Thursday, November 21, 2013 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Paucle]

I thought Sgt Schultz was the last one into know-nothing?

[LeFlaneur]

I answered John Tyler, having thought in all honesty that George Washington was never actually elected. Can anyone enlighten me on this or must I wallow alone in my ignorance? Thanx.

[dhkendall]

I credit the fact that I've tried several times to memorize the list of presidents, and have also tried to memorize the number of terms they served, as well as unusual events like resignations or deaths. I can't swear that I have it all perfectly memorized (I had to detour through Lincoln/Johnson before I arrived at Taylor/Fillmore) but it looks like I had remembered just enough to get this one in under 30 seconds.

I'm wondering if the Canadian teacher feels she dodged a bullet by not making it to the Finals. I'm not saying she wouldn't' have gotten FJ due to her Canadian-ness (after all, several Americans both on the board and competing as finalists missed it) but we're always at a disadvantage as we aren't exposed to as much presidential knowledge as our American cousins. (This is one category I'm making an active effort at learning, and I feel I made great progress - even though I answered "Polk" in Final, I at least was relatively close.)

[dhkendall]

I answered John Tyler, having thought in all honesty that George Washington was never actually elected. Can anyone enlighten me on this or must I wallow alone in my ignorance? Thanx.

He not only was elected, but the only one to be elected unanimously (nobody ran against him the first time, and I think the second time there was only token opposition who didn't get a single electoral college vote - which confused things a bit as the law at the time said that the second place vote holder becomes vice president, and there was no second place to speak of.)

[econgator]

I answered John Tyler, having thought in all honesty that George Washington was never actually elected. Can anyone enlighten me on this or must I wallow alone in my ignorance? Thanx.

He not only was elected, but the only one to be elected unanimously (nobody ran against him the first time, and I think the second time there was only token opposition who didn't get a single electoral college vote - which confused things a bit as the law at the time said that the second place vote holder becomes vice president, and there was no second place to speak of.)

There was a 2nd place. There were 69 Electors, each getting 2 votes. Washington got 69 total votes, while Adams got a plurality of 24 of the "other" 69.

[wallzy41]

Surprised Alto Saxophone was a TS- It's typically the saxophone most elementary students start on(as it is the smallest of the Common Curved saxes), then progressively move to Soprano(almost a brass clarinet), Tenor and Baritone.

Went 29/30 in J! today... missed a 400 clue in Auto Tags... but ended up 36000 today. Not too pleased with my performance.

[opusthepenguin]

I also had problems with the "jubilee" and "iambic" clues. I never knew that the word "jubilee" had any history of being more associated with 50th anniversaries than with celebrations in general, and I didn't know "iambic" had anything in particular to do with satire. I still said "jubilee" at home and counted it as a get, but with "iambic", I was wondering whether there was more to it, and I wouldn't have gotten it on the show.

I knew the jubilee=50 association from English translations of the Old Testament. The "iambic" thing was at least semi-bogus and may meet one of my definitions for a bad clue. It's a bad clue if someone with more knowledge of the subject will either clam or get it wrong while someone with less knowledge will get it right. The writers picked an obscure second definition of "iambic" and asked about it. Had it been a DD, I'd have gotten it right after an agonizing attempt to come up with a better response. In normal game play, I clammed. Outside of Greek lit (apparently), iambic has no special association with satire.

[seaborgium]

An easy FJ; as a result, I didn't think hard enough and jumped straight from Tyler to Andrew Johnson. My first miss of the tournament, and I hate myself for it! I was so confused when Becky got negged, to boot.

Despite her FJ miss, Mary Beth is looking pretty darn good. If John is kept away from DDs tomorrow, I expect she'll be in a position to win on a correct FJ response.

[Woof]

The "iambic" thing was at least semi-bogus and may meet one of my definitions for a bad clue. It's a bad clue if someone with more knowledge of the subject will either clam or get it wrong while someone with less knowledge will get it right. The writers picked an obscure second definition of "iambic" and asked about it. Had it been a DD, I'd have gotten it right after an agonizing attempt to come up with a better response. In normal game play, I clammed. Outside of Greek lit (apparently), iambic has no special association with satire.

