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Domino Day '02 Ends with a New World Record 253

Posted by michael from the nothing-to-do-with-lotus dept.
Bobson writes "It took 89 people 8 weeks to set up 4000000(4e6) domino pieces for an attempted World Record. The last piece was set at 21:00 CET(Central European Time) by a Backstreet Boy. Jim somebody... Anyhow said piece started of over 90 minutes of an amazing domino avalanche show. It is one of the top hacking feats I've had the privilege to witness. This time Live on TV. I hope tapes (dvds) of it become available. They even had time delays of more than 5min each, built into the system to allow for advertising intermissions. Some parts of the installation didn't quite work, but overall it was worth seeing. The final tally came to 3847295 pieces fallen. It ended less than an hour ago and you should have seen it."
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Domino Day '02 Ends with a New World Record More

Domino Day '02 Ends with a New World Record

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  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:26AM (#4684603)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • RTL Media (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:28AM (#4684615)
    Interesting if you want to watch their content you need to pay via DigiPay... 4million domino's aren't really interesting enough to pay to watch.
    • Just wait, someone will put up a mirror.

      Kierthos
    • In The Netherlands, it was broadcast live on one of the 'standard' cable channels (SBS-6).

      Ok, so here we pay for the cable but so does everyone. It's almost like a BBC 'subscription' in the UK. :)

      My only gripe was that I was banned from watching it. I watched it last year (when they failed to make the record.. DOH) but my girlfriend (Dutch) has had to endure it every year since she was a kid.

  • Ouch. (Score:5, Funny)

    by JessLeah ( 625838 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:33AM (#4684630)
    I'd hate to be the one tasked with counting all the fallen dominoes...

    Does anyone have the rundown on how many people and how many weeks that took? ;)

    • Re:Ouch. (Score:5, Funny)

      by redshift-systems ( 622407 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:56AM (#4684696)
      Um, I think it would be a little easier counting the ones that DIDN'T fall down, then applying a simple subtraction, what do you think? hmmmm?

      Or, hey, maybe each domino was micro-encoded and registered itself via wireless to a nearby laptop as to whether it was: (a) standing, (b) fallen, or (c) not really a domino at all but a tim tam.

      (for those of you not aware, a tim-tam is a similarly shaped choc biscuit - a favourite munchies snack.

      • Re:Ouch. (Score:2, Funny)

        by w0nko ( 626733 )
        Not to forget the option (d) CoybowNeal just stomped on me
      • OMG Tim Tams! I don't think they exist in Europe (well maybe in England), now that you mentioned it, I miss them from my time in Australia!
  • OK so it's quite cool to watch this all happening over a few hours but the amount of effort for the thing must be phenomenal. Weeks of setting up, and HOW much counting to get to 4 million? -b.

    • Re:Payoffs (Score:5, Informative)

      by cheezehead ( 167366 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:57AM (#4684699)
      ...and HOW much counting to get to 4 million?

      A friend of mine was involved in this back in the '80s. They don't really count the dominos. They weigh them. Given a certain tolerance in the weight, you can calculate the uncertainty in the number of stones. The exact number is not all that important, it's more that you can establish that you beat the previous record.
      • The exact number is not all that important, it's more that you can establish that you beat the previous record.

        ...leading up to a major "loaded dominoes" scandal when Geraldo Rivera proves (on live TV, of course) that they only used 3,500,000.

        As an added note, commas can be just as effective as scientific notation. I wouldn't take it much farther, but it takes even less thought to read than exponents.

  • Google translation (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Here's the story, according to this informative Google translation [www.rtl.de]:

    New world record

    The Aufbauer celebrates a FEC resounding in Leeuwarden its giant success, the largest nuclear chain reaction of the world in that successfully ran off. Up to the last second it remained exciting, those stands remained stones by a notary was officially counted.

    With 3.847.295 pleased stones the world record attempt is successful. With some fields some stones stopped, the large final field with 1 million stones were however completely cleared.

