Transcript 11/19/2010 - Duke Szymanski

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Duke Szymanski
Newport, VT
High school social studies teacher

Duke's students don't know he's on the show. He doesn't plan to tell them until he knows how he did.

Topic Tree: (unrandomized)
- Study Abroad
- Fruity Goodness
- One Last Quip
- Sounds of Silence
- High-Profile Pairs
- TV Towns
- Early Careers
- Old Sayings
- On Campus
- Music Class

Topic Tree: (randomized)
- Study Abroad
- Early Careers
- Sounds of Science
- Fruity Goodness
- TV Towns
- One Last Quip
- Music Class
- High-Profile Pairs
- Old Sayings
- On Campus

Question #1 (On Campus)
A public research university, Colorado School of Mines is home to a museum with two floors dedicated to what area of science?
A - zoology
B - astronomy
C - geology
D - climatology

Spoiler

Answer: C (geology)
Value: $100
Bank: $100

Question #2 (Old Sayings)
Meaning "be prepared," the old saying "Keep your powder dry" refers to what kind of powder?
A - baby powder
B - powdered sugar
C - baking powder
D - gunpowder

Spoiler

Answer: D (gunpowder)
Value: $3,000
Bank: $3,100

Question #3 (High-Profile Pairs)
In 2010, screen star Penelope Cruz married what fellow Academy Award winner?
A - Adrian Brody
B - Benicio del Toro
C - Daniel Day-Lewis
D - Javier Bardem

Without hesitation Duke uses his Ask the Audience lifeline.

ATA results

A - 6%
B - 24%
C - 4%
D - 66%

Spoiler

Answer: D (Javier Bardem)
Value: $15,000
Bank: $18,100

commercial break

Newport is near the Canadian border - he can see Canada from his house. Meredith makes a joke about a certain public figure "seeing Russia" from her home. "The similarities end there," Duke jokes. Duke didn't know his real first name until he was in kindergarten. He was always "Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke - on my sneakers, on my lunch box, on my underwear elastic." When the roll was called in his class the teacher was looking for "Richard Szymanski" and he was confused. His nickname comes from his mother's father. His name wasn't "Duke" but he was very stylish and a "man about town". Everyone said he dressed and acted like a duke, so that's what they called him, and when Richard was born, the family looked at him and said he was like "Duke".

Question #4 (Music Class)
"Next time won't you sing with me" is commonly the final lyric in a familiar song used to teach children what?
A - the alphabet
B - days of the week
C - the 50 states
D - multiplication tables

Spoiler

Answer: A (the alphabet)
Value: $7,000
Bank: $25,100

Question #5 (One Last Quip)
On his deathbed, what famous wit remarked "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death -- one or the other of us has to go"?
A - Mark Twain
B - Groucho Marx
C - Noel Coward
D - Oscar Wilde

Duke says that two answers jumped out at him -

Spoiler

Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde

. He doesn't want to risk the money he's won so although he doesn't like doing it he's going to use his first Jump the Question lifeline.

Spoiler

Answer: D (Oscar Wilde)
Value: $10,000
Bank: $25,100 (no change)

Question #6 (TV Towns)
A fictional show set in a real city, "Glee" follows the lives of high schoolers in the city of Lima in what U.S. state?
A - New Hampshire
B - Ohio
C - Georgia
D - New Mexico

Duke doesn't know this one, either, so he's going to have to use his last lifeline and Jump the Question.

Spoiler

Answer: B (Ohio)
Value: $1,000
Bank: $25,100 (no change)

Question #7 (Fruity Goodness)
Walter and Cordelia Knott, founders of Knott's Berry Farm, introduced what berry to the world in the 1930s?
A - gooseberry
B - boysenberry
C - huckleberry
D - elderberry

Duke knows it's not

Spoiler

elderberry or huckleberry

. Meredith lays out Duke's options. He ponders for a moment, then says, decisively,

Spoiler

B, boysenberry, final answer

. The audience starts applauding.

Spoiler

Answer: B (boysenberry)
Value: $500
Bank: $25,600

Question #8 (Sounds of Science)
"King of night vision/King of insight" is a lyric in an Indigo Girls song titled what?
A - Galileo
B - Pavlov
C - Pasteur
D - Newton

Duke asks where he is - Meredith reminds him he has $25,600 in the bank. If he misses he loses the bank but if he gets it right he's one question closer to the million and this question might be worth $25,000.

