Possible Duke Contestant Alert: tonight's episode (Monday 1/30) has a challenger named Sarah Howard, described as a Ph.D. candidate from Durham, North Carolina. I couldn't tell you if she is a Duke graduate student or a Durham resident studying anywhere else. Don't click on the episode recap from The Jeopardy Fan just yet, unless you want to be spoiled on the outcome prior to the episode's airing.
"Fellowship" is a bit generous. She was a summer research assistant at Duke for 3 months during a summer when she was an undergrad (she went to Alabama, graduated in 2018). For the record, I also was officially an undergraduate research "fellow" at Duke too, but when I hear "fellowship" that, to me, typically fits the more post grad years. But maybe others interpret it differently.
Sounds like you are skipping town just in time to miss the coldest day of the year. Aren't you worried that your Vermont citizenship will be revoked if the powers that be find out? It is supposed to go down to -5 or so Friday night in Boston, so I can only image that it will be approaching absolute zero in your neck of the woods.
Speaking of New England weather, there was a recent commentary in the Boston Globe titled "Warming winters threaten who we are as New Englanders, and that includes our smugness. How can we be better at winter if there is no winter?"
The full article may be behind a paywall for non-subscribers (who have exceeded the monthly free article limit), so here are some key quotes:
A new study has found that winters in New England have warmed dramatically in the past 50 years, led by Burlington, Vt., which is tops in the nation with a 7.1-degree jump in average temperature. This is important news because it means Vermont leads the nation in something. But it is also tragic because it limits their favorite wintertime activity, which is to yell at people from Massachusetts for not having snow tires.
and
Someone dares to complain that the winter weather is not to their liking. If you are a true New Englander, you would feel the urge to pounce. "Well," you'd begin in a tone of practiced condescension. "That's why you need to ________." Here we insert our favorite winter activity, which is of course better than their favorite winter activity.
This is all true! We leave Friday morning, and that night it's expected to be -25, which was very common 50 years ago. The climate here is way different, no doubt about it. And yes, it's always fun to whine about out of staters, what with their driving skills and all. The older I get, the less I enjoy the extreme cold (even though I do hold the national record for coldest temp while grilling lamb chops outside, -13.) Expect to grill sub zero burgers Thursday night, stop by!
Twitchy guy from Vermont had some interesting things to say about the hosts. He said he was very pleased when he learned Ken Jennings would be hosting his games since Ken knows the game and has consistent a consistent cadence and reads the clues clearly...as opposed to Mayim who tends to mispronounce things and stumble some in her diction, the net of which it's way easier to get one's buzzer timing right with Ken, which is crucial.
Yay, Patti!!!! Good Final question for a bookseller.
Another proof that my mental acuity has seen better days. I heard the clue and immediately piped up "Rebecca", in spite of being vaguely aware that the author was 100 years off the clue hint. My wife triumphantly announced "It's P&P, dummy", whereupon I realized I was confusing Manderley with Pemberley. Sigh.
Realizing this week how much I love Ken Jennings.
My wife and I recorded and watched some of the Celebrity Jeopardy shows, or at least tried to watch. The celebrities were very bad contestants, for the most part, and the host seemed to think her role was to giggle along with them. Also, it seemed like the main criteria for including a celebrity was if they had ever been in a show with the host.
Yeah, that giggling is irritating. Her latest comedy, Call Me Kat, employs "breaking the fourth wall", or speaking directly to the audience. I find it cringeworthy, but some people like it.
Mayim Bialik must have a legion of fans that will follow her anywhere. I enjoyed her character on The Big Bang Theory, though.
Man, if your Mom made you wear that color when you were a baby, and you're still wearing it, it's time to grow up!
Seems to me that her talent lays in the writers pen and the Director's ideas.
I'm not sure I understand the hatred of Mayim's hosting. Back when they were giving a bunch of people a shot at it, I thought she was better than anybody not named Ken Jennings.
I still think she does ok. I mean, she's obviously no Ken, but most of the time she does fine. And I'm not a fan of hers otherwise. I have never watched Big Bang Theory and I have no idea what other shows she may have been in.
I find her voice very pleasant, which may be why I am overlooking the other flaws that everybody else sees.