WWTBAM Bored

Madhavan Krishnan
Cupertino, CA

11 years old
Winner of the 2015 California State Geographic Bee

Madhavan’s Plus One is his dad.

Whiz Kids Week

For Whiz Kids Week, there will be a fourth lifeline, Cut the Question.
When used the current question will be replaced with an easier question.
The lifeline is available up until the contestant reaches the $50K threshold.

$500 The OED defines what ailment as “an imaginary germ said to have infected a person of the opposite sex”?
A. Smallpox
B. Leprosy
C. The Black Death
D. Cooties

Spoiler

D. Cooties

$1K According to federal highway safety guidelines, all what should be painted a specific shade of “glossy yellow”?
A. Construction cones
B. School buses
C. Roadkill
D. Hitchhikers

Spoiler

B. School buses

$2K What Founding Father’s French-language Wikipedia pages states that he’s “sur la pièce de 25 cents” and “sur le billet d’un dollar”?
A. Alexander Hamilton
B. Benjamin Franklin
C. George Washington
D. Thomas Jefferson

Spoiler

C. George Washington

$3K While Minnesota is the “Land of 10,000” of them, Virginia has only two naturally occurring what?
A. Deciduous forests
B. Freshwater lakes
C. Desert canyons
D. Shrub swamps

Spoiler

B. Freshwater lakes

$5K When written in capital letters, which of the following words is a “rotational ambigram,” as it spells out the same word even when rotated 180 degrees?
A. SLEEVES
B. SWEETS
C. SWIMS
D. SLATS

Spoiler

C. SWIMS

commercial break

$7K According to an MIT website, its students once hung a banner reading “Game Over – Insert 94,260 Quarters To Continue” to protest college costs rising to what?
A. $21,330
B. $23,565
C. $26,414
D. $28,998

Spoiler

B. $23,565

$10K Though it’s since been transformed into a memorial, ironically, the place where what author was born was once used as an animal farm?
A. Oscar Wilde
B. Agatha Christie
C. Lewis Carroll
D. George Orwell

Spoiler

D. George Orwell

$20K How many U.S. states’ names end with the same letter they begin with?
A. 2
B. 4
C. 6
D. 8

Madhavan decides to use his Cut the Question.
He would have guessed

Spoiler

B. 4.

Spoiler

B. 4

CTQ

$20K At the request of his father Philip of Macedonia, what historic figure studied under Aristotle?
A. Alexander the Great
B. William the Conqueror
C. Charlemagne
D. Julius Caesar

Spoiler

A. Alexander the Great

commercial break

$30K Despite their resemblance to canines, which of the following animals are actually more closely related to cats?
A. Dingoes
B. Coyotes
C. Hyenas
D. Wolves

Spoiler

C. Hyenas

$50K Partly due to the fact that Mars atmosphere is thinner than that of Earth, which of these is reduced by about 30% there?
A. The speed of sound
B. The weight of a human being
C. The size of dust storms
D. The average temperature

50/50

50/50 leaves

A. The speed of sound
B. The weight of a human being

+1
Madhavan’s dad says he would go with

Spoiler

the weight of a human being

, but he isn’t 100% sure.
Madhavan asks if he should ask the audience.
His dad says “yeah, that would be the best thing to do.”

ATA

ATA results

46% A. The speed of sound
54% B. The weight of a human being

Madhavan’s dad says it is too risky to make a final answer since the split is almost 50/50.

Madhavan says he doesn’t want to walk and that his guess would be

Spoiler

“A”

.

His father asks him why he thinks that.
Madhavan then asks “Yeah, so should I say

Spoiler

B

?
His dad replies “Uh, I would – if I had been in your position I would have walked away. I would not risk the same thing there.”

Madhavan decides to walk.

