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Checking his e-mail for gossip, El Gato found only new kinds of money-laundering schemes from faux doctors and widows supposedly seeking financial help from locales such as Nigeria, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone. Disgusted, Spencer shoved his whole peach cobbler dessert into his mouth and pushed aside the remains of his Swanson Hungry Man Turkey Entree. The Furball was spending yet another Thanksgiving at the office trying to pump out his column.
Speaking of spam, the Kitty knows you remember the faux photo of the guy on the World Trade Center roof with the airliner swooping in behind him—the one everybody was forwarding to friends. Well, it seems the guy in the winter hat and coat, who was seemingly oblivious to his impending doom, is actually a 25-year-old Hungarian named Peter. According to online reports, he had originally sent the faked photo as a joke to friends before it ended up circulating the Web. Since his private joke has become so very public, the man who has now become known as the “tourist of death” throughout the Internet said he wishes to remain anonymous.
On the technology front, His Hirsuteness heard that Cable & Wireless may be buying beleaguered Exodus. According to a Tabby tattler, that could be an iffy purchase. Although the Santa Clara, Calif., company once commanded Internet data operations for an endless list of companies during the dot-com boom, the tipster claims Exodus now has serious internal issues. When the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 26, it swore customer service would continue. Although many news reports have attempted to chronicle the exodus of clients from the company, Exodus itself refuses to comment on any business losses its suffered or clients its lost.
On the upside, the Katt crony claims Exodus has definitely renewed focus on customer satisfaction with the clients it has retained. The tattler also claims that even though the relationship between Exodus and an Irvine, Calif., MSP called SiteLite may be deteriorating, Exodus will work with a wider range of MSPs.
Whether the Exodus sale rumor is true or not, companies looking to partner with Exodus may find it easier to get a foot in the door, claims the tipster.
As the Kitty tore open a bag of Fritos to follow up his lonely Thanksgiving feast, he found some links at Memepool. com and DailyRotten.com that seem to support online reports that plans for how to build a nuclear bomb—found by British reporters at an abandoned Taliban stronghold—may have been a parody on the subject downloaded from the Web. The article, which was originally written in 1979, can be found at winn.com/bs/atombomb.html.
“I guess Taliban members are the same as any American business employee,” cackled the Kitty. “When they get Web access, all they do is download jokes all day.”
Have some industry gossip? Send it to spencer_katt@ziffdavis.com.