Wednesday, March 4, 2015 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[jeff6286]

You said Alvin made a foolish wager. would you care to explain this?

Because a wrong answer guarantees a loss when you leave nothing on the table. What are the odds of Dave offering a tie when there's a no-ties rule.
Since Dave has the lead and needs to bet 5/8 of his score to cover Alvin, it's likely Dave will have to miss the answer for Alvin to win anyway.
Alvin should bet no less than 9601, to cover Laura, or no more than 7200 to stay above Dave's MSBIW. JMHO
And, if he had wagered zero, even though it would have been poor strategy, he would have been around to play a third game.

He needed to bet at least 9601 to cover Laura, and he did this. I'm still waiting for you to explain what made this wager foolish. Betting 9601 and missing drops him below what Dave will drop to on a miss, so he may as well bet it all and hope to maximize his winnings if he wins. Yes, he could improve his chances for 2nd place if he leaves something behind, but I have no issue with someone playing to maximize their winnings and not being concerned with the consolation prizes.

[Volante]

As soon as the clue was read, I thought this should be a Triple Get.
Shame, shame, shame.

I guess it's true, people could care less about his background, they're just glad history was made.

Memorizing a birthday and knowing someone's background are two different things. Do you know the birthdays of every historical figure you know even a simple biography of? 1960-1964's a pretty narrow window, it's not like anyone was guessing Hoover.

(I had Eisenhower, thinking 1960. I did get the president at conception right!)

[dhkendall]

Not so Desperate for $200 seemed like a total coinflip on teaspoon/tablespoon. That was my only miss, too. Any way to narrow that down?

I'm with you on that one. Lost the coin flip, would like to know what could have helped (other than knowing the measurement.)

I have a feeling that RuPaul's Drag Race for $1,000 wouldn't have been TS if Alex had bothered to explain the bleeping category. I was thinking, "Queens? Huh?! The frak is RPDR?!"

The category seemed pretty self-explanatory to me. Had the show came to mind, I would have got it. (Also, had it not been selected first, but, unlike others here, I had no problem with the way that (at least some of today's contestants) played.

As to what it is, part of me wants to give you the usual "You have a Google and a Wikipedia, look it up, why ask us?" advice, part of me says that you may not want to look that particular one up and be glad of your ignorance on that one. While I don't see anything wrong with Ru Paul and his colleagues, going from 0 to drag queen on a young mind like yours might do irritable damage. Baby steps.

Hey, they finally averted the OxCam!

"Cam" was in the clue, it made it pretty easy for me as well.

I guess it's true, people could care less about his background, they're just glad history was made.

Uh, how does this prove that, I'm sure if you asked who was president when either Bush was born, or Reagan (or Clinton for that matter), exactly the same thing could have been said, but would anyone have said "people could care less about his background" for, pretty much any president?

Got FJ! primarily because I know my wife is roughly the same age as the President.

Obama's the same age as my mom

Well, now I feel old.

Because he was born in the same year as my wife

And it's gone. (Somewhat.)

[BigDaddyMatty]

Coryat: $35,400
44 R/0 W;
DD: 2/3; I didn't know that Swift was Irish
FJ: Instaget. I don't get the hubbub on this one. As someone above pointed out, the sitting president's age/date of birth is not an esoteric fact, particularly when there has been a "controversy" surrounding the circumstances of his birth.
LT: RuPaul's Drag Race, grain, Marilyn Monroe
C: Neil Simon

Re: teaspoon vs. tablespoon: A tablespoon is one-half of a fluid ounce; three teaspoons make up a tablespoon. One thing that has burned the tablespoon size into my brain is the fact that a shot of liquor is only two tablespoons. As a non-imbiber of the Potent Potables, I often think "you're paying (insert price) for two tablespoons of a drink?"

If you have trouble remembering which of the spoons is bigger, just think of the name. Would you use a bigger spoon at the table (i.e. for a meal) or to stir tea?

[opusthepenguin]

One thing that has burned the tablespoon size into my brain is the fact that a shot of liquor is only two tablespoons. As a non-imbiber of the Potent Potables, I often think "you're paying (insert price) for two tablespoons of a drink?"

Think of it as half a quarter cup.

[Bamaman]

You said Alvin made a foolish wager. would you care to explain this?