    Gaensehaut Feeling already with the start of the Spektakels: the zehnsekuendige COUNT down was loudly down-counted. "Backstreet Boy" nod Carter the domino avalanche around point 21,00 o'clock released: The 22-jaehrige Popsaenger set the last stone and in such a way those approximately two meters high "Domino" balance with a span of five meters from the equilibrium brought.

    Now domino man Robin Paul Weijers can be and 89-koepfiges team about a new world record and a further entry in the Guinness book of the records to be pleased. During the preparations Robin Weijers was allowed in resounds however neither to cough nor be sneezed,: "by the mass of the blocked stones it is in resounds become close. A wrong movement and the disaster are perfect."

    With the balance it went loosely!

    Those approximately two meters high "Domino" balance, by which the world record attempt was started.

    In the past year PUR-tents and up to 13.72 million spectator the TV Event of the superlative pursued 3,540,562 dominos.

    • I was half expecting it to read the largest nuclear chain reaction of the world in that successfully ran off. Up to the last second it remained exciting until those in the stands and everything from miles around was reduced to a fine dust.

      On the plus side there would be one less backstreet boy.
      • There's a dearth of funny posts in this discussion. Of course, the discussion (up to this point) is about a ninety-minute domino demonstration. The next record attempt has GOT to throw in an explosion or two if they have any hope of capturing the American market. Allowing space for commercials is of course manditory.

        Aaanyway.
        jaz

  • 5 minute delay? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MalleusEBHC ( 597600 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:34AM (#4684637)
    How did they do that without cheating? By cheating I mean using something other than dominos and/or having a person stop and restart the falling process midway through.

    (I know, RTFA, but I don't speak German.)

    • Re:5 minute delay? (Score:5, Informative)

      by ruudn ( 124212 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:40AM (#4684658)
      Pendulums, at least the last delay (I only watched the last part, it's kind of boring...)

      The pendulum just circles around, in smaller circles until it hits a domino, et voila!

    • Re:5 minute delay? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      using a domino on a string building a big pendulum which circles for 5 minutes until the radius is small enough to hit next piece in the center.
    • I believe they used some sort of balance type thing which would had just enough weight on one side (after some dominos fell) to slowly tilt to one side and then start the cascade again. I'm guessing at this just from a few of the pictures I saw as my german isn't too great either.

    • Re:5 minute delay? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Actually the whole thing was done by the Dutch. There is an english-language link here: http://http://www.dominopr.nl/index1.htm.

  • last boy standing... (Score:5, Funny)

    by cntlzed ( 618525 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:34AM (#4684638)
    considering how the careers of the manufactured bands are going downhill, maybe it was fitting that a backstreet boy placed the final piece.
    wish they had placed some of the artists and knocked them down too. that would have been more fun.

    • Re:last boy standing... (Score:1, Interesting)

      by asnare ( 530666 )
      He also wasn't very good. He sang some song in the pre-domino entertainment. And it sucked. Enough for me to walk around the room to find the remote and change the channel.

      Last year they had Kylie [dotmusic.com] do it. I think she was bemused at the time... the look on her face said that she'd never seen anything like this in her life, but she wasn't yet sure if this was a good or a bad thing.

  • Aaargh ! (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:35AM (#4684644)
    It just horrible enought it took place in my town here in the netherelands.

    Every year they're trying to keep the netherlands pos #1 of the dull domino worldrecord.

    Instead of trying to get us back at #1 of education country.....

    Oh, you forgot to mention that there were add-brakes were build in of 5 minutes. So the live-broadcast did not to interrupt te broadcast fot commercials. How they did it ? With a pendel moving slowly to a key, pushed by a domino.

    • Re:Aaargh ! (Score:5, Funny)

      by sharkey ( 16670 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @01:18PM (#4686145)
      It just horrible enought it took place in my town here in the netherelands....
      ...trying to get us back at #1 of education country.....

