404 pages shouldn't be dead ends

Anyone who has surfed the Web for any time has hit a so-called 404 error page. These are "page not found" messages that are served when a person types a bad url or the content no longer exists at that address. 

This TED presentation from Renny Gleason points out that most website operators are missing a great opportunity to make the most of a bad situation. Instead of serving up a page full of technical jargon -- usually technical wording peppered with references to "404" -- why not deliver a page that aims to restore "a broken relationship"?

This something we've been doing on The Bakersfield.com Network for awhile. Here are five screenshots of our bakersfield.com 404 pages.

Like Renny, we're always looking for inspiration. Have you seen any good ones lately?