Results to Common Entries Contest MOJO4
There are the results for the Common Entries Contests MOJO4.
There were 37 entrants. The winner was Dr. Clay Blankenship, with a
score of 2.86 billion (billion=10^9), which was 4.5% of the hypothetical
maximum. Second place went to Gerrit de Blaauw, with 1.59 billion, and
third place to Angus Walker, with 1.38 billion. I also note that Dr.
Clay Blankenship and Gerrit de Blaauw have now placed in the top three
listing in two of the four MOJO contests. Congratulations! Here are their
answer slates:
#1:Clay Blankenship #2:Gerrit de Blaauw #3:Angus Walker
0.ITBGCTHATE 0.ITBGCTHATE 0.ITBGCTHATE
1.Ansel Adams 1.Neil Armstrong 1.Woody Allen
2.Pride 2.Pride 2.Lust
3.Pride 3.People 3.Person
4.Kansas 4.Colorado 4.Wyoming
5.Girl, Interrupted 5.Dracula 5.Heathers
6.Watching TV 6.Watching TV 6.Sex
7.Fear of heights 7.Fear of heights 7.Claustrophobia
8.C 8.C 8.C
9.Whiskey 9.Whiskey 9.Whiskey
Here ITBGCTHATE stands for "In the beginning, God created the heavens
and the Earth."
Interestingly, despite some clearly hard questions, there was a
lack of what Andrew Krywaniuk has termed "echoic" answers -- those which
simply repeat back part of the question. Judging from some of the comments,
a number of entrants recognized that questions 1 and 4 were quite difficult,
but only a few tried giving echoic answers. In fact there were only five
echoic answer, each of which received a score of 1.
I asked entrants to say which newsgroup they had read the
contest in, in order to test Andrew Krywaniuk's claim that those in
rec.puzzles are more likely to give echoic answers than those in
rec.games.trivia. However, less than half of the entrants told me which
newsgroup they were from, and there were very few echoic answers anyway.
So I can't test this claim.
Here are the scores of all the entrants.
Name #0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 Score Score/Max
---- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ----- ---------
Hypothetical Maximum 17 5 12 8 9 8 17 14 25 18 6.29e+10
1.Dr. Clay Blankenship 17 1 12 6 9 8 8 9 25 18 2.86e+09 4.538e-02
2.Gerrit de Blaauw 17 5 12 4 6 2 8 9 25 18 1.59e+09 2.521e-02
3.Angus Walker 17 2 9 3 2 7 17 14 25 18 1.38e+09 2.187e-02
4.Andrew Hartley 17 5 12 8 1 2 17 7 25 18 8.74e+08 1.389e-02
5.Matthew W. Grieco 4 1 5 8 9 8 17 14 12 18 5.92e+08 9.412e-03
6.Steven Howard 8 4 9 3 9 7 1 14 25 18 3.43e+08 5.450e-03
7.John Drew 8 2 9 3 1 8 8 14 25 18 1.74e+08 2.768e-03
8.Charles Gregory 8 4 5 4 6 1 17 9 25 8 1.18e+08 1.867e-03
9.Dave Zahn 8 2 12 6 2 3 8 9 12 18 1.07e+08 1.708e-03
10.Ross Goldberg 8 1 12 8 2 8 8 9 12 8 8.49e+07 1.350e-03
11.Mark Brader 17 1 9 1 9 4 17 2 25 18 8.43e+07 1.339e-03
12.Duane Cahill 17 5 12 4 9 8 1 1 12 18 6.35e+07 1.008e-03
13.Danny Kodicek 17 1 9 1 1 7 17 7 25 18 5.74e+07 9.115e-04
14.Michael Cock 17 5 12 6 9 2 3 7 12 2 5.55e+07 8.824e-04
15.Nis Jorgensen 17 3 1 2 2 8 17 14 12 8 3.73e+07 5.926e-04
16.Tom Salinsky 17 1 3 8 2 7 17 14 25 1 3.4e+07 5.401e-04
17.Jacques 17 2 1 1 9 1 17 14 25 18 3.28e+07 5.208e-04
18.Paul Atkinson 17 1 9 3 2 5 17 14 25 1 2.73e+07 4.340e-04
19.Hilde N. 4 3 9 3 6 2 1 14 25 18 2.45e+07 3.893e-04
20.Lejonel Norling 17 1 5 2 2 2 8 9 25 18 2.2e+07 3.501e-04
21.Neil Sunderland 4 3 3 8 1 5 8 7 12 18 1.74e+07 2.768e-04
22.David Eppstein 1 4 12 6 2 5 17 14 25 1 1.71e+07 2.723e-04
23.Leo Breebaart 17 4 12 1 3 5 3 9 25 2 1.65e+07 2.626e-04
24.Brian Van Dorn 17 4 1 6 6 4 17 1 12 8 1.6e+07 2.540e-04
25.Stacy Brown 1 4 9 1 1 5 17 14 25 8 8.57e+06 1.362e-04
26.Joseph Marriott 4 1 12 8 3 7 2 9 25 2 7.26e+06 1.153e-04
27.Ben Zimmer 4 2 12 6 1 3 1 9 25 18 7e+06 1.112e-04
28.Michael Shreeve 4 4 3 2 2 8 17 1 25 8 5.22e+06 8.300e-05
29.Jeni Wright 8 1 1 4 6 1 17 7 25 8 4.57e+06 7.262e-05
30.Dave Gates 17 2 9 1 1 7 2 14 25 3 4.5e+06 7.149e-05
31.Joseph Salonga 8 1 5 1 9 3 3 14 12 8 4.35e+06 6.920e-05
32.Sean MacArthur 17 2 3 2 1 7 1 14 25 3 1.5e+06 2.383e-05
33.Jonathan Rivet 4 4 3 3 3 1 17 7 25 1 1.29e+06 2.042e-05
34.Andy Jakcsy 1 1 5 8 6 8 17 1 12 2 7.83e+05 1.245e-05
35.Wap 4 5 3 1 2 2 1 7 25 18 7.56e+05 1.201e-05
36.Rick Zepp 8 2 12 8 1 4 1 1 12 3 2.21e+05 3.515e-06
37.Barbara 1 1 1 1 9 4 8 2 12 18 1.24e+05 1.977e-06
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And now for the detailed results.
