science

GISHWHES

GISHWHES is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GISHWHES rather than just read about it. In short: The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES, pronounced gish-wes) (shortened to just "GISH") was an annual week-long competitive media scavenger hunt originally held each October or November, but more recently each August. Teams of five to 15 (previously nine to 15 before 2022) competitors earned points for submitting photos and videos of themselves completing prompts from a list they…

Key takeaways

GISHWHES belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GISHWHES to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GISHWHES from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES, pronounced gish-wes) (shortened to just "GISH") was an annual week-long competitive media scavenger hunt originally held each October or November, but more recently each August. Teams of five to 15 (previously nine to 15 before 2022) competitors earned points for submitting photos and videos of themselves completing prompts from a list they received at the beginning of the week. Actor Misha Collins officially founded GISHWHES in 2011 after a publicity stunt to help the television series Supernatural (in which Collins appeared) win a People's Choice Award. The competition held a world record for being the largest media scavenger hunt ever to take place, and several additional world records. The hunt also raised funds in support of several charities each year, and was affiliated with the Random Acts 501c3.

History

Actor Misha Collins, known for playing the angel Castiel on the American television series Supernatural, is the founder of GISHWHES. The competition began informally in 2010 when Holly Ollis, a publicist for Warner Bros., asked Collins to engage his audience to help Supernatural move from second place to first in the People's Choice Awards voting. Collins posted a message on Twitter, declaring that if the show won, Ollis had promised him a rhinoceros which he would share with everyone who helped by voting for the show. When Supernatural won the competition, Collins, partially inspired by his time at the University of Chicago as an undergraduate during which he participated in the school's annual scavenger hunt, asked his followers to send him self-addressed stamped envelopes into which he put scavenger hunt prompts written on the backs of jigsaw puzzle pieces from a puzzle depicting a rhino. Soon, participants began to respond to Collins's "absurd" requests. One successful prompt, for example, challenged fans to photograph a group of firemen wearing nothing but kale. Collins enjoyed this exercise so much that he decided to create an official scavenger hunt in 2011. He established the event's website and gave it its name, the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, calling its acronym, GISHWHES, "the ugliest acronym the world has ever seen". According to Collins, the primary reason for developing the competition was that he "loved the idea of thousands of people from all over the world connecting to create incredible things". He hoped to use GISHWHES to encourage participants "to do good in the world". The inaugural event, categorized by Guinness World Records as a "media scavenger hunt", broke the record for the largest scavenger hunt of its kind. In 2012, it broke its own record with 14,580 participants, representing 69 different countries. The contest broke two additional world records in 2013: the longest safety pin chain, measuring 1,901.8 metres (6,239.5 ft), and the largest online photo album of hugs, totaling 108,121 images. On November 19, 2022, Misha Collins announced that he was officially putting GISH events on hold for the time being, saying he needed to focus his energy elsewhere.

Contest

On the first day of the week-long competition, a list is posted on the GISHWHES website with over 150 different tasks for competitors to complete during the hunt, which Collins and his friends, including co-coordinator Jean Louis Alexander, have devised prior to the beginning of the competition. Teams then submit photos or videos of themselves completing the prompts at the contest's website, receiving points for each item completed. While literal interpretations of prompts are preferred, judges will sometimes award points for especially creative responses. Prizes for the team with the most points at the end of GISHWHES have included a trip to Scotland for a slumber party with Collins and a trip to Vancouver for a "Viking surprise". Teams consist of 15 members who may come from different countries. Individuals may prearrange teams or sign up individually, in which case they are randomly grouped into appropriately sized teams. As of the 2019 contest, signup costs ran US$25 per person with part of the participation fees going towards Random Acts, a non-profit run by Collins that aims to encourage random acts of kindness. In 2018 the competition was rebranded under the name Greatest International Scavenger Hunt (GISH), and added a free app that can be downloaded to have information in a simpler and direct fashion, and to directly chat with others on their team or close to their location. In April 2020 Misha Collins announced GISH would be launching their first ever 24 hour mini hunt, beginning April 25. Money raised from this hunt provided meals for children impacted by Covid-related school closures. This was also the first GISH hunt that Misha Collins has personally participated in, along with his wife Vikki and children West and Maison. Another 24 hour mini hunt was scheduled for May 30.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GISHWHES

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GISHWHES claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GISHWHES before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GISHWHES ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GISHWHES

In research: GISHWHES appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GISHWHES in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GISHWHES is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2011 establishments in the United States, Annual events in the United States, Outdoor locating games, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GISHWHES outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study GISHWHES in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GISHWHES means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GISHWHES out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GISHWHES in simple terms?

Why does GISHWHES matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GISHWHES?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GISHWHES.