The National Council of Dull Men recommends these sites:
Boston Tunnel Tour, by bikeTake a three-hour bike tour of a new tunnel being built in Boston. Please take a picture, send it to us so we can put it up on our page of pictures in tunnels. if the web site doesn't work, you can try phoning 617-267-4430. This is America's biggest bridge/tunnel/highway construction project. The tour is offered by the Boston Center for Adult Education.
http://www.takeaclass.com/mbw/course.asp
January 16, 2005
Dear DMC,
http://www.popcorn.org/frames.cfm?main=encyclopedia
July 17, 2004
Dear DMC, I read Steve's letter about The Magic Roundabout. I am planning my next vacation to go to Swindon. Here is a link (click here) to an article that got me started on gong around roundabouts many times. It is really fun to do. I like to travel. But I don't want to go too far from home. Roundabouting is now how I travel but never get to far away from my home. Sincerely,
Ron D. Boute
Dear dull men Here's a link to a truly dull site about a multiple traffic roundabout in Swindon. I think the membership will enjoy this one. Quietly . . .
http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm
Steve Reszetniak
Dear DMC, I really like your club and go to your site often. I inevitably learn things. Speaking of learning things, I would like to pass on to your readers something I learned yesterday. There's a Lonely Sock Club. Certainly I have socks that want to join that club. Here is the link to the web site for the Lonely Sock Club: http://www.sum-it.nl/en200109.html Their site has a great suggestion: buy only socks that are all the same, the same color, same style, same height. Having all of your socks be the same: what can be duller than that? Sincerely,
Juan Calcetin
Creative fun in the dorm with very ordinary stuff
March 10, 2004
Dear DMC, Thought you might enjoy this link to photos of some find dull young men utilizing plastic utensils and paper plates. http://www.dorm4.org/gallery/bordem/
Carl Major
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Dear Carl,
That's great . . . many thanks for sending this to us. What is really neat is that, when you click on the pictures, they get really big . . . and you can really see the full impact of their creations. Thanks again.
DMC
March 2, 2004
Dear DMC,
I appreciate that a lot of TV nowadays can be a bit too *intense*. This site harks back to an age when there was far less happening on our screens.
More test cards with soporific music - that's what we need [exclamation point removed]
Simon Harris
Here's where to photograph trains
February 23, 2004
Dear DMC,.
Whilst browsing the web at the weekend I came across this site
www.photoloc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/e%20midlands.htm
It has some of the best places to photograph trains from in the country. I was hoping it might be quite exciting, but it wasn't.
Anthony Hague
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Dear Anthony,
Thank you for sending this to us. You said it wasn?t exciting. We thought it was plenty exciting. All those locations for photographing trains . . all in one place. We studied the web site for hours.
Perhaps you are not a dull man.
Sincerely,
DMC
Extreme Ironing Did you see Bill Geist's report on Extreme Ironing this morning on CBS Sunday Morning? (Click here for the show's web site). The report was interesting. As has been said on our site previously (click here), however, it is too exciting for us dull men. We like to iron in basements. And Extreme Ironing is not practical (dull men like to be practical). How do they get the electricity for the irons up on the mountain? How do they get the ironed clothes back down off the mountains without wrinkling. Click here to get to Extreme Ironing's web site. One thing we learned is that we would like to visit the town where it was founded, Leicester, England ? Leicester was described in CBS's report as "not an exciting place." And we would like to meet the sport's founder, whose name is Steam ? according to the report, Steam is a mild-mannered worker in a knitwear factory. We like the "mild-manned" part of that description.
Daylight Savings (or "Saving") TimeClick here and here and here for web sites with commentaries about the clocks changing. Some people find it an inconvenience. Some people debate wether it is "savings" or "saving." As for us dull men, we think it is a fun day. We thoroughly enjoy changing our clocks.Did you know that if you live in Arizona, you don?t have this fun, unless you are an Indian? Click here to read about Arizona?s position on this.
