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The Man Who Knew Too Much
theodp writes "For thrilling competition, Slate says the Tour de France pales next to the 25-game reign of Jeopardy! supercontestant Ken Jennings. The 30-year-old software engineer has won a total of $788,960, beating the previous record-holder by a margin of over $600,000. Watching KenJen play is like witnessing any great athlete in top form: He's the Michael Jordan of trivia, the Seabiscuit of geekdom, and his antics have once again made Jeopardy! required viewing. (Update: 26 wins and $828,960: 'When Jennings ran the Marvel comics category during the second round, host Alex Trebek asked: Have you done anything besides read comics? It pays to be a nerd, Jennings responded.')"
There are more hens & chicken that humans on earth.
Oh lord, I hope they don't make a movie about this guy forty years from now and expose him as some kind of patsy in an elaborate scheme to sell more vitamin juice for old people.
I also reply below your current threshold.
If Jennings were on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, he could already have more money by now (and it wouldn't take him a month to do it).
I'm actually really impressed that this man is getting so much respect (and money!) for how much he knows. Most of it is useless trivia, but to most people, that comes across as intelligence...a man is getting respect for his intelligence, on daytime TV. Awesome.
Personally, I thought it was wonderful when Jennings announced that his good luck charm was a stuffed Totoro doll from Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro), a Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki animated film. (See nausicaa.net for more)
You may treat all information submitted above as wild speculation.
I think some fellas from England tried it once. How did they do it? I believe they got caught.
-- jaf
Not only does Ken know a lot, he's got his "signalling button fu" working. He's going to be hard to beat as a result of that alone, as we've seen. But even when he guesses, he seems to guess correctly, so there's no doubt about the breadth of his knowledge. Go Ken!
Alex secretly envies Ken Jennings, I swear.
Two freaks, no foes. It takes absolutely nothing to make some people angry.
Wait, that was "Who wants to be a millionaire"...
-- jaf
...and bow before him for he is the Alpha-Nerd!
>> Practice Safe Hex
I had only heard about him until two days ago when he won his 25th in a row, and his winnings for that day were only $14,000, which was his lowest in all 25 games.
I know that normally, game shows are filmed weeks/months in advance before they're aired. For exampls, WWTBAM's daytime edition takes something like 2-3 months between taping and airdate.
What timeframes are we looking at for the current Jeopardy episodes? These certainly aren't being taped for same-day or next-day broadcast, are they? Certainly, if Jeopardy is taped ahead of time, wouldn't it have already been leaked somewhere that there was a guy whose streak went for x episodes?
Its like watching the lakers/bulls win over and over, now I just tune in to watch him lose
If our culture is headed down the path of having high esteem for people who appear and do successfully on game shows--boy are we screwed.
Oh, wait. We already do that with reality tv people. Whoops, my bad.
This is very impressive. Maybe he has someone feeding him answers (conspiracy theory!).
Brings to mind the recent GSN (Game Show Network) airing on the Michael Larson "Press Your Luck" scandal. This guy learned their random board sequence was actually sets of predictable moves and won what was then large $. Then the network would not pay him, although IMO he did nothing wrong.
I've always wondered whether Jeopardy contestants are coached in any way. Do they receive a list of the topics before the show begins, for example? Does anyone knows exactly what goes on behind the scenes?
I've watched a few of his shows, and I have to say, he is definitely a learner. On the rare occasions that he misses a response, I've never seen him say "Oh, I knew that". Instead, he has this intense look, as if he's going to remember it for next time. If he's been doing that his whole life, then it's no wonder he has such a knowledge base.
Based on myself, and some others that read here, I suspect a lot of the Slashdot community is the same way. How else could we recall so much about Linux, servers, PC upkeep, and any number of topics that appear here on a regular basis?
I wish Ken the best of luck, and maybe we'll be able to talk to him here, at some point.
-Patrick
"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
Can you imagine what a Beowolf cluster of KenJens would be like?
People being celebrated for their intelligence and wit, and not their looks or physical attributes. Are we still in America? What happened here?
:D
Anyone remember the episode of Sliders where Quinn (sp) was on the game show of extremely high level math and science questions (while throwing a ball). The perfect world for geeks
Wow, this article is lacking something... content maybe? Someone who has seen the show maybe?
Note his systematic habit of moving down the categories vertically, one by one, rather than skipping around the board.
Everyone does this.
His nearly preternatural ability to land on the hidden Daily Doubles.
The odds are much more in your favor for hitting the DD if you answer the most questions.
Sounds like Dana Stevens watched one episode and thought she understood. 2/3rds of the article isn't even about Jeopardy! or Ken. It's really amazing these kinds of journalists can get a job.
This is the Internet. You can say "fuck" here. - AC
I may be being a little too much of a cynic here but this sounds a lot like the movie "Quiz Show" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110932/
...welcome our new trivia overlords.
Once you lick the lollipop of mediocrity, you'll suck forever!
"Tour de France pales next to the 25-game reign of Jeopardy!"
