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Picks of the Week: 19th March 2001

Top of the mornin' to you from all at Picks Central. Don't know about you, but our hooters are still beetroot red from the combined festivities of Red Nose Day and St Patrick's. So, in honour of scarlet conks across the land, here's a selection of Picks that'll make your nose blush.
The mighty Comic Relief gave us a night to remember, what with Ali G grilling Posh and Becks about their, erm, home life, and Alan Partridge showing us his boxing skills. Yes, the tears of laughter (and sympathy) were abundant on Red Nose Day, as folk up and down the land gave generously to a variety of worthy causes. The Comic Relief site makes donating some online cash an absolute doddle. There's also details of where the money goes, and a currency converter if you're donating from outside the UK. The highlight of Red Nose Day 2001 had to be the bizarre sight of an exhausted Jack Dee finally escaping the Celebrity Big Brother house against a backdrop of fireworks, searchlights, and torrential rain...
And if the rain ain't to blame for turning that nose red, maybe Chillis Galore is. This hot site will tell you all you need to know if you need a little spice in your life. There is an identification chart so you can line up the unusual suspects, and loads of recipes for dishes with the potential to make steam come out of your ears. For the real enthusiast, there are also instructions on how to grow your own chillies. The articles on the site make for fascinating reading as well. We learned that the hottest chilli on Earth comes from India. Apparently, the Tezpur chilli has 855,000 Scoville units of pure capsaicin (the scale of heat in chillies) while the Mexican Red Savina Habanero contains 557,000 units. Hot gossip indeed.
Now then, think of red noses and clowns spring instantly to mind. However, the chaps at Acrobat Productions show us there's more than clowns to the circus with their excellent little site. A few of the artistes here are ex-Cirque du Soleil performers, and all seem to be able to get themselves tangled up in knots without even breaking a sweat. Take Wolfgang Bientzle, for example, who is a master (and European Champion) of the German Gymnastic Wheel, and The Gandini Juggling Project who take juggling to a whole new level.
If you're after more clowning around, you might want to delve into UK Favourites for Kids. This is a cool directory of great kids sites for little 'uns aged between 6 and 14. The design is very simple and functional, and might not be so appealing to children in general but the wealth of sites here is very impressive indeed. We particularly savoured the section on chocolate, for research purposes only, we assure you... There's also a facility to "Ask Betty" all those awkward Internet-based questions you ever wanted answers for. Just be sure to ask nicely and keep your noses clean!
We were feeling strangely a little worse for wear the morning after St Paddy's Day. Perhaps due to the guilt of our excesses, we felt compelled to pay our respects over at the Saint Patrick's Cathedral site. There's loads to learn here about why Dublin has two cathedrals, why St Patrick's was elevated from church to cathedral status, and of course lots about the great man himself. This marvellous site set us right up for a hair of the dog that bit us, trashed our house, and erased several hours of our memories... Our noses may stay very red for some time to come.

Sites Featured in Picks of the Week:

Comic Relief - Cyrano de Bergerac.
Chillis Galore - light the taper, stand well back.
Acrobat Productions - send in the clowns.
UK Favourites for Kids - a nose for good sites.
Saint Patrick's Cathedral - happy Sundays.

Sniffed one out? Who nose.

Previous Weeks' Picks:

[ 12th March 01 | 5th March 01 | 26th February 01 | 19th February 01 ]