tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33166307770341988402024-02-19T02:36:41.316-08:00Pandora's SkullWhat we are doing differently today will have changed the past for people in the future.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-5349916560506499312009-05-03T18:45:00.000-07:002009-05-03T19:11:06.420-07:00Winners Round 11 !! Certificate WinnersThe categories are listed in no particular order, and (except for the winners) the guesses are listed in the order in which they were entered.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: Guesses With an Organic Element</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/freshgreenbeans">@freshgreenbeans</a>: I think it is a pair of lightly worn yellow flipflops from Brazil with an unripened but moderately large mango.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: It took some soul searching. Judging these guesses as to their organic-ness meant that I was faced with some powerfully difficult decision making. Putting aside my initial objection to this guess that there was no way these items could fit in the box, I realized that Brazil plus mango plus the screen name “freshgreenbeans” meant that this guess had to take the Certificate in this category. In relation to the item in the box, this guess shares the quality of display or retention for purposes of remembering or promoting something.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: The essence of rain.<br />- The item in the box is in so many ways electrical in nature, rain is simply contra-indicated.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: Multicoloured origami paper.<br />- The item in the box is not terribly colorful and it is quite solid. And, there are no options for further developing this item into art or craft activities.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/cawcaw">@cawcaw</a>: It's a taxidermied bat.<br />- This is a very strong guess. If it had specified embalming rather than taxidermy, well, I don’t know.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/pigstubs">@pigstubs</a>: A pack of seeds to attract butterflies to your garden.<br />- This is another very strong guess. The item in the box has elements collected together in a way, but there is no further use for them outside of their collected state, and I can’t imagine butterflies getting interested in this item or its elements.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/shedrivesajimmy">@shedrivesajimmy</a>: bite-size snickers and a lizard<br />- This guess is certainly very organic. I feel misunderstood, however. I would not shut a living creature up in a box to put in the mail, even if that weren’t totally illegal. Also, I expect the lizard would eat all the snickers.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewLoeb">@AndrewLoeb</a>: A little toy drum. Drumsticks not included. Some assembly required.<br />- Organic might be pushing it for toy drums, especially if the drumsticks are not included. A propos this contest, the item in the box is not a toy. An good argument could be had regarding the extent to which assembly is required, but that would be an argument one could have with someone else, not an argument pushing this guess into the top spot.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/JFerg012">@JFerg012</a>: DO NOT OPEN THAT BOX!!! I think it could be the Swine Flu. From what I hear, that thing is being passed around.<br />- A very topical guess, in line with current events. I will just tell you straight out: Swine Flu is not in the box. It is an item I have had in my possession for several months, well past the incubation period, and no one in my household has had any kind of flu.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: A set of 12 cookie cutters, each modeled as one of the animals in the Chinese zodiac.<br />- I am quite taken with this guess, and had some trouble with categorizing it. Eventually I concluded that stars, astrologers, and cookies are all organic. The strength of this guess is primarily that it would be a fantastic prize (except perhaps the rat-shaped cookie). The connection between this guess and the item in the box is the concept of a set with metal or plastic parts, but nothing more than that.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Category: Guesses With the Word Something<br /></div><br />It is a tie - <a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/myracles">@myracles</a> dominated this category. They will each receive a Certificate of Achievement attesting this. The strongest guess from each of them in the match up, judged by me to be the tied winning guesses, are<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: Something that will make artificial flowers seem gratuitous, pointless and wrong. I mean, even more than they already do.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: The whole complex dance of electricity and the worlds’ rich and varied industrial profusion in the matter of making solidly utilitarian objects and showing things to people about it, while natural beauty is best left to nature, is well exemplified in the item in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/myracles">@myracles</a>: Something @jonathaneunice wants but doesn't know he wants it, yet.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: Given the explanation above, and the apparent state of @jonathaneunice’s decor, it is probably true that he can have no idea how much he wants this item.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: Something that will coordinate beautifully with this sofa, side chair, and ottoman set.<br />- The item in the box would probably do a fine, if hard to notice, job of this. It is a smallish item.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/myracles">@myracles</a>: Either something to write on, or something to write with.<br />- The item in the box is none of these things.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: Something coveted by the man on the flying trapeze. Or the man in the moon. Either one.<br />- Purely speculative, either way. If I had to bet, I would say more likely the man in the moon, given the translucent qualities of the item in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/myracles">@myracles</a>: Something I should not place in the microwave<br />- Actually, it is true. You should not place this item in the microwave. It would be a bad idea. Without more specific reasons included in the guess, I cannot judge how close this guess really came.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: Something related to goiter, gout, hubris, or pout.<br />- I concede hubris, and under certain imaginable possibilities pout. But this guess is too varied in its speculation, and the arguments too limited.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/kylecooper">@kylecooper</a>: Something ethnic but not necessarily ghetto.<br />- This guess has the word “something” in it, and there are no arguments for connections to the item in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/lindstifa">@lindstifa</a>: Something that will protect me from pain, but only if applied correctly.<br />- I considered this carefully, and it is simply very unlikely this item could protect you from pain. All the scenarios I have been able to come up with for this item being any kind of protection fail to eliminate all pain. Maybe a slight reduction, but it would all have to be a carefully planned set-up, and there would still be some hurt.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: Guesses Possibly Connected to Branding or Product Promotion</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/epicdeer">@epicdeer</a>: A Hipster PDA with Merlin Mann's picture on the cover. 2 extra binder clips included.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: I make no assertion as to whether this proposed Hipster PDA would be promoting Hipsters, PDAs, Merlin Mann, or binder clips. The wide range of things possibly being branded or promoted gives this guess the win.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/cawcaw">@cawcaw</a>: A baseball cap with an logo of some kind of bird.<br />- I understand there are sports teams who wear baseball caps, and that some of those teams are called by the names of kinds of birds, and so they put pictures of the birds on the baseball caps. I know for a fact that sometimes caps get given out for free.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/majorleague">@majorleaguegirl</a>: a trivet though I can't imagine why you'd use it in the neighborhood...bad neighborhood? trivet/weapon?<br />- A perplexing guess. What neighborhood? Hers? Mine? The item in the box could conceivably make do as a trivet for something very small, and, in a pinch, would work as a hand-thrown projectile, but neither of these things are its intended purpose nor are they emblematic of its essential nature. Trivets are sometimes decorated with promotional motifs, as is this item, but this is all too confusing and tenuous.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/atomicfez">@atomicfez</a>: a video recording of Rod Stewart's performance at the H.O.G. chambers at the UN in NYC, as a UNICEF fund-raiser in BETA format.<br />- The electrical elements of the item in the box do not appear to be videographic in nature, and the emblem on the item is for a private for-profit firm (I think) and definitely not for an international body or non-governmental organization.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/elcrowe">@elcrowe</a>:<br />- there was no guess, just the #gwiitb tag. Also, according to Twitter @elcrowe’s page didn’t exist when I checked. I can only speculate that someone is trying to call attention to the possible existence of an elcrowe out there, somewhere.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/shedrivesajimmy">@shedrivesajimmy</a>: @jferg012 NOW you do it. @jferg012 @drewlawrence #gwiitb<br />- no guess, only what appears to be a challenge to participate, successful insofar as @jferg012 entered a guess. Thank you for the shout out, @shedrivesajimmy!<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/robinmatthewfry"><br />@robinmatthewfry</a>: A frisbee featuring the face of either Pele or Muhammad Ali.<br />- Another guess regarding which I had to put aside objections as to whether the guessed item would fit inside the box. It would depend on the frisbee, I suppose, and I have seen promotional ones that were pretty small. The main problem is there is nothing particularly aerodynamic nor graphically adorned about the item in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/hippophagy">@hippophagy</a>: It's a limited edition Motörhead picture disc for Ace of Spades featuring the band dressed as desperados dressed in black leather.<br />- I like the vague connection to electricity implicit in this guess, but as discussed above, the item in the box is simply not a thing with pictures of people on it.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fleur325">@fleur325</a>: Guess #1 A small t shirt wrapped around a keychain. Both feature the image of lovely flora.<br />- This strongest aspect of this guess is the word “keychain” – I have an idiosyncratic notion that there is something kind of similar between a promotional keychain and the item in the box. Otherwise there is little to tie this guess to the item, as the item is of the mechanical and electrical world.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fleur325">@fleur325</a>: Guess #2 A food item not readily available at the convenience store. I think it is both sweet & unusual, with a frightening mascot.<br />- The item in the box is not a food item at all. The company that either made it or had it made appears to be long out of business, so nothing they make would be readily available at the convenience store. Sweet, no. Unusual, yes. There is no mascot at all, and nothing frightening.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fleur325">@fleur325</a>: last guess, an item that can only be described in song. In fact, a top ten hit was once written about this item.<br />- Since I am not sure in any comprehensive way the totality of what the item in the box is, I would sure appreciate hearing a top ten hit about it that would give me some insight. However, it is not really the kind of item that would inspire any hit-making band to do a song about it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: Guesses Invoking Magic, Technology or Magic Technology</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/snoozingdog">@snoozingdog</a>: An everlasting dog chew toy that has unending stuffing & still makes squeaky noises even after I pull out the squeaky noise thing.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: I suppose it would require some combination of both Magic and Technology to create such a wondrous chew toy. I would get one for my dog – she would love it. I have seen many a dog toy live only one day: the stuffing spread across the floor, the squeaky device mangled and inoperative. A bored dog and a cranky human left to deal with the aftermath.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: A colorful Chinese lantern is in the box. It may or may not have a dragon on it.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Certificate for First Guess</span><br />- Lanterns are a form of technology, and dragons are creatures of magic, so this guess is a strong contender in this category either way.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: Words. Heaps of them. Or, if not words per se, a word laxative to facilitate the work of wordsmiths.<br />- Again, I expect this invention would require some combination of both magic and technology. And, oh, the danger to us all if it should fall into the wrong hands. If it hasn’t already. The item in the box is worth a good conversation, but is not likely to generate streams of prose.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: A charm against revenue collectors, most efficacious.<br />- That would be a useful thing. This item has no such power. Quite the opposite, possibly. An inspector might say “When did you get this? And what are you doing buying random things like this when you owe money?”<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: A device for making Time and Tide wait.<br />- I think such a device would be even more dangerous in any hands than the word laxative discussed above. Furthermore, I consider such a device logically impossible – if Time were in abeyance, how would you know?<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: It is a book aimed at children (you don't have to lead them as much, compared to throwing books at adults). Unicorns maybe.<br />- First, I would like to encourage you not to throw books at children. If you do, however, many of them run from books more quickly than do adults, so your advice about leading them should be taken with a grain of salt. Second, the item in the box is not for children, by aim or intention, and there is nothing fairy-tale about it.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrooklynBridge_">@BrooklynBridge_</a>: Such stuff as dreams are made on.<br />- There are strong circumstantial arguments in favor of this guess. I need to know whose dreams are at issue to even speculate as to whether the item in the box comes anywhere close to being such stuff as that individual’s dreams are made on. I am fairly certain this is not one of those universals.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/lockness58">@lockness58</a>: i bet it's one of those fireworks that spins and sputters with glorious sparks, and looks similar to a bumble bee.<br />- This is a strong guess with a serious hurdle that is entirely on my end. The grand prize is usually mailed to the Grand Prize Winner (or the Runner Up with a US Address), and it would be totally illegal for me to mail fireworks. That aside, there are some connections between fuses of the firework sort and fuses of the electrical sort. Unfortunately, not enough connections, given the strong competition this round.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/Matt_Silverman">@Matt_Silverman</a>: Do we win what is inside the box if we get it right? If so, I guess "A HouseBoat."<br />- If the internet made it so that you could Twitter a guess for a HouseBoat from a website with a picture of a box described as 5.5" x 6.5" x 1.5" with a weight about 9 oz., that would really be some magic technology. I am sorry, Mr. Silverman, you did not win a HouseBoat or a Certificate, but I hope you enjoyed the contest anyway.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-3894538637505577852009-05-03T18:32:00.001-07:002009-05-03T19:11:29.008-07:00Winner! Round 11 - Grand Prize and Short List<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTtZmJrgneX_oUih3PvQMktRwQHpEyXW9hKq9KKxM0vht63CtZx3wTgdGTLGvBLe1Ps4CgoDXRoRaJTq5m3OZXZQ1qS9kW9KGiHBTde-svkcdBTehau14-LkI0zSIpeW8IcMrepC6TtMc/s1600-h/collins.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTtZmJrgneX_oUih3PvQMktRwQHpEyXW9hKq9KKxM0vht63CtZx3wTgdGTLGvBLe1Ps4CgoDXRoRaJTq5m3OZXZQ1qS9kW9KGiHBTde-svkcdBTehau14-LkI0zSIpeW8IcMrepC6TtMc/s320/collins.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331775897607176546" border="0" /></a>Revealed! It is a Lucite Display Block of Electrical Components<br /><br />I don't know what these are electrical components of, but someone at the COLLINS company was proud enough of them to do up this nice Lucite display block. If anyone out there can provide compelling evidence of what these bits are when they are assembled, I will make you an extra special GWIITB Honoree and send you a Certificate of Achievement.<br /><br />Even when I don't have complete knowledge of what is in the box, there must be a Grand Prize Winner, and so there is. Here is the Grand Prize winner, followed by the short listed entries in the order they were entered.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: A product of the Industrial Age, reworked for the postindustrial era--e.g., the electronic cigarette (in a nice box).<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER GRAND PRIZE</span> – It is hard to conceive of a better summation of the emotions felt upon beholding this Lucite Display Block of Electrical Components. It looks a little like bits of a motor or switch, maybe a capacitor or something. An electronic cigarette is as good a possibility as any.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: The world's first electronic calculator<br />- I am pretty certain this Lucite Display Block of Electrical Components does not contain any or many parts from the world’s first electronic calculator, but the world’s first electronic calculator probably had some copper wires, metal fittings, and little plastic thingies – all of which makes this a strong guess.