Kale, Caesar!

Do you think they meant it to be funny,
or just a coincidence?
Hail, Caesar!

Sounds Like a Jeopardy! Category -- the way they love puns!

Speaking of which . . .
I have been shocked, shocked recently by the plethora of missed clues! We have follwed Jeopardy! for years, but more and more, the show seems to resemble a random fact contest rather than a challenge of cultural literacy.

Sadly, just the other day, no one knew that Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day -- didn't I just explain this (and not for the first time!) a few weeks ago? Sigh.

It's tough when the missed answer is a topic dear to your heart. My son was dismayed when no one knew that Aldous Huxley wrote The Doors of Perception. He couldn't help himself: "These fools on Jeopardy need some education. This is why society is going to sh-t."

We all happened to be watching on the infamous evening when none of the contestants could fill in the blank with the word hallowed.

"Our Father, who art in heaven, ________ be thy name."
On the same night, no one knew that

1. “Gentian” = blue

2. “Gather ye rosebuds” = a poetic metaphor for youth

3. National Velvet = a horse novel / movie starring Elizabeth Taylor

4. Big Daddy = father figure from the play / movie Cat in a Hot Tin Roof -- also starring Elizabeth Taylor, but that wasn’t part of the question. Still, it made me feel kinda bad for Elizabeth Taylor. One by one her big films are losing their currency. Even though two different titles popped up — in two different categories — no one recognized either one. Poor Liz! Alas, I've seen this has happen before to Judy Garland & Robert Redford.

A few days after "The Lord's Prayer" fiasco, we watched a 2022 re-run with another string of embarrassing non - answers. All on the same show, no one guessed

1. that Sugarloaf Mountain is in Rio de Janeiro

2. the meaning of the phrase How many angels on the head of pin

3. the color pattern of the Luna moth (visual cue)

4. the identity of Zooey Deschanel

A cartoon which pretty well captures
the typical Jeopardy! contestant's
knowledge of the Old & New Testaments:

Additional recent biblical misses:

1.
the meaning of "prodigal," as in "Prodigal Son"

2.
A: Ancient biblical manuscripts discovered in 1947.
Q:

No one guessed "The Dead Sea Scrolls" . . .
but someone guessed "The Ten Commandments."
Sigh . . .

3. (on 12 July)
A: What book of the Bible contains the quote:
"Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death."

Q: The 23rd Psalm -- right?
[Actually, "23rd" was not required;
all you had to say was "Psalms."
But no one could even do that!

Okay, so the Jeopardy contestants
havent been to Sunday School,
but don’t they even go to funerals anymore?
Maybe that’s no longer a thing . . .

*******************

P.S.
Not forgetting Weird Al:
Sometimes ya just have to sing along:
I Lost On Jeopardy!

P.P.S.
Not about Jeopardy:
For years, I have merged this
Ray Stevens / Barry Manilow
parody with Weird Al;
too many tabs open in my brain!
Maybe if I post it here, I can remember:

"We need you now Barry Manilow,
no one else can make us feel so yucky . . . "

P.P.P.S.
Not forgetting Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
"Avē Imperātor / Caesar moritūrī tē salūtant"
["Hail, Emperor / Caesar,
those who are about to die salute you"]

P.P.P.P.S.
On Erik's fb page
& Such Stuff as Dreams

& Ken Speaks Up!

& On Facebook

Jeopardy: No One Got It!

~ Christmas Gift Idea! ~

A funny sequence of events last night:

At 8pm:

I saw this facebook post on a friend's page:
"VILLANOVA! No one got it"
I meant to ask Gerry if it was perhaps a reference to a basketball game but forgot to do so. I don't know why my thoughts turned to basketball, but that's what came to mind.

At 9pm:
We watched Jeopardy! and could not guess this final clue on the topic of "Higher Education":

"Merrimack College is one of 2 Augustinian
institutions of higher learning in the U.S.;
in the news in 2025, this is the other."
We realized right away that they were asking where the new Pope went to college. Unfortunately, however, we did not know the answer, did not know anything about Merrimack College, and did not know that Villanova was Augustinian. Our bad.

To guess correctly, which we did not, you would need to know that

"Merrimack in Massachusetts and Villanova University in Pennsylvania are the only 2 Catholic Augustinian colleges in the USA. That’s just a fact you may know, and you may also know that Villanova was in the news in 2025 as the alma mater of Pope Leo XIV." [Reliable recaps: fikkle & fan]

At 10pm:
We decided to watch one of our seasonal favorites, Bill Murray's Scrooged.

