Canadian wireless is going to change

Virgin [unused?] wireless will -- finally, come December -- be a reality in Canada according to this story. A snip:

Flamboyant entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson is bringing his Virgin Mobile wireless brand to Canada later this year, hoping to shake up the market by aggressively going after people younger than 25 in a partnership with Bell Mobility Inc.

Gee, under 25 -- isn't that the heart of the future for wireless: SMS, MMS, m-commerce, . . . ?

Must be. Here's Bell Mobility's perspective:

For Bell, the Virgin deal was the best way to go after customers younger than 25, said Michael Neuman, Bell Mobility president. Although Bell has a brand called Solo aimed at the same people, Mr. Neuman said Bell was "particularly excited" about the prospects for the Virgin name in Canada.

Good-bye Solo!
Another snip:

The average consumer really doesn't understand how much they're paying for their phone and they resent that," said Will Whitehorn, a Virgin Group director. "They have to work out buckets of minutes and what time of day they can use it. We will break that mould."
Current pay-as-you-go plans have many variations and often carry restrictions, such as much more expensive calling during the day. Virgin Mobile Canada's service will be similar to what it offers in the United States, where the first 10 minutes of use each day cost 25 cents and all minutes thereafter, daytime and evening, are 10 cents.

Billing and service clarity? How novel.

So, what with Fido being propped up by Craig McCaw, et al's $50,000,000-plus, it looks like the times they are a changin'.

I've pondered it before: should businesses have a limited life span anyway

The reader who looks at these posts regularly knows that I have more than once though the idea that since "the firm" is recognized as a "person" (corporate body) by the law, it should have a natural life that ends naturally just like a real person. It's a bit of strange, philosophical noodling, admittedly. But, here is an example in Air Canada, Red ink set to flow as Air Canada prepares to unveil 2003 results, that shows it is in critical care -- perennially on life support like an old and battered mugging victim ["Victim?" Wouldn't you say more like a psychopath with self-destructive tendencies? ed.] -- and should be euthenized rather than allowed to sap away the family's wealth day by costly day.

So, when exactly does the doctor or the health care trustee with power of attorney finally pull the plug?

Let's face it: there are alternatives for both domestic and international air travel in Canada. Air Canada once had a valuable purpose for the national economy and social development; that is passed. It is a remnant of another time carrying a flag and little else.

RED ALERT: UPS outlets to go Wi-Fi (I know what's next)

Apparently a Dow Jones story, that I found on the Quicken (!?) news site, purports that SBC Communications will be setting up a Wi-Fi service out of UPS and Mail Boxes Etc. shops throughout the USA. A snip:

NEW YORK -- SBC Communications Inc. is expected to announce it will offer Wi-Fi, or wireless access to the Internet, at more than 3,000 United Parcel Service Inc. retail stores around the country, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal.

The move would be one of the largest rollouts of the technology yet and would allow users to access the Internet at up to 100 times dial-up speed at UPS retail outlets such as UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. . . . SBC and UPS aim to offer Wi-Fi at UPS retail stores because those locations are often used as de facto offices by businesspeople and consumers. Instead of merely sending mail or making copies, they will soon also be able to access the Internet on their own laptops at such stores.

Next step is making UPS the business (SOHO?) customer's electronic carrier of choice for hybrid electronic-physical (i.e., send Internet, print at Mailboxes and deliver), parcel delivery (for Internet orders) possibly even with a COD capability, and many other little strategic tid-bits that expand its position in the overall communications market.

Postal administrations: be worried. Be very worried.

Clayton Christensen was in town (and nobody invited me)

I've been sold on the validity and intelligence of Clayton Christensen's thesis in The Innovator's Dilemma (and Innovator's Solution). It resonates with me, to say the least. So, I've been wanting to meet with him and (Solution's co-author Michael Raynor) since the beginning of the year. So, when he's in Ottawa and I didn't know (so I couldn't even wangle an invite somehow -- where are you loyal readers anyway??), I get edgy.

Anyway, he apparently wowed them at Industry Canada and Bell Canada, where he spoke. Here, in the Globe and Mail article that covered it, are a few words that give me hope for the atypical skill set and field of vision that I possess and jealously refuse to change [to the typical, "accepted" form of inverted monitoring that goes on within industries]:

Prof. Christensen, who also worked as an assistant to two U.S. transportation secretaries during the Reagan years, also said too many companies view their competitors as the other key players in their sectors, instead of other products that compete to do the same job for the customer.

Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry, for example, may compete more for the business traveller's spare time with newspapers, magazines, and CNN's airport news than with other handheld device makers such as Palm Inc. Poor market research contributes heavily to the fact that about 75 per cent of new products fail, he said.

Amen.

Wireless broadband from sea to shining sea

The Toronto Star has an interesting column in its technology section today that ties up a number of threads including wireless Internet, broadband access and the federal government to spread it to every corner of Canada, competition in the wireless market from the little guy (Fido a.k.a. Microcell), and Canadian connections to Craig McCaw. It's here, titled Boost for high-speed wireless Web.

Read the article if you have anything to do with wireless, Internet, telecommunications, or the way of high-tech driven communications in general. It's quite fascinating. Without going into the detail, here's a snip for flavour:

Microcell plans to sell the fixed-wireless modem ó from Minneapolis-based NextNet Wireless Inc. ó for about $325 and the service will go for $40 a month, which is $5 to $10 cheaper than rival DSL and cable services.
In Cumberland and Richmond, people signing up today only have to pay $20 for the first six months, and need only pay $125 for the modem.

The modem is the size of a paperback novel and sits upright on a desk. After plugging it into your computer, it instantly finds the closest radio tower in your neighbourhood and makes a high-speed connection ó this bridges the so-called 'last mile.'

The service is portable, meaning if you take it to a friend's house or a hotel and plug it in, it will detect the nearest tower and automatically sign you in under your account. The modem only delivers high-speed Internet access today, but before the end of the year it will also act as a Wi-Fi home wireless network and will be capable of offering telephone service using voice over IP technology.

Well worth finding out more, I think.

Wal-Mart delays RFID program

Not entirely surprising that the aggressive demand from Wal-Mart that all its suppliers conform to its requirement for RFID tags on merchandise it retails (to become effective within days from now) has been delayed. As the NYTimes reports in Wal-Mart Hits Snags in Push to Use Radio Tags to Track Goods, they're going to be late.

That's not entirely bad because the flurry of activity Wal-Mart spurred has moved the technology much closer toward commercial viability, faster. Still, apart from execution, there are a couple not insignificant problems:

One hurdle bogging down Wal-Mart and its suppliers is the cost of the devices. The tags alone cost 25 cents to 30 cents each. Analysts contend that for many users the price needs to fall to 5 cents or less before the investments can be recovered from the savings generated by moving goods more rapidly and accurately through supply chains.

In the drug industry and others where counterfeiting and tampering are major concerns, the tags may pay off sooner.

Then, of course, there's this shocker:

It is also becoming apparent that industrywide standards for advanced tags and readers are developing more slowly than the technology's advocates had hoped. That adds to the incentives for delaying investment.

How sad: Author Peter Ustinov Dies at 82

Actor, author, and raconteur extraordinaire Peter Ustinov died at 82. In addition to enjoying many of the roles he brought to life acting (in person or by lending his voice) and the wit of his writing, I once saw Sir Peter Ustinov hold court in a concert hall -- alone -- for 2 1/2 hours without reducing himself to coarseness of any kind. My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard and so long.

Were there more of his kind.

How come my piece looks so small?

According to this CP tidbit, the average net worth of Canada (for each "shareholding" Canadian) was $124,700 at the end of last year. I had set my sell order at $125,000, so I'm looking to liquidate my holdings and invest in a tiger-economy this year. Or maybe I'll get a few guys together, sell our portion and buy The Turks and Caicos.

Micro-google?

Worst kept secret of the year so far: Microsoft comes late to the party and plans to compete against a very successful company that's captured a market niche which has proved much larger than anyone -- especially execs at Microsoft -- expected. Note that they seem to only want to compete now that they couldn't just buy the market (read: the competitor). Is this the Quicken story? How about the Internet (browser) story? Good guesses, but too old. Add google to the list. As this item points out, Steve Ballmer is only reticent about not getting into this space earlier.

Of course. I'm a little upset about not having invented the automobile . . . and I wasn't in the business nor did I have the BILLIONS of dollars to pioneer such a course. You go, Steve -- the path is cleared. By the way, if you were hiring . . . oh, really . . . that's too bad, maybe later though . . .

