This Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of the attack against America by al-Qaeda that forever changed our world. This Sunday we could talk about how our lives have changed since the attacks happened. We could debate the motivation behind the attacks. We could discuss how al-Qaeda has adapted since the U.S. military killed their leader, Osama bin Laden earlier this year. We could even discuss the recent rumors about an al-Qaeda plot to commit another attack today. Instead, let’s push the more cerebral issues aside, and let’s do what we would do if we were sitting together today in a comfortable place, perhaps your mom’s living room, or your grandmother’s front porch. Share your story with us. Where were you September 11, 2011? What were you doing when you found out about the attacks? Did you see the events unfold on television, or were you there in New York, Shanksville, or Washington DC? Did you see it happen live, or did you find out about it later? Please tell us your stories in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Earlier this week, it was revealed to the public that the downloadable al-Qaeda magazine, Inspire, was infiltrated by the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters and British MI6 intelligence hackers in 2010. The mission, called “Operation Cupcake”, replaced a lethal tutorial on ?How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom? with an encrypted, heart-attack inducing recipe for “The Best Cupcakes in America,” which came from the Ellen DeGeneres talkshow website.

The 67-page al-Qaeda magazine originally contained articles such as ?What to expect in Jihad,” and articles written by Osama bin Laden and his right-hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri. As mentioned before, the al-Qaeda tutorial also included a recipe showing how to make a deadly pipe bomb with sugar, match heads, and a miniature lightbulb attached to a timer – all ingredients that could be easily found in the home. As the first English-language Jihadist online magazine, the purpose of the propaganda was to attract and recruit al-Qaeda supporters throughout the Arabian Peninsula and even “lone-wolf” terrorists in the US and UK.

As humorous as the mission sounds, “Operation Cupcake” was a failure in several ways. The Inspire, run by the extremist preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, was reissued with the correct bomb recipe only two weeks later, had four additional editions that followed, and the intelligence agencies missed a golden opportunity to alter the ingredients subtly so that al-Qaeda may not have realized that the magazine was on the radar. In response to the operation, user “Symbiote” commented online, “Why not replace the bomb recipes with harmless things that look like they could be bombs, but have no chance of working? Or perhaps require large quantities of strange ingredients, to help trace where the people using the recipe are… MI6 (if this was them) should be better than this.” A similar Pentagon operation was blocked by the CIA last year because they believed that it would have exposed sources of valuable information… and they were right.

Even though today is National Doughtnut Day, if you’re at least looking to make some delicious Mojito and Rocky Road cupcakes, you know to search for “The Best Cupcakes in America” by Main Street Cupcakes.

Photo by Zack Whittaker via ZDNet

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know by now that the world’s most wanted international terrorist, Osama bin Laden, was killed in his million-dollar compound in Pakistan on the 1st of May. Suspected as the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, news of bin Laden’s death signaled a time for Americans to rejoice and to celebrate what we have been longing for – justice.

The military’s elite special forces group who killed bin Laden, unofficially called SEAL Team 6, deserves all the credit that they have received for executing their mission to perfection. Upon confirming bin Laden’s death, the black ops kill team even grabbed all the electronic material they could find as they hurriedly exited the Abbottabad compound, including dozens of computers, flash drives, and disks. This electronic material was given to a special team of military intelligence operatives and members of the CIA to be analyzed as quickly as possible so that any information can be used while it remains pertinent. SEAL Team 6 and all of the troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq must be praised, whether you agree or disagree with our country’s military actions, but none of this would have been remotely possible without the use of technology.

From the tapped phone call of Osama’s courier that led the US military directly to the front steps of his compound, to the use of satellites in order to map the operation, to the live video feed of the mission sent over 7,000 miles to the President and his advisors, and from the use of sophisticated biometric tools used to identify the body, there have been remarkable advancements in technology since the tragedy that occurred nearly 10 years ago.

Not only has technology helped locate and identify America’s (former) Most Wanted, it helped spread the news of Osama bin Laden’s death like wildfire. Many of you found out through popular social media outlets or by mobile device long before President Obama delivered his address to the nation. News of bin Laden’s death even set a Twitter record for the highest sustained rate of tweets ever, with an average of 3,440 Tweets per second from 10:45PM-12:30AM. As for myself, I found out through a friend harmlessly checking his cell phone during a break in a late night session of doubles tennis. The Internet, however, has its downsides as well: It seems like every mistake you make could be put out there for the world to see… just ask Fox40 News.

Photo by landerinn via deviantART