> 0. Quote a line or sequence of lines from a book.
> (Entries which differ slightly in phrasing or which quote different
> lengths of text will be considered the same as long as the material
> quoted is sufficient to make clear the text and section being quoted.)
17 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth
(=In the beginning, God made man)
8 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
4 Call me Ishmael
4 To be or not to be, that is the question
1 "a line or sequence of lines from a book."
1 Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn
1 It was a dark and stormy night
1 Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
I am somewhat embarassed that I didn't think of this Bible answer.
Once I saw it, I realized that it was the obvious winner.
One person gave the quote as "In the beginning God made man." I
debated whether this was really only "slightly different phrasing," but
in the end, since it was clear that it was intended to be Genesis 1:1,
I counted it as the same.
> 1. Name a person whose last name begins with the letter "A".
5 Neil Armstrong
4 John Adams
4 Isaac Asimov
3 Douglas Adams
2 Hank Aaron (=Henry (Hank) Aaron)
2 Muhammed Ali
2 Woody Allen
2 Jennifer Aniston
1 A person whose last name begins with the letter "A"
1 Amanda
1 Bob
1 Ansel Adams
1 Bryan Adams
1 Sam Adams
1 Ben Affleck
1 Andre Agassi
1 Hans Christian Andersen
1 Pamela Anderson
1 Kofi Annan
1 John Ashcroft
1 Mohamed Atta
This was a hard one, and comments from various entrants indicate
that it was widely regarded as a hard one. So I'm surprised that there
weren't more echoic answers.
> 2. Name one of the seven deadly sins.
> (Answers will be counted as different if they give different words,
> even if those words are synonyms.)
12 Pride
9 Lust
5 Greed
3 Envy
3 Sloth
1 Avarice
1 Anger
1 Gluttony
1 Murder
1 Wrath
All the deadly sins are represented here. Avarice and greed are the
same deadly sin, as are anger and wrath, but, as stated in the phrasing of
the question, I regarded these as different answers. Murder is not one of
the seven deadly sins.
This question was asked, with slightly different phrasing, in
Mark Brader's Rare Entries Contest, MSB6. Here are the results from that
contest.
>> 1. Name one of the seven deadly sins.
>
> 11 Sloth
> 10 Covetousness [= Avarice; Greed]
> 8 Anger [= Wrath]
> 7 Envy
> 6 Pride [= Stolz]
> 4 Gluttony
> 3 Lust
> WRONG:
> 1 Politics without principle (from Gandhi)
> 1 Workplace Sizzle (from "Seven Deadly Sins of Business")
> 3. Write a word which begins with the letter "p".
8 Pea
6 Pride
4 People
3 Person
3 Puzzle
2 Peace
2 Pee
1 A word which begins with the letter "p"
1 P
1 Penis
1 Phobia
1 Please
1 Pop
1 Potato
1 President
1 Purple
Of the 6 people here who answered "Pride" here, 5 of them also
answered "Pride" to question #2. "Puzzle" seems like it should have done
better, although I hadn't thought of it when I wrote the contest.
> 4. Name a landlocked U.S. state.
9 Kansas
6 Colorado
3 Nevada
2 Arizona
2 New York
2 Texas
2 Utah
2 Wyoming
1 A landlocked U.S. state
1 Arkansas
1 Hawaii
1 Illinois
1 Iowa
1 Maine
1 Missouri
1 Ohio
1 Tennessee
Is this question U.S.-centric? Well, yes. Obviously. But it
wasn't clear to me when I wrote it whether Americans would do better. It
seems plausible that Americans would have a better idea what landlocked
state was the most "prominent," as opposed to non-Americans, who might
need to rely on geometry, rather than cultural or newsworthy prominence.
However, I have to say that as an American, none of the land-locked states
particularly jumps out at me as culturally prominent or often appearing
in the U.S. news.
