Use your brains, people!

Cheated

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:21:00 +0000

What the hell was that I watched last night?

Five words: David Blaine's Dive of Death.

Exactly. What the hell was that? I'm still trying to figure it out after watching it again in a replay this morning.

Reading the N.Y. Daily News story about the stunt, or magic trick, or whathaveyou, I've gotten a little bit more of an idea what was supposed to happen.

If there are going to be a bunch of people watching him dive down, he had to figure that people would be coming with cameras ... with flash! And the flash would expose the harness. Wow. Unbelievable.

Actually, this video of the stunt had to be done with a bland camera phone. The harness is still exposed.

I don't get it. It wasn't entertaining. Matter of fact, the fake version of him is way more entertaining.

Someone explain it to me. If I was at Central Park, I would have booed the crap out of him.

Make me dinner

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:06:00 +0000

My parents know I'm a big boy, so they let me destroy the kitchen whenever I'm in the mood for some food.

Usually, I'll go crazy, like some Iron Chef America-type ish.

And sometimes, I'll do it for show, because I'll have a girl over and I tell her how great of a cook that I am, and then she gets all googly-eyed because I slice a tomato in half, in the air. Yes, I am pimptastic.

HOWEVER ...

Do we have to be told what we should have for dinner? Look at this page on Yahoo. If you're such a dolt that you can't figure out what you want to eat, they'll tell you what to eat ... for the NEXT SEVEN DAYS!

No. This must stop. We cannot be telling people exactly what to eat. Look at that page. What if they want enchiladas on Tuesday instead of Monday? What if they want tomato sauce instead of Pesto on their pizza? I can't understand this.

Up and down, wondering what is wrong

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:39:00 +0000

I've switched to green. What the hell?

Naw, this move, much like many of the moves I make in life (OK, all of them) have a purpose. As you'll see below, I've asked a few scrubs (OK, they're all good guys) to join me in creating a blog network.

We're going to blog, and we're going to share our thoughts on various subjects, be it technology, cinema or video games.

And you'll get some definite insight on Ringorang. I heard that Glenn is going to show you how to "play the game" but little did the scrub realize that I already did that. I heard he's going to do that just to gloat at his score, which is almost at 8,000.

Glenn's score is almost right up there with the Dow Jones Industrial Average?

Oh man, how are you feeling after this week? Everyone looked dumb, and then they're popping champagne for pretty much breaking even. The Dow went up almost 370 points. Insane.

And to leave you for the weekend thinking about what type of world we live in: You might have heard of the Josh Howard controversy during the national anthem.

Josh Howard plays for the Dallas Mavericks, owned by Mark Cuban. In his blog, Cuban makes note of some of the responses he's received. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Fixing the financial problem

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:57:00 +0000

You know who the guy pictured is, right? That's Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Whether it's sports or finances, he seems to share his thoughts about everything that matters to his business or the overall spectrum.

I figured that this genius would talk about the stock market blunder. He did, and he brings up a great idea on how to solve the problem

First, he mentions the problem: people make a grip of money, only to give some back when they're caught in trouble.

If the government must step in and provide any sort of financing or guarantees for any part of a public company’s business, then all officers and directors lose all rights to severance pay and all outstanding vested or unvested options or warrants immediately become canceled. In the event the CEO of such corporation is not fired, but instead chooses to step down voluntarily, then the last 12 months of earnings is considered to be an interest free loan which the CEO must pay back over no more than a 10 year period.

Honestly, i dont think it would have changed the actions of CEOs who have been bailed out. They would have thought it “couldnt happen to them”. But once it happened a couple of times to a couple of big company CEOs, it would be in the decision making process of every CEO running a huge financial company.

The 2nd option would be to prevent certain types of companies from being or going public. Law Firms can;t go public. Investment firms like Goldman Sachs used to not be able to go public. They were partnerships. Partners were paid for the most part in cash. If the partnership had money to pay, it got paid. If not, not. I promise you, their tolerance for risk was far lower than it is today for Goldman because there was a direct link between the risk and reward for partners. I also guarantee you that if the business makes sense, there will be other companies that step in to handle any business that a partnership cant grow to handle.

Absolutely friggin brilliant. I wish I had thought of this. I was going to shout from my basement that these idiots shouldn't be getting any money, but this guy beat me to it.

Rollercoasters

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:01:00 +0000

I like roller coasters. When I make trips to an amusement park, I'll go early in the morning. That way, when the gate opens, I'll race to the best coaster and ride it.

