Random Internet site of the week: cockeyed.com
Date 9/25/2003 12:00 AM | Topic: Arts & CultureWhere can you find a life-size bear made out of ketchup packets, find out the viscosity of Mrs. Butterworth's Maple Syrup, or how much beer a 15 1/2 gallon keg serves? The answer is a little website called cockeyed.com.
I stumbled onto the site on a lazy afternoon last week when I decided to bum around on the Internet rather than do homework.
I typed in the name of my favorite cookie, "Oreo," just to see what came up, and much to my surprise one of the first listings on my Google search was for the "How Much is Inside?" section of a site called cockeyed.com.
A man who calls himself Rob Cockerham runs cockeyed.com. I'm pretty sure that's his real name, but I never trust anyone on the net.
Rob is an amateur scientist/prankster/artist whose thirst for knowledge seems only to be surmounted by his tremendous boredom.
I would presume that because they have nothing better to do, Rob and his cohorts conduct scientific experiments that range from the dissection of a Hot Pocket to creating realistic spills in order to judge the absorption rate of paper towels, which is much more entertaining than it has a right to be.
Rob is also an inventor. He has created mattress-spring-loaded shoes that detract from one's jumping ability (due to the "wobble factor"), and a life-size bear made out of ketchup packets for target practice. Of course, the packets don't explode when they're shot, so he burns the bear.
Rob conducts pranks around his home city of Sacramento. The pranks are pretty low-key, usually involving swapping signs in stores or restaurants with signs he has created with ludicrous slogans or pictures on them.
There are many other features of the site that can't really be categorized, like an account of his trip to traffic court, plans for accumulating monstrous discounts at Safeway by making photocopies of the bar code on his card and sending them to friends or anyone who asks, and city size comparisons of Baghdad and Los Angeles.
All in all, cockeyed.com offers a glimpse into the life of one unique individual with way too much time on his hands.
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Philip Laaveg
A&E Editor--
Creating realistic spills is essential in testing the absorption power of paper towels. Photo: cockeyed.com
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