On October 12, 2000, 17 sailors were killed and 39 wounded as the Cole refueled in Aden, Yemen. Today, one the al Qadea leaders behind the attack was blown to hell in what is being called "an airstrike".

Fahd al-Quso was hit by a missile as he stepped out of his vehicle, along with another Al Qaeda operative in the southern Shabwa province, Yemeni military officials said. They were speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with military regulations.

The airstrike came as the U.S. and Yemen cooperate in a battle against Al Qaeda in southern Yemen.

Al-Quso, 37, was on the FBI's most wanted list, with a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

It's important that we never forget those we have outstanding business with. It's not over until we mark them "Paid In Full" with a shot to the head.

Posted by: DrewM at 01:05 PM | Comments (171)
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Good afternoon Morons! SilverGTP leads the thread this week. You can relax now; I know youÂ’ve been trolling while eagerly anticipating the next Gaming Thread. Well here it is, just for you.

This week we'll be discussing a new Call of Doody game, Steam, Team Fortress 2 and other miscellaneous topics of interest.

Electronic Arts wants to hear from you. You read it right; EA wants your input about their Origin service. We can only hope they actually listen to gamers but I wouldnÂ’t count on it, if past experience is any indication. Give EA a piece of your mind more...

Posted by: Gang of Gaming Morons! at 11:52 AM | Comments (75)
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Sarkozy gets the boot, and with it, hopes of staving off an economic recession. Or doom.

Updating the map to show the ever-shrinking (semi-competent) part left of the continent (West and East): more...

Posted by: CAC at 11:24 AM | Comments (202)
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Gregg Re at The Daily Caller:

In the skit, President Obama addresses Americans soon after the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden — and he makes sure to remind viewers that all credit for the raid on the terrorist leader’s compound belongs to him.

“I hope you had a safe and joyous first anniversary of his killing,” the president, portrayed by Fred Armisen, begins.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be at home this year, as I had to fly to Afghanistan, to remind President Karzai that, exactly one year ago, we killed Osama bin Laden, and that the decision to do so was a gutsy one,” the president continues. “And was mine.”

Full text of the sketch at the link.

Oh, but no, Obama isn't funny at all. No sir.

Instead, they went with a sketch about the morning show "Fox and Friends." So after a week of Obama's over-the-top grandstanding, SNL thought this was more topical and penetrating. You see, Fox is partisan. And dumb. more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 10:17 AM | Comments (122)
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It's like an open thread but with some lame nod to content.

First...the crazy thing atop the sidebar? Yeah, it's that time. What? Do you think content free posts are cheap or something?

Second...What would Obama do in a 2nd term? Pretty much what you fear.

Everyone from Obama’s closest advisers to the GOP’s top tacticians agrees that the first year of a second term — and perhaps even more than that — would be “fiscal.” That is to say, it would be devoted to budget and tax issues.

At the end of 2012, we’ll face what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls “the fiscal cliff”: The Bush tax cuts are set to expire, the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts initiated when the deficit “supercommittee” failed to reach a deal are set to begin, we’re expected to hit the debt ceiling again, and many other programs and tax credits will come up for renewal.

Around the Hill, they refer to this as “taxmageddon.” And it won’t wait for a second Obama term to officially begin: Most of it will come due in the lame-duck session. But everyone expects that the outgoing Congress will manage to kick the problem to the incoming Congress.

...

Beyond the deficit, ObamaÂ’s advisers see two big unfinished pieces of business from the first term: climate change and immigration reform. Of these, itÂ’s easier to imagine the president taking action on immigration, in large part because itÂ’s easier to imagine Republicans coming to the conclusion that they need to support some version of reform.

...

Assuming that the Supreme Court doesn’t totally wipe out the Affordable Care Act, the law will begin covering uninsured Americans in 2014. But there’s an enormous amount of work to do to get ready for that date, and once the law goes into effect, there will be an enormous amount of work needed to iron out the kinks. If the court strikes down the individual mandate — which requires Americans to have health insurance or pay a fine — but leaves the rest of the legislation intact, that process becomes even more difficult and might require some kind of deal with Congress.

Mmmm....massive tax hikes, climate change, amnesty and more government control of health care! Noticeably absent? The economy.

I'm not the biggest Romney guy (no, it's true) but the idea of another Obama term is pretty bleak. Sorry but if you live in a swing state, you really need to suck it up and vote for Mitt.

Third....the French are voting today in their presidential runoff. Sarkozy is terrible but from an American perspective, he's about the best we can hope for (plus...Carla Bruni). Unfortunately, the French are very likely to go with a wacko Socialist who wants more spending, a lower retirement age and a 75% income tax rate.

