The clock strikes 2:45. It's still hours before you can go home, and as the computer screen planted in front of your face casts its pallow glow over you, you can feel the last tinges of conscious thought slowly drip out of your brain. Slowly, you rise from your seat, peering over your cubicle wall, seeing if your boss is hovering around. The coast, you find, is clear. Like lightning, you jump onto your Internet browser and head for...

That's the question. Where does everyone like to go when they need a quick break from the drudgery of work? This is definitely one of the great things about the Internet- you're always just a click away from stress relief (well, if you've got a cable modem or some such thing. Those people still on dial-up... sorry). So where do you like to waste your time (other than here, of course )

Where do I like to go? Well there are a couple of 'net strips that I like to check out (only one of which I'll link to as the other is decidedly adult)-

Quid Pro Quo by Brian Leath.

Also, for decidedly mindless entertainment, there's always Homestar Runner!

And if either of those don't work, I usually point my browser to either ESPN.com or CNNSI.com, to get my sports fix. The site for Letterman's show is also good for a chuckle or two.

That's about it for me... anyone else?

I take it no-one's mentioned a certain www.nitcentral.com/discus then? [Well, this is only the second post - everyone]

As for stress relief... why faff around with a dial-up conenction when all you need is the appropriate magazine and [THAT IS ENOUGH!!! - everyone]

Sven:I take it no-one's mentioned a certain www.nitcentral.com/discus then?

[Actually, Sparrow47 did just that!]

Yeah, I come here to kill time.

I also post at Club Hell. I'll let you figure out my name.:P

Standard disclaimers in place for that one. No one young, etc.

I tend to visit gearhead sites...

Things like SlashDot, or The Register (US Version).

For the non-gearhead,

Mark Morgan's Voices of Unreason, and a site I found thru VoU, Steve DenBeste's USS Clueless (even though the discussion boards are shut down there now).

Um,

ScottN is a computer guy at work. Anything he does on the computer at work he can claim is work related because he is the computer guy. He is also the guy the pointy haired boss asks to check on everybody's personal use.

I know the computer guy where I work. We went to high school together. We were on the chess team together. I do not put him in the position of having to protect me for "using the company materials and time the company is paying you for to fool around at nitcentral.com"

I hate to be paranoid, but just because they haven't gotten you yet doesn't mean "they" aren't trying.

I'll post again to make Kerriem's job easier.

Er, I'm not sure what you're getting at there, Berry. I think I made it rather clear throughout my initial post that I was asking what people used to kill time at work. Certainly if people work at companies where such dilly-dallying isn't welcome, that's one thing. What's at issue here?

Sparrow47,

Dilbert is doing something normal after working hard for 7.99999 hours. All the projects he's been assigned are completed. All the progress reports and feasibility studies are done. He logs onto a non-work related site. The pointy haired boss comes to his cubicle. I don't know your employment situation. You might be self-employed or work for a great company. Whether it is a great company or not someone knows and they can use that against you. If you wouldn't tell your boss, "I work hard until about 2:45 then I dilly-dally and log on to non-work related sites," then don't leave a record of you doing just that. (BTW, I don't recommend saying that to your employer.)

Maybe where you work is different. Maybe they don't care if they pay you to visit nitcentral.com and kxla.org, today. I'd still recommend against doing it. Someone else will tell you who owns the terminal and the connection. Someone else will tell you if somebody at your company can find out what web addresses you visit.

Berry, you make some very good points (speaking as someone who's been chastised for excessive Net use at work - hey, it was data entry all day every day, what can I tell you? ) And I've deleted your second post as requested.

However. I've also got to assume that
a)Sparrow, and subsequent posters, know (or at least have a decent idea) whether or not their personal bosses frown on such usage and can make up their own minds accordingly;
b)That presumably by now said bosses would already know if they were Web-hopping or not; and
c)That the initial post was lighthearted enough, and the practice referred to widespread enough, that no sane boss could consider it as condoning serious malingering.

