Classic DF – 12/18/01

December 18, 2001: [•] Ramadan is over (BTW: I hope that all my Muslim viewers had a joyous Ramadan) and 90% of the war in Afghanistan has been won. However, Mohammed Omar and Osama bin Laden are both still missing. [•] US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns all US citizens to be vigilant against terrorism as the nutjobs of the world begin to embrace new techniques of inflicting pain on others. [•] US Marines injured by a landmine encourage the world to worry about bigger problems instead of their wounds. [•] The Yemeni military has attacked an al Qaeda camp in its country. [•] Even though al Qaeda appears to have been beaten the US government continues to warn US citizens about the possibility of a terrorist attack. [•] US President Bush had several lesions removed from his face. None were cancerous. [•] Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is asking Arab leaders to meet him in Mecca to discuss Israel and Palestine. Go nutjob leader! [•] Siena Heights University has added a philosophy class that examines how The Simpsons handle theology. [•] India is mulling over its response to a terrorist attack on its government. [•] Arctic weather hits Europe. [•] Somali warlords are attempting to convince the US to attack their country’s government in hopes of achieving power. [•] Ebola continues to ravage Gabon. [•] The ousted government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide attempted to regain control of Haiti, but failed. [•] Oh those crazy civil liberty loving Canadians and their crazy civil liberty loving Canadian ways! [•] Thailand will only issue 17 visas this year in an attempt to stop illegal activities. [•] A heavy earthquake hit Japan and Taiwan creating a small tsunami. [•] Spain has arrested 7 suspected ETA members. [•] Princess Buniah al-Saud, the niece of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, has been arrested on charges of beating her maid. [•] A sewerage spill has closed a portion of Laguna Beach, California. [•] A first-grader who dresses as Santa Claus and distributes small toys in a local mall was kicked out by mall owners since (get this) he’s competition to the official mall’s Santa LOL. [•] The Space Shuttle Endeavour has landed. [•] Serious crime fell in the first 6 months of 2001, but murder went up. [•] An equipment failure has stopped progress in clearing anthrax from the Hart Senate Building. [•] Vivendi Universal has bought USA Networks. [•] Be careful, you could end up buying fake FDNY or PDNY goods. [•] Intel is sponsoring an open source code called OpenCV that they hope will allow computers to see in three dimensions. [•] A Japanese zoo’s panda gave birth to a male cub. [•] Utah has introduced the US’s first voice-recognition based travel information service for telephone users. [•] A genetically engineered mouse has been developed who’s milk contains the malaria vaccine. [•] Chicken feces and diesel fuel: What a mix! [•] CERT is warning UNIX administrators who are running Secure Shell on their systems to make sure that they are using SSH2 (full install not upgrade) with no SSH daemons running and all exploits patched. [•] Microsoft has released Service Pack 1 for Office XP. [•] RSA Security Inc. has developed the Wireless Equivalent Privacy protocol to encrypt individual data packets sent over 802.11 wireless networks thus fixing current security issue. [•] A new drug reduces cold symptoms within a day and knocks one day of the actual disease off. FDA approval is about a year away at best. [•] 3/4 of new HIV cases are resisting treatment. [•] Autism seems to be higher in Silicon Valley. Could tech savvy genes be responsible? [•] Google will allow you to now browse 600 catalogues online. [•] Universal Music Group’s new CDs won’t play in a PC. Their solution: Buy another copy in digital format for the PC through the Net. Hey, why not pay a third time just for fun! Hell, let’s go for four! [•] An ISP is claiming the FBI wants the e-mail logs for data logged by the BadTrans.B worm and sent to one of several e-mail addresses including one hosted by the ISP. Why would they want it? Well, they assert that BadTrans.B is actually the Magic Lantern virus developed by the FBI reported on earlier last week. [•] A captured al Qaeda member turned informant claims that Windows XP has backdoors inserted by the terrorist group. [•] Christmas may be here, but thoughts of September 11th still haunt Americans. [•] Everyone’s favorite anti-CVS group, It’s Our Town, has been sponsoring a gift drive for needy families of Warwick, NY. [•] The US Postal Service switches into high gear to meet last minute mail demands. [•] Will a correction officer who is charged with trash compacting a box of contraband kittens face jail time? [•] Newburgh, NY City Comptroller Ed Weber resigns because City Manager Harry Porr was fired. [•] Cory Jones is found dead in New Windsor, NY and police are ruling it suspicious. [•] Local Catholic school teachers are still on strike, a textile union pickets an employer over a wage dispute, a woman is charged after she crashes her auto with a young child unbelted, ’tis the season for ice, the Milford-Montague bridge toll gets raised, an elderly woman is killed crossing a highway, a high speed chase keeps things interesting for the Ulster County Sheriffs, robbers are defeated by a soda machine, the Sullivan County Family Violence Response Team arrested a man on charges of molesting a toddler, and Wurtsboro Police arrest John Kallajian stemming from charges in Connecticut. [•] Hank Williams Jr. and Kid Rock will appear together on CMT Crossroads. [•] Weezer has begun working on their new album. [•] Charlie Clouser has left NIN, but formed a new band called Revenge of the Triads that includes guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and bassist Jason Slater from A Perfect Circle. [•] The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 rules, but then again you already know that don’t you? [•] Can’t afford the Corvette? Try the Ford Focus; it rules. [•] The 2002 Maserati Spyder is so damn kick ass that I don’t even have a wise ass comment to get you to click on the link. Just do it. [•] Intel has announced an official Pentium 4 chipset using DDR SDRAM. The new AMD Duron mobile ratchets cheap laptop speeds up to 1GHz. And Toshiba has quit the memory business. [•] Viisage Technology licenses its face recognition technology to the US Army. [•] Apple has released a PowerBook with a CD/DVD burner and more memory. [•] Adobe is putting the final touches on multimedia creation software for Mac OS X. [•] Azazel and I had an excellent time at my company’s Christmas party. The food was great and a good time was had by all! [•] C0il is home for Christmas vacation! [•] Sometimes a song can say it all. [•] Note that there is no planned updates for the next three days as I will be attending a three day seminar on VDSL. The next update will be this Saturday. Talk to you then.

