Longreads introduces curated travel reading with Travelreads

Thanks to the Internet, social media and our various smartphones and e-readers, you no longer have to rely on the airport newsstand’s collection of John Grisham novels for travel reading. You can browse the New York Times from your cell phone, read a guidebook on your Kindle or start dreaming about your next trip with an e-magazine like TRVL. If you’re a fan of long-form journalism and fiction, you may look to Longreads for a constant stream of links to new and classic content online.

Today, Longreads has launched Travelreads, a destination-specific channel for travel reading with partner Virgin Atlantic. Compiled by links submitted by readers and curated by the Longreads team, the channel will include traditional travel writing as well as short stories and non-fiction set in a particular destination. “Geolocated Longreads, basically,” as founder Mark Armstrong has called it. All of the links are 1500 words or longer with offerings ranging from 1932 to brand-new content.

Travel blogger Jodi Ettenberg, a long-time contributor and lover of Longreads, was recently hired as a contributing editor and is helping to run the Travelreads feed. “It’s a great place to highlight the best of long-form travel writing,” said Ettenberg. “It’s also wonderful to expand it beyond purely non-fiction travel narrative. To include classics and fiction gives the feed a roundness that I feel sets it apart.” So far, you can find everything from Hemingway’s report from the Spanish Civil War front, to a Haruki Murakami fiction piece on Tokyo cats and a straight-up travel piece on Penang, Malasia. You can search for any place or author you like on the site.

You can find Longreads for your next trip at Longreads.com/travelreads, or by checking their Twitter or Facebook feeds for “the raw feed” of links submitted by readers. Share your own favorite stories by tweeting links with the hashtag #travelreads. Happy reading!

Don’t feed the NYC pigeons — you could be fined $1000

If you’re going to be in NYC in the future, do not, I repeat, do NOT feed the pigeons. You could be fined $1000. New York officials are considering implementing a fine for people who feed these birds, and they’re also considering other measures like distributing birth control to the birds (seriously! Well, not birth control per se — some other type of contraceptive.) They might even bring in Hawks to scare the nasty birds away.

Why all the negativity towards pigeons? They’re a health hazard — their droppings can transmit serious diseases. That and they’re really annoying.

You might have gathered that I am not a fan of pigeons. Actually, I’m scared of birds and pigeons seem to be the worst of them. Imagine my delight when a bag-lady in Bangkok threw a pile of pigeon feed on me in some sort of bizarre attempt to get me to give her money. I tell you, I was thrilled.

But, I digress. The point is, don’t feed the birds.