Oct 01 2009
And Now, Your Chance To Win a Google Wave Invite
I promised a contest for one of my Google Wave invites, and here it is:
What number am I thinking of right now?
Yup, that’s it. Get it right, you win.
I’ll run this contest until, oh, 8pm eastern today.
In the event no one gets it, I’ll pick the number closest to it. If more than one person picks the number I’ll pick the first one to pick it.
To assure you that I will not just pick a number out of the air, I have entrusted Justine Larbalestier with the number for verification purposes. YOU CANNOT BRIBE HER. I already gave her one of my other GWave invites.
Note also that while I will process the winning e-mail for notification immediately, I make no promises on how long it will take to process (they are technically “nominations”). That’s up to Google.
Now: Tell me the number!
I'm the Creative Consultant for this television show, appearing Fridays on Syfy. Miss a week? For US residents, 
2?
42
forty-two
Pi.
19
Congratulations to whoever ends up winning as I’m pretty sure it won’t be me. ;)
42? The life universe and everything ;)
42, because it’s the answer to everything.
37
33.
Pi – 3.14159265 etc.
42
Pi
8675309 ?
Can we vote more than once?
1
10 to the 100th power!
87
1,134!
29
41
That is the number.
75
OK, wow. there were zero comments and in the time it took me to type “42″ I ended 11th in line.
48
666 innit? :)
Why did I click the subscribe button?!?
943!
I’m going with the my old ‘guess the number’ standby, fourteen (14).
8675309
My guess is 17.
3.14159…
I have to go with 42. Even if I’m wrong, it seems so appropriate.
42
I don’t even know what Google Wave is (cuz i haven’t googled it) but I know that I want it.
You are thinking of the #7.
I bet it’s one of those imaginary numbers, like eleventeen or thirty-twelve.
Someone guessed Pi before me, therefore I change my guess to Phi (1.61803399).
842.1
Why are so many of you assuming it’s between 1 and 100? :p
37
1
23.
(yes, I read too much Wilson)
666
Euler’s number
43!
37
24
What the hey. I pick 52.
Yes, I know that’s ten too many.
Well, why not…
pi/π
That’s a number, right?
Eleventy seven.
42
11
143
Oh, heck – for some reason the comments didn’t come up when I looked (before I posted) and I see someone else has 42. May I switch to 55? (My age as of yesterday…)
1701
@shawn
I swear your response wasn’t there when I started to post. I would say something about great minds, but I’m not sure that being stuck on 80s rock makes us great.
42! (Does the ! help?) I’m hoping so. Can’t wait to run my car on AAA batteries! Plus my cat looks flat.
32
Dare I say it? Googol.
9,771
3.
To clarify, the specific euler’s number I was thinking of is (pulling from Wikipedia)…
2.71828 18284 59045 23536…
(Sorry for the irrelevant comment.)
342!
1 Googol. (i.e. 10^100)
104
4610
98,138
Number nine, number nine
69, dude! (*air-guitar*)
42 :)
57
A Googol
i.e. 10^100
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
11
Seven. Oh please let it be seven.
9!
5
Zero
e (2.718…)
4.4 million (age, in years, of Ardipithecus ramidus, or “Ardi”)
16,432
67
Square root of -1?
OK, I’ll bite…
1984
Zero
a googol
7 =D
Damn, between opening the page and finding somewhere that had a googol written down (so I could copy paste it in) 67 comments got posted including someone else who picked 10^100, guess that makes me not the winner :)
Avogadro’s Number: 6.0221415 × 10 ^ -23
e
47
311 (the number of pages in the copy of OMW sitting on my desk right now)
negative 4.
103
I’d guess your Daughter Athena’s age.
or
more then 2….
6382
e (2.71828183…)
13
45308
88 (as in 88mph).
16843 random guess :)
@sarah #52 — you’re right, it wasn’t there at first. I had to go “Back in Time” Huey Lewis style to post before you.
Yeah, we’re a bit lame I guess… ;)
462
i
5318008
One billion (1,000,000,000)
13
I’m going to guess…
one googol.
Ok, if it is a actually a Googol, I am going to be pissed off for missing by less than a minute!
2701
The product of two primes 37 and the digit reversal of it: 73. That is, 37*73=2701; Made so famous in N.S.’s Cryptonomicon.
47. Go Pomona!
500
-51
00000000
A googolplex!
10^(10^100)
(What, too obvious? Sigh.)
38. No idea why.
Eleven.
75
333! (not the factorial…)
Sqrt(-1)!
