Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

I am 90% sure that I can make a claim about my extended family that is awfully neat. There are less than 100 adult Sklanskys in the United States. A white page search implies the number is more like 70. I think all of them are no further away than third cousins from me. And nine of them have written books. In fact at least seven of them have written more than one book! (Check out Amazon). Thus ten to fifteen percent of all adult Sklanskys are book authors- David A, David B, Morris, Amy, Milton, Ron, Jeff, Jack, and Gloria.

I contend that there is NO OTHER FAMILY NAME that can boast this percentage of book authors (save those names that are so rare that one or two of them being an author would beat ten percent).

That's pretty cool if true. Maybe even something worth publicizing. And I call it "semi bragging" since I can't take any credit for it. But I have done no research on the topic. So I offer a $200 reward to anyone who can refute it. By which I mean find a name where there are more than 50 members who have a higher percentage of authors on Amazon.com than Sklanskys have.

If you fail, but have obviously spent some time on it and can document your failed results, I'll send you a free book of your choice (up to ten people).

(To make it easy, I'd suggest using white page searches and multiplying by 2.5 unless they also inlude enumerating unlisted numbers. If so multiply by 1.5. Accuracy is probably not vital because I don't think it will be close.)

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

The rarity of your name is what gave you the high percentage to begin with. It seems like excluding other even more rare names is like cheating. You should have just left it open, because what are the odds that someone with fewer than 50 family members plays poker, reads here, and has published authors in the family?

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

"The rarity of your name is what gave you the high percentage to begin with. It seems like excluding other even more rare names is like cheating. You should have just left it open, because what are the odds that someone with fewer than 50 family members plays poker, reads here, and has published authors in the family?"

For the most part you are wrong. Of course if there were some name with thirty members that had ten authors, they automatically win. In fact six for thirty could be called more impressive. But not four out of thity or three out of fiteen or two out of ten. Can't you see that?

On the other hand I would grant you that 18 out of two hundred or 70 out of a thousand deserves consideration for more impressive stats. But I don't think you will find anything close to that.

Meanwhile, if I'm wrong, it could very likely be found out by a non family member.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Does this mean that feeling the desire to write a book (and actually doing it) has a genetical background or is it more like "Hmmm, cousin David made lots of cash by writing books, I'll try that also!".

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

[ QUOTE ]
On the other hand I would grant you that 18 out of two hundred or 70 out of a thousand deserves consideration for more impressive stats. But I don't think you will find anything close to that.

[/ QUOTE ]

So I took a stab at this. My line of thinking was that my best bet was to use Professors' (obscure) last names.

First attempt: Goldwasser
From whitepages.com: 258 listings matching "Goldwasser, United States" (36 non-published listings)
From amazon.com: All 81 results for Goldwasser

Going through the list of 81, I manually (and maybe also erroneously) tried to remove all duplicate authors (does Amazon do this automatically? couldnt find it..) and also editors (although not stipulated to). The result:

Alan Goldwasser
Anita Goldwasser
Charles Goldwasser
Dan L. Goldwasser
Dorothy Goldwasser
Dovid Goldwasser
Edwin L Goldwasser
Henry Goldwasser
Israel Edwin Goldwasser
James Goldwasser
Jane Goldwasser
Janet Goldwasser
Julie Goldwasser
Katherine Goldwasser
M Goldwasser
Marvin Goldwasser
Michael S. Goldwasser
Orly Goldwasser
Samuel Marc Goldwasser
Shafi Goldwasser
Sharon Goldwasser
Temy Goldwasser
Thomas Goldwasser
Vivien Goldwasser

So 24 out of 258.

Doesn't quite beat your stat, but it's up there. If I have more free time, I'll play around with some other names.

Would be a harder (and perhaps more accurate challenge) if you stipulated that the authors must be alive and living in the United States, since presumably that's what the White Pages has listed.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

If this includes only adult family members, mine comes awfully close. Does it have to be a published book or can it be any topic? I used to write for NPR and my mother is a (soon to be) published author. There are less than 20 adults with my last name in the world.

My case is helped due to the lack of males on my father's side of the family.

Granted, I probably fall into the "special rare case" category. Its a cool thing you have nonetheless.

Attempt #2
 

[ QUOTE ]
(To make it easy, I'd suggest using white page searches and multiplying by 2.5 unless they also inlude enumerating unlisted numbers. If so multiply by 1.5.