Because a wrong answer guarantees a loss when you leave nothing on the table. What are the odds of Dave offering a tie when there's a no-ties rule.
Since Dave has the lead and needs to bet 5/8 of his score to cover Alvin, it's likely Dave will have to miss the answer for Alvin to win anyway.
Alvin should bet no less than 9601, to cover Laura, or no more than 7200 to stay above Dave's MSBIW. JMHO
And, if he had wagered zero, even though it would have been poor strategy, he would have been around to play a third game.

He needed to bet at least 9601 to cover Laura, and he did this. I'm still waiting for you to explain what made this wager foolish. Betting 9601 and missing drops him below what Dave will drop to on a miss, so he may as well bet it all and hope to maximize his winnings if he wins. Yes, he could improve his chances for 2nd place if he leaves something behind, but I have no issue with someone playing to maximize their winnings and not being concerned with the consolation prizes.

Going all in from second was fine with me as well. He had the lower MSBIW score and his MSNIW was lower than third's pre-FJ score. Making the MSB likely gets him third on a TS anyway. He might have a shot at second if third makes a big bet, but after winning big the day before, that extra thousand isn't as important. Plus that is one of my strong categories and would have been tempted to bet big from third, Wagering Vikings be damned.

[bpmod]

The current president's year exact date of birth is not an esoteric fact.

Fixed your statement for you.

Knowing that Obama was born in a year when there were two presidents isn't enough. I had always been absolutely positive that he was born in 1959. Now I will be always wondering where I got that info. Probably Wikipedia, where I also learned that Phil Collins is Joan Collins' son and that my bus has daytime running lights, among many many other non-facts.

Brian

[Sledgie]

I know Laura, and she is definitely not a "meek librarian". She is one of the smartest, wittiest, funniest people I've ever met, and I hope her personality is able to shine through on Thursday's show. She reported that the buzzer was killing her, but she had studied wagering strategies and bet the right way.

[nserven]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pr ... e_of_birth

I noticed at one point that we "skipped" the 1950s—no presidents from that decade have served (yet). That helped me get the right answer. We also skipped the 1930s.

But then the last skipped decade before that was the 1810s.

Jackson and Quincy Adams were born 102 days apart. Carter and George H. W. Bush were born 111 days apart. But the closest were George W. Bush and Clinton, 44 days apart.

[Stanislaus Jacob]

The current president's year exact date of birth is not an esoteric fact.

Fixed your statement for you.

Brian

I figured a 345 1/2 out of 365 chance was good odds. Plus, the media do tend to note when the President (any President) celebrates a birthday, so I vaguely knew it was in the summer.

This is Jeopardy!, and Final Jeopardy at that. A clue does not have to be ultra-easy. It ought to be not unreasonable, and this was not unreasonable.

[BobF]

What's really interesting (at least in my opinion anyway) is that not a single president was (or likely ever will be) born during the term of our longest serving president, FDR. Considering that at the time of the next presidential inauguration FDR will have been dead for nearly 72 years, that is why I added the (or likely ever will be) to my first statement.

Only 1 current governor, 23 current senators and 45 current congresspeople were born while FDR was president, and of those, only 2 ever ran for president.

ETA: I wonder if it was intentional that they ran this FJ on what used to be inauguration day?

[Bamaman]

Joe Biden was born in 1942, so he's our last shit at a FDR baby making it.

[goatman]

No guess on FJ! No idea when Obama was born, so it could be anyone between, I dunno, Eisenhower and Nixon?!

ROFL... again with "coulda been anyone"! Michelle's 50th was last year and he's 3 years older than her. We're the same age which makes it easy.
TBVH there's only two possible choices if you don't know Barry's exact birthday of Aug 4th. Eisenhower was in office until 20 Jan 1961.
Two contestants went with that, I'm thinking surely b/c they knew 'from '61' but not the day, guessing "must be double tricky o I'll go with Ike as the unexpected response" when in fact it was the obvious JFK the rest of the year. One off-base guess for LBJ, must've been thinking Barry is just 50. Instaget for goat-starers.

42R including LT: Grain, Marilyn Monroe (wow! TS?! Corny old stuff, but I thought everyone must know 1957' s How to Marry a Millionaire!); DD get on Jonathan Swift (1710-24, "Irish" admittedly weak clue, could've given us 'author', at least, eh?).

