Read already, alright?

What librarian couldn't use a knuckle tattoo every now and then?

Create your own with the Knuckle Tattoo Generator. Oh, and have a nice day :-)

All Darwin, All the Time

The name pretty much says it all. This site is a production of the University of Cambridge. It's got Darwin's complete publications with facsimiles of every page in every book (even the advertisements), plus manuscripts, reviews, mp3s and more. And (!) the entire collection is searchable.

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online is here.

Thanks to LibrarianInBlack for the lead on this valuable new site.

Inanimate Alice

inanimatealice, an "Interactive Narrative Series," is a cool, creepy Internet-only serial. It follows the life of Alice, whose parents move around the globe for reasons not entirely understood, but having something to do with oil. Home-schooled Alice has only one friend, Brad. Brad keeps her company, reassures her in scary times, and helps out with her growing computer-game development talent.

The Guardian Online published an interview with the author last week.

Episodes 1-3 have been published to date. The matryoshka game in Episode 3 is tricky. Good luck!

Thanks to Read Roger for this digital literature.

Triangle Fire, primary source articles from the NYT

New York Times articles about the Washington Place fire, March 26-April 3, 1911
(no passwords needed from campus; to access off-campus, use ProQuest database ID & password)

• DEATH LIST SHOWS FEW IDENTIFIED; Eight Have Died in Three Hospitals of Injuries Received by Jumping to the Street. 33 INJURED STILL SURVIVE Pay Envelopes Brought About the Identification of Some of the Victims -- The Missing List.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 26, 1911. p. 4 (1 page)

• 141 MEN AND GIRLS DIE IN WAIST FACTORY FIRE; TRAPPED HIGH UP IN WASHINGTON PLACE BUILDING; STREET STREWN WITH BODIES; PILES OF DEAD INSIDE; The Flames Spread with Deadly Rapidity Through Flimsy Material Used in the Factory. 600 GIRLS ARE HEMMED IN When Elevators Stop Many Jump to Certain Death and Others Perish in Fire-Filled Lofts. STUDENTS RESCUE SOME Help Them to Roof of New York University Building, Keeping the Panic-Stricken in Check. ONE MAN TAKEN OUT ALIVE Plunged to Bottom of Elevator Shaft and Lived There Amid Flames for Four Hours. ONLY ONE FIRE ESCAPE Coroner Declares Building Laws Were Not Enforced -- Building Modern -- Classed Fireproof. JUST READY TO GO HOME Victims Would Have Ended Day's Work in a Few Minutes -- Pay Envelopes Identify Many. MOB STORMS THE MORGUE Seeking to Learn Fate of Relatives Employed by the Triangle Waist Company. 141 DEAD IN WAIST FACTORY FIRE HERE
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 26, 1911. p. 1 (3 pages)

• PARTNERS' ACCOUNT OF THE DISASTER; Blanck and Harris Tell of Their Escape in the Maddened Throng of Employes. CHILDREN OF ONE THERE Fled to the Roof When Other Avenues Were Cut Off and Thus Escaped with Their Lives.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 26, 1911. p. 4 (1 page)

• QUICK GRAND JURY FIRE INVESTIGATION; District Attorney, a Witness of the Horror, Takes Steps for an Immediate Inquiry. CONFERS WITH CHIEF CROKER Fire Department Head Says All Loft Buildings, Once Tenanted, Are More or Less Fire-Traps.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 26, 1911. p. 5 (1 page)

• CROWD OF 50,000 WATCHES THE RUINS; Press Against Police Lines All Day for Glimpse of Building Where So Many Died. MANY TRINKETS PICKED UP Some Money Dropped by Victims Also Found in the Street and in the Burned Building.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 27, 1911. p. 3 (1 page)

• FIRE TRAPS THERE ARE HERE.; Cloak Trade Committee Tells of Violations It Found. Scenes During and After the Washington Place Fire.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 27, 1911. p. 1 (2 pages)

