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?

Rainbow Dust Candy. Like, wow, man.

He's Just Not That Into You: eviscerated

The New Year is celebrated differently around the world - You don't say? Well I never. Here are a collection of New Year traditions from all around this wonderful little blue-green planet floating out here in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western spiral arm of the galaxy. more inside

A woman gives a description of being sucked into the waves and mud in Sri Lanka In the comments section of this blog, a woman named Dalian recounts losing her husband (and then finding him)in this emotional comment to a blog.

Artie Shaw Dies at 94. "One of the giants of swing era jazz and a crusty, self-declared perfectionist, Shaw put down the clarinet in 1954 and never played it again, saying he could not reach the level of artistry he desired." more inside

Cool Tools No, not just your standard tools, as in a monkey wrench. Tools for life in general. The site is run by Kevin Kelly, but the cool tools are reviews and suggestions on 'tools' people have found in life that they just can't live without. On the main link, look to the left for the list of sub-catagories, including (but not limited to), my favs: General Purpose Tools, Computers and Consumptivity. I have spent hours on this site. Best of the web, IM*very*HO.

Curious George: Updated to Mac OS 10.3.7, lost net access I hope someone can help me out. I have an iBook G3/600Mhz and up until about an hour ago was running 10.3.5. I just got finished updating to 10.3.7 (using the Software Update in the Control Panels) and after the required reboot I now can't connect to the internet. more inside

A chat with Sloncek of the infamous suprnova bittorent tracker farm. more inside

A year of Getting Things Done Part One and Part Two: Merlin Mann, of the 43 Folders blog reviews a year of living with the new geek religion, the Getting Things Done methodology. I'm right there with him: GTD has made such a difference to my own work. But do you, my monkey chums, have any other productivity tips? Is there something we should all be doing in 2005 that will help us be both Monkeys of Action, as well as Monkeys of Letters? Share your secrets within...

Urgent Curious George Help! I just got a message that a co-worker's relative died. Said co-worker is usually here by now but isn't today, and could get here at any time. Do I just leave the phone number for him to call? Do I approach him when he comes in and brace him for bad news/tell him outright? I have no clue what to do. Help NOW please!

Adopt a missing person.

Curious George: New Years Eve. A four-part question: (1) What are you doing this year? (2) What was your best NYE? (3) Worst? (4) Who are you planning on tongue-pashing inappropriately this year? more inside

Urgently! "THERE IS A LIKELIHOOD OF ANOTHER TSUNAMI WAVE HITTING THE COAST NEAR CHENNAI SHORTLY (MAY BE WITHIN ONE HOUR)". Link.

Germany's commitment to sustainable energies makes it home to the world's largest solar energy plant. "This is part of our commitment as a government, to make Germany the world leader in alternative energy and in taking action against global warming." It is now the No. 1 world producer of wind energy. Germany offers more aggressive incentives to install solar. more inside

Curious George - Are there any buddhists in the hiz-zouse? We've had a poll about our sexuality, our food likes and dislikes, pets, hell, just about every damn thing. I'm a semi-practicing (meaning I rarely meditate anymore) zen buddhist (Japanese Soto/Rinzi lineage) and was wondering if there are any other monkey-mind buddhists out there?

Rez soundtrack. more inside