Final Jeopardy: American History (4-7-20)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (4/7/2020) in the category “American History” was:
A 1711 bill cleared the names of 22 people who were tried in this town, including Rebecca Nurse, Giles Corey & John Proctor
Today is the second quarter-final of the 2020 College Championship. Competing today: Sophie Casarico, a junior (Florida State Univ.); Kayla Kalhor, a sophomore (Univ. of Florida); and Nathaniel Miller, a sophomore (Yale Univ.)
Round 1 Categories: The 1990s – Silent Letter Words – Broadway Musicals – Don’t Blank on the Menu – Name the Speaker – What”EV”er
Nathaniel found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Name the Speaker” under the $600 clue on the 11th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $5,200, $3,800 more than Kayla in second place. He bet $800 and he was RIGHT.
1968: “I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man.” show
Nathaniel finished in the lead with $8,400. Kayla was second with $4,600 and Sophie was last with $1,200.
Round 2 Categories: Cliches – OK Boomer – British Lit – Countries’ Lowest Points – Film Characters – Health & Medicine
Kayla found the first Daily Double in “Health & Medicine” under the $1,600 clue on the 3rd pick. She was in the lead with $8,600 now, $200 more than Nathaniel in second place. She bet $3,000 and knew the expected response but she mispronounced it. Adding a syllable made it WRONG.
It’s the 10-letter term for an irregular heartbeat, whether the beat is too fast, too slow or erratic. show
4 clues later, Nathaniel got the last Daily Double in “British Lit” under the $1,200 clue. In the lead with $11,600, he had $4,400 more than Kayla in second place. He bet $2,000 and had no response so he was WRONG.
Hazel is the leader of the rabbits & the brother of Fiver in this beloved novel by Richard Adams. show
Nathaniel finished in the lead with $20,000. Kayla was next with $12,000 and Sophie was in third place with $3,200.
ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS SALEM (MASSACHUSETTS)?
Rebecca Beatrice Brooks wrote a thorough article about the Salem Witch Trial victims on The History of Massachusetts blog. She lists many falsely accused people, with details on their fate. In the aftermath, the superstitious colonists were remorseful or (more likely), believing their horrific actions were incurring the wrath of God, made efforts to atone. “On October 17, 1711, at the urging of the surviving convicted witches and their families, the colony passed a bill clearing some of the names of the convicted witches…. The victims and their families named in the bill were also paid restitution totaling £600, which was divided up among them. Officials distributed the money in Salem in January and February of 1712.”
In the 20th century, further steps were taken to make amends to the victims’ descendants. In 1957, a law was passed officially apologizing and clearing names not listed in the 1711 law. In 1992, the city of Salem built the Salem Witch Trials Memorial. The city of Danvers built the Salem Village Witchcraft Victims’ Memorial. In 2001, an amendment to the 1957 apology cleared names of more victims.
Sophie bet it all and finished with $6,400.
Kayla bet $4,501, bringing her up to $16,501.
Nathaniel bet $4,001. He won the second semi-final spot with $24,001. Kayla’s looking real good for a Wild Card.
A triple stumper from each round:
WHAT”EV”ER ($1000) Longfellow’s poem about this Acadian heroine begins, “This is the forest primeval”
BRITISH LIT ($800) This Jane Austen novel begins, “The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex”
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “U.S. Cabinet Departments”
This cabinet department traces its roots back to the Manhattan Project & efforts to develop the atomic bomb show
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Glad to see a triple solve for the FJ for these nice kids. I guess Salem Village would have also been acceptable. They changed the name to Danvers in 1752 (for obvious reasons) when they separated from Salem Towne, today simply called Salem. Much surprised to see the name of Capt. John Alden Jr. listed in your History of Massachusets blog link, as one who broke jail and escaped to New York for a while. His sister was Sarah Alden who married Alxander Standish, some of my direct ancestors. I believe they are buried in Duxbury. Which means John Jr. is a distant uncle. Thanks VJ.
I’ve read a lot about Nathaniel Hawthorne’s efforts to prove that his g-g-grandfather, John Hathorne (one of the leading judges at the trials – known as “The Hanging Judge”) had repented for his actions, as apparently the other judges (including Cotton Mather) had. He searched all known archives, and finally became so disgusted he added a “w” to Hathorne to dissociate himself from John. [of course if one does that, one also dissociates oneself from all the other Hathornes in his background, some of which may have been very nice people.]
Wow, Taiwan Bill. Thanks for sharing that the article helped you find a distant uncle… that’s amazing!
I am glad that all three got final right. We got great scores so far today. Since all three are from the same state, we could see great competition in the days ahead.
I am just shocked today that Sophie, Kayla, and Nathaniel all live in the same state. But Sophie just couldn’t get things going today.
“Arrhythmia” has 10 syllables. Kayla said “Arithemia”, which made it an 11 syllable word. Which is why the whole staff can’t accept that, she got penalized.
you meant 10 letters, right?
A-R-R-H-Y-T-H-M-I-A: 10 letters 4 syllables
A-R-I-T-H-E-M-I-A 9 letters 5 syllables
The clues that give you the number of letter sometimes scare me. My first thought would have been “arrhythmia”. But I thought maybe it would be another form of the word, like the adjective “arrhythmic”, and I would panic trying to count letters.
She learned her lesson.
I’ve never heard of Arrhythmia.
Now you do.
Semi-Final and Wild Card results as of 4/7/20:
Semi-Finalists:
Nathaniel Miller (Yale University): $24,001
Marshall Comeaux (University of Texas at Austin): $17,599
Wild Cards:
Kayla Kalhor (University of Florida): $16,501
Emma Farrell (Carnegie Mellon University): $6,799
Sophie Casarico (Florida State University): $6,400
Sirad Hassan (Princeton University): $100