[CCC News] Christmas Bits

[CCC News] Christmas Bits

In this edition:

Christmas Tips
Some last-minute accommodation websites

Christmas Fun
Some websites to entertain

Some last-minute accommodation websites

Here are some very handy websites if your plans suddenly change and you need some quick accommodation.

http://www.check-in.com.au/
http://www.quickbeds.com.au/
http://needitnow.com.au/

Some of the discounted rates can be as much as 75% off compared to the normal accommodation rates.

.. and of course to find your way there, you can always use

http://www.whereis.com/

… but don’t trust them to get the exact street number position correct – they’ll usually send you to the right street, but not necessarily drop you off in the right place! (Last time I used them to find a hotel in Queensland, they sent me a few blocks away from where I was meant to be, in a darkened deserted industrial area!)

… and if you get lost…

If you’re lost, and you have a NextG mobile (or any mobile phone with a web browser for that matter) you can use it to view WhereIs. On most Telstra mobiles you access this by pressing the “Menu” or “Telstra” or “My Place” button and then click move around to you find Whereis listed on it somewhere. (In worst case you can use the browser and send it to http://mobile.whereis.com.au/ )

It will ask you for a start and end point, and then give you maps and directions – and on modern phones it will often work out roughly where you are based on how far you are from the various phone towers – a poor man’s GPS if you like!

Of course, unless you’re on a reasonable data plan, don’t leave it open on the screen for the duration of your journey – it could be a little costly, but not overly so. I wouldn’t expect it to cost more than a few dollars if you’re not on a data plan.

Some websites to entertain

Hopefully you won’t find yourself bored over the holidays! However, just in case, here’s a few sites that might entertain.

http://freerice.com/

On this site you are given a word, and you have four possible definitions, only one is correct. If you get the correct one, the site donates 20 grains of rice to a third world country. There’s no software required, and it might help your scrabble score too 🙂

(Another site)

If you just want to relax and check out some cute, amazing, silly, and occasionally rude photographs, but not pornography, click reply and I’ll send you the address of a site which has around 2000 photographs. I’m not giving out the address here for safety reasons, as a few of the images are anti-any-religion or ‘shocking’ in nature and could offend some people; and there’s no way to filter them since they’re all lumped together. Just in case you already know the site, it’s name is pi?d?us. (You’d probably want Broadband access to enjoy this site, and because each picture’s about 200kb it’s a little risky for anyone on BigPond cheapie 400MB plan.)

http://mirror.bom.gov.au/products/IDR282.loop.shtml

Will it rain? This link tells you where the rain is, right now – you might need to customise it to your area of course.

http://www.eldersweather.com.au/

.. and of course you can use this link to find if it will rain or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCxDZRJKkqY

Proving that disability doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t make a name for yourself! (No offense intended.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_srD1UBj4d0

What happens when your reflection goes missing?

I’m bound to think of some more after I’ve sent this newsletter, but they might need to wait until the next year.

Have a good one!

Cheers, Mike.

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