I'm sorry, but a 23 day 2235 mile, (3600 KM), race at full speed PALES?
Yesterday was the time trials, and the US Postal team finished first with an average speed of 33 MPH, 53 KPH.
That's amazing... and they'll keep doing it. With other racers such as Ullrich, Hamilton, Julich, etc, this is going to be a great year to watch the race.
Sure this fella on Jepoardy is smart, but we don't know if the show is trumping it up, now do we?
I mean... we can get one smart guy, and keep getting dumb challengers, and hey... look... wow.. he DEFINATELY looks smart, and won't loose.
Can anyone say, "ratings"... I mean, on a bad channel, and a bad time... they need something right?
At least the tour isn't fake, and everyone is at the same level, going for the same goal.
I'll take the Tour over any WB show anyday.
www.slightlycrewed.com - Because aren't we all?
And he'd give it all up for a kiss from a girl :(...
"Here's a spoiler: You're will die alone."-Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
Was it recently? For a while that kept the max pretty low (since, well, the best anyone could do was be on less than a fifth the shows Jennings has been on. Also might explain why his winnings are about five times as high).
On a related note: I liked Tony Kornheiser on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption talking about auditioning for Jeopardy where he got some pretty high marks but chose a less skilled contestant because Mr Tony wasn't "telegenic enough" (ironic since he cohosts PTI, is a guest on another weekly DC sports show and the Sports Reporters). I guess criteron might be out the window too.
What is music when you despise all sound?
as Tom McGee on Tic Tac Dough in the 80's. Air Force guy who just destroyed everybody for weeks on end.
Not necessarily.
The median difficulty question can't be too hard. Part of the fun of a game show is sitting at home knowing the answer and watching the contestant choke.
It wouldn't be any fun if the contenstants were asked to know things that only a tiny minority of people are likely to know, like the name of the actor who played "Bobba Fett" in the Star Wars movies.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
"If his winning streak continues, Jennings could become the most celebrated software engineer in America." :)
Engineers can put probes on Mars and take pictures of Jupiter, but if you want to be celebrated, you must go on TV
Underholdning.info
I dunno, the Tour de France is still freakin' incredible.
... downhill.
The fact that cyclists can ride a 40+ mile route at an average of 33+ MPH is amazing. Especially if you consider all the rain. And that I have a tough time going 30+ MPH
Go Lance!
These games arent even close... last night he had 40k at the end, the next closest was like 4 or 5k. The night before that he had over 25k, both of the other people were in the red, for nearly the entire show. It's one thing to win 25 closely contested shows, its quite another to win by the impressive margins that he does every night.
Anybody seen Quiz Show? To increase viewer numbers, champions regularly stayed on a show for 20+ weeks. How they did it? Participants got the questions in advance and it was all just a big show... And no, this isn't fiction, it really happened - in the 1950...
Should make everyone wonder whether the network has really found a great candidate or just decided to increase viewer numbers again with a similar plot...
Firstly, I don't think he's cheating. People we're speculating on it the last time he was /.'d but he's just under too much scrutiny. The elimination of the five win rule set the stage for this new form of Jeopardy and I can't see how it can change from here unless the reinstate the rule. Ken will stay on top until someone like Ken but better comes along, and it stands to reason that whoever can beat him will remain unbeatable for a long run until some equally rare triv-master knocks them out. I noticed that last night when he referred to himself as a 'nerd' Trebek quickly insisted he was anything but; He used to seem more antagonistic to him. It's like Alex has Stockholm syndrome now that his show has been taken hostage by Ken. I wonder if the people who select the questions will deliberately start stacking the questions to exploit his weakspots or maybe they won't given the ratings boost he's bringing them.
Anyway, here's to Ken!
For the love of everything sacred, bring back the 5-day limit!
Jeopardy is syndicated by King World. The fact that it is on your WB station is an indication that the other stations in your area did not pay for it (or bid high enough to get it). Look for the King World logo at the end of the show.
Gods don't kill people, people with gods kill people.
Imagine my surprise (and luck) when I saw this same movie on slickdeals this morning.
My Neighbor Totoro DVD is on sale for $4 !
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."--Benjamin Franklin
I'll take vulnerabilities in Windows 98 for 1000, please Alex.
The Slashdot Paradox: "100% Overrated"
you guys do realize that Jeopardy gives the answers to all the players to memorize, right?
Don't Tread on OpenSource
The producers find him to be aliability rather than someone who draws viewers... kinda boring if you know who is going to win... Every month I watch Formula 1 and know Shewie is going to win the race... boring for most...
I can just see the episode where they decide to get rid of him.
Tonight on Jepordy, our topics are, Gregorian chants, obscure bible quotes, saints you never heard of, books on the shelf in the Vatican, name that martyr and bubblegum. Challenging our 50th show winner is Cardinal Pompus Knowitall and the Pope... good luck contestants.
flinging poop since 1969
Don't bother with the Fox DVD. Either wait for the Disney version (which will actually have a japanese language track), or order the region 2 disc from CD Japan and play it on your favourite region-free player.