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TerryBain">@TerryBain</a>: The Internet.<br />- In other rounds I might have considered this guess to be a little smart-ass-ish, but with this Grand Prize, it just made me laugh and laugh. Such a non-specific guess (the Internet is a big thing) does not have the muscle to move out of the short list to the winner’s circle, especially with such a strong winning guess.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toldorknown">@toldorknown</a>: A clustering of the non-statistical variety.<br />- The strength of this guess goes solely to the physical, rather than the essential, nature of the Lucite Display Block of Electrical Components. It is indeed a clustering.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: A handsome watch. Unfortunately, it insists on setting itself to a non-existent time zone.<br />- I like this guess very much, and it touches on the electro-mechanical nature of the Grand Prize, but there is nothing in the Lucite Display Block of Electrical Components that looks like it could go in a watch, handsome or not.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: A packet of index cards enveloped in a laser-etched wafer-thin gold-plate wrapping.<br />- This guess reminded me of some things in the plot of Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle, and I had a train of thought from there to cyberpunk generally, plus the whole concept of “enveloping” and “laser-etching.”certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-88286009509731633602009-04-26T13:44:00.001-07:002009-04-26T13:57:38.332-07:00#gwiitb Round 11 !<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGnjrazNx6nMExbn21WBsllS5gFr9kkY6JDj1FtidAJ3iBqIQGlPmfW1q387kod0EVNs9ShaSZp6I-pvi_tNIZGwzLXVWc3a0H7figwTfnc3cuMMYhI-Gsnurp121_3TnbTvSK51nw-Es/s1600-h/box11.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGnjrazNx6nMExbn21WBsllS5gFr9kkY6JDj1FtidAJ3iBqIQGlPmfW1q387kod0EVNs9ShaSZp6I-pvi_tNIZGwzLXVWc3a0H7figwTfnc3cuMMYhI-Gsnurp121_3TnbTvSK51nw-Es/s320/box11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329104070807208498" border="0" /></a><br />Here it is - the box with something in it for Round 11 of The Guess What Is in the Boxes Contest. The dimensions are 5.5" x 6.5" x 1.5" and the weight is about 9 oz. A pretty thorough shaking results in the sound of soft packing material moving back and forth. The weight is at the center and feels both dense and evenly distributed.<br /><br />Guessing will be open as soon as I make a #gwiitb announcement on Twitter, and will continue until I make a #gwiitb closing announcement. All guesses should be tagged #gwiitb, and do not need to be addressed to @JSvanBuskirk, although they may. New players seeking guidance can check out <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/2009/02/guess-what-is-in-boxes-contest.html">the original rules post</a> and <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/search/label/Guess%20what%20is%20in%20the%20boxes">the previous rounds</a>. You may guess as often as you like.<br /><br />The projected deadline for this round is Tuesday, April 28, 2009, at 8pm EDT.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-37162213302375126382009-04-25T13:19:00.000-07:002009-04-26T05:15:07.046-07:00Winners Round 10 !! Certificate WinnersThere are Three Certificate of Achievement Categories, listed in no particular order. Other than the winning entry, the guesses are listed within each category as they were received. In addition to the Certificate winning guesses, <a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a> gets a Certificate for entering the First Guess this round. Thank you all!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cerificate: Best Guess Involving Clothing or Accessories</span><br /></div><a href="http://twitter.com/pigstubs"><br />@pigstubs</a>: Alternately, it could be a Chewbacca mask. Though I don't know why you would want to give that away. I mean come on!<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: I freely admit that were I to come into possession of a Chewbacca mask I would be unlikely to part with it. This guess takes this category because there's an element of the item in the box that requires putting something on your face and seeing things differently. As we all know, one becomes the mask one shows to the world, and wearing a Chewbacca mask would inevitably result in seeing the Universe in a more Wookiee-like way.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: It's a big girl's blouse (or collection of).<br />- FIRST GUESS. And If I am correct in understanding that “big girl’s blouse” is a mildly teasing term for something along the lines of “lightweight” or “coward,” I cannot make an argument for this guess having any connection to the item in the box. The item in the box has a connection to youthful humans who might engage in mutual taunting along those lines, but that is not enough. If the guess was in fact intended to be a blouse belonging to a large-ish young woman, the item in the box is oversized, but in a complimentary way, not as an implied assertion of excess.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/snoozingdog">@snoozingdog</a>: A yellowed, tatted-edged linen handkerchief, weighted with the hope & despair of a woman who waved it to her dog as he sailed to sea.<br />- A poignant guess. The item in the box is something for home, for passing one’s free summer days in the neighborhood, near the house, and – most importantly – near the dog. Do not despair!<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: A nice fluffy towel wrapped around a grooming kit.<br />- The item in the box is a kit of sorts, but not a grooming kit. A towel might be needed at some point after interacting with the item in the box (I am only speculating here) but I cannot draw a solid line from this guess to the item in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: A teeny-tiny canary feather, dyed green. The weight is due to needlessly voluminous & heavy packaging materials.<br />- I have questioned myself repeatedly over the correct categorization of this guess, but (as you see) finally settled on “clothing or accessories.” What teeny-tiny dyed canary feathers really make me think of are the feathered earrings that were popular for a while when I was a teenager. There is some artificial coloring associated with the item in the box, but not enough.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/hippophagy">@hippophagy</a>: It's something to remind me of highschool on Long Island in the 80s<br />- It is partly because of @BrianPike’s guess reminding me of feathered earrings that I ended up categorizing this guess as pertaining to “clothing or accessories.” Much of what I think of as highschool in the 80s is clothing and accessories. There are other things, but self-presentation seemed awfully important at the time. While the item in the box is for youthful humans, it is aimed at kids, and there is no particular historical decade I would associate it with.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Certificate: Best Guess Involving Art or Craft<br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: Something to which a craftsman of olden times (e.g. a cartwright, cobbler, cooper, farrier, or sauntere) could relate.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: I had to look it up: a sauntere is a salt-maker. It was fun to have to look something up. The item in the box is predominantly composed of a substance known to and used by humans well into the distant past. Craftsmen, scholars, and farmers of olden times would all certainly be able to relate to it. The other qualities of the item in the box beyond its substance are not addressed by this guess, which therefore takes the certificate in this category.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewLoeb">@AndrewLoeb</a>: A beautiful reliquary containing a bit of hair from The King, Elvis Presley. (Not that he's dead, he just went home.)<br />- The strength of this guess is mainly in its mentions of “reliquary” and Elvis. However, my enjoyment of those things is not sufficient to judge it winner in this category against the strength of the winning guess. @AndrewLoeb and I had an exchange on Twitter acknowledging the movie references, but again, with a strong winning guess, that was not enough.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/atomicfez">@atomicfez</a>: The complete recordings of SIMON & GARFUNKLE on LP, possibly including the Central Park Concert and the soundtrack to THE GRADUATE<br />- I have a complicated train of thought regarding childhood on the streets of New York City (as presented in songs and movies) as forming some kind of connection between the item in the box and the oeuvre of Simon & Garfunkle, but it is really far too tenuous.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/MariAdkins">@MariAdkins</a>: @atomicfez oh man! i [heart] simon and garfunkle!<br />- This was an unintended guess, but @MariAdkins agreed to let it stand. On reflection, I can’t find any stronger argument for this guess than I could for @atomicfez’s original guess to which she was responding.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fleur325">@fleur325</a>: A boxed set of paperback books featuring classic children/young adult stories by Judy Blume.<br />- The item in the box is for children, which makes this a strong contender in this category, but the demographics alone cannot supplant the winning guess in this category, which most accurately gets at the substance of the item in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: A river-worn sandstone pebble with the neatly painted legend: 'Property of Sonoma County Sheriff's Department'.<br />- Another strong contender. A sandstone pebble with the suggestion of artistry connected to it gets at much of the essential nature of the item in the box. However, the inclusion of law enforcement in the guess counteracts, as the item in the box is intended for free expression in public areas, and could thus come into conflict with ordered society.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewLoeb">@AndrewLoeb</a>: A lucite bust of President Woodrow Wilson. Overhandling leaves one dripping with thoughts of idealism and American exceptionalism.<br />- The item in the box has artistry in potential only, not already accomplished. The results it seems to promise, however, might be a uniquely American childhood pleasure, to be treasured.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jnobianchi">@jnobianchi</a>: I'm guessing its a receptacle, perhaps a chalice that carries our future hopes within it, or maybe just a coffee mug.<br />- The item in the box is not a physical receptacle of any kind. Symbolically, as something for children to use to express themselves, there is an argument for it being something that carries hopes for the future (not quite the same thing as “future hopes”). A strong guess, but the item in the box is more of a key than a chalice, in symbolic terms.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/suelyn">@suelyn</a>: A bowl with sayings on it popcorn, peanuts or maybe fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency & an almost fanatical devotion to the pope.<br />- An intriguing guess. The different options listed as to what might be the sayings on the bowl astound me in their diversity. The item in the box is not a bowl, except symbolically as discussed above, and none of the options for labeling the bowl can draw a closer connection.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/myracles">@myracles</a>: Something that I can place cheese on, but that shouldn't have cheese placed on it.<br />- Well, I admit that you could place cheese on the item in the box. Without knowledge of specific circumstances, I would stop short of saying absolutely that it shouldn’t have cheese placed on it. Cheese is to do with cooking and eating, the item in the box is not to do with cooking and eating, so it is a situation of non-connection rather than of advised-against-connection.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: A purdy ornament representing something from its country.<br />- While there might be something uniquely American in the item in the Box, as discussed above, it is not an ornament. It is neither pretty nor ugly, being itself something in potential for the use of making visual things.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: it has strong metallic surfaces, that look like they could be used for cooking, but this would be a fatal mistake.<br />- Strong surfaces aside, there is not much connection between this guess and the item in the box. As in @myracles guess above, I believe that involving the item in the box with cooking would probably be inadvisable, but (more likely) would never occur to anyone.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/snoozingdog">@snoozingdog</a>: zzz k-9 3rd guess -- a dog watch for a watch dog.<br />- I find this guess so charming, it is a shame there is no argument I can think of, however tenuous, to draw it closer to the item in the box.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Certificate: Best Guess Evoking Memorable Human Accomplishments<br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewLoeb">@AndrewLoeb</a>: The difficult, yet nonetheless undying, blind gratitude for this and every single day. Big day, people! Big day today!<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: An example of a guess being the winner mainly because I say it is. As is my custom, I pored over all the guesses and made mental arguments for each as to how it could win the Grand Prize. Those with the best claims for the Grand Prize were set aside and then I slowly determined how the remaining guesses fell into clusters of general concepts/categories. It pleases and surprises me every round, how so many different people end up guessing into these clusters. So, given that there is a category for guesses evoking memorable human accomplishments, I hereby recognize what I consider the greatest accomplishment of all for any human.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: It's the Olympic flame<br />- The Olympic flame and the Olympic games it represents are themselves tremendously memorable human accomplishments. Beyond that, however, I can find no connection between this guess and the item in the box except the speculative assumption that the item in the box could conceiveably be used by onlookers waiting for the Olympic flame to come by.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: A mid C19th Bavarian cast-iron 'Schwerthaler', the 2nd heaviest coin (1.2kg) ever minted. Badly rusted.<br />- I accept @BrianPike’s assertion that the ‘Schwerthaler’ exists and is the 2nd heaviest coin ever minted, and if he knows that, I consider its having been minted a memorable human accomplishment. It would probably weigh less by now if it were allowed to become badly rusted.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewLoeb">@AndrewLoeb</a>: 61 more participants for the camp I serve at each summer to bring us up to the magic number? No? I mean, that'd be awesome.<br />- This guess pertains more to “would be” a memorable human accomplishment, and I can only wish @AndrewLoeb the best of luck in this venture. There is a connection between youth and summer and the item in the box, but not enough to really nail it down.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: It is the third-best kitten toy ever!! (FYI, best: another kitten; second-best: live prey)<br />- I would sincerely applaud the creation of a third-best kitten toy ever, given the potential draw-backs of the first- and second-bests listed. Unfortunately for kittens, there is nothing at all kitten-fun about the item in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrooklynBridge_">@BrooklynBridge_</a>: The Brooklyn Bridge in miniature, giving all who come to see it unobstructed views of it from the street, and keeping history alive.<br />- I recognize that the Brooklyn Bridge, along with any product that magnifies its status as a memorable human accomplishment, is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, a combination of the item in the box in the hands of youthful humans and the Brooklyn Bridge itself would probably be a very bad thing.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: 2nd guess! PR types lobby to get this kind of product on a space shuttle flight, ostensibly for "research" purposes.<br />- Like the Olympic Games, Space Shuttle Flights are inherently memorable human accomplishments. I am tickled to imagine what proposed “research” would be undertaken with the item in the box, because it seems unlikely there ever would be any.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: The fossilized remains of a conversation with a loved one.<br />- This guess was difficult to categorize. I concluded that 1) the substance of the item in the box was a geological substance, and 2) having a firm and tangible remnant of conversation with a (presumably lost) loved one was a memorable accomplishment.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/snoozingdog">@snoozingdog</a>: zzz k-9 2nd guess--A well-aged chew-toy that has my name on it engraved by a prescient human in years gone by.<br />- Similar to @KT30003k’s guess about the third best kitten toy, I would applaud such historical significance and personalization in a chew-toy. It would be a memorable human accomplishment and a good chew-toy for a dog to have.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-68100755886403247652009-04-25T13:14:00.001-07:002009-04-25T13:37:54.919-07:00Winner! Round 10 - Grand Prize and Short List<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyoGctKtuHr1Zrvin23aizy5BGuUf5Z_Gh6KWBMgtoN5UNhZFabls1E30THppbg77NmaW8evrw-cKIyYElvM4YNuK1Im9wTFDljlaBBlLqkK9o5K-gj-OFMKl-WU0m9plRvQ1tTTwQwh2l/s1600-h/chalk.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyoGctKtuHr1Zrvin23aizy5BGuUf5Z_Gh6KWBMgtoN5UNhZFabls1E30THppbg77NmaW8evrw-cKIyYElvM4YNuK1Im9wTFDljlaBBlLqkK9o5K-gj-OFMKl-WU0m9plRvQ1tTTwQwh2l/s320/chalk.