Recently I have been watching The Wire, and have become more and more interested with the economics of illegal drugs.
While I won’t delve too much into the complex organization of dealers, I do want to get into how they organize their goods.
Finish reading Measuring out drugs
I discovered a bit of a math problem while listening to the book Groundswell. (I have it in audio, so I don’t have page numbers. UPDATE: I found a copy of the book. It’s on page 122.) If you read this and think I’m way off, please let me know.
Finish reading Math problems in Groundswell
To continue my obsession with group games (and winning said games), I thought I would tackle one of the biggest games of them all, Risk. If you are really a big fan of Risk strategy then check out Total Diplomacy. They regularly update and go into much more detail than I will here.
Finish reading Playing Games (Risk)
After a recent game of Scrabble with the family, it became apparent that there was a need to discuss some of my scrabble strategies.
Most people that are playing for fun (aka not to win) stress out trying to make big words, thinking that this is the strategy to do well. It isn’t. For example, take the word STARTED. It looks great. 7 letters long, but generally it is only 6 of your tiles and 1 from the board and therefore no Bingo (50pt. bonus for using all 7 of your tiles). The second mistake that is likely is that the word isn’t played on a double- or triple-word score place. So, while wasting good tiles (S’s) they only earn 8 points.
Finish reading Playing Games (scrabble)
Along with playing complex games like Monopoly, I also enjoy seemingly simpler games such as Guess Who. If you do not remember, Guess Who is the gaming of eliminating people based on their traits to try and guess who your opponent is. The set I have has to boards (red and blue) that each have 24 flip-up faces of characters in the game. You flip down these faces as you try and narrow down your search.
Finish reading Playing games (guess who)…
This past Saturday night I played monopoly with Meg and her roommate Leah and her bf Justin. I love the game monopoly. It is probably my favorite game. I think we all had a good time, but I really did because I was the winner.
Finish reading Playing games (monopoly)…
*The idea from this came from Jeff Atwood’s Unfinished game question and explanation.
So, you think you know basketball. Let’s take last years Final for example. Say you are a big Laker fan, and you make a bet for $100 ($50 each) with a friend of yours that the Lakers will beat the Celtics. So, you watch the games and things start off rocky and after 4 games you are worried. The Lakers are down 3-1. You want out of the bet. How do you go about proposing a split of the $100?
Finish reading The NBA playoff buyout
In the movie 21, Kevin Spacey plays an instructor at MIT. In one of his lectures, he proposes a common world situation that relates to math. Here is the situation…
“You are on Let’s Make a Deal. There are three doors (1,2, and 3). One has a car behind it and the other two have goats. Monty asks you to pick a door. Then, he opens another door and shows you a goat. Then he asks if you want to switch your door to the remaining unopened door.”
Do you take the switch?
Finish reading Let's make a deal…
*This was showcased to me by listening to Shirky on Coase. Interesting stuff.
Imagine a normal classroom with 30 students in it. Someone in the class asks you to bet $100 that two people in the room share a birthday. Most people would (mistakenly) take that bet in a heartbeat. Here is the wrong logic they use.
Finish reading The shared birthday question…