The holidays have rolled around, the families all together and you’re bored out of your mind. You can’t leave the house because you need to “entertain your guests” but all they want to do is hang around and dip their toes in the pool. You turn to social media but there’s not really all that much going on. You refresh Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; you even turn to LinkedIn before being reminded that you really shouldn’t be thinking about work during your time off. You really have no where to turn.
That’s why we’re here to save your afternoon. If you’re looking for some great websites to help you kill some time, then this is the post for you. The internet is massive, bigger than we can imagine and while there is a load of terrible crap on it, there are also plenty of sites that exists purely for the sake of being cool. Here’s a list of five websites that are not only really fun distractions but just go to show what wonders you can find if you look hard enough.
Old Time Radio
We’re a sucker for some old school pulp cheesy so discovering Old Times Radio was an absolute treat in the office. The name gives away everything you need to know as this site has gathered a whole host of classic radio shows and streams them 24/7 absolutely free. From what we can tell, there are shows from the 1930s thrown into the mix with the audio quality still having the tinny, muffled sound you’re likely to hear on old-fashioned radios.
Better yet, the whole site is divided into genre. You can choose what you want to listen to, be it Future, Action, Mystery, Western and Comedy. The comedy hasn’t aged all that well but those Mystery and Western shows are surprisingly fun! You can even build you own station by selecting your favourite shows and customising the play order. 
Christmas Canon
You’re presented with a modest living room. Nothing special, a few couches, a fire place and big ol’ TV. The only problem is that we’re on that Christmas creep and everything about this 3D slice-of-room isn’t very festive now, is it? Fortunately, you’ve been provided with a canon that launches a wide variety of Christmas memorabilia to get every one in the mood.
That’s… well, that’s literally all this site is. Launch masses of Christmas decorations at a living room that really isn’t designed to support such a rush of Nativity. You might as well take five minutes out of your day to see how many presents you can lob into a single cutaway of a lounge though, right? In what world isn’t that fun?
Recommend Me A Book
It can be really difficult to find something good to read. There’s so many options out there and it seems like every second novel has been a New York Times Bestseller at some point in time. Sometimes, all you can go on is the first page and really see if that pulls you in. Tough to do that when online shops don’t really disclose that kind of information all that often and getting to a physical bookshop is a pain. That’s where Recommend Me A Book comes in.
This handy little slice shows you the first page of a book without any other information. It doesn’t tell you the name of the nor the author, all so that you can figure out whether you enjoy the writing based entirely on the content and style. It’s a clever idea that removes any and all preconceptions you might otherwise have. If you enjoyed the page, click the “Reveal” button to see what the book’s called and where you can buy it. Simple, yet elegant.
The Deep Sea
We at Stuff are suckers for a cool infographic. Pleasant to look at and interesting to read; like National Geographic but very specific and without the adverts. The Deep Sea is one of our favourite infographic websites because it’s just presented so slickly. Scrolling your mouse will plunge you deeper into the ocean with a handy measurement of exactly how deep you are at any given point. It’s… actually a little spooky at times.
The best part are the diagrams of the creatures positioned at the depths you’d expect to find them at. There’s life way deeper than you’d expect as well as some fascinating discoveries along the way. The whole process won’t take you longer than a few minutes but it’s really worth seeing all that it has to offer.
City Guesser
No one tell management but this is the site that’s single-handedly caused us to lose hours of our working day. You’ll be provided with a video of a person walking through a city and then tasked with pinpointing exactly where the video was filmed. It’s surprisingly addictive and a great way to pass an hour or two with friends as you argue and bicker as to where you’re looking at.
Truth me told, there are a few websites that offer a similar experience. GeoGuesser is great because it uses Google Maps Streetview making the experience a little more challenging. Still, City Guesser was our favourite because walking around those massive cities we’d like to visit one day is entertaining in itself. The guessing was just a fun cherry on top.