      Judging by that, the Domino record is probably easier to attain. You know you have a long, hard road to education when you can't even spell the name of your own nation.

  • Bob Saget and Dominos (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Pingsmoth ( 249222 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:38AM (#4684653) Homepage
    I remember one time on America's Funniest Home Videos (back in the day, of course, when it was hosted by the King of Cool, Bob Saget) they had this one where two guys spent all night at a video store stacking up empty boxes. They covered the floor, counters, and racks with those semi-transluscent VHS boxes and knocked 'em all down with one super huge domino effect.

    The bummer part was when some dude who got whacked in the crotch won the grand prize for the show.

  • Advertisements? (Score:3, Funny)

    by woboz ( 577460 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:43AM (#4684670)
    Why do I have a feeling Jamie Kellner [slashdot.org], CEO of Turner Broadasting, had a hand in making them put commercial breaks in falling dominos.

  • The 5 W's... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jtrascap ( 526135 ) <bitbucket@NospAm.mediaplaza.nl> on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:47AM (#4684678)
    Looks like there are more questions than answers in the post (as usual):

    What: (we got this)
    Who: Domino expert Robin Weijers and his crew (hundreds of sturdents and volunteers)
    When: yesterday
    Where: Leewarden, the Netherlands (not Germany)
    Why: To beat the Japanese, of course!

    The Dutch and the Japanese routiely dance around this world record. I've been around for 3 of these so far and within 6 months a Japanese expert (also with students and volunteers).

    The only difference: They have domino robots. We have windmills. Well, usually - I actually went out last night so I missed it...
    • I shouldn't complain - I should have previewed! "The Dutch and the Japanese routiely dance around this world record. I've been around for 3 of these so far and within 6 months a Japanese expert (also with students and volunteers)"...will beat us with a a hundred thousand more. Then we go again.

    • Re:The 5 W's... (Score:3, Funny)

      by BiOFH ( 267622 )
      Why: To beat the Japanese, of course!

      *sings* Where were you... when they built the domino ladder to heaven...

      ... 9/11 ....

    • Well, I watch the extremely idiotic German commentary of it (on RTL, which is the website to which the article links), and they say they fight for the record against Asia. The builders didn't just come from Holland, there are many other Europeans there (but they also showed someone with an Aussie flag painted on his cheek, hmm?). They did show how the "Asians" won the record previously, but only by flashing the number of dominoes they got and split seconds of the domino fields that they have built (including a Chinese flag, so I doubt it's just the Japanese that's doing it). I find that pretty ignorant, not acknowledging what your enemy has accomplished. And on the European's last domino field was pictures of people from all over the world. There was a picture of an woman in native Japanese clothing and the idiotic commentators interpreted is a "challenge" to the Asians. Overall, idiotic and cheap.
    • The only difference: They have domino robots.
      Well why dont the Europeans have domino laying robots? I juts dug around in my closet and found my little Domino Rally automatic domino layer thingy(the one on the right) [yesterdayland.com]. Did the Europeans have something like this? I'm not up to date on the latest domino tech.
  • Long ago, I created a best-selling domino game. My dominos were CONSIDERABLY larger than this.
  • a beowulf cluster to simulate one of those!!!

  • backstreet boy (Score:2, Informative)

    by KarateBob ( 556340 )
    first, theres no backstreet boy named jim, so i looked at the article to see who it was

    well, it was in german, so i searched for "backstreet" and found out it was Nick Carter who setup the last piece.

    • Re:backstreet boy (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      and still no one cared
    • Dominos, man... Dominos...

      Side note: I propose that, from this point forward, members of boy bands be referred to as "Jim Something".

    • Re:backstreet boy (Score:5, Funny)

      by Fat Casper ( 260409 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @07:59AM (#4685051) Homepage
      Wow. Out of the entire Slashdot population, one person said "hey, there's no Backstreet Boy named Jim," and then set out to discover who it was.

