"There is no doubt about the fact that the disease has been caused by a case of poisoning by dioxin," Following on from this post, it turns out that Victor Yushchenko was poisoned before Ukraine's general election. Check out the BBC's before and after photographs, and timeline, as the Chestnut Revolution continues. Of course, we'll need a theme tune (mp3), and shadowy help from the US. This, my monkey chums, is a proper election.

Tim Burton's Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - teaser - Our first look, I guess. I don't see how anybody could do better than Gene Wilder's manic, slightly disturbing performance as Wonka, but Burton certainly has the sensibilities to do more justice to the story. I suppose one can't have the best of both worlds. But this actually looks.. intriguing. Via Boing Boing more inside

Vodka Pipeline running from Belarussia to Lithuania uncovered. The thin three kilometere long plastic pipe, buried a few centimeters underground, ran under several roads, along a riverbed and ended next to the home of a Lithuanian citizen.

Museum of Soviet Synths. Some of these are pretty innovative like the "synth squeezebox" but I think most of these are just knock-offs of US synths. via nerdfilter

On March 1st, 2002 the results of this study was released. Sodium pentobarbital was found in at least half of the dry dog foods On March 1st, 2002 the results of this study was released. Sodium pentobarbital was found in at least half of the dry dog foods they had tested.

Toronto Meetup? jb and I are in Toronto for the holidays, and thought it might be nice to meet some monkeys while we are there. Possible days are between Dec. 27 and Dec. 30 or early January (2-7).

Curious George: Games for Xmas gifts. Specifically, I'm looking for personal opinions/recommendations on: two-player games; 2-4 or more player games; and large (4-8 or more) family-friendly games. Must be easy and quick to learn. Must not be long, drawn-out, strategy-type thingies. Must be newer or lesser-known; something you can purchase for a gift, not something you'd do yourself with a standard card deck, pen, paper, or dice. more inside

War Is a Racket. After decades in the Marine Corps, Major General Smedley Butler wrote a brief book explaining his views of the whole enterprise. (The entire text is online.) He went on to claim that he was a gangster for capitalism.

Secret Christmas names Everyone has a special, secret Christmas name. What is your name? more inside

Sort-Of Pseudo LA Meetup I would like to meet you all (features ulterior motive!) more inside

MonkeyFilter Tagline Thread v.2.0! It's back, and it's better than ever! Exclamation point! more inside

Curious George In the next couple weeks I'm going to be doing a lot of shopping. Every goddamn time I walk in or out of a store I set off the security arch. Maybe I'm an android and no one has told me, but I suspect that it is one of the many stupid cards I must carry in my wallet to be part of the 21st Century. About 30% of the time on my way out I am asked to stop while some monkey in a uniform rummages thru my bags. more inside

I will be killed soon as Toshiba planned.
I want the World to ruin atrocious criminal Toshiba Corp. Of course, I hate Toshiba's HD DVD. I care even Americans and Russians yet can't realize Mind-Control by radar of satellite but Toshiba Corp could do it in 1997. [via Gizmodo]

"a mixture of 17th century Scotland and 20th Century Fox" Casa Loma, for a time North America's largest private home, was built by Toronto's answer to C. Montgomery Burns, Sir Henry Pellatt, early in the 20th century. It was the first fully electrified home in Toronto, and the first to have an elevator. Delightfully, it also has honest-to-God secret passages, which are open to modern visitors. Its construction bankrupted Pellatt, and he was forced to sell it. Since then, it's been a tourist attraction, a secret factory for the wartime development of Sonar's British precursor, ASDIC, and Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Children.

Curious George: Short story writers If you could commission any living writer to write a short story for you (NB not about you), who would you ask?

So what would peanut butter be? I want Gigi Padovani's job. It would look great on a business card. My own take: peanut butter - right; mayo - right; jelly and jam - depends on the type; lemon spread - ann coulter right; honey - socialist.

"It's close enough for folk music". Looking for an online a440? McCabe's guitar shop has what you're looking for. Almost. While you're there, check out their bagel.

Democratic Bitchslap! MoveOn.org to Demoratic Party: "We bought it, we own it, we're going to take it back." more inside

Change of Roles: Parents in strike after children disrespect them, don't do chores. lol...I would so do this if I were a parent.

Curious George: Regifting. How do you monkeys feel about regifting an item? It's an issue around the holidays, when, um, persons (such as, let's say, myself) receive, ah, items (quite similar to, ahem, this) that others (namely, my sweetie's mother) would absolutely adore.