Do dull men need this? To test their reflexes? Not because of drinking . . . dull men don't drink too much . . . they might be too exciting if they did. But this site is fun to play with . . . our only complaint is that it is too colorful . . . we wish the test used only grays . . . varying shades of gray. [Thank you Paul B. Van Buren for informing us about this web site]
The Perfect Father . . . and our favorite hawk . . . New York's Pale Male
A great thing to do on your summer vacation. Go to New York's wonderful Central Park. Sit in one of the world's best park benches [click here to see]. Watch the Pale Male. Or, if that would be to exciting for you, stay at home and click here to see the Pale Male perched on his 5th Avenue apartment building. And click here to see more pictures of him. And click here to read CBS's coverage of him.
Honda . . . isn't it nice when things work?
From the makers of a favorite car of dull men, a wonderful site to watch . . . click here to get to it . . . a web site no doubt built by a dull man . . . and photographed by a team of dull men, since it took four days and 600 takes to film.
Hint/Tip: you probably will need to click on your refresh button several times to get the site completely loaded and see the chain of events all the way to the end.
http://paradiselost.com/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=2
Perhaps safe excitement in the summer for you is swatting flies. Perhaps you do this for exercise. But you find cleaning up the mess afterwards to be too bothersome? They here's a web site for you. You can swat flies all day long. Click here
July 23, 2003
Dear DMC,
I came across a web site I think dull men will really enjoy. Most music is too exciting for us, especially all that rock music . . . and the wild rock stars who we see performing it.
But singing horses? I think they are O.K. to watch and hear. Here, take a look: http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf
Wait for the entire screen to load with all four horses and a fence in front of them. Then click on each horse.
Make sure your sound is on. Reclick on any horse to make it turn off or turn it back on again.
Somebody did some real wizardry of programming to coordinate this [exclamation point removed] Try clicking on the horses from left to right then right to left then just one or two at a time. It's fun and a good stress reliever.
Have fun [exclamation point removed]
You might find, however, that if you get them all going at the same time, it is too exciting. If this is the case, you can always click on one or several of them to dull them down.
Sincerely,
Mel O. Dee
Easy Listening Music Critic,
DMC
Can a site be too dull for us? We think so . . . take a look at this site: http://www.peopleagainstfun.org/
We are not against fun. We have fun . . . fun doing ordinary things . . . fun things mowing our lawns, ironing our shirts, and collecting string.
June 25, 2003
Dear DMC,
Can you add a link to my site (www.readersheds.co.uk) to your list? It?s in color but don't let that worry you.
wilco
A link to a site that provides hours of safe excitement for a dull man. A page of bubble wrap. You can use your mouse to endlessly move your cursor over the bubbles to enjoy hearing them pop.
Dear DMC,
Are you familiar with The Dullest Blog in the World? Required reading for people as dull as we all are.
http://www.wibsite.com/wiblog/dull/
Charles Crawford
Dear DMC, hello [exclamation mark removed] I have found a mildly entertaining website in the form of www.beansontoast.com oh yes. it even has its own logo. i hate beans on toast by the way. urgh. i leave you now. bye
David Parkinson
There are many exciting gardens in the UK, and exciting gardens shows -- glitzy ones for the in-and-trendy set like the Chelsea Flower Show and the Hampton Court Flower Show. We are pleased, however, that there is a web site that shows dull gardens. Mostly concrete and gravel. [Thanks to S. Hawkin for telling us about this site]
With the increasing threats of terrorists attacks, Americans are being urged to use duck tape to seal their houses. Now might be the time to join the Duck Tape Club. You can learn more about duck tape and how to use it. You can buy a Duck Tape Club T-shirt with an American flag on the front. You can send pictures of your duck tapped house to the club's "Duck Tape Around the World" gallery of photos.
A great web site for us. One of the main reasons we like to travel on airplanes is because of the food.
With this site, we don?t even need to bother travelling to get most of the feel of airlines food. We stay home, visit the site to view mouthwatering pictures of airline meals. The site has 1,896 pictures of meals from 217 airline companies.
Historical Meals . . . oldest one from Aeroflot
The site has pictures of meals from earlier times. The oldest meal we see is from an Aeroflot flight in July 1971 from Khabarovsk to Irkutsk. It was breakfast. It consisted of a meat patty, rice, cucumber, assorted fruit, black bread . . . and caviar. Wow . . . caviar . . . that would certainly have been a reason to fly from Khabarovsk to Irkutsk.
