Overnight Open Thread – (genghis)

As always, thanks to Maet for taking over and providing you kittehs whenever Comcast decides I don’t need to have a working connection. He’s also helpfully provided this week’s commenter stats (below the fold) so we know which of you are least likely to actually step away from the computer in order to go to work, bathe or make love (though the last is sort of a given around here).

Item #1: Here’s a kind of somber thing, so let’s get it out of the way early. With the 8th anniversary of the Bush cabal/junta/regime blowing up things on 9/11 (source: former Obama administration official) it’s not a bad idea to listen once again to a live account of events as they happened, as broadcast and recorded by KOMO (Seattle) reporter/host Tami Michaels and her husband Guy Rosbrook. They were staying in a room on the 35th floor of the Millenium Hotel across the street from the WTC as Vice President Richard Cheney flew two separate planes into the buildings before parachuting to the ground (source: ibid.). The audio clip is very long and part of a documentary. (hit the "listen" link at the top of the article)

”Concerned there might be a secondary attack on the street below, Michaels and Rosbrook elected to stay in their room. While Michaels phoned in reports to listeners of KOMO Radio, Rosbrook unpacked their brand-new video camera and started shooting video. The video has never been played on broadcast television, due to the intensely graphic images of people leaping to their deaths.”

The video was played for the jury in the trial of the so-called "20th hijacker," Zacharias Moussaoui. The judge suppressed the audio portion of the tape, calling it "too inflammatory" for the jurors to hear. Jurors only got to see the video portion, with Michaels describing what was happening from the witness stand. Michaels cried. The jurors cried. Moussaoui sat stone-faced, glaring at Michaels. He later called the crying by the jurors and Michaels "pathetic." Upon leaving the witness stand, Michaels says she stopped in front of Moussaoui and stared directly at him. "I looked him right in the eyes," she says. She thought to herself, "I'm going back to my wonderful life. And you are going to a place with no windows and no doors." Moussaoui later avoided the death penalty and received life in prison.”

The documentary has been aired several times on national broadcasts. It can’t be heard enough.

Item #2: In brighter news, Gizmodo has an article we could all use on this Labor Day weekend: Extreme Leisure: 10 Ultimate Ways to Spend That Extra Day Off. The “beer bath” in a hot tub looks entertaining, but I’m not about to drink anything my junk (or yours) has been soaking in. This sounds a little more like it:

”I can pretty much guarantee that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is going to have a great long weekend, thanks to his $350 million mega-yacht. In addition to the pools, restaurants and theaters you might expect, Abramovich's yacht also features a missile defense system, underwater submarine entrance and two heli-pads. I'll be thinking about this over my weekend as I sit outside in a frog-shaped kiddie pool with a six pack.”

Note: Tonight’s ONT will be my final one. I won’t gloss things over: I’m leaving due to differences over recent changes to the blog. It’s not my house though…I’m just a guest here. I’ve very much enjoyed the opportunity to annoy you on a near-nightly basis and appreciate that Ace has allowed me to post here and put up with all my b.s. It’s more than I would have done had the situation been reversed. I assume the ONT will live on under the wise and drunken stewardship of Maetenloch. Best wishes for the continued success of Ace and the blog,

Tracy (aka genghis)

Top 10 commenters:

1 [500 comments] 'Johnathan E.' [70.15 posts/day]
2 [404 comments] 'Dang Straights'
3 [309 comments] ''Nam Grunt'
4 [305 comments] 'wherestherum'
5 [289 comments] 'runningrn'
6 [267 comments] 'George Orwell'
7 [231 comments] 'kbdabear'
8 [213 comments] 'Inglewood Jack (rdb)'
9 [209 comments] 'TexasJew'
10 [208 comments] 'CDR M'

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:

1 [67 names] 'fluffy' [9.57 unique names/day]
2 [65 names] 'kbdabear'
3 [31 names] 'Johnathan E.'
4 [24 names] 'runningrn'
5 [24 names] 'libbyt'
6 [22 names] 'toby928'
7 [21 names] 'George Orwell'
8 [21 names] 'billygoat'
9 [20 names] 'Van Jones'
10 [19 names] 'andycanuck'

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Keep in touch if you want to at xgenghisx@gmail.com.

posted by xgenghisx at 09:26 PM

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