Everybody Votes Channel - Results

Do you like to take turns? You know, gas pedal then brake pedal, then gas pedal again. How about when you were eleven, were you more likely to enjoy board games or games like Hungry Hungry Hippos? Well, read on to see if you’re the only one.

1.

Which do you use more often to communicate?
E-mail (44.3%) or Text/instant message (55.7%)

So it isn’t too surprising that people prefer instant interaction versus the “turn-based” method of communication that e-mail provides. No, that isn’t a surprise to us since we’ve always considered e-mail sort of an over-hyped version of snail mail. What is shocking is the 6 random states that prefer it! Really, could there be a more arbitrary sampling of pink states on the results map? Maybe they need more time to think of responses in those states.

Lesson Learned: Conspiracy theories are still in play: what shape does it make if you connect all the pink states on a real map? Coincidence?

2.

Do you remember your 11th birthday?
Yes (44.7%) or No (55.3%)

Um, no. Anyone who says yes is either lying, or had a really bad experience and remembers it. What is so special about becoming 11? Why would anyone have a memorable birthday? No, we aren’t jaded – just realistic!

Lesson Learned: Puerto Rico lies so hard.

3.

When driving, which do you use more?
The gas pedal (79.9%) or The brake pedal (20.1%)

Well this is overwhelming now isn’t it. On one hand it’s nice to know that most people aren’t futzing around with their brake pedal. It’s there to stop you but when you see someone constantly riding it around every turn it makes us wonder where they learned how to drive – if at all. The other side is that maybe people are driving a little too fast? No? Maybe? Nah.

Lesson Learned:  It would have been awesome if Florida was green. So awesome.

Green map, green map, pink map. Two to One. What? Oh we don’t keep track of stuff like that. We should though, shouldn’t we? It would be fun to just keep track of random statistics. Maybe we’ll do a random statistics roundup one day!

Everybody Votes Channel - Results

Messin’ with minds: a past-time here at geeKeWL and apparently a national sport in a country from this week’s EVC World Poll.

1.

Feeding a dog from the table is . . .
A bad idea (63.5%) or Fun (36.5%)

Really Colorado? It’s not a bad idea to give your dog human food? And why is that? Is it the thin air that somehow makes it more acceptable? All the other states think it’s a bad idea but somehow you guys know the secret to feeding a dog from the table and not having it jump up on the table the next time you’re eating dinner. OK, ok, we don’t really know what we’re talking about here but it really does seem like a bad idea…

Lesson Learned: People in CO like dog drool in their SpaghettiO's®.

2.

Do you know who is buried in Grant’s tomb?
Of course! (38.9%) or Huh? (61.1%)

Wait, what? 60% of people don’t know who is buried in Grant’s Tomb or is it that they’ve never heard of Grant’s Tomb? Isn’t this like the de facto question you ask someone to see if they are a complete moron? Isn’t this one of those “where do you bury the survivors?” types of questions? OK, so Grant isn’t really buried there, he’s entombed there, what the F. If Nintendo is going to play this game with us at least make both answers really obvious so we can infer something from the results. “Huh?” is not exactly a straightforward antithesis to “Of course!” so this question is kind of problematic from the get-go. Oh well.

Lesson Learned: Julia Boggs Dent was hot. OK, not really.

3.

How do you feel about skydiving?
Sign me up! (51.3%) or No Way! (48.7%)

Well this was actually pretty close but the map is freakin’ hilarious. Apparently there’s a pocket of states near Kentucky that are totally against skydiving. CT and NJ are also wussies – along with NYC if it weren’t for the rest of the state we bet. Weird. Females are more scared than males – guess that is pretty normal. The pockets of green are really the curious statistic to come from these results, very interesting.

Lesson Learned: What happens if you’re skydiving and a tornado hits? You’re f**ked that’s what!

4.

