Transcript 05/20/10 - Mike Salamon (carryover)

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Mike Salamon
Elmhurst, NY

Mike has promised to get a tattoo of a Million dollar with with Meredith's face on it if he wins the million dollars. Mike says he has a "special spot" for it; when Meredith presses him for a location, he says it will be on his back. Mike also wants to open a restaurant; he needs the million so it can always be open bar night.

Mike's wife, Jennifer, is in the audience.

Question Topics:
* World Records
* Shakespeare
* U.S. History
* Camp David
* The Minimum Wage
* Famous Frauds
* Popular Music
* (CELEBRITY Q)
* (Oh, Baby!)
* (Fly Europe)
* (On Broadway)
* (Get Together)
* (Slogans)
* (Reality TV)
* (Room Service)

$15,000 * Popular Music
Now wildly popular in the U.S., the hip-hop-infused music known as "reggaeton" originated in what part of the world?

A: Eastern Europe B: Latin America
C: Sub-Saharan Africa D: Southeast Asia

Answer

B: Latin America ( 20 )

$25,000 * Famous Frauds
In 1920, notorious con man Charles Ponzi duped thousands of investors in a fraudulent scheme involving what?

A: Postage stamps B: Real estate
C: Gemstones D: Rare coins

With 11 seconds left, Mike decides to Double Dip.

Mike's first answer is

Spoiler

B: Real estate

.
Mike's second answer is

Spoiler

D: Rare coins

.

Mike falls to $5,000.

Answer

A: Postage stamps ( 6 )

[NellyLunatic1980]

$25,000 * Famous Frauds
In 1920, notorious con man Charles Ponzi duped thousands of investors in a fraudulent scheme involving what?

A: Postage stamps B: Real estate
C: Gemstones D: Rare coins

I had it between stamps and coins, so I'll DD.

[MarleysGh0st]

$25,000 * Famous Frauds
In 1920, notorious con man Charles Ponzi duped thousands of investors in a fraudulent scheme involving what?

A: Postage stamps B: Real estate
C: Gemstones D: Rare coins

With 11 seconds left, Mike decides to Double Dip.

Mike's first answer is

Spoiler

B: Real estate

.
Mike's second answer is

Spoiler

D: Rare coins

.

Mike falls to $5,000.

Answer

A: Postage stamps ( 6 )

I vaguely remembered something about this. The key to the scheme didn't involve postage stamps, per se, but International Reply Coupons.

Wikipedia desrcribes the basics (following a discussion of an earlier advertising business Ponzi had tried):

A few weeks later, Ponzi received a letter in the mail from a company in Spain asking about the catalog. Inside the envelope was an International reply coupon (IRC), something which he had never seen before. He asked about it and found a weakness in the system which would, in theory, allow him to make money.

The purpose of the postal reply coupon was to allow someone in one country to send it to a correspondent in another country, who could use it to pay the postage of a reply. IRCs were priced at the cost of postage in the country of purchase, but could be exchanged for stamps to cover the cost of postage in the country where redeemed; if these values were different, there was a potential profit. Inflation after World War I had greatly decreased the cost of postage in Italy expressed in U.S. dollars, so that an IRC could be bought cheaply in Italy and exchanged for U.S. stamps of higher value, which could then be sold. Ponzi claimed that the net profit on these transactions, after expenses and exchange rates, was in excess of 400%. This was a form of arbitrage, or profiting by buying an asset at a lower price in one market and immediately selling it in a market where the price is higher, which is not illegal.

[smilergrogan]

I vaguely remembered something about this. The key to the scheme didn't involve postage stamps, per se, but International Reply Coupons.

Maybe you remembered it from the GroganGame before last!

130. His road to eponymic infamy began when a Spanish company sent him a request for a catalog, including an international reply coupon purchased cheaply in Spain but redeemable for more expensive U.S. postage

[themanwho]

$15,000 * Popular Music
Now wildly popular in the U.S., the hip-hop-infused music known as "reggaeton" originated in what part of the world?

A: Eastern Europe B: Latin America
C: Sub-Saharan Africa D: Southeast Asia

Answer

B: Latin America ( 20 )

I couldn't have told you this one until about 5 minutes ago when they were talking about it on Never Not Funny. Synchronicity!

-M

[MarleysGh0st]

$15,000 * Popular Music
Now wildly popular in the U.S., the hip-hop-infused music known as "reggaeton" originated in what part of the world?

A: Eastern Europe B: Latin America
C: Sub-Saharan Africa D: Southeast Asia

Answer

B: Latin America ( 20 )

I couldn't have told you this one until about 5 minutes ago when they were talking about it on Never Not Funny. Synchronicity!

-M

Too bad your synchronicity would have been six months late for Mike's taping date.

I would have connected "reggae" with Jamaica (and my cousin BobMarleysGh0st) and then (not knowing the rest of the story) would have answered B while trying to protest that Jamaica was a former British colony and thus not properly "Latin America".

[earendel]

Mike Salamon
Elmhurst, NY

Mike has promised to get a tattoo of a Million dollar with with Meredith's face on it if he wins the million dollars. Mike says he has a "special spot" for it; when Meredith presses him for a location, he says it will be on his back. Mike also wants to open a restaurant; he needs the million so it can always be open bar night.

$15,000 * Popular Music
Now wildly popular in the U.S., the hip-hop-infused music known as "reggaeton" originated in what part of the world?

A: Eastern Europe B: Latin America
C: Sub-Saharan Africa D: Southeast Asia

Answer

B: Latin America ( 20 )

I would have expected "the Caribbean" as an answer; when it didn't appear I would go with "Latin America".

$25,000 * Famous Frauds
In 1920, notorious con man Charles Ponzi duped thousands of investors in a fraudulent scheme involving what?

A: Postage stamps B: Real estate
C: Gemstones D: Rare coins

With 11 seconds left, Mike decides to Double Dip.
Mike's first answer is

Spoiler

B: Real estate

.
Mike's second answer is

Spoiler

D: Rare coins

.

My only remaining lifeline would have been DD and I don't think I would have risked it. Had I done so my first choice would have been "real estate" also. My second thought was "gemstones". This would have been a nightmare stack for me.