January 7, 1999

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Asthma has become something of a concern around the house as of late, although the humans have been trying to reassure me that neither I nor my feline housemate, Suzie, are the cause. To this end, I located an amusing yet useful site about fraudulent asthma cures. Colin Campbell's Quack Asthma Cure Page describes a multitude of fake asthma cures, all of which have been foisted on the public at one point or another. Colin not only dissects each claim in detail, he also recommends some of the better sites for reliable asthma information and includes info on how to spot asthma quackery. A fine resource for those suffering the wheezing and the coughing and the hacking and the spitting... eyyuuhhh! That's about enough of that. My encounter with the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement in my last column was so much fun that I went looking for other folks fighting uphill battles for seemingly-lost-but-noble causes. I didn't have to go far, because Martin Piehslinger was there with his guide to Surviving Without a Car. Personally, I hate cars -- I try to stay out of them as much as possible. (I've found they mostly go to the vet.) Martin is a human, though, and he really seems to enjoy life now that he has given up his car. It should be mentioned, though, that he lives in the center of Vienna, Austria, which makes the lack of a car somewhat more feasible. Still, it's a good site with a lot of well-made points about the economic, safety, ecological, and quality-of-life issues involved in owning an automobile. Now that I've wasted valuable column space with serious topics, let's peruse a frivolous site or two. First up is Andy's Garage Sale, which has long been one of the best online sources for cheap, cool stuff. Of course, most of it ya don't need, since it's a lot of home electronics and furnishings and Barbie dolls and stuff, but it's great to swing by once or twice a week to see what neat toy you could buy, usually for dirt cheap. And here's the kicker: Andy sells lava lamps, too. And just to round things out, let's toss in a hearty helping of Nude Elvis, the president of the National Association of Amateur Elvis Impersonators. With his help, the NAAEI has expanded its membership to over 400 people and made a pilgrimage to Graceland on the anniversary of the King's death. But that's not all, folks... you can get your very own (mostly-) Nude Elvis greeting cards with which to spice up your correspondence, or hear some of the croonings of the various impersonators within NAAEI. Troll through the extensive Elvis links, and read about "Brushes with Elvis." Even though the site is somewhat ouf of date (last revision -- 1997?), it's still enough to set your Presley-lovin' heart aflutter. Don't forget to check out the archives for older editions of Clickerama.