IVL

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

What's in a name?

Ever wondered just how many people call a carbonated soft drink "pop" and how many call it "soda"? Sure you have. I bet you were thinking about this just the other day. Well ponder this no more. Someone has created a survey that allows people across the country to state which term they use the most, and this person even made it easy for us to see what parts of the country each term is prevalent in (as well as notating that some people actually call the drink a "Coke." Go figure.)
Check it out:
Pop vs. Soda

This makes me want to see what other silly things I can dig up.

Ah here's a fun one in case you're a little bored at work and looking for a bit of amusement:

The Dialectizer - Turn any of your favorite websites into a parody of itself by translating the text into "Redneck" and "Cockney." This blog post has taken me about an hour to write because I stopped to play with this sucker :) Shortly, I will be passing the website on to coworkers and causing a general halt to everyone's productivity.

This isn't so much silly as it is interesting if you're etymologically-oriented like me:

Wordorigins.com - Just scroll about half-way down the page to get an alphabetized list of common words and phrases and how they came to be. I dig stuff like this.

And here's a bunch of word games for the heck of it:

Oxford Word Games - Everything from Malapropisms to Anagrams.

Here's a little game for those of you weirdos who prefer playing with numbers:

Sudoku Online - This little game seems to be sweeping the 'Net right now. Everyone's playing it, everyone's addicted to it. Except me. I hate it.

Written by atomicweightofcheese @ 12:55 PM || 3 comments |

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

I heart the Interweb

Let me tell you a story about how the Internet has A) changed my life a few years ago and B) brightened my day yesterday.

I never knew my biological father growing up. He and my mother parted ways before I was born and that's really all I ever knew. My mother married a wonderful guy when I was seven and I grew up calling him Dad and all was well with the world.

Until he passed away quite suddenlyin 1992. Gosh it's hard to believe it's been 13 years.... but I digress. I often wondered about my biological father throughout my life but since I had such a brilliant stepdad it was never really more than a passing thought. Then in 2001 I was poking around the 'Net and I decided - on a whim - to see if my biological father was online in any way shape or form. To my great surprise, he was. One quick search turned up his email address.

So I sent him an email. And he wrote me back. And from then on it's been fantastic getting to know him and meeting his daughter who's my half-sister. We keep in touch via email and instant messenger and have been able to meet up when he comes to GI (He lives in Montana.) Through him, I've met new family in Lincoln whom I just adore and who have welcomed my daughter and me into their lives as if we'd been there all along. That whim of mine to search his name on the internet was one of the best things I've ever done. I don't know that I'd have these wonderful people in my life now if not for the web.

The other cool thing that happened because of the awesomeness that is Google, is yesterday I hooked up with an old friend I have not talked to for almost 8 years. We met when I lived in England and worked in a pub just outside London. He was doing work exchange the same as me as the bartender there and we just hit it off and became such good friends until his visa ran out and went back home to Minneapolis. We emailed for a while but eventually lost track as you do.

Until yesterday when I ran his name through Google, on yet another whim, and I found him! So now we've reconnected and I can't wait to catch up with him and see if he ever found Mr. Right and all that good stuff.

So today I just felt like pointing out that the Internet is more than just cool websites, special interest stuff, spam and jokes - it can also change your life.

Written by atomicweightofcheese @ 5:46 PM || 0 comments |

Friday, November 11, 2005

Creepifying

I was sent this link yesterday and since then I haven't been able to rid myself of a rather large case of Heebie Jeebies. In trying to describe the content of these... cartoons I found myself unable to utter anything but, "It's just creepy" and "Guh..."

But I like the creepy. That said, view these at your own risk.

- Spooons
- Friends
- Nettles
- Cage
- Picnic
- Present

It's the general consensus around the office that "Cage" is truly disturbing. It's hard to pinpoint what makes these so creepy - the randomness of them all? The scratchy background music? Use of the word "teat"?

You decide.

Written by atomicweightofcheese @ 1:16 PM || 1 comments |

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Mad PS Skillz

The first Photoshop contest I ever looked at was on Fark. Members are given a theme, an original photo and are told to Photoshop it to fit the theme. It's great stuff and remains my favourite part of Fark. Some of those folk have got some real talent.

The other day, Tonga sent me a link to Worth1000.com - it's chock FULL of photoshop contests and I've spent hours trawling through them and laughing my ass off.

Examples:
Theme: Where are they now?

So the thighmaster venture must have failed.

Theme: Frankenstein vs. Da Vinci (Monsters in Great Art)

Still giggling over this one.

Theme: 6 Degrees of "Lost"

John Locke Picard :)

So yeah check out Worth1000.com. It's... well, worth it :)

Written by atomicweightofcheese @ 1:18 PM || 0 comments |

GetIndyKnow.com blogs are collections of short, frequently updated posts by members of the Grand Island community and Nebraska natives. Bloggers, and comment posters, are solely responsible for what they say.

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elementopia

What's in a name?

I *heart* the Interweb

Creepifying

Mad PS Skillz

I heart the Interweb