Home Office: Deadlines? Ignore 'em and Dig Into This

By Steve Bass, PCWorld Nov 20, 2002 1:00 AM

Like it or not, November's the official start of the holidays. The air is brisk, there's pumpkin bread in Bass International's break room, and I start letting the deadlines pile up. Right, you're looking at this year's first goof-off column: the best Web sites featured in "Dig This," with a big handful of twisted new ones.

Dig Into "Dig This"

For Lego Lovers Only

You know how you always thought of those Lego things as benign? Ha! Check out LegoDeath: A Museum of Horrors. (Warning: If you're on a dial-up connection, this may take a few minutes to load.)

If you think you spend too much time working on your computer, well, it doesn't even come close to how long it took Dave (and his helpers) to put together his PC. (Warning: This page is slow loading and a little confusing: Ignore any preliminary notes and just scroll down the Lego story.)

Quick Tip: When you bump into a Web site with a few pictures--like the one above--here's a way to display just the one picture you want. Drag the image to your Internet Explorer's address field. If the picture's linked to a URL, the trick won't work (you'll be able to tell because the cursor changes as it hovers over the image).

Scientific Wonders

Catch a couple of mysterious cloud shadows and check out a flattened sun, my two faves at the Atmospheric Optics site.

Shut the door to your cubicle and take a few minutes with The Powers of Ten. First up is an absorbing view of the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. As the screen continues loading, you'll see dazzling images that'll make you ooh and ahh. (Warning: If you're on a dial-up connection, it may take a few minutes to load and run.) [With thanks to Nancy N.]

Folks With Too Much Time on Their Hands

You've seen those cool, expensive ergonomic office chairs, right? Now we finally have one for technogeeks.

Did you know that only the nose knows? Well, you'll see that's clearly true once you visit Dognose Heaven.

Quick Tip: Having trouble seeing some of these sites? It's probably because of your ad blocker or pop-up stopper. Deactivate the utility, close and then re-launch your browser.

Various and Sundry Amusements

Here's a great game for the NASA in all of us. You'll lose an hour fiddling with Spaced Penguin until you get it just right, I promise.

Think of a card, any card at all. Now do it at The Cave of Magic and get ready to be amazed. [Thanks to Ross M.]

Here's a kitchen tool that's disgusting in a funny way. (Unless you're a teenager, then you'll find it hilarious.)

With Halloween over and Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought a bit of pumpkin overindulgence might amuse you. The title: "Squash Never Agreed With Me." [With thanks to Gabe.]

Some Things New and Strange

Hey, Where Am I?

Some of the dumbest and funniest stuff on the Web are the "404 Not Found" error messages. Here are four of my favorites:

The music alone is worth getting lost on BakerStreet.net.
Please, a moment of silence.
If you get seasick, you're really going to be lost when you see this 404 page.
Remember how much you hated Zork, the trailblazing interactive game of the 80s? Welcome back.

[Actual editor's note: Hey, Bass, I don't get it. But then again, I'm not that cool. I couldn't figure out what to type at the prompt. --Editor]

Quick Tip: If you (or your boss) felt confused or anxious while visiting the Zork site, type Help. Or visit the Zork FAQ.

Truth or Fiction?

Have you ever wondered what you look like to your optometrist?

I love translation sites, like Promt's Online Translator, because they help me to talk with my French-speaking friends (He, Veronique, comment va-t-il?) But it turns out that not everything ends up sounding like it should. Don't believe me? Try out the Lost in Translation site.

If you're going to take down a tree, you might as well do it right. (Warning: This video is big, almost 4MB.)

Do you know about the infamous exploding whale video? No? Oh my, you're missing one of the best pieces on the Web. Well, it's the story of a 45-foot, eight-ton, thoroughly dead beached whale and a half a ton of dynamite...

Quick Tip: Want to save the videos above and play them later? Easy enough. Right-click on the file name and choose Save Target As to download it to your PC.