Fun with Sprouts

I've been testing out what Sprouts can do - and so far I'm quite impressed. Sprouts are advanced Flash-based banners or mini websites that can be loaded on websites or shared on social networking sites. Sprout Builder allows you to create custom-designed flash pages containing all kinds of media, feeds, links etc. My example multi-page Sprout below shows some examples of things you can use. This one is quite small but they can be as big as you like!

Wordle-ing

Whoever thought text analysis could be so fun! Wordle creates 'word clouds' from text you provide - and produces some surprisingly striking images in just a few seconds! Try it yourself to see...

Here's one or two I made earlier.. (well actually, just now!)


(from the -slightly edited- Wikipedia entry for Durham)


(from an old essay - can you guess what on?)


(from another old essay!)


(from a well-known song...)

It's a bit addictive really!

Here's one I didn't make:

(the complete text of the ESV Bible)
Isn't it interesting what words come up?

[Thanks to Matt!]

Maps are cool

I've recently been enjoying some of the delights of Google Maps & Google Earth via the strange discoveries of the community at Google Sightseeing, whose tagline goes 'Why bother seeing the world for real?'

Highlights include:
- the Interdimensional Portal in the town of Dronten in the Netherlands - one of many it seems!
- the longest conveyor belt in the world in Western Sahara
- the Gun lake
and best of all, the Giant Alien Bug!

Brilliant!

I also discovered that although Google maps has not been updated with high-res pictures of Durham, Microsoft's 'Live Local' shows the white house very clearly!

Sweeping up the competition

For some geek humour...check out the launch of Google Minesweeper!

Riddling

If you're feeling brave, check out this riddle - it's hard but definitely satisfying!

The author remarks that most people don't get past level 1. Well, I managed that but I'm stuck on Level 3.5/4!

You'll need to know some (very) basic html.. at least enough to check out the source code.

I'm happy to give hints up to Level 3 - after that point, I'm needing hints myself!

Story of Bread

I was entertained by this Story of Bread from 1949. It's hard to believe this stuff was ever meant to be taken 'seriously'!

Street Art

Following a conversation at the weekend, here's some of the 3D street art I was referring to. I love the Batman and Robin one especially, but there's plenty here to goggle at. Genius!

Google goes out of this world

Check out Google Mars!

There's also a flight into Valles Marineris on Google Video (the HiRes version can be found here)

Mini men

These pictures are worth a look... Some French art students have taken a series of photographs of mini people in edible settings!



Excellent! Which are your favourites?

More puzzling...

Here's a few more cryptic clues for the puzzlers among you. This time they're all towns and cities in the UK:

1. Tying up cured meat with string. (M)
2. Fresh fortress. (N)
3. Envious magical woman. (L)
4. Stupid chips. (Sc)
5. Young shopping centre. (~S)
6. Murky pool. (N)
7. Contented cat with a lisp. (Sc)
8. Farm animal's car. (S)
9. En-suite, perhaps. (S)
10. Wealthy French world. (N/L)
11. Dancing Queens become clergyman.(Sc)
12. Needed for snooker (L)
13. Where ethnic music meets hard rock. (S)
14. Outdoor caterer. (N)
15. Sight the Queen's birds (W)

Food for maths geeks

This strange cauliflower turned up in a bag of organic vegetables. We were quite stunned but I have since discovered that it is not of extra-terrestrial origin but in fact a 'Broccoli Romanesco'.
This veg must be the best example of a natural fractal that I have ever seen! My picture's not great but this website has some excellent pictures and explanation.

Cryptic Capitals

Can you decipher these capital cities?

Napoleon’s adversary
Type of Cigar
Included in Timber Lintels
Reserve a break
Cleaning Heavyweight
Settee round first person
It rings quick
Increasing by the same again
Final resting place after a vehicle
Stumble and change oil
Give up nothing

I have some more (harder) ones if anyone gets addicted!

Neologisms

This is a very funny list of new words – a few made me laugh out loud!

http://www.wordspy.com/diversions/neologisms.asp

I particularly enjoyed ‘shiftless’ and ‘mental hairball’ – I suffer from those all the time!