Distance

Many years ago, I taught English to kids in Kenya who couldn't afford to pay for school. Each morning, skinny children packed the wooden benches of my informal classroom, their bare feet covered with red dust from the road. I took the job seriously, determined to give parents updates on their progress. "Where do you live?" I asked one little boy. "Not far," he said, pointing to a distant mountain. The next day, I set off. I walked an hour, until I was sure I was lost.

Winning games is the bottom line for Jake Peavy. As strong as his pitching has been, he still wants to improve. Peavy pitched his second straight complete game but was outdueled by Jon Lester and the Red Sox bullpen as the White Sox lost 1-0 to Boston on Saturday night — Chicago's fifth straight defeat. The former Cy Young winner was masterful again, limiting a Red Sox offense that had scored 20 runs in the first two games of the series to just four hits and one run. Peavy (3-1)

Days after state environmental officials found unacceptable noise levels from wind turbines in Falmouth, they are considering new regulations that would require the state to review potential noise issues before wind turbines are built in Massachusetts. The state might also conduct sound studies in other communities, such as Fairhaven and Kingston, where residents, as in Falmouth, have complained about newly installed turbines, officials said. A panel of independent scientists and doctors, convened by the state to look at the effects of wind turbines on the health of nearby residents, urged the...

We spend lots of time in this space trying to understand our state's driving laws, which are so often unclear. Rarely, though, do we get around to asking why certain rules exist in the first place. Enter reader Joe Rivers of Sharon, who wants to know the origin of signs on firetrucks that read, "Stay back 300 feet. " "How was that distance selected in the first place, and have safety officials ever thought of revising that to something more reasonable?" he recently e-mailed.

American movies can always be counted on to get some things wrong about everyday life: brushing teeth, telephones, kissing, but mostly and especially talking about sex. The line is fine between an honest conversation about sex and plain old dirty talk. There are, in fact, so few constructive conversations about procedure, preference, and pleasure that it’s possible to spend a lifetime wondering how a film industry that spends so much time and money in pursuit of sex puts so little of it on screen convincingly.

Q. Are there negative health consequences to running ultramarathons? A. In recent years, more and more people have been pushing the envelope of distance running, competing in so-called ultramarathons (races with a distance longer than the traditional marathon's 26.2 miles). Some races take place over multiple days and add into the equation inhospitable terrain such as high altitude, steep climbs, and routes through deserts. Many of us may question the sanity of such races, but they also raise a question about the runners' physical...

We spend lots of time in this space trying to understand our state's driving laws, which are so often unclear. Rarely, though, do we get around to asking why certain rules exist in the first place. Enter reader Joe Rivers of Sharon, who wants to know the origin of signs on firetrucks that read, "Stay back 300 feet. " "How was that distance selected in the first place, and have safety officials ever thought of revising that to something more reasonable?" he recently e-mailed.

Illness knocks runner off track Lauren Columbare (inset) was three quarters of the way through the one-mile race during an indoor meet at the University of Rhode Island this winter when her legs suddenly gave out. "I physically couldn't move," recalled Columbare, a freshman distance runner from Mansfield. "I knew I was capable of going faster, but I didn't understand why I wasn't. " A two-time Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Week running cross-country last fall, Columbare made a visit to her doctor.

Photos by Jessica Bartlett The 400-foot-tall crane in the distance --- way in the distance -- is expected to begin lifting the huge pieces of Scituate's wind turbine next week. Click on the photos to see larger images.

NEW YORK -- AT&T Corp. said it may write down the value of some of its $43.8 billion in assets, intensifying speculation the nation's largest long-distance phone company is a takeover target. Last month, the company said it would stop marketing its residential services. In its second-quarter report, filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, AT&T said that decision means it can review its assets for a possible write-down. A write-down, which analysts estimate could be in the billions of dollars, would reflect that its assets have declined in value...

Many years ago, I taught English to kids in Kenya who couldn't afford to pay for school. Each morning, skinny children packed the wooden benches of my informal classroom, their bare feet covered with red dust from the road. I took the job seriously, determined to give parents updates on their progress. "Where do you live?" I asked one little boy. "Not far," he said, pointing to a distant mountain. The next day, I set off. I walked an hour, until I was sure I was lost.

