The Daily Mail has a set of amazing photos of the Chaiten Volcano in southern Chile.

As clouds of toxic ash and dust tower into the sky, they ionise the air, generating an explosive electrical storm. Colossal forks of lightning spark around the noxious plume as it spews from the volcano’s crater, creating an image of raw, terrifying energy - as if the air itself were ablaze.

More than any damage the lava could do, most worrying is the possibility of pyroclastic flow, in which the enormous plume of ash collapses into a wave of hot gas and rock. The wave spreads across the ground at breakneck speeds with temperatures reaching up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.

The devastating consequences were seen after the eruption of Mount Pelée, which led to the destruction of Saint-Pierre and its roughly 30,000 population.

File Destructor 2.0 - Not to be confused with File Destructor 1.0 (which sadly had the manufacturing defect of spontaneous combustion), File Destructor 2.0 provides you with a completely unopenable file. FD2.0 is perfect for the collegiate man or woman looking to get in a few

Interview with Daring Fireball’s John Gruber - A Mix of the Technical, the Artful, the Thoughtful, and the Absurd:

What graphic design is to a visual idea, writing is to a verbal idea. My goal is to craft my writing in such a way that makes it as easy and obvious as possible for the reader to “get” exactly what it is I’m hoping they get.

Obsolete Skills - Such as coding in BASIC, adjusting the rabbit ears on top of a TV, and getting to know your neighbors. Also: obsolete skills, identification of.

Spy Satellite Blast, Caught on Tape - Wired.com has updated coverage on the recent Star Wars-esque shenanigans of the US Navy. In space, no one can hear you scream, but we can definitely watch you explode into a million pieces.

Yesterday, I posted a link to an article on the most powerful bomb ever created. If text alone wasn’t enough, now you can watch the explosion.

As any parent could have told you, having children is bad for your mental health.

A conversation with Noam Chomsky. “The acclaimed critic of U.S. foreign policy analyzes Bush’s current political troubles, the war on Iraq, and what’s really behind the global ‘war on terror.’”

The good links for today are a bit sparse, but this collection of Daily Show/Jon Stewart clips is great.