Valerie Cowan Surfs the Net

NET users are being asked to help save the life of a lobster called Larry. Students at Jefferson City High School in Missouri, USA, are raising money for the Special Olympics by paying 50 cents (30p) each to vote on whether Larry should live or die. A decision on his fate will be taken tomorrow.

Animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has issued an international appeal on its website asking people to pressure the school into freeing Larry into the Atlantic Ocean. The school's plan is that if Larry dies, one of the pupils will get to eat him. If he lives, he will be returned to the shop where he was purchased.

Larry is the second lobster to be put on death row in the school. Larry 1 died of unknown causes after a school assembly at which students shouted "kill, kill, kill" at his tank. Join the campaign at http://www.peta-online.org/index.html.

Big step for Dwarf

SPACE-set comedy Red Dwarf returns to the small screen later this month. If you are a fan of Lister, Rimmer Cat and co (pictured, left) the series' official website is worth a look. It has synopses of the plots of all previous series, pictures and behind-the-scenes details.

Find it at http://www.reddwar

f.co.uk.

Cyber bloodstains...

ONLINE magazine The Onion (www.theonion.com) ran a spoof story this week claiming the following features would appear on the PlayStation 2, the soon to be launched games console: It will be able to read your lips; it will raise ethical questions about mortality when you kill a bad guy in Tekken 4; and actual human blood will ooze from the gamepad. Hmmm.

SEEN something interesting on the Internet? Let me know! Send an e-mail to vcowan@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk.

Online for the oldies

THE latest Internet technology can be used to find out about some very old furniture this month.

The BBC's online service is launching Furniture Forum, an Internet discussion area for lovers of antique furniture.

The Furniture Forum will be launched after Antiques Roadshow on Sunday on the BBC Online website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/antiques.

Expert Christopher Payne will be dropping in during the week to offer guidance.

He's also launching the online Period Style Guide to Furniture, which examines how furniture styles have changed from Tudor, through Georgian and Art Deco, up to the present day.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.