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You are here: Home / Open Threads / The GOAT

The GOAT

by @heymistermix.com|  January 16, 202011:11 am| 37 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I like Ken Jennings. He reminds me of some of the Mormons and ex-Mormons I knew back when I lived in Wyoming. The vast majority of them were good people: genuinely kind, reasonable and smart. He’s a fierce competitor, but also a really good sport. So it was nice to hear that he won the Jeopardy Greatest of All Time championship.

Here’s another reason to like him:

However, Jennings didn’t hold back on another tweet that went viral on Wednesday. Presidential contender Mike Bloomberg’s Twitter account wrote, “Remember, tonight’s winner goes on to face defending champion Ken Jennings. #DemDebate.” Jennings said that when he saw another Bloomberg ad on TV throughout the broadcasts, he was “rolling his eyes” that the Democratic candidate was spending millions to barely crack the polls instead of using that money to help climate change. So he tweeted back, “Remember, defending champion Ken Jennings wants you to vote for Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.”

Open thread.

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Previous Post: « At Least Somebody Is Doing It
Next Post: Leaving it all on the field »

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  1. 1.

    chopper

    January 16, 2020 at 11:21 am

    true, those two are the ones one stage who seem care the most about climate change. of course, actually accomplishing something is a different beast entirely, and somehow i think ‘yelly grandpa who hasn’t accomplished shit in almost 30 years on capitol hill’ isn’t going to suddenly up and start getting something done.

  2. 2.

    TomatoQueen

    January 16, 2020 at 11:25 am

    Disappointed to see Sanders or Warren offered as an either/or, if Jennings is that good he should know better.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2020 at 11:26 am

    Must everything be politicized?

    Sheesh.

    /fuddy-duddy

  4. 4.

    Shana

    January 16, 2020 at 11:27 am

    My favorite bit from the WaPo article today reads:

    “But all that admiration for Holzhauer didn’t stop Jennings from getting into a very entertaining Twitter “feud.” “My wife is going to make me role-play as @KenJennings tonight.” Jenning’s response: “It’s all about timing on the button.”

  5. 5.

    hilts

    January 16, 2020 at 11:29 am

    Kudos to Ken Jennings.

    Republicans Senators are Scum Thursday edition

    Martha McSally calls Manu Raju a liberal hack when he asked her if senators should consider new evidence

    h/t https://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-gop-senator-mcsally-calls-cnns-raju-a-liberal-hack-runs-away-from-impeachment-question/

    Arizona jackals, it’s time to go all in on defeating McSally in November.

  6. 6.

    patrick II

    January 16, 2020 at 11:30 am

    All three of them seem like nice guys. James Holzhauer is the funniest, and is amazingly loose when he plays while wise cracking. Jennings and Rutter both have sly senses of humor.
    I am an occasional watcher of Jeapordy and, depending on categories, have some decent days answering questions in some categories. But in this “The Greatest of All Time” tournament they upped the difficulty of the questions, taking Rutter pretty much out of the game. I got all of the answers in the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar category, but that was about it. I was especially awed when there were two or three anwers for which they had to create rhymes or a pormanteau with the answers. Even if I  knew the facts I couldn’t have constructed an answer so quickly. It was amazing.

  7. 7.

    Kent

    January 16, 2020 at 11:31 am

    I’m not hopeful that any substantive and meaningful climate legislation will pass the next Congress.  Even if Dems had a 60 seat majority in the Senate they would still be dealing with coal state senators like Manchin and that’s best case scenario.

    This means that any 2021 US climate action will have to consist of:

    1.  Executive orders and regulatory changes by the White House skillfully wielding executive power to dodge Trump judges.  So stuff like Obama’s clean power plan and new emissions standards.
    2. Re-taking a position of international climate leadership.  Which will take very skillful and persistent rebuilding of our international standing in the world.  This will be much more difficult than in Obama’s day because (a) we have to rebuild our tattered reputation, and (b) much of the world has tilted more conservative in the past decade like Brasil and Australia.

    So which candidate is best equipped to skillfully manage the existing levers of executive power and repair our international standing?   Most definitely not Sanders in my book.  Shouting about the 1% and marching on Kentucky won’t get that done.  Buttigieg with zero experience working in Washington or in international affairs?  Not ready for prime time I don’t think.  That leaves the Senators Warren and Klobuchar and then Biden.  I rate them all pretty equal in terms of capabilities.  Mainly it will have to do with who they bring in as key appointments.  I think Warren is least likely to compromise both on policy and on appointing corporate centrist types to key positions.  So I rank her as the number one choice for climate action.

