Vote Archives

Question:

During the big trip we just had to San Diego this weekend, William bought a snake. I asked him what the snake's name was an he replied “Bill”. This sparked a discussion about nicknames and William proclaimed that he knew Mummy's nickname. What do you think William affectionately knows his mother by?

Results:

Farty McMuffin was the clear winner with 83% of the votes from the following selection:

• Bestest Mummy Ever (17%)
• Farty McMuffin (83%)
• Magnificent Mother (0%)
• Poo Head (0%)
• Super Mom (0%)
• Super Mum (0%)
• WonderMum (0%)

Analysis:

Farty McMuffin indeed!

William proclaimed that he knew mummy's nickname and came out with Farty McMuffin. My return comment was that it all made sense. If that's what she's been eating for breakfast, it explains the breath. What a loving family we have.

Question:

After a long time pondering this week's question, we ask how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Results:

700 pounds, A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood, It might be able to chuck wood but it wouldn't be able to chuck Chuck Norris, More than you could and None tied with 20% of the votes each from the following:

• 35 cubic feet (0%)
• 700 pounds (20%)
• A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood (20%)
• It might be able to chuck wood but it wouldn't be able to chuck Chuck Norris (20%)
• More than you could (20%)
• None (20%)

Analysis:

According to Wiki Answers:

The amount of wood that woodchucks would chuck on a given day varies greatly with the individual woodchuck. According to a Wall Street Journal article, New York State wildlife expert Richard Thomas found that a woodchuck could chuck around 35 cubic feet of dirt in the course of digging a burrow. Thomas reasoned that if a woodchuck could chuck wood, he would chuck an amount equal to 700 pounds.
Some say it depends on three factors:

• The woodchuck's desire to chuck said wood.
• The woodchuck's need to chuck the aforementioned wood.
• The woodchuck's ability to chuck the wood when it is a woodchuck

Question:

Woo hoo! First time in 11 years of living in the United States, we had trick or treaters. Karen was out looting with William, whilst I stayed at home on candy duty. Surprisingly I wasn't sat there with a hose pipe through the letterbox. Anyway, there were a lot of great costumes out there. Which of the following is your favorite Halloween costume?

Results:

iPod and Scooby-Doo tied with 40% of the votes each from the following:

• Captain Rex (Star Wars) (0%)
• Goblin (0%)
• iPod (40%)
• Osama Bin Laden (0%)
• Scarecrow (0%)
• Scooby-Doo (40%)
• Witch (20%)

Analysis:

A tie between the iPod and Scooby-Doo. I have to say, it was the iPod that was making me laugh the most - it just seemed funny to me that someone would want to dress up as an object rather than a thing. Each to their own I guess.

Question:

There's only one question I can ask this week and I apologize to those out there that don't follow NASCAR, but this week's question is Tony Stewart or Carl Edwards?

Results:

Carl Edwards was the clear winner with 100% of the votes from the following selection:

• Carl Edwards (100%)
• Tony Stewart (0%)

Analysis:

100% of the votes for Carl Edwards and 100% of the votes wrong. Congratulations to Tony Stewart!

Question:

So, the sister site to this one was successfully launched a week or two ago. The one based in the East Midlands. Which was the first search engine to find the new page?

Results:

Google was the clear winner with 60% of the votes from the following selection:

• Ask (0%)
• Baidu (20%)
• Bing (20%)
• Google (60%)
• Soso (0%)
• Thunderstone (0%)
• Yahoo (0%)
• Yandex (0%)

Analysis:

It was actually Yandex, a Russian search engine that hit the site first. Shortly followed by Google which, not surprisingly, seemed to be the voters favorite. Ask, Bing and Yahoo are nowhere to be seen yet. Baidu is typically all over my sites in their push to be the biggest search engine in the world ... helped by the restrictions China has on search engines external to their country.

Question:

I've been watching all of the Star Trek series again and I'm on Deep Space 9 at this point. There's a character in it called Morn who never speaks (although there are many references to stories he's told). Morn is Quark's best customer in the bar and has his own stool. My question - is Morn a tribute to the TV show cheers, being a play on Norm?

