In a case of poor communication between publicists, I have ended up with not one but two advance copies of Massive by Ian Sample, a forthcoming book about the Higgs Boson. As I barely have time to read one, I don't remotely need two; thus, I will dispose of one with a really simple contest:
I am thinking of an integer between 0 and 1000 (inclusive). The person who comes closest to guessing the number by midnight Eastern time Friday, November 5 wins a copy of Massive.
Leave your guess in the comments. One entry per commenter, please. In the event that two or more people choose the same winning number, the tie will be broken based on the time stamp on the comment, so get your guess in quickly. The winner will be announced on Saturday, and contacted by email to the address left with the comment, so please provide a legitimate email address.
343
1000
756
117
115
550.
622
111. Not to horn in on ralmon's guess, but it's the number of millions of records returned if you Google "Massive."
K
331
137
137
738
314
781
657
42
888
I'm surprised that this early the first two numbers I thought of were already taken.
707
227
115
12
89
2468.
I enjoy leaving comments and playing guessing games, but don't really want the book.
599
1000
272
666
483
256
136
635
925
I pass on the book, I already know the ending of this story - Higgs boson is a delusion ;)
500
731
446
0.
0 (need to add more text to allow the comment to go through)
114
print sorted([ [sum( [abs(x-n) for n in [343, 1000, 756, 117, 115, 550, 622, 331, 137, 738, 314, 781, 657, 42, 888, 18, 707, 227, 20, 115, 12, 89, 599, 1000, 272, 666, 483, 256]] ),x] for x in range(1000)], key=lambda x:-x[0] )[0][1]
My entry is 999 (maximal absolute linear distance to all previous (except 2468) entries. Please consider this only if you would be willing to ship to Europe (-;
Cheerio
129
401
732
5. Here's why: The number of Higgs Bosons in the Minimal Supersymmetric Extension of the Standard Model is five. So, if I win, I want to win with irony.
618
944
998
2012
sorry i'm overweight
201
7.
628
Pi is wrong.
http://tauday.com/
777
199. Oooh, I hope I'm close!
672
397
301?
815
526
666
818
42 - It's the answer
608
668 - the neighbor of the beast.
70 (the UK speed limit)
13 (Come on, lucky 13!)
I'm in France, but if you'd rather not ship to Europe (understandably) I can give you a US address and pick it up on my next trip there. :)
570
255
820
697
431, since the current distribution is a bit light on 400s.
118
120
Ha! I almost put 120.
357
642
421
863
739
576
(...but I never win anything)
319
257
472
909
753
420
1
422, please!
620
738
738
yikes...looks like my guess got scooped early. Amending to 614
479
Hooray for primes!
11.
327
556
736
20
525 - how can this lovely number not have been picked yet ?
418
466
909
168
7
266
1
682
361
69. The only number I can easily remember left :-).
185
222
451
321 nightjar_flying[at]yahoo.co.uk
704
796
It's already been taken, but I figured since tomorrow is my birthday I have to go with 115. : ) (Yes, I'm shamelessly trying to score extra points.) : )
23
19
842.
627
555
97
3
978
714
zero
No reason.
Appropriately.
6 - the number of a free man
726
272
67
87
180
(One hundred and EIGHHHHTEEEEE)!
711
According to random.org .
289
153 it's gotta be
666
After the election it is the only number I can come up with.
426
124
377
42
280
(the geometric mean of all the unique entries so far)
(lol)
897
37
568
748
800
317
377
147
148...no wait...837...no, I'll stick with 148.
432
375
No reason other than I like it.
This comment thread is sublime.
And 253.
Based on these:
0 0 1 1 3 3 5 6 7 7 11 12 13 19 20 23 37 42 42 42 67 69 70 70 87 89 97 111 114 115 115 115 117 118 120 124 129 136 137 147 148 153 168 180 185 199 201 222 227 253 255 256 257 266 272 280 289 301 314 317 319 321 327 331 343 357 361 375 377 397 412 418 420 422 426 431 432 446 451 466 472 479 483 500 525 526 550 555 556 570 576 586 599 608 614 618 620 622 627 628 635 642 657 666 666 666 668 672 682 697 704 707 711 714 726 731 732 736 738 738 739 748 753 756 777 781 796 800 815 818 820 842 863 888 897 909 909 925 944 978 998 999 1000 1000
The numbers 961, 240, 875, 512, 54, and 538 look decreasingly pretty, any takers?
Random.org gave me 108 and it seems no one else has 108 so 108 it is!
932. Are we still on 5th?