Author Archives: Brian D. Butler

The Travel Guide Evolves

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

I’m continually surprised by the smart and unexpected ways that social media tools are transformed and appropriated for fun and practical uses. The clever gang behind the social travel app JetPac City Guides (free iOS) has scoured every public Instagram … Continue reading →

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Library Science

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

Here’s a little library trifecta for you: The British Library has released over one million images into the Public Domain by placing them for all to use for free on the Flickr Commons. The images are taken from digitized books … Continue reading →

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Yule Got Your Goat

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

If you’re a gambler, the bookies in Gävle, Sweden are still taking bets on the fate of this year’s Gävlebocken ( Gävle Goat ). Each winter since 1966 the city in central Sweden has been erecting a 40-foot tall straw … Continue reading →

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We Always Remember

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Brian D. Butler
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Everything Comes To An End

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

I read this week that Nordstedts, the Swedish publisher of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series has engaged author David Lagercrantz to write an “original” sequel to Stieg Larsson‘s Millennium series using characters from the trilogy. I don’t know … Continue reading →

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Little Failure

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

I generally ignore video book trailers, and I’m not much of a memoir reader, but I’m a big fan of Gary Shteyngart‘s novels ( and his wacky book trailers) so I watched this one. The amusing, self-deprecating trailer for Shteyngart’s new … Continue reading →

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The Great War

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

I recently had a number of conversations with young friends and family members about their difficulties with their history classes in high schools and at university. As a former history teacher, I found the lack of connection with the subject … Continue reading →

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What’s On Your Wall

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

This time of the year many of us receive corporate calendars as holiday “gifts”. Most are pretty humdrum and unexceptional, but this year the uber hip U.S. hotel chain The Standard has managed to shake things up a bit with an unorthodox … Continue reading →

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I Want a MultiPass

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

The MultiPass—named after a personal identification device seen in the sci-fi flick The Fifth Element—is a digital card that will allow users to pay for virtually any type of transportation throughout the UK. Like a digital wallet for travelers, the … Continue reading →

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The Little Prince : A New York Story

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Brian D. Butler

 For seven decades booklovers around the world have been drawn to Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry’s parable of an interstellar traveler, The Little Prince, who comes to Earth in search of friendship, compassion, and understanding. Few readers, however, realize that the iconic … Continue reading →

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