An Israeli woman paid $32,000 for the entire Business Class of an El Al flight to allow her dog (and an accompanying vet) to fly with her. She told reporters any price was worth it to keep her pet free from the stress of cargo travel:

“All that mattered to me was to have my baby with me during the flight so that I can take care of him.”
El Al told the Haaretz newspaper in Israel it had never had such a request before. “But after the lady explained her special relationship with her dog and expressed her willingness to pay extra in order to fly with him, we agreed.”

Link – via boingboing

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by coconutnut.

The largest book in the world is a photo collection entitled Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Kingdom. It measures five feet wide by seven feet long, weighs 133 pounds, and is 122 pages long. It was written by MIT scientist Michael Hawley to raise money for education in that very poor nation. Amazon is currently selling it for $30,000.

Link via Oddee

What would Wikipedia look like if it were printed out as a traditional encyclopedia? Rob Matthews decided to make it his art project: behold, the 5,000 pages of Wikipedia (featured articles only, mind you) in book form: Link
- via Cliff Pickover’s Reality Carnival

"Thursday Jan. 1, 2009  18:20 Rousing from torpor to go to shops then come back and cook good things. Fried things, in all likelihood."

James Bridle decided to collect all his Twitter messages from the past two years and print them up in a hardcover book.  He will make one for you, "if you ask nicely and pay me a lot of money."

Why do such a thing?  Bridle explains, "When Twitter is inevitably replaced by something else, I don’t wan to lose those incidentals, the casual asides, the remarks and responses.  That’s all really.  This seems like a nice way to do it, and I’ll probably do it again in a couple of years."

Link – via izreloaded

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.

A selection of book titles and covers so boring they’re interesting.

I bet Alex has some of those in his library.

“It is easy to spot pretty girls because they have big earrings, fancy dresses and all the jewelry,” he writes in Chapter Three.

“Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil.”

He advises, “The best choice for most boys is a regular girl. Remember, some pretty girls are coldhearted when it comes to boys. Don’t let them get to you.”

He believes the best way to approach a girl is to keep it to a simple “hi.”

“If I say hi and you say hi back, we’re probably off to a good start,” he said.

As for his own love life, he said he is not dating anyone at the moment. “I’m a little too young,” he confessed.

Link to story. Link to Amazon order page. -via Unique Daily

(image credit: Liz Sullivan)