There are sometimes when I get to the amusement park 20 minutes after it opened, and then the line for the best rollercoaster is already at a 35-minute wait. Gaahh!

Coasters like the Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk are the nice, calm variety that still provide excitement to me today.

Why do I bring up roller coasters, especially since Summer is almost over?

Because there's a location in New York that has set up a roller coaster for all to watch. It's called Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 500 points yesterday. Today we got something back, about 140 points.

So if this were a roller coaster, we've gone down the deep part, and went back up for a moment. Which means, if true to form, the roller coaster will take a hard turn sideways before the next move.

Therefore, I PREDICT a final movement to be at 0.00. Yes, you heard it here first!

The Ringorang Gridiron Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:57:00 +0000

I'm back, and I don't care if you hate it, because you'll soon love me.

I'm refreshed from a great weekend, especially after Ed Hercules ... I mean, Ed Hochuli, made a premature call that sealed a perfect NFL weekend for me. Then again, the Denver Broncos weren't the only sports team that seemed to get jobbed because of decisions made by other people.

Speaking of football, there's a reason why I'm saying I'm back.

Ringorang is my baby, and my baby has come up with another tournament. It's the Ringolympics Gridiron Challenge.

You must play this now. And here's how you do it:

Go to http://games.ringorang.com

Register on the left.

Download the application.

Wait until I give you a question about every hour. If you channel your inner O, then you're going to finish in first and win the 8GB iPod Touch.

That's the key to winning. Channel your inner O and know all of the answers. The former is more important than the latter, and I don't care if people say it's the latter. Because it's all about being like me. If you don't win, shame on you, but at least you'll be more confident.

Avoiding the storm

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:58:00 +0000

Common sense: If something bad is coming, you avoid it as best as possible, and you do it as early as possible if you know it.

No, I'm not talking about creating a quintuple-reinforced steel home to stop any black holes from sucking us to instant death.

It's a little bit on a lesser, but still important scale. And that's hurricanes. As many of you are probably reading ... Hurricane Ike is coming with waves that will act like brass knuckles.

But if you look at the front page of SFGate, there's a guy standing just over crashing waves. That's nice if it was the dramatic ending of a One Life to Live episode, but the waves are twice his height.

Come on! A guy sitting in the basement of his parent's home can easily tell you that if a hurricane is coming, you get out. You don't gawk at the waves. We're talking about life and death here. The people that stayed, unless they're being humanitarians, are not thinking.

Thank goodness, there are people that agree with me, as it should be.

I remember what New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita came by, "If you stay, write your Social Security number on your wrists."

AKA: You're going to die.

The mayors for Houston and Galveston need to put that message to the people, something like, "To the remaining idiots in these towns, write your life story on your body, so we know how to craft your obituary."

The art of deception

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:10:00 +0000

This scrub, may he rest in peace (or pieces). Wait. How can I say that after he tried to ruin someone's property.

A guy died earlier today in San Francisco while trying to run from the police. But the police didn't outsmart him, the architecture of Telegraph Hill did.

He ran from the police after being caught burglarizing a car.

He sees a 3-foot wall and jumps it. Waiting for him is air.

About 200 feet worth of air. Game over.

Use your brains, people!

If he looked over, maybe he wouldn't have jumped. Then again, if he took time to look, he's caught by police. Hmm ... get apprehended or jump 200 feet to your death?

Yep, the burglar is stupid. Wait, maybe he's smart and just had a brain freeze. Then again, I shouldn't jump to conclusions like he did.

Three-point stand

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:13:00 +0000

I know you're itching to find out when our next Ringorang contest will be. Don't worry. It will be coming up shortly. Much like the game itself, I'll inform you when you're least expecting it. So be prepared because I'll slam you like Mo Lewis.

And what will the game be about?

Hmm ... here's a hint.

I got a text from an unknown person on Sunday morning, it said, "Happy football day, go Raiders!" Sunday was the true start of the football season. All but six teams played (two played on Thursday, four more play tonight).

I like football, but not because of the war angles or violence or amazing plays. It's about out-thinking someone. It's one of the pure forms of mindgames, right next to rock-paper-scissors. I get off when I outsmart people.

The biggest "Ha ha, I out-thought the rest of the world" move in the last 10 years? Perhaps when the New England Patriots drafted Tom Brady in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft. He was the biggest insurance claim when Mo Lewis said hello to Drew Bledsoe a couple years later. Brady steps in ... four Super Bowl appearances and three wins.

I participate in fantasy leagues because I like ordering people around. I laugh when I pick up an unknown player and dominate the field. Then when week 13 comes along, I've earned the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. It's amazing.

