AMUSEMENT
Silly stuff. Wacky stuff. Downright crazy stuff. The
socially-redeeming value of the sites listed in this section is
open to challenge. But there's bound to be something here that
will tickle your funny bone. Or something.
Need a lift? This site will say all those
nice things to you that even your best friends may
forget to say. If you'd prefer to be insulted in the
time-honoured Shakespearean fashion, there's
always this site. (10/05)
The results of a translation of a short
phrase from English to another language and back
again are so wacky that I couldn't put this one in
the "Intellectual Stuff" section of this page. Try
translating "I love my wife" into Spanish and back
again. (7/04)
"BBspot is a satirical news and comedy
source and meant to be funny. If you are easily
offended, gullible or don't have a sense of humor we
suggest you go elsewhere." (11/05)
"A whimsical literary competition that
challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence
to the worst of all possible novels." Really. And
they do this every year? Migawd! (Seriously, it's a
hoot! And I got the link from the Chair of the
English Dept. of a community college that shall
remain nameless to protect the guilty.)
(7/04)
Another e-zine collection of wacky ideas.
Try the Starbucks personality test
(tell it your usual coffee order and see
what it thinks of you). Or you're a bit more
bloody-minded, try the Bush Conspiracy
generator. (7/04)
Darwin Awards celebrate Charles Darwin's
theory of evolution by commemorating those who
improved our gene pool by removing themselves from
it. Some of them are really quite bizarre! As Kenneth
Galbraith said, "If all else fails, immortality can
always be assured by spectacular error." And, you
never know—some day, a Darwin Award winner
might also qualify for a Stella Award (see below). (2/03)
Provide a birthdate and personality type; it
predicts your date of death. But don't make book on
the answer. There's other fun stuff too. JavaScript
required. (7/04)
"Jokes? Funny pictures? Trivia? You've got
it. At Dribbleglass.com, you're encouraged to 'drink
deeply from the Dribble Glass of Life.' Life is too
important to take seriously!" Check out
"billboards we'd like to
see" in the Pictures section....
(7/04)
"Welcome to Dumb Warnings, where you may see
the consequences of numerous pointless lawsuits. In
addition to Dumb Warnings, this site will also
feature Dumb Instructions, Rules, and other
information frequently placed on
packages."(7/04)
How do you archive an Easter egg? Well, when
you're talking about the little surprises that
computer programmers like to tuck into their
company's products, it's a bit easier. But you won't
find them by accident. This is the site that will
tell you where they are. (11/05)
Some people have been highly ingenious (and
occasionally ingenuous) in the composition of their
e-mail addresses. Some are actually quite
funny! (7/04)
From Kevin Wald, a Maths grad of the
University of Chicago. That university must have a
really interesting maths program. Wald is now a maths
prof—I'll bet you don't sleep in his
lectures! (7/04)
"Based on an ancient Cro-Magnon skinning
chant." Yes, that's what it says. It goes downhill
from there. Rapidly. All that's on this page is a
musical score. But I'll bet that you can't play it.
On anything. And if that isn't enough, Stump has also
given us Prelude and the Last Hope in C and C#
Minor." (8/05)
I don't know why it's called that. I wonder
if the Scots do. Anyway, it's an interesting
collection of Scottish observations. The
dictionary is worth the price of admission.
(7/04)
Contains "wacky, bizarre, surreal and
otherwise strange examples of technical
documentation, particularly illustration." Some
graphical examples of some of the sillier slip-ups in
preparing user instructions. No wonder some people
don't bother reading the instructions. The page is
hosted on a site whose primary purpose is a writer's
blog. Worth checking out in its own right. (7/07)
"For too long the world wide web has been
the domain of callow youth. Now it is time for the
Over Fifties to fight back and claim their rightful
status in cyberspace." Some pithy (and sometimes
wickedly accurate) humour from those who have been
around long enough to know how it really
works. (7/04)
"Insultmonger.com specializes in insulting
humor. If you're looking for a funny or cutting
insult, you're looking in the right place!" Try the
Autoflamer. Or the Insult Generator.
(7/04)
I don't know what it is that happens when
Japanese is translated into English. But the results
can be quite amusing. This site collects examples of
that strange effect on advertising.
