Campaign 2006: Beer? Or Kids? In this, the dullest Canadian Election yet (a title which is ironically a more interesting contest than this snoozefest), there's only been one bit of excitement -- an offhand quote about kiddie-care allowances being used to buy 'beer and popcorn'. Well, the inevitable e-petitions have arrived: those in favour of kids, and those in favour of beer. more inside

Curious George Recently my mac has been reporting a lot of CPU useage (40%+ as reported by SysStat widget) by a process called "Isof". Spotlight can't find anything related to it, and I don't remember seeing it before this week (I've had the computer since the summer). Any ideas what's going on? more inside

The Wittenham Hill Cider Page Andrew Lea really knows a lot about fermenting apples. If you're at all interested in makin' cider, give this page a look. more inside

Bush in the Bubble Newsweek article on the insularity of the Bush White House, comparisons to good other Presidents' styles and a smattering of current scuttlebutt. Bush may be the most isolated president in modern history, at least since the late-stage Richard Nixon. It's not that he is a socially awkward loner or a paranoid. He can charm and joke like the frat president he was. Still, beneath a hail-fellow manner, Bush has a defensive edge, a don't-tread-on-me prickliness. more inside

Punk photos. A Flickr photoset by Andy Rosen, featuring some classic punk, new wave and New Romantic stars. more inside

Curbside at the WTO "a unique frontline perspective on the WTO meetings being held in Hong Kong" (Last link is to webcasts of the public sessions). Third World Network offers three briefings (in not so handy .doc format, links top of page) critical of the talks' agenda.

South Park Generator ...Really hope this is not a double...I totally searched, I swears.

Chimps are smarter than preschoolers. When given unessesary steps to a puzzle, chimps figure out to do away with them. Children to not.

Web Site Takes a Happy Approach to News. This is the kind of thing (the site could easily be renamed PutYourHeadInTheSand.com) that makes me ashamed to be a human being. But here it is: HappyNews.com. Be sure to check out the hard-hitting "Secret Santa exchanges made easier" expose!

Big Brother Is Watching You! A secret military database on war protests, labed as "suspicious activities." Newsfilter.

Meet the World: A Brazilian artist plays around with a few of the world's flags.

Curious George: WiFi software. I have a Linksys WiFi card on my Win 2K laptop. Since I installed drivers only, I seem to have no way of seeing what networks are out there. What "front end" software should I try? I heard Boingo was popular a couple of years ago, but it now looks like an interface for the "Boingo network".

A radio station has sold the naming rights to its newsroom, sparking some concern that advertisers had crossed a line and could influence news coverage. Hilarious? Moot? Pathetic? When is it all too clear that corporations control what you know about current events? more inside

Amazing Jugs! No, not porn star prosthetics nor Parton's protruberances, but glass jars and jugs as containers for impossible installations of head-scratching art. And you thought building a ship in one of these suckers was tough. [stolen shamelessly from msnbc's "clicked"] more inside

Draw a house, ignore the bad personality test. Flash-based sketch-a-house. Add it to MonkeyFilter Avenue or create your own neighbourhood.

Wondering how the other half lives? You had no choice in your circumcision, but now you can have your own artificial retractable foreskin! Just in time for Christmas, makes great stocking stuffer. Linked page is SFW, but enter the site at your own peril.

Barbra Streisand cancels her subscription to the L.A. Times due to the paper's firing of liberal columnist Robert Scheer. Laugh all you want, but Babs is probably onto something when she posits that Scheer's dismissal is "part of a larger trend toward the corporatization of our media." Indeed, the New Yorker recently published an article detailing the gutting of the L.A. Times by the suits at Chicago's Tribune Co., which owns the Times. more inside

Heres a stupid Christmas link for you Just a fun little video clip for the Christmas season, fans of Trans-Siberian Orchestra will esp. like it. Yes, I'm in finals week...

Talk to Strangers! [AIM gimmick via mefi projects] more inside

Sydney Is Burning? Race riots in Australia. Holy crap. Newsfilterish, but we've lots of Australian monkeys who may be able to put this in context.