Elastic Enthusiastic

Wizards of Winter Light Display

This is the coolest Christmas light show ever! Seriously! Rumor has it that it's in Ohio.

Cat Stacking

Cat Stacking is a game similar to Tetris, but with cats...

Alex Chiu - Internet Superstar

I can't believe it has taken me this long to run across Alex Chiu on the web.

Babycal throw

My wife showed me this one a while back, but I had long since forgotten about it. Babycal throw is one of those games that is suprisingly addictive despite being fairly wierd.

Is your name Pete?

Is your name Pete? If it is, you should check out this link!

POOM!

Bouncing a ball should not be this hard....

The Cubes

Finally, the drudgery of corporate life has been captured in a play set for adults! The Cubes spend eight hours a day, five days a week, at tiny desks in tiny cubicles.

If I dig a very deep hole, where do I come out?

I've assumed if I dug a hole straight down in my back yard, that I'd end up in China.... but I was wrong. With the help of Google Maps, you can can figure out If I dig a very deep hole, where do I come out?

Sinosplice's China Junk Food Review

Sinosplice's China Junk Food Review highlights foods I've never heard of before and probably will never see. Check out the second edition for more when you've finished chewing on #1.

Political Compass

Think you are leftie or a rightie? Libertarian or Authoritarian? Take the Political Compass test and find out for sure!

GasBuddy

Search for gas prices by US Zip Code

What can I say? GasBuddy seems to make a lot more sense now than when I last heard of it a couple of years ago. The camparison charts are also an interesting newer feature. Who would have thought that gas is more expensive in Cleveland than in Washington DC?

Planet Designer

Planet Designer lets you play with the physics of planetary systems. I keep making planets that won't hold their atmosphere, but I'll just rent them cheap! A fun way to learn a little bit more about physics.

The Catsup Crapper

The Catsup Crapper is a fine example of what a MIT education will do for you.

I sure wish I had this much time on my hands!

Hard Drive Clock

Alan Parekh's Electronic Projects brings us the Hard Drive clock, a sweet clock made from an old hard drive and some LEDs. As we all know, anything with LEDs is cool, especially if they are different colors!

The videos really shows off the moves of this one of a kind timepiece!

Discover Music - Pandora

Pandora is an amazing service that will build custom "radio stations" for you based on a specified artist or song, and the feedback on suggested songs. I found it was dead on, and reminded me of some great songs and bands I've forgotten over the years!

The Old Negro Space Program

The Old Negro Space Program - The shocking but false story of America's blackstronauts.

Peekaboom

A fun game, and apparently you're helping computers to learn to see at the same time. Peekaboom is this week's top timewaster for me!

Spamusement

Spamusement calls itself "Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines", but I call it freaking hilarious. Then again, it is 12:31 AM right now, so I may think differently in the morning.

Either way, it has an RSS feed making it easier to get that fresh Spamusement daily.

One of my favorites:

New High tech product thats sure to please

Bridges

Can you build a bridge across the gameboard before the computer does? Kind of a cross between Tron light-cycles and connect four.

andromeda

andromeda is a supprisingly difficult game where you need to levitate a ball to various targets.

Ripley's Believe It or Not! IQ game

Ripley's Believe It or Not! IQ game

I had the golf-tee version of this game at one point in time and beat it then, but I can't seem to get past two balls left today...

Virtual Apple II - Online disk archive

Virtual Apple II - Online disk archive: "Play old Apple IIe games through your browser"

PatesonframeI

At first I thought Paesonframel was a puzzle, but then I realized it was a way to experiment with rhythm and music. Very unique and well done!

Planarity

While I'm doing the whole geek grove this week, I'll wrap it up with Planarity. A great game, check it out!

Physics Songs

From PhysicsSongs.org:

Songs about physics can help students to remember critical concepts and formulas, but perhaps more importantly they communicate the lesson that physics can be fun.

And who doesn't think physics is fun?

l will admit that I was so bored in High School physics class that we used to pass around orajel, because according to one of the girls in the class "it makes saying weird physics words sound funny" I will also however, admit that my High School band had a song about Pi, so I can relate to these songs. Unfortunately, only a handful have recordings (most just have lyrics). So far, my personal favorite is: Stuck in an Infinite Loop.

Music Thing

I've always had a love of music, and a pretty strong music background - I was in a band in college and managed a music store (guitar and drums, not LP and CD) for several years. I'm not sure if it's beacuse of this, or in spite of it, but the Music Thing blog always bring a smile to my face. Their recent entry on Mark Wood has to be my favorite this month:


So, I've written about Mark Wood and his $3,500 seven-string fretted Flying V-shaped violins before. But that was before 'loneguitarist' posted this [4mb QT] video of Mark's old band Voodoo Violince (do you see what he's done there?) In the video he's playing the violin on the left - which has a huge red hand pressing against his chest, and seems to be attached to him by some kind of leather choker.

Cockeyed.com

One of the funniest websites out there. How Much is Inside and Incredible Stuff I Made are probably my favorite sections. Now has a RSS feed, so it's even easier to keep up with the madcap escapades.

Thanks Rob, for hours of blown productivity!

Build your own R2-D2

For the geek with a lot of time on their hands - instructions on how to build your own R2 unit.

Zork in PHP

Ran across this verzion of Zork done in PHP. Watch out for grues!