Anyway, of the 37 entrants, 21 were from the U.S. time zones -4
to -7 (which I realize will include several Canadians), and 16 from other
time zones. Here is the breakdown:
From time zones -4 to -7 (21 entrants):
8 Kansas
2 Nevada
1 "a landlocked U.S. state"
1 Arizona
1 Arkansas
1 Colorado
1 Hawaii
1 Illinois
1 Iowa
1 Missouri
1 New York
1 Wyoming
1 Utah
geometric average score=(9^8 6^1 3^2 2^0 2^1 2^1 2^1 2^1)^(1/21)=3.19
From other time zones (16 entrants):
5 Colorado
2 Texas
1 Arizona
1 Kansas
1 Maine
1 Nevada
1 New York
1 Ohio
1 Tennessee
1 Wyoming
1 Utah
geometric average score=(9^1 6^5 3^1 2^2 2^1 2^1 2^1 2^1)^(1/16)=2.67
The entrants from the "U.S. time zones" had a (geometric)
average 3.19, while those from non-U.S. time zones had a (geometric)
average score of 2.67. I have not checked to see if the different is
statistically significant. But the Kansas/Colorado distinction appears
quite strong.
I suspect the reason Kansas did well is because it's roughly in
the geometric center of the U.S. (even if my hometown of St. Louis,
Missouri is supposed to be the "Gateway to the West"). But I'm not sure
why you furriners are so keen on Colorado. Anyone care to explain
what's going on here?
For those of you not up on current events, Kansasians are indeed
again evolving.
Four of the answers above are incorrect (aside from the echoic
answer). Hawaii, Maine, Texas and New York all border the ocean. An
explanatory note leads me to suspect that Maine was simply a mistake.
I would suppose that the argument behind Hawaii is that there are so
many equally good landlocked states, that one should simply pick the
most obviously non-landlocked state. And New York is the obvious answer
to "Pick a U.S. state." But I don't understand Texas. Surely if one is
going to give an intentionally incorrect answer, and simply pick a
prominent state, New York is a better answer than Texas. Were these
answers "intentionally incorrect"? Or did these entrants not bother to
check a map? (Both "Texas" answers came from U.K. time zones.)
> 5. Name a movie in which Winona Ryder had a major role.
8 Girl, Interrupted
7 Heathers
5 Edward Scissorhands
4 Little Women
3 Reality Bites
2 Alien: Resurrection
2 Beetlejuice
2 Dracula
1 How to make an American Quilt
1 Mermaids
1 The Crucible
1 X-men
Her most recent major role was in "Autumn in New York," which
no one picked.
> 6. Name an activity which humans engage in for leisure.
17 Sex (=sexual intercourse=having sex)
8 Watching TV (=watching the telly)
3 Reading
2 Golf
1 Fishing
1 Games
1 Puzzles
1 Sleep
1 Sport
1 Swimming
1 Walking
> 7. Name or describe a type of phobia (Describing a phobia will be
> considered the same as naming it.)
14 Claustrophobia
9 Fear of heights (=acrophobia)
7 Arachnophobia
2 Fear of flying
1 Fear
1 Fear of public speaking
1 Hydrophobia
1 Phobaphobia
1 Triskedecaphobia
It occured to me after I posted the contest that recent events
might have made "fear of flying" the obvious best answer. But in fact,
as you can see, it didn't do particularly well. And I'm not sure if
"fear of flying" has a nifty -phobia ending name, which presumably makes
it a worse answer. (Then again, almost everyone wrote "fear of heights"
rather than acrophobia.)
Phobophobia is the fear of fear, so it might seem that it should
be counted the same as the answer "fear." However, I didn't ask to
describe something people were afraid of, but to "name of describe a
type of phobia." So it doesn't seem as if "fear" here should be
interpreted to mean "fear of fear," and the two answers are
inequivalent.
> 8. Consider the following game known as "Prisoner's Dilemna." You and
> another reader from rec.puzzles or rec.games.trivia are placed in
> separate rooms, and given two buttons, "C" (for cooperate) and
> "D" (for defect). If you both press "C," you will both get
> $200 (American), while if you both press "D" you will each get $100.
> However, if one of you presses "D," while the other presses "C," the
> "D"-presser will get $300, while the "C"-presser will get $50.
>
> You and the other player are to play THREE consecutive rounds of
> this game, being informed of the results of each round before the
> next round starts. Which button will you press in the first round?
25 C
12 D
Some of the comments that I got lead me to suspect that a few of
the entrants didn't actually understand the question, or didn't read it
all that carefully.
> 9. Name a type of hard liquor or mixed drink.
18 Whiskey
8 Vodka
3 Martini
2 Rum
2 Scotch (=Scotch Whiskey)
1 Gin
1 Screwdriver
1 Whisky
1 Tequila
I didn't expect one answer to dominate the field so heavily.
Scotch is more specific than whiskey, but I have no specific/general
rule.
Anyway, that's it for MOJO4. I will probably run another contest
at the end of this week, and I'll be trying something new.
Momo