SPIEGEL Surfs the Web Exploring Forbidden Zones
Christoph Wachter and Mathias Jud have been collecting data about the world's restricted military zones for more than five years now. The two Swiss citizens, who live in Berlin, have collected their findings on Zone Interdite , a Web site with more than 1,200 sites that are all linked to Google Maps and data they have collected about every site from Area 51 in Roswell, New Mexico, to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. But the site's coup de grace is a 3D walkthrough simulation of the American prison camp at Guatanamo Bay for suspected terrorists that was created using information the men obtained from a US military veteran's Web site.
Goofing Off in Japanese
If you're worried about your on-the-job productivity you may want to skip today's link. SPIEGEL ONLINE has found a quirky Web site that might possibly distract you from filing those all-important TPS reports this afternoon. A Japanese blogger has put together some fascinating browser-based games that you can tell yourself will give you a better understanding of physics while improving your Japanese language skills. The coolest games involve manipulating various elements such as fire, oil and water simply to see how they react with one another. Don't be put off by the strange looking graphics. Pretty soon you'll be addicted and you'll be huddling down in your cubicle hoping your boss doesn't see you. Of course, if he does walk by, you can always just tell him you're brushing up on your Japanese for that important upcoming workshop with the Tokyo office.
The Lego Suicides
What happens when you take hundreds of tiny interlocking plastic pieces to create a Lego gun, a Lego knife, a Lego rope, a Lego hand-grenade, a bottle of Lego sleeping pills, self-timed Lego explosives or a Lego fork? Lego suicides and lots and lots of Lego blood , of course. We can't imagine Lego's image control executives in Denmark are happy about the latest incarnation of the popular toys, which follows artists co-opting Legos to produce renditions of the Holocaust and porno scenes. But if you enjoy gallows humor and the subversion of a favorite pasttime, then you'll certainly have a laugh over the Lego suicides.