Reretaken Down

[squarekara]

Since I'm the one who brought up the "bat flip," I'll just say that, personally, I didn't see the French thing as showing off, but rather being playful. Maybe it didn't bother me because I was already rooting for Morbeedo because he's a boardie and we've all read about his longtime efforts to get on the show. That's "why(te)" my reaction was so different.

Yes, that response was right in keeping with morbeedo's playful style, and I think he knew Ken would get a chuckle out of it. Delivered in a different spirit, it might have elicited an eye roll from me.

[seaborgium]

I've kept my mouth shut on the subject of Yogesh here (to a fault, I admit), but one thing I'd like to say is that the day after Yogesh gave the title of the statue, the relative silence about morbeedo giving a complete response in French was deafening. I thought about making a snarky post about how I "couldn't imagine why(te) the reactions were so different," but I'm settling for couching the remark in self-reference.

Morbeedo's a boardie. Even if the two responses were strictly comparable, he would get some slack on this board regardless of race. But I don't think the responses are comparable. If Morbeedo weren't a boardie and he'd been the one to make the Statue of Liberty response, I think he would have gotten exactly the same flack. I mean exactly. And if Yogesh had been the one to make the French response, especially if he was a boardie, I don't think there would have been negative comment. And I don't think the silence in that reverse situation would have been deafening, just as it wasn't in this situation. I think it's a serious thing to accuse other boardies of racism.

I just can't see it playing out the same way. I can't see anyone on here accusing morbeedo of hubris to his face. And I can easily envision cracks being taken at Yogesh had he answered in French.

For the first part, that's why I said if morbeedo wasn't a boardie. I think that's the most important difference. If he wasn't a boardie and made the same response, I think he'd get the same flack. You may be right about the second part in general, but I think the particular boardies who commented on Yogesh's "bat flip" should be explicitly excluded from the accusation. It's a very serious thing to allege that people we know and respect were influenced by Yogesh's race to say something they wouldn't say about a white person. I don't believe that.

Since I'm the one who brought up the "bat flip," I'll just say that, personally, I didn't see the French thing as showing off, but rather being playful. Maybe it didn't bother me because I was already rooting for Morbeedo because he's a boardie and we've all read about his longtime efforts to get on the show. That's "why(te)" my reaction was so different.

I thought Yogesh's "I only get a few chances to [show off]" after Ken's riff accepting his response indicated a degree of having fun with it.

[Woppy T]

Morbeedo's a boardie. Even if the two responses were strictly comparable, he would get some slack on this board regardless of race. But I don't think the responses are comparable. If Morbeedo weren't a boardie and he'd been the one to make the Statue of Liberty response, I think he would have gotten exactly the same flack. I mean exactly. And if Yogesh had been the one to make the French response, especially if he was a boardie, I don't think there would have been negative comment. And I don't think the silence in that reverse situation would have been deafening, just as it wasn't in this situation. I think it's a serious thing to accuse other boardies of racism.

I just can't see it playing out the same way. I can't see anyone on here accusing morbeedo of hubris to his face. And I can easily envision cracks being taken at Yogesh had he answered in French.

For the first part, that's why I said if morbeedo wasn't a boardie. I think that's the most important difference. If he wasn't a boardie and made the same response, I think he'd get the same flack. You may be right about the second part in general, but I think the particular boardies who commented on Yogesh's "bat flip" should be explicitly excluded from the accusation. It's a very serious thing to allege that people we know and respect were influenced by Yogesh's race to say something they wouldn't say about a white person. I don't believe that.

Since I'm the one who brought up the "bat flip," I'll just say that, personally, I didn't see the French thing as showing off, but rather being playful. Maybe it didn't bother me because I was already rooting for Morbeedo because he's a boardie and we've all read about his longtime efforts to get on the show. That's "why(te)" my reaction was so different.

I thought Yogesh's "I only get a few chances to [show off]" after Ken's riff accepting his response indicated a degree of having fun with it.