Apple delays iPod mini

Great . . . Apple underestimated U.S. demand for the puny iPod and have delaying roll-out for 3-months according to this. No one-inch 4-gig drives left in the world -- in case you were looking for one.

At this rate they'll be releasing the "iPod micro" before I come close to seeing an iPod mini -- in lime green or otherwise. Mental note: move to Christmas 2005 list.

Trouble with this market is that they're relatively short-term

The NYTimes carried a technology item yesterday entitled, The Netís Late Bloomers. It's about the growth of Net usage among seriously senior citizens. To quote:

According to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a research organization in Washington, the ranks of Americans over 65 who use the Internet have jumped by 47 percent since 2000, making them the fastest-growing group to embrace the online world.

Despite the increases, this age group still has a long way to go. Only 22 percent of Americans over 65 go online, the study shows, compared with 75 percent of those ages 30 to 49. But as Americans who are more comfortable with computers gradually reach the age of 65, the percentage going online (or more precisely, staying online) should soar.

There goes my ROI from the bingo hall investment.

Phishers' malignant spam a big problem

The venerable NYTimes ran a piece the other day about "phishers." These are online fraud artists obviously fishing for suckers. [When I was a kid sucker was caught with a net because they wouldn't take a hook. ed.]The story is a pretty good look at the real dark side of spam: where a glimpse of booty or solicitation for erectile support is tame. This is a part of the Internet where amateurs and pros alike pick em off like shooting em a barrel, as it were.

The article has an early statement:

At this point, there are few sure ways for an Internet user to tell if an e-mail message is legitimate. So experts advise people to be extremely wary of providing any confidential information in response to e-mail.
'The crooks are getting slicker, and the bogus Web sites and e-mails are dangerously legitimate looking,' Mr. Wray said."

So, the institutionalization of a legitimate Internet-based transport system that would provide more control and certainty might be a good thing for business, government, and consumers/citizens.

Think about it. I've got an idea.

Wal-Mart v. iTunes and Napster

The digital model evolves to the traditional retailer. See here. The new channel and its obnoxious (to the record industry) business model are ready to eclipse the old world.

Not with the hoo-ha and awe of the latter day Nostradami making predictions in the height of the late-90s bubble, but quietly and solidly with the journeyman economic weight of capability that only middle-American retailing might can heft.

Over the past several years, rather than listening to those experienced failures that retreated back to the industrial-era businesses with the sage advice to forget it all -- it was foolish -- we might have been well advised to repeat the film noir mantra: It's quiet . . . too quiet . . .

Talent as a competitive weapon

I've read that Microsoft hires for brains and Oracle for aggression. What does your business hire for? An item in teh Globe and Mail:

"While there may have been a time when the emphasis was so firmly on 'corporate fit' that companies like IBM would choose the least objectionable (and in some cases least interesting) candidate, now, he says, 'it's quite healthy -- people are recognizing talent more than they ever did and companies are going out of their way to find and keep outstanding talent.'
But Prof. Gandz, who is not only the managing director of Ivey's executive development program, but has also worked in leadership development for General Electric . . . [said] two things are true of top talent . . . Top talent requires a different method of care and feeding, and top talent can be, well, a pain in the ass. 'Some of them are not nice people.' Or, as the professor said, apologizing in advance for his language, 'it's hard to tell the difference between a rising star and a flaming asshole.'"

Read the article if you think you have, manage, or are a high talent employee.

Stress a bigger problem today: we're a society of whiners

The Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health released a report saying that we're more stressed and vulnerable than five years ago, and that it's a problem to be addressed, according to this. You're as "stressed" as you let yourself be, and at least you don't have to fight off wild animals, hunt for your food everyday, live in utter ignorance of the world around you, . . .

Get over it.

Just a thought.

The long arm of the law just isn't strong enough to stop spam

We've said it before (and we'll say it again). Legislation isn't going to stop spam. Not that I would ever be confused with an NRA zealot, but their logic against gun regulation that runs something like, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns," is being proven out in this arena. This article, entitled Junk E-Mail Is Unabated Despite Law, Survey Says, in the NYTimes, notes:

THREE months after Congress approved legislation intended to curb spam, unsolicited e-mail is a persistent, if not worsening, problem, according to a survey released yesterday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Roughly 75 percent of the Internet users surveyed reported no change or an increase in the amount of junk e-mail they receive, and nearly one-third of them said they were using e-mail less because of it.
"Things aren't getting better," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet project. "And for many Internet users, they're getting worse."

