t's magic. Well, maybe it isn't sorcery, but the illusions at Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest really are magical. Each year, the Neural Correlate Society sponsors what they call "a celebration of the ingenuity and creativity of the world’s premier visual illusion research community." They explain that visual illusions are simply perceptual experiences that don't match actual physical reality, but the many winners from the past five years are truly amazing. While there are other Web sites that offer eye-tricking treats, it's especially fun to understand why these illusions work. Some are interactive, letting you change the visual, while others let you fool yourself by looking at them in a certain way or at a specific spot. And you'll find that time will magically evaporate while visiting this fascinating site.

here's strength in numbers. That's the premise of the site FlowingData. The brainchild of statistician Nathan Yau, who says he lives and breathes data, FlowingData explores how designers, statisticians and computer scientists use this information to understand humans better, primarily through data visualization, which lets non-experts like me make sense of all those digits. This marriage of numbers and pictures really does help someone who struggles with math understand what these brainiacs are trying to tell us. The site is easy to navigate, whether you're clicking links, searching or adding your own comments. And, of course, in addition to the numerals and discussion of numerals, there are pretty pictures, including lots of graphs that help you see what the numbers mean. And that really props up all of those digits!

t all starts with a single sheet of paper.. Then you can take it from there on the origami site Happy Folding. As you probably know, origami is the Japanese art that lets you create everything you can imagine - and some things you can't - simply by folding pieces of paper. Site owner Sara Adams explains that she got hooked on origiami in 2005, and she suspects, after some time on the site, you just might get hooked, too. Browsing through the many photos of and instructions for paper rats, flowers, birds, pregnant women and even a ninja, you just might. There are step-by-step diagrams to show you how to make some of these creations, instructional videos you can sort by difficulty, type of paper and other parameters, a gallery, a dictionary and links, all celebrating what you can make with a simple sheet of paper.

ell me a story. East of the web's wonderful Short Stories does that, instantly, in myriad ways. You'll find a featured selection of the month as well as Children's, Crime, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Nonfiction, Romance and Sci-Fi stories, a story of the day, a random story and top stories. There are classic and contemporary stories, teacher and story guides. You can search for a title, author or keyword, and see other tales by the same author with a single click. Each story also has an age rating, quality rating and page length. Perhaps best of all, the stories can be read online, printed or downloaded for reading offline or on handheld devices. If you want to write as well as read, you can even add your own comments about each offering. And it all happens instantly, for free. Now there's a story worth telling!

ake out like a bandit. That's exactly what you can do at Make. This site, and its companion quarterly print magazine, is brought to you by the folks at O'Reilly. They publish books for programmers, so they definitely know something about technology. But here they make it accessible for non-geeks, bridging the gap between "wow" and "how." There is a lot here - a blog, video- and podcasts, projects, a community forum area and a Maker Shed Store where you can buy all sorts of kits, plans, books, tools and clothing. All the areas seem to intertwine and feed each other, although at times there's so much on the page it's easy to get distracted from the reason you went there in the first place. There are some online extras you can't find in the magazine, too, so you know you'll come away from this site with plenty!