It seems police in Maryland have caught the two men they were looking for, Muhammad and Malvo. (This is a good thing, if only because it has caused CNN to remove Muhammad’s face and license-plate number from its screen, where they had seemingly become permanent parts of the CNN logo earlier tonight.) Apparently they were sleeping in their car at a rest area in Maryland. It just goes to show, you shouldn’t doze off when the national news media might be announcing that you’re wanted in connection with a major crime spree!

It remains to be seen, of course, whether these guys are the snipers, or are connected in any way with the sniper(s). A key question, it seems to me, is whether there will be another shooting soon — like, today — now that these guys in custody. I would think that, if the sniper is someone else, he might kill someone right away to prove that police don’t have him yet. God knows he likes attention, and wouldn’t want some random Gulf War veteran stealing his spotlight.

Four years ago today, on October 24, 1998, I became king.

Homecoming King, that is. In perhaps the greatest and strangest election upset in the history of the world, I, Brendan Loy, “camera boy” and newspaper nerd, defeated three football players in the schoolwide balloting for Homecoming Court. The least popular kid in middle school — the Trekkie with the Spock sideburns — had won the ultimate high school popularity contest. And I got to sit on the royal “throne” and share a king-and-queen dance with one of my best friends at the time, and one of the sweetest girls in our graduating class, Homecoming Queen Jen Bolduc, whom I often referred to thereafter as “Queen Jen” in everyday conversation. :)

Although many more substantively important things have happened in my life since then, October 24, 1998 remains one of the most magical nights of my life to date. I’ll never forget the deafening cheers of my schoolmates when my name was called, nor the hugs, high-fives, and congratulations that followed. As someone who was never an athlete, this was like my one chance in life to score the winning touchdown and feel the excitement of the crowd afterward. The picture below captures a little bit of that, as I finish hugging my friend Bryan Rudolph and head up toward Jen on the “throne”:

(Click here for more photos from Homecoming 1998!!!)

My night of Homecoming royalty was also significant in the sense that it inspired my USC admissions essay, which, I later gathered, played a major role in my earning a full-tuition scholarship to this school. If you asked me now, I’d say the essay is rather pretentious and not terribly good, but at the time I thought it was brilliant, and hey, it worked. An excerpt:

…In sixth and seventh grade, I was…the “nerdiest” guy around. I was ridiculed by most of my peers, sneered at by many of the “popular” kids, and tortured by nearly all of the bullies. I was, to put it simply, at the bottom of the middle-school food chain. But then something happened. Midway through seventh grade, I began to privately write a newspaper called The Living Room Times. … The Times’s popularity soared–and with it, so did mine. …

But in most ways, I haven’t changed. … I generally refer to myself as a “popular nerd,” because by any standard definition, I am still a “nerd.” Most of my free time is spent doing homework, writing newspapers, surfing the Internet, or updating my website–not partying or dating. I rarely watch prime-time TV or catch a movie, but I spend hours each week watching news broadcasts and cable news networks. I don’t drink, don’t smoke, and don’t do drugs; in reality, I don’t fit in. But I am allowed “in” because I am now liked by most of my peers.

Why am I liked now when I wasn’t then? … “Popularity” doesn’t make sense. It is a system with no guiding principle, and no particular purpose other than to make “outsiders” feel bad. I was able to break its rules because it doesn’t really have any rules. It is a monster of its own creation, and its judgements do not necessarily have any bearing on the worth of the people it judges.

Now, I won’t lie to you. Call me a hypocrite, but now that I am popular, I do enjoy it. The night that I was elected Homecoming King was one of the greatest nights of my life. It was an indescribable thrill to hear all those cheers and get all those hugs. It’s fun to be loved–and I don’t think relishing in peer affection is anything to ashamed of. What is worthy of shame is using that affection to make others feel bad about themselves, and that is something I try hard never to do. …

I have made the leap from “laughing stock” to “King,” and I know there is very little substance in between.

The ability I have gained from this experience is one which I hope will help me in college and in life. It is the ability to see through fluff. The lesson learned: Pomp and popularity aside, people are people–and they deserve to be judged based on their accomplishments, their efforts, and their ethics, not based on their willingness or ability to conform to someone else’s standards. …

Well, enough of that. In other news, six days till I turn 21!!! (Sweet, innocent, 16-year-old Homecoming King Brendan would have been shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED at the very idea of 20-year-old Brendan looking forward so eagerly to his first legal purchase of alcohol…)

Here’s an interesting article about the Oklahoma City bombing, which would be more convincing if they at least bothered to get the number killed right (168, not 185)… but still, it’s worth reading. Could it have something to do with Sept. 11 and the D.C. sniper? Well, probably not, but speculating about random conspiracy theories is what blogging is all about!

Meanwhile, CNN’s “All Sniper, All The Time” coverage continues to virtually ignore the 600 people being held hostage by Islamist terrorists in Moscow, a crisis that has still not been resolved.

Finally, in far more important news, the Rally Monkey failed Wednesday night; the Giants won. Tie series, 2-2. Sob, sob. On the other hand, this means there will be at least one more game in Anaheim, so the news isn’t all bad. Go Angels!

