Favorite Mega Man Bosses

One of these Mega Man Bosses must be your favorite, and I’ve given you all the reasons why one of them should be. I’ve omitted the X series, because let’s face it, gems like Frost Walrus and Web Spider deserve their own list.

Air Man – Mega Man 2

  • Air beats metal kind of like paper beats rock.
  • Make fun all you want… they later redid this idea with Wind Man. If they did it twice, it must be a great idea…

Blizzard Man – Mega Man 6

  • He is a snow making machine.
  • Few other bosses have hobbies suited for well adjusted robots like skiing.

Bomb Man – Mega Man 1

  • One of the few robots Wily made that make some actual sense…
  • Bomb man: smart enough to bring bombs to a gun fight.

Bright Man – Mega Man 4

  • Light bulbs are so hard to break, and that’s why they made a boss robot out of one of them.
  • At least they didn’t call him Bulb Man.
  • Light bulbs, or brightness, apparently can stop time.
  • He’s a lame rip off of Flash Man who also somehow stopped time using light.

Bubble Man – Mega Man 2

  • Bubble Man is into bubbles, which is why he has so many spikes in his level. I wonder why Iceman didn’t have flames in his.
  • Bubbles beat metal kind of like… …never mind.
  • Bubble Man’s stage music was one of the best.

Burst Man – Mega Man 7

  • He is the embodiment of mega man innuendo.
  • Burst Man is Bubble Man once he’s all grown up.

Centaurman – Mega Man 6

  • From Bright Man and Flash Man we get the impression that light can stop time. No. You have it all wrong. Centaurness stops time.

Crystal Man – Mega Man 5

  • Let’s face the facts together here… this sounds like a drug reference.

Cut Man – Mega Man 1

  • He wears the body of PacMan upon his head, who flies at people.
  • The PacMan on his head can cut through metal.

Dust Man – Mega Man 4

  • There are few things more threatening than dust (ACHOO!).
  • His attack is not dust, it’s sucking. He sucks. He sucks so much. And guess what he’ll do to Mega Man?

Flash Man – Mega Man 4

  • What’s the big deal? It’s not like Dr. Wily gave him any anatomy to flash.

Gemini Man – Mega Man 3

  • Hey, man, what’s your sign?
  • Obviously, he’s related to the statue of liberty (look it up if you don’t believe me).
  • This boss surprisingly makes sense.

Guts Man – Mega Man 1

  • He sounds like he should be a horror freak, made out of guts.
  • Some translator thought the word guts meant really strong apparently.
  • For some reason, it’s plural. YES!

Gyro Man – Mega Man 5

  • He needs more Tzatziki sauce in my opinion, but other than that is quite good.

Hard Man – Mega Man 3

  • Hard Man is right with Burst Man in the innuendo category.
  • He’s better named than, “You Can’t Beat Me Nyah-Nyah Man”.

Junk Man – Mega Man 7

  • Wily obviously made him out of cast off parts, broken dreams, and dumb ideas, which at least makes him environmentally friendly.

Napalm Man – Mega Man 5

  • I mentioned how Wily had a moment of clarity when he made Bomb Man. This is the second moment of clarity. Not air, not bubbles, NAPALM

Pharaoh Man – Mega Man 4

  • Wait… What?

Ring Man – Mega Man 4

  • If you date him, he will win you the stuffed panda bear in the ring toss game at the carnival.

Shade Man – Mega Man 7

  • Robot vampire? Well, it doesn’t make any sense, but then again, neither do sparkling vampires.

Sheep Man – Mega Man 10

  • He can turn into cute, dangerous pink clouds.

Tomahawkman – Mega Man 6

  • Hey, look, it’s embarrassingly politically incorrect and pretty racist man…

Top Man – Mega Man 3

  • Children’s toys make great boss weapons.

Yamato Man – Mega Man 6

  • None of us in the USA have any idea what a Yamato is.
  • Looking it up does not answer the question of why.

Why is a Manhole Cover Round? Because Microsoft!

I’ve had some friends lately go through the interview process (and some who will be soon). What I always try to impress upon people (and myself when I have to do it) is that the interviewer is bumbling around about as much, if not more than you are. I think the interview at my current job was pretty good, but then I remember this gem:

“Why is a manhole cover round?”