! Indicates emphasis, not factorial, by the way.
I’m beginning to think there might be more than 4 or 5 us following Scalzi… Glad I didn’t check the follow-up comments box!
If my calculations are correct, the answer is:
834
Oh, oh, it’s 168! It is, isn’t it?
Sixty-four.
Negative infinity minus one.
@ 114: I did and I immediately regretted my decision.
37?
100109
10, because that’s how old Athena is.
try that again…
i
Rational? Integer? Negative or positive?
8
(please,please,please,please,please pick me!)
38
And I’m an idiot. Avogadro’s number, correctly noted: 6.022 x 10 ^ 23. Minus sign FAIL.
1337
Maybe. Well… only if you’re a huge geek. In which case we both kinda lose.
11,477.
20, because that is as high as you can count. And even that requires taking off socks.
Zero :)
7
661 because Google is the beast and 666 is too obvious.
1999
1927
1701
73
The number i (as in i squared = -1)
42
24601 – For all the Les Miserables fans out there!
3. It’s a magic number.
47?
247
472
711
Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?
172
815
36
10
6.02 x 10^23
871
Sorry, initially sent it by e-mail.
Google Wave in Binary is 0100011101101111011011110110011101101100011001010010000001010111011000010111011001100101.
That’s the number you’re thinking of.
3791
69?
2 minus 3 = negative fun.
1001
0?
137. The cosmic number..ooooOOOOOooh!
299,792,458 (the speed of light).
-42
2000?
867-5309
43
71
(If you must know why, research the late George Carlin for the answer)
100
23
40
:>
1344
I’m going to guess i. Or j if you’re an EE.
63 (only because it’s my favorite number)
e to the pi minus pi
17.
1. Thanks for the invite!
Everybody else, go home. We have a winner. *cough*
The Feigenbaum constant. Always one of my favourites. 4.6692016091029….
i. As in the Sq Rt of -1.
40
going with 0.
296
number 7
1337
0
even though it isn’t technically a number
1652
517
10
1218
24601
one.
2009
10109
27
I’m going to go with googolplex. One with one hundred zeros behind it. Probably not the answer, but it had to be mentioned in the thread someplace.
21
-100
1970 since that was the year I was presented to this world.
525
0xDEADBEEF
Your phone number.
woops, I was’t copying, I swear… okay, disregard my “42″.
make it… um… (searches above) (damn, someone took the golden ratio!)
53 (just popped into my head)
42 – The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything
238
144
3.14159265
26, under the “it’s too unremarkable to have been guessed already” theory.
@ Irene Delse (108) – You beat me to it! Curses, foiled again!
1968
11
I know I’m wrong, but I really really really want an invite so I’m trying anyway.
0×476F6F676C652057617656
Google Wave in hex bytes.
2005
97.
PI since I’m feeling very circular today.
3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510
∞
42
Twelfty.
1492
Bacon. What did I win again?
1138
golden ratio=1.6180339887…
45
1123581321
75
- 273,15
79
73
32,767
I bet you are not thinking it but Planck’s constant:
6.626068 × 10-34 m2 kg / s
12
Avogadro’s Number, 6.02×10^23
278.
1.803 x 10^12
Schadenfreude Pi
3.1415-nein!
1
10452
Weird. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a thread here accumulate responses as fast as this one is.
227, which is how many responses are up so far.
Numberwang.
372
312
2310
3
782
769
6
The number of novels you’ve had out so far
-Joe
3
11
7
42
It looks like most of the unique and interesting choices are taken, so I’ll go with 34. Don’t think I’ve seen that one yet.
13,000
112
0
12345
3.14?
27
@195 – Kris – Nice!
500513
Doh! You guys are fast..
1024
Rabid
525,600
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes…
99
11
As in 11 years of Whatever.
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/09/13/11-years/
46645, the SMS code for GOOGL
You = silly.
24601.
01000111011011110110111101100111011011000110010100100000010101110110000101110110
01100101
51069
1,396,008
Ha, teach me not to search first. Well, there are only so many… Huh… infinity? (“What, zero’s a percent.”)
googol
The Golden Ratio, 1.618
How about 49?
7,168
9283
52
4,736
Well, since e, phi, and Planck’s constant are already taken:
12345
8,202,008
I feel like we’re playing the Price is Right.
16574146 ( derived by pressing randomly on number pad)
-11
A longshot, but how about googolplex?
green.
1423
777
417
1,284,413
7,240
–
Seven thousand, two hundred and forty.
