1. Tomorrow is my birthday! (And Tolkein’s.) I will sew on my new sewing machine and eat some seafood. I’ve made a list of things I want to accomplish by my next birthday that I’ll post on Monday.

2. Today is Issac Asimov’s birthday, and yesterday was both J.D. Salinger’s and E.M. Forster’s birthday.

3. Well duh, New York Times: an article announces that it costs less to make things than to buy them. At Jo-Ann, the supplies to make a child’s apron and chef hat cost $7.90 for fabric designed with gingerbread men, iron-on letters to spell “chef” and elastic. Making a hand-knit throw costs $40 for nine skeins of yarn and $6 for knitting needles; a similar-looking item at Pottery Barn costs $129.

They don’t mention that it takes about four months to knit that throw.