I recently came across an offering from Soshi Games, a fairly new company based in the UK. Their offering takes on a somewhat different spin to most other Facebook games I've come across, in that it truly has a social side. Soshi Games have partnered with organisations such as Kiva, Fair Trade USA and Keep Britain Tidy, in order to raise awareness, as well as funding for the organisation. Needless to say, the idea intrigued me, and I checked out their first release - Village Raffles - on Facebook.

The game is simple, and can get surprisingly addictive, but more than anything, it's nice to see a fresh take on things. I'm sure everybody has a 'feel good movie', those ones you watch to put a smile on your face and generally cheer you up. Village Raffles felt almost like a 'feel good game', you enter the raffles for venues in your current location which add to a total required to complete 'Appeals' for that location. There is also a link from the game to some of the charitable causes being helped by the game. The idea is a good one, and I look forward to seeing more things from Soshi Games, who I'll be following throughout 2011 - supporting a good cause is never usually a bad thing

I did Spanish for a number of years (I believe it was 5, in total), and I enjoyed it, though I never really tried...to this day I'm surprised I did as well as I did in the subject. Recently on a trip to London, I spoke a little bit of Spanish, and read a short story entirely in Spanish - as the person I was staying with has learnt from colleagues at work, thus, had that book.

However I've kept it up since returning, I've even changed my Facebook language back from 'English (Pirate)' (that was a good 9 months though!) into 'Español (España)' which is helping me remember things...though Facebook notifications are pretty standard. So the main thanks I have to give are to the Spanish speak sub-forums on the Ubuntu Forums. For the main part, this includes the Argentina & Chile LoCo Teams - I've been reading threads in there, and for a large part, understanding them. It's helping quite a lot, and for that - thanks for having your forums, & such a good LoCo team!

I have the language on my facebook account set to English (Pirate). Yes, you did read that right! My friend Rich told me about it on IM, so I had a look....It's absolutely brilliant, it adds a new dimension to Facebook (if only in finding out what things mean again!). I don't think I'm likely to change it back either, it makes me laugh.

It's hard to put it into words, so take a look at the screenshot below

PirateBook

Fact is, I procrastinate...a lot...and it's all too easy for me. So I've decided that when it comes to University work, I'll actually try and do it instead of sitting idling on IRC, browsing the forums, or going on Facebook. I mean...obviously I'll still be doing those, but it should be in between doing work. Not doing work in between doing those things.

I think this partly means I have to use Ubuntu more (yay!). Because I can never be bothered to fiddle with it all that much, but the main piece of work I have for Uni right now is to write a unix shell, so the 2 go hand in hand So that's my plan, and I'm sincerely hoping I stick to it.

Either way, there's now public evidence of me saying it, so we'll find out soon enough!!

However earlier, I had a pleasant surprise, somebody I've not spoken to for at least 2 years added me as a friend on Facebook, which was a nice surprise.

So these social networking sites do have some benefits, but you just have to use them carefully.