I think it is a GOOGOLPLEX, or ten to the power of a googol.
1 Googolplex
or…
10^10^100.
n = c / pi ^ 2 + i (10^100) / 42 ^ e
I think that pretty well covers all the pop culture constants, doesn’t it?
Yeah, yeah, I know – pi isn’t squared, it’s round.
723
DANG IT! By the time I wrote that, it went from no googolplexes to several before my post… Man this is filling up fast!
8
444!
742
341
77 why not.
though I was tempted to throw in a Fibonacci sequence (good thing I didn’t, had to use google to find the spelling.
Three people have already guessed Valjean’s first prison number. (He did have a second one, but it only appears in the book, and I doubt Scalzi is that much of a Les Miz geek.)
No one has guessed the temperature at which paper catches fire (Fahrenheit or Celsius) — and we’re in the middle of Banned Books week, geesh.
I’m not guessing either of those numbers, as I said in the other thread, I already have been nominated. I’m just saying I’m disappointed.
911
NOOOOO!!! john, john please let me delete the comment. y’see I’m a m…. yeah a member of the ultra secret Fibonacci group.
and they’ll take my secret decoder ring away.
I’m gonna go with 8680, Bob.
152
Blue. No! Red!
9.10
e
Because you’re on your way to VP XIII soon, I’m going to guess 13.
75, the age John Perry joins the army.
A googol?
2,386!
176,348,993.625
47
Aw, hell, never mind–two people in front of me picked 13! That’s what I get for NOT searching first…
Man Pi, e, Zero and 42 got taken quickly. I’m going to go with i (square root of negitive 1)
867-5309
1 googol
= 10100
= 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
65
235
5.39124(27) x 10^-44
482
429.. that’s the random number that Roboform generated for me.
1000
97,542,988.56
100109
i
(square root of negative one)
32768
73
7
318
ħ
How has no one guessed 256 yet?
256
40
666!
412
has anyone guessed a wheaton yet?
357
Scalzi transliterated into Hebrew and assigned a numerical value according to the principals of gematria.
3985
K
Goggle or Google
1969
5717
712
9.52 x 10^(-4)
731
c (299,792,458 m/s, or so says Google).
86
-6
3.14
The square root of -1
Graham’s Number. This number is so big that it can’t be written in standard scientific notation. You can’t even write down the number of digits it has in scientific notation. Heck, you can’t write down the number that states the number of digits of the number that states the number of digits of Graham’s Number in scientific notation.
As a side note, Graham’s Number is the upper bound in a particular combinatorial proof. The current lower bound is 11 (recently improved from 6, which isn’t really that much of an improvement if you think about it).
973
451 (to keep TransDutch happy)
330
The number you’re thinking about then or now? Or… now? What about later; after you’ve read this? 3!!! Just then you thought of the number 3. Okay, yes, I did force you to think 3… damn I did it again, sorry. I’ll stop making you think of 3, from now on I’ll only focus on the number 41. You’re thinking about the number 41. Ah ha! I was right, you are thinking of 41 just then. Even now, you’re thinking of 41. After this clearly distracting sentence you think of the number 41! 41, 41, 41. Okay, now you’re reflecting on how I made you think of the number 3, but like I said we’re done with the 3, so stop thinking about it… I’m confused now. I know, I clearly made you think of the number 3 and the number 41, but what will you ultimately think of? Hell, it could be the number 159 and I’ll lose because it wasn’t 159 and some other number like 77. No, I’ve decided; you thought of 41. However, to increase my chances I foresee you thought of 3, 41, 3 (again), 77, 159, and then 41 within the last 90 seconds.
Did I win?
8,675,309!
50
1001
83
4863
10.
err make that 1001.1. Didn’t realize someone already have 1001.
Assuming A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. Bacon spells out 2+1+3+15+14=35.
…so: 35!
56!
9-4-1998 date Google was incorporated
3
12764
792
As uttered by Bill S. Preston, Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan; “69 dude!”.
But I’ll disqualify myself John as I am already on the Gwave.
647.5, since no one else has guessed that yet.
1001
-1678
1
1984
6
206
1.
One is the loneliest number.
I’ll go with 159. (I see that #342 has already mentioned it, but for some reason it seems to be the last number my son recognizes before he gets to “google” and “googleplex”)
767
54!
738
24
7
42007
Pi
11
e
44
Because it’s a perfectly fine number.
i
I can’t believe Matt B posted my number first, “152″. Who the Hell picks 152 except for me? OK, Matt B, my number is now 153. Suck on that!
