The London house (QuickTime) inhabited by Benjamin Franklin has just been opened to the public, marking his 300th birthday.

Some tanks enjoy a leisurely drive through Tiananmen Square A lighthearted (and very brief) look at the potential changes for image searching on Google China. more inside

Baltimore Meetup: monkeys wanted. Tonight (Jan 27, 7pm) at Club Charles. more inside

Seven myths about the Challenger Space Shuttle accident. I have to admit to being horribly fascinated by this tragedy. Twenty years ago tomorrow...

All the Katamari Damacy lyrics, translated to English. For the Katamari Damacy fans, from someone who apparently had too much time on their hands. more inside

[Insert Title Here] gives you the chance to become a comic strip writer, collaberating with the creators of PandaXpress - one page at a time. Guidelines here. If you enjoyed the NaNoWriMoNoMoJoJoJo threads, this may be right up your creative alley.

Mr. Pibb and Red Vines equals Crazy Delicious (click to play) We've seen rap battles in the past. Some just fade, and some never to be forgotten. Now in 2006 we have the mother of them all.

Curious George: Website Maintenance Quote? Please help this monkey! I have a chance to contract for web creation/maintenance, but have never bid for such before. Can anyone give me a rough idea of what is a typical bid for such things? more inside

George Tirebiter was real! Sure, I'm old. But I used to laugh at the Firesign Theatre, and I always thought their stuff was truly weird, but fun more inside

Measuring less than 8mm, the world's smallest fish calls Sumatran swamps home. Scientists have discovered the world's smallest vertebrate, Paedocypris progenetica in acidic swamps (with a pH around 3) on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. more inside

Curious George: New Design Business I have quit my fulltime job to start and run my own design and creative services shop. I plan to provide all sorts of print and web design services, as well as web hosting and other services like copywriting and photography. But, with all my creative-fu, my business-fu has been a little shortchanged. I like to think I have a decent amount of common sense, and I'm already planning to go to the SBA and to meet with an attorney and a CPA.... But, I was hoping that monkeys out there had experience generally starting businesses, or specific experience with a design shop or setting up in CA/the Bay area.... What else can you all suggest?

AOL Wins $5M Judgment Against Spammer I hate to say it, but hooray for AOL! /newsfilter

Around Guilin. Sunrise and sunset are the photographer's friends. more inside

Will Homeland Security steal your stuff in a national emergency? According to Bellacio.org, they will, if you keep guns or gold in a safe-deposit box at the bank. Tinfoil hat time? No, but who cares? Personally I keep all my tinfoil in a secret stash at the bottom of the local swimming hole. via

Make the perfect poo. Bananas are good. Hamburgers no so much. Feed la machine a caca, while a Monsieur 'Ankey ripoff discusses your choices, and rates your output. Flash. Annoying music. And French. waiting for the political promises version via daddytypes

It's official. Canadian icon store The Bay, one of the oldest corporations in the world, will go into the hands of a South Carolina businessman. Grab your Point Blanket now.

Is your community intelligent? Surprisingly yes, if you're in Cleveland.. (Posted by a guy in Waterloo).

Identify this Lobster-beast - 'It looks like a cross between a crayfish and a lobster with some characteristics of a large prawn or crab but even the experts are stumped about the identity of this crustacean.' more inside

International Internet-Free Day? You must be freakin' kiddin me! Must. Log. On.

Holy Crap. The Most Annoying Girl In The World. Scroll to UPDATE 1, watch vid below it. Then cry at the multi-faceted jewel of pop culture desperation therein. Or just laugh like I did, icy-hearted scoundrel-ess that I am.