(World Poll) Do you like horror movies?
Yes (48.2%) or No (51.8%)

Yes! Woo! This one is good. Really, it is. OK, take a look: Japan is at the bottom of the “yes we like horror movies” list yet they are probably the largest exporter of such movies. Cowabunga mate! Why do their directors insist on making so many horror movies if the Japanese population doesn’t enjoy the genre? Seriously, someone make sense of this for us. On the flipside we have males outnumbering females by a solid margin on the enjoyment of such movies and that pretty much makes sense since everyone knows the best kind of movie to take a girl to see on a date is a horror movie… winky face!

Lesson Learned: Japanese people are messing with our minds!

There it is. This week was pretty blasé all in all but had its highlight moments. What the hell are we talking about? It’s just a bunch of EVC results not a blockbuster movie. Damn we are full of it over here aren’t we?

Everybody Votes Channel - Results

Random results. Do they bother you? They bother us! Well, not really, but this week the results maps were so polka-dotted that it made us scratch our heads and wonder what was going on. Can you figure it out? Read on.

1.

How many books have you read in the last year?
Ten or fewer (51.8%) or More than ten (48.2%)

Wait, what? What’s a book? Hold on while we look this up. OK, so according to the Wikipedia entry: a book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. So once again we are at a loss, what is paper or parchment? Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or packaging. Thanks Wikipedia! Allrighty, so apparently you can write or print words on this paper substance and then glue it together and it becomes a book – radical. Insane!

Apparently quite a few states are in to this whole “reading books” thing: Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, Maryland, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Alaska. Whew, that was a mouthful. Now not all of these states are synonymous with well read learned individuals, eh? Perhaps some of these states just don’t have the internet, or they have bad eyesight, or they’re afraid of getting bad eyesight, or in the case of Colorado – they think it’s hip to read books! Either way, these results were very interesting just because they ended up being so varied and random.

Lesson Learned: Females are silly. Really.

2.

I give my pets . . .
People names (46.1%) or Silly names (53.9%)

Here we go with the names again! So now it’s pretty much confirmed that people call other people by real names and call animals by silly names. But wait, another map of randomness! Turns out that people in North Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Vermont, and Maine like to call their pets Tim, Steve, Jenny, and Sarah. Why are those particular states more likely to call their pets by “regular” names? Just like the last map this map is so random.

Lesson Learned: There’s a conspiracy here and we are gonna get to the bottom of it!

3.

Which would you rather have each year?
One long vacation (38.0%)or Multiple short vacations (62.0%)

What? No random pink states to throw off the statistics and map? Hey, wait a minute, let’s look a little bit closer… is that some pink in Puerto Rico?! And look at this: Arkansas, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Alaska, and possibly DC are light green!  These places like long vacations just a little bit more than everyone else, especially people in PR. Well, people in PR have to fly somewhere every time they go somewhere so obviously the annoyance of potentially dying in a tin can is only worth doing once a year. What about the other light-green-maybe-almost-pink-but-not-quite states? Who knows. Seriously. Why couldn’t this map be random like the other 2 to give us something to theorize about, eh?

Lesson Learned: Flying sucks!

Apparently there was no conspiracy, because as you know – conspiracies come in threes; only two of this week’s three results had the randomly nonsensical maps. Oh well, there’s always next week. Besides, if all three maps had come out looking like alphabet soup it would have been the cause of us losing sleep over why the results had been the way they were – instead we’re perfectly happy to just toss it up to the fact that random results happen. Hopefully it was educational all the same. Till next week!

The Summer Olympic Games Matrix

No, not that Matrix. So everyone is really excited about the 2008 SummerOlympic Games in Beijing, right? Well maybe this SOG matrix will help you decide which event you want to watch, or, which event you should be watching. Just for the record, yes, table tennis is amazingly entertaining, and yes - guns are dangerous! Oh yea, even though BMX falls under cycling I felt like it needed its own special place in the matrix because of how different it is from other cycling. If you need help figuring out what the symbols/pictograms mean then check out the key here (straight from China).

Everybody Votes Channel - Results

What’s in a name? Apparently quite a bit! In this week’s EVC results we learn how seriously people take labels and why technology is cool, but only if it’s really small and useless. Read on, friends

1.

