Every once in a while I use quizzo as a way to raise money for certain causes that I am a big fan of. This is one of those causes. It is called Shelter 2.0, and it’s original purpose was to give a roof over the head of the homeless. However, with recent tragedy in Haiti, it’s purpose has been somewhat moderated. I watched on the news Saturday night as they explained that with the rainy season coming to Haiti, the tent cities that have been created in immediate wake of the tragedy are going to be all but worthless. That is where Shelter 2.0 comes in (Fan it on facebook). Robert Bridges, a carpenter and a good friend of mine from high school, is one the men behind the idea. The goal of this week’s Quizzo for the Cause is not just to raise money (everyone playing this week will be asked to donate at least $1 to the cause) but to raise awareness of this project. The more money he can raise, the more of these units Robert can have shipped to Haiti. He is doing the handiwork free of charge, and the units can be shipped free of charge, but he needs money for materials. He has whittled down costs until now, so each shelter costs a mere $500 to build. I interviewed him to learn more about the project, and how we can help.

JGT: What inspired Shelter 2.0?

ROB: I was initially inspired by the amount of homeless people there are in the world as well as the growing tent cities around our country. According to a 2005 U.N. report there are 100 million homeless people in the world. To me this is a staggering number and if you live in terrible semipermanent places such as abandoned buildings, vehicles, hastily put together shelters or tents you weren’t even counted in this report.

About two years ago my friend Bill Young got me involved with a project that the MIT school of architecture was working on after Katrina and New Orleans, headed by Larry Sass. They were building a house that went together like a puzzle and could be put up quickly by volunteers with no tools. We cut one house that was on display at the MOMA in NYC and then did a couple of smaller buildings. The idea behind the first house to me was inspiring, it made me think of building in a way I had never thought of it before. Bill and I wanted that idea of helping others and making building more accessible to live on in our current Shelter 2.O project.

JGT: How does it differ from most current emergency shelters?

ROB: Shelter 2.0 is different from most emergency shelters in that it is completely open source. The files are available for download to anyone under a creative common license from our website. What this means is that anyone who wants to use it not for profit can have it for free. They can even make changes and improvements as long as they share their changes with us so that we can share them with the rest of the world. It’s not just it’s construction that sets it apart from typical emergency housing which are temporary only, where shelter 2.0 has the potential to be easily enlarged and made permanent but the ideology is different. The shelters are cut out by computerized routers which are all over the world. In the united states alone there are 6,000 of the brand that I have. We can send files for cutting shelters anywhere in the world they are needed or go into a disaster area with trailers loaded with machines and begin cutting. This whole thing is about teaching other people to do this so that they can then teach someone else and in ten years you can’t even recognize shelter 2.0’s design anymore, because instead of being owned by one person, it’s owned by the world and improved upon in real situations by the people who need it. It’s the people whose lives are turned upside down by tsunamis and earthquakes and economic hardship who know what they need, not some american sipping a latte in his cushy central air home. 

JGT: What do you need to get Shelter 2.0 out to the people who desperately need it in Haiti?

ROB: To be honest, the things we need now are money and raised awareness. We have volunteers willing to put the shelters together, and have people who will ship them to Haiti for free. 100% of the money we raise is going towards materials. The more of these we can ship, the more people in Haiti will have a roof over their heads and a floor to protect them from the upcoming rain. 
JGT: What are your hopes for Shelter 2.0?

ROB: My hopes for shelter 2.0 is that it helps people all over the world by not only giving them shelter but by helping us think outside the box about how we design, build and reach out to one another.

Been doing a lot of picture rounds lately. Finally got my printer fixed, so I felt like I had to make up for lost time. Anyways, wanna see what you guys think about the picture round. Some people say it’s too dark at the bars to see what the hell is on the sheets. At the same time, I get a lot of cheering every time I announce picture round. So what’s the verdict?

The Daily Beast did a recent ranking of the 55 smartest cities in the country, and the results were rather interesting. Raleigh Durham took home the top prize, while Denver was #5. Philadelphia just missed the top 10, finishing 11th. So according to the arbitrary measures that constitute this absurd measuring stick, Denver is a much smarter city than Philadelphia. Wouldn’t it be a shame if their 50 or so teams couldn’t beat our 1? The difference between Geek Bowl and this cockamamie ranking is simple: Geek Bowl is quantifiable, this ranking is not. And so, Daily Beast, you better hope we don’t win this thing. It would show your rankings to be nothing but a cheap sham to garner page views. Though that is already pretty evident. DC, Seattle, and Baltimore also finished ahead of Philly, and in past city vs. city smackdowns, we destroyed those cities.

