August 28, 2008

Stumble Upon


For all those who are already acquainted with Stumble, please read the last bit about the one website, others, read on.

Had those times when you were sitting in front of the computer, with an active internet connection, and all you did was stare at the screen, with no special purpose? Well even if you have better things to do with your time, it sure has been happening a lot to me in these past few days. So I discovered Stumble Upon. A website about websites. I read somewhere that if all the web pages in the world were standalone pages (like my sorry attempt at a personal page :P) that did not link to each other, we wouldn’t have what we fondly call the world wide web. The only reason that the web is so interesting is because one thing leads to another.
So, back to Stumble Upon, I found it while looking for some new add ons for Firefox, and landed upon a website where you can specify what topics interest you, and their toolbar button, when clicked, randomly takes you to one of the websites it thinks you would like. Now, the catch, you might not always like the website you are taken to, but you can tell the toolbar that you don’t like the website simply by clicking on the thumbs down button (any lame ass can remember that, when you don’t like something… thumbs down, when you reeeeally like something.. thumbs up!). That way the service tunes into your needs (?!) better.
The first time I clicked on Stumble, it took me to this website (probably because I had Art and Drawing as my preferences) that has empty space. A white page, which, as you move your mouse around, has ink blots appear over it. I won’t spoil the fun by writing all about it in one go. You should go see it for yourself, and try stuff out. It might sound simple, and not so interesting, but I spent 2 precious hours just trying to get a random pattern to look pretty. It didn’t, here’s what I got


But it was sure a lot of fun.
Just remember, the page won’t refresh after you’re done and want more. You will have to open it again in a new window.