Which application would be more useful on a cell phone?
GPS functions (69.7%) or Broadcast TV (30.3%)

You know, even we were a bit confused by this question – and we’re geeks! This is quite a leap from the usual “do you prefer lasagna or hamburgers” poll we are so used to seeing on the EVC. But anyway, it’s a decent question: would you rather chill in one spot watching TV on your phone or use it to find a TV? Considering you can find other things with your GPS too, like strip clubs and the nearest subway station the GPS functionality wins out amongst everyone in the USA – sweet.

Lesson Learned: Using your GPS to find a bigger TV is actually a pretty good idea.

2.

How do your friends address you?
By a nickname (41.2%) or By your given name (58.8%)

We go directly from an all pink dominated map to an all green one. What significance does that have? Absolutely none! These results are interesting however. They remind us of a rarely discussed creature from the Jurassic period – the Stuckupasaurus (see below).

But yea, in general, most people don’t really go by nicknames unless they have nickname-able names, like Bartholomew and, uh, Christopher. Hmm, whatever!

Lesson learned: Nicknames are for kidz.

3.

Do you prefer to take notes . . .
With a pen/pencil (60.7%) or On a PC/laptop (39.3%)

What the F is a pencil? And why are people in Montana so fascinated by them? Sure, females are 14% more likely to be enamored by their own curly Q’s and prefer taking notes (making pretty letters) by hand but why did the digital alternative lose by so much nationwide? Perhaps the EVC crowd isn’t quite as mature as we are led to believe – since high school students rarely take notes with a computer. Maybe it’s the arrogance factor: people who take notes on their computer look like douche-bags who are too busy showing off their Macbooks while they chat with friends instead of paying attention.

Lesson learned: The stigma of using a computer is real. Being a geek is tough!

4.

(World Poll) Have you ever been swimming in the ocean?
Yes (78.8%) or No (21.2%)

The most interesting thing about these results isn’t the fact that “yes” won 80 to 20 but that people in Italy and Greece are afraid of the ocean! Aren’t these countries prime vacation spots for people who are indeed fans of ocean related activities? Oh wait, that’s the Mediterranean Sea, not ocean, woops! Err, ok then. Hey you Venezuelans what’s up with your fear of the ocean? Oh, your coast is actually the Caribbean Sea isn’t it? Woops. Dang, people sure do take their water labels seriously.

Lesson learned: A sea is part of an ocean but an ocean is not part of people’s definition of what a sea is!

So what did we learn this week? Well, we learned that names are very important. Whether it be Sea, Ocean, Jimmy, or James – names are serious business so be careful when talking to strangers about the names of things.  We also learned that being perceived as a geek by your fellow peers is unacceptable. This is why we need the ability to take notes on cell phones. Heck, if people are willing to use their phone as a GPS surely they will line up around the block to get a phone that lets you take notes on it. Pencils are the devil, friends – beware of lead and graphite!

Kevin Rose isn’t the only one who shaves his head for a bet…

Kevin Rose, you silly internet celebrity, you. News of Kevin Rose supposedly “shaving” his head for charity recently made its way to the front page of Digg – likely a case of people digging something before actually watching the video clip. If you’ve seen the video (part 1, 2, 3) then you know why Kevin isn’t the only one to use head shaving as a tactic to win a bet. The definition of shave, please?

Everybody Votes Channel - Results

Intro! Wait, that’s where a piece of super-exciting intro text is supposed to go. Oh, here it is. This week on geeKeWL’s EVC roundup we learn about crooked teeth, naïve voters, and greedy eBay profiteers! Don’t believe us? Well… the proof is literally in the pudding – that is, if the pudding is the next few paragraphs and the proof is in our imagination. Read on would’ya?

1.

Have you ever had braces on your teeth?
Yes (33.2%) or No (66.8%)

So this isn’t the first time that we get a non opinion-based question on the EVC; probably not the last time either. Here at gK we usually held the opinion that these types of questions don’t really belong on the EVC. Why? Well, when you can determine the answer to a question by going to Google (such as with the “Can an elephant purr like a cat?” question) then it sort of defeats the purpose of asking the question on EVC – or does it? The thing is this: even if there’s a “right” answer that doesn’t mean we can’t find out what people think is the right answer, or what people have experienced, etc.

