You’ve probably heard of the website PostSecret. It’s been around for a while now and has developed almost a cult-like following which has spawned books, events and media attention. A regular little business empire.

What’s not always immediately noticed is the business model it follows, which is right in line with social giants Facebook and Myspace. Basically it follows a simple principle that lets it grow exponentially:

Let the users create the content.

Think about this simple math for a minute. Let’s say the average person can create one page of content per day. Theoretically, working every single day one person can create 365 pages in a year. Now, using that same estimate of one page per day think about how many pages can be created if 10 people are generating content. How about 1,000? One million?

You get the point. Even though there are other contributing factors, this one principle is what’s allowed Facebook and Myspace to blow up. Facillitate more, create less. It’s brilliant, really. So brilliant, in fact, that many others are starting to follow the model. Some on the scale of the social networking kings and others narrowing their niche a la PostSecret. Those are the sites I’m focusing on today.

*Today’s collection of links are sites that have found focused niches on the humor surrounding the English language. There are loads of them, in fact (which is surprising and not at the same time), but this edition of Friday Fun Links is only going to list a few of my favorites. I encourage you to comment on some of your favorites I may have missed.

The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks

If you appreciate tongue-in-cheek type humor, you’ll love this site. The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks is a collection of reader submitted photos and images where quotes were completely misused and/or unnecessary.

The commentary by Brittany, the webmaster, is terrific and the submissions seem to be neverending, which is great news for Brittany and not-so-great news for the future of mankind. There’s something about misguided attempts at intelligence that is both funny and extremely sad at the same time. I can talk about it all day, but until you actually see for your self the site can not be done justice.

On the sidebar you’ll see a list of links to other similar sites, some of which made my list, and others that are really good too, but didn’t fit my theme. They’re all worth a look.

Engrish.com

The next site is Engrish.com. This blog has “politically incorrect” written all over it, especially in its title. And even though part of me does think it’s racially insensitive, it’s so humorous it’s hard not to laugh. I don’t get the impression that it’s intended to be mean spirited, so I gave myself the okay to enjoy it.

The concept is simple: take a sign or package that is written in an Asian language and then translated to English and laugh about how the intended message gets twisted. Going a step further (and this is where it toes the PC line) a moderate amount of fun is poked at the way those with an Asian accent speak English. There are a variety of puns and wisecracks that present themselves during this process and the site does an excellent job of delivering the content.

Passive Aggressive Notes

PassiveAggressiveNotes.com showcases notes from people who have perfected the ability to yell at you without you even realizing you’re being yelled at. If you don’t think that’s a talent, you’re wrong. Covering things from moms leaving letters in their child’s apartment “nicely” telling them they live in filth and to clean it up to calling out the Hot Pocket thief, this site is absolutely hilarious…and scary.

Literally, A Web Log

I’ve subconsciously been terribly annoyed with the rising use and subsequent misuse of the word “literally” (quotes OK there Brittany?). It’s like, um, like totally the new Valley girl term and now that I’ve found this site I’m completely aware of how much I hate it. The site I’m talking about is called Literally, A Web Log.

I included it on my list even though I can’t decide whether I like it or love to punish myself. Either way, I get lost reading through some of the ridiculousness and before I know it an hour has passed…literally. I’ve got more important things that I should be doing like organizing my desktop recycling bin into folders before I empty it and other fun stuff, so I shouldn’t spend so much time agonizing over how other people’s attempts at smart end up making them look stupid, but I just can’t help myself sometimes.

That’s Punny!

I’m a sucker for puns. I appreciate the wit involved in coming up with them and think it’s proof that humans have evolved, despite some of the content on Literally, A Web Log. It gives me hope, I think. Over at That’s Punny! you’ll find a great collection of puns found on signs, storefronts and products. The titles are equally punny and enjoyable as well.

One of the most refreshing parts of this blog, and many others of this sort do the same thing, is the blogroll on the right sidebar that lists “Other Geeky Blogs We Love”. Links to a couple other pun blogs can be found in that list, too. A nice gesture by the site owners to share some link love.

Acronyms Sometimes Suck

The sister site of That’s Punny, Acronyms Sometimes Suck is a collection of unfortunate marketing situations faced by a number of non-profits and specialty organizations. The common scenario, I’m assuming, is the association comes up with a name that sounds really good and covers their main objectives, has the legal paperwork filed making them official, and brings the concept to a marketing firm for logo design. Probably sometime around then they realize that the four letter acronym formed by their official name would make Andrew Dice Clay blush.

Oops.

