Dust jackets from vintage American and European books

The NYPL Digital Gallery has acquired more than 2,000 original specimens of dust jackets from vintage books published in the United States and Europe. It is the practice by librarians to remove the jackets from new books during processing for their permanent place in the stacks. However, from 1926 to 1947, anonymous librarians selected and saved interesting jackets from books of all sorts. This virtual gallery represents just a tiny percentage of the books that entered the collection during the two-decade span.

(Thanks Casper)

Alan Chu's Photographic Moon Book

Since December 2002, Hong Kong astronomer Alan Chu has taken more than 250 photographs of the moon through his telescope for his Photographic Moon Book which can be downloaded from his website. The book is intended for serious lunar observation. His latest version of the book will be out sometime this month.

Israel wants to nuke Iran

Just when you thought that the problems in the Middle East could not get much worse, Israel is now planning a nuclear strike on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities. From Times Online:

The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb.

Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open “tunnels” into the targets. “Mini-nukes” would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.

“As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” said one of the sources.

The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.

Israel, meanwhile has denounced the above report. From Telegraph:

While Israel is unlikely ever to use its nuclear strike capability pre-emptively on Iran, Israeli military planners have long been considering options for conventional strikes if Teheran continues to defy diplomatic pressure.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, prefers to emphasise Israel's support for the multinational diplomatic effort, although his planners have already spent years considering what to do if the diplomatic track fails.

Israel resorted to force in 1981 to destroy Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor at Osirak with conventional bombs dropped from eight F16 jets in a covert mission known as Operation Opera.

I know Israel like all countries has a right to defend itself but launching a pre-emptive nuclear strike at Iran's nuclear capabilities may spark the mother of all wars and I doubt any peace in the Middle East is achievable when that happens.

Learn English the sexy way

Trust the Japanese to teach us English the sexy way.

"My grandmother gives good head"

Crikey! Don't click play if you are offended with the C word or the sentence above but go ahead, watch it if you want a good laugh.

(Thanks xXx)

Instant noodle inventor dies

I love my instant noodles (who doesn't aye) so its sad to know that the inventor of the instant noodles Momofuku Ando has died at 96. From BBC:

Mr Ando said the inspiration for his product came when he saw people lining up to buy bowls of hot ramen noodle soup at a black market stall during the food shortages after World War II.

He developed his first instant noodles, Chicken Ramen, in 1958.

The product came out as Japan recovered from the ravages of WWII and began a long period of economic expansion.

It was the masterstroke of providing a waterproof polystyrene container for the noodles that made his Cup Noodle an instant success in 1971.

Nissin has led the global instant noodle industry since then, selling 85.7 billion servings every year, according to Agence France Presse.

What the hell does a vegan eat anyway?

What the hell does a vegan eat anyway? Well, according to this vegan food blog, plenty of good food! Check out the sushi, Smokey Tempeh and other recipes. Yummy. I've always thought that vegan food is boring but after reading the blog, I find that they are not that boring at all aye, but nah, I'll never convert to a vegan. One of my exs tried converting me and failed. LOL. I love my fish and seafood so much!

CIA Sabotage Manual

In the 1980s, the CIA produced a small illustrated booklet in both Spanish and English, designed to bring down the Nicaraguan government and economic system. Please do not use any of the methods describe in this sabotage manual to destabilise your government. Remember kids, be good citizens always. Love your neighbours, fellow citizens, your government and country.

How to tell if a rock fell from outer space

Next time when a rock comes crashing into your house, it would be good if you can tell if it really fell from outer space or if it's just another gift from that evil neighbour of yours. From Slate:

First, look at it. A freshly fallen meteorite will have a smooth coating of black or dark brown fusion crust. The coating forms as it enters the Earth's atmosphere, when the outer layer of rock begins to melt. This can result in thumbprintlike indentations (called regmaglypts) on the surface of the meteorite; the subsequent cooling-off often produces a set of cracks in the fusion crust. (Experts say the object found in New Jersey looks like it might have a fusion crust.)

Next, pick it up. Meteorites are denser than regular rocks and feel heavier than they look. The New Jersey object reportedly weighs as much as a can of soup, even though it's the size of a golf ball. You can also try running a magnet over the object—most kinds of meteorites will attract it.

The Best Divorce Letter Ever

Dear Connie,

I know the counsellor said that we shouldn't talk to each other during our cooling off period, but I couldn't wait anymore.

That day you left, I swore I'd never talk to you again but that was just the wounded little boy in me talking. Still, I never wanted to be the first one to make contact. In my fantasies, it was always you that came crawling back to me. I guess my pride needed that. But now I see that my pride's cost me a lot of things. I'm tired of pretending I don't miss you. I don't care about looking bad anymore. I don't care who makes the first move as long as one of us does. Maybe it's time we let our hearts speak as loudly as our hurt....

Click here to view the letter.

(Thanks Johnny Q)

Indonesia lacks expertise and technology for its airline industry

Critics of Indonesia's booming airline industry say the country lacks adequate technology, systems infrastructure and manpower to deal with all the airlines and that the industry has grown too far, too fast. From TIME.com:

Every year, more than 30 million passengers fly with small Indonesian carriers like Adam Air, which launched in 2003. Many have spotty safety records. A Boeing MD-82 operated by Lion Air crashed in Solo in 2004, killing 25 of the 141 people on board, and a Mandala Airlines Boeing 737 crashed in Medan, Indonesia's third-largest city, in September 2005, killing all 102 on board and 47 residents on the ground. In 2006 there were at least 15 aircraft accidents in Indonesia, resulting in 14 fatalities. One foreign resident tells of an Adam Air flight last year from Jakarta to Lombok which left with his luggage but not him. "That's how terrorists blow up planes," he notes, asking not to be identified. "But [the airline] didn't even seem to care."

And here are more reasons why you should be wary when you fly in Indonesia. From Reuters:

"Many flights ignore warnings from the meteorology agency. We have been ignoring this thing and keep flying just to make profits," said Joseph Umar Hadi from the parliament's transport commission, adding that plane checks were prone to doctoring.

"There are also some airplanes in Indonesia that use a small amount of fuel to cut costs. This is dangerous," he said.

Indonesian aviation workers are poorly trained, experts say.

"What we have here is an explosion of plane numbers and this expansion lacks smart people. High technology is useless without competence," said aviation investigator Mardjono Siswosuwarno.

Previously: Why I won't be flying budget airlines

Saddam Hussein: We're There For You

Secretly taping the execution of a madman? Verizon's got just what you need. I'm against capital punishment even for a madman like Saddam but this David Letterman clip is really funny.