atomicbird

Mark and FredDespite much bravado about Stump the Experts, last night my winning streak ended. At WWDC 2007, experts stump YOU! Well me anyway. I paid extra close attention to all the songs but couldn't identify any of them. That means I can only wear three Stump hats at a time, and can't add a T-shirt to the ensemble.

Incidentally, take a look at that picture of Mark and Fred. Study it for a minute and then come back.

Back? Now tell me: Is Mark secretly the PC in the "I'm a Mac" ads? I'm just sayin...

Questions from the ExpertsIt was the usual fun event though. This year the usual Mac trivia questions were supplemented by videos of Stump the Experts dating from the mid-1990s. Those who could tell what year a video was from won prizes. Incidentally for those who might wonder, the questions the experts posed are shown in the adjacent picture. In addition, one of Fred's kids posed the question "What word starts with an 'f' and ends with an 'uck'?" (answer: "firetruck").

Some highlights included:
Experts Gallery

• Mark getting into a dispute with the audience over where, exactly, Hello Kitty lives. Someone guessed Tokyo and Mark corrected him, saying "London". A third person disputed that (apparently Ms. Kitty lives 20km from London). Mark considered that since this was within atomic bomb or zombie radius of London it was close enough.
• A Swiss developer whose name I unfortunately don't know has earned a reputation at Stump for giving long answers that confuse Fred and Mark. this year they pressed him into service as the scorekeeper in the hopes of keeping him mostly quiet. It didn't work, though.
• Mark presented a small can of pork brains in gravy and offered special prizes to anyone who would eat it, but only if they had a spork to eat with. Mostly Mark wondered if anyone would eat something where one serving has over 1000% of the recommended daily limit on cholesterol intake. Incidentally he promised to bring it back next year, so if you go and you can stomach the possibility, fame and fortune could be yours for the rest of your no-doubt-short life.
• When one audience member shouted that a question was too easy, he was brought on stage and made to give his answer just before the experts' answer. He was not correct.
• One developer had in a previous Stump admitted to having lost $3000 playing online poker, and was given a copy of Mark's how-to book on the subject. This year he returned to tell Mark that the book had kind of sucked and to ask for a copy of the latest edition.

Tonight's big event for me is the CocoaHeads meeting at the nearby Apple Store. I've also got a ticket to the Delicious Generation party ("I've got a golden ticket...") but won't be able to make it until after CocoaHeads ends.

Buzz AndersenWhat with the Keynote review I completely forgot to mention Buzz Andersen's annual WWDC party last night. Buzz described it as a last-minute effort but that only goes to show he knows how to get things together quickly. As with the SFMacIndie event this was at 111 Minna Gallery. A grand time seemed to be had by all.

Some of us showed up way too early but for some reason time confusion was the order of the day. Apple's published schedules directly contradicted each other, leading to people leaving one session early to make a different one that they didn't know wasn't starting yet.

Tacos SantanaFood was provided by Tacos Santana, and paid for by the party sponsors. How cool is that?

Today I went to the session on developing web sites for the iPhone. But of course I can't really talk about that here.

Speaking of food, the follies continue. Today I wanted to find a decent Mexican restaurant nearby, and after some searching decided on La Laguna Taqueria (formerly El Balazo). Several of us went over. I should have taken the formerly part of that as a hint, because as of today at least it's formerly La Laguna, and now a boarded up empty building. Between this and last year's failed trip to Zeitgeist I think my WWDC restaurant-picking privileges may have been revoked. Fortunately Mel's Drive-In is also nearby so we had burgers instead.

So anyway, if you happen to know a decent Mexican restaurant near the Moscone center in San Francisco, and if you're reading this on or before June 15 2007, leave a comment or send me an email about it, OK? I do know about Maya but something a little less expensive would be nice.

Stump the Experts hat 2005This afternoon, more technical sessions, the Apple Design Awards, and Stump the Experts. STUMP THE EXPERTS! I've won hats and assorted other prizes there three years in a row now, owing not so much to my mastery of Mac trivia as to what Jon Wight calls my rainman-like memory for music (at least the kind that Fred Huxham plays). Stay tuned and see if I continue my streak.