Two UBL-Themed Moments of Zen to Brighten Your Day

These were just too good not to post immediately. As Raffaela mentioned in this morning's news roundup, a Navy SEAL is publishing a book about the Osama bin Laden raid. But did you know that, according to The Onion, he "bounced a few book ideas off Bin Laden before killing him?"

An early leak of the upcoming memoir documenting the raid that killed Osama bin Laden reveals the Navy SEAL who penned the in-depth account bounced several book ideas off the terrorist before shooting and killing him. “I was thinking the book could start with a little background on each member of SEAL Team Six before getting into the raid, but maybe it would be better if it started with all of us riding the helicopter to the compound---just to whet the readers’ appetites a little, you know?” the Navy SEAL, writing under the pseudonym Mark Owen, reportedly said while pointing a gun at bin Laden and encouraging him to “feel free to throw in any title suggestions [he] may have.” “And I was thinking there could be a quick profile to fill in your backstory a bit, so if you wouldn’t mind sharing a few interesting facts or anecdotes that haven’t already been covered in other books, that’d be great.” Prior to having his head blown off, bin Laden is said to have suggested a “pretty neat” technique of jumping back and forth in time between the SEAL team’s training and the actual mission.

And from Foreign Policy comes this piece about the latest, coolest obstacle course available to the general public---and unlike the Onion---this one is actually real. Yes, you too can kill Osama bin Laden:

Wish you could have been a part of the SEAL Team 6 raid that killed Osama bin Laden? Now's your chance. Former SEAL Larry Yatch has reconstructed the Abbottabad complex in a 10,000-square-foot studio in New Hope, Minnesota and for $315 a pop you can unload your M16-style paintball gun on a guy dressed like OBL. It's not quite Abottabad, but it should still get your chest thumping. So far, participants seem pleased with the experience. "This is so cool! My adrenaline is, like, so spiked right now!" reported one role player who spoke to KSTP, the local ESPN affiliate. But cheap thrills are not the only thing Yatch is peddling. Sealed Mindset Firearms Studio, Yatch's business venture, is devoted primarily to empowering the mild-mannered and the meek. "The biggest thing we're trying to accomplish is giving people a sense of empowerment," Yatch told KSTP. "It's the people that maybe might be a little intimidated around a gun or don't necessarily feel comfortable having to fight with someone, those are the people who we can make the biggest difference in their lives," he said. The experience is also available as part of a romantic couples package, so fear not if it's date night and you're jonesing for a targeted killing fix.