I Want My Jeopardy!

National Airlines

2009-07-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

When you see an airline called Air India or Air Canada or Alitalia, it's obvious where those airlines come from. It's the ones with not-so-related names that we need to be concerned about.

Part 1: A sampling of airlines that don't have their associated country in their name. Some of the names with initials may very well stand for (or at least hint at) what country they're from, but it's not overtly apparent.

Qantas: Australia
Gulf Air: Bahrain
Maya Island Air: Belize
AeroSur: Bolivia
TAM Airlines: Brazil
LAN Airlines: Chile
Avianca: Colombia
Lacsa: Costa Rica
TAME: Ecuador
TACA: El Salvador
Lufthansa: Germany
Olympic Airlines: Greece
Cathay Pacific: Hong Kong
Malev: Hungary
Aer Lingus: Ireland
El Al: Israel
KLM: Netherlands
Copa Airlines: Panama
TAROM: Romania
Aeroflot: Russia
Iberia: Spain
Etihad Airways: United Arab Emirates

Part 2: Country of the day = Bangladesh. Capital city = Dhaka.

Part 3: Word of the day = compunction noun a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret or doing wrong or causing pain

Clinton's Cabinet

2009-07-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

As a follow up to the previous post, here's a list of Clinton's cabinet. There are multiple names in most departments 'cause of the changing of the guard through the course of the administration. Note that in my historical trek backwards through presidential cabinets that I'm conveniently skipping over George Bush the younger. 'Cause frankly, I don't care who was in his cabinet.

Part 1: Clinton's cabinet. There wasn't a Homeland Security secretary back then (pre-9/11).

Vice President: Al Gore, Jr.
State: Warren M. Christopher, Madeleine Albright
Treasury: Lloyd Bentsen, Robert E. Rubin, Lawrence H. Summers
Defense: Les Aspin, William J. Perry, William S. Cohen
Justice: Attorney General Janet Reno
interior: Bruce Babbitt
Agriculture: Mike Espy, Dan Glickman
Commerce: Ronald H. Brown, Mickey Kantor, William M. Daley, Norman Y. Mineta
Labor: Robert B. Reich, Alexis Herman
Health and Human Services: Donna E. Shalala
Housing and Urban Development: Henry G. Cisneros, Andrew M. Cuomo
Transportation: Federico F. Pena, Rodney Slater
Energy: Hazel R. O'Leary, Federico F. Pena, Bill Richardson
Education: Richard W. Riley
Veterans Affairs: Jesse Brown, Togo D. West, Jr.

Part 2: Country of the day = Bahrain. Capital city = Manama.

Part 3: Word of the day = alimentary adjective concerned with the function of nutrition

Obama's Cabinet

2009-06-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

One topic I know I'm weak on is guys' and gals' names who serve politically, whether it be governors, mayors, congressfolks, or cabinet members. This is not just a problem with those currently in office, but it's most definitely a problem historically. So I might as well start in the here and now.

Part 1: Obama's cabinet, listed in order of succession. Note that between the VP and the Secretary of State, succession includes the Speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi) and the President pro tempore of the Senate (Robert Byrd), but those two are not included in this list 'cause they're not cabinet members.

Vice President: Joseph R. Biden
State: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Treasury: Timothy F. Geithner
Defense: Robert M. Gates
Justice: Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Interior: Kenneth L. Salazar
Agriculture: Thomas J. Vilsack
Commerce: Gary F. Locke
Labor: Hilda L. Solis
Health and Human Services: Kathleen Sebelius
Housing and Urban Development: Shaun L.S. Donovan
Transportation: Raymond L. LaHood
Energy: Steven Chu
Education: Arne Duncan
Veterans Affairs: Eric K. Shinseki
Homeland Security: Janet A. Napolitano

Part 2: Country of the day = the Bahamas. Capital city = Nassau.

Part 3: Word of the day = fastidious adjective excessively particular, critical, or demanding

The 1987-1988 Los Angeles Lakers

2009-06-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Part 1: Here are the Lakers from 21 years ago: the season that Pat Riley guaranteed would be an NBA championship winning season. Listed in order of position: guards first, then forwards, then the tall guys.

