MEME: Saturday Six - Episode 176

A game show called Power of 10 is one of the newest hits on television. It is based on the contestants’ ability to predict the outcome of surveys.

It’s really no surprise that this concept would work for a game show. Family Feud, which premiered more than thirty years ago now, was based on surveys. It was a spin-off of Match Game, whose bonus round was also based on surveys. Card Sharks was another game that too survey results and molded them into a major component of game play.

So it should be no surprise that I decided to work surveys into this week’s edition of the Saturday Six. All statistics come from recent episodes of Power of 10, by the way.

Before this week’s questions, Jude of “My Way” was first to play last week. Congratulations, Jude!

Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

1. Twelve percent of Americans say they have never had someone of a different race in their home. Have you had someone of a different race in your home? Have you been in the home of someone of a different race? Not in a very long time. My first wife had a friend from work who was a Penobscot and she would visit often, but none since. It's pretty much a white-bread world up here. The second part of this question deserves a qualified “yes.” As a code enforcement officer, I have been in the homes of many (thousands) of different people over the years. These are not social occasions nor am I doing much in the way of talking, except to whatever the specific issue might be that brought me to their home. So in the sense you may have meant, no. But in reality, yes.

2. When asked if they think gay people are actually born gay (as opposed to “choosing” to be gay, 51% say that homosexuality is something one is born with. Do you agree? Absolutely.

3. Given our society’’s obsession with the “perfect body,” the number might be expected to be higher, but 33% of Americans say they’d leave their partner if he or she gained 100 pounds. Would you? No.

4. This question was originally asked only of women, and 54% said they’d prefer to watch the Super Bowl over the Academy Awards. Which would you pick and why? I'd pick poking my eyes out ... neither event interests me very much at all. I have a very hard time sitting in front of the TV for that long for anything, including The Wizard of Oz – far more interesting than the previously cited examples..

5. We hear a lot these days about protecting the institution of marriage. Oddly enough, that phrase is generally used in efforts to prevent people who love each other and want a committed relationship from actually getting married. Fifty percent of Americans say that it would be a good idea to require couples eligible for marriage to undergo marriage counseling before they can walk down the aisle. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Mandatory waiting periods, mandatory classes and counseling, trial periods, mandatory blood tests with DNA analysis so we can identify the pieces ... all should be part and parcel of entering into a marriage contract.

6. A popular potato chip’s ad slogan says, “Once you pop, you can’t stop.” But 39% of Americans claim that they can stop at just one chip. Are you one of them? No. Who the heck are these cyborgs, anyway?