Distractions
When it comes to frittering away the hours indoors, it's hard to beat the internet.
Because among other things, like a library, shopping mall, news stand, postal center, movie theatre, bank, etc, the 'net is also a huge games parlour, and a vast curiosity gallery.
While some use it mainly for email and studious
purposes, there is a time for pure fun and games.
Somewhere an academic is probably frittering away weeks to find that heavy and unfocussed 'net usage causes SAM ( Severe Attention Maladjustment ), or short attention span to the rest of us.
But academics are used to being ignored, so I'll avoid rattling the cage, and suggest some websites which are frivolous or fun or both. Almost all of these sites are regularly updated.
Many people like to play games online, whether
they be card games, board games, or action
games. Among the best known and most
well-trafficked sites in this category would
be Yahoo Games,
where you'll likely find hundreds or even
thousands of people playing any one of more
than 80 games. Bear in mind that faster
connection speeds are better for timed games.
Along the same lines is playsite.com, while Shockwave.com offers action and mind games, and Fly The Copter is a very simple co-ordination game.
For people who like trivia games and quizzes there's the Trivia Portal or Cool Quiz, or you can play 20 questions against the computer.
There are of course an endless array of humour sites, but since tastes vary so much, it's probably safest to point toward Yahoo's humour and comics directories, or suggest you try some of the offerings at www.comics.com. The Webby Awards humour section is also a likely place to start.
For weird but true news stories there's fark.com, which features a few dozen contributed links a day, while Freaking News offers digitally-altered news photographs, and worth100.com spectacular digitally-altered photographs of all kinds.
For those who prefer their facts straight, there's
The Straight Dope,
which according to its motto has been
"fighting ignorance since 1973". The site puts right
commonly-held misconceptions, and publishes answers
to readers' questions.
Kids of all ages should enjoy boobah.com, a Flash-based website whose aim is to foster both creative thinking and creative movement, and to encourage physical action on the part of its young viewers.
For those who like to take pot luck, StumbleUpon takes visitors to a site randomly-chosen from the thousands gathered and rated by its members.
Googlism.com tells you what the world's most-used search engine, Google, thinks of any person, thing, place, or time.
There are curiosities everywhere, but three
worth a look are Eric Conveys an Emotion ,
The Cave of Magic,
and Street-Bellies from Brussels.
And lastly, for some music to accompany your frittering, you can find radio stations from all over the world at www.radiotower.com , and www.radio-locator.com. For these transmissions, the faster your connection speed, the more likely they are to be uninterrupted.
Happy frittering.
May 3, 2004.
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