Moo! The Musings of a Plaid Cow

I keep reading in the news that [Yahoo!][1] is continuing to lose ground to [Google][2]. I can understand why.

Today when my wife called to find showtimes for a theater, I remembered that [Yahoo! Movies][3] always used to have good information. So I filtered on her location, by the movie she wanted to see, and came up with a [list of possibilities][4].

Unfortunately, I didn’t know where each of the theaters were. So I looked for the “Show Locations on a Map” button (maybe on [Yahoo! Maps][5]). There wasn’t one. So I clicked on a specific theater and looked for the “Get Directions” button. There wasn’t one. So I went to [Google][2] and got a [map][6].

And I won’t be going back to [Yahoo!][1].

[1]: http://www.yahoo.com/
[2]: http://www.google.com/
[3]: http://movies.yahoo.com/
[4]: http://movies.yahoo.com/showtimes-tickets/movies/1810049009-disneyand-39-s-a-christmas-carol/
[5]: http://maps.yahoo.com/
[6]: http://maps.google.com/

This quote from [an article][1] on [Consumerist][0] goes a long way to showing why companies treat people badly and get away with it:

> Had I not absolutely needed to make the purchases, I would have surely walked away and never returned.

If you are going to complain about treatment you received to a consumer site, you should at least have enough sense to walk away and to NOT BUY ANYTHING. Coming back for more just adds fuel to the merchant’s fire.

[0]: http://consumerist.com/
[1]: http://consumerist.com/5400789/ulta-manager-take-your-pen-to-your-car-youre-not-allowed-to-write-anything-down


Billy Mays here for Orange Glow—the only casting material you will ever need. Broken bones from a fall? Orange Glow mends them all!

To the two or so people who read [A Plaid Strategy Guide for Las Vegas Slots on Facebook][1], I updated it today with levels 5 and 6.

[1]: http://moo.plaidcow.net/2009/10/a_plaid_strategy_guide_for_las_vegas_slots_on_facebook

Before eating dinner tonight, I finally took a few minutes to read the front of the [Totino’s Crispy Crust Supreme Party Pizza][1] box. The pizza has toppings of:

* Green Peppers
* Onions
* Sausage
* Pizza Topping with Pepperoni Flavor

I’m not sure I really want to know what “Pizza Topping with Pepperoni Flavor” is. No more reading for me.

[1]: http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/brands/product_image.aspx?catID=31212&itemID=1329

There has been a bit of an outcry about [Apple suing Woolworths][1] over their updated logo. While some lawsuits are clearly frivoulous, I think this one has a bit more meat to it. Let’s ask a few questions:

* Does the Woolworths logo look like an apple? **Yes**
* Will they brand computers or other home electronics with this logo? **A distinct possibility.**
* Would the average consumer be confused? **Definitely**

[1]: http://www.watoday.com.au/business/apple-bites-over-woolworths-logo-20091005-ghzr.html

Not have enough assholes in your life recently? That’s because they’ve all been posting on [this FML thread][1].

[1]: http://www.fmylife.com/miscellaneous/5601123

Though most of the game play in [Lucky Slots][1] on [Facebook][2] is luck, there is a modicum of skill involved in making sure that your [Daily Credit Bonus][3] goes up as quickly as possible. To do this you should always get friends to send you the gift prizes for a level and play each slot machine just long enough to get each of the poker chips. (If you have friends that can send these, even better.)

[1]: http://apps.facebook.com/playluckyslots/
[2]: http://www.facebook.com/
[3]: http://apps.facebook.com/playluckyslots/faq.php

Once you have these two sources of Daily Bonus Credit knocked out, you can focus on buying Prize Sets. Since each prize set (in total) costs a different number of tickets and provides you with a different ticket bonus, the optimal prize set order can be generated by calculating the number of tickets required for each daily bonus credit for each prize set, and then buying the sets with the smallest cost. All of this is laid out below. (Just buy the prize sets in the order shown in the last column.)