513
negative infinity
1975
19
1234
365.25
47.
31
347
I was going to do 247, but someone else got that. Hudson, that wave was gonna be *mine*.
6.0221415 × 1023
Bah, that’s supposed to be 6.0221415 x 10^23
876
Oooh! Oooh! 378!
19+69i
Because your complex 40 year old guy (and 1969 was taken).
91
153
59.
Don’t know why… just leapt into my head!
um… 512
Elventy-billion
one thousand and one
Seven-hundred-eighty-seven.
e ^ ( i * pi )
Since 42 is taken, I’ll double that guess, and make my guess 84.
Eleventy-one.
1987
516
33
“You are coming through in waves,”
from Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb is 6:54,
therefore, I’m going with 654.
PS I’m listening to it now . . .
17
2666
10-2-2009, on second thought, for the premiere of SG-U that our esteemed host might just have some small interest in…..
8. No reason, just 8.
Well since every mundane possibility has been guessed so far, I’ll go with Aleph-One: the cardinality of the set of all countable ordinal numbers. (This is opposed to the smaller infinity Aleph-Null the cardinality of the set of all natural numbers, which could be construed as taken by the earlier guess at “infinity.”)
meant, “every mundane possibility I had happened to think of”
Just in case, here’s my main email . . .
654
Thanks,
DWH
6765, the 20th number in the Fibonacci sequence.
87. No idea why.
I think it is 8,847,192 give or take 3.
55
i (the square root of -1)
42 was obviously your first choice, but that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?
On the other hand, if you wanted people to think it would be too easy, you’d pick it, just to throw us off.
On the other hand, we know how sneaky you are, and we’d think you’d NOT pick it because you might pick it just to throw us off.
On the other hand, I’m confusing myself with all these hands, so I’m just going to pick 967.
100,000 just like the amount of google invites they released :-)
415 guesses and no one has said “googol” yet?
Oh, wait, @305 guessed that. I pick the highest prime number, then.
Ooooo maybe 100,000, the number of people the new round of invites went to.
4012
43 seems random enough.
Also 420, the number I posted my last post and the time I posted!
1127
3720 (to 1!) :)
i (as in the square root of negative 1)
It totally makes sense because the number is in your head, which makes it imaginary…. yeah, totally makes sense… right?
My second guess (are we allowed 2? oh well) would be 8, because that’s how many invites you get and whatnot
91
92
186,000
1764
the number.
524678.
10,532
432.
42,000,000, ’cause no one else has guessed it yet.
#142.
Hopefully.
Aleph-Omega.
84.
-1
8675309
1998
Because nobody else is likely to pick it.
Kaitou Kid’s number… 1412
8,243,721.
Ernie’s favorite number.
37?
e^(pi*i)
Hey, 98.6
It’s good to be alive.
3.14159, ’cause who doesn’t like pi?
101
1987
2349872348979283742340093234820981230981
443.
What’s a Google Wave?
449 because that should be the comment number for this comment.
Or 452 :)
2525
8793
1013
(no reason)
google?
-192.8
1.
47.
Because that’s my jersey number. And a prime number. Makes it doubly cool.
Please send the invite to my mom, she’s interested in this new Wave-thingy. Oh wait, no, I already sent one to her after I sent one to you. See? You rank ABOVE my mother.
10022009
15,892
747
149 – the first 3 squares, the ratio of the sides of the Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
667 – the neighbor of the beast
123456789
10012009
20091001
1001
How many guesses do we get again?
1024
108
120
The number on the Prisoner’s license plates: KAR120C
872
4,897 is totally the right number. Right?
549
186
2390
diameter of Pluto in km
Maybe… 79?
Uh oh, somebody not you already picked 79. How about 97?
2002.
Er, thought 93 but typed 97. So, I am guessing 93.
863, just because
8684
Uh…’D’
The fine structure constant. Perhaps the closest a simple number comes to being the answer to life the universe and everything.
It’s about 1/137:
7.297352570(5)×10−3 is the best current estimate – it’s e^2cμ0 / 2h (ie the charge on an electron squared time the speed of light, times the permittivity of free space divided by twice Planck’s constant)
infinity minus one
ok, 863 then
148
3754
Square root of negative infinity.
I’m gonna guess 1998, the year Athena was born. I didn’t have time to go through and read all the rest of the replies though so sorry if it’s a repeat (this page took FOREVER to load).
578
8. Suprisingly, I don’t think anyone else has guessed that yet, though searching for it is hard.
Or:
8 and a half. No reason.
