Well, it's here - the BIG day!  We're having 80+ people over for a party tonight.  And it is the winter solstice - the first day of winter, and the longest night of the year.

And in the blogosphere it's all happening, too...

Time Magazine's 2003 Person of the Year is The American Soldier.  A perfect choice.

Libya's leader Colonel Gaddafi has promised to dismantle his country’s secret weapons of mass destruction program, as announced by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.  This is excellent news, a sign that U.S. "diplomacy" is working.  Hopefully the leaders of North Korea and Iran are paying attention.  This is exactly the kind of good effect of the war in Iraq we were hoping for; anyone who thinks this is unrelated is not paying attention.

It will be fun to watch the Bush-dislikers try to spin this...

[ Later: Unbelievable.  CNN's main coverage of this is about the Lockerbie bombing, and how some victim's families are upset about "the deal".  First, horrible though it was, that was 15 years ago.  Second, there is no deal - Libya is voluntarily giving up their WMD programs.  That's it.  But the main thing is I can't believe how blatantly anti-Bush CNN has become.  For me this clearly crosses the line. ]

CNet reports Online Holiday Spending Up, Up, and Away.  On top of the good news on the military front, the economy is definitely improving, with declining unemployment and improved wages without inflation.

Virginia Postrel uses Christmas lights as a gauge of economic health...

I must tell you, in my neighborhood Christmas lights are everywhere :)

The design for the "Freedom Tower" to be built on the World Trade Center site has been unveiled; at 1,776 feet it will be the world's tallest building.  An exclamation point!  I like it.

Glenn Reynolds wonders: "If Jose Padilla were still known as Abdullah al-Muhajir, the name he was using when he was arrested, would the decision have come out the same way?"  Good question.

It's so cute!  Talking about The Beagle 2, England's Mars Express lander.  It has successfully separated from the "mother" orbiter and is headed for the surface.

I'm sure you've heard about this already; the RIAA lost an important battle to Verizon.  The Washington D.C. circuit court has ruled Verizon does not have to turn over the identities of people the RIAA suspects of illegal file sharing.

Do you like iPods, but don't like white?  Or are you just a colorful character?  Then ColorwarePC may be just the ticket; they'll paint your iPod for you!

Apple is apparently hiring video engineers for work on the iPod; does this mean a videoPod is in the works?

This is a little weird.  A Chinese court has ordered an online role-playing game host to create new instances of artifacts looted from a player-character's account after it was hacked.  The line between the real world and virtual worlds keeps getting blurrier...  [ via Cory Doctorow ]

Oh no!  It's coming!  iRobot...  (Cue Alan Parsons...)

Oh, and here we have - Mr. Picassohead!  Design your own Picasso using this cool flash-based tool.  Excellent.