Spoiler

Answer: A (Galileo)
Value: $5,000
Bank: $30,600

commercial break

Duke's wife Tracy is in the relationship seat. They eloped when they got married so he's playing for a honeymoon. They got married at 7AM on a Saturday at a lake near home and they posted the pictures on Facebook. That's how his parents found out. He said he was going to tell them when they were planning the wedding but he and Tracy decided to elope instead. Meredith says that that's how people will find out he's a millionaire if he doesn't tell them.

Question #9 (Early Careers)
What classic film's premiere celebration in Atlanta, GA featured a choir that included a 10-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr.
A - Citizen Kane
B - Miracle on 34th Street
C - Gone with the Wind
D - Casablanca

Duke says that

Spoiler

Citizen Kane didn't have any children's singing parts; Miracle on 34th Street had a lot of children's singing parts, but he doesn't know why it would have premiered in Atlanta. Gone with the Wind has Tara's Theme and other vocal parts; not so much with Casablanca.

Spoiler

Answer: C (Gone with the Wind)
Value: $25,000
Bank: $55,600

Question #10 (Study Abroad)
The Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology has a campus in what world capital?
A - Bangkok
B - Stockholm
C - Islamabad
D - Budapest

Duke doesn't hesitate in answering.

Spoiler

Answer: C (Islamabad)
Value: $2,000
Bank: $57,600

commercial break


The "blast from the past" question was worth $100,000 in 2009:
Only two men are said to have run unopposed for U.S. President: George Washington and whom?
A - James Madison
B - James Monroe
C - John Quincy Adams
D - Andrew Jackson

Spoiler

B (James Monroe)

CLASSIC MILLIONAIRE

$100K - In the metric system, which of these measurements is equivalent to a metric ton?
A - megagram
B - gigagram
C - teragram
D - zettagram

Duke knows that the metric system is base 10; he knows this because his birthday is 10/10, which is celebrated around the world as "Metric Day". He also knows that there are 1000 grams in a kilogram so that's three. He's not sure what a metric ton is - but it wouldn't make sense for it to be 2,000 of anything. The prefix "giga-" is a billion and "tera-" is a trillion. He's not sure about "zetta-" or "mega-". So the question becomes does he risk $44,000 in gain for potentially $30,000 in loss. Meredith reminds him that if he misses he leaves with $25,000 but if he walks he gets $57,600. Duke says, "I'm gonna...say..." then turns to his wife and adds, "I'm sorry Tracy, this may cost us a little bit off on our vacation." Tracy says, "You do whatever you want." Then he makes

Spoiler

B, gigagram

his final answer.

Spoiler

A (megagram)
Duke leaves with $25,000. He says, "Sorry, everybody."

THE END OF GAME "NOISE"

[smilergrogan]

Seems like a pretty smart guy, but I wonder how someone could know tera = trillion without knowing mega = million.

[MarleysGh0st]

$100K - In the metric system, which of these measurements is equivalent to a metric ton?
A - megagram
B - gigagram
C - teragram
D - zettagram

Duke knows that the metric system is base 10; he knows this because his birthday is 10/10, which is celebrated around the world as "Metric Day". He also knows that there are 1000 grams in a kilogram so that's three. He's not sure what a metric ton is - but it wouldn't make sense for it to be 2,000 of anything. The prefix "giga-" is a billion and "tera-" is a trillion. He's not sure about "zetta-" or "mega-". So the question becomes does he risk $44,000 in gain for potentially $30,000 in loss. Meredith reminds him that if he misses he leaves with $25,000 but if he walks he gets $57,600. Duke says, "I'm gonna...say..." then turns to his wife and adds, "I'm sorry Tracy, this may cost us a little bit off on our vacation." Tracy says, "You do whatever you want." Then he makes

Spoiler

B, gigagram

his final answer.

Spoiler

A (megagram)
Duke leaves with $25,000. He says, "Sorry, everybody."

Even without remembering what "mega" stood for, he had mentioned enough of the pieces, if the had put them together and considered if a million kilograms (or a billion) sounded like a reasonable "metric ton".

[earendel]

Duke Szymanski
Newport, VT
High school social studies teacher

Duke's students don't know he's on the show. He doesn't plan to tell them until he knows how he did.

He can't tell them how he did, just that he was on the show. I guess I don't understand the rationale - why not tell people about being on the show?

