MetaFilter posts tagged with monopoly

Maybe not getting out of jail for free, but certainly a big help.

NoraCharles — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:47:21 -0800

The history of Monopoly has been a long one, but the game also helped change history through its participation in providing hidden maps and tools to help British POWs during WWII.

Monopoly and Google maps mashup

pompomtom — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:01:58 -0800

Tomorrow, Monopoly City Streets begins, introducing a world-wide game combining google maps and the classic family fight-starter. Buy any street in the world, build houses, hotels and more. Remember, property always goes up, and your siblings always cheat.

Do they preserve scientific transparency, protect profits or both?

zarq — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:16:38 -0800

On behalf of medical organizations, universities, & individual patients, pathologists and genetics researchers, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against Utah-based Myriad Genetics and the US Patent and Trademark Office. Myriad holds the US patents to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, associated with hereditary causes of breast and ovarian cancers. Their patents guarantee the company the right to prevent anyone else from testing or studying those genes, which the ACLU says is unconstitutional and inhibits researchers from finding treatments and cures. The ACLU has posted a FAQ explaining the suit. It might be news to some that genes, gene fragments and the tools used to assess them can be patented. Here's some general info on patent eligibility and qualifications. Some question whether such patents spur or stifle research Myriad's BRCA test to measure the likelihood that someone would develop ovarian or breast cancer was in the news a couple of years ago, when a study revealed that it produces false negatives. Concerns were also raised in the EU over the patents when they were initially filed. Previously on MeFi

For Those Looking for a Little Boardom This Holiday Season

mrmojoflying — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:00:09 -0800

Play board games during the holidays? Try an updated version of an old classic. You can indulge in as much sex, drugs, crime, and rock and roll as your health will handle, just don't roll a 1 on your first turn or you'll be aborted before you get started. Or, if you are looking for something a little more fresh and less "serious gamish" why not try the new religious parody game in which you can play a chain gun wielding, cross toting Jesus? Other board games designed around (possibly exploitative) socio-cultural satire, like Ghettopoly and Redneckopoly (previously 1,2), have provoked strong reactions.

Food cartels - haven't we seen these before?

Mutant — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:55:05 -0800

Oil's got one. So does cocaine. There used to be one for light bulbs and another for uranium. While we know one currently exists for diamonds, some folks think the music industry has one. An effective cartel needs both product homogenity and a relatively limited number of suppliers. Standardised products offer consumers price reductions driven by economies of scale and supplier substitution effects. However a relatively small number of suppliers of any commodity gives rise to the possibility of price fixing and collusive behaviour. Supplier actions threatening financial disadvantage to consumers can occur in any industry, however who would not view food cartels negatively? We last saw food cartels in the 1990's [e.g., but not limited to lysine [.pdf], citric acid, vitamins A & E ]. Aggressive antitrust actions, coordinated across the EU and America, effectively levied fines in excess of $10 billion dollars on some 167 international cartels [.pdf] operating at the time. With global food prices already at record levels, will any good come from Thailand's moves to organise a rice cartel? While some are skeptical this (latest) effort will succeed, comments from government spokesmen "With the oil price rising so much, we import expensive oil but sell rice very cheaply and that’s unfair to us ..." aren't very helpful to already nervous consumers. The idea of a rice cartel isn't new; India suggested forming a rice, tea and sugar cartel in 2000, only to have the initiative die due to the difficulties of controlling rice production.

Go directly to [landmark]. Do not pass [flavortext], do not collect [currency]

ormondsacker — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:22:34 -0800

Struggling for a way to combine your love of simulated cut-throat capitalism with your love of the Adelaide Crows, classic Coca-Cola ads, Réunion Island, or the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror? Look no further than one of the 1,235 special-edition Monopoly boards. Browse the full street layout of 64 national variants at Monopolybase, or check the going price on 225 official Parker Brothers -opolies from Aachen to X-Men. If even that's not good enough for you, you can always (as discussed here), roll your own.
(Plus 35 Harry Potter games, 100+ rejuvenating house rules, and more from Israeli board-game blogger Yehuda Berlinger.)

You Have Won Second Prize In A Beauty Contest. Collect $10.

amyms — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:47:21 -0800

Have you ever gotten stuck in a never-ending game of Monopoly? Turns out the game wouldn't take so long if we didn't play with so many made-up rules. There are many different variations of house rules. Some people even make up their own extreme game. The official Monopoly rules are posted at Monopoly Collector, which also has game history and facts, as do the Monopoly pages at Hasbro. If you're into statistics, Durango Bill has an excellent article on Monopoly probabilities. Also related, old-style Monopoly card illustrations. And just for fun, check out "Monopoly Cards We'd Like To See" at Dribble Glass. Or, make your own Chance and Community Chest cards at Sign Generator.

The Cost of Monoculture

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:06:49 -0800

In Korea, you use Windows and IE, or you're out of luck. MeFi's own Gen Kanai writes about the Microsoft lock-in in South Korea. It is also a monoculture in other ways, of course, but in a country of 48 million where internet usage has risen from 9 million in 1999 to 35 million today, that leads the world in broadband penetration, some lessons for the rest of the world about the dangers of monopoly might be learned.

McNopoly Winners?

Gankmore — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 20:06:12 -0800

Anyone ever win McDonalds Monopoly? Mmmm.... It's McDonald's Monopoly season again! Looking for Boardwalk? Good luck. Where are the winners(pdf) now? Or is it all just a fraudulant scam? Mmm... I'm scoffing it!

Conspiracy Theory Rock

riotgrrl69 — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 14:35:49 -0800

Media-opoly from Saturday Night Live's TV Funhouse skit created by Robert Smigel broadcast in 1998 on NBC, a subsidiary of GE. Not broadcast since, apparently.