Greatly pleased to see these very sharp players get some tough clues, including "Longitude" for John Harrison's watch, 1761. Fascinating story and subject of a book, simply titled "Longitude," well worth the reading and a well-written 'chronicle,' lol. In fact Harrison spent a lifetime studying mechanical motion in clocks, but as a lowly carpenter he had difficulty in presenting his inventions to the maritime board, which had issued a call for precise timekeepers after the 1707 Scilly disaster, in which Sir Shovell drove his fleet onto Scilly rocks, with loss of all hands on four vessels attributed to inability to judge longitude properly. With a sextant you could measure latitude, but as the world turns, you had not way to find your position in longitude. Britain's discovery of accurate timekeeping aboard a seafaring vessel was a national security top secret of the 18th century; John's first naval clock was tested in 1736, a monstrous machine that filled a special cabin in the hold. The idea to adapt pocketwatch technology led to Harrison's recognition as the 39th of 100 Greatest Britons, paving the way to English naval superiority and dominance as a world power.

This is a very amusing list; Winston Churchill tops out at #1, although at the time he was less highly thought of and was ousted in 1945, made a comeback from 51-55; Will S and Isaac Newton only garnered spots 5 & 6 respectively, but Oliver Cromwell made #10 for inciting rebellion against Charles I, while James Cook came in 12 and Boy Scout Baden-Powell 13, ahead of Maggie #16, go figure. I'm pre-calling Alan Turing #21 to show up soon, since recently featured in The Imitation Game, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Stephen Hawking came in behind Alan at #25... Thomas More and William Blake came in ahead of Harrison at #37 & 38, beating Henry VIII at #40, lol! Thomas got the last laugh after all, eh? Funny that Wm Wallace and Francis Drake got #49 & 50, beating out a largely fictional person, King Arthur at 51, and Queen Mum @#61. Another math whiz, Charles Babbage took #80 for inventing an untested 'analytical engine,' but his protégé Lady Ada Lovelace didn't make the list for inventing the first computing language and punchcards. Surprisingly, the vilified Richard III came in at #82 but his vanquisher Henry VII didn't make the list, although Henrys V and II came in at #72 and #90, respectively, beating EM genius James Clerk Maxwell by a thin shave @#91. JRR Tolkien beat Sir Walter Raleigh and Edward I earned #94 for hammering the Scots. Richard Burton (actor, not the explorer!?) #96 beat David Livingstone #98 and Marie Stopes took #100 for founding the first British birth-control clinic. What a perfect J! list!

[kristinsausville]

Joe Biden was born in 1942, so he's our last shit at a FDR baby making it.

Freudian slip?

[silverscreentest]

I mean, had Obama been born just slightly earlier, the "read my mind" factor could have conceivably been something like "Obama --> Hawaii --> the president when Hawaii became a state --> Eisenhower." (Some people might know that Obama was born in Hawaii when Hawaii hadn't been a state for very long.)

A Kenya was still a British colony!

[dexterG]

Easy FJ. With all the BS regarding Obama's birth certificate, the year 1961 was mentioned hundreds of times in the news. 1961, JFK was in the White House. No clue how that was a TS.

[BobF]

Joe Biden was born in 1942, so he's our last shit at a FDR baby making it.

Freudian slip?

LOL, I really need to root hard for you next week. I forgot him, but he's made enough slips of his own, Freudian or not, plus his actions with Ashton Carter's wife, I don't think we'll ever see a Biden presidency unless Obama dies, resigns or is impeached.

[goatman]

Easy FJ. With all the BS regarding Obama's birth certificate, the year 1961 was mentioned hundreds of times in the news. 1961, JFK was in the White House. No clue how that was a TS.

LMAO read above threads! 345.5 days/365 for JFK; 19.5 for Ike. It was NOT unreasonable to guess Ike if one didn't know 8/4/61. They made educated guesses, well-played with tools at hand.

[opusthepenguin]

Joe Biden was born in 1942, so he's our last shit at a FDR baby making it.

Freudian slip?

LOL, I really need to root hard for you next week. I forgot him, but he's made enough slips of his own, Freudian or not, plus his actions with Ashton Carter's wife,

What did he do with Demi Moore?

[BobF]

Joe Biden was born in 1942, so he's our last shit at a FDR baby making it.

Freudian slip?

LOL, I really need to root hard for you next week. I forgot him, but he's made enough slips of his own, Freudian or not, plus his actions with Ashton Carter's wife,

What did he do with Demi Moore?

He said she needed to make a sequel to Striptease, but instead of stripping in front of a senator congressman she should do so in front of a vice president.

(ETA: Thank you IMDB)