Nine months after Congress told the Pentagon to kill their

“Total Information Awareness” electronic snooping program, they are still trolling private databases under different program names. Hawaii Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka said, “The federal government collects and uses Americans’ personal information and shares it with other agencies to an astonishing degree, raising serious privacy concerns.”

In an interview last night with Larry King about his pending retirement from the NBC anchor desk, Tom Brokaw admits to being an “adrenaline junkie.” He says, “I know that when 6:30 comes around every night, wherever I am, I will probably have some kind of a twitch. But I have thought about it for a long time. This is my call. I’m absolutely at ease with it.”

I would have to agree with Tom that I am an adrenaline junkie, too. I miss the daily deadlines, the breaking news and learning tommorrow morning’s news the evening before everyone else reads it.

The RIAA has filed a lawsuit against another 493 people they claim have been sharing copyright music over the Internet. Instead of going after university students (who don’t have any money), they have sought out home users.

Jon Stewart, the anchor of The Daily Show and the the smartest man on TV, was the commencement speaker at The College of William & Mary. His hilarious speech contained numerous quips including “I had forgotten how crushingly dull these ceremonies are” and on whether or this generation can claim to be the greatest “you’re not gonna have much trouble surpassing my generation. If you end up getting your picture taken next to a naked guy pile of enemy prisoners and don’t give the thumbs up you’ve outdid us.”

Two authoritative sources have reported something that you must already know (since you are reading this). Blogs are a form of communication. At Microsoft’s CEO Summit in Redmond, Wash., Bill Gates speaking of new innovations said Blogs are a better form of communication than emails because they immediately let the user determine the relative value of the message. Likewise blogologists, are currently studying blogs, their content and relationship to society’s obsession with time. I’m no blogologist with a Ph.D., but blogs do follow even the most basic communication models with a sender and receiver (except, I’m not sure this one has any receivers).

An article in the latest edition of the Online Journalism Review addresses some of benefits and myths of convergence. Now, we know that all the bean counters think through convergence they can cut editorial staff in half and have one reporter take pictures, shoot and edit video, write the story for the newspaper, appear on air on the nightly news and update the website with the breaking news. Thank goodness one person can’t do all this or this mythical person could do all of our jobs at once (although given enough hours in a day, I think I could make a pretty good attempt at all of the above). The article reveals that right now converngence really helps build brand and promote other mediums. Hopefully, we can find something else that convergence really helps with (like reaching multiple audience segments through different mediums).

With TV, the Internet, Newspapers and my family there is hardly any me time to spend in a book. When I do end up reading it tends to be about my job like Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman, Return on Design by Ani Phyo or the Visual Quickstart Guide to Macromedia Director MX2004.

This summer I am going to attempt to read some books that I would want to read like Tim Russert’s new book Big Russ and Me: Father and Son–Lessons of Life, The Ever-Loving Truth: Can Faith Thrive in a Post, Christian Culture by Voddie Baucham, Buck Up, Suck Up . . . and Come Back When You Foul Up : 12 Winning Secrets from the War Room by James Carville and Paul Begala and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by Lawrence Lessig.

Now, that’s an interesting mix of books and authors!

That headline may sound like a heady claim for a restaurant in Hot Springs, Ark., but this boy who group up in the Barbecue Capitol of the World agrees. If you ever make it to Hot Springs, you have to stop and try McClard’s who is celebrating 75 years in business owned by one family or you can just order your sauce online.

If you do decide to stop in at McClard’s, you need to know some of the local etiquette so you don’t look like a fool trying to get a table. When you enter the restaurant, it’s probably going to be full and you’re not going to be able to find a hostess or anyone else to direct you to seat. Your best bet is to find someone who is finishing up their meal and go hover over their table because it’s whoever grabs a booth first gets to sit there. As soon as the table your eyeing gets up go ahead and sit down before they clear it (don’t worry someone will be along momentarily to clean it up). I know this may not sound proper to you, but it’s the only way you’re going to get some of the best barbecue sauce in the world.

Former Saturday Night Live cast member, Jay Mohr, is releasing his memoirs featuring tales from his two years as a writer and cast member on SNL. Mohr recounts some particularly salacious tidbits about SNL’s guest hosts.

After six years as regular on Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Fallon announced at the end of weekend update that Saturday night’s show was his last.

“I’m Jimmy Fallon,” he said. “I might as well say thanks; this is my last show. Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.”