Overnight Open Thread

The movie Act of Valor hits the theaters today so be a good moron and go see it this weekend. I'd love to see a good turnout for this movie to shove it in Hollywood's face that it is quite alright to make a pro-America, pro-military movie.

Speaking of valor, on this day in 1968, Airman First Class John Levitow was flying on his 181st combat sortie in an AC-47, when what was supposed to be a "routine gunship mission" ended with Levitow's actions earning him the Medal Of Honor. This is his story, The Saving Of Spooky 71.

Suddenly Spooky 71 was rocked by a tremendous blast. Against odds of at least one in a million, an enemy 82mm mortar round exploded inside the gunship's right wing, shredding the paper-thin fusalage with thousands of fragments and lethal shards of hot metal. All five crew members in the rear of the plane were hurled to the floor, bleeding from shrapnel wounds. Spooky 71 fell into a steep, descending turn to the right, momentarily out of control. The flare, torn from Owen's hands by the blast, rolled around the aircraft floor fully armed amidst several thousand rounds of live anmunition for the Miniguns.

Through a haze of pain and shock, Levitow, with more than 40 shrapnel wounds in his legs, side, and back, saw one of the crew lying perilously close to the open cargo door. As he dragged the wounded man to safety, Levitow spied the armed, smoking flare rolling eratically around the cargo compartment. How long had it been since the safety pin was pulled inadvertently--five seconds? Fifteen seconds? Levitow had no way of knowing. He did know that the timing mechanism could have been damaged, which might result in premature ignition. In a matter of seconds the flare would ignite, its intense heat turning the stricken gunship into an inferno.

Weakened from pain and loss of blood, and partially paralyzed by his wounds, Levitow tried vainly to pick up the flare, which was already spewing highly toxic smoke throughout the cabin. The plane was still in a 30-degree bank. Seconds ticked by. Finally, as he watched the flare skidding around on the floor, he threw himself on the flare, dragged it to the open door, a trail of blood marking his path, and pushed it out just as it ignited in a white-hot ball of flame. Levitow then lapsed into unconsciousness.

Government Snooping

First it was Joe the Plumber, which was politically motivated, then the TSA and now this. Female Police Officer's Driver License Accessed By Over 100 Police Officer's To Oogle Her Picture. Wait until they get access to your health records.

One hundred and four officers in 18 different agencies from around the state had accessed her driver's license record 425 times in what could be one of the largest private data breaches by law enforcement in history.

Blue Angels

I never, ever get tired of watching these guys. Right now, El Centro gets a free show 6 days a week for a period of 3 months (Jan-Mar). If you are in the area, go check 'em out.

Video Game Health News

Awesome. Good News For Gamers: Video Games Can Improve Your Eyesight.

The study, led by Daphne Maurer of McMaster University in Canada, took six patients with lifelong cataract disorders and got them to play Medal of Honor for a total of 40 hours over the course of one month. Games like this require the player to respond quickly to events happening all around the screen, and to track objects moving in different directions.

Patients were told to play the game five days a week for a maximum of two hours per day. Maurer said the reason for setting a time limit was because she was worried the patients might otherwise become addicted to the game.

Researchers found that following the 40 hours of game playing, the vision of five of the six patients showed signs of improvement. They were able to recognize faces more easily, as well as make out small print and judge the direction of moving dots.

Darkest Animated Disney Movie Moments

The 11 Darkest Disney Animated Movie Moments. Some of these on the list were pretty obvious to me but some weren't. Probably because I didn't remember seeing some of these movies so long ago. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Sounds creepy for a Disney animated flick though.

Crikey. This is basically an old zealot fearing his eternal damnation in the pits of hell because he can’t stop fantasising about a young girl. As a result, he decides he is willing to burn down half of Paris in order to find her and when he does, she can either choose him… or be burned to death.

Weapon Of The Day

Oh boy. This just screams trailer park weapon. Canchucks: Nunchucks Made From Beer Cans.

Swedish Job Advertisement

I don't think I have an issue with this. Swedish Hospital Seeks New 'Hot' Nurses. OK, they really aren't just looking to hire 'hot' nurses. They just wanted to grab your attention. Still, if one hospital had hot nurses, I'd go there all the time even for a splinter!

Blog Achievement

Congrats to The Hostages. Andy tells me that they recently passed 3 million page views. To celebrate that momentous achievement, they have their Big Boob Friday post up with a special exhibit from CAC featuring one of his concubines. Go check it out.

Sucks To Be Germany

Haha! Germany's $130B Solar Experiment Delays Global Warming By 23 Hours. Lots of good points in the article.

So, this initiative cost $130 Billion, actually increases CO2, sent jobs to china. raised energy costs for taxpayers and accounts for less than 1/3 of 1% of total energy consumption in Germany. Have I forgotten anything? Oh yeah, their national security is further at risk because they have to import energy! Well done!

Puppeh Video

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