Update: I've checked in with relatives; all of the immediate ones are safe, as are many of my friends in New York. I am disturbed, however, because there are several friends from college whom I can't contact as well as a good Internet friend, Mike Daddino. I'm hoping and praying that he's okay; Mike worked in the World Trade Center.

One thing I can say about this situation is that terrorist attacks do not make me afraid; they make me FUCKING ANGRY. This was completely senseless and unnecessary. The fact that there are Palestinians CELEBRATING is making my blood boil. I'd like to hunt down every person celebrating this tragedy. Oddly, I also feel like there's something I should have been able to do to prevent this from happening. Clearly this is a stupid and egotistical feeling; life is not a Hollywood blockbuster action flick and a singing computer programmer with moxie would last about ten seconds against the forces that put this operation together. Still, I'd like to see the correct people pay for this tragedy. ("Correct" is a non-trivial qualifier; as much as I want to bomb someone into oblivion over this, it would be a far greater tragedy if a target was arbitrarily or hastily picked as a convenient scapegoat and the real perpetrators never faced justice.)