YOU'RE GOING TO GET SOME SAVINGS TODAY!

Wal-mart pledges to hire 100,000 military vets. I'm a huge supporter of the armed forces, but possibly former drill sergeants would be better suited for another position within the store? hahaha

clickable link -> http://teamcoco.com/video/wal-marts-new-military-veteran-greeters

Viking helmet

Why did the Vikings leave Greenland?

Image source -> britannica.com

From sometime in the 10th century to sometime in the 15th century Vikings had a permanent settlement on the coast of Greenland. Then they left... This wasn't a Roanoke situation, we know they went back to Europe (and Iceland), but until now they weren't sure why...

Aus Der Spiegel:

The scientists suspect that a combination of causes made life there unbearable for the Scandinavian immigrants. For instance, there was hardly any demand anymore for walrus tusks and seal pelts, the colony's most important export items. What's more, by the mid-14th century, regular ship traffic with Norway and Iceland had ceased.

As a result, Greenland's residents were increasingly isolated from their mother countries. Although they urgently needed building lumber and iron tools, they could now only get their hands on them sporadically. "It became more and more difficult for the Greenlanders to attract merchants from Europe to the island," speculates Jette Arneborg, an archeologist at the National Museum of Denmark, in Copenhagen. "But, without trade, they couldn't survive in the long run."

So in no particular order they missed Volvos, Aquavit and Ikea. I'm a master of Anthropology and cultural subtitles. 

Check out the links below for the full stories.

Source -> http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/archaeologists-uncover-clues-to-why-vikings-abandoned-greenland-a-876626.html via http://io9.com/5974809/why-did-the-vikings-abandon-greenland

Earlier related links -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/02/icelandic-volcano-set-to-erupt.html & http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2010/11/vikings-may-have-taken-native-american.html

I wonder if dancing your problems away works?

Source -> http://www.explosm.net/comics/2291/

Admittedly I don't drive a Series II/IIa...

But, this is the inspiration for my current daily driver...

(Yes, my driveway has a LOT of oil stains)


Clickable link: http://youtu.be/LhBvACW4H70

This is the definition of Honor

What a great story.

Short version: 4 days before Christmas in 1943, a German fighter pilot safely escorted a heavily damaged American bomber to safety during WWII because "He was a veteran pilot with an iron sense of right and wrong; a man who would never kick another while he's down."

Longer version (quoted from Jalopnik's post): (click the link below for the full story):

2nd Lieutenant Charlie Brown's B17 bomber, [named] Ye Old Pub, approached Bremen, Germany. As German anti-aircraft batteries opened up on the formation, one of the anti-aircraft rounds exploded right in front of their plane, destroying the number two engine and damaging number four. Missing one engine and with another throttled back due to damage, Ye Olde Pub could no longer keep up with the formation.

Things went from bad to worse for Brown and his crew. Falling behind the formation, Ye Olde Pub weathered merciless attacks from 15 German fighters. The bomber's machine guns got one of them, but the damage they sustained was immense. The tail gunner was killed and four were injured, including Brown, who caught a bullet fragment in his right shoulder. The only defensive guns left in service were the top turret and the nose gun, and the bomber's hydraulics and oxygen systems had also been knocked out.

As Ye Olde Pub attempted to leave German airspace, Lt. Franz Stigler, a Luftwaffe fighter pilot just in from shooting down two B-17s, saw Ye Olde Pub limp by and gave chase. 

I saw his gunner lying in the back profusely bleeding….. so, I couldn't shoot. I tried to get him to land in Germany and he didn't react at all. So, I figured, well, turn him to Sweden, because his airplane was so shot up; 'I never saw anything flying so shot up'.

He tried to contact Brown with hand signals. His message was simple: Land your plane in Germany and surrender or fly to Sweden. That heap will never make it back to England.

A bewildered Brown stared back through his side window, not believing what he was seeing. He had already counted himself as a casualty numerous times. But this strange German pilot kept gesturing at him. There was no way he was going to land the plane, but the pilot stayed with him, keeping other attackers off until they reached the North Sea.