 
A few months ago the city of Philly was challenged by John Dicker, the head of the corporate behemoth Geeks Who Drink. (Seriously, these guys are everywhere now.) But he’s based in Denver, and that’s where Geek Bowl IV will be held. Well, not surprisingly, the one local group that was interested in the offer was the Sofa Kingdom. The four main members of the Kingdom (Nate, Koob, Garbo, and Swanson) then added me and Phil from the Jams to round out the 6 person squad. We are headed out there in a couple of weeks to represent Philadelphia and bring home the thousands in cash and prizes. We’ve bought our plane tickets and gotten the hotel. Now it’s 2 1/2 weeks of intensive mental workouts. With the Eagles season done, the Flyers kinda so-so, and the Sixers stinking, this may be Philly’s best chance to come home with a trophy until October. We take representing this city very seriously, and will do our damndest to bring home that trophy.

Ok, gang, a big week this week at quizzo, as we are gonna honor the 1990s. I was inspired by playing the 90s edition of Trivial Pursuit last night. To be honest, the questions were pretty crappy. They were almost all either gimmes or completely impossible. So I figured I could come up with some better questions about a decade we all know and hate love, so this week all questions will be about the 90s. (And don’t worry, history buffs, to make sure that there are still a few questions from before the 90s, I will also ask a few about people who died in the 90s.) Should be a fun quiz. Study your 90s movies, music, trends, and important events. They’ll all be on the quiz this week.

An interesting week last week. Steak Em Up finally lost on a Tuesday, the Satan’s Minions were one away from perfection, and some new kids on the block took the Jams down to the wire. French Fry Thursday was a success-sort of. Kind of funny that when I arrived for our first ever French Fry Thursday, the kitchen at the Ugly American wasn’t working due to a gas problem. Oh well, we gave ate pizza and gave away beer, which certainly didn’t lead to any complaints. French Fry Thursday is back on this week. With French Fries!

As for holiday questions, there will be a few this week, but saving most of them for next week. I’ll keep you updated on holiday scheduling soon.

1st Place: Molera Clan

2nd Place: Nassawoodstock 2

Last Place: HOVA (with their prize: a JC Chasez marionette)

Some of you old timers and veterans may remember a few years ago when former O’Neals regular Brian asked his girlfriend Meghan to marry him via quizzo questions. Well just a quick update. Their 1 1/2 year old daughter Lily visited Santa last night, so I thought I’d share. Awwww.

Now that the recession is over and your company is loaded to the gills with money, why not hire JGT to host your company party? It’s guaranteed fun, rates are perfectly reasonable, and JGT promises to wear one of his flashiest sport coats for the event. In the past, I’ve hosted everything, from parties for FOX29, UPenn, the Franklin Institute to small private parties at people’s homes. To learn more about hiring me for parties, please click here. If you’re interested, please shoot me an email.

Ok, so here’s one I’ve been waiting to get around to for over a week. Halloween turned out to be somewhat surreal for me, as 3 of my best friends decided to go as Johnny Goodtimes. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Holy s***, Johnny, 3 people went as you for Halloween? You must be bigtime.” Now, if these were 3 strangers, I would say “Yes, I am f***ing bigtime.” However these were all close personal friends of mine, and I know how they operate. i.e. “Oh crap, it’s Halloween night at 6 p.m. and I don’t have a costume. Maybe I could just wear some ridiculous clothes and a sportcoat and go as JGT.” Which is essentially how it all went down. Let’s see which JGT was best.

JGT #1. Trivia Art. Debonair, but where’s the hair? A wig would have given Trivia Art the win. Still, the martini glass and the scorecard are nice touches. We like it. Score: 7 (on a 1-100 scale).

JGT #2. Nate D. (right). called me the night of Steve-O’s party and asked if he could borrow an outfit, as well as the mic. I did him one better and scored him a wig. A very authentic outfit, but required little work on Nate’s part. Still, Nate scored big with his bump and grind routine with Steve-O before leaving the party. Score: 7.

JGT #3. Chip Chantry (left). I knew Nate was going to the party as me. Not so for Chip. Thus when I arrived at the party and there were two JGT’s (Art was elsewhere), I remarked, “This just went from surreal to Lynch.” Were Chip actually capable of growing a beard, and he had grown one, this would have been quite the ensemble. As it was, he painted a beard on, which really came across as little more than creepy. Still, we gotta give Chip credit, he put together the entire ensemble himself. Score: 7.

We have a three way tie. I only see one way to break this. A vote!