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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Classic DF – 10/22/01

October 22, 2001: [•] The Taliban claim they have shot down a US helicopter. They back this claim with a photo of a wheel (Yes, I said a photo of a wheel). The US military denies that the Taliban have shot down anything. The Taliban also claim they have shot down Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Bob Dole; none of which can be independently confirmed 😉 [•] Ramadan, a Muslim holy time, is a hop and skip away. [•] Another nut is shot while attempting to kill as many people as possible in Israel. [•] Economics is apparently beyond me; the more we attack Afghanistan the lower gas prices go. I would have thought just the opposite. [•] The Sudan People’s Liberation Army claims to have killed 429 government troops. [•] 11 people died in a stampede in a stadium in Venezuela. [•] The Pope has beautified a married couple that he hopes will inspire married couples to realize it is possible to live a good life and be married. [•] Muslims in Nigeria want to offer the Taliban money. [•] China has opened up its airwaves to AOL Time Warner. [•] Two young girls are injured during clashes in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants. [•] US warplanes have pushed Taliban fighters back once again. [•] The US Senate and House remained closed again as anthrax results are double-checked. A third US Postal worker remains in serious condition after being diagnosed with inhalation anthrax. [•] History textbook publishers are trying to update their latest edition before the February publishing deadline. [•] The Concert for New York was pretty darn cool. My personal highlight was the resurrection of The Who. They freaking rocked! [•] The hippies take to the Net to rant and rave about peace, love, and overdosing. Do us a favor: Shut the Hell up! Bunch of weed smoking morons. [•] How computers are making the modern DJ lighter. [•] A Newburgh apartment fire looks suspicious, an anthrax scare, a DWI driver is charged with manslaughter for killing his sister, and an election winner is finally picked in Wallkill for the Conservative Party Town Board candidate. [•] Red Hat Linux 7.2 is here! [•] UK ground troops are ready for war. [•] Microsoft has announced a DVD and digital music add-on pack for Windows XP, but MP3 ripping will not be supporting since Microsoft has fears about offending copyright advocates and paying extra cash to use someone else’s software. They note that there are plenty of applications out there to fill the void anyhow. [•] Li’l Pooh has learned how to drink out of a cup while someone holds it! You go girl! [•] Immy is looking forward to NWA wrestling.

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Classic DF – 10/20/01

October 20, 2001: [•] The Taliban claim to have shot down a US helicopter, but the US military says no one was hurt during military operations. Officials did say however that 2 soldiers were killed in a non-combat accident. War is Hell, people. [•] Germany has issued a warrant for Moroccan Zakariya Essabar who they believe helped create a terrorist ring related to the September 11th attacks. [•] Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops leaving 4 people dead. [•] The UK is mulling over whether or not to resume direct rule over Northern Ireland again. [•] An unidentified person left a bomb in a Pakistan airport, but a bomb squad managed to place the device in an area where it could safely explode. [•] An Omaha, Nebraska student died from injuries incurred during a bus crash. [•] A New York Times reporter in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil received a letter tainted with anthrax. [•] Robert Durst, a wealthy real estate owner, has been arrested and charged with murdering a neighbor. [•] A suitcase full of explosives is found after no one claimed the suitcase it was stored from a bus station locker. [•] Would-be anthrax jokesters find out what is really funny– watching their facial expressions when they are sentenced to life in prison for being asswipes! [•] Do you really think that children of people killed by an airplane ramming into a building want to fly? I don’t think so. [•] Halloween is on the way… oh joy. [•] Oakland International Airport in California will begin scanning faces in crowds and using a database to match them up with known criminals. [•] Who let the lemurs out? [•] A second New Jersey US Postal worker tests positive for anthrax exposure. [•] Apple joins that latest trend of MP3 devices that stream data to stereos without wires. [•] IBM wants to make computers take care of themselves. [•] It is really unlikely that anyone in Smalltown Anywhere, USA will be targeted with anthrax. These nutjobs are after the big dogs, if you know what I mean. [•] A woman is stabbed and strangled in Port Jervis, NY. [•] Highland Falls will hold its Fall Foliage Festival today, the City of Kingston celebrates 350 years of existence, Republican Orange County Executive nominee Edward Diana will not be able to attend an environmental forum since he was never formally invited, Laura Fox gets sentenced to 32 days-23 months in Pike County Jail for being caught DWI 3 times in 3 hours, and West Point hosts a display on historic military pieces. [•] Ozzie and Zombie talk to MTV’s Curly want-to-be. [•] Macromedia is suing Adobe for patent infringement. [•] UK police close off an area for a serious situation. [•] A UK soldier is killed in Sierra Leone. [•] Pocket rocket shoot out. [•] The Lexus IS300 Sport Cross rules. [•] A Mazda Miata on Slim Fast. [•] Microsoft’s Digital Rights Management software has been hacked. Microsoft claims it’s no big deal and that they can correct the issue. [•] MP3.com has split into 2 companies. [•] Once copper runs hit their maximum potential speed in PCs fiber may be the only hope to increase computing speeds. [•] Li’l Pooh has gotten her first tooth! [•] Mervernation.com’s server is getting a new case. [•] Bored? Well, it isn’t going to get any better. In fact, it gets worse: Check out “bizarre pictures”. I personally like the baby flipping me off. It reminds me of my own sweet Li’l Pooh 🙂

