Sniper News Network

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Until the DC-area sniper is caught, I propose that CNN be renamed Sniper News Network. We’re concerned about the murders, and we feel for the victims and their families, but I feel like the media is trying to whip us all into a panicked frenzy. People are emailing or texting me, asking if I’m okay; when I’m hardly even in the sniper’s haunt-zone, and even if I were, the probabilities of my being targetted remain low.

But all media-related cynicism aside, kudos go out to the Guardian Angels, who have been pumping gas for concerned residents in the affected area. Brave and noble deeds, those.

Stoned

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A pair of black teenagers threw stones at me as I was heading back from Rite Aid. One stone hit me in the shoulder, and all I could do was glare over said shoulder at them as they ran off. What was that about, anyway? This sure doesn’t help my opinion of the local savages. Little brats.

Abu Pula captured

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Abu Pula captured. The AP story makes it seem at first glance that Abu Sayyaf officer Mark Bolerin Gumbahale was caught in a military battle in Mindanao, but read more closely: it just so happens that government troops were down South fighting the MILF — a separate group — at the same time. This guy, in an unrelated incident, was apprehended in Taguig (that’s the municipality right between Sucat, where I lived, and Makati, where I worked) playing a video game at an Internet cafe.

And I will bet you he was playing Counterstrike, like most Pinoy youths are these days. I wonder if he was playing Terrorist or Counter-Terrorist, eh? ;)

Update: Told you so! Intelligence agents reportedly pounced on Gumbahale … while playing “counter-strike” outside his house at the Maharlika Village in Taguig at about 11 a.m. on Thursday. (Can you see the dangling participle? Are you sure it wasn’t the agents who were playing Counterstrike?)

Microsoft’s Fake Switch Ad

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CARS is, of course, all over Microsoft’s latest PR gaffe, which the rumor-mongers call a “fabrimonial.” Apparently the real reason for the fake switch ad was a “damned fairy imp”. In truth, the lady was switching from Mac to something else.

In other news, you’re not supposed to open your iMac because… you will find, surprisingly, nothing. Following up on the success of the fanless iMac, Apple decided to make an iMac without any components whatsoever. All you will see is one big honkin’ Airport card that sends your commands back to Cupertino where they are processed on, again surprisingly, a Dell PC and then sent back for display on your screen.

EDSA Bus bombing

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Bomb explodes in bus. On EDSA, near Balintawak in QC, says the news. Three dead. This was at the height of the Friday night crush. And riding buses in Manila is deadly enough without terrorist attacks. You folks in Manila take care.

“Plush” Neighborhood Bombed

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Looks like there was a grenade blast in Forbes Park, Makati — though this looks more like standard Filipino unrest rather than terrorism. The grenade appears to have been thrown at McKinley Street from the Edsa-Ayala flyover. When I was working in Makati, that was where I would catch the bus to Sucat.

The linked breaking news report refers to a “plush area.” I think the writer meant “posh,” unless Forbes Park has been populated by stuffed toys or soft pillows since I left.

Palo

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I just got my 401(k) primer at work. It’s addressed to “Palo,” which in Tagalog means “spank.”