Some time next year Disney will release a new and uncut version with subtitles and a new dub.
________
Entranced by anime since late summer 2001 and loving it ^_^
Who modded the Insightful? Should have been -1, Mean-Spirited.
This article isn't a Learning Channel documentary on Jeopardy, sglane. She also didn't explain that Trebek is Canadian or whatever; I know, I know, serious oversight. Come on - she's using a (very small) bit of poetic license to illustrate her point about KenJen's slightly neurotic but lovable habits.
Also note that this piece isn't 'journalism' properly so-called; if anything newspaperly it's editorialization or light-hearted commentary.
Apparently the light-hearted part was lost on you.
http://boards.sonypictures.com/boards/forumdisplay .php?s=50aa46369dcf5a3280b1ed37548dfe79&forumid=34
These are the actual message boards for Jeopardy and Ken Jennings posts there frequently on such topics. They also have running tallies of his scores and precantages. Kinda cool information if you like that kind of stuff. Also I have watched most of Ken's game and this guy is amazing with the amount of trivia he knows.
Actually I am getting sort of tired of watching Ken. I used to watch Jeopardy every evening, but have tunned out lately. He has gotten the signaling button down. Most of the lower value questions are general knowledge and its a matter of who ever signals in first. If you can control the board you can choose the categories and can pic the ones you know more about, also you have a greater chance of getting a daily double. This give an adavantage to those who have been on for a few shows and has gotten used to the timing of the signaling button, regardless of knowledge.
I say bring back the five show rule and get some competition back in the game.
The thing is, the Jeopardy writers toss plenty of clues into their "answers", and generally reward players that have Intro level knowledge of a wide variety of subjects.
Impossibly hard trivia -
STAR WARS
"This person played Boba Fett in the original SW films."
"Who is Jeremy Bulloch?"
Typical Jeopardy question -
STAR WARS
"Jeremy Bulloch played the role of this deadly intergalactic bounty hunter."
"Who is Boba Fett?"
It's also worth nothing that Disney has acquired the Totoro DVD rights and will be putting out their own version, probably sometime in 2005. It'll be widescreen, anamorphic, bilingual and will undoubtedly sport a new dub.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Trebek sells life insurance.
I'm not sure if another has commented on this (I'm not going to go through all comments to find it), but he heads a team that develops questions for a high school aged quiz bowl. That's where a lot of his useless knowledge comes from.
Tithing, baby, tithing!
That no one in the audience is coughing.
Because a Major won a million pounds with help from his cpughing friends.
Wanted : A Signature.
New slashdot poll maybe?
Once the producers decide that the never losing fad gets old:
-They enter Trebek as both host and contestant.
-Jeopardy goes the way of reality television and the other contestants vote him off the show.
-Knowing that women are Kryptonite to nerds, they make an entire show with non-pornographic female-related questions.
The correct spelling is 'Boba Fett', not 'Bobba Fett'.
user@host$ diff
I think the obvious answer is the simplest one:
He is a cybernetic mutant from the future that was programmed to have all of the answers to a series of game show questions so that he could be sent back in time, win the prize money, and then use said money to fund his killing spree which eventually allows the robots to rise up and take over the earth while only a handful of humans remain plotting to overthrow the robot regime and one day reign supreme again.
And hookers. He is going to blow a ton of that cash on whores.
I know I would.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
Slate says the Tour de France pales
That's Tour de Freedom if you please.
For the non-US readership: three contestants with a ring-in button. 'Hook' for the show is that you get an 'answer' and have to respond in the form of a question ("The US President who wrote the Declaration of Independence"; "Who is Thomas Jefferson?")
Three rounds: first two consist of six categories of five questions each (game 'board' is six columns of five monitors each). Cash value of questions in first round runs $200-1000. in $200 increments, second round ('Double Jeopardy') runs $400-2000 in $400 jumps. You lose the value of the question on wrong answers, so you can potentially run negative. There are random 'Daily Double' squares (one in first round, two in second), where you can wager some/all of your winnings on getting that item correct, allowing for big shifts in position during the game. Third round ('Final Jeopardy') the players wager some/all of their winnings on a single question/answer; high total wins for the day.
Former rule was five days and you're out (but eligible for the year-end 'Tournament of Champions'); this has been dropped this year allowing for the current streak of said Ken J.
Just what the rumor around here is, and I was wondering if it's true. It certainly explains his breadth of knowledge (and slight lack of newer pop culture questions).
If you take the first letters of the first five categories he picked, you get "IDDQD".
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
They'll just ask him to sign a contract to replace Alex? It's insane enough that it sounds like the ingenious workings of a producer.
When I watch Jeopardy!, I childishly yell out "Triple Stumper!" whenever I know the correct response and all three of the contestants either get it wrong or don't respond, and I'll sometimes do a little dance.