Of course he was having fun with it. But he was, in his own words, showing off. I’m not a fan of this. Does this make me racist? It appears you would say yes. You don’t know me or anything about me beyond my posts on this site (which admittedly tend to be bitchy). Opus did a better job than I ever could of explaining the reason for the difference in the responses to Yogesh and Morbeedo, a longtime boardie.

[seaborgium]

I mean, they were Ken's words, but acknowledged and accepted by Yogesh (hence my brackets). (Or did he actually use the phrase himself in one of his blogs?) I think morbeedo was showing off too. And why not? Why shouldn't anyone show off on a show ostensibly about its contestants' knowledge bases? And why be bothered by anyone we don't know doing so for fun?

[jamie]

For what it's worth, I think morbeedo's Eiffel response was just as much of a show-off as Yogesh's Statue of Liberty response. Even if knowing how to say "Who is Gustave Eiffel?" in French is trivial knowledge, it's still drawing attention to yourself by doing something different, and implicitly saying, "I'm so certain I'm right, that I'm willing to risk the greater embarrassment that would come from being negged after responding with that kind of flourish." (Not to mention, Eiffel's first name is not something that J! really expects people to know.) And, in morbeedo's case, I thought it was terrific. At this point, it's apparent that Yogesh is an exceptional player and the favourite in most match-ups, he's already given a show-off response in a previous game, and here comes morbeedo, not only giving him a strong challenge, but having the presence of mind to show off with some style of his own. Maybe that's not how it really happened, but that's how it looked to me, and that's good TV.

As far as the Statue of Liberty response, I thought it was fine. Maybe it was just for the purpose of showing off he knew something, but it's a show about knowing things, and it's easy to get excited when you know a little more than what the clue is asking. I'd probably do the same thing if I had the opportunity. But I'd realize that it's not to everyone's taste, and that certain people might like me less for it. Is Yogesh at a disadvantage there generally, because of his race? I'm sure he is; the mass of social media response might well be different if it was a white guy doing the same things. But to ascribe racist motives to specific individuals, on the evidence presented, is not something I would do.

[Volante]

Apparently an island with wolves, deer and otters no longer has deer as the wolves figured out how to eat the otters.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01 ... opulation/

Status of cabbages is unmentioned, but without the deer, they should now be safe.

[Robert K S]

Apparently an island with wolves, deer and otters no longer has deer as the wolves figured out how to eat the otters.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01 ... opulation/

Status of cabbages is unmentioned, but without the deer, they should now be safe.

tl;dr: the deer aren't returning to the island from the mainland because the wolves' successful otter-hunting strategies have permitted the wolves to inhabit the island permanently. The island deer would've been wiped out by visiting wolves with or without otters, it's just that new deer aren't coming to live in a place with a permanent wolf population.

[MarkBarrett]

Today's Google doodle for bubble tea is fun and while it is easy to play, I have yet, after five tries, to get three stars on each mix.

[Volante]

BBC article about British Columbia legalizing small amounts of hard drugs:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64461983

Nothing remarkable about the story, that is, nothing that warrants special attention

The meta description field that gets captured by, e.g., RSS readers? THAT'S comedy gold:

Cocaine, heroin and fentanyl will be allowed in small quantities in Vancouver and its surrounding province.

Exactly how small do they think BC is?!

[squarekara]

[opusthepenguin]

Spoiler

Amazing! I didn't even know Lego did penguins!

[JyV92]

Morbeedo's a boardie. Even if the two responses were strictly comparable, he would get some slack on this board regardless of race. But I don't think the responses are comparable. If Morbeedo weren't a boardie and he'd been the one to make the Statue of Liberty response, I think he would have gotten exactly the same flack. I mean exactly. And if Yogesh had been the one to make the French response, especially if he was a boardie, I don't think there would have been negative comment. And I don't think the silence in that reverse situation would have been deafening, just as it wasn't in this situation. I think it's a serious thing to accuse other boardies of racism.