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Classic DF – 12/10/01

December 10, 2001: [•] Al Qaeda is being beaten back by Eastern Alliance forces in Tora Bora and a compromise has been made to finalize Afghanistan’s postwar government. [•] A videotape found in an Afghan home shows Osama bin Laden bragging about how he planned and admired the results of his efforts concerning the September 11th attack. [•] Israel has refused to deal with terrorist groups offering them a ceasefire noting that the only Palestinian group they negotiate with is the Palestinian Authority. [•] The World Health Organization has confirmed an ebola virus outbreak in Gabon. [•] 3 people were killed when they were run over by a train in Philadelphia. [•] Israel attacked suspected terrorist compounds killing two children. [•] South Korea and Japan have finalized World Cup venues. [•] Kosovo conducted its first parliamentary session in 13 years. [•] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez insists that even a massive strike by union employees can’t shut his country down. [•] Jacques Navarra, a suspected Corsican militant, was assassinated on his way home. [•] Colombian rebels freed a US man held hostage for over a month. [•] The new crew has arrived at the International Space Station. [•] The families of victims of the Columbine shooting want to revive a case concerning whether people have the right to publish gunmen’s journals for profit. [•] Online cigarettes sales are soaring, but how do you card an online purchaser? [•] 4 Israeli teens have been arrested and charged with creating the Goner Virus. [•] The EU is going after spam! Rejoice! [•] Batman: Vengeance is pretty damn neat. [•] High blood pressure, even that caused by nerves, is dangerous. [•] Lord of the Rings is going to rule. [•] Let the domain hijacking begin! [•] The Pleasant Valley Fire District in Dutchess County, NY is looking for a few good men. [•] St. Mary’s Church in Port Jervis, NY celebrates its 150th year in God’s service. [•] Winter is unofficially here in good old Orange County, NY. We got our first snow of this season. [•] Seniors get a new apartment complex in Bloomingburg, the Friends of Jonah Mandelbaum Charity Fund to Benefit Winslow Therapeutic Riding Center is opened, and Jeffrey R. Cox died when he car skidded into oncoming traffic. [•] Expect the final album of the late Joey Ramone to be released in early 2002. [•] Neil Young gets paid his tribute. [•] Several of Slipknot’s members are working on solo projects. [•] Pamela Anderson has accused Tommy Lee of poor parenting and demands full custody of their children. [•] Soul Asylum celebrated the band’s 20th anniversary. [•] Human rights activists are trying to a lingerie manufacturer to move their factories out of Burma. [•] The Beastie Boys have started working on their next album. [•] The 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 videocard may have been one of the most kick ass video card ever, but now we’ll never know. [•] Li’l Pooh has added “Mamma” to her vocabulary. She’s so darn smart! [•] Word. [•] Double word. [•] Triple word.

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