flop small :: Bet Big

Check this out: http://www.nintendo8.com/game/321/tecmo_super_bowl/.

What does that have to do with your tax dollars? I played the hell out of that game when I was in the Army. We used to play out full seasons with platoon members on each team. Before Madden, there was Tecmo Super Bowl. And maybe the best football game ever.

I added a few pictures that I took snorkeling: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8664340@N06/sets/72157606540171959/

I think these three are funny!

“Dude…sup.”

Queue the Jaws music!

“Go back to Jersey!”

So last week I was talking to some co-workers about how all vodka’s taste the same. This one gal, who just happens to be Russian, thought I was out of my mind - the differences are obvious! Having just finished the book Blink, I remembered a taste test method called the Triangle test where the taster has three cups in front of them, one with one beverage, two with the other. A test famous for confusing the testers.

I ask the Russian if she’d like to wager $100 on it, explaining the test, and she’s all for it explaining to me how it’ll be easy! I suppose the Triangle test is a little counter intuitive. One might think that getting two of one, one of the other would make taste testing easier. As an aside, I mention to the group of co-workers that the same test has been used for Coke vs. Pepsi and that’s proven very challenging to the testers as well. Oh, what a clamor ensues! “Are you nuts?” “Coke and Pepsi are so different!” Etc, etc.

The Russian quickly agrees to do another $100 on the Coke vs Pepsi test (I don’t recall if she volunteered or I solicited it). And the next day I line up the test.

At first it was just the 4 of us who hang out and drink coffee every afternoon. I line up the samples using a third party to ensure fairness. The Russian takes her tastes. And sure enough, she fails the test! Not just the first time, but the second time as well on a re-take! Cha-ching! Thank you $100. We even start to gather a crowd and others jump in to try. Of the first four people to try it, 3 failed. Only after people started watching and learning tasting techniques did people start having success.

Which, by the way, isn’t exactly the way a real triangle test is done. An actual triangle test requires the tester to taste a sample from each cup in order, no pallate cleansing and no returning to previous cups. But, I’m a softy, so I let people “cheat” a bit.

I tell this story at my Friday night poker game, and people are predictably incredulous. I probably would be too if I hadn’t read about the test before. Mark “The Hebe” arrives at the game and can’t believe other people had failed the test and absolutely agrees to do the bet himself. Well, he fails right out of the gate guessing two Cokes and one Pepsi when it was the other way around. +$200 in this bet now! Kinda helps soften the $400 I dropped at the poker game.

So, give it a shot yourself. Lay out the three cups and have someone pour two of one soda, one of the other. See if you can tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi!

Just back from Barbados last night. Spent a full week out on the eastern most island in the Carribean. I was completely unplugged. No cell phone and no computer. The Bajans are the friendliest group I’ve been around. I’ve heard bad things about Jamaica and other Carribean spots. But I have nothing but awesome things to say about Barbados. (more…)