At the time I didn’t know that this was an open-ended question. I thought it was a riddle or a logic puzzle. I’m surprisingly good at these. I say surprisingly, but maybe it isn’t all that surprising when I answered:

“Because the hole is round.”

“…”

“Well, is that right?”

“Uh. There wasn’t supposed to be a right answer. It was just an open-ended question.”

“What else would someone even say?”

At the time I thought it was a dumb question, but another way to look at it is that they found out a lot by the way I answered. I work in a job that requires logical reasoning and troubleshooting all day long every day. We quest for the best and most logical answers. I thought I did well.

Still, I don’t know what other people answer this question with, so I thought I’d Google it (about two years after I was asked). Apparently the real reason manhole covers are round is because Microsoft started asking why in their interviews.

I was not the only one who gave the practical, boring answer, but some other answers:

“A round manhole cover cannot fall through its circular opening, whereas a square manhole cover may fall in if it were inserted diagonally in the hole. (A Reuleaux triangle or other curve of constant width would also serve this purpose, but round covers are much easier to manufacture. The existence of a “lip” holding up the lid means that the underlying hole is smaller than the cover, so that other shapes might suffice.)”

Okay, you got me. I’m not an engineer.

“Round tubes are the strongest and most material-efficient shape against the compression of the earth around them, and so it is natural that the cover of a round tube assume a circular shape.”

I’m still not an engineer. This would explain why the internet is so strong, it also being constructed from a series of tubes.

“It’s easier to dig a circular hole and thus the cover is also circular.”

That’s a good point. I spent a lot of my youth in Cape Cod digging holes at the beach and I can’t say any of them were squares or triangles.

“The bearing surfaces of manhole frames and covers are machined to assure flatness and prevent them from becoming dislodged by traffic. Round castings are much easier to machine using a lathe.”

Yet again, these are things I didn’t realize. For all you machinists, score one for you.

“Human beings have a roughly circular cross-section.”

Here are the dumb answers I was looking for! Phew, all of these alternate answers were making me feel inadequate! This one I can totally feel superior to: “We’re kinda (but not really) circle, so they are too!”

“Tradition.”

…and I burst out into song, from Fiddler on the Roof. TRADITION! TRA-DI-TION! TRA-DI-TIOOOOON! To me, this answer is like saying: “Because that’s how God made it.” or just, “Because.” Even traditions have origins, people. I call FAIL on this answer.

Important to note, upon some investigation, not all manhole covers are actually round. Yes. The question itself makes an incorrect assumption. While round is most common, they also come in square and triangle. I think this easily ties into the message I was trying to send here. People who are interviewing currently, and will be soon as you graduate, don’t be too nervous as you interview. Know that the questions you will be asked and the people that ask them are flawed. They make incorrect assumptions, they steal things from Microsoft, and most have no right answer.

Just do the best to show your best, and you’ll do fine.

So, what do you answer if you get asked why is a manhole cover round?

Because Microsoft started asking people why.

It’s a tarp.

Some people are very good at forgiveness and some people are very good at betrayal.

When two such people link together, arm in arm, it’s a terrible combination and very sad to watch.

Forgiveness, loyalty, love, and even hope can be a bad thing to have concerning the right people. It sets up a cycle of pain hard to break from.

The hindsight of escaping such an cycle can be just as worse. We figure we’re stronger and smarter now, but deep down we know we’d do it again. Really there are some things about us that don’t change so much. We all have an outer aura that is subject to change, but everyone also has a core of what makes them who they are.

I’m not sure what that core consists of is the same for people, but I do think that he bigger traits that I’m talking about usually reside in the core of a person. The further into the core the trait, the harder it is to change.

Words like ‘should’ don’t apply, only will. They shouldn’t lie, but they will. You should let them go, but you will hold on until they leave you defeated. You come back until loyalty has reached its limit, hope is hollow, and the entire experience leaves you empty.

Some people have a very strong will that accompanies things like loyalty and hope. Some people don’t ever know when to quit.

And when it’s all over, we ask why. The why of it doesn’t really matter, but still we ask it every time. You’re never going to be satisfied with the answer. With or without, these things are and continue to be this way.

The question isn’t why so much as it’s why not. Why not work out? Why not change for the better?

It’s so much easier as an outsider looking in. I say maybe you shouldn’t (again), watch with horrible fascination, and tell you to be careful even as the outcome is apparent.

Look out. It’s a tarp.