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From: spencer_katt@ziffdavis.com
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 12:10 AM
To: eWEEK readers
Subject: Amex mix-up; wayward Flock; Goo-goo
“Eek,” shrieked Spence, but it wasnt the anticipation of Allhallows Eve that made the Tabby tremble. It was the tale of Missouri-based Savvis Communications CEO Robert McCormick last week that sent chills up the spine of the gossipy Grimalkin, as well as other gents around water coolers across the country. McCormick is being sued by American Express for a bill of $241,000 it paid on his behalf to Scores, a famous strip club in New York City. The CEO is disputing the clubs allegation that he and three cronies ran up the six-figure bill on lap dances and sundries in one evening at the establishment, and he claims the Amex bill should only have been a measly $20,000 for the night of debauchery. “I know Missouri is the Show Me state, but yowza,” cackled the Kitty.
El Gato later received a call from a business maven who said that Savvis, which describes itself as a global IT utility services provider, put McCormick on an unpaid leave of absence after the story gained attention on thesmokinggun.com and has made the companys president and chief operating officer, John Finlayson, its acting CEO. “With its 5 percent fee on every transaction, ya gotta assume Amex digs Scores version of the story more than McCormicks,” mused the Mouser. “And with Savvis stock currently selling at 60 cents per share, Im guessing T&A wont be on McCormicks T&E for quite a while.”
Spence scarfed down a handful of candy corn as the KattPhones new ring tone, “The Monster Mash,” startled the already-jittery Kitty. The caller was a crony who asked Spence if hed heard about the onslaught of Flock. “Is that some extension of the bird flu?” mused the Mouser. Ignoring his Katty attempt at humor, the pal went on to inform Spence that Flock is a new Firefox-like browser. Some of the folks developing Flock claim to have had varying degrees of involvement with the Mozilla project and are building the browser on top of the Mozilla platform. Flock currently touts blogging, Flickr and del.icio.us integration.
Spences pal also noted that the Google story of the week seems to be Google Base. The test site, which has been taken down for the time being, has been assumed to be an online classified ad service that would theoretically compete with eBay and Craigslist head-on. Spence also asked his pal what he knew about the recent release of Minix 3. The pal told Spence the third release of Minix, an OS that Linus Torvalds reportedly drew inspiration from when he developed Linux, is targeted to run on the $100 laptop that MIT hopes will one day be distributed globally to educate children. Before his pal bid Spence adieu, he told him to venture over to www.google-kai.com if he wanted a further Halloween scare. There, Spence was frightened to find a Mr. and Mrs. Kai who claim theyve named their baby Google. “I hope its a trick because the schoolyard sure wont be a treat for Lil Google,” riposted the Rumorist.