Early in the movie, Bill / Frank announces to his coworkers that their new made - for - tv version of Dickens' Christmas Carol will "Scare the Dickens out of people." But, alas no one laughs at his joke, and he exclaims in annoyance: "No one gets me!"
At that moment the meaning of the facebook post
finally dawned on me; it was about Jeopardy!

"VILLANOVA! No one got it"!
Now why didn't it occur to me while watching Final Jeopardy! that even though I did not know the answer, I actually had the answer, as it had been given to me! As fate would have it, my friend's facebook post was such a subtly good hint — without being a spoiler -- that I didn’t get it until after the fact!

I wonder how often it happens -- with larger concerns than Facebook posts and Jeopardy! clues -- that we have been given   the answer on Monday that we are going to need on Wednesday.  The Universe has provided the information we need, but because we are human, we fail to realize.

Remember what Rilke says:

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."

from Letter Four: 16 July 1903
by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

I also like this alternate translation from Stephen Mitchell:

"Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer."

Gotta love Jeopardy!
Villanova
Moments of Truth
Running list of boo-boos
Purdue
Shakespeare
Olden days
Insomnia

Hail Jeopardy! Hail Purdue!

Just hanging out, eating dinner in front of the television and watching our favorite show, when what to our wondering eyes should appear but a few answers to which Gerry and I definitely knew the questions!

We love it when that happens! Once back in November 2015, again in mid - July 2016, and, most recently, tonight:

Q: Who is John Purdue?

Q: What is Purdue?

Q: What is Computer Science?

***********

And yet again! ~ January 12, 2017

Q: What is Purdue?

And again! ~ June 13, 2017

Q: What is Purdue?

And again! ~ November 30, 2017

Q: What is West Lafayette, Indiana?


As the New Year begins at Jeopardy,
Purdue remains on the inside track!
~ January 18, 2018 ~

Q: What is Purdue?

Still Going Strong ~ Pun Intended!
~ September 10, 2018 ~

Q: What is Purdue?

We missed a few seasons . . .
~ July 18, 2023 ~

Q: What is Purdue?

The category was "Double EE" -- you can guess, right?!
~ February 12, 2026 ~

Q: What is Electrical Engineering

Visual Clue
~ July 20, 2026 ~
"All Aboard the Boilermaker Special,
the official mascot of this university . . . "

Visual Clue
~ September 25, 2023 ~
Distinguished 1950 Graduate of Purdue

Q: Who is Gus Grissom?

********************

For whatever reason,
Jeopardy just seems to love Purdue!
And we love Jeopardy!

********************

And just for fun . . .

See also: March 19, 2019

Robert Redford & Judy Garland!

Kale, Caesar!

Such Stuff as Dreams

Double Jeopardy

"Here we are as in olden days,
happy golden days of yore . . ."

American Actor, Robert Redford, b 1936
Anyone who reads this blog much, knows that I am a loyal viewer of Jeopardy, although we often record them and watch them days after the fact. If you happened to catch the show on Wednesday, January 10, you udoubtedly share my dismay. Turns out I wasn't the only one who was astonished by the contestants' -- yes, all three of them! -- inability to recognize Robert Redford. What is the world coming to?

It was similarly painful to see Judy Garland's photo remain unidentified on the special celebrity Christmas edition of Pointless, a British quiz show that I was watching in Liverpool over the holidays. Not one contestant called out Garland's name, despite being given the hint that each name contained a Christmasy word of some sort. But never mind "garland" -- had they never seen The Wizard of Oz or Meet Me in St. Louis, never heard Judy sing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"? Sad. Olden days, indeed.

American Actress, Judy Garland, 1922 - 1969
The story behind the song.

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Photo Source

Ken Jennings really stands up for America
and speaks out in his recent NYT guest essay.
If you haven't read it yet, read it now:

Trivia and ‘Jeopardy!’ Could Save Our Republic

Alternative Facts "But trust in authority is not exactly at an all-time high, as you’ve probably heard. It’s been more than eight years since Kellyanne Conway’s coinage of the phrase “alternative facts” on “Meet the Press,” an Orwellian way to soft-pedal the outright falsehoods being told by powerful institutions. You don’t hear much about alternative facts anymore, but only because so many of them are no longer the alternative to anything. They have moved to the mainstream."
[Thanks Ken Jennings]

Which hearkens back to Stephen Colbert's term --
Truthiness: "Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.[1][2] Truthiness can range from ignorant assertions of falsehoods to deliberate duplicity or propaganda intended to sway opinions.

