Tuesday, November 22, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[nagnasnalf]

One of my brain farts that actually worked out in my favor: I wanted to say "lumberjack," but in my mind, I couldn't find that word, but "logger" came up, and I went with that.

[John Boy]

I'm more than a little bit surprised and disappointed that no one included the Jefferson $2.

I'm way more disappointed...but hardly surprised...that the 3rd-place player went for the usual, desperation, horribly wrong all-in wager. I said to my wife during the last commercial break, that he should bet $2,400. She asked why, and I tried to explain the math on the TS. Of course if he had done what I told him, he would have won by a buck. Do they listen? Noooooooo.

I precalled $188, the sum of all circulating bills, so I was ready to make the adjustment when they specifiec bills with presidents on them, and quickly got the right answer. That's 2-for-2 FJ this week for what I hope will be the start of a nice, long streak.

[DBear]

BTW, I was afraid FJ was going to be a Visual FJ with Patricia Heaton offering the clue...
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/55070 ... illionaire

ETA: anyone who loves math, have no sharp objects at hand while viewing

Thank you so much for the warning
24/0. 17/5, easy FJ. Couldn't believe all three players forgot the $2. Haven't seen one since I don't know when, but they are supposedly still out there.

[billiej]

My issue isn't in remembering the $2 bill, but my tendency to confuse Hamilton's and Jackson's denominations. This time I managed to get it straight.

[mam418]

I said $88 dollars.... forgot that the 10 didn't have a president. whoops! (But I remembered the $2 bill!)

[Volante]

I didn't forget about the $2 bill, but for some reason I couldn't decide if it would count or not. I quickly wrote down $76 and $78, then spent the remaining 20 seconds or so trying to decide what "circulating" meant. I was pretty sure that the $2 bill isn't printed anymore, but for some reason I couldn't decide if that meant that it was currently in circulation or not. I stupidly went the wrong direction, and I don't even really know why. I thought maybe the trick they were trying to pull was getting people to incorrectly include the $2 bill, rather than incorrectly exclude it. Stupid me.

$2 bills are still being printed, but not often. The most recent batch was made in 2006 and are of the 2003A Series, so there's no $2s with Geitner's or Paulson's signatures.

I think if any bills bigger than $100 make it to a bank, they are supposed to send it to the Treasury Department and they shred it.

I had to cash a check for $10 recently at a bank and asked if I could get it in twos. She said she didn't have any in her drawer and didn't make an effort to see if there were any in the bank, didn't even ask the teller sitting next to her.

I'd like to get my hands on a bunch of them and then use them whenever I buy something, just to get them floating around.

Correct. >$100 bills if they arrive at the bank (along with bills too damaged to continue circulating) get sent to the big shredder in the sky. I like $2s myself, unfortunately the bank rarely keeps stock. You can have your bank order a stack ($200 worth of 2s) from the Federal Reserve (at least, you probably could, I was able to) but it's rare they keep stock on hand.

[bpmod]

I, like the poster upthread (was it dhkendall?), also collect monetary items that are out-of-the-ordinary. I have been collecting the state quarters for instance whenever I find them. I don't think I have half of them yet. But if you have a US $2.00 bill and would like to part with it (at face value), I'll gladly take it off your hands.

I remember when (and this is almost 20 years ago now) my friend and her cousin came from Maine to stay for a few days. They said they didn't want any Canadian $2.00 bills (which I think their bank had offered; the details are a little fuzzy), so they got $1.00 bills. We explained that they couldn't have either because "now" we have coins in those denominations rather than bills. Was I surprised when they each pulled out a wad of $1.00 bills... I hadn't seen one in about 5 years. I guess all of the bills ended up in the US before they finally died out completely. I have an almost pristine (Canadian) $2.00 bill, but all of my 1's are wrinkly & worn.

So, on Tuesday, when I saw the FJ! clue, I asked myself... "Do they want the 2 included?", "Which one is Hamilton on?", "Which one is Franklin on?", "How high do they go?"... I never even got to start adding. If I knew offhand the answers to those questions, I'd'a got it.

Brian

ETA: I'm still waiting for a Final Jeopardy! about the Borden. (And I don't mean Lizzie)

[dhkendall]

I, like the poster upthread (was it dhkendall?), also collect monetary items that are out-of-the-ordinary. I have been collecting the state quarters for instance whenever I find them. I don't think I have half of them yet. But if you have a US $2.00 bill and would like to part with it (at face value), I'll gladly take it off your hands.

That was me.

I'll make you a deal, if we ever meet face-to-face (I have yet to do so with a boardie) I'll give you one of mine. If it's at a J! related event (like an audition or a taping) I'll give you both.

I remember when (and this is almost 20 years ago now) my friend and her cousin came from Maine to stay for a few days. They said they didn't want any Canadian $2.00 bills (which I think their bank had offered; the details are a little fuzzy), so they got $1.00 bills. We explained that they couldn't have either because "now" we have coins in those denominations rather than bills. Was I surprised when they each pulled out a wad of $1.00 bills... I hadn't seen one in about 5 years. I guess all of the bills ended up in the US before they finally died out completely. I have an almost pristine (Canadian) $2.00 bill, but all of my 1's are wrinkly & worn.

OMG, here I was thinking that I can remember very clearly when both were introduced and that it couldn't be more than 20 years ago as I was "just a kid" when they were introduced. Must've been maybe 10 years for the toonie and maybe 15 for the loonie? Was a nice wakeup call to my geezerdom.

