From the moment the main Geek Chart page loads it takes about 30 seconds to register and put in your information. Once you set it up it automatically updates and you really never need to login ever again. You can view my extended chart here. I was surprised by the results, as I am sure you will also be.
My hope to make this post a true distraction is for everyone to post their chart in the comments. Check back throughout the day and see where other readers share content on the web.
I’ve posted a few TED Talks before, but haven’t ever really explained it in depth. Straight from Wikipedia comes this very precise definition:
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an annual conference that defines its mission as “ideas worth spreading”. The lectures, also called TED Talks, cover a broad set of topics including science, arts and design, politics, education, culture, business, global issues, technology and development, and entertainment. Speakers have included such people as former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Nobel laureates James D. Watson, Murray Gell-Mann, and Al Gore, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Billy Graham.
This is something you can easily lose an entire day on. Check out the main TED Talk page and start watching.
Below is one of my favorite recent talks. It is a talk by a guy who skydives in a squirrel suit in an attempt to get as close as possible to the sensation of pure human flight.
95 Old School games available online for free. Admittedly I’ve never heard of a lot of these, but with classics like Spy Hunter, Zelda and Donkey Kong, this list is going to easily get you through the long week.
Robokill seemed dumb at first, and then I realized I had played it for 20 minutes straight. Then I wrote two sentences of this post, then I played for another 20 minutes. Be warned, this one is going to be more of a distraction than previous Monday morning posts.
I thought I would post this in segments or in the middle of the week. This is so interesting it immediately burned about half an hour of my day. Reddit.com let users post questions and vote on the ten to post to Adam Savage from Mythbusters. Very cool, candid interview.
I am pretty sure this has been posted either here or on another blog on the network in the past, but I recently rediscovered Oregon Trail. You can find the game here. This is one of those games I can remember playing in the classroom as a kid, but I’m not sure if I had ever finished it. I played through and ended up with 4405 points. I have an urge to try and play it to get to the #1 spot on the scoreboard. It probably wouldn’t be that hard.
30 Years of Star Wars is a documentary about Star Wars fandom. The official description follows:
Since 1977, Todd Stanton has always been a fan of Star Wars. From his youthful days of trading cards to his adult years of DVDs, the 6 films has always been a part of his life.
30 Years of Star Wars is his documentary of a lifelong franchise some have called “this generation’s Beatles.”
Come join Todd Stanton, along with many of his friends, to a galaxy far, far away and re-experience his journey of the last three decades through an amazing collection of multimedia history.
Credit goes to Coop for finding this one. The Funny Farm Puzzle is a perfect distraction. It is just difficult enough to challenge you, yet let you keep advancing. If someone actually manages to defeat this puzzle, I will be in awe.
As you are reading this (assuming today is Monday), I am traveling back to Indianapolis from Los Angeles. I didn’t go to the Oscars, but I was able to make it within two block of the Kodak Theater. For those of you who didn’t sit through two hours of red carpet interviews and then three hours of Hugh Jackman and company, here is a rundown of what happened. It has a list of who won which awards as well as some funny comments about things that happened. Looking back, my favorite moment was the guy thanking Mr. Roboto in Japanese. It reminded me of a certain video.
