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I got this in my email this morning. I wasn\’t able to verify it at Snopes, but I agree with about 98% of it…

Written by a housewife from New Jersey, and sounds like it! This is one ticked off lady.

\”Are we fighting a war or terror or aren\’t we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?

\”Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation\’s capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn\’t they?

\”And I\’m supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was \’desecrated\’ when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet?…Well, I don\’t. I don\’t care at all.

\”I\’ll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

\”I\’ll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

\”I\’ll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking off Nick Berg\’s head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.

\”I\’ll care when the cowardly so-called \’insurgents\’ in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

\”I\’ll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

\”I\’ll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution\’s Bill of Rights.

\”In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don\’t care.

\”When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured: I don\’t care.

\”When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank: I don\’t care.

\”When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed \’special\’ food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being \’mishandled,\’ you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don\’t care.

\”And oh, by the way, I\’ve noticed that sometimes it\’s spelled \’Koran\’ and other times \’Quran.\’ Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and – you guessed it – I don\’t care!!! \”

OK, now for the 2% I don\’t agree with. I believe that the Koran is just as important as the Holy Bible. It should be treated with every bit as much respect. I don\’t believe that Muslims are violent, any more than I believe that Christians are violent, or Jews are violent, or whatever. People, no matter their faith (or lack thereof), are capable of violence, and the farther they are from God or Allah, the more likely they are to be violent. And I believe that God is Allah, and Allah is God, and to disparage either is to disparage both.

And it\’s my solemn prayer that one day, God will strike down all of the infidels of any faith that kill \”in His name.\” I hope it comes quickly, but happens slowly.

Insha\’Allah

I got this in the mail from my Aunt Joann today. I can\’t provide proper credit, but it\’s very highly accurate…

Information on Boston and the surrounding area:

There\’s no school on School Street , no court on Court Street, no dock on Dock Square , no water on Water Street . Back Bay streets are in alphabetical \”oddah\”: Arlington , Berkeley , Clarendon, Dartmouth, etc.
So are South Boston streets: A, B, C, D, etc. If the streets are named after trees (e.g. Walnut, Chestnut, Cedar), you\’re on Beacon Hill . If they\’re named after poets, you\’re in Wellesley .

Massachusetts Ave is Mass Ave ; Commonwealth Ave is Comm Ave.
South Boston is Southie. The South End is the South End. East Boston is Eastie. The North End is east of the former West End. The West End and Scollay Square are no more; a guy named Rappaport got rid of them one night. Roxbury is The Burry, Jamaica Plain is J.P.

How to say these Massachusetts city names correctly:

**Say it wrong, be shunned**
Worcester: Wuhsta (or Wistah)
Gloucester : Glawsta
Leicester : Lesta
Woburn : Wooban
Dedham : Dedim (like denim w/ a D in the N pace)
Revere : Re-vee-ah
Quincy : Quinzee
Tewksbury: Tooks berry
Leominster : Lemon-sta
Peabody : Peabuddy
Waltham : Walth-ham
Chatham : Chattum

Stoneham: Stone-em

Waban: Wah-ban

Holyoke: Hole-yoke

Definitions:
Frappes have ice cream, milkshakes don\’t.
If it is fizzy and flavored, it\’s tonic.
Soda is CLUB SODA.
\”Pop\” is Dad.
When we want Tonic WATER, we will ask for Tonic WATER.
The smallest beer is a pint.
Scrod is whatever they tell you it is, usually fish.
If you paid more than $6/pound, you got scrod.
It\’s not a water fountain; it\’s a bubblah.
It\’s not a trashcan; it\’s a barrel.
It\’s not a spucky it\’s a sub.
It\’s not a shopping cart; it\’s a carriage.
It\’s not a purse; it\’s a pockabook.
They\’re not franks; they\’re haht dahgs. Franks are money in France .

Police don\’t drive patrol units or black and whites they drive a \”crooza\”.
If you take the bus, you\’re on the \”looza crooza\”. It\’s not a rubber band, it\’s an elastic. It\’s not a traffic circle, it\’s a rotary. \”Going to the islands\” means Martha\’s Vineyard & Nantucket. If something\’s good, it\’s \”pissa\”. If something\’s really good, it\’s \”wicked pissa\”.

The Pat\’s = The Patriots
The Sox = The Red Sox
The C\’s = The Celtics
The B\’s = The Bruins

Things not to do:
Don\’t pahk your cah in Hahvid Yahd . they\’ll tow it to Meffa ( Medford ) or Slumaville (Somerville).
Don\’t sleep in the Common. ( Boston Common)
Don\’t wear Orange in Southie on St. Patrick\’s Day.

Things you should know:
There are two State Houses, two City Halls, two courthouses, two Hancock buildings (one old, one new for each).