So the majority of people have not had braces; that’s kind of interesting! To us It felt like everyone got braces as a kid, perhaps it’s a northeastern phenomenon?

Lesson Learned: EVC users have naturally straight (crooked?) teeth.

2.

How well do you know the candidates running for president?
Not very well (53.3%) or Know their positions (46.7%)

How well do we have to know to know well? This one split pretty evenly, but why? Are people unable to tell the difference between McCain and Obama? You know… one is old, one is dark skinned, oh wait those aren’t positions they’re dispositions. Woops! What about positions then? One is pro-war, one is anti-war. One is for universal healthcare, one is against it.  Is it really so hard to guess which is which?

Maybe the problem isn’t finding a distinction between the candidates but rather determining what their positions actually are at any given moment. Both candidates, heck all politicians in general, are guilty of being very hard to pinpoint when it comes to specific positions on specific issues. When you look at it that way the results start to make sense, in fact they seem to be too generously green if anything!

Lesson learned: Idaho, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Georgia are soooooooo cute.

3.

Have you ever convinced another person to buy a Wii console?
Yes (49.5%) or No (50.5%)

Whoa, this was close! These results are truly fascinating, if for no other reason than their complete randomness. Green states here, pink states there, a pale colored state-an-everywhere! But, actually, only a handful of states went far enough into the “yes” category to go pink on the map. Must be higher a larger population of the EVC residing in pink states such as CA, CO, NY and FL to offset all those dirty Wii-greedy green states. “We dun wanna tell our friends about the Wii cuz we want more for ourselves so we can sell dem on der eBay!”  Not quite, but we think we know where the “hip” states are, a-yup.

Lesson learned: Convincing isn’t as effective without monetary influence.

Blam! Multicolored EVC maps FTW! This week was full of ‘em! (Well two outta three aint bad, eh?)  Still, we had a nice variety of questions that pretty much confirmed that none of us know, or are sure of, anything (except the lack of metal to ever be glued to our teeth).

Everybody Votes Channel - Results

What do blogging, Spanish, sharing, and attractive people all have in common? Well, uh, nothing –except they’re all topics covered in this week’s Everybody Votes Channel roundup!

At this time next year, blogging will be . . .
More popular (62.3%) or Less popular (37.7%)

Blogging… hmm, isn’t that what this site is? So everyone thinks blogging is on the up and up, everyone that is except for Colorado, West Virginia, Connecticut, and Rhode Island… huh? What’s up with these states and their irreverence towards blogging? Maybe blogging is fizzling out in these states and they’re on to the next big thing: dlogging. It’s a log of what’s on your mind, but instead of writing it you just scan your brain with a brain scanner and it outputs a log of what you have going on inside of your head. Uh, yea.

Lesson Learned: Blogging is still cool.

Which is more difficult to learn?
A foreign language (76.7%) or A musical instrument (23.3%)

Rosetta Stone would say otherwise but most of the EVC population feels like learning a language is pretty hard compared to learning how to play an instrument. Part of the problem with this question was the lack of detail in what kind of instrument we’re talking about here – some are easier than others you know. But, either way, learning a new language is hard, especially for ND, SD, NE, and MN!

Lesson learned: Playing the triangle is easy!

Sharing an entrée at a restaurant?
Rude (18.6%) or Not rude (81.4%)

Thank you! Thank you EVC population! It’s almost like everyone out there thinks that everyone else out there thinks that doing this is rude, but this proves that no one actually thinks that it is – so start sharing! What fun is it to go to an expensive restaurant and not try your companion’s food? That’s what it’s all about! With food prices the way they are it might be time to start getting 1 entrée for 2 people and sharing it like that. It isn’t rude, dig in!

Lesson learned: Females like donating their food more than males.