(11/05)
Lists lots of lists of lists, maintained by
popular vote. You could start with the "Top 41 Signs
You've Spent WAY Too Much Time At The Computer". Or
"Top 34 Signs Your Using Microsoft Windows"
(sic). (7/04)
"Information that everyone should know,
wants to know, or forgot." Not bloody likely. But
there are some funny photos, and the Bush Shootout
game works well (for a shoot-em-up) if you have a
fast Internet connection. (Somebody's wishful
thinking, perhaps?) (7/04)
Looking for an excuse? This may be the
place. However, I didn't find a category for excuses
for visiting the site. You get to decide whether you
need one. (11/05)
This page is a real giggle. The sound track
is what makes it, though. I got the link from someone
who sent it to me with the legend "how you can tell
if your cat has seen you naked". (7/04)
I'm not convinced that it's completely
useless. But then, I don't know what you'd use it
for. But that probably doesn't matter if you're a
Monty Python fan. Anyway, if you're looking for Monty
Python skits, photos, whatever—you can probably
find them here. (7/04)
"Because you can read, and we have a
website." The name says it all. If you insist on
taking current events seriously, go read the
New York Times. The site is now being maintained as an
archive—it is no longer being updated.
(7/04)
"Personality tests" to help you select or
rate just about anything you can think of. Your
friends and room-mates? The Star Wars species you
should have been (or are)? If you don't like any of
the 10,000 or so that are offered, make one of your
own. (11/05)
The site's raison d'etre is Barnes
& Noble's answer to Cole's Notes. But this page
has a whole bunch of personality tests. Quite fun,
but probably to be taken with a grain of salt. A big
one. (7/04)
This one is just plain strange. But
interesting (I think). It's mostly "mystery meat"
navigation—slide your cursor around and watch
for the pointing finger. Then click — if you
feel like it. (7/07)
"Stuff for smart masses." An on-line
catalogue of geek stuff. Some of it is quite novel,
and even imaginative. Like the monitor desk light. And the demotivational posters
are a hoot. (11/05)
"Have you ever wondered what happened to
...? Well you've come to the right place. This is
where we track the has-beens & those that have
been-there-done-that and moved on. Look up that
favorite flash-in-the-pan and find out they're living
a life as mundane as yours now." (11/05)
"Willy" being Sir Wilfrid Laurier, whose
face appears on the Canadian $5 bill. Now you can
track the travels of your Canadian folding money,
just as Americans do on "Where's George". (1/04)
VIDEO HUMOUR
Ads and other video clips. Some of the ads you won't find on
North American TV—that's for sure!
"Our minds have become a virtual dumping
ground of pollutants—manipulative ads,
distorted news, untold violence, spin and hype." It
goes on from there. The ads that AdBusters takes
issue with really aren't very funny—they're
sick. (10/05)
A wacky collection of video
humour—many of which are TV ads. Some you won't
see in North America. It seems the European market
will accept edgier ads than the North American
marketplace. Just more tolerant, I guess—of
everything. (10/05)
A strange collection of media
clips—generally aimed at demonstrating the
silliness of the human condition. You'll need fairly
current multimedia hardware and software for this
site. (10/05)
I've no idea how they got to that name for
the site. But there's lots of greeting
cards—and lots of them with Flash. Perhaps
those aren't for slow machines, though.
(7/04)
About.com used to have its own greeting
cards. Not any more. Now they've got one of the most
impressive collection of links to greeting card
sites. (7/04)
"Send cards, save wildlife!" Care2 is a site
devoted to environmental cocerns, and their greeting
cards reflect this approach. They're cute! (But the
site does use popups.) (11/05)
There are 42 cards on this site, but they're
classy. Macromedia Flash required to view the cards,
so don't send these to your maiden aunt who is still
running Windows 3.1 on a '486. She won't have
it. (7/04)
This one isn't really a greeting card site.
What it does do is provide a vast array of stuff you
can use to create your own greeting cards and gift
tags—or website. It's all there—fonts,
borders, clip-art, banners, backgrounds. The whole
nine yards. Very impressive. It's huge.
(7/04)
Akin was involved in the design of Telstar,
the first communications satellite. But these could
just as easily (with a few judicious amendments)
could be corollaries to Murphy's Law.
