13. februar 2004

Arrested guardsman's Net history Ryan G. Anderson, the US guardsman just arrested for trying to pass on military secrets to al-Qaeda on the Net, is a convert to Islam. InstaPundit writes that he used to post on misc.activism.militia on Usenet, and indeed someone by that name was actively posting there about gun related topics in 96-97. Anderson does not, however, appear to be particularly right wing, and certainly not compared to most others in that group. But he posted on a lot of other topics, too, including Islam. He posted a message to alt.religion.islam with the subject "Help! Im looking to convert, but I dont know where to start":  I do not know if this is unusal, but I am a 19 year old Army Officer Cadet/collage student of German/Irish decent who was raised in a "zombie Lutheran" home (i.e. everyone always followed the religion their fathers followed with no thought otherwise). I began to look at the Middle East as a course of study as I am a steadfast student of history. Seince beginning my Arab History 272 class a number of months ago, Islam has almost literaly called to me. I find myself scrambeling to find any current information, but in a collage of 24,000, 18,000 of which are students, even an English translation of the Qu'ran is quite nearly impossiable to find. I would like to talk to people, but short of walking up to people of obvious Arab decent and asking them if they are of the Faith, I dont know where to start. I would be greatfull to talk to someone, inshallah. - Ryan Obviously he found out how to convert, even though nobody replied in public.  Anderson also wanted to study abroad: Salaam Alaaykum all, I am a Muslim convert studying at Washington State University for an Asian History Major, my focus is on Arabic nations (they include them under the Asia program here, I have no idea why). Anyway, I wish to study abroad in a country like Egypt or Turkey this coming summer (1998) or next fall, for a semester. I have done some initial poking around here for leads, but as of yet found little. I have been told that there is an American college in Cairo, and I believe that there may be some programs in Turkey that I would be interested in, but I havnt seen any info for them for a while and I would like to know if they are still avaliable. Did Anderson actually study abroad? He also posted about topics like Ice hockey and flight simulators (!). Scary how a large part of the life story of an individual can sometimes be found on Usenet. PS: I looked through his messages just to find that I'd already been scooped, and the very two quotations above were listed. Perhaps I should have checked links first, googled later. Oh well. 11:40:28 PM    comment []  trackback []

Fun to be had in space Ever wondered how it would look like if you rupture a water balloon in zero gravity? Wonder no more! Nasa experimenters did just that in a DC-9 aircraft, and filmed it. 8:14:39 PM    comment []  trackback []

Googled A great Fark thread with lots of funny and pretty Google logo variants. 6:55:43 PM    comment []  trackback []

Today's important celebrity news Ken and Barbie is officially splitting up. Couple 'will remain friends,' says Mattel. Heh. 6:50:21 PM    comment []  trackback []

Blackout There was a large blackout in western Norway today, leaving most of the west coast without power for parts of an hour. The blackout started around 2:00 PM and by 2:45 almost all affected areas had the electricity restored. With my luck, the center of Bergen were about last to get the power back. The cause of the blackout is not known. The affected suppliers seem to blame each other (sound familiar?). 5:28:27 PM    comment []  trackback []

Chechen rebel killed in blast The Chechen rebel leader and former president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev has been killed in a car explosion in Qatar, where he has been in exile. The UN has stated that Yandarbiyev is linked to al-Qaeda. Russia has for some time been fighting for his extradiction. Apparently, they may have been tired of waiting for diplomacy. 3:14:34 PM    comment []  trackback []

US soldier arrested for passing secrets to al-Qaeda Spc. Ryan G. Anderson has been arrested, charged with offering to pass on military secrets to al-Qaeda agents through chat rooms on the net. Officials said Anderson, a tank crewman with the 303rd Armor Battalion of the 81st Armor Brigade at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, was the only target of the sting. The sting operation involved passing sensitive information about capabilities and vulnerabilities of armored Humvees and tanks, both of which are used in the brigade, officials said. The brigade is preparing to deploy for final training in California before it departs for a tour of duty in Iraq. When asked if Anderson is a Muslim, Barger said, "Religious preferences are an individual right and responsibility, and I really can't get into it." Sources said Anderson converted to Islam several years ago. It's getting to a point where the US military will be forced to consider Muslims a security risk. 8:28:59 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.03.2004; 14:41:57.