Spoiler

A. The speed of sound

commercial break

QOTD

In the classic children’s book, a stuffed bear named “Corduroy” searches a department store for what?
A. Place to hide
B. Button
C. Hat
D. Bargain

Spoiler

B. Button

So far so good

BBTranscriptTeam wrote: Madhavan Krishnan
Cupertino, CA

11 years old
Winner of the 2015 California State Geographic Bee

Madhavan’s Plus One is his dad.

Whiz Kids Week

For Whiz Kids Week, there will be a fourth lifeline, Cut the Question.
When used the current question will be replaced with an easier question.
The lifeline is available up until the contestant reaches the $50K threshold.

I'm not generally a fan of theme weeks, but I can make an exception for "whiz kids".

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$20K How many U.S. states’ names end with the same letter they begin with?
A. 2
B. 4
C. 6
D. 8

Madhavan decides to use his Cut the Question.
He would have guessed

Spoiler

B. 4.

Spoiler

B. 4

Too bad he used a lifeline here - especially since one of his hooks was that his dad made a video of him at age 2 reciting all 50 state capitals, posted to YouTube.

As for me - Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Ohio.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:CTQ

$20K At the request of his father Philip of Macedonia, what historic figure studied under Aristotle?
A. Alexander the Great
B. William the Conqueror
C. Charlemagne
D. Julius Caesar

Spoiler

A. Alexander the Great

This is an easier question for a child?

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$50K Partly due to the fact that Mars atmosphere is thinner than that of Earth, which of these is reduced by about 30% there?
A. The speed of sound
B. The weight of a human being
C. The size of dust storms
D. The average temperature

50/50

50/50 leaves

A. The speed of sound
B. The weight of a human being

+1
Madhavan’s dad says he would go with

Spoiler

the weight of a human being

, but he isn’t 100% sure.
Madhavan asks if he should ask the audience.
His dad says “yeah, that would be the best thing to do.”

ATA

ATA results

46% A. The speed of sound
54% B. The weight of a human being

Madhavan’s dad says it is too risky to make a final answer since the split is almost 50/50.

Madhavan says he doesn’t want to walk and that his guess would be

Spoiler

“A”

.

His father asks him why he thinks that.
Madhavan then asks “Yeah, so should I say

Spoiler

B

?
His dad replies “Uh, I would – if I had been in your position I would have walked away. I would not risk the same thing there.”

Madhavan decides to walk.

Spoiler

A. The speed of sound

This was sad to watch. Madhavan had the answer - as he worked through the answers initially he said that weight is affected by gravity, not atmosphere. I thought he'd go for it. Then when he used his 50:50 I thought sure he'd have the answer, but he decided to ask the audience, which I figured would be a mistake.

First $20k, I came up with the four, but without going down the whole list of 50, I wouldn't trust myself to not be missing two or four, so CTQ.

Second $20k must be considered easy by the Macedonia hint. Still, holy jeebus. I knew it because I remember the same question going for half a milly.

$50k threw me. I thought that thinner atmosphere would make sound go faster, not slower. Guess I need to brush up on my middle school science.

$50K Partly due to the fact that Mars atmosphere is thinner than that of Earth, which of these is reduced by about 30% there?
A. The speed of sound
B. The weight of a human being
C. The size of dust storms
D. The average temperature

50/50

50/50 leaves

A. The speed of sound
B. The weight of a human being

+1
Madhavan’s dad says he would go with

Spoiler

the weight of a human being

, but he isn’t 100% sure.
Madhavan asks if he should ask the audience.
His dad says “yeah, that would be the best thing to do.”

ATA

ATA results

46% A. The speed of sound
54% B. The weight of a human being

Madhavan’s dad says it is too risky to make a final answer since the split is almost 50/50.

Madhavan says he doesn’t want to walk and that his guess would be

Spoiler

“A”

.

His father asks him why he thinks that.
Madhavan then asks “Yeah, so should I say

Spoiler

B

?
His dad replies “Uh, I would – if I had been in your position I would have walked away. I would not risk the same thing there.”

Madhavan decides to walk.

Spoiler

A. The speed of sound

Plus One.