[/ QUOTE ]

Last name: Lippmann
whitepages: 219 listings matching "lippmann, United States" (17 unpublished listings)

(219 listed + 17 non-listed)*1.5 = 354

Amazon search by Author name = Lippmann: All 256 results for Lippmann

Manually checking these for duplicates, "contributers", editors, and "forwards" leaves these 42 names:
Annette Lippmann
Arthur L Lippmann
Bernard Lippmann
Charles Rosenfall Lippmann
Christa Lippmann
David Zangwill Lippmann
Dieter Lippmann
E. O Lippmann
Ed Lippmann
Edmund Oskar von Lippmann
Ellen Lippmann
Eric Lippmann
Ernesto Lippmann
F. Lippmann
Friedrich Lippmann
G. James Lippmann
Glenda K Lippmann
H. Lippmann
Heinz Lippmann
Horst Lippmann
Ingeborg Lippmann
Ingo Lippmann
Irwin Lippmann
John Lippmann
Julie Mathilde Lippmann
Lionel W Lippmann
Lloyd M Lippmann
Lorna Lippmann
Margrit Lippmann
Marlies Lippmann
Me Lippmann
Mila Lippmann-Pawlowski
Morton Lippmann
Paul Lippmann
Richard P. Lippmann
Robert Lippmann
Seymour A Lippmann
Steven Lippmann
Theodorus Wilhelmus Maria Lippmann
Walter Lippmann
Wilfried G. Lippmann
Wolfgang Lippmann

[ QUOTE ]
Thus ten to fifteen percent of all adult Sklanskys are book authors .... I contend that there is NO OTHER FAMILY NAME that can boast this percentage of book authors

[/ QUOTE ]
42 / 354 = 11.86%

Do I win anything ?

Re: Attempt #2
 

Are all the authors US Lippmanns?

Re: Attempt #2
 

[ QUOTE ]
Are all the authors US Lippmanns?

[/ QUOTE ]

That would take more time to verify than I'm willing to invest at this stage...

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Damn 50 name requirement. 7 Lidums in the country (I know one of them) and 1 author.

Edit 48 Lipshitz and 7 or 8 authors, close enough to 50?

Edit 2 - the 48 was from yahoo people search, so there are probably a few unlisted.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

don't the white pages search only america, but amazon will find authors internationally?

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

There are 1304 axelrods and 927 books with at least a contributing axelrod author, looks like they may be close, and probably the winner for > 1000 members. I don't have the time to go through 900+ books and get a unique count.

to continue the axelrod theme:
Fudenberg 2 out of 16
Tirole 1 out of 0 (:))
Levine - way too many levines
Nash - way too many Nashes

Von Neumann and Morgenstern are dead, so I guess I will leave them out.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Hi David:

I think my name might out produce yours. Of course you have to keep in mind that not everyone with my name had it spelt the same way due to the inability of people to speak English when they passed through Ellis Island. Thus Malmud and Malamud are the same name as Malmuth, and the best known writer with our name was Bernard Malamud (who I've been told was a distant cousin).

No wonder you work for me.

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

This contest is absolutely impossible. First of all, it doesn't take into consideration variations on spelling, as Mason pointed out. In my family, for example, several people changed their surnames as they had no boys to carry on the name. So, they're family members, but, technically they can be excluded from the contest, and, since they are not authors, that automatically increases the percentage of authors by default. You would, somehow, have to be able to confirm the different variations and confirm that they are related. The contest definitely does not take into consideration women who get married and change their surname. I mean, is every female Sklansky a cousin or is it possible it is a woman that married your cousin? What about those females who married, changed their surnames, and are published under a different name? Are they now to be included in a different family, the one they married into, or are they still considered under their origninal family name? Lastly, it does not take into consideration small presses such as some university presses, who's books are not sold on Amazon. I have translated books (technically making me "published", however, this is a huge debate in the translation field) that you cannot purchase on Amazon, let alone the countless university professors who's books are not available on Amazon. What about authors published in other countries? So, how can this contest be considered fair? Thank you David, I would like a copy of Theory of Poker for my contribution.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

The white pages found 299 Nordquists in the U.S.
I then searched authors named nordquist on amazon ignored duplicate authors. Found 27. So that's not quite 9% of the 299. ( or 6 % of the 1.5 times the white pages number)

Barbara K Nordquist
Bruce O Nordquist
Carol L Nordquist
Craig E Nordquist
Delmar L Nordquist
Elise Dallimore Nordquist
Eric Nordquist
Gerald L Nordquist
Gerda Nordquist
Gullog Nordquist
John Nordquist
Kay Nordquist
Kjell Nordquist
Lowel E Nordquist
Marko Nordquist
Marty Nordquist
Maxine Winsor Nordquist
Myron H Nordquist
Niklas Nordquist
Olga Nordquist
Phillip A Nordquist
Richard F Nordquist
Sven Nordquist
Shari Nordquist
Ted A Nordquist
Walter S Nordquist
Dr. William D. Nordquist

It should be noted that I don't myself live in the U.S. but I still wanted to try the experiment, and it wouldn't work in canada because there's only... 120 Nordquists in Canada.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

[ QUOTE ]
For the most part you are wrong. Of course if there were some name with thirty members that had ten authors, they automatically win. In fact six for thirty could be called more impressive. But not four out of thity or three out of fiteen or two out of ten. Can't you see that?


