So, I recently wrote about some websites that I had started to follow on a regular basis. Well I guess CollegeBoy didn’t think I was spending enough time on the internet so he gave me the name of a site he follows, mental floss. It is sort of the trivial pursuits page of the internet with a history twist. By this I mean that there are lists of things – sports, TV, science – but also historical facts and other oddities. There are almost countless sections of this web page, things like trivia, fact of the day, and quizzes, to name a few. The only problem that I have encountered with it so far is what CollegeBoy called the Wikipedia effect – you get to the site with a couple of minutes of downtime and then two hours later you are reading about the undersea geology off the coast of Madagascar. On mental floss you begin taking the daily quiz and two hours later you are looking at 9 child stars who failed in later life or 10 provocative facts about raising chickens.
I guess CollegeBoy figured I wasn’t wasting enough time…
Another website I found recently is one called historical tweets. Recently in a visit to a bookstore I saw a book written as historical figures tweeting about their accomplishments. There also was some famous writers tweeting their book ideas. All fictional of course. If you are a fan of or user of Twitter, that last sentence was unnecessary. If you are saying “huh??!?” then a quick explanation. Twitter is a social communication idea that has been around for a few years. You can write things and they are communicated to people who “follow” you. Wikipedia defines it as “a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.” (Wow, I didn’t know that the eye of the Colossal Squid is the largest of any known animal, at up to 11 inches in diameter. Sorry, back from Wikipedia…) For example, everyone in my family is on Twitter and we use it to learn what CollegeBoy is up to, when MillieJupiter will be home or what mrsfabp thought about our sons most recent escapades. The only caveat is that you are limited to 140 characters per tweet. That means you must be concise, quick and know some shorthand LOL. (did you see what I did there??) Anyway, the idea that some historical figures might be tweeting is an absurd premise which makes it perfect for the internet. Imagine Darwin tweeting to colleagues “LOL, just realized turkeys look like dinosaurs! Wonder if this is important?” or Thomas Jefferson tweeting “just finished DOI, hope the rest of the gang likes it!” Now you get it? So check out this site if you have a bit of time on your hands…
ZOMG, I got to get a life!
Tl;dr; internet is a place to waste time…
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