I'm still slowly plodding through Peter Wilson's The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History. More to come later.
I got tattooed on Saturday and needed a pretty solid distraction both on the way there to calm my nerves and during the session itself, which lasted 6 hours and was rough 🙃. So I read and finished Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence, which was the third and final book in the Impossible Times trilogy. It was a great ending to the arc and included an awesome nod to Lawrence's other series - I won't say any more to avoid spoilers, but it was fun.
I also read (and finished today, yeah I know it's Tuesday) The Talon of Horus by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. which reveals the backstory for one of the major factions in the 40k universe. Dembski-Bowden is one of the better authors writing for GW's publishing arm, Black Library and his books never fail to be fun. This is probably one of the best entry points into 40k as an IP.
I'd saved this article a while ago but hadn't gotten around to reading it until recently. We’re Taking More Photos Than Ever—but Do We Still Treasure Them? - My father was a professional photographer and I studied photography at school and spend many hours in the darkroom developing black & white film and prints so this article hits close to home. Photography went from something quite special and considered to something we all literally have at the reach of our hands 24/7. This article explores how the meaning and the experience of photography has changed in the last 15 years as digital photography became available to everyone.
In many ways, mass photography has changed from a private ritual to a public performance. The public aspect of images is no longer just for artists, photojournalists, or celebrities. Our photographs lead a double life: as memories that we can revisit, like journal entries; and as statements about ourselves to our social networks, like self-declarations—or self-promotion.
Last week Amnesty International published a report on Facebook and Google's business model threaten human rights through their all-encompassing surveillance. We all, to varying extents, rely on tools, products and platforms created by these tech giants in our daily lives. But at what cost?
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published leaked materials on China's detention camps in the Xinjiang territory, in which the native Muslim Uyghur population are subjected to brain washing and torture. The leaks are astounding, stop reading my blog and go read this immediately.