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328725099935192354" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Revealed: The Grand Prize for Round 10 is “3D GIANT CHALK.” While I usually avoid having overtly branded items as prizes, the purported 3D properties of this chalk intrigued me sufficiently to pack it up in a box and post it on the internet. Almost as good as the 3D-ness (as shown in the artist’s conception) is the exhortation on the package to “WASHABLE ... CREATE OUTDOORS.” If the winner does not have any outdoors and wants the option to create and wash away some outdoors as whimsy prompts, perhaps this GIANT CHALK will do the trick. The GIANT CHALK comes with goggles that (I assume) cause what is drawn with the chalk to spring into 3D-ness.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: A raw idea captured in its crystallized form.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: I did some research, and although I was not able to satisfy myself that chalk has crystallized form in the geological sense (it is a porous sedimentary rock), it is a hard rocky form and, in the case of 3D GIANT CHALK that comes with 3D goggles it is seriously a raw idea crystalized in material and tangible form.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/pigstubs">@pigstubs</a>: A very large thinking cap to help me write my dissertation proposal! (focus. FOCUS!)<br />- The key concept that puts this guess on the Grand Prize Short List is “FOCUS!” I rather think this 3D GIANT CHALK would be more of a distraction than a help, as much as it puts one in mind of focusing on things.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/testfirst">@testfirst</a>: Given that it's 4/20 today my guess is ... er, I forget. What were we talking about again?<br />- I was tempted by this guess because it is funny and because 3D GIANT CHALK, even just the drawing on the package, that would be great to have around to mess with stoned people.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/robinmatthewfry">@robinmatthewfry</a>: Something you can see into but not out of<br />- This guess is very close, and was a strong contender. 3D things generally could possibly be described as things one can see “into.” However, the GIANT CHALK is for making drawings that are themselves 3D and is itself quite opaque.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: its curved stony surface evokes images of druids among massive monoliths. oh yeah, and they’re probably nude.<br />- I suppose that the GIANT CHALK, scaled up, would be a bit like monoliths (except for the roundness, pointiness, and bright colors), but that is about as far as I can follow you down that trail of thought, @carterbob2.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/LidMo">@LidMo</a>: Scenic Snowglobe<br />- I had initial difficulty placing this guess. The arguments involve the entrancing of children by illusion. In a snowglobe, the illusion comes from miniaturization, water, and fake snow. I am not sure how the GIANT CHALK manages its illusion of 3 dimensions, and I have not personally tried it out.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/myracles">@myracles</a>: Something I'd give to a child so that it stops crying and gets distracted enough for me to steal the last cookie<br />-This guess could have been a strong contender if it were clear the crying child were old enough to understand 3D, hold the chalk, and draw something for themselves.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/ContemptSlots">@ContemptSlots</a>: When faced with intense stress, it always has capable hands, and a full-circle view of things.<br />- I was a bit stumped at the categorization of this guess, but I eventually decided that it is possible possession of this 3D GIANT CHALK could help give someone the impressive qualities listed in the guess. Possible, but not certain.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/ContemptSlots">@ContemptSlots</a>: A catalyst of spirituality.<br />- Like many items intended to spur creativity, this 3D GIANT CHALK also includes goggles to change vision. In sum, creativity plus vision could together be a catalyst of spirituality. As with the previous guess from @ContemptSlots, however, possibility is not certain enough to take the prize.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-67987042983813009532009-04-20T06:49:00.000-07:002009-04-20T07:04:19.689-07:00#gwiitb Round 10 !<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUzNal-AjsG1x6duidCgDTkmSI8UgPuUjePH78hm11YWr_jk5jOLpib8Q1Vae8KyI9zJl678bojOTuRcyyI5rMpxu5fnMg5f8Bly5Dx_6lLb5_gqmZ1leSH4h5xiV6E4X22KuTp14Hs5F9/s1600-h/box10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUzNal-AjsG1x6duidCgDTkmSI8UgPuUjePH78hm11YWr_jk5jOLpib8Q1Vae8KyI9zJl678bojOTuRcyyI5rMpxu5fnMg5f8Bly5Dx_6lLb5_gqmZ1leSH4h5xiV6E4X22KuTp14Hs5F9/s320/box10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326770583965764882" border="0" /></a><br />Can't hardly believe it - this is the 10th Round of The Guess What Is in the Boxes Contest! The box this round, as you can probably deduce from the photo, came into my possession containing a set of glassware from Crate & Barrel. All of the glasses are now washed and on the shelf. Now the Grand Prize is packed in the box and it is up to you to guess what it is. The "Crate & Barrel" lettering is scratched out with a marker because the USPS requires markings on boxes to be scratched out.<br /><br />Here are the relevant data: <span style="font-weight: bold;">13" x 13" x 7.5", 2.5 to 3 lbs</span>. Yet again, I have no one on hand to shake the box and describe the heft. My best effort is as follows: something smaller than the box is well packed in the center and does not move much even with strong shaking. There is no noise when the box is shaken.<br /><br />The deadline for guessing is <span style="font-weight: bold;">10 pm, EDT, tomorrow, Tuesday April 20, 2009</span>. I am sorry to give such a small window for guessing, but I forgot to do it last night, and I have a bit of a busy day Wednesday.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-66848599169116721062009-04-17T09:34:00.000-07:002009-04-17T10:09:05.038-07:00Winners Round 9 !! Certificate WinnersThere are three Certificate Winner categories this round, posted here in no particular order. The Certificate of Achievement winner is listed first in each category, and the other guesses in each category are listed in the order of entry. I didn't think there would be a full assortment of guesses this week, but the #gwiitb folks came through with a total of 31 guesses. Thank you!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: GUESSES SUGGESTING DANGER OR DISCOMFORT</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: 2nd guess! Brass knuckles for hipsters.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span> - Although I can’t decide whether this guess is actually “brass knuckles for hipsters to employ punching others” or “brass knuckles to employ punching hipsters,” I expect there would be a certain amount of popular sentiment in favor of the latter. These days it seems the 30-somethings are torn between hating Boomers and hating hipsters. Regardless, this guess wins in the “Danger or Discomfort” category because there is danger in it for somebody and it made me laugh.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/ContemptSlots">@ContemptSlots</a>: It is something which will no doubt remind me of my childhood, as uncomfortable as that could potentially be.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">FIRST GUESS</span> – Without specific knowledge of @ContemptSlots’s childhood, I am unable to speculate as to whether the item in the box will even remotely remind him of his childhood. If it does, I can only hope it will not be dangerous or cause terrible discomfort.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/odat">@odat</a>: A running shoe belonging to a deceased Russian oligarch.<br />- The item in the box is nothing to do with shoes, running, Russia, or oligarchs, perhaps fortunately for all of us. I thought about this guess, and considered what train of events would result in my possession of a running shoe belonging to a deceased Russian oligarch. It would probably include some uncomfortable things happening to the oligarch and probably some danger to myself.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: A lead condom. [Attempt at product diversification by the ailing Colorado Lead Balloon Company.]<br />- This guess combines both danger and, I would have to assume, discomfort. While there is some metal integral to the item in the box, an enclosure of some sort, and a kind of protective quality, this guess is just too dangerous!<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It reminds me how difficult, complex & painful things can be, even when they should be simple and straightforward. And vice versa.<br />- It is probably useful and good to be reminded of these things, but it is often a discomfort. The item in the box is fairly simple and straightforward, and although I can imagine a complicated background story for it that could make this guess applicable, there is not enough of a connection.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It's something that expands, pressing out, stretching--out, out, always out.<br />- This guess was difficult to categorize. In a sense, the item in the box contains and opens, but it is docile and homely and inanimate. It does not press or obtrude. If it did, that would be a discomfort and possibly even dangerous.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It wraps, traps, and envelops. Like rope, string, or a net.<br />- As described above, there is an aspect of the item in the box that contains, but not like a rope, string, or a net. There is an aura of faint menace in this guess that convinces me a hypothetical grand prize it would apply to would be something dangerous.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: Although its reddish hues and pale blues are NOT due to an inherent radioactive decay, it does contain a heat source (or not).<br />- It is probably lazy of me, but I see the words “radioactive decay” and think “danger” even when the word “not” is in the same sentence in big capital letters. I believe that there are reddish hues and pale blues involved with the item in the box that are quite certainly unrelated to radioactive decay. There is no question of a heat source. A heat source’s presence or non-presence simply does not come into it.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: It has many pointy-things making it uncomfortable to hold, painful to bite, but soothing to look at.<br />- The item in the box is nice to look at in a number of ways, but it has only one or two very small pointy things. It is smooth and easy to hold and would be simply uninteresting to bite, not painful.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: A seemingly limitless supply of limitations.<br />- This is a melancholy guess, definitely on the “discomfort” end of the “Danger or Discomfort” spectrum. The item in the box is connected to activities generally considered broadening, which are available only to people with sufficient resources to overcome geographical limitations.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: One (1) gently used set of limited edition McDonald's Happy Meal toys<br />- This guess was also difficult to categorize, but after reflection I concluded that I would not want anything to do with a used set of McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, no matter how gently used it was. I would not put those toys in the hands of a child whose health was in my keeping. I note that the item in the box is also a gently used set, but of an entirely different sort.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: GUESSES INVOLVING FORMS OF COMMUNICATION</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewGent">@AndrewGent</a>: Guess: T-shirt with a picture of a famous writer on it, wrapped around one of his/her books.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span> - This guess is in this category because books are a form of communication. It is the winning guess because it has one thing enclosing something else, mentions the word “picture” and suggests some form of promotion or memorializing.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: It's a first-edition copy of a censored Victorian novel.<br />- Again, a book is certainly a form of communication, and there is a connection between England and the item in the box. There is also the sense of something collectible, but the connections between this guess and what is in the box do not go farther than that.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/boyntonator">@boyntonator</a>: fictionary, a mighty leather-bound tome of all the lies told by obscure icelandic novelist and whale connoisseur, svein hreinsson.<br />- So many book-related guesses this round! What is in the box is a container of a sort that has representations of things, but as far as I can determine they are all actual things that really exist. Furthermore, they are not Icelandic or suggestive of whales.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/atomicfez">@atomicfez</a>: It's 3 reels of reel-2-reel audio tape with the lost sessions of the pick-up band "We're Not Who You Think": JFK, Elvis, Hoffa, Jimi<br />- I enjoy this guess, although I am surprised at the inclusion of Jimi Hendrix. Perhaps that is the “We’re Not Who You Think” part. There is nothing sound- or band- related about the item in the box. I can’t imagine any U.S. President, famous musicians, or labor organizers are likely to have ever come near it.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/felicitous">@felicitous</a>: A tome of last sentences so long they could never be tweeted for worst-ever novels, Bulwer-Lytton Contest style.<br />- It is exciting to see the word “tome” appear twice in one round, and I am sorry that tomes are generally heavier than I would prefer to have to send in the mail as a prize. The item in the box is not anything bad, let alone “worst-ever.” The worst I could imagine anyone saying about it is “dated” or “cheesy” and I think both of those are unlikely.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a>: Every #gwiitb guess ever made, cast as a nice diorama. In plastic.<br />- It actually blows my mind to imagine such a diorama. It would have to be huge! And so delicate and subtle to convey all the nuances. Awesome. I would keep that and never give it away. Perhaps I would post pictures. The concept of “images” is the only solid connection between this guess and the item in the box, however, as much as I love the idea.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: FOURTH WALL BREAKER GUESSES</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/felicitous">@felicitous</a>: What I truly, madly, deeply want for my birthday. It will make many smile, my husband may laugh; I will beam with joy!<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span> - This guess is the winner both because it is the most fourth-wall-breaking of the Fourth Wall Breaker guesses and because I can imagine getting a big holiday trip as a birthday present, and ending up owning an item like the one in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/epicdeer">@epicdeer</a>: I assume it's a birdhouse because that's what everyone's been talking about today. <br />- No, @epicdeer, it is not a birdhouse. I say nothing about the habit of making assumptions, but if people were talking about birdhouses the day you made the guess, there is no obvious causal connection to what I put in the box a day or so before that, hmm?<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: Has my approval and/or gives me satisfaction.<br />- The item in the box might very well have these qualities, but it is pure speculation for me on this end, and far too difficult to say.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/myracles">@myracles</a>: Something to play with while you're in the bathroom<br />- That is not the intended purpose of this item. One is free to do as one pleases, but I think it would not be the best idea. The item in the box could get ruined if it were to get quite soaked.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/vmason">@vmason</a>: Something rich, to make up for what we lost on tax day. (Play) money, perhaps.<br />- The return on investment represented by the item in the box is of the intangible kind. Further, it is a useful item, not for play or symbolic representation.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/hippophagy">@hippophagy</a>: it's a blue pillow for bathtime. you connect it to the side of the tub to rest your head on. and right now i want to be in that tub <br />- I hope you got to take a nice bath. As mentioned above, this item could be ruined by soaking and it would make a terrible pillow. There is some blue in it, and a bit of padding or squishy cloth, but that is as far as it goes.<br /><br /><br />Thank you all of you for all of the excellent guesses! The Grand Prize is revealed just below -certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-60015174410929778642009-04-17T08:47:00.001-07:002009-04-17T10:04:07.455-07:00Winner! Round 9 - Grand Prize and Short List<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG3Ww1rKyVh-Ma8ItW_qPh4dtGh9TWpRNEDvRBmaTA7XzllzOGBra6dvU3wtECv4vukK7Iay5KWRTxJEwCB0dBgqcF1CeS-1svDHgbIuoaLuyGE9nfTaC-rlXkQ5v1TYI_aJMGpz6QmVlb/s1600-h/coasters.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG3Ww1rKyVh-Ma8ItW_qPh4dtGh9TWpRNEDvRBmaTA7XzllzOGBra6dvU3wtECv4vukK7Iay5KWRTxJEwCB0dBgqcF1CeS-1svDHgbIuoaLuyGE9nfTaC-rlXkQ5v1TYI_aJMGpz6QmVlb/s320/coasters.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325687542532737186" border="0" /></a><br />Revealed !! The item in the box for Round 9 is<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">ORNAMENTAL CASE OF SOUVENIR COASTERS OF SCOTLAND<br /></div><br />The case is very pretty, with a cloth covering over the wooden box. The cloth is padded and has gold and silver threads in a diamond pattern. There is a gold-toned metal latch on the front of the case. There are four souvenir coasters inside, each with an image of a famous Scottish site on it. Stamped on the felt backing of each coaster it says WIN-EL-WARE MADE IN ENGLAND and (I have assumed) the name of the place pictured on the front. I checked with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikipedia</a> for more information about the places pictured. I hope that both the place names stamped on the backs of the coasters and the information I found are reasonably accurate.<br /><br />The Scottish scenes pictured are: 1: (visible in the picture) Eilean Donan Castle; 2: Blaven and the Cuillens [sic], Isle of Skye; 3: St. Fillans, Loch Earn, Perthshire; 4: River Dee, Aberdeenshire. Eilean Donan Castle has <a href="http://www.eileandonancastle.com/">its own website</a>. Blaven is a mountain and the Black Cuillen a range of mountains on the Isle of Skye. St. Fillans is a village on Loch Earn (apparently <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article592514.ece">there are fairies nearby</a>). The River Dee in Aberdeenshire, one of several rivers Dee, flows from mountains in the eastern Highlands of Scotland toward Aberdeen.