While the Internet has been important in bridging the geographical divides that rule our world, it has also given a number of us the opportunity to come up with some of the most useless ways to spend our time and our hard earned money. Maybe it isn’t that hard earned for some.
Anyway, the sites that we will check out this week are definitely made by people who need to get a life. For example, there’s a site called the VirtualStapler http://www.virtualstapler.com/
Now here’s an address that is totally dedicated to our dear office buddy, the good old stapler. For years it has served our mortal needs, punching and stapling thousands upon thousands of documents and finally, here it has its own presence on the web, all thanks to the concerned souls manning this site. There is a gallery, an FAQ, poetry that is dedicated to staplers and even a dedication to the stapler’s potential Oscar winning performance in the movies! There are even desktop downloads for your computer. Definitely something that will quench your downloading thirst, eh! Though a history of the stapler could have been here, one section that I would have liked is that of the pet stapler. How about having pictures of our favourite pet staplers here on the site? And donating to the stapler fund? Just think of all those poor staplers that need your help and support.
Recording history has always been a good thing to do. But recording something in multimedia and then displaying it on the Net is something different. Especially when there’s a dead
whale involved! http://www.perp.com/whale/ is one such site where guys has gone to great lengths in recording a not so momentous occasion in history. In the late 1970, a whale beached onto the shores of Florence, Oregon, in the US. Since the poor mammal was already dead, and too heavy to be picked up and buried, the local authorities decided to dynamite the poor thing. There are pictures, history (of course) and a video (no, I did not try and download it) of the event. Pretty exciting eh? It certainly would seem if you were to click to the next site where the title aptly describes what it is all about.
The Really Big Button that Doesn’t Do Anything http://www.pixelscapes.com/spatulacity/button.htm is actually a big red dot in the middle of the page that really does not do anything. No matter much you click on it, whether you scroll your mouse from one side to the other, or anywhere, this button stays put. No action, no nothing. But you know something, the inaction of this button has prompted a lot of people to comment on this site. Just below the button, you will find a whole heap of comments by people, who really seem to have a whole lot of extra time on their hands that they want to devote to this button. Really fun filled.
Another place that you click, and that really does take you nowhere, is the site, Do not go on http://www.hat.net/abs/noclick/index.html. The administrator of the site continues to implore, thorough the seemingly endless pages after pages of absolutely nothing. As the box item on the main page goes, “Everyone makes mistake. You just clicked on a place you shouldn’t click on. Please go back peacefully”.
But no. You will certainly not listen; nobody does. Even I didn’t listen. I just simply kept on clicking and clicking and clicking, and I didn’t go anywhere. Ignoring all the warnings, I finally gave up when I realized I was getting tired and wasting my Internet hours just by clicking on the ‘Don’t Go’ clicks. Guess, I learnt it the hard way, as shall you or anybody who decides to ignore the warnings.
A sweet collection of a whole lot of nothings is The Missing Link Page http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/3113/index.html. This is a page with links that don’t work. Be it the link to ‘Answer to Life’, ‘the Universe and Everything’ or supposedly racy pics of your favourite celeb. The links here really don’t work and they don’t take you anywhere. Care to go on and on and on here?
A site that has similar, but a slightly different view to nothing on the web is the Door to the Blackhole http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/7264/. A little excitement here is that this site asks you for your name. After that it welcomes you to the Blackhole. As it says, “This web site is pretty much useless but who cares! The last time I checked, about 75% of our links are dead! I really don’t have time or care about updating them. Anyway, if you have any questions or comments email us”. As if we have time to do that, right guys?
There’s Nothing here http://www.angelfire.com/nc/shinyhappyperson/nothing.html is yet another site that tells us that there’s nothing here. Yet, our inquisitive senses can’t hold it for long and we click. The result, yet another smart alec comment like, I told you so. Having gone through so many sites that literally gave me a headache, after seeing so much of nothingness, I really need to get some rest and think about my future out loud.
While the Internet has been important in bridging the geographical divides that rule our world, it has also given a number of us the opportunity to come up with some of the most useless ways to spend our time and our hard earned money. Maybe it isn’t that hard earned for some.
Another place that you click, and that really does take you nowhere, is the site, Do not go on 