Last year, I ran over everyone thanks to Tom Brady and Randy Moss. I earned the first pick in the draft and got Brady because I knew he would do better than both Mannings and Philip Rivers. And I had a feeling that Moss would feel rejuvenated after leaving Oakland. Heck, I could have ran just those two guys the whole season; I didn't need any running backs. Thank you for your time, you peons.

And then on Sunday, I got foot-in-mouth disease because of this event taking place during New England's win.

Crap. I can't laugh at people anymore. I had Tom Brady on my fantasy team again this year. And now, I get word that he's done for the year.

No. I'm not going to cry. I have 11 weeks left to get into the playoffs. This is just a bump in the road. Now, I'll be looking for that next great quarterback. You're probably wondering who my backup QB is. It's Vince Young. Oops. He won't be viable either.

No. I'm still not going to cry. I'm coming back with a vengeance and I'm going to destroy the competition. Why? Because I'll out-think everyone. I'm going to get me two quarterbacks that will destroy the competition. Matter of fact, few people know about Matt Cassel, who was a star quarterback. Problem was, he was behind two solar systems in Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer at USC.

Make a decision people!

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:11:00 +0000

Senator Obama is winning by a landslide. So why is Senator McCain still going? OK, I'm kidding. Nobody's won the presidency just yet. We have to wait until November 4 (or maybe longer based on that happening event in 2000) for that to happen.

Let's take the famed sports saying, "If the season ended today ..."

If the election was today, it would be Senator Obama. And how do I know this?

Because the world is saying it. There's 6 billion people in the world, so all you red-state scrubs can start crying (actually, I should probably be a little tame in that statement since I'm visiting a red state soon).

Check out this worldwide poll which allows people to vote for who they want to be president. If you're in the United States, GTFO, this Web site doesn't care about you (apparently, several thousand people didn't listen, dammit). It's for the other 100something countries out there.

And almost every country is voting for Obama, and it's not even close! It's 85-14 percent in favor of the Illinois guy. What the heck!?! I want a close vote (but a winner decided that night). Come on you red people, step your game up! Make it close, or else I'm going to stay in my room with my cranberries and pizza wondering what I'm going to do in November. I don't want a blowout. This is not J.T. O'Sullivan vs. Brett Favre. This is a presidential election.

Playing the game

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:33:00 +0000

Someone asked me today, "How do you play Ringorang?" No, she knows the game and how it's played, but she wants to know how to play it.

How can you exploit the game to give yourself the best chance of winning?

In watching the Ringolympics contest take place, I believe there's one really good way to play the game. It's not one true way, as multi-time video game champion David Sirlin explains in his Survivor analysis.

Of course, the goal of this contest is to, when you respond to a question, get it right. Remember, there are only three scenarios that can be played out:

* -- You get the question correct and earn dallions.
* -- You get the question incorrect and lose dallions.
* -- You pass on the question, thus earning 0 dallions.

Here's some other factors to consider:

* -- If you get the question right immediately, you earn 300 dallions
* -- If you wait until there are less than 10 seconds remaining to answer the question, only 100 dallions

The same goes if you miss the question.

So, does it pay to make an attempt to answer every question? Nope. If you answered every question at the same time and got 50 percent correct, you'd have 0 points because each correct and incorrect answer would cancel each other out.

With that in mind, here's how to go about "playing the game."

* -- Take your time. Yes it sucks that you lose potential dallions if you are not answering the question right away. But keep in mind that if you are wrong, you will lose dallions. Would you rather see 200 potential dallions go away or actually have lost 200 dallions?
* -- Pass if you don't know the answer. One person told me how he gained two spots because he passed. Two people got the question wrong, and because of that, the guy jumped two spots. Brilliant.
* -- Know your math. We give you a question every hour. That alone should give you enough time to figure out how many you need to jump to the top of the standings.

Believe it or not, I was sitting in second place during one stretch of the competition. I was about 1,200 points away from first. Why I was in second, I have no idea, but I had to do the math; if I got three correct, that would give me 1,050 points (300, 300, 300 and the 150 bonus). Would that have been enough to get into first place?

This is where the second factor of the game comes into play. Your opponents. You can't control (yet) how your opponents play the game. But as my dad told me in 1993 during the last great pennant race, "You can only worry about yourself. You have to keep winning."

Those 1,050 points -- on the surface that would not be enough. But maybe the person you're chasing suddenly tanks. You could suddenly be up 1,050 points. Or, maybe you're up just 100 points.

