Placke's Cool Links

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Books, Newspapers, etc.

Abebooks.com Abebooks, the world's largest online marketplace for used, rare, and out-of-print books and a great source for out of print NBC-related books at affordable prices.

Alibris Alibris is another great source of used and out of print books.

Central Intelligence Agency's World Fact Book The World Fact Book is prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency for the use of US Government officials, and the style, format, coverage, and content are designed to meet their specific requirements. In general, information available as of 1 January 2000 was used in the preparation of this edition. The Fact Book is in the public domain. Accordingly, it may be copied freely without permission of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

OnlineNewspapers.com Great resource. Thousands of online newspapers... worldwide. Great for seeing another perspective on an issue.

Humor

The Ultimate Page on Stupidity. This page is dedicated to all of the stupid people in the world. I have met my fair share in life�

Unofficial Vanderbilt Graduate Chemical Engineer�s Homepage The most comprehensive site for chemical engineering, graduate student, and general engineering humor. E.g., There are only 10 types of people� those who understand binary and those who don�t.

Science Humor A great collection of science humor.

Poncho man (pdf file, 780 kb) "My Very Long One Thousand Word RBI (Re-enforcement by Indorsement) on Why it is Important to Bring My Equipment." By Jarm "Roadkill" Phipps.

Leadership

Blazing Flashes of the Obvious about Leadership Great Article by MG Perry M. Smith! Must read for all leaders! I've had this article for many, many years... thanks to my wife for converting it to electrons.

Reflections of a Former Troop Leader Great leadership article by MG Guy S. Meloy, US Army retired. Published in Army Magazine, AUSA, August 2003.

Leadership Primer Leadership Primer by General Colin Powell. Chairman (Ret), Joint Chiefs of Staff. The information on this page was gleaned from a PowerPoint show that I received by e-mail. The author of the presentation is unknown. �Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.�

A Janitor's 10 Lessons in Leadership A story on leadership lessons by Col. James Moschgat about Medal of Honor (MOH) winner William "Bill" Crawford

Neat Stuff

BuzzWhack The most comprehensive buzzword compliant dictionary dedicated to de-mystifying buzzwords.

Controversial Chemistry Lab At the Chem Lab, you can find information on a large number of chemicals that have a certain stigma attached to them. Chemicals such as explosives, drugs, and pesticides are vitally important for the survival of our civilization. �The Controversial Chem Lab was created to be a free reference on how to synthesize chemicals. It is also a virtual laboratory skills manual, complete with descriptions on how to conduct laboratories, and a visual database on many different kinds of laboratory apparatus. While the Chem Lab is written for the non-chemist audience, it does require a basic understanding of laboratory skills. Of course, all of the information needed to acquire a basic understanding of lab skills is included within the site. The Chem Lab even goes the extra mile in providing information on how to synthesize many of the chemicals used in making explosives, etc. It also provides information on where to acquire certain chemicals and apparatus. While all of this information is perfectly legal, it may be against the law in certain areas to prepare some of these chemicals without the proper license. Warning: Stupidity has its own rewards� and most of the time it is very painful.

The Exploratorium Online since 1993, the Exploratorium was one of the first science museums to build a site on the World Wide Web. Included in the site are more than 15,000 Web pages and many sound and video files, exploring hundreds of different topics.

The Explosives and Weapons Forum Interesting forum� A weapon of mass instruction. Warning: Stupidity has its own rewards� and most of the time it is very painful.

Home Distillation of Alcohol A collection of personal experience and useful resources found on the web & in the discussion groups to further the fun & science of making homemade alcohol. (Distillation is an effective method for teaching many fundamental chemistry, chemical engineering, and biological principles.)

Internet Archive Wayback Machine Great resource! The Internet Archive Wayback Machine puts the history of the World Wide Web at your fingertips. The Archive contains over 100 terabytes and 10 billion web pages archived from 1996 to the present.

Spud Guns Check out the videos!!! A 3" slug of concrete slug will do some damage to a 55 gallon drum.