“We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.” What the heck are they talking about? Here’s a diagram of a duck noose, if that’s relevant.

UPDATE, 10/24/02 2:38 AM: The Baltimore Sun did a wonderful job putting together the various pieces of Wednesday’s sniper stories in an article this morning, explaining the connection between D.C., Tacoma, and Alabama, as well as one possible meaning of “a duck in a noose.” Read it!

A deserter from a elite French military school, a 25-year-old of Yugoslav origin who has “a very, very good reputation as a marksman,” is missing in North America, and there’s speculation he might be the D.C sniper. Upon hearing the news, France surrendered and was quickly occupied by the Montgomery County Army, led by Major General Moose. :)

In Moscow, Chechen rebel symphathizers have taken between 500 and 700 innocent theater-goers hostage in the world’s latest terrorist outrage. They are reportedly demanding an end to the war in Chechnya… and they’re reportedly laying land mines. Meanwhile, a Russian plane has been stopped in New York because of possible radioactive materials on board.

In other news, an hourlong attack — cyberterrorism, perhaps? — crippled 9 of the 13 key servers that manage the Internet Monday in “the most sophisticated and large-scale assault against these crucial computers in the history of the Internet.” For the latest, visit the Internet Storm Center or the Internet Weather Report.

It’s October 23… 10/23… and that can only mean one thing: today is National Mole Day!

This annual holiday — which technically starts at 6:02 AM and ends at 6:02 PM — does not actually celebrate small furry animals that dig holes in the ground, but rather, a chemistry concept: Avogadro’s number, the “mole,” 6.02 x 10²³. (10/23… 10²³… get it?) That’s 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, for the scientific-notionally challenged among us, and it’s an inconceivably huge number. How huge? A mole of marshmellows would cover the planet Earth 12 miles high, and a mole of seconds would last so long, the universe would die out before it was done! If you’re wondering what the mole’s significance to chemistry is, here’s an explanation.

I learned about moles and Mole Day when I was in Dr. William Pilotte’s chemistry class my junior year in high school (that would be 5 years ago now, 10/23/97). Since then, I’ve celebrated Mole Day each year, if only by making a few nerdy comments to my friends, writing a couple of e-mails, or, now, posting something about it on my website. :) You see, the holiday has special significance for me, not only because I’m a nerd, but also because my dad’s nickname ever since he was in college has been “the mole,” and as a result, my family has had an obsession with all things mole-related since long before I learned about Avogadro and his mole.

My dad, the mole

I also had this friend in my freshman-year dorm, Marcelo, who would occasionally wear a “MOLE” t-shirt with Avogadro’s number on the back.

Marcelo and the mole shirt

Anyway, here are some mole-related links for you:
• National Mole Day Foundation
• Avogadro Web Site
• Biography of Professor Mole
• 2002 Mole Day page from Waukegan Public Schools
• More Mole Day links from Yahoo

In other news… there is now officially only one week left until I turn 21!!!

I’ve gotten 15 hits in the last 6 days from people searching on Google and other search engines for the Rally Monkey. Most seem to want videos of the suddenly famous Angels mascot. Sorry, I don’t have such a video, and I don’t know where to find one. But you can buy a Rally Monkey if you want! And here’s a picture of the Rally Monkey doing an ESPN interview. Hey, here’s another picture from that same interview! And here’s the Rally Monkey holding his “believe in the power” sign. Gotta love that monkey!

As of Tuesday, October 22, there’s:
• 1 day left until National Mole Day
• 2 days left until the 4th anniversary of my crowning as Newington High School Homecoming King :)
• 4 days left until I find out my LSAT score
• 8 days left until I turn 21!!!
• 9 days left until I have enough money to buy a new digital camera
• 10 days left until I register for classes for the last time at USC
• 17 days left until Becky and I (probably) go to Las Vegas for the weekend (no, the Rev. Elvis will not be involved)
• 21 days left until the The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring special extended-edition DVD comes out
• 24 days left until the new Harry Potter movie comes out
• 28 days left until the Leonid Meteor Storm
• 32 days left until the UCLA football game
• 33 days left until the likely date of my annual Christmas ceremony
• 37 days left until Thanksgiving
• 52 days left until the new Star Trek movie comes out
• 57 days left until The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers comes out
• 58 days left until I fly to Hawaii with Becky and her family!!!
• 64 days left until Christmas
• 71 days left until 2003!

Harry Potter, you cannot pass!

Yay! The Indians improve to 2-4 on the season with a big CCC South conference win, handing the Lancers (4-2) just their second loss of the year. What’s more, it was a road win! Next week, Newington plays its homecoming game (I think) against winless Maloney (0-6), which has been shut out in five of its six games this year. (The week after that, the Indians play undefeated, #1-ranked New Britain… but let’s not think about that yet.)

Hmm… now remind me again, why would a Trojan voluntarily become a Husky? :)

USC 41, Washington 21. Dave’s old school vanquishes Dave’s new school, and in convincing fashion. ‘Nuff said.

