker T. Washington
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Albert Einstein.
"A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
Oliver Wendell Holmes.
"What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Goethe.
"Wisdom is knowing what to do next; skill is knowing how to do it,
and virtue is doing it."
David Starr Jordan.
"Never doubt the power of a small group of committed people to change the world.
That's about the only way it has ever happened in the past."
Margaret Mead.
"We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of the dreams."
Willie Wonka.
"We are as gods, so we might as well get good at it."
Stewart Brand.
"I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink;
I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me;
I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.
I thirsted for knowledge, and you gave me an opportunity to learn."
Jesus.
"In every idea a multitude of new ideas is lying dormant."
Emmanual Swedenborg.
"Wisdom that is hid, and treasure that is hoarded up, what profit is in them both?"
Jesus.
"The earliest you can start any project is now."
Lucy Mallan.
"Two web links diverged in a yellow wood,
And I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost.
Things that are important in my life: creativity, honor, respect, dignity,
fairness, work, friends, family, community, chocolate.
People I Look Forward to Communicating With: Other educational software developers,
cognitive science researchers, a Dickensian benefactor, illustrators of children's books, people
interested in gifted and talented education, other technology access activists, another Dickensian
benefactor, people interested in using computers with the frail elderly, chocolate company sample
products manager, new multimedia hardware seeding managers, friendly internet service providers,
cable modem manufacturers, CD-R sample disk managers, and people whose first name begins with
the letter "L."
Places I'd like to live sometime:
Australia; Denmark; Alaska; The Bay Area; Boston; Vancouver; Minnesota; Michigan;
Dulles, Virginia.
Am always interested in hearing from others of shared interest. The best way to reach me is via e-mail
at:
pshapiro@his.com
First set up: 6/24/98
Last modified 2/26/99.
(Note: This is what text looks like if you don't switch off smart quotes in your word processor: ÒSmart quotesÓ all over the placeÕ
This web page is a derivative of my original web page. The original page has
more of my creative writings, which I haven't had time to move over here.
