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As a result of this, we're seldom short of content -- indeed, even Google has long ago given up telling us how many web pages it's indexed on its search screen, there are that many!

Many lovely and often hilarious parody sites have also shown up over the years and a good many of them have been mentioned in Aardvark, especially through the intermittently published "Lighten Up" section.

Now have your say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums While you're here, why not visit the Aardvark Hall of Shame and perhaps make your own nomination. 7

Well, to cap off a week in which TradeMe seems to have gotten more than its fair share of mention, I've got another gem to share with you.

I just *love* this parody of TradeMe.

Not only is the domain name a parody in itself, but the crudeness of the graphic, the wording and the sheer simplicity of it is pure genius.

Of course the ultimate endorsement of this site as a brilliant parody only becomes really apparent when you click on that graphic.

I love it!

Tomorrow today
I was born before mankind had been able to catapult anything beyond the thin veil of earth's atmosphere and into the inky darkness of real space.

I find it quite amazing therefore that, in less than one life-span, we're now reaching the point where regular folks will soon be able to launch stuff into the cold and vacuum that surrounds this planet.

Of course some (almost) regular folks such as the Rutans have already made and proven space-flight-capable vehicles (and claimed $10m as a result) but there's another interesting company getting into the act on a somewhat smaller scale.

As documented in the New Scientist (link in the headlines section below), an enterprising company plans to soon set up a service that will allow you or I (or anyone else) to send drink-can sized objects into space for just US$99.

Now that's pretty cool.

Unfortunately it's not as cool as it could be. It would appear that the objects won't make it into orbit, spending only a few brief minutes in space before returning to earth, all the time safely ensconced in a capsule.

And don't think about sending your pet Hamster on a the ride of his life -- you have to be able to show that anything which goes up alive will come down in the same condition.

In fact, the more I think about it, the less impressed I am and the less I think that this service will really be a financial success. Sure, it's only NZ$160 but what on earth would *you* use this service for?

Maybe the odd highschool or university project would find it a valuable service but even then, I doubt there'd be enough revenue from such customers to keep the thing flying.

Here's today's challenge: what would you send into space (remembering that it will also be returned to earth) using a service such as this?

Is this project ever likely (in your opinion) to get off the ground?

Oh yeah, please visit the advertiser you see at the top of this column -- let them know that Aardvark's a good place to be -- even when it's free :-)

Free Advertising!
Yes, while I sort out the issue of sponsorship, I'm offering loyal Aardvark readers the chance to have their venture advertised for free on these pages.

If you send me your 150x150 banner (no more than 20KB) and a URL to point at, I'll put it in a rotation to appear in the area currently allocated to sponsorship.

Because of my government-imposed state of impoverishment, I won't be charging for this exposure and there's no obligation to anyone -- but neither are their any promises ;-)

Drop me a line if you'd like to take advantage of this.

Did you notice
As eagle-eyed readers will have noticed, sponsorship of this fine blog/column is up for grabs.

Those who have already made enquiries about sponsoring Aardvark should hear back from me this week - and anyone else who might like to do so should drop me a line ASAP.

Tell us all and see what others have to say in The Aardvark Forums

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