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Book review: 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed' by Jared Diamond

Is civilization, as we know it today, invincible? Considering human existence since the beginning, it's a tough call to say how long we'll survive. On the other hand, it is feasible to review past societies to compare and contrast them to today's world.

To classify Jared Diamond's latest work, "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed," as just a book about the changing environment would be short-sighted. Diamond's focus is planet destruction, which ranges from damage to land and damage to life in general.

MySpace looking to 'make a difference'

As people are constantly complaining about whether or not MySpace is a good community building site or detrimental to the youth of today, there's little doubt that a ridiculous number of people have created profiles on the popular social networking site.

Now, instead of just going to pimp your profile or watch videos of animals doing strange things, there's a legitimate reason to visit the site, or at least, MySpace Impact.

Next stop: Baltimore bookstores

Although I'm still in the process of setting up book events in Baltimore, I do have at least two confirmed appearances for "The Developers."

At 2 p.m. April 21, I'll be at the Marley Station Borders in Glen Burnie, Md. On the following day, April 22, I will be at the Columbia (Md.) Mall Borders, again at 2 p.m.

Besides the normal meet-and-greet that always occurs at this appearances, I hope to give interested visitors a sneak peek at my new book, which I hope to release at the end of the year.

Independent stores across the country carrying 'The Developers'

I'm not aware of any buying frenzy across the nation with "The Developers." However, if one should occur, there are locations in place to handle the load.

While I'm not positive of every single bookstore that carries my book, there are at least a handful that I do know about. Those stores are listed below:

Atomic Books (Baltimore, Md.)

Books Inc. (Burlingame, Calif.)

The Bookshelf (Louisville, Ky.)

Find your kind of music

So, you like music, but you have absolutely no idea what kind of music you truly enjoy. There are a handful of ways to determine your audio preferences:

1. Walk into a music store and say "I'll have one of everything." It may take you 52 years to remove all of the cellophane, so I'd recommend trying a used CD store, if this is the route you take.

From the Archive

Making great bagels takes patience and Phil Collins

I'm not ashamed to say I like to cook. I rarely do cook, though, because I never seem to have enough time, or enough energy, or the dog ate my homework.

Some of the stuff I cook, I make up as I go. Other things I've borrowed from my mom, and the rest I pull out of my cookbook. I never thought of looking up recipes on the Web, because if I had time to do that, why wouldn't I just pull a recipe out of the cookbook?

Brush, but not too hard

There's nothing worse than people complaining about a product because it works too well.

For instance, there's glue. Try using that stuff that holds elephants from a trapeze by their teeth. If you accidentally glue the elephant's ear to the swing, the immobile animal will be stuck forever.

Another example is plastic wrap. You try to wrap something in it, but the stuff just clings together. Being persistent, you try to unwrap it. But the static forces that bind the universe won't allow a simple tug to do the trick.

New Apple stuff ... there's a lot of it

Apple seems to have released enough stuff in October that it's hard to put my finger on what to highlight. There's the iPod with larger capacities and video capabilities, iTunes 6 (a free download for Mac and PC), the new iMac G5, the list goes on. If you're interested in any of these items, or possibly something I didn't mention (there's a lot!), check out apple.com for more details.

Yet another reason to have an iPod

Amazingly enough, there are a handful of people out there who still have not purchased an iPod yet. It's too bad, really, because studies have shown that people who have iPods experience less back pain later in life, most likely because they aren't carrying around boom boxes on their shoulders during the formidable years of their lives. Haven't you wonder why chiropractors have yet to endorse the handheld music device?

Let's discuss Trump - don't be the enemy

For my Republican friends, you know, of course, that we don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of political perspectives. I'm inclined to believe that I'm right, but I also believe that many disagreements could be talked through enough to compromise. I don't believe I know everything on the political spectrum, so I'm willing to listen and maybe my mind can be changed. I know that despite our differences, you want what's best for the country, as do I.

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