Zayad, over on Healing Iraq, posted this today. He is an Iraqi in Jordan at the moment.

Jordanians were wishing Iraqis luck these few days everywhere on the streets. One young man at a mall, on recognising my Iraqi accent, asked me who I would be voting for. I politely told him that I would vote for who I believe is sincere. Strangely, he said that he personally preferred Allawi and hoped most Iraqis would be voting for him. I wished his country luck as well since the King had promised direct elections for municipal councils as a first step. He dismissed that as nothing much and said that "One should start from the 'Head' down, not the other way around". This last remark played on my survival instincts, even though the fellow looked far from being a Jordanian Mukhabarat agent, so I left the man in peace.

I know that only history will be able to look back on these decades and know whether or not the U.S. made wise decisions or shed blood uselessly pursuing foolish ideals... but hearing things like this gives me hope that Freedom might actually spread across the Middle East like a grassfire.

The blogosphere is ripe today, a ready and eager witness to the birth of self-determination and freedom in Iraq.

As usual, there is a good roundup of posts from all sides of the political spectrum over here at
The Command Post.

It's the Iraqi bloggers themselves who made the biggest impact on my perception of this historic day.

From Iraq the Model

The media is reporting only explosions and suicide attacks that killed and injured many Iraqis s far but this hasn't stopped the Iraqis from marching towards their voting stations with more determination. Iraqis have truly raced the sun.

I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.
I put the paper in the box and with it, there were tears that I couldn't hold; I was trembling with joy and I felt like I wanted to hug the box but the supervisor smiled at me and said "brother, would you please move ahead, the people are waiting for their turn".

Yes brothers, proceed and fill the box!

From Democracy in Iraq

I am happy to report...no I am honored to report that I have cast my ballot in our election. It is such an amazing feeling to be able to have some control over the destiny of my nation, a feeling I have not known before! I was one of the first ones to report to our local voting station, and I placed my vote, my stained finger is proof (The authorities are using such a system to make sure people do not vote twice). I was not the only one to show up at the opening of the voting area, there were at least a dozen other Iraqis waiting to take part in this momentus event, and as I left, I saw tens more file in.

From Free Iraqi

I entered the school and the supervisors showed me the way to were I should vote. They and the ING guys were so polite and gentle. I cast my vote and got out, not in a rush at all. This is my Eid and I felt like a king walking in his own kingdom. I saw the same look of confidence and satisfaction in the eyes of all people I met. As I left one of the gurads said to me as he handed me back my cellular phone,"God bless you and your beloved ones. We don't know how to thank you. Please excuse any inconvinience on our part. We wish we didn't have to search you or limit your freedom. You are heroes" I was struck with surprise and felt ashamed. This man was risking his life all these hours in what has become the ytmost target for all terrorists in Iraq and yet he's apologizing and calling us heroes. I thanked him back and told him that he and his comrads are the true heroes and that we can never be grateful enough for their services.

More Iraqi Bloggers for you to investigate:

Ambassador Fayrouz
AYS
Faiza
Ferid
Free Iraqi
Firas
Friends of Democracy
Husayn
Ibn Al Rafidain
Ibrahim
Iraq Elections Blog
Iraq Files
Iraq Pundit
Khalid
Kurdistan Bloggers Union
Kurdo
Ladybird
Majid
Nabil
Najma
Omar, Ali, and Mohammed
Raed
Raed and the Irani
Riverbend
Rose
Sam
Sami
Sarmad
Zeyad

New viruses, worms, trojans, adware and spyware are published almost every day. Phishing schemes became more prevalent in 2004 and more profitable for the criminals behind them. If you had an e-mail address, then you bore witness to the Bagel-Netsky-MyDoom dominance war, the latest Phishing forgeries asking you to update your bank account records or eBay profiles, and your computer is likely now running some sort of AdWare program.

Here is something to assuage your suffering.

From the Earth Times

On Friday Judge Pechman sentenced Parson to 18 months in jail and 10 months of community service for propagating the crippling MS Blaster Internet worm in 2003 that wrought havoc on up to 50000 computers around the world with both personal and business pc's affected.

It's not a huge victory ("Citing parental neglect and psychological problems" the Judge offered a leniant sentance) but any small victory against these criminals is a step forward.

Add this to the roll of the recently convicted black hats, such as the Lowe's Hardware hacker who recently received a nine year sentence, or the AOL spammers that also received a nine year sentence.

Two billboards that ought to give you a chuckle from Billboard Blitz to Blast Hollywood at Human Events Online.

HUMAN EVENTS has learned that a billboard blitz "thanking" Hollywood for the reelection of President Bush will be unveiled early next week.

The advertisements feature the faces of liberal Hollywood icons Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Ben Affleck, Martin Sheen, Chevy Chase, Barbara Streisand, and Sean Penn, and offer thanks to Hollywood their help getting President Bush reelected.

Two versions of the billboard were created, both "thanking" Hollywood -- the first for "4 more years" and the second for "W. Still President."

Billboard creator Citizens United, a group that advocates a return to traditional American values, has purchased the use of three billboards near the Kodak Theatre (home of the Academy Awards) for the month of February, which includes Oscar Night, Sunday, February 27.

Asked about the campaign, Citizens United President David Bossie said, "We're taking on Hollywood. We've done it in the past." Of the organization's many actions, one of its most famous challenges to Hollywood was Celsius 41.11, a documentary exposing "the truth behind the lies of Fahrenheit 9/11," the Michael Moore anti-Bush mock-umentary.