Byron Scott
Jeff Lamp
Magic Johnson
Milt Wagner
Wes Matthews
Michael Cooper
A.C. Green
Billy Thompson
James Worthy
Kurt Rambis
Ray Tolbert
Tony Campbell
Mychal Thompson
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Mike Smrek

Part 2: Country of the day = Azerbaijan. Capital city = Baku.

Part 3: Word of the day = elocution noun a person's manner of speaking or reading aloud in public

The Impressionists

2009-06-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Rouen is one of my favorite French cities. Monet's series of Rouen Cathedral paintings are some of my favorite impressionist works. The standard guess when anything comes up about impressionists and I have no idea is, Who is Monet?

Part 1: Some of The Impressionists and a well known work by each:

Gustave Caillebotte (Paris Street, Rainy Day)
Mary Cassatt (The Boating Party)
Paul Cezanne (The Cardplayers)
Edgar Degas (anything with ballet dancers)
Edouard Manet (Execution of Emperor Maximillian of Mexico)
Claude Monet (the Rouen Cathedral series, of course! - or anything with lilies)
Camille Pissarro (The garden of Pontoise)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Luncheon of the Boating Party)
Alfred Sisley (Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne)

Part 2: Country of the day = Austria. Capital city = Vienna.

Part 3: Word of the day = ululate verb howl, wail

The Tempest

2009-06-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

I think I read The Tempest in the mid-90's and I don't remember anything about it. The good thing about Jeopardy is that all you really need to know about any work of literature is an extremely brief summary and a few of the major characters.

Part 1: The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. A king sailing home gets in a big storm. They're on an island with a magician. Shenanigans ensue. Every is okay in the end.

Characters:
Prospero
Miranda
Ariel
Caliban
Alonso
Ferdinand
Sebastian
Antonio
Gonzalo
Stephano
Trinculo
spirits
sailors

Part 2: Country of the Day = Australia. Capital city = Canberra.

Part 3: Word of the day = mellifluous adj. having a smooth rich flow

Hemingway

2009-06-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

Jeopardy! last night had a final question about a posthumous Hemingway book. All three contestants got it wrong.

Part 1: Hemingway novels
The Torrents of Spring
The Sun Also Rises
A Farewell to Arms
To Have and Have Not
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Across the River and Into the Trees
The Old Man and the Sea
Adventures of a Young Man
Islands in the Stream
The Garden of Eden

Part 2: Country of the day = Armenia. Capital city = Yerevan.

Part 3: Obama used this word multiple times today. Word of the day = misapprehension noun mistake, misunderstanding

1939 Academy Awards

2009-06-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Part 1: Major winners of the 1939 Academy Awards:
Best Picture: Gone With The Wind
Best Director: Victor Fleming, Gone With The Wind
Best Actor: Robert Donat, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Best Actress: Vivien Leigh, Gone With The Wind
Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Mitchell, Stagecoach
Best Supporting Actress: Hattie McDaniel, Gone With The Wind

Part 2: Country of the day: Argentina. Capital city: Buenos Aires.

Part 3: The previous post was the last word from the movie Better Luck Tomorrow. Now I'll come up with something random each day.

Word of the day: selenography noun the scientific mapping of the moon; lunar geography

D-Day

2009-05-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

Part 1: The code names of the WWII Normandy D-Day beaches, from west to east:
Utah
Omaha
Gold
Juno
Sword

Part 2: Country of the day = Antigua and Barbuda. Capital city = Saint John's.

Part 3: Word of the day = inextricable adj. 1. that which cannot be disentangled, undone, or loosed; 2. hopelessly intricate, involved or perplexing

The NATO Phonetic Alphabet

2009-05-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is the naming system I use for my 26-part series on George Nelson Benches. 26 letters. 26 benches. 26 words that are used for each letter so there's no confusion on the battlefield.

Part 1: The NATO Phonetic Alphabet:
Alfa (or Alpha)
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliett (or Juliet)
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
Xray
Yankee
Zulu

Part 2: Country of the day = Angola. Capital city = Luanda.

Part 3: Word of the day = catharsis noun a cleansing or purging that releases emotions

Six Flags Over Texas

2009-05-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

Part 1: The oldest theme park with the Six Flags name, Six Flags Over Texas refers to the six flags of the nations that have ruled over Texas. While there are a couple dozen parks with the Six Flags name, the original in Texas is the only one whose name actually means something.

