Reader Roundup

While the UK is cutting its funding for 400 libraries, South Korea is vowing to build an additional 180.

Meanwhile, Time has first-person coverage of the riots in Tottenham.

Al Jazeera posted photographs of the London streets during the chaos.

If you’re doing research online, you might be interested in signing up for Pubget, It collects a bunch of open-access pdfs in one spot, including the journals and documents you can get through library cards and university IDs.

NPR has polled its listeners in order to create a masterlist of the 100 best science fiction and fantasy books. If you trust NPR listeners and like sci-fi/fantasy, it is a very useful document.

I really enjoyed this LA Times piece from last week. It profiles a Holocaust survivor who was forced to give his infant daughter up to a Christian orphanage, only to be reunited with her years later.

At the New York Times, a psychologist explains how President Obama’s failure to tell the public a good story is holding him back. (You’ll have to sign in to read the article)

There's Nothing Left to Say But Goodbye

The shuttle program has officially ended, and we have pictures.

If there's one thing those NASA people know, besides rocket science, obvs, it is how to take a cool photograph.

So, explore the photographic history of the space shuttle here and here.

And take a closer look at the Atlantis mission here.

Also, it might be a little late for this, but here are some iphone apps related to the last launch. One of them compiles over 2000 images from NASA's digital collection.

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In other news of American institutions closing up, Border's sent me a bon voyage email to announce the failure of the bookstore to find a buyer.

Lawler Literature: The Deadly, Dangerous, Beautiful Circus

Having just finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (a book that includes incredible black and white photos from depression-era circuses), I just happened to have a long, fascinating talk with a research librarian who had archived a large amount of circus-related memorabilia in her day.

She introduced me to the infamous 1918 Hammond Circus Train Wreck. Gruen mentions the accident as well, but only in passing. Apparently, a train engineer fell asleep at the wheel, ramming his locomotive into the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus' train. A fire erupted, consuming the sleeping cars where the performers and roustabouts were housed. 86 people died, and 127 more were injured. All this occurred in Hammond, Indiana, which is only a short trip from where I live. The burial site, Showmen’s Rest, in Forest Park, Illinois, is also nearby.

Coincidentally, we also happen to be verging on the 12th Annual International Clown Week Celebration at Showmen's Rest. This August 7 event is free, and features memorial services, speakers, activities, entertainment for kids, and prizes.

Here are some more pictures of the circus via Circus World at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Feel free to browse through their archives.

(1935) Bert Nelson wrestles an enfeebled lioness for the Hagenbeck-Wallace show, decades after the tragic Hammond crash.

(1937) A publicity photo, posed, wherein a clown helps a circus girl with her laundry.

(1937) Terrell Jacobs and wife Dolly with the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus.

'Pic'-ing the Ruins

As someone who has had a long time obsession with the Chernobyl ruins in Pripyat, I sort of love this website, Opacity, which photographically archives abandoned structures.

But, not only does it display beautiful photos of buildings in decay, it also digs deep into the history of each location. If you peruse the pages, you can find information about Rathen State Hospital, for example, which was founded by noted social reformer Dorthea Dix in 1848. The entry on Rathen goes on to tell us that Dix actually spent the last years of her life as a patient at the institution she helped establish. And, of course, the biography explains why the various buildings became abandoned, as well as their architectural styles and motifs previous to the slow creep of decline.

Other recent additions include the Buffalo Central Terminal and Lowe’s Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. This project is incredibly worthy for obvious reasons. Remarkable buildings worldwide are under constant, if necessary, threat. So, at least their images should be preserved on the internet. One lesson we’ve surely learned, ad nauseum, since and before the San Francisco quake is that evidence of the past can be obliterated rather quickly. Perhaps we should each “save” what we can.

Wolfe Creek, A Nature Preserve Behind the K-Mart Parking Lot

I woke up obscenely early this morning and took a ride down to Wolfe Creek, a biking/walking trail near my home. Consider these phone photos proof that I got up, I went, I saw. Some of the pics are blurry, but whatev. And now my mission is to drink a metric ton of coffee so I can remain functional for the rest of the day.