[Their story was buried in their memories (and archives in the case of Brown) due to the mission's sensitive nature and the fact that Sigler would've been court marshaled for not attacking.]

[Years later,] in 1986, then retired Colonel Charlie Brown was asked to speak at a big combat pilot reunion event called Gathering of the Eagles. Someone asked him if he had any memorable missions during World War II. Brown thought a minute, then dredged up the story of Stigler's salute which had been buried somewhere in the dirty corners of his mind for decades. Jaws dropped. Brown knew he would have to try to find the man who had spared his life.

[Brown searched for 4 years to find the pilot that had spared his life without much luck.] So he wrote a letter in a combat pilot association newsletter.A few months later, Brown received a letter from Canada. It was from Stigler. "I was the one," it said. When they spoke on the phone, Stigler described his plane, the salute; everything Brown needed to hear to know it wasn't a hoax.

From 1990 to 2008, Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler became like brothers. Introduced by the bond of that first powerful meeting, their friendship was cemented over the years. The two men remained close throughout the rest of their lives, dying within several months of each other in 2008. 

What if Stigler had been executed for his disloyalty? What if Brown had landed in Germany or hadn't made it across the North Sea? What if Stigler had stayed in Germany and never learned how to speak English? Yes, things could have been different, but that chance encounter in 1943 was destined to become a chance encounter again in 1990. But more importantly, it's proof to the rest of us that something great done now can change your life much, much later.

Click the source link for more.

Clickable link: http://youtu.be/nNmypZ9lv94 
Source -> http://jalopnik.com/5971023/why-a-german-pilot-escorted-an-american-bomber-to-safety-during-world-war-ii

"This from the nation that won World War II"

Brian Williams for President.

My summary:
She decides to have $1.00 of soup delivered because there is laundry on the floor and its raining. Being an actress is exhausting.

Clickable link: http://youtu.be/DljX2K3zAJE 

 Source -> http://www.thesouptv.com/ & http://www.crushable.com/2012/06/14/entertainment/brian-williams-mocks-siri-commercials-zooey-deschanel-208/

Another fantastic Brian Williams clip -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/02/roving-wagons-just-like-marrakesh.html

Happy Christmas!

We had over 20 people sleeping at my parents house for Christmas... We had a cousin beer pong tournament, filled 2 huge recycling cans of dozens and dozens of whiskey/beer/wine/vodka/champagne bottles, went through a metric ton of food, but it all worked out. I hope everybody reading this had a great Christmas season and here's to an even better 2013.


Clickable link -> http://youtu.be/qTx-sdR6Yzk

I don't care that she's a diva

This Christmas song is one of my guilty pleasures... Enjoy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!


Clickable link -> http://youtu.be/sWEfszb9h8Q

 I still think they should've tracked down the kid from Love Actually (another guilty pleasure of mine) to sing duet.

Ghostbusters 3?

Its been a while since I posted, for that I apologize. Well it turns out back in November 2010 when I posted "It looks like Ghostbusters 3 is a GO!" I may have spoken a bit prematurely...

 I guess I'm not the only Dan getting frustrated by the lack of progress on this.

  Addressing the studio heads at Sony, Aykroyd said that it’s “time now to sit down and make this movie, or you will lose your main principals, and you won’t be able to make it without us, because we have rights, and now is time to make the movie.” He suggested that if the film were not green-lit within “three or four months,” the deal would be off the table. The rights to the Ghostbusters franchise are in part-owned by Sony, Aykroyd, director Ivan Reitman, co-writer Harold Ramis and Bill Murray. Murray has held out from signing on to the third film for the past few years. Aykroyd hinted in the interview that Murray may have “abrogated his rights” when he declined to star in “Ghostbusters 3,” forfeiting his need to sign-off on the film’s green-light.

Source -> http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/12/06/ghostbusters-3-dan-aykroyd/ & http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/12/dan-aykroyd-lays-down-ghostbusters-3-ultimatum/

Bond films make more money when he's driving a British Car

The numbers don't lie! (Go see Skyfall!)

Source -> http://jalopnik.com/5957749/james-bond-makes-more-money-when-he-drives-something-british