      And then thought that someone else here needed to know. Listen, Bob- that's not a very good distinction. There's got to be a self help group out there for people like you.

      • Out of the entire Slashdot population, one person said "hey, there's no Backstreet Boy named Jim," and then set out to discover who it was.
        Just because he beat me to it:
        "Backstreet Boy" Nick Carter hat die Domino-Lawine um Punkt 21.00 Uhr ausgelöst: Der 22-jährige Popsänger setzte den letzten Stein und hat so die rund zwei Meter hohe "Domino"-Waage mit einer Spannweite von fünf Metern aus dem Gleichgewicht gebracht.
        You don't even have to know much German to follow what happened here - you can probably figure out that Nick is 22 years old, for instance...

        Here's a little tip from a geek who is actually married to a female human... Some of them (including The Bride of Monster) actually like the Backstreet Boys, so knowing their names might come in handy when you want to have a conversation about something she likes, because the story that of that sed-regexp-in-a-do-loop I threw together at work the other day for one of the Guys in the Ties (to save him half a day's manual editing work that was holding up hundreds of thousands of dollars of a customer's cashflow) was kinda neat, but not something she can relate to that well, beyond the obvious "Monster did something at work that made the higher-ups happy - maybe that means he'll keep his job if there are layoffs [slashdot.org]". Who am I kidding - if she were a real geek, it wouldn't have impressed her anyway, because it was trivial, and with a little thought she'd probably have shown me a more efficient way to do it! (I do hope for one of the Monsterettes to eventually achieve that status, however.)

        So, here are the names of the other 4 Boys, in the interests of helping fellow geeks get some play:

        • A. J. McLean
        • Brian Littrell
        • Howie Dorough
        • Kevin Richardson
        Litrell and Richardson are cousins, and are married (Kevin's wife is from near here, and Brian's wife is expecting their first child) while McLean is engaged
        The last word on the date was 2 Jan, which is coincidentally the anniversary of my marriage to TBOM - there is a lesson here too - for reasons not immediately apparent to the average geek, women think that remembering such dates and, uh,
        relationships is important. I recommend a crontab entry to email yourself a reminder a week before such events.
        For now, this little HOW-TO will have to substitute for the lack of
        man woman
  • I was too preoccupied with the post Sausage-week festivities [campbellbrothers.co.uk] that I didn't realize that it was Domino day!
  • Like a few people already said: this is beginning to be a recurring event on Dutch television.
    It's organized and televised by SBS6, a Dutch network, so I don't know what the links to RTL (a German network) is all about... The link to the program is here [sbsnet.nl]

    They did come up with a few nice new things though... I aspecially liked when they had domino's falling under water, and at one point they even had a bubble of air rising to the surface, knocking down domino's as it went... ;-)

    I'm curious to see what they come up with next year...
    • RTL and some Dutch television networks belong to the same company. They broadcast the event in Germany, too, because there are more far more viewers in Germany than in the Netherlands. Probably the ad revenue from the Netherlands alone wouldn't cover their expenses :).
      • But even then, SBS stands for Scandinavian Broadcasting System and is, together with Net5 and V8, the biggest competitor of the HMG, with RTL4, RTL5 and Yorin in the Netherlands. And RTL stands for Radio Television Luxembourg, and afaik that's because the ASTRA stations are in Luxembourg, it's geographically the center of Europe. So RTL is originally not german (at least if you don't see Luxembourg as a province of Germany, but that's another story)

        But it's all corporate stuff. Maybe SBS NL doesn't have much to do with SBS Scandinavia anymore, and RTL NL doesn't have much to do with RTL Luxembourg or Germany.