Results:

Yes - it is a tribute was the clear winner with 75% of the votes from the following selection:

• Yes - it is a tribute (75%)
• No - it is not a tribute (25%)

Analysis:

It would seem that this in unconfirmed. The two minutes of research I've done reveal that there are several people out there that think Morn is a tribute to Norm Peterson from Cheers based on the fact that they have similar drinking habits, but I didn't find anything that unequivocally confirmed this. I suspect, however, that it's more than coincidence and it's likely to be a tribute.

Question:

Time for one of those questions that you need to think about. I actually got this one from Mythbusters, so you may have seen it. Anyway, there's a gameshow where the contestant is presented with three doors behind one of which is a prize. The contestant is asked to pick a door. The host then opens one of the remaining doors that doesn't have a prize behind it and offers the contestant the option to switch doors or stick with their original choice. Should the contestant switch doors to maximize their chance of winning?

Results:

Yes - the contestant should switch doors and It doesn't matter - the odds are the same tied with 40% of the votes each from the following:

• Yes - the contestant should switch doors (40%)
• No - the contestant should stay with their original choice (20%)
• It doesn't matter - the odds are the same (40%)

Analysis:

I thought most people would get this as it's a fairly simple problem. The correct answer is yes, you should switch. There's actually twice the possibility of being correct is you switch than if you stay with your original choice. The reason behind that is that there is a 1/3 chance you are correct with your initial choice - 3 doors and only one is correct. There is a 2/3 chance that the correct door is one of the remaining ones. You can look at the problem solution as getting a choice of 2 doors if you switch. It just happens that you know that one of them is incorrect (which you would do anyway if you were allowed to pick 2 doors). There is no resetting of the probabilities just because a door has been opened.

The interesting thing about the Mythbusters is that they tested two aspects of this problem. They did indeed test that it's statistically better to switch your choice and it did result in switching providing a winner on about a 2 to 1 basis. This was done by running the test multiple times and looking at the data, not just looking at the math behind the solution.

The second component they tested was whether or not people were more likely to switch or if they would stick with their original choice. It actually turned out that 100% of people stuck with their original choice. Psychologically, this is a great game because even if you know you are mathematically better off switching, something is telling you to keep with your original choice. Presumably the fear that you don't want to switch in case you were right with your original choice.

All this said, perhaps we should have asked how far you can shoot a cannonball.

Question:

Looking down at my toes poking through holes, I ponder the question - will I get socks for Christmas?

Results:

Yes was the clear winner with 80% of the votes from the following selection:

• Yes (80%)
• No (20%)

Analysis:

Nearly a full house for yes. And given that at least one of the people voting is going to get me a present, I think I can look forward to warm feet in 2012.

Question:

I guess it's that time of year again where Santa stuffs himself down the chimney. As I reflect on the year, I wonder - have I been a good boy?

Results:

Yes - you've been a good boy and No - you've been naughty tied with 50% of the votes each from the following:

• Yes - you've been a good boy (50%)
• No - you've been naughty (50%)

Analysis:

A split decision - have a I been good or have I been bad? Well, I know I've got some presents as William has informed me that he got more presents that I did. Seems he's all about quantity. Bad news is that he informed me in hospital as that's where I'm at right now. If the fact that I've ended up back in hospital and over Christmas (as I'm writing this from the hospital now), is anything to go by, then I've probably been a bad boy somewhere along the line.

Question:

Once again I find myself in the hospital. Again at a time when I should be celebrating something or other. I guess the big question is will I be celebrating the new year in hospital or will I be home by then?

Results:

No - you will be back home by then was the clear winner with 80% of the votes from the following selection:

• Yes - you will still be in the hospital (20%)
• No - you will be back home by then (80%)

Analysis:

Yeah! I was back home, but not without a try to get back into hospital. Released on December 26th, but had another trip back into ER on the 29th, but was released on the 30th without being admitted. Oh well, Happy New Year to all of you. Hope this one's a good one!!