Question #3 (High-Profile Pairs)
In 2010, screen star Penelope Cruz married what fellow Academy Award winner?
A - Adrian Brody
B - Benicio del Toro
C - Daniel Day-Lewis
D - Javier Bardem

Without hesitation Duke uses his Ask the Audience lifeline.

ATA results

A - 6%
B - 24%
C - 4%
D - 66%

Spoiler

Answer: D (Javier Bardem)
Value: $15,000
Bank: $18,100

No idea, so I'll ATA also.

Newport is near the Canadian border - he can see Canada from his house. Meredith makes a joke about a certain public figure "seeing Russia" from her home. "The similarities end there," Duke jokes. Duke didn't know his real first name until he was in kindergarten. He was always "Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke - on my sneakers, on my lunch box, on my underwear elastic." When the roll was called in his class the teacher was looking for "Richard Szymanski" and he was confused. His nickname comes from his mother's father. His name wasn't "Duke" but he was very stylish and a "man about town". Everyone said he dressed and acted like a duke, so that's what they called him, and when Richard was born, the family looked at him and said he was like "Duke".

hanzz, someone stole your hook!

Question #5 (One Last Quip)
On his deathbed, what famous wit remarked "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death -- one or the other of us has to go"?
A - Mark Twain
B - Groucho Marx
C - Noel Coward
D - Oscar Wilde

Duke says that two answers jumped out at him -

Spoiler

Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde

. He doesn't want to risk the money he's won so although he doesn't like doing it he's going to use his first Jump the Question lifeline.

Spoiler

Answer: D (Oscar Wilde)
Value: $10,000
Bank: $25,100 (no change)

For me, I hear the word "wit" and I think of Coward, so I might have blurted out "C" as my final answer and left with the consolation prize.

Question #6 (TV Towns)
A fictional show set in a real city, "Glee" follows the lives of high schoolers in the city of Lima in what U.S. state?
A - New Hampshire
B - Ohio
C - Georgia
D - New Mexico

Duke doesn't know this one, either, so he's going to have to use his last lifeline and Jump the Question.

Spoiler

Answer: B (Ohio)
Value: $1,000
Bank: $25,100 (no change)

Meredith kept pronouncing it "Lee-ma" but I believe it's "Ly-ma" (like the bean). At least that's how we pronounce the Army tank plant that's located there.

Question #7 (Fruity Goodness)
Walter and Cordelia Knott, founders of Knott's Berry Farm, introduced what berry to the world in the 1930s?
A - gooseberry
B - boysenberry
C - huckleberry
D - elderberry

Duke knows it's not

Spoiler

elderberry or huckleberry

. Meredith lays out Duke's options. He ponders for a moment, then says, decisively,

Spoiler

B, boysenberry, final answer

. The audience starts applauding.

Spoiler

Answer: B (boysenberry)
Value: $500
Bank: $25,600

I'd have to JTQ this one.

Question #8 (Sounds of Science)
"King of night vision/King of insight" is a lyric in an Indigo Girls song titled what?
A - Galileo
B - Pavlov
C - Pasteur
D - Newton

Duke asks where he is - Meredith reminds him he has $25,600 in the bank. If he misses he loses the bank but if he gets it right he's one question closer to the million and this question might be worth $25,000.

Spoiler

Answer: A (Galileo)
Value: $5,000
Bank: $30,600

Since Galileo is the only astronomer in the bunch, I'd go with that answer.

Duke's wife Tracy is in the relationship seat. They eloped when they got married so he's playing for a honeymoon. They got married at 7AM on a Saturday at a lake near home and they posted the pictures on Facebook. That's how his parents found out. He said he was going to tell them when they were planning the wedding but he and Tracy decided to elope instead. Meredith says that that's how people will find out he's a millionaire if he doesn't tell them.

OK, so now I get it - Duke doesn't want to tell anyone about anything until after the fact.

$100K - In the metric system, which of these measurements is equivalent to a metric ton?
A - megagram
B - gigagram
C - teragram
D - zettagram

Duke knows that the metric system is base 10; he knows this because his birthday is 10/10, which is celebrated around the world as "Metric Day". He also knows that there are 1000 grams in a kilogram so that's three. He's not sure what a metric ton is - but it wouldn't make sense for it to be 2,000 of anything. The prefix "giga-" is a billion and "tera-" is a trillion. He's not sure about "zetta-" or "mega-". So the question becomes does he risk $44,000 in gain for potentially $30,000 in loss. Meredith reminds him that if he misses he leaves with $25,000 but if he walks he gets $57,600. Duke says, "I'm gonna...say..." then turns to his wife and adds, "I'm sorry Tracy, this may cost us a little bit off on our vacation." Tracy says, "You do whatever you want." Then he makes

Spoiler

B, gigagram

his final answer.

