Flat Earth: Polling pranks

The South African election is not that far away, and idle computer fans are already having fun with it. At the end of May the voters will be deciding whether the African National Congress should be given another five-year mandate, and whether Thabo Mbeki should succeed Nelson Mandela as president.

In reality the result is no contest, and everyone knows it. It is more fruitful to speculate on how Mbeki will differ from his predecessor once he has the top job: more socialism and less kindly treatment of the whites is the prevailing view.

With this in mind, someone has constructed what looks like a Web page, which asks: "Do you intend to vote for the ANC?" You are prompted to click on "Yes", which brings up the message: "Thank you Comrade, we will redistribute your wealth among us!" Try to click on the "No" button and it jumps all over the screen, eluding your frantic pursuit with the pointer.