The dog days of summer are nearly upon us, although due to astronomical factors such as general precession and what not, they are no longer tied to the heliacal rising (when a star is first visible over the eastern horizon at dawn after a period of being hidden) of Sirius, the dog star. Nonetheless, like our ancient Greek and Roman counterparts, we are looking for both mental and physical escapes from the summer heat. What better way to do this than to inject a bit of triviality into our daily routines? Consequently, this week’s website of the week should actually be called websites of the week, offering a peak at some of the fun, albeit sometimes trite, games that one can find on the web. A hearty thanks to Sam, who introduced me to some of these time-wasters.
20Q.net (http://www.20q.net) is endorsed by Steve Krug in his book “Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability,” as an illustration of the questions that must be asked when setting up a site hierarchy. At this site, you are able to challenge the web to a game of 20 questions on a variety of popular topics. It’s worthwhile to note that the algorithm is pretty good, and can generally guess things that are not too complex.
Sporcle.com does exactly what its website says it will – it provides “mentally stimulating diversions.” Users can choose from a variety of games, whose subjects range from naming Simpsons characters to naming cities by their parks or supplying the digits of pi. BEWARE: Time is swallowed quickly by this website so use with caution.
Finally, if someone wants distraction without thinking much, try Orisinal. (Don’t let the cute graphics and music fool you – you can still waste time here.)