(World Poll) Do you like having your photo taken?
Yes (46.7%) or No (53.3%)

Irony strikes again. Aren’t the Japanese known for their avid tourism and photography taking population? Japanese people loveeee to take pictures but apparently hate to have their own picture taken! So, next time you see a Japanese tourist – take their picture. Either they will melt, run away, or beat you up – either way it should be pretty fun. In other news it looks like people in South America are not camera shy at all, perhaps even a bit vain? Either way this was actually a fairly interesting topic for a world question, especially considering how close the results ended up being. USA was somewhere in the middle again.

Lesson Learned: People from South American countries are hot!

So there you have it, another action-packed roundup of EVC results. This week we learned that what the world needs most right now is an international blog, written in Spanish, about the best restaurants to share your dish in. Someone get on that!

If the MGS4 product packaging was honest…

Everyone knows Metal Gear Solid 4 has a ton of cut scenes, over 90minutes worth by some estimates. So why are Sony and Konami trying to pass this self-congratulatory vision of a single man off as a video game? It’s more of a movie that requires you to interact with it than a game. Not so much because of the in game cinematics but more so because it’s whole creation and existence is ultimately the vision of just one man: Hideo Kojima. Much like a film, where the director’s vision forms the overall look, feel, and message does this game creator’s vision reign over the final product.

Video games are supposed to be about the player. Perhaps this is a breakthrough concept in defining what the video game genre is, but that doesn’t mean it’s actually enhancing the experience of gaming. Personally, I like a game that you can pick up, play for a while, and disengage from. Even if that game is a sequel in a series or part of some larger franchise. Take Halo for example. I’m not saying Halo is the be all end all of gaming but it’s a fun game that you can play, at any point in the series, and enjoy without following all the character development stages or larger storylines. Some might consider this a flaw in the storytelling that Halo attempts but I think that balancing plot, art direction, and interactivity is the key to making a great video game.

Metal Gear isn’t about the average gamer. It’s geared towards fans of the series who know all the characters and twists and turns. Fans who I would guess would ultimately enjoy this game if it were simply a collection of short movies without any interactivity at all. This is Kojima’s vision. It’s your choice if you choose to be a part of it, but he’s going to do what he wants – controller in your hand or otherwise.

Everybody Votes Channel - Results

Afraid of bowling outdoors? Enjoy green spiders on golf courses? If not, or if so, keep reading to find out what the rest of the EVC population had to say about these crazy random topics!

Bowling or golf? Which is more of an athletic sport?
Bowling (40.8%) or Golf (59.2%)

This question had potential but ultimately it came down to one guy: Tiger Woods. Everyone knows who Tiger Woods is and everyone knows that he is an amazing athlete. Yes, we said it, athlete. Has anyone ever heard of a famous bowler? Let’s be serious, it’s not that bowling doesn’t require a certain physical dexterity but it just isn’t on the same level as golf. The funny thing is Puerto Rico going pink on this one.  They have golf courses there so what is the problem?

Lesson Learned: The Puerto Rico Tourism Company needs to update their website.

Are you making a daily attempt to “go green”?
Yes (48.1%) or No (51.9%)

Wow look at the sudden bout of honesty that has infected EVC. Isn’t “going green” the cool thing to do nowadays? Apparently it is for the blue, err pink, states. The green states have another idea about the whole “world is melting” thing. Isn’t it ironic that the states that aren’t going green are actually green on the map? No? We found it amusing. In any case, either all the hippy states are lying or those other states need to get their act together and recycle a can or something. C’mon guys, it’s not that hard.

Lesson learned: Going green is for wussies.

Do you have any phobias (fear of spiders, heights, etc.)?
Yes (71.0%) or No (29.0%)

Ah, do you smell that? That’s the smell of honesty. It’s a sweet, sweet smell. Everyone is afraid of something, even if it’s something small, and insignificant – it counts as a phobia. What’s funny is males are less prone to phobias? Wait, no, males are more prone to lying about not having one! Hah, suckers. We know guys are afraid of all kinds of stuff, number one on that list is probably the wrath of females, so yea, y’all don’t fool us!

Lesson learned: Most common phobia is arachnophobia followed by social phobia.

We made it! Even with all our phobias and fear of sunshine we made it. It really is some kind of miracle. Whew, and now, off to play some Golf! See ya next week on the EVC roundup here at geeKeWL.