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I thought the Summer Olympics started Aug. 11, but I visited the official Athens 2004 Olympics site, and it says there are two days until it begins. On the home page, it proceeds to tell me the first soccer (or football outside the U.S.) matches are Aug. 11. How can the Games start before the Olympics start?

Nevertheless, the official site has a lot of options, including a schedule, news, results, biographies and about a billion other things that I left out. I was disappointed, though, at the coverage of synchronized diving.

This might be the first time I've actually publicized a website you shouldn't visit. But my reasoning is if I tell you what it is, you won't go there, unless you're the type of person who likes to do the opposite of what people to tell you. But I don't have time to play reverse psychology today.

The Good Advice Committee's first task was to determine whether or not it was appropriate to download songs for free from the Internet. Good arguments were made on both sides, but in the end, the committee voted no, 4-1.

NATE: NO

I find nothing wrong with downloading music off the internet. Most of the songs that are being downloaded are from artists who already have more money than they know what to do with. The last time I watched "Cribs" on MTV, it doesn't look like Jay-Z was losing out from everybody downloading his songs for free.

There has been a lot of speculation lately about how much Google is worth, what will happen when the company goes public with shares, what's the difference between a google and a gaggle, etc.

So I did a Google news search on Google. Apparently the financial world is no longer so smitten with the search engine and more company. It seems the IPO figure Google is expecting is unflated, and on top of that, the company is buying back shares offered in advance to employees.

Maybe starting a new feature with an acronym of GAC isn't the best idea, but that's all I have for now.

The Good Advice Committee will come to you on a regular basis, possibly weekly. A lot of it depends on whether or not the committee members are up to it, and it also assumes we have questions each week as well. The purpose of the GAC is to examine and determine sensible advice, which could be about technology, relationships, etc.

Sorry, it's me, not you.

There was a note on my door last Friday from UPS, saying I had a package waiting for me. Luckily, on UPS' Web site, you can see where the package is coming from. Unfortunately, it said somewhere unfamiliar in Massachusetts, so I had no clue what it was.

Today, I arrived home to find the package. In it was an official Major League Baseball 2004 All-Star Game T-shirt.

Microsoft is urging its users to download a cumulative software patch that corrects at least three major security issues in its standard Web browser, Internet Explorer.

If you're not sure if you should perform this update, check the July 2004 Windows Security Update page by clicking here. Hopefully if you use a PC, you are familiar with the update process, but if not, it's pretty easy to do. Just find Windows Update under the Start menu, and follow the directions.

A couple of friends have been in a heated debate off and on during the last few months regarding Friendster. The bad news is there hasn't been a resolution yet, but the good news is they are both glad to see Alf back on TV.

Some people walk around with a cellphone like it is the actual meaning of life. "Cellphone, please tell me again your perspective of good versus evil." Oh wait, maybe the person was just talking to their philosophy classmate.

Anyway, I've come up with some simple tips that probably most of you won't agree with, but I think it would make the world much more livable.

By now you've heard, but to reiterate, George Lucas announced that "Revenge of the Sith" will be the title of the third and last movie of the prequel series.

Of course, we still have until May 19 until the movie comes out, but hey, it has a title, so Star Wars fans everywhere are rejoicing. What, you're not a Star Wars fan? Are you sure you really even exist?