Jason Linkins has written the best editorial note summing up tonight’s events:

NOTE: The HuffingtonPost is officially making no guarantee or promise that this is, in fact, the end. It probably is the end, but then again, it might not be. This could go on and on and on and on. Or it could come to a dead halt tonight. Really, for all you know, what you perceive as reality might not actually be happening. This life could be a glint of dust in the eye of an autistic child. We could all be in purgatory. Or, we could all be wired into some sort of panopticon, in a world run by robots who feed off of our existential frustration. In fact, given the way this primary has played out, THIS IS THE MOST LIKELY EXPLANATION. So, because we are sending rebels to defeat the robots, and we don’t want to tip them off that we have become self-aware, please, just sit back, and pretend that everything is going according to plan. DEATH TO OUR ROBOT OVERLORDS!

The picture shows an all too common problem on newspaper websites. Brightcove has professional designers that work hard to make their UI useable.

When embeding elements from other websites, newspaper content people who have no design experience should not introduce elements to be “cute” or to go with a theme. It just makes the newspaper’s site look unprofessional.

When in doubt - don’t customize.

There have been a lot of comments about carrying an iPod on patrol in Iraq, I think this comment from sfuller on Digg is important:

Patrols usually have some built in breaks and the benefit of a magazine, snack, or ipod is worth the pound or so it may add to a load. You have to break up an eight hour patrol or you’ll get hypnosis, which is much worse from the perceived distraction that many people seem to be citing here. It’s not like you’re going to don a music player or open up a copy of wired in the middle of the street. And Iraq isn’t a war movie; it gets VERY boring between scenes. Putting some tunes in one ear on a long mounted movement isn’t that uncommon. On the old armored vehicles, you used to be able to wire in a CD player using a pair of old earphones and the system would automatically cut the line in when there was radio traffic, incoming or outgoing. Dismounted, there is no way anyone would ever move with music playing, you need all five senses all the time (which is why it gets grating and we have combat outposts).

I actually flipped out a little when I saw this, I served with him during the invasion and when we reset the unit. He’s a combat engineer, not an infantryman. We were in the same company for about a year. And, he’s an outstanding Soldier, too, to all the haters. In fact, that company was involved in more fighting and heroics than you’ll ever know. Look up OBJ Curly and the battle for Highway 8. He’s also on his 3rd tour. Hi Pip.

I talked to Kevin Garrad this afternoon and here’s the story firsthand:

The armor stopped the bullet.

The iPod was how Kevin Garrad found out he was shot. This is the real story.
Kevin said he got into the fight with the insurgent and afterwards he did not know he was even shot. He said he returned to his bunk after the patrol, put on his earbuds and began to clean his weapon.

He said: “you get into a ritual out there.”

No music came on. He dug around in the pockets where he kept the iPod and pulled out the twisted hunk of metal that is in the pictures. He said that was how he found out that he had been shot during the fight. He was happy that his armor worked.

He said the upgraded armor he was wearing could stop the AK-47 round. It was not the newest armor that is in Iraq now, but it was an upgrade. This was his second iPod that he had brought to Iraq. The first had been damaged earlier and the store would not replace it, even with the additional warranty he purchased.

The pictures are what happens when an AK-47 bullet hits an iPod.

He’s talked to Apple and is happy that they sent him another iPod. He’s gone through two already. If any others send him iPods he’ll put them in care packages back to friends in his unit who don’t have them.

**Updated**

Due to all the comments about carrying iPods on patrol I added this post which quotes sfuller in Digg about carrying iPods while on patrol in Iraq.
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If you need to reach Kevin, press or otherwise his email is engr21b2002@yahoo.com. I am sending updates and contact info to those who have inquired a bout this story.
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Due to the popularity of the pictures, me and my friend Danny with help of members of his family, worked our butts off to reach Kevin to get the facts and update people on the validity of the story. At the time of the posting it was a “friend of friend” story. I got emails from a co-worker, who got them from a family member, who worked with his mother - a big game of telephone.
In less than twelve hours from that posting the photos began to sweep the Internet as I described in my post the Digg Effect++. I hope this post moves up the line as fast.

A great parody of Fergie’s performance in the Black-Eyed Peas’ “My Humps” by Alanis Morissette. Alanis’ slow dark performance turns the fluffy pop song into something almost tragic.

Comments on YouTube range from from love of the track to cries of racism. I find it a little disturbing and a great parody of the original. I love watching pieces of pop-culture get remixed to send completely different messages than those intended by the original work.

I enjoy it even more when the original work was a piece of crap. Don’t get me wrong, I love BEP but “My Humps” was far from their finest hour.