  8. 8.

    chopper

    January 16, 2020 at 11:38 am

    @patrick II:

    i like jennings, i recently went to a book signing/Q&A with randall munroe for his newest book and he was interviewed on stage by jennings (he lives in the area). it was great watching two uber-nerds having a nerdy conversation.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    January 16, 2020 at 11:40 am

    Not a single front page post about Marianne Williamson closing up shop on her campaign this past Friday?

    Massive snarkitunity missed.

    :)

  10. 10.

    chopper

    January 16, 2020 at 11:40 am

    @Kent:

    that and goopers’ll follow the ACA model and sue, sue, sue. any climate change legislation that passes will be tied up forever in the courts, which are now packed with trumpies.

    sigh.

  11. 11.

    geg6

    January 16, 2020 at 11:42 am

    Okay, now I kinda like Ken Jennings, even though I didn’t watch the GOAT tournament.  He’s gotta lose the Bernie stuff, but I like that he likes Warren just as much.  So, not a Berniebro and that’s good.

  12. 12.

    Xavier

    January 16, 2020 at 11:44 am

    @Kent: Why wouldn’t Manchin go for alternative energy spending on jobs in WV?

  13. 13.

    rp

    January 16, 2020 at 11:48 am

    Not that this is news, but I suspect KJ’s attitude about Warren and Sanders is far more common among leftwing Dem voters than the berniebros on twitter would lead one to believe. Which also means that the race is still pretty fluid.

  14. 14.

    Kay

    January 16, 2020 at 11:49 am

    A Warren OR Bernie person. Interesting.

    I’ll vote for whoever you jerks pick, with the exception of Tulsi, because there are limits and she’s insane.

  15. 15.

    Searcher

    January 16, 2020 at 11:50 am

    Ken Jennings was roommates with Brandon Sanderson, who does a podcast with Howard Tayler, who plays D&D with Brian McClellan and Charlie Holmberg.

    In summary, every Mormon knows every other Mormon.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    January 16, 2020 at 11:52 am

    Tulsi to me is like what Republicans faced with Trump. I’m a never-Tulsi. You have to have standards.

  17. 17.

    Fair Economist

    January 16, 2020 at 11:53 am

    Supporting either Sanders or Warren, without picking one, is a deft way to push more lefty politics. Splittism is a chronic problem on the left, and it works against it.

  18. 18.

    MattF

    January 16, 2020 at 11:56 am

    @Kay: I see Tulsi as the Evil Candidate. I suppose there has to be at least one. Better than the Republicans, where it’s All Evil All The Time.

  19. 19.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 16, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    Open thread?

    Just read through the comments on Cole’s “don’t be extremely online” (good advice!) post, and good lord way to prove him right in the first ten seconds.

    @Searcher: ha, i didn’t know he was roomies with Sanderson! How fun.

  20. 20.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 16, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    @NotMax: Sorry NotMax.  No one must’ve noticed.

  21. 21.

    bluefoot

    January 16, 2020 at 12:07 pm

    Does anyone have suggestions for where to donate money for Puerto Rico?  The news media has been depressingly silent about the earthquakes and what’s going on there, but last I read last week, the Trump administration hadn’t yet authorized aid.

  22. 22.

    Kent

    January 16, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    @Xavier:@Kent: Why wouldn’t Manchin go for alternative energy spending on jobs in WV?

    I expect that theoretically he might go for some sort of massive Marshall Plan style reinvestment in West Virginia in lieu of coal jobs.  But by the time you tie on enough bells and whistles and goodies for WV and every other state with a powerful Senator the whole Christmas Tree starts to collapse.    But that doesn’t even get into transportation which is going to be more difficult.

    Bottom line?  Any meaningful climate action is going to need to address transportation which means huge effort away from gas and diesel and towards electric vehicles.  That is fine if you live in a city or suburban area and are happy to drive a Nissan Leaf.  But it will be an enormous cultural shift for rural folk used to driving big old pickup trucks long distances for work and every errand.  Manchin and other rural farm state Senators are not going to go for any plan that causes massive transportation disruption for rural folk.  A massive carbon tax with rebates or something similar would take off some of the edge. But there is no way around the fact that any effort to reduce carbon in the transportation sector is going to hit rural areas and agriculture much much harder than urban and suburban areas.

    I’m just not optimistic our current Congress and any conceivable future Congress will have the political courage to do anything meaningful enough.

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    January 16, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    I thought Holzhauer would make it closer than it was, and was a little amazed he missed the Shakespeare category response on Tuesday’s Final Jeopardy (which would have made it two-to-two for Wednesday). But Jennings is pretty amazing.

