Since Facebook has announced its segue into the never-ending world of internet stalkerdom, college students everywhere may be looking for a new way to stare at their computer screens in an effort to avoid doing their homework. Since the internet has an endless supply of wacky, zany and just plain weird web sites, here’s a few that can distract and maybe even educate any savvy surfer.
One web site that offers actually very useful information is SoYouWanna.com. It’s a how-to web site that states it “teaches you how to do all the things nobody taught you in school.” Viewers can find anything from the fun (how to play poker) to the crazy (how to be a human guinea pig.)
For guys, there’s the very important “so you wanna donate sperm?” and “so you wanna throw a bachelor party?”
For girls, there’s the usual “how to put on makeup” and “so you wanna decorate an apartment?”
While this site appears to have more interesting info for the men, any college student can benefit from some of the tips. There’s articles on how to do laundry, buy a laptop, pay off student loans, find a good roommate, even cure a hangover. Each article features a five-step plan on how to achieve the different goals. For those who don’t have that much time left for procrastinating, there’s an entire sections of “mini-wannas,” quick little lessons that will help get them on their way to their new and improved lives.
For retro-gamers out there, the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME.net) can help them get in touch with their childhood. It features ancient and more recent arcade games for free. One of the goals of MAME is to keep the older games alive on the computers of today’s youth. Once the hardware of the arcade game ceases to work, it poses a risk of losing the game forever. Though a little confusing for those who are not technologically blessed, the site claims, “When used in conjunction with an arcade game’s data files, MAME will more or less faithfully reproduce that game on a PC.” It features over 5,000 arcade games from the last three decades. For those who are concerned, MAME is not illegal because it emulates the original program. Users are even allowed to share the games with friends. Go back in time with games like “Pong” and “Pac-Man,” or stay more up-to-date with “The Simpson’s Bowling.”
For the animal lover searching the web, there is the oh so adorable DailyKitten.com. At exactly 3:07 PM every day, a new picture of a kitten is posted. Don’t spend time on this site looking for any additional information- it is literally just pictures of random kittens. While many of the stories accompanying the pictures are tear-jerkers, the whole site just screams “crazy cat lady down the street.”
For the film buff, there’s the MovieMistakes.com site, obviously created by a group of people with nothing else to do but spot practically unnoticeable screen slips. Topping the list of having the most mistakes is the first installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise with 220. There is even a ranked list of the best mistakes of all time, featuring categories like audio, continuity, factual, plot holes and visible crew. The site also features TV shows and movie trivia. Confused about a particular cinematic adventure? There’s a section where fans can submit their questions to the experts about everything from now defunct TV shows to forgotten titles from the films of yester-year. Although the site features mostly miniscule continuity mistakes (someone has a shirt fully buttoned in one scene, unbuttoned in another- who really cares?), it’s somewhat interesting for about ten minutes, especially for those who find their favorite flicks on the chopping block.
Forget the penguins- the polar bear is the new Antarctic animal to follow, literally. Panda.org, an offspring of the World Wildlife Federation, features a Polar Bear Tracker so that two random specimens’ every move can be followed by scientists and any regular Joe on the net. By clicking on the “where are the bears?” link, one can find the exact longitude and latitude of the two chosen polars, in addition to how fast they are moving. Too bad Polar Bear 2182 and 2183 will never know of their online fame.
While the internet can provide an endless amount of research material, trivia and connection between friends, it’s important not to forget it’s main purpose- giving bored people everywhere, from high school kids to cubicle-ridden office workers, a reason to put off doing their assignment for just one more hour.