Mobile & coin magic

Oh my goodness!!! I cannot stop posting YouTube video entries!!! Somebody stop me!!! I need to pull the plug.

Must ban YouTube from my browser.

Ja neh!!!

Third straight win for Manchester United

Nothing much to shout about because winners do not brag. Just hope everyone shares the burden of scoring goals.

Ja neh!!!

Giant pencil

Another one of those nights where I "waste" my time looking at videos from YouTube. His mobile's video camera resolution is amazingly clear!!! Wonder which model & make he is using. Anyway enjoy the magic, sinple & straight to the point. No dramarama here.

Ja neh!!!

Pink PSP

Another special edition of the PSP after the white version came out. In my opinion, it is just as nice as the white version & if it were to come in other clolours, it might not look as nice as the previous editions.

8038's favourite colour seems to be pink. Hmmm. When my consecutive toto first prizes comes, I'll get a set for you & also Super Mario Bros game too!!! Hahaha, or would you prefer a pink Nintendo DS? We will also all buy identical Mercedes Benz. I suggest the CLS.

Anyway I do not feel particularly strongly that guys should not carry around a pink PSP. It is not overly feminine & I really feel that only those supremely confident of themselves can pull it off.

I have not heard of any news of whether it would be available in S'pore or not, nor the price. Keeps my ears peeled & my eyes opened, but not crossed.

Ja neh!!!

Popeye's Chicken & Bicuits @ Changi Airport T1

It is one of those days when you do not feel like going home early & just want to hang outside of home after dinner. So me & yuri_ice when to Changi T1 for some friced chicken. Turns out that Popeye's is from USA & this outlet is most likely a franchise. Take a look at their website (the address can be seen in the picture on the left) for more information

It is identical to KFC but I guess this is more popular than KFC in USA. I wonder if they even haf KFC over there. ANyway, personally I find it more pricey than KFC but it offers something different albeit the similarities. They serve almost the same type of side dishes, such as fries (cajun fries for Popeye's), whipped potato (I prefer Popeye's) & coleslaw. They have others I guess, such as ordering another side of the buttermilk biscuits

Check out their full range of singaue side orders

The chicken is also sold in x-number-of-pieces meal, but it is not dry & yet not as oily as KFC's so I guess this is the main advantage for those oil-watchers. They also have spicy & non-spicy variants but I have not tried the non-spicy chicken. Wonder if the flavour is as yummy as KFC's.

Anybody wants to go there for a meal sometime soon?

Ja neh!!!

My Gmail account

I have another new email account that you guys can send stuff to, except viruses please. And those of you who need invites to having your very own Gmail account, please let me know.

I check all my email regularly so if you want to send me stuff, please feel free to do so.

But please do not try to hack into them. If you have nothing else better to do, call me or ask me out, or sms me.

I have the following email accounts

irony33@hotmail.com
junkie2807@pmail.ntu.edu.sg
junkie2807@yahoo.com.sg
junkie2807@walla.com
junkie2807@30gigs.com
junkie2807@gmail.com

Ping!!! You've got mail!!!

Chelsea, we're gonna get ya!!!

It seems like Chealsea Football CLub has unexpectedly hit a speed bump very veyr early in the season as they went down against Middlesbrough for the 2nd time (I'm not extremely sure about this because I was too lazy to verify this claim, but I remember Chelsea losing to the same team by 3 goals to nil). Seems like it is the Curse of Middlesbrough.

Thumbs up for Middlesbrough for slaying the giant so early in the season. While it might make the engine stutter & lose steam, there is also the possibility that it might spur on The Blues to even greater heights.

On the other hand, Manchester United has two their first 2 games by comfortable margins albeit the uncertain atmosphere brought on by the suspension of Wayne Rooney & Paul Scholes for 3 matches for their sending off in a pre-season friendly. Their next match is against newly promoted side Watford with Manchester United playing away.

Glory Glory Man United!!!

Manchester United's opening game of the EPL season

Nothng much to talk about, really. Just glad that Manchester United has gotten off to a good start to the new season. It must b a nightmare to lose your opening game, especially when you are playing on home ground & against a relatively weaker club.

