Periodic: a Monthly Blog Feature

An occasional review of items that caught our eye in BPL’s magazine subscriptions.

A cover story in Vanity Fair caught our eye and reminded us of that quip that “I only buy Playboy for the articles.” There’s a strong case to be made that so-called “men’s magazines” and “women’s magazines” have kept pace with the times, each including a wide variety of topics and issues in recent decades that are not strictly “male” or “female”.

Vanity Fair, the so-called society cum fashion magazine, has been successfully keeping up with the times. Noticing the shift probably has more to do with the teaser on the front cover–“The Web’s Inventor Plots a Do-Over”–than a major editorial change. The article itself is extremely timely and should be suggested reading for all citizens.

In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, an Oxford graduate who worked at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), had an idea that ultimately became “the Web”. It was intended to help scientists share data across what was an obscure platform called the Internet, developed by the US Government in the 1960s.

Berners-Lee has been speaking out about the misuse and debasement of the brilliant creation, which he long ago envisioned being destructive in the wrong hands. Now, Berners-Lee has proposed a plan to fix the Internet Read about his efforts to encourage people to live up to the promise of the Internet in the August 2018 issue of Vanity Fair.

Note: The library does not subscribe to Playboy.