Thursday, December 26, 2019 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[twelvefootboy]

Scientist here, I'll chime in. The dyne/cm² clue was a classic example of a horribly worded J! science clue:

"This unit of measure of air pressure is based on dynes per square centimeter"

.....

A far better clue that would be perfectly pinned to millibar would be:

One atmosphere of pressure is equal to approximately 1013 of these.

Pretty good, but I probably would hiccup on this one, because of sidetracking through torr which I tend to think of first for low pressure increments. (Confession - I've always taken 1 bar = 1.000 atm = 760 torr but now realize it was a conversion of convenience. TIL that there are 1013 millibar. Thanks! . )

The clue as written with the category and the appearance of "centimeter" led me to skip the math and science and just take the wordplay. I can't think of a better way to shine this turd right now. Pressure units are the Achilles heel of the SI system. Pascals, ugh.

[Volante]

Pressure units are the Achilles heel of the SI system. Pascals, ugh.

And it's not even really Pascal. It's just Newton sitting in a chalk drawn square meter.

[AFRET CMS]

Tally up another FJ! response of Haiti.

Tally up another expectation for a reversal on bar.

Did anyone else notice an odd timing issue when contestant Alex was responding to a clue? He rang in, the camera framed him and there was a lengthy pause as his timing lights started extinguishing before host Alex called his name and he gave his response. Was this just sloppy editing? I assume the player's time starts as soon as they ring in but if Alex is slow to call their name doesn't that unfairly eat into their time?

Yes, it was especially noticeable on one of contestant Alex's successful rebounds (in DJ!, I think) - I think he got down to 3 or 5 bars on his timer before Trebek called on him. I was actually a little worried that Trebek wasn't going to call on him in time.

Is there any off-stage indicator for the contestants to show who's "on the clock"? I'm pretty sure I read that there are off-stage scoreboards for the contestants to use when wagering for DDs, and if it's a TV monitor, they could easily have a graphical border light up around a contestant's name/score combo to indicate when they ring in, in addition to the cue of Trebek's voice. An actual shot-clock countdown (or a copy of the visual on the podium placed so contestants can see it) might be helpful, too, to let contestants know how much time is left...but maybe that's too distracting.

As I recall, I could tell when I had a successful ring-in because the lights reflected on the top of the lectern back toward the contestant and I could see the reflection in my peripheral vision. I can't remember if the reflection was clear enough to see the exact countdown, and I don't remember looking down directly at it. In the preshow briefing and practice, the contestant coordinators specified several times, "Don't give your answer until you're called upon."

[alietr]

I got FJ based on Maximillian, but I wasn't 100% sure he was French.*

*Turns out he wasn't. He was Austrian.

He just had the right relatives.

I briefly detoured to Brazil because of Emperor Pedro, but quickly got back to Mexico.

[twelvefootboy]

Pressure units are the Achilles heel of the SI system. Pascals, ugh.

And it's not even really Pascal. It's just Newton sitting in a chalk drawn square meter.

Great idea, I wish it was actually Newton per square meter. It would be a lot more useful as a unit if it was Newton's weight in the square instead of a small package of Fig Newtons - at least we wouldn't have to put 300,000 of them in our tyres. . 300 or 400 Newtons would be manageable to relate to .

[Robert K S]

French Guiana isn't a country, so there's that.

Also, Guyana doesn't speak French.

Languages cut-and-paste from Wikipedia in the spoiler box:

Spoiler

Official language:
English

Recognised regional languages:
Akawaio
Macushi
Waiwai
Arawak (Lokono)
Patamona
Warrau
Carib
Wapishana
Pemon (Arekuna)
Mawayana

Vernacular language:
Guyanese Creole

Other languages:
Guyanese Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu)
Chinese
Portuguese
Dutch
Spanish

[goongas]

I said Mexico immediately for FJ, but doubted myself because I thought it was too easy for a final or I was overlooking something, but I couldn't think of a better answer so I stuck with it.

[gnash]

Many have already spoken about the millibar clue, but no one harshly enough. The neg was stupid enough, but the lack of reversal was simply idiotic and absolutely indefensible. And of course, the clue itself was garbage.

This is yet another example of the biggest problem with the show, and one that has always been present: obviously, none of the writers have any knowledge of science and so they keep making bad science clues and terrible decisions on which responses to accept and which to reject.

