Contest Results

OK,

I've been thinking quite a bit about how to make the call about both contests, its been really hard on both fronts.

T-Shirt Contest

In the end the tally came to (for the top 3):

	5	27	37
1	5	10	5
2	6	3	1
3	3	4	1
Total Votes	14	17	7
Wighted Votes	30	40	18

First of all, I like all 3 of the top voted designs, but as previously expressed I really like #5, but I also think #27 and also #37 are very good. I've been stewing about how to deal with the situation since #27 did get more votes than #5 in terms of votes. Also, as we know, #27 and #37 have some issues in terms of trademark, that have to be addressed - Tony (#27) has provided some updated designs, which I like, but that absolutely noone has given any feedback on.

Like I said, this has been very difficult and I hope that everyone who voted, understands the difficulty - I've decided to give the prize to BOTH top entries - VL for #5, and Tony for #27. Congratulations to both of you - and thank you for your great designs!

I would like to give Beau's #37 what amounts to an honorable mention for his design. Also, should the trademark issue get addressed, and at least a few people express an interest, I will have #37 offered as well.

Beau if you would provide a similar modification ("revizon" I think would work well in your case too), and we can get some feedback on it, it would be great to offer all 3 designs as T-Shirts (as long as my T-Shirt maker will do that for us).

Also, in light of the dwindling interest in this blog :(, I'd like to set the price for the shirts as low as possible so that people might be more likely to buy them. I haven't gotten any feedback on this at all, so I'm making the call that seems to make the most sense. I don't think we would have raised much money for charity. Perhaps the visibility this issue has raised in terms of math education, has done some good in its own right.


Remix Contest

In this case the votes still stand at 0 to 0 - not a single vote. I assume this is again due to the dwindling interest and the holidays. That said, I think I have a solution that will work.

I think both submissions are great, and obviously took a lot of time and effort. Therefore I am again going to award BOTH entries the prize!

Congratulations Davman and Beau!

Coincidentally, today my total ad revenue stands at $289.57 - which is a mere $2.41 higher than 4 x $71.79 (I find that pretty funny). So all 4 of you will be receiving the full prize! (please contact me with your preferred payment method - physical address for a check or paypal email).

Thank you everyone for participating! I will try to get the 2 T-Shirt designs into the hands of the printers ASAP. The earliest I will have news about this is probably Tuesday because of the holiday. I will post the info as soon as I have it.

I wish you all a very Happy Holiday!

Last Call for Votes - Deadline 9:00 PM Eastern

Ok, its about time we rapped this baby up.

Current Results for the T-Shirt Contest

Here are the current votes for the T-Shirt Contest - as long as I've done my counting right - it was a challenge with some changed votes, and some ambiguous ones.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
1		2	2		4	1					1		3					1		1	1	2			1		10
2	1		1	1	5	1	2	1	2		2		1				1			1		2				2	3
3			2		2	3		1		1		1				1		1		2	2	1	1	1	1	1	4
	2	6	10	2	24	8	4	3	4	1	7	1	11	0	0	1	2	4	0	7	5	11	1	1	4	5	40	0	0	0

	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58
1			1				5					1					1								1		1
2	1	2			1		1										2				2
3	1			1		1	1									1	2
	3	4	3	1	2	1	18	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	9	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	3	0	3	0

I have weighted the scores such that a #1 vote = 3 points, a #2 vote = 2 and a #3 vote = 1. I also don't think the weightings really affect the outcome, as 027 is clearly in the lead, and 005 has 4 & 5 votes, while 037 has 5 & 1 votes (for #1 and #2 respectively). So no matter how you slice it I think that 005 clearly has the lead over 037... Anyway...

Clearly the current breakdown is, 027, then 005, then 037.

Please post your votes if you havent already, and for 027 and 037, please submit ideas (everyone) or modified designs (from the original designers only please), that address the verizon logo, and one sided T-Shirt issues.

At this point, and I hope without hurting anyone's feelings, I'd like to cast my vote for 005, and explain why. Remember, we can go with more than one design - I think we will wind up doing that.

1) simple
2) cool - I'd wear it without feeling nerdy - (insert laughs here)
3) does not mention verizon
4) recognizable by anyone thats heard the audio
5) it says a lot without saying a lot


Current Results for the Remix Contest

I have receive 0 - that is not a single - vote for the Remix competition. Please cast a vote, or at least post a comment that you can't decide :).


