STAFF at New Scientist were bemused last week by an email from Kim Daewoo Dogmeat, the "World Cup dog-meat supplier". The company exhorts us to transcend narrow cultural prejudice and sample the healthful delights of dog meat, a traditional Korean delicacy. It provides details on history, nutrition, recipes and an online order form.

Now, it so happens that animal rights activists organised protests about the Korean custom of eating dog when the World Cup was held in South Korea in June. So we immediately suspected that anyone silly enough to accept the offer of a 50 per cent discount on an order of dog meat would find themselves named and shamed in an exposé by the activists.

Our suspicions deepened when a second email arrived, requesting that an advertisement for Kim Daewoo Dogmeat be placed in New Scientist. The ad pictured a cute dachshund superimposed on a plate of "Dog, the Other White Meat" - a slogan very like that of the US National Pork Board. Such familiarity with US popular culture seemed odd for people whose command of English was, otherwise, noticeably laboured. And so did the ad's flippant suggestions to snack on a Schnauzer, feast on a Great Dane or, for something ethnic, try German-shepherd pie.

Some of our colleagues, remembering past occasions when Oriental companies had misjudged Western sensibilities, were still not convinced this was a hoax. They pointed out that the very professionally produced website, www.dogmeat.org, was indeed registered to an outfit describing itself as Kim Daewoo Dogmeat Company of Seoul. It lists branches in London, Toronto and Zurich and provides maps so that people can visit them.

On the other hand, this same company suggests on its site that you "sell your dog" - and explains in its email that this would solve your pet worries over the holidays (better, it says, than having to leave your dog on the motorway).

And in any case, Feedback suspects that British law prohibits people from selling dog meat, whether online or any other way.

Deeper delving finally revealed all. "Dogmeat.org is a scientific art pilot project with a time limit of 6 months," says a note buried deep in the site's lengthy disclaimer. "Dogmeat.org will evaluate visitor reactions."

Of course, scientific art! Why didn't we think of that?

We had a look at the visitor reactions on the site ourselves. The Swiss, on this subject at least, seem to have a livelier sense of humour than the outraged Brits. Could this be where the science bit comes in?

GOOGLE never fails to amaze. If you're searching for a term including the word "the", Google helpfully points out: "'the' is a very common word and was not included in your search". The same reply greets other humble words such as "who"

FOUND on the European Space Agency website: "ESA is sponsoring Spaceguard, a worldwide astronaut tracking project that aims to plot the orbits of all Earth-crossers; more than 300 have been logged so far."

READER Ben Alcock recently received this email from Goodfellow, the international supplier of industrial and scientific research materials: "It has come to our attention that an email we sent recently announcing our new website could have been sent to you more than once due to a software problem experienced by our mailing house. We sincerely apologise for this. Goodfellow has a long-standing tradition of respecting our customers' privacy and data, and we regret any inconvenience this may have caused you."

Needless to say, Alcock received this email three times.

CHEEKY Hotmail. The server is supposed to be working on ways to upgrade its junk-mail filtering capabilities, yet it surreptitiously includes a pre-ticked box in personal settings that allows it to share users' email addresses with other companies.

We've asked several Hotmail users if they were aware of this, and they weren't. But they did say they'd noticed they were getting far more spams these days.

TISCALI'S free SMS service somewhat undermines the warning at the bottom of its web page: "Please note: Tiscali members using the Free SMS Service to send abusive messages may be traced upon request from the police and may be prosecuted under the Malicious Communications Act 1988. This offer is subject to availability."

OUR readers' generosity knows few bounds. Merrily and Ian Richardson kindly sent us a Chupa Chups lollipop. They also sent its list of ingredients, all 83 of them, which contained a warning that contents "may vary".

Will we, Merrily and Ian ask, find anyone brave enough to eat it? We're not sure. But if any readers should stumble across a single malt whisky with its ingredients listed...

FINALLY, a colleague reports receiving a spam email offering the possibility of "firmer, lager breasts".

He wonders whether the next one will offer a "bigger beer belly" to go with them.