As in Sirlin's piece, Survivor is all about creating alliances; therefore, you have to interact with your opponents. In Ringorang, you can't interact (at least not yet) with your opponents.

So, how do you play the game that gives you the best chance of getting first place?

Try this.

If you absolutely know the answer, then answer the question. If you don't know it, pass. Let's say you think you know it. Then pass. Answer it only if you are absolutely certain you have the answer. By doing this, you won't get a boatload of dallions everytime, but you're guaranteeing yourself dallions everytime you get it right. You're eliminating the negative dallions and you're leaving your choice at positive or zero.

When we have our next trivia challenge, which should be available in the coming days, try it out. I think you'll increase your chances of winning.

Lovers and haters

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:44:00 +0000

I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend, because for me, it was tiresome. Staying awake until 4 a.m.? Watching a video game competition? Seeing the residents of a small town go about their daily lives? Some of it was fun, other parts weren't.

Can you imagine going into a boring town of about 160,000 people and half of them don't even want you around? That's the life of me, the guy you know as O. I've secretly built this reputation as a hardass. It might not be portrayed here, but the personality is there.

For the past 10 years, I said and did things that didn't win over the residents of this small town. People thought my intentions were different, when they weren't. I didn't talk to the star athlete, opting for the little-used reliever?

I'm sure there are people out there that don't like Ray Nagin, the mayor or New Orleans. But there are times where that hatred has to be put aside, no matter how bad it is. Consider this past weekend. While many of us were enjoying the sunny skies and warm weather cooking meat and veggies, Nagin had to watch the city he oversees possibly tank for a second time in three years.

It sucks that NOLA has to go through it again. Hopefully they never have to once this is over.

What happens after Friday?

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:42:00 +0000

I'm sure many of you will be asking the aforementioned question after the Ringolympics contest is over.

Well ... be happy because there will be another contest on the way!

What will the contest be? No, I won't tell you that. But I will say that it has to deal with something contemporary, something that is happening at that moment.

It involves men wearing specialized hats and their bosses yelling at them.

Baby you're solid gold

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:52:00 +0000

If your name is Thor, congrats on having a day named after you.

QUESTION: It's all about your ranking. So today, where do these sites rank in the United States only?

* -- YouTube
* -- MySpace
* -- Facebook
* -- ESPN
* -- The U.S. Postal Service

Answers are below.

I prefer the real things, whether it's real cereal, real beef or real talk. Why there are things such as imitation beef, powdered milk or stunt actors, I don't know.

I want to see the real stuff everytime. Don't sandbag and don't act fake, that's what I say.

Speaking of keeping it real, there's about 36 hours remaining until the end of the Ringolympics contest. Where are you? Are you in the top five going after one of the three iPods? Or are you stuck in the middle of the pack wondering if you'll answer enough questions correctly to get a T-shirt.

Keep playing. You never know. One question could be the difference between no iPod and a Shuffle, or a Shuffle and an 8GB beauty. They're great prizes to be won.

Speaking of prizes and being real, who is going to be the lucky soul to purchase a bronzed statue of Kate Moss?

The statue, in a provocative position (if the Yahoo story shows just an eyeball, can you imagine what the rest of it is like), weighs 110 pounds and is valued at more than $1 million.

I would much rather see the real deal. Let's see the real Kate Moss.

It's like going to a wax museum. Doesn't a part of you feel cheated because you saw only an imitation version? I'll see the fake Captain Kirk just to find out how close the artist portrayed him. But in about 1 minute, my mind is saying, "OK, so when do I get to see William Schattner?"

Let's get to those answers, which are real!

YouTube: 4
MySpace: 3
Facebook: 5
ESPN: 17
The U.S. Postal Service: 73

Surviving the weekend

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:14:00 +0000

Before I get to the meat, here's an appetizer.

QUESTION: Chris Russo is a sports talk radio host.
1. What network was he on before he went to Sirius Satellite Radio?
2. Who was his former co-host?
3. There's only one team he has a rooting interest for. What team is that?
4. After that team lost in the 2003 playoffs, he said he would give up something to see that team win a World Series. What was it?

So, how did your weekend go with the game? Are you in first? Are you haplessly in last place? My friend was rolling after four questions but has since stunk up the joint and now sits in the depths with all of the other blah competitors.

But as the old and tired sports analogy goes, "This is a marathon, not a sprint." Tell that to Sens. McCain and Obama. The presidency won't be won tomorrow, or Wednesday or Thursday (although some people believe that text message will do the trick). They're going to need as much time from here until that first Tuesday in November.

Unfortunately, you don't have until November to win the Ringolympics contest. You only have until 11:59 p.m. Friday night.

