Famous eater. Who am I?

Question

Although I've never been interviewed,
I'm famous all over the world.
People love to watch me eat,
But some disapprove of my habits.

I don't mind working for my food,
And I like to eat on the run.
Picky, I eat only 3 foods,
Not counting my desserts.

I have very strange diet goals:
Eat 244 to 260 bites per meal,
Plus 2 bites of dessert per meal-
1 bite of one and 1 bite of another.

Timing my bites is important,
And when done wisely,
I can reach my full 260 bites,
And then I will be very happy.

Who am I?

@rand - I don't know of anything where 260 bytes would be significant. — Deacon, Jul 15 '15 at 19:40
@user12365 No, but 256 would be and that's between 240 and 260. — Engineer Toast, Jul 15 '15 at 19:41
Judging by the header only, the correct answer would be my first guess. — Zikato, Jul 16 '15 at 10:11
Amazing that 3.5 days later, this question is still on HNQ (#92). — pacoverflow, Jul 19 '15 at 06:39
@pacoverflow 70% really? wow. i guess i just notice the 30% because it usually surprises me when i see that. — JLee, Jul 19 '15 at 23:29
@JLee I agree that questions get shortchanged here, just due to the fact that their upvotes are worth half as much as answer upvotes. This was discussed on Meta a few months ago (there really isn't a solution right now). — pacoverflow, Jul 19 '15 at 23:38
@pacoverflow that is my conclusion too. but, we keep making questions, not for points, but because it is fun and challenging. :) — JLee, Jul 20 '15 at 14:04

pacoverflow · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-18T06:12:36.850

You are:

Pac-Man

Although I've never been interviewed,

How can you interview a video game character?

I'm famous all over the world.

Everyone's heard of Pac-Man.

People love to watch me eat,

People love to play Pac-Man and watch him eat, since eating increases their score.

But some disapprove of my habits.

It's not healthy to be constantly eating. Also, as JLee said, the ghosts don't like it when Pac-Man eats power pellets, because then they can be eaten.

I don't mind working for my food,

You have to run around all over the maze to eat all the dots, and when you want to eat ghosts they are always running away from you.

And I like to eat on the run.

Pac-Man almost always has to be moving in order to eat.

Picky, I eat only 3 foods,

Power pellets, dots, and ghosts.

Not counting my desserts.

The desserts are the Cherry, Strawberry, Orange, Apple, Melon, Galaxian, Bell, and Key.

I have very strange diet goals: Eat 244 to 260 bites per meal,

There are 240 dots per board, 4 power pellets, and the ghosts can be eaten from 0 to 16 times.

Plus 2 bites of dessert per meal- 1 bite of one and 1 bite of another.

A fruit/key/galaxian/bell appears twice per board.

Timing my bites is important,

You don't want to eat a power pellet when the ghosts are far away, since you only have a limited amount of time to eat ghosts. If you chase a ghost too closely and it turns back to its normal color and then you touch it, you will die.

And when done wisely, I can reach my full 260 bites, And then I will be very happy.

You will get the max score per board if you eat all the ghosts while they are blue (and all the fruit/key/galaxian/bell). You will also be very happy if you do this on the first board because you will surpass 10,000 points and you will get an extra life.

@JLee Yikes! TroyAndAbed's answer was 16 seconds later but got the explanation first. It's going to be one of those tough decisions which to tick! — Rand al'Thor, Jul 15 '15 at 19:51
Paco beat me. And i'm struggling with my english to make a proper answer :) — TroyAndAbed, Jul 15 '15 at 19:57
@JLee Too bad I didn't see your puzzle until 42 minutes after it was posted! — pacoverflow, Jul 15 '15 at 20:07
@pacoverflow I just got lazy to write it all, but its 240 + 4 big dots + 4*4 ghosts = 260 — TroyAndAbed, Jul 15 '15 at 21:35
yeah, thx for the correction. i had 240 because i was thinkin, for some reason, that he didnt have to eat the energizers. of course he does! — JLee, Jul 15 '15 at 23:07
@JLee Seems like riddles that contain minimum and maximum values are my thing, lol. — pacoverflow, Jul 16 '15 at 14:35
@pacoverflow Yes, I've noticed. I have that cursed intrinsic riddle in the back of my mind, and as I go through my day, I often try to solve it subconciously. No luck yet, but I've tried about 50 different things. — JLee, Jul 16 '15 at 14:36

score 32 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 05 '15 at 17:51

Are you:

Pacman

Although I've never been interviewed,
I'm famous all over the world.
People love to watch me eat,
But some disapprove of my habits.

Pacman is a famous game that many people played. The ghosts in the game are the one who disapprove his habits

I don't mind working for my food,
And I like to eat on the run.
Picky, I eat only 3 foods,
Not counting my desserts

Pacman move while eating the dots. He eats 3 types of food: dots, ghosts, "big" dots and the dessert is the fruit which appear in each level.

I have very strange diet goals:
Eat 240 to 260 bites per meal,
Plus 2 bites of dessert per meal-
1 bite of one and 1 bite of another.

There is 240 small dots by level. Counting the ghost, you can take 260 bites. (240 + 4 big dots + 4*4 ghosts = 260) Not too sure for the desert.

Timing my bites is important,
And when done wisely,
I can reach my full 260 bites,
And then I will be very happy.

You need the good timing to eat the ghosts. The number of dots (244) + the number of ghosts (4) * the number of big dots (4) = 260

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 15 '15 at 19:43

Are you talking about

The Snake game from old black and white phones?

