Where's George?

No, not that George.... George Washington, about as far from our current George as can be imagined.

That's the name of a website which has taken the capability of the internet and used it in an interesting, if not terribly important way.

Ever wonder where that bill you just paid someone with might end up? Remember your mom telling you how filthy money was because "you don't know where it's been"? Well, now someone's figured a way to find out, at least geographically. (I still don't recommend chewing on currency.)

The idea behind Where's George is that people take paper currency and stamp it with a Where's George stamp which instructs the person to go to the web site address and log the bill's serial number to see where it's come from.

Once on the site, you're prompted for the bill's denomination, series year, and it's serial number, then it asks for your zip code and allows you to add a short note. Then viola, up pops a screen which traces the bill's movements since someone initially tagged it.

I've known about this for a few years now, but only yesterday I noticed my first Where's George? bill when it was the top bill sliding out of an ATM.

I logged into the site and entered the info imagining that the bill had travelled the world and the seven seas, only to find a not so exotic tale. It had originated in Cedar Rapids back in April. The site informed me that it's traveled 71 Miles in 207 Days, 18 Hrs, 57 Mins at an average of 0.34 Miles per day. Not exactly a globe trotter.

But..... If I register, I can see where the bill ends up once I spend it, assuming someone along the way actually takes the time to go online and record their find.

Kinda neat.

For example, here's a page tracking 10 of the most widely traveled bills.

You can check out the page with this bill's history and learn more about how Where's George works and how to participate here.

**UPDATE**
Hank, the creator of Where's George? wrote TID to note that users are to enter their current zip code, not the one where the bill was found as I'd reported, and provided a link to the ten most travelled bills.