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December 4, 2005

Excellent E-card/art fun; holiday books; weekend game, Christmas mp3s, new garden blog

(I've had to turn off comments after getting about 30 autogenerated comment spams today. They begin with compliments, then degenerate into nonsense, all with the apparent attempt to insert links on a blog that will make them appear popular to search engines. When you get spam promising to put your site at the top of the search results, this is how they do it: A computer posts phony comments on blogs with your link in them. The current spate comes from someone buying a new list of blogs. I'll turn them back on once this wave passes. For now, click on the envelope icon at the end of the post to email your comment.)

Links for a lighter-hearted weekend....

Sunday
I'm running to a family event, so just the facts:
Champion of Cheer is the best, "Here are the parts, make something" E-card I've seen.

More about it here.

Here's my attempt.

The 10 Best Books of 2005 (NYT), usually with first chapters. Other newly published theme choices include Exploration Books, Photography and Cookbooks.

Friday

Saltacol: A Flash game that I've only played for a minute or so -- long enough to know it's worth a look over the weekend. Here's a bit of description from the game's page at Jay Is Games:

...You are a snail in this story of saving your species, and you must make your way from entrance to exit in each of the 5 cave levels of the game. At the start of each level you drop into the cave from a hole, and you must find your way to the other hole that looks just like it. Problem is, it is initially closed, so you must first find the little switch that opens the exit hatch. Still with me?

(1) Find the switch, (2) trip the switch, (3) get to the exit.

Your only means of movement is by jumping, swimming or rolling. Using the mouse, point to the snail, then click and drag the mouse in the same direction you want to jump, swim or roll. The farther you drag the farther the snail will travel. Let go. Repeat.

Hint: if you hold the mouse button down for a couple of seconds, you will see the path of an arc drawn that the snail will take when you release the mouse button. This helps considerably when judging where and how far to drag the mouse....

New garden blog: Nelumbo in Piedmont, S.C., writes The Garden Blog, and I really like the attitude here:

If you are the type of gardener who takes yourself seriously, go compost yourself. Human flesh is a great source of Nitrogen. Your prize peonies will bloom eternally. Go sacrifice yourself! Now!This blog is for the rest of us.

The Garden Blog has been added to the ever-growing Garden Blogs list.

2005 Adventures in Carols: Falalalala.com ("Preserving memories of Christmas Vinyl Past") posts a different carol every day in December.

Today: Christmas Is A-Comin' by Pete Fountain.

Carols of the Chins: Er... unique. Enter the name of a carol and a pair of wintry kids will sing a few bars of it, with gusto if not in tune. (They do not know "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.")

Ugly Christmas Lights: It's just getting started, but already there's one I like. I can see this could be controversial.

How to make a snow globe: I'll take her word for it.

SantaCon is next weekend. Pix to come.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:53 AM | Permalink