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Arcade Meets LAN party
Rylar writes "California Extreme is holding their annual classic arcade games show at the San Jose Convention Center September 7th and 8th. With paid admission you get free play on all the Pinball machines and old school upright arcade machines like Space Invaders, Asteroids, Centipede and Frogger to name a few. This year LANtrocity has joined the mix for an "old meets new" element. LANtrocity is providing a BYOC area and several free play computers on the 7th, one admission gets you into both the old style arcade free play area and the LAN party. Challenge your friends to a Biathlon; Galaga and SoF2."
BAUAHAHA
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
Nuclear weapons
1 President Bush's father, when he was in the White House, declared that the American bombing of Iraq's nuclear weapons sites had put "Saddam Hussein out of the nuclear bomb-building business for a long time to come". That was 11 years ago. Today, despite the systematic destruction by the International Atomic Energy Agency of Iraq's nuclear infrastructure, including 50,000 square metres of factory space, 2,000 pieces of equipment and 600 tons of special alloys, the CIA believes that Saddam has revived his programme and that his priority is to acquire a sufficient source of fissile material.
2 Before the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq was reported to be six months from making a crude nuclear device, based on an implosion design similar to the Nagasaki bomb. Two years ago the IAEA said that if Saddam started work again on a nuclear weapon, he could build one in about two years.
3 In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee in February, George Tenet, Director of US Central Intelligence, said: "We believe Saddam never abandoned his nuclear weapons programme. Iraq retains a sufficient number of nuclear scientists, programme documentation, and probably some dual-use manufacturing infrastructure that could support a reinvigorated nuclear weapons programme."
4 Intelligence agencies are monitoring any attempts by Saddam's agents to buy key components for rebuilding Iraq's uranium enrichment machinery, necessary for creating bomb-grade nuclear material. In June Western intelligence agencies were warned that Iraq had acquired parts for "flow-forming" machines, which are used for producing components for uranium enrichment. However, Mr Tenet told the Intelligence Committee: "Our major near-term concern is the possibility that Saddam might gain access to fissile material (from a foreign country)."
Chemical warfare
1 Since 1991 United Nations weapons inspectors have overseen the destruction of 480,000 litres of chemical warfare agents and precursors, and 38,000 chemical munitions. However, according to intelligence assessments, much of Iraq's chemical warfare capability remains intact.
2 A report by the Pentagon last year said that Baghdad had rebuilt its industrial and chemical production infrastructure after the Gulf War bombing in 1991 and the joint American/British Desert Fox raids in December 1998.
3 In February this year George Tenet, the Director of US Central Intelligence, told the Senate: "Baghdad is expanding itscivilian chemical industry in ways that could be diverted quickly to CW (chemical weapons) production."
4 The UN Special Commission on Iraq (Unscom) reported in 1998 that Iraq was suspected of hiding about 6,000 chemical munitions from its inspectors.
5 While some doubts have been raised about Iraq's ability to produce an effective weapon system to deliver biological agents, there are no such doubts about Baghdad's ability to mount chemical attacks.
6 In the 1980s, during the Iran/Iraq war, Saddam's forces launched chemical weapons on at least ten occasions against Iranian or Kurdish targets, mostly using mustard gas, causing tens of thousands of casualties.
Biological weapons
1 Saddam is believed to have a substantial stock of biological warfare agents and is researching different ways of "weaponising" them.
2 Following revelations of Saddam's secret weapons of mass destruction programme made by Lieutenant-General Hussein Kamel, a son-in-law of the Iraqi leader who defected to the United States in 1995, Baghdad admitted for the first time that it had produced 30,000 litres of biological agents, including anthrax and botulinum toxins. Iraq claimed to have destroyed the agents.
3 Before the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq produced four tons of VX nerve agent, 19,000 litres of botulinum toxin, 8,400 litres of anthrax spores and an unknown amount of sarin. However, the UN weapons inspectors believe that Iraq had failed to account for more than 7,000lb of growth media, obtained from European firms, which would be sufficient to produce huge quantities of bacteriological weapons.
4 After the 1991 Gulf War, the inspectors found traces of anthrax in several warheads from long-range al-Hussein ballistic missiles. About 200 air-launched biological bombs were also discovered.
5 Iraq had carried out trials of a helicopter-borne insecticide sprayer which could have been used for biological attacks. Anthony Cordesman, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, wrote in a report in June that Iraq had continued to convert its Czech-built L29 Delphin jet trainer aircraft into unpiloted drones, possibly for delivering biological warfare agents.
6 There are also fears that Iraq has developed large quantities of smallpox, Ebola virus, bubonic and pneumonic plague bacteria and the toxin, ricin.
Terrorism
1 Washington has strengthened its case for attacking Saddam by claiming links between Baghdad and al-Qaeda, the terrorist organisation.
2 Despite continued scepticism from British intelligence services, it has been claimed that Muhammad Atta, one of the principal leaders of the September 11 attacks, met a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in April last year, five months before the attacks. Although the meeting has never been confirmed, what is undisputed are the longstanding links between Saddam Hussein's security and intelligence apparatus and terrorist organisations
3 One of the fears expressed in the Whitehall dossier is that Saddam might use a proxy terrorist group, such as an extremist Palestinian organisation, to launch an attack against American or Israeli targets, using biological or radiological devices. Saddam has for years acted as the champion of the Palestinian cause, paying $25,000 (£16,500) to the families of suicide bombers and $10,000 to the families of other Palestinian intifada casualties.
4 There is also intelligence evidence that international terrorist groups have carried out training at a centre at Salman Pak, outside Baghdad. Salman Pak was one of the main biological weapons sites uncovered by the Unscom inspectors.
5 Prior to the 1991 Gulf War, there were fears in Britain that Saddam might send intelligence agents to London to launch a terror attack using anthrax or other biological agents, and special training exercises were carried out to meet the threat.
It was a seemingly ordinary night three years ago when Zahida Parveen, then 30, was asleep in a room with her two small children. Her family was poor, but she was happy with her life with Mehmood Iqbal, her husband of four years. All that changed in an instant when she was forced out of bed, viciously attacked and left for dead, her face mutilated beyond recognition. Her attacker: her 35 - year-old husband, who did it because he was convinced his wife was having an affair.
Holding her captive, Iqbal accused Parveen of having an affair. Parveen insisted that she had never been unfaithful to him, but Iqbal didn't listen. Instead, he gagged her, bound her feet and hands and hung her upside down from the ceiling. As he beat her with a wooden ax handle, blood began to drip from her arms and legs. Then Iqbal, a barber by profession, traded his ax for a razor. He cut off the lower lobes of her ears, then sliced her nose at the base. "He next used a metal rod to poke out my eyes," she continues, "and then put his finger inside each socket to make sure nothing was left." Parveen hooks her skinny index finger in the air, makes a half-circle motion for effect and then holds her head with both hands as if the memory hurts. When Iqbal finished mutilating her, he cut the rope, causing Parveen to fall to the floor like a limp rag doll "He left me for dead," Parveen says, " and then he took our daughter and left." Parveen crawled across the floor, found a blanket, wrapped it around herself and passed out.
I'd watch my mouth if I were you... TuPac and Biggie said the same thing, and look what happened to them, they got a cap in the ass.
I thought Biggie was from the East Coast? Didn't he get killed in revenge for Tupac's getting killed? Help me out..I would look on google, but I'm too lazy at the moment.