NobodyHere.com is, without a doubt, one of the more interestingly funny and random sites I have seen in some time. It kept me clicking around for some time…

http://www.nobodyhere.com/justme/me.here

When Chris Pirillo started sending me images of rings and dogs and other things on IM the other day, I knew what was up – and his method of asking Ponzi The Question was pretty darn cool. I congratulated him privately then, but today I want to do so in front of the world, so here you go.

Chris and Ponzi, two fine people whom I am glad and proud to know, are engaged to be married – They formally made it known in public on their blogs today.

Congrats you two!

MSN has a special web site dedicated to educating people about online safety and security:

http://safety.msn.com/

It’s a decent resource for the average user, and provides easy-to-understand facts and answers to common questions and issues people face on the Internet.

In particular, information about protecting kids online and how to recognize and avoid falling victim to phishing schemes are among the topics addressed.

Around my place we say “Merry Christmas.” But whatever holiday you celebrate in your life, I hope it’s a good one for you and yours.

Today at home it’s a fire in the fireplace, with posole** cooking on top of the stove, and over the next couple of days it’ll be wrapping presents, going to church, spending time with friends, and remembering what the holiday is all about.

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

The guy who spoke those words was a good and decent man, and he was taught them buy another guy – who was also a good and decent man, and whose birthday we just happen to celebrate this weekend.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

** Here’s my Posole recipe, archived here for myself so I won’t lose it, and for anyone else who’s interested. This way I won’t have to call mom and ask (again) next time, heh:

• One #10 can (108oz) Hominy (Mexican style preferred, white is also ok)
• Two large yellow onions, sliced and cut
• One tablespoon (or so) minced garlic
• One teaspoon dry oregano (Mexican oregano if you can get it)
• One quart (or less if you prefer) of frozen or canned green chiles, diced, preferably hot or medium strength (not jalapenos – use real green chiles)
• Salt (plenty)
• Pepper (plenty)
• One pork tenderloin, about 5 pounds
• Olive oil

In a large stock pot, combine the hominy, onions, garlic, oregano, and green chile. Fill with water to cover the ingredients, plus some more (don’t get to worried about the water – just make sure it’s pretty full). Salt and popper the heck out of it. Turn on the heat and bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn the heat back to simmer the stuff.

Cut the pork into small cubes or similar shape pieces (like you can cut pork into cubes, yeah…).In a frying pan, heat some olive oil and brown the pork slowly, add some salt and pepper.

After browning the pork, add it to the stock pot contents, and stir the meat in.

Now comes the hard part – leave it alone until the cows come home. That translates to anywhere between say six hours and overnight. Trust me – let it cook down. Add some water as needed.

And don’t be stingy with the salt and pepper – you’ll need it.

I have four invitations for GMAIL accounts available. This time I am offering them only to military personnel. So, if you happen to be serving or know someone who is, send me an email from your .mil email account (or have the military person you know send it). Address the email to greg(at)greghughes.net and I’ll hook ‘em right up.

Note: Non-military requests will not be answered this time around – thanks.

Omar Shahine has been working on dasBlog v1.7, and on his weblog he says he’s working to release the new version by the end of the year. Nice!

Lots of cool new features, some of which I am running here that were built up by Scott Hanselman. Check out Omar’s progress announcement, Scott’s changes, and the v1.7 wiki page for more info.

Can’t wait!