Fun Websites

Sometimes when I'm writing I need to take a break. Sometimes I'll walk in my garden and photograph my flowers, but often I play around on the internet. Playing around isn't the right set of words. Although it looks like I'm fooling around instead of writing, I'm actually working. I am! While I'm looking on the net, my brain is working out the next sentence, paragraph and reviewing what I have already written. Sometimes I get ideas for articles. See I'm really working when you think I'm wasting time. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, I thought I would share some of the fun websites I have found.

http://howmanyofme.com/
You can find out how many people according to the census records in the US have your name. Has a search box for your first and/or last name. I found out that there are 3,033 people with the first name of Genie & 664,144 with the last name of Walker, but only 7 people with the name Genie Walker.

http://www.datesinhistory.com/
You go to your birth month and click on the date of your birth. A list by year appears of some of the more memorable happenings on your birthday. The year I was born is empty, perhaps in a few years it will read: Genie Walker, author was born. Some of the more memorable happenings on my birthday (February 8th): 1587 Mary, Queen of Scots looses her head; 1926 Walt Disney Studios is formed; and in 1965 the Supremes release "Stop In the Name of Love."

http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnames/origin/
This is a free dictionary of 70,000+ surnames origins and last name meanings. First you choose the first letter of the last name you are looking up, and then scroll down the list to find the name. Once you click on your surname you should get a brief description from the source (or at least all the names I looked up were from this source) : An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names with an Essay on their Derivation and Import; Arthur, William, M.A.; New York, NY: Sheldon, Blake, Bleeker & CO., 1857.

http://www.paulsadowski.com/numbers.asp
Here I found a place that will tell you the meaning of your first name and applies numerology on your full name. I got a report on your number and the characteristics of it, your destiny, soul urge number and meaning, and your inner dream number. A really fun read!

http://www.upennmuseum.com/hieroglyphsreal.cgi/
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has a website that generators the Egyptian equivalent of your first name. They do such a beautiful job that it is worth printing out your name. The museum also has a name generator for the Babylonian equivalent in cuneiform (http://www.upennmuseum.com/cuneiform.cgi).

http://www.chinese-tools.com/names
I just love the playing with names. Here is a website where you can see your name in Chinese. It also has Chinese songs, poems, and a dictionary.

http://www.adflip.com/
I think its fun to look in old magazines and newspapers and see the ads. Here is a website that lets you search by year or by topic for those old ads. The search dates range from 1940 to 2001.

http://www.bellaonline.com/code/psychic/
This is a online test to see if you are psychic. It's fun and easy to play. There are 4 shapes (circle, triangle, square, wavy & star) and you have 10 rounds to guess which shape will be randomly picked by the computer.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourbirthdatemeanquiz/
This a fun website to find what your birth day means by Blogthings. Easy to use, just use the pull down option to choose your birth month and day. Then you find out your strengths, weaknesses, color, power symbol and power month. My strength is "Your undying determination," which I think is correct. I disagree with what this website claims is my weakness "You require an opulent lifestyle." My color is plum, which is a beautiful color. My power symbol is "$" and my power month is August. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with this information, but it is a fun thing to know.

www.zillow.com
This is both fun and useful, you can found out the value of your home by putting in your address in the search boxes. When it comes up you can see a satellite photograph of your neighborhood. Scroll down and you will the value of your house along with four homes in the area that have recently sold. Click on hyperlink for your address and you will get a lot of details about your house.

Okay, these are the ones I found. What wonderfully fun websites have you found?