Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

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Robert K S
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Re: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Robert K S »

The stand-and-stare UNIVAC video clue that kicked off this game was weird--weird that it was a triple stumper, but also weird that the image shown was of just a few small parts of the computer an optional auxiliary system for data medium conversion arranged as a promotional photo. The actual computer was much bigger than what was shown, and I can see that tripping up the contestants, or if not the particular contestants on the show, at least hypothetical contestants with knowledge that those early electronic computing machines were room-filling behemoths.

EDIT: A friend was able to point me to the relevant literature to identify what was shown in the picture. It wasn't the UNIVAC computer, or even an I/O peripheral of the computer. It was just an optional, independent device that you could buy if you had a bunch of legacy code or data on punched cards and wanted to convert the punched card code/data to magnetic tape, which was the UNIVAC's preferred medium for I/O.

IMG_0551 (1).jpg
IMG_0551 (1).jpg (152.38 KiB) Viewed 536 times
Here's an image of the computer system, not including the card-to-tape conversion hardware:

IMG_0550 (1).jpg
IMG_0550 (1).jpg (125.02 KiB) Viewed 536 times
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cinemaniax7
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Re: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by cinemaniax7 »

John Boy wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 6:02 pm
cinemaniax7 wrote: Tue Jun 28, 2022 10:28 pm This game would seem to be prime fodder for a Fourth Podium poll.
Um, yeah.

I picked up Knesset, microsurgery, Conscience (of the King) (With thanks to the original Star Trek, which had an episode of that name), (fear of) thunder, (fear of )work, Rubaiyat, and Wallis Warfield Simpson to scoop up $7800 in Lach Trash.

That was in 3rd place going into FJ but my sole get gave me a win from the fourth podium.

I also thought first of Lord Byron but then thought he died much earlier (I was right; it was almost 70 years earlier). The only "who else" I could come up with was Lord Tennyson, so I will take it.
Taking out the Trash:
computer ($200)
Knesset ($1000)
jealousy (DD)
conscience ($1000)
microsurgery ($1000)
Doc Martens ($400)
the Rhone ($1600)
stone, iron, and bronze ages (DD)
canopic jar ($1600)
Wallis Simpson ($1200)
The Rubaiyat ($2000)
Justin Bieber ($1200)
Tennyson (FJ)

None of these was far afield from standard J! knowledge, and Byron is common neg bait. (I succumbed to a Byron neg-baiting during a mock game at an in-person audition about fifteen years ago.) I wish I could say I immediately recognized the Tennyson passage. However, I knew Byron had died at least fifty years earlier in Greece and that he had been denied burial at Westminster due to his questionable morality. That left Tennyson.
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Re: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by davey »

Robert K S wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 10:54 am The stand-and-stare UNIVAC video clue that kicked off this game was weird--weird that it was a triple stumper, but also weird that the image shown was of just a few small parts of the computer an optional auxiliary system for data medium conversion arranged as a promotional photo. The actual computer was much bigger than what was shown, and I can see that tripping up the contestants, or if not the particular contestants on the show, at least hypothetical contestants with knowledge that those early electronic computing machines were room-filling behemoths.

EDIT: A friend was able to point me to the relevant literature to identify what was shown in the picture. It wasn't the UNIVAC computer, or even an I/O peripheral of the computer. It was just an optional, independent device that you could buy if you had a bunch of legacy code or data on punched cards and wanted to convert the punched card code/data to magnetic tape, which was the UNIVAC's preferred medium for I/O.

I was confused by the clue too...I wasn't sure they were just looking for the word on the end. Sure it's clear in retrospect, and with the clue's text in front of me, that UNIV is for Universal and A is for automatic, and all that was needed was to fill in the C for computer. You gotta admit that's not usually the way acronyms work...
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Re: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by triviawayne »

davey wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 1:50 am
Robert K S wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 10:54 am The stand-and-stare UNIVAC video clue that kicked off this game was weird--weird that it was a triple stumper, but also weird that the image shown was of just a few small parts of the computer an optional auxiliary system for data medium conversion arranged as a promotional photo. The actual computer was much bigger than what was shown, and I can see that tripping up the contestants, or if not the particular contestants on the show, at least hypothetical contestants with knowledge that those early electronic computing machines were room-filling behemoths.