I wish Manchester United all the best in the coming season & hope we can reclaim the Premiership title.

Glory Glory Man United!!!

Rendezvous Hotel

Nice hotel, but do not be fooled by the pictures of the rooms on the hotel's website. This is a very good example of the magic of a bit of lighting & photography. It looks exactly like the pictures but somehow not quite the same. If you get my drift.

The court yard where the giant ball of stone is rotating on top of a small stream of water. Amazing how so little water can manoeuvre such a heavy object. We had high tea instead of lunch because by the time we all checked in, it was already quite late & the high tea buffet was about to start. Food was decent, nothing fantastic but it was alsmost a full house that afternoon. This is the third consecutive weekend I am spending away from home. I totally enjoyed the experience. Wonder which hotel I am going to stay in next. Heez.

Bubble bath!!! Something I did for the first time as far as my memory serves to remember. First buy a bottle of bubble bath from any shop like The Body Shop. Fill the tub with warm water while pouring the bubble bath liquid into the running stream to create a lot of bubbles. Climb in with a good book or play some music & enjoy. I want to do this again soon. An ice cold alcoholic drink would make it complete. A companion would make it perfect. But no guys hor!!! I am extremely straight!!!

Ja neh!!!

Blup blup blup...

Charlie's Corner @ Changi Village

It was a Friday evening & se7en & 8038 did not have any programs for the weekend so we decided to travel all the way to the other end of the island for some fish & chips. It is a small stall outside the hawker center that sells above average western food as well as a wide range of beers not commonly sold in Singapore. I can't remember the particular names of the beers as they were sorted according to the countries they originated from but trust me, they are not found in any of the supermarkets I have been to.

All of us had fish & chips which was fresh as there was no fishy smell or taste. Great for picky fish eaters like me. Service was prompt & enthusiastic but the prices there are above what you would normally pay for hawker center food but slightly lower than restaurant prices.

After dinner, it was time for the drinks!!! I had this Brazillian beer called Lokal which is the bottle in the middle. I am no expert in beer tasting so I guess you have to try it for yourself to find out if you will like it or not. Given a choice I would try something else the next time. Maybe Hoe Garden or Kilkenny (Is this how it is spelled?)

I would definitely like to come back here to this place again for dinner & drink, but do note that there is no yellow box allocated.

Ja neh!!!

Mini mahjong

After checking out of the Pan Pacific Hotel (we booked a room to catch the fireworks display at the Marina Bay), family & I decided to go to Downtown East (the former Pasir Ris NTUC Chalet) for dinner as "cute" sister had a bbq / class gathering in the area. Nobody knows the real reason & the truth eludes us till this very day.

Dinner was chicken rice prepared by the former Chief Chicken Rice Chef who was "retrenched" by Mandrian Hotel (now called some Merituis Mandrian, I think). It was better than most of the chicken rice I have eaten but taste is subjective in nature. So the CCRC opened a stall in the food court of the chalet & business was booming!!! Long queues snaked all around the food court (got queue but not so long lah, maybe around 20 persons max) & they even prepared a "Sold Out" sign if they ran our of the little white birds (sounds weird hor?). Which food court stall have you ever came across that has to do such a thing?

After dinner, I was walking around the shops in the vicinity when I came across this mini mahjong set. Kawaii!!! It cost around S$130+++, so expensive! But I like it!!! Hint hint. Nolah, don't buy hor, because the present I really want is a Nissan 350Z Roadster!!!

Ja neh!!!

Swissotel The Stamford

Family has decided to book a room in the abovementioned hotel to view the fireworks. Yeah! This means a little getaway over the weekend so I can recharge my batteries & mentally refresh myself to face the challenges of the new week (yah right).

This is the work desk in the room, where internet broadband access is chargable at S$26.25 per 24 hours block!!!

King size bed with a little "sofa" at the foot of the bed, great for lazing around to watch the LCD tv or it can serve as extra sleeping space if there are not enough space on the bed.

Part of the little touches that make the room so mouch more inviting & cosy. I personally prefer red apples but green ones will do just fine too. There are found on the writing desk. Soon after we checked in, a room service waiter sent up a fruit basket (more fruits!!!).

