I finished six marathons and my exercise habit began by joining the cross country team in high school in 1986. Ultimate had a lot of running in it. Practice led me to love running. I didn’t at first, when I struggled. I’ve had my share of running injuries. Last year I started running barefoot, inspired by podcast guest Nir Eyal. Over the winter I tend to row inside on the[…] Keep reading →

Once in college my bike got a flat tire, so I took the subway home. It was probably before my year off, so likely 1989-90, but I forget. Back then I rode everywhere. I’d ride from campus to practice up at Baker Field at the north tip of Manhattan. I’d ride it to Prospect Park to play pick up. In both cases, each ride was a decent workout, but I’d[…] Keep reading →

I posted last year about finding syringes in Washington Square Park. I still find them. Wednesday, I met my dad at Penn Station as he was passing through Manhattan and had some time. The weather was warm but not too hot, so we chose to sit outside. We went to the steps of Moynihan Hall, the new train station across Eighth Avenue that used to be a post office. Here’s[…] Keep reading →

I exercise on a five-day rotation between lifting, resting, and cardio so months with 31 days give me an extra rest day to experiment. This time I decided to try to recapture my nearly five-year-old achievement of 5,000 meters in 20 minutes on the rowing machine, which means averaging 2:00/500m for 20 minutes. A well-trained man in his 20s or 30s could do it easily. A serious competitor might not[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday, walking south along the Hudson River, I saw a guy running sprints on a pier. The temperature hovered around 50F (10C). It had rained on and off all day and was raining then. He was alone, running sprints in the rain. I call that commitment where no one would know if you didn’t glorious. I was out on my daily walk to pick up litter. I was taking a[…] Keep reading →

I watched the documentary Dominion on how the factory farm system treats animals. It’s brutal but important. It shows many graphic scenes so I know the link below won’t play inline, but the producers made it freely available. Click through to watch it online. I recommend watching Dominion when you’re ready for a sobering gut-punch you’ll wish you had watched earlier. Why I recommend it I last ate meat in[…] Keep reading →

I would have viewed avoiding flying as missing out until I experienced what happens when I don’t fly. I don’t sit in the corner crying, feeling sorry for myself. I develop the skills to create what I used to pay for. I’ll give a few examples how avoiding flying, or as I put it now, staying local, enriched my life. Wondering how I’d get off North America, I took sailing[…] Keep reading →

My first business was based on an invention of mine that looked amazing—an optical device that animated still images to people in motion. For the business, we installed them on subway tunnel walls to show ads to riders between stations, sharing revenue with the subway system, before everyone had animation devices in their pockets. Outside the business, I also explored the medium as an art with properties unlike any other,[…] Keep reading →

On January 9, 2001 the Wall Street Journal published New Motion-Picture Advertising May Enhance London Subway Rides by Sarah Ellison, on the technology I conceived of. We launched later that year in Atlanta, then soon after New York City, Philadelphia, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Budapest, Athens, Mexico City, Chicago, and more, eventually reaching the Heathrow Express. News coverage of our launches Our launches got a lot of press. The technology was[…] Keep reading →