respublica

What is your reaction time?

Click the mouse as soon as you notice a sheep move.

See what your reaction time is.  No texting.

Tetris alters your brain

A new study indicates that by playing the computer game, Tetris, you gain more of your brain to work with.  "Focusing on a "challenging visuospatial task" like a videogame can actually alter the structure of the brain, not just increase brain activity.

Games alter the structure of your brain.  In a good way.  Now there's a good excuse for continuing to play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.

Bewitched by Bejeweled

Facebook has added Bejeweled to its repertoire for all of us who need just a little more distraction.

Bejeweled is a game which has been around for some time, the object being to eliminate as many groups of 3 gems of the same color as possible before time runs out.

On Facebook you're given only one minute per game and you get to see how your score matches up with anyone on your friends list who plays the game.  It's a mini tournament for one week, then another week's begins with fresh scores. 

This has become addictive.  I find I'm more competitive than I realized, watching that top five score list constantly.  One of the women on my friends list is always at the top with scores over 100,000.  I've asked her how she's doing this in one minute, but she just says "luck". 

Problem is it's impossible to use any kind of strategy with that one minute time frame, but, really, to consistently be over 100,000 you have to be doing something.  I keep playing and trying to figure it out.

After 45 seconds of play this ominous drum starts beating, counting down the last bits of time you have left, very much an anxiety producing, hurry up, state.

The oddest moment of each game is the deep male voice which announces the end of the game.  He says, "Time Up".  Not, time's up, but Time Up.

Maybe I'm just irritated that the minute goes by so fast that this lack of an "s" bothers me.  As I say, I'm pretty competitive.

What kind of wine are you?

Take the short quiz and find out. 

I am a Merlot.

Smooth, confident, and popular - you're the type most likely to order wine for the whole group.
You seem to breeze through life on your intuition and wit. And no one seems to mind!
You're comfortable in any social situation you find yourself in, and you never feel outclassed.
And while you live a charmed life, you never let it go to your head. You are truly down to earth and a great friend.

Bingo

Is thriving in this down economy.

Illinois casinos are have seen a decline in popularity while bingo halls are full.

Speaking of games

The flyswatter

Swat as many flies as fast as you can.

I'm not very good at it.

Yet.

Don't forget to hang up the swatter when you get all the flies.

We love games

A new PEW study finds that more than have of all adults (53%) play video games of some sort, whether on a computer, phone, gaming console or online. 

Playing on a computer is the most popular way to play games.

I'll admit to playing.

Waste an hour, get no points

A virtual eco driving road test.  Not only are you graded on how you get from point A to point B, but on what eco measures you take along the way.

I could not keep this car on the road, maybe you'll do better.

Puzzling your pictures

Jigzone offers a feature which allows you to make jigsaw puzzles out of your photos.  It is also possible to put them on websites.  So let's give this a try.

Everybody wants one

The Nintendo Wii is now the best selling game console in the United States and probably the world.  Problem is you just can't get one.  Even Amazon doesn't have any to sell.

This is a game system which nearly every age group loves.  Time for Nintendo to start increasing production.