Although you have just a few days, the questions will come very frequently. If you play it right, you're a three-game winning streak away from shooting yourself to the top. That's one of the beauties of this game.

This is the game that plays YOU, but once you answer the call three times in a row, you can tell the game, "You might have tried to play me, but I answered the call, SO THERE!"

At the end of this marathon awaits three iPods. Get in the top three, and one of those beauts is yours to cherish.

So while you await the next question, here are the answers to the quiz.

1. WFAN-AM
2. Mike Francesca
3. San Francisco Giants
4. His three children

Genius unleashed

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:18:00 +0000

I'm about to tell you of my creation, but let me quiz you first.

QUESTION: Since it's Friday ...
1. Which actor played the role of Craig Jones?
2. Which actor played the role of Smokey?
3. Craig talked about losing his job. When did he lose his job?

It is now available for you to play!

Ringolympics. It is my creation, my gift to those who play trivia games.

I want you to play, and I'll even dangle a carrot your way.

You can win one of three iPods.

Here's how to go about playing my masterpiece.

Log onto http://www.ringolympics.com

Sign up at the prompter on the left. From there, download the application. You're all set.

You're probably wondering when you'll play. I laugh. I will prompt you to play when I feel like it. It could be 1 p.m or 1:01 p.m., or even 10:01 p.m. Be ready to play my masterpiece at any moment.

The winner will receive an 8GB iPod Nano, which is very sweet. Oh, so you think this is a winner-gets-all-the-riches-contest? I'm not like that. I'll give second place a 4GB iPod Nano. Third will get a 1GB iPod Shuffle, because I'm a nice guy.

The tournament lasts until next Friday (Aug. 29) at 11:59 p.m., so go now!

Oh, wait, the answers.

1. Ice Cube
2. Chris Tucker
3. Craig lost his job on his day off

We can't escape the spam!

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Today's question is Olympics related, since we're coming down to the final days of the event.

QUESTION: Jamaica has a population of 2.8 million.
1. Compared to the United States' cities, where would Jamaica rank in terms of population?
2. How many parishes are there in the country?
3. Seven parishes have a "Saint" in the title. What are the names of the people?

The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday in its tech blog that people are still having issues with spam on Facebook.

Apparently, one of the main problems is that people leave comments saying that they can get ringtones at (name the site here). If all they're doing is spamming ringtone sites, that's pathetic. You'd think that people would spam for Nintendo Wiis, which people are searching day and night for. A stupid ringtone? I could make a ringtone in 5 seconds.

Another security issue is people just getting a hold of accounts and attacking people through e-mails and comments, a little bit Level 2 compared to spamming for a stupid ringtone.

You can read the quick report here.

It's still not as bad as MySpace, where you have photoshopped girls sending profiles, e-mails, spam comments and other great things every 20 minutes. There are ways to get through all of that, but it's still bad.

Let's talk about something positive. I know, the answers!

1. Third, only behind New York (8.27 million) and Los Angeles (3.85 million). Fourth is also acceptable, because Chicago has 2.8 million residents.
2. 14
3. Elizabeth, James, Mary, Catherine, Ann, Andrew, Thomas

Quick to turn

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:19:00 +0000

I'll try to make you laugh today:

QUESTION: Tim McCarver has been a baseball analyst for Fox's baseball broadcasts.
1. Name the teams that McCarver has been on when he was a player.
2. He was an All-Star selection and won the World Series in the same year. What year was that?
3. When the Atlanta Braves won the National League Pennant in 1992, who dumped water on McCarver?

In the past couple of weeks, I've seen people join FaceYourManga, a site where you can create a cartoonish image of your mug. It seems to be more hip than Wee World.

Within days, it seemed like everyone on my Twitter was sucked in to FaceYourManga. It was the latest hip thing.

And just like any hip thing in life, there's going to be haters. Today, I was alerted to StopTheManga.com. It looks exactly like FaceYourManga. But their goal is to show the worst of the worst. The capper has to be the "Worst Offenders" section, where you can see, arguably, the worst of the worst.

There's a guy there named "cubswillwin," and he or she is second for most offenses. But if you look at the avatar, there's nothing offensive about it. It's just a regular guy wearing a baseball cap. You have to wonder if he got tagged because of his name "cubswillwin."

Congrats to StopTheManga for doing nothing new.

I've learned that, with anything, there will be lovers and haters. Look at college football coaches. If they go 6-6, someone's creating a Web site urging people to bring pitchforks to next year's season opener in protest of the coach. Frank Solich is the best example. He was fired in 2003 for posting what (I guess) a lot people believed was the worst 10-3 record of all time.

