Why does the US have 800 military bases around the world?
This video is partially based on facts researched by author David Vine for his book Base Nation. The book is about how military bases outside of the US -- 800 of them according to this video -- are actually not beneficial for our country because it forces us to work with hostile countries and projects an image of imperiialism on a global scale.
NYPL Emoji Bot on Twitter
This is fun. The New York Public Library has a Twitter bot that automatically responds to emoji Tweets with a photo from the NYPL digital archives. Just @ tweet the NYPL Emoji bot (@nyplemoji) with almost any emoji and see the result right away!
The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles
This is a wonderful tour of both the daily life of Josh Spencer and his amazing storage house of books called "The Last Bookstore".
The Last Bookstore is located in Downtown Los Angeles and to my surprise, up until this point I haven't heard of it nor noticed it in my numerous walks downtown. This is definitely going to be on my list of places to check out when I'm back there again.
One Book A Month (August): The Circle by Dave Eggers
Just started reading The Circle by Dave Eggers today. I'm not reading it because there's a movie based on the book coming out (although that's cool I guess), I'm reading it because it seems like a modern take on the whole dystopian future where information rules all. In many ways, the description of the book reminds me of my own interactions with Google and Facebook.
Anyway, pretty excited to read some fiction after last month's book. Have you read it? What did you think?
I finished 'Losing The Signal'
Feeling pretty good about myself right now! I actually finished this book in a month's time whereas the previous few books this year have taken me each a little over 30 days. The middle portion of this book about RIM's rise and fall is a bit slow, but very quickly, as the book progresses into RIM's failing years (starting about 2007 and on and getting more serious at about 2010) the book takes a turn that makes you never want to put the book down. It's similar to watching a trainwreck occur I guess. You can't stop reading about all the stupid decisions being made (but of course you're reading it all in hindsight).
For the tech-obsessed, it's a great read. I don't know if this book speaks to a larger audience since it gets a bit technical at times, but the authors Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff do a good job of even making those portions easy to digest. I'd still recommend it. Get it here.
Vivian The Dog Moves To Brooklyn
I'm a bit late in helping publicize this book project (it's already fully supported), but I suspect most of you have probably heard of it already. In any case, if you haven't, you missed out on funding a truly fun-sounding book called Vivian The Dog Moves To Brooklyn.
It's a sort of simple book about big changes in one's life. Author Mitch Boyer used his own dog Vivian as the main centerpiece of the book, enlarging her real-life small size to be bigger than 6-feet-tall in the book. It's good Photoshop combined with a good story. Can't wait for my copy to arrive.