<br /><br />Yet again, and probably especially appropriate this round, the Grand Prize First Place guess is from an entrant in the U.K. without a mailing address in the continental United States, and who will therefor receive a suitable certificate proclaiming him the GRAND PRIZE FIRST PLACE HONOREE. I examined the remaining short-listed guesses for a runner up, and the First Place runner up does appear to live in the U.S. and will receive the actual Grand Prize.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/robinmatthewfry">@robinmatthewfry</a>: A canister of earth from Omaha Beach, as collected by Tom Sizemore in Saving Private Ryan<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">FIRST PLACE Grand Prize Honoree</span>. This set of souvenir coasters presumably came “pre-collected” for the discerning tourist, but it is nontheless essentially a memorial bit of Scottish earth symbolic of the conquest of yet one more foreign shore by someone very far from home.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/cawcaw">@cawcaw</a>: A pair of bookends made of glass bricks with a Scottie dog etched into them.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">FIRST RUNNER UP, Grand Prize</span>. As in the past couple rounds, here is an excellent runner up guesser who lives in the continental United States. I was actually dumbfounded that any guess mentioned specifically anything remotely Scottish, particularly something both decorative and useful for the home. This guess did not take first place because of the compelling symbolic resonance of the First Place guess.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Grand Prize Short List, In Order of Entry:<br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewLoeb">@AndrewLoeb</a>: A box of matzah. Pretty much everything in my world right now is matzah. Bland, tasteless, and completely lacking in fiber. Matzah.<br />- A stack of square, cardboard-ish coasters is kind of like a stack of rectangular matzah. There is the additional connection of things existing for the memory of other things, although the memorial aspect of matzah is more important and symbolic than pictures of famous Scottish tourist sites.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/odat">@odat</a>: A memento of the sea.<br />- This guess is on the short list for a simple reason. Memento = souvenir. Sometimes it is just as simple as that. There is some water in the pictures, a couple of lochs and a river, and the Isle of Skye is, of course, out in the ocean, but the power and specificity of the winning guesses edge this one out.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/suelyn">@suelyn</a>:It is a heart shaped box filled with desire or perhaps just dark chocolate with cream centers.<br />- As I am sure many will notice, this round has a lot of guesses that come pretty close to being both metaphorically connected and literally connected to the Grand Prize. This guess is a guess about a box with things in it, and the Ornamental Case of Souvenir Coasters of Scotland is a box with things in it.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/snoozingdog">@snoozingdog</a>: A brick of loose stale tea suited for tax tea parties in past 8 years; good for brewing at home today while sitting today's one out.<br />- Another simple connection. I, foolish American, rather loosely associate Great Britain with the consumption of huge quantities of tea. Furthermore, the whole tea party concept is connected with the separation of America from Great Britain. Now Americans who go there are tourists. And, one might need a coaster to put under a teapot.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: Made in China.<br />- This connection is a bit convoluted. Many of the Grand Prizes so far were made in China. It states quite emphatically on each of the four coasters in the set that it was Made in England. So, the reasoning is this: items made in China that say “Made in China” in roman script in English are items made in China to be sent somewhere else and to be used for purposes wholly unrelated to China. These are coasters made in England to be sent to Scotland for tourists there to remember Scotland, which (some would say) is not necessarily related to remembering England.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: Item is sold in multiples only. One *could* sell individual units, but it never happens, at least in the First World.<br />- Like @suelyn’s guess above, this comes close to being a fairly literal description that could apply to the Ornamental Case of Souvenir Coasters of Scotland. I am sure there are coasters sold individually somewhere, even in the First World, but it seems unlikely. One never buys a single coaster hoping one will only ever be drinking cold beverages alone.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-39886957792670168412009-04-13T04:35:00.000-07:002009-04-13T04:45:35.506-07:00#gwiitb Round 9 !<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghIFoivYf7_Ubrjkp30CdloYHxWBlOtVXADYpjszGqYFMy8RH-MZIS29buMbpLiN95UbBXMml3B5ZwLLdmbWDCi1vrHGMo-X4GjJPuwiT_5D3r7wjrgd5WOGARR_8ZVxU7M1U8VSp1fKrh/s1600-h/box9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghIFoivYf7_Ubrjkp30CdloYHxWBlOtVXADYpjszGqYFMy8RH-MZIS29buMbpLiN95UbBXMml3B5ZwLLdmbWDCi1vrHGMo-X4GjJPuwiT_5D3r7wjrgd5WOGARR_8ZVxU7M1U8VSp1fKrh/s320/box9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324138701216680562" border="0" /></a><br />Here is the box for Round 9 of The Guess What Is in the Boxes Contest. Its dimensions are 6.5" x 8.5" x 4.5" and its weight is 1lb., 5oz. I do not have a third party handy to describe the heft, unfortunately. My best attempt at a disinterested description is that the item feels dense and well packed, almost no shifting, with the weight evenly distributed.<br /><br />I apologize for the delay in getting this round up on the blog. The deadline for guessing will not be until 4pm E.D.T. on Wednesday, April 15 (yes, tax day).<br /><br />Please review previous posts for <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/2009/02/guess-what-is-in-boxes-contest.html">rules</a> and <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/search/label/Guess%20what%20is%20in%20the%20boxes">guidelines</a>, and happy guessing!!certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-37647433526500183152009-04-10T13:17:00.000-07:002009-04-10T13:30:12.197-07:00Winners Round 8 !! Certificate WinnersJust two categories this round.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Excellently Specific Guesses:</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: <a href="http://twitter.com/atomicfez">@atomicfez</a>: REAL GUESS FOR #gwiitb IS AS FOLLOWS: hand-crafted Parchesi set, which reverses into map of NY subway for travelers.<br />- This guess is the winner because it is so very excellently specific , mentions play and travelling, and, if accurate, would be a wondrous thing to be able to award to someone.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/atomicfez">@atomicfez</a>: The box has a gift certificate for "all the Shakey's Pizza you can eat; but only if you were born on April 8, 1966", & that's me!!!!<br />- This guess has sentimental appeal, given that @atomicfez and I share a birthday. However, this could only be a strong contender argument is if Shakey is a kooky-looking person in a bow-tie, and that is not indicated.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: A small, polite roar of indignation.<br />- This is an excellently specific guess, even featuring two adjectives. However, with regard to this prize, no indignation is appropriate.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/Spam_Bot">@Spam_Bot</a>: *SpamBot AutoGuess* -- A [12cm] [embossed] [foam] [mouse] [rack]. (Guess no. 1/128,000)<br />- This guess is very specific, and was (thankfully) not followed by 127,999 more guesses. Unfortunately, it is also incorrect. Almost completely incorrect. The item in the box is not related to mice at all.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewLoeb">@AndrewLoeb</a>: A baseball glove and several dirty baseballs from a scene of the 1993 blockbuster classic, The Sandlot.<br />- This guess is wonderfully specific and was only barely edged out by the winner in this category. There is also the obvious concern that these items could not fit into a box of the dimensions given and would weigh much more than the box does indeed weigh.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/suelyn">@suelyn</a>: Lightness is in the box, but that is a concept - so are dreams, sleep leads to dreams and one sleeps with the pillow in the box.<br />- This guess became very specific, which is good, but the item in the box is not a pillow. I also wish to encourage entrants to rely less on the descriptive comments at the round opening post.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a>: It's a fake plastic tree.<br />- What? No watering can? Would that be all you wanted? All the time? And, for that matter, Radiohead, neither the band nor the Talking Heads song, is not in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/suelyn">@suelyn</a>: aww but the abstract is sometimes so much more fun than reality. Another guess is a stuffed animal.<br />- This guess is specific enough, and I am properly rebuked for trying to prevent entrants from guessing in any way they enjoy most. However, compared to the other guesses in this category, this guess does not specify very much about the stuffed animal, making it impossible to judge it the winner.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: Space-age barbells are light as a feather!<br />- I love the simplicity and enthusiasm of this guess, and it is too bad that it is not quite elaborate and specific enough to take this category.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/michael_elliott">@michael_elliott</a>: hmmm...i think it's a plush toy snake. and it's brown and splotchy like a copperhead but smiley, who can resist it? :D<br />- This guess was a strong contender. Unfortunately, there are key differences between this plush toy as described and the actual item in the box that prevent this from being a winning guess in this category.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: A lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a lighter box in a light box.<br />- This is a very specific guess, but a guess unlikely to succeed, when I have stated again and again that this is not a thought experiment.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/myracles">@myracles</a>: A duffel bag.<br />- This is a specific guess, but there is very little information about the duffel bag’s distinguishing characteristics. Were something else in the box, that might not matter, but given the peculiarity of what is in the box all the guesses need a lot of detail to get close.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: A rubber chicken.<br />- As discussed above, with such a peculiar prize in the box, all the guesses need a lot of detail to get close.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: It is an intricately designed, but non-mobile mobile.<br />- This guess was a strong contender, except that the prize is quite definitely and inherently mobile (although it is intricately designed). I cannot award the win to this excellently specific guess.<br /><br />=====<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Excellently Ambiguous Guesses</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: A reason to smile.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: I wasn’t sure whether to consider this guess pure smart-aleckiness. Perhaps it is. In fact, what is in the box is very much a reason to smile. This guess is in the “Excellently Ambiguous” category because it lacks specificity – there are many kinds of smiles, and many sorts of reasons for them – but I will not deny that what is in the box is a reason for at least one kind.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: Technological paraphernalia, unsuited to any conventional use.<br />- There is an argument what is in the box is technological, but it has a conventional use and is not paraphernalia – it is the big thing in and of itself.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/ContemptSlots">@ContemptSlots</a>: A standard geometrical object surrounded by irregularly shaped objects within a rectangular prism saying "HANDLE WITH CARE" loudly.<br />- If there were a smart-aleck category this guess would be a contender. The object is not a standard geometrical object – it is irregularly shaped, encased in packaging, and only then in irregularly shaped objects and rectangular prism.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/hippophagy">@hippophagy</a>: something to remind spring that its time to stay and not just drop in from time to time. Maybe a tiny kite or paper flowers.<br />- This is a charming guess and apt to the times, but it is hampered by the hedging as to specifics. I am sorry not to be able to give it more recognition.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: Item has an official purpose, but is also a character test. The whimsical will put it on their heads; others will not.<br />- This guess made my day, but was too similar to something else I know about to judge it the winner. Further, I sincerely believe it unlikely that even an extremely whimsical person would put this on their head.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It's something that goes well with a hearty breakfast.<br />- This guess is in a kind of limbo tie for runner up with @jonathaneunice’s next guess and @fistsoffolly’s guess just below that. Of course, yes. It is entirely conceivable, even likely, that this prize would be wonderful to own while eating a hearty breakfast.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It's something I'd take with me everywhere. Even the bathtub.<br />- Again, yes, conceivable and even likely.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: I probably wouldn't think to take it camping, yet I might wish that I had.<br />- Again, yes, conceivable and even likely.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: Something with a purpose. Or with more than a purpose. It could be useful for me.<br />- Again, yes, conceivable but I am unable to determine the likelihood of this prize’s utility.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: An object of illumination. This object could shed either light or clarification on another object.<br />- I am pleasantly stumped regarding any arguments one could make that this prize could shed light or clarification on another object, unless, as in @KT30003k’s guess above, whimsical people would put it on their heads.<br /><br />I will swing into action on preparing the Certificates on Sunday (probably around the same time I am getting Round 9 ready). Thank you all for playing, and I am sorry it took so long to get the results posted.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-57039975273116725202009-04-10T12:06:00.000-07:002009-04-10T13:34:37.581-07:00Winner! Round 8 - Grand Prize and Short List<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjri_ev_hYyJf1g1uONjLn-pgqs12ue5ktSxXrx8LMjbucpKepGjhIskno8_nsAknL7lJe8Wzdm7bBaAVwih-bp1lsWFYjpDi6Nxs9Tqfm1uV9Y4KoslUlZT_gX8ha9Iw96oNELXJBwUjnc/s1600-h/hexacycle.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjri_ev_hYyJf1g1uONjLn-pgqs12ue5ktSxXrx8LMjbucpKepGjhIskno8_nsAknL7lJe8Wzdm7bBaAVwih-bp1lsWFYjpDi6Nxs9Tqfm1uV9Y4KoslUlZT_gX8ha9Iw96oNELXJBwUjnc/s320/hexacycle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323141469652913634" border="0" /></a><br />REVEALED !! The Grand Prize for Round 8 is the<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Let's Call It A Hexacycle - 'Figure on Unicycle' Prize Pack"</span><br /></div><br />Yes. The box contains a set of two "Figure on Unicycle" wind-up toys. One has a red coat and blue hat and bow-tie. The other has a blue coat and red hat and bow-tie. One of them has slightly darker hair and mustache.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">GRAND PRIZE</span>:<br /></div><br />The actual Grand Prize will go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">@jonathaneunice</span> for his guess “When I use it, I hear whirring, humming, or buzzing.” which is spot on. He is in fact the runner up for Grand Prize behind <span style="font-weight: bold;">Grand Prize First Place Honoree @BrianPike</span>, who does not reside in the continental United States, who guessed “A novelty letter-opener modeled as an elephant wearing a top hat and monocle.”<br /><br />Grand Prize First Place Honoree<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span> <a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: [A *real* guess? Sigh.] A novelty letter-opener modeled as an elephant wearing a top hat and monocle. [Real enough?]<br />- Novelty, circus-related, top-hat. There you go. And yes, clearly real enough.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Runner Up, First Place Grand Prize</span>: <a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: When I use it, I hear whirring, humming, or buzzing.<br />- I had originally anticipated treating this guess as a “What Some Might Think Is Closest to What Is in the Box,” but as I reviewed all the guesses I came around to this conclusion. Doodads like these Figures on Unicycle exist almost exclusively to be used to make their characteristic whirring, humming, and buzzing sounds.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a>: It's a riddle hidden in an enigma wrapped in a mystery. And encased in bubble wrap. And then boxed.<br />- Certificate for First Guess. It would be difficult to find any sensible person who would disagree that these figures on unicycle (unicycle with three wheels and handlebars no less) are anything but an enigma wrapped in a mystery. Where the guess goes wrong is with the bubble wrap. The matching Figures on Unicycle are wedged in the box with a reasonable quantity of foam peanut-style packing material.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: A precious knick-knack, traveling disguised as something much larger.<br />- This guess was a strong contender, containing both the concepts of “knick-knack” and “travelling.” Despite the silly outfits the Figures are wearing, however, they are anything but disguised. They do not travel far, and never as anything but themselves.