“As soon as he saw me, his eyes went wide with terror.”

Not sure what to file this under so I’ll give it both the WTF and Awesome tags. The above quote came from a statement made by a man who had just chased off a would-be thief from his home – now, being the UK it wasn’t with a firearm, but the guy came up with a creative alternative:

Six-foot-tall fitness fanatic Torvald Alexander, 38, was wearing a full God of Thunder outfit – complete with flying red cape and tinfoil silver-winged helmet – when he spotted the raider in his front room rifling through a desk.

Mr Alexander, who runs building firm Alexander & Summers in Edinburgh, Scotland, said the burglar threw himself out of a first-floor window [ed: that’s second floor in American] of his £350,000 home in the Inverleith area of the city when he opened the door and confronted him.

The man landed on a roof outside the window, which broke his fall, enabling him to escape.

Click the link for the picture, it’s the best part of the story. Hat tip to Ace for this one.

Semper Fi

Via Blackfive comes this amazing story of two marines who refused to yield their ground in the face of certain death, and as a result saved at least 50 people in an act that has earned them nominations for the Navy Cross from Major General John Kelly himself:

While Iraqi police fled, Haerter and Yale had never flinched and never stopped firing as the Mercedes truck — the same model used in the Beirut bombing — sped directly toward them.

Without their steadfastness, the truck would probably have penetrated the compound before it exploded, and 50 or more Marines and Iraqis would have been killed. The incident happened in just six seconds.

“No time to talk it over; no time to call the lieutenant; no time to think about their own lives or even the American and Iraqi lives they were protecting,” Kelly said. “More than enough time, however, to do their duty. They never hesitated or tried to escape.”

With a truck loaded full of over a ton of explosives barreled toward them, the marines never hesitated, never stopped firing. Never once thought of themselves.

Better men than I. God rest their souls.

Post-Christmas warm and fuzzy

A real life George Bailey: a man volunteers to get laid off so his friend can keep his job. Get some kleenex before you watch this one.

A side note: I cannot imagine how awkward that guy must feel having that paraded in front of a national audience. But I, for one, appreciate it and extend my thanks to Ralph for helping to renew my faith in humanity, just a little bit.

Damn Dirty Apes!

The revolt has begun:

When one of the monkeys refused to ride on a child’s bicycle in a street performance in Sizhou, in eastern China, their owner beat it with a stick.

Although they were tied to the man with ropes attached to their collars, the monkeys appear to have decided to fight back.

The two animals came to the defence of the third monkey, grabbing the stick from the man, pulling on his ear and biting his head.

When he dropped his cane, on monkey snatched it up and began beating the trainer on the head until he broke the stick, witnesses said.

Next thing you know, they’ll be taking over the planet – and us without Charlton Heston? We’re screwed. Priceless pic below the fold…

Continue reading Damn Dirty Apes!

True Strength

Via Bill Quick, this tragic story of a man losing his family – and his all-too-rare, excellent attitude about it.

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) — A Korean immigrant who lost his wife, two children and mother-in-law when a Marine Corps jet slammed into the family’s house said Tuesday he did not blame the pilot, who ejected and survived.

“Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident,” a distraught Dong Yun Yoon told reporters gathered near the site of Monday’s crash of an F/A-18D jet in San Diego’s University City community.

“He is one of our treasures for the country,” Yoon said in accented English punctuated by long pauses while he tried to maintain his composure.

“I don’t blame him. I don’t have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could,” said Yoon, flanked by members of San Diego’s Korean community, relatives and members from the family’s church.

I got a little choked up by this one. I think its kind of sad that we’ve become so used to the blame game that when we hear about people reacting with genuine goodwill and selflessness in the face of tragedy, it is surprising. The man loses his family in this crash, and his reaction? To hope that the pilot is okay. In addition, Quick offers this sobering insight:

Sometimes, in my cynicism, I think that the average American’s reaction to experiencing a tragedy like this would be to first look for somebody or something to blame, then look for somebody to sue, and, finally, look for the government to pass some sort of law or create some sort of body to “make sure this never happens again.”

It’s humbling and uplifiting both to realize that those who come to this country seem to understand what was once called the American Way better than many of those who have been here for half a dozen generations.

My sympathies, as well as my deepest respect, go to Mr. Yoon today.