With six days to go, I find myself not mired deep in the relegation zone, but sitting at the very top of it. It is possible that in the next few days I might find my name against a white background instead of, as always, a pink one. I will be very interested to see if I can manage to accomplish this.
Not, in the end, that it will matter: I have decided that this will be my last season of Learned League. It’s been a fun diversion, and I have very much enjoyed hanging out with you folks here. But I know by now that I am never going to make the effort necessary to improve my game, and that means I am destined for eternal Learned League mediocrity. I’d just as soon turn my attention to the things I am theoretically good at. Writing, for example. It’s been a heck of a while since I’ve done that.
But hey, we still have our six days left. Let’s look at Day 19:
1. Pictured here is an example of a form of pottery first developed by what English potter of the 18th c.?
Oh yeah, that picture really helped. Without it, I never would have been able to sort through my mental index of 18th-century potters. I used to collect the trading cards of historic European artisans, you know. I had a complete set of English silversmiths. Oh, what a joyous day it was when I finally found Robert Abercrombie!
Right. So, back in the land of reality, I had no idea what this answer was, and have never heard of Josiah Wedgwood.
Go ahead and admit it if you answered “Harry.”
2. In February, 2012, this U.S. state’s legislature became the first west of the Mississippi River to pass a law legalizing same-sex marriage.
Gimme. Washington. I was a little nervous that I was overlooking something, but I didn’t allow my doubts to drag me away from the right answer.
3. England expects that every man will do his duty is a quote — specifically, a maritime signal — attributed originally to what officer of the British Royal Navy?
I said Admiral Halsey because of the Paul McCartney song. Too bad William Halsey is American. Some help you are, Paul.
Correct answer: Horatio Nelson.
4. Name the man who served as President (from 1989-1998) and Chairman (from 1998-2011) of NBC Sports, having spent the early part of his career working for the network in Late Night Programming.
I was amazed to discover I knew this — Dick Ebersol, an early producer of Saturday Night Live. In my brain, his name is tied directly to Lorne Michaels, who popped up when I read the last three words of the question.
5. In this chart, commonly attributed to the management consulting firm BCG, a bovine term is missing from the red quadrant in the bottom left. What is the term?
Bovine term? I went with “bull” as in “bull market.” Correct answer: Cash cow. Oh, I see how that works now, sure.
6. The 1861 novel The House of the Dead illustrates a story of convicts living in a Siberian prison camp — a circumstance which, eight years earlier, described the author himself. Name the novelist.
Never heard of the book, so basically this boiled down to “Name an old-time Russian author,” and that meant Dostoyevsky, which was correct.
I’m out after this season as well, though I might leave myself open to LL55. Perhaps I might be better served overall by not letting it make me feel so stupid and frustrated, but for now I’m shoving it aside.
1. The blue and white I knew was a clue, and that the pottery style was named after the guy, but I couldn’t draw up the name. Kept getting distracted by Delft, which is a place instead.
2. I had thought they were looking for a surprising Midwest state, and I wasted some time trying to remember which one that was, but then the timing seemed wrong and I remembered Microsoft’s campaign to help make this happen being in the news. Suddenly a gimme.
3. My mental index of British Royal Navy officers is pretty short, and Horatio Nelson is at the top of the list.
4. Had no clue and the SNL link didn’t help. Schneider, I believe I said.
5. Oh, great, now what is this? Fortunately my job is this skill a lot of the time — take this thing that the student doesn’t understand and that I’ve never seen before and figure it out enough that you can answer a question about it. My first thought was, are these the things being sold, so like a hamburger? But that doesn’t make much sense… A star is something treasured and a dog is (can be) something that isn’t, so the chart must be expressing the merits of investing in/producing/selling things with these properties. Without “bovine” I’d never have guessed “cash cow”.
6. I lost the coin flip on Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.
Since I only just got here, I will be sticking around for the first year at least. Sorry to hear I may not get to play against you guys.
1 — First thought was Delft, but yes, I quickly concluded that was a place. There was that other blue and white one, what was it? Oh yes, Wedgewood (yep, I had that superfluous E). I thought a couple times about putting something else, but that would have violated the Pizzeria Uno rule (don’t nix something in the ballpark for something that is a complete guess), so it stayed, and rightfully so.
