August 1, 2001

4:20 AM

A web buck!We got a web buck the other day! No, it's not some kind of ecommerce thing. It's a good ole' dollar bill doing something of a Johnny Appleseed -- traveling around the country like an adventurer. And we get to vicariously watch its progress. Today, we're throwing our where'sgeorge dollar into a lottery fund at work. Where will it go next? Toll booths, bars, and Florida amusement parks seem like popular destinations, but at least one bill's been passed via a stripper! Have you seen a where'sgeorge bill yet?
posted by debrahyde (11 comments total)

You might want to check here.

As an FYI, the search feature, using www.wheresgeorge.com, picked up three other references that these two. I don't say this to be smug, just that the tool is there and it works.
posted by plinth at 5:53 AM on August 1, 2001

I put in a $5 bill sometime in May of 2000, and it's got no hits yet. Maybe I should try again. I wonder what happened to it...
posted by CrayDrygu at 6:16 AM on August 1, 2001

I stumbled on Where's George back in November of 1999 and have been entering bills into the database ever since.

Getting hits is a very slow process... I've entered 345 bills so far and 23 of them have gotten hits. Some of these hits occurred more than a year from when I entered the bill into the database.

Still, it has been interesting to see some of my bills creeping from California to Idaho.
posted by dalryaug at 6:47 AM on August 1, 2001

I don't know, dalryaug, wouldn't it be more amusing to author a fake chain letter and watch it travel around the world? Jk of course...
posted by Johannahh at 8:12 AM on August 1, 2001

What's the difference between a fake chain letter and a real one?
posted by hazyjane at 8:37 AM on August 1, 2001

Plinth,

I searched, I saw, and I noticed no one answered -- and what? -- over a year ago, too. So I felt it warranted a separate, fresher entry.

Johannahh, I hate chain letters, but I liked the wheresgeorge dollar because it was so unexpected and dazzling, in a charming sort of way. And I'll enjoy watching the buck travel (even if it's at a snail's pace) primarily because I didn't *have* to propogate eight other copies to partake.
posted by debrahyde at 9:02 AM on August 1, 2001

debrahyde, do where'sgeorge enthusiasts communicate outside of the where'sgeorge registration tracking of bills? Have people founded a Yahoo!Group based on their mutual love of virtual money sharing?
posted by rschram at 9:40 AM on August 1, 2001

I know where George is. All you had to do was ask! ;-)
posted by allaboutgeorge at 10:02 AM on August 1, 2001

My where'sgeorge bill came to me via Reno, where it had slumbered just the night before. I'm in Portland, so somebody made a nice road trip and spent him at the local grocer on their way through town. I thought the site was hideous, though... designed by someone with late-1700's web skills, apparently.
posted by apollo at 10:37 AM on August 1, 2001

Sufficiently inspired by Where's George?, I've steadfastly stamped my own URL onto every dollar bill to pass through my hands over the last twelve months or so. There must be hundreds upon hundreds of those bad boys floating around out there some damn place. To date, I've yet to get one back in my change, much less have anyone tell me that they found my site through one. Odd, considering I tend to shop at the same three or four places over and over and over.

This proves something, I'm sure. I just haven't quite figured out what yet.
posted by youhas at 12:32 PM on August 1, 2001

I've had three.

Two of them are sitting in my wallet and I keep forgetting to enter them in the database.
posted by D.C. at 2:07 PM on August 1, 2001