"The concept of truthiness has emerged as a major subject of discussion surrounding U.S. politics during the late 20th and early 21st centuries because of the perception among some observers of a rise in propaganda and a growing hostility toward factual reporting and fact-based discussion."
[Thanks Wikipedia]

More on Jeopardy!
Moments of Truth
Running list of boo-boos
Purdue
Shakespeare
Olden days
Insomnia

"I’ve always hated the fact that 'trivia,'
really our only word in English for general-knowledge
facts and games, is the same word we use to mean
'things of no importance.' So unfair!"
~ Ken Jennings

Epiphany: Poverty, Jeopardy, Obscurity

Nativity with Midwife ~ 1913
Woodblock by Eric Gill (1882-1940)

Matrum Noctem ~ Mother's Night ~ Mōdraniht
The Mystery of Birth
Carol of the Epiphany

I sought him dressed in finest clothes,
where money talks and status grows;
but power and wealth he never chose:
it seemed he lived in poverty.

I sought him in the safest place,
remote from crime or cheap disgrace;
but safety never knew his face:
it seemed he lived in jeopardy.

I sought him where the spotlights glare,
where crowds collect and critics stare;
but no one knew his presence there:
it seemed he lived in obscurity.

Then, in the streets, we heard the word
which seemed, for all the world, absurd:
that those who could no gifts afford
were entertaining Christ the Lord.

And so, distinct from all we'd planned,
among the poorest of the land,
we did what few might understand:
we touched God in a baby's hand.

John L. Bell (b 1949)

Shared from
Come to the Table

Adoration of the Magi
Tapestry by Sir Edward Burne - Jones (1833 - 98)

The Epiphany
Stained Glass by Burne - Jones
Epiphany Chapel ~ Winchester Cathedral

Such Stuff as Dreams

From Today's Episode

When this question came up on Jeopardy!,
I realized that I needed a refresher course to keep
these three dreamy passages distinct in my head:
HAMLET:
To be, or not to be--that is the question:
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered. (III, i, 57 - 91)

Moonlit March
by Annie Stegg

Halloween Magic!
PUCK:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends. (V, i, 440-455)

PROSPERO:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind. (IV, i, 146-163)

More About Jeopardy:
Hail Purdue! & Kale, Caesar!

Red, White, and Wheelbarrow

How about a teal wheelbarrow
with red tomatoes?!
(Photo July 2024 ~ also appears)

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

~ William Carlos Williams (1883 – 1963)
See also "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus"
and Fault in Our Stars

Aidan a couple of summers ago ~ see April.

It was so sad to see these American poetry clues
go unanswered or incorrectly answered in the
Jeopardy Tournament of Champions:

1. William Carlos Williams’ “The Red ?this?”
was inspired by the sight of one surrounded
by white chickens in a backyard?
[Wheelbarrow]

2. Langston Hughes’ “Harlem” asks,
“What happens to a dream deferred? . . .
Maybe it sags like a heavy load.
Or does it” ?do this?
[Explode]

There ya go Jeopardy "Champions,"
I did your homework for you!

Last August (2025)
there was a question about the word
for both a copy of an ancient Grecian urn
and the means of human propagation.
Not one of the three so - called champs could come up with REPRODUCTION!

And then a week later
no one could guess
OUR BODIES OURSELVES.

Are we surprised?

See comments here for a
running list of worriesome knowledge gaps!

More Sleep Memes

Barely 3AM

Bonus: JEOPARDY!

Bloomism For Bloomsday

Happy Bloomsday to All!

Check out this mystery
~ and review in The Guardian ~
for numerous fun allusions to James Joyce's Ulysses.
Quirke even sees a "lanky-looking galoot
in a gabardine raincoat" (148).
[also on KL]

Bloomsday Eve

Back in April ~ on Jeopardy!

My brother gave an excellent guess:
"What is the destruction
of Martello Tower #3 in Quebec City?"

And so close, he nearly had it: " . . . the cedar-shingled roof of Martello Tower #3 was destroyed by fire on June 6, 1857 by fire and replaced with a metal roof. The tower was demolished in 1904 to make way for a hospital pavilion."

Appropriately, a Martello - themed answer -- about Canada rather than Ireland -- constitutes a classic "Bloomism", which is "a term coined by scholar Richard Ellmann to describe a characteristic mental habit of Leopold Bloom in James Joyce’s Ulysses: 'an uneasy but scrupulous recollection of a factual near-miss.' It refers to moments when Bloom accurately recalls the gist or context of a fact, name, or phrase, but gets the specific detail slightly wrong, resulting in a funny or almost-correct error."

Previously on Bloomsday . . .

Update 2025:
The Forty Foot & The Martello Tower

Barely 3AM

"Christmas Back Home" ~ by xkcd

Previously: "Past Three O'Clock" & "Mince Spies"

************************

'Tis the Season to Stay Up Very Late!

Insomnia ~ Jeopardy! ~ More