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Classic DF – 10/18/01

October 18, 2001: [•] The Capital Building has shut down in Washington DC after 31 people tested positive for anthrax exposure.[•] Airborne radio stations are sending Taliban soldiers an ultimatum. [•] The FAA is checking all employees’ backgrounds. [•] Israel has moved tanks into Palestinian neighborhoods hoping to keep the calm during an assassinated official’s funeral. [•] An envelope containing anthrax was sent from Atlanta, Georgia to a private citizen in Kenya. It looks like someone is testing international mail limits, now doesn’t it? [•] Japan’s Lower House has passed an anti-terrorism bill to support the US’s war on terrorism. [•] APEC is meeting in China this week and instead of economics they will be discussing terrorism. [•] Bodies from the sunken research vessel have started to be recovered. [•] Russia has pulled out of a spy base in Cuba. [•] The Canadian Navy has started making its way to join with US allies near Afghanistan. [•] Eliecer Meneses, an ex-Colombian congressman, was assassinated. [•] Diane Pretty, a terminally ill UK citizen, has lost her court case and the right to die on her own terms. [•] Saudi Arabia has asked its citizens not to sympathize with Islamic militants since they are perverting the religion instead of furthering it. [•] An unidentified man tried to hijack a bus and failed. He fled with an unknown woman into a car that was apparently following the bus. [•] Over $1 billion have been raised by charities for the victims and their families of the September 11th attacks. [•] The USS Kitty Hawk is armed with helicopters and special forces. It is only a matter of time now. [•] Before closing, the US House passed a bill that extends the ban on sales tax for items purchased over the Net by 2 years. [•] Microsoft has decided to start labeling security threats by genre and severity since users seem too incompetent to judge for themselves. [•] Apple has announced upgraded G4s and iBooks. [•] Everybody run for cover! AOL 7 is here! [•] The Ozone Hole over Antarctica hasn’t grown or shrunk for 3 years. [•] Due to anthrax fears Bayer is upping the production of the antibiotic Cipro. [•] Fleischmann’s recalls its unsalted stick margarine because whey isn’t listed on the ingredients label though it is used to create the food product. [•] So what’s stopping terrorists from tainting the illegal drug supply? I don’t know, but Wired is wondering the same thing. [•] Bell Labs scientists have developed a transistor a million times smaller than a grain of sand. [•] Yihat is looking for government support to hack terrorists. [•] GovNet may be separate from the Net, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be hackable. [•] The technicalities always get you. [•] How Route 17’s conversion to I-86 will affect traffic in Orange County, NY. [•] A cyclist collides with a van, Wanted: Politicians, a burglar is found guilty, restore your barn for free, Philip Halasz is arrested for fondling a teenage girl’s breasts, a drive-by shooting, switching from O&R Electric saves Port Jervis big money, and the debate over whether or not the Tappan Zee Bridge should be repaired begins. [•] Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson broke his foot when he threw a hissy fit and kicked a steel door. [•] Here’s Ozzy! [•] Sony and Toyota are developing a car that can understand human emotion (Ummm… great… I think). [•] Anthrax shows up at CBS. [•] Surgeons develop a way to insert an implant to restore hearing through a tiny incision. [•] Arrested Rapper of The Day: Jay-z has pleaded guilty to assaulting a record executive. [•] First pictures of the production Mazda RX-8 and 6. Very cool indeed. [•] DaimlerChrysler shows off its Mercedes F400 concept model. [•] 2002 will see the return of the Dodge to the police market with the Intrepid police car package. [•] Volkswagen unveils its new D1 and it has a 411 hp W12 engine. What more could you ask for? [•] If you look close at the 2002 Holden Monaro you can see the Australian version of the Chevrolet Camaro. Just “sigh” and think of all that could have been. [•] Sony continues its trend of integrating all of its products together with the TiVo. [•] Microsoft says that many of the exploits that turn up are due to vendors giving out early source code (Sure, blame someone else LOL). [•] I love you wife and daughter! [•] Immy reports that Reboot, a popular computer animated cartoon, will be running season four in the US. That rules. [•] I’ve been busy as heck at work. I had to compose a training transcript and work up a presentation. I completed a broadband presentation the other day. I keep getting stuck late at work solving implausible problems. I’ve had two meetings this week and next week I am going to an expo on local commerce. So faced with not enough time during prime time I got up a 5AM with Li’l Pooh this morning and had playtime. If one thing irks me about this world it’s that I don’t really see my daughter a lot during the week. I guess it’s time to wake up earlier to get some quality time– I hate getting up before the sun, but for her it’s worth it 🙂

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Classic DF – 2/28/01

February 23, 2001: [•] Poor Li’l Pooh is still sick! The poor kid gets better only to catch another cold (Deja vu). She’s still smiling though 🙂 [•] Mermaid gives us an update over the AOL verses Trillian situation. [•] What is with Russia? Of all of sudden if they don’t win an Olympic event they demand a recount and when they do win it turns out to be because of “pressure” on judges. Can you say “spoiled sports”. Sheesh. [•] Chuck Jones, the man who nearly single-handedly created all of the Warner Brothers cartoon characters, has died. [•] Wonder why the US puts up with Saudi Arabia’s harsh treatment of its citizens? Wonder no more! [•] Bored? Well, obviously you haven’t looked hard enough at last week’s link. Try right clicking on the page. [•] I doubt that totally cleared up your boredom, so why not check out uComics too? Now, you can get your daily fix of Garfield from the safety of your PC (whatever that means). BTW: Check out Captain Ribman. It’s an… ummmm… interesting (I think that’s the word I’m grasping for here) comic to say the least. [•] Things are looking good on the “My family needs more living space” front. Most likely we’ll be getting the smaller of two apartments we looked at, but it is larger than our existing one so I can deal with that. They are currently completely remodeling it so we’ll have to wait two months before we could move in, but that’s perfect since our lease has four months left anyhow. Just a little too perfect if you ask me 😉

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