Crew Meals
We liked two pictures crew meals from Lufthansa. A ?Chefsalat.? And a ?Floridasalat,? which appears to have been prepared in China ? we spotted two lichee nuts on the plate. There are appetizing-looking crew meals from British Airways. There?s a breakfast consisting of what appears to be bacon, a potato cake, mushrooms . . . the obligatory tomato that comes with every English meal . . . and some mystery meat. And there?s another meal consisting of again a potato cake, mushrooms, and the tomato . . . and the mystery meat
[From Lenore Rosenberg . . . who says she?s a Dull Woman . . . we greatly appreciate her sending this to us . . . but we wonder whether she is dull . . . from the email address, we think she lives in New York . . . are there really any dull women in New York?]
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The Boring Page |
Click here for a link to "The Boring Page" . . . the most boring page ever . . . a page that is never under construction . . . in the words of its creator, "it's gonna stay just like it is. forever."
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Traffic Cones |
Click here for a link to The Traffic Cone Preservation Society's web site. This is one of the most worthwhile and important web sites we have come across in a long time. It brings to the public?s attention the key role that traffic cones play in our lives. Take a moment now to pause and reflect on the roll traffic cones play in your life.
Dull men like order in our lives. Traffic cones play a big role in providing that order.
The site?s home page sets out its mission:
Welcome to the Traffic Cone Preservation Society. Until the late 20th century, traffic cones were not thought worth of scientific study. It is the Society?s mission to counteract these centuries of neglect. By preserving and studying these ?Helpers of Humanity,? we hope to allow future generates the opportunity to enjoy these magnificent creatures in the natural habitats.
The site sets out a Pictorial History of cones ? pictures of cones used in the Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages, in a meeting of President Lincoln?s Cabinet, and in the Wild West.
There are several pages where the Society?s conologists write about conology ? the story of the evolution of cones.
The Society offers cones for adoption. You can go to the site?s adoption page and complete the paperwork.
One thing we would like to see added is recognition of those tireless workers who set out the traffic cones, and then later pick them up. Think of how chaotic traffic would be if they did not perform the task assigned to them. We think there should be a Traffic Cone Placers Recognition Day.
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It?s Alistair Darling, Transportation Secretary . . . according to a poll conducted by CyberBritain.com. Click here to link to the article in The Scotsman about the poll. Thanks to Jay Southard for informing us about this.
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An informative and interesting web site about abounded cranberry bogs in New Jersey, including six pictures.
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Here's a link to a great web site . . . featuring dust bags for vacuum cleaners from 53 different manufacturers . . . 34 different types of bags for Electrolux cleaners, 24 for Hoovers, 20 for Dirt Devils the pages include pictures for most of them (we are hoping the missing pictures appear soon) . . . great for Christmas gifts
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A critical announcement you may have missed ? could be due to distractions like Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Beltway Snipers ? click here to read about the 647,000 (approximately) wheelbarrows recalled by Ames True Temper of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.
The plastic wheel assemblies on the wheelbarrow, manufactured by a predecessor company, can break when being inflated with high-pressure air hoses. This can result in plastic pieces exploding from the rims of the wheels . . . possibly hitting the driver and/or people standing nearby . . . causing lacerations and other injuries as well as embarrassment.
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We always admire creativity, especially when it deals with practical things. Moreover, we have been searching for a while now to find something creative coming out of Australia. Something has shown up. A reader in Australia email us (click here to read) about a web site where the Australian government maps the entire public toilet network in Australia. No other country, as far as we are aware, has ever done this.
We had, however, one problem. We are a clean site. Nothing smutty on it (except for the smut from Claude Hopper, click here to see). The topic of toilets get close to the borderline, but in our opinion has not crossed over. Think of it this way: it would be worse if a person in need could not find a toilet.
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The H.W. Wilson Award (a citation and $1,000) is awarded each year to honor excellence in indexing of an English language monograph or other non-serial work published in the U.S. during the previous calendar year.
