Transcript 10/05/15 Matthew Bailey

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Matthew Bailey
Pensacola, FL

20-year-old college student

Matthew’s Plus one is his good friend and one of his former high school teachers, Tristan Harris.

$500 Meaning the act of “lying with a person,” what word appears on a T-shirt that warns that it often “leads to forking”?
A. Chopsticking
B. Paring knifing
C. Salad tonging
D. Spooning

Spoiler

D. Spooning

$1K Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” and Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” are just two of many songs often referred to as what?
A. Mini melodies
B. Power ballads
C. Turbo ditties
D. Extreme waltzes

Spoiler

B. Power ballads

$2K A play on the title of an infamous 1936 propaganda film, Kevin Sabet’s book arguing against marijuana legalization is called what?
A. Crack Isn’t Whack
B. Reefer Sanity
C. Oxy Morons
D. There’s Something About Molly

Matthew decides to use his 50/50 just to be safe.

50/50 leaves

A. Crack Isn’t Whack
B. Reefer Sanity

Spoiler

B. Reefer Sanity

$3K For the sake of historical accuracy, what’s the only building in Central London that’s been allowed to have a thatched roof since a major fire struck the city in 1212?
A. British Museum
B. Tower of London
C. Globe Theater
D. Buckingham Palace

Spoiler

C. Globe Theater

$5K Hoping to avoid mispronunciations, when it was established in 1949. What French company dropped the ‘h’ from the end of its founder’s last name?
A. Renault
B. Nestlé
C. Bic
D. Evian

ATA

ATA results

22% A. Renault
8% B. Nestlé
63% C. Bic
7% D. Evian

Spoiler

C. Bic

commercial break

$7K Two inches taller than his wife Michelle, how tall is Barack Obama?
A. 5’7”
B. 5’10”
C. 6’1”
D. 6’4”

+1

Tristan and Matthew go through the different heights to see how tall that would make Michelle.

Spoiler

C. 6’1”

$10K Translating to mean “I have found it,” what is the only U.S. state to have an official motto in Greek?
A. California
B. Florida
C. Texas
D. Montana

Spoiler

A. California

$20K Thanks to its high capsaicin content, what common spice is commonly used medicinally to improve circulation, and rubbed on the skin to relieve pain?
A. Cinnamon
B. Coriander
C. Cumin
D. Cayenne

Spoiler

D. Cayenne

commercial break

$30K If you drank the proverbial 8 glasses of water a day and lived to be 100, you’d consume 18,250 gallons, closest to the amount in which of the following?
A. 1,000 beer kegs
B. 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools
C. 2 Boston Harbors
D. 1 Lake Tahoe

Matthew decides to walk

commercial break

Spoiler

A. 1,000 beer kegs

QOTD
What single invention did Susan B. Anthony once say had done more to emancipate women thant anything in the world?
A. Camera
B. Bicycle
C. Telephone
D. Zipper

Spoiler

B. Bicycle

[SportsFan68]

$30K If you drank the proverbial 8 glasses of water a day and lived to be 100, you’d consume 18,250 gallons, closest to the amount in which of the following?
A. 1,000 beer kegs
B. 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools
C. 2 Boston Harbors
D. 1 Lake Tahoe

Matthew decides to walk

commercial break

Spoiler

A. 1,000 beer kegs

Plus One.

[earendel]

Matthew Bailey
Pensacola, FL

20-year-old college student

Matthew’s Plus one is his good friend and one of his former high school teachers, Tristan Harris.

$2K A play on the title of an infamous 1936 propaganda film, Kevin Sabet’s book arguing against marijuana legalization is called what?
A. Crack Isn’t Whack
B. Reefer Sanity
C. Oxy Morons
D. There’s Something About Molly

Matthew decides to use his 50/50 just to be safe.

50/50 leaves

A. Crack Isn’t Whack
B. Reefer Sanity

Spoiler

B. Reefer Sanity

Matthew said he was planning on attending pharmacy school and knew something about drugs. Not enough, apparently.

$5K Hoping to avoid mispronunciations, when it was established in 1949. What French company dropped the ‘h’ from the end of its founder’s last name?
A. Renault
B. Nestlé
C. Bic
D. Evian

ATA

ATA results

22% A. Renault
8% B. Nestlé
63% C. Bic
7% D. Evian

Spoiler

C. Bic

Two lifelines gone in the first 5 questions - I don't think he's going to get very far.

$30K If you drank the proverbial 8 glasses of water a day and lived to be 100, you’d consume 18,250 gallons, closest to the amount in which of the following?
A. 1,000 beer kegs
B. 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools
C. 2 Boston Harbors
D. 1 Lake Tahoe

Matthew decides to walk

Spoiler

A. 1,000 beer kegs

An Olympic-sized swimming pool holds 660,000 gallons of water (I googled it). Interestingly the size of a keg apparently varies, which makes this question somewhat suspect.

[Coupon Boy]

Good job on Matthew's part navigating that tough stack of questions and winning $20,000.

Sadly, I would've been out on the $2,000 question as I thought A was the only one that made sense.

[MarleysGh0st]

Sadly, I would've been out on the $2,000 question as I thought A was the only one that made sense.

Don't school health classes show Reefer Madness any more?



Or at least mention it.

