Fun on the Net -- how to waste a little time

Since I was sick last week (very bad head cold), I took to my bed with my UMPC. For the first time in many months I had the time to just poke around the Internet for the hell of it. I was once again struck by how much stuff you can find. Here are the sites that I especially liked:

Wordle

For example there is Wordle. This nifty little site lets you put in a web address and then it creates a word cloud from the text. A word cloud is a graphic representation often a word is used. The bigger the word the more often it was used. Here is the word cloud for the first page of this blog:

In the sample of the blog Thrumpton was the word most often used. It would be interesting to see how the whole site fares as opposed to just the front page. I had hoped that eBook or even Book would show up more prominently.

Bored

My mother always said that "only boring people get bored". Far be it to argue with my mother, but I have to say that after two days of laying around I was pretty bored. Fortunately I stumbled on the mother of all time wasting sites -- Bored.com.

There are more ways to waste time than you can imagine: quizzes, trivia, games, bad stories and pickup lines, stupid tricks and strange inventions. Pictures, words, music; you name it.

This is a site that brightened up my day!

Google Gadgets

From the useful to the ridiculous -- Google gadgets for the Google Desktop has them all. Now, I am a great fan of Google Desktop; I honestly don't know how I would find anything with out it. But my use has always been rather utilitarian and business like. I finally took the time to find out what else I could put on my desktop.

Here is a whole new dimension to how to waste time: Check out Catch the Bee, Hot or Not, Tetris, Daily quotes and pictures, newsfeeds and computer performance monitors. Some of these are even useful!

I am happy to be feeling better, but I am not so sure I am as stoked about the idea of actually working. I'm sure that there has to be a way to incorporated some of these finds into my daily work life; I just need a little time to figure it out.

del.icio.us Tags: wordle,bored,gadgets,time wasters,the internet