Here are the six nations:
1. France
2. Spain
3. Mexico
4. The Republic of Texas
5. The Confederate States of America
6. The United States of America

Part 2: Country of the day = Andorra. Capital city = Andorra la Vella.

Part 3: Word of the day = temperance noun signifying moderation or self-restraint in action and statement.

Canadian Provinces

2009-05-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Part 1: Canadian Provinces with capital cities (from west to east).
British Columbia, Victoria
Alberta, Edmonton
Saskatchewan, Regina
Manitoba, Winnipeg
Ontario, Toronto
Quebec, Quebec City
New Brunswick, Fredericton
Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown
Nova Scotia, Halifax
Newfoundland and Labrador, St John's

and the territories too:
Yukon, Whitehorse
Northwest Territories, Yellowknife
Nunavut, Iqaluit

Part 2: Country of the day = Algeria. Capital city = Algiers.

Part 3: Word of the day = quixotic adj. extravagantly idealistic; unpredictable; unrealistic or imaginary

John Keats: Works

2009-05-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

One of my glaring Jeopardy! weaknesses is poetry, and so if I have no idea on a poetry question, my standard guess is Who is Keats? I suppose it's prudent to have one standard (educated?) guess in every conceivable category, just in case you have to take a wild stab in the dark. Examples: German opera = Wagner; NY Yankees = Babe Ruth; boxing = Muhammad Ali; Polish chemist = Marie Curie; Dictator = Hitler; Supreme Court justice = Thurgood Marshall; food that begins with Q = quince; random US president = McKinley; tiny country = Liechtenstein; and in this case English poet = Keats.

In order to make this glaring weakness a not-so-glaring weakness, I'll familiarize myself with a few of Keats' poem titles. After all, in most Jeopardy! cases it's not important to know a lot of detail about specific works of any author, but simply knowing titles of works should suffice.

Part 1: A few of John Keats' works:
A Song About Myself
Endymion: A Poetic Romance
The Eve of St Agnes
Hyperion
Ode on a Grecian Urn
Ode on Indolence
Ode on Melancholy
Ode to a Nightingale
Ode to Psyche
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
To Autumn

Part 2: Country of the day = Albania. Capital city = Tirane (or Tirana).

Part 3: Word of the day = temerity noun unwise boldness; rash or reckless behavior

Henry VIII's wives

2009-05-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

Part 1: Oh Henry VIII (1491-1547) (King from 1509-1547), you're such a player. Your wives and how you disposed of them:

1. Catherine of Aragon, divorced
2. Anne Boleyn, executed
3. Jane Seymour, died
4. Anne of Cleves, divorced
5. Kathryn Howard, executed
6. Katherine Parr, widowed

Part 2: Country of the day = Afghanistan. Capital city = Kabul.

Part 3: Word of the day = punctilious adj. marked by or concerned about precise exact accordance with the details of codes or conventions

The Process

2009-05-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Took the online test in January. Felt pretty good about myself. Probably got 46-47 out of 50 correct.

Step 2: Wait.

Step 3. A month later got an email notifying me of the live audition at a hotel in Culver City.

Step 4: Wait.

Step 5: Attended live audition at a hotel in Culver City. The Radisson. Across the street from the Clippers training facility.

Step 5.1: Filled out some forms. Checked in. Test drove the answer and question format with moderator. Full class participation. Class size was about 30 people. Must phrase answer in the form of a question.

Step 5.2: 50 question test. Answer does not need to be in the form of a question. 50 questions asked from a video presentation. Answers written on a piece of paper with 50 blank lines on it. No cheating allowed. 10 seconds given for each answer. Felt pretty good about myself. Probably got about 45 of the answers correct.

Step 5.3: Wait. Schmoozed with neighbors while tests are graded. But they didn't give us the results of the tests!

Step 5.4: Three-at-a-time mock Jeopardy game. Complete with hand buzzers and categories and a video board.

Step 5.5: Brief interview process in front of the class to make sure you have spunk! and personality! and a big speaking voice!

Step 5.6: Done. They informed us all that we're on the call list for the next year and a half. You'll be notified if you're chosen. Taping is on Monday or Tuesday. Don't take the next online test or you'll be disqualified. Don't appear on another game show or you'll be disqualified. After a year and half goes by and you haven't been on the show, take the online test again and repeat the whole process.

Step 6: Wait. For a year and half.

