Suggested Changes to Monopoly Rules

Official Monopoly Rules Page

So I was playing Monopoly against my computer the other day and I had several ideas for changing the face of Monopoly. The rules of the game are listed above. Below are my proposed changes to the rulebook.

JAIL - According to the official rules you land in jail if... you roll doubles 3 times in a row. That's an understandable rule! No one likes a lucky so-n-so who manages to roll doubles over and over again and makes it around the board a couple times. However, also according to the official rules, you can get out of jail by rolling doubles again or paying $50. Does that sound odd too you? Do the crime three times and get stuck in jail, do the crime again and get out!? Or bribe someone and get out!?
I propose the following change to the JAIL rule. Every jail sentence carries a fixed term of 3 moves (no paying $50 to get out). The only way to get out of jail is to NOT roll doubles on any of your three turns spent in jail. If you roll doubles while in jail, your sentence is extended by an additional fixed number of turns (say one or two more turns in jail).

MORTGAGED PROPERTY - According to the official rules "If the property is mortgaged, no rent can be collected."
This rule is outdated! There are many people living today who have one and two mortgages on their home and rental property and still collect rent.
I propose the following change to this MORTGAGE rule. If the property is mortgaged, rent is collected. The player who owns the mortgaged property receives 50% of the rent, and the bank receives 50% (the amount the bank receives is applied to the amount needed to unmortgage the propoerty). This is a cool rule cause you can pay off the mortgage on the property as people land on the property.

GIFT CARDS - Ever noticed how there never seems to be enough money in a Monopoly game for a game that has a lot of players or on games that last a long time (esp. with one player who is really successful).
This is a new rule I propose be added to Monopoly. All you need to play with this rule are index cards sufficent for each player.
Every player is issued a rechargable gift card (index card) at the beginning of the game. If at any time, the bank needs money it can seize funds from any player... and the amount seized is written on that player's index card. The index card is usuable like any gift card. When amounts are transferred from player to player (in the case of rent), the amount is simply subtracted from one index card and added to the other index card. No negative balances are allowed on gift cards. If the amount on the card is not sufficent to pay, then zero out the balance and pay the remaining in cash.

START ORDER - The official rules state: "Starting with the Banker, each player in turn throws the dice. The player with the highest total starts the play..."
Going first is a definite advantage, because you can buy properties before anyone else gets there. So why not make players pay for the advantage?
My proposed rule is this: At the start of the game, bid for first position, then second, etc.

ONCE AROUND THE BOARD - Another alternative to figuring out start order instead of bidding on who goes first is not to let anyone purchase property until they have been around the board once and passed GO.

What's Your Wikiality

Word Spy - wikiality

wikiality n.
Reality as defined by a consensus, particularly in a collaborative endeavor or by majority vote such as Wikipedia.
Origin: a Stephen Colbert-inspired "word of the year," Wikiality is a blend of the words Wikipedia and reality

"Any user can change any entry and if enough other users agree with them, it becomes true. ... If only the entire body of human knowledge worked this way. And it can, thanks to tonight's 'Word': Wikiality. Now I'm no fan of reality, and I'm no fan of encyclopedias. I've said it before: Who is Britannica to tell me that George Washington had slaves? If I want to say he didn't, that's my right. And now, thanks to Wikipedia, it's also a fact. We should apply these principles to all information. All we need to do is convince a majority of people that some factoid is true."
—Stephen Colbert, "The Word," The Colbert Report, July 31, 2006

Reality by common vote...

So now that I've discovered that I can change my reality by convincing enough people that my version of reality is the correct one... I propose the following changes be made to reality.

#1 - Lasagna should recieve it's own holiday or special occasion; preferably once a week.

#2 - Spam mail and fake credit card offers should be banned; I call them fake because they already know my credit rating, and therefore should not be sending me offers for platinum cards I will never get.

#3 - Newspapers should work very hard to place good news on page one. The rest of the world can wait... I know it's out there, but I wanna read something good for a change.
#3a - If a particular area lacks good news, the comics should be placed on page 1. :)

Well that's my reality adjustment update for this journal.

The Barbershop Quartet

hestekor.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object) is a good example of a barbershop quartet. Very funny, I must have played with this Flash program for 20 minutes, laughing most of the time.

Amazing Stop Motion Video Creation

Amazing Stop Motion Video Creation
This is a truly cool video. In 5 minutes, the designer takes you on a journey through one day in his life, which is animated like a video game! You'll never see more motion in stop motion as with this...

Am I the Center of the Universe?

A post from AmIWrongOrRight.com written by 'CompuGuy':

If we assume that the Universe has no edge, then we can assume that the Universe has no definite middle, either. So it could be said that any given person or place is at the center of the Universe.

So far, 78% of people agreed. Cast your vote!

How to Unsubscribe from Spam Mail

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Why I'm Sick and Tired of Doctors

I went to the doctor's office a few days ago for a routine psychiatric examination.

I hate psychiatrist's!! My disability is massive brain trauma (I'm missing 1/4 of my brain; no exaggeration). What I need is a neurologist, not a psychiatrist. But, Colorado Medicaid sent me to see this dude so he could examine the inner working of my thought processes.

He asked me questions and gave me an exam where he asked me questions which I had to answer. Whatever he did to me, stressed my mind out so much that, I had several seizures, lost 3 weeks of memory, and nearly dropped into complete autism.

Now memory loss is a regular symptom for me... I awake in the morning with no clue who I am, where I am, what I'm supposed to be doing. I forget things at the drop of a hat, sometimes completely losing recent memories that happened only seconds before. However, with time, I can eventually retrieve those memories (although there's a good chance I'll lose them again). But losing three weeks at a time, and not being able to get them back is hard to take...

Yes, I know it sounds a lot like 50 First Dates (I hate that movie; it hits way too close to home for me).

Despite what many of you are probably thinking now, what really scares me is not the disability. I live with this memory loss every day; there's no reason to be scared of it. I'm scared that I might be losing touch with myself, with my core personality and who I am sometimes, and it is depressing not knowing who you are. But what really scares me are the doctors I have to see. I'm trying to find a doctor who will write me a letter that says I'm disabled and explains the reasons I cannot work. A single letter is all I need to win my case against both Medicaid, and Social Security. But these idiot doctors won't do it. The psychiatrist I went o see said quite clearly, "Well, it's obvious that he's disabled and will never be able to work in a normal field ever again." When I asked him to put that in writing, he wouldn't. He wants to run more tests, get a second opinion (although by this time I've seen HUNDREDS of doctors).

What scares me the most about being disabled is this guinea pig mentality of the doctors. They see me, they certify me disabled, but they want to study me OVER and OVER and OVER again, so instead of writing the letter I so desperately need, the refer me to another doctor or tell me to come and see them again.

I have been written up in so many medical magazines, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, by doctors who are using my case and various treatments they implemented in my case to make themselves famous. But they don't know when to stop and say, "Okay I'm famous enough. Let's get this kid some help."

Now you know why I'm sick of doctors. But unfortuanetly, it looks like I'm going to be a guinea pig for the rest of my life...