Slushimi: The Japanese are known for taking things to absolute extremes - decades of $1,000 sneakers, Hello Kitty and animated tentacle porn have proven it so. So when the Japanese take ice cream and infuse it with all sorts of un-dessert-like flavours, like garlic, spinach, oyster, tomato, stout and raw horse flesh (yum!), nobody should be shocked. Repulsed and horrified, maybe, but not shocked. Get the scoop at http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/photospecials/0406/ice-cream04/00.html.

Private club: Here's a real cult Web site. The Controversial Groups Database is a repository of information on all kinds of marginal social groups, both dangerous and benign. You'll find commies, Texas separatists, religious nuts, self-proclaimed Messiahs, hate groups, Rosicrucians, Satanic cabals, UFOs, radical vegetarians, Dianetics and Amway. Get the real story on Lyndon Larouche (he's a fascist,) the Kabbalah centre (new age for the mah-jong crowd) and the Freemasons (old frat boys with aprons.) Know where the Kool-Aid's safe to drink at www.rickross.com/sg_alpha.html.

Comments? Michael Citrome