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: An ostrich feather duster. You know, the old fashioned kind with real feathers. Perfect for a spring cleaning.<br />- This guess made the short list due to its invocation of old fashioned things. If you are anything like me, these Figure(s) on Unicycle are exactly the sorts of things that might turn up unexpectedly during a spring cleaning. Unfortunately, there is nothing actually natural, or even legitimately old fashioned, about these Figures.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewGent">@AndrewGent</a>: Guess: paper constructions, possibly origami animals or the Taj Mahal in paper and glue.<br />- This guess made the short list thanks to a tenuous argument involving spectacles likely to include animals. These Figures are not paper, and you have to buy the animals in the same circus toy series separately.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/thewesterly">@thewesterly</a>: It's a very small model of the Fountain of Youth, in honor of Ponce De Leon Day. Or the actual fountain. Or a metaphor.<br />- Another tenuous argument, this one involving perpetual youth: the Figures have what I would expect to be an enduring child-like appeal. However, this guess is hedged with alternatives. Despite its otherwise excellent specificity, I cannot give it the win.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewLoeb">@AndrewLoeb</a>: Alternatively, since my first guess was not "light and airy" : a dreadfully-coulored empty pinata shaped as a small goat.<br />- There are many things in this world that adults think can only possibly interpreted as charming by children that turn out to be utterly peculiar or alarming. Those things include many pinatas and these Figures on Unicycle. The Figures are at the more entertaining end of that spectrum, and I cannot give this guess the win.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: It gives the illusion of floating, as if suspended in air, evoking powerful emotions, leaving a slightly unpleasant aftertaste.<br />- There is certainly illusion of some kind going on here. There are three wheels, but the name on the packaging says “Unicycle.” Furthermore, the figure is raised up and propelled by a concealed mechanism. As to the powerful emotions and aftertaste, I can only speculate as to what others might feel upon viewing this Prize Pack.<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k"><br />@KT30003k</a>: Guess #2! It is an improvised communication device.<br />- This guess makes the Grand Prize short list because I am very pleased by the mere suggestion that a pair of “Figure(s) on Unicycle” could become any sort of improvised communication device. It is not one now, and this guess therefore falls short, but perhaps in the right hands it could be.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-10996775524629000522009-04-05T17:00:00.001-07:002009-04-05T17:26:49.279-07:00#gwiitb Round 8 !<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ1OFQHFD_ADsOPiTg8e9EVSi9uBO4ElYiZlQ_I3xOo-41QPLVGqUXlyApkFTp07B71P9ktIrSrDNN00m68tEonEX14iizlOj4B9sG4q3vkn9ngkkW-uRcJ0qQBuwMTmELOP5g4477c3dH/s1600-h/box8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ1OFQHFD_ADsOPiTg8e9EVSi9uBO4ElYiZlQ_I3xOo-41QPLVGqUXlyApkFTp07B71P9ktIrSrDNN00m68tEonEX14iizlOj4B9sG4q3vkn9ngkkW-uRcJ0qQBuwMTmELOP5g4477c3dH/s320/box8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321361610881585570" border="0" /></a><br />Here is the box for Round 8 of The Guess What Is in the Boxes Contest. For rules, please see the <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/2009/02/guess-what-is-in-boxes-contest.html">original post</a>, and for more ideas on how this works look over <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/search/label/Guess%20what%20is%20in%20the%20boxes">the previous rounds</a>. There are some extra warnings for this round below.<br /><br />The dimensions are 9.75" x 6.5" x 4" and the weight is 7.5 oz. My husband describes the heft of the box as follows: light and airy, the very slightest bit of movement inside the box, with vigorous shaking can hear seems like packing material shifting , and weight feels evenly distributed.<br /><br />The warnings for this round involve some special days that are on the calendar this week. I must emphasize that The Guess What Is in the Boxes Contest is non-denominational, and there is no theme or connection between what is in the box and any religious holidays now-abouts. Nor is there any theme or connection with my birthday, but perhaps some of you will wish me happy 37th on Wednesday. Some people celebrate the birthday of the Buddha on April 8th, and that makes me feel very special.<br /><br />The deadline for guesses will be Tuesday, April 7, 2009, at 4:00 pm E.D.T. Guesses should be tagged #gwiitb to help ensure receipt. Guesses tweeted after my announcement of close of guessing will not be eligible to win the Grand Prize or Certificates. I am glad you are reading this and happy guessing !!certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-91514237442199603392009-04-02T10:14:00.000-07:002009-04-02T10:34:09.174-07:00Winners Round 7 !! Certificate WinnersHere are the Certificate of Achievement Winners and the Short Lists in three categories:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: What Some Might Think Is Closest to What Is in the Box</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: / Two bent slivers / Of soap: / Comedy and Tragedy /<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: This is not only a lovely guess, but it is the only guess that mentions soap. The object in the box is not soap, but is something that is strongly associated with soap. The object is also something potentially both hilarious and troubling, therefore possibly requiring two different kinds of soap.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: An ashtray from the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair featuring the Space Needle. I think that would be pretty cool, that's all.<br />- That would be pretty cool, and is the sort of thing that might catch my eye as a potential prize. However, this guess makes the short list for “What Some Might Think ...” for the more prosaic reason of physical similarity. The object is shaped a bit like some ashtrays, and it could be used as one.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: A protective device along the lines of a set of drink coasters.<br />- I have not been able to reach a satisfactory conclusion in my own mind whether the object in the box is a protective device. I am certain that some would consider it so, and therefore this guess is in this category. Given the ambiguities in this guess, I cannot judge it closer to a win in this category.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/myracles">@myracles</a>: The object itself is a containment unit, in which the user can place either fluid or memories.<br />- A similar problem to the guess above. I cannot decide whether this object is properly considered a containment unit. If it is, there is the further question of whether it contains fluid. Some might have memories to place in it, but again, given the ambiguities, I cannot judge this guess closer to a win.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: A 25' tape measure. Just one element of the well stocked tool box. With a good tool box, most problems can be solved.<br />- This guess squeaks into this category solely through invocation of problem-solving. The object in the box is associated with cleanliness, which solves or avoids many problems.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: A modicum of hope<br />- Another squeaker. The word “hope” rhymes with “soap,” and also puts one in mind of preparation for the future, which I associate with cleanliness. A disjointed argument, perhaps, but enough to place this guess in the “What Some Might Think ...” category.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TraceyGW">@TraceyGW</a>: @carterbob2 if I didn't know what you were tweeting about I would think you had a stroke or were on crack<br />- It is pretty obvious that @TraceyGW did not intend to enter the contest, but this tweet was tagged #gwiitb and therefore counts. It is in this category because I can’t help wondering whether there are a great many people who don’t know about the contest who see the guesses and think we are all deranged.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toldorknown">@toldorknown</a>: A wooshing deadline, barely met.<br />- This is another difficult-to-categorize guess. Given the number of usual entrants who missed this round, and the number of folks who entered in the last few hours, it was a general acting-as-though-there-were a wooshing deadline in the box.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category : Guesses with Ancient or Archeological Overtones</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/lindstifa">@lindstifa</a>: A reminder of my mortality.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: There are two reasons this guess is the winner in this category: 1) Ancient things remind us that eventually our times will be ancient times, and we will all be long dead by then; and 2) The object in the box is (at least symbolically) brimming with ever-renewed life, and that can make one feel old and mortal.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toldorknown">@toldorknown</a>: Like a smoldering ember, it is both the remainder of what was and the seed of its rebirth, given the right catalyst.<br />- Others might not agree, but I think of seeds as somewhat archeological. I have seen many, many television programs about digs and such in which scientists are able to figure out what ancient people ate by what pollen or seeds were still just hanging out in some pot that had gotten buried. This guess misses the top spot because this object is in a state of ongoing, vibrant luminescence, not smoldering.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toddadamson">@toddadamson</a>: The Pogues. Freeze-dried.<br />- The “Freeze-dried” portion of this guess is notable. The object in the box is of a durable man-made material that I believe was liquid at one point in its manufacture and then cooled to its present dry and durable state. It is not, however, the Pogues. I was just thinking of the Jim Jarmusch film “Straight to Hell” the other day (the whole band is in it), and was tickled to see the Pogues mentioned in a guess. But there is not anything musical about the object, nor anything “kissy” or even “kiss-my-ass-y” about it. (The Pogues’ full name in Irish translates to “Kiss My Ass,” I understand.)<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: It's a child's toy, rescued from an attic where it had been abandoned for many years.<br />- Like the next guess, this one is archeological in shorter “personal-life-span” sense. This object is not a toy at all, and is clearly designed for an adult concept of what is desirable decor (and I do not mean that in a smutty way).<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: My stack of old-school posters that were thrown out by my old man. It has to be them.<br />- This is in many ways similar to the guess above. The object in the box has no obvious ties to pop culture, and is a rather mundane object. It is incidentally decorative and is primarily an object of utility that would be selected by an adult.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: A wing and a prayer. (Probably in more of a figurative sense.)<br />- I keep going around in circles on what category I like for this guess. I considered the Grand Prize short list and the “What Some Might Think ...” short list (cleanliness being next to Godliness), but kept coming back to the ancient lineage of both the phrase “A wing and a prayer” and of prayer itself. This conclusion will possibly never satisfy either me or @fistsoffolly, but I hope we will both continue to enjoy the contest and future guesses.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/wh1teXbread">@whlteXbread</a>: I'm pretty sure it's the shrunken head of my truly unfortunate elementary school gym teacher.<br />- The discussion of this guess must necessarily echo that of @toddadamson’s guess above. A preserved head is an undoubtedly archeological item, placing this guess firmly in this category. A person’s head, however, especially a known person’s head from an industrial society, just does not connect with any of the essential characteristics of the object in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: Crawling thru the sandstorm of daily existence it burrows deeply into its tomb, and waits.<br />- Again, here is a clearly archeological guess. There is even a bit of a resonance between the word “sand” and the environment evoked by the object. However, this is an inanimate object that is not at all creepy, and I simply cannot judge this guess the winner.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/odat">@odat</a>: An object of nostalgic import, a reliquary of memory.<br />- This guess was entered past the deadline, and would be ineligible to win. Reliquaries are often ancient or at least archeological. Reliquaries are also containers. This item is arguably a container (as discussed above) but not of memories. At least, that is, not of my memories. It is a relatively anonymous item.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: Guesses with the Word “Something” In Them</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewLoeb">@AndrewLoeb</a>: Something that glitters, but may not necessarily be gold. Something that wanders, but may not necessarily be lost.<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: The object in the box is a bit gaudy and very translucent, which brings it close to glitteriness without being gold, and its evocation of exotic places suggests wandering despite its mundane intended use in the home. Further, it is not lost, because I know exactly where it is.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: Something that brings comfort to the mind and body.<br />- This guess is a strong contender. The object has, in its physical appearance, qualities that might comfort someone’s mind. It its practical application, it might indirectly bring comfort to the body in the form of cleanliness, but the connections are not quite direct and definite enough to judge this the winner.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: It is something used for decision-making/values-clarification purposes.<br />- I have actually thought of a way this object could (quite indirectly) assist someone other than the owner of the object in decision-making or values-clarification with regard to the owner of the object. Again, without a more direct connection, this guess cannot be judged the winner.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/suelyn">@suelyn</a>: Something to spark the imagination, individual items taken together to make things. Building blocks.<br />- While this object does indeed spark the imagination, it is a single one-piece item I expect would not be useful at all in making things. It is triumphantly solitary, like a grand plinth for a measly statue. So I cannot judge it the winner.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/trelvix">@trelvix</a>: Something lonely but constant. Like a calendar gifted mid-year.<br />- As discussed above, this item is alone, but not lonely. It might be lacking something in its current failure to fulfill its practical purpose (revealed below), but that is temporary and of no concern. This object is awesome just the way it is. Yes constant, but not poignant.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-78698413887680098212009-04-02T09:55:00.001-07:002009-04-02T15:33:41.634-07:00Winner! Round 7 - Grand Prize and Short List<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2DK29U2omBxWFd2nGelwaAXa2ZI40bN23bCatQwTJrM8BTfLuwMA0AYWmbkdpuyKCXn_iSrVHOLfCToERgSUO9oXTCw3iD1ojYMUHODCsgTMcV4L0Asq-rdAP2pg3jZhsbTs-MkO0rpL/s1600-h/soapdish.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2DK29U2omBxWFd2nGelwaAXa2ZI40bN23bCatQwTJrM8BTfLuwMA0AYWmbkdpuyKCXn_iSrVHOLfCToERgSUO9oXTCw3iD1ojYMUHODCsgTMcV4L0Asq-rdAP2pg3jZhsbTs-MkO0rpL/s320/soapdish.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320140098462666594" border="0" /></a><br />Revealed! The Grand Prize for Round 7 of The Guess What Is in the Boxes Contest is this Translucent Tropical Fantasy Soap Dish !<br /><br />I did not realize it was translucent until I chanced to see it in bright light and noticed it was not completely opaque. Then I held it up to the sunlight and was delighted to see how clear it is. The foreground details are nearly opaque, but the sea and sky are almost totally see-through. It is wonderful.<br /><br />There is a complicated winner situation this round. First Place goes to a winner who does not reside in the continental United States - he will receive a certificate. I have selected a first runner up, who it turns out does reside in the United states, who will receive the Grand Prize itself, though not credit as Grand Prize First Place Honoree.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a>: A very small but perfectly formed replica of the statue of David. Includes fig leaf. To cover the tiny penis.<br />- GRAND PRIZE FIRST PLACE HONOREE: Double congratulations to @The_No_Show for this. It was the first guess entered in this round, and it is the winning guess, most accurately capturing the essence of the object in the box. One might ask what have Michelangelo’s David and fig leaves and penises to do with a soap dish? When it is this particular soap dish, they have many things. It is difficult to appreciate in the photo, but the soap dish is in a kind of 3-D bas-relief, giving the tropical scene an uncanny depth. The statue of David was carved intentionally out of porportion in order to look realistic when placed high above the heads of viewers in a church. It wasn’t ever put up high, and now it just looks like he has an uncannily large head. And like somebody glued a leaf to his penis.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/J1">@J1</a>: a stunningly rendered (albeit small) painting of a non-existent marsupial once found in Mesopotamia<br />- FIRST RUNNER UP- GRAND PRIZE: The soap dish is stunningly rendered, and I choose to believe there is a marsupial of one sort or another (there are hundreds of species currently in existence) in that Tropical Fantasy somewhere. And, Mesopotamia was once a Tropical Fantasy itself.<br /><br />As always, the short list for the Grand Prize is presented in the order the guesses were received.