Transcript 10/25/10 Michael Rooney (MRooney)

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Michael Rooney
Sierra Madre, CA
Philosophy professor

Topic Tree:

Photography
Clouds
World Monuments
Annoying Noises
Driving Lessons
Cheers
Kids Songs
Mountain Tops
Sax Appeal
Special Guest

Topic Tree: (randomized)

Kids Songs
Photography
Driving Lessons
World Monuments
Annoying Noises
Sax Appeal
Cheers
Mountain Tops
Special Guest
Clouds

Question 1 – Clouds
Believed to be caused by jets, rare cloud formations that often drop snow share their name with what office tool?
A. Hole-punch
B. Stapler
C. Shredder
D. Fax

Michael eliminates stapler and fax. He says it could be hole-punch or shredder.

Michael: I’m gonna say “A,” hole-punch.

Meredith: Final?

Michael: Um… Now that I think about it, maybe not.

Michael decides to JTQ.

JTQ 1

Spoiler

A. Hole-punch
$15K
Bank - $0

Question 2 – Special Guest
To celebrate his 90th birthday, Joseph Wapner made a return visit in 2009 to what long-running series?
A. SportsCenter
B. The People’s Court
C. COPS
D. Meet the Press

Spoiler

B. The People’s Court
$100
Bank - $100

Question 3 – Mountain Tops
With over fifty mountain peaks exceeding 14,000 feet, what U.S. state has the most “fourteeners”?
A. Arizona
B. Colorado
C. New Hampshire
D. Washington

Spoiler

B. Colorado
$25K
Bank - $25,100

Question 4 – Cheers
A popular toast for beer drinkers, the word “prost” is derived from which of these languages?
A. French
B. Italian
C. German
D. Japanese

Spoiler

C. German
$5K
Bank - $30,100

end of show noise

Michael will return for tomorrow’s show.

[MRooney]

Question 1 – Clouds
Believed to be caused by jets, rare cloud formations that often drop snow share their name with what office tool?
A. Hole-punch
B. Stapler
C. Shredder
D. Fax

Michael eliminates stapler and fax. He says it could be hole-punch or shredder.

Michael: I’m gonna say “A,” hole-punch.

Meredith: Final?

Michael: Um… Now that I think about it, maybe not.

Michael decides to JTQ.

If anyone is curious as to why I changed my mind and chose to Jump the first question: when I announced my first choice, audible gasps and murmurs ran through the audience (the mics do not pick up most of the crowd noise). Since I had never heard of such clouds, and had noted that the question was originally placed 2nd from the top (they edited out an exchange with Meredith where I noted the difficulty of the question), I opted to be excessively cautious.

[Kazoo65]

Finally a BB!

I saw your run and I was impressed by your knowledge and gameplay so far.

That first question is a good example of why they should bring back either the 50/50 or the Double Dip-either one might have helped. I doubt the audience would have known that one.

Being familiar with hole punches-I've used them before, so I know they produce little round circles that when dumped into a container, look a lot like snow.

I will tune in tomorrow.

[MarleysGh0st]

If anyone is curious as to why I changed my mind and chose to Jump the first question: when I announced my first choice, audible gasps and murmurs ran through the audience (the mics do not pick up most of the crowd noise). Since I had never heard of such clouds, and had noted that the question was originally placed 2nd from the top (they edited out an exchange with Meredith where I noted the difficulty of the question), I opted to be excessively cautious.

I'd never heard of those clouds, either. But how interesting that a contestant finally mentions the obvious clues given by the unrandomized question topics and TPTB decide to edit that out of the tape!

Continued retroactive good luck tomorrow, Michael!

[ulysses5019]

Finally a BB!

I saw your run and I was impressed by your knowledge and gameplay so far.

That first question is a good example of why they should bring back either the 50/50 or the Double Dip-either one might have helped. I doubt the audience would have known that one.

Being familiar with hole punches-I've used them before, so I know they produce little round circles that when dumped into a container, look a lot like snow.

I will tune in tomorrow.

Did someone get this right for the wrong reason?


From wiki:

A fallstreak hole (also: hole punch cloud, punch hole cloud, canal cloud) is a large circular gap that can appear in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds. Such holes are formed when the water temperature in the clouds is below freezing but the water has not frozen yet due to the lack of ice nucleation particles. When a portion of the water does start to freeze it will set off a domino effect, due to the Bergeron process, causing the water vapor around it to freeze and fall to the earth as well. This leaves a large, often circular, hole in the cloud.[1]

[christie1111]

Betcha LB knew that one!

[SportsFan68]

Question 3 – Mountain Tops
With over fifty mountain peaks exceeding 14,000 feet, what U.S. state has the most “fourteeners”?
A. Arizona
B. Colorado
C. New Hampshire
D. Washington

Spoiler

B. Colorado
$25K
Bank - $25,100

That one was easy.

[vettech]

I would've had to jump the first one, too. Never heard of those. The rest so far, easy peasy, good job!

I'll be on the road today but I have my DVR set so I don't miss it. I know you'll do (did) great.

[MarleysGh0st]

I'd never heard of those clouds, either.

I may be wrong about that. I enjoy visiting NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day page and I see that they did feature a photo of a Hole Punch Cloud, back in January 2004.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040112.html

So maybe I just forgot the reference...but a $15,000 question (last season's value for question #9) shouldn't be based on such a rare and obscure citation, IMHO.

[MarleysGh0st]

Since nothing was said about it on yesterday's show, I'm curious to see if Michael's experience on Jeopardy! ever comes up during the chit-chat with Meredith, today.

2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions Round 2 winner: $70,201.
2000 Tournament of Champions semifinalist (defeated eventual champ Robin Carroll in quarterfinal game): $5,000
Season 15 5-time champion: $50,201 + 2 Chevrolet Camaros.

http://www.j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=394

[ulysses5019]

Since nothing was said about it on yesterday's show, I'm curious to see if Michael's experience on Jeopardy! ever comes up during the chit-chat with Meredith, today.

2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions Round 2 winner: $70,201.
2000 Tournament of Champions semifinalist (defeated eventual champ Robin Carroll in quarterfinal game): $5,000
Season 15 5-time champion: $50,201 + 2 Chevrolet Camaros.

http://www.j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=394

Maybe they'll talk about his pub trivia prowess at O'Brien's in Santa Monica.

[earendel]

Michael Rooney
Sierra Madre, CA
Philosophy professor

Woohoo!!! A BB to root for.

Question 1 – Clouds
Believed to be caused by jets, rare cloud formations that often drop snow share their name with what office tool?
A. Hole-punch
B. Stapler
C. Shredder
D. Fax

Michael eliminates stapler and fax. He says it could be hole-punch or shredder.

Michael: I’m gonna say “A,” hole-punch.

Meredith: Final?

Michael: Um… Now that I think about it, maybe not.

Michael decides to JTQ.

JTQ 1

Spoiler

A. Hole-punch
$15K
Bank - $0

Had this been my question I'd have gone down like Alexander crossing the Rubicon. "Shredder" made more sense (imagine the snow falling like shreds of paper. Sorry you had to burn the lifeline but better safe than sorry.

WTG, Mike. Looking forward to today's show.

[zachhoran1]

They don't mention Rooney's Jeopardy! experience during his Millionaire appearances.

[secondchance]

Q 1 reads like "I'm gonna say A-hole punch." That makes me giggle. I need to grow up.