The view from the 54th floor is simply breathtaking. The entire CBD area can be seen as well as some parts of PSA in Keppel. The Padang never seem so small & so did the "Durian".

The "Durian" as seen my from room.













One of the best places to view the fireworks & it was worth every cent for the experience I had. Great for a little weekend getaway anytime of the year too, while prices are not steep considering it is value for money. Not paid to promote the hotel but just my opinion.

Ja neh!!!

Macs can be used in Mac!!!

Finally!!! My PowerBook can be used in McDonald's where they are currently offering free internet access. I saw someone using an iBook t hat day & he looked like he was suring the net instead of watching a movie or doing some documents which do not require internet access. I was too shy to ask him if he could connect to the network & too laxy 2 just walk over to peep over his shoulder to look at what he was doing.

I went to Kallang Mac to study & because it was unplanned, I had my PB17 with me. So I switched it on & lo & behold, it detected the signal & the browser showed the start up page. Yeah!!! Now I work more efficiently & productively when I'm studying (yah right).

Anyway I really was studying during my short stay there, & to prove it, I took a screen shot as proof. Heez.

Looking forward to spending days & nights at McDees (I think se7en hates this word) from now onwards.

I was searching for some pictures relating to surfing the web at McDees when I came across this article that says that while it is a free service, soon it will be charagable at SGD$3 per hour in May 2007. Chou Ji Dan!!!

Ja neh!!!

My timetable for semester 01 06/07

Just a simple entry before I go to sleep. My hair is still wet. This is my timetable for the semester. Hopefully it would be the last timetable I have to plan. It is 99% confirmed, barring any last minute changes.

I hope everyone can graduate at the end of this semester.

Ja neh!!!

Blogging during Hydrology lecture

Darence is on time (what do you think is the possibility of this happeneing?) & Jasmine, who has already passed this module, is sitting in with me as she has a free period before her Integrated Design meeting. It seems that they are to design a bridge this time, which might seem a little easier than the amphithreatre the previous time it was offered in 2005.

However, I'm sure every house has a book that is very hard to read, so maybe it might not be any easier than designing the amphithreate.














I bet the question on our mind is how come I am not paying attention to the lecture but blogging instead. Well, that is a very difficult question that cannot be answered by simple theories or simple research. The difficulty of answering this question can be on par with the type of questions that deals with the purpose of having human beingson planet Earth.

Anyway the first step to designing would be to first determine the service life of the bridge & the purpose of the bridge? So here are some pictures of bridges that I found on google. Heez.

Darence would like me to mention too that he is very hardoworking, unlike me, & he is paying full attention to the lecturer & taking down notes to summarize the concepts being taught. (Once again, what is the possibility of this happeneing?)

Ja neh!!!

Sony PSP vs Nintendo DS / DS Lite

As some of you might have realized by now, I have the pleasure of choosing from 2 of the world's most popular handheld gaming consoles whenever the gaming bug bite me. There also has been talk of how DS is kicking PSP's butt. Well, go here to get the low down on what's what & what's not between these 2.

How expensive is it to develop a game for a game platform?

* Last year in Japan, the average cost to develop a game for the Sony PS2 is $1.2 million.
* For the Sony PSP, it's only $541,000.
* But for the Nintendo DS, the average cost is a measly $342,000.

Now compare these numbers with some familiar facts.

* The PSP came out and sold for about $250 ($249 or so), while the DS came out at $149 or so.
* New games for the PSP cost around $50. New games cost about $35 for the Nintendo DS.
* Nowadays, you can find bargain bundles. A PSP bundled with a game (usually a "not-so-popular" game) can go for around $199. But a DS bargain bundle goes for about $149.

In terms of price, it seems like Nintendo is the way to go.

But the PSP is a powerful multimedia device. It's a technological heavyweight. Those strengths will help explain these facts:

* Last year, Nintendo exported only 7.34 million DS units while Sony exported more: 11.36 million PSP units.
* Within Japan, Nintendo did amazingly well: Nintendo sold 4.25 million DS and DS Lite units. Sony sold 2.61 million PSP units in Japan last year.

