this is the first album I got really into this summer, and it's a perfect summertime album. Idle Labor's hazy synth+guitar+vocal combination (described by the label as "dreamy nostalgic pop music") is typical of a lot of bedroom pop bands out; what sets Craft Spells apart is their knack for catchy hooks.
not earth-shattering, just good! (as any lazy summer afternoon ought be.) start with "Party Talk" and "Scandinavian Crush".
in the vein of: Wild Nothing, New Order (even the art. see), Beach Fossils, Minks
the most crucial, career-defining lesson my summer job has taught me is: silk knit ties are boss. they're formal enough for any occasion, but still have edge. and you can wear them with almost any fabric (from heavy tweed to tropical wool) in any season. just make sure that your collar is substantial enough to contend with the slightly larger-than-average knot — spreads and cutaways pair perfectly.
my silk knit source is J.Press, which right now is having a 25% off sale on all of its knit ties. solid navy is a staple (this should really be in every man's wardrobe); evergreen, purple, and burgundy are well worth buying; and the black if you want to blow up a black tie event. before you think "$60 for a tie?" consider that these will last you decades, and you'll get compliments every time you wear one.
See also: The Knottery, which has a nice polka dot knit for just $25 (and a bunch of other nice but cheap products)
Alan Light is a guy whose friend got him a photo pass to the 1989 Academy Awards. Light brought his camera and took all of these amateurish candid photos of the stars here, which are fascinating for (1) making the Academy Awards look as real as your prom night, and the celebrities there look like people (2) catching many of today's has-beens in their primes (Tom Cruise especially).
today I read this article about how nobody knows about Monopoly's "auction rule": that upon landing on an unowned property, you have the option to turn the property over to the bank to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (which could be you!). I thought everyone played by this rule. then I thought about how interested in Monopoly I was as a kid, and a bunch of other Monopoly trivia:
here are some other rules I remember fellow Monopoly players (friends, cousins) disregarding or being unaware of: + Show Spoiler +
Even though you are in Jail, you may buy and sell property, buy and sell houses and hotels and collect rents.
“FREE PARKING”… A player landing on this place does not receive any money, property or reward of any kind.
The owner...collects double rent from an opponent who lands on the unimproved properties of his/her complete color-group.
[Y]ou may buy and erect at any time as many houses as your judgement and financial standing will allow
(it doesn't have to be your turn)
according to this article (check the comments if you really want to nerd out, and read this for more on per-square probabilities), the Orange, Light Blue, and Light Purple streets give the best return on investment, in that order (the best ROI in the game is a 3rd house on New York). my childhood strategy was "orange street or bust" and so the stats would vindicate me, if I hadn't agreed to bonkers trades to get St. James/Tennessee/New York. also, I underrated Light Blue. that was my brother's street and good god is dropping $650 every time around the board a painful way to go. Boardwalk, Park Place, and the utilities are all shit.
the only house rule that I ever played with was to regulate "butt money", a concept that my across-the-street neighbor Simon Farrell introduced to me and my brother when we were 8 or 9. "butt money" is money that belongs to a player but is hidden (perhaps under the player's butt) with intent deceive his opponents as to how flush he is. my brother and I often played with a rule against butt money, to avoid the frustration that ensues from challenging a guy who has $45 showing to an auction, and then seeing him whip six $500s out from under his left asscheek.
Monopoly spawned plenty of arguments between my brother and me, but none as ridiculous and heated as our ongoing argument over the meaning of the below Chance/Community Chest card — The Great Advance To The Nearest Railroad Debate.
There are two possible readings:
This card requires the player that draws it to advance to the railroad that is the fewest spaces from that player, in either direction. So: if I land on the Chance space on the Light Blue street and draw the card, I must go around the board (collecting $200) to Reading Railroad, which is two spaces behind where I drew the card.
This card requires the player that draws it to advance to the railroad that is the fewest spaces in front of the player. So: if I land on the Chance space on the Light Blue street and draw the card, I advance eight spaces to Pennsylvania (and do not pass go).
Poll: Which is the correct reading of the card?
2 (Pennsylvania RR) (217)
89%
1 (Reading RR) (26)
11%
243 total votes
Your vote: Which is the correct reading of the card?
of course 1 is the correct reading. here's my thinking. the essential question is: "which railroad is 'the nearest'?" and there is no winning argument that a railroad 8 spots away from my piece is (ever) nearer to my piece than a railroad 2 spots away.
no, it's not dispositive that the card instructs you to "advance". it's common in Monopoly to advance all the way around the board to get to your destination (ever draw "advance to GO" from Blue Street chance spot? the rules specify that you must go all the way around the board, collecting $200). and as a general principle, directionality is generally irrelevant to nearness — especially on a flat game board where every move is instantaneous. as I asked my brother earlier today:
Bob only walks forward. Mosquito A is 20 km ahead of Bob. Mosquito B is on the back of Bob's neck. Which mosquito is nearest to Bob?
the best argument I've heard for playing according to reading 2 is that it couldn't possibly be that the card was intended to be a windfall to players who draw it in all but three Community Chest/Chance spots. that indicates that the makers of Monopoly intended us to go to the Pennsylvania RR. but the meaning of the text on the card itself is another question.
Edit: I wrote this over-the-top, but tbh the more I think about this the more I recognize merits of the other side (reading 1). There's a pretty good argument that on a Monopoly board distance can only be measured going the correct way around the board, so Reading RR is actually 38 spaces away, not 2. That woud make it "nearest" (how could Pennsylvania be further, when you only have to move 8 spaces to get there?).
music for dancing to this july and august. or maybe a drive to the beach.
in the vein of: Delorean, Teengirl Fantasy, Tanlines, Air France
8. C'était un rendez-vous
C'était un rendez-vous [wikipedia] is a short film of an insane drive through Paris. aside from the driving and landmarks, I was interested by these unanswered questions surrounding the film:
a "making of" mini-docu and this photo suggest that the car was a M-Benz 450SEL 6.9. problem: the 450SEL only had three speeds, and you can hear shifts through 5 speeds in the video. the popular explanation for this discrepancy is that the director, Claude Lelouche, dubbed the footage with audio from his Ferrari 275GTB. what a masterful dub! (see)
I think the driver is still unknown. some speculate it was Lelouche himself (the "making of" docu may confirm this; my French isn't good enough to figure out myself).
there is an (unverified) rumor that Lelouche was arrested immediately after the filming.
