Here are some fun games I've discovered over the past couple of months or so. Most of them I found at the excellent site Jay is Games (or is it Jayisgames?).

In Bloons you get to throw a dart through a lot of balloons. It's as silly and satisfying as it sounds, and it gets very difficult after a while. (posted at MCiOS, I can't remember by whom)

Hoshi Saga is a Flash game where the object is to find a star that's hidden in each of the 25 levels. Sometimes easy, sometimes quite difficult.

I'm tempted to call Trapped a point-and-click game, because that's what you do in it, but the author says it isn't. It is an escape-the-room type of game, with some rather difficult puzzles; I found it very intriguing and fun to play. It's my favourite kind of game, I think, the kind with a lot of clicking, puzzling and pondering with no time limit or shooting. Part one is available, out of three. I've signed up to be told when parts two and three are finished.

Remember the GROW! games? I've linked to several different ones over the years. Here is GROW! Tribute, not created by the original GROW! creator, but managing to be very similar. Not as fun, I didn't think, partly because the music is more annoying. Still worth playing for a few minutes' entertainment, though. There is a new GROW! game, too: GROW Nano. Which is... less challenging :-)

Bodilies is another solve-the-story point-and-click puzzle game, and a very beautiful one too, with great music. It's a while since I played it now, but I really loved it.

I can't remember if I've already linked to Ring Pass Not; I played it all the time a few months ago when it was posted at MCiOS. Beautiful and hooking solitaire-type game.

Labels: fun, games, links

 
There is a Facebook application called "Compare" where you get to compare your contacts (all right, your friends) within a number of different categories - you get the names of two random people in your friends list, and choose which one of them is the more famous, more talented, cuter, a better singer, a harder worker, or whatever. This can get rather amusing, such as when I was asked to choose which one of two bald friends has the better hair, or whether person A (male) or person B (female) would be a better father (though I think the latter was actually a bug.) In any case, it makes me wonder if my friends know me at all. At the moment, I'm ranked as the most organised person in my network - eleven people think I'm more organised than some other friend of theirs. Well, maybe they just have very disorganised friends, what do I know.

Looking at the bottom of the table, I find that nobody thinks I'm more outgoing or more talkative than anybody else. (Well, nor do I!) And almost nobody thinks my smile or my taste in music are better than their random friend's. Hmph! I'll just stick to the top of the table, where people would rather have dinner with me. Not to mention that 11 out of 18 people would rather get stuck in handcuffs with me than with their other friend - which probably means they think I know how to pick locks.

Labels: fun, Internets, personal

 
Lemming-like, I have joined Facebook and find it entertaining. Somebody asked recently in another blog: "But what do you do with Facebook?" and it's a good question, I guess. I see two different functions with it: one is pure amusement value, find old friends (yesterday I added a link to somebody I haven't seen for 20 years, and there was much rejoicing), play Scrabble, send virtual mugs of tea and growing seeds, post your status to let people know what you are doing at that moment, join groups with like-minded people, and generally play around with shiny toys. So it's fun, and that's the main reason. The other thing is that I feel vaguely guilty about not knowing much about current Internet trends - after all I am supposed to be some kind of expert. Myspace is pretty much a whitespace on my personal Internet map, for instance - I know very little about it. I do hang out at LiveJournal, and I read a (very small) assortment of blogs, but not the ones that I read in the papers that "everybody is talking about". So Facebook is also a window into the current trends of the Internets.

But mostly it's just a shiny toy. The groups function, and also the networks, are not particularly interesting I think; it's the individual interaction that makes it something I come back to. (That, and Scrabble.)

Labels: fun, Internets

 
The Chronological Donald was fun, I'd seen it before but it's the kind of thing that bears re-watching many times. I'd forgotten how annoying Leonard Maltin's commentary was, though: he pops up before some of the movies to tell the audience that the movies are very, very old, and so we should not be offended by the contents. Instead, we get offended by his assumption that we're too simple-minded to understand that a movie from 1935 will reflect a different time than our own.