2 — Sigh. Bear with me on this one. I first, instinctively put Oregon, which is where this info had been filed away. Shortly after, my brain said … wait, isn’t it Washington? But, thankfully, I knew how to break the tie — when I’d heard the news at the time, I associated it with: Oh yeah, that state I’m going to this summer. But … oh noes — I’m going to both Oregon and Washington this summer (I think that helped cause the slip from WA to OR). Gah, which one was it?! So, while feeling the nagging sense that Washington was correct, I felt the even more nagging sense of not ditching my first instinct guess — that is, I’d feel worse about switching to Washington if Oregon was correct than I would feel about sticking with Oregon if Washington was correct. So, stick with OR it was, and an unforgiveable miss. Please don’t say anything … I already feel bad enough.
3 — I learned a new trivia term from a podcast a couple weeks ago. Marcel. That refers toa category where there is really only one reasonable answer, no matter what the rest of the question is. In practice, a question that starts out “What famous mime …” is going to be Marcel Marceau, almost no matter what the rest of the question is. (This rule really gets legs on Jeopardy, and in particular the low-valued questions of each round.) For me, “British Naval Officer” is a Marcel for “Nelson” — I can’t really think of a question starting “What British Naval Officer …” that I would consider putting anything else. And Friday, luckily, it all worked out the way it was supposed to.
4 — First instinct was Roone Arledge, but I was able to get away from him because he was ABC and he passed away about a decade ago. So, if not him, then who? Oh, right, Dick Ebersol, whose name I remember because he hired Christine Ebersole (no relation) for Saturday Night Live. And a quick check — SNL= NBC, and I recalled Ebersol was a sports bigwig later on, so OK, let’s go with that.
5 — At first I was all over BULL (bull market, sitting bull, bull in a china shop, etc.). But none of those really made sense. So I went the meta route (always dangerous) — this isn’t something many people will Just Know, so it must be something they can figure out. OK — something with low growth, but high market share (and presumably revenue). Something that reliably gives off revenue year after year, and is not going to be a star, but is nice and reliable. You know, like a cash cow. Once I got there, it made so much sense that no other tearm was a serious contender.
6 — Flirted with the possibility of Tolstoy, but really this had to be Dostoyevsky. I knew he was in a Siberian prison camp, and was not sure about Tolstoy, so was an easy way to go. In law school, I wrote a 20-minute musical (original music) called “Crime And Punishment, The Musical,” which was played completely deadpan but was intended to be (and I think even was) pretty amusing. (If anything, it was meant as a parody of Les Miserables, but that was lost on everyone in the world.) I have it on video, if anyone ever wants to see it. The finale was called Siberiatown. The final verse is:
But for now I’m locked up, and they tell me it’s for my own good /
Cause they told me it was wrong for me to break the law, even if I could /
And I thought a man like me would be free from redemption /
But I’m learning the hard way there’s no exemption /
Where there isn’t a soul around /
When you see me I’ll be wearing a frown /
Cause there’s nowhere to be but dow-ow-own …
In Siberiaaaaaaaaaaaaaa …
Towwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn!
(Yeah, that was me, as Raskolnikov, sing-screaming that final, haunting note.)
So huh, defense against me was actually a chore for once, and I claimed an 8(5)-3(3) victory. I’m solidly in 9th place, with my MPD of 20 sticking out like a sore thumb. (10th place has an MPD of -1.) I really need to work on my defense — I have the 2d best TCA in the Rundle (besting third place by 7 questions), but my D is a poor .638. Hard to see a path to either promotion or relegation this season, so I’ll hang on and try again next time.
Sorry to hear you won’t be with us next time, Eric, but totally understandable. At times LL feels a bit more like an obligation than a hoot to me, and I generally prefer my trivia when on a team with friends who can help cover my back on Geography and History. I think I have a couple more seasons in me, but after that, who knows?
Eric, sorry to hear that you’ll be leaving LL. This being only my 3rd time around the league I feel I owe it to myself to keep fighting the good fight. I suspect there’ll be others I know dropping out soon.
