ScavHunt211

VoidEngineer writes "Well, it's that time of the year again... the World's Largest Scavenger Hunt has begun again. (This is the same annual Scavenger Hunt where the students built the breeder reactor, for item #240, back in 1999...) Anyhow, you can find the list here. This year, the competition is between 9 teams and there are 307 items. Nerdy items include, but are not limited to: #2 From the fetid swamps of Lotan to the teeming forests of Jojojop, Endor is an ancient, mysterious, beautiful land, deserving to be rendered as a full-color map fit for National Geographic, circa TA 3019; [51 points] #46 Mobius stripper. Must be non-orientable. Must not emphasize the one-dimensionality of the stripper's personality. [28 points]. #98 A piece of the Space Shuttle Columbia with NASA verification [155 points] #101 A hologram of an entire team member. [50 points] #136 Explain string theory using only sock puppets. The Judge must understand. [19 points]"

Comments

Re:Bad taste

[Quixote]

I agree with you in principle, but it could be that they are asking for a piece of Columbia that need not necessarily be debris; it could be a piece that NASA had given out in the past. Obviously, a debris piece would not be allowed by NASA to be taken away (hence the "NASA verification" rider).

See, for example, this.

Reasons for scavenger hunts?

[Needanewnick]

I think the real reason for these is to see how clever the participants really are. I remember doing quite bad at scavenger hunts as a kid because I was too literal. "Find a Fish" so I was angry because the time limit wouldn't allow me time to go fishing or to go to the store even, but wait, every other person got it! They made a "fish" out of paper, or drew one on the back of the item list.

My point is that some of these are meant to be stupid or un-realistic. The challenge is to see if the participants can think in a way that isn't a straight line. How clever is the guy who got every thing on the list, but just went out and bought/stolen each item. How about the gal who was able to fake it and still got the credit. Better yet how about the other fellow who declared the whole universe to be an illusion, and won because there was no contest in the first place.

Ignore me because I'm not really here.

Wait- Who said the stripper was a woman?

[kriegsman]

A "mobius stripper"? Why is it always with the nerdy population that we find such blatant sexism and a desire to exploit women? ...

Wait, wait, wait. Where did it say that the stripper had to be a woman? Please review:

#46 Mobius stripper. Must be non-orientable. Must not emphasize the one-dimensionality of the stripper's personality. [28 points].

Unless I'm missing something, the requirements for Item #46 on the list could be fulfulled by either a man or a woman, as long as they're "a stripper." So who's making the sexist assumptions now?

And topologically speaking, it might actually be easier to construct a Mobius strip from a man's body anyway, assuming of course that he's limber, big *ahem*, and stupid (1/2 gen[i]us).

-Mark