Although I've never been interviewed,
I'm famous all over the world.
People love to watch me eat,
But some disapprove of my habits.

The game is well-known to almost everyone who's used a mobile phone in the early 2000s. It was a popular, and simple yet addictive game, which made parents disapprove of it (?),

I don't mind working for my food,
And I like to eat on the run.
Picky, I eat only 3 foods,
Not counting my desserts.

In the game, the snake had to move around the screen to eat its food. And the food it could eat was of a fixed size, in terms of pixels(can't think of 3 foods). The desserts could point to the bonus items that propped up in some game modes.

I have very strange diet goals:
Eat 240 to 260 bites per meal,
Plus 2 bites of dessert per meal-
1 bite of one and 1 bite of another.

The aim of the game was to eat as much as possible and grow to be as long as possible, which would be a strange eating routine. (Not sure about 240 or 260)

Timing my bites is important,
And when done wisely,
I can reach my full 260 bites,
And then I will be very happy.

Eating the food and turning away before crashing anywhere was key to succeeding in the game. When played well, the snake would grow to its maximum length till the point where it occupies the entire screen and cannot grow anymore.

nope. i remember that game! i played it maybe once. not a bad guess, but the answer does fit better. — JLee, Jul 15 '15 at 19:49
Hahaha! Nice riddle. I was in the right arcade, just at the wrong machine. :-P — CodeNewbie, Jul 15 '15 at 19:52
@Mazura: The Atari version was called Snake Byte, if I'm not wrong? — CodeNewbie, Jul 15 '15 at 23:07
Snake Byte was for the Apple II. I'm more familiar with Sears' release for the Atari, Chase. It has the oldest version of (MS) Paint that I know of. You could 'draw' using monochromatic, giant pixels. — Mazura, Jul 16 '15 at 00:54

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 16 '15 at 10:46

2

I cannot think but that the question is

Telecommunications-related

Since actually with bite you mean

Byte

Although I've never been interviewed, I'm famous all over the world.

IP for example is used all around the world, as is GSM (more or less)

People love to watch me eat, But some disapprove of my habits.

IPv4 packets are widely disapproved because there is not enough IPv4 for everyone (instead of IPv6)

I don't mind working for my food, And I like to eat on the run.

Packets can be filled with information and "pieces" can be added (to tunnel for example)

Picky, I eat only 3 foods, Not counting my desserts.

Those can be section of the packet, as for example: Header, Payload, Checksum. Desserts can be starting and ending sequences

I have very strange diet goals: Eat 244 to 260 bites per meal,

Again, this has to do with some standard defined

Plus 2 bites of dessert per meal- 1 bite of one and 1 bite of another.

As said above, header and tail of the packet

Timing my bites is important, And when done wisely, I can reach my full 260 bites, And then I will be very happy.

If clocks are very well alligned, one could eventually remove header and tail of a packet to save space for payload

answered Jul 16 '15 at 10:46

Noldor130884

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2

Awfully labored, and the author has already said that "bites" does not mean "bytes". – dennisdeems Jul 16 '15 at 13:26
2

"If clocks are very well alligned, one could eventually remove header and tail of a packet to save space for payload" What? – Lightness Races in Orbit Jul 16 '15 at 18:31
@dennisdeems I may not have solved the puzzle, but I belive yet to have given a proper answer anyway. Awfully labored? I don't think so, everything fits. Sorry if I am a nerd and studied this stuff – Noldor130884 Jul 17 '15 at 07:15
@LightnessRacesinOrbit header and tail are parts which alerts the receiver ("hey, you are about to receive data" "data stops here"). So if a sender and a receiver work perfectly synchronized, you don't need those because you know EXACTLY when the packet starts/ends – Noldor130884 Jul 17 '15 at 07:16
@Noldor130884: They do a lot more than that. – Lightness Races in Orbit Jul 17 '15 at 09:41
@LightnessRacesinOrbit WHAT does more than WHAT? And anyway it doesn't mean that my answer ist not right. – Noldor130884 Jul 17 '15 at 10:37
@Noldor130884: Header and tail do more than "alerting the receiver" in the way you describe. And I didn't say that your answer is not right though, as others have pointed out, "nerddom" notwithstanding, it's not. Source: I am a senior developer in the telecom industry. – Lightness Races in Orbit Jul 17 '15 at 10:47
@LightnessRacesinOrbit: Where did I write that they only do that (besides I was trying to give "mortals" an understandable statement, not to explain how telecommunications work)? And ok, my answer is not right, nevertheless it is a proper answer and it is not "awfully labored", since it's the first thing that came into my mind. Now... the real question is: "@Noldor130884: They do a lot more than that." what is this comment about? If you wanted to point out your position in the telecom industry by displaying your knowledge, there are other communities for that. – Noldor130884 Jul 17 '15 at 10:56
You implied it by suggesting that if timing were perfectly synchronised between sender and receiver (which sender? which receiver?) then headers and tails would not be needed, because headers and tails "alert the receiver". You completely ignored all of their other responsibilities, responsibilities which having nothing whatsoever to do with timing. As for your parting question, I already addressed that. You're the one bringing technical factors into this answer, not me, so it's on you to at least get them right, rather than laying into me for pointing it out when you get them wrong. – Lightness Races in Orbit Jul 17 '15 at 10:58
You are trolling me, aren't you? Again, what the hell do their other functions have to do with my reply? Could two perfectly synchronized systems transmit and receive data without header and tail? YES. Full stop. I didn't mention any standard that wasn't intended as an example. – Noldor130884 Jul 17 '15 at 11:05

Famous eater. Who am I?

4 Answers4