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Magic Card Trick

See how long it takes you to figure this one out - billed as the Internet's first magic card trick. Mentally choose a card from among a series of choices, follow the instructions, and ta-dah: your card will be missing from the next screen. Do it a few times and all will be revealed. World Wide Web: http://www.timwike.dircon.co.uk/card.html

Hoax Museum

Is there any limit to the ingenuity of the human drive to deceive? Apparently not, if the exhibits at this online Museum of Hoaxes are any indication. Here, hoaxes are categorized by date, rather than deed. In 2000 alone, there were quite a few innovative tricks pulled. One particularly amusing example was the 15th Annual New York City April Fool's Day Parade: A news release sent to the media stated that the parade was scheduled to begin at noon on 59th Street and would proceed down to Fifth Avenue. According to the release, floats in the parade would include a "Beat 'em, Bust 'em, Book 'em" float created by the New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle police departments. CNN and Fox affiliate WNYW reportedly sent television news crews to cover the parade, which of course, was not there. Among hoaxes of the past, there is the celebrated trip Marco Polo took to China, which now, apparently, historians believe never happened. World Wide Web: http://www.museumofhoaxes.com

The Writer's Almanac

"A Prairie Home Companion's" bard in residence, Garrison Keillor, reads poetry and profound thought each day on PBS on "The Writer's Almanac." But where to find those dulcet lines again? Track them down at Mr. Keillor's companion Web site here. Even if you miss his program, this site offers the daily dose of bliss, birthdays and "this day in history" feature. Past shows are archived and can be heard in Realaudio format. http://writersalmanac.org

Welcome To Molossia

One of the questions journalists are inevitably asked is, "How do you know that what you read on the Internet is true?" Well, you don't. We certainly have trouble separating fact from fiction on the Molossia.org, site but its creators appear convinced they are living within a foreign country inside the U.S. borders. It is the republic of Molossia, created in 1988 in Nevada. The country has its own history, flag, and diplomatic relations with the U.S., we're informed, but it is not accepting immigrants. The country's geographical boundaries are 1.3 acres. Special sections are devoted to Molossian culture and cuisine, which includes spaghetti and meatballs. World Wide Web: http://www.molossia.org/countryeng.html

Revenge Of The Librarians

Taking endless jokes about "shhhh!" and an easy job in her stride, this librarian has set up LibrarianAvengers.com and is telling the world why everyone should fall to their knees and respect their information professional. Those that don't will be told to "Look it up!" Find out how they do it (research, that is), learn about librarians and their jobs, look at the terrifying rants, and read some of the funny goings-on at libraries around the world. World Wide Web: http://www.librarianavengers.com .

The Camille Paglia Checklist

Jutta Degner also offers at Boggle Reaction, the Camille Paglia Checklist. Writer Camille Paglia can be found at Salon, but Degner has amassed links to an historical quantity of Paglia transcripts. The actual checklist is "A CGI joke that got hit so many times by search engines that it grew a hotlist." Included is a "Pagliameter" which determines if an article is truly written by America's favorite cultural provocateur. Check off attributes like these: "Is she talking about herself? Does she contrast something Judeo-Christian with something Pagan?" One checkbox asks if the article implies "Mainstream feminism sucks?" World Wide Web: http://kbs.cs.tu-berlin.de/~jutta/cpc/index.html

Have a site we should review? Send it to the editor at comptimes@aol.com and make your Subject line read "WWW Site For Review."

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