Saturday, February 17, 2007

Love Me, Love My Sore: The Untold Story of Norfolk Dumpling

Occasionally, the Interweb throws up some sites that make your day better. Among all the stories about pantless celebrities and anal pedantry about coding are little gems, such as photos of stuff on kittens or cats in sinks. This week, I came across two sites that greatly improved my well-being.

1. The Lifetime Movie Title Generator

When we first moved in together, it took a little bit of time for us to adapt to each other's weekend routines. I tend to wake up early and do stuff; PJ stays up late and sleeps in till noon. Given that I had hours to kill, I started taping and watching dire chick movies -- the sort involving teenage pregnancy, eating disorders, drug abuse, accidental prostitution. You know, the ones with Tori Spelling or former Charlie's Angels. Complete brain candy, and just as addictive and decay-inducing as the real thing. Eventually, I found my Saturday morning yoga class and decided to stretch my body rather than stunt my mind. But earlier this week, I came across the movie title generator site. Now, when I'm feeling down, I can create my own appalling flicks -- such as the title of this post (it's all about scurvy).

2. Chicagocrime.org

Equally riveting is the geospatial mashup -- a term I learnt this week when doing some research for PJ. You can use it to map reported crimes in Chicago, selecting by street, route, or even crime type. So, if I want to see what types of homicides took place in January and where, I just tap it in -- and bingo, details about whether they took place in apartments, at street level, whether vehicles were involved! Other than one highly expensive and under-whelming visit to the Windy City in 1990, I know little about Chicago, but this is still a disturbingly engrossing site and probably where the CSI peeps get their script ideas from. I just wish they had one for the UK, although it would probably show Hackney as the most crime-ridden district and I'd therefore worry for my sister's and Clive/Pippa's safety. While also feeling smug, of course, about moving to an area where the already-low crime rate is still falling. Hah.

Anyway, if you're bored -- check them out.

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