The world is in turmoil as usual, tens of thousands dead everywhere, endless wars and much pain and suffering. Luckily, I managed to find a small golden ray of sunshine amid all the horror. Have the cockles of your heart warmed by the news report detailing what happens when you have many crates of beer, are trapped in your car underneath tonnes of snow, and realise there is an alternative method of escape available. Go read Man Pees His Way Out of Avalanche.
And in other equally earth-shattering news, for those dumbasses who actually drink the chemical mess known as “cold drinks”, do yourself a favour and read this news item: Farmers Replace Pesticides with Coca-Cola.
This past week saw the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, with mass media conveniently ignoring the fact that the Allies had photographed the camp and knew exactly what was occurring there, and could have disrupted the camp by bombing the railway lines. But they didn’t. (I’ve gone on at length about this on my blog Auschwitz and Eyes Wide Shut).
Nonetheless, just to stir the pot a little, and to promote some thought about the subject of the death camps that isn’t just the official viewpoint — and I don’t necessarily agree with the info on the following links, but it’s important to hear all sides, especially when you’re dealing with history. To start with, read the many articles, reviews and information available at the site promoting a book called The Holocaust Industry.
For an overview of the storm that this book created, read Wikipedia Holocaust Industry. Now let’s step slightly into the brink, and some so-called “revisionist history”. Mainly to demonstrate that there are alternative views to the official story, read Auschwitz Myths and Facts.
And there is a very interesting documentary, created by a young Jewish revisionist historian who went to Auschwitz and began asking hard questions of the tour guides, as well as the administration that currently “controls” the remains of the Auschwitz camp. It’s worth seeing, as you’ve probably never had the chance to see a sceptic confront the current staff at the camp with the actual historical facts — which do not tally with much of what is believed.
Watch it online, or download the unfortunately very low-quality version (nine megs) of The Truth Behind the Gates of Auschwitz. (Bit Torrent fans and geeks can probably find the high-quality, 680-meg version of this film online by using their favourite Torrent search engines.)
And Dick Cheney shows that he’s more focused on Haliburton profits than anything else, at Dick Ducks Dress-Code Dignity at Death Camp Ceremony.
Okay. Gear change, on to something really important. Japanese game shows rival local Christian television in terms of scraping the barrel — take for instance this downloadable two-meg clip from an unnamed Japanese game show, of a woman demonstrating how she can Break Chopsticks Using Her Buttocks.
Now here’s something for the voyeurs among us — in other words, everyone. Here’s a cute site that makes for very addictive reading. The basic premise is simple. Just write a secret on a postcard and mail it to them, and they’ll scan it in and publish it online. Go read the wide variety of secrets that people have kept to themselves, as well as the often highly artistic way in which they illustrate their postcards at Post a Secret.
It’s been around for years, but it’s still cute as hell — combining 1950s-style illustration with very modern ideas. Read the adventures of a nine-year-old who discovers he has a thing for big, burly firemen, at Rusty Is a Homosexual.
If you need something a little more mainstream and regular, then try to work out if this site detailing the first male pregnancy is a joke, or utterly real — at Male Pregnancy.
Time for a quick thing to make you go “awwwwww” — and it’s yet another damn Sleeping Kitten.
Some things you can’t even give away. Dawson’s Creek is one of those shows I have luckily never seen — I have always rather preferred to have a life. However, some of the stars signed one lucky man’s hat. Go see the desperate eBay advert for Autographs from Arbitrary Celebrities.
I’ve noticed local ad agencies seem to think that an American accent is just one type of accent. And utterly bad United States accents seem to be the norm on local adverts. Meanwhile, there’s a wide range of variations in US speakers’ accents. Go discover some of the regional varieties and test yourself (you’ll need your PC speakers switched on) at Do You Speak American.
For more joyous kicking of ad agencies, while they’re still down on the ground and screaming, how about a collection of some of the barrel-scraping TV adverts that demonstrate just how low advertisers are willing to go, in order to sell their rubbish? From radioactive dirt being rubbed on a woman’s face, to the Flintstones selling cigarettes, go look through a selection of The Most Outrageous TV Commercials.