Zero !
86. It burns in my mind’s eye.
171
07734
18. (just looking for simple things not taken yet)
No 1138 yet? Are we among geeks or what?
23,001
437
dayam! almost 500 posts in three hours. 494 as of my typing this so that’s my number. 494 Hope I don’t win. I don’t even know what Google Wave is. Heh.
123456789
256?
I submit the following nunbers. Being nerdy, I loaded the existing comments into a spreadsheet, filtered and sorted, and herby submit all the integers from 0 to 100 not already claimed.
(it is possible and likely I missed some integers with additional text in the comments enough to confuse my spreadsheet filter)
4
9
14
15
16
20
22
25
26
28
30
34
35
39
46
49
51
53
54
56
58
60
61
62
63
64
66
68
69
70
72
74
76
77
78
80
81
82
85
88
89
90
93
94
95
96
98
:-)
I’m gonna have to go with 81, even though comment 500 technically grabbed it.
432!
8i.
You know, just in case.
googolplex
58!
of course 9!!!
47,323
I’m going with 5. Unless you have an oddly shaped hand.
4326
51069
872 :)
11.2 Just because
infinity – 1
7456?
523.
446
-100
55
2112
3
987654321
522
445
7!
o, zero, ou…
72,563,981,754
My standard “random” number is 5,238
[My other guesses would have been pi and e.
Thanks!
421
117
Hey Mr. Scalzi:
Just out of curiosity, when you say “closest” is that closest arithmetically, or a Price is Right kind of closest, where it’s closest to intent, or closest without going over, or something like that?
7945
2009
wait a minute; google
71
I wanted to pick 0, but someone has already, and feel it is important to mention that fact – harrumph! So I pick 649.
Ooh, I want to change my guess to 316006
I also submit 777
I’m not sure what google wave is, or I’d be looking up John, Athena, and the Mrs. birthdays and looking for months/days that haven’t been claimed yet.
:-)
01123581321
I’ll go with the Mersenne prime (2^43,112,609 − 1). I’m not sure if this conflicts with @419, seeing as it’s the largest “known” prime number.
As a backup let’s say Avagadro’s number (approx 6.022 141 79 × 10^23).
It’s gotta be 51999
1000000 + 1
242
1962.
3.14159265389793238462643383
(that’s all I have memorized….)(why, yes, I am a nerd)
858393
#0
Wait! Whats the rules around if someone already picked the number you picked?
Is it first post, first served or is it based on whoever guessed it with more feeling?
23
1954
The square root of 2.
1.414…
Cherries!! er, very small Rocks!! Bread!!
I’ll go with 664 (the neighbor of the Beast)
22 for sure.
I’m going with 212.
1998
I’ll go with the number google
How ’bout 1596062991? Or is the other way round – 978-1596062993?
53,595
Green
559
e^(i*pi)?
511
65456
What number are you thinking right now, right now when? Like, right now right now, or right now when you posted?
Because right now right now you’re thinking about bacon. And Bacon isn’t a number.
Dammit, now you’re thinking about your Hugo awards. Give it a rest.
9675309
Hmm… Should have read the comments first. Let’s go with 3125 or 5^5. I’ve always thought base 5 more natural than base 10, so I’m hoping you do the same.
525600
202
23.
18
Bacon isn’t a number, but Scalzi has a bacon number. John Scalzi works on Stargate Universe, which has actor Lou Diamond Phillips in it. He was in Striking Range with Glenn Morshower, who was in The River Wild with Kevin Bacon
Ergo, Scalzi has a bacon number of 3.
29
Negative 5
862
-1,894,841
8691 (twitter followers)
Time’s up and we have a winner.
Nooooooooooo. It’s still 7:59pm, right? I’ll just guess 18,753 for the heck of it.
721
Bugger. My clock is off.
all the cool numbers are taken, i pick bacon
67.5
2 million 500 thousand (tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night.)
413
4
Somewhere around -700?
I’m tempted to guess interesting numbers, like the largest known Mersenne prime, or just a run-of-the-mill imaginary number. But I don’t want to mess up my chances. Besides, I just did an in-page search for “Mersenne”, and it’s already taken. *sigh*
Why do I not read the rules before posting?
e.
2243
People, the contest is over now and has been for 12 hours.
1001001 (w a nod to Rush)
425698
Can I ask:
What was the number?
BELAY THAT!
I went a step forwards, and didn’t bother checking the *actual* blog!
Me = Fool.