If you haven't checked out a website called Where's George?, you really ought to. This has either got to be one of the niftiest "useless ideas" I've ever seen, or else it's a test run for tracking all cash purchases in the "New World Order." ;-)

(Novus Ordo Seclorum-- on the back of the dollar bill amidst all that Masonic symbolism-- is Latin for "New World Order"...)

The idea behind Where's George? is simple-- to track where your money goes. Just Enter, Mark, Spend...

First you go to the site and there you Enter your zip code, and the serial number and series of a bill you have in your possession. Then you Mark the bill. Then you Spend the bill, in natural circulation-- that means no fair trading with friends or family, just spend it as you would any other bill in your wallet.

Enter, Mark, Spend... It's that simple!

(Well, you also ought to register on the site first, but that's easy, and also completely free.)

Eventually somebody may notice your markings, and check out the Where's George website-- where hopefully they will enter their zip code, and the serial number and series of the bill. Bingo, you've got a hit, and if you're a registered user, you can find out where your bill went!

You can use any denomination from ones through hundreds, though I pretty much just stick to ones. A dollar bill gets handed back out in change the most often, and for the purpose of getting a hit, the more hands your bill passes through, the better.

And guess what?! As of 10 June 2002, I got my first hit: a dollar bill that traveled from New Albin, Iowa, to Duluth, Minnesota, in 8 days...

Different "Georgers" have different ways of marking a bill. I myself have two rubber stamps, and I stamp on the back of the dollar bill in the margins-- the pictures at the top of the page show how I do it.