ASPECIAL thank you to John Pas who caught this most excellent CNN story while I was swamped with grading papers.

The pirates who attacked the Seabourn Spirit grinned as they aimed grenade-launchers and machine guns at the deck and staterooms, some passengers said Monday, recounting the ordeal after safely docking in this Indian Ocean archipelago.

Sadly, the pirates were defeated by high-power, military-grade sonar weapons, but not before putting a few holes in the ship with a few RPGs–rocket propelled grenades to those who aren’t down with the military jargon.

This certainly makes one wonder … what is a cruise ship doing sporting military class weapons that were developed only five years ago?