• LOCKED IN FACTORY, THE SURVIVORS SAY, WHEN FIRE STARTED THAT COST 141 LIVES; Two Doors Still Locked in Ruins and Others Burned Away Where Many Victims Fell. PROPRIETORS DENY THIS District Attorney to Ask Grand Jury to Fix Responsibility for the Disaster. DEATH LIST STAYS AT 141 Only 86 Identified, Though Throngs in Search of Missing Ones Visit the Morgue. OTHERS BESIEGE THE RUINS Vainly Try to Join in Search There -- Trinkets Picked Up Give Clue to Some Victims. GAYNOR CALLS FOR AID Wants Citizens to Contribute to Red Cross Fund for Relief of Sufferers. MANY FIRE TRAPS HERE Committee of Clothing Manufacturers Has Prepared List of Factories That Violate Law.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 27, 1911. p. 1 (1 page)

• RUSH TO THE AID OF FIRE SUFFERERS; Many Civic Organizations Take Steps to Bring Immediate Relief to Them. MAYOR MAKES AN APPEAL Waistmakers' Union Goes to the Rescue - Red Cross Society Joins in the Work.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 27, 1911. p. 4 (1 page)

• THE WASHINGTON PLACE FIRE.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 27, 1911. p. 10 (1 page)

• WHITMAN MEN SEEK TO FIX RESPONSIBILITY; Two Doors That Escaped Flames Were Still Locked -- Hear That All of Them Were. BODIES HEAPED NEAR THEM Said Also That These Doors Opened Inwardly, Contrary to Law -- Narrow Fire Escape Also Blamed.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 27, 1911. p. 4 (1 page)

• BLAME SHIFTED ON ALL SIDES FOR FIRE HORROR; Fire-Escape Law Admittedly Inadequate and Legislature Plans Reforms. THE 142D VICTIM DIES 29 Bodies Remain Unclaimed at the Morgue, Where 26 Were Identified Yesterday. CIGARETTE CAUSED FIRE Fire Marshal So Convinced After Examining Survivors -- Oil Cans Near Spot of Origin. DOORS WERE JAMMED TIGHT Chief Croker Says They Had to be Chopped Down -- Firemen Will Testify To-day. RELIEF FUNDS POUR IN Andrew Carnegie Gives $5,000 -- Many Pitiful Stories Told by Mourners at the Morgue.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 28, 1911. p. 1 (2 pages)

• FIRE-ESCAPE LAWS TO BE STRENGTHENED; Labor Commissioner's Power Over Factories Will Probably Be Extended. DENIES RESPONSIBILITY HERE Court Placed Fire Escape Control with Building Departments -- $3,000 Voted for Relief.
  Special to The New York Times.. New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 28, 1911. p. 3 (1 page)

• THE FIRE INVESTIGATION.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 28, 1911. p. 12 (1 page)

• MANY NOW TELL OF FIRE TRAPS; Over 1,000 Factory Workers Give Secret Information to Civic Committee. DEATH LIST GOES TO 143 Another Victim of Saturday's Fire Dies in Hospital -- 19 Still Unidentified. FUNERAL MARCH OF 300,000 Unions Plan a Big Demonstration -Official Inquiries Continue -Relief Fund Grows.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 29, 1911. p. 3 (1 page)

• CITY WILL BURY THE UNIDENTIFIED; Mayor Ends Controversy Over Possession of the Fourteen Bodies of Fire Victims. PARADE ISSUE NOT SETTLED Charities Commissioner May Decide on Private Funeral -- Another Victim Dies in Hospital.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Mar 31, 1911. p. 2 (1 page)

• MASS MEETING CALLS FOR NEW FIRE LAWS; Metropolitan Opera House Gathering Decides to Name Standing Committee on Protection. WORKERS NOT IN ACCORD Woman Union Leader Says They Have Lost Faith In the Public and Must Rely on Themselves.
  New York Times (1857-1922). Apr 3, 1911. p. 3 (1 page)

Sherman Alexie

Accepting the National Book Award in 2007




Texas Book Festival talk (video at CSPAN)

On Literature and Stand Up Comedy




When Literature Meets Stand Up