This is a ‘we’re all in the same boat’ sort of incident.
It is also an indication of how bad Canadian bureaucracy can be.
I don’t think the President of Poland has any reason to lie, his tale rings a bit more true than the Canadian version.
This makes complete sense to me. Gander and St. John’s are two totally different airports.

The President of Poland was heading back to his country after meeting with President Bush in Washington. As everyone knows the weather has been interferring with what we consider ‘normal,’ and his plane was diverted. So instead of a connect at Gander, President Kwasniewski finds himself being treated like everyone else on the plane on the tarmack in a strange Canadian city. And it isn’t fun.

“We saw what it feels like when an unexpected guest arrives — who in the beginning is treated as a potential illegal immigrant. And that is how we were treated,” a good humored Kwasniewski told a news conference.

“The passengers from my plane were held in a place where we could not leave … it all took about three hours,” he said.

A Canadian foreign ministry spokeswoman said that, because the plane had landed late in the evening, the passengers were taken to a transit area to see whether they wanted temporary visas for an overnight stay.

“At no time were they detained … at no time was President Kwasniewski ever suspected of being an illegal alien,” said Kimberly Phillips, adding that Kwasniewski himself had been given a police escort and taken to an executive boardroom.

I’m inclined to believe the Polish president on this one, having spent time myself in Maritime airports and dealing with immigration. And, I think the Canadian spokesperson doth protest too much.

She said officials had expressed their regrets to the Polish government for any inconvenience that Kwasniewski might have suffered.

Kwasniewski said the group was released after several Polish sailors saw him and began asking for autographs, demonstrating that he was famous. Phillips said she could not comment on this.

Opps. That must be a wierd experience, to go from a meeting with all the bells and whistles in Washington to the St. John’s airport.

Taking the fun out of email
I’ve honestly lost count of how many emails I’ve deleted since Monday.
It’s certainly safe to say way too many. The Novarg worm is the worst mass mailer to hit internet users so far.
And it isn’t even February yet.
Cre8d has been tracking this swarm on an hourly basis and has put up a graph.
A Russian virus company has found a varient of the Norvag or MyDoom worm.

An online security firm said Wednesday that a new version of an Internet worm that appeared this week — MyDoom.b — could launch a second, larger wave of attacks with a new target.

Kaspersky Labs said the variant could be more dangerous because it uses computers that are already affected.

The Russian firm also said that along with targeting the SCO Group, MyDoom.b will to overload the web servers of Microsoft.com. Security firm Mi2g said the attacks could come on Feb. 1.

Mi2g also said the “b” variant blocks users from going to 65 Web sites, including antivirus sites that could help clean up an infection.

Someone I know has been infected, I’m even getting emails with the virus load in German.

Blah blogging
I’d like to blame the weather for my mediocre content and laissez-faire posting lately.
Ok. Not a problem. I’ll blame the weather.:^)
Even comment spammers don’t seem to have much energy. I have one that consistently gets through the spam blocks and leaves new-age-cyber-Hallmark- type quotes.
This is the latest. Guess personalized spamming is blah lately. This regular seems to have been having a bad day.

We are the master of

So much for creative spamming. I think we could all use a long winter’s nap.

Bird Flu
What is the big flap over avian flu in the chicken population in Asia?
The same flap it would be if it was occuring in North America. But factor in a whole different set of problems.
One difficulty is that government’s have denied there was an epidemic. The economic ramifications are staggering. When they have had to admit the fowl population is infected, they are unable to dispose, cull, and educate properly.
10 countries are now affected. How do they get the word out to farmers with no electricity, no TV or radio, and little knowledge of how this kind of virus spreads?

- farmers can’t afford basic disposal gear
- wicker baskets used to transport birds to market aren’t disinfected
- migratory patterns of wild birds put them into contact with infected flocks

This article is an education in the concept of ‘global village.’