Does this mean the Japanese go for price? While the rest of the world (especially the USA and Europe) are more likely to go for expensive technology? Maybe.

Is this important? Well actually. I don't care about it one bit. Why? Because all this talk of "PSP pwns Nintendo DS sucks" and "PSP suxxorz LOL bye" doesn't change the important things. Gaming is on the rise. This is according to a report released by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association or CESA (it makes a report every year about the state of the Japanese console game industry; the sales figures in this article came from their report).

Total worldwide gaming sales (both hardware and software) have grown since 2004 because of the DS and PSP. They resurrected the dying handheld market, and in the process, they rekindled interest in gaming (for example, people who would never have bought a console found it easier to buy the affordable handheld units, and now that they realize how much fun they're having, they're waiting for the next-gen consoles).

So, after all the spamwars and flamewars and all the forum hating, both the DS and the PSP are to be thanked for this healthy upsurge in gaming sales. This is a sign that we should all hold hands. Can't we all just get along?

Ja neh!!!

Tomasz Kuszczak player profile

The second signing of Manchester United Football club for the coming season is a goalkeeper. This comes to me as a surpise to me as I believe more reinforcements are needed in the midfield as well as up front, not at the back. However, Edwin Van der Sar has reached his peak & will be retiring soon in a few more seasons in the top flight, so it is prudent to groom another world class goalkeeper to take his place.

As they say, do not look for toilet paper when your hit-with-a-capital-S is already leaking out. It is rather gross but it describes exactly the situation if nothing is done until the last minute.

The latest edition to United’s goalkeeping ranks, Tomasz Kuszczak, arrived at the club knowing exactly what is required to produce an outstanding performance at Old Trafford.

With West Brom’s Premiership survival at stake, the 6ft 3in Polish international was called upon against United in May 2005 when Russell Hoult went off injured after just 22 minutes at OT. The Baggies were 1-0 down to a 21st minute Ryan Giggs opener, but Kuszczak pulled off a series of saves in only his fourth game for the club to keep United out for the rest of the match. Robert Earnshaw’s penalty earned a vital Premiership point, helping Bryan Robson’s side avoid the drop.

The following season saw Tomasz become the latest edition to United’s goalkeeping ranks, Tomasz Kuszczak, arrived at the club knowing exactly what is required to produce an outstanding performance at Old Trafford.

With West Brom’s Premiership survival at stake, the 6ft 3in Polish international was called upon against United in May 2005 when Russell Hoult went off injured after just 22 minutes at OT. The Baggies were 1-0 down to a 21st minute Ryan Giggs opener, but Kuszczak pulled off a series of saves in only his fourth game for the club to keep United out for the rest of the match. Robert Earnshaw’s penalty earned a vital Premiership point, helping Bryan

Robson’s side avoid the drop.

The following season saw Tomasz become the Baggies’s first-choice keeper. His performances, despite West Brom’s relegation, didn’t go unnoticed. The Reds embarked on a relentless pursuit for his services throughout summer 2006. West Brom, having already turned down three offers from United, finally relented on 10 August. He joins United initially on a season-long loan, leading to a permanent three-year deal at the end of the period.

It ended a two-year stay at The Hawthorns for Tomasz following his move from Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin in July 2004. He made
e Baggies’s first-choice keeper. His performances, despite West Brom’s relegation, didn’t go unnoticed. The Reds embarked on a relentless pursuit for his services throughout summer 2006. West Brom, having already turned down three offers from United, finally relented on 10 August. He joins United initially on a season-long loan, leading to a permanent three-year deal at the end of the period.

It ended a two-year stay at The Hawthorns for Tomasz following his move from Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin in July 2004. He made
his Premiership debut for West Brom in September 2004 against Fulham and went on to make 30 league appearances for the Midlands club.

Tomasz is highly thought of in his homeland. His international debut for Poland, against Malta in December 2003, came at the age of 21 after during 14 appearances at Under21 level. He was also part of Poland's 2006 World Cup squad, where he was understudy to first choice keeper Artur Boruc, but did not play in the tournament.