(11/05)
"Our goal is to make people LAUGH, then make
them THINK. We also hope to (a) spur people's
curiosity about science, and (b) raise the question:
How do you decide what's important and what's not,
and what's real and what's not—in science and
everywhere else?" IMHO, the site succeeds in both
objectives. Check out the
AIRchives Classics—you could start with
"The Fastest Man on Earth—Why
Everything You Know About Murphy's Law is
Wrong". (7/04)
Turn a book loose into the wild after
registering it on this site—and see where it
goes and what people think of it. Or just add or read
other people's reviews. (11/05)
"Links to the most interesting sites on the
internet." Probably a matter of opinion. Some would
also suggest that this site belongs in the section at
the top of this page. Oh, well... (4/03)
This site aims at making cellphone use more
palatable in public places, and reports on some of
the more insane misuses of the medium. The news
reports are quite entertaining. (7/04)
A delightfully-irreverent recounting of some
of the major (and minor) events of Greek mythology.
If it wasn't offered by someone trained in the
Classics by the Jesuits, I'd have put this site in
the Amusement section of this page.
(7/04)
Maybe this page belongs on the
Technical Resources page
on this site. But it's too much fun watching
people slam M$ and other suppliers that can't get it
right. (7/04)
Not all of the Guinness World Records are on
the site. But there are enough here than mayby I
should have listed this site on the Reference page. (7/04)
Under way since 1971, the Gutenberg Project
aims to create an electronic library to make literary
classics and other selected written works available
to all after its copyright expires. The site now has
over 16,000 books available—free.
(11/05)
A web designer's personal site. Includes
some quite inventive examples of the webmeister's
art, many of which are highly educational. For
instance: check out Luciferous Logolepsy and The Megapenny Project. (7/04)
A "scholarly and publicly-oriented journal
devoted to the study of the "unmarked"—those
aspects of our everyday lives that typically go
unnoticed by us, both as academics and as everyday
individuals." (7/04)
"LaughLab was a huge scientific experiment
to discover the world's funniest joke." You get to
decide for yourself how serious this project is. You
can buy the book on
Amazon.com (7/04)
"What part of beer don't you understand?"
I'm not really sure where this site belongs in The
WizWorks Collection. It's on this page because I like
it's attitude. It's in this section because it does
actually report events in the beer-brewing
industry. (7/04)
A thoughtful exposition on Mindjack on the impact that the creation of the World
Wide Web has had on advertising—with some
interesting comments on where the Web works in that
milieu and where it doesn't. (7/04)
This one is right up there with
The Darwin Awards (see above). The Stella Award goes to the
person that launched the most frivolous lawsuit. It's
named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, who suffered
third-degree burns to her legs, groin and buttocks
after spilling a cup of McDonald's coffee on
herself—and was awarded US$2.9m for her pains
in 1994. The difference with this site is that it
aims to debunk the fictitious "awards" (of which
there are many) and trumpet the real ones in the
interests of tort reform. It also explains why
Stella's case against McDonald's succeeded—in a
much smaller amount. (2/03)
"Carping about the excesses of clueless
crybabies since the turn of the century." A
collection of reports of news stories that illustrate
the inanities and insanities of political
correctness. (11/05)
"Where you learn good Web design by looking
at bad Web design." A good site to check into if
you're interested in what makes a bad website. Unless
your website is one of those shown here, that
is. (11/05)
"...a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. With rare exceptions, its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the 'edit this page' link." Wikipedia has doubled its content in the last two years and now has nearly 2,000,000 articles in English alone. (7/07)
Information technology-related definitions
and information—and other great stuff.
(7/04)
alt.religion
I keep stumbling across websites (OK, my friends
sometimes send them to me) that cast themselves in the
form of an alternate religion. Usually with its tongue
firmly planted in its cheek. But they're always
thought-provoking. Should they appear on a page that is
essentially devoted to amusement? Perhaps not. But
consider this: everybody has to believe in something.
That's faith. It's an essential part of human nature. But
religion is not the same thing as faith, and has ruined
too many people's lives. It shouldn't be taken too
seriously.
"Can your beliefs about religion make it
across our intellectual battleground?" The aim here
is to examine your belief system for rational
consistency. There is a problem here: faith and logic
usually have very little to do with each
other—what cannot be defended by logic must be
taken on faith. Just the same, most like to believe
that their personal belief systems are logical. Do
you dare to put yours to the test? (11/05)
Not sure how to characterize your own
religious beliefs? Take the 20-question test here,
and let the results match you against the beliefs of
a range of religions. Or type your spiritual beliefs
here. Either is guaranteed to make you think a
little. (11/05)
This started with an open letter to the
Kansas School Board after the Board got a bit silly
with its stance re Intelligent Design vs. Theory of
Evolution. But if you're going to discuss one
faith-based (oops, sorry, religion-based) view in the
classroom, don't you have to allow equal time to any
others on offer? (9/05)
"We don't know, and we don't care."