That said, I'd be willing to modify the topic title/Sparrow's post to something less provocative if he and the other posters request it as well.

Actually, Blue, at my job, EVERYBODY is the "Computer Guy".

Go ahead and change the title, KerrieM... Might I suggest "Favorite Web Sites (Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink, Say No More)"?

And Berry, the Net policy for me, an intern, is probably going to be a lot different from everyone else's. The first summer I worked at the particular company I work for, they told me I could not use the Internet, due to a previous intern who had been $tupid enough to surf for porn. However this rule was never enforced. This year when I started I was told that my overall tasks were so mind-numbing that it was okay for me to occasionally surf the Net to clear my head.

Oh, and finally, due to the computer situation, I now log in using my boss' ID

Sparrow47,

I now log in using my boss' ID -- Sparrow47

It is good to start the day with giggles. Thanks Sparrow47.

No sweat Berry... but since, for some reason, the clipart face I used decided not to come out, you'll have to ask yourself... was I joking... or not?

Sparrow47,

Personally I hope you weren't joking. The idea of the pointy haired Boss giving Dilbert a hard time about going to widgets.com and catbert seeing the boss's name next to nitcentral.com is too funny to hope otherwise.

(BTW, in your name is that a reference to Paddington Bear or Peter Pan? [Hmm, no sweat Berry -- sweet Berry -- jelly and Peter Pan^TM peanut butter, Mmmm.])

Berry,

Well, I'll just leave you in suspense, then.

And no, you didn't get the correct reference, though my name now should be a definite help.

I have a few sites bookmarked for quick-n-easy reference during the day:

Here at Nicentral (good when I have long stretches of time to spend, like at lunch).

Drew Curtis' FARK.com, which has links to some of the more bizarre and funny news stories out there.

Dale Coffing's PocketPCPassion - since I am a techno-geek of the handheld variety.

Google's new news feature is a definite plus.

The T'inator is one of the funniest sites I've ever seen, though it seems to be down at the moment.

I'd post but everyone would get mad at me for saying lp.org and toonami.com.

www.randi.org
Hosted by The Amazing Randi -- a skeptics' website. Go to the forum and JREF Banter. The trolls make the place truly entertaining.

Oh, hey, kerriem changed the thread title... cool...

Gotta start by mentioning that (t)rusty old stalwart the BBC. They have one of the very best news sites on the Web. Compelling and/or compulsory reading. The site has tons of mini-sites to TV, radio station coverage (complete with Internet Radio Player - I recommend 6 Music and BBC 7) and other points of interest such as the immortal H2G2.

Being a F1 fan (though less of late) I also quite like the Old Rival's site over at ITV: itv-f1.com - but there are a few pop-up ads, it being a commercial entity and all.

Out of interest, snopes.com is a nice way to find out about everything that's weird and/or true in the world.

For music geeks everywhere, I can recommend the All Music Guide for profiles and reviews, and, for those with an unhealthy interest in the UK's alleged Top 40, everyHit.com which keeps a record of the songs in our beloved Hit Parade since the charts were of any value began.

Want a quick translation to/from English? Try FreeTranslation.com.

Fancy selling your soul to the Branson? An alternative radio station is Virgin Radio, which cornered the "fashionable young male" demographic years before the BBC's 6 Music came to be.

I read that there is yet another flaw in Windows. I've read that hacker activity has increased. (I read it in the local paper that requires you to subscribe to read it on-line.)

I can confirm the increased frequency just looking at my black ice icon flashing away.

I'd reccomend all windows users get the patch needed. I'll link, but it might be my computer specific link

I can't let a day go by without checking Metal Sludge. It started 5 years ago as a lame parody of Metal Edge magazine, and it has since grown into quite possibly the biggest rock and metal site on the net.

