speaking of that reminds me of a pretty infuriating episode where a Double Jeopardy category was "Also a chess piece". All the answers were chess pieces which means there were only 6 possible answers. The first four were hit, then the last was a Daily Double. Meaning there's only two possible answers left, and you have the entire clue to go off of. And yet the contestant only wagered like $3000 instead of their whole stack. I mean I know that guessing wrong sucks but you have to think you're 90% or more to get that one right.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 22:09 (eleven years ago) link
Hubris is a bitch. Barrett was so sure he was right on a lot of those wrong answers...his jaw-drop reactions were satisfying.
"But Rush Limbaugh told me it was like this!"
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 22:12 (eleven years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/C0gJTe6.jpg
― 乒乓, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 22:18 (eleven years ago) link
Clarifying some points (in response to reports on Sajak's idiocies):
I consider myself a social liberal and a fiscal conservative. I believe that climate change exists, and is contributed to by human activity. I have seen firsthand the effects of climate change, in trips to Antarctica and Mt. Kilimanjaro, both of which are showing huge changes due to global warming. I’m in favor of equal pay for women, and the Lilly Ledbetter act. I believe in equal rights for the LGBT community; in fact, this winter, I braved the Minnesota winter weather to attend a gay wedding (which was officiated over by my wife).
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 29 May 2014 15:32 (nine years ago) link
damn... thats brave
― socki (s1ocki), Thursday, 29 May 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
All Minnesotans appear to think their winter is the worst thing on earth.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 29 May 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
I've been to Cloquet, MN in January, so they're not too far off the mark
― Stephen King's Threaderstarter (kingfish), Thursday, 29 May 2014 16:09 (nine years ago) link
Considering that there are more people who live in Minneapolis-St Paul alone than the entire state of Alaska, what you're really seeing is that there are more people around to complain about the winters.
― On-the-spot Dicespin (DJP), Thursday, 29 May 2014 16:20 (nine years ago) link
Twins' starting rotation is out of sight/mind in the winter
― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 29 May 2014 17:13 (nine years ago) link
Alex Trebek will not be denied.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 17 December 2014 15:11 (nine years ago) link
Ah man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cInGyxCY9k
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 22:13 (five years ago) link
Aw crap. Fingers crossed for him.
I must say I cannot believe he is 78 years old.
― omar little, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 22:22 (five years ago) link
oh no
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 22:29 (five years ago) link
grim news, his pluck is perhaps admirable but man I would not want to do one more day of work if godforbid someone told me I had advanced pancreatic cancer. even if I was on television!
― moose; squirrel (silby), Wednesday, 6 March 2019 22:30 (five years ago) link
Sorry, Alex, but stage 4 pancreatic cancer is not something you "beat" or a contest you "win." It is something you either die from or, in a few cases, you survive. Any way, good luck and stay hopeful. And if it helps you to imagine you are beating up on your cancer, like Popeye bashing on Bluto, then I guess it can't really hurt.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 6 March 2019 22:31 (five years ago) link
That’s a sneaky one too. Jonathan Gold found out he had his pancreatic cancer just days before he died. Same with Gene Upshaw.
― omar little, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 22:33 (five years ago) link
I remember him well from his days in Canada. Best wishes to him. pic.twitter.com/bU5n52RTBw— Les Williams (@leswilliams2) March 6, 2019
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 22:58 (five years ago) link
Still processing that Alex Trebek news. Reminder that if you're on Amazon Prime, you can watch him on Celebrity Bowling and Double Dare 76/77. pic.twitter.com/QhGeNviudX— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) March 6, 2019
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 23:35 (five years ago) link
really sorry to hear about this. i binged all the jeopardy on netflix over 3-4 days or so a few weeks ago; it was a wonderful time. alex trebek is a key part of what makes the show work. i guess the good news is that he has the best doctors and insurance money can buy, i assume
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 7 March 2019 04:01 (five years ago) link
it's strange to hear him delivering this news in the same clipped cadences he reads the jeopardy clues
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Thursday, 7 March 2019 04:24 (five years ago) link
"i'll take 'grim cancer diagnoses' for 200, alex"
p.s. sad news. i wish him the best.
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Thursday, 7 March 2019 04:25 (five years ago) link
my cousin was his radiologist recently iirc
― sarahell, Thursday, 7 March 2019 04:29 (five years ago) link
alec trebel 4evahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=LF2jdTQyyyE
― velko, Thursday, 7 March 2019 04:38 (five years ago) link
lol Aimless's pedantry knows no bounds
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 7 March 2019 15:02 (five years ago) link
my dad told me about this time when alex trebek came to his high school, because he used to tour around presenting reach for the top (kind of like a canadian university challenge i guess? except high school? idk if you have it everywhere else) and the kids were all brought to the auditorium to watch this match between dad's school and whoever else. alex trebek got very cross with the crowd being loud at some point and said "if you don't settle down, we won't be able to continue" which of course set off the crowd even more. i guess that's the whole story, my dad's school being jerks to trebek. idk why i brought it up
jeopardy was on every day in my house as early as i can remember, my parent's favourite show (and eventually, one of mine, even though i don't have cable anymore) and alex trebek has been there the whole time. now i do trivia all the time and host a pub quiz. he's one of those guys i kinda forgot was even mortal. this is heartbreaking. that he manages to even put a fact (50,000 diagnoses a year) in his announcement is so perfectly trebek too.
