If you've ever wondered what the evolutionary reason is for chilies being spicy.

The Golden Age of Re-Engagement From this month's Utne Reader, a nice collection of essays about disconnection and disengagement (and re-connection and re-engagement) in modern US society. The Lonely American, The Art of a Lively Conversation, All in the Neighborhood, and One Nation: Indivisible. There's a lot of good stuff to think about here, and there are plenty of things in there that would still be relevant to you non-US monkeys out there.

For anyone who loves a good heist story.

Life-Sized Blue Whale. more inside

When Harry Met Betty The history of cake has been long and varied, and many have interesting histories. Some are misleadingly named. However, few have had as mysterious and interesting a history as one of the 20th century's most famous cakes, the Chiffon. From the always wonderful Rake Magazine. more inside

TabWiki! Yes, it's yet another wiki, but this time with more auto-didacticness! more inside

Digital Camera Vs. Wonder of the World So I dropped my Canon PowerShot A80... needless to say the monument won. more inside

Curious George: Academia! Since it more inside

Curious George: Traditional Irish and Scottish Music Two things. more inside

Curious George: MoFi CD Swap playlists? As someone who wanted to participate in the CD swap, but didn't have the chance/means to, and also someone who wants to know about new music/what other monkeys are listening to, I was wondering if the people that did participate could post the tracklists here. Reviews of tracks optional, but welcome. more inside

Curious George: MonkeyCatFilter Having indoor cats. Complaining indoor cats. more inside

Curious George: Recovering Democracy US Government/PoliticsFilter, but with idealism. If you've had your fill of the former topics, and understandably so, move along. If you're interested in the latter, much more inside

Curious George: Food Swap Thanks in part to the the derailed discussion in this post and the excitement of trying new and different foods, I thought I might propose the idea of a MoFi food-swap. [more inside] more inside