[/ QUOTE ]
But you're bragging about the high percentage of family members that are published authors. So, is it not the percentage that counts then? Two of ten is still 20%, which beats 11-15%.
This contest if further complicated by how incredibly difficult it is to get quality data. A search on webpages.com for the surname Aksyonv lists four published and 1 unpublished. Since Vassily Aksyonov is, without a doubt, a published author, that means 1/5 for 20%. However, there are a hell of a lot more Aksyonovs in the U.S.
And moreover, this is a country of 300 million people. Are you honestly saying that there could be a family who only makes up .000000033 percent of the population, yet, 20% of that family has contributed to the literary cannon, and that is not impressive?

Contest Over
 

It's closer than I thought so even if I'm right its not quite as impressive as I hoped.

Re: Contest Over
 

So, what's that mean? None of us get a free book for our efforts and contribution? That's analogous to taking it from your cell-mate and not even getting a reach around. I feel so unfulfilled.

Re: Contest Over
 

[ QUOTE ]
It's closer than I thought so even if I'm right its not quite as impressive as I hoped.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like I win??

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

I have determined that the whitepages (.com) isn't the most
reliable way to be going about this. Also I now have read that it only displayed the FIRST 299 of the total found ( which it didn't say) and it also finds 27 sklansky's.

okay now ancestry.com gave me a much higher number.

This is the number of Nordquist's
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...n/60a58a10.jpg

compared to the staggeringly low ( by comparison ) Sklansky's

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...skycropped.jpg


* note that these are census results from 1920


P.S. ther were 7 more Sklansky's than Malmuths back in those days.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...n/a5f58867.jpg

just something new and interesting in the post, since alot of you have given up.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Nine different people contributed in one way or another to this challenge prior to David closing it (ten if you count Mason). Since he was willing to give up to ten books...I think we should all, you know, receive advanced copies of the NL hold em book or something. If you guys stick with me, we might get a freebie out of this. And, damnit, I'm into free stuff.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Send a self addressed stamped large envelope to 2+2 and I'll give those nine the book of their choice.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Thank you Mr. Sklansky. That's very honorable of you.
Um, what's the address?

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Awesome!
Thanks David, 2+2 is the best.

Evan Nordquist

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

[ QUOTE ]
Thus ten to fifteen percent of all adult Sklanskys are book authors ... I contend that there is NO OTHER FAMILY NAME that can boast this percentage of book authors

[/ QUOTE ]

I showed you a ~12% one.

[ QUOTE ]
It's closer than I thought so even if I'm right its not quite as impressive as I hoped.

[/ QUOTE ]

This seems to be that you're admitting defeat?

[ QUOTE ]
Send a self addressed stamped large envelope to 2+2 and I'll give those nine the book of their choice.

[/ QUOTE ]

What about the $200 ?

I followed your instructions, used your web sites/multiplier, found a 10-15% family, you admit that it's unlikely that you're correct, and you pull the $200 and offer me a book if I pick up the shipping? Great contest..

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

[ QUOTE ]
Send a self addressed stamped large envelope to 2+2 and I'll give those nine the book of their choice.

[/ QUOTE ]

Some counting later, WOOHOOO! (Now I need to find a 2+2 book I don't already own. There are a few I think, but not many).

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

"What about the $200 ?

I followed your instructions, used your web sites/multiplier, found a 10-15% family, you admit that it's unlikely that you're correct, and you pull the $200 and offer me a book if I pick up the shipping? Great contest.."

The $200 was for a real winner. Your name came close using what I have been shown is flawed white pages data. But it actually probably is not close. Prove me wrong about Lippman and I'll make it $300.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

[ QUOTE ]
"What about the $200 ?

I followed your instructions, used your web sites/multiplier, found a 10-15% family, you admit that it's unlikely that you're correct, and you pull the $200 and offer me a book if I pick up the shipping? Great contest.."

The $200 was for a real winner. Your name came close using what I have been shown is flawed white pages data. But it actually probably is not close. Prove me wrong about Lippman and I'll make it $300.

[/ QUOTE ]

Flawed whitepages data?? You were the one who suggested using whitepages.com.

And the data is not flawed -- another poster pointed out that if there are over 300 people in the US with that last name, it only returns 300. There are under 300 Lippmann's, and it returned them all. I won the contest, as you defined it.

