We owe some people some books! Our jury has reached verdicts in last week's giveaways. Here's who won, what they won, and why:
Prize: Problem Identified (And You're Probably Not Part of the Solution), by Scott Adams
Challenge: Name the four conference rooms in the new (completely fictional) Mental Floss, LLC headquarters
Winner: Paul
Winning Entry: 1. Good Question, 2. Don't Know, 3. Not Sure, 4. Somewhere
(Which should making answering the question, "Which conference room is that meeting in?" a lot of fun.)
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Prize: Trotsky: A Biography, by Robert Service
Challenge: Give us the name of a strangely titled biography or memoir
Winner: Linda
Winning Entry: Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split, by Laurie Perry
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Prize: Mint Condition, by Dave Jamieson
Challenge: Tell us about a time you went overboard to complete a collection
Winner: Niki
Winning Entry: When I was in college, I was trying to collect a full set of candle holders from the Party Lite Candle Company to decorate my living room. The candle set was pretty, but not really a collector's item. I just wanted the matching set. There were tea candle sets, Jar Candle holders, and similar items. Then, they came out with a candle warmer "“ the catch: you had to host a party in order to be eligible to buy it. So, of course, I hosted the party, during mid terms. Then, the Party Lite consultant read the fine print: my party hadn't made quite enough money "“ and the sale was already closed, so I couldn't just add to it!
In order to get my friends to come to another party and buy more stuff before their first orders even came in, I promised to make everyone sushi. This involved me learning to make sushi and spending $200 on stuff to make sushi. The second party made enough money for me to spend $45 on an overpriced candle warmer.
Within a couple of months of receiving my prized posession, I accidentally broke it. After all of that trouble! I contacted the consultant to see about replacing it, but I would have had to throw another party. So I sold the rest of the set instead! Hahaha.
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Prizes: TBD
Challenge: What's something you've picked up re-watching a favorite movie that you don't think most people caught?
Winners: gmsc, TeacherPatti + nowheremen22
Winning Entries: In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the name of the Chinese club is "Club Obi Wan" (gmsc); "It took me about a thousand views of The Breakfast Club, but I finally noticed that "Student (or Man or something) of the Year" (from years past) was Carl the janitor. The picture is in the trophy case that they show in the beginning of the film, during the voice over; (TeacherPatti); "While watching Airplane! for the umpteenth time, my wife spotted something that neither of us had ever noticed. In the scene where Captain Oveur get's the emergency call about the sick girl, they pan past the magazine rack. My wife says, "What did that say?" I rewind and see that on the rack it has a label that says "Wacking Material" (nowheremen22).
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We'll post today's challenge shortly. Congratulations to all the winners—expect an email shortly. And thanks to everyone who played along.