I just can't see it playing out the same way. I can't see anyone on here accusing morbeedo of hubris to his face. And I can easily envision cracks being taken at Yogesh had he answered in French.

For the first part, that's why I said if morbeedo wasn't a boardie. I think that's the most important difference. If he wasn't a boardie and made the same response, I think he'd get the same flack. You may be right about the second part in general, but I think the particular boardies who commented on Yogesh's "bat flip" should be explicitly excluded from the accusation. It's a very serious thing to allege that people we know and respect were influenced by Yogesh's race to say something they wouldn't say about a white person. I don't believe that.

Since I'm the one who brought up the "bat flip," I'll just say that, personally, I didn't see the French thing as showing off, but rather being playful. Maybe it didn't bother me because I was already rooting for Morbeedo because he's a boardie and we've all read about his longtime efforts to get on the show. That's "why(te)" my reaction was so different.

I thought Yogesh's "I only get a few chances to [show off]" after Ken's riff accepting his response indicated a degree of having fun with it.

Now, i was a bit surprised Yogesh didn’t go all the way with “ La Liberté Éclairant le Monde.” Imagine the upshot. (Hi, Stefan we miss you)

[squarekara]

Spoiler

Amazing! I didn't even know Lego did penguins!

Never seen any of them "in the wild," but it looks like a "realistic" penguin accompanied a Wildlife Photographer Minifigure, one popped up in a Lunar New Year Ice Festival set, and they were available at some point in the Build-a-Minifigure kiosk. Closest thing in my collection is the guy in a penguin suit wearing ice skates.

[seaborgium]

(Hi, Stefan we miss you)

Hi, yes, I'm sorry! It was too easy never to get back into the swing of things when in-person stuff started happening again, and also I've felt a little less free to spend money lately. And I don't know how to strike a medium between showing up every week and not showing up at all.

[This Is Kirk!]

BBC article about British Columbia legalizing small amounts of hard drugs:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64461983

Nothing remarkable about the story, that is, nothing that warrants special attention

The meta description field that gets captured by, e.g., RSS readers? THAT'S comedy gold:

Cocaine, heroin and fentanyl will be allowed in small quantities in Vancouver and its surrounding province.

Exactly how small do they think BC is?!

Come on, it's only 35% bigger than Texas!

[opusthepenguin]

BBC article about British Columbia legalizing small amounts of hard drugs:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64461983

Nothing remarkable about the story, that is, nothing that warrants special attention

The meta description field that gets captured by, e.g., RSS readers? THAT'S comedy gold:

Cocaine, heroin and fentanyl will be allowed in small quantities in Vancouver and its surrounding province.

Exactly how small do they think BC is?!

Come on, it's only 35% bigger than Texas!

Well-observed! And Vancouver's down in one corner. So a similar turn of phrase might refer to a law that affects Houston and its surrounding state.

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

Tonight’s Wheel of Fortune had a contestant named Brett Cassidy who said that his mom is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist and that her name appeared as a clue on Jeopardy! a few years ago.

[MinnesotaMyron]

Tonight’s Wheel of Fortune had a contestant named Brett Cassidy who said that his mom is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist and that her name appeared as a clue on Jeopardy! a few years ago.

The only name from the Pulitzers list I could find in the Archive was Health & Medicine for $600 here:

https://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=5377

However, I don't think that's the right person. Cassidy's mother might have won in a different category though.

[MarkBarrett]

A clown quiz on Slate that morbeedo would like: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/202 ... opera.html

[Robert K S]

Tonight’s Wheel of Fortune had a contestant named Brett Cassidy who said that his mom is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist and that her name appeared as a clue on Jeopardy! a few years ago.

The only name from the Pulitzers list I could find in the Archive was Health & Medicine for $600 here:

https://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=5377

However, I don't think that's the right person. Cassidy's mother might have won in a different category though.

Lilly on Twitter identified J19 in show #7542: https://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game ... clue_J_1_3