Yes, in Greek theater, iambus refers to a humorous, usually ironic verse. The term iamb is a technical one, referring to a particular metrical foot, and got its name only by association with the poetic form. At best, the clue was misleading.

No problem with FJ tonight: Harrison/Tyler was the first instance; Taylor/Fillmore the second. I can see Andrew Johnson as a semi-reasonable choice, but Arthur???

[MarkBarrett]

Here's John's video with 160,000+ views:



The Donovan goal vs. Algeria is the better video:



Thank you sir. May I have another? I did not realize how Charter School was going to play and I negged with corporal punishment also.

So Mary Beth has a law and quiz bowl background? No wonder she's in the finals.

I think Bob Harris knows the order of presidents 12-14? I was definitely thinking about his book as I wrote my response.

[OrangeSAM]

By coincidence, I'll be in Millard's neck of the woods next week. Looking at the forecast, I'll need to pack warmly.

[Johnblue]

I just did a little reading on Fillmore since I missed FJ & his wife died 26 days after leaving the WH. He remarried 5 years later.

[econgator]

The Donovan goal vs. Algeria is the better video:

Anything with Andres Cantor making the call is worth watching.

[Bamaman]

Every week so far this season, I have gone either 3-2 or 2-3 on FJs. I was 3-0 so far and determined to break my streak. I felt good about my chances when I saw the category and would have taken a chance and gone all in from the lead on the show in the first game of a final. Presidential deaths are a fascination of mine, so this was an instaget.

I guess the player went with Johnson since Harrison's death is well known but people forget about Zachary Taylor eating cherries and washing them down with milk while in 100 degree weather.


I got jubilee, but have heard it associated with various numbers of years and also with freeing slaves.

[Lefty]

Millard Fillmore has long had the reputation of being the least famous president. So much so, in fact, that I have theorized that Chester Arthur is actually less well known, because he is not even famous for his obscurity. However, judging from the results of the sporcle quiz "name all the presidents", which has had over five million plays, the least famous president is in fact Rutherford Hayes, got by only 55.5% of the world. The next five, in ascending order of fame, are Arthur (56.8), Warren Harding (58.1), Franklin Pierce (58.9), Fillmore (59.8), James Buchanan (60.4), and then there is a jump of nearly five points, so I'll stop there.

Washington, I am happy to report, is the most famous, and Lincoln is the next-most famous dead president. Last-name-only gets the points, so that is one limit to what we can take away, although the Bushes, for example, are not in a dead tie, I guess because some respondents do get specific. And I suppose there is a bias in favor of the earliest and the most recent, from people who try to take them in order, but with ten minutes to finish the quiz, and such a huge sample size, I am comfortable in proclaiming Rutherford Birchard Hayes to be the least-famous president that nobody knows.

[John Boy]

Ran Dinosaurs, much to my surprise.
Former Teachers: Couldn't pull Simmons or Billy Crystal in time, and NHO Jon Hamm.

That's odd, since this is the 3rd time he's been mentioned this season on Jeopardy! Maybe you need a new phrase to replace NHO, something like "I do not recall whether I have ever seen that name before, or in what context", so you could say something like, "Jon Hamm? IDNRWIHESTNBOIWC"

Just a suggestion

"OSMIAAIAGWS"


(...or stop mentioning it altogether, as it almost goes without saying.)