Personally, I hope they go full retard. We might as well laugh at them as we all sink into another global recession.

Speaking of going full retard....the Greeks are also voting today. What could go wrong?

And more full retard.....Joe Biden went on Meet the Press today and as expected hilarity ensued. He either totally came out in favor of Same Sex Marriage or didn't say anything new. No one is quite sure because, well, it's Joe "Big F'n Deal" Biden.

As I said on Twitter (where you should follow me for all the free prizes and hookers I give out), this is either Joey being Joey or a brilliant ploy but Team Obama to get everyone to think they agree with them.

Since the media can't make heads or tails of what they are supposed to say, they'll do what they always do, ignore Obama's opposition to same sex marriage and focus on GOP opposition to it.

Ben covered this a bit in yesterday's ONT but it's worth noting....Obama's big election "kick off" (yes, they really pretended that's what it was) wasn't so big. Plenty of good seats still available!

And finally...the tip jar thing in the headlines. Ace gets all the money and he never even knows we're doing this. Consider it an investment in maintaining your sanity over the next six months.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:37 AM | Comments (143)
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Good morning, morons and moronettes. I'm sure you all will be pleased to know that earlier this week, I found a video that I think really captures both the authenticity and richness of Elizabeth Warren's Native American heritage: more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:15 AM | Comments (77)
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Now 100% content-free.

Posted by: andy at 03:38 AM | Comments (221)
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Remember the Black Bear Who Fell Out of A Tree?

Well, I've got some bad news for you. He's dead.

At least he died doing what he loved, which was getting hit by a car.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:00 PM | Comments (836)
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From Space.com:

If the full moon looks a bit bigger and brighter in tonight's sky, you're not seeing things: It's just the "supermoon" — the biggest moon of 2012. And there's a meteor shower from Halley's comet peaking tonight, too, adding to the sky show.

The full moon of May will hit its peak overnight tonight and early Sunday (May 5 and 6) just one minute after the moon makes its closest approach to Earth. The timing means the moon, weather permitting, could appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the average full moon, an event scientists have nicknamed the "supermoon."

. . .

The supermoon is not the only celestial sight gracing the evening skies this weekend. Tonight, the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower will hit its peak, promising up to 60 meteors per hour for skywatchers with optimum viewing conditions (clear weather and away from city lights).

The Moon will be at its fullest at 11:35 p.m. EDT. The best viewing time for the meteor shower is in the pre-dawn hours. more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 05:04 PM | Comments (119)
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Welcome back once again to the legendary Saturday Nite AoSHQ Chess Thread

Igor and Gleb

These guys crack me up. We all know there's a metric buttload of instructional chess videos available on Youtube, and elsewhere on teh interwebs. But I really like these guys. The way they interact with each other is very entertaining. For example, listen to the taunting ("take your time, take your time!") that goes on in this blitz game while both are offering commentary on what's going on as the game progresses.

Here is another one, a discussion of the position from a famous study by Reti.. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, I would recommend you pause the video and try to solve it yourself before you listen to Igor and Gleb explain it. This position is one of the great "optical illusions" of chess; you look at it and think that there's no way that the King is going to catch that pawn -- until you see the solution.

I have no idea who these guys are, I think one of them may be an Israeli NM or IM, but I don't know for sure.

Unfortunately, Igor and Gleb only made 3 or 4 other videos. Which is a shame, because I think they're entertaining enough that they probably could have cranked out a whole series of instructional topics and their schtick wouldn't have gotten old.

I can't say that about this next bit.

Extreeeeeme Chess!

I love chess very much, but I am realistic enough to know that it is never going to be a spectator sport. Not for large audiences, anyway, and definitely not in America. Even though the largest audience in PBS history was the one they got for the Fischer-Spassky WC match. I think this was an outlier. The fact is, some things just don't work well on TV. What could be more antithetical to the zap and pow that modern television demands than a bunch of geeks and fat guys hunched over chessboards for a couple of hours?

So I have to give these guys credit for at least trying to make it exciting, and for trying to communicate the struggles that go on in a chess game. I'm not sure if what they're doing actually works, so judge for yourself. It's the X Chess Championships, Episode 1. Other episodes are available.

One thing that I think detracts from this effort is that the primary woman commentator has a voice with a "Valley Girl" quality that makes it really, really annoying. Also, and this is just a technical note, they should make all the games available online in PGN format. I would have liked to have taken a closer look at that second game, for example, where White was on the ropes and in severe time trouble, and yet somehow managed to come back and win.

There are other episodes available to watch, but the main question is, can this format work, or is it just too silly?
more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 03:35 PM | Comments (75)
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