How to open the hood of a 2002 Honda CR-V when the pull goes limp

The other day, after checking the oil in the CR-V, I closed the hood and it failed to latch.  I messed with it a bit, hit it with lube, and finally, it grabbed.  Fast forward a few weeks, and I went to check the oil before heading out on a dirt bike adventure, and the latch pull inside the car pulled and went limp.  I assumed a broken cable, but the boy confirmed that he could hear something happening at the latch.  He tried pressing down on the hood as I pulled harder and harder on the latch, to the point of it almost coming off in my hand.  So, I searched the Internets, and pretty much came up with a lot of conjecture and bad advice about getting the thing opened.  This is how I did it in 15 minutes.

Warning.  Doing stuff is dangerous. Cutting a metal flag pole could cause a sharp edge that could rip off both your corneas.  Wear eye protection, etc.

Supplies and tools:
An old section of hollow, metal flag pole cut to about 22 inches.
A medium flat blade screwdriver to pop the fasteners on the belly pan.
Rubber mallot
Eye protection

Steps:
1.) Take off belly pan.

2.) Lying on Back,  Look straight up at the latch and identify blue plastic cable collar at end of black hood cable.

3.) Just to the left of the blue piece is the flat silver nub that it pulls on - fit the flagpole end around his nub, and pivot the bottom of the pole to the left.  Far enough over so you can smack the shit out of it twice with the rubber mallet, driving the piece to the right. Slather everything with lube, and snap the blue Collar back in its groove (mine had popped out.)

4.) Tell your significant other that you saved 200 bucks.

5.) Put the flagpole and mallot in the back hatch in case it happens again.

ICOM IC-751

I picked up a circa 1984 ICOM IC-751 at Hamvention this year.  It is in nice shape, and performs well, and there is a whole lot less tuning involved than with the Heathkit!  Night before last, I got a 569 report into Sweden.  Last night, Slovania was booming in at 20 over.  Last night, I replaced the stock battery backed ram board with the aftermarket PROM board from PIEXX.com.  http://www.piexx.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=26
It works great!

xr200r and xr250r have joined the stable.