And, as karma would have it, the school hasn't won 10 games since.

McCarver has faced criticism, and there's a site dedicated to him (shutuptimmccarver.com) but you have to wonder if it's justified. If you pay attention to what he says during a broadcast, you might scratch your head or laugh in amazement. I'll give you one example.

* -- “So by guessing right you might have guessed wrong.”
* -- "Half of the Yankees' regulars this year have not been regulars."

WHAT? I'll leave you with that as you try to figure out the point of those comments, which are made during playoffs and World Series games, where the nation is in awe of his commentating.

Here are your answers:

1. St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, Montreal Expos
2. 1967
3. Deion Sanders, because McCarver criticized Sanders for playing football and a playoff baseball game on the same day.

Figuring out the market

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:10:00 +0000

Question time!

QUESTION: Today, it's all about the gamblers and the 52 cards.

1. In Texas Hold 'Em, the community cards are the Flop, Turn and River. What secondary names are given to the Turn and River cards?
2. Phil Hellmuth has 11 World Series of Poker bracelets. How many are in events other than Texas Hold 'Em?
3. Name every year Hellmuth has won a World Series of Poker bracelet.

Oct. 11, 2007 was a great day. And yet, unless it was a birthday or positive anniversary for you, that date does not register one bit.

That was when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was well past the 14,000 mark. Life was good on the market, and I'm guessing that steak was being served with mashed potatoes, asparagus and chocolate milk (shaken, not stirred).

But it's been downhill ever since. And today, we (speaking in sports terms like the Dow is my favorite franchise) lost 130 points to drop down to 11,348.55.

Overall, we're down 12 percent. Twelve percent! If you had $1,000 in stocks, you just lost $120 over that time. That's a steak dinner, or gas money for a trip on I-5.

To me, it doesn't feel like I lost $120 because, day over day, you lose $1 to $2 everyday. It just feels like I've lost more because, if you question it, you either lost about $2 a day, or had some good days and really horrible ones. You punch a guy you hate, and all he does is hit you back with the same force, but his punch is more square and has a bigger effect.

Gary Radnich, a sports talk radio host on KNBR-AM in San Francisco, repeatedly mentions to his guests, "What's it like to be involved in legalized gambling?"

Radnich is right. This IS legalized gambling. You're putting money on something you have no idea will be good. Sure, you can play armchair quarterback and guess, but who knows if you are correct.

Before I started on my epic project, I worked for a company and had put money into the general corporate stock. It was horrible. I lost money the moment I put it in. But I looked at the 5-year projection, and it showed a positive mark. If I could wait five years, things would look great. However, I kept seeing red, and one day I just said F it.

Nobody knows. We're all guessing. It's like playing poker. You can only guess what your opponent has. You can risk it all thinking you're going to stun the field, but you're probably going to lose.

I'd like to know any success stories. You know, the ones that involve black and green numbers?

ANSWERS:

1. Fourth Street for the Turn, Fifth Street for the River
2. None
3. 1989, 1992, 1993 (3), 1997, 2001, 2003 (2), 2006, 2007

What's in their iPod?

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:21:00 +0000

It's one of the many ... wait. I'm going to quiz you first.

QUESTION: Sofoklis Schortsanitis is an international basketball player.
1. What national team does he play for?
2. Aside from "Sofo," what nickname has he been given?

But even with "Sofo," I wonder what is in his iPod? Does he even have an iPod? Maybe it's a Zune, filled with 20,000 songs.

N.B.A player Carmelo Anthony's iPod is filled with 14,000 songs, he told one media outlet. Fourteen-thousand songs is amazing. If each song is 3 minutes, then that's 700 hours of music.

Then there's a story in the Los Angeles Times about what's in the iPods of Sens. Obama and McCain.

Much to both guys' credit, they're all over the board; ABBA, the Fugees, Bruce Springsteen. No word on whether either of them had "Gone Til November" on their playlist.

For those people out there that have been tired of the pre-game hype between Obama and McCain, they should have "Wake Me Up When September Ends."

How much does an iPod reflect who you are (don't freak out, I'm not quizzing you, it's only rhetorical)? I'm a mellow guy. I get emotional, and I can be a jerk. My iPod is filled with Techno, Euro Rave, Jazz, Hip Hop and Alternative Rock. Try to figure out what type of person I am based on that. I double dare you.

My project is much like that. What you do with my project will reflect who you are. If you're a political junkie, you'll be noted for your success. If you answer sports questions with ease, you can make people quake in their boots.

