Using technology to get around the problem of people lying online. From the NY Times (reg. req.). Researchers estimate that 42% of online responses are currently false.

I've heard about psychics reading palms. Now here's one that reads buttocks.

Great article in the National Post about the role of ghostwriters in the writing of "autobiographies." Often ghostwriters will invent the lives of their subjects out of whole cloth... And many celebrities never read the autobiographies which they've supposedly written. As the article says, "If the nominal author of a memoir says, 'I want to thank the devoted and talented Ms. Holly Ryle for her expert editorial assistance,' that probably means she wrote every word."

The Monkey Man has returned in India, after an absence of about a year. Reports are that a "monkey-like machine" is attacking people as they sleep on rooftops and in open places.

An exhibition of the art of Mortimer Menpes is being displayed at the National Library of Australia. Menpes was known for making fakes of the works of the great masters. This was in the early 20th century.

A bogus yellow pages scam.

Cheney promises crackdown on corporate fraud. I don't know. Somehow it seems a little fishy.

Baywatch star Traci Bingham has been getting a huge amount of publicity for parading around European cities in her bikini made out of lettuce. Her point was to promote vegetarianism. But purists will note that the bikini was made out of fake lettuce.

Scientists find loopholes in the second law of thermodynamics. True believers in the possibility of a perpetual motion machine will love this.

Bogus coupons circulating through e-mail are causing a headache for Starbucks.

On the subject of Digital Buddies (see below) here's a website where your online digital buddy can be a member of an LA street gang. His name is Pirate. Ask him whatever you want. You even get to see him type his reply.

Digital Buddies are fake friends who will sell you products online. They chat and make jokes, but they're just computer programs. From the LA Times (requires reg.).