Sam Barros' Power Labs Fun site! The number one Amateur Science page! PowerLabs represents the efforts of Sam Barros, an amateur scientist and currently an engineering student at Michigan Technological University, to document and share some of his research in various realms of science. Here you will find detailed reports including descriptions, pictures, videos, diagrams, schematics and technical data on some of the experiments he has attempted and devices he has built and worked with over the years including Tesla coils, various types of high voltage generators, plasma globes, electromagnetic experiments, coil guns, rail guns, lasers, rockets, electromagnetic propulsion, EMP, HERF, cryogenics, turbines, chemistry and much more!

Skylighter Skylighter offers a wide variety of novelty fireworks, sparklers, fireworks books, fireworks videos, pyrotechnic chemicals (potassium nitrate, potassium perchlorate, aluminum, sulfur, etc.), pyro tools, fireworks tubes (for rockets, mortars, fountains, salutes, shells, etc.), fireworks shell parts, end plugs, end disks, end caps, and other paper and plastic supplies for making fireworks and pyrotechnics.�

TerraServer TerraServer contains 3.3 tera-bytes of high resolution USGS aerial imagery and USGS topographic maps. It's a quick way to lose a few hours�

Terrorists, Freedom Fighters, Crusaders, Propagandists, and Mercenaries on the Net Extremely comprehensive site for identification and information on potential/associated terrorist groups. It is the Internet's most comprehensive list of organizations widely accepted as terrorist organizations openly using the Internet. The site includes links to each organization's web site, if available. It also includes groups widely accepted as freedom fighters on the side of good, other parties in armed conflicts, quasi-national groups, and other fairly surprising Internet users. Warning -- If your organization or national government carefully sifts through HTTP traffic, you might want to think twice before clicking on some of the sites.

United Nuclear The United Nuclear Supply page is awesome! It is your one-stop site for radiation, nuclear, chemical, and pyrotechnic supplies. Check out the link to Desert Blast.

What's That Stuff? You might ask yourself... What's That Stuff? Ever wondered about what's really in chili peppers, Silly Putty, Cheese Wiz, artificial snow, or self-tanners? Chemical & Engineering News presents a collection of articles that gives you a look at the chemistry behind a wide variety of everyday products.

Land Warfare Systems Page This is a site to obtain equipment descriptions and ".jpg" photos for briefs. Comprehensive site. (Federation of American Scientists site)

Unit Converter Need to convert units?? This is your one-stop online free site.

Chernobyl Interesting tour of the Chernobyl area.

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg is the Internet's oldest producer of free electronic books (eBooks or eTexts). Our present collection of more than 10,000 eBooks was produced by hundreds of volunteers. Most of the Project Gutenberg eBooks are older literary works that are in the public domain in the United States. All may be freely downloaded and read, and redistributed for non-commercial use.

Terrorist Organization Guide (MS doc file, 330 kb) US Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Border Patrol, January 2004.

US Armed Forces Order of Battle Comprehensive! (with links to most unit homepages too!) Please note that this order of battle reflects wartime, operational command and control rather than peacetime administrative command and control. Last updated 9 Jul 2000.

Poetry

Dulce et Decorum Est A poignant poem by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." translates to "It is sweet and glorious to die for one's country." Legionnaire Handzumgrus, Horace, Odes.

In Flanders Field (and Replies) A poem by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918). It also includes replies by poets from all over the world.

Search Engines

Search Engines Worldwide Created and maintained by Toyo Takakuwa, this no-nonsense mega-site is quite simply an extensive list of search engines and directories, 850 from 130 nations, listed alphabetically by country. Clicking on a country produces a list of search engine banners (in the right-hand window or a new window from the no-frames site) that link to the search engines. Whether users are looking for a search engine from Armenia, Bolivia, Lebanon, Samoa, Yemen, or just about anywhere else, they will find it here.

Miscellaneous Cool Links

Sisyphus Understands.