Final Jeopardy: Non-Profit Organizations (1-1-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (1/1/2014), in the category “Non-Profit Organizations” was:
This intellectual forum started in 1984, bringing together people from 3 different industries, hence its 3-letter name.
Current champ Jerry Slowik is ringing in the New Year on a rich note — with $98,800 in winnings from 4 games. On his fifth go-round, he is up against these two players: John Coulter, from Henderson, NV; and Bridget O’Donnell, from Burlington, VT.
John found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Portraits in History” under the $1,000 clue, before the first break. He was in a tie for the lead with $1,000 with Jerry. He made it a true Daily Double but drew a blank so he was WRONG.
He is the Italian hero pictured here. You might recognize him by the color of his attire. show
Jerry finished in the lead with $5,600. Bridget was second with $3,400 and John was last with $2,600.
Jerry found the first Daily Double in “Writers in Prison” under the $800 clue. He was in the lead with $7,200, $1,400 ahead of John in second place. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
He spent 30 days in jail for vagrancy in 1894 before heading to the Klondike, the setting for some of his best stories. show
Bridget found the last Daily Double in “Botany” under the $2,000 clue. In second place with $10,600, she had $9,800 less than Jerry in the lead. She bet $3,400 and said she had no idea so she was WRONG.
In the scientific name of the common onion, Allium cepa L., the “L” stands for this botanist. show
Jerry finished in the lead with $21,600. Bridget was next with $10,000 and John was in third place with $5,800.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right. Alex Trebek acknowledged that it was a tough one, “but,” he said, “finals are supposed to be tough”.
WHAT IS “TED”?
“TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference and TEDGlobal — TED includes the award-winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.” (About TED)
John wrote down NSA. He lost his $5,001 bet and finished with $799.
Bridget wrote down GMC. That cost her $4,200 and she finished with $5,800.
Jerry got it right. His $1,400 bet brought this win up to $23,000. Jerry’s 5-day total is $121,800. Way to go, Jerry!
Best wishes to all for a Happy and Healthy 2014.
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Hi John Coulter here..
Jerry was like a savant on the buzzer. I’m so sad he lost tonight, I wanted him to beat Ken’s record too. And you are right, he was a super nice and humble guy. “Stoic Slowik”
I sucked on the buzzer. Whatever I tried didn’t work. I did plenty of research on when to buzz in (as in on the last syllable of Alex’s reading the clue, gleaned from here.
I seriously had most of the Dylan songs chambered in my head before the clues showed up. And still couldn’t get in, or was buzzing in a millisecond too early.
I had no clue on the Final Jeopardy. I admit the Category “Nonprofit Organizations” threw me (which could be anything from the NFL to the Girl Scouts) especially the 1984 part. I associate TED with new/internet/cutting edge lectures.
And believe it or not, my wife’s name is Ann(e). But she is way less insane.
Thanks for posting, John. Yes it was sad to see Jerry go down like that. He must have been tired and he seemed a bit rattled. But when you are dealing with those large amounts on the DDs, sometimes it just don’t work out!
PS – Jerry has to beat Ben Ingram’s 8 game $176,534 record before we start thinking about Ken Jennings. 🙂
3 more games…..
well, other well-known writers who wrote from prison include St. Paul, O. Henry, Cervantes, Oscar Wilde… then there’s Richard Lovelace, Jean Genet, the Marquis de Sade, Daniel DeFoe … and that’s just off the top of my head. And Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in prison if that counts.
Maybe John’s last name reminds you of Ann Coulter.
yep, that’s the one.
to consider dear adolf as writer is somewhat of a stretch,although even today a lot of people consider him a genius. some premonitions of his DID and WILL come true, especially with the (muslim) immigration flood in Europe.
fourth runaway in 4 days! welcome to 2014!
gutsy move by jerry with the true dd – i guess he felt comfy with the category (not too many famous writers in prison throughout history-still too many….) and it paid off nicely (again). must be a real good feeling to go into fj with an unbeatable lead. it’s still a wide gap to ken, but i think that jerry soon will be second in having achieved runaway games?