And if that happens during Final Jeopardy, I yell out "Final Jeopardy Triple Stumper!" and I'll break into an extended, elaborate dance, not unlike a wide receiver dancing in the endzone after a touchdown. I get maybe one of those every three months. The evening when I performed that dance while watching Jeopardy! with my girlfriend and her parents is particularly memorable.
Then there was a friend of mine who got a "Ultimate Mega Final Jeopardy Triple Stumper," where he correctly guessed the response before the clue was even given, knowing only the category, and all three contestants got it wrong. As I recall, his head exploded. That was quite a day.
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
I think it's impossible for my Slashdot-oriented brain to process "software" and "Utah" and "domination" all in the same sentence, and have it end up positive. I'm suing SCO, those bloody bastids!!!
Honestly, I have to say Ken is pretty unbelievable--he has an incredible breadth of knowledge. Seriously, some folks were saying he is just a good button presser. This is BS--even if does press the button with uncommon expertise (how hard can it be???), he damn near well knows something about everything from opera to history to literature to science to whatever! I don't usually watch Jeopardy, my wife does, but lately I've been watching every night just to follow Ken's progress. Gotta say that it has me hooked...
codguy
It's too bad most of the original skit members of SNL's Jeopardy have left. This would be a great time to start the skits back up.
:)
For once, maybe someone will actually have a positive score
I think it may be difficult for many Americans to appreciate what a feat Lance Armstrong has been able to accomplish by winning these past few Tours. I happenly vacationed in Paris last summer around the time the Tour was going on, and let me say that was one insane tour Armstrong had to go through. I'd never seen cycling before then, but I'm now forever hooked. On the first day there was a massive crash among the huge swarm of cyclists in their final dash to the finishing line. Armstrong had also crashed. On the ground with his bike broken, one of his teammates stopped beside him and handed him his own bike so that Armstrong could finish the race. Amazing.
Another time the tires of a cyclist in front of him exploded and that cyclist went skidding across the pavement. I don't remember how fast they were going (maybe 40-50mph), but Armstrong just barely misses running the guy over but had to swerve off track onto the grass before finally getting back on the road and continuing on. And there was one day when due to perhaps his own mistake, he ran out of water. By the time he finished that day he was completely dehydrated and had lost 1/3 of his body mass. Crazy.
And finally the tour had a thriller of an ending. I think the day before the Tour ended Armstrong was still neck and neck with this closest competitor. Racing through a timed trial in the rain, Armstrong finished a bit slow if I remember correctly, but the other guy ended crashing on the wet road, losing too much time and hence guaranteed Armstrong's victory. A toss-up to the very end. Amazing.
And so while Ken Jennings is certainly impressive with his winnings so far, I'd be hard press to say that the Tour pales in comparison.
Little Bricklets
I occasionally go overseas to visit extended family.. i get tapped by friends of the family to look at computers, these folks have win 3.1 (and even one with win 3.0) and win 95 machines
I typed a 80% complete autoexec.bat from scratch, just by letting my fingers go.. I was trying on the way over to the house, (knew what I was going to be doing) to remember all the lines, and couldn't.
with dos edit open, and a lable at the top that read 'autoexec.bat' it just kinda oozed outta my fingers non-stop....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
If you're going to reliably answer a question about who happened to be president in a given year, then you pretty much have to know the entire chronology of the presidency
Just like if you had a towel then you pretty much have to be in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc.
I say all of this with a smile on my face...
:)
First of all, Lance makes more money than that for just _showing up_ at the race, and winning 5 and possibly now 6 of them in a row is completely unprecedented, and certainly a much more impressive feat than answering a bunch of questions about information nobody cares about (the definition of trivia - it does not matter). There is MUCH more strategy involved, much more brainpower, in winning a TdF. You not only have to be stronger, but smarter, than all of your competition - and there are 191 of them in 21 opposing teams at the start, not just two who are not even working together against you.
I, for one, would take the TdF over Jeopardy any day... it's much more exciting and certainly more newsworthy.... IMHO
...they doubled the value of the questions when they kicked the 5-day limit.
I have not decided if Alex loves or hates 'em but he definitely is envious!
The Nerds shall inherit the earth.... or what's left of it!
This was my big night. Wheel of Fortune came on.
... and then my head aslpode ...
Clue: Book and Author
"##,### _______ _____ ___ ___ __ _____ _____"
They hadn't even turned over the "special characters" before I knew 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne.
And now I sit here beign asked by the lameness filter to use fewer Junk Characters. *Sigh* sometimes those junk characters are NEEDED, man!
I thought of Jeopardy as the ne plus ultra of quiz shows.
That is, until I saw Mastermind.
Mastermind is in a league of its own. The ominous music, the rapid fire questions, the solitary chair and the spotlight on the contestant... now THAT'S a quiz show.
Jeopardy used to have a 5 day maximum for appearances and a few years ago they doubled the dollar amounts on the categories. Who knows what some past 5-day champions could have done?
"Former rule was five days and you're out (but eligible for the year-end 'Tournament of Champions'); this has been dropped this year allowing for the current streak of said Ken J."