On to yesterday, and how rare it is that one achieves perfection, and yet I managed to re-define perfection on Friday. I received an absolutely perfect zero, probably the first one I’ve gotten since Rookie league. And insanely, my opponent forfeited and I still won, moving from 4th to 2nd in the tightly contested battle for top 3 in Coastal D. I truly have the angels or Satan on my side. I’ll leave it to you to guess which.
1) Having been through China Pattern selection the name Wedgwood was in my mind but I didn’t think about it and chose Doulton instead as in Royal Doulton tableware.
2) So sad, I went with Hawaii. Surprisingly, it’s still not legal there.
3) Forgot about Nelson even though there’s a big statue of him in my hometown of Montreal and went with Oliver Cromwell, who was Army, not Navy.
4) Went with Jeff Zucker. Knew Ebersol but didn’t come up with it.
5) Went with Bull and then came accross the BCG grid later that day looking at sample questions in a CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) exam.
6) And I too lost the Tolstoy-Dostoevsky coin flip, thought Dostoevsky was much younger (They were contemporaries)
So lots of room to improve and lose deservingly. Maybe I have a sixpack coming.
Sorry to hear that you’ll be LLeaving Eric. I’ll look forward to reading about what you’re up to on your blog (and on Facebook).
This was a good day for me in that I was guessing at four answers and ended up with a six-pack, something that almost never happens. Oddly enough this was my third week this season where I went LLTWW for the week. And, as it turned out, I needed all 6 for the win.
1. No idea about 18th century pottery. I’ve heard of Wedgwood somewhere so I might as well guess it.
2. Knew this from political blogs.
3. Nelson was pretty much my only possible guess.
4. Knew Dick Ebersol and read an article on the AV Club last week which helped refresh my memory.
5. Bovine clue led me to guess Cash Cow which made sense once I’d worked out that a business with high market share and low market growth is just there to be milked. I still counted this as a guess.
6. Had to pick between Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy and went with the one who tends to focus on more miserable topics.
My opponent only missed Cash Cow which I had scored 1 so I won 9(6)-8(5).
Another 4-question loss. I’m right on the edge of demotion, so will be around one more season at least because either a) I’ll still be here in C with a couple of friends coming up, or b) I’ll be back down in D with more familiar faces.
Opponent John Chaneski, on the occasion of crushing me, remarked tounge-in-cheek that LL “sucks because you either lose or you beat a friend”. True. Might I suggest that LL introduce some horrible villains into the mix that it’s satisfying to vanquish?
Anyhow:
1) Wedgwood was the most prominent china-maker I could think of, and I agree that the picture was superfluous.
2) Thought about Washington first, then wondered if they were being tricky about Hawaii somehow, but decided against that.
3) I’ve read too much Patrick O’Brien not to think of Nelson = British navy
4) Though first of Les Moonves, who David Letterman used to talk about a lot, but the dates seemed off, and I didn’t think he had a sports connection. Went with Grant Tinker for no good reason. I’ve heard of Ebersol but wouldn’t have come up with him.
5) Went with Bulls. Had the question been “what’s a financial term that’s bovine-related?”, I might have come up with this, and kudos to those who mentally parsed it that way.
6) First put Solzhenitsyn, but fortunately looked at the date again and realized that was way off. I didn’t know if Fyodor D. was in a gulag, but was pretty sure Tolstoy wasn’t, so Fyodor got the nod.
Sorry to see you go, Eric.
1. This took me the longest. It fell into the “I know I know this and when it comes to me I’ll recognize it” category, but it still took nearly an hour to emerge.
2. I live in Idaho. We’re neighbors and this equates to local news.
3. There really was no other option, but I knew this triggered the Battle of Trafalgar.
4. Notre Dame football is generally on NBC, and after years of watching it, Ebersol was a gimme.
5. I essentially followed the route taken by Dave Shukan. I had never seen or heard of the grid, but it could be worked out.
6. Knew it.
I played the venerable and nearly perfect Saha to a 9(6)-9(6) tie and dropped to 4th place. It’s a challenge to pick up MPD when you have the third-highest correct answers against you in all of LL. Nonetheless, I feel for Saha who has missed exactly *one* question this season and yet currently sits in 5th place.
Sorry to see you go also Eric. I’ve enjoyed your commentary here and also knowing that there were other folks struggling in D League. I’ve decided to keep plugging away not because I think I can do much better (though possibly waiting as everyone in the leagues above me slowly drop out) but because I keep learning stuff which seems good for my brain most days. As someone who is now playing in a league that didn’t even exist when I started, it’s been a little rough from a personal perspective, but I enjoy the camraderie.
