This trio of sparrows enjoy their own version of the Polar Bear Plunge in a backyard birdbath/Kerri Thoreson, www.fyinorthidaho.com.

*Pickaxe Pete/The Bodie Specter provides video of Saddam Hussein's hanging (which includes "the drop" and a blurred shot of the ex-dictator's face afterward) here.

*"Nothing is more forced sounding than ruminating about the new year. At least, it sounds that way to me sometimes. Still, I suppose it must be done in order to wipe away the foggy old, so that the clarity of the new can glisten on our newly bought souls" -- Toadman/Synaptic Disunion here.

*TUBOB/Unbearable Bobness of Being talks about the swell novel by Cormac McCarthy, "The Road," and his pending career change here.

*Sara Anderson/F-Words had never eaten spaghetti and meatballs until a year ago -- and now she's prepared her first S&M dish (with photos to prove it) here.

*While racism no longer is tolerated in 21st century USA, sez Tom Forbes/Palousitics, classicism is alive and well here.

*Julie Fanselow/Red State Rebels sez another "rock star" is coming to campus to join the Boise State Broncos -- Al Gore -- and the tickets are going fast here. And she introduces a new blog dedicated to documenting conditions on the Boise bus transit system here.

Meanwhile, Bubblehead makes his 2007 predictions here, Hindu opines that Hillary needs a southerner rather than "lightweight Obama" to win the presidency in 2008 here, Brent is reading nonstop about China here and here, Karl isn't surprised that celebs are vain and worthless here, Southwark Lad tells of his tour of London, Rome and Positano with JBelle and Portland Pup here.

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