The story on Thanksgiving Day began bravely (ironically?) with five simple words: “Even lawyers need a hug.”

But if they’re a recent law school graduate already making well over $100,000 a year do they also need free milkshakes brought to their desks?

The “happiness committee” at the Washington office of the law firm Perkins Coie has answered that question in the affirmative, according to The New York Times.

Add another line to what has to be one of the greatest resumes of all time.

Al Gore is now a partner at Kleiner Perkins, the storied Silicon Valley venture capital company that has backed such web and technology giants as Google, Sun Microsystems and Amazon.

Despite losing to Microsoft in its bid for a piece of Facebook, Google isn’t giving up on social networks.

The behemoth of search is partnering with other tech companies and social networks to develop a competing approach called OpenSocial. The open-source technology will enable developers to write applications that can be used on many sites, including partners in the project, such as LinkedInand Friendster.

Sure, he’s won every award known to man except the Olympic gold. (Unless he gets into wrestling or weight lifting, that honor seems beyond even his reach.)

But the main achievement of Al Gore is not his comeback from having the White House snatched away, not his Oscar or even his sharing of the Nobel Peace Prize, announced today.

The real phenomenon of Al Gore is how connected he has become despite (and because of) his losing the presidency.

Gore has forged strong bonds not only in politics, science and the international environmental movement, but in finance, high-tech and Hollywood.

If you want insight into the federal government’s vision of safeguarding America in the future, take a look at the investment portfolio of In-Q-Tel, the venture arm of the CIA.

In-Q-Tel was formed in 1999 to provide capital to startup companies developing technologies that could be used for national security. It operates not as a division of the CIA, but as an independent nonprofit.

High on its list of priorities is finding new ways to analyze massive amounts of information. Many of In-Q-Tel’s portfolio companies provide technologies that gather and make sense of data. For example, Language Weaver provides automated language translation. NovoDynamics reads and translates text in Mideastern languages.

Execs from Google and Microsoft are scheduled to appear before the Senate today to argue the merits of Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick.

Google announced the $3.1 billion deal in April, but the plan requires approval of the Federal Trade Commission and regulators abroad.

If a robotic rover soon cavorts on the surface of the moon, you can trace its genesis to a gala fundraiser held at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., last March.

Hosted by Google co-founder Larry Page, the event raised $2.7 million for the X Prize Foundation. Page is a trustee.

Attendees included Tipper Gore, Sir Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington and Robin Williams. The actor/comedian, whose roles have included a space alien as well as a short-term president-elect of the United States, brought down the house with an impromptu routine.

American adventurer Steve Fossett never did much on a small scale. Now, extraordinary and sophisticated measures are being taken to find the lost aviator, who has been missing for nearly two weeks.

Two of America’s largest companies and tens of thousands of people - literally - are searching for Fossett.

Since Fossett disappeared, the state of Nevada has spent more than $600,000 looking for the expert pilot and world-class yachtsman. Fossett, who made a fortune in commodities trading, was last seen taking off from Barron Hilton’s sprawling Nevada ranch in a Bellanca Super Decathalon fixed wing aircraft.

Google News has begun hosting news from four major wire services: Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, UK Press Association and the Canadian Press.

The company explained the new feature on its blog as an effort to eliminate duplication that occurred when many news outlets ran the same wire story.

“Instead of 20 ‘different’ articles (which actually used the exact same content), we’ll show the definitive original copy and give credit to the original journalist,” reads the blog posting.

Google, which last year purchased YouTube for a whopping $1.65 billion, has unveiled a plan to make money from the site.

Ads now appear at the bottom of some videos, eventually disappearing if the users don’t click on them. In an approach similar to Google’s AdSense program, selected content providers receive a portion of the revenues.