See also: "Ma Benz" record fast driving on the Isle of Man; stick around for the bit of narration at the end to realize how close this driver was to eating shit
this is part of a chapter from comedian Artie Lange's autobiographical book Too Fat to Fish, read out loud by someone who is not Artie Lange. it's ultra black humor; a funny story that is also the most terrifying and real account of drug addiction I have ever heard. (at the end of day 1 of shooting I thought the story had run its course — not even close)
why isn't Lange himself reading this chapter? according to my friend who recommended it, Lange nearly died from a heroin overdose before he could finish recording the audiobook.
You say that the "advance to GO" card requires you to move forward until you hit GO. The way I see that card is, advance (forward) until you hit a GO place, then you stop. The reason is the game works by moving your piece forwards, not backwards. Phrases pertaining to nearness has to be thought of in context of game rules, which clearly state that you can only move forwards, not backwards. Replace GO with "nearest RR" and it requires you to advance forward to the nearest RR, discarding the RR behind you.
3 people don't know what the word "advance" means.
The answer is Pennsylvania, which is why every single monopoly video game put out by Hasbro/Parker Brothers moves your piece to Pennsylvania and not Reading.
On July 27 2011 13:41 BlackJack wrote: 3 people don't know what the word "advance" means.
I see the merits of both positions, but am still convinced that the issue has almost nothing to do with the word "advance". It's about the meaning of "nearest". Under both readings of the card (go to Penn RR or to Reading RR) you advance around the board. The only question is, what's your destination (which RR is nearest)?
On July 27 2011 13:41 BlackJack wrote: 3 people don't know what the word "advance" means.
The answer is Pennsylvania, which is why every single monopoly video game put out by Hasbro/Parker Brothers moves your piece to Pennsylvania and not Reading.
It is not actually that clear.
The advance bit is completely fine it is the "nearest station" bit that is not so clear. Do you advance to nearest station that is closest to you in any direction, or the next one along the road?
For example
Station A-------->Chance-------------------------------->Station B------->Begin------>Back to Station A
At the chance point do you go past Station B and Begin to get to station A? (The distance from A->Chance is shorter than Chance->B)
On July 27 2011 13:41 BlackJack wrote: 3 people don't know what the word "advance" means.
I see the merits of both positions, but am still convinced that the issue has almost nothing to do with the word "advance". It's about the meaning of "nearest". Under both readings of the card (go to Penn RR or to Reading RR) you advance around the board. The only question is, what's your destination (which RR is nearest)?
Oh. Well in the case that's kind of like someone telling you to "get off on the nearest exit" while you're on a freeway and just passed an exit. Should you get off on the next exit, then hop back on the freeway at the opposite direction to get to that exit you passed? One Railroad is 8 spaces away and the other is 38 spaces away, so I think we should assume that the nearer one is the one that is 8 spaces away.
Nice part 1 and 7. Just rewatched the integral of L&O TOS. (yeah, all the seasons from 1 :D) over the last few months. As it is subbed, I can't really say which ADA act badly, only that Angie is hot. And Alana too.
About the Monopoly, interesting too, but if you take the word nearest literally, why not the world advance ? (it seems the correct answer is nearest, but I see how both could be correct)
On July 27 2011 13:41 BlackJack wrote: 3 people don't know what the word "advance" means.
I see the merits of both positions, but am still convinced that the issue has almost nothing to do with the word "advance". It's about the meaning of "nearest". Under both readings of the card (go to Penn RR or to Reading RR) you advance around the board. The only question is, what's your destination (which RR is nearest)?
Oh. Well in the case that's kind of like someone telling you to "get off on the nearest exit" while you're on a freeway and just passed an exit. Should you get off on the next exit, then hop back on the freeway at the opposite direction to get to that exit you passed? One Railroad is 8 spaces away and the other is 38 spaces away, so I think we should assume that the nearer one is the one that is 8 spaces away.
Yeah, that's the nut of the argument on the other side. It's a good one. Your freeway analogy is really nice (persuasive). Probulous does have a point, though, that on a circular highway (a more accurate analogy) you might cruise back around and take that exit you just passed.
And to that I'd add (to make the analogy even more accurate): what if you could instantaneously travel all the way around the circular highway, arriving right at the exit you just passed? Then there's an even stronger case that that exit you just passed actually is "nearest".
On July 27 2011 13:41 BlackJack wrote: 3 people don't know what the word "advance" means.
I see the merits of both positions, but am still convinced that the issue has almost nothing to do with the word "advance". It's about the meaning of "nearest". Under both readings of the card (go to Penn RR or to Reading RR) you advance around the board. The only question is, what's your destination (which RR is nearest)?
Oh. Well in the case that's kind of like someone telling you to "get off on the nearest exit" while you're on a freeway and just passed an exit. Should you get off on the next exit, then hop back on the freeway at the opposite direction to get to that exit you passed? One Railroad is 8 spaces away and the other is 38 spaces away, so I think we should assume that the nearer one is the one that is 8 spaces away.
Even if it is not the nearest?
Bare in mind, in your example you are not going in a circle. It would be better phrased that you are on a circular freeway and pass the exit. If someone tells you to take the nearest exit, do you follow the road until you come back to original or do you take the next available exit regardless of how far away it is?
As you say "so I think we should assume". It is just an assumption, and the 38 space distance is only because you assume that distance has to be measured in the same direction you are heading.
All electronic iterations of Monopoly that I've seen would make you move forward from the Chance card. The closest railroad is never one you've just passed. That's my argument.
On July 27 2011 13:41 BlackJack wrote: 3 people don't know what the word "advance" means.
I see the merits of both positions, but am still convinced that the issue has almost nothing to do with the word "advance". It's about the meaning of "nearest". Under both readings of the card (go to Penn RR or to Reading RR) you advance around the board. The only question is, what's your destination (which RR is nearest)?
