CLICK AND DOUBLE CLICK: INTERNET TAKES TURN FOR THE WEIRD IN DOTCOMGUY OR DCG FOR SHORT

Let's face it. The Internet can be downright weird.

How else can you explain a 26-year-old guy who has changed his name to DotComGuy (DCG for short) and is living off the Internet for an entire year.

On the first day of the new year, he moved into an empty two-bedroom house in Dallas and must buy everything -- from furniture to food -- over the Internet. Cameras will broadcast his movements around the clock. EdTV and The Truman Show become reality.

www.dotcomguy.com

Of course, the bottom line is not weirdness, it's money. The whole point is to promote e-commerce. DotComGuy himself will earn money based on his length of stay. The amount doubles each month, from $24 the first month to just over $49,000 the last month -- nearly $100,000 in all.

You can view his daily schedule and watch him online. You can also chat or read his online journal.

You might want to bookmark this site to check back on DCG's sanity as the months wear on.

Talking about weird stuff, one of my kids favorite cartoons is Scooby-Doo. I know I watched those very same cartoons when I was a kid. Everything that's old is new again. Does that count for people, too?

scooby.cartoonnetwork.com

If you click on Scooby snack, you can get some Scooby facts. Did you know Scooby's real name was Scoobert and that Shaggy's full name is Norville Rogers? No wonder he goes by Shaggy. Hey, Norville.

No wonder the show looks so '60s. Scooby-Doo first premiered on Sept. 13, 1969. There are more than 300 episodes of Scooby-Doo. I think I've seen them all. I also learned on the site that Shaggy's character was inspired by the old TV series "Dobie Gillis."

If you have shockwave, you can play a couple of Scooby-Doo games. In Scrappy Stinks, you can take aim at Scooby's brave little nephew, Scrappy, with smelly goo. Jinkies, my accuracy rating was only 62 percent.

In the Scooby Theatre, you can listen to audio clips, including the original theme song, or view a video clip. I also learned the show's name was inspired by Frank Sinatra's song "Strangers in the Night." Freaky.

But let's get back to living in front of the Internet. DotComGuy is certainly not alone in his love for Web cams. You can find lots of sights and sounds at this popular site:

www.earthcam.com

I like the cams that show beautiful, lush scenery, but it's the cams on people that can prove the most entertaining.

Try clicking on the 25 Most Interesting Cams near the top of the page. There's lots of great choices.

Have you ever ridden in a New York cab and lived to tell the tale? Now you can enjoy the ride without the worry.

www.ny-taxi.com

You can sit back and relax as you enjoy the streets with your Cyber Driver, Clever Da Silva. Cab-Cam images refresh automatically about every 20 to 50 seconds.

What a surprise, we're caught in traffic and it's raining. Cab-Cam is live Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST. We probably don't want to see what happens after dark, anyway.

You can look at images from past trips in the archive. You can also e-mail your comments to the driver from this page. And best of all, you don't have to leave a tip.

Want something more personal? You can check out JenniCam, which is billed as the Internet's first personal Web cam.

www.jennicam.org

It first started in 1996 in her college dorm. Today, Jenni lives her life in front of multiple Web cams inside her home. She's a freelance Web designer who apparently works at home.

You can even open a remote window which allows you to continue surfing the Web while the JenniCam automatically refreshes.

I am amazed to learn that the cost of maintaining her site to handle the traffic has risen to several thousand dollars a month. As such, she is charging subscriptions to stay afloat financially. Those who join get faster updates.

You can read her journal or view her photo album. You can even join her JenniShow, a bi-weekly video Webcast, via RealVideo.

Want to attend a wedding without buying a gift? Check out A Little White Chapel, with its Web cam 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via the Discovery Channel site.

www.discovery.com/cams/wedding/wedding.html

This is the most famous of the nearly 100 chapels in Las Vegas. Because no blood test is required, it takes only 15 minutes to obtain a license at city hall. On Valentine's Day, the chapel may perform more than 500 ceremonies. Typically, they average a wedding every six minutes on the weekend, and every 15 to 20 minutes during the week.

There are a number of odd cams on the Internet, perhaps none so weird as the live camera that reveals the secret life of food in your refrigerator.

www.electrolux.com/node230.asp

For the first time in history, this camera shows groceries and other consumer products dwelling in the fridge. See red tomatoes relaxing. Study the social life of lemon yogurt. Speculate on the thoughts of assorted groceries. And for the biggest question: Which member of the Eletrolux Family will open the door next?

This is entirely too much excitement for one day.

What's your favorite weird site on the Internet? E-mail me at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

Joni Adams is the managing editor of the Southeast Missourian.