Slashdot Mirror
Quickiefest 2000
Feign Ram wrote in to tell us about cool Gnome screen shots for PDAs and mobile phones. An Anonymous Coward wrote in with a webpage devoted to the rules of Shotgun. atomic212 shared the news about Claudia Schiffer's Palm Pilot." JohndaBuddhist wrote in about Eric Idle's tour, where he sings hits from the Monty Python days. I went to this, and it ruled. Dungeon Dweller told us about Search Bastard. jpbelang wrote in about the scientific destruction of a Magic 8-Ball. Scott shared a good article called Deciphering Anime over at Mediajunkies. thegrommit told us about the Star Wars telnet client for Windows. Anonymous Squonk told us about SearchSpell, a typo search database. Another Anonymous Coward wrote in about a Hoverboard at Future Horizons. I'm still waiting for my flux capacitor. Neuroprophet gave us a link to Mike "Head writer of MST3K" Nelson's article for The Philanthropy Roundtable.
Ahh, things are always more obvious than they appear. Just the other day, my coworkers and I were talking about the 'mysterious' web site which had the rules of Shotgun. Now we have our guide.
See, for the people in my office, calling Shotgun is a ritual. Most often, it is called in the form of 'Shotgun! I rule!" (similar to the oldie-but-goodie prayer, "God bless this food, amen, eat!" Shotgun is a battle of wits, not just of skill, for many of us are getting older and doing more and more things, and it is sometimes difficult to remember to call Shotgun when leaving the building for a quick lunch trip. Some of us are better than others. I just returned to this company after being away for school. The hunters had separated themselves from the gatherers, but now I've disturbed the mix (nothing trains you for Shotgun quite like college).
Some rules are missing, though. Listed below are a few of the rules that we throw into the mix.
The False Shotgun
This is similar to a false start. The person calls Shotgun without realizing that the group isn't driving anywhere. Punishment can be anything from a slight razzing to a full-blown beating.
Everyone Must Be Together
While not everyone must hear, everyone must be in a group together. That means that while some people are coming up from the bottom floor and the others are coming down from the top floor, you can't call Shotgun.
Best Two Out Of Three
If Shotgun must be decided using Rock/Scissors/Paper, you must win two out of three. It's too easy to get lucky in RSP (despite what some coworkers might think of their RSP skills).
Victory Dance
While not quite a rule of Shotgun, it has become custom to celebrate shortly the victory of Shotgun. This is most often done by throwing both arms in the air while shouting, "I rule!" but can also be represented by finger pointing, cries of "Old man too slow!" or running and jumping.
Anyway, Shotgun is definitely one of the great amateur sports on the planet (and for those with the strictest of definitions of sport, yes, you can get killed playing Shotgun, especially if you throw in the 'everyone must be outside' rule).
.
.
--
Slashdot users drool
A quickie would be best with
Claudia Schiffer
*rimshot*