LL79: For the LLamas

[classicroadster]

I tied Sillymoose yesterday 3(3)-3(3). I got Nova Scotia (been there several times), UCLA, and Clubber Lang (Rocky III is my favorite of the series). I didn't realize the Grey Poupon connection and had already set my mind on sunflowers anyway. I answered Gandhi without much confidence, but figured if it was right it was pretty obvious so I gave it a 1 and UCLA a 2 which backfired. For the second time this year I talked myself out of a correct answer as I thought, it can't be as easy as the big 3 auto companies right? So I went with FedEx as one of the big shipping companies. Should've gone with my gut.

[sarisson]

This is by far the best season I've had. I'm .200 above normal, with at least 3 correct every day and four straight days of at least 5. Regression to the mean is going to hit me like a truck.

...and it did, because after 6 straight days of at least 5 correct, I got a 0(1) yesterday, with 3 MCW's. I went from being 3rd on the Maso leaderboard to not being there at all.

[jjwaymee]

My opponents (public and private) mistakenly thought that my Canadian location meant that I would not whiff the Canadian geography question. Unfortunately, those 0 assignments still didn't help me win either match.

It seems I had the honor of facing the family member who did not whiff on the Canadian geography question with a zero point assignment. Which is fine, because I like 9(6)-9(6) ties much better than 9(6)-9(5) ties.

Cape Breton Island is beautiful. I wish I would have planned a visit of longer than 2 1/2 days when I was there last year.

[ouachiouat]

Yesterday was the third time I've gotten 5 right this season. I have 1 point from those 3 matches. I'm 3rd in TCA yet avoiding relegation only thanks to MPD. It's been nice to get tons of questions right so far this season, but tough for me to defend for some reason.

[morbeedo]

I haven't won a match yet this season (in either rundle), but I'm sitting at the top of the Sandra leaderboard in Taiga and feeling pretty good about it

[teapot37]

I knew Cape Breton because one of my favorite cartoonists, Kate Beaton, lives there.

(I went to a signing of hers, where I got to witness this interaction firsthand:)

[clprez]

I have been facing a lot of women this season, so I went through the list of players in my rundle (Prairie E div 1) and including myself, there are 18. Only 6 men. I don't know what the breakdown of males vs. females is league wide, but in prior seasons when I was in rundle D I didn't often face another female.

[Lefty]

I didn't like the use of "playing area", either. I went with shuffleboard, which is pretty close in size (6 x 51, counting the shooting areas).

I said jai alai, though I knew they played in or on a "fronton". But I thought maybe a fronton was the whole arena and not merely the playing area. There used to be a sign on the Connecticut Turnpike that read "Bridgeport Fronton, x miles". Could you imagine a sign as one approaches the Bronx to inform of a "diamond" or "fair territory", x miles ahead?

That said, it was probably still a dumb guess, but I submitted hastily not to have to sweat all day about it as I had something else to remember that day (I lost a glove for the same reason whereas last winter I didn't lose one until March). The match marked my fifth straight defeat, though I answered 5/6 correctly on four of those days (5/6 is pretty good for me). I broke my losing streak Thursday but I don't know how Friday turned out, though the results are probably posted by now. I don't like to look at Friday's scores unless I'm very confident, as they may sour my mood for the rest of the weekend.

Speaking of shuffleboard, though Nikita Khrushchev professed admiration for very few things Western, he did like the game of shuffleboard, to which he was introduced on a transatlantic ship cruise.

[alietr]

I don't miss a question with an 80% get rate very often, but Salt and Pepa cost me the six pack. And they were just on Millionaire, too. If only Chris had used their real names ...

[teapot37]

Like a lot of people, when I saw Latka, I immediately said taxi driver (I am familiar with the show but never really watched Taxi). Kaylee (from Firefly) gave me a little pause, but I only watched that show through once, and I wasn't sure if that was her pre-ship job. Puddy from Seinfeld, I think I was just remembering him driving Elaine's car. It wasn't until I submitted that I recognized Cooter as being from The Dukes of Hazzard.

[morbeedo]

I don't miss a question with an 80% get rate very often, but Salt and Pepa cost me the six pack. And they were just on Millionaire, too. If only Chris had used their real names ...

tragedy! I’m still talking about their epic run on Millionaire!