Or, no, I shan't be unfair: I'm sure it's not Maltin personally who makes the assumption - he's just hired to do the job. That the Disney corporation doesn't think much of its audience is something we already knew. But they did make good short films back when.

Labels: fun, movies

 
I'm not going to work any more today, so there. I've just joined NAFS(K), and so I'm entitled to watch the chronological Donald.

And again I say "so there".

Labels: fun

 
And here is another game, Flash based, with very nice drawings and an excellent game idea. (Unlike the one from the other day, this is a puzzle-type game which you need to solve. A little like the GROW! games. Kicki, I think you might like this one. (I miss you.)

Labels: fun, games

 
I found a really interesting-looking computer game: Bestseller, an author simulation game. Nice concept! (I assume it's Windows only so no chance of me ever getting to play it, but that's beside the point.)

Labels: fun, games

 
I just discovered Bill and Bull, a double planet orbiting Delta Eridani. Oh, ok, so I didn't literally discover it -- astronomers from Uppsala University did. Isn't that marvellous? Discovering a double planet and naming the constituents Bill and Bull.

And for those readers who were not raised on a diet of Swedish childrens' literature: Bill and Bull were twin cats who were the minions of the nasty cat Måns, nemesis of Pelle Svanslös (Peter No-tail in the English translations of the books). Bill and Bull were always seen together, and always said the same things, generally echoing what Måns said (and often getting it oh so slightly wrong). Especially Bull had no imagination of his own, he'd repeat everything Bill said, and so in Swedish, "X, said Bull" has become a means of emphasising that X is rather obvious.

Bill and Bull as a double planet. Excellent. I'll sleep well tonight.

Labels: books, fun, links

 
Incidentally...

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Not forget Poland. Get your resolution here.

I haven't broken my resolution yet!

Labels: fun, links

 
Woo, posting now works with Firefox again! I am pleased.

I have posted links to the GROW! games before; two new games have appeared there since last time I checked. These are less complicated than the ones on the site earlier -- in fact they are called GROW! 1 and 2, respectively, whereas the previous one was GROW! 3 -- but quite enjoyable all the same. Here is GROW! 2 and GROW! 1. The latter is extra fun because once you have found the correct sequence you can go back and see what happens if you make other choices, which is often quite fun and very different. I like that kind of light-hearted creativity, very much.

Labels: blog meta, fun, games, links

 
Today I read in the papers...

...that there will be a 20 km/h speed limit for bicycles in parts of Stockholm.
...that Carl Linnæus was actually born in 1706, not 1707 (the error probably stems from as far back as 1753, when the Julian calendar was abandoned for the Gregorian one) and so the big celebrations planned for next year will happen this year instead.
...that the recent Archbishop election may have to be declared invalid, since the previous Archbishop's sister was one of the candidates. A never-repelled law from the late 17th century decrees that if possible, the position of Archbishop of Uppsala should remain within the family of the previous Archbishop. So there should never have been an election -- Rev. Hammar should automatically succeed her brother.
...that on Monday when analogue TV transmissions cease in the Uppsala area, one can still watch analogue TV using one of a number of secret frequencies. (To find out these frequencies, send a SMS to the local paper.)
...that the Pope made a flying visit to a school in southern Sweden the other day.

April, April, thou stupid herring. (Yep, that is what we say in Swedish -- it's true!)

Labels: fun, Swedish stuff

 
I give you... the Dala moose. To quote the manufacturer: "Quite an unusal item which leaves few unaffected!"

(If you have no idea what a dala horse is, you may want to take a look here, but it's not required.)

Labels: fun, Swedish stuff

 
Right, so this is a) only funny if you know Swedish and b) rather rude. It will help having some knowledge of the Värmland dialect as well (more specifically, in the ways that it is lexically similar to Norwegian).

This was published in Expressen a few days ago. My colleague Kicki (who does have some knowledge of the Värmland dialect) showed it to me, and we wondered together if that was the same edition of the rag in question that was published in Karlstad? Yes, knowing a bit about language is important...