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/atomicfez">@atomicfez</a>: } a paper-back copy of the Karma Sutra translated into Esperanto and printed in Braille…?<br />- Soap dishes have strong connections to bathing, often regarded as a potentially sexual activity, and this Translucent Tropical Fantasy Soap Dish has an image rendered in three dimensions that could be discerned by touch. However, it is simply not really all that sexy, and the only text is on the sticker that says “MADE IN CHINA.”<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/felicitous">@felicitous</a>: What I should have written about for my Thesis.<br />- I am giving this guess the benefit of the doubt. Although this soap dish is amazing and worthy of in-depth scholarship, without knowing what field you studied, I cannot judge this the winning guess.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: baked in the fires of desire, this object is revered by some, and reviled by others.<br />- If this soap dish were not revered and reviled already, I certainly hope it is now. It was crafted with some sort of heating process related to a desire of some kind (mass-production trade), I cannot state conclusively that it was baked in the fires of desire.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: A single moment of glory.<br />- Glorious indeed. However, the Translucent Tropical Fantasy Soap Dish is an enduring moment of glory, visible whenever it is held up to the light.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: 2nd guess! It is a device that used to be called by a lovely archaic name. The modern name is not nearly as good.<br />- This is another guess that I am giving the benefit of the doubt. I considered embarking on a research project to find out what (if any) archaic terms were used for soap dishes, but did not have time or energy. The best I can think of is “pot of lye,” and that is evocative, but not really “lovely.”<br /><br />Thank you everyone for taking part! I hope to have Round 8 posted by the end of this coming weekend, and everything to go into the mail should be on its way on Monday.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-25099726220089301852009-03-29T17:58:00.000-07:002009-03-29T18:10:39.999-07:00#gwiitb Round 7 !<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKIT4snlrsMnUBAUAxEMqSJjrx0HU1PQYajyhd6987f_bRXwTCLWGv1Pe24OAU49cu1BW6CHPpahjrxjvE46oKe59mfLn97yikCLbR5DaLJlUqeeZlFl8nv0MkMTYjb_KU6DmhdoKIbBr/s1600-h/box7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKIT4snlrsMnUBAUAxEMqSJjrx0HU1PQYajyhd6987f_bRXwTCLWGv1Pe24OAU49cu1BW6CHPpahjrxjvE46oKe59mfLn97yikCLbR5DaLJlUqeeZlFl8nv0MkMTYjb_KU6DmhdoKIbBr/s320/box7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318779622254819698" border="0" /></a><br />Here is the box for Round 7 of Guess What Is in the Boxes. It is 6" x 6" x 4.5# and weighs 11 oz. I don't have anybody handy right this moment to shake the box and describe its heft, so I will do my best to provide a disinterested description.<br /><br />The weight is evenly distributed, but the object feels dense and does shake back and forth laterally, hitting the sides in a couple of places but otherwise well packed with something quiet.<br /><br />Guesses will be accepted until Tuesday, March 31, at 4pm EDT. New players, please see earlier entries and the <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/2009/02/guess-what-is-in-boxes-contest.html">original post</a> for guidance. Also, please tag your guesses #gwiitb. I am glad you are here, and happy guessing!certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-57901231206970962902009-03-22T05:52:00.000-07:002009-03-22T06:10:19.019-07:00Thank You AJC - Press for Tiny Bedtime StoriesI am as pleased as pleased can be to report that Suzanne Van Atten has featured Tiny Bedtime Stories in the Atlanta Journal Constitution as this week's "Quirky Book of the Week." I am especially glad that the article highlights two of her favorite stories. You can see the article <a href="http://www.ajc.com/printedition/content/printedition/2009/03/22/transom0322.html">here</a>, and get more information about the book <a href="http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/382807">here</a>. If you are interested in poetry that is a little more obviously poetry, you can see <a href="http://certifiedprepwn3d.googlepages.com/home">this</a>, <a href="http://certifiedprepwn3d.googlepages.com/otherthings">this</a>, or my chapbook "Just Got No Hustle" <a href="http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/387791">here</a>.<br /><br />Reminder, re The Guess What Is in the Boxes Contest: I am out of town and will be off line the next couple days, so Round 7 probably will not start until next Monday.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-64062484620185173302009-03-19T18:29:00.000-07:002009-03-19T18:48:17.097-07:00Winners Round 6 !! Certificate WinnersFirst, <a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a> gets special certificate for First and Last guesses.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Category: What Some Might Think Is Closest to What Is in the Box<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: <a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: It's something that would make me wealthy--only not *financial* wealth.<br />- The item in the box is ostensibly collectible. Some collectibles bring enormous wealth and satisfaction to their owners. Unfortunately, this is not one of those collectibles – but this guess takes the Certificate! It appears that @fistsoffolly also made the most guesses - 6.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: Something useable. There's space.<br />- Well, there is space in the box, filled mostly with plastic grocery bags used as padding for the item. The grocery bags are themselves usable, but they are not the designated item in the box. The item itself, well, there are some outstanding questions as to its usefulness.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/epicdeer">@epicdeer</a>: It's obviously some Chinese food. Some long, thin, Chinese food, including sliced egg rolls.<br />- There is no food in the box, but there is something with a now-attenuated International eclat. It was made in China, at least partly, but it should not be eaten. It is thin, but not particularly long. So, there are arguments, but none strong enough to seize the Certificate in this category.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: A needle point sampler of the type so prevelant in our memories and Norman Rockwell paintings.<br />- This guess is on the short list in this category because the item is of a type, and it is designed to evoke nostalgia and fellow-feeling. The sense of craft conveyed by this guess, however, is not echoed in the item itself.<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/andreakremer"><br />@andreakremer</a>: The Rosetta Stone.<br />- Again, the International eclat of this item is invoked, but it is not a stone, has no relevance to the translation of texts, and no relation even to the British Museum. International-ness is not enough.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: It's something whose intended use involves two or more senses.<br />- The item in the box has intended uses that involve the senses of sight and touch, but without more detail I cannot award the Certificate on those grounds.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: The name of this mystery item has a repeat letter in it. Like "book" or "oboe". (Though it might not be an O, or even a vowel.)<br />- The name of the mystery item has several repeat letters, but again, without more detail (and in light of the caveat in the guess) I cannot award the Certificate on those grounds<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: Something rather contemporary, that contains an old soul.<br />- It is a modern item that celebrates something ancient, so this guess comes close, but the item itself is not rather contemporary. It is pretty cheesy.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a>: The ark of the covenant, rendered entirely in cheese.<br />- This item is in some sense rendered almost entirely in cheese (see “cheesy” remark above), but there is little that is spiritual enclosed within it.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: Best Otherwise Inaccurate Guess</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: <a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: Something LOVERLY.<br />- It is LOVERLY, in its way, but mainly this guess made me laugh the most of any of the guesses.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a>: Debauchery, decadence and an endless parade of illicit paraphernalia<br />- This guess almost made it into the “what some might think” category with a reference to illicit paraphernalia. The item is ostensibly licit, and the occasion that occasioned it had a great deal of paraphernalia. There were accusations of malfeasance, but as far as I know, no debauchery and decadence.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toddadamson">@toddadamson</a>:It's the Kirlian Aura of Harry Crews' barber.<br />- I looked at a picture of Harry Crews, and I am not sure he has a barber. I always enjoy things associated with Kirlian Auras, but if there is no living being to generate it (assuming it could then be separated from their body), that could mean there was nothing in the box. But there is!<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toldorknown">@toldorknown</a>: Something that is less than the sum of its parts.<br />- This is an excellent guess, very funny, but wrong! This item has very little relation to the sum of its parts – I am pretty sure its parts do not add up.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: Please, please, please let it be something that will help me sleep at night. Please.<br />- I hope that things get better, but this item would do nothing to help you.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It's something that would help a friend in need, or that would enable me to do so.<br />- This is not a very helpful item. I can imagine a few extremely precise circumstances where this item could be of assistance, but it strains the mind a bit.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toldorknown">@toldorknown</a>: Something to soften the blows.<br />- This item would be even less assistance in this regard than with sleep or assisting friends. And I can do nothing to help you all.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: A carrot and not a stick.<br />- This item is potentially both, probably more carrot, but really neither.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: PEEPS.<br />- I eat PEEPS. I do not give them away.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/wh1teXbread">@whlteXbread</a>: All the emoticons I was going to use for my #gwiitb guess are in there.<br />- I will see what I can do about that for a future round, maybe. I apologize if my commentary on your last round guess was a little harsh.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/lindstifa">@lindstifa</a>: Is it my dignity? I've been looking for it everywhere.<br />- Unfortunately, there is no dignity in the box. This item is excessively undignified.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/andreakremer">@andreakremer</a>: A mirror.<br />- There is an argument for this guess, but a vague one. Indeed, I studied some literary theory in college and could probably find whole books that would support arguments that any given thing is a mirror. This item has some shininess and is connected with a form of measurement. But really, it is not a mirror.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: A useful DIY object.<br />- This item is somewhat useful, but not for DIY. It is almost completely unuseful for that.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: A file/packet of services.<br />- This item does something, but just the one thing, really. Not a “services” provider or container.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: A bunch of guesses which cost me another follower.<br />- this guess did not register as on the list ahead of my post about the end of gessing, though it looks to have been a very close thing. Even counting it as a guess, however, it is sad for me to think of people’s participation in this contest driving others away.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Category: Guesses that Seem to Have Something to Do with Paper</span><br /></div><br />The Box in this round was very thin, and I believe this led many to imagine tangible items that would fit in a very thin box. Many of these imaginings seem to have devolved toward an assortment of things connected with paper. The item in the box has some paperiness, but that is not one of its essential characteristics. I have grouped these guesses together, and have decided to judge a Certificate winner closest to what is in the box from among these guesses.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>: <a href="http://twitter.com/suelyn">@suelyn</a>:a place for trees, flowers, sky, mountains and sea, smiles and tears, the young & old a holder of pictorial memories.<br />- A photograph album often made of paper and holds pictures that are themselves printed on photographic paper. This guess takes the Certificate in this category because it provokes contemplation of nature, the commemmoration of events, and celebration of human life.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/LidMo">@LidMo</a>: For better or for worse. Stationery of sorts.<br />- Stationery is made of paper.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: [Guess 1/2] An unglazed photograph frame containing a Braille description of a photograph.<br />- Photographs are printed on photographic paper.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: [Guess 2/2] A glazed photograph frame, behind whose glass is a Braille description of a photograph.<br />- Photographs are printed on photographic paper.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: What is in the box? A novel way to pass the time.<br />- A novel is usually printed on paper.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: Box contains small flat things that can be assembled into a larger, three-dimensional thing (models, card houses...).<br />- Models and cards are usually made of paper, cardstock, or cardboard.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jshelly">@jshelly</a>: Moleskine notebook<br />- Notebooks are made of paper.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: Fine monogrammed stationery with matching envelopes.<br />- Stationery is made of paper<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: I so want this to be an illuminated manuscript from the middle ages. Art in the service of knowledge.<br />- An illuminated manuscript from the middle ages would probably not be on rag paper as we know it today, but some kind of vellum. Paper-like.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-30256424177238067602009-03-19T18:17:00.001-07:002009-03-19T18:52:43.581-07:00Winner! Round 6 - Grand Prize and Short List<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXT3j3a9bAdxQhLy2EqIWQSvrXzVuptPtAateXlM0KpEZ6P6cESJJ4i-B0TJZGttk3Ebk9ZviSXd2_C_Ubyj_ZYG80G51CU2FcUIarOw4pgw4gFsNVJcKmA77D43luIyrIjFtdsVhgwesX/s1600-h/box6a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXT3j3a9bAdxQhLy2EqIWQSvrXzVuptPtAateXlM0KpEZ6P6cESJJ4i-B0TJZGttk3Ebk9ZviSXd2_C_Ubyj_ZYG80G51CU2FcUIarOw4pgw4gFsNVJcKmA77D43luIyrIjFtdsVhgwesX/s320/box6a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315073459767908098" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvKyEGeqAWl67oy83TOANnpa7vcpMznsxScI31h1teu4FoWebDdnBFhyphenhyphen3xokbb1RZNbWSZcdTyVGbQhw_36yJPr7IZmF5rKrPesxEg4kC3NomnXgbnMs2XWtIdqlTHvE2VyM0vB5-mEly-/s1600-h/box6b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvKyEGeqAWl67oy83TOANnpa7vcpMznsxScI31h1teu4FoWebDdnBFhyphenhyphen3xokbb1RZNbWSZcdTyVGbQhw_36yJPr7IZmF5rKrPesxEg4kC3NomnXgbnMs2XWtIdqlTHvE2VyM0vB5-mEly-/s320/box6b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315073551639442098" border="0" /></a>Round 6 of Guess What Is in the Boxes - REVEALED:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">HOT 1996 Olympic Summer Games THERMOMETER TRADING PINS (TM) Trading Pin</span><br /></div><br />The illustration thermometer registers just over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, about 42 Celsius. The pin has a thermometer and an illustration that might be a melting ice cube in a pool of water. I compared the temperature on the THERMOMETER TRADING PINS trading pin thermometer with my home thermostat and it seemed pretty accurate, so there's that. The copy on the back promises "Collectible Thermometer Trading Pins (TM) . . . A HOT way to support the 1996 Olympic Summer Games."<br /><br />I do not think that "HOT" means "stolen" in this context. I purchased the item as a good faith purchaser for value.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Grand Prize</span><br /></div><br />WINNER: <a href="http://twitter.com/carterbob2">@carterbob2</a>: it mirrors the contents of dreams that never achieved escape velocity, and crashed back to Earth.<br />- This guess wins the Grand Prize because of the double beauty of it. The Olympics themselves are always filled with dreams that never achieve escape velocity and crash back to earth. Sometimes actual people crash. This is especially true of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Atlanta’s dream of achieving its long-sought status as an International city crashed to earth. No one was happy with my home city, clearly in over its head and out of control with the organization and the excessive merchandizing. There was even a terrorist bombing. It was all a dream that crashed back to earth.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: The Ineffable, Rendered Universally Accessible. [That was guess 1 of 2]<br />- There is a strong argument for this guess, provided one uses “Universal” in the sense of “World wide,” but not enough to move it to the top slot.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/atomicfez">@atomicfez</a>: } no more refraint: it's a block of very thin, stiff cheese, reinforced with metal rulers (no cork backing)<br />- This guess was in the running for the top slot, but it was edged out by a couple of later guesses. The collectible pin is in itself a piece of very thin, stiff cheesiness, and one could consider the thermometer a metal ruler of sorts. Also, I was very proud of saying "refraint" the other day, and was glad to see it in the guess.