#### Level 1 – Venetian ####
Prize Set | Bonus | Cost | Tickets per Bonus | Optimal Prize Set Order
——- | ——: | —–: | ———-: | :——-:
Money | +5 | 90 | 18 | 1
Sports | +5 | 660 | 132 | 3
Toys | +5 | 1975 | 395 | 5
Mixed Bag | +5 | 425 | 85 | 2
Vehicles | +10 | 2500 | 250 | 4

#### Level 2 – Wynn ####
Prize Set | Bonus | Cost | Tickets per Bonus | Optimal Prize Set Order
——- | ——: | —–: | ———-: | :——-:
Fruits | +7 | 525 | 75 | 1
Smileys | +7 | 1450 | 207 | 2
Letters | +7 | 2600 | 371 | 4
Monsters | +10 | 3125 | 312 | 3
Halloween | +15 | 7400 | 493 | 5

#### Level 3 – Bellagio ####
Prize Set | Bonus | Cost | Tickets per Bonus | Optimal Prize Set Order
——- | ——: | —–: | ———-: | :——-:
Animals | +9 | 3830 | 426 | 1
Cute | +17 | 7500 | 441 | 2
Drinks | +20 | 10 250 | 512 | 3

#### Level 4 – MGM Grand ####
Prize Set | Bonus | Cost | Tickets per Bonus | Optimal Prize Set Order
——- | ——: | —–: | ———-: | :——-:
Brands | +10 | 9500 | 950 | 2
Candy | +12 | 12 800 | 1067 | 3
Cars | +10 | 24 000 | 2400 | 5
Celebs | +10 | 13 400 | 1340 | 4
Fast Food | +15 | 10 400 | 693 | 1

#### Level 5 – Caesars Palace ####
Prize Set | Bonus | Cost | Tickets per Bonus | Optimal Prize Set Order
——- | ——: | —–: | ———-: | :——-:
Candy Bars | +12 |2700 |225|1
Pets | +12 |5400 |450|2
Instruments | +13| 23 000 | 1769 | 6
Jewelry | +13 | 8 700 |669|3
Riches | +15 | 10 750 |716 | 4
Electronics | +25 | 22 700 |908|5

#### Level 6 – Paris ####
Prize Set | Bonus | Cost | Tickets per Bonus | Optimal Prize Set Order
——- | ——: | —–: | ———-: | :——-:
Smiles | +15 | 41 000 | 2733 | 2
Colors | +15 | 31 000 | 2067 | 1
Hugs | +16 | 51 000 | 3188 | 3
Hearts | +17 | 55 000 | 3235 | 4

#### Level 7 – Treasure Island ####
Prize Set | Bonus | Cost | Tickets per Bonus | Optimal Prize Set Order
——- | ——: | —–: | ———-: | :——-:
Accessories | +18 |56 000 |3111|1
Fun Transportation | +18 |112 000 |6222|2
Masks | +18| 161 000 |8944 | 4
Precious Rocks | +20 | 198 000 |9900|5
Properties | +20 | 130 000 |6500 | 3
Water Fun | +20 | 280 000 |14 000|6

#### Level 8 ####
Prize Set | Bonus | Cost | Tickets per Bonus | Optimal Prize Set Order
——- | ——: | —–: | ———-: | :——-:
Exotic Flowers| +10 |180 000 |18 000|3
Lipstick | +17 |360 000 |21 176|4
Bubble Gum | +21| 530 000 |25 238 | 5
Asian Candy | +21 | 290 000 |13 809|2
Cookies | +21 | 251 000 | 11 952 | 1

Is there more strategy that I haven’t covered? Let me know!

> Today, I drove my husband’s car to the mall because my car was in the shop. The bumper was being repaired because I got rear ended while stopped at a traffic light. While stopped at the same intersection I got rear ended again. [FML][1]

[1]: http://www.fmylife.com/miscellaneous/5539236

I have been pleasantly surprised with the [Snow Leopard][1]—most things seem to just work including [Dockless][2] and [Internet Explorer][3] (what hasn’t been updated in over six years!).

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_Snow_Leopard
[2]: http://homepage.mac.com/fahrenba/programs/dockless/dockless.html
[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_for_Mac