Download the Pew survey.

The legislation seems to be having an impact on porn spam. But, the survey is taken in early days -- before work-arounds have been figured out. Rainie, from Pew, continues with a theme we've taken up before: "The technology community has its job to do, the legal and legislative communities have their jobs to do, and people have their own jobs to do," he said. "It would help if some people were smarter about what they open, or don't open, in their in-boxes."

Amen.

ISPs think about beefing up monitoring of broadband accounts

According to this CNET item, the major broadband ISP providers in the US are contemplating putting greater monitoring and security into place to thwart spam and virus propagation. That is, they would monitor individual accounts for unusual activity so that "granny" is unwittingly sending spam or viruses because her computer's been infected and is a drone.

Good move. Too little; too late. And, it seems to me that there is a digital identity (partial) solution someplace in here to complement some user education about cautious Web use.

Liquidation of Air Canada a great final chapter in Milton's book, no?

This past weekend we found out that Robert Milton, Chief ExtraOrdinaire at Air Canada, had a book contract to tell his side of his wunder-story. How he beat Canadian, then beat Onyx for Canadian, then did a host of other stupid things to run the national flag-carrier into the ground pissing off unions, investors, regulators, and the flying public at the same time. Ought to make for sympathetic reading, don't you think. Whatever, he's got his advance.

Let's hope that the manuscript isn't done and into the galleys already because this little story in the Toronto Star would make a fabulous epilogue. To quote:

The spectre of liquidation raised its head yesterday as Air Canada faced the possibility of losing Hong Kong businessman Victor Li as its major shareholder over a dispute with the airline's unions.
Li's Trinity Time Investments, which beat out New York investment firm Cerberus Capital Management to become the airline's proposed main investor, threatened Wednesday to 'walk away' and abort its planned $650 million investment in the airline unless the unions agree to changes in pensions. . . . . 'I think that would put Air Canada in very considerable jeopardy of actually being liquidated,'" [said Karl Moore, professor of business strategy at McGill University].

You go, Bob.

Online bill payment to save AOL? Doubters Jack

According to this piece, The Check's No Longer In the Mail, in the Washington Post, AOL's in the online bill payment business (with partner Yodlee doing the work). Not sure whether they'll be successful. From a Canadian perspective, I think it probably won't work because the banks have the "payment" side sewn up -- quite naturally.

The real work and real impact is to be had on the other side of eBPP: the presentment portion. Gotta go find out what Yodelee is up to there.

But what if I'm not online looking for the movie clip?

This CNET piece entitled, Movie clips out to tantalize Web surfers shows an interesting melding of marketing (promotion) and [obvious] technology access. To quote:

Even while protesting Net piracy, movie studios are warming to the Web for promotional purposes, broadcasting longer previews of new films.
This week, Warner Bros. is showing the first 9 minutes and 8 seconds of its upcoming thriller 'Taking Lives' on Yahoo Movies, in an effort to boost awareness and ticket sales.

Now just imagine what might happen if I could ask for the download when I saw the trailer at a theatre or on a movie poster or in a television ad . . .

We said telecomm would consolidate

We just didn't say it might create a displacement of the status quo at the top of the heap. WTF? Manitoba Telecomm (!!) is buying AllStream (the former AT&T Canada) according to this and this story.

Winnipeg is on the rise again ;)

A Memory Card for Photos Is One for the Scrapbook

Where was Kodak when SanDisk was eating its lunch? As shown in this NYTimes item, SanDisk, makers of various solid-state memory cards used in digital cameras, has recreated film. A small-memory, cheap (relatively), essentially disposable disk that could be reused but is as good in a "use and store" scenario. Photographers have to continually but more "digital film."

Bravo!

Earthquake near Ottawa

They don't call this Silicon Valley North [Do "they?" ed.] for nothing. Short item here.

Locking the door after the identity horses are out -- and stole

OK. I understand the notion of wanting to release more information about who/what was stolen from Equifax in B.C. so that we can take greater care to determine whether we're personally affected and be vigilant about what happens to our identities if we have been affected. That's what this Globe and Mail story refers to. BUT, more detail in the public domain may not be the best long-term strategy for Equifax (for sure), for those affected, and for keeping other criminals at least a little bit in the dark about the internal machinations of such data repositories.