EDIT: A friend was able to point me to the relevant literature to identify what was shown in the picture. It wasn't the UNIVAC computer, or even an I/O peripheral of the computer. It was just an optional, independent device that you could buy if you had a bunch of legacy code or data on punched cards and wanted to convert the punched card code/data to magnetic tape, which was the UNIVAC's preferred medium for I/O.

I was confused by the clue too...I wasn't sure they were just looking for the word on the end. Sure it's clear in retrospect, and with the clue's text in front of me, that UNIV is for Universal and A is for automatic, and all that was needed was to fill in the C for computer. You gotta admit that's not usually the way acronyms work...
I find it a little scary that the writing this season has come to the point where we are throwing out the idea that knowledge of the subject of a clue isn't expected to be required. I picked up this trash in the usual amount of time it would take to answer correctly.
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Re: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Volante »

triviawayne wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 7:27 am
davey wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 1:50 am
Robert K S wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 10:54 am The stand-and-stare UNIVAC video clue that kicked off this game was weird--weird that it was a triple stumper, but also weird that the image shown was of just a few small parts of the computer an optional auxiliary system for data medium conversion arranged as a promotional photo. The actual computer was much bigger than what was shown, and I can see that tripping up the contestants, or if not the particular contestants on the show, at least hypothetical contestants with knowledge that those early electronic computing machines were room-filling behemoths.

EDIT: A friend was able to point me to the relevant literature to identify what was shown in the picture. It wasn't the UNIVAC computer, or even an I/O peripheral of the computer. It was just an optional, independent device that you could buy if you had a bunch of legacy code or data on punched cards and wanted to convert the punched card code/data to magnetic tape, which was the UNIVAC's preferred medium for I/O.

I was confused by the clue too...I wasn't sure they were just looking for the word on the end. Sure it's clear in retrospect, and with the clue's text in front of me, that UNIV is for Universal and A is for automatic, and all that was needed was to fill in the C for computer. You gotta admit that's not usually the way acronyms work...
I find it a little scary that the writing this season has come to the point where we are throwing out the idea that knowledge of the subject of a clue isn't expected to be required. I picked up this trash in the usual amount of time it would take to answer correctly.
I can understand getting flummoxed on this one; remember, it was a video clue, there was no text overlay (at home; and I'm wondering if maybe the contestants were focused on the video screen?), the key points of the clue were the beginning and end, but separated by a clause of unrelated info in the middle and being the first clue, you're not warmed up.

I got it, but it wasn't an instant buzz.
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Robert K S
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Re: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Robert K S »

It was an insta-buzz for me being that the history of computing is an area that I've devoted research to, as those who have suffered through my essay-posts on Eckert, Mauchly, von Neumann, and Turing may remember.

ENIAC = Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (or "Computor", if you go with Mauchly's spelling that made it onto the plaque mounted to the machine)
EDSAC = Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (note: not "Computer"!)
EDVAC = Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer
MANIAC = Mathematical Analyzer Numerical Integrator and Automatic Computer (pretty clearly a backronym in this case)
UNIVAC = Universal Automatic Computer
ACE = Automatic Computing Engine

I don't know whether the contestants were actually tripped up by the incongruous choice of picture (probably not--they would have had to have known more than they likely did for it to so do), but it definitely set off alarm bells for me. ("They're asking about the UNIVAC, why are they showing a picture of something that's not the UNIVAC?")
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Re: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by squarekara »

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triviawayne
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Re: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by triviawayne »

Robert K S wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:30 pm It was an insta-buzz for me being that the history of computing is an area that I've devoted research to, as those who have suffered through my essay-posts on Eckert, Mauchly, von Neumann, and Turing may remember.

ENIAC = Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (or "Computor", if you go with Mauchly's spelling that made it onto the plaque mounted to the machine)
EDSAC = Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (note: not "Computer"!)
EDVAC = Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer
MANIAC = Mathematical Analyzer Numerical Integrator and Automatic Computer (pretty clearly a backronym in this case)
UNIVAC = Universal Automatic Computer
ACE = Automatic Computing Engine

I don't know whether the contestants were actually tripped up by the incongruous choice of picture (probably not--they would have had to have known more than they likely did for it to so do), but it definitely set off alarm bells for me. ("They're asking about the UNIVAC, why are they showing a picture of something that's not the UNIVAC?")
add another insta-buzz
Total game show career losings = $171,522
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