Rather than spend the money and effort to rebrand their club they decide to tough it out, hoping it won’t be made into a huge issue. Sometimes they may even fly under the radar of most people, but not A.S.S. (that’s an acronym, too!). They find it, and post it on their site for the enjoyment of everyone but the poor company and a bunch of old people. Good stuff.

lowercase L

One of the world’s great mysteries, yet it happens all the time. People love to capitalize all the letters in a word or sentence, but for some bizarre reason, the ‘L’ stays small. Of course the lowercase ‘L’ can easily be confused with an uppercase ‘I’, especially when all the other letters are capitalized. Despite the confusion this causes, people still continue to do it. I’m not sure why, but it fascinates me. And apparently others are intrigued as well because there is a steady flow of content to the lowercase l blog.

That’s all I have for today, but those should keep you pretty busy. There are plenty of laughs in the archives of those sites, too, so be sure to dig around a bit. Oh yeah, don’t forget to add some of your favorite links in the comments below. I know there are other great ones I missed.

Anyway, every so often I get an email that is truly amazing, one that’s worthy of passing on and sometimes even discussing with another person. In person. Without waiting for a commercial. The sidewalk chalk guy email is one of those situations. I’m not sure if I still have the original email in my inbox, but I was able to find some of his drawings online and they are definitely worth looking at.

The artist draws in 3D, which is unbelievable but true. He basically employs similar stretch techniques on sidewalks that Michelangelo used on the Sistine Chapel. I think. I really have no idea how this guy is able to do what he does. But I do know that it’s pretty remarkable, and fun to look at. His creativity is really amazing.

So without further ado, head on over to “Sidewalk Chalk Guy’s” website and have a look at some of his work. I think you’ll be amazed. And if you like what you see, don’t forget to pass this post on to your friends. If you send it to six or more friends tomorrow will be a great day.

What I noticed first was the simplicity of the site. When you log in you’re presented with posters from two different movies. You choose the one you like better and your given two new choices. Choose again and continue on in the same way. Sounds pretty easy, right?

The part we don’t see, and where the true magic of Flickchart happens, is behind the selections. When you choose which movie you like better, the site applies a ranking to it based on your previous selections for that movie and those it’s been compared to. What you get in return is a complete list of your favorite movies. From there you can drill them down by year, genre or decade.

I can talk all about this site, but it is really something that needs to be experienced for yourself. Even as I write this post, I’m going back and forth and making a quick selection. As I said, it’s in Beta stage so you’ll need to apply for a membership. If you’re interested in receiving a referral from me, leave a comment below and fill out the SiteRoast contact form.

You’re cleaning out an old relative’s basement and come across a strange object, one that words can’t describe. It’s some sort of decoration, and it’s old…very old. You want to know what it is, both to satisfy your own curiosity and to be sure you don’t get rid of something that might be worth a fortune. What do you do?

There’s only one thing to do in this situation. Take a picture of it and upload it on PicAnswers. There your questionable object can be observed by a community of users who will either know what it is, or give you their most entertaining guess.

I’m not sure how long this site’s been around because I couldn’t find an ‘About’ page, but the furthest back any photo that I saw went was about 1 year. In that time there’s been hundreds of interesting pictures posted. Many have been answered (correctly? I’m not sure) but some are still unsolved.

Even if you don’t have any inexplicable objects you can get lost looking through other peoples old, but cool stuff. It’s kind of like a virtual garage sale. You get to check out the junk, but there’s no concern of “accidentally” buying it.

Take a look for yourself – www.PicAnswers.com

I do know that there are millions of “Trekkies” out there who can’t get enough of the series and who have flooded the box office during the past week looking for the newest edition.

So because the demand is there, and as of recently there is an extra dose of supply I did some looking around and found the site that I’d want to know about if Star Trek was my thing.

At Star Trek Wormhole you have access to the ultimate collection of Star Trek websites. This site is rightly named because if you have even the slightest interest in the show/movie, you can get sucked in very quickly.

Basically, it’s a Star Trek website directory, broken down into categories like Fan Sites, Reference Sites, and Shopping. Very cool stuff for nerds..er, I mean, Trekkies.

Despite my lack of interest in the series, I did find Star Trek Wormhole to be very useful. I spent more time than I would like to admit browsing through some of the links, and in doing so learned more Klingon than I’ll ever use.

Still, if you are or ever had been a fan of the show, this is a site that you should take a look at. If someone like me can get something out of it, most fans will enjoy browsing the Star Trek Wormhole.

I doubt anyone has ever had a better understanding of how much humans lack intelligence than George Carlin. His wit and sarcasm would be even funnier if part of us weren’t concerned he might be right. It’s entertainment that keeps us listening and masochism that keeps us laughing.