Besides, it's clean up time now. Taking precautions in a general, public way should have happened after the last major theft from IBM's outsource site in Saskatchewan last year.

The economic shit's gonna hit the fan now

Here's an NYTimes item from yesterday that should give us all a little pause: Greenspan Shifts View on Deficits
First, Alan probably has been prudently making sure he personally is not drowning in debt to fuel a consumerist lifestyle (look at how he dresses!). Second, the banker has been the leading advocate for debt reduction and non-deficit budgeting. But now, according to the article,

Mr. Greenspan's thesis, which is not accepted by all traditional economists, is that increases in personal wealth and the growing sophistication of financial markets have allowed Americans ó individually and as a nation ó to borrow much more today than might have seemed manageable 20 years ago.

This sounds to me -- not an economist, granted -- like the same kind of logic that drove the Keynesian deficit building of the last half of the 20th century. "It couldn't happen to us. We're too smart."

Jobs being added -- at least in this story

This item in the Toronto Star (among many running the same piece) says that jobs are going to be added by employers in Canada this spring. Good news. Doesn't say exactly what kind of jobs, but whatever.

The item confuses me because just this weekend I read in another newspaper that consumer confidence is down, job growth is stalled (off, actually, for the month being reported -- probably January), and our exports are being killed due to a strong dollar. [Only in Canada do we complain and rave about the value of our currency. ed.] Who to believe? And for how long?

Moaning about spam on the burning platform

The Globe and Mail reports: The inbox of the average Canadian surfing the Internet will be overwhelmed with about 7,000 unwanted e-mail messages this year, about 60 per cent more spam than received last year, a study reports. The rest of the article dissects the spam intake by source and value, then notes activity in the industry. First, the actions of email providers Yahoo!, Earthlink, Microsoft, and AOL to sue spammers and stop it with both technological and business means. Second, it notes that there is movement at the federal level to unveil anti-spam legislation.

This whole subject area is hot, hot, hot. Why? Full marks for looking at who suffers and benefits from activity here (hint: look past the consumer/user).

Covering the Internet based when they're loaded

Here's an instructive bit of information about the state of the Internet in Canada courtesy of the Globe and Mail. Apparently Rogers and Bell are squaring off for a fight [This is news? Did anybody tell Telus? ed.] in the Internet world. They have big U.S. partners: Yahoo! with Rogers and Microsoft (MSN) with Bell. Here's the run-down:

• Yahoo! will offer "uniquely Canadian" content to Roger's subscribers;
  
• MSN and Bell will merge their Canadian and Sympatico portals into a single high-power site
  
• Sympatico Music Store will be part of the merged site;
  
• Roger's remains focused on speed first with content as a good add-on (because cable is faster);
  
• Bell is focused on content and services (because it's high-speed offering is slower);
  
• both companies forget that it's a big Internet world out there, and all but the uninitiated and craven stick to the portals that are defaulted into the browser provided by the service provider.

Identity theft at the credit bureau

Equifax suffered a theft of the data on 1,400 people according to an item in the Globe and Mail. Bad news. Little snip:

Vancouver ó Criminals have gained access to the detailed, personal credit files of about 1,400 people, in a security breach that raises fears of a major identity theft.The security breach was confirmed Monday by Equifax Canada Inc., a major national consumer-credit reporting agency.

Not surprising though given that a credit bureau is like the motherlode of identity ore to be mined for fun and profit. Shouldn't there be better safeguards on the encryption and protection of the actual information so that it's rendered useless except to those posessing the essential knowledge to make sense of it? AND, why weren't the apparently "legitimate credit grantor" criminals unmasked for what they were through some better authentication protocol?

They must be dancin in the streets (to their iTunes)

It could be called "The Revenge of Commerce." Apple's ipod-driven iTunes music site is pumping bits for a buck to music lovers in the US. According to an AP item in The Washington Post:

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Apple Computer Inc. said Monday it has sold more than 50 million songs through its online iTunes Music Store.

Who'd have imagined at the time that the original peer-to-peer pirate ship, Napster, would beget KAZAA, would beget iTunes, would force the music industry to change?