Stay tuned. Oh, and those answers:

1. Greece
2. Baby Shaq

How to answer a question

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:29:00 +0000

I'm not even going to wait. We're going right to today's quiz. So, let's do this!

QUIZ: This quizzer refers to several songs.
"Thanks For The Memories"
1. Which band performed this song?
2. "He tastes like you." Bitter or sweeter?

"If You Could Only See"
3. Which band performed this song?
4. The lead singer referred to the girl's eyes. What color are those eyes?

"The Secret Garden"
5. Five music artists came together to perform this song. Who are they?
6. Out of those five artists, who is the only person not to sing?

Answers at the bottom.

The quiz I gave you today is much different than my mastermind creation that is soon to be revealed to the masses.

You see, in this quiz, you either know it, sort of know it, or don't know it. You fall into one of those three horrific categories. And if you didn't know any of those songs, then you were stuck.

But I'm sure you wanted a question like No. 2. With that one, you have a chance to succeed, even if you don't know it. It's a coin flip.

With my mastermind project, I'm going to help even the little people out. As you see, my project includes giving people multiple choices. So even if you don't know the answer, you can puff out your chest as you (try to) guess correctly.

I love multiple-choice tests because it involves more than just knowing the answer. It also involves not knowing the answer and how you go about trying to figure it all out.

But there's a little kicker to my project; you only have a few seconds to answer. The quicker you answer, the more points you guess. The slower you answer, you receive almost no points.

I'm sure a lot of you would take 20 seconds to search for the answer through a search engine. I'm going to punish you for taking your time. I want you to answer my questions in a timely manner. I'll reward you more!

More on this later on. I love breaking down quizzes because it's all about the question, the answers and the process.

Speaking of answers, here are the ones from the quiz.
1. Fall Out Boy
2. Sweeter (of course!)
3. Tonic
4. Blue
5. Quincy Jones, Barry White, El DeBarge, Al B. Sure, James Ingram
6. Quincy Jones

Refreshed and ready to go

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:46:00 +0000

I think I've taken a longer vacation from this blog than Tony Kornheiser has from "Pardon the Interruption." But that's OK. Much like him, I'm feeling good about things, and I'm back, refreshed.

Maybe in the seven months I've been gone, I've learned a few things. People were telling me that I'm being too much of a smartass. That's all up to interpretation and maybe I'll change that, maybe not.

But I'm here to talk about games, because that's what I want to do.

First off, let's start this with a quiz. I've totally forgotten that I've peppered you with a daily quiz. This one will be somewhat related to the Olympics, which officially kick off in a matter of hours.

QUESTION: The Hamm twins were in the Olympic spotlight for their great feats.
1. What are their names?
2. What is their overall field?
3. How many medals did they earn in 2004?
4. They're not competing in 2008. Why?
Answers are at the bottom

The Olympics are one of those unique events where the world comes together and celebrates all things athletics. Think "Baseball All-Star Game" times 1,000. The country, athletes, cuisine, commentators and weather are all highlighted to the fullest. The television producers and commentators have to squeeze in as much as possible in 17 days.

But they're not thinking 17 days. They're thinking 120 days.

What?

N.B.C and its secondary networks will all have coverage of the Olympics. All of that will equal to about 2,900 hours over a span of 17 days. I'm sure that each Oompa Loompa will have a different sport, and Willy Wonka himself (THE actual N.B.C) gets the main games.

But what are the main games? I guess that this year, it's swimming and basketball. Funny how, if you said that in 1980, you would get laughed at. It would have been all about the track and field events. I guess that's how the world has changed, with steroid and doping allegations in the limelight.

Think about the 2,900 hours of coverage. Is there any one person, thing or event that has received 2,900 hours of coverage so far this year?

You're probably thinking of three people: Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, and Brett Favre.

Let's take Favre. It was first reported 35 days ago he was itching to come back. So in 35 days, if he gets 4 hours of television coverage a day (which is plausible), that amounts to just 140 hours. Brett Favre has nothing on the Olympics.

I guess that if you're like me, you'll pull out your Thomas Guide that maps out all of the channels' Olympic coverage, and either close your eyes and choose randomly, or search long and hard for your game of choice. Me? I'll be watching the U.S.A basketball team and table tennis. Those table tennis players are unsung heros, much like curling in the winter olympics.

And let's answer that quiz, shall we?

1. Paul and Morgan
2. Gymnastics
3. Paul earned 3 (Overall, Horizontal Bar, Team) and Morgan 1 (Team)
4. Paul has a hand and rotator cuff injuries, and Morgan has an ankle injury.