― they're not booing you, sir, they're shouting "Boo'd Up" (Will M.), Thursday, 7 March 2019 15:28 (five years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D1A4bKsXgAsGMLJ.jpg
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 7 March 2019 15:31 (five years ago) link
Aimless's pedantry knows no bounds
I'm not the first ilxor to have expressed this sentiment on ilx. The whole "I fought cancer and won" thing is a very strange mindset to me. Pneumonia kills a lot of people, too, but no one brags about fighting it and winning.
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 7 March 2019 17:46 (five years ago) link
how dare you, the true boundless pedant of this board is sic
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 March 2019 17:48 (five years ago) link
(it's part of why i love sic posts never stop sic)
It bugs me when bus ads etc frame cancer as a battle to be won or lost, but whomst tf thinks it's a good idea to nitpick how people express dealing with their own illnesses?
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Thursday, 7 March 2019 17:50 (five years ago) link
JFC dude, "bragging"? I rarely feel like I know this cast of ilxors enough to call someone out on anything, but this whole take is quite dickish imo. cancer is fucked and anyone who's dealing with it and keeping up a brave face is worth your silence if you feel otherwise.
― pippin drives a lambo through the gates of isengard (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 7 March 2019 17:50 (five years ago) link
won't anyone think of how cancer must feel about all this
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Thursday, 7 March 2019 17:55 (five years ago) link
IDK, my dad died of cancer and I have no problems with the phrase "I fought cancer and won", nor would I have a problem with saying my dad eventually lost his battle. When my dad got his first cancer diagnosis back when I was 9 and went into remission (after it almost killed him) he framed it in terms of having "won" his battle so I figure it's perfectly fine.
Anyway, I'm really hoping Alex Trebek is one of the lucky few to beat this. I know pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest and stage 4 is about as advanced as they get so am not trying to get too optimistic, but surely if anyone can beat the odds it's one of the two kings of the game show, right? (The other king being Bob Barker.)
― The Colour of Spring (deethelurker), Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:20 (five years ago) link
thing is a very strange mindset to me.
yet somehow you don't think casting aspersions on the outlook/semantics of people facing a terrible, likely fatal illness is very strange *shrugs til shoulders separate*
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:28 (five years ago) link
like obv there's nothing any patient can do to "fight" cancer other than get the best treatment possible, and those who succumb to it didn't do so because they weren't good enough fighters...but to point this out to someone dx'd w it is just a major dick move imo
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:30 (five years ago) link
people desire agency. there's zero harm in allowing them to think they have some, no matter how small or large.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:31 (five years ago) link
this hits me pretty hard. when I was 6 I used to watch Jeopardy every day, I thought Trebek was the coolest guy on the planet. obviously I never knew a single answer but I loved the format of it. it was my dream to be a game show host. or a game show contestant. I still watch from time to time, it is absolutely the best thing to watch when you're working out.
obviously he was kind of a private dude but Ken Jennings writes a lot of nice words about him in his book, where he claims that he's a lot wittier than he appears on TV. I only know the "real" Alex Trebek through the many prank calls Longmont Potion Castle made to his house...he was the one guy who he could never get to crack, the only celebrity who never pulled the "do you know who I am?" line
― frogbs, Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:36 (five years ago) link
obv there's nothing any patient can do to "fight" cancer other than get the best treatment possible, and those who succumb to it didn't do so because they weren't good enough fighters...
I accept your statement that this is obvious. It is equally obvious to me. I further accept that, for the vast majority, this obvious fact falls among the facts that are considered unmentionable and my offense was to mention it.
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:37 (five years ago) link
it's a psychological tool to frame it that way. Maybe people take it too literally, but oh well.
― Evan, Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:42 (five years ago) link
what is the point of having to phrase responses in the form of a question
― mookieproof, Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:58 (five years ago) link
^^^ the real million dollar question
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:01 (five years ago) link
my offense was to mention it.
"chill bro I'm just tellin facts"
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:02 (five years ago) link
what is because shut up that's why
xxp
― Evan, Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:03 (five years ago) link
Because if you don't, the "Jeopardy!" gods will come down from Mount Trivia and smite you.
― The Colour of Spring (deethelurker), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:04 (five years ago) link
thank god you're around to speak truth to people on their death bed
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:05 (five years ago) link
i really enjoy jeopardy. we don't get it in the uk so it's something i was purely familiar with through references in american pop culture.
few years back i would watch it whenever i got home from work and it wasn't baseball season.
hang in there, trebek. fight the best anti-cancer battle that your inner-strength and fortitude can muster
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:06 (five years ago) link
xxxpost: it was just a gimmick merv griffin came up with to sell the original 60s version of the show, reversing the order of the questions and answers. i think i read a long time ago that it was partly meant to make the show seem different and distinguish it from the shows that were involved in the 50s quiz-show scandal.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:07 (five years ago) link
what is alex trebeks display name
― god knows i want to fp (darraghmac), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:08 (five years ago) link
I used to feel bad for the contestants who had negative dollars. Didn't seem right they had to owe the show money. My mom assured me they didn't actually have to fork it over. Then I felt like I had been snookered by the show.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:10 (five years ago) link
People engage in constant mythmaking in an attempt to reckon with the terror of mortality. This is like humanity 101, perhaps our defining trait as a species. I guess its weird but no more so than like puzzling over the mechanics of swallowing. It just is, and if it confers some comfort then go with (insert deity of choice).
― Gary Ornmigh, Heywood's son (Old Lunch), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:12 (five years ago) link