[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Jim Regan - Site Reviews

Empty calories: Wasting time online Jim Regan - Archive of Recent Site Reviews Jim Regan has provided 'Today's Links' to csmonitor.com since its launch in 1996. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Send Jim an e-mail. The Flying Clippers The Smithsonian Institution's 'African Voices' Yamaha Motor's Paper Craft and The Toaster Museum Vivisimo -- the clustering search engine FilmWise -- for movie buffs serious about their trivia The Empire that was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated Orion Online 'arrrghhh! pirated sites' and 'Ghost Sites: The Museum of E-Failure' The Newseum and 'War Stories' (For more columns, visit the Site Reviews archive) Back to other cybercoverage writers The theme this week is 'empty calories' -- a handful of online game sites that will teach you absolutely nothing about art, history, culture or science. There are hundreds of these game-related sites on the Web, and while many require an investment in specific software or 'membership fees' to play, the following are all free. The only investment required at these sites is time, and the only prerequisite, the desire to have a bit of fun. After all, even courts have recess. The first stop is The Grey Labyrinth, a site which receives extra credit for a recent re-design which actually reduced the file size of its home page while maintaining the original look. The Labyrinth's artwork and motto -- "Bend Your Mind" -- give a clear idea of the sort of diversions offered here, namely, 'mind games' -- puzzles of the, "Where is your house if all the windows face south?" variety. (The current challenge involves levitating a ping pong ball.) The Labyrinth always has at least one unsolved puzzle on site as well as a three-year archive of past challenges and their solutions (for those who prefer to read the last page of a mystery first). For visitors wanting still more of the same, there is also a page of related sites, puzzle books, and other recommended reading for the 'bent' mind -- such as the essential, "Godel, Escher, Bach". Pimpernel Online Java Games reveals the lighter side of Pimpernel Data Communications, an operation whose non-recreational projects include stock market simulation programs. (After which, no doubt, they need to play a few games.) Again, the home page is distinct from the others, yet appropriate -- though inviting, there's no mistaking that this is a corporate site. The games themselves include variations on Concentration and Connect Four, Tetris, Safecracker and Sokoban -- a pursuit involving the efficient movement of shipping crates. (It's more entertaining than it sounds.) And, while Pimpernel writes Java diversions, CleverMedia concentrates on Shockwave, offering arcade-style games as well as sports simulations, a "Make-Your-Own Game" game, (for control freaks) and even one-hundred piece jigsaw puzzles. And finally, if it didn't cause you enough grief when it first came out, you can always relive the agony with a Java version of Rubik's Cube. Just remember that applying a hammer to an uncooperative cube is not nearly as satisfying when that cube is inside your monitor. Jim Regan provides 'Today's Links' to the e-Monitor. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]