(Hat Tip to Little Green Footballs)

Never content to rest upon its laurels, the world of technology is striving fervently to redefine the way you interact with the world around you. It is no surprise that we find Microsoft, one of the largest levers of technological change in the world, making progressive alliances with visionary expectations of the future.

From Update 4: Verizon to Opt for Microsoft TV Tech

Verizon Communications Inc. plans to use Microsoft Corp. technology for its rollout of television service over a new fiber-optic network, becoming the third major telephone company to help fulfill Microsoft's long-stymied bid to barge into the TV business.

The software maker's platform initially will be used to provide an interactive program guide, high-definition television, digital video recording and video-on-demand for Verizon's FiOS TV service, which is due to launch in undisclosed markets around mid-year

The idea that Three of the largest phone companies in the US are considering Microsoft technology to deliver broadband television content to millions of subscribers is... well... huge.

It puts some other things into perspective as well, like some of the features that we have been hearing about in xBOX NEXT:

From the Xbox Next entry at Wikipedia

In November 2004, The Inquirer reported that three separate versions of the Xbox Next may be released: a standard Xbox Next, the Xbox Next HD with a built-in hard drive and additional multimeda functionality, and the Xbox Next PC which would incorporate an entry-level PC, a CD burner, a wireless keyboard and mouse, and a special multimedia edition of Windows XP.

The TiVo changed the way we watched TV.

What was once a mobile phone is now an indispensable tool that is slowly replacing the bulky laptops of yesteryear.

The Intnernet, once a place to go to seek out information, is now reaching back into our lives and keeping the mainstream media in check.

If this last year was any indication of the pace of tomorrow, it will be an interesting year of change to be sure.

On January 24th, top Firefox programmer Ben Goodger announced on his blog that he had taken a job offer from Google.

(See "Google snaps up top Firefox programmer")

Now a second top gun from the Firefox team, Darin Fisher, has announced that he is also going to be working at Google.

(See "More Mozilla talent Google's way")

The speculation that Google is going to be developing a browser that will compete directly with Internet Explorer...

...is rampant.

Google adds another aspect to their online searches: search through the thousands of television programs that air daily. Based on the Closed Captions that accompany the programs that air and paired with screen captures from the show, if you need to research something that aired on TV, this is the place to do it!

Their initial offering has a limited scope, but you can see where this is going... Google Video Beta promises to be a useful tool indeed.

From the About Google Video page:

Our mission is to organize the world's information, and that includes the thousands of programs that play on our TVs every day. Google Video enables you to search a growing archive of televised content - everything from sports to dinosaur documentaries to news shows.

Just as Macromedia is putting a nice polish on Flash Video Compression, Samsung puts the finishing touches on its new memory chips. Now the only the left to support a nifty Dick Tracey video watch or... video cell phone... is a little bit better bandwidth.

It's right around the corner boys and girls...

In the mean time, check out these new chips:

Samsung's new multi-chip (MCP) offers a combined capacity of 3.2 gigabits in a package only 1.4mm thick, the company says, promising a new generation of cell phones and mobile devices that can offer more services and faster Internet surfing.

Samsung Electronics Latest News about Samsung, the world's largest computer chip Latest News about Chip maker, said it has developed the world's first eight-die multi-chip (MCP) package technology for use in high capacity mobile devices.

Samsung said the new MCP solution offered a combined capacity of 3.2 gigabits in a package only 1.4mm thick, promising a new generation ofcell phones Latest News about cell phones and mobile devices offering more services and faster Internet surfing.

"The new eight-chip MCP is an extremely compact, high-capacity solution that is likely to trigger development of new next-generation mobile applications," Samsung said in a statement.

"It will provide much greater functionality in cell phones and other smart mobile devices, from movie videos to games as well as faster Internet access."

Samsung said the new MCP offered all the memory chips available for mobile products in a single 11mm x 14mm x 1.4mm package.

Earlier today, Samsung said it will invest 603.8 bln won in a 13th memory chip production line to encourage broader use of 90-nano chip technology and support the development of next-generation 80-nano technology.

More proof that God works in mysterious ways! A feminine care package ended up in a male marine's hands, and the tampons in it ended up saving a life...

hat tip to Blackfive via Michelle Malkin

Then of course, they had the tampons. When he brought this up my imagination was just running wild, but I let him continue. My son said they had to go on a mission and Marine X wanted the chapstick and lotion for the trip. He grabbed a bunch of the items out of his care package and got in the humvee. As luck would have it he grabbed the tampons, and My son said everyone was teasing him about "not forgetting his feminine hygiene products". My son said things were going well, and then the convoy was ambushed. He said a Marine in the convoy was shot. He said the wound was pretty clean, but it was deep. He said they were administering first aid but couldn't get the bleeding to slow down, and someone said, "Hey use Marine X's tampons". My son said they put the tampon in the wound. At this point my son profoundly told me, "Mom did you know that tampons expand?" ) "Well, yeah!". They successfully slowed the bleeding and got the guy medical attention. When they went to check on him later the surgeon told them, "You guys saved his life". If you hadn't stopped that bleeding he would have bled to death. My son said, "Mom, the tampons sent by the Marine Moms by mistake saved a Marines life." At this point I asked him, "Well what did you do with the rest of the tampons?" He said, "Oh, we divided them up and we all have them in our flak jackets, and I kept two for our first aid kit".