Thank you all for following along. The traffic on this site has dwindled quite a bit from the big bang the first weekend - the rest of you are real die-hards - Thank's so much for participating!

Remix Contest Entries

I extended the deadline for the remix contest because I was alerted that it was too much to ask for a remix in such a short timeframe, but then the guy who made that comment was just doing a drive by and never returned. The good news is we managed to get 1 more remix from the friendly folks over at verizonmath.com.

So here are the, count 'em, 2 remix entries, and the first one is an old favorite:

1. Davman's Verizon-Cant-Do-Math-Money-Remix
Note: Dave made this baby in a tiny timeframe and IMO did a great job.

2. Beau and Brett's March of the Super Dumb Parrots Mix
Note: There are a few parts in this remix where it sounds like an echo - I've been informed this is actually created using unique samples from the original call - thats a lot of "point zero zero twos!"

Please check them out and submit your votes and comments.

Thanks guys! Nice work!

Preliminary T-Shirt Contest Results

Thanks to all who submitted designs and voted. There are a bunch of great designs, and some good feedback in the comments. Nice work everybody!

OK, to the top 3 in terms of votes:

027: 10, 3, 3
005: 3, 3, 1
037: 4, 0, 1

I have a couple of comments:

1) this is before my vote :)
2) both 027 and 037 use the Verizon logo sans the "V" swooshy thing.
3) 027 as it stands is a 2 sided design - which drives the cost up - unless we move the back design to the front as well.
4) 005 uses a "2" that looks stylistically similar, but is not the same as the verizon "z" - very clever design.
5) I'm disappointed noone liked 020 (it only got 1 #2, and 1 #3) :(

Anyway, I'll accept votes for one more day, and take them into consideration as well.

That said, I'd like people to think about the fact that IMO (based on speaking with lawyers late monday) we cannot use designs 027 or 037 as they stand because the verizon logo is pretty much intact. Perhaps modifications of those can be produced. I think 005 is safe as it does not even contain the name verizon.

I would like to remind everyone of rule #2: "must not infringe any trademarks." I should have not even allowed these entries, but did thinking that they would inspire other ideas and comments. Also at the time I had not yet consulted lawyers and thought there could be a chance we could safely use them.

I'd like to hear all your thoughts in light of this information.

Thanks very much! I can't wait to get the final product...

T-Shirt Contest Entries

Hello everyone, and thanks for your entries.

I have received a total of 36 entries for the contest. I'd like to remind everyone that comedy and design are subjective, and ask that people only make positive comments or constructive criticisms.

There are a few things to know about the the way I am hosting the entries:
1. I am hosting this on a free web account, so there are ads - most of the time they are not visible, but sometimes they popup in front - in that case just hit your refresh/reload button.
2. I wrote the photo album viewer myself and its not that polished.
3. the little numbered buttons in the upper right resize the thumbnails dynamically.
4. click on an image to load its higher res version, when it turns green you can click it again to see a larger popup display.
5. if you hover over a thumbnail, you will see its # and credits
6. the images sometimes size strangely wide as their heights are held consistent.

Please vote by posting a comment in the format:

My Votes:
1. #
2. #
3. #

Where obviously the number sign is replaced with the actual number. You don't have to place votes for 3, and feel free to elaborate, for example "I like # but I think the slogan should be ..."

I will compile the results manually. And potentially make the call based on my own preference - hopefully there is a clear winner.

Finally, find the entries here.

Also, I'll be happy to take late entries, just realize they won't get as much visibility.

I'm Time's Man of the Year!!! - And so are You!

I'd like to congratulate Time for a very timely (forgive the pun) and relevant choice for person of the year. I've never really been a fan, but I think someone over there is definitely on the ball.

Time's Person of the Year

The coincidence in timing of the creation of this blog and Time's choice for "Person of the Year" is pretty amazing.

I started this blog on 12-7-2006 (10 days ago), with simple aspirations - to expose a very funny and mildly disturbing incident to people, with hopes that others would bring forward similar stories and we'd all hopefully gain something from it.

Today the original YouTube posting of the audio of my call has reached the #1 Top Rated for the month for the News and Blogs category with over 360,000 views, 1,700 comments and it has been favorited over 1,100 times.

