David Foster Wallace’s poem about Vikings, thanks to New Yorker and Harry Ransom Archives, UTA. Image from The New Yorker, courtesy Ransom Archives.

Various environmentalists and luddites have passed through Bay Area radio waves and into my house for the last few days, leading me to some odd places and unexpected things on the internet. This morning’s news brought word that the British Royal Navy is dispatching ships to pick up folks stranded worldwide, and haul them back to Britain. I was looking at Rebar’s beautiful pics of Iceland’s volcano clouds, and shaking my head over the ship-rescue of air travelers, when I came across the New Yorker magazine’s blog about the contents of David Foster Wallace’s garage, which has been de-boxed, and the boxes de-spidered (for real!) and moved to UT Austin’s Harry Ransom Archive. Wallace’s poem, as well as the page layout and typography, if you can call it that, captivated me.