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Bad Airplane Food and Web Obsessions

Bad Airplane Food, Kenny Rogers Look-Alikes and Other Web Obsessions

By Buck Wolf

Oct. 15, 2002 --   Some people still wonder who really shot John F. Kennedy, and other people wonder why their father is slowly turning into a clone of Kenny Rogers.

No matter how wacky the conspiracy theory, you've got a friend on the Internet. In fact, you've got a disturbing number of like-minded friends.

This week The Wolf Files looks at Web sites that cater to mundane obsessions. Why is airline food so bad? When will Julia Roberts change lovers? How can I get my phone to play Eminem's latest hit when it rings?

The answers to these questions might be inconsequential — but not when you need a little help procrastinating. 1. Pointless Click Counter:

If you're looking for the biggest waste of time on the Internet, it'd be hard to top Ben Charlton's "Pointless Click Counter" (http://spod.cx/pcc/) — a Web site that does nothing more than log how many times Net heads will click on a button that does absolutely nothing.

More than a million people clicked on Charlton's pointless click counter back in July, less than a month after the British university student set it up.

Charlton made the media rounds, saying he found the overwhelming results rather disturbing, and briefly took down the site, leaving thousands feeling even more pointless.

Now, if you keep clicking, you might have the honor of being the 1.5 millionth clicker.

2. Flights of Passion: Here's cold comfort for anyone who thinks they've had the worst airline meal — pictures of nearly 800 meals from 130 airlines.

On his way from the Netherlands to Turkey last year, Marco Hart had such a bad meal, he had to photograph it — or his friends wouldn't believe him.

"Once I put it on the Web, the collection took on a life of its own," said the 32-year-old Web designer. "Everyone has a story about an airline meal."

Now, Hart's Web site (www.airlinemeals.net) is now a magnet for flying foodies.

The message boards are rife with airline food news, posted by air travelers. Hart says Cathay Pacific offers some of the best airline food, but Egypt Air is the worst. "If you saw what the potatoes looked like — little fingers," he says.

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