Three Of The Best Snipers In History

Snipers are known to be stealthy marksmen that kill from long range, beyond the standard range of most personnel. Although modern games portray snipers as "camping around" and doing 360 degrees no-scope headshots, real life snipers require large amounts of skill and precision. Respecting that some games attempt to make snipers more realistic by accounting for bullet drop, wind resistance, and the concept that bullets don't travel completely straight all the time, they still miss the little things that still play a large role in what the bullet will hit, such as the air moisture, the amount/direction of wind between themselves and the target, bullet resistance, air density, target speed and direction, and even earth's gravity depending on how high or low they are to the earth. After all of that is accounted for, can the sniper (you?) still take the shot and remain hidden/alive?

Considering that I have this helicopter, I can make as many mistakes as I want.

I've chosen 3 individuals from history that are the best snipers, ever. Why only three? Well, obviously I can't account for every single sniper in history, and everyone has a different opinion on who's the best. So try to keep it in mind if you suddenly feel that you have been betrayed that your favorite sniper wasn't on this short list.

Carlos Hathcock, 93 confirmed kills. This man is responsible for the major development of the United States Marine Corps Sniper training program.

Hathcock was born in Arkansas on May 20, 1942. He grew up with his grandparents and even at the start of his life, he loved hunting, which in some manner helped feed his family. He used a rifle that his father brought back from World War 2, and would go to the woods to pretend to be a soldier hunting Nazis in a imaginary  Germany. Since a young age, he wanted to join the Marine Corps and thankfully, he pulled it off on the same day he turned 17, May 20th, 1962.

Unsurprisingly, Hathcock wasn't an underdog at any point of his military career, in fact he won many shooting championships back at home in Camp Perry and even won the prestigious Wimbledon Cup. After extensive training, he was sent over to Vietnam.

At first, he wanted to join the standard "scout" patrols, but he later changed his mind because his fellow Marines didn't have the hardcore, awesome woodmen skills that he had; he decided to hunt alone. However, many Marines questioned if a lone sniper would prove useful whatsoever. After 6 months and 14 confirmed kills, the Marines finally shut up. But wait! "Why so few kills?" Because the Marine Corps required a third party that had to be an Officer to confirm the kill and  since Vietnam wasn't known for being an jolly-happy dance contest all the time, it was difficult to actually confirm any kill; especially if the "kill" was behind enemy lines as it often was. (Because I don't think you would want to call a "time-out" during a raid to see if Sniper Joe killed Vietnamese Tim inside of a building full of other Vietnamese soldiers just waiting to shoot you.)

The Vietnamese army on the other hand, wasn't really happy about all their men falling like goats on a freeway, so they placed a $30,000 bounty on his life. (Usually, when the Vietnamese army wasn't happy about certain U.S. snipers, they usually put a bounty ranging from 8-2,000 dollar. Obviously, they thought that they could make a special exception for Hathcock.)

But Imagine that, if the Vietnamese army put you at 8$ per head?

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How to Avoid Spiked Drinks

Good job, you've just finished college and you're graduating at the top of your school! You've been invited to make a speech at a prestigious award ceremony at the White House and it's only about six hours away! So you go the bar, and some of your arch-nemesis follow you along and using your keen hearing, you eavesdrop them talking about spiking your drink in order to make you"unavailable" for the speech in an attempt to ruin your future career. So what do you do? Do you turn around, throw a glass of liquor at them, charge and grab their arms and legs, flip them over onto the tables, then wrestle knives out of their hands, and force them to either let go of the knife, or slit their own throat, or do you keep a "keener" eye out for your foes?

He'll be impressed. Also, dead.

In a "legal-er" sense, lets just keep a keen eye on them; saying that you eavesdroped on a conversation about spiking your drink won't stand well in court against four mutilated bodies with at least twenty witnesses on scene, two security camera footage, and sixteen camera phone recordings.