By now, Brigitte Scheinmann's house in West Roxbury is thoroughly clean, her everyday dishes, pots, and pans put away, and the Passover kitchen unboxed. The Tunisia native follows the tradition of her mother and grandmother — one that most observant Jews around the world follow — of preparing her home for the eight-day Passover holiday that begins Friday night. Changing your routine and the foods you eat, she says, "gives more meaning to the holiday. " Scheinmann moved to Paris with her parents and older brother when she was 2. Her father's parents followed a few years...

By Matt Goisman, Globe Correspondent Somerville High School's outdoor track and field teams will begin their season Thursday afternoon against Everett at Dilboy Stadium. Both the boys' and girls' squads went undefeated and claimed Greater Boston League titles last spring, but key losses to both rosters might hurt their chances to repeat this year. "I think we just could be that one or two person short this season," says girls' coach Charlie O'Rourke. See our gallery of Somerville High track photos here.

Illness knocks runner off track Lauren Columbare (inset) was three quarters of the way through the one-mile race during an indoor meet at the University of Rhode Island this winter when her legs suddenly gave out. "I physically couldn't move," recalled Columbare, a freshman distance runner from Mansfield. "I knew I was capable of going faster, but I didn't understand why I wasn't. " A two-time Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Week running cross-country last fall, Columbare made a visit to her doctor.

The Boston Beer Co. unveiled its marathon-themed beer, Samuel Adams 26.2, Thursday night with a tasting at the Boston Athletic Association's headquarters. Among those sampling the low-alcohol beer were (from left) Kristine Lilly, two-time Olympic gold medalist with the US women's soccer team who's running this year's Boston Marathon; BAA president Joann Flaminio; and Boston Beer Co. founder Jim Koch. The beer should begin showing up in local bars and restaurants as early as this weekend.

World sprint champion Stefan Groothuis won the 1,000-meter title at the speedskating single distance world championships Friday, finishing ahead of Dutch teammate Kjeld Nuis and two-time Olympic 1,000 champ Shani Davis of the U.S. Another Dutchman, Sven Kramer, won the 5,000 to cap season in which he returned from a year off because of a right thigh injury with his fourth world title over the distance. "I could not have hoped for more than this," Kramer said. "The European and world all-round titles and now this.

Here's Camden Yards, quiet as a library for now. If you've never taken in a game here, you should make plans to come down. Baltimore is an easy place to get to, there are plenty of hotels within walking distance and the ballpark is just beautiful. Can't recommend it enough.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The first time around, he didn't have to go quite the distance. But the second time around? Matt Kenseth went the distance - and then some - to win the 54th running of the Daytona 500 early Tuesday morning in a green-white-checkered finish at 12:55 a.m. over runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kenseth delivered car owner Jack Roush his 300th NASCAR victory, going two laps beyond the race's 200-lap distance. "It feels great," said Kenseth, whose first Daytona 500 win in 2009 came in a rain-shortened race that was halted after 152 laps.

Medfield's Nixon is track All-American Medfield High grad Kallie Nixon and her three teammates on the middle-distance relay squad at Bates College earned All-America honors last weekend at the NCAA Division 3 indoor track & field championships. A sophomore, Nixon ran the 1,200-meter lead-off leg for the Bobcats, who placed eighth overall at the meet in Grinnell, Iowa. She is following in the fleet footsteps of her mother, Sarah, who has qualified for the Boston Marathon 17 years in a row. Nixon was Maine's collegiate champion at 1,000 meters this winter,...

Peabody's Christensen to return from injury at national meet Nick Christensen (inset) is back on the big stage, in New York City, geared up to challenge the other top high school milers in the country. The Peabody High senior injured his Achilles' tendon competing in the Northeastern Conference meet Feb. 3, forcing him to skip the Division 1, All-State, and New England championship meets last month. However, after running through a hard workout that included a blistering series of 18 200-yard sprints last week at...