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Ken Jennings Gets a New Challenge
insomniakxz writes "Producers of Jeopardy announced Tuesday a "Super Tournament," which will pit Jennings in a final match against two survivors of a competition between nearly 150 past five-time winners with a prize of $2 million. Host Alex Trebek called the tournament the "quest for Ken.""
He not only knows just about everything, but he's also remarkably good at putting together the pieces and figuring out a tough question that he didn't already know.
I remember one question "After several decades off it, works by this man seen here have returned to The New York Times bestsellers list in 2003"
He didn't recognize the picture at all, but figured it might be Tolkein given the LOTR craze (nobody else got it). That's damn quick thinking, and he answers a lot of questions that way, i.e. without knowing the answer beforehand - he works through trivia questions the way you'd work a math problem. Most jeopardy players rely solely on their memory banks, and that's how he beats them.
ken jennings was the best thing to happen to jeopardy in years. . .
:)
what a way to grab more ratings
They went with the wrong theme, clearly they should pit Ken Jennings against Sean Connery and Burt Reynolds... er.. Turd Ferguson.
"I've gotta ask you about 'the Penis Mightier'"
"No, no, no, no, no, that is 'the Pen is Mightier'"
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At least he got a break. Curious to see if he can recreate the success. So long as they keep the questions obscure enough he'll clean up. Nice to see some one get fame based on what they know.
He can click the buzzer faster than any human mind could comprehend. He wins becuase no one else gets a chance to answer
Ken is a Jeopardy producer's wet dream. I imagine weeks before he lost, Trebek, et al. were trying to figure out how to wring more rating from the lowly Mormon kid.
They might as well just write him the check and have him dress up in a monkey outfit and dance around on stage for a couple of hours.
Maybe they could rip off Ben Stein and create a pilot for "Win Ken Jenning's Money". Oh, and make it for more than $3K a show.
I'm just wondering, does anyone think another contestant has a chance?
Ken went for so many days because he's smart... after he's played for over a month of shows he has such a big advantage. Other players might have been on 10 shows at most (tournaments), but they didn't have the exposure Ken did.
Someone would have to be a lot better to beat Ken, but I haven't seen other contestants play.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
Ken Jennings was not available for comment, as he was busy sorting his money by the years in which the individual bills were printed. He then went about adding another 1000 movies to his list of favorite movies.
I know TV networks are always desperate for ratings, but isn't this going a bit far?
Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff that matters only to them
Host Alex Trebek called the tournament the "quest for Ken."
But in the year 2020, people will look back upon the event and remember it as "the day of ownage by that young Mormon dude."
I'm spasming out of control as we speak!
I'm fairly convinced the man is a cyborg with a constant uplink to google. One good way to test is to ask about french military victories, which would make Ken say "What is 'French military defeats.'" If you don't get that joke... It's not a hit on the french, just look it up.
"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes." -Mahatma Gandhi
...than "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Finally, we'll see people winning millions by answering... "answers" like "These particles are either baryonic or fermionic" rather than bullshit questions like "What is the capital of California? A) Los Angeles B) San Diego C) Sacremento D) Dollywood"
I can't understand people who are "getting sick" of Ken Jennings. Why should he automatically be limited to the standard 15 minutes? He's reportedly the new spokesman for Encarta. Tell me why he shouldn't be a bona fide celeb after what he did for all those weeks.
And now, for a sig that's a complete copout.
Getting a female to talk to him without looking at his wallet.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
Ken Jennings, software engineer, went on an unprecedented 75-show tear without losing on JEOPARDY! He won $2.5 million. He became a hero to nerds everywhere, making this /. newsworthy.
And now, for a sig that's a complete copout.
apparently game shows like "who wants to be a millionare" tests every field of knowledge of the contestant, so i don't think putting off a particular field is such a bright idea.
Your grammar is making me tear.
Use Minidisc? Join the Minidisc.org forums.
Ah, nothing quite like mocking the question and then spelling the correct answer... incorrectly.
Will the Quest for Ken be anything at all like the Quest for Fire? Will there be more dialog?
"An Album Cover"
Anal bum cover
And of course:
Alex Trebek: And finally, Sean Connery's also here let's move on to Double Jeopardy where the categories -
Sean Connery: Not so fast Trebek.
Alex Trebek: I really thought that was going to work.
Sean Connery: Well, you were wrong, you mountebank. I pose a conundrum to ya, I riddle if you will
Alex Trebek: I don't want to hear it.
Sean Connery: What's the difference between you and a mallard with a cold? One's a sick duck and I can't remember how it ends, but your mother's a whore.
Ah, but there is a Dollywood. Of course it's in Tennessee, not California.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
This is what only old people in Korea do.
This association of America has claimed responsibility for shutting down thousands of "blogs".
Ok you slimy little piece of Troll-shit, listen up. This is News, because it's on /. Right? News for Nerds, pigfucker. It's news because /. says it is, dumbass. Our little Kenny is going on to bigger things than you will ever know AND WE SHOULD SUPPORT HIM!
I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
Mod me flamebait if you like, but I am of the opinion that entertainment news is almost never "stuff that matters."
He spelt the correct answer wrong. Sacramento has two "A"s in it.
"ASIA"
(those who know the episode will get it)
Heh, for a bullshit question, you sure did blow it - it's "Sacramento" - not "Sacremento" :-)
Ah, now for the ultimate trivia - what city was the *first* capitol of California?
Or does he ever miss? I've only heard about this guy through a friend.
Video clip of one of Ken's funnier misses.
