Sleepless in Midland

Politics -betting play money on the outcome

Here's a site that looks like fun.  It's Hubdub which lets participants gamble play money on the outcome of current event stories.

All eyes are on the presidential race this Super Tuesday.   Going farther out, this market is predicting the Republican nominee will be McCain by 82% and for the Democratic nominee the betting is Obama 62%, Clinton 38%.

What about the November outcome?  Click to see for yourself, but as of right now it give us these percentages:  McCain - 21%; Clinton - 30%; and Obama - 40%.

Place your bet and take your chance.

The wild child in you

Draw your own wild child self portrait here.

Via  Beancounter

Make a face

Here's a neat little Flash exercise.  It's a face building tool called FlashFace.

We've all seen those sketches of crime suspects, and one has to wonder what the capture rate is with suspect sketches.  See how good you would be at building a face.  I'm not very good.  Here's the face I was trying to copy.

Via Cowboy Blob's.

Games In the In box

Here are some goodies that arrived via email.  Richard E. sends a quiz in which you get to look at photos of people and decide whether the person is a Programing Language Inventor or a Serial Killer.

Betty O. sends this neat little game that tests your agility with the curser.   Click on the red square and avoid touching the sides or the blue blocks.  Beat 18 seconds and you are quite good.

Thanks y'all.

Computerized Face Recognition

To really enjoy a good fictional tv show it almost always requires a brief suspension of one's own sense of what's real and what isn't.

For example, it isn't too rare to see a tv show that utilizes some form of computer face recognition.  The good guys and gals stare at a monitor as a computer rummages through facial images, and then, "It's a match!"

It's so easy.  See for yourself.  MyHeritage.com has a free demo where you can upload your own photo, and it will match your face with that of a celebrity you most resemble.  (Link via A Welsh View.)

There aren't any photos of me on the hard drive, so I went browsing around some of my favorite sites, and there was one of  Wallace over at Streams.

It's a match!  He's actually Babe Ruth!

(Forgive me Wallace.  I'm clowning around while you're over there paying serious tribute to our veterans.)

Games for a Labor Day Holiday

Here are a couple of enjoyable Flash games that not only entertain but waste time as well.

First up, Avoider, where all you have to do is keep the little fellow from catching your curser arrow.  Warning:  he can jump, fire rockets, shoot cannons and more, and he wants your curser.

Next up, Planarity.  It's a connect-the-dots game in which the dots are already connected, and the player moves dots around so that no lines are crossed.

All of this is courtesy of Little Fluffy Industries whose motto is:  "Wasting your time... and ours."  Thanks for that, Little Fluffy.

Are you a hippie? How about white trash? Quizzes

Awww man?  Now that stings.

You are 30% Hippie.

You need to step away from the tie-dye.  You smell too good to be a hippie.  Being a hippie is not a fashion craze, man.  It was a way of life, in the 60's, man.

Take the
Hippie Test
@ FualiDotCom

Find out whether or not you are a hippie at Hippie Test.

Or take the White Trash Test:

You are 26% White Trash.

The white trash in your blood will not keep you from becoming a doctor or a lawyer, but it will keep you from a good haircut and any sort of fashion sense.

Take the
White Trash Test
@ FualiDotCom

Nailed!

Found at Resistance is Futile.

For Sufferers of CGA - no relief in sight

CGA is an affliction which probably has a devastating effect on our nation's productivity.  And there appears to be no relief in sight for the millions of people who suffer from it.  I'm talking about Computer Game Addiction.  It can literally sap your time, attention and energy and leave you feeling defeated, that is unless you spend even more time, attention and energy mastering the game.

That being said, if you suffer from CGA then you'll want to avoid the flash game De-Animator.  It's based on H. P. Lovecraft short stories, and it requires the player to save himself by shooting approaching zombies with a six shot revolver.

Should you decide to venture into this land of the walking dead then it might be helpful to know that the zombies can be dispatched with just one shot while they are in the process of rising from the ground.  But once they are on their feet -- and some of them walk in from off screen -- then it takes multiple shots per zombie, and they get more resilient as the game progresses.  When the shotgun becomes available it can make quick work out of them, but our poor hero is so painfully show and methodical in reloading that the shotgun has very limited use.

Good luck.

Hints:  There are three types of zombies, and each has his/her own characteristics.  The big bearded brutes are the hardest to stop, and I've got no hints for them.  Once the easy stages have passed then these hints might be useful for the other two types.  The skinny ones with the tall forehead can be dispatched with two pistol shots:  the first one to the head and the second one to the chest area.  The skinny ones that appear to be wearing a cap can be dispatched with two shots to the shoulder.  My best score = 226.

Is your website gay?

Someone left a comment deep in the archives that said this:

This is gay!!!!  What kind of a site is this?????  U need games and music!!

Gee.  I thought this was a hetero site, but I had better check.  Turns out it's 20% gay.  I checked out a few other blogs to see where they stood, and the results were even more interesting (tee hee).  Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Check out your favorite website at How Gay is Your Website?

Test Your IQ

Well, I'm not as smart as I thought.  I only got eight out of 11 correct.  But if I had the inclination to do some research I might dispute one of those.  Here's what it predicts for my future:

Your Score: 8 out of 11
Your Rating: Honor Student.

Now Here's the Twist;
Your answers not only can tell your current intelligence,
but the combination can also forcast your upcoming love life:
Your Projected Love Life: Not Bad! Expect your love life to bloom soon!

Does that take any effort on my part our should I just sit here and wait for it to happen?  Test your own IQ at Monday Morning Test.  Thanks Gene and Anna.

Pop That Bubble Wrap

You don't have to be Adrian Monk to get some pleasure out of popping bubble wrap.  At  Bubble Wrap Popping Machine you can try to pop all the bubble wrap bubbles on a sheet within a set time.  The unadvertised benefit is that after doing this a while you'll find out whether or not you have carpal tunnel syndrome.  Via here's my byline.

Sunday Afternoon Games

Here are a couple of Flash games that are worth a try.

First, there's Match Practice, a golf putting game.  Note:  it's a real challenge.  (Thanks to Don H. for the pointer.)

Next, there's TrackMania Sunrise in which the goal is to keep the speed of the car within the range marked on the speedometer so that the car can jump the water.  If the speed is out of that range when the car reaches the ramp then it won't be a successful jump.  (Via A Welsh View.)