        I missed the show yesterday, but the last time it was mostly in German. Even Dutch people who were talking in German, and that really sucks. I mean, speak in your native language or speak English (we Dutchies hate german people who come here for their holidays and expect us to talk fluently german.)
        • at least if you don't see Luxembourg as a province of Germany, but that's another story

          Oh? And what is that "other" story then? If memory serves me right Luxembourg has been independent since 1831 (a year after Belgium). So take that back, Luxembourg *is* a country! It's not because it's small that it isn't one, because then to your standards The Netherlands couldn't be a country either: look at Germany, much bigger than The Netherlands. Historically Luxembourg would be more likely to be a Belgian of Netherlandish province anyway, or why do you think our flag looks like yours?
          We are *not* Germans, and you caravan-carrying-hollandish-tourists should be lucky enough that we speak German to you, because if we really wanted we'd talk French (or Luxembourgish) instead and you'd be screwed! Ever been to a French camping in the summer? Well, I did, and the "oh 't is hier o gezellig" makes me sick. And above that you think that Heineken is good beer, pfff!

          Now for your link between SES Astra [astra.lu] located in the Chateau de Betzdorf, and RTL Group [rtlgroup.com] is definately not true. SES-Astra carries more than just the signals of RTL-related channels. SES-Astra was created in 1985 [astra.lu] and the predecessors of RTL were around since 1917 [ketupa.net]. While it is true that RTL is "Luxembourgish based" nowadays, I think that can be said about any big company that has many mergers behind it. Don't forget that RTL originated from CTL which definately is Luxembourgish. There are many reasons for media companies to settle in Luxembourg and most of them are monetary (Tax, Filmmaking is highly subsidized here,...) If you didn't know: the only TV channel that can uses just "RTL" as logo is "RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg", which is the native-luxembourgish-speaking channel, all others have a suffix (like 4, TVI, television).

          Oh, tv series that are shown on RTL4 (like "Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden", oh, I hate that show), are often shot in Luxembourg. It's happened to me that I crossed one of the actors in Luxembourg city.

          • There was a little bit of sarcasm in that sentence.

            I meant to say that the germans treat Luxembourg also as 'another' province of them.

            And for holiday-languages : Speak the native language or the 'local' world-language. And in western europe and northern-america, you can expect anyone to talk English (at least here in NL we're taught English from the age of 10), but not to talk German or French or Spanish or Italian or Dutch or whatever.
  • for a "Boy Band" topic and icon here on Slashdot?

    We've had news about copy-restricted NSync Cds [slashdot.org], rumors of boy band Star Wars cameos [slashdot.org], and let's not forget the recent poll winner regarding Lance Bass's ongoing space drama. [slashdot.org] Now they're involved in German domino sports as well?

    This is a posting rate greater than the Internet Explorer [slashdot.org] topic!

  • Priceless. (Score:5, Funny)

    by dpdawson ( 624716 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @05:19AM (#4684753) Homepage

    4000000 dominos: $400000
    Travel expenses for 89 people to Germany: $60000
    28480 minimum wage man hours spent setting up dominos: $146672
    Renting a Backstreet Boy for 90 minutes: $5000

    Realizing you're thirty, a virgin, and still live in your parents basement: Priceless

    • are you referring to us /.'ers or the domino guys?

      /.'ers > domino guys
    • Realizing you're thirty, a virgin, and still live in your parents basement: Priceless
      Damn... Seven more years to go.

    • Re:Priceless. (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Travel expenses for 89 people to Germany:
      $60000

      As most of you /.ers are American it may be useful to say this clearly:

      The Domino Day event was in The Netherlands.
      Germany != The Netherlands.

      Got that?

      • Quit trying to con the masses. Everyone knows that the Netherlands is part of Germany the same way Luxemburg is. I don't know why you are trying to confuse the United States'ans.
    • Realizing you're thirty, a virgin, and still live in your parents basement: Priceless

      I don't know about that... The blonde in the picture is hot! I had no idea that dominos attracted women like that.

    • Small correction: It was in Leeuwarden (the Netherlands).