That makes his streak less impressive. J has been on for decades, right? So he's only just proving that many people could have done the same thing (as many have gone 5 days before.)
Obviously he is not playing very efficiently as he has been winning only about
#!/usr/bin/perl
# jeopardy.pl
# optimal daily double location is the 6th $400
$singleJeopardy = ((1000*6)+(800*6)+(600*6)+(400*6)+(200*5))*2;
pr
# doubleJeopardy doubles answer values
# doubleJeopardy has 2 daily doubles
#
#
$doubleJeopardy = ($singleJeopardy - 400)*2;
print "Max Double Jeopardy round = $doubleJeopardy\n";
$finalJeopardy = ($singleJeopardy + $doubleJeopardy) * 2;
print "Max Final Jeopardy! Winnings: $finalJeopardy\n";
$totalJeopardy = $finalJeopardy * 26;
print "26 days
# Results of "perl jeopardy.pl":
# Max Single Jeopardy round = 35600
# Max Double Jeopardy round = 70400
# Max Final Jeopardy! Winnings: 212000
# 26 days
It also shows why Super Millionaire is the place to play if you have that many trivial bits up top
I mean
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
[spoiler]
Ken wins until July 23rd, the last episode of this season. When the next season airs, he wins the first 10 shows, amassing somewhere in the tune of $1.5 million.
This season stopped taping in February and he can't legally comment on anything related to the show until his reign is over.
[/spoiler]
That said, I don't think this guy is all that special. Who knows how many prior 5 day champs could have done what Ken has.
And don't ask me how I know. Let's just say a little birdie told me.
OH thats nothing! Sean Connery has been on far more episodes then this guy.
Buck futter
-------
Support Indy Music. Buy
Especially considering these are taped weeks in advance. I know the contestants are sworn to secrecy, but how do they make sure no one in the audience squeals? I mean--presuming he's lost by now--surely someone at the taping must have seen it. That's an awful lot of mouths to keep quiet.
If such a thing does exist, this guy sounds like a canidiate for it :)
I have never ever heard of anybody proving the existence of the so-called 'Photographic Memory' ability, mind you. And common theory is that it doesn't exist outside of childhood eidetic memory.
Then again, the idea still persists and many people are under the belief that it IS a proven and reliable ability.
I wonder how much his hotel stay has cost him? I also wonder if they have thought about renaming the show, Kenpardy?
I, for one, welcome our Jeopardy overlord!
ungggghhhh
Granted, this is judging by his own words. But I seriously think Lance is a masochist at heart. From the interviews I've read, he lives for the pain and suffering of the Tour. Kinda makes you wonder about the other 200 odd competitors.
I'm sure there is doping going on in the bicycling world. But the big competitors like Lance and Ulrich are probably clean, if nothing else because they're in the spotlight so much. This isn't a case like Sammy Sosa's bat which broke apart for everyone to see the insides, this is closer to the allegations against Barry Bonds, where all the evidence is anecdotal and quite circumstantial at best. I still adhere to the whole "innocent until proven guilty" line. Until you show solid proof that something is wrong, I'm not going to go around smearing people. But unfortunately, in this world sometimes being successful is enough to get your name reviled, from jealously or whatever.
I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet (apparantly). Ken Jennings has a webpage! I'm sorry to report to the /. crowd that it was designed in MS Word. But it seems to be more of a personal checklist (and a window into how he got so much "useless" knowledge) than a page he intended for other people to see.
What is "Welcome to Loserville. Population one: you."
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
I think it's impossible for my Slashdot-oriented brain to process "software" and "Utah" and "domination" all in the same sentence, and have it end up positive.
Positive or Negative: Novell NetWare, version 2.x, circa 1988, almost 100% market share
Positive or Negative: Novell SuSE Linux/Ximian "dotGNU", version 10.x, circa 2008, almost 100% market share
I'll take "Swords" for $1000, Trebeck!
It's like he knows one of the guys who makes up the trivia. It's really incredible.
OK, this is probably just paranoid thoughts going through my head, but give me a chance.
Think about this. The Jeopardy people approach some guy. Say, hey we can fix you up with the answers for the questions and you will be the all time Jeopardy champ of champs. You will win about $1 mil on the show, and loose to somebody. We will give you $250,000 upfront and $250,000 when its over.
So, the ratings go through the roof for Jeopardy (more $$$). The Jeopardy people are actually paying out 1/2 of their prize money, and the nerdy guy comes out with a cool 1/2 mil, and people enjoy seeing him win and talking about it.
Sounds like a win-win situation for everybody.
Are there any ethics to game shows? I mean most everything else is fiction on TV, do game shows have to be real?
mhollis (the parent) is implying that usually you will find Jeopardy! on an ABC affiliate's station at about 7PM, and that in most other markets it is not typical WB fare.
