SPIEGEL Surfs the Web The World's Biggest Party
What would we do without the Catholics? With Lent -- the 40 day period of pre-Easter fasting -- quickly approaching, it is officially time to party. And very few parties in the world can compare with the weeklong festivities of carnival, which is now underway. People around the world are donning costumes, masks and drinking themselves to the point of a blackout as you read this. But where are the best carnival celebrations? Rio de Janeiro's party is famous for its scantily-clad excesses and is likely the best known. For the more staid crowd, the beauty of the Basel "Fasnacht" parade of wooden masks is not to be missed. Venice's celebration and famous Masquerade Ball is probably one of the oldest of the pre-fasting fetes. For sheer drunken debauchery, carnival in Cologne is difficult to beat. Unless, of course, one decides to take in Mardi Gras in New Orleans , the North American continent's contribution to this worldwide shindig. And finally, for those who would like to know a bit more about the phenomenon as a whole, this Web site tells all.
Putting Words in Bush's Mouth
Wednesday night, giving his State of the Union speech in Washington, President Bush said that "The United States has no right, no desire and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." Perhaps, though, you'd hoped he would say something like, "the United States of America should leave Iraq immediately?" Well, you can hear him utter those words, online at least, with the help of the George W. Bush Speechwriter , which provides clips from the address and lets you arrange them in any way you like.
Unusual Internet Museums
A few months ago, we brought you the Museum of Potted Meat . To save you time searching around for similarly bizarre collections, we recommend Unusual Internet Museums , which features some truly weird wares that people have taken the time to collect and organize. There's a toilet seat museum, a toaster museum foundation ("devoted to educating, entertaining, and enlightening visitors about the history and cultural importance of the bread toaster"), a Soviet calculator collection, a vintage postcards of women collection, etc. You get the point: for every bizarre human obsession, there's a museum out there somewhere.
