Bad Voltage as Top Gear

Over on http://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/bad-voltage-podcast/1828 Jono compared Bad Voltage to Top Gear for open source. I’m wondering who is, and what is the open source equivalent of, Captain Slow, The Hamster, and The Orangoutang?

Should we expect episodes coming up where one of you is staring at the kernel compiling yelling “MOAR POWER!!!”?

what exactly will be the speed competition for guests?

This comes to mind: Tar http://xkcd.com/1168/

Sorry new users can’t post images :smile:

I was wondering that exact same thing the other day! I feel like we should have something we do for every guest. Something we can score them and rank them on. Even if it’s a bit arbitrary. :smile:

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I don’t think we have a Capt. Slow, but we have two clarksons (@sil and @bryanlunduke) and two hammonds (@jeremy and myself). :slight_smile:

I have devoted much thought to this and can’t think of anything. No problem with the resulting values being arbitrary, but the test they do can’t be arbitrary. Suggestions welcomed :slight_smile:

Image from @hatch:

tar xvfpz whatever.tar.gz. I fear no bombs.

On the other hand I don’t know what the p option does without looking it up, so I’m not sure it counts :wink:

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Love this idea!

I have an idea. We have the ONE MINUTE SMACKDOWN.

Before we do an interview we ask them for their chosen subject. At the end of each interview we have one minute of quick fire questions on their subject and then their score for the number of correctly answered questions goes onto a leaderboard. :slight_smile:

Thoughts?

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It ain’t the Stig. 'Cos they don’t all do the same thing. I think they all ought to do the same thing… I just don’t know what the thing is…

Good luck with coming up with something that maps across multiple people…

I think the same thing would be them being experts in their area. Now, this doesn’t have to be technology…it could be music, movies, video games…whatever. I think it would be a fun way of pitching guests against each other for fun. :slight_smile:

…which is exactly why I can’t think of one :slight_smile: Top Gear manage it by making everyone drive a lap, because they are a car show and everyone can drive. :slight_smile:

Same here! Here’s the only general idea I can think of that would work (so far):

“What number is Jeremy thinking of?”

  • We rank every guest based on how close they got to the actual number.

Variations:
“How much money is in Bryan’s pocket?”
“How many fingers is Stuart holding up?”

All pretty easy and simple though. “The Bad Voltage ESP Ranking Totem Pole of Science”.

Love you, brother, but those ideas suck. :smile:

I vote for the quiz, which…may not surprise many of you. :slight_smile:

Ha! They really do, don’t they?

But that quiz idea just isn’t doing it for me. Stu is right… it’s gotta be something measurably similar for every guest. Like a game score or a race time.

Maybe we come up with a tongue twister and we time how long it takes them to say it properly?

But it is measurably similar…it is their knowledge at their chosen subject. It is arguably as variable as Top Gear…some of the celebs on Star In a Reasonably Priced Car will be much more into cars and racing than others. :slight_smile:

Hmm… we could do a quiz… about the hosts of Bad Voltage. That way at least it’s always about the same topic?

“Which Bad Voltage host took ballet class until the age of 12?”
“What is Stuart Langridge’s eye color?”
“Who is the oldest member of Bad Voltage?”
“Which Bad Voltage host has won ever single contest to date and is also super, duper handsome?”

I dunno, I think this seems a little bit egotistical. My thinking about the quiz is we could then surprise our audience with what the guests chosen topic is.

“And now, before we wrap up with Jon “Maddog” Hall, we have the Bad Voltage Ultra Knowledge Blastfest and Jon’s chosen subject is…Garden Gnomes. With one minute on the clock. Go. Question 1:…”.

:slight_smile:

You’re right. It really does. I just don’t have any better ideas. :smile:

Ok. Now that might be a better idea. I need to ponder on the possibilities of asking Jon Hall a question about Garden Gnomes…

On an unrelated note:

I think it’s rad that we are brainstorming and spitballing about parts of the show – in a place where everyone can follow along and take part (as they want to). That rules.