Spoiler

A (megagram)
Duke leaves with $25,000. He says, "Sorry, everybody."

A metric ton is 1000 kg (2205 lbs). Since, as any computer nerd knows, a kilobyte is 1000 bytes and a megabyte is 1000 kilobytes, the answer is obvious.

[megaaddict]

Seems like a pretty smart guy, but I wonder how someone could know tera = trillion without knowing mega = million.

I wondered that, too, and also how a contestant on the show apparently did not know he was playing literally for megabucks.

But I also wonder why Mega Millions has yet to offer a trillion dollar jackpot.

[frogman042]

Question #8 (Sounds of Science)
"King of night vision/King of insight" is a lyric in an Indigo Girls song titled what?
A - Galileo
B - Pavlov
C - Pasteur
D - Newton

Duke asks where he is - Meredith reminds him he has $25,600 in the bank. If he misses he loses the bank but if he gets it right he's one question closer to the million and this question might be worth $25,000.

Spoiler

Answer: A (Galileo)
Value: $5,000
Bank: $30,600

Since Galileo is the only astronomer in the bunch, I'd go with that answer.

Newton would qualify as an astronomer as well.

[megaaddict]

A metric ton is 1000 kg (2205 lbs). Since, as any computer nerd knows, a kilobyte is 1000 bytes and a megabyte is 1000 kilobytes, the answer is obvious.

One of the 10 kinds of computer nerds knows that. The other kind knows that a kilobyte is twenty-four bytes larger at 10000000000 bytes.

[earendel]

Question #8 (Sounds of Science)
"King of night vision/King of insight" is a lyric in an Indigo Girls song titled what?
A - Galileo
B - Pavlov
C - Pasteur
D - Newton

Duke asks where he is - Meredith reminds him he has $25,600 in the bank. If he misses he loses the bank but if he gets it right he's one question closer to the million and this question might be worth $25,000.

Spoiler

Answer: A (Galileo)
Value: $5,000
Bank: $30,600

Since Galileo is the only astronomer in the bunch, I'd go with that answer.

Newton would qualify as an astronomer as well.

Maybe to the science nerd (like me) but most people associate Newton with falling apples, not stargazing.

[andrewjackson]

Question #6 (TV Towns)
A fictional show set in a real city, "Glee" follows the lives of high schoolers in the city of Lima in what U.S. state?
A - New Hampshire
B - Ohio
C - Georgia
D - New Mexico

Duke doesn't know this one, either, so he's going to have to use his last lifeline and Jump the Question.

Spoiler

Answer: B (Ohio)
Value: $1,000
Bank: $25,100 (no change)

Meredith kept pronouncing it "Lee-ma" but I believe it's "Ly-ma" (like the bean). At least that's how we pronounce the Army tank plant that's located there.
[.

People who live there or near there definitely pronounce it "Lye-muh". It's not far from where I grew up in Indiana. I've never seen Glee. How do they pronounce it on the show? Looks like the producers/creators are from Indiana and Illinois so I'm guessing they get it right.

[hanzz]

HA, I'm perusing old transcripts to see what I can expect, and I just came across this hook plagiarizer! The hook worked at my audition but I figured it would be uncouth of me to put it down on my on-air bio again. In other news, sweet baby Jesus, I hope I get a stack like this.

[Bob Juch]

HA, I'm perusing old transcripts to see what I can expect, and I just came across this hook plagiarizer! The hook worked at my audition but I figured it would be uncouth of me to put it down on my on-air bio again. In other news, sweet baby Jesus, I hope I get a stack like this.

I missed the broadcast and I don't read the transcripts. I wish I had had this stack when I was on. I even knew the pop music one.

[MarleysGh0st]

I missed the broadcast and I don't read the transcripts.

Usually, you mean?

[Bob Juch]

I missed the broadcast and I don't read the transcripts.

Usually, you mean?

Well yeah, I was curious why this popped up with a recent reply.