quoted (use cpunks/cpunks as login/pass):
===
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — Federal officials said today that they had shut down the major suppliers of drug paraphernalia in the United States in a series of nationwide raids, arresting 55 people who prosecutors said had trafficked in an array of merchandise that included lipstick-shaped marijuana pipes and gas-mask bongs.

Drug paraphernalia, once the province of neighborhood head shops, has "exploded" into a multimillion-dollar industry through the Internet, as suppliers have shopped their wares on public Web sites with little fear of prosecution, officials said in announcing the arrests.

Federal officials said the raids had yielded several tons worth of drug paraphernalia used both by suppliers to help produce drugs for resale and by users to conceal drugs. Investigators said the items — which included drug pipes hidden in school highlighters, soft- drinks cans and lipstick cases — would sell for tens of millions of dollars on the open market.

U.S. Says It Has Cut Off Supplies of Drug Paraphernalia

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Saddam Hussein indicated on Monday that he does not intend to follow U.N. orders to destroy his Al- Samoud 2 missiles, and challenged President Bush to an internationally televised debate via satellite linkup.

In a three-hour interview with CBS anchor Dan Rather, the Iraqi leader said he envisioned a live debate with Bush along the lines of those in a U.S. presidential campaign, according to the network. The White House dismissed the debate offer as meaningless.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Saddam Hussein Challenges Bush to Debate

Israeli scientists have devised a computer that can perform 330 trillion operations per second, more than 100,000 times the speed of the fastest PC. The secret: It runs on DNA.

A year ago, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, unveiled a programmable molecular computing machine composed of enzymes and DNA molecules instead of silicon microchips. Now the team has gone one step further. In the new device, the single DNA molecule that provides the computer with the input data also provides all the necessary fuel.

Computer Made from DNA and Enzymes

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea has fired a missile into the Sea of Japan, escalating a tense standoff on the peninsula as world leaders gather in Seoul for the inauguration of South Korea's new president.

In a provocative move ahead of Roh Moo- hyun's inauguration, Pyongyang fired a missile into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, South Korea's Ministry of Defense said.

CNN.com - N. Korea test fires missile - Feb. 24, 2003

] (AP) Federal authorities charged 55 people Monday with
] trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia from coast to
] coast, using both traditional stores and the Internet.
]
]
] A federal grand jury in western Pennsylvania handed up
] indictments against 27 people as part of "Operation Pipe
] Dreams," an investigation stretching from Pittsburgh to
] Phoenix to southern California, Attorney General John
] Ashcroft said.

CBS News | Feds Smoke Out Paraphernalia Peddlers | February 24, 2003 15:30:54

I wanna work for this company. The star of XXX and The Fast & the Furious is forming his own video game company, Tigon Games. The way I see it, if I get a job at this company, I'd be cool by association. Now... where's my resume?

GameSpy.com - Vin Diesel to start video game company

quoted:
===
The 1988 birth of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization is carefully chronicled in a cache of remarkable documents seized last year during a raid on the Bosnian offices of an Illinois-based charity that covertly raised funds for the terrorist group. A description of the seized material is contained in a 106-page proffer unsealed this month by federal prosecutors in Chicago. The government filing was prepared in connection with the criminal case brought against Enaam Arnaout, the 41-year-old Syrian who headed Benevolence International Foundation, the alleged charitable front group (Arnaout pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge on February 10). Included in the seized material, the proffer discloses, were minutes from a three-day meeting in August 1988--held at bin Laden's home--during which al-Qaeda was hatched. The minutes note that future group members were required to be "listening and obedient" and had to possess "good manners." An excerpt from the government proffer follows. (4 pages)

The Smoking Gun: Al Qeada

Those crazy Canadians.

Yahoo! News - Naked Kidnap Fantasy Has Police Scrambling

] A huge fire engulfed a Rhode Island nightclub during a
] rock concert's pyrotechnics display, causing at least 10
] deaths and dozens of injuries, authorities said.
]
] Fire Capt. Russell McGillivray said an estimated 10 to 20
] people died. More were likely trapped inside.
]
] Great White is a 1980s heavy metal band whose hits include
] "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "Rock Me." The concert also
] featured the Canadian group Fathead.

Great White. Ok.

Now, this is one of those stories that at first glance would normally really get to me. I'm in clubs and at shows all the time. That being able to identify with the victims thing should instantally kick in.. But there is something I just can't get past..

Great White.

I feel really sorry for everyone there.. I hate to hear about people getting hurt and killed. I truly feel sorry for these folks.. Not only because they were at a concert where a fire broke out, but because they were at a Great White concert.

Picture their poor reletives.. Having to explain that.. Billy died at the Great White concert. That sounds horrible! And if you survived, and wound up horribly burned or something.. Having to tell folks where/how it happened. So sad..

On the other side of things, if you heard someone you knew died at, lets say, and Neil Young concert. It just sounds . . less tragic. Like, it might have been a worthy place to meet your end.. Of course, Neil Young wouldn't have fireworks blowing up behind him, its not his style really. Metallica has had problems with this. Michael Jackson too. Again, same thing kicks in.. There may be a connection.. Or natural selection in play. A signal from powers beyond our knowledge.

Now there is a good way to judge which shows you go to.. "Would it be ok if I died at this show?" If the answer is no, you skip.. Good filter.

So sad. Just heard on the news that the death toll is over 24. [U: 39 now..] [U: !!! +50!]

] The fire comes four days after 21 people were killed and
] more than 50 injured during a stampede in a Chicago
] nightclub that began when a security guard used pepper
] spray to break up a fight.

Just you watch... New fire code and search restrictions will start to be proposed for clubs. They will seem like really good ideas to the bulk of the population at a glance. But if by nothing other then botched implementations and enforcement, will wind up being a great blow to civil liberties, and somehow manage to force many places out of business. And by extension, wind up effecting the over all big picture of free speech in America.. People often forget the importance of venues.

Cock Rock Kills

Though you didn't do the crime, yer gonna do the time!

Hackers do it with longer sentences!