Step 7: In the meanwhile, study random topics and keep up with foreign capital cities.

And now I give you the format for this blog. Each day will present the following:

1. A brief blurb about a random topic. Anything goes here. It could be a person, a place, a thing, a current event, a historic event, or even a food that begins with the letter Q.

2. A country of the world and its capital. In alphabetical order starting with A for Afghanistan. Plus two maps of the country (wide and closeup) from WolframAlpha. I believe there are 195 countries in the earth's current configuration, so this will proceed for 195 days. After that, I'll think of something else.

3. A word of the day and its definition. Like in the movie Better Luck Tomorrow, the dude was studying for the SAT and attempting to raise his verbal score by 60 points in order to get a 1600 (back in the day when the SAT only had 1600 points). He'd repeat a word throughout the day and absorb it by repetition. To start, I'll go ahead and use his words from the movie.

This is not to say that the above three topics are the only things I'm attempting to absorb during my year and a half of training. It's just a way to force myself to seek out a random topic every single day and force myself to get going on the countries and their capitals and to force myself to build vocabulary. BTW, I did memorize all of the countries and their capitals while working a mindless desk job in 2004. Ample spare time sitting in front of a computer screen resulted in knowing all 195 countries/capitals backwards and forwards. I have since forgotten most of them.

What I am doing in addition to the above is:

1. Always having three books on the bedside table and putting time in on all of them simultaneously. Random styles, random books, fiction, non-fiction, classics, lengthy Russian epics, suspense, humor, whatever. Also on bedside table: Wired magazine, the Grizzly tool catalog, and three Lee Valley catalogs (the tools, the gardening, and the hardware).

2. Newspaper. LA Times daily. I could do this online, but there's something about real paper that feels good and smells good. Sort of like the feel and smell of real books. A Kindle is something I will definitely not be getting any time in the near future. And the newspaper doubles as the base for my massive never ending sheet mulching project.

3. DVD movies. Lots of them. Preferably historical in nature, but not necessarily so. Valkyrie was the latest.

4. DVD documentaries. Lots of them. I'm in the middle of a BBC series on art history right now.

5. Trivial Pursuit, the original Genus edition from 1981. After all these years people accuse me of having all 6000 questions memorized. Probably not, but that wouldn't be a half bad goal to have. I struggle with the Pink questions. Side note: Do you remember the first time you played this game, and if so what question were you first asked? I'll go first: 1983 at a host family's home during a concert band festival; family busted out with Trivial Pursuit; they pulled a random card to give me an idea of the types of questions; result = Where is the Trevi Fountain?

6. Daily crossword puzzle.

7. Etc. You too can be in training. Just read, watch and absorb anything and everything you see. And never ever ever miss an episode of Jeopardy! And throw in some Cash Cab while you're at it.

Thank TiVo

2009-04-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have not missed an episode of Jeopardy! in eight years. Apart from interruptions in regularly scheduled programming due to natural disasters, human inflicted disasters, or presidential speeches, not a single half hour of Trebek has gone by without our participation.

You can thank TiVo for that.

I got my TiVo in 2001 and it has faithfully captured every weekday half-hour at 7pm. It went through a hard drive change in 2004 because of the dreaded TiVo hiccup malady that affects not-so-functional drives, but overall it's been a data capturing champ.

A year ago it was supplanted by a DishNetwork HD DVR, but we still kept the Jeopardy! season pass on the TiVo anyway-- just in case the HD DVR flubbed up.

We just dumped DishNetwork and decided to do everything live and/or Hulu and/or Netflix and/or [INSERT ONLINE VIDEO SERVICE OF THE MONTH HERE], so now our Jeopardy! must happen exactly at 7pm Pacific. Until I configure my HTPC to capture live HD, we'll have to schedule accordingly.

UPDATE: I got an Airlink digital/analog converter that's now feeding the TiVo. The problem is that I can't find the proper IR codes so the TiVo can change the channels on the Airlink box. But that's okay 'cause as long as I leave the box on KABC and have the TiVo only record Jeopardy, then it doesn't have to change channels. Jeopardy! Again! Always recorded!

Anyway, to the point...

I'm in full time study mode now. Because yesireebob I went through the audition process and am on the so-called list of potential contestants for the next year and a half.

Woohoo!

I'll provide details in my next post.