Oh. Well in the case that's kind of like someone telling you to "get off on the nearest exit" while you're on a freeway and just passed an exit. Should you get off on the next exit, then hop back on the freeway at the opposite direction to get to that exit you passed? One Railroad is 8 spaces away and the other is 38 spaces away, so I think we should assume that the nearer one is the one that is 8 spaces away.
Even if it is not the nearest?
Bare in mind, in your example you are not going in a circle. It would be better phrased that you are on a circular freeway and pass the exit. If someone tells you to take the nearest exit, do you follow the road until you come back to original or do you take the next available exit regardless of how far away it is?
As you say "so I think we should assume". It is just an assumption, and the 38 space distance is only because you assume that distance has to be measured in the same direction you are heading.
What we should do is what we believe they meant when they made the card. In this case we don't have to assume what they meant because we know what they meant. They have released video games and computer games that move the piece for you and they all move your piece to Pennsylvania RR in this instance. It's just a board game so spirit of the law always wins.
It is still an interesting question. If you played the game based solely on the rules given to you, you could play both ways. I wasn't arguing, merely offering the counterpoint.
Seriously, was I the only person that played monopoly according to the rules when I was little? They actually make the game go by a lot faster, since the only source of non-player income is passing Go (and small amounts from chance/community chest) <_<
Me and my friends play with a hilarious Monopoly house rule that only applies to people who have been knocked out of the game. The eliminated person(s) gets $1 back and if they can somehow make it across the board unscathed and pass Go, the "advance to ... " cards dont count, that person wins. Hilarity always ensues.
On July 27 2011 16:25 Z3kk wrote: Hey, the rendez-vous video is private D:
I can't seem to find an alternate one, either
Yeah, private video for C'était un rendez-vous. I dont suppose you with your mystical powers could possibly find us another?
Anyway, an absolutely fantastic read, and one of my favourite recurring events of team liquid. Thank you so much! Without you, my friends would never believe i was cultured and intelligent
On July 27 2011 16:39 holy_war wrote: Me and my friends play with a hilarious Monopoly house rule that only applies to people who have been knocked out of the game. The eliminated person(s) gets $1 back and if they can somehow make it across the board unscathed and pass Go, the "advance to ... " cards dont count, that person wins. Hilarity always ensues.
haha! this is actually a good house rule for Monopoly, because a deficiency of the game (which typical house rules always aggravate, yeah Empyrean) is that it tends to go on too long.
On July 27 2011 16:25 Z3kk wrote: Hey, the rendez-vous video is private D:
I can't seem to find an alternate one, either
fixed the link, sorry. I have absolutely no idea how you could miss it with a search. "cetait un rendezvous" turns up 4 versions on YT
The railroad thing is wrong man. The key is the word "advance", which requires moving forward. You would have to stop at the first railroad you land on.
I've been playing Monopoly a lot with friends recently, so some thoughts:
- We play with the speed dice (q.v.), which is new, but it significantly improves the investment return on the high-rolling greens and PP/BW. Some of my friends have also been able to power their whole game with side 1 and all the Railroads, but they tend to succumb to multiple landings on higher rollers.
- "If there are a limited number of houses and hotels available and two or more players wish to buy more than the Bank has, the houses or hotels must be sold at auction to the highest bidder." That sentence has caused some heated arguments, partially because we only allow people to build on their turn to avoid chaos. We also only allow people to build houses/hotels and trade once all the property on the board has been purchased.
- The Oranges being the most viable is not surprising at all. Illinois Ave.'s supposed popularity, however, is. Everybody always lets the Utilities go to auction and I never pay more than $75 (and so I never get the Utilities).
- All Income Tax, Luxury Tax, Community Chest, and Chance payments go to the centre and are picked up from Free Parking. This may lengthen the games, but it makes games more dramatic. Fuck the law.
I would like to offer an alternative interpretation for Monopoly.
The card says "advance", however in this circumstance I would like to argue that "advance" is used as a synonym to "move", and I don't believe that there is a rule that states all chance cards require to use the default clockwise direction that is otherwised used in reguler moving.
In other words, I would argue that you do indeed advance to Reading but "backwards" without passing "Go". This presumption is reenforced by that fact that I believe most chance cards that require passing Go specify "If you pass Go, collect 200$". In this case there is public transportation on every quartile of the map, meaning that if you apply my reasoning, wherever you are on the map, you would never actually pass Go (the condition here being that public transportation be located in the exact centre of each quartile, which is the case).
This approach reconciles the proximity issue with the passing go issue and lack of specification on the card.
As always the album recommendations make me feel so second-hand creative it's awesome. Thanks for letting me leech off of your good taste and broad experience. For those who bothered to click the "goes with this" near the top of the potpourri, the featured band, "Bad Lamps" is letting you pay whatever you want for their EP. Take advantage of it and/or support a band with a great album for summer. I just did and I'm loving it. http://badlamps.bandcamp.com/
Awesome! And special thanks for #8; it reminds me of drunken bike rides at 6am... but in less crowded. Oh, the good ol' times, when the streets of Paris were empty in the dawn...
After following your blog for a couple of months I was looking every day for XIX to pop up. I like a lot of your music you post and especially the screen of the old National Geographic caught my eye. And I hope that I can use all this incredible helpfull fashion advice one day when I start doinh important work. The Monopoly thing made me think for the first time how the street names are different in each language version and who decided it that way long ago.
Just want to add to the circular freeway argument. Beltways encircle many large cities in the U.S. and are in fact common circular freeways. I drive on at least one everyday. If you told me to get off at the nearest exit, I would definitely interpret this as the next exit as you simply cannot go backwards. Even if I was .1 miles past exit A and exit B is 10 miles away I'd just assume you were referencing exit B as exit A is no longer closer. It would require going all the way around or at least going to exit B and then turning around. Both of which make exit A a greater distanace.
As such the answer is you must advance(go forward).