Monopoly Hacks

Saucy Intruder — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 14:50:56 -0800

A canonical list of Monopoly house rules.

McOpoly

lightweight — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 15:08:13 -0800

McOpoly. Let the games begin. Now we have a reason to eat at McDonalds every day. However, it is funny how so many million dollar winners have been convicted of fraud in the past. Imagine winning the ultimate prize.

WalmartFilter

alms — Wed, 15 Oct 2003 14:31:41 -0800

WalmartFilter: "Wal-Mart controls a large and rapidly increasing share of the business done by most every major U.S. consumer-products company: 28% of Dial total sales, 24% of Del Monte Foods, 23% of Clorox, 23% of Revlon... Wal-Mart plans to open 1,000 more supercenters in the U.S. alone over the next five years.. giving it control over 35% of U.S. food sales and 25% of drugstore sales...The $12 billion worth of Chinese goods Wal-Mart bought in 2002 represented 10% of all U.S. imports from China." Setting aside questions of monopoly, isn't this a potentially dangerous monoculture?

This is so ghetto.

bhayes82 — Thu, 09 Oct 2003 15:27:15 -0800

This Monopoly parody is causing quite a fuss among "black leaders". Is it a stereotype of the "ghetto life" image the media shows us? Sure. But is this game (and the "ghetto life" image) a stereotype that you connect directly to dark-skinned people, as the clergymen seem to think?

Monopoly Odds

srboisvert — Fri, 19 Sep 2003 06:02:09 -0800

Monopoly Stats. Now you can play the odds [via boingboing.net]

So the FCC might let me be...

Bixby23 — Wed, 14 May 2003 17:40:53 -0800

So the FCC might let me be... On June 2, FCC commissioners will vote on proposed changes to U.S. media ownership rules. Proponents of eliminating a ban on "cross ownership" argue that mergers between local newspapers and radio and TV stations in large and medium-sized markets will boost the quality and quantity of local news reportage. The nonprofit Consumers Union calls the ban "critical to the independence and diversity of our nation's media". Let the FCC know where you stand (third item on list).

Ya Perdimos Con Bush

Ignatius J. Reilly — Wed, 23 Apr 2003 22:38:59 -0800

Habla Usted Clear Channel? So Clear Channel wants to dominate Spanish-language radio? Nothing new. From the first link, the final piece in a Salon series on media consolidation: The deal is big and contentious, and involves politics, music and media -- and, to make matters even more interesting, Clear Channel, the U.S. radio station conglomerate, has a starring role. Clear Channel is HBC's largest shareholder, and the company has been accused by opponents of the deal of maneuvering illegally behind the scenes to exert control over HBC, as well as spreading rumors of drug use about the CEO of HBC's chief competitor.

One nation, under Clear Channel....

answergrape — Fri, 31 Jan 2003 11:37:42 -0800

Should FCC allow big media to get bigger? The FCC will soon rule on whether media megaboxes should be allowed to dominate a given market's radio, television, and print media simultaneously. They have already loosened restrictions on radio and the proliferation of Clear Channel has led to a 30% reduction in radio station ownership and, some believe, to the homogenization of popular music. Should the FCC eliminate the regulations preventing mega-media from monopolizing television and print media?

mutantdisco! — Wed, 14 Aug 2002 06:54:13 -0800

Diamonds , a symbol of love for a large part of this century. Yet there is an underlying monopoly who have socially engineered the whole entire idea that a "Diamond is Forever". Does your notion of a diamond change knowing that a consortium is ensuring that their Monopoly is Forever?

nprigoda — Thu, 01 Aug 2002 11:12:10 -0800

"How Much Starbucks is Too Much?" This article predicts that our favourite caffeine pushers could double the number of outlets in the US without saturating the market. Pretty graphs, but has anyone told this guy about Starbucks' more sinister plans? warning, second link = Onion story

RobertLoch — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 06:20:11 -0800

Create your own Monopoly Game Surely the perfect customised gift? You can change the name of the game, the theme, the name of the properties/stations, and also the rules. Apparently it uses a 'What You See Is What You Get Realtime Interface', which allows users to personalise the game completely to their requirements, and then print out and proof the new design. What I find most interesting about this product offering is that the whole process is completely automated. Once you've designed and ordered your customised game, it goes straight to print/production, and is then sent out to you. No human intervention is required. This appears to me to be pretty ground breaking stuff (well in the Toy World anyway), or am I just way behind the times? (via the Ecademy discussion list)

mathowie — Mon, 10 Sep 2001 12:47:39 -0800

AOL may buy AT&T broadband in a deal that could allow them to own the browser, net access, data pipes, and content for a vast majority of internet usage and users. How far will AOL/TW go to control any and all forms of media? Are hearings to break the company up far off?

m.polo — Fri, 31 Aug 2001 08:18:40 -0800

In the midst of being indignant over the death of the BeOS, Scot Hacker talks about Microsoft's OEM license with hardware vendors. Although Microsoft claims the terms of the agreement are a "trade secret," preventing it from making appearnce in the DOJ circus, apparently it prevents OEMs from installing any non-Microsoft OS along side a Microsoft OS... If true, the "browser integration" thing's just a minor annoyance - this would be monopolistic and anti-competitive... via rc3.org

tiaka — Tue, 21 Aug 2001 12:08:41 -0800

You loose, but it's not your fault. I wonder if a winter edition of monopoly will come out because of this.

sillygit — Tue, 31 Jul 2001 21:06:45 -0800

PacBell seeks to secure a monopoly Californians urged to contact the PUC to put the brakes on PacBell's plan to kill the independent ISP. Should they be allowed to take their toys and go home or be forced to share? And, what effect will this have on the future of tech companies if PacBell is able to lock out DSL competition?