Daily Thoughts 05/05/2012
I read some more of Straphanger this morning. Taras Grescoe is writing about Vancouver, Canada and Portland, Oregon both of which have excellent public transportation networks.
The Friends of the Library are having their book and bake sale today. They are also serving tea, coffee, and have an excellent selection of cake and cookies as well as all kinds of books.
I checked the displays this morning and updated the Twitter and Facebook for the library today. I also spent some time looking at Black Expressions Book Club which is quite interesting to look at. They have a very large selection of titles. http://www.blackexpressions.com/
It is almost the end of the Friends of the Library Book and Bake Sale. They are having an end of sale special where you can buy a bag of books.
I practiced a little more on Codecademy. I think I am getting a grasp of HTML and have a better idea of exactly what CSS does.
I am thinking a bit about the author event for Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.
On the way home, I finished reading Taras Grescoe, Straphanger Saving Our Cities and Ourselves From the Automobile. I found this to be a very modern view focused on using trolleys, subways, and trains in an urban setting. The authot is focusing on trains, trolleys, and subways in major metropolises where it is easier to use trains a lot and not drive as much. It reminds me very much of the kind of people who use coworking spaces or work from home and don't need to commute that much because they telecommute. Maybe, they only use their car on weekends, or possibly use a car sharing service when they need a car like Zipcar.
There is quite a bit of pondering on the environment. He prefers trains that are electric, sleek, and fast. Taras Grescoe even hates buses. Part of the message is about the environment and how it is better to live in a dense urban environment with walkable cities and plenty of bicycle paths. There is a kind of leftist utopian view in the book with a few anti-libertarian diatribes. There is a quirky feel to the book which make it entertaining if not a little eccentric.
I also started reading the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Walter Isaacson also wrote biographies of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin two very creative and innovative people. From the beginning the author focuses on the creative side of Steve Jobs as well as his drive to innovate. One of the nice things about this book is that Steve Jobs basically tells Walter Isaacson to include everything about his life, both the good and the bad. There is nothing sugarcoated about this story.
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