• Prefer unopened cans and bottles. Try not to accept any unopened cans or bottles from anyone. If you're going to have anyone open your cans or bottles, have it done in front of you, by a trusted friend, bartender, waiter, or waitress.
• Note strange tasting or discolored drinks. From your extensive career in drinking fluids, you should be able to tell the difference between a normal coke/pepsi and a purple-colored cyanide concoction. Note that many "date-rape" drugs are usually colorless, odorless, and tasteless.
• Always keep your eye(s) on your drink. They can't sneak anything funny in your drink if you stare intently at it for sixteen hours straight. At the very least, keep your drink in front of you all times.
• Don't leave your drinks unattended. Don't go off to the little boys room every six minutes and leave your drink unattended for anyone to insert anything into your drink.
• Don't share drinks. Even with trusted friends. For all you know, someone could be trying to rape your foolish, careless friends, only to have you drink the spiked drink in a frenzy of sharing.
• Examine your drink before drinking. If you see unusual bubbling, fizzling, or even half-dissolved pills in the bottom of your drink, don't drink it. Perhaps you left it on the counter, does it look tampered with? Did someone move your cup slightly to the right, or adjust your straw?
• Keep your palm over the open side of your cup. Don't hold it like a hipster with your hands on the sides, hold it with your hand on top. With your hand on top, it'll suddenly become a hundred times harder to sneak anything into your drinks while you are holding it. (When you're getting drunk, your alertness will suffer, during this time, someone could excrete feces into your cup without you knowing.)*
• Go to bars with friends. Not only does this result in a good game of beer pong, but having someone watching your back, makes it harder to kidnap you.

*experiences vary

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Elevator Etiquette

The 45th floor is your destination. You are on the first floor. Stairs, anybody? Five hundred steps and you've arrived at that very important thing you had to do quite sweaty! Is that any way to make a good impression? Thankfully, buildings of such magnitude contain the modern marvel that is elevators. A moderately sized rectangular prism specifically designed for your vertical aspirations. Away we go upon this mystical contraption, along with 53.8 other people crammed into the 4 by 4 foot space. So, how does one act while crushed against a mailman, the guy from your middle school, and the one that ate garlic for breakfast. To the list!

What you'll look like if you take the stairs.

1. Smile, inwardly and outwardly - If you are the first on the elevator, smile at anyone who makes eye contact. It instantly relieves tension, and yes, there can be a lot of tension in that tiny cube of ascension. If you enter with others on it, smile if they look at you. This can be a great way to make conversation. Keep an inward smile, be positive if someone enters the elevator, as happy or unhappy as they seem. If anything, a smile will unwind everyone, unless they like frowning. Then they will hate you.

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Skyakes Revamp!

What's this new sensual template doing here? Well it might have something to do with our extreme-revamp. Why is it extreme? Not because it's a massively life-altering, but because its hardcore like six rocks tied onto the end of a rope made of goat skin.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Well, other then the new-fresh look, what else is new you might ask?

• Two new picture-hacks. (I'll show you these in the next few post!)
• A new "associate"! That's right, Skyakes isn't just becoming another slowly dying blog on the verge of collapse, now it's a collaboration of two people running a dying blog on the verge of collapse. Just kidding about the collapse and dying part though.
• The fresh-meat or more politely, the new gentlemen that will be joining us will hopefully bring some fresh air and insight into the room.
• His name is Eddard. Feel free to parade him with balloons and fast cars.

Any ways, with our new staff, we should be able to pump out more quality content, and instead of enjoying one article with a cuppa tea, you can now enjoy two teas. -insert questionable music-

Expect some new things* coming your way as we adjust towards this change for the better!

*New things may include one or more of the following: increased content, improved quality of content, cancer, diabetes, skin blemishes, multiple cyst, hot air balloons and/or pink colored ovals.

7/11/11 Free Slurpee Day

Woah, the date of today looks just like that major store chain. What a coincidental date that only you have noticed. Oh wait, so did 7/11. In honor and celebration of this special date, in which the date itself advertises 7 eleven; 7 eleven is making this Monday, "Free Slurpee Day"

Take two, I won't tell anyone. -wink-

The massive chain is giving out 7.11 fluid ounces of Slurpee for free until midnight today. With about 15 different 7 Eleven locations in New York City, it's going to be a busy day.

Why not take advantage of this offer, and visit all 15 of them today? That's 106.65 fluid once's.

Don't take your time though, many people are going to try to take advantage of this offer, and the free Slurpee only stands as long as they have it in stock. Don't wait till 5 minutes before midnight to ask if they still have anymore Slurpees left. It's estimated that they will give out about 5 million free Slurpee's nation-wide, make sure you're a part of that 5 million enjoying a ice cold beverage of ice on this warm summer afternoon.

 7 Eleven's promotion, while sounding like a bad idea for the major chain, actually benefits them thanks to the increase in sales when people line up for their free Slurpee. Also, after you get your free Slurpee, it'll simply feel wrong not to buy another one. I mean, won't it feel like practically stealing? How would you sleep tonight? Think of the children!

In final note, why not get a map of all the 7 Eleven stores in NYC, and go for a hike towards all 15 destinations?

http://www.7-eleven.com/Stores/Default.aspx