Cool Pick Hotel's
Weird and Wonderful places to visit on the Web
Written by Wesley Tatters
The Readers Digest has a page for funny quotes and anecdotes told by
people who never seem concerned that the rest of the world might categorize
them as weird, or at least a little bit strange. Now, with increased availability
of access to web publishing tools, it seems this same group of people may
have decided to move enmasse onto the World Wide Web.
While the exact motivation that drives a person to publish the contents
of their sock drawer on the Internet, or the temperature of their HotTub
for that matter, may be a thesis subject phsycology students dream about.
The fact still remains that while many of these sites are completely useless,
the level of ingenuity shown by some of sites makes them deserving of a
room in the Cool Pick Hotel.
So without further addo, Cool Pick Hotel presents the best of the weirdest
places on the World Wide Web.
SITE OF THE WEEK
Give some people a video camera for 5 minutes and they will probably
do something regrettable. Give that same person a Web site and well . .
. you get the idea. In keeping with the Funniest Home Video theme, the
America's Funniest Home Hypermedia acts as a guide to some of the most
Useless Web pages currently available.
While this site in itself could not be consider Weird, a large percentage
of the sites in the directories it maintains certainly are. "But why
bother?" I here you ask. "If these sites are that useless who
cares?" Surprisingly, it seems that there are many people out there
for whom such sites hold a certain attraction. In fact, the America's Funniest
Home Hypermedia site has become so popular that it recently passed the
1 million hits milestone, with 70,000 additional hits being recorded each
week.
While this site is consider by many to be the home of Uselessness on
the World Wide Web, it is not without its pretender to the throne. When
you've visited all of the 500 plus sites on the Useless home pages, you
might like to check out Mirsky's
Worst of the Web - http://mirsky.turnpike.net/wow/Worst.html and the
small but definitely weird, What's
Weird on the Web - http://www.dsmllp.com/weird.htm.
And for those of you game enough to play with a beta version of Netscape
2.0. The Enhanced for Netscape
Hall of Shame at http://www.meat.com/netscape_hos.html comes complete
with Frames, Backgrounds, and all those other fancy Netscape only tricks
that make a normal browser look like a reject from the 60's.
10 of the Best or Worst ?
No collection of weird and wonderful web sites could ever be complete
without at least a passing mention of the many different machines that
people have managed to connect to the Internet. Many are the rumors of
Soda machines, Hottubs, Video cameras and the occasional Refrigerator,
which people in their wisdom have decided to place online. In fact, it
would be very easy to spend an entire article exploring just these sites.
However, since the staff have already done such a wonderful job cataloging
all the many and varied machine/Internet connections currently available,
I will leave your further explorations in their capable hands.
If you have a few hours to kill and enjoy the challenge of exploring
a maze, then place the Abandoned Site at the top of your list of Useless
places to visit. Basically there is nothing of interest at this site, except
for over a thousand interlinked pages that promise little more than being
a waste of time.
But what an enjoyable waste of time it is. There are lots of colored
screens, buttons to click, radio buttons to select and menus to read all
decked out in Netscape 1.1 enhanced finery. As an added bonus, try visiting
the alternate entrance to the Abandoned
Site at http://matrix.infomatch.com/~nil/, which features one of the
only hotlinks on the Internet that selects itself. (Just load the page
and wait - you'll see what I mean)
When it comes to senseless pages this one really takes some beating.
Take a $2000 dollar computer, a modem, an Internet connection and a WWW
server. Add a web page with a set of piano keys and click. Now wait for
a fews seconds and tada, the note you clicked on is played by your computer.
Oh yes, and you'll need a sound card as well. Now maybe with a T1 connection
you could play "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
There are some sites on the Internet that not only look good, but in
fact do something really useful as well. Depending on you point view, Fishtime
could be just such a site.
Basically, Fishtime can tell you the current time in any part of the
world. Now on its own this sort of feature would not usually rank a mention,
but its the way that this site tells the time that sets it apart. For example,
use this URL to find out the time in Brisbane Australia - http://redwood.northcoast.com/cgi-bin/fishtime?-10
And now for another site that provide you with a 5 cent service, using
thousands of dollars worth of resources. Enter a phone number into the
field provided and the Telephone Dialer will play the tones needed to dial
the number for you. Mind you, by the time you log onto the Internet, locate
this page and thne wait for the tones to be played, you could have dialed
the number by hand, had your conversation, hung up the phone again and
made a cup of coffee.
Introducing the Big Red Button. When you click on it nothing happens,
in fact, the text that accompanies the button tells you as much.
What is amazing, however, is that literally thousands upon thousands
of people have clicked on it, just to check. Why ? No one really knows,
maybe its some sort of science experiment gone horribly wrong or maybe
it just goes to prove that old adage about signs that say "Do Not
Push this Button."
If your still find the need to click on things after the Big Red Button,
then take a look at http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~pitharat/buttons.html.
I have it on good authority that at least one of the buttons on this page
actually does something.
Back when I started programming, there was a piece of software doing
the rounds called Doctor Eliza. When you asked Doctor Eliza a question
the program would respond with a sometimes meaningful reply. Now it seems
the good Doctor has made it onto the Web in the form of the Amazing Magic
8 Bob.
Ask Bob a question and wait for the reply. The only catch is, make sure
the questions can be answered using yes or no.
I know we have already looked a the subject of machines connected to
the Internet, but FishCAM is such a fun little toy that it deserves a mention
of its own. This page is devoted to all those people who don't own a fish
tank themselves, but long for the feelings of peace and inner harmony that
only staring at fish can bring.
Whenever you visit this page, a snapshot is taken - via a video camera
- of fish swimming in a fish tank. Then, within seconds (all right minutes
at 2400 bps) the image is displayed on you screen.
BobaWorld makes it onto this list courtesy of the "America's Funniest
Home Hypermedia" page. What makes BOBAWORLD weird in the fact that
it has received so many awards, special mentions and various other forms
of recommendations. The site has no real redeeming features apart from
the fact that its developer appears to be very good at self promotion.
Sure there is an extensive list of links and a collection of pointers to
some interesting sites, but that's about it.
In fact, the Useless pages directory goes so far as to point people
to a commentary on BobaWorld published by SpinnWebe at http://www.thoughtport.com/spinnwebe/peeve/boba.html.
And Finally, if you haven't heard yet, Bill Gates is currently constructing
the mansions to end all mansions. Honestly, its just a small little place
built on the side of a hill, near the water. To keep up with all the latest
construction site gossip, and view snapshots of the place, take a look
at Walls '96.
Next Up . . .
Cool Pick Hotel is looking for you input. While we spend many hours
each week combing the World Wide Web looking for cool sites, with thousands
on new pages begin added each day, there may be sites that you have encountered
which deserve our attention.
If you have located such a site, or maybe have an idea for a Cool Pick
Hotel feature topic, why not drop me a line at wtatters@world.net.
To make sure that you message catches my attention, place the worlds COOL
PICK HOTEL in the subject.
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