July 5, 2003

Awesome Websites !PFFT
   by stacy <pfftnet@stacy.pfft.net>

This is a (mostly) !PFFT, which means I'll be writing about things I like, not the regular sucky stuff. However, I will stop to PFFT you people who haven't already found this stuff, or worse, found it and don't like it. What's wrong with you people? Today's topic: awesome websites.

Geocaching. This is fun, it makes you get off your butt and go get some exercise outside, and uses the web really creatively as a tool in a very real-life activity. On the website is a constantly-updated list of Geocaches, which are either real or virtual things you go out and find with the help of a GPS receiver. I've been doing this for just over a month, and I've already run into some other Geocachers looking for the same one I was. So you get to meet people too. Really fun.

Bookcrossing. This is another website that ties into a real-life activity. You go to this website and register a book you have. It can be any book. They give you a number, you write this or label it in the book somewhere, then go leave the book at a coffee shop, or a hospital waiting room, or give it to a friend. Encourage others to pass the book along after they've read it. Use the website to track the book as it makes its way.

Jennifer Government. This website lets you start your own country and do what you want with its policies and people to accomplish your political goals, or just experiment. There's not any interaction with other countries unless you go role-play in the forums, but just the idae of this website is a lot of fun. See what bizarre things happen when you do something that sounds sensible enough at the beginning!

Have awesome website recommendations of your own? Put 'em in comments below.

Published: July 5, 2003
Editor: stacy