# "Duel" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419 "2007-12-18T02:48:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/61 "2007-12-21T10:04:40Z")
It’d be a really easy game to play optimally - have a running count for dead cards of each suit, bet on whatever the lowest count is. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/62 "2007-12-22T01:06:10Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] Saddam Hussein, which is weird because I could have sworn he was the MotY once because I vaguely remember some hubbub about it. [/QUOTE] You’re probably thinking of the controversy that occured when Time deliberated making Osama bin Laden 2001’s Man of the Year- they chose Rudy Guiliani instead. Many people were angered that Time might honor a terrorist and a murderer, not realizing that the Man of the Year is the person who most affected the past year, for better _or_ for worse. Adolf Hitler was named Man of the Year in 1938, and I can think of no other person who more changed the face of the world in that year. Nor can I think of anyone besides bin Laden who did so in 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/63 "2007-12-24T00:26:07Z")
Yes, Virginia, there were only 10 reindeer: Dasher Dancer Prancer Vixen Comet Cupid Donder Blitzen Rudolph Olive (the other reindeer) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/64 "2007-12-24T02:45:38Z")
Okay, I forgot to watch – who won? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/65 "2007-12-24T02:49:52Z")
The nurse from Florida and she got over 1.7 mil. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/66 "2007-12-24T03:18:51Z")
The last question was obvious, I thought. Which is heavier: a gallon of water or a gallon of vegetable oil or a gallon of crude oil or are they the same weight? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/67 "2007-12-24T03:49:40Z")
SPOILER!!! I was staggered the Used Car Saleman blew it on the first question by covering all the wrong answers and not the right one. Talk about choking in the clutch. I’m sorry, but surely it’s common knowledge water is heavier than oil? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/68 "2007-12-24T10:44:24Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] I’m sorry, but surely it’s common knowledge water is heavier than oil? [/QUOTE] I guessed he was thinking “oil is thicker than water” or some other mangled cliché. The guy who yelled “Aagh! February!” cracked me up. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/69 "2007-12-24T16:05:33Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] I’m sorry, but surely it’s common knowledge water is heavier than oil? [/QUOTE] I got suckered by this one, too. Oil is thicker…ergo, it must be heaver, right? But then as soon as Used Car Salesman remembered that oil floats on water, I thought…oh, crap. The basic flaw in the design of this game is that someone just won $1.7m on a question that she didn’t know the answer, because she wasn’t willing to gamble, and her opponent was. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419/70 "2007-12-26T15:47:51Z")
I found the whole final episode anti-climactic. Made worse by the fact that I would have gotten the final question wrong–even though I do know that oil floats on water. (I think I was getting molecular weights mixed up with density–and if I’d really been there, I hope I’d have taken a little longer to figure things out. But, I’m definitely the type of person who would either have won big, or who would have gone out with a bang, because I can’t imagine that I would have been happy placing chips on more answers than not, even when I didn’t really know the answer). . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duel/430419.md?page=3)