Editorial & Opinion
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[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 5, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009Although 72.3% of all statistics mentioned in casual conversation are inaccurate, I’d say the odds of you commenting on this are less than 1 in 30,000.
I’ve always said that 72.3% of all statistics mentioned in casual conversation are inaccurate. I’ve also always felt that paying attention to statistics is silly, because in spite of all the sophisticated math, there’s no way to tell when and where that 1 in 10 million chance of being attacked by a shark will occur. For instance, In 1985 NASA estimated that the probability of an accident occurring with the space shuttle was 1 in 100,000. But the 25th shuttle launch exploded after take-off, and the 113rd mission exploded on re-entry. Does that mean the next 198,998 missions will be accident-free? I just wasted an hour of my life at NationMaster.com, which has an amazing array of facts and statistics, and cross-references them in a way that I’d say creates a 33.3% chance that you’ll spend at least ten minutes on the site. Like, did you know that Russia has almost twice as many judges and magistrates as the United States, while the United States has 8 times as much crime? Or that America has the most McDonalds restaurants per capita, AND the highest number of obesity-related deaths? Coincidence? You decide. The NSC has some dry but interesting stats too. It’s hard to Read the rest of this entry »
Getting A New Angle On Things Is Easy When You’re From The Fourth Dimension
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 20, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Monday, July 20th, 2009A kid from A-Square confronts his spheres and talks about hypercubes to help give your otherwise two-dimensional morning a new perspective.
A Three-Dimensional Representation Of A Four-Dimensional Object |
Although we originally started our Monday Demotivators to add a little dimension to your Monday morning, we’ve fallen a little flat this week; all we have is this simple game in which you guess the shape of a three-dimensional object as it passes through your two-dimensional field of view. This game will be familiar to anyone who’s familiar with the book Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Post-Holiday Padiddling
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 6, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Monday, July 6th, 2009No holiday weekend road trip is complete without a healthy round of Padiddling, Punchbuggy, and Cow Counting. This week’s Monday Demotivators celebrate the four day weekend.
 Why Do Game Developers Hate Granny? |
This week’s Monday morning productivity inhibitors will take a (ahem) back seat to the fact that the more clever amongst you have sneaked in a four-day weekend. Which means you already are demotivated. And perhaps facing a day on the freeways to get home. If you have a carload of family or friends on a weekend excursion, the way there might not be so bad, but the way back can be excruciating. That’s when a healthy game of Punchbuggy or Padiddle can come in handy. Hopefully though, you’ll be home long before any Padiddling is required. If you happen to have a carload of kids (or immature adults like myself) on board, maybe some classic road trip games like Highway Bingo or Counting Cows are in order. Okay, maybe not so “classic”. Personally, I’ve never heard of “Counting Cows”. Anyway, those are print-it-yourself games; you could always buy some reusable bingo games
Dude, Don’t Harsh My Monday Mellow
[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 29, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Monday, June 29th, 2009This weeks Monday Demotivators starts out on a light theme, but pretty soon the morning is shot, and it’s all downhill after that.
We received another complaint recently that our Monday Demotivators had strayed from the clever games and puzzles that force one to use their head a little. Don’t you people have anything nice to say? Well, we’re here to please. So go ahead and bang your head, and thanks for your input. But seriously, for those who for whatever reason actually like thinking on a Monday morning, we have Light Bot. Program the moves of the little robot, and click go. The objective is to light up the blue squares. Continuing to keep things light this morning, try Nodes 2, in which you line up lasers before the bomb goes off. That game takes advantage of the fact that rearranging little red lines on computer a screen is MUCH more exciting with an Electrobeat soundtrack. And if you don’t believe us, just try Laser Logic, which doesn’t have an Electrobeat soundtrack. If you’re still awake after that one, we always try to include some form of murder for the more morally degenerate homicidal types amongst you. Today we have Ultimate Assassination 2, which frankly should be called Ultimate Ant-sassination 2; although an amusing game, you feel more like you’re killing little bugs than people. And it’s all downhill from here. To finish Harshing Your Monday Mellow, we have Gnarshmallow. A simple but challenging skiing game that seems to take the little bugs from the last game and put them on a ski slope. Crashtastical, dude. Just don’t blast a dookie.
Bureaucratic Booty
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 26, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Friday, June 26th, 2009Why do we act surprised when power-hungry risk takers (i.e.: politicians) pursue extramarital relationships? And why the heck aren’t there any women on these lists?
No wonder Jefferson’s |
There’s more than a little irony in the fact that one of our country’s earliest political sex scandals involved the author of the Declaration of Independence. Come on, America. Time to shed a few more of those Puritanical morals that have so long prevented us from becoming the great former empire that we are destined to be. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s 15 minutes of shame were easily eclipsed in the news cycle by the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson yesterday, and rightly so, in my opinion. The millions of taxpayer dollars wasted by Ken Starr’s investigations of President Clinton’s extramarital affairs could have been spent on much more useful things. Like maybe getting Ken Starr laid, for instance. I mean, if anybody ever had the look of someone who hasn’t had some in a while, it’s Ken Starr. So, if you’re an ignorant prude who’s never looked into the topic, our country has plenty of juicy tidbits to keep you busy for awhile; this Wikipedia list is well-organized and well-documented, and PolitickerNJ.com has compiled a nice “best of” list of (1.1MB, PDF) that summarizes highlights of the top 53 bureaucratic booty-calls. And for anyone trying to spin this into a partisan issue, forget it. Dems and ‘Pubs are pretty much neck-and-neck on this one. So loosen up, America, we have bigger fish to fry.