Add your name to a NASA probe going somewhere really far. Name gets put on microchip, chip gets put on probe, probe gets blasted off into space, will go somewhere, may or may not work. (Hell, you signed that internet petition to stop the war in Iraq, maybe your luck will be better this time around.) more inside

Australian arrested in Italy for drug trafficking. Although he was arrested in August, the story has just been released today that Australian citizen Kevin (Fuc Iang) Lay, was arrested for allegedly smuggling cocaine. Of late there have been many reports of Australians being arrested in other countries for drug trafficking. But are the number of offenders on the rise - or is it the media's latest favourite topic? more inside

Buy your own "Adult Business" There is an adult film company for sale right now on Ebay. If you've got a couple hundred thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket, now's your chance to go for it. (Some images are vaguely NSFW) via more inside

The Story of Claiborne Ellis, Former Klansman. Claiborne Ellis was the Grand Cyclops of the KKK when he met black activist, Ann Atwater. The best of enemies became the best of friends. (Ellis died early last month, at the age of 78). via Halcyon_Daze at Mefi.

Sober Santa II I try to refrain from single-link posts, but this was just so cute, and made me laugh. Ho ho ho. [via]

itsgettinghotinhere.org This is a blog about the actions of several environmental activist groups coinciding with the UN Conference on Climate Change currently underway. more inside

Curious George: CSS & browsers I'm just starting to work with Cascading Style Sheets and I find (of course) that IE displays everything differently from Firefox. (Haven't even tried Opera yet) What gives? How do webdesigners "fix" something like that? more inside

"Around the world with 80 braincells." "Read Smiffy's postcards as he journeys to the far corners of the world!"

New Mystery Mammal Found. Captured on film in Borneo. It's 'like a large domestic cat with a muscular tail. Me wants! What to call it, though?

Curious George Fellow simians. I tried to search the monkeyfilter for a nice link I saw a while back. The link I woz wanting was to do with searching for US citizens and returning their addresses (useful for this time of year for sending Xmas cards!) Anyway cutting a long story short, putting all sorts of search terms for this, plus searching for my own (meager) posts revelaed NOTHING! All ideas welcome!!!

China's greatest journalist dies NYT link (bugmenot) Liu Binyan "fearless and incorruptible, China's conscience" dies aged 80. more inside

Ricky Gervais podcast Ep. 1. A half-hour of all-new drivel from Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington.

He Works Hard For The Money ...There are so many IT-friendly man studs on Monkeyfilter...just call me Big Mama, and I'll hook you boyz up.

Space in Motion. Here is a selection of multi-year Hubble snapshots in animated gif form. I particularly like "HH 47".

Curious, George: FTP upload: I want an email attachment to upload to my website. more inside

Christmas Lights. And here's part two. [wmv] more inside

Curious George: share your RPG memories Inspired by this comment by Fes, I'm wondering how many of the Monkeys used to (and perhaps still do) play 'analogue' RPG games (ie, you know, the ones where you'd sit in the same room with the other players)? more inside

As if HDTV isn't enough, NHK is working on an ultra HD video format, with a resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels, equivalent to 16 HDTVs. Your 100 GB hard drive can hold 4.2 seconds of uncompressed UHDV footage. The first closed-circuit test transmissions took place last month. Check back in 2025 for more news!

A STITCH IN TIME SAVES .. ALPHABET: A toy for the children found in books, blocks, pictures and vermicelli soup. Contains 26 letters and only three syllables.

BANG! Banned Xbox 360 commercial. I think my favorite part is the guy with the cell phone in the car.