Overnight Open Thread

Urf Day/Good Friday edition. Now with 100% more Dondi!

I've always harbored this suspicion that whenever I closed the 'funny papers' (grandpa's term) Billy from The Family Circus would sneak out of his comic panel and head over to Dondi's place, where he would beat the living shit out of him for being such a cloying and whiny character. Then quickly beat a path back home while somehow erasing those telltale dotted line tracks that he usually left whenever roaming around the comic 'hood.

Occasionally Billy would stop by Nancy's house on his way home with the intention of trying to cop a quick feel, but that never really panned out. For obvious reasons to the rest of us, but Billy never was all that perceptive.

Additional dreck below the fold as usual...

Belated Congrats to Little Miss Attila on Her One-Millionty Hit

Go say 'Hi' and stuff. While there be sure to point out that Jenjhis Khan was a far more evil pillager than Attila ever was, plus he/I introduced the Western World to Mongolian Beef and the interactive casual dining concept of the Mongolian Grill. As opposed to Attila's paprika-based culture.

Spotlight on Better Uniforms for Female GIs:

From an AP story I'm just gonna' throw it out there with no snarky comments such as "do these Kevlar inserts make my ass look big?" or "I really wish the USMC would switch over to Prada combat boots, which I think would clash far less with the Vuitton cartridge belts."

Nope...I ain't going there.

"WASHINGTON (AP) - Imagine U.S. combat troops and aviators wearing body armor that fits so poorly that it's tough to position a weapon to shoot, combat uniforms with knee pads that hit around mid-shin and flight suits that make it nearly impossible to urinate while in flight."

"For many female troops, it's just another day on the battlefield as they wear clothing and protective gear designed primarily for men. Each of these issues is now getting some attention from the military."

"Seven hundred female Army troops are testing a new combat uniform for women with shorter sleeves and knee pads in the right place for their generally shorter legs. A committee on women's issues has recommended that flight suits be redesigned for both men and women so it's unnecessary to completely disrobe before urinating. And engineers have been looking at ways to design body armor that better fits the contours of a woman's body."

Besides, I'm not really in the mood to get my ass kicked by Demi Moore at this late hour...

Especially since she's discovered a new piece of anatomy that must've previously escaped her notice. Meanwhile,

The Guys Get Cod Pieces

Well now, here's something I could get behind. Literally. From CNN:

"Washington (CNN) -- Whether it's an Army helmet with a thicker shell and better padding, or underwear that can protect a Marine private's privates, the U.S. military is looking at sending the latest gear to Afghanistan so the troops can come home safe and sound."

"Next month, the Army is going to start sending the "ballistic boxers" to soldiers in Afghanistan, and the Marines intend for each of their troops there to have four pairs of the "protective undergarments," as they are formally known, before the end of the year."

"The heavy silk boxers, which look like shorts that professional cyclists wear, won't stop a bullet or shrapnel from an IED. But the silk can stop small projectiles like those kicked up by an explosion."

But will it stop another humiliating kick in the crotch from our so-called "superiors" in every single meeting, as Sting once lamented upon. Or about. Probably not.

For all the defensive potential of these super-boxers/briefs, I'd be most interested in seeing what R & D can come up with in terms of OFFENSIVE potential. And by that I don't mean the natural state that 99% of male underoos exist in. Yet again we may need to look towards Hollywood for inspiration:

George Lucas Strikes Back

Episode XXVXIXXVXXXIIIXXXIVXXIV: Teh New Suck. Who could’ve seen this coming? (Well, Maud ‘dib of course, but I don’t like to mix unrelated fictional references as you all know by now)

“Copyright concerns put a halt to two particularly exciting geeky projects in the past week. Lucasfilm put the kibosh on plans to raise money to build a full-size Star Wars AT-AT walker, and CBS stopped a Star Trek-themed "DiagnosticPADD" app.”

The guy doing (or trying to do) the AT-AT is gracious about things…more than he needs to be IMHO:

Steve Sansweet pointed out many flaws in this plan, the first being that I didn't let Lucasfilm know from the start what we were doing. It sounds as if they aren't the bogeyman when it comes to giving the blessing to fan project. So I don't want my mistakes to make anything think they are the bad guy in this. I didn't think ahead and have as firm a plan as I should of. And again, for that I am very sorry.

Nothing from Darth Lucas should be a surprise to anyone I suppose. But…

”Meanwhile, legal threats from CBS will soon force Park Bench Software to stop selling their $1 iOS app, Diagnostic PADD, because the interface is designed to look like, as Park Bench puts it, “a classic sci-fi device/interface.”

Oh pshaw and fiddlesticks! It looks like the computer screen graphics from TNG. I suppose CBS has a good case here, intellectual rights and so forth, and they should get a cut or however these things work out. Just seems a little heavy-handed is all and they risk a public relations backlash for being so damned petty.

Back to the AT-ATs briefly before we leave this topic (which can't be soon enough). I'm not so convinced that Lucas has the AT-AT market cornered. According to this brilliant article, they may have been around far longer than anyone previously thought.

H/T to CDR M, a man who is delighted with all things involving Jell-O.

Sluggehs: A Love Story

Nuthin' like a little hot slug-on-slug action to get you in the mood on a Friday night.

Your Friday Night Tune

As always, Garrett has suggested the perfect song to wrap up the ONT on this lovely Urf Day...

Oh all right. That was cruel. As a mental pallete cleanser you can has...

The Stargate Sequence:

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to xgenghisx@gmail.com. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

posted by Genghis at 09:55 PM

| Access Comments