Sudoku of the Day

Sudoku puzzles are a great mental challenge. Basically they are the numerical equivalent of crossword puzzles. The Sudoku site has a nice how-to on solving the puzzles.

Atom Smasher's Error Message Generator

3X the Shatner, 3X the Fun!

With William Shatner playing T.J. Hooker, Captain Kirk and himself, this could be Holy Grail of entertainment!

Filmwise Invisibles

Filmwise Invisibles - There's a new quiz every Monday that shows stills from eight different movies, with the actors removed "invisible man" style, leaving you to identify the scene from the clothing or scenery.

A great way to start the week if you are a film buff, or waste a couple of days straight, since there are 236 quizzes online already!

Which Napoleon Dynamite Character Are You?

I am Pedro!?

Which Napoleon Dynamite Character Are You?

80's music quiz

80's Lyrics Quiz: People are What?

I always found it very difficult to name artists/title... these are the songs everyone always mumbles along with in the car. Do you know them as well as you think you do?

Jews Rock

Jew or Not?

Some of the following 20 pop idols are Jewish. Some are not. Your job: figure out which are which.

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I'm surprised that I'm more yankee than midwest having only lived in Wisconsin and Ohio.... However they didn't have the 'bubbler' option for water fountain, so I'm not sure it's entirely accurate:

My Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

15% Yankee

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Midwestern

0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Daily Dancer

It's great when the young folks share their passion with the world. Thanks DD!

Tetris with Telletubbies?

I still haven't figured out if this game is really cool or really lame, but I can't seem to stop playing it!

Darth Vader 20 questions

Play 20 questions with Darth Vader. I have to admit - it's a lot of fun. My favorite taunt: "You are not a Jedi, you are not even a Jawa!". Although when he uses the Force to shake the screen, it's pretty cool too!

Potato peeling

If you're not familiar with the Potato Peeling scene in "The Great Brain at the Academy", you'll still find this game a-peeling! Thanks to regular reader Jeremy for the suggestion!

Take Aim!

Two games today that allow you to take aim and jump: Interface Escape and The Bottom of the Sea. So whether in space or underwater, you still have to wear a funny-looking suit to breathe, and you still have to look before you leap.

Ant City

Use your giant magnifying glass to look at the people. Be careful! The beam gets hot. Wouldn't want to burn anyone!

Classic Arcade Games

A little on the rough side, but still a great distraction - these classic arcade games are enough to blow an entire day's productivity.

Kitten Cannon

What more need I say ? Highly addictive - let me know if you top my score:

from engadget:

Life-size X-wing up for grabs on eBay

By Barb Dybwad

You know, why mess around with the small fry Star Wars-themed gadgets when you can go whole hog? If you really want a collectible that’ll impress your friends, take out a second mortgage on the home and go for the life-sized X-wing fighter — one of only eight left in the entire world! Start your bid at $40K or, if you’re one of those impulse shoppers, take the $85K Buy-It-Now option, which will net you free shipping, no less.

ebay auction

Kid's books that aren't

I recently ran across "The Cuddly Menace-A Little Golden Book About Zogg", which reminded me of "Everyone is Different". Two of the most disturbing (and hilarious) children's books ever.

"I have more friends now"

In the fine tradition of the Mac "switch" campaign, I can across this Linux switch 'ad'. Some of the other animations are fun as well.

M&M's Chocolate Mpire

A fun clip - M&Ms move to the "dark" side of the force.

No Name game#1

Another game that seems impossible.... I'd be happy to finish, let alone have a good time.

Anakin Dynamite

In Anakin Dynamite, an awkward apprentice struggles with older Jedis, school elections and idiots!
If you like Napoleon Dynamite and Star Wars, you'll love Anakin Dynamite.

The Baby Name Wizard

The Baby Name Wizard is a very cool Java web-based application that will let you look at the popularity of different baby names over the last 100 years. I'm not sure why it's so addicting, but you find yourself putting every name you can think of in it.

Petals around the Rose

A mind boggling (for some) puzzle. It took me 2 days to figure it out - with substantial hints from my wife, who figured it out on her 2nd try.

Quite possibly he hardest puzzle in the galaxy

my brains hurt!

Folding cloth for fun and profit

http://www.cs.hut.fi/~demi/cloth_folding.mpeg - another piece of evidence in the web is a weird place file...

What kind of dog are you?

Apparently, I'm a collie.... What kind of dog are you? (click on the link to the right)

Homestar Runner - Stinkoman Game

The Brothers Chaps have done it again with their Stinkoman Game. I've already put in about three hours and haven't made it past level one!

If you are not yet familiar with their wildly funny HomeStar Runner site, you'll definitely want to check it out. If you are, the H* wiki can help you get the most of the site - especially the "Easter Eggs" in the Strongbad Emails.

How to Kill a Mockingbird

How to Kill a Mockingbird is a great time-efficient time waster - you won't spend forever trying to defeat that elusive level, but the time saved may be spent rolling on the floor laughing.

The only thing that can make a timeless tale like "To Kill a Mockingbird" better is pirates, flying burning sharks, and Ninjas. Oh yea, burning bears and all the nuclear explosions in the world a nice touch as well.

When you have finished watching this timeless classic, you can try your hand at the author's Virtual Trapped in a Well game. But don't blame me if you spend all morning without getting a single seagull. My top score is 109 hours....