The only other network I am aware of that runs Jeopardy! is the Game Show Network, and even then they don't run the current season.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
I suppose so, but usually somebody shows up who's a greater trivia master; the actual number of five-timers per season was relatively small (such that some four-timers would end up in the tournament to fill out the roster, based on $$ won), so the fact this guy has outgunned so many others is actually fairly impressive.
He has what would normally be consider a genetic defect in that he does not produce as much of that chemical (I forget what it's called, some kind of acid) that makes muscles feel tired/cramped after long periods of usage. It's supposed to keep a person from hurting themselves. But Lance has trainers and a medical staff behind him, looking after his fitness, so it's probably a better thing that he doesn't have that limitation.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
I am pretty sure that is illegal, based upon my extensive knowledge of the movie Quizshow.
Ken is doing a good job. He has techniques like answering with the fewest details and always phrases his answers as a question.
However, the only reason he has won 25 days in a row is because they changed the rules of the game.
I forget his last name, but supercontestant Chuck from the 80's would clean KenJen's clock. Chuck gave very complete answers, including one reference in Hebrew that the judges missed the first time and gave him points after researching the answer.
Anyone remember Chuck's last name? He didn't win the overall on one of the Champion match-ups, but he was a very impressive contestant.
I don't think Jeopardy is actually filmed daily is it? I think I remember reading somewhere that they film a weeks worth of shows in one day. That is actually more impressive in my opinion. Not only is he kicking ass, he is maintaining that level of concentration through what must be one fairly long day.
Here in Atlanta, the local NBC affiliate bumped Jeopardy down from 7:00 into an afternoon time slot in favor of another local news program (in case folks missed the one at 6:00 due to our prolonged exposure to extremely heavy traffic). My guess is that Junior's folks are just playing to the percentages - looking to "borrow eyeballs" from greatest number of post-local news viewers.
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
Sorry to be pedantic, but Jefferson wasn't a president when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Poorly-worded answer/question pairs like this (as well as the (in)famous DVD answer/question) are why I rarely watch Jeopardy (even though I have glanced at it from time to time to see if Ken Jennings is still on).
Assuming that he doesn't just quit first....
The guy is so good, you know that he'll never do anything stupid enough to lose. There have likely been many like him on this show, but they never had this chance (the limit on 5 wins cut them off).
It will take another super-duper geek to beat him. Is this the future of Jeopardy? "Unbeatable" champions that just win for months at a time? Personally, that'll get boring quick. Having a heroic run once in a while is thrilling: having it happen all the time is just dull. Michael Schumacher's dominance has similarly turned me off of F1 racing.
Methinks another rule change may be in the making for next season: a cap on earnings. Maybe $1,000,000 is the right amount.
BTW, I'm REALLY looking forward to a "Tournament of Champions" where he can square off against some of the others that got cut off at 5 wins. I think he'd do well (likely very well), but he'd certainly not be a lock to beat some of the others we've seen on this show in the past.
Look at the tomato! Isn't it sad? He can't dance! Poor tomato!
Juice by you.
I'm sure he is a gamer. How would explain is god-like timing for the answer button.
Here's aanother thing worth knowing
you could be standing at the North Pole or stranded at the North Pole, but you' can't be standed at the North Pole.
+1 Funny, +1 Grammar Nazi
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
http://www.rotten.com/library/conspiracy/press-you r-luck/
There is also a lot of other good reading in the rotten library.
Seriously though.. What's he going to do with all that money if he can't drink or gamble?
And so close to Vegas, too...
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
You're absolutely right. Ken Jennings has been active on the quiz bowl circuit for quite some time, where questions as easy as those on Jeopardy! would be laughed out of the room in certain tournaments. He is a member of National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC where they have an announcement about him on their front page.
For the non-US readership:
The US President who wrote the Declaration of Independence;
Who is Thomas Jefferson?
For the non-Estonian readership:
The founding head of the Estonian Ministry of Finance who wrote the declaration of independence "Manifesto to All the Peoples of Estonia";
Who is Juhan Kukk?
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
>This is the only major race he participates in each year, unlike his competitors
Wrong. Hamilton, Ullrich, and the other GC (overall time, as opposed to sprinting or climbing) contenders concentrate on the Tour.
>He spends all year training specifically for this event, unlike his competitors
Wrong. See above. All the contenders train for the TdF, and plan their spring racing seasons so they will peak in mid-July during the key climbing and time trial stages.
>His teammates do what they can to help him win at the expense of their own times (I know this happens throughout cycling, but it's true nonetheless)
Why is this a problem? Cycling is a team sport. Each team has a leader, and the other riders are hired to help that rider win. Teams without a strong GC rider will often focus on setting up a sprinter (Fassa Bartolo's Petacchi, for instance) for stage wins.
Cycling is one of the best geek sports (along with rock climbing, IMHO). Not only do you have a high-tech piece of gear (your bike) but the science of bike riding and the tactics required to win are fascinating.