[MarleysGh0st]

$3K For the sake of historical accuracy, what’s the only building in Central London that’s been allowed to have a thatched roof since a major fire struck the city in 1212?
A. British Museum
B. Tower of London
C. Globe Theater
D. Buckingham Palace

Something sounds wrong with this question. The answer is obvious for touristic purposes today, but if the law prohibiting thatched roofs followed that fire in 1212, who'd have been concerned with "historical accuracy" back then? And if this is a (relatively) recent exception to a law in effect since 1212, then the Globe shouldn't have had a thatched roof in Shakespeare's time, so it wouldn't be historically accurate!

$5K Hoping to avoid mispronunciations, when it was established in 1949. What French company dropped the ‘h’ from the end of its founder’s last name?
A. Renault
B. Nestlé
C. Bic
D. Evian

Okay, nobody (except the usual suspects who I expect will chime in shortly when they read this) knows the name of the founder of this company. But when you experiment with adding a 'h' to the end of each of these words, one of these choices jumps out at you.

$30K If you drank the proverbial 8 glasses of water a day and lived to be 100, you’d consume 18,250 gallons, closest to the amount in which of the following?
A. 1,000 beer kegs
B. 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools
C. 2 Boston Harbors
D. 1 Lake Tahoe

Matthew had trouble getting a handle on this volume of water, but if he'd just tried the math, it might have suggested the more likely answer. I hope (although he didn't say) that he could rule out Boston Harbor and Lake Tahoe as being way too big. So that leaves him with a 50/50: is a beer keg = 18.25 gallons or is an Olympic-sized swimming pool = 1,825 gallons?

And if he still wasn't sure, maybe he could have estimated volumes from something he was familiar with, like soda bottles. You could fit an awful lot of those in a pool!

[ghostjmf]

5K why didn't he just put an "H" at end of each & try pronouncing them?

7K I was impressed how much taller O was than Putin in recent side-by-side photos. Dunno if Putin wore boots to the session, either.

Still, 6'4" would make Michelle taller than I think she is. If I had guts I'd go for 6'1", but I don't so I'd 50/50


30K really want that 50/50 back. Rule out natural bodies of water, but don't know beer keg volume. Or Olympic pool volume, for that matter. Use both +1 & ATA here, probably.

[jarnon]

$3K For the sake of historical accuracy, what’s the only building in Central London that’s been allowed to have a thatched roof since a major fire struck the city in 1212?
A. British Museum
B. Tower of London
C. Globe Theater
D. Buckingham Palace

Something sounds wrong with this question. The answer is obvious for touristic purposes today, but if the law prohibiting thatched roofs followed that fire in 1212, who'd have been concerned with "historical accuracy" back then? And if this is a (relatively) recent exception to a law in effect since 1212, then the Globe shouldn't have had a thatched roof in Shakespeare's time, so it wouldn't be historically accurate!

I looked this up. The original Globe existed from 1599 to 1644. So the 1212 law wasn't strictly enforced, or had exceptions. A new law against thatched roofs was passed after the Great Fire of 1666.

[TheConfessor]

$3K For the sake of historical accuracy, what’s the only building in Central London that’s been allowed to have a thatched roof since a major fire struck the city in 1212?
A. British Museum
B. Tower of London
C. Globe Theater
D. Buckingham Palace

Something sounds wrong with this question. The answer is obvious for touristic purposes today, but if the law prohibiting thatched roofs followed that fire in 1212, who'd have been concerned with "historical accuracy" back then? And if this is a (relatively) recent exception to a law in effect since 1212, then the Globe shouldn't have had a thatched roof in Shakespeare's time, so it wouldn't be historically accurate!

I looked this up. The original Globe existed from 1599 to 1644. So the 1212 law wasn't strictly enforced, or had exceptions. A new law against thatched roofs was passed after the Great Fire of 1666.

Terrible question. I was trying to figure out which of the four choices would have been around in 1212, and I knew the Globe Theater was not.

[K.P.]

It's a little ironic that Matthew was able to nail the question we're struggling with, but struggled himself on questions that perhaps should have been easier for him than they were. I would have needed help on the Globe question simply because I wasn't sure what thatched roofing was. When I saw a picture, it was much easier to rule three choices out.

The issue with the 18,250 gallons question is that beer kegs come in many different, non-standardized sizes. A typical U.S. keg, or "half-barrel," is 15.5 gallons (link), so 1,000 of those actually comes up 2,750 gallons short. However a single Olympic-sized swimming pool is 660,000 gallons (link), so 1,000 beer kegs is still the closest to the target even though it misses the mark by a considerable amount.

ETA: Just for completeness, Lake Tahoe is about 39 trillion gallons (link), and Boston Harbor is about 11.625 billion gallons (link).

[MarleysGh0st]

It's a little ironic that Matthew was able to nail the question we're struggling with, but struggled himself on questions that perhaps should have been easier for him than they were.

It's not that we're struggling with the question; we're criticizing it as a bad (or at least badly written) question.

And at least one of the commenters in this thread has some experience with bad questions.

[K.P.]

It's a little ironic that Matthew was able to nail the question we're struggling with, but struggled himself on questions that perhaps should have been easier for him than they were.

It's not that we're struggling with the question; we're criticizing it as a bad (or at least badly written) question.

And at least one of the commenters in this thread has some experience with bad questions.

Fair point. Bad choice of words. We're taking issue with the question that he answered relatively easily.