Spot the fake website

Dear PropellerHeads: Time flies. It's time again for our review of the strange on the Weird Wide Web.

A: Our annual roundup of unusual websites on the Internet has a twist and reader participation component this year. Visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/propheads to spot the fake. All but one of the sites described below is real. Vote for the fake on our Facebook page and we'll see how savvy our readership is. No cheating! You can't visit the sites until after you have voted.

Here are this year's entries...

• ducttapeguys.com: This site is dedicated to the safe and effective use of this most versatile product. Here you can find all you ever wanted to know about duct tape, how it can be used for virtually anything, duct tape art, videos and inventions. I haven't decided if my next project is a duct tape wallet, car snack bowl, flip flops or hammock.

• peopleofwalmart.com This site features daily uploads of photos of the parade of freaks who frequent Walmart stores. Common themes are ber-mullets and skullets, grand muffin tops and other raw obesity on parade, practically naked, pajama shopping and child neglect. Recent posts included a March Madness style contest for the best photo. Save money, live better

• not-mensa.com: This site for the self-appointed society for idiots. After all, we can't all be well above average. According to the site, students, lawyers, politicians and assistant barn-yard animal impersonators are automatically accepted as members for obvious reasons. The site encourages membership and activities include IQ tests for you and your pets. Contributors are eligible to become not-mensa professors.

• step0.com: This site serves those in numerous 12-step abuse programs for who are active, but not committed (aka "court-ordered"). The site features ways to avoid abuse detection ("tomato juice hides the smell of scotch!"), crying on demand, and how to lie convincingly to your fellow long-suffering addicts.

• icanhascheezburger.com: This site boasts daily posts, of (mostly) cat photos in improbable situations with intentionally misspelled and grammatically incorrect captions. These entries, called lolcats, are intended to be funny and just weird.

• abevigoda.com: This is a simple, but useful, community interest site featuring a picture of our favorite Barney Miller detective that is updated regularly to keep you on top of Abe Vigoda's current mortality status. Check back often... he doesn't look good.

• f-ckyeahheadlines.com This site's tagline is Information through Ignorance. They post actual newspaper headlines la Jay Leno alongside cartoons for a laugh unlike Leno. The entries sometimes educate or make a point. Puns, innuendo and double entendre make for their fair share of moans, but it's still addictive.

• deathclock.com: This site is useful for those who just can't seem to get going. By answering a few questions, the site will calculate the day you will die with an accompanying countdown. It's hard to stay on the couch eating chicken wings as the seconds tick away. Links to better living give you a chance to extend things a bit. And it's always good to cross on the green.

• regretsy.com: This site is a storefront for bizarre handmade items looking for a home for a price. Most are items posted on etsy.com (handmade craft marketplace) that are just a little too precious or in need of some loving. They include a portrait of Rosanne Barr made in rice leaves, Stephen King wooden Russian nesting dolls, a bejeweled Zen Garden rake and The Infinity, a M.C. Escher inspired shawl.

Before you bookmark these sites and head out to Walmart to have your picture taken, remember to visit facebook.com/propheads and spot the fake.

When the PropellerHeads at Data Directions aren't busy with their IT projects, they love to answer questions on business or consumer technology. Email them to [email protected] or contact us at Data Directions Inc., 8510 Bell Creek Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23116. Visit our website at www.askthepropellerheads.com.