Who's da Blues-Playing Monkey? You are! You are! ♫♪ Well, well, stannnndin at the crossroads, no bananas in mmmy haaaand ♪♫♪ I say, stannnndin at the crossroads, raaain, rain, rollin, ramblin, roll up the rim...oo, ooo, I'm looonely. ♫♪ Thank you, God bless, and good night.

Curious Pineapple George Okay, pineapples were on sale today and this monkey 's never eaten a real one. I couldn't resist. Now Spiney Piney is sitting here on the counter bristling defiant. Deliciousness inside. But tough unchewable spiny outside. Now I sad. Help me oh monkey brothers and sisters. I want to eat.

Canadian Politics: You win an election. Your Liberal party gets 40% of the vote in your riding. Your closest opponent running for the NDP gets 37% of the vote. The third candidate running for the Conservatives gets 16.5%. But the Conservatives win power in the country. What do you do? You switch sides to the Conservative party because you are David Emerson, the new Minister of International Trade.

I Pity the Fool that Plays Checkers Against Me. (Wma video file). Friday Fun. And really quite similar to this

Curious Monkey Uncle George I got the news just recently: My younger sister is expecting a baby! Time to monkey-dance! It's her first child and I'd like to get her a book about babycare. You got any suggestions?

Top 100 Companies to Work for. The Top Five starting with #1: Genentech, Wegmans, Valero Energy, Griffin Hospital. The Complete List puts Microsoft at #42 behind Starbucks at #29. Surprise! (Starbucks pays $500 towards tuition to part-timers who work there for more than a year). By clicking on the company links on the List you get stats on employee salaries, turnover, minority hiring etc, learning for instance, that the most common job at Microsoft pays $107,000/year.

Canadian Election: Conservative victory? The latest poll results -- can they be relied on? Or are voters just giving Liberal Leader Martin a pre-poll scare? According to the story, the Conservatives may even be ready to take some seats in Quebec. How does this affect your voting strategy? I voted Green last time, this time I'm leaning Liberal. more inside

Necktie of the Gods... Introducing the world's first load-bearing necktie! Designed for the military professional! Includes beverage management device. Available in black and woodland camouflage. Adult supervision recommended.

The Sony Reader. The latest attempt at e-book technology. Word is it'll be out later this year for US$300-US$500. The Reader supposedly uses some kind of e-ink which means very high res. Couldn't find numbers though.

Reach out and retouch someone. (Quicktime vid) A three minute kickass demo of video-fu. (nabbed via the blue, thx to crunchland). Digital retouching techniques, reality ain't what it used to be.

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.

Bedbugs Attack New York City. "'They're insatiable,' he said five minutes into the bug's feeding. To show off the insect's special sucking stylus, Mr. Sorkin removed a bedbug nymph from a container and placed it on his finger. Even under a bright light and being nudged by tweezers, it began to feed and turned rust-colored as it filled with blood. Bedbugs...can live longer than a year, with the female laying up to 500 eggs in a lifetime. An adult bedbug can survive unfed for up to a year." Article includes a photo too. They look small. more inside

Curious LA Eatin' George Hello, I'm going to be in Los Angeles next week for a conference. I know squat about the city. It's happening downtown at the Convention Center and I'm staying at the Holiday Inn(City Center). My question is: what are good, cheap places to eat that are within walking distance (10-15 minutes) from there? My schedule's going to be busy so I can't spend too much time in transit plus I don't plan to get a car. Also, on my last day there I might want to try something fancier. Any suggestions for that also?

BalancedPolitics.org. Here's a good idea: a website that summarizes the basic arguments pro and con of Big Issues. Abortion, Affirmative Action, Euthanasia... Oh, and should the minimum wage be abolished?

Your eyes fool you. So therefore you're either a fool, a fooled one, a fooly-fool or just a nice monkey with normal colorful eyes. more inside

Visual Complexity. How do you draw a picture of complexity? Whether it's the iPod ecosystem , a map of the Internet , 10 million receipts from a hardware store or the U.S. ruling class and even the network of interactions between major characters in the novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, divided in 11 communities represented by different colors. more inside

After Greenspan... "The public worships Alan Greenspan for his oracular wisdom. But what is his legacy? It includes a crazy housing market, overextended consumers and a burst stock bubble". Clearly not everyone thinks well of Greenspan. Either way, the new guy's got his work cut out for him.

Hey Lookit! Robots! Pick out the one you like or the one that looks the most like you.

Holy Smoke, they did it. Robot cars cross the desert! It was the DARPA challenge. Navigate through 240 km of rocky desert terrain for a prize of $2M. The results this year were amazing. Four robots made it. Even more so considering the fiasco of last year's race.

Curious Six Degrees Name Dropping George. Six degrees of separation between you and everyone else in the world, they say. But I bet Monkeys could get to famous people with fewer. The rules: A degree counts only if you know someone and they *also* know you by name. Let me start: my sister works with someone whose sister lives in a French village close to John Malkovich. John knows her by name. That means I'm four degrees away from Malky. Perhaps he'll let me crash at his house. more inside