    I felt bad for Rutter: out of the 372 Daily Doubles he found, he got only about two correct, and his final totals were pretty unfortunate. [ETA: I did like his “Bucolia” answer, though, even if it was worng.]

    That said: I usually do reasonably well during the “regular season,” so I was pretty embarrassed about my performance (so to speak) during the tournament. Made me feel like I was a contestant on SCTV’s “Half-Wits.”

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    January 16, 2020 at 12:10 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    No one must’ve noticed.

    Noticed what?

  25. 25.

    RobertB

    January 16, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    @patrick II: I think Mr. Rutter was getting beat on the buzzer, rather than on knowledge.

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    January 16, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    @RobertB:

    His buzzer skills were not good, but he clearly was not as sharp (Q & A-wise) as the other two.

  27. 27.

    ThresherK

    January 16, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    What I didn’t expect, and was pleasantly affected by, was how the three GOAT Jeopardy! contestants seemed to be having fun, and lots of it, and with each other.

    I pulled the last proper response (Iago) out of my butt, and somehow got it right.

  28. 28.

    L85NJGT

    January 16, 2020 at 12:16 pm

    @Xavier:

    Coal is the central commodity of Trump’s cargo cult. It is all about the feelz.

  29. 29.

    Kent

    January 16, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    @Kay:Tulsi to me is like what Republicans faced with Trump. I’m a never-Tulsi. You have to have standards.

    Far as I can tell, the only reason she is a Democrat is because she is from Hawaii and is smart enough to know that it’s near impossible for a Republican to win statewide office in Hawaii.  She would probably be more comfortable running like a vaguely centrist Republican in a state like Texas or South Carolina.  She would probably be Nikki Haley if she was from a red state.

    Mostly she just seems more ambitious than ideological which will likely land her with a FOX gig as the token “liberal”

  30. 30.

    The Lodger

    January 16, 2020 at 12:30 pm

    @Searcher: This is Brandon Sanderson of SF doorstop fame, right?

  31. 31.

    Searcher

    January 16, 2020 at 12:54 pm

    @The Lodger: Yeah, Brandon Sanderson, finisher of the Wheel of Time and Cosmere author.  Howard Tayler, of the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, a SF space opera that has updated daily for 20 years without hiatus or filler.  Brian McClellan wrote the Powder Mage series, and Charlie Holmberg the Paper Magician series.

  32. 32.

    Origuy

    January 16, 2020 at 1:04 pm

    I don’t watch Jeopardy much anymore, but I really enjoyed Jennings’ book Maphead.

  33. 33.

    J R in WV

    January 16, 2020 at 1:50 pm

    @Searcher:

    OK, how can a SF comic strip called Schlock Mercenary have been going on for 20 years and I’m just now finding out about it?

    Oh, well, it just means I have lots of Strip to read through, slowly, while living in a comic strip universe having a terrible end stage!

  34. 34.

    captnkurt

    January 16, 2020 at 1:56 pm

    Ken Jennings is also half of an informative and very funny podcast called The Omnibus Project.

    The conceit is that since, obviously, our civilization is going to collapse any moment now, they are leaving a sort of audio time capsule for some future generation thousands of years from now, whether they be our great-great-great…-great grandchildren, or a sentient species of mushroom or whatever.

  35. 35.

    AxelFoley

    January 16, 2020 at 3:14 pm

    @chopper:

    true, those two are the ones one stage who seem care the most about climate change. of course, actually accomplishing something is a different beast entirely, and somehow i think ‘yelly grandpa who hasn’t accomplished shit in almost 30 years on capitol hill’ isn’t going to suddenly up and start getting something done.

    This.

  36. 36.

    Curt L.

    January 16, 2020 at 4:30 pm

    Ken Jennings is amazing.  After graduating from law school here in Los Angeles with considerable student loan debt, I resolved to pay it off as quickly as possible.  I consider just working really hard and living below my means, but that sounded dreary.  So I went on game shows.  Sale of the Century didn’t work out so well – I won some sort of boxed rice dish and a useless cast iron fireplace insert.  But I did appear on Jeopardy for three days and won enough to retire about 2/3 of my debt.  We taped in October 1988 (it aired in February 1989).   The questions were much, much easier back then.

  37. 37.

    Bupalos

    January 16, 2020 at 9:54 pm

    @Kent: And personal action.

    I’m perfectly down with the notion that the Climate crisis absolutely urgently requires government action. But somehow that reality seemingly has convinced a whole lot of otherwise sharp minded and dedicated folks that they may as well not take any personal action.

    Got 20K? Put in geothermal. Put up solar panels. Change your lifestyle. Stop flying. Lower your carbon footprint, be an example, and make the transition easier when mass action and government action does finally happen.

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