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The Wheatley Medal (a gold medal and ?500) is awarded each year jointly by the Library Association and the Society of Indexers for an outstanding index published in the U.K.
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Bread doesn't stay the same. It changes. We usually don't like change. But, when change happens, we try to make the best of it. We watch it. Here is a great opportunity to watch bread changing. Go to this site for endless hours of viewing. [Thanks to ad stars for telling us about this site]
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We like to be accurate. When it comes to the right time, this site makes it easy. The right time all the time. [Thanks to Steve Bell for telling us about this site]
We like time. It keeps everything from happening all at once. For example, we are grateful that it takes time for bread to go stale.
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A complete site with all you have ever wanted to know about this fascinating subject.
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What can we say about this site?
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Villages don't get much duller than this . . . check it out. [Thanks Robmac for telling us about this]
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Dullest web site of the year? [Thanks again to Robmac]
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"Gripping stuff," says Ian Kelley who told us about this web site. Go to this web site for a list of lost motorways, duplicated road numbers, some railroad-to-road conversions, and a magic roundabout.
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Watch for a moose . . . we've been watching for hours, haven't seen one yet . . . but that's all right . . . seeing one might be too exciting for us.
[Thanks to Torodd Fuglesteg for telling us about this site.]
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A web cam of a deer feeder . . . it's almost too exciting for us . . . like the MooseCam, you might see a deer coming up to the feeder.
[Thanks to Spot for telling us about this site , , , and for the warning that a deer might actually appear.]
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Click here to see pictures of 18 bus stops throughout Ukraine. They are beautiful. Paris has the Eiful Tower, London has Big Ben, Ukraine has bus stops. It might be worth a trip there to see them up close.
[Thanks to Torodd Fuglesteg for telling us about this wonderful site.]
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At the Pembroke Massachusetts Senior Center, a group of dull men meet monthly. Click here to read a report on their meetings. At a recent meeting, the topic was sauntering.
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Watch a bottling plant at work. And fascinating details about the aquifer, the chemical analysis of the water, and how they distribute the water to customers.
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Go to this site to read the seemingly endless information about the London Underground. Also, the next time you are in London, tour London from the underground . . . get a window seat . . . watch the walls, pipes, wires, etc. of the underground passing by.
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A great new site . . . the best pictures we've ever seen of one-lane bridges . . . the bridges are just outside of Monroe North Carolina . . . thanks to Jason Hill for sending this to us.
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Watch time on this world famous clock. The Queen's Golden Jubilee is over. But you can still enjoy London by watching this clock.
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History of the Automatic Tea Maker
A reader, Roger, told us about this site and gave us this description: The 'Teasmade' is an English invention combining an alarm clock and a tea-making machine, and enables you to wake up to a fresh cup of tea.This site is created by collectors of Teasmades and with a bit of searching (click on 'History') , fellow dull men will be able to find photos of all the model variants.The captions are especially dull, e.g., "the wire radio aerial is visible to the right" and "the switch stalk on the left is longer than that on the right".
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Shows like Joan Rivers too late for you? Go to her Mother's Day Special . . . May 12 . . . showtime 4:00 p.m., Luther Burbank Center for the Performing Arts, Santa Rosa, California
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Why travel anywhere now? You can sit at home . . . go to this web site . . . see all the signs you would see when you travel
[Thanks Pat Highgate for telling us about this]
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Here's a link to the "Watched Pot Cam" . . . a supposedly live picture of a pot of water on a stove. The water in the pot never boils. This proves that a watched pot never boils
[Thanks Phil for letting us know about your cam]
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Peter Kilcoyne writes to us . . . informing us about a wonderful web site . . . webcams with high quality camera images from four locations in Scotland . . . Peter says, and we agree, that the views of the cams are far too exciting during the daylight hours . . . but they come into their own after the light fades . . . almost as good as our Tunnels Page, although a full moon could spoil that
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Here's a link to some information about the day . . . how it began . . . some typical jokes
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Now you can watch for the monster from the comfort of your home. You can spend hours watching this web cam . . . great fun
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An exciting, cutting-edge sport. Here's a link to a site that tell readers everything they need to know about this deceptively simple, yet addictive and fiercely competitive sport. This site has been produced for our enjoyment by CRASS (Cheese Racing Association).
