26 Monkeys, also the abyss. A whimsical SF short story nominated for both the Nebula and the Hugo this year. A story with real monkeys! Ten minute read. I loved it.

Where are you on the Wolverine hair chart? Are you Side Puffs? Are you Classic Pointy? Or more Classic Mane? How about Puffy Balls? Perhaps you're somewhere on the road to Mustachery. I admit I'm Basic Flat Top. I'm so boring. On the other hand I'm glad I don't have Friendly Muttonchops.

The New York Times 8th Annual Year in Ideas. ...including Goalkeeper Science, Minicattle, the National Ten Percent Off Sale, Positive Deviance (not what it sounds like) and the Rising Tide Tax System... more inside

Large Mexican firm Buys Bakery. That's the story. But that's not the headline. *snicker*

Strangers + Centenarian + Books = Good Warm Feeling. This is a nice little story about a 100-year old woman, her love of books and how a bunch of strangers turned into friends.

11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating. Really long NYT article with technical lingo on what foods we should be eating for better health. To save you time, I've condensed the list. Presented without further editorial comment: 1. Motherfuckin' beets. 2. Cabbage. 3. Swiss chard: They protect the Pope and are also green and leafy. 4. Cinnamon: Sometimes spelled cinammon. 5. Pomegranate juice: A type of juice. 6. Dried Plums. The food previously known as pruny prune-faced prune fruit. 7. Pumpkin seeds: These are packed with magnesium. Also available in .44 hollow point. 8. Sardines: Mash them up, use as a spread or as figurines. 9. Turmeric: Sounds like tumor. Don't think about that. 10. Frozen blueberries: a.k.a. "tundra testicles" 11. Canned Pumpkin: i see the big-assed can, but where da seeds at?

Cool Graphic on the Barack vs Clinton race This is just a damned fine interactive graphic from the New York Times. What matters when it comes to which candidate people voted for? Race definitely mattered. Income matters sort of. And education.

How to Be a Brainiac. Memorizing make you smart! Or should I say "more smart"! Put away the little notepad and exercise your brain. Remember stuff. Start with this poem.

Curious Ugly Toy George Curious Ugly Toys George. Anyone know of any toy websites that sell really ugly toys? (Other than Archie McPhee) I'm talking toys that are unintentionally bad, sooo bad they're funny. (The same way that really bad movies are funny). Toys that make you go "WTF???"

Lopped off at the ARMs. Is the recent failure of a number of mortgage companies and the turbulence in the stock market just a small indicator of what's to come? "The peak month for the resetting of mortgages will come this October...when more than $50 billion in mortgages will switch to a new [higher] rate for the first time. The level will remain above $30 billion a month through September 2008." Particularly worrying is the default of borrowers with supposedly better than subprime credit. This is likely to result in the first major recession in years. Are we ready?

British sofa sets new 92 mph speed record. More details: "The souped-up sofa from furniture-modder Edd China laid claim to the top spot in the Fastest Furniture category in the Guinness Book of World Records reaching a top speed of 92 miles per hour. Sofa-driver Marek Turowski (who won his place in the driver's seat in an eBay auction) described the record-setting run as 'terrifying,' adding that 'you feel every bump... worse, you feel like you might take off.'" The previous speed record was also set by a British sofa.

If I am elected, they will be terrified!... I myself will be terrified. Toyama Koichi's campaign speech for Governor of Tokyo(utube from the blue). More info on the illustrious candidate here.

10 Things your Restaurant won't tell you. How can you tell a good special from a bad one? Watch out for "an expensive item used in a way that's minimizing its flavor," Zagor says, such as a lamb chop that's been cut, braised and put into a dish where it's a supporting player. Pastas, stews and soups containing expensive meats are also suspect. Also don't go out on Mondays.

Go for a ride on the Real Estate Roller Coaster. A century of inflation-adjusted U.S. real-estate prices presented as a real life roller coaster ride. ... wherein you will discover, there is something decidedly odd about the last few years....

Houses cheaper than cars in Detroit. ...says the headline. But in actual fact, houses are cheaper than used cars. A boarded-up bungalow on the city's west side brought $1,300. A four-bedroom house near the original Motown recording studio sold for $7,000. "You can't buy a used car for that," said Izairi. "It's a gamble, and you have to wonder how low it's going to get."

The Failed Attorney-General. Alberto Gonzales said he understood the difference between the job he held — President Bush’s in-house lawyer — and the job he wanted, which was to represent all Americans as their chief law enforcement officer and a key defender of the Constitution. Two years later, it is obvious Mr. Gonzales does not have a clue about the difference. Fighting words from the New York Times.

The Danish Poet. The winner of this year's Oscar for animated short. It's cute, funny and colorful. Co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Narrated charmingly by Liv Ullmann.

Curious Storytelling George I recently rejoined Toastmasters and one of the projects I have to do involves storytelling. Specifically, a 5 to 7 minute folktale before a live audience of about ten people. My folktale knowledge sucks. What would you recommend? Anything that is entertaining, novel, engaging and has a cool ending, would fit the bill...

Curious Skype replacement George Now that Skype has ended its free PC-to-phone service to anywhere in North America, this cheap monkey is looking for an alternative. Any monkeys out there found a good one? Anyone using FreeCall?

What Statistics on Home Sales aren't telling us. ...Another house, just steps from Naples Bay, received a high bid of $880,000, compared with $1.35 million a year earlier. On average, the bids suggested that the houses at the auction had lost about 25 percent of their value since 2005 . Is this the first sighting of the long-predicted and discussed collapse of the bubble?