On July 28 2011 00:09 Lansky wrote: Just want to add to the circular freeway argument. Beltways encircle many large cities in the U.S. and are in fact common circular freeways. I drive on at least one everyday. If you told me to get off at the nearest exit, I would definitely interpret this as the next exit as you simply cannot go backwards. Even if I was .1 miles past exit A and exit B is 10 miles away I'd just assume you were referencing exit B as exit A is no longer closer. It would require going all the way around or at least going to exit B and then turning around. Both of which make exit A a greater distanace.
As such the answer is you must advance(go forward).
On July 28 2011 00:09 Lansky wrote: Just want to add to the circular freeway argument. Beltways encircle many large cities in the U.S. and are in fact common circular freeways. I drive on at least one everyday. If you told me to get off at the nearest exit, I would definitely interpret this as the next exit as you simply cannot go backwards. Even if I was .1 miles past exit A and exit B is 10 miles away I'd just assume you were referencing exit B as exit A is no longer closer. It would require going all the way around or at least going to exit B and then turning around. Both of which make exit A a greater distanace.
As such the answer is you must advance(go forward).
It's been far too long since the last one! Good to see you're still alive.
Monopoly is notoriously hard to play 'correctly' and I certainly remember playing our own version of the game as children. Nowadays we mostly get it right except for the 'house rule' which puts money collected for the bank going on to 'free parking'. Spices up the game a bit.
I always thought the crux of the card was the word 'advance'. So it meant the nearest station going forward.
On July 27 2011 16:39 holy_war wrote: Me and my friends play with a hilarious Monopoly house rule that only applies to people who have been knocked out of the game. The eliminated person(s) gets $1 back and if they can somehow make it across the board unscathed and pass Go, the "advance to ... " cards dont count, that person wins. Hilarity always ensues.
haha! this is actually a good house rule for Monopoly, because a deficiency of the game (which typical house rules always aggravate, yeah Empyrean) is that it tends to go on too long.
In only one instance do you go backwards or counter-clockwise on the board and it is not upon your doing.
In 1900s games, you are always going clockwise and never backwards: Parchisi, Sorry, Headache, etc.).
The idea that you go backwards on Monopoly is ridiculous. The requisites is that you must advance, which is "Avancer" in french or to move forward. Forward being clockwise on the board. So advance -> nearest.
So you're moving forward to the nearest railroad.
The idea of "which is the nearest towards you" still has to fall under the shade of "advancing". You continually advance until you get to the nearest railroad.
An example?
You are one space after Reading Railroad, it says for you to advance to the nearest. By eye, you see R. railroad is the nearest but you cannot move backwards, so you must continually advance clockwise on the board until you get to the R.R. as you are advancing, you meet Pens. Railroad.
The conditions are the same, your movement changes which railroad is the nearest.
Voila. Pens. Railroad.
________________
Welp, I got ninja'd, I hope I contributed anyways.
My siblings and I never played with the full Monopoly rules. The "pay 10%" was bullshit and no one wanted to bother figuring that shit out. So we always paid 200$. The auction rule was equally not played because it took too long.
So both rules are basically tossed to keep the game going.
My father is the probably the only Jewish man who plays deviously. He always has the last property you need for Monopoly and crosses his soul on it. Not only would you have to pay an exorbitant amount (400+$ or more), but he demands either at least 3 free passes on any improved properties or a lifetime if the property is a yellow or more.
He's never won, but the game sure lasts a lot longer.
Dear Sir or Madam of Hasbro customer service. I am a member on a forum called TeamLiquid (http://www.teamliquid.net) and in a recent forum thread (http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=248123) the rules of monopoly emerged and of course being the internet, everyone had their own stand on the rules. So here is the problem. When you pick up a chance card with the "Advance token to the nearest Railroad and pay owner twice the rental to which he is otherwise entitles. If railroad is unowned, you may buy it from the bank." you can understand the task in two different ways:
1) This card requires the drawing player to advance to the railroad that is the fewest spaces from the plays. In other words if I land on the chance on a light blue street I must go around the board (and collect $200) to Reading Railroad which is 2 spaces behind where I drew the card.
2) The card requires the drawing player to advance to the railroad that is the fewest spaces in front of the player. So if I land on the chance on the same light blue street I advance eight spaces to Pennsylvania Railroad (and don't pass go).
At the moment alternative 2 is winnig with 88% of the votes.
In the forum thread there are quite a few good reasonings to both alternatives: "On a Monopoly board distance can only be measured going the correct way around the board, so Reading RR is actually 38 spaces away, not 2. That woud make it "nearest" (how could Pennsylvania be further, when you only have to move 8 spaces to get there?)."
"of course 1 is the correct reading. here's my thinking. the essential question is: "which railroad is 'the nearest'?" and there is no winning argument that a railroad 8 spots away from my piece is (ever) nearer to my piece than a railroad 2 spots away.
no, it's not dispositive that the card instructs you to "advance". it's common in Monopoly to advance all the way around the board to get to your destination (ever draw "advance to GO" from Blue Street chance spot? the rules specify that you must go all the way around the board, collecting $200). and as a general principle, directionality is generally irrelevant to nearness — especially on a flat game board where every move is instantaneous."
Could you experts of board games please enlighten us, experts of StarCraft2, on how the chance card should be interpreted.
Dear Sir or Madam of Hasbro customer service. I am a member on a forum called TeamLiquid (http://www.teamliquid.net) and in a recent forum thread (http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=248123) the rules of monopoly emerged and of course being the internet, everyone had their own stand on the rules. So here is the problem. When you pick up a chance card with the "Advance token to the nearest Railroad and pay owner twice the rental to which he is otherwise entitles. If railroad is unowned, you may buy it from the bank." you can understand the task in two different ways:
1) This card requires the drawing player to advance to the railroad that is the fewest spaces from the plays. In other words if I land on the chance on a light blue street I must go around the board (and collect $200) to Reading Railroad which is 2 spaces behind where I drew the card.
2) The card requires the drawing player to advance to the railroad that is the fewest spaces in front of the player. So if I land on the chance on the same light blue street I advance eight spaces to Pennsylvania Railroad (and don't pass go).