[Thank you John Hogan for telling us about this site]
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Fascinating web cam . . . showing what's happening in the library of the British Medical Association
[Thank you Nick Cherrie for informing us about this site]
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We're sometimes asked what separates nerds from dull men. Go to this site and you'll see a significant difference -- nerds wearing socks when wearing sandals. This site is marvelous in its extensive coverage of socks and sandals. Some gorgeous models.
[Thank you Keith Povall for informing us about this site]
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A collection of palindromes. Ten pages of them. Here're some favorites: a nut for a jar of tuna; evil olive; gift fig; god I was a dog; Enid and Edna dine; lion in oil.
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Pictures of many salt shakers. Information about the upcoming three-day Annual Convention . . . Corning, New York, July 25-28, 2002.
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We like time. Time is what keeps everything happening all at once. If everything happened all at once, there would be nothing more to watch happening. We like to watch many (but not all ) things happen, especially our favorite things like watching paint dry, watching wood warp, and watching grass grow.
[Thank you to Tess Samuel for this link]
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Airplane Peanuts (Little Bags of) |
A link to the start of a great collection . . . those little bags of peanuts you get on airplanes, or those politically-correct (and cheaper?) substitutes for real peanuts. Do you have some leftover bags of peanuts from trips you've taken? You can take pictures of them and send to this web site for publication (and notoriety for you)
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Wait All Day |
Winner, once again, of Website of the Year . . . two years in a row, 2000 and 2001. We can spend hours watching this site . . . and waiting, a favourite pastime for us
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Runner Up for 2001 Website of the Year. For those of you who find train spotting and tractor spotting to be too exciting, here is a link for you might like . . . tub spotting . . . bath tubs in fields. As the intro to the site says, enjoy the thrill of driving through the English countryside on a wet autumn day . . . when a bath tub out in a field catches your eye.
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Third Place Winner for Website of the Year 2001.
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New link: a little known train . . . it?s in London . . . totally underground . . . no passengers, only mail . . . the London Post Office RailwayThe trains run 19 hours a day underground from Paddington Station in the west along a route that goes parallel with Oxford Street . . . then to Mount Pleasant, Liverpool Street Station . . . ending up at WhitechapelThe site has numerous pictures of the tunnel and the locomotives, mail trolleys, switches, and circuit breakers . . . very exciting stuffWe especially like to go to the bottom of each page where there is a little train car running from the left side to the right side of the page . . . we sometimes watch this for hoursA mistake or typo (we like to look for typos) . . . the caption on the site is "Londons Post Office Railway" . . . an apostrophe obviously missing . . . but we didn't let that take away from our enjoyment of the site
[Thank you Rob Humphris for informing us about this site]
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This site is from a company that makes an adjustable coat hanger. The hanger's arms can be adjusted, a big technological breakthrough. What is really neat about their site is the live picture of the arms extending out, and then coming back in. We could watch it for hours. This hanger is a must for our coat hanger collectors. And it makes a great Christmas present. [Thanks Nick Lewis for your email telling us about this site.]
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This comprehensive site of the National Turkey Federation is great Thanksgiving Day reading. Did you know that approximately 675 million pounds of turkey are consumed in the U.S. each Thanksgiving? And that the top five most popular ways to serve left rover turkey are sandwiches, soups, casseroles, salads, and stir-frys? That it is estimated that turkey have 3,500 feathers at maturity?
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This is a great site. It is almost as informative and useful as our report on worldwide movements of airport luggage carousels. On this site are 28 pages of information, virtually all you ever wanted to know about which side of the road to drive on. The bottom line is that 72.42% drive on the right (like in the U.S.). 27.58% drive on the left (like in the U.K.). Which side is explained from a historical standpoint, from Roman times up to the present. Fascinating stuff.
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This is an informative site where you can learn the history of daylight savings time . . . from Benjamin Franklin up to the present.
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click here for links page 2A great link to a lot of information about toast . . . Dr. Toast's Amazing World of Toast . . . toast recipes, toast history, a hymn to toast, and