Topline Of 1400 Firms Rises 8.3% At Rs 78319 Cr, Net Profit Up 0.8%

If you're a dog lover, then please go away. This is one for those twisted people who think From Dusk Till Dawn was truly hilarious and Cheech Marin's soliloquy was one of the funniest things ever seen on screen. Here's the story: Kim Yung Soo (Joey Skaggs), president of Kea So Joo (Dog Meat Soup) sent 1,500 letters to dog shelters around America. The letter said in part, "Dog shelter kill million of dog, cost money...Dog shelter need money to operate. Where it get money? Hard to get money. Many people like to eat dog... Where do they get dog?... We buy all dog, regardless of size or colour. We prefer big, young strong dog, but we take all dog from your dog shelter."

Soo promised 10 cents for a pound of dog meat.

The torrent of abuse that followed the hoax was predictable in its racism and intolerance. Some of the milder reactions "I may be able to excuse your bad English, but I cannot excuse your cruel business. People like you need to go back to your country and stay there."

"In America we have a serious need for human body parts.

If you are disease-free, why don't you kill yourself and send

your organs to the various charities in order that worthy

humans may continue life on this planet." Read the whole story of how this spurious clash of civilizations was engineered, complete with fake pictures and prejudice that's all too real at

www.joeyskaggs.com/html/dog.html.

The emperors have no clothes

If you have had quite enough of the digerati and would like an antidote to all that gyan from the gurus, take a look at www.ditherati.com. This site aims to showcase quotes that either make infotech industry leaders look foolish or reveal their sinister agendas. Take, for instance, Jim Bidzos, vice-chairman of Security Dynamics, who manages the difficult feat of scoring on both counts: "I think that any new technology that benefits society as a whole benefits the criminal element of that society... Automobiles cause a lot of crime." Huh?

He was actually arguing in favour of encryption_beloved of e-commerce champions but anathema to those who think the Net should be a bastion of freedom (or just plain free). There are more quotable quotes from Rupert Murdoch, Salon.com's editor-in-chief David Talbot, all put together by Owen Thomas who runs the site. The logo is by Terry Colon of suck.com.

It's a cruel world

Both the sites above have at some time or the other made their appearance on www.cruel.com which specialises in "cruel" sites (as opposed to "cool" sites). It's maintained by Roger Cadenhead, a writer and Web developer, and is aimed at offering a "daily link to the world of the perturbed, peeved, pensive and postal", as a counter to all the "unhealthy positive energy" that flows out of the Net.