``The most frightening realization hit me: there wasn't any reason behind what I'd done. I mean, I knew why I'd done it - I just did it because it would be fun. But I knew they would ask, 'Why the hell did you do this?' and if I didn't have a good enough reason, they would probably throw me into a mental institution.''

- Boyd Rice

There's a bunch of stuff that I've collected that belongs somewhere but doesn't fit well into any of the categories I've smooshed together, so I'm just going to pop it all into this salad bar. Some strange apparitions seem to ``have no suspects and no motive.''

The International Longshore & Warehouse Union introduced a new tactic during their 2002 labor negotiations: fart machines.

In 1956, Barry Larkin, a veterinary student at Sydney University, ``painted a sawn-off broom handle and an old jam tin silver, stuffed some underpants soaked in kerosene into the tin and lit their hoax Olympic flame. Then, he ran into Sydney, well-ahead of the official olympic torch, eventually attracting a police escort and then handing the torch off to the Lord Mayor. ``A lot of people didn't realise it was a hoax. By the time the real torch turned up, half the crowd had gone.''

The comedy team Penn & Teller created a cookie recipe that takes advantage of the chemical reaction between baking soda and lemon juice to turn your counter top into a foaming mess. Pranksters have inserted the recipe for Swedish Lemon Angels in a number of on-line recipe databases.

Here's a nice one: You know those ads in the back of some magazines and comic books that invite you to send in your poignant and moving song lyrics - if they're quality material, you'll be invited to send in some money so a professional musician will record it and who knows, you could be the next Beck. You know the deal. Anyway, John Trubee wrote up some absolutely horrible lyrics which were promptly judged ``very worthy of being recorded with the full Nashville Sound Production.'' Trubee sent in his U.S. $79.95 and got a country western take on a song that's now somewhat infamous in some quarters as ``Blind Man's Penis.''

A Hungarian prankster created a web site to auction off a girl's virginity, then posted the names, phone numbers, email addresses and letters of introduction sent by the 13 highest bidders.

Andrew Chambers was arrested for assault, forgery and theft, but the charges kept being dismissed because his reputation needed to remain spotless so he could testify for the prosecution as a DEA informant. Chambers earned over two million dollars as an informant, lying on the stand about his lawless activities and about his educational background, to help the prosecution win cases against the other criminals.

Someone failed to honor the solemnity of the San Juan Island Pig War Reënactment. Make of this what you will.

Mess up your buddy's collection of Microsoft viruses with this collection of clever Windows Pranks.

Paul Krassner's The Realist has been a long-time source of mingled news and fiction. (Does anyone remember hearing about LBJ porking JFK's entry wound?)

``Bishop Williamson'' of the Society of St. Pius X created an impressive library of abrasive communications from this fictional group.

Learn about The Meaning of ``Hack'' from those who know. Or spend some time looking over many examples of Reality Hacking.

I thought it was funny, but it turned out to be hilarious: a satire about canine junkies amongst law enforcement's drug-sniffing dogs hit close enough to home that many badges took it seriously when they found it on the web.

It was only a matter of time before someone decided to cut out the middle man and start a web site where people could sell their votes directly.

Remember the CB radio? A democratic broadcast medium with plenty of potential for Poetic Terrorism.

And what the world truly needs is just a little bit more Propaganda for the Paranoid, don't you think (or maybe there's enough already)? And why can't everything have the Voice of James Earl Jones?

In the promising R&D department: Technoparasites (``the Sunday of the Internet! The seventh day of Creation.'')

Of course, the government will never admit to the remarkable Philadelphia Experiment (a.k.a. Project Rainbow).

Off to the side of the ``map vs. the territory'' argument is the allegation that map companies fabricate towns, roads, and geographical details as a way of detecting when other companies steal their work.

RFC 2795 (look it up) - The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite.

During the Falkland Islands war, newspaper stands in Britain announced Penguins Capture the Task Force and such. Professor Revilo P. Oliver asks ``Can ``Liberals'' Be Educated?'' using examples of historical frauds, impostors and hoaxes to support his views on the credulity of intellectuals.