The Invisible Shorties

Ready for Thanksgiving? No? Hrm. Enjoy some food ideas from Slashfood and Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

If the Small Business Administration were worth lighting on fire, the American Small Business League wouldn’t exist.

Because sometimes you just have to know, WikiHow.

The must-read-blog of the day is Echidne of the Snakes. Next time I remember, I’ll go ahead and add her to the list of Things I Read.

Get this through your heads, John McCain is not a moderate. He’ll try to look like one for campaign purposes, but he is still the guy who won’t miss an opportunity to hug President Bush. He’s still the guy who thinks torture is bad, except that the bill he wrote to ban it doesn’t apply to Guantanamo. Nice loophole, there. Maybe he should run a Craigslist ad to the effect of “Lost: credibility. If found please send to Senator McCain’s office.”

Music fans, Japanese culture fans, technophiles: take note. Literally! Laser Koto.

Thank goodness these guys only Hack in the name of peace, love, and harmony, because they’ve already cracked the new super-secure British passports.

And finally, a Marine that should make you feel thankful. After all you (probably) have hands. Talk about keeping cool under pressure!

“I was conscious, surprisingly awake through the whole thing,” Wright, 31, who grew up in West Seattle, says. “I can replay every moment in my head. I opened my eyes and looked at my arms and remember thinking, ‘Damn, both of them?’ “

The explosion had blown off Wright’s right arm below the elbow and his left at the wrist. Wright’s left eardrum was ruptured and his helmet and safety glasses were torn away. Looking down, he saw his left femur protruding from his thigh, and knew he could bleed to death.

“I was pissed that I couldn’t pick up my rifle, but I couldn’t concentrate on little details,” he recalls.

Young Marines around him, some without combat experience, needed him. Their commander had been killed. With a firefight raging, Wright knew he had to remain cool to save them and himself.

“If I freaked out, they would. I needed to get us to better cover out of the ‘kill zone.’ I figured I could have handled the RPG blast, but one or two bullets hitting me might have done me in,” Wright says.

Ok, imagine that. You are a young marine. Your commander is dead and the ranking officer is barking orders despite the fact that both his hands have been blown off. But he’s staying calm so you have no business freaking out!

And the most impressive part is that he served for another two years after that. Enjoy retirement, Sgt. Wright. You more than earned it.