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Like many good Google geeks, I've recently downloaded Picasa's new release. For those who don't know, Picasa is Google's image organization (and light editing) software. The major feature in version 3.5 is facial recognition. Basically - it recognizes faces, you tell it who they are, and it matches facial features of as many as it can. The more you tag, the better it can match. It shows you a zoomed in thumbnail shot of whoever it wants you to tag.

Aaaand it's kind of addictive. Tagging new people, waiting to see which pictures it'll identify, correcting the ones it gets wrong - it's just the kind of thing that I get a little obsessive about. I'm about halfway through the "Unnamed people" file now - it started at over 3,000 and I'm below 1,500 now. Probably this weekend...

Here's the thing: After staring at and identifying so many pictures of my friends, family and acquaintances, I'm struck with what a beautiful bunch of people you all are. Maybe it's just seeing the variety of human expression, through holidays, births, parties, or simple pleasures, but I want you all to know: I'm glad you're part of my experience.

And, um, I recommend this software...