Thursday, July 29, 2004

In college, we played the Vacuously True Statement Game. Example: Every time I've been abducted by space aliens, they've treated me well. The statement is true, since I've never been abducted by space aliens (at least to my knowledge). Related amusements include:

  • The Alarmist Trivia Game -- Dihydrogen monoxide can be fatal when inhaled!
  • The Escalating Exaggeration Game -- This pack must weight fifty pounds. What's that, fifty kilos? Yes, it's amazing that I'm not squashed under this fifty kiloton pack. This is one of Patxi's favorites.
  • The New Constant Game -- Someday, I'll have an important class of numbers named after me. Like the set of all even primes. Like the Vacuously True Statement Game, this is Mike's invention.
  • The Ridiculous Song Game -- Self-explanatory. Since this is one of my favorites, there are examples in the archives. Chopsticks, Edelweiss, and the Surprise Symphony are my favorite templates.
  • The Flagstaff Game -- In which any geographical location you care to name is placed in relation to Flagstaff (usually within walking distance). This is also Patxi's contribution.
  • The Ramsey Theory Bites Dance -- It doesn't, really. But after Mike and I got to prove the fifth or sixth variant, it did start to get old.
  • The Spackle Convention -- If your friend told you he'd eat a gallon of spackle if he were shown wrong, would you, too, quickly change topics?
  • X Wars -- How many sets of xeyes can your host support before it becomes unusable?
  • Boardy -- This was a variable name from a chess program capable of bending the computer into pretzels, written in AP Computer Science by Will. Chant it over and over again, and it becomes fantastically funny. At least, it does if you're me. Or if you're Will, for that matter. I don't think it ever amused anyone else quite so much.

I think it's time to eat now.