      I know, I know, it's all the same for Americans.
  • You would think that somebody on a FileShare app. would have done the dirty work and gotten it snagged into DivX. Too bad. Now I'll just have shell out my hardearned ... hah, they almost got me! I was talking about the pr0n of course, not the dominos.

  • translation (Score:4, Informative)

    by cheezehead ( 167366 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @05:42AM (#4684794)
    German is my 3rd language, but here it goes anyway.

    UNAUTHORIZED TRANSLATION
    ------------------------

    NEW WORLD RECORD

    In the FEC Hall in Leeuwarden the builders are celebrating their big success, the biggest chain reaction in the world has completed successfully. Up til the last second it remained suspenseful, the stones that had remained standing were officially counted by a notary.

    With 3,847,295 fallen domino stones, the attempt at a new world record has succeeded. In some fields some stones remained standing, but the final field with 1 million stones cleared completely.

    Goose bumps were felt already at the beginning of the spectacle: the 10 second countdown was performed loudly. "Backstreet Boy" Nick Carter set off the domino avalanche at exactly 9:00 PM: the 22-year old pop singer placed the final stone, and by doing so unbalanced the two meter high "Domino Scale" with its five meter span.

    Now "Domino Man" Robin Weijers and his 89-person team can enjoy an additional entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. While preparing, it was forbidden to cough or sneeze inside the hall. Robin Weijers: "Because of the amount of stones, space has become limited inside the hall. One false move and the catastrophe is complete".

    THE SCALE STARTED IT!

    [picture] The approximately two meter high "Domino Scale", through which the world record attempt was started.

    In the past year 3,540,562 domino stones fell over, and up to 13.72 million people watched the TV event of superlatives.

    HISTORY OF RECORDS

    On November 5. 1999, domino expert Robin Weijers and his team built up 2.5 million dominoes in the Prince Bernhard hall in Zuid-Laren. Up to 14.2 million viewers followed the event live on TV, when 2,472,480 stones fell over. Give or take a few, 3,112,000 stones were toppled on November 3. 2000, again in the Prince Bernhard hall. In front of up to 13.2 million viewers, 2,977,678 stones fell over in a live broadcast. Then last year. Linda de Mol and Robin Weijers' team placed 3.75 million domino stones in the "Mecc" hall in Maastricht. The 90 person international team had worked seven weeks on the 75 different projects. On November 16 everything was ready. The Australian superstar Kylie Minogue started the biggest chain reaction in the world with a flick of her fingers. And again up to 13.72 million viewers watched the spectacle with the stones weiging 8 grams.
  • If i remember correcly, this was the 4th time "Domino Day" was on RTL ( German television station ). There will probably be one next year too.

  • i can't believe ... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by minti ( 625741 )
    ... that this crap made it into slashdot, i mean, as a german i can say, that rtl does this crap every year, and no one is interested in except a few ppl, having nothing better to do on a friday evening. there is something in the newspapers, like, domino world record (once again...), and thats it. ok, i admit, it was cool, when they did it the first time, but to see this fscking dominos fall and fall and fall..and fall.. and fall. . . . . boring.

  • If you liked that... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by NTmatter ( 589153 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @06:04AM (#4684833) Homepage
    If you enjoyed watching all those millions of dominoes toppling, you ought to check out Fiat Lux [debevec.org] If you enjoy anything to do with CG animation, you should also check this out. It's a rather impressive CG short of thousands of dominoes about the size of the monolith from 2001 (The small one that appeared before the apes - not the giant one in space) toppling through the interior of St. Peter's Basilica. As an added bonus, if you like shiny objects, the domino-monoliths are highly reflective. It's quite a sight to behold. My crude explanation doesn't do Fiat Lux justice. Go check it out for yourself!

  • French TV commercial breaks (Score:5, Funny)

    by codexus ( 538087 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @06:43AM (#4684901)
    They were not even synchronized with the little pendulum breaks. That was so stupid you missed 5 minutes of dominos and then had to watch that damn pendulum for 5 other minutes. They tried to fill that time as best as they could but still it would have been much better to use the same breaks as the others.

