Three-Ring Office

Flickering, purple-blue fluorescent lights hum above cookie-cutter gray, padded partitions separating barely motivated worker clones. Sound like your mega-office? Too bad you aren't working at Google, where the circus atmosphere is reminiscent of Bart Simpson's vision of the Mad Magazine offices. From the New York Times: "On a Thursday afternoon before the holidays, the game room at Google’s new offices in Chelsea (New York) was being put to good use. Two engineers were taking a break from coding at the pool table. A programmer in a purple Phish T-shirt was practicing juggling. 'Sweet Child O’ Mine' by Guns N’ Roses blasted from the flat-screen television, where two 22-year-olds played Guitar Hero, a video game that lets players strum scaled-down guitars -- karaoke without the singing." Game room?! Pool table?! Guns N' Roses?! A Jedi may crave not these things, but what office worker wouldn't? Staying late at work never sounded like such a wonderful idea. [New York Times]