Just before noon yesterday a huge explosion sent fireballs up an historic landmark building in the Flatiron District, on 6th Avenue and 20th Street. WCBS reports that the explosion could have been caused by Wednesday's storm, with melting snow and salt working its way into an electrical vault on the building's exterior. FDNY Deputy Chief James Daly told them, "We've been running on manholes all night since the storm started. So it's a likely culprit." more ›

So about that locked vault that holds controversial books at the Brooklyn Library... the Daily News published a piece by the New York Civil Rights Coalition's executive director, Michael Meyers, chastising the practice of locking up our nation's history—no matter how ugly it can be. The book at the centerpiece is Tintin au Congo, and Meyers says, "we don't need librarians protecting us or our children's wonderment and discovery from 'bad' images and messages in books. Where would such paternalism in the forms of censorship and banishment begin and end? We shouldn't try to hide unpleasant truths from our children. It is historical fact that white racialists colonized Africa, and that explorers and even missionaries thought of black Africans as primitive savages in need of civilizing." Indeed, this history happened and it's not an "Out, out damned spot" sort of scenario where a lock and key will make it disappear. more ›

Fact: The Brooklyn Library has a vaulted room which holds some of the more "controversial" books. CityRoom pointed out that you can't find a copy of, say, cartoonist Hergé's book "Tintin au Congo" on the shelves, because that book is held in this locked room. (The site published parts of the book, so probably that web page should go in there too.) One librarian told them, “It’s not for the public," and has been locked away for 2 years now after "a patron objected to the way Africans are depicted in the book. In particular, the patron took issue with illustrations that she felt had the Africans 'looking like monkeys.'’’ more ›