    Other than that, the show was amazing!

  • Only thing worth watching (Score:5, Funny)

    by abhikhurana ( 325468 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @07:09AM (#4684955)
    "They even had time delays of more than 5min each, built into the system to allow for advertising intermissions."

    Exactly, afterall they have to put atleast something worth watching in the show.

  • Amazing (Score:5, Funny)

    by Virus1984 ( 624552 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @07:17AM (#4684965) Homepage Journal
    >110 comments and no one posted the reason [dominos.com] why dominos are so important in a true geek's life.

  • No way (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The biggest domino effect was the release of Windows 95 - all those PCs falling like flies over the 24hour period, horrors!
  • Maybe 'NSynch [nsync.com] singer Lance Bass [yahoo.com] should have placed the last domino, since his space trip [news.com.au] might not work out. This might have given him the needed publicity (for what?).
    Indeed, how the mightly have fallen.

  • Hacking? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by crashnbur ( 127738 )
    And why, again, does domino manipulation constitute hacking? I ask only because I am ignorant of the answer...
    • It was just setting up dominos which were meant to be tumbled.. It's like getting in my car and driving it to the store and saying "I just hacked my way to the store." .. I think the guy posting it just didn't want to say "Well, I spent 5 days setting up little kids dominos with 100 other ADULTS because we're too old to be playing with stuff like this but anyways, here's the story!!! Wherees my barney doll?"
  • I had sex 10^2 times. Sadly, I missed the domino rally.

  • Hacking (Score:3, Funny)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Saturday November 16, 2002 @11:44AM (#4685720) Homepage Journal
    It is one of the top hacking feats I've had the privilege to witness.

    If you replace the dominos with embedded linux systems and hold it concurrently with defcon you could have a contest to see who could hack the most systems before they fell down.

    I got root on all your d0mino3z!

    Cue the beowulf cluster jokes now.

  • zuh? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by someguy ( 23968 )
    How is setting up dominos considered hacking?
    • Technically, dominos are supposed to be used in the game of *gasp* Dominos.

      A 'hack' is an implementation of (physical)objects in a new/different and impressive way.

      Therefore, the fact that these dominos were used in a way like this and on an impressive scale like this deems this feet to be a hack.

      For more info: Steven Levy - Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

  • It's a Dutch - Japanese tradition (Score:3, Informative)

    by Traa ( 158207 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @02:54PM (#4686677) Homepage Journal
    with lotsa other foreigners tossed in for maximum commercial coverage.

    Anyway, it IS pretty spectacular stuff, here are some facts:
    4.000.000 dominoes
    51 projects
    85 x 90 square meters of building space
    100 domino builders
    Builders are from Holland, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium and Italy
    27 basic colours
    1.320.998 painted dominoes
    331 variety of dominoes

    Their main (sponsor) site [dominodomain.com] with more info.

    90 minutes, live on TV in 5 countries. I'll buy that tape, makes for good party background stuff.

  • Categorically (Score:3, Funny)

    by cygnus ( 17101 ) on Saturday November 16, 2002 @04:19PM (#4687129) Homepage
    The last piece was set at 21:00 CET(Central European Time) by a Backstreet Boy. Jim somebody... Anyhow said piece started of over 90 minutes of an amazing domino avalanche show. It is one of the top hacking feats I've had the privilege to witness. This time Live on TV. I hope tapes (dvds) of it become available. They even had time delays of more than 5min each, built into the system to allow for advertising intermissions. Some parts of the installation didn't quite work, but overall it was worth seeing. The final tally came to 3847295 pieces fallen. It ended less than an hour ago and you should have seen it."
    i'm not going to research this because i know categorically, it's impossible.

    "one of the top hacking feats" can never be executed by a backstreet boy. it's just impossible.

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