Waste of time #10000

BLUE CHAMBER

I'm still working on this (and on the Japanese raft).

A Californian In Old York

My good buddy Josh is moving to England. Bummer for his friends stateside, but quite the adventure for him and his lovely wife. He's just getting started, so bookmark and come back often.

Waste of time #8

For my non-Japanese readers, here are the rules:
· Only 2 persons on the raft at a time
· The father can not stay with any of the daughters without their mother's presence
· The mother can not stay with any of the sons without their father's presence
· The thief (striped shirt) can not stay with any family member if the Policeman is not there
· Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman know how to operate the raft

Click the big blue button at the bottom right to begin. And try not to let the question of why these people are so violent with each other distract you.

http://www.gsart.com.br/midia/riverIQGame.swf

Waste of Time #13

Snowplow Game from Boston.com (Igor, you especially should enjoy this. Now get back to work!)

Waste of time #24

Project X: The First Strike is a first-person shooter Flash game in German. Well, the instructions and dialogue and stuff are in German, but you don't need to understand any language to shoot aliens, do you?

Remembering Amanda Davis

a page at McSweeney's where people who knew Amanda Davis, a writer I'd previously not heard of but wish I knew, share their thoughts and memories. At once personal and universal. Everyone should have someone in their life like Amanda Davis. So few of us do.

McSweeney's, in general, is a repository of brilliance on any given day. Poke around with no goal in mind, that's the most fun way to explore.

The 12 STIs Of Christmas

On this side of the pond, it would be "STDs", but it would still be funny, and wrong on so many levels, but it's all in the name of education. The 12 STIs Of Christmas

You really CAN get anything on eBay

This appeared at the bottom of a conversation I was having via Gmail with my mom.

ELITE DESIGNERS AGAINST IKEA

ELITE DESIGNERS, led by a man named Van der Puup (pronounced however you want). Brilliant. Make sure you watch the commercials "against" IKEA, and the interview movies.

Modest Needs

Modest Needs is a really cool way to help people:

In March 2002, Modest Needs was founded by Keith Taylor, who created Modest Needs as his way of repaying the many small kindnesses that others had shown to him.

On the original site, he pledged to give away 10% of his gross monthly income as a teacher - $350.00 - to help people with small, unexpected expenses and nowhere else to turn, no questions asked. He raised the money to honor his pledge by selling most of what he owned.

Taylor expected that people would ask for help. But he had no idea that so many others would write to say, "My life was also touched by kindness. How can I be a part of what you're doing?"

The Original Tombstone Generator

The Original Tombstone Generator is perhaps a bit morbid, but it can be fun. My first:

Karroll's Christmas

A funny take-off on Dickens's classic is premiering on A&E tonight at 8 PM eastern and pacific (check local listings for details). You should watch it because it'll make you laugh.

And also because my dad is the producer. Really.

Fantastic use of digital photographic technology

a 2.5 BILLION pixel photo of the city of Delft in the Netherlands. You can zoom in and see things in incredible detail, and find out how they did it. Fascinating and fun. Well, I think so, anyway.

Looking to hire a French software developer?

I'm not either, but Alexandre Gueniot is hoping someone is.

Advanced use of Flash

tokyoplastic v.2

I have no idea what these people do (it apparently has something to do with dolls), but the use of Flash is interesting, as is the use of the English language.

Warning: If you are prone to epileptic fits, don't go there.

Australians at the forefront of drinking-related innovation, again.

This made it all the way to SDSU's daily paper this morning:

This week in wireless | CNET News.com: "If you are planning to attend holiday parties this season, you may be interested in a new service tailored to help people avoid making those embarrassing drunken calls.

Australia's Virgin Mobile lets customers punch in a code plus a phone number they don't want to call when drunk. Virgin Mobile will--for a 25-cent fee--stop all calls to that number by blacklisting it until 6 a.m. the following day.

A survey of 409 people by Australia's Virgin Mobile, a joint venture of Virgin Group and Optus, found that 95 percent made drunken phone calls. Of those calls, 30 percent were to ex-partners, 19 percent to current partners and 36 percent to other people, including their bosses."

Modern Living?

What the phrase Modern Living has to do with this site, I have no idea. But it's visually fascinating and creative.

Happy Hannukah!

Or is it Happy Chanukah? Chappy Channukkah?

Whatever... Just check these things out:
My Menorah here, and this awesomely amateurish Hey Ya! takeoff.

Chag sameach!

The New York Times: A Look at 1000 Who Died

The New York Times: A Look at 1000 Who Died should be the first thing everyone at the White House and the Pentagon, especially at the highest levels, looks at every morning and the last thing they look at every night.

Regardless of your position on the war, thank a member of the military as soon as you can find one. Don't have anyone nearby? Got any DVDs you don't watch anymore, or some disposable income to spend on new ones (even from eBay or other discounted sources)? Put a package together and send it to troops in the Middle East.

I have a particular soft spot for the Marines, but the DoD has a clearinghouse website with links to tons of support sites. Donate blood, donate a phone card so guys can call home, send some cookies, just do something to say thanks, especially at this time of year.

Whatever

Whatever is the blog of writer John Scalzi. Well-written, funny where it needs to be, biting and sharp where it needs to be that. It's what I aspire to.

Viral Fun: Icon Story

Icon Story is going around. Enjoy one of the most creative uses of Windows icons ever.