The Incredible Shrinking PAX Medals
A few weeks ago I attended my eighth consecutive PAX Prime. While there are many things to love about PAX, one of my personal favorites has become the PAX medals. All weekend long there are various tournaments and contests you can participate in to win a medal.
I have won a PAX medal at each of the last three PAX Prime events that I have had the pleasure of attending. In 2011 I got one for placing second in a Pac-Man Championship Edition DX tournament. In 2012 I won one for having the second-best pitch at the Pitch Your Game Idea panel. This year I won a high score contest for the Super Nintendo game Tin Star, using the SuperScope.
As I was enjoying my PAX medals, I noticed something odd. Each year, the PAX medals are getting slightly smaller.
Time to break out some measuring tools.
PAX Medals: Ribbon Length
First up, length of the ribbons:
That’s 4cm of ribbon loss in just two years. At this rate, PAX medals will be a 15cm choker by 2020.
PAX Medals: Medal Height
Let’s check the height.
The shrinkage of the medals is even more dramatic than the ribbon shrinkage. If it keeps up at the same rate they’ll disappear completely by 2020.
PAX Medals: Mass
Finally, let’s weigh these suckers on my kitchen scale.
The loss of mass is the most extreme, with an average loss of 3.5g per year putting the medals on a path to vanish entirely by 2018. Also, apparently PAX medals are not very nutritious.
PAX Medals: Shrinkage Summary
Here’s a summary of my findings:
| Year | Length | Height | Mass |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 33.0cm | 0.76″ | 25g |
| 2012 | 30.5cm | 0.66″ | 20g |
| 2013 | 29.0cm | 0.58″ | 18g |
There is one category in which PAX medals are getting measurably better: back-side engraving. The 2011 medal just had a generic number. The 2012 medal still had the number, but they added a bit about what the medal was for. In 2013 the number was dropped entirely and the font got a sweet upgrade.
Anyway, this is all apparently interesting enough for me to write a 333-word blog post, but despite the shrinkage, I still enjoy my PAX medals.
Video Games + Home Improvement = Porch Launch
In honor of the launch home improvement network Porch (my employer), I created this Internet-meme-ish slideshow that ties together video games and home improvement.
Enjoy… OR ELSE.
[slideshare id=26285361&doc=11-classic-video-games-130917164657-phpapp01]
P.S. – I also posted it to BuzzFeed, if you’re more into reading these kinds of things in a flat format.
“Double Stuf” Oreos Actually Only “1.89x Stuf”
Here’s another great story about data, this time on a small scale.
Dan Anderson is a high school math teacher. As part of a class exercise, he had his kids measure the “stuf” content of regular Oreo cookies, “Double Stuf” Oreo cookies, and “Mega Stuf” Oreo cookies.
According to his kids’ calculations, the “Double Stuf” Oreos contained 1.86x as much filling as regular Oreos. Oops.
After his original blog post blew up on the internet, Dan did a more extensive experiment of his own and came up with similar results: “Double Stuf” Oreos contained just 1.89x as much filling as regular Oreos.
The experiments got quite a bit of attention online, and even drew an official response from Nabisco, as covered by ABC News:
A spokeswoman for Nabisco told ABCNews.com the company’s Double Stuf Oreos are made to have double the creme filling as the original Oreos.
“While I’m not familiar with what was done in the classroom setting, I can confirm for you that our recipe for the Oreo Double Stuf Cookie has double the Stuf, or creme filling, when compared with our base, or original Oreo cookie,” the spokeswoman said.
And yet… That’s not what the data actually shows.
Score
Data-driven observations: 1
Nabisco: 0
via BoingBoing
Sharknado: Has the “Shark Genre” Reached its Logical Conclusion? NOPE.
Today on a group chat at work, the topic of “Sharknado” came up. Because of course it did. In said chat, someone linked to an article in which the writer of “Sharknado” claims that “the shark genre has reached its natural and logical conclusion.” I believe that we proved his thesis wrong.
For reference, here is the “Sharknado” trailer:
RT: NPR: ‘Sharknado’ Dares To Ask: Is It Going To Rain Giant Man-Eating Sharks?
YO: I feel like I should revive our shark air-swimmer.
NG: Sharknado was all the rage lat night on Twitter. 9/10 tweets were about it
FN: OMG. Seriously, EVERYONE I follow on Twitter was going nuts about Sharknado.
OS: Fin’s name should have been Foo. Then Foo could have owned a bar, and been friends with Baz.
FN: The company that makes these movies is called The Asylum. They were also responsible for the “Megashark vs.” series and other recent super low budget classics. There was one with a mega piranha. Here’s a 2010 article about The Asylum.
OS: The low-budget big action knock-off is such a funny niche. I’ve been watching a lot of Rifftrax recently of mid-80s straight-to-video knockoffs. There’s always the one or two big-name actors who are slumming or fallen on hard times, the incomprehensible plot, and the strangely professional cinematography and sometimes stunts.
FN: Last sharknado bit from me for today (I have so much work I’m avoiding!): io9 did an excellent interview with the writer.
GR: Ha ha, awesome: “Honestly, I don’t understand why people are so perplexed by this concept. The logic is undeniable.”
TO: That interview is hilarious.
TO: “Has the shark disaster movie run its course, or are we just ramping up? It’s called Sharknado. I think the shark genre has reached its natural and logical conclusion.”
NO: In other words, have shark movies… jumped the shark?
YO: What about sharks in space?
YO: “Freddy vs. Shark”?
OS: “Sharks on a Plane”?
XW: Zombie laser sharks in space. On fire.
OS: Tsusharkmi
GR: What if the Yellowstone Caldera were full of… SHARKS?!? “Megasharkano,” in theaters 2014.
OS: (clap)
RF: “Shark Impact” – Asteroid containing space-sharks on course to destroy Earth. …or would that be “Shark-ageddon”?
OS: Megalogeddadon
RF: Ooh, nice.
RF: I guess for the logic to be undeniable, it would have to be a comet containing frozen space sharks
RF: +1 if the sharks are sentient/intelligent. Then you could pull in the “Independence Day” trope.
ET: RE: intelligent sharks — Deep Blue Sea
RF: @ET good point; the movie should also feature the star power of LL Cool J.
TO: Microscopic sharks (ala Fantastic Voyage; 1966) attacking the body from within!
GR: Megashark vs. Microsharks!
TO: Megashark thinks it killed microshark by eating it, microshark kills megashark from within, microshark dies due to a lifeless host. A shakespearean shark tragedy!
GR: You know what guys let’s just forget this real estate thing and pivot Redfin into a shark disaster movie company.
YO: We can keep the company name.
RF: Can we work zombie sharks into this?
QS: @GR How do you know that this ISN’T a shark disaster movie?
QS: Oh, hang on, guys. I’ll be right back…
RF: Somebody’s at the door!
RF: (Landshark!)
RF: Man, the internets are sadly devoid of any SNL Landshark skits. Wow; first aired in 1975. Now I feel *really* old.
NO: You know what Twilight needed? Hunky teenage sharks.
QS: [Vampire Sharks]
NO: Would vampire sharks work together with vampire ents?
QS: I found this trailer when googling Vampire Sharks. It has, ah, homegrown charm.
RF: How about weresharks?
RF: That would be an unfortunate affliction to have you if you were landlocked during a full moon.
FYI: I anonymized the chat participants and cleaned things up a bit for readability.