Here's mine:

www.marvunapp.com is the Marvel Appendix, which contains biographies of over 2,000 obscure characters from Marvel comics.

www.spiderfan.org is the best Spider-Man website out there. The best part is the snarky, very in-depth reviews of Spider-Man classic stories.

www.poobala.com is TV Crossover Central, which lists all the examples and describes them of when shows crossover (like blank appearing on another show). Some are very obscure and some he mercilessly lampoons (hope you don't like Meego).

www.baseballthinkfactory.org is a great place to discuss baseball. You have to be more of a serious baseball fan than a casual one, but it's a very funny site (you gotta register first).

www.retrosheet.org has every baseball stat...ever (although www.baseballreference.com is a more user-friendly site). You want to know who got traded when? You want to know who drafted who when? You want to see a box score from the 1969 Royals? Go here.

www.qktheater.com is the best G.I. Joe cartoon site out there. Literally millions of screen captures from the show.

http://the-op.com is the best Arrested Development site out there. Lots of information, including a transcript of every episode.

www.televisionwithoutpity.com is sort of like NitCentral with more attitude. The people there basically snark on and discuss TV. It's kind of ruthless (the moderators take no c r ap whatsoever) and sometimes a little too cute (Wordy McWord?), but I'm addicted to it.

KAM, what happened to DrunkDuck? Is it gone for good? I used to pop into your pages once or twice a week but it's been down for a while now.

Two weeks actually.

From what I hear, Geekside Hosting went down again, & that's who hosted the Duck.

Supposedly the guy who owns DD has signed with another hosting company so hopefully it'll be back up soon. *crosses fingers*

Callie - I used to pop into your pages once or twice a week
Well, since I try to update 3 times a week (& sometimes more) I hope you checked the cartoons you missed. ;-)

Sadly the Duck is still down at the moment though.

---

And now to try to post something on-topic here...

Except for NitC most of my regular stops on the web for fun are comic related (some of which have links in the Comic Books topic).

Oh, well.

The Webcomic Crossover & Cameo Archive - a listing of webcomic crossosovers, cameos & references that I help out with

Gone & Forgotten - A usually funny ripping-bad-comics-to-shreds review site - WARNING! Occasionally uses bad language - Sadly seems to update once a millennium

Sequential Tart - a monthly ezine that deals with comics, movies, tv, etc.

Apparently Geekside Hosting has gone out of business.

Volte6 has signed up with a new host for Drunk Duck & if you go there you'll see a blank white page instead of a "Can not find" message.

Bad news, after the last outage in October there were some parts of DD that he was unable to get from Geekside & he's still trying to get it.

Hopefully he can get some of DD up this week. I really don't want to move to a new webcomic host. Telling people I'm on Smack Jeeves would sound like quoting from a bad P.G. Wodehouse story.

*plays taps*

http://www.tblog.com/dd.php

The KAMics will be back... sooner or later... not really sure where or when at the moment.

Ah, well, the 3 cartoons I had finished & was waiting to upload are at http://gallery.r3v3ng.net/view_album.php?set_albumName=album64 for the time being.

(I don't want to start some political debate by doing this, but...)

You want to see what Arabs and Iranians see when they watch their TV news? Check out Memri TV: http://www.memritv.org They've got news clips with added English subtitles from various news stations in Arab countries and Iran. We watch these sometimes in class, because they're roughly at the same difficulty level as most of the course materials we use.

Tom V- this site! Fil Pahrrands Nitcentral Brash Rephlektions of course !, or We are the Knights that say Neeeeeeeeegh

(please see Why are we so stupid 3 for explaination)

Here's a fun website that sells stuff like whoopee cushions, fake doggie doo and vomit, and those half-baseballs, pucks and golfballs (that you apply to a car or house window, to make it look like it's broken.) The URL is SoImmature.com, and it cracked me up.

That is a riot! LOL!

TV Tropes is a favorite of mine. It's a wiki which describes the various archetypes and plot devices employed by writers, listing which TV shows, movies, books, and other media specifically use them.

http://www.tvtropes.org

I like this TV Tropes page for some reason... ;-)

Ok I'm wondering if Luigi was responsible for this page....

XKCD has started a new feature on Tuesdays... "What If..."

http://what-if.xkcd.com

The first installment: What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?