Labels: fun, linguistics, Swedish stuff

 
Johari Window by Kevan. I wouldn't call it a personality test so much as a... um, not sure just what :-)

Today I have been working on a Table. A good table, I'm quite fond of it as a matter of fact. It's not the kind of table that has legs and a tabletop, rather the kind where you get rows and columns, and table cells with numbers in. I know more things about the language of chat rooms now than I did this morning. Not much more, mind you, but still -- a day well spent.

Labels: fun, links, thesis, work

 
When was the last time you saw a job advert where fluency in Etruscan or Gothic was required? This isn't it, but at least it's a place where native speakers of Latin, Klingon, Sindarin and a dozen other long-dead or made-up languages have a chance to make their skills known. Which I'm sure they appreciate. (My favourite on that list has to be Indo-European, though. I'm still giggling.)
(received from Johan)

Labels: fun

 
So You Think You Are Clever. And So You Think You're Clever, 2.

Calling them "intelligence tests" is not quite right, though. I think. But they are frustrating and fun, and it does feel good when you get an answer right! (I finished part 1 and am currently missing four answers in part 2... there is no time limit.)

Labels: fun, links

 
The PhD Dissertation Explained:

"'What is it, then?'
'Nothing.'
'What do you mean, nothing?'
'Nothing of importance.' [...] 'I'd rather not talk about it.'
'Come on, professor, out with it.'
'It's, er, a doctoral thesis.'
Smyke laughed. 'That's a relief. I thought it was some frightful disease.'
'So is a doctoral thesis, in a way.'"

Walter Moers, Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures, (p 142).

Labels: fun, thesis

 
Nice site idea: youthought.com, a web site where anybody can post brief thoughts. It's moderated, so shouldn't get full of idiocy; I haven't looked through it enough to see if there is actually anything worth reading there - that's not the point, though, I just kind of liked the idea.


Dept. of Laughing til you Cry: Skateboarding email to Tony Hawks. There is a British comedian named Tony Hawks and an American skateboarder called Tony Hawk; the former often gets fan email intended for the latter, with hilarious consequences. (I do think he gets a bit too rude in the later messages, but that's probably just me.)


Finally,

Labels: fun, links

 
A sudden discovery and some quick googling revealed that the article I referred to below is also available in English! Three extra points to Nat who divined what it was about from the Swedish version. (But then, Nat does have an aptitude for Swedish -- we have proof, still, on our fridge. . . :-)

Labels: fun, links

 
Plötsligt drabbas jag av lust att lära mig finska!

Labels: fun, links

 
The chat room at MCiOS was invaded by Slovenians yesterday; CdM wanted to demonstrate an Internet community during a lecture and so asked me to be there for a few minutes. It was fun, though I have no idea what kind of weird impression I made. . . still, they didn't know me, and won't be returning to the room so I guess it's ok. As I say, it was great fun. Certainly not your ordinary chatroom experience.

Labels: friends, fun, Internets

 
Today we went on our first flipist walk since moving to Storvreta. A flipist walk is the kind you make armed with a die, and for every crossroads or fork you roll the die to see which way you should go (bearing in mind that you can't take a road that leads back to where you have already been.) It's good fun, and a good way to learn the layout of a place and get to spots you haven't seen before. There will be more flipist walks; soon, probably, if the weather stays nice.

We watched Whisky Galore this evening; it is a very funny film, and no worse for being watched whilst drinking whisky, either. Which means bedtime. Now.

Labels: fun, personal

 
Sten sent me a list of the various spellings of the "sh"-sound in Swedish. Some of them only occur in loan words and thus don't really count if you're a purist, but it is nevertheless a most interesting and impressive list, and it makes me happy to contemplate it.


ch chef
che apache
g geni
ge bagage
gi religiös
ige beige
j jour
je damejeanne
sc crescendo
sch schack
sh shunt
shi fashionabel
si division
sj sju
sk skön
skj skjorta
ssi mission
ssj ryssja
stg västgöte
sti suggestion
stj stjärna
ti station

Labels: fun, Swedish stuff