Because you needed more confirmation that the government of the United States of America will go to *any* lengths to ferret out the answers they want (hey, who says they need to be right?), check out the article here.
The best part of the article? Quote: "If you don't violate someone's human rights some of the time, you probably aren't doing your job." That's funny. I've used that same mantra when it comes to web development. I think that's also in Nike's mission statement somewhere.

...that's right, William Shatner is recording another album.

For those of you not traumatized by the first one, fire up your illegal-downloading-software-of-choice, and grab a copy...The horror...

...you've got your own Hobbit Name!

Went and saw Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for the second time on Friday evening, this time with Frances (first time was with the crew of fellow employees at the Fort Frances Times). Thoroughly enjoyed it again. Frances did as well -- she was able to ask questions during the movie without getting the glares. :-)

In November, I received my birthday present early from Mom, Dad, Lerrin & Lisa -- an XBox. Anyone who knows my computing platform preferences may be shocked to hear that.

But I love it.

The XBox console has amazing graphics. I'll admit that I was excited about the Playstation 2 when it came out, and was underwhelmed by the quality of the graphics. I'm definitely more-than-whelmed at the quality of the XBox. Click below to read more...

The XBox has a built-in hard drive, which means the game data is all saved internally. A definite plus over my Sega DreamCast with its memory cards a la the Playstation (which, if you have a chance to pick up, do so. The quality of the DreamCast is amazing, and the machines can be had extraordinarily cheap).

I'm not a hard-core gamer, to be honest. I enjoy goofing around with games, but my days of spending 4+ hours on a game at a sitting are definitely over -- I think that comes with parenthood. But I've whiled many hours away playing Halo so far, and I'm not bored yet. Stuck, yes. Bored, no. I do wish that the multiplayer option in it had bots to fight, since my friend Bear and I have crushed each other under the weight of the flying warthog too many times. I currently own Halo, Max Payne, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 for the XBox. I also got the DVD playback kit for it, so that I could watch the Original Edition, and the Extended Edition of Lord of the Rings that I bought. (Yes, pathetic. And if you haven't seen LOTR yet, don't even bother talking to me anymore.)

The downsides to the XBox? They are:

Just a quick note to show a digital pic out the front door of the house on Christmas morning. Breathtaking in more than one way when it's that pretty -- and cold (-18 C) -- outside.