If you have trouble with the sheer number of Z's in his name - he has a scrabble score of 53 – the pronunciation of his name is ‘Tomash Koosh-shack’.

Ja neh!!!

Isn't it time you converted?

Many exciting things are set to rawk the world of Apple Computers as the date for the next reelase of OS X dawns upon us. It is coming soon!!! Akan datang!!! Ironically, this post was composed on a pc, but if it were not for certain programs, I would have sold away the parts & gotten myself a desktop Mac since it can now support windows. The best of both world in 1 sleek machine.

Anyway, do view the video, & I hope you feel the same vibes as me. I waiting for the day that Apple announces that both Windows & OS X can work in parallel in native configuration instead of the present arrangement of having to boot up again if I wanted to switch operating systems or using emulators.

Ja neh!!!

Sony PS3 vs Nintendo Wii

As usual, it is another lazy day & there is only 1 nos lecture so I guess I'll stay home & try to figure out the meaning of life & what is the purpose of us human beings' existence on earth. As you recall, there seems to be an insurgence in interest in handheld gaming consoles. This is materialized in the Nintendo DS Lite my mother bought recently. Now my "cute" sister is getting in the act & buying Pacman for the DS Lite.

Unfortunately it has a poor rating as seen on the left. Read the review of the game here on IGN.

The main purpose of this entry is to show you guys a video I spotted on YouTube. It is a spoof of the series of Apple vs Mircosoft advertisments but somehow as I was about the publish the entry, there was an error & I realized that the user has removed the video!!!

Chao turtle!!!

It was such a pity that I could not show it to you. It is really nice & just makes you want to get a Nintento Wii instead of a Song PS3.

If the video resurfaces again, or if I managed to find a similar version, I'll post it here in this entry, so do watch this space.

Ja neh!!!

Alone in NTU

After 2 lectures (Structures 2 & Wastewater Engineering), it is time for a break. Since I have no appetite for lunch, I decided to go to the CEE "Club House" for some airconditioned comfort & a spot of surfing on the information superhighway. I brought along my lappy because I have a 3 hour break in between lessons.

While I managed to log onto NTU's imfamous network, MSN seems to be a bit of a challenge. MSN for Mac seems to be okie but it gets disconnected every other 5 minutes or so, but Adium which is supposed to be the more stable program doesn't even want to log in. Sigh.

Sandy told me my notes will be ready in the afternoon, so I might go home after collecting them. The next lesson is Reinforced Concrete Design lecture & it is a repeat module.

Ja neh!!!

Movies I have watched recently

What you see is actually the second time I'm doing up this entry because the NTU network has given up on me temporarily. Sigh, all my "hard work" is gone. Anyway, this is the second installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the first being The curse of the Black Pearl. After the movie ended, I had the feeling i was left hanging in midair, but do appreciate the great acting by Johnny Depp, the same guy who acted as the "garderner" in Edward Scissorhands.

Read more about the movie here.

Another sequel movie, the third in the Fast & Furious series, it reviewed by many of my friends as not living up to expectations. I, on the other hand, find it platable as it had all the elements of a movie which i enjoy. Lots of action (fighting, racing, etc), a simple (or even shallow storyline) so that even I can understand what is going on, & lots of beautiful people (who does not like to look at beautiful things? Especially SYTs aka Sweet Young Things). I mean no offence to the fairer sex, but if you do take offence, you are probably just ugly or fat or just gross, muahahahahaha!!! Kidding lah.

Read more about it here.

This is the most recent movie I have seen & I do have a liking for such animated movies. Other examples would include Robots, etc. Heartwarming as well as motivational. Do not let anybody bully you!!!

Read more about it here.

Please ask me out to watch movies hor!!!

Ja neh!!!

Michael Carrick player profile

Michael Carrick appears to be the only signing of the new season of Manchester United Football Club so far & while it might be worrying for the fans because there is no new blood to replay the players who have left, e.g. Ruud van Nisterooy, Roy Keane, etc or to strengthen the squard, the manager Sir Alex Ferguson appears to start the season even with no new signings. It could be his faith in his existing players to deliver a legitimate challenge for the Premiership title & the Champions League. Manchester United does have a strong youth program, maybe as good as West Ham's Youth Academy.