And that, in turn, is a symptom of a more general problem with a society that excludes math, science and technology from its notion of "general culture".

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

51 R (Missed Tory Burch, Invisalign, and Toby Keith.)
DD: 3/3
FJ:
LT: Parboil, Varnish/Vanish, Barbara Bush, Yonge Street, Roll Bar, Euripides, Lisp, (Barbary Ape), Millibar

Already knew Yonge Street just from the first part of the clue. In fact, I always thought it had a soft G sound. I wrote a list of facts a few years back that I hoped would be on the show one of these days. Yonge Street was one of them.

[alietr]

Already knew Yonge Street just from the first part of the clue. In fact, I always thought it had a soft G sound. I wrote a list of facts a few years back that I hoped would be on the show one of these days. Yonge Street was one of them.

I remember Yonge Street because I was driving in Toronto once and was totally lost. I was on Yonge Street at the city's major intersection (I think with Queen Street?). There were signs saying no turns, but I was so frustrated I said screw it and made a right turn (which I very rarely do). After I turned, a pedestrian came up to my car to gently scold me for making the illegal right turn. Those darn polite Canadians.

[goongas]

Many have already spoken about the millibar clue, but no one harshly enough. The neg was stupid enough, but the lack of reversal was simply idiotic and absolutely indefensible. And of course, the clue itself was garbage.

Do they have a process where you can challenge your answer immediately on the spot, like asking to talk to a producer? I may be an expert on a subject more than any writer is, such as if they ask about the train that goes to Newark Airport from NY Penn Station, and I gave the answer NJ Transit NE Corridor train instead of AirTrain which they wanted which is incorrect (my answer does not fit the category of oxymorons or whatever it was called, but my answer still should count as correct).

Just by logic sake, if millibar is correct, bar has to be correct if they don't pin down a measurement of the unit.

They broke an unwritten trivia rule earlier in the week when they asked for the host of the 2019 Oscars ceremony, the answer was there was none. Normally you don't ask for something that doesn't exist.

The writers are trying to be a little too cute for my taste. I know they want the questions to be interesting, but they shouldn't do it at the mercy of accuracy.

[squarekara]

Many have already spoken about the millibar clue, but no one harshly enough. The neg was stupid enough, but the lack of reversal was simply idiotic and absolutely indefensible. And of course, the clue itself was garbage.

Do they have a process where you can challenge your answer immediately on the spot, like asking to talk to a producer?

They ask that you keep playing and raise the issue during the break.

[TenPoundHammer]

Many have already spoken about the millibar clue, but no one harshly enough. The neg was stupid enough, but the lack of reversal was simply idiotic and absolutely indefensible. And of course, the clue itself was garbage.

Do they have a process where you can challenge your answer immediately on the spot, like asking to talk to a producer?

They ask that you keep playing and raise the issue during the break.

One of many rules that Barbara Lowe violated...

[BigDaddyMatty]

Coryat: 33,800
43 R/2 W
DD: 2/3
FJ:
LT: parboil, va(r)nish, Barbara Pierce Bush, rollbar, Toby Keith

Glad I didn't have an extra five seconds on FJ! I was convinced I had blown it by not going with Haiti.

NHO Barbary ape. Totally should have had Medea --> Euripides, but I couldn't pull it.

Those darn Etruscans!

Why didn't "boil" get BMSed to parboil, anyway?

The clue was "As its name indicates, this verb involves bringing to 212 degrees, but only for a brief period." "Boil" doesn't fit the second half of that description.

[talkingaway]

Why didn't "boil" get BMSed to parboil, anyway?

The clue was "As its name indicates, this verb involves bringing to 212 degrees, but only for a brief period." "Boil" doesn't fit the second half of that description.

I think the issue may be that "parboil" is one word - it's not like a BMS on "Hemsworth" where you can complete your answer and say "Liam Hemsworth".

I found one dubious source stating that "parboil" was short for "partial(ly) boil", which may have triggered a BMS, but I think it's wrong. Lexico (powered by Oxford) says it actually comes from Old French parboullir, meaning "to cook thoroughly". I don't know if it got lost in translation and then backronymed into "partial boil", because it now seems to mean the exact opposite.