That said, I sucked at this round! THAT said, I won, with the elusive 0(0)0(F), or as I will now call it, the OOF outcome. I got nothing, my opponent forfeited, I “won.”
My answers aren’t even interesting except that I said “Milk Cow” instead of cash cow which seemed closeish but otherwise I was o_O for most of this. I blame the sunshine.
Very sorry to see you go, Eric, but thank you again for turning me on to LL while you were playing! I don’t think it’s easy to improve one’s LL scores–the question is whether you’re enjoying it enough to make it worthwhile.
1. Would have guessed Wedgwood without the picture, but that blue and white sealed it.
2. Thought of Iowa, then remembered that was a court decision. Switched to Hawaii.
3. I disagree that this was a Marcel–I went with Admiral Mountbatten. Which was wrong, but still.
4. Gimme.
5. I said milk cow too!
6. I knew Tolstoy had done well, being a Count and all, so I ruled him out. Couldn’t think of Dostoeyvsky and ended up with Turgenev.
Another frustratingly close loss, 5(2)-6(3). With one week to go, I am one spot above relegation–maybe I should try winning some matches?
1. Guessed Wedgwood without the picture. The picture didn’t help either way.
2. Said Oregon, after considering OR and WA. I think of OR as the more liberal state.
3. Guessed Nelson solely off the British naval officer.
4. Not a clue.
5. Said bull. If I’d thought about it, there’s at least a chance I’d come up with cash cow.
6. First thought of Solzhenitsyn, decided it was too early for that. Guessed Dostoevsky as a famous Russian writer.
Eric, I understand your reason for not continuing, if it were more than 4 times a year I would probably hang it up too. Sorry to see you go though.
As expected, Joon Pahk got the better of me. But I did manage to pull a name out of the recesses of my brain, so that was solace enough.
1. I knew the answer would be the man’s name, but the only two pottery names I knew of were Delft and Spode. I knew Delft was a town, so I said Spode.
2. Did not know this, so I had to guess, and the three names to come to me were Hawaii, Oregon and Iowa for some reason. Went with Iowa, and was not surprised to be wrong.
3. Ugh. For some reason, besides Nelson, two other officers of the British Royal Navy came to mind – Capt. William Bligh and Fletcher Christian. I went with Bligh.
4. I knew this one, I just couldn’t remember the guy’s name. He’s that guy who used to produce SNL, and married Susan St. James after she hosted, and he was injured in that small plane crash where one of his sons died, that guy who is not Lorne Michaels or Don Ohlmeyer, what is his name? After a few hours I knew that it began with E, and about 5 minutes later EB seemed to be right, but it still took quite a bit more time to get EBERSOL. That’s it, Dick Ebersol! Alas, so operate the little gray cells these days.
5. I ran through every bovine term I could think of, and for some reason, the way the square lined up I thought that the term would represent something that earns money slowly and steadily. So I went with ‘oxen’.
6. I knew that Dostoyevsky had been in a prison, even the victim of a mock execution. Tolstoy I didn’t know much about, other than two well-known major novels. So I went with the author of the longest book I have ever read, The Brothers Karamazov, and limped in with two correct.
A 2 (2) – 5 (4) loss was entirely fair for this set of questions, leaving me in 10th place.
1: Wedgwood was a guess, as he was the only old-time potter name I knew. Hey, I got it right!
2: It took me a minute to focus in on “legislature”, but then I knew I had the right answer.
3: Nelson was a guess, as he was the only old-time British Navy name I knew. Hey, I got it right!
4: I knew that this was the same guy who was involved with turning SNL around (somewhat) in the early ’80s, and I remembered him most recently for coming out on Leno’s side in Late Night Wars II. But it took me several minutes to dredge up his name–I had to start going through the alphabet.
5: I was tempted to guess something bullish, but as soon as “cash cow” crossed my mind, I found it too interesting not to guess that instead.
6: I said Tolstoy, feeling pretty certain that his writing prime came a bit later.
7(5)-2(2) victory, woot woot. Gonna miss your recaps, Eric!