Let's Face It, Blogs Are Better Michael Kinsley in today's LA Times: Better than I thought, and maybe even better than what I do for a living. Registration required.

Stinky George A couple of years ago I inherited a bunch of stuff from a friend of the family who used to have a second hand shop in Mecca, California out near the desert town where I grew up. She collected a number of ground glass stoppered flasks containing liquids that I would like to identify. Since my monkey friends tend to be on the informed side, I thought that I'd throw it against the zoo wall and see if it sticks. more inside

West Coast Whiskeys A cool little article in the LA Times that details a renaissance of whiskey making here in California. Thought that my drinky-monkeys would find it of interest.

Curious George - Phone question This is kind of a silly question, but something that has nagged me for a while. Why do we have to dial a 1 (i.e. 1-800-555-1212) before dialing the area code and number on land lines, but can eliminate the 1 and simply dial the area code and number (i.e. 800-555-1212) when using our cells?

Curious George - Commie Pinko Bastards I've been wondering lately about the (apparent) demise of communism. From the fall of the Berlin Wall, to the free market reforms in China and Cuba, is this economic system truly destined to history’s garbage heap? It seems China (excepting Taiwan and Hong Kong/Macao) is capitalist (communist in name only) with a totalitarian government. To me the idea of communism always made sense. But in practice communism always comes with a unhealthy dose of totalitarian governance. What countries that are called communist actually practice it in it's purest forms? Is it possible to practice a pure communism in today's world?

Curious George - Microphone Best Buys I know that this very topic was discussed here before, but when I did a search it seems that it was lost in the great server crash of 04. I have a couple of good lavs that I use for my video work, but have struggled by without owning a hand held mic or a boom mic for a while, either renting or borrowing them from friends. I just bought a "butt plug" transmitter and receiver for a hand mic and would like to get one (i.e. a quality hand mic) that I can use for ENG type stuff as well as doing VO in my edit bay. I also would like to buy a high quality boom mic rig and in a perfect world the same mic could be used as an on camera mic when the situation calls for that sort of shooting. more inside

Att: Out of work Los Angeles Area Techno-Monkeys! Hola monos! I just interviewed for a position to teach at an ITT Technical Institute campus in greater LA. So it's not Harvard, but it's a job. The thing is, they are hiring, and if I can help another monkey out, why not. I hesitate to mention exactly which one since I didn't ok it with them to post something like this, but they are looking for a web wiz to teach a class in web coding as well as someone to teach a class in 3-D Studio Max. The classes vary, but each is about a three hour commitment one day a week. Write me with a resume and we can chat, either on the phone or via email. If you seem legit I will forward your info on to them. squidranch@comcast.net

Pissed off George Last night and all of today was spent doing what all computer users dread, doing a clean install of my system software and in the process losing all of my documents. My email as well as all of my contacts, documents (including paid video/graphics and copywriting projects) my music and my well maintained selection of web links were erased. more inside

Curious George - Importing Bookmarks from Safari to Firefox The title says it all. I am thinking of switching over to Firefox from Safari, but am having trouble importing my bookmarks and cookies. Apparently it will do it automatically from Explorer and an older version of Firefox, but not from Safari. Any suggestions?

Man Distraught Over Election Commits Suicide at Ground Zero --Via The Raw Story.

Artistic George - MoFi T-Shirts? This idea came from the fertile noggin of Space Kitty while under the influence of Musso and Frank's expert mixologists. How about the members of MoFi come up with some T Shirt design ideas? We could have Cafe Press whip them up and the proceeds could go to Tracicle to help keep us in bananas. Any thoughts monkeys?

SAVE THE BURGER! Hola my little monos, I just wanted to keep you up on my pet project, Irv's Burgers. You might remember that I posted something here a few months ago about the possibility that Irv's, a West Hollywood institution, would be bulldozed and replaced with Peet's Coffee franchise. Well, it's getting harder and harder for them to do so. more inside

THE BIG FAT THREAD FOR THE ELECTIONS It hasn't started yet, but I thought that I'd put this thing up. Post here with running commentary about the vote count, voting irregularities, etc...

Curious George - I've got extra candy You wanna trade? I have a bunch of mini Snicker's bars.

At One with the Snails A fascinating (to me anyway) article about one man's devotion to an endangered snail and the single cave where it lives. LA Times article, reg. Required.

A Squid's Revenge You have been warned.

Red Sox Won!! Congradulations Boston!

Curious George - What is Richard Pryor Up to? I was watching the Dennis Miller show tonight and as a guest he had George Carlin on. At the end of the interview, Miller made a comment that new comics (slyly implying that he was a "new comic"), always look to Carlin and Pryor to emulate. This got me thinking about Richard Pryor and what the hell he is up to. Anyone have the skinny on Richard?

Just a reminder, the LA Meetup is Tomorrow at Barney's Beanery, Santa Monica and La Cieniga in West Hollywood at 3:00pm. more inside

Billionaires in the White Hizzouse Link to Quicktime and Windows Media music video