Anyway here's his player profile from the official Manchester United website.

Michael Carrick is a classy and composed midfielder, equally at home on the ball as he is trying to win it back or break up attacks.

Carrick began his career with Wallsend Boys Club – the same club that produced Alan Shearer and Peter Beardsley – before beginning his professional career at West Ham’s prestigious youth academy in 1998. Alongside Joe Cole, Carrick played a starring role in the 9-0 demolition of Coventry City in the 1999 FA Youth Cup final, contributing two goals of his own.

In the 1999/2000 campaign Carrick was loaned out to Swindon Town. The following season saw him loaned out again, this time to Birmingham City. His exploits for the Blues during 2000/01 earned him a PFA Young Player of the Season nomination, although he eventually lost out to Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard.

Carrick spent much of 2002/03 sidelined with injury before West Ham were relegated at the end of the season. Rather than join the exodus that accounted for team-mates Joe Cole, Fredi Kanoute and Jermain Defoe, Carrick stayed with West Ham during their first season back in Division One, where they narrowly missed out on a return to the Premiership in the play off final. But, seeking to resurrect his Premiership career, Carrick moved to Tottenham in 2004 for £2.75m.

Since then Carrick has blossomed. His range of passing and vision make him a valuable addition to any midfield. Under the tutelage of Sir Alex Ferguson and the United first team staff, his talents can mature further still.

Having accumulated 14 caps for the England Under21 squad, Carrick received his first senior England cap in 2001. Aged 19, he was a half-time substitute in the 4-0 win over Mexico at Derby County’s Pride Park stadium. He was a part of England’s 2006 World Cup squad and showed he could perform on the highest stage with a composed displayin the win over Ecuador, where he was assigned the holding role.

At United he has taken over Roy Keane’s No.16 shirt. He is of a different stock to the talismanic former Reds skipper. But his guile, passing range and ability to retain possession will make him an asset to Sir Alex Ferguson’s midfield.

Hope that Ferguson has made a reasonable choice when he nearly broke the bank to sign Carrick. Manchester United is really in debt after the Glazers bought over what was once the world's richest club. Now there is just one "buttocks of debts".

Ja neh!!!

Noble Pink Nintendo DS Lite

According to this article, the pink version is released in conjection with a cooking game!!! Yes, there is another handheld gaming console in the house & it is the Number 1 console in Japan & many other parts of the world. The Nintendo DS Lite.

It cost SGD$289 for the pink version & it does not come with the "usual" 3 month warranty!!! Have equals don't have. How many of our purchases come with only 3 months warranty? Outrageous right? Anyway the white version is the cheapest at SGD$249 followed by the black or light blue version. I wonder why it is officially known as noble pink? Since when being noble is being associated with the colour pink. Why not just call it Light Pink or just Pink like the rest of the normal human population.

No comments on how it compares with the PSP but I do believe they each have their own strengths & weakness. Might do a review after some time with the DS Lite.

The first original (I am obligated by social norms to say that we should not support piracy but I am ruled by the Laws of Economics) game we bought together with the screen protector & the DS Lite itself is Tetris.

Review of tetris DS

Ja neh!!!

Nissan 350Z Roadster

My family & I had dinner at Subway (Tampines Central) as my sporty (as if) sister wanted to go for a short jog round Tampines Stadium which is just opposite the place.

After dinner, we passed by the Nissan showroom which is just round the corner. What caught my eye was this Roadster with a 3.5 litre V6 engine (the V means that the cylinders are arranged like the letter 'V' with 3 cyclinders on each side, I so smart hor!!!)!!!

What a luxurious interior & a wicked body!!! As i sat in the dirver's sit, I was imagining myself crusing down the expressway with the top down & the wind in my hair (or what is left of it).

The price is around SGD$163000 which includes COE.

This is the monthly payment for 1 year loan up till 10 years if I want to take a 100% loan, i.e. zero downpayment. So if I decide to take a 6 year loan, I need to pay almost SGD$3000 every month, exlcuding petrol & servicing & insurance & road tax!!!