[John Boy]

FJ worried me at first glance. But I figured that if somebody was the second person to become president without ever being elected, it was most likely one of those 19th century presidents who succeeded to the office when a president died. I knew that John Tyler was the first such person (he was nicknamed "His Accidency"), and that was after W.H. Harrison died in 1841, so I tried to think of the next time a president died and somebody else took over. Lincoln came to mind as a very famous 19th century president who died in office (also, the curse of Tecumseh made me jump ahead from 1840 to 1860), so I wrote down Andrew Johnson. However, then I remembered that Zachary Taylor was another president who died in office, around 1850, and was pretty sure he was succeeded by Millard Fillmore. I crossed out "Andrew Johnson" and wrote "Fillmore", and got it all in before the 30 seconds were up. I was amused to see that one contestant's response looked *exactly* like mine.

I didn't have the slightest clue how many times Millard Fillmore ran for office, and in which years and for which party/parties. But I just figured that the correct response was almost certainly: whoever was the second person to succeed to the office upon the death of a president. (I had to detour through Lincoln/Johnson before I arrived at Taylor/Fillmore) but it looks like I had remembered just enough to get this one in under 30 seconds.

I thought of Lincoln/Johnson, then thought of Harrison, first to die in office, then recalled that someone (WHO, dammit!?) around 1850. My memory gets muddled in that era and I was able to guess Zachary Taylor. So I was just...a...bit...off on that one, compared to you. Of course the little bit was the difference between the correct response and the incorrect one. Good for you and for John. I predicted he would win the tournament when I saw his first game. He now has a good bit of wiggle room between him and Becky. In game two we see if he can pull away from Mary Beth and make me a prophet.

In the Algeria category, the one I predicted that did not come up was Camus, probably the only writer of note who will ever come from there.

[skullturf]

I thought of Lincoln/Johnson, then thought of Harrison, first to die in office, then recalled that someone (WHO, dammit!?) around 1850. My memory gets muddled in that era and I was able to guess Zachary Taylor. So I was just...a...bit...off on that one, compared to you. Of course the little bit was the difference between the correct response and the incorrect one.

Occasionally on Jeopardy!, there have been clues that more or less boil down to: Given a year, say who was president during that year. (The year might not actually be the *only* information in the clue.)

I've done well on those clues sometimes, and less well at other times. It can be frustrating sometimes, because it's very possible to be reasonably knowledgeable about the timeline of presidents, but if your knowledge is ever so slightly imprecise (J.Q. Adams around 1820s, Tyler around 1840s, Grant around 1870s, etc.) then it's easy to be *close*, but one president off. And unfortunately, being one president off gives you the same result as saying "Obama" or "Bush" for a 19th century president. The show doesn't give you any consolation points for "close".

[Sherm]

Didn't that old bitch across the pond just celebrate a jubilee? Much better questions in this tournament than last year. I forgot about Z. Taylor so that ends a streak.

If by "old bitch" you mean one of the wealthiest persons in the world, Her Sovereign Majesty the Queen, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and Defender of the Faith, then yes, although they referred to it as a "Diamond Jubilee." Her 50th year was a "Golden Jubilee."

He's either talking about QE II or he has a small pond behind his house and the old lady that lives on the other side of it screamed at him mercilessly the whole time he grew up. In addition, by definition, the old lady must have just set free some of her long term slaves.

I do find some irony in that one richest woman on the planet just celebrated her jubilee and someone supplies the definition and history of what exactly that is and part of the concept was supposed to protect people from accumulating more wealth than they needed. It's really ironic when you consider how the monarchy built up that wealth over years, I guess those guys didn't have a lot of time to give property back when they were busy taking it, I believe the term used is "right of conquest".

[Vanya]

He's either talking about QE II or he has a small pond behind his house and the old lady that lives on the other side of it screamed at him mercilessly the whole time he grew up. In addition, by definition, the old lady must have just set free some of her long term slaves.

I do find some irony in that one richest woman on the planet just celebrated her jubilee and someone supplies the definition and history of what exactly that is and part of the concept was supposed to protect people from accumulating more wealth than they needed. It's really ironic when you consider how the monarchy built up that wealth over years, I guess those guys didn't have a lot of time to give property back when they were busy taking it, I believe the term used is "right of conquest".

What better way to protect people (your subjects) from accumulating too much wealth than taking it yourself?