Final Jeopardy: Technology (5-22-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (5/22/2014), in the category “Technology” was:
When Apple sued for iPad patent infringement, Samsung cited this 1968 movie as the originator of the design.
Current champ Julia Collins won her 13th game yesterday with a runaway, bringing her winnings up to $261,410. Today her opponents are: Ryan Real, from Clinton, SC; and Alex Tran, from St. Louis, MO.
Random Observation: Yesterday was Julia’s third game against two women. The other two were both on Fridays. Alex Tran in today’s game (for those who didn’t see it) is a young woman. If Julia wins today’s game, she will play her first game against two men tomorrow.
Round 1: Julia found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The Part of Speech in the Book Title” under the $800 clue. She was in the lead with $6,200, $2,200 more than Ryan in second place. She bet $1,500 and she was RIGHT.
A 1937 short novel by Steinbeck: preposition. show
Julia finished in the lead with $6,700. Alex was second with $3,200 and Ryan was last with $3,000.
Round 2: Ryan found the first Daily Double in “American History” under the $800 clue. He was in second place with $2,600, $13,300 less than Julia’s lead. He bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
In 1851, the New York Times was founded to represent the views of this party that didn’t last much longer. show
Julia got the final clue, the last Daily Double in “You” under the $2,000 clue. In the lead with $18,300, she was $11,100 ahead of Ryan in second place. She bet $2,000 and was quite surprised that she was RIGHT.
This main artery of the thigh. show
Julia finished in the lead with $20,300, another runaway! Ryan was next with $7,200 and Alex was in third place with $4,400.
ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY?
“If something about Apple’s iPad had a back-to-the-future vibe to it, court documents by Samsung assert one explanation: the classic science-fiction film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’…. The Samsung declaration cites other example of what lawyers call ‘prior art’ in the tablet field, including images from a British TV series ‘The Tomorrow People,’ which it said was broadcast from 1973-1979. ‘The images show the design of the tablet computer that was used by one of the characters on the show,’ the Samsung lawyer wrote, citing features that include a ‘rectangular shape with a dominant display screen and four evenly rounded corners.'” (Wall Street Journal)
Alex wrote down “2001”, which was accepted. Trebek said he was worried about her because she is too young to have been around in 1968, as if Julia and Ryan were even born! She bet $1,200 and finished with $5,600. “That’s nice,” Trebek said.
Ryan got the whole title in. He added $2,500 to finish with $9,700.
Julia also got the whole title in. She bet $2,390 so her winning total for this match was $22,690. Her 14-day total is $284,100.
It sure was nice to see everyone get FJ! right. Heck, it was nice to see anybody get it! That hasn’t happened since Monday.
2 years ago:: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Biographies”.
“The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century” is a biography of this scientist, born in the Balkans. show
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Well, of course, I have no idea how they really pick the opponents, but I was really surprised to see Julia up against two ladies in the middle of the week. The way that had been running seemed like they picked one woman and one man for each match, then at the end of the week, they were left with 2 women. If they were picking the way I thought, it would have been one woman and one man each match this week. The only conclusion from that is they don’t pick ’em the way I thought.
William does make good points about the long runs of AChu and Julia. First time we’ve see it very close like this (Chu was surely thinking he would hold that record a lot longer). How much do they differ from other superchamps in that both of their runs were interrupted by the BotD?? Chu’s for a week, and Julia’s for 2 weeks. (Of course, I have no idea how much of a break they really got between games)
Here’s a little more food for thought…
Julia Collins is now running at 15 for 21 on Daily Doubles and 9 for 14 in Final. Those are rock solid numbers, as is her average Coryat of just over 18,000 per game.
The “problem” –if there is one– for me is that there have been plenty of players historically with very similar stats who haven’t gotten anywhere near fourteen consecutive wins.
And as I noted before, nineteen consecutive game winner, Dave Madden, had an astonishing record of 41 for 43 correct on DDs.
Just some thoughts, again. I invite your comments, fellow Jeopardy lovers!
In regards to speculation about potential Jeopardy rigging, perhaps one of the better avenues of inquiry would be a statistical analysis of the likelihood of x number of winning streaks of a given length over a set period of regulation Jeopardy games. The only reason I am raising this issue now is because my intuition says that the streaks we’ve lately seen are pushing the statistical envelope, perhaps, just a bit.
Someone like Nate Silver (the 538.com, political prediction guru) could generate considerable interest with a statistical analysis of the likelihood of specific categories of possible Jeopardy manipulation(s), intentional or not, on the length of competitor’s win streaks. It’s a valid topic of discussion, without any need to cast accusations of “fraud” per se.
I’m far from alone in having thought about the possibility of Jeopardy machinations producing specific outcomes going back (at least) to Ken Jennings’ incredible run in 2004.
Side note: In regards to Jennings’ buzzer prowess there isn’t any reason that the producers couldn’t introduce an algorithm for “tie” ring-ins –contestants buzzing in within, say, 1/10 of a second of each other– that distributes the outcomes as evenly as possible over the course of a game.