Anyways, George Carlin was the one to say it, but Overheard in New York decided to prove it. This site is a user-submitted collection of ridiculous conversations that were overheard in NYC (hence the name). I gotta say that this is one of the funniest yet disappointing websites I’ve ever seen.

While reading through some of the posts I started to convince myself that they were made up, in hopes that people weren’t that stupid. It’s my nature to give the human race the benefit of the doubt and consider us intelligent, and I probably always will, despite continuous proof otherwise. Finally, I decided they were probably true simply because I don’t know who could make this stuff up. That and because the editors page says so.

If that’s not a bad enough representation of the human race, those in charge of Overheard in New York decided to expand. And they did. There are now five “Overheard” sites and they’re no more promising for people than OINY (That acronym is short for “Overheard in New York” in case you see it on some sneakers somewhere and don’t know what it means).

If you’re in the mood to feel really good about yourself, here are those other “Overheard” sites.

• Overheard in the Office
• Overheard at the Beach
• Celebrity Wit
• Overheard Everywhere

It’s true. Although reading these sites for 15 minutes will make you start feeling like this guy, the mathematical fact is half of us are more like her. How’s that for a dose of “feel-good-about-yourself”?

I took about a hundred quizzes between last night and this morning and earned just over 2,000 points which I used to buy a spin of the wheel. On my spin I won $1.00, which puts me at an hourly rate of about 97 cents. Not quite enough to quit the day job. There is a pie slice on the wheel that gives you ten dollars, though, so if you earn enough points and get lucky with the spins you can win a nice chunk of extra cash.

There are two kinds of quizzes, Sprint Quizzes and Search Quizzes. Sprint Quizzes are timed and the quicker you answer the more points you get for a correct answer. If you ace a Sprint Quiz you get bonus spins on the wheel. I aced a quiz on The Simpsons (I only got 2 out of 5 on the History quiz, but breezed through The Simpsons. Go figure.) last night and got two bonus spins. On the first I got a $1 bonus quiz, which if I remember correctly means I would win a dollar if I aced the next quiz. I didn’t, so it was bye-bye dollar. The next spin netted me 2x powerup which meant my points would double for the next ten quizzes I took.

Judging by the leaderboard there hasn’t been much participation up until now. The all-time cash leader has only won $972 as of today. This is probably a sign that it takes an awful long time and a lot of quizzes to get to a point where you’re winning anything significant. Since I’ve already told you my meager winnings this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

If you’re going to enjoy Nation Trivia you need to think of the money as a bonus and try to enjoy the game itself. Take the quizzes (you’re allowed up to 200 per day), earn as many points as you can, spin the wheel from time to time, and maybe you’ll win a few bucks.

At first I thought it sounded kind of silly and couldn’t see a practical use for it. But after thinking it over a bit and reading some of the public entries, I realized how this website could be a really useful goal-setting tool. I then wrote a one year goal recap to myself. In it I stated the things I hoped to have accomplished by the time the email was sent to me. I was actually pretty surprised at how well I had done.

If you read the public entries you’ll also see many more types of emails; from humorous to sad to scary. You really can use it in a number of different ways. Your email doesn’t have to be public either. You can keep it unlisted which allows you to be specific (i.e. using names and places). I went that route and made my goals as specific as possible.

Of course you don’t have to use FutureMe to set goals for yourself. You could just write them down on a piece of paper, like they used to do in the stone age, but who wants to do something so old fashioned? I will admit that it is a fun surprise to see your message in the inbox months or years after you wrote it. If you’re like me you forgot what you wrote the minute you hit send, so the email serves as a nice reminder of what you intended to achieve that year.

SITE DESCRIPTION

Snopes.com is a website that takes rumors and urban legends, researches their validity, and reports whether there is any truth to them.  The list of rumors consists of those that are current and some that are passed on through the generations, and explains their origins, their purpose and details how much of them are fact, if anything.

Snopes has urban legends broken down into 40+ categories, with each having a number of additional subcategories. Though some are topical, others are very specific. For instance, there are the normal categories such as movies, music, and sports, but then there are also categories for disney, coke and titanic. Many of the popular email circulations are also listed, many of which are said to be false, or at least fabricated.

On the info page, there is a Snopes FAQ which addresses many of the accuracy concerns you may have. From what we gathered, the site’s owners Barbara and David Mikkelson take caution in posting inaccurate information. Their content appears to be researched and then reresearched.