At the moment alternative 2 is winnig with 88% of the votes.
In the forum thread there are quite a few good reasonings to both alternatives: "On a Monopoly board distance can only be measured going the correct way around the board, so Reading RR is actually 38 spaces away, not 2. That woud make it "nearest" (how could Pennsylvania be further, when you only have to move 8 spaces to get there?)."
"of course 1 is the correct reading. here's my thinking. the essential question is: "which railroad is 'the nearest'?" and there is no winning argument that a railroad 8 spots away from my piece is (ever) nearer to my piece than a railroad 2 spots away.
no, it's not dispositive that the card instructs you to "advance". it's common in Monopoly to advance all the way around the board to get to your destination (ever draw "advance to GO" from Blue Street chance spot? the rules specify that you must go all the way around the board, collecting $200). and as a general principle, directionality is generally irrelevant to nearness — especially on a flat game board where every move is instantaneous."
Could you experts of board games please enlighten us, experts of StarCraft2, on how the chance card should be interpreted.
Thank you for your help.
Best Regards
YES YES YES
This is amazingly lulz worthy!
Off-topic: I had 4 kinds of Monopoly boards: Snoopy, Star Wars, Regular and Pokemon. Pokemon had this great double-die thing where if you rolled 12, you could "battle" someone for their property if no buildings were on it.
Snake eyes meant teleport and double 3s meant pay everyone 50 and double 4s meant receive 50 for everyone.
Made the game really silly.
Also, JWD, you get last p.m about that private matter?
on the free parking in Monopoly,the way I and my friends/family play is that all taxes(super tax,income tax)payed in the game goes to the center of the board,and all that money collected up so far goes to the guy who lands on free parking.
On July 28 2011 02:27 BLinD-RawR wrote: on the free parking in Monopoly,the way I and my friends/family play is that all taxes(super tax,income tax)payed in the game goes to the center of the board,and all that money collected up so far goes to the guy who lands on free parking.
On July 28 2011 02:27 BLinD-RawR wrote: on the free parking in Monopoly,the way I and my friends/family play is that all taxes(super tax,income tax)payed in the game goes to the center of the board,and all that money collected up so far goes to the guy who lands on free parking.
its weird but thats the way I play it.
Makes going to Jail all the more worth it.
indeed.:p
I love rolling that clutch 10 going through all the pink and orange street(I call them sets) hotels and taking all of your tax money.
Hasbro email is gold. Thank you for that. Please return here with any response you get!
You guys bringing up "advance" are neglecting that (as explained in OP) under the "Reading RR" interpretation, you also advance--it's just that you have to advance all the way around the board. The issue is just which RR is "nearest"; does the fact that you have to advance to it impact on that issue?
Empyrean before you are convinced by the loop highway analogy read the discussion at the bottom of page 1
cheers everyone
P.S @ jon arbuckle: what's the thinking behind the "no building until all properties are sold" rule? Is it to prevent players from lucking/trading their way to a street well before everyone else, and scoring an easy win? The tradeoff is that eliminating the option to build means no choices between building early and conserving funds to snag up available properties.
Your entire argument is negligible of the direction of the board based on where you can see from an aerial view.
As I said before, if R.R. is nearest to you, as you advance forward Pens. Railroad becomes the closest, why do you ignore both the direction of the board by your aerial view, the ideas of "advancing" or moving forward and the change of what is the nearest.
By your fashion of thinking, you are changing the wording, you are looking for the nearest and then advancing instead of advancing and until you are at the nearest railroad.
Here's you: Where is the nearest -> Go there. Here's the card: Advance to the a railroad that is the nearest. Advance to the nearest -> railroad
Advance(nearest railroad).
The nearest railroad must be kept in association with advancing, if you can add the perspective that anything behind you is also the nearest then as you move forward, anything that gets closer to you can equally become the nearest.
On July 28 2011 02:34 JWD wrote: P.S @ jon arbuckle: what's the thinking behind the "no building until all properties are sold" rule? Is it to prevent players from lucking/trading their way to a street well before everyone else, and scoring an easy win? The tradeoff is that eliminating the option to build means no choices between building early and conserving funds to snag up available properties.
Yes, basically. The speed die changes everything.
That tradeoff doesn't matter with the speed die because the rulebook stipulates you start with two or three extra $500 bills (I forget). You have enough money to buy whatever you can, and once all the property is bought up, trade negotiations begin in full. If you blew most of your money on property, you can trade for cash from others players (and the more property you have, the easier trade negotiations will go for you).
With Mr. Monopoly on the speed die, in a three or four player game, the gap between the haves and have-nots can be enormous.
Quick explanation of the speed die: - you start with extra money when using the speed die; - the die's sides are thus: 1, 2, 3, bus, Mr. Monopoly, Mr. Monopoly; - the die is only used after the first trip around the board (jail does not count); - the numbers are added to your other two dice for your move and are not considered as part of a double (where you roll again); - three-of-a-kind means you move to anywhere you wish on the board, with no second roll; - the bus means you can choose to move the distance for one of either white die or both together (e.g. I could move 5, 6, or 11 spaces); - Mr. Monopoly means you move to the next available (i.e. unowned) property, or if no property is available, the next property not owned by you.
So, for example, in the early game, only Illinois and Oriental remain unowned, and I land on Illinois with Mr. Monopoly, I can buy Illinois, move past GO, collect $200, and then buy Oriental.
As another example, I land on Illinois, which I do not own and on which there is a hotel, but I own everything between it and Park Place, which also has a hotel, with Mr. Monopoly, then I pay rent on Illinois and then move to Park Place where I pay rent again.
Last example, two players of four have gone bankrupt to me, leaving one player left. He has the Orange monopoly developed, ghetto (Baltic/Medi.) monopoly developed, and the Railroads. I own everything else on the board, approximately half of which is mortgaged. The rest has modest developments (hotels to 3 houses). I am so, so fucked.
Taragana Pyjarama EP is amazing, highly recommended. The first song is just great and has a sort of soft noise style. Think of crystal castles but sedatives instead of cocaine.