The colored lights on top the old Hancock tell the wetha:
\”Solid blue, clear view….\”
\”Flashing blue, clouds due….\”
\”Solid red, rain ahead….\”
\”Flashing red, snow instead….\” – (except in summer; flashing red means the Red Sox game was rained out)

Route 128 is also I-95 south. It\’s also I-93 north.
The underground train is not a subway. It\’s the \”T\”, and it doesn\’t run all night (fah chrysakes, this ain\’t Noo Yawk).
Order the \”cold tea\” in China Town after 2:00 am you\’ll get a kettle full of beer.

Bostonians… think that it\’s their God-given right to cut off someone in traffic.
Bostonians…think that there are only 25 letters in the alphabet (no R\’s).
Bostonians…think that three straight days of 90+ temperatures is a heat wave.
Bostonians…refer to six inches of snow as a \”dusting.\”
Bostonians…always \”bang a left\” as soon as the light turns green and oncoming traffic always expects it.
Bostonians.. .say everything in town is \”a five-minute walk.\” (Pronounced \”wok\”)
Bostonians…believe that using your turn signal is a sign of weakness.
Bostonians…think that 63-degree ocean water is warm.
Bostonians…think Rhode Island accents are annoying.

I can\’t help it. These guys have apparently figured out how to sell everything. The coolest thing I bought from them so far was a 1000\’ spool of orange (bright orange) parachute cord. It yielded 12 80\’ pieces that I used to guy four towers one year at Field Day. But check out the Barre Army Navy Store. I want to drive up there on vacation just to check it out 😉

( NBC Television/Getty Images)

Don Herbert was my childhood hero, even more so than Captain Kangaroo (who went to AIC with my dad…). It was Mr. Wizard who captivated my mind and made me want to be a scientist. OK, I\’m an engineer, but engineering is the application of science to solve real-world problems. (OK, so I\’m a software engineer, but still…).

It was Mr. Wizard who made me curious about the world around me. Curious enough to dismantle shotgun shells to make little explosives (Yes, I still have all my fingers), mix Drano with aluminum foil to produce hydrogen gas to lift balloons into the not-so-far atmosphere over Monson, Massachusetts where I grew up (Yes, I still have both of my eyes).

It was Mr. Wizard who made me want to learn everything, and for that I\’m eternally grateful.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Wizard.

God\’s will be done.

I just got this email in from my good buddy tarek omar (who I don\’t actually know, really. That was my attempt at facetiousness, in case you\’re from California and don\’t get sarcasm, irony, and facetious):

Dear Friend,

I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we have never
met before, but need not to worry as I am using the only secured and
confidential medium available to seek for your foreign assistance in a
business. I am contacting you independently of my investigation and no
one is informed of this communication.

I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of $11.3million
immediately to your private account. The money has been here in our
Bank lying dormant for nine good years now without anybody coming for the
claim of it.

I want to release the money to you as the nearest person to our
deceased customer (the account owner) who died a long with his supposed NEXT OF
KIN since August 1997. The Banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay more than 10
years, because the money will be recalled to the Bank treasury as unclaimed
fund.

Upon receipt of your reply, indicating your interest in this transaction,
I will send you full details on how the business will be executed.

Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete if you are not
interested.

Regards,

MR TAREK OMAR
African development Bank.
Burkina Faso, West Africa,

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Note that the email, purportedly from Burkina-Faso, come with German text in the MSN tag at the end. Not a very clean attempt at deception…

In case you want to write to Mr. Omar on my behalf, here\’s his email address. Perhaps you can help him move the $11.3 million out of Burkina-Faso.

mr_taomar70@yahoo.fr although the displayed address is mr_omartarek37@hotmail.com – again, not a very convincing deception!

I was in Antwerp recently on business (yeah, I have a tough life). This church (Cathedral of Our Lady) was right outside my hotel room. It’s the largest Gothic cathedral in the lowlands, which I think includes Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands ( or “Benelux” as it’s known in some circles). This photo was in the late afternoon, after work, so the white limestone doesn’t show quite its true color. I wish I’d gotten to go inside and light a candle for Mom and Glenna…

Just follow this link to find out absolutely, positively all the information there is about your birthday. None of it is at all important to you, but it\’s a fun read…

My friend/neighbor/fellow ham Philip is about to go on three months medical disability while the doctors in Boston (BU Medical Center) kill off his bone marrow and try to get it to regenerate. Philip has been diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare bone marrow disorder. Here is Philip\’s blog.

As a sometime traveler, I like to keep up on current trends. Those jerks who planned to blow up American airplanes flying in from the UK brought about another ripple in the TSA pond, so TSA responded with a new set of regulations ( List of Prohibited Items )

Items in the list include antibiotic creams, like Neosporin, toothpaste, mouthwash, lip gloss,  bubble bath, and liquid mascara. Items that can be carried into the passenger compartment of an airplane? Gel-filled brassieres and personal lubricant. I can\’t brush my teeth, but Trixy can be a busty vixen, and, well, I won\’t even to mention anything Rodney might be doing with the personal lubricant…

Just seems absurd to me.