Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Oh come on... almanacs?

Spinster crossword-puzzle afficionados and boring trivia buffs beware, the FBI has their eye on you:

The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning.

In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning."

It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways.

Almanacs are probably the most innocuous and boring sources of information on the face of the planet... doesn't everyone just use the internet nowadays?

I'd like to thank the FBI for bringing an unlikely and little-known source of information to the attention of any terrorists who were having trouble figuring out where certain dams were located or how many days it rains each year in key American cities. It's nice to know that our tax dollars are being so usefully spent.

Sheesh... almanacs.