Also, do you remember this statement:

[ QUOTE ]
Accuracy is probably not vital because I don't think it will be close.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Backup source:

http://phone.people.yahoo.com

Lippmann: PEOPLE SEARCH RESULTS 1 - 10 out of about 259.

Here's what happens when you put in a common name:

Smith: PEOPLE SEARCH RESULTS 1 - 10 out of about 200000.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

[ QUOTE ]
Prove me wrong about Lippman and I'll make it $300.

[/ QUOTE ]

So now that I've shown that the whitepages.com data is not flawed, and I have a backup source, I win $300?

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Did you verify that all the Lippmann's were, in fact, American authors? For example, Mila Lippmann-Pawlowski (who's last name might even disqualify her) published a book "Colourful Australia". The spelling of "colourful" and topic suggests that she is Australian rather than American.

You also include Ernesto Lippmann, who's book is written Portuguese. Hardly a common language to use for an American author.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

[ QUOTE ]
Did you verify that all the Lippmann's were, in fact, American authors? For example, Mila Lippmann-Pawlowski (who's last name might even disqualify her) published a book "Colourful Australia". The spelling of "colourful" and topic suggests that she is Australian rather than American.

You also include Ernesto Lippmann, who's book is written Portuguese. Hardly a common language to use for an American author.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I did not cross-reference authors with physical addresses to make sure they were all located within the US. I was thinking that fell under the "accuracy isn't important, it won't even be close" department. I think it's clear that even if Lippmann doesn't quite cut it, it's close enough to win. David saying that whitepages.com is "flawed" is based the fact that another poster was fooled into thinking that only 300 people with his last name were in the United States since whitepages.com returned only 300 (it's limit). This is not the case with Lippmann, where there really are under 300 people, and whitepages.com returned its entire list.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Ok folks I have the end to this arguement, this gets around the whole only lists 300 of X amount.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...00Lippmans.jpg

You can get around this by searching for Lippman's with first initial A and B and so on to get...

A 69 Lippman's
B 95 Lippman's
C 39 Lippman's
D 70 Lippman's
E 50 Lippman's
F 17 Lippman's
G 32 Lippman's
H 36 Lippman's
I 14 Lippman's
J 82 Lippman's
K 21 Lippman's
L 66 Lippman's
M 112 Lippman's
N 18 Lippman's
O 1 Lippman's
P 30 Lippman's
Q ZERO Lippman's
R 92 Lippman's
S 81 Lippman's
T 20 Lippman's
U ZERO Lippman's
V 3 Lippman's
W 30 Lippman's
X ZERO Lippman's
Y 3 Lippman's
Z 1 Lippman's

And the grand total of Lippman's living in the united states (that it mentions) is ... 982. Case closed 42 names of authors doesn't cut it with 982 people. ( not using a multiplier of 1.5 or anything else)

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

CrazyEvan, please stop filling this thread with erroneous data. YOU FREAKIN SPELLED THE NAME WRONG!!! Read my post. I said LIPPMANN. PLEASE TRY AGAIN

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Sorry about that. Honest mistake, no reason to yell. I was looking one of the threads that say "Prove me wrong about Lippman and I'll make it $300. "

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry about that. Honest mistake, no reason to yell. I was looking one of the threads that say "Prove me wrong about Lippman and I'll make it $300. "

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm yelling because this is the 2nd time you put erroneous information in this thread. Sklansky based his "whitepages.com is flawed" statement on your being confused by 300 returns with your last name. Then you try to disprove my finding using the wrong last name. The last name "Lippmann" has under 300 findings in the US, as found on several web sites. It's bad enough that I have to battle Sklansky's ever-present refusal to admit he's mistaken without fighting off random people citing incorrect data.

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

Isn't a very real possibility that both spellings have the same origins should obviously be grouped together?

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

[ QUOTE ]
Isn't a very real possibility that both spellings have the same origins should obviously be groups together?

[/ QUOTE ]

While outside the scope of the contest (as Sklansky defined it), that would open the door to Mason winning as he pointed out in his post...

And if we're grouping people together, I found 159 Slansky's..

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

I'll be sending my self-addressed, stamped envelope today before Sklansky decides to recind his kind offer. Is it possible, David, that you could autograph my book?

Re: Semi Bragging and a $200 Reward
 

David,
Those of us here who appreciate your generosity and kindness and respect your superior poker skills (unlike that worthless punk commentator on poker superstars who says you have something to prove when you were heads up with Chan) are confused as to what address to send our envelopes to for our book. Could you, kinds Sir, please provide us with the correct address so that we may recieve new additions to our poker libraries and accumulate more knowledge in spite of the fact that we'll never quite be on your level.
Thank you, and have a wonderful day.
Russian Bear