One of my gifts for Christmas was a sci-fi compilation that included a short story by Charles Stross. I read a lot of techno-sci-fi, William Gibson wanna be stuff and the original CyberPunk short story.

This is the first modern version that I’ve read.

Well, this is actually my 701st story. The Paycheck before Christmas one got the lucky 700 somehow. Welcome to all new readers, to the old ones, thanks for sticking around.

by Richard B. Johnson:

T`Was the night before payday and all through the house,
Not a computer was working as I clicked the mouse;
The screen turned blue and out slewed some text,
Showing register dumps and addresses in hex;

To all my good friends, without whom this would be just another commerical overblown holiday.

Monday, December 23, 2002: the Washington Capitals achieved a shutout and a three goal victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the MCI center.

Fans will go particularly bonkers over one shot of an agent leaping from atop a moving car onto the hood of another and, with his feet, crushing the entire thing into a pretzel. Says cinematographer Bill Pope: “It’s going to make ‘The Fast and the Furious’ look like ‘The Slow and the Dimwitted’.”

Four years ago “The Matrix” arrived out of nowhere and grossed $171 million in the United States alone—terrific for an R-rated film. But it accelerated into a phenomenon thanks to DVD, becoming the format’s first title to sell a million copies.

Rest of the story is here.

This NPR article about a college professor who’s son who joins the Marines almost made me cry.

Yup, it’s Kid Loco - Alone Again So.

Nice little bit of ambient groove.