Thursday, October 11th, 2001: so, it's officially one month since the terrorism attacks in New York and Washington, and how far have we come since then? Well, let's just say, we have been reminded of it every single day since. I think there's a lot of fear out there, mostly of the unknown and what could happen. Just today, the FBI issued a statement, saying

"Certain information, while not specific as to target, gives the government the reason to believe that there may be additional terrorist attacks within the United States and against U.S. interests overseas over the next several days.

The FBI has again alerted all local law enforcement to be on the highest alert and we call on all people to immediately notify the FBI and local law enforcement of any unusual or suspicious activity."

I know how freaked out some people will feel, but those of us in the world, not living in the United States, are seeing things we've never seen before.
Just up here, in Canada (Toronto to be exact), we've had 2 bomb scares yesterday, one in a downtown building and the other in the subway, along with a break-in and a drum of mysterious liquid found at a water treatment facility that supplies water to 100,000 homes. This all happened yesterday!
What about today? Well, how about having CF-18 Hornets patrolling the skies over Toronto and Southern Ontario?
Yes, that's right, we've got the Canadian Armed Forces patrolling the skies over my town now. The reason is simple...to guard against the threat of hijacked civilian planes- in extreme circumstances in order to protect the territory of Canada. And yes, they too have the authority to shoot them down, should it be necessary.
That authority will come from Defence Minister Art Eggleton and the Prime Minister, Jean Chretien.

Above: CF-18 Hornet

Here are some facts and figures about the CF-18:

Length: 17.07 m
Wingspan: 12.31 m
Height: 4.66 m
Weight: 10,455 kg
Power: 2 General Electric F404 low bypass turbofans
Speed: Mach 1.8
Ceiling: 15,000 m
Range: 3,704 (more with air-to-air refueling)
Armament: Sidewinder and Sparrow air-to-air missiles, Maverick air-to-ground missile, conventional bombs and precision-guided bombs, rockets, and M-61 20mm cannon
Crew: 1 pilot (CF-18A), 2 pilots (CF-18B)
Year(s) procured: 1982 to 1988
Quantity in CF: 122 (60 operational/62 fighter training, testing and rotation)

When will it end? Someone answer that for me? Do we have to wait until every terrorist is caught and brought to justice? Do we really think this is possible? In spite of all of this going on, the thing that is most on my mind right now is my sore gums =(
Caught you off guard with that comment, eh? Well ha! to you. I'm not going to let all of this stuff in the world bring me down. The only thing that does that is "fine fine Dean". If you don't know who that is, then you're out of the loop! I hate that DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! Urrrrrrrrrgh! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Blaaaaaaaaaah!

Later folks!

More to come another day.

That day won't be today, however.

Then again, that's what "another day" means, right?

BYE BYE BYE!