Curious George - Patenting an Product Hi everyone. I have what I think is a clever idea to slow speeding cars (I live on a narrow street that people think is a freeway) and even though I know the item could be put together pretty cheaply using existing technology, I am not an engineer. Nonetheless, after polling friends with the idea (after swearing them to a double pinky swear) it does seem to have potential. First off, I was wondering if any of those businesses you see advertising on daytime TV (i.e. "...patent your idea with Inventor's Submission Service...") are legit? I'm guessing probably not. Second, how would I, a smart boy but not a mechanical engineer get something like this patented, and then even more importanly, marketed? I'm not exactly rich, so hiring someone to build it is out of the question. Can one just patent an idea for a product, or do you need to build a working prototype? Thanks. PS- Regarding the legal stuff, I live in California in the USA.

The Nectar of the Gods is under threat of extinction - Pulque, the ancient drink of the pre-Hispanic Mexico favoured by the Aztec elite, is in danger of disappearing from daily use into museums and anthropologist's notebooks. In other South-American & ancient civilization themed mind candy, the first Andes civilisation is being studied. The zenith of the culture was from 3000 to 1800BC. They constructed complex buildings & irrigation systems.

You've seen the ads for Eharmony.com. What they don't tell you is they're a christian based dating site. The founder of eHarmony, Dr. Neil Clark Warren is associated with Focus on the Family, a right wing christian group. Is this some bizarre form of social engineering based on marriage and family?

A yummy Gingerbread CPU. Also on this site: a gingerbread laptop.

Cybersex gone wrong. more inside

Curious George: Volunteering My friends and I have been trying to volunteer to go and give aid to the tsunami victims. Because of the disease risk, the Red Cross is saying they wont send Americans. Are any monkeys aware of an organization we can contact that will? more inside

New Year resolutions; examples and advice. I'm going to stop eating butter (spread on things, I mean).

Burton & Jefferson meet Roger Ebert at a party. PLUS: Burton anchors FOX News (with Jefferson). PLUS PLUS: Burton & Jefferson reminisce. Cartoon Humor with Rude Words & Ironic non-political correctness. more inside

Life's greatest trip Take a trip with Arthur Blessitt. His poems and stories will hip you to the psychedelic mind-altering qualities of Jesus Christ. Thanks, Mr Pants!

Tits and ass, people! Tits and ass! OMG! I just saw the trailer for this! and I am SHOCKED, people, SHOCKED that I didn't see it here first! IT'S THE MOFI MOVIE!!!!!!! more inside

Worlds of magic Pinhole camera pictures by Bethany de Forest: "Her objective was to create a "realistic" imaginary world, in which one can supposedly wander around."

On December 30, 1972 at 9:22 p.m. a plane took off from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Minutes later, the DC-7, carrying relief supplies for earthquake victims in Manuagua, Nicaragua, crashed, killing all five aboard - including baseball great, Roberto Clemente. Some baseball players have big heads. Only a few have big hearts. Roberto Clemente was one of the greatest. When he died 32 years ago, baseball and Pittsburgh lost "The Great One", and Puerto Rico lost a son. I cried when I heard he died. And I was privileged to have watched him play so many times. more inside

Under political pressure, Bush raised the amount of relief aid to tsunami victims tenfold today to $350,000,000. At $35,000,000, that was twelve cents per capita, ranking the US as the 19th most generous nation. more inside

Conservative Art and Zepplin. I recommend reading all the linked posts in the article, it's quite good. [via our very own apostropher].

Swiss Yodel Song This is a Korean (!!!) website I used to visit from time to time to get my yodel fix (it's genetic since I'm part Swiss) until it came up 404. I just did a search and happily found it on another host. This' got yodels up the ying yang...

Auld Langs Monkey It's already 2005 for half of the world, and we're feeling the love here in Europe. If I may be so bold as to start off the New Year with a link-free Post of good wishes: Have a good one, everyone.

Curious George: paid surveys. The idea of earning a little extra cash just for answering questions seems tempting to all of us, I'm sure. Having seen sites like these recently, it seems easier than ever, too. Do any monkeys have success stories (or warnings!) they can share? Which sites are most lucrative? Which are scams? Which are simply raffle entries, not actually paying sites? Any and all information or experience you can share would be very helpful.

Maharishi Vedic City, the newest township in the state of Iowa. "The City is working to establish a permanent group of peace-creating experts whose daily practice of Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation™ and Yogic Flying techniques will promote coherent national and world consciousness and thereby prevent any negativity from arising in America or in the family of nations." more inside

mofi mefi sea wa Hey, over in MeTa, cb asked about a PNW Mofi meetup, and I'm just passing it along. We're informally settled on Jan 3 at the Elysian in Seattle. I'll actually make a reservation this time. 7-ish?

Yet another IE only trojan... With all of these IE only bugs, why should someone ever use Internet Explorer?