theSmudge.com

Some graffiti is art. Some graffiti is criminal. And some graffiti really needs to be photographed and preserved for all eternity. Since this is 2011, that’s already been done. Because of modern technology, this one is saved forever:

Days after first seeing the website called World’s Most Pointless Graffiti, I’m still laughing at the play on matters/mattress words. (The fact that “mattress” is spelled wrong just adds to the humor, if you ask me.) In my browser, I had to page down a couple times to get to the actual images, so if you see a bunch of text, just keep scrolling down. It’s worth wasting some time at 11:11 a.m. on a Tuesday.

Thanks to Jørn for link.

• Did you know that the plural of moose is moose, the plural of goose is geese, and the plural of mongoose is mongooses?
• Did you know that “epeolatry” is the worship of words?
• Did you know that I grew up going to the Yreka Bakery, whose name is a palindrome? If only it was in the South Carolina town of Wassamassaw…

If you’re still reading and want to know lots of other fun facts about words, then go check out Fun With Words.

Now, I must offer a bit of a disclaimer: I helped create that page. But I think that makes it cooler since, you know, little ole’ me had a hand in it.

So there you go. It’s 11:11 and that means you should waste some time by reading about cool words!

How good are you at parking? And using the arrow keys on your keyboard?

Today’s 11:11 a.m. Tuesday Time-Waster is a surprisingly addictive game in which you try to park a car without crashing into things. (Yes, there is music, but you can click the speaker icon to mute it.) I was skeptical when I saw this URL on one of my daily calendars the other day, but I figured I’d at least check it out. Several side-swipes later, I realized five minutes had suddenly gone by and I should probably go back to being productive.

It’s 11:11 a.m. on what for many of us is Monday in our work week. If you had to work on Labor Day, my condolences — I’ve worked my share of holidays, and it’s always a bummer when friends are out having fun, or at least Not At Work.

I spent my weekend doing a variety of things, including being utterly and completely lazy, along with a healthy dose of running and gyming. Sunday’s running escapade was in Golden Gate Park with a great group of gals, followed by delicious food that included cheese and tater tots and a grapefruit mimosa.

Anyway, if you had to work, or if your workplace is feeling like death, you could always recreate it in Legos. This site has done that, and the “occupational hazards” section is the best, in my opinion. If I had more Legos, of course I’d be doing this, too. Alas, I do not have small children under foot. I do have a few Legos, but not nearly enough to recreate my work place.

Despite the fact that my California driver’s license says my hair is auburn, I know I’m still classified as a redhead. I spent most of my life being annoyed by this fact, because redheads always seem to be slightly stereo-typed — and because I always wanted to be blonde. It probably didn’t help matters that I was (and still am) an ardent fan of the Anne of Green Gables books, and the main character loathed her red hair.

Well, in recent years I’ve mostly gotten over it. I’ve made such progress that I actually call myself a redhead in public. But a “ginger”? Um, that’s a type of man-shaped cookie. But for some reason, that word has become more popular.

And now we come to the time-waster (yes, I was building up suspense). Fellow redheaded runner Morgan posted this link the other day, and I’m still laughing at the Uncyclopedia entry for gingers. Some of it is so true — yep, I’ll last about five minutes at the beach before I burn. Some of it is debatable — maybe we really are “anti-Smurfs”? And some of it is completely untrue — I do not have any posters of Beezlebub in my house!

The part that amused me the most was actually a comment made by an anonymous user in the discussion tab: “At least we’re not French.” See? We also have sense of humor!

So, go amuse yourself by reading that entry. By the way, despite what that article may say, I do not look like this:

I liked the “Tuesday Time-Waster at 11:11 a.m.” idea last week, so I figured I’d try it again. Since, you know, I haven’t gotten around to posting about this weekend’s adventures that included a lot of whipped cream flavored vodka, followed the next morning by a great 12-mile run with great people.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: MASH! If you’re anywhere remotely close to my age, you probably played the game in school. You wrote down lists of names of crushes/non-crushes, cars, homes, careers, numbers of kids. Then your friend would make a series of marks until you shouted “Stop!” after a few to 15 or so marks. Then they’d use that number to go down the list, crossing out each item the number landed on. When a category had only one remaining (oh, the dreaded “Yugo” or “shack”), that was it. Your whole life story depended on some marks.

Of course there’s an online version of MASH. And of course, 25 years later, I had to try it again. My results? Well, the plus side is that I have a mansion and am married to someone who is not repulsive. On the down side, we live in Kentucky. With our nine children.

Your turn!

In true “Layla the numbers nerd” fashion, I have decided that, at 11:11 a.m. on a Tuesday, everyone should have a brief time-waster. Without further ado:

Photographer Carli Davidson has a funny series called “Shake,” in which she captures dogs in mid-shake as they rid themselves of water.

I found that link through this New York Times blog post with a bit more information about the photographer. Then I found her photos of a dog with the awesome name of Ramen Noodle, who has no front paws!