Category Archives: USA

Bringing Back The Athenaeum

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

Before there were free public libraries in North America, there were membership funded libraries. Often called Athenaeums, these literary associations were supported by dues paying members whose fees were used to buy books, pay librarians, and lease space. You probably … Continue reading →

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A Cracking Good Idea

Posted on January 30, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

This week, the London street artist known as Furia ACK painted a large mural of the P.T. Barnum of American presidential politics on a wall in the East End Shoreditch neighborhood. As soon as the portrait was completed, Furia, along with friends … Continue reading →

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Reading By The Numbers

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Brian D. Butler
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Between Words

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

Chicago-based artist and web developer Nicholas Rougeux’s project “Between the Words” strips all of the letters, numbers and spaces from complete texts of iconic novels leaving just the punctuation. The remaining symbols are arranged in a continuous spiral. You can … Continue reading →

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Undiscovered Territory

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

In 2013, we followed artist and filmmaker Doug Aiken’s transcontinental traveling light/art/music show as it made its way from New York City to San Francisco. Aiken’s train-based, 24 day nomadic art show included participation by artists as diverse as Ed … Continue reading →

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Not Obsessed With WiFi

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

You may have heard about New York’s plan to create a city-wide free public wifi network based on freestanding kiosks. Well, yesterday the roll-out of the project began . The initial four units—on 3rd Avenue between 15th and 19th streets—from … Continue reading →

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In Flight

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

Brooklyn-based artist Juan Fontanive creates extraordinary automated flipbooks, which illuminate the flight of brightly colored birds and butterflies. The steel framed “books” contain gorgeous screen printed images on paper.

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Vice Travels Well

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

Last month, VICE released the inaugural episode in its new series of Vice City Guides videos. The first episode focuses on Brooklyn, New York (of course), with shows to follow soon on Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, … Continue reading →

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Buds and Breakfast

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

As more and more destinations legalize marijuana use, travelers who indulge are searching for accommodations that are amenable to cannabis use by guests. It’s no surprise that new services are popping up to meet the needs of this travel niche. … Continue reading →

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Are We There Yet ?

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

Way back in 2015, a neat old map detailing how long it took to travel from London to diverse destinations in 1914 was all over the internet. Now, the helpful Australian travel search engine Rome2rio has created a companion map … Continue reading →

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