"I feel like 'Cactus Gavvy' Cravath. Do you know who that is? Right. Nobody does. He's the guy who had the home run record before Babe Ruth came along." Tom Walsh, of Washington, D.C., who held the record for "Jeopardy" winnings until Ken Jennings of Salt Lake City broke it recently
- Newsweek 7/12/04 issue
What a wonderful set up for a goatse troll.
Never confuse volume with power.
I think you are correct also based on my extensive knowledge of Quizshow, but I'm curious why there was a congressional investigation into a television game show? It's good TV, why does it matter (legally or not) if it's fixed? Sure Pro Wrestling isn't the Olympics (not that they aren't just as corrupt) but it remains a fairly popular entertainment medium? Why was/is it so important?
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
An "allele" is like the flavor of the gene, one particular sequence along the length of the chromosome containing the gene. Some genes have hundreds of alleles whereas others have very few or even a single sequence in the population. For example, the hundreds of "histocompatibility" alleles make it very hard to match transplant organ donors and recipients (HLA-B has >300 alleles). In contrast, the proteins that help compact DNA, histones, are highly conserved and differ only very slightly between even humans and peas (a fact that I still find amazing).
Briefly, the Millionaire" answer sounds correct!
to err is human, to forgive is divine, to forget is... umm...
Why was/is it so important?
People know WWE is fake but they watch it anyway. If people knew that Jeopardy was rigged, they'd watch it less, IMO. So it's important for the networks for people to believe that it's real.
I don't know that there are any legal/congressional issues they'd be violating if it wasn't, however. Do game shows make any explicit promise that the outcome isn't scripted?
You want a sig? I can get you a sig... Hell, I can get you a sig by 3 o'clock this afternoon... with nail polish.
Yeah, you know ... cult ... like all those people in the bible:
Gen. 14: 20 (Heb. 7: 2) gave him tithes of all.
Gen. 28: 22 I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
Lev. 27: 30 tithe of the land . . . is holy unto the Lord.
Num. 18: 26 for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe.
Deut. 12: 6 your tithes, and heave offerings.
Deut. 14: 22 (Deut. 26: 12) tithe all the increase of thy seed.
2 Chr. 31: 5 tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.
Neh. 10: 38 Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes.
Neh. 12: 44 for the treasures, to gather.
Neh. 13: 12 brought all Judah the tithe of the corn.
Mal. 3: 8 Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Matt. 23: 23 tithe of mint and anise and cummin.
Luke 18: 12 I give tithes of all that I possess.
Excellent point because I'm only 16 and I am able to answer a good majority of the questions without any sort of trouble. I've been watching Ken since he first appeared on the show and I have to say that his knowledge base is immense. Most contestants know maybe one or two categories really well, but Ken knows almost every category and can usually get at least one in every category. That being said, I think a lot of his knowledge comes from watching previous Jeopardy! shows. He himself has said that he watched as many as three shows a day to prepare. This is an excellent strategy because it is really easy to remember things you see on TV. Commercials anyone?
Sexual intercourse is kicking death in the ass while singing. ~Charles Bukowski
And who monitors them? Seriously, these days with all sorts of corruption coming to light in business and government, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that some of these "Standards and Practices guys" have ties to the network execs or show owners.
Perhaps this is a test run, to see what the audience will eat up... a quick search on google turned up nothing on these "standards" guys.
Does the Disney version have an English language soundtrack? I watched Totoro the way it was meant to be watched - with my child - when she was too young to be able to read subtitles quickly enough and not dorky enough to have to pretend to be an anime purist.
-aiabx
Just this guy, you know?
Also, if you have less than the largest amount on the game board ($1000 in round 1, $2000 in Double), and you hit a Daily Double, you can wager up to that largest amount. Now, I'm not sure on this one myself, but can't you wager $2000 in Final Jeopardy if you have less than that?
However, you MUST have at least $1 to go into Final Jeopardy (you'd have to wager the right amounts in Daily Doubles to have a number between $0 and $200, though).
You also didn't mention that the former cash value of questions in round 1 were $100-500 in $100 increments, and Double Jeopardy was $200-1000 in $200 increments. That changed when the 5 day limit was removed, IIRC.
clickable link
They have some interesting stats on Jennings at tvgameshows.net. Apparently he's number 4 among all winners on syndicated game shows in terms of money earned (after the Million Dollar Tournament Of Champs Jeopardy winner and two syndicated Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Winners) and number 3 in all time number of game show appearances.
The site also keeps track of his average winning and the number of wins he needs to hit various milestones.
No, no, no!
If he had taken both, he'd have no more heartburn!
ND
This statement is forty-five characters long.
Super Millionaire is the place to play if you have that many trivial bits up top ... $10,000,000 in 30 minutes versus less than $1,000,000 in a month of playing
Super Millionaire isn't exactly shown in real time. While each episode may be only 30 minutes (22 with commercials), the actual taping takes much much longer. Some contestants have taken more than 20 minutes to answer a single question. Of course, without that annoying pause before revealing the correct answer, I'm sure they could take each episode down to an even 10 minutes.