Notwthstanding that opener, UCTAA does offer some real
food for thought, and encourages genuine debate. However, fundamentalists of any
stripe may prefer to avoid this site. UCTAA also offers some
links to some interesting material. For instance,
Roger Zelazny's
"The Agnostic's
Prayer". (7/07)
"Virus was originally created to compete
with the traditional (irrational) religions in the
human ideosphere with the idea that it would
introduce and propagate memes which would ensure the
survival and evolution of our species." A bit
pretentious, and takes itself a little too
seriously—but there are some decent ideas to be
found if you dig a little. The Virtual Church of the Blind
Chihuahua is more entertaining. (7/04)
"The thinking cur's Christian presence on
the Internet ... a sacred place in cyberspace named
in honor of a little old dog with cataracts who
barked sideways at strangers, because he couldn't see
where they were." A delightfully irreverent but
insightful look at several topics of religious
interest and argument. This site is for humanists;
fundamentalists will find this site quite
disturbing. (9/05)
Logodaedaly ("Verbal
legerdemain; a playing with words")
One day, I looked at the "Intellectual Stuff"
section, and realized that I had collected a
disproportionate number of sites in this section
involving some kind of word-play. So I grouped them here
for the benefit of those who love to play with
words.
"Did you know that parliament is an
anagram of partial men? Or, Clint
Eastwood is an anagram of Old West Action?
Someone once said, 'All the life's wisdom can be
found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie.' Here is your
chance to discover the wisdom of anagrams."
(11/05)
Lake Superior State University's "selected
words and phrases that make up its 30th annual List
of Words Banished from the Queen's English for
Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness."
(3/05)
They're sort of a cross between a crossword
puzzle and Jumbles (an anagram brain-teaser that
appears in some newspapers). The letters in each
answer turn up in subsequent answers, so if you get
an early one wrong, things get interesting.
(7/04)
"The toughest word game on the Web."
He's probably right. But challenge yourself—you
might even learn something in the process. But the
test is all there is. (7/02)
The home of The International House of Logorrhea (a dictionary of rare and obscure words)
and The Compendium of Lost Words. And a bunch of other odd tools for the serious user of the English
language. If yesteryear's usages interest you, there may not be a better resource.
(7/07)
"...dedicated to the amusing quirks,
peculiarities, and oddities of the English language.
Our aim is to provide a site about wordplay which is
both entertaining and educational."
(7/02)
Seen the New Hacker's Dictionary? Here it
is—all the hackish terms you could ever wonder
about, with lots of amusing anecdotes thrown in. Lots
of terms are defined by internal
references—following those links can keep you
amused (or lost) for hours. (7/02)
"Home of The Word Spy. This Web site
and its associated mailing list are devoted to
recently coined words, existing words that have
enjoyed a recent renaissance, and older words that
are being used in new ways." You may need a recent
version of IE to browse this site—I had some
difficulty using Netscape 4.7. (7/02)
It's just that. Subscribers get an e-mail
every day that provides definitions for unusual words
in the English language. There are also tools for
dealing with acronyms and anagrams.
(7/02)
"These elegant bottles make great gifts,
fantastic classroom displays, and inferior
mouse-traps. With its circle of singularities, an
Acme Klein Bottle can be said to exist inside of
itself—especially handy during
time-reversals." (10/05)
"We are going where no microscope has gone
before by offering one of the Web's largest
collections of color photographs taken through an
optical microscope." This site doesn't really belong
in this category—but I don't have a category
for sites that offer this much information and this
much entertainment. Don't miss
Powers of Ten—start 10 million light-years from the
Milky Way galaxy and wind up face-to-face with a
proton in Florida. It's a great demo. (Java
needed.) (4/05)
What's a second cousin twice removed? This
page will help. If you really have an interest in
genealogy, check out the rest of the site.
Click here for the home page. (7/04)
A terminally-cute (yup, irresistible!) Flash
file of everybody's favourite cat. Scritch her (his?)
chest with the cursor if you have sound. Otherwise,
watch her watch the cursor move around. The site this
file is on is Dutch (which means I can't read it), so
I didn't bother with the home page.
(7/04)