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/ContemptSlots">@ContemptSlots</a>: A composite creation conceived for containing, constraining, and collecting.<br />- A good guess – the word “collecting” really caught my eye, and I like the idea of “constraining” in connection with a thermometer. But not enough to take the prize.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/michael_elliott">@michael_elliott</a>: it's one of those draw-beards-and-moustaches-on-people-with-iron-filings-and-a-magnet thingies.<br />- I really like this guess, and if it weren’t for the winning guess I would be in a real bind here. This pin is simply shaped like those thingies, and the pictures of suggested drawings are of stereotyped individuals that make a kind of parade of nations.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It's something cheap and aimless, but that will nonetheless inspire an amusing pastime.<br />- Cheap and aimless – check! You would need to reverse the second part, however – this pin was inspired by an amusing pastime.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It's something that summons, or at least desires, the rain.<br />- This guess was a very strong contender for the top slot. The Pin is HOT, and tells the temperature. It must need the rain. Atlanta certainly needs the rain, now and forever, future and past. Especially in August. I remember the summer of the Olympics. Some more rain would have been nice.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-35508253966415910452009-03-15T07:25:00.000-07:002009-03-15T07:57:29.271-07:00#gwiitb Round 6 !<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEUtDxbII5z5bqPCZWlH3OG53rwIbQk3Aly6edQbafJdUvSbZSgHMh7F8eV1JcIK-wPAi2a53wUHJUFGNtWoL_INuxlLjqg4grHWfPpfZ-yAxdBoFeH227rw4n0vA4DZc1j23oospra8wR/s1600-h/box6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEUtDxbII5z5bqPCZWlH3OG53rwIbQk3Aly6edQbafJdUvSbZSgHMh7F8eV1JcIK-wPAi2a53wUHJUFGNtWoL_INuxlLjqg4grHWfPpfZ-yAxdBoFeH227rw4n0vA4DZc1j23oospra8wR/s320/box6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313424178411145650" border="0" /></a><br />Here is the box for Round 6 of the Guess What Is in the Boxes Contest. The dimensions are 11.5" x 7.5" x 1" and, as packed and wrapped, it weighs 6.5 oz.<br /><br />I have asked my landlady Mindy to describe the heft of the box. With "shaking like a Polaroid picture," there is "no give in any way." "Feels like whatever is in there fills the box, but not packed in densely."<br /><br />Guessing for this round will close Tuesday, March 17, 2009, at 5pm EDT.<br /><br />Please note that there will probably not be any #gwiitb next week. I will be out of town from Sunday evening until late on Tuesday, when the contest would normally take place.<br /><br />The contest rules are at <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/2009/02/guess-what-is-in-boxes-contest.html">this post</a>, and you can get a general idea of how it works by clicking the label "<a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/search/label/Guess%20what%20is%20in%20the%20boxes">Guess what is in the boxes</a>." Thank you for playing !certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-9697106359218575342009-03-14T18:47:00.001-07:002009-03-14T19:11:23.733-07:00People Really Win!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7wvQm7hFu_OBEcDuc7YBQ12f-wij0MMvt1D8E_vvkR5TPKQCKfXA5QYaizZ9pIYDWGNdpBR1hTXAt5kVfX4yg35-8oK4yaswfL9yXO9zW2fUP7yVnwE-el41tIud7ZTxuTQaxNggnSgiW/s1600-h/CeeBee.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7wvQm7hFu_OBEcDuc7YBQ12f-wij0MMvt1D8E_vvkR5TPKQCKfXA5QYaizZ9pIYDWGNdpBR1hTXAt5kVfX4yg35-8oK4yaswfL9yXO9zW2fUP7yVnwE-el41tIud7ZTxuTQaxNggnSgiW/s320/CeeBee.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313225420801278706" border="0" /></a><br />Here is a picture of <a href="http://twitter.com/CeeBee">@CeeBee</a> with his Certificate of Achievement for winning guess in the category "What Some Might Think Is Closest to What Is in the Box." Cool! Some other winners have posted their pictures online: <a href="http://twitter.com/Tony_D">@Tony_D</a> posted <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/delgrossodotcom/3344432852/">his pic here</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a> posted <a href="http://twitpic.com/1ssi2">her pic here</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/toldorknown">@toldorknown</a> has posted <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodknowlton/3317464394/">his pic here</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a> has posted <a href="http://twitpic.com/1rxw8">his pic here</a>, and <a href="http://twitter.com/bcompton">@bcompton</a> has posted <a href="http://tinyurl.com/d8wwm7">his pic here</a> (he won a certificate AND the Grand Prize). Another Grand Prize winner, <a href="http://twitter.com/thewesterly">@thewesterly</a>, has posted a picture of <a href="http://twitpic.com/1yyr5">his prize</a>, the coveted Abalone Trivet (Hotplate). If somebody has sent me a link or a picture and I have missed it here, please let me know.<br /><br />If you are new to the contest, just check out the <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/2009/02/guess-what-is-in-boxes-contest.html">original rules post</a> and peruse the prior <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/search/label/Guess%20what%20is%20in%20the%20boxes">guesses and winners</a> (link is to label "Guess What Is in the Boxes, including this post). I enjoy running this contest, and it makes me very happy that a few dozen people out there enjoy participating. I will have Round 6 up and ready for guesses either Sunday or Monday.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-74289547834586231582009-03-12T07:56:00.000-07:002009-03-12T10:48:43.140-07:00Winners Round 5 !! Certificate WinnersThis was a difficult round for judging. I have had to eliminate one category and create a whole new one in order to properly encompass and consider all the entries (more than 30 guesses).<br /><br />First, there is <span style="font-weight: bold;">a special certificate for <a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a></span>, for entering both the First Guess and the Last Guess in Round 5. Congratulations! Both of her guesses are treated below in the "Spooky or Melancholy Guess" category.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Category: <span style="font-weight: bold;">What Some Might Think Is Closest to What Is in the Box</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Winner</span>: <a href="http://twitter.com/toldorknown">@toldorknown</a>: Two types of things, one singular, the other plural. The singular has a pointed fragility. The plurality contain multitudes in each<br />- I had an argument prepared against this one, but it is a spot-on mirror reflection of what is in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/ContemptSlots">@ContemptSlots</a>: Something spiked, served, and occasionally aced. Not to say there's alcohol involved.<br />- There is a connection between what is in the box and sports. However, the item in the box is not a tennis ball nor a volley ball. Neither is it punch, although it might either lead to or prevent punching.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/CeeBee">@CeeBee</a>: having won "What Some Might Think Is Closest to What Is in the Box" last week, my guess for round 5 of #gwiitb is a foam brick<br />- Some might think a foam brick is closest to what is in the box because there are in fact two foam bricks in the box, but are there only as filler. Thus, placing on the "What Some Might Think ..." short list is not a reaction to the wording of the guess, but in accordance with the contents of the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/andreakremer">@andreakremer</a>: Something that will put me in mind of summer.<br />- Yes, toning the mind and body is something some do in preparation for summer, and that is very close to being the central concept of what is in the box. It is a circumstantial argument, and is mere conjecture on my part.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: Box is full of clear plastic capsules; each contains either the original gumball-machine prize or a cryptic message.<br />- There is plastic containment, and what could be considered capsules, but no gumball machine was involved. The message is not cryptic. This guess might fall into that category of things I would keep myself, not give away.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/michael_elliott">@michael_elliott</a>: it's a cold front!<br />- If I were faced with using the item in the box, I would have a very cold front indeed. That might not be how the term "front" was meant in the guess, but I am the judge.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It's something composed of other little somethings, tightly nestled and lovingly enveloped.<br />- Yes, it is something composed of other little somethings. They are packed, rather than nestled, and I am not certain about the “lovingly enveloped” bit. If it weren't for the spot-on winner, this guess would be a strong contender.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: Soft, dense, unbreakable, creaky objects waiting to be discovered by someone somewhere.<br />- As elsewhere, @TheStepster makes a near guess that is just barely edged out by the uncannily accurate winning guess.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Category: <span style="font-weight: bold;">What Might Ought to Have Been in the Box</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Winner:</span> <a href="http://twitter.com/trelvix">@trelvix</a>: The Last Supper as depicted by South Park candles modeled entirely from found wax and subway lint. (Easy.)<br />- Perhaps what is in the box should have been something @trelvix thought was easy to guess. I am not sure, but it seems appropriate to reward gumption. I do know that I would enjoy awarding people the bounty of my crafty skills, such as they are. I lived in NY long ago, but did not have the foresight to gather subway lint for such a project.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: What is in the box is NOT what you think it is.<br />- Wouldn’t that be exciting for all of us?! I had some back and forth with @BrianPike clarifying that his guess was that what was in the box was not what I, JS, thought it was. He might be right, but in the end I am the sole arbiter. If it were possible for me to have a prize that is inherently never what the entrants think it is, I would do that. Indeed, it is what I strive for.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/epicdeer">@epicdeer</a>: It's my missing hour of sleep. Please be my missing hour of sleep.<br />- It would be wonderful if I could restore your missing hour of sleep to you, but it is beyond my powers, at least until next Fall. I am sorry.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: An antique quill and ink well. The type so often used to write flowery love letters and overwrought poetry.<br />- Things are just so digital these days. Perhaps we could do with more flowery love letters and overwrought poetry. Perhaps we could do with more of them that are on paper and not posted on the internet!<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/lindstifa">@lindstifa</a>: When in contact with my skin it takes me back to childhood and the sense of security I haven't felt since.<br />- Again I feel the urge to award people things that would bring them happiness, or at least a form a peace. I fear it is beyond my power. I am sorry.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/thewesterly">@thewesterly</a>: It's the hope of a nation, and the light of something that lights up.<br />- Oh, entrants keep guessing for things I only wish I could award to you, but it is not possible. There is only one prize at a time, and I must judge the guesses only in relation to that prize. I will say that I am pretty sure this is the guess that made me laugh the most.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Category: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Spooky or Melancholy</span><br /></div><br /> This category had to be created because so many of the guesses were of a somber or even slightly gruesome nature. The object in the box is tied quite firmly to daylight and healthy vigorous living, and it would be thus inappropriate to match it to a spooky or melancholy guess. As you will see, I have chosen to respond to the guesses in a specialized manner.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER:</span> <a href="http://twitter.com/odat">@odat</a>: One old man's broken heart.<br />- Though all are strong, I take your part. This prize could break an old man's heart.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: I think it is the ingredients for something spectacular (as in "spectacle"). Dessicated eye of newt and toe of frog, perhaps?<br />- The contents could be well combined, but by the body, not the mind.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a>: The ghost of my father's mother (not my mother's mother). She's creaky. My mother's mother's ghost is more "crinkly".<br />- Too much emphasis on clues will trip you over your own shoes.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/lancehenrikson">@lancehenrikson</a>: The hell that is my existence. Shipped to you so you have to deal with it.<br />- I have come to welcome this, your personal contrariness.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/suelyn">@suelyn</a>: comfort items for a dark and stormy night, creaking noise creates an eerie atmosphere all the better to snuggle with a loved one.<br />- This prize could make one less afraid, assuming the electric's paid.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: It's something of religious significance. Something with a touch of, or that bespeaks an earnest hope for, The Divine.<br />- The prize is just a human thing, it never will make choirs sing.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/J1">@J1</a>: this has to be several flavors of Beanie babies dancing and staying alive with the breath of hot air in their confinement.<br />- If they were trapped there for a while, at least they would be trapped with style.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/wh1teXbread">@whlteXbread</a>: I'm goin' to jail, guys. I thought the East River had taken care of my problem, but I think my ex-girlfriend is in there :/<br />- It's not so much the guess's wrongs, I just can't stand emoticons.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toddadamson">@toddadamson</a>: A litter of stillborn weasels.<br />- This prize has neither tail nor head, and isn't either live or dead.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: An empty eye glasses case. Represents all that is lost and never found.<br />- It is not any kind of case - and this is easily replaced.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: Something that the main character of a southern gothic novel would identify with. Strongly. Darkly. Maybe w/incestuous overtones.<br />- Identity eludes those types, this prize is not one of their gripes.<br /><br />More guesses than ever before this round - Thank you, entrants !!certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-60558994603327185672009-03-12T07:41:00.001-07:002009-03-12T10:48:59.011-07:00Winner! Round 5 - Grand Prize and Short List<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPfQjIfB9ZZveeCEymMPq8oOcos5GggVfxH-geIqfTN2GHYHTvPrnWfApWn1PYjqfBHKKR4W9qC751g5DZHKYvoZHQDXDh_pxvNAuuR5yns2j_JgAD2RMvFwRH6dIuyyQ3Ph9e32tp-zG8/s1600-h/box5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPfQjIfB9ZZveeCEymMPq8oOcos5GggVfxH-geIqfTN2GHYHTvPrnWfApWn1PYjqfBHKKR4W9qC751g5DZHKYvoZHQDXDh_pxvNAuuR5yns2j_JgAD2RMvFwRH6dIuyyQ3Ph9e32tp-zG8/s320/box5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312312422559292402" border="0" /></a>The item inside the box for Round 5 revealed: It is<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">The Spheroid Fitness Accessory Prize Pack!<br /></div>The prize pack includes one (1) "Marbelized" hand strengthener, one (1) 100% cotton "footbag" [what I would consider a hackey-sack], and a pack of two (2) Sneaker Balls - that claim to "Power Freshen Sport Shoes, Gym Bags & Lockers!." A further note on the Sneaker Balls - they also claim "Sneaker Balls (R) aren't like any other air fresheners. They're smaller, tougher and rounder. ...." I have not tested these claims.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Winner is</span>: <a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: A large amount of potential energy.<br />- This Spheroid Fitness Accessory Prize Pack is just brimming with potential energy, its own and anyone else’s. There is no other guess this round that makes me happier as an essential identifier of exactly what is in the box.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/ContemptSlots">@ContemptSlots</a>: It's something terribly erotic. To someone. After all, it's on the internet.<br />- There are strong arguments for this guess, arguments involving sweat, fitness, squeezing, balls, and exertion. However, these things are not guaranteed erotic, even on the internet.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/cawcaw">@cawcaw</a>: It's a bobble head figure made of felt.<br />- Again, there is a argument for this guess, this time involving a combination of sports and hand crafting. However, the lack of any representational characteristics in the Prize Pack prevent this guess from taking the Grand Prize.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: Three juggling balls hand-woven by a former circus act, blacklisted for reasons he won't talk about.<br />- This guess, though charming, can’t win because there are four balls, and two of them are only similar to balls. A skilled juggler could juggle all four. I believe this assortment is reputable, and I judge that there is no murky past associated with them.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: 12 snowballs stabilized at room temperature by local anomalies in physical laws. Will melt if shipped outside Georgia<br /> PS: they're unusually small snowballs, but snowballs for sure. Snow is the only possible explanation for the creaking.<br />- This guess, also charming, also can’t win because there are four balls. None is made of snow. A near thing, however, because there is another brand of sneaker balls called “Ice,” but that is not what is in the Prize Pack. I must disagree with the reasoning here – snow is not the only possible explanation for the creaking. At least one other explanation comes to mind: plastic packaging.