Computer pesticides work -- for now

According to this story in the Globe and Mail, the "Net virus spread may have peaked." Notwithstanding the fact that somebody -- Symantec, apparently, having commissioned a study of 20,000 sources -- is projecting rate of acceleration and velocity into an unknown (and unknowable) future state, this is mass media talking about something it doesn't understand at its finest. At least Symantec acknowledges that despite lower velocity and acceleration, the severity of computer attacks is getting worse. Something we can all observe.

Dubious distinction award to the Great White North:

Canada . . . [reports] the highest number of computer attacks for each Internet user, partly because of the country's high rate of broadband Internet penetration via cable and DSL access providers. About 8 per cent of computer attacks originate in Canada. The United States holds down the No. 1 position, accounting for about 58 per cent of all attacks.

Not opaque enough for comfort

TIA (Total Information Awareness) was a "Big Brother" security initiative created around 9/11 that has been killed because the pushback was too strong. Another state-level initiative built on a Seisint technology, called Matrix, has, according to this NYTimes item, "Privacy Fears Erode Support for a Network to Fight Crime," taken a hit as more than a few of the participating states are backing out. It appears to come down to a privacy imposition issues. Read for more details.

What it points out in bold relief, however, is that privacy is truly about opacity not secrecy. The supporters of the initiaitve have gone to great pains to defend the initiative and their work by noting that all the information is available legally somewhere. They only collect and analyse it. And that's the point. Not much about us is really secret. But, by hiding or keeping distance among "private" (and other) information items selectively, and by bundling bits together judiciously, we achieve a comfortable degree of opacity about ourselves that stands in for real secrecy.

Funny what 228 years can d

This and this (NB: both Canadian perspective) refer to a recent poll that concludes Canadians see Americans as their best buddy in the world. Trouble is that the buddy loves another better: Americans best friend is Britain [Hence the post title, for those of you confused. ed.].

Rumination by experts quoted in the articles points to the Americans: (a) just not seeing Canada as a separate nation [Remember: This is a poll of "average" Americans who are, for all else, just a little unaware of the world beyond their borders. ed.]; (b) unaware that there is a "Canada" at all, but aware that there's an England because they have funny accents; or (c) being pissed off with Canada because even though we talk a good "soft power" game, when the chips are down and a superpower needs to impose a little gunboat diplomacy on an oil-soaked desert, Canada just isn't there.

Tea anyone?

Who cares (about spam)?

I've been wondering for a while -- loudly, I think -- about spam and the recent attention it's been getting from major industry players such as Microsoft, Yahoo!, and AOL. If only to provoke some answers, I've taken to asking, "who really cares?" Well, apart from the moms and dads protecting their kids' email boxes from (near) pornography solicitations and scam artists, here's the answer: the industry itself. This comment piece in the Globe and Mail makes it clear. The productivity imposition is the focus and the problem.

OK. With that in the clear, let's focus on the issue and solve it. I wonder though, if these industry players, and downstream providers of bandwidth, servers, security, and all the other derivative and derived products and services have given any thought to what happens to the need for more hardware, software, and pipe if "spam is solved"?

Only in LA-LA-Land

Finally got the film from the California trip processed, and scanned some of the favorite shots. Here's one especially for the blog. From Hollywood, near the Kodak theatre on Oscar night, I bring you the very best in broadcast advertising.



Gotta love it.

Wireless has overcoo-uh-uh-uummmm

Little item from the Telecommunications Industry Association in Mobile Pipeline notes, "In its annual review and forecast, the TIA said that, for the first time, consumers and enterprises spent more money on wireless service than on wireline long distance in 2003." The rest of the short item spells out the growth rates and volumes spent, inducting that price structure change is likely on the way.

Yup.

Maybe they've got a thing about "11"

As the recursive wife observed this morning while we were discussing the devastation in Madrid (covered everywhere, but I noted it here, here, and here -- for different N.A'n perspectives), and focus turns to Al-Qaeda -- or Basque separatists, or others [way to narrow the field there, intell community ed.]:

New York was September 11th; Madrid was March 11th. Maybe they've got a thing for the 11th.

She's got a point.

So, I wonder whether anyone has checked any historic, anthropological, cultural, linguistic, etc. significance to "11". I also wonder, if this little notionette were to gain any kind of broad support, whether the world will hole itself up behind locked doors from the evening of the 10th to dawn of the 12th? The pattern suggests June or December for the next one IF it's in fact Al-Qaeda.

Just a thought.