I've been following these recently, and even though this guy's personal commentary always comes across sounding like his nose is pointed up, I gotta admit the potpourri section always has cool things to know about.
On July 28 2011 02:34 JWD wrote: Hasbro email is gold. Thank you for that. Please return here with any response you get!
You guys bringing up "advance" are neglecting that (as explained in OP) under the "Reading RR" interpretation, you also advance--it's just that you have to advance all the way around the board. The issue is just which RR is "nearest"; does the fact that you have to advance to it impact on that issue?
Empyrean before you are convinced by the loop highway analogy read the discussion at the bottom of page 1
cheers everyone
P.S @ jon arbuckle: what's the thinking behind the "no building until all properties are sold" rule? Is it to prevent players from lucking/trading their way to a street well before everyone else, and scoring an easy win? The tradeoff is that eliminating the option to build means no choices between building early and conserving funds to snag up available properties.
Well to me it should end with just saying that the designers never intended it to be a windfall for the player to go around the board passing go... However just for the sake of entertaining the other argument...
I just find it strange to interpret the RR right behind you as the nearest if in order to advance to it you have to past by all three of the other RR. The mosquito might be closer, physically, but you then proceeded to run way past the one 20 miles away and around the world to get to it. When someone just asked you to go to the nearest stop. Which is probably how they should have worded it... We could look at Chance cards in other languages. A french version might have a translation with better wording.
It's a wording thing... It just strikes me as one of those arguments you would conveniently get into when someone other than you owns Pennsylvania. *Shrug*
If you are advancing, the question is, does it mean the nearest railroad to your current position, or the nearest railroad in your line of travel (forward) ?
I'd say that Penn would be "nearest" as you will reach it first in the direction you are advancing. Reading would be furthest, as you are traveling the most distance to reach it out of any railroad, even though you are technically close to it. But I don't think that matters, personally. In the direction you are advancing, it's not very near at all. When confined to the rules of the card, backwards doesn't even exist, and it is impossible to travel in that direction. So by the card's sense of reality, since backwards doesn't exist, then Reading isn't near to you at all. Once you start advancing, the first railroad you see would be Penn, and therefore that is the nearest railroad.
Me my friends and my family have played too much Monopoly. We always knew about the auction rule and I disagree with the article stating that the rule adds any level of excitement or emotion to the game.
When you use the auction rule, at first there is an illusion of eliminating randomness and replacing it with player interaction but the truth is after you play enough games (like we have) you realize that no matter what property you land on you HAVE to buy it. You have enough money to buy everything you land on and pay all the debts the first ~10 turns. The 200 from Go is more than enough to pay any debts before houses hit the board and your initial money is going to last until you buy enough stuff that you can start to make deals. People tend to forget that Monopoly is a game of assets not cash. You can be on $40 or $2k when the game reaches the late stage if you land on 2 hotels in one round you are toast. The real purpose of the game is getting yourself in the best position you can with the initial properties you get. If that means buying a piece of a set just so your opponent can't then so be it. Just don't buy utilities and hope you land on as many properties as possible.
In my opinion thou the auction rule not being used is just people not reading the instructions the 2 rules that have caused a LOT of fights for me are players not being able to loan money and what constitutes a loan and second what to do with the stuff of a player that gets knocked out. If you knock out a player and that player wants to be an asshole to everyone else that could mean you basically instawinning the game which sucks for someone else if they clearly had a better shot at winning.
I could talk a little more about monopoly but honestly this is making me look crazy enough. But seriously try it next game. Buy everything you land on and tell me how it goes.
Also regarding the "nearest railroad" issue like someone else posted the videogame version of monopoly would move you to Penn. And the travel version that you could only move pieces with a little turn thingy only allowed you to move forward. Like I said I've played this game way too much.
JWD much <3 as always and please don't take so long to post this blogs. Your style piece is always on point, I remember reading about the unbuttoned collar look a while back in another fashion blog. looks great with the ties and of course this will probably take me a couple of days to go over everything but that's why I love this so much.
P.S. Risk is the best of the "simple" board games.
On July 28 2011 02:27 BLinD-RawR wrote: on the free parking in Monopoly,the way I and my friends/family play is that all taxes(super tax,income tax)payed in the game goes to the center of the board,and all that money collected up so far goes to the guy who lands on free parking.
its weird but thats the way I play it.
I also play this way. There gets to be a lot of tension when the pot in the middle gets huge and everyone is going for it.
Option 2 is how I interpret the whole RR controversy.
Anyone have the millenium edition of Monopoly (the one with the shiny board)? I hate it. The board gives you a headache and the plastic money is a pain to use. We gave up on it and went back to using our old edition that my mom got for her birthday as a teenager.
Hah, every time I see someone give a shoutout to Teengirl Fantasy I feel a bit of school pride (they went to my college, and became TGF while at school). Great blog!
On July 28 2011 10:47 BrownBear wrote: Hah, every time I see someone give a shoutout to Teengirl Fantasy I feel a bit of school pride (they went to my college, and became TGF while at school). Great blog!
thanks dude. I want to say...Ohio State? some Ohio school I think. Teengirl Fantasy has a remix on that Taragana Pyjarama EP. Pretty awesome artist, but when they opened for Crystal Castles in Philly this year I got the sense that nobody knew who they were, since the crowd was just standing around. ofc I was the drunk idiot telling people to dance
On July 28 2011 02:34 JWD wrote: Empyrean before you are convinced by the loop highway analogy read the discussion at the bottom of page 1
Hmm, I still think going to the exit directly after your position (instead of one closer in distance behind you) would make sense, because to go to the one behind you require you to either circle around the entire highway (in which case the "closer" exit would take a much longer time to actually arrive at), make some sort of U-turn maneuver through the median (which most highways don't even allow...in any case, it'd be undue effort), or take the next exit in your current direction, cross the highway, and rejoin in the opposite direction (in which case the one behind your original position wouldn't even be "nearest" in a location sense).