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/frageelay">@frageelay</a>: Tribbles!<br />- This guess, like the others, has a good argument. Tribbles are roundish, touchable, active – all concepts associated with the prize pack – but they are a menace to orderly trade in a way that the Prize Pack is not.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: Something playful and likeable, that brings peace to the mind and a smile on the face.<br />- This guess is darn close, and if it weren’t for the power of the winning guess, and the great happiness it gave me from the moment I read it, this guess would have a real shot at the prize.certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-92049766788177352772009-03-08T11:28:00.001-07:002009-03-09T12:50:51.714-07:00#gwiitb Round 5 !<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvJDwIvZH1CJCuSMiFOyklw1-YY23wXHLmz6cf3oav2Qi690T7s81-J-rM74QaESdMCv_lai5Y_KO_hPbQS99K5p7AtiJL0_taMMJbh-DB2asutSGc-q2kV_dXnK6pbE0SToLcO5BuxOR-/s1600-h/box5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvJDwIvZH1CJCuSMiFOyklw1-YY23wXHLmz6cf3oav2Qi690T7s81-J-rM74QaESdMCv_lai5Y_KO_hPbQS99K5p7AtiJL0_taMMJbh-DB2asutSGc-q2kV_dXnK6pbE0SToLcO5BuxOR-/s320/box5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310885909659495058" border="0" /></a><br />Here is the box with something inside it for Round 5 of The Guess What Is in the Boxes Contest! It is another box from the Harry & David assortment, but there are not any apples in there. I ate the apples [insert "This is just to say" joke here - they were delicious, so sweet and so cold.] So. Getting serious. The box was empty, and I packed up the prize in it and taped it up.<br /><br />The dimensions are 7.5" x 4" x 4". The weight of the box as it is, packed up with prize inside, is 12 oz. (I just found a cooking scale in the back of a closet, so henceforth there shall be weight measurement of unprecedented exactitude.)<br /><br />My husband knows what is in the box this time, and has asked to be excused from describing the heft. I have recruited my landlady Megan. She says it feels like there are many soft, dense objects packing the box. With vigorous shaking, the objects do not feel or sound breakable. Squishing on the top side of the box produces a creaky noise.<br /><br />New players should review the original rules post <a href="http://opoyul.blogspot.com/2009/02/guess-what-is-in-boxes-contest.html">here</a>, and also review the earlier rounds. Please tag your guesses #gwiitb and feel free to guess as often as you like.<br /><br />Guessing will close at 4pm EDT, Tuesday, March 10, 2009. Happy guessing!certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-85153625795318691502009-03-04T10:05:00.000-08:002009-03-04T10:23:58.578-08:00Winners Round 4 !! - Certificate WinnersCertificate for <span style="font-weight: bold;">FIRST GUESS</span>: <a href="http://twitter.com/LidMo">@LidMo</a> !!<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Certificate: <span style="font-weight: bold;">What Might Ought to Have Been in the Box</span> and Shortlist<br /></div><br />WINNER:<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/icecolbeveridge">@icecolbeveridge</a>: It's a 1970s West German typewriter secretly smuggled into the East but never used for political purposes.<br />[It is not a typewriter or anything related to offices or Germany or politics or secret smuggling. It would, however, be incredibly cool if that were the prize. Expensive postage, but still. This guess edges out the others due to its reference to travel, a concept connoted by the item in the box.]<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">As always, the shortlist guesses are listed in the order they were made -<br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a>: It's a stimulus package.<br />[This guess made me giggle. It is in this category because it would be an awfully nice thing to be able to award to someone. Many of our problems could be solved! Unfortunately, the item is not particularly stimulating to any economy and I am too prudish to make the really good dirty jokes that go with the term “stimulus package,” which allows this guess to be edged out for the certificate in this category.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/BrianPike">@BrianPike</a>: Lord, will I never know peace? It's a Tempest Prognosticator (Pocket Size Model).<br />[The item is not a Tempest Prognosticator, unless there is a whole lot more than I had realized I did not know about prognosticating tempests. That is to say, as far as I know this is not one. However, that would be an excellent prize to give away. Quite useful, especially for sailors.]<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Certificate: <span style="font-weight: bold;">What Some Might Think Is Closest to What Is in the Box</span> and Shortlist<br /></div><br />WINNER:<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/CeeBee">@CeeBee</a>: my guess for this week's installment of #gwiitb is some sort of crocheted article. possibly a small shawl or a giant doilie<br />[This guess edges out the win against a field of strong contenders in this category. There are two essential elements here: protection of surfaces (giant doilie) and hand crafting. The item in the box is not crocheted, nor is it precisely a doilie, but it serves a similar function.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/LidMo">@LidMo</a>: Breakfast at Tiffany's coaster<br />[The item in the box is an item of commemoration, and also serves as a sort of protection to surfaces, and is thus unarguably similar to a Breakfast at Tiffany’s coaster, but this guess lacks the additional connotations of craftsmanship and I cannot judge it the winner in this category.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/d_g_">@d_g_</a>: What is in the box? An accident waiting to happen.<br />[The item in the box is something that is connected with possible accidents involving scorchmarks or burns, but its purpose is essentially preventative. Without more detail as to exactly what sort of accident the guess is postulating, I cannot judge this the winning guess in this category.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/J1">@J1</a>: a lovely homemade banana bread, either with or without nuts. I guess this is two guesses.<br />[Although the item in the box is not a comestible of any sort, there is a reasonable argument for the “with nuts” guess, conceiving lovely homemade banana bread as something lovely and made by hand with natural things in it. Without the other element, protection of surfaces, however, I cannot judge this the winning guess in this category.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/TheStepster">@TheStepster</a>: A relatively hefty hearty center display of affection.<br />[There is a fairly strong argument that the item in the box could have been a display of affection – a gift. It is not, however, relatively hefty. While somewhat hearty (read “eyecatching”), it is not exactly the kind of thing one gets for others but only for oneself. That is a kind of affection, but this guess lacks the key elements cited for the winning guess.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/arcangeld">@arcangeld</a>: .....little porcelain mantle pieces?<br />[This guess is in this category because I see a strong connection between porcelain and the substance that comprises much of the item in the box. Furthermore, mantle pieces and this item are both functional and decorative. This is a single item, though, and without more detail about the origin and appearance of the little mantle pieces, I cannot judge this the winning guess.]<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Certificate: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Best Otherwise Inaccurate Guess</span> and Shortlist<br /></div><br />WINNER:<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jonathaneunice">@jonathaneunice</a>: Something so cool and sophisticated, it could only have been crafted with captured alien technology. Or magic. Eldritch magic.<br />[This item is obvious, unsophisticated, and clearly labeled as having been made by humans. Wouldn’t it be interesting, though, if I made awesome prizes with eldritch magic? It would be awfully interesting. So this guess is the winner!]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/rodti">@rodti</a>: Could it be a sporran made entirely out of meat?<br />[The item in the box is totally not a sporran made out of meat to any degree. It is not a sporran, and it is not at all made out of meat. As discussed on Twitter, before the prize is revealed, it could theoretically be anything, but the prize is revealed below, and it is not a sporran made entirely out of meat.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/Tony_D">@Tony_D</a>: I wouldn't want to take it with me on an international flight.<br />[This object is harmless, and would be ignored by TSA employees. There is a connection to travel, but too tenuous to nudge this guess into a more specific category. Like many guesses in this category, this one reminds me of past prizes that this guess would be a shoo-in or strong contender for, but the lightning, she don’t strike every time.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: It's a small version of a regular-sized thing; the regular-sized thing would float, but this version does not float.<br />[see next guess -]<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/KT30003k">@KT30003k</a>: Alternately, this version floats and the original would not. Either way there is a size/buoyancy differential.<br />[I am treating this guess with #8. The item in the box is “to scale” – one could even say it is in a 1:1 ratio to itself. It is quite diverting to imagine what item could be in the box that one of these guesses would win, but this item is not one of those things.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: An assortment of match box cars. The metal kind with doors that really open!!<br />[The item in the box is non-interactive and not a toy. I can imagine it being held out as a toy or an object of some interest to a child, but it doesn’t do anything very interesting. If bragged about at school, none of the other children would know what the bragging was about, and that seems to me an essential quality of Match Box cars not shared by the item in the box.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/J1">@J1</a> : a bar of dark chocolate.<br />[The item in the box is totally not a bar of dark chocolate. It is not a comestible of any kind, although there is a tenuous connection to a source of nourishment. A bar of dark chocolate I would keep and eat, and would also be worried about sending in the mail. The nature of chocolate is to be eaten, and that does not connect with this item.]<br /><br />@cawcaw: A representation of a deity or spiritual leader (for example Buddha, who isn't a diety.)<br />[It is not a representational image. Now, I happen to have little statues of the Infant of Prague, a Chinese monkey spirit, Don Quixote made of shellacked breadfruit, and a Chipper Jones bobble-head, but these are all things I intend to keep and not to give away as prizes.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jnobianchi">@jnobianchi</a>: There is actually another box inside this box. Though I don't know its contents, I know they're *not* cherry raisins<br />[I have considered putting a box inside the box. Seems a little cheap, though, and not much of a prize, although that might depend on nature of the box inside the other box. If the object were hollow, I could make an argument for this guess qualifying in another category, but it is not hollow.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toddadamson">@toddadamson</a>: Limbaugh Jerky. Please let it be Limbaugh Jerky.<br />[The object is not a comestible of any sort. The item in the box does have some tenuous connection with food, but only of the freshly cooked sort, not preserved. I am unfamiliar with that particular brand of jerky, and I think they must not sell it around here.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/suelyn">@suelyn</a>: a place for what once was,or what may be, where dreams become reality, reality dreams, an empty journal.<br />[The item in the box is a souvenir, not mine, someone else’s. The item is itself an intersection of dreams and reality already – a solid object, set in itself. Along the lines of the “another box inside this box” guess above, if the item in the box were hollow, I could make an argument for this guess qualifying in another category.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: A string of Christmas lights. It's never too early to anticipate the future.<br />[The item in the box is moderately decorative, but it is too totally of the past to be an investment in decorating for any specific holiday. I recall that I did once have a string of Christmas lights as a prize, but I cannot remember what the winning guess was.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/1sjcorbett">@1sjcorbett</a>: An egg timer. I am obsessed with time. It goes by too fast, there's not enough, sometimes there is even too much.<br />[The item in the box is a vintage object that remains the same as time passes it by. If anything, it is a reminder of the cyclical nature of our societal fads and fancies, that what may seem gone will always come around again in one form or another.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/epicdeer">@epicdeer</a>: Hold on. Yes, I WILL make Electric Bugaloo my guess!<br />[This guess was made past close of guessing and is therefor ineligible. If it had been entered before the close, I would regretfully pass it by, given the non-underdog, non-dancing nature of this object.]certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316630777034198840.post-74918890870010116712009-03-04T09:52:00.000-08:002009-03-04T10:24:22.991-08:00Winner! Round 4 Grand Prize and Short List<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8rGCrN6cf0YfD0uMfmQp1Epa9UPQIa6dCtpxGfoXqKsKDh24dbocYOaI-IcB7k0hSEE4459g6BeEy6pLsz5f2M51QFwu0_qg_47M8Ah94ChZCnu3E3rUgumChZpWfNjwMumahidG2nZP/s1600-h/trivet.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8rGCrN6cf0YfD0uMfmQp1Epa9UPQIa6dCtpxGfoXqKsKDh24dbocYOaI-IcB7k0hSEE4459g6BeEy6pLsz5f2M51QFwu0_qg_47M8Ah94ChZCnu3E3rUgumChZpWfNjwMumahidG2nZP/s320/trivet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309392278886524178" border="0" /></a><br />Round 4 What Is in the Box Revealed: It is a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Daytona Beach, FLA Abalone Shell Trivet (Hotplate)</span>. It is difficult to read in the picture, but there is gold text on the surface that says "DAYTONA BEACH FLA." There are some (apparently) original stickers on the back that give some information about this object. One sticker reads<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">TRIVET (HOTPLATE)<br />Handmade With Abalone Shells<br />Taken By Divers from the Ocean<br /></div><br />The other sticker reads<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Made by Craftsmen of<br />NEW DESIGNS INC.<br />(c) MCMLXIX MADE IN U.S.A.<br /></div><br />If I am doing my Roman numeral decipherment correctly, this Trivet (Hotplate) is from 1969.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">WINNER</span>:<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/thewesterly">@thewesterly</a>: It's a relic of some ancient unspeakable evil, or at least a pewter reproduction of same (3 easy payments of $19.95)<br />[This was a difficult call. All of the guesses on the short list for the Grand Prize are so close, but then something marvelous happened. I thought of evil creatures in the ocean what might become enraged and take vengeance upon humanity for violently robbing the ocean of its beauty. I thought of the Kraken, in that scene from Clash of the Titans and towards the end of Good Omens, and I thought of Cthulu, who waits in the cold darkness. It made me so happy to consider this the winning guess for an Abalone Shell Trivet (Hotplate) on that argument that it is now the winning guess.]<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">As always, the shortlist guesses are listed in the order they were made -<br /></div><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/The_No_Show">@The_No_Show</a>: New guess: The box contains the charred remains of my fundamentally well-rounded childhood.<br />[This item invokes memories of childhood vacations, possibly, but this souvenir is not destroyed – it is preserved. Many well-rounded childhoods involve trips to the beach and souvenirs thereof, but it seems unlikely that this trivet (hotplate) would be a child’s souvenir. Children are rarely cautious about preserving fine surfaces and are usually more interested in sand dollars.]<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/toldorknown">@toldorknown</a>: The shadow of a dream, captured in a substrate of collective desire and cast by the blinding light of a future that is yet to be.<br />[This trivet (hotplate) is indeed a captured dream, dreamy things captured by divers and then enclosed in acrylic by craftsmen, designed to fulfill our collective desire for connection to the mystic deep. If there is a shadow here, though, it is cast by the past. The future that is yet to be can only hope to return to the abundance and arrogance embodied in this trivet (hotplate)].<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/AndrewGent">@AndrewGent</a>: A black hole hidden by clouds (in other words, something precious but opaque, wrapped in something temporal)<br />[Beautiful abalone shells enclosed in acrylic, become a bit cloudy with time, with sense of timelessness conveyed by the old stickers on the back. However, this item has an essential oneness – that acrylic will not be decaying or blowing away anytime soon.<br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: It is something that I'd want to leave behind to mark my triumph after summiting Everest? (Something cooler than a flag.)<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/fistsoffolly">@fistsoffolly</a>: It is something that I'd want to leave behind to mark my triumph after summiting Everest. (Something cooler than a flag.)<br />[Both forms of this guess have valid arguments. Someone might. There are fads for Florida-style glamor just as there are fads for summiting Everest. I can theoretically postulate someone who might very well wish to leave this behind on the sumit to mark his or her triumph. I don’t know if it is cooler than a flag. I would need to know more about the flag.]certifiedprepwn3dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13257270876536521092noreply@blogger.com2