Actually, there is one more thing I need to say…

NYAH, NYAH, NYAH-NYAH, NYAH! :)

(Dave, for those of you who haven’t been paying attention, is David Kreutz, my freshman-year roommate, briefly a member of the Trojan Marching Band who then transferred to Washington and joined the Husky Band. He returned to L.A. this weekend for the first time since leaving USC in May 2000.)

In other news, USC’s undefeated, #1-ranked women’s volleyball team beat UCLA, our #5-ranked men’s water polo team beat Cal Baptist, and our #12-ranked women’s soccer team beat Arizona State.

Oh, and the World Series starts tonight. Go Angels! Go Rally Monkey!

Whether or not the Washington sniper is an Islamist radical, he’s certainly a terrorist in the sense that he’s “terrorizing” the D.C. area. Despite officials’ exhortations that residents live normal lives to the extent possible, life is not even remotely normal in suburban D.C., as this heartbreaking Los Angeles Times article makes clear. The high-school sports season has been decimated, outdoor recess is a thing of the past, and trick-or-treating will surely be unheard of this Halloween unless the sniper is caught beforehand. It’s a terrible, terrible situation.

While the fear is thoroughly understandable, the reaction is distinctly over-the-top. The statistical chance of getting killed by the sniper is still incredibly low, and the loss of day-to-day pleasures — especially for young people — is simply too great a price to pay. Adults will always say “safety trumps everything” when it comes to their kids, but a life lived under indefinite lockdown is no life at all.

If Israel reacted to daily terror this way, that nation’s citizens would never be able to leave their homes. Yet Israelis manage to go on — inevitably altering their lives, of course, in ways great and small, but never allowing life to grind entirely to a halt, even under the constant threat of senseless violence. They show enormous resilience in putting on a brave face amid the horror. We must learn to do the same, or we will never be able to win the war on terrorism.

Just kidding…

With all the TV psychobabble about mass murderers, insane killers, and their supposed motives, you’d think it hasn’t even occurred to anybody to consider another, scarier possibility: that the Washington-area sniper is an Islamist terrorist, an Al Qaeda muhajidin roaming the streets of suburban D.C. with a high-powered gun and a great aim.

Think about it: it would be a whole new terror method, taking us totally by surprise, which from the terrorists’ perspective is a good thing; it is a brilliant strategy for terrorizing the population, moreso in many ways than the events of 9/11; it is something that could hypothetically be repeated anywhere; it’s very difficult to stop; and Al Qaeda training camps are a great place to learn how to use a gun. Why not? Why aren’t we thinking more about this possibility?

In fairness, it’s being discussed a bit more now than it was a few days ago (probably because the media is bored of the same old psychoidiots talking about “profiles” and such). The Associated Press ran an article on it today, and William Safire discussed it in his latest column (whose introductory paragraph incidentally sounds a bit like mine above, but which — I swear — I didn’t read until just now, 20 minutes after writing my intro). In addition, the Washington Post briefly discusses the terrorist theory in tomorrow morning’s paper — but quickly downplays it — near the end of their lead article about the latest developments in the case:

The chance that there is more than one shooter has officials reluctantly talking about the possibility of terrorism. Although they say the evidence points away from a terror link, they cannot discount the possibility.

“They’ve looked at that, but they think if it truly was terrorism, the people would be taking a whole lot more credit for it,” the official said, adding, “The reason they really don’t look in that direction is because this person is becoming bolder and bolder and tends to fit the profile of a serial shooter who ultimately wants to get caught.”

Yet so much of our “profile” of this sniper is based on the assumption that he’s a typical serial killer, the logic becomes circular. It is certainly possible to propose alternative explanations for the “evidence” — scanty as it is — that this sniper is “typical.”. His increasing boldness, and supposed willingness to get caught, fit into a suicide jihadist’s mindset just as well as they do into an insane killer’s. The tarot card, though its “I am God” message might seem to contradict the beliefs of a radical Muslim, could well be a deliberate attempt to throw investigators off course.

Moreover, the lack of a claim of responsibility is about the weakest piece of evidence I’ve ever heard in my life. No one “claimed responsibility” for Sept. 11, either! The notion, I suppose, is that Islamist terrorists would want us to know they’re Islamist terrorists, thus increasing our terror; but the fact is, if they are behind this, we’ll eventually realize it, and that’s really all they’d need to know. The suspense in the meantime only heightens the terror and increases the effect. So I am unconvinced by the government’s “evidence,” which in this case is really just a bunch of assumptions built on assumptions.

Not mentioned in the Post or the New York Times is the fact that, according to CNN, the first eyewitness accounts describe the shooter as an “olive-skinned” man. That certainly doesn’t mean that he’s necessarily an Islamist terrorist (not all olive-skinned people are Arabs/Muslims, and anyway the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims are, of course, not terrorists), but it also certainly doesn’t rule it out. It’s not like they’re saying he’s a red-haired Irishman. So let’s think about this a little bit more seriously.

Hopefully he’s just a lone madman (or two lone madmen, if that’s not a contradiction in terms), because if so, once they arrest him/them, it’ll be over, and we can get on with our lives. But I’m not so sure.

(Now, if they start saying he’s a 6-foot-5 olive-skinned man, I’ll really start to wonder. Maybe Osama isn’t dead, after all…)