Another interesting interpretation to consider is simply going backwards to the nearest one behind you. This puts you at the "nearest" station from an absolute value standpoint, but has the drawback of being sort of semantically disingenuous with the word "advance." I suppose you could make the case that "advancing" doesn't necessarily have to be in a "forwards" direction, but I dunno, that's kind of stretching it a bit.
By the way, have you ever played Ticket to Ride? One of the best board games I've ever played. I was skeptical at first, but what first started out as a board game of immature sexual innuendos turned into a night of delicious garlic breadsticks, compelling gameplay (we seriously played for hours), and of course, immature sexual innuendos.
On July 28 2011 10:47 BrownBear wrote: Hah, every time I see someone give a shoutout to Teengirl Fantasy I feel a bit of school pride (they went to my college, and became TGF while at school). Great blog!
thanks dude. I want to say...Ohio State? some Ohio school I think. Teengirl Fantasy has a remix on that Taragana Pyjarama EP. Pretty awesome artist, but when they opened for Crystal Castles in Philly this year I got the sense that nobody knew who they were, since the crowd was just standing around. ofc I was the drunk idiot telling people to dance
btw check out their website, it's rad
Haha, I know their website. Best angelfire ever also it was Oberlin College (woooooo!)
You have to have the cash on hand in order to place a bid in a monopoly auction. So if you got a lot of money and your opponents are broke you can send something to auction and they have to let you have it for dirt cheap or start mortgaging all their shit just to make a bid
The "plan ahead" knit sign is pretty interesting. It actually ends up looking planned because of the vertical space left exclusively for the AD to drop down ;-;
So much content! I guess I'll have to check the NSFW bits 9 hours later -_-;; Maybe I should call up a few friends for "Monopoly and Beer" party this weekend. Of course, with the set of rules I learned here (I always used to advance to nearest railroad ahead). Will post pics and results if it happens!
I'm not agreeing whatsoever with your interpretation of the Chance card, mostly because if your interpretation was correct you would pass GO and collect $200 to get to Reading Railroad. This would happen in any situation where the previous railroad was closer than the next one.
Edit: and I see that that is your position (I should have read your post more clearly, I apologize). I would respectfully disagree that there would be a card that has situational payoff/penalty depending solely on your physical location on the board at the time; any other card that has situational payoffs depends on either A) choice, B) dice roll or C) ownership/number of buildings.
Edit 2: Actually that's not true; any "advance to" card has a chance to pay off $200 by passing GO. Jesus, you're right.
I liked Sam Waterstone a lot. I don't like any of the spinoffs either.
If you havn't read Too Fat Too Fish you might want to consider buying it. It's a pretty interesting read with insight into the life of a talented guy who can't keep it together (in the vein of Belushi and Farley). He was also interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross when the book came out, it was a really good interview if you care to dig it up.
On July 27 2011 13:41 BlackJack wrote: 3 people don't know what the word "advance" means.
I see the merits of both positions, but am still convinced that the issue has almost nothing to do with the word "advance". It's about the meaning of "nearest". Under both readings of the card (go to Penn RR or to Reading RR) you advance around the board. The only question is, what's your destination (which RR is nearest)?
Oh. Well in the case that's kind of like someone telling you to "get off on the nearest exit" while you're on a freeway and just passed an exit. Should you get off on the next exit, then hop back on the freeway at the opposite direction to get to that exit you passed? One Railroad is 8 spaces away and the other is 38 spaces away, so I think we should assume that the nearer one is the one that is 8 spaces away.
Yeah, that's the nut of the argument on the other side. It's a good one. Your freeway analogy is really nice (persuasive). Probulous does have a point, though, that on a circular highway (a more accurate analogy) you might cruise back around and take that exit you just passed.
And to that I'd add (to make the analogy even more accurate): what if you could instantaneously travel all the way around the circular highway, arriving right at the exit you just passed? Then there's an even stronger case that that exit you just passed actually is "nearest".
It must be the one in front of you, less the card be ambiguous. If you are at a corner, you are precisely 5 steps away from a railroad in any direction.
On July 27 2011 13:41 BlackJack wrote: 3 people don't know what the word "advance" means.
I see the merits of both positions, but am still convinced that the issue has almost nothing to do with the word "advance". It's about the meaning of "nearest". Under both readings of the card (go to Penn RR or to Reading RR) you advance around the board. The only question is, what's your destination (which RR is nearest)?
Oh. Well in the case that's kind of like someone telling you to "get off on the nearest exit" while you're on a freeway and just passed an exit. Should you get off on the next exit, then hop back on the freeway at the opposite direction to get to that exit you passed? One Railroad is 8 spaces away and the other is 38 spaces away, so I think we should assume that the nearer one is the one that is 8 spaces away.
Yeah, that's the nut of the argument on the other side. It's a good one. Your freeway analogy is really nice (persuasive). Probulous does have a point, though, that on a circular highway (a more accurate analogy) you might cruise back around and take that exit you just passed.
And to that I'd add (to make the analogy even more accurate): what if you could instantaneously travel all the way around the circular highway, arriving right at the exit you just passed? Then there's an even stronger case that that exit you just passed actually is "nearest".
It must be the one in front of you, less the card be ambiguous. If you are at a corner, you are precisely 5 steps away from a railroad in any direction.
Edit: it's impossible to draw a chance/CC card at any corner, so this ambiguity never arises. Genuinely nice try though
On any card where there is an opportunity for collecting $200.00 by passing GO it is indicated as such.
<-- Reading Railroad!!
On cards where there is not, it is not indicated:
And that includes the "nearest" cards:
Of course this leaves the Chance space directly after Short Line and before Luxury Tax ambiguous, since if you got a "nearest railroad" card there you would have to pass GO.
hahaha great evidence I hadn't thought of keeps popping up in here, and it's all for the Pennsylvania RR story. I'm now convinced that Pennsylvania RR (always go "forward") is the rule, but that the language of the card is ambiguous.
This article was something I expected to read on GQ, not on teamliquid, and I really appreciated it.
