by brenton crozier
Some may consider sites dedicated to keeping you entertained with questionable images, rather ridiculous videos, and games that are simply a waste of time, the scourge of the Internet. Kind of along the lines of eating because you are bored, some sites have no other purpose than to relieve you of some boredom. Go ahead, I'm thinking it, you're thinking it – we can dub this “Internet gluttony.” Although I could take this time to aid you in a discovery of uplifting sites that may teach or even make the world a better place, it is much more satisfying to be an enabler, leading you to the water of sloth and poor time use. Sometimes funny, always questionable and always a temporary cure for boredom – I present you with a great way to blow off some steam when you can't leave your desk or only have 10 minutes left of work and can't really get anything worthwhile done. That's what I tell myself anyway.
Everyone needs a break and once in a while you want to be the co-worker that sends out the hilarious picture or video that everyone talks about over lunch. Break Taker offers images, videos and games all accompanied by descriptive and sometimes funny captions, and the chance to rate them on a scale of 1 to 10. For the most part the pictures are fairly funny and often a matter of circumstance or context. A handful are someone simply showing off their PhotoShop skills.
From the cat rolled in paper called Cat Burrito (this is a perfect ice breaker with that older lady in the office that doesn't really like you, but loves cats) to a cop hiding behind a sign that says "Slow down the cop hides behind this sign" (I wouldn't share this with aforementioned older lady because you will get lectured on this is what's wrong with society and there are rules for a reason and blah, blah,blah), the videos go along the same line and give you a best of YouTube type of selection. The games are about what you would expect, with games falling anywhere between a Pong to a Tetris feel. Don't hate on the old-school! Content is updated daily.
Admitting that you are indeed board by landing on this website, you are given "a list of sites for when you're feeling bored." I believe we have established that you are indeed bored. Various categories are offered and each link is given a small icon to indicate whether it is News and Politics, Funny, Quizzes, Entertainment, Weird, Tech, or Science and Sports. From watching the sensitive Coldplay singer give the Paparazzi a sound whooping to seeing how many colors you can name in 5 minutes (hint: there are dozens of types of blues), you can find a little something for everyone.
Much like Break Taker, you can rate the selection and look things up based on highest rating, most bookmarked and most e-mailed. From the most bookmarked, may I suggest, "Another Lip Syncer Busted" and "12 Best Homeless Signs." Ha! Be the envy of the normal forward around the office guy when you send the picture of the homeless guy wielding a sign that says "Will code HTML for Food."
There are a number of other sites along these lines like www.boredom-busters.com and www.blifaloo.com, but most are a tad more innocuous and don't have quite the amount of questionable (this article's favorite euphemism) content. Be aware all of them contain a number of annoying advertisements and sometimes something will flash across your screen daring you to punch a guy or shoot a duck, but simply proceed to x them out. Sure, you could use downtime to take a walk, do some reading or help out a co-worker, but that's not going to make that e-mail forwarding guy jealous.
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