In any case, there are a host of questions that any one of us could reasonably ask regarding ethics and fairness issues at Jeopardy. I think it is completely within Jeopardy’s self interest to be as forthcoming as possible since their brand ultimately hangs on its perceived integrity.
why was julia surprised? the femur is after all the thigh bone….
maybe because it is in my top 30 list of movies,but i was not surprised that they got fj. on the other hand, i am xxxxxx their senior 🙁 yet it is a classic, like “casablanca”, so one should have seen it, regardless of age. but i might be prejudiced here. and as MY p.s.: the bills from the florist are starting to kill me…..yet another bouquet for julia!! it’s much better to pay for knowledge or flowers than for finding a new weapon time and again that kills faster and more efficiently…. they invent one gun and a few months later somebody “improves” it by building one that fires 500 rounds more per minute. but no hollow point bullets please, THAT would violate the geneva convention. man must really have a death wish.
i wonder what the meaning of the 2.390 might be? has anyone any idea?? maybe she said it, the show is not on for almost another 2 hours. if she did not then any ideas would be welcome. one of my many weaknesses is that i get frustrated when there is something to should/could know and i don’t.
so today i got it all in just posting once and the energizer bunny is marching on!!
her name could be gloria (or victoria?)
but then iulius caesar won a lot too. however, iulius was his “family” name. a good thing the ides of march are long gone but as the slaves whispered in the ear of the victor:”remember, you are mortal”. i hope julia will be around for a long time on j. her consistency and discipline – together with her brains of course- are very much responsible for her success. it is really refreshing to see somebody that smart whose ego or sense of invincibility do not get into the way….wait, i have to sneeze…ACHU!!
sigh, just when i thought i’d do just one post. it’s of course”…something ONE should/could know…” and right after that mistake i mouthed off for needeing only one post today…SHUT UP, JOHN!!!
and then a typo in the correction. i better REALLY shut up now.except for that julia should crack the 300K barrier should she win again tomorrow.
Wow. Hit the afternoon Kona?
i guess so….
Have no doubt, still a pleasure to read.
Regarding this conspiracy theory, I have looked at The Clue of the Day (usually the F.J.) and it’s easy. I would say that easier F.J.s favor the leader. So, the producers can favor a winning streak by supplying easier FJs (and DDs?), straying away from certain topics, and mixing contenders from a certain sample? All of these seem more than likely to me: it makes for good television.
Did they favor Brad by showing one of Ken’s weaker subjects? Was it chosen before Roger weakened his chances, or was there an array of choices for certain desired outcomes?
May we please discuss the ethics, and any other ramifications involved?
Is it my imagination that Jeopardy is running out of knowledgeable contestants? It appears that the contestants are getting weaker in knowing any information of significance. Did anyone notice the silence yesterday on some of the clues and some of the silence today on some of the clues?
Even Julia was silent on “Telstar.” I thought that was a no-brainer.
Regarding Alex’s comment about the young lady not being around in 1968, old movies are shown on TV movie channels. Get realistic Alex. None of us were around when Shakespeake was alive but we know his work. That statement to the young lady was condescending.
Good point about Shakespeare, and no, I don’t think it’s your imagination. It can be pretty amusing when the players don’t know much about Central America or Canada unless it’s a ridiculously easy set of clues like those postal abbrevs in Letters to Canada yesterday. That belonged in a kid’s tournament! They try to learn as many world capitals as possible but don’t know the number of Canadian provinces times the number of official languages in Canada. (back in Feb.)
While I’m at it, I was dumbfounded over the Svengali triple stumper Monday — “The novel “Trilby” is mostly remembered for this character who hypnotizes & controls the title singer.” Isn’t Svengali just about synonymous with evil hypnotic control? Trilby is a DuMaurier novel but Svengali is also a 1931 classic. He was played by John Barrymore. I remember Trilby more from a Mighty Mouse cartoon where Oil Can Harry was made Svengali-like and Pearl Pureheart sang Trilby’s “Ben Bolt” (Don’t you remember sweet Alice). Scarlett O’Hara also sings a couple of lines from “Ben Bolt” in GWTW (film). The point is, a lot of old old stuff comes up again and again in new works (like those lawyers were trying to prove for Samsung).
I don’t think that Alex meant anything condescending. When you get older, I’m not that old but still have to think of my age, you lose perspective of the younger. I was shocked the other day when the guy at the auto parts store was younger than my car.
When a person is a tv host age and/or youth should should not be articulated to a contestant. He implied as vj stated in today’s recap that the other 2 contestants were around in 1968 which of course they were not. Alex is my favorite tv host but even he has said in his own words he has senior moments. I didn’t mean he intended it to come across as condescending but it did when articulated to a young contestant who just happened to be able to give a correct response.
Young people can get offended just like us old guys.
so you are driving a vintage….what? :-):-)
Nothing too exciting. Just keeping my Dad’s old fishing Blazer around. Sentimental reasons I guess, plus sometimes I need the 4wd.
William K’s conspiracy theory regarding contestants is pure hogwash.
it wasn’t William K who first brought up conspiracy theory. That was a commenter named Pat when Brad Rutter won the BotD.
But even before then, when AChu was on, I saw speculation on twitter that the lack of sports categories over that long a run was mighty peculiar.
Hogwash or not, the competition was pretty much cannon fodder today and yesterday.
I’d feel a lot smarter if there were more sports questions and less history, art, science, literature, geography, biology, and anatomy questions.
I thought the FJ today was very easy compared to a few others in the past week.
As always, thanks VJ, for the amazing and amazingly quick updates.
Well, if the conspiracy theorists out there want to jump on a possible route for their hypothesis they could defensibly go with the “cannon fodder” proposal –i.e. the Jeopardy producers are putting up largely inferior opponents for lengthy stretches against solid players like Julia Collins and Arthur Chu.
However you slice it, once contestants have crossed the requisite online quiz score barrier (to get an in person tryout), the onus seems suspiciously less on Jeopardy aptitude, and more on “interesting occupation”, or telegenic appearance, etc.
We may never know the formula, but this year’s games have certainly raised my antenna to the possibility of construed outcomes.
Fire away, fellow commentators!
Interesting. I went to a taping once, got there early, and was talking to family guests of two contestants. Neither had any idea of which game the player was on.So perhaps there are decisions made of players within the week (each day they film for a week). However, during lunch, my new friends knew that their brother was playing next (Thursday game). This was not during a win streak though.
Now that I think of it, I believe that maybe one of the players was held over from the day before. Just not sure.