So, on Tuesday, when I saw the FJ! clue, I asked myself... "Do they want the 2 included?", "Which one is Hamilton on?", "Which one is Franklin on?", "How high do they go?"... I never even got to start adding. If I knew offhand the answers to those questions, I'd'a got it.

That was something like mine, I added all of them, knew that two bills did not have presidents, but had no idea which two. So I guess I did the reverse process of yours.

ETA: I'm still waiting for a Final Jeopardy! about the Borden. (And I don't mean Lizzie)

Wait for a TOC at least. Any question about Canada that most Canadians would miss would not be on the show. (I can't recall the last question above the "moderately easy" level having to with Canada on the show.)

[PeterJ]

Yup, I agree with the general consensus. I shouldn't have bet all $14,000.

In both foresight and hindsight, I knew better. But at that exact moment... I hadn't followed this forum before, but I did spend plenty of time at j-archive and was up on betting strategies. But like Francis, I had a bit of a brain fart (I had a couple brain farts throughout the game), and just bet it all. I think my reasoning was something like "U.S. Money Math. That's easy, all their math questions ever are are just simple arithmetic; Francis and Abby are too good to get it wrong, might as well just shoot the moon." I wrote down $14,000, and that was that. oops.

As for "forgetting" the $2, well, I didn't so much forget it as much as I second guessed myself out of it. I was flip-flopping back and forth and finally landed on $76. I figured later on that if I had been watching at home I would have picked up on the "trick" to the question, but under pressure: nope. I assume that Francis and Abby didn't forget it either, and flip-flopped as much as I did.

As for my anecdote, if you look at it, you can see my surprise when Alex doesn't pick the one I had chosen to talk about (you get to write down three and choose the one you think is most interesting). I had chosen one about how I beat the then-reigning world record holder in the 2010 NYC Marathon, but I guess Alex knew instinctively that one hand clapping made for better television. c'est la vie.

What bugged me more than losing, however, was the suit category. Everyone's dream board contains a category about what he/she does for a living. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough on the buzzer, and only got in on time for one of them, proceeded to have tremendous brain fart (no lie, seeing the answer slip out of my head on tv was hilarious to watch), and then muttered out a good, old-fashioned New England "goddamnit" which they were nice enough to edit out—but you can still see it on my face. Thankfully I made up for it and like a good English major strutted my stuff in books subtitles.

Francis and Abby were incredible competitors and helped make it the kind of game I LOVE to watch, but not the kind I had dreamed about being in. But it was still some of the most fun I've ever had and at the very least, I scored a true daily double and managed to undermine several hundred years of Zen Buddhism, so I've got no complaints.

[dmleach]

(no lie, seeing the answer slip out of my head on tv was hilarious to watch)

It's amazing what happens when you're up there under the lights, isn't it? I don't think it's giving anything away for me to tell that, during Final Jeopardy, I actually forgot for a moment which direction the letter "E" points. No joke: I'm standing there, staring at the screen, and literally had to pick the pen up and write it both ways in the air before settling on the correct one. I really hope the camera caught it; I'd love to see the look on my face.

And, lest I forget, welcome to the board Peter! I hope you'll hang around and talk with us more.

[econgator]

and then muttered out a good, old-fashioned New England "goddamnit" which they were nice enough to edit out

Hey, if you were on ESPN, they'd have let it air, just like they did with Lee Corso's f-bomb last week. The looks on Herbstreit's and Fowler's faces is priceless.

[legendneverdies]

and then muttered out a good, old-fashioned New England "goddamnit" which they were nice enough to edit out

Hey, if you were on ESPN, they'd have let it air, just like they did with Lee Corso's f-bomb last week. The looks on Herbstreit's and Fowler's faces is priceless.

Press Your Luck contestant Jim Hess circa 1985 could be seen mouthing the S bomb on air. This was on CBS daytime, usually airing at 10:30AM EST/9:30PST at the time.

[econgator]

This wasn't a "mouthing"

[dhkendall]

and then muttered out a good, old-fashioned New England "goddamnit" which they were nice enough to edit out

Hey, if you were on ESPN, they'd have let it air, just like they did with Lee Corso's f-bomb last week. The looks on Herbstreit's and Fowler's faces is priceless.

Press Your Luck contestant Jim Hess circa 1985 could be seen mouthing the S bomb on air. This was on CBS daytime, usually airing at 10:30AM EST/9:30PST at the time.

I'm surprised, Zach, with your immense knowledge of game show history, not that you knew this (I've come to expect such gems from you) but rather that you didn't bring up one more germane to the show discussed on this board, namely the time a Teen contestant said "Oh, fuck!" after getting a question wrong. (The Archivists also recorded the swear in the archived game for posterity.)

[bpmod]

That was me.

I'll make you a deal, if we ever meet face-to-face (I have yet to do so with a boardie) I'll give you one of mine. If it's at a J! related event (like an audition or a taping) I'll give you both.

That is a very generous offer, but my request was more or less directed at those who are more likely to come across them every once in a while. Or at least have the option of walking into a bank and asking for one. (Oh, wait! I have that option too)

I do hope to meet face-to-face at a Jeopardy!-related event, and not just because there's a $2 bill on the line. So far, my count (of boardies met in person) is up to three, and if those three meetings are any indication, I expect it to be a very positive experience. And, of course, if it's an audition or taping, that would extend upwards exponentially.

I will keep my light on for any boardie passing through these parts, and would hope that one or two of you would do the same for me.

Brian