I'm not sure about Jeopardy, but many gameshows tape a week of episodes in a single day. It's much cheaper to tape for three or four hours straight (which is then edited down to five 22-minute episodes; make sure you change your clothes for each episode, people) than it is to set up and tear down the studio five times.
It's one of the reasons they rarely talk about current events during the banter segments; while taping Friday's episode on Monday afternoon, you have no idea what happened "yesterday". It's also a lot cheaper if you don't have to provide a week of accomodations for the contestants.
So basically, yeah, Millionaire does offer a better payout for the time invested, but they're not as different as they may seem in tv time.
Or he may have just gone home between tapings. If they aren't taping anything new until August, it would be an awfully long to hang out in Culver City. Oh wait, I hang out around the corner from Culver City everyday. I got to see him tape one show (my bosses wife was on), I keep on meaning to go back and watch another taping to see if he is still on. I guess I'll wait until August to find out.
I say we stick this guy on a bicycle and have him race Lance up a hill. Yeah. Good times!
For all that people would probably joke about making a donation to a church for "services rendered" by God if they won a game show or lottery or so on, I wonder how many people would actually do so. *wry grin* Human nature being what it is, they'd probably notice that that's 80,000 greenbacks they'd be giving and make up a loophole in their mind as to why they wouldn't have to donate. (Well, game shows really aren't my job so it wouldn't be wages... Besides which, God obviously wants me to keep the money.) OTOH, it could come in handy come tax time.
Personally, I tithe 10% of my paycheck, but I've yet to have a windfall like this. *shrug* I hope that I do as well as him at handling it.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
I'll take "You fail it!" for $500 Alex!
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Bite Me Fanboy!!
I am not a big fan of the show but I watched a couple of the episodes due to the hoopla. I tried to answer the questions as they came along, and I figured that IF I 'outbuzzed' him I would have come pretty damn close to beating him. I don't think the questions are that obscure, I think lots of folks in this forum could beat him knowledge wise - I think it is his buzzer speed that gives him the edge.
Does anyone remember that old British show where they asked insanely difficult questions and these geniuses had to answer? Now that was tough, I remember watching few episodes - it made Jeopardy look like grade school
However, I'm surprised there was no mention in the blurb that until very recently (2003?) they used to limit winners to 5-game winning streaks. My uncle won 5 times in a row in '86, was the first tournament of champions winner, and that ended his reign. Again, this guy rocks, but it's not necessarily because he's the best ever.
Linkage:
Le Tour
BBC's Le Tour page
The Guardian's page has excellant recaps
Sports Illustrated's page
ESPN
OLN has the DAILY TV SCHEDULE
8:30-9am ET LIVE Pre-Race Show
9-11am ET LIVE Coverage
12pm-2pm ET Re-Air of Live Coverage
2:30-4:30pm ET Re-Air of Live Coverage
5-7pm ET The Roadside Tour
7:30-8pm ET Eastern Prime Time Pre-Race Show
8-8:30pm PT Pacific Prime Time Pre-race Show
8-10:30pm ET Eastern Prime Time Expanded Coverage
8:30-11pm PT Pacific Prime Time Expanded Coverage
Any other link recommendations?
Billy
bamph
Jeopardy! is syndicated. It airs at different times in different markets. (3 p.m. in Dallas/Fort Worth)
Personally, I think Tour De France is more exciting AND challenging than answering questions on jeopardy...
Because my definition of competition is: pushing both the physical as well as mental conditioning of an individual. Obviously, you have to be in top physical shape to race in the Tour De France - not so in the case of Jeopardy.
Bharath
"Wow! Check out the conniving on her!"
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I was in the audience at the taping college Jeopardy last year at OSU. In between shows, Trebek would walk around answering questions from the audience.
One frat boy in the back yelled out "Do sean connery!"
I thought Trebek would pull out some standard boring answer about parodies or something. Instead, he looked at the guy and said loud and clear in an excellent accent:
"Suck it, Trebek. Suck it long and suck it hard."
He seemed a bit of a goof on TV, but damn is he funny off screen.
The disney version isn't out yet.
I'm assuming you mean the japanese version -- I'm pretty sure they threw the same English language dub that was on the Fox version onto it.
I'll check when I get home.
Please tell me, if I, as a computer software architect, have lots of fluid intelligence as well as crystallised intelligence, then how on Earth most of my projects end as a bloody vapourware?!
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
Not to mention it's taken nearly a season to get a guy that can win this much. Out of all the people that came before him this, the closest anyone got was 7 games. He's not just another 5-day winner to say the least.
Like for real,I have 2 questions, how did you do prize-wise, and, more importantly, is Vanna hot in person? Had to be a cool fun experience no matter what.
FWIW, I once had a string where I played along at home with jeopardy for roughly six weeks, nailed a pseudo win all but two nights. Of course I know that wouldn't translate to a similar deal live on stage, not for me anyway, I'd get flustered and get an attack of the nervous dumbs.... like Cliffy on Cheers did.
Anyone else here ever play along for a long time and keep track of it?