Overnight Open Thread (3-23-2016) – Where Women Glow And Men Plunder Edition

Quote of the Day I

Then again, it's hard for the security and intel agencies to get the resources they need when the commander-in-chief spends barely a minute addressing the Brussels attack, and adjourns to a baseball game with Raul Castro.

Quote of the Day II

A retired police officer told me that the "gun on campus" has become the new "bomb threat." Bomb threats became so ubiquitous in the 70's that severe penalties were put in place, and enforced, for people calling in fraudulent bomb threats. The cost of institutions being forced to shut down for hours at a time is enormous.

But "Gun!" threats are politically correct. Questioning the validity of such threats is verboten; especially on university campuses.

Quote of the Day III

Thus, Hollywood can only keep reliably making money off of Harrison Ford by cloning him. Sure, it will open up all sorts of philosophical and ethical quandaries about the nature of identity and man's relationship to science, but since when has Hollywood cared about any of that?

...So, Hollywood, you've got your answer: Create Harrison Ford clones, at whatever age you need him to be, and we can have Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and all of his other characters forever. Ford will never ride off into the sunset. The alternative of creativity and risk is simply too abhorrent to contemplate.

Quote of the Day IV

Pro tip: the best Star Wars prequel is still Triumph The Insult Comic Dog interviewing people standing in line for Attack of the Clones.

Quote of the Day V

Our sires' age was worse than our grandsires'. We, their sons, are more worthless than they; so in our turn we shall give the world a progeny yet more corrupt.

-- Horace, circa 20 BC

Why They Came From Brussels

If Sweden and Germany Became US States, They Would be Among the Poorest States

These national-level comparisons take into account taxes, and include social benefits (e.g., "welfare" and state-subsidized health care) as income. Purchasing power is adjusted to take differences in the cost of living in different countries into account.

Since Sweden is held up as a sort of promised land by American socialists, let's compare it first. We find that, if it were to join the US as a state, Sweden would be poorer than all but 12 states, with a median income of $27,167.

Median residents in states like Colorado ($35,830), Massachusetts ($37,626), Virginia ($39,291), Washington ($36,343), and Utah ($36,036) have considerably higher incomes than Sweden.

With the exception of Luxembourg ($38,502), Norway ($35,528 ), and Switzerland ($35,083), all countries shown would fail to rank as high-income states were they to become part of the United States. In fact, most would fare worse than Mississippi, the poorest state.

And when you take into account the differences in costs of living among US states the European rankings get even worse.

French Air Traffic Controllers Claim Their 41st Strike Since 2009 Is Justified

The French never disappoint.

Disney, Marvel Threaten Boycott If GA Governor Signs Religious Freedom Bill

Because tolerance.

Remembering  Col. Avery Kay, The Father of the A-10 Warthog

Using the very real threat of the Army's plan to build a helicopter to take over Air Force close support, Kay convinced McConnell that if the Army got its funding approved, he would go down in Air Force history as the chief that lost the close support mission and the money that goes along with it.

To counter the Army's proposal, Kay pitched a plan to build an airplane dedicated to the close support missions that would be cheaper and more effective than any helicopter.

McConnell approved the plan, but Kay quickly realized that he would have to circumvent the normal chain of command to fulfill his promise to the Army, as many of the Air Force's top generals still lacked interest in spending budget dollars on this cause.

Rather than approaching the Air Staff and Tactical command offices, which normally facilitate the building of new planes, Kay reached out to Sprey, who was working for the defense secretary, to help make his plan for the A-10 become a reality.

"What he did at this point is he put his career on the line," Sprey recalled.

Together, Kay and Sprey worked in secret to develop an aircraft that could cover ground troops from an enemy advance, buying time for grunts to regroup or get out with an aerial weapons strike.

"The entire A-10 community is basically due to his guts and his integrity," said Sprey, now an adviser for the Project on Government Oversight. "If anyone deserves the title of 'father of the A-10,' Col. Kay definitely does."

The Bob Lamonta Story

My shoes hurt.

ISO 9001 Safety Guidelines Updated

Twitter Goes Into Meltdown After Women Realize They've Been Wearing Bobby Pins The Wrong Way!!

Olivia Newton-John's Dead Boyfriend Found Alive and Well in Mexico Ten Years Later

Newton-John reported that McDermott was missing a week after the "incident" when he failed to show up for a family gathering. She had been out of the country at the time of the disappearance and unknowingly gave McDermott just enough of a head start to make a clean getaway.

Of the 22 passengers on the fishing boat, not a single one saw McDermott go overboard. Shortly before his disappearance, McDermott filed for bankruptcy with debts of $30,000. (So, look for a lot of college students to try the old "fell from a boat" move soon.)

McDermott also secured a second passport and withdrew his life savings from two different bank accounts before going missing. There's something very obviously fishy about this whole thing.

Well to be fair faking my own death and fleeing to Mexico is actually the default backup plan for most of my life challenges (and also the name of my imaginary 80s cover band) but it sure seems like a lot time, trouble, and expense for just a mere $30 grand.

Mom Bills Son $39K for Being an 'A--Hole'

News You Can Use: The Difference Between Perfume and 'Eau de Toilette'

Note to Self: Do NOT Travel With Mason Wells

Or perhaps it's safest to travel exactly along with him since like myself he's about 40 minutes to several hours ahead of phase relative to the disaster time line.

The Group knows your sins but doesn't care.

Tonight's post brought to you by ISIS' latest propaganda poster:

Notice: Posted by implicit permission of AceCorp LLC. The AoSHQ Easter Egg Hunt has been cancelled. No bunnies chocolate or otherwise were harmed in the making of this particular ONT. ONT may contain nuts.

posted by Maetenloch at 10:11 PM

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