ABOUT SNOPES.COM

As mentioned above, Snopes is owned and operated by Barbara and David Mikkelson, and their copyright on the site’s footer suggests that Snopes has been around since 1995. In that time the Mikkelson’s have compiled and researched hundreds, if not thousands, of urban legends. Although they don’t claim to be the ultimate authority on any of the listed subjects, they do provide a bibliography of where they did their research at the end of each listing. Anyone wishing to dispute their claims is encouraged to check the sources for themselves.

WHAT WE LIKED

What’s not to like? Surfing around on Snopes.com for just a little while will make any visitor feel foolish for believing that crazy rumor they heard in high school, especially when they’ve continued to believe it years later. That’s what makes the site so much fun.

The layout on Snopes is very clean and concise. There is an adequate amount of white space, and though ads are present, they stay out of the way of the content. The navigation makes sense, and the category icons add a nice touch to what would be an otherwise plain, text-filled site.

As far as the content goes, some of our favorite legends are the salted treat, eight glasses, and tastes like chicken. There are dozens others that will surprise/amuse you as well.

One of the most interesting features of Snopes is the 25 Hottest Urban Legends, where users have easy access to the day’s most popular myths. Though they are listed daily, the top 25 doesn’t change much from day to day. Chances are you’ve received an email about at least a few of the daily 25.

In addition to offering an RSS feed, Snopes allows visitors to quickly access the newest listings and updates directly from the website. This way frequent visitors can easily see the most recent information.

Perhaps the best compliment we can pay to Snopes is their ability to stay within themselves. They serve a very specific and particular niche, but they do it very well and without confusion. They have stuck to who they are and why they’re there for a very long time, and it appears to be paying off.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE

We have no complaints. Seriously. Snopes.com is a very interesting, very well-researched website. The layout is fine, the content is excellent, and the guarantee of new myths and rumors originating means Snopes will be ok for a very long time.

THE FINAL WORD

This site is an excellent way to pass the time. Fun, interesting and entertaining, Snopes is definitely worth a look.

www.snopes.com

SITE DESCRIPTION

Boasting a content-rich site of thousands of professionally produced how-to videos, VideoJug.com is a great place to look whenever you’d like to know more about almost anything.

VideoJug is broken down into a variety of categories, and then presents a number of videos addressing questions and concerns within these categories. With topics ranging from How to Tie a Tie to How to Keep Your Children Safe on the Internet, to How to Eat Sushi, VideoJug has answers for just about all your questions.

In addition to the video, which is capable of being downloaded to your IPod, PSP, or cell phone, each listing has the process written out step by step, which can come in handy if you’re at work or need the volume turned down for another reason.

Not to be confused with web giant YouTube, VideoJug is much more educationally geared and the video quality is top-notch. Although the niches are a bit different, VideoJug appears to have what it takes to hold its own with the big boys.

VideoJug survives on advertising revenues, which has its positives and negatives. Users are otherwise provided use of the website free of charge, and even have the chance to win money if their user-submitted video is chosen for use on the site.

ABOUT VIDEOJUG.COM

Well represented worldwide, VideoJug has offices in London, Los Angeles, and Spain. Its home office is England, though they’ve developed tailored pages or editions for their different markets. Each edition offers videos tailored to that particular audience.

VideoJug strives to be “the definitive source for credible answers and wisdom for every conceivable aspect of human life.” More information regarding the business side of VideoJug can be found on their about page.

WHAT WE LIKED

Pretty much everything. It’s no secret that the web seems to be moving towards video based content at a very fast speed. With that in mind, VideoJug has set themselves up with a very strong information medium. Essentially what they’ve done is combine the best parts of About.com and YouTube.com into one website. A very smart move in our opinion.

The vast number of videos offered on the site, combined with the accuracy of the content (from our limited experience with the site) as well as the excellent production quality equals very little to criticize about VideoJug.

If there’s something specific you’d like to know more about, chances are you’ll find it, broken down with complete accuracy and sound advice.

To be clear, all this talk about how professional the site’s content is, doesn’t mean they don’t have a sense of humor as well. We found some very funny videos under some very funny topics. Want proof? Check out this video.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE

There was very little to dislike about VideoJug. However, no website is ever perfect, so we found a couple things to be knit-picky about.

First, many of the videos professionally produced by VideoJug have voice overs done by people with British accents. Although there is nothing wrong with that, there are times when American listeners may have a hard time hearing or understanding parts. When you change editions, the content topics change, but not the production.

Second, they have so much content and information on the site, it can be a bit confusing. Everything is neatly organized, but the site feels a bit cramped to us. A bit more white space and spacing may make VideoJug easier on the eyes.

FINAL WORD

You definitely need to check this one out.

www.VideoJug.com