Some comments about the knit tie thing: knit ties are pretty cool. They can be perfect way to add something new to the otherwise standard shirt/tie/jacket trinity. But it's not as if everyone should just go out right now and buy tons of knit ties, because it's the kind of thing that has to be done with taste. Some things that should be considered
Length-- knit ties, from what I've seen, should be tied slightly shorter than other ties. You definitely don't want this textured Thing hanging over and past down your pants.
This is probably TOO short by a couple inches, but it helps show the point.
Width-- knit ties, because they're already bulkier than your average tie, should be pretty skinny. Somewhere between 2 1/4-3 inches is what you're looking for. Consider exhibit A:
Given that, I think you should definitely avoid having knit ties as you're standard. Like off color socks, they're a neat thing to toss in every once in a while, but should still be a once-every-couple-weeks type of deal.
Normal four-in-hand ties, whether they're silk, cotton, or whatever, let you express as much as you need to. You just have to be tasteful in your choice of cut, color, and pattern. Those are just a few thoughts--let me know if you disagree or anything.
JWD is such a hipster nerd, maybe even bigger than Tasteless himself!
And I myself love these random interesting stuff.
Thanks for Taragana Pyjarama, never heard of them before but it's definitively my music nowadays, dream pop/chillwave/summer chill is teh shit (memoryhouse being the top favorite atm) which is also awesome to remix if you want more beats.. (the EP is also on spotify).
I loved the getaway in Paris film aswell. Didn't even know it existed but now I see where Getaway in Stockholm got their inspiration (well probably not but nice to know they weren't the first). And it is definitively dubbed.
1) completely agree that knits must be tied shorter. I usually go ~1/2'' above the top of my pants. Dangling over waistline/belt just doesn't look right 2) disagree a bit about the skinniness; I like 3'' knits and wouldn't buy skinnier. skinny tie = casual tie and that decreases versatility. also, I really only wear ties to work. this is more a personal preference 3) I don't see any reason not to wear a knit tie regularly, if it's a solid/muted color. there's nothing flashy about a knit tie like there is about loud socks.
my favorite thing about knits over regular ties is that I can wear a solid color, simple tie and avoid looking blah/average. I'm not a fan of loud colors or patterns (and they're not really suited for my work environment) so, for example, most of the ties in the last image you posted are out of the question for me.
The most disgusting part of the video in #8 is that the number of likes/dislikes for it on youtube. Somehow the ratio of people who find this cool to people who find it revolting is 50:1, i wonder what the ratio would be if those 500 people saw somebody they know/like/value crossing the street in that video.
On July 30 2011 03:06 deroth wrote: The most disgusting part of the video in #8 is that the number of likes/dislikes for it on youtube. Somehow the ratio of people who find this cool to people who find it revolting is 50:1, i wonder what the ratio would be if those 500 people saw somebody they know/like/value crossing the street in that video.
What if that video was salvaged from a camera of a ridiculous accident involving pedestrians or another vehicle?
I think it's an interesting video, but I don't think it's a cool video unless someone somehow came up and said it was all fake and somehow he was really rolling at the speed limit the whole time.
On August 01 2011 00:05 duBstar wrote: Oh man I used to follow these so much. I've never commented but felt it was necessary now. Thanks these really are awesome.
On August 02 2011 01:52 intoyourrainbOW wrote: wow, can everyone stop riding this guy's dick? i admit i like his musical tastes, but who died and made this guy TL's resident hipster/fashionista?
User was temp banned for this post.
Don't resist it. you love him too <3.
JWD is a boss. His blog's are one of the reason's i come to Tl every day. My only complaint is that we don't see them very often! I still remember seeing my first JWD blog. Let's be honest with ourselves, the girls are usually the best part. But I'm always amazed at the things you find on the internet. If i was only allowed to go one place on the internet, it would be JWD's blogs. He finds the best the internet has to offer.
Dear Sir or Madam of Hasbro customer service. I am a member on a forum called TeamLiquid (http://www.teamliquid.net) and in a recent forum thread (http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=248123) the rules of monopoly emerged and of course being the internet, everyone had their own stand on the rules. So here is the problem. When you pick up a chance card with the "Advance token to the nearest Railroad and pay owner twice the rental to which he is otherwise entitles. If railroad is unowned, you may buy it from the bank." you can understand the task in two different ways:
1) This card requires the drawing player to advance to the railroad that is the fewest spaces from the plays. In other words if I land on the chance on a light blue street I must go around the board (and collect $200) to Reading Railroad which is 2 spaces behind where I drew the card.
2) The card requires the drawing player to advance to the railroad that is the fewest spaces in front of the player. So if I land on the chance on the same light blue street I advance eight spaces to Pennsylvania Railroad (and don't pass go).
At the moment alternative 2 is winnig with 88% of the votes.
In the forum thread there are quite a few good reasonings to both alternatives: "On a Monopoly board distance can only be measured going the correct way around the board, so Reading RR is actually 38 spaces away, not 2. That woud make it "nearest" (how could Pennsylvania be further, when you only have to move 8 spaces to get there?)."
"of course 1 is the correct reading. here's my thinking. the essential question is: "which railroad is 'the nearest'?" and there is no winning argument that a railroad 8 spots away from my piece is (ever) nearer to my piece than a railroad 2 spots away.
no, it's not dispositive that the card instructs you to "advance". it's common in Monopoly to advance all the way around the board to get to your destination (ever draw "advance to GO" from Blue Street chance spot? the rules specify that you must go all the way around the board, collecting $200). and as a general principle, directionality is generally irrelevant to nearness — especially on a flat game board where every move is instantaneous."
Could you experts of board games please enlighten us, experts of StarCraft2, on how the chance card should be interpreted.
Thanks for your email, which I have checked with our design team. They agree that the rule should be interpreted as NEXT railroad as you move forward on the board not nearest in terms of spaces.
We will look into changing the wording in the chance card to make this more clear when playing and avoid unnecessary confusion.
"ADVANCE TO THE NEXT RAILROAD. If UNOWNED, you may buy it from the Bank. If OWNED, pay owner twice the rental to which they are otherwise entitled."
Hope this explanation helps.
Can't wait to see this changed in the game itself. I have made my mark on history. Thanks to JWD for that one I guess!