Thursday 9 September 2004

The Gmail Contest Gmail Contest

Anniversary time!
We just realised that tomorrow makes exactly a year since we first started blogging. (We're ignoring the fact that it was a single post and we only really started posting properly in December.) To celebrate, we will simply do what we've been doing all year. Lift an idea. So, following in the footsteps of our betters, we'd like to tell you that we have, oh, ten Gmail accounts to offer you. And rather than just give them away, we thought we'd do our usual pathetic thing and milk this for hits and comments. But we're lazy and lacking in original thoughts today.
So.
One Gmail invite each to the best three suggestions (or their favourite charities) for what the contest should be. And once we have that up, six more for the winners of those three contests.
Use the comments tag, please. Let's keep this transparent and open and fair, like the US Presidential elections. Ok? Start your engines.

10 comments:

Manjula Padmanabhan said...

Nope, I'm not here for a G-mail account (long story: last year, I was one of the dumb bunnies who ante-d up for Hotmail when it began to whine at its free-loaders. As a result, now, when G-mail has forced other free providers to follow suit with expanded mail-box sizes, I have a GIGA-gantic Hotmail box. Plus two Yahoo accounts ...) I'm here to say I was thrilled to catch a glimpse of thou at your blog ID site off Caferati! Enviable hair, wow! Is it REAL???? I am amongst the worlds hairless wonders so I look with green eyes towards anyone who has a surfeit.

Anonymous said...

Don't need a Gmail account, but:
A poem contest - sonnet, haiku, villanelle, limerick, quatrain, couplet, ballad, whatever - saying why you need a gmail account / what a gmail account can do to your life.

Anonymous said...

I already have a Gmail account but taking off from the last suggestion...

Hotmail's awful, Lycos shaky
Yahoo's spam makes my heart go achy
Mail.com has come and gone
My website mail's getting too much porn.
Something will come up; the switch might fail
But I'll try my luck anyway on Gmail.

Anonymous said...

I'm interested in a GMail account. So, what is the contest?

Ramesh

zigzackly said...

As the post says, right now, the contest is: suggest three contest ideas. There's only one so far from an anonymous commenter who doesn't need an account. So three invites still open.
And then, two more invites each for the winners of those contests when i post them. Clear?
i also have another six invites made available by a friend, so perhaps i'll have more than three contests, or more than two prizes. Though, going by the amazing clamour for those invites, i might just have to pay to give them away.

zigzackly said...

By the way, thanks to both the Anonymous commenters.
And Rajesh, the first contest is here: http://zigzackly.blogspot.com/2004/09/gmail-invitation-for-rhyme.html

zigzackly said...

Oops. Ramesh, i meant. The other comments go off screen when i add a comment.

Anonymous said...

Here's a contest idea:

Assume you're applying to be the campaign manager for Bush or Kerry. Write a one page summary of campaign strategy you'd recommend for the last 2 months (incl. the debates).

Ramesh

PS I know, I know. There are only 48 days left, not 2 months.

anshu said...

How about doing it google's way and have people solve a problem to get the account --

http://www.google.com/googleblog/2004/07/warning-we-brake-for-number-theory.html

However, the answer to this problem is on the web so maybe you could ask for the algo. If that's too mathematical, perhaps you could post a fun puzzle for people to solve.

Here are some puzzles --

Four people want to cross a bridge at night. They can cross the bridge in 1, 2, 4, and 10 minutes respectively. Only two people can cross the bridge at a time and they walk at the speed of the slower person. Also, they only have one torch and whoever is
crossing the bridge needs the torch to see. So after crossing someone needs to come back to give the torch to the people who haven't crossed yet. What is the least time in which all 4 can cross the bridge.

You are given 2 jugs with the capacity of 3 and 5 liters each. There is an unlimited supply of water. How will you get 4 liters of water using these 2 jugs?

There are 2 men and 2 women. All four want to have sex with each other (heterosexually only). They only have 2 condoms. How can they all have safe sex (i.e. nobody exchanges fluids with anyone)?

There are 25 horses in a stable. You have to find the three fastest horses. You are given a race track on which you can race 5 horses at a time. What is the minimum number of races it will take to find the 3 fastest horses? (My answer is 7; just explain how you got there, unless you can find a lower number.)

A remote village of 100 people has been struck by a disease. The only symptom of the disease is a red dot on the forehead. There is no cure for the disease. The villagers hate having the dot on the face and would commit suicide if they found out that they were infected. However, there is no mirror in the village and the villagers do not tell the infected person that she has the red dot. So everyone keeps living happily until one day a visitor comes and tells them that 10 villagers have the red dot. This causes people in the village to commit suicide. How many villagers commit suicide and in how many days?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, thanks for that. Let's see how we can tweak that a bit.
Chica, heck, forget about the customers, i wanna know those answers!