chemchok

Well, I assumed most people in the US had some sort of visceral reaction that day. I guess that's what I'm interested in. Not who's fault it was or what was done wrong or right afterwards. I just want to know how you felt that day. So yes, rememberance would be a better word. Anyway, I just had to let go of it today, so to speak.

Well, it's been three years since the terrorist attacks on 9/11. This post isn't a rant, it's just a reflection. The last thing most people want to talk about in NYC is 9/11; they'll talk about the memorials or the plans for the site, politics, etc. but nobody wants to discuss the actual day and I don't blame them. It's something I don't really talk about, but it still kept me up late last night, so I thought an anonymous post on a board might help. I've been living in NYC since 1997. I never visited or shopped at the WTC; thankfully I don't know anyone who died there. I was living in Brooklyn on 9/11, I could see both towers from my kitchen. They were not architectual marvels to me, they were my compass. I always knew what direction West was from Downtown Brooklyn because they were always visible. I can't even remember if I saw them on fire or simply saw the two columns of smoke replaced them that morning from my window. Seeing the planes crash over and over again on TV has replaced my own memories. I remember walking over to my friend's apartment who lived across from the docks in Brooklyn and had an unobstructed view of Lower Manhattan. Walking there was surreal, as I came closer to the water, these sparkling particles appeared in the air, probably from the fiberglass and other assorted particles that had been blown to the SE from the wind. Piles of dust and random papers and memos from the offices swirled around on the streets. A fine layer of ash had covered the cars and sidewalks. I had to pull my shirt over my nose to breathe right. My friend's apartment was a mess, the same ash was everywhere. From her apartment I could see helicopters swarming about like little gnats. Lower Manhattan was covered with dark smoke. Then it became late, and the sunset was one of the most horrifingly beautiful things I have ever seen. The late day sun made the most beautiful pinks, reds, and oranges as it reflected off of the airborne remains of two of my city's former landmarks. I remember going to work in midtown Manhattan the next night. The wind had turned North. Those same shining particles danced in front of my eyes outside. The smell of burning plastic wafted about the empty streets. Everyone was depressed and paranoid. Rumours of bombs in the Empire State Building were being spread by random passerbys on the street. The next months had daily reminders of 9/11. Makeshift shrines appeared everywhere; on street corners, church steps, fire departments, subway stations. Every day on my commute I had to pass by pictures of people who were gone. Every day on my way to work my subway car would emerge from it's tunnel to cross the Manhattan bridge. From there you could see the smoking clouds that marked the towers' former place in the skyline. When I came home at night by car I would see the same scene again, this time lit up by worker's spotlights. I can't remember how long this went on. At least till December. After the remains eventually stopped burning after several months, the dust stirred up by the workers would rise to the sky. In the first few weeks after 9/11 everyone in the subway car would become silent and look out at the plumes. Then it became common, people would use their cell phones to call in late to work when they left the tunnel. Now it's just memories. Every day my subway car would pass through Cortland station, with it's turnstyles covered in police tape and large wooden timbers buttressing the damaged street above. Sometimes when I was in Chinatown I would see flatbed trucks drive by on their way to Staten Island, carrying the twisted and blackened girders of the towers like goulish bones. Then I would look around and see tourists taking pictures next to cheap commemorative memorabilia lying around on the blankets of sidewalk vendors. It's horrible remembering what happened, but it's even scarier when everyone pretends it didn't. And to anyone reading this who worked at ground zero, Pennsylvania, the Pentagon, or who lost someone close to them you have my deepest sympathy. I would prefer that anyone who felt like posting their memories or feelings in this thread not involve politics in it.

The Eagles will be trying their best to loose the semifinals for the third year in a row. L'il Manning's a punk? Maybe the Jets are a better pick if Pennington actually plays during the season. It's so lame that neither the NY Jets or NY Giants actually play their games in NEW YORK (although the Jets do practice on Long Island). In effect, the Bills are the only NY team.

Is Peyton Manning's brother a QB for the Giants now?

Well, you could try uninstalling Avant and then reinstalling it (before backing up your bookmarks). However, I don't know if that will really help, b/c you said you experienced the problem with other browsers. It might be that one of the spyware programs modified one of your Windows files, making your computer constantly check the internet for specific information to upload from your computer or download to it. But since you removed the main .exe file, the process never ends and keeps repeating itself. Anyway, keep in mind I'm no authority on this stuff, just trying to help out.

Even before you select a site to go to?

Well, you probably cleaned out your cache so pages will take longer to load the first time you visit them after running the anti-spyware programs.

Go for it, it would be rather amusing for a moderator.

NWN2 forums = http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/m/michelan/3...ht/last_r08.jpg

New York, USA

same here

Well, that's great news for the Olympics and viewers, bad news for me and my lame tv antennas.

I'm sort of po'd fencing (among other sporting events) wasn't shown on television. Well, at least not broadcast television. While I love to swim, it's pretty far down on my list of spectator sports.

The whiny fighter is missing...

I certainly agree with you on Bush's crusade statement and the invasion of Iraq, but I don't know if it's the best scenario. Guantanamo seems the worst in my view too. It just seems that the negatives are particularly bad in this case. It would be best if he simply died of natural causes, largely cut off from the rest of the world.

There's a big difference between releasing a video every once in a while (or more often an audio tape) and being able to broadcast your message consistently every day with a huge amount of news coverage and analysis (and with no doubt of authenticity). And yes, Americans would hear what he has to say, which isn't a bad thing IMO. As for the "racist" statement, alright, plead his case to Muslims, whatever, he is more interested in Arabic muslims than others (and I know, all Arabs are not Muslims, nor are Muslims necessarily terrorists). His message is carefully formulated to play to muslims within the Middle East, I can't see how that can be argued with. Alright, but what about my points, do you think they're false or not?

^That's all a bunch of PR nonesense. The administration lowers the expectation that Osama will be caught or that he's important so the public doesn't care if he's at large. I can promise you that if he was caught tomorrow, Bush would not say "I truly am not that concerned about him." Of course, the more interesting question is what would happen if he was apprehended/killed. If he's killed by American collaborators/soldiers who were trying to apprehend him, his popularity would probably grow even more. If he was captured alive and allowed a trial he would use it as a platform to plead his cause to Arabs across the globe. If he was captured and dumped into Guantanamo Bay, even more people would jump on the "the US is a fascist state" bandwagon. Seems like a no-win situation to me.

*shrugs* I don't know, I'm not an economics professor, doubt they would know either. However, I don't think the current war in Iraq, or the resucitated missile defense program have helped that much. Different aspects of the tax breaks are questionable too. Just remember that Democrats and Republicans love to spend money with equal fervor and both parties will take credit for or disown themselves from fiscal trends.

He contributed to that 7 trillion dollars of debt, but IMO, I tend to think the immediate economic situation at any point in time is not within the control of a president. We would also have trillions of dollars of debt if Gore was in office now, Nader for that matter too. Besides the global economy and its vagaries, members of congress from the far right to the far left are usually more concerned with appropriating as much money for their representatives than balancing the budget.

IMO, that just sounds cartoonish to me. He wants enough bloodshed to castrate US and European involvement in the Muslim world. God will sort out the rest.

I doubt Osama really cares about the freedom or liberties of Americans. What he wants is to drive all infidels out of the Middle East and create a new pan-Arabian state.

Tetris

I have the same problem, don't know how to fix it either. Good luck with your initiation to Obsidian modhood, couldn't think of a better board resident to make the move.

It doesn't matter who's president, people would still be trying to kill Americans. You could argue that there would be less people trying to do this.... but that's it.

Watch your back, Ares might take it personally.