This is the payment play if I place a SGD$100000 downpayment is which like the bulk of the cost of the car. OMG!!! Still a lot of money. I think I should just go rob a bank or hope I strike Toto twice in a row before I can afford such an expensive car. Meanwhile, I'll just daydream about owning it & stare at the brochure.

I love ah beng sport cars!!!

Monopoly variants & facts

History of Monopoly

It was 1934, the height of the Depression, when Charles B. Darrow of Germantown, Pennsylvania, showed what he called the Monopoly game to the executives at Parker Brothers.


Can you believe it, they rejected the game due to "52 design errors"!!! However Mr. Darrow wasn't daunted. Like many other Americans, he was unemployed at the time, and the game's exciting promise of fame and fortune inspired him to produce it on his own.

With help from a friend who was a printer, Mr. Darrow sold 5,000 handmade sets of the game to a Philadelphia department store. People loved it! But as demand grew, he couldn't keep up with all the orders and came back to talk to the Parker Brothers again. The rest, as they say, is history! In its first year, 1935, the MONOPOLY game was the best-selling game in America. And over its 65-year history, an estimated 500 million people have played!!!

• Over 200 million games have been sold worldwide.
  

• More than five billion little green houses have been "built" since 1935.
  

• A set made by my friends at Alfred Dunhill, with gold houses and silver hotels, sold for $25,000.
  

• The longest game in history lasted 70 straight days.
  

• The longest game in a bathtub lasted 99 hours!

Did you now that:

• Mr. Monopoly is the name of the MONOPOLY® man.
  

• George Parker issued a memo in 1936 that was to halt the productions of the MONOPOLY® game. He later withdrew the instruction and the rest is history!!!
  

• Parker Brothers rejected the MONOPOLY® game when it was first presented to them in 1933, citing 52 fundamental playing flaws.
  

• Over 5,120,000,000 little green houses have been “constructed” since the MONOPOLY® game was introduced in 1935.
  

• World records are maintained for the longest game in a treehouse (286) hours, underground (100 hours), in a bathtub (99 hours) and upside-down (36 hours).

• The longest MONOPOLY® game ever played was 1,680 hours long. That is 70 straight days!
  

• Escape maps, compasses and files were inserted into MONOPOLY® game boards smuggled into POW camps inside Germany during World War II. Real money for escapees was slipped into the packs of MONOPOLY® money.
  

• In Cuba, the game had a strong following until Fidel Castro took power and ordered all known sets destroyed.
  

• Over 200 million sets of the MONOPOLY® game have been sold worldwide.
  

• The total amount of money in a standard MONOPOLY® game is $15,140.

• The MONOPOLY® game is published in 27 languages, including Croatian and licensed in more than 81 countries. Thai edition of Monopoly is the newest edition, introduced at the Toys R Us store in Bangkok, in December 2005.

• In the 1970’s, a Braille edition of the MONOPOLY® game was created for the visually impaired.

• Parker Brothers once sent an armored car with one million dollars of the MONOPOLY® game money to a marathon game in Pittsburgh that had run out of funds.

• In 1972, the Atlantic City Commissioner of Public Works threatened to change the names of the real Baltic and Mediterranean Avenues, but public outcry vetoed the bill.

• At the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, all six sets of the MONOPOLY® game that were on display mysteriously disappeared.

• Over 20 tokens have been cast since the MONOPOLY® game was introduced in 1935 such as the horse, dog, car, elephant, purse and lantern.

• A set made by Alfred Dunhill, that included gold and silver houses and hotels, sold for $25,000.

• In 1978, the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog offered a chocolate version of the game priced at $600.

• The three most-landed-on properties are Illinois Avenue. “GO” and the B&O Railroad.

• The 1983 Italian National Champion, Emilio Maltoni, learned to play the MONOPOLY® game alone by taking on the role of five players.

• The character locked behind the bars is called Jake the Jailbird. Officer Edgar Mallory sent him to jail.

• When a player lands on an unowned property and decides not to buy it, the property goes to auction.

• There are 22 properties that can be built upon.

May the force be strong in you (deep breathing muffled by a face mask)

Ja neh!!!