This weekend’s Fifth Annual Rock Paper Scissors World Championships have ended, and Brit Bob Cooper has come out a winner. The Toronto event drew a reported 500 competitors and 250 spectators from 26 U.S. States, four Canadian provinces, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Wales, the UK and Ireland and paid a top prize of CAN$7000.

“I went through extensive training, read ‘The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide’, and studied the 27 possible RPS gambits before competing,” said Cooper. “I prefer not to discuss my strategy because I plan to defend my title at next year’s World Championships.”

I was amused to discover the US RPS league earlier this year, and amused still more to hear NPR’s Steve Inskeep interview Jason Simmons, aka Master Roshambollah last week (Inskeep lost both throws against the Master).

More: pictures and video from previous tournaments, a feature film, and Rolling Stone: Hand to Hand Combat.

Bob Cooper, Jason Simmons, Master Roshambollah, World Championship, competition, paper, rock, rock paper scissors, rps, scissors, sport, sports, tournament

God bless William Faulkner for pointing it out:

My own experience has been that the tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky.

food, paper, quote, supplies, tobacco, tools of the trade, whisky, William Faulkner, writer, writing

Between the MIT show and Microsoft’s vaporware, origami is back in a big way. Here’s drumsnwhistles answer: a very crisp green shirt.

crisp, crisp shirt, green, origami, origami shirt, paper, shirt

Ryan Eby and MAKE magazine alerted me to MIT’s student origami exhibit, in which Jason Ku’s ringwraith won the Best Original Model prize, and Brian Chan’s beaver — the MIT mascot — got special attention from the MIT News Office.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, beaver, competition, mit, nazgul, origami, paper, ringwraith

Posted on the wall in Tom’s Peacock Bar in Corvallis was a mystery: a notice of a rock paper scissors tournament. A visit to the USA Rock Paper Scissors League’s website proved more confusing. Take the first news release as an example:

Rocky Balboa is stepping back into the ring for his final comeback, as production has begun on “Rocky VI: Rocky Paper Scissors.” After a 16-year hiatus, Sylvester Stallone wrote the film himself, knocking out boxing from the script and replacing it with a hand sport that is more intense, more courageous and that looks even better in those dramatic slow-motion shots: Rock Paper Scissors.

And I’m not sure if the Girls of Rock Paper Scissors help or hurt the organization’s appearance of legitimacy (though they’ve even tried sexing up (nsfw) bowling)

But a later news release announced sponsorship from Bud Light and A&E Network for a season of tournaments and finals held at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas next month. But even this reads with tongue in cheek. Take co-commissioner Matti Leshem’s comment:

For too long, adults who gather in clubs looking for competition have had only pool or darts to challenge them. Finally, there’s a true sport where talent can be showcased.

Spokespeople for both Bud Light and A&E Network expressed excitement over the tournament, but A&E’s Nancy Dubuc really towed the line:

It’s a quirky, humorous way to bring to television a sport everyone can play — where strength and agility take a backseat to strategy and skill.

Skill? What skill you ask? Read Master Roshambollah’s answer to that challenge:

RPS should not be compared to games of chance, such as poker. With poker, one is dealt 5 or 7 cards out of a possible 52, allowing one to only use around a tenth of the deck at one time. RPS should be compared with other non-random games, such as chess. Even though chess involves considerably less strategy than RPS, one may use any of one’s pieces at any given time, according to certain rules. This is most certainly not random. Besides, it is well known that humans can only approximate random behavior. All cries of “RPS is just random” disappear the moment one’s opponent states, “I dare you to open with rock, you sissy.”

A&E, bar challenge, bud light, girls of rock paper scissors, gratuitous sex, league, paper, rock, rock paper scissors, rps, scissors, sport, sports, tournament, usarps

A visit to The Paper House will run $1.50 and takes you out to a beautiful corner of the Massachusetts coast, 52 Pigeon Hill Street Rockport, MA 01966, just up the hill from Pigeon Cove. Call (978) 546-2629 if you’ve got questions. More info at Odd New England.

Pictures tell quite a story, so take a look at the photoset showing details of the fireplace, curtains, and exterior walls. Here also: the porch, lamp, desk, and piano.

The official website answers the question: “how do you make a paper house?”

Well, let me see. (Elis Stenman) started out making a house for the summer. The framework to the house is wood-just like any other house-it has a regular wood-en floor and wooden roof. The wall material, which was supposed to be insulation really, is pressed paper about an inch thick. It’s just layers and layers of newspaper, glue, and varnish on the outside That keeps it pretty water-proof actually. This was done in 1924 and he lived here in the summertime up until 1930. Actually, I guess he was supposed to cover the outside with clapboards, but he just didn’t. You know, he was curious. He wanted to see what would happen to the paper, and, well, here it is, 70 some thing years later.

tags: massachusetts, newspaper, paper, paper house, rockport, rockport ma, weird passion, weird travel

Along with the energy saving and water saving tips previously, our physical plant folks have sent out these recycling tips:

Recycling of Aluminum Cans — saves 95% of the Energy required to make the same amount of Aluminum from its virgin source.

• One ton of recycled Aluminum saves 14,000 KWH of Energy, 40 barrels of oil, 238 million BTUs of Energy.
• One ton of recycled Aluminum saves 10 cubic yards of landfill space.

Recycling Plastic

• One ton of recycled Plastic saves 5,774 KWH of Energy, 16.3 barrels of oil, 98 million BTUs of Energy.
• One ton of recycled Plastic saves 30 cubic yards of landfill space.

Recycling Glass

• One ton of recycled Glass saves 42 KWH of Energy, 0.12 barrels of oil (5 gallons), 714,000 BTUs of Energy, and 7.5 pounds of Air Pollutants from being released.
• One ton of recycled Glass saves 2 cubic yards of landfill space.
• Over 30% of the raw material used in Glass production now comes from recycled Glass.

Recycling Office Paper

• One ton of recycled Paper saves 4,100 KWH of Energy, 9 barrels of oil, and 54 million BTUs of Energy.
• One ton of recycled Paper saves 60 pounds of Air Pollutants from being released.
• One ton of recycled Paper saves 7,000 gallons of water.
• One ton of recycled Paper saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.

tags: aluminum cans, cans, conservation, energy conservation, glass, green living, limiting waste, office paper, paper, paper recycling, plastic, recycle, recycling aluminum, recycling glass, recycling paper, recycling plastic, recycling tips, recylcing, tips, tips for better living