The orignal putfile.com posting has been viewed over 92,000 times.

This blog has been visited over 220,000 times.

A Google search for verizonmath returns 32,000 hits.

My money has been refunded, verizon's problem has been acknowledged, their policy has supposedly been changed and documented (that remains to be seen), and now many more people are aware of the problem - which will prevent this problem from happening in the future. Also, another great side effect has been that educators are now aware of a deficiency in the teaching of decimals.

Before I go on, I'd just like to ask that anyone with the time and inclination, please put some pressure on Verizon (as you did in my case) to help motivate them to bring Peter's situation the attention it needs to be addressed - I can't belive this has still not been dealt with.

I want to thank everyone who has participated in this discussion and congratulate them for having been part of a new and growing trend. Every individual now has the capacity to bring to light a wrong, expose it to millions of people, and to help make it right.

I think the power of the individual in this new climate will help improve our businesses by ultimately requiring them to provide better customer service, saving people time and therefore improving productivity, and could even help bring peripheral or fundamental problems to light - in this case the sad state of Math education.

Also, it's interesting to realize that this specific process is just one of many that is now possible, where the collective ideas of people around the globe are now able to come together for productive exchange, and produce outputs and outcomes never before possible.

It's a very exciting time!

Thank you all again for all of your supportive comments and feedback. They were very motivational.

T-Shirt Design and Remix Competitions

Announcing the VerizonMath T-Shirt Design and Remix Competitions!

It occured to me that many of my fellow bloggers might be interested in a T-Shirt marking this event, that could spark conversations (albeit nerdy ones), and help us to recognize one another outside of the blogosphere.

For that reason I have planned this contest seeking the most creative and funny interpretations of the events of the last week.

I have a feeling that while this blog seems to have tapering interest since the initial bubble, we may have not seen the last of this issue.

You can be one of two elite groups of enlightened consumers:
1) those of us who have the inside scoop on fuzzy math, and
2) the 2 (or more) people whose creativity and sense of humor capture the essence of this situation - the winners of the T-Shirt contest.

I am contributing the bulk of my ad revenue for the 2 prizes, and see below for the discussion of potentially splitting the profits with the winner(s) and some other blogger determined cause or charity.

T-Shirt Design Contest:

Prize:

1. $71.79 +
2. 1/3 of profit from T-Shirt sales of their design* (if we decide to markup the price) +
3. Prime advertising location in the upper right of this blog for at least one month - for their website or blog.

Rules: All entries:
1. must be tasteful and funny - and preferably stylish.
2. must not infringe on any trademarks.
3. must not contain any foul language.
4. must not contain any telephone numbers
5. must be received by Monday 12/18/2006 12:00pm ET (noon).
6. must be provided in proportions close to 2000 x 2000 pixels for proper printing (png, bmp, jpg)
7. may be signed by the designer

Remix Contest:

Prize:
1. $71.79 +
2. Prime advertising location in the upper right of this blog for at least one month - for their website or blog. (below the winner for the T-Shirt Contest)
3. Bragging rights

Rules: All entries:
1. must follow all laws regulating music sampling with respect to any outside samples.
2. must be approximately 3 minutes long - give or take.
3. must not contain any foul language
4. must not contain any telephone numbers
5. must be received by Monday 12/18/2006 12:00pm ET (noon).
6. may contain submitter's information embedded.

Original call available here.


I will choose the winning entries with input from blog comments strongly considered.

I am open to suggestions about what the other 2/3 of the T-Shirt profits (if any) would be used for. Of course I'd love to keep all that cash myself and start a wireless phone company, but I'm sure others have better ideas. (*) Also, we could forego any markup whatsoever but then the prize is not quite as rewarding.

Also, should there be runners up, we could have these turned into T-Shirts as well. While there will be no prize money left for these folks (unless this blog starts generating tons of ad revenue), if we decide to mark up the shirts, the 1/3 profit part of the prize would apply to those runners up.

Please submit all entries to verizonmath at gmail.com. I will post entries as they come in, in a follow up post.

I'd like to seed the T-Shirt contest with my entry (small version) (no I won't declare myself winner - unless of course there are no other entries :).

And of course the Remix Competition has already been seeded by DavMan Verizon-Cant-Do-Math-Money-Remix-By-Davman