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Ken Jennings is the coolest! Not only is he really smart but he's got such a great personality. I got his back 100%
I was watching a WWTBAM episode back when that was happening. It was a celebrity show that night. I remember they asked a Fastest Finger question where they screwed up the answer. Basically it was 'put these movie titles in chronological order based on the day of the week mentioned in their title.' One of the choices was "Any Given Sunday". I don't recall the rest. When the answers were tallied that movie however was listed last in the answer (ie, they said the week started on Monday instead of Sunday). A "week" is defined in the Gregorian calendar system as "a period of seven consecutive days starting on Sunday." And of course the Gregorian calendar is used throughout most of the modern world. Opps. A small mistake on their part. I'm actually quite surprised that simple of a mistake got through their editors and research dept. I've never seen a mistake quite so simple on Jeopardy before. They probably put out a lot more effort than WWTBAM did.
Honestly, if I were put in the same shoes, I would've answered the same exact answer ;)
For the war I presume?
Direct away from face when opening.
He became a hero to nerds everywhere, making this /. newsworthy.
Sorry, but rote memorization of useless facts and pop culture doesn't make you a nerd, or even smart.
If anything, the type of person to win on jeporardy is probably seriously lacking in a number of intelligence areas.
You would probably run away with the shoes.
Easy...Monterey.
Here's the full chronology:
- September 9, 1849 - October 13, 1849: Monterey (previously the capitol of Alta California under Spain and Mexico)
- December 15, 1849 - May 1, 1851: Pueblo de San Jose
- January 5, 1852 - January 12, 1852: Vallejo
- January 16, 1852 - November 2, 1852: Sacramento
- January 3, 1853 - February 4, 1853: Vallejo
- February 11, 1853 - February 25, 1854: Benicia
- February 28, 1854 - present day: Sacramento
And for extra bonus points: The only pre-Sacramento capitol that survives is Benicia.I thought that I held the record for the biggest cache of seemingly useless information, but I tip my hat to you, sir. :P
Ken Jennings would be the man.
Host: Worst. Cliche. Ever. is this country.
Ken: Soviet Russia is what?
Free as in mason.
Sorry, but rote memorization of useless facts and pop culture doesn't make you a nerd
Ummm...actually, yeah it does. Maybe not smart, but definately a nerd. Geek. Spaz. Dweeb. Whatever you want to call a person that does shit like memorize the names of every extra that's ever been on Star Trek. I'm not insulting nerds, I'm just saying you're wrong, man.
Besides, the guy's a software engineer. Dumbasses don't last very long in that career post-1998.
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The first capital of California is "C".
rewriting history since 2109
"The quest for Ken" is a bit of a word-play. According to the online Merriam Webster dictionary, ken is "the range of perception, understanding, or knowledge."
Ha ha ha! Alex Trebek kills me!
--The Programming goddess from Gorflaz
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What is news about Ken Jennings doing on a "News for Nerds" site?!?!?
Someone should grab the rights to the broadcast and run it in prime time!
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I bet he knew it. Look at the scores - he's up by 14,000 and change, and can afford 200 bucks for a joke.
Could he have receiver under the skin, just behind each ear? Some of his head movements look like he's adjusting for reception;-) He'd only need someone in the audience with tiny camera that scans the question, uploads to the answer team, and has the response back before Alex has the 'Answer' read?
What's his percentage on the video type Answers?
Baryons are a subclass of fermion.
I think Alex Trebek has man love feelings for Ken Jennings. Am I the only one that sees this ?
"I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator"-Adolf Hitler or George W Bush?
It doesn't seem like he actually *knew* the answers, or what they were talking about, but rather had some photographic image of the answer pop in his head that he didn't even comprehend.
It was truely strange to watch someone answer these questions in a second flat, mispronounce the answer, and then go on and do the same thing for the rest of the show.
Hmmm..
Ken Jennings is from Utah...
SCO is from Utah...
There must be some sort of connection here. Conspiracy Theorists, Where are you when we need you?!!?
~*~ (Oh, and being pointed out from Utah! There's something there, I tell ya'!)
"There is a reason Linux is free"
~me~
Jennings has an enormous advantage in that every other contestant has to work their way through the tournament and Ken gets an automatic seed in the final game. They ought to throw him into the tournament with everyone else. If he won the tournament legitimately, that would really be something. Sticking him in the finals to win one game is less impressive, as really impressive stuff goes.
From what I understand, the day that the week begins depends on what country you're in. I know that in the United States the week begins on Sunday.
In a lot of European countries, a week begins on a Monday. The calendars in the United States have Sunday at the beginning, and I've seen Spanish and German calendars with Monday at the beginning.
So I don't think the definition of a week is as well-defined as you might think.
Anyone from the inside have any idea how they really pick questsions in this case? I know they *say* they just pull them from a list of predetermined categories, and that works fine in all other cases, but I'm thinking they moderate for Ken in some way, either for or against him just slightly.
Question: What is a ratings grab?
The terms 'pimp' and 'ho' are more like 'rake' and 'slut' in common usage today.
Of course, a hoe is not a ho', which is why his answer was, while funny, not valid. They are two different words, unlike rake.
It's the first thing I thought of, I must admit.
I went there last week. It's insane. My girlfriend said I was taking pix like I was on an anthropological expedition.
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No, this is a "united situation", as in: all the contestants are acutally united by the fact that they are all in the same competition.
Therefore, the original sentence is correct.
The very first meaning of end returned by dictionary.com is "Either extremity of something that has length".
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
I live in the US of A, and unlike the relatively new stereotype of an American, I know my asymptote from a hole-in-the-graph. SteveCh!snall
burt reynolds: let me get the uhh condom thing for $8000 alex trebek: thats _condiments_ for $400 lol