I just love it when the americans get uber-paranoid.

Though it seems ridiculous for them to fear people reading the Farmers Almanac, their reactions are warranted in that they probably do the same thing.

Store information in books such as crossword puzzles, books, alamanacs and the publications...besides their other routine stuff. You see it in movies, but what are the chances that you'll get a "Mercury Rising"?

Steps are being taken to secure the country, sure, sure. Those measures were already there before 2001 yet 9/11 still happened. Now the airports aren't secure, freedom to congregate is being controlled, innocent people are being harassed...you can keep trying, but there will always be a hole.

I keep wondering if there was any merit to the rumor that the Philippines had alerted the CIA of the bombing but nobody believed them because we had such a sloppy intelligence network.

There's a fine line between gossip and intel in this country. I've learned to listen simply because you have no idea what it is that you are hearing. You go to a party expecting it to be boring, then go home with information that you never intended of learning.

Some are hot air, some turn out to be next weeks evening news.

The funny part is, you aren't exactly special. You just get to this stage where everyone you're acquianted with knows someone who, who knows someone, who knows someone...and pretty soon you know them too.

Kind of like Friendster. Only this time it's a more nefarious network.