I fell into the taxi driver trap and lost yet again 6(5)-9(5), giving up 3 points on teriyaki (which came up in Tom’s $50K question on Millionaire a few weeks back) and tumbling to the bottom of the Sandra leaderboard. I did win my private rundle match, my first win of this season. Yikes

[boson]

Like a lot of people, when I saw Latka, I immediately said taxi driver (I am familiar with the show but never really watched Taxi). Kaylee (from Firefly) gave me a little pause, but I only watched that show through once, and I wasn't sure if that was her pre-ship job. Puddy from Seinfeld, I think I was just remembering him driving Elaine's car. It wasn't until I submitted that I recognized Cooter as being from The Dukes of Hazzard.

I have watched Firefly, but the last name Kaylee Frye made me think that this was a sister/parent/relative of Fry from Futurama - I never thought of the character from Firefly. I knew Puddy was from Seinfeld, but that was all I knew. Somehow actually having a last name for Cooter led me away from the Dukes of Hazzard.

Anyhow, sad trombone, lost to a 9(6). Correct answer rates are high league-wide: expect some tough days coming up. Winter is coming.

[Woof]

Count me as another who said taxi driver. Given my lousy TV stats, I was thrilled to recognize Latka, but just assumed he was a driver. Oh, well...

[Blue Lion]

Like a lot of people, when I saw Latka, I immediately said taxi driver (I am familiar with the show but never really watched Taxi). Kaylee (from Firefly) gave me a little pause, but I only watched that show through once, and I wasn't sure if that was her pre-ship job. Puddy from Seinfeld, I think I was just remembering him driving Elaine's car. It wasn't until I submitted that I recognized Cooter as being from The Dukes of Hazzard.

I did the same thing after seeing Latka, and that wrong answer turned out to be Death Cab for Blue Lion. I'd also forgotten that Cooter was from the Dukes of Hazzard. The Lions have an offensive coordinator named Jim Bob Cooter, who's one of the main targets of the wrath of Detroit sports fans.

[RJRouge]

I missed a question I really should have gotten, considering tensile strength is one of the properties I tested for in one of my old jobs. I fell into this trap:

"Hmm, what's the opposite of compression? Elongation. What kind of property would that be? Of course! Elasticity!"

Just completely ignoring that elasticity is the ability to return to original shape. Oh well, still managed a win and it put me into first place for the weekend. Considering my next opponent's get rate, I'll just enjoy these two days.

[ouachiouat]

Yesterday was the third time I've gotten 5 right this season. I have 1 point from those 3 matches. I'm 3rd in TCA yet avoiding relegation only thanks to MPD. It's been nice to get tons of questions right so far this season, but tough for me to defend for some reason.

I need to stop getting 5 right. Lost 8 (5)-9 (6) yesterday, making 1 point out of the 4 matches where I've gotten 5 right. This is in C. Now I'm in the relegation zone....I'm also back to tied for the most CAA with 1 fewer match than most others (I had 1 win by forfeit)--and more CAA than several people in A.

[This Is Kirk!]

I totally overthought the Japanese cuisine question and came up with yakitori. So close and yet so far. Still managed an 8(5)-8(5) tie which I'll take this season.

[Linear Gnome]

I totally overthought the Japanese cuisine question and came up with yakitori. So close and yet so far. Still managed an 8(5)-8(5) tie which I'll take this season.

I came up with teppanyaki, where "teppan" apparently refers to the iron surface that makes it easier to cook small pieces without having them fall through a grate. Tied 7(4)-7(5) with the help of correct answers in my weakest categories (current events and pop music).

[RJRouge]

Boy, was I right about that. Not only did I lose first place, but I had my worst day yet, only getting 2 questions right. Yesterday was brutal. For instance, I've never even heard of the Fox TV show nor its original British counterpart.

[seaborgium]

Yesterday's pewter question was one I recognized as something I'd previously gotten wrong, and I had two answers in mind. I was pretty sure that one was the right answer, and the other was the wrong answer I gave the last time it was asked. I didn't know which was which. I wrote tin, then changed to lead. Luckily my opponent's defense was more imperfect than mine, and we both got three right.

My other frustration was having Boeing be the only company that sounded reasonable as being founded in 1916 and formerly having the name Pacific Aero Products, but being completely in the dark about their HQ's move to Chicago. I considered Fedders (air conditioning being the only non-aviation industry that I could imagine having companies with "aero" in their names), but I think I ultimately guessed Wrigley (for being the only company I knew of with Chicago and Pacific coast connections, and "hey, maybe bubble gum put the 'aero' in their original name").

Going with my first instinct on either of these would have saved my private match, where I gave up a point to my opponent, who also got three right and defended perfectly. (Broadchurch was the other one I missed; I had no chance on that.)