The object of the game...

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:31:00 +0000

This guy does a good job of boiling down a blog post by this guy (who happens to be CCO of some tiny company called Sony Online Entertainment... who are they?) about designing games by listing the gameplay goals and, kinda in reverse, going through the decisions the player has to go through to achieve the goal. Good stuff all around. In fact, I'm jealous that I didn't write either post. Good thing I'm secure in the fact that I am the smartest undiscovered talent in the world.

I think, with all this media convergence talk going around, writers are going to have a bigger and bigger hand in gaming. Obviously, games are already being "written" in the sense that they are conceived and mapped out, but I'm talking about the dudes that are on strike right now. Heck, why bother going back to TV, writers? Get in the game, already! (See the pun there? This is me sucking up to the writers.)

Contra, meet Web 3.0

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:10:00 +0000

QUESTION: What was the first mainstream Alternate Reality Game? (answer below)

GameSetWatch is doing a piece about the convergence of media and its effect on the gaming world. My response: The next generation of gaming is going to be huge. If Vegas put odds on the Nobel prize, I think I'd put some money down on this really bright game designer. Or, you know, me.

Here's the thing about all this convergence business... technology was developed to help us connect, right? And technology is maturing. I wonder, though. If our digital social networks creep back into real life via mobile tech, will it change the way we interact with people we already know? Because friendship is forever, but friendship with benefits (no, not that) is the next evolution. I'm talking about massive multiplayer games taking over the multimedia world. What if you were required to talk to certain friends in order to solve a puzzle? What if you were rating and even choosing your friends based on their performance in an ongoing, multimedia game that took place over the web and television and movies and podcasts and mobile and newspapers and everything else?

"Sorry, dude, I can't talk to you anymore because I need to level up."

Remember when you wouldn't let your buddy play Contra with you because he'd always suck your extra lives away? Imagine that on the scale of MySpace/Facebook. Trust me, it will become normal to disown friends for gaming purposes. And I love it already.

In other news, what gives with this Scientology vs. Anonymous business? Look, the Scientologists scare me too, but vague declarations of war, cyber or otherwise, aren't going to cool them out. You smarty-pants types out there will probably point to religion being the number one motivation for death in human history as evidence that Scientology is up to no good. Me, at think that's oversimplifying the point, because behind every religion we don't understand is a culture and community we don't understand. Removing religion from the equation won't remove a basic misunderstanding from the world.

Which is reason #37,390,402 why I stay indoors at all costs playing games. Because maybe games will change the world.

(By the way: Save Scrabulous!)

ANSWER: The first ARG is commonly known as "The Beast," a multi-website murder-mystery scavenger hunt devised in 2001 and started as part of the promotion for the film A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. The Beast ran for 12 weeks and unravelled around a murder that tangentially connected to the sci-fi film's plot.

Monkey See, Robot Do

noreply@blogger.com (O) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:02:00 +0000

TRIVIA: What is the first known televised work of science-fiction? (answer below)

So, they're teaching monkeys to control robots with their minds. No, really.

Aside from the obvious comedic possibilities (robot taunts baby tigers, robot sticks finger in own butt and smells it), there is some scary groundwork being laid here. I mean, after the monkey-robot revolt that leads to an all out monkey-robot war that will take us decades to win, the dawn of a new fantastic age will be upon us. Sure, humans using mind control to have robots do dangerous things like coal mining would be a good thing, but wouldn't we then be able to control other people? Mind hacking would become the latest, greatest tech scam.

And interactive game innovation, too. All of sports would definitely become about the coaches if their players could flawlessly execute his mental gameplan. How about playing a game of charades where people have to guess who has taken control of your body? All of a sudden, body language and tics would be the only way to identify who is who.

Now that I think about it, I actually encourage this. The mind control age is going to be the end of personal responsibility. Now, the devil didn't make me do it -- you did!

Robots in science-fiction have always been a vessel for writers to ask the question: what is human? (Or the lesser but still intriguing question: what is monkey?) It used to be that thoughts were thoughts and actions were actions... now that line is being blurred. Will there be a robot that acts upon our base instincts? If thoughts define actions, and actions define who we are... who am I when I stick my finger up my butt, smell it, and jolt back from the sensation?

Okay, maybe I'm not terribly excited about this after all. Especially if the monkeys and robots win the war.

ANSWER: In 1938, the BBC adapted a 35-minute section of the Czech play R.U.R., the work that introduced the word "robot" to the world.