Get Cynical

Bookgasm takes a field trip to the world’s most dangerous bookstore.

You see, as is apparent from one’s first step squeezing through the front door, Bill’s Yesterday Books is not the nicely organized, aesthetically pleasing publication warehouse like a Barnes & Noble or even a typical trade store you’re used to visiting.

Instead, it’s a whole damn house with no living space whatsoever. Books are literally (and pat yourself on the back, dear reader, if you caught that pun) piled to the ceilings, but not on shelves, with a foot-wide pathway rudely carved through the rubble that one must shimmy through sideways in order to travel. The place is so overflowing with reading material that the path itself is comprised of volumes. It is near impossible to see the walls. And a window? Forget about it. There isn’t enough sunlight to discourage insects from forming veritable kingdoms in there. With careful balance and a reliable pair of mountain boots, the home is navigable, but it’s a one-way trail, and friend, there ain’t no passing once inside.

(via Clusterflock)

(via Bedazzled)

From DefenseTech:

There’s been immediate fallout — both physical and political — from China’s satellite killer test.

Debris from the orbital collision has already been spotted, the M-T Milcom blog notes. “As of this writing NORAD has officially cataloged 32 objects… that now pollute a vital area of space (sun-synchronous polar orbit).” The picture to the right is of a few of ‘em.

“There are over 125 satellites that operate in this portion of space,” the M-T blog observes. Those include reconnaissance satellites, like the Lacrosse and Advanced Keyhole orbiters, as well as weather-monitors, like the Defense Meteorological Satellites Program series. In other words, this test directly effects the American military’s ability look for terrorist hideouts, and survey a potential battlefield. These are not small matters. “Our space assets are the first asset on the scene,” GlobalSecurity.org’s John Pike tells the AP. “They are absolutely central to why we are a superpower – a signature component to America’s style of warfare.”

Even the International Space Station could be at risk.

I thought I was going to be sick from all the fast cuts in the video. Who the hell edited this?

Tiny doors in Ann Arbor Michigan.

(via J-Walk…again)

Some religious idiocy to go along with your coffee.

OTTAWA — Canada’s first sextuplets, born more than a week ago, are facing an additional complication to the usual premature baby’s struggle for survival: Their parents’ religion forbids blood transfusions, a typical part of a preemie’s treatment.

The babies’ condition remains a mystery, and the hospital refuses to confirm reports that one infant has died.

The six babies were born Jan. 5 and 6 in Vancouver, British Columbia, to parents who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Delivered at 25 weeks, more than halfway through the typical 40-week pregnancy, the four boys and two girls averaged 1.6 pounds and can rest in the palm of an average man’s hand. The survival rate for such births is about 80%.

The parents have asked to remain anonymous, and the hospital has not provided information since shortly after the births, when a spokesman reported that the babies were in fair condition.

On Tuesday, hospital officials would not comment on a media report citing sources in the hospital that one of the boys had died.

(via J-Walk)