I know it’s hard to believe, but there still are two or three people left in the world who actually make things with their own hands. I know, it’s weird. But if you’re curious about how to do the things that minimum-wage, sweatshop-working children are being forced to do for 16 hours a day, take a look through the free woodworking plans at The Woodworking Workshop.
You’ve seen those mostly crappy big balloons that various local companies install to advertise their latest products, but you haven’t seen anything in the style and quality of these big balloons. Go stare at the amazing Airigami.
As lava lamps can now be found just about everywhere, and are pretty cheap, it’s time to experiment and create something unique with them. How about making a cloud-filled lava lamp? It seems pretty easy from the instructions, and looks frighteningly cool. Go look at the pix and get busy fiddling with your store-bought lava lamp at Make a Cloud Lamp!.
Need to get up to speed on the basics of the assorted anomalies and conspiracy-laden paranoia that’s part and parcel of modern living? Go learn some stuff at Anomalies Unlimited.
Staying with conspiracy-related stuff, some of you might know, or have found methods online, to download the very informative late-night US conspiracy show called Coast to Coast AM, listened to by tens of millions of folks on a nightly basis. These next links will require a bit of background. A caller to the show, some years back, described a large seemingly bottomless hole on his property. He had tried to find the bottom, and after unspooling more than 4 500m of fishing line down the hole, had yet to reach the bottom.
Within hours of him going on air, he called back and things had begun to get even weirder as the US military had arrived and taken control of his property. To listen to the initial now-famous sequence of events, go to what’s become known as Mel’s Hole. The hole itself caught the imagination of listeners, to the point where online forums emerged, discussing aspects of the hole, as well as gathering curious folks to go searching for it. Take a look at The Mel’s Hole Discussion Forum.
For some interesting reading — which I don’t know enough about to tell if the writer is off the wall, or is actually detailing something valid and nasty — that is fascinating to read, dive into the genre of the “coming depopulation of the Earth” theorists, and read Genocide by Vaccines: A Global Strategy.
Film geeks, you’ll need some bandwidth but have a look at The Sundance Online Film Festival.
And in other film info, if you have seen the fairly vile time-waster known as The Polar Express, then spend some genuinely worthwhile time reading a surprisingly insightful examination — complete with, in part two, of examples of just how crap the animation actually was. Go ride on Polar Express: A Virtual Train Wreck: Part One and Part Two.
A quick online time-waster. Remember the glory days of the original Doom? Now you can revisit those pixellated memories and thanks to Shockwave, Play Original Doom Online.
To waste even more time, and I’m not exactly sure why you’d want to do this, but if you’ve ever had the urge to browse through a selection of pix in a slideshow, showing you step by step how to combine lots of little Kit-Kat chocolate bars into one big, frightening, pimple-causing monster Kit-Kat, then go watch How to Make a Giant Kit-Kat Bar.
Big-geek section. How do you make geeks blink in surprise? Simple, in an online forum dedicated to the very geeky discussion of all things computer-related, you ask How to Get Semen Off a Geforce Video Card.
You’ll have noticed the various error messages that occur from time to time online. Well, to appeal to the horny geeks among us, go take a look at a sell-through site for panties, using some of these internet error messages, at HTTP Panties.
Of course, if you actually need some error messages, or want to customise and make your own, try the Error Message Generator.
Being a geek in this country, you’ve probably discovered that the only way to meet new women is to find a graveyard and dig them up. However, there is an alternative. It’s not a good alternative, admittedly — but if you happen to have various bondage fantasies, then why not indulge yourself at Penpals in Prison!.
In case you wondered, this next site isn’t what you think: Playing with Balls!.
Lord of the Rings-o-philes can finally make their own genuine Hobbit-hole to live in — all you need is a lot of money, a piece of ground to dig in, and you too can Make Your Own Hobbit-Hole.
So you’ve decided to kill yourself. Okay. It’s always important to get that last note exactly the way you want it, isn’t it? Why not use some experts to help you get your suicide note to convey all the despair, pain, anguish and emotion that you feel? Try Suicide Notes for All Occasions!.
Until the next time, if ad agencies don’t get me.