Having gotten halfway through my plan to gather statistics on 1000 wrong answers in the Jeopardy Archive, I have some preliminary results.
Top 5 categories I need to study:
History (US, Countries of the UK)
Geography (US, Bodies of Water, World Capitals)
Entertainment (Film and Television)
Literature (British, American and Poetry)
Science, Technology and Nature (Health/Medicine, Space)
Also, I seem to be doing slightly better in the highest value row in Double than I am in Single. Otherwise, the percentages all seem to be about what I'd expect.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Let the memory live again (that's a lyric from CATS)
Last night I read the first 130 pages of Bob Harris's Prisoner of Trebekistan. I found out about it via a mutual friend and it is fantastic. Funny, poignant and incredibly useful. The one thing that has struck me so far is his memorization system. Mnemonics, for one, of course. My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine *REDACTED*. Or the one I invented last night for biological taxonomy: King Philip's Class Ordered the "Family Genius Special". But the method that really struck me is creating fantastical image collages in one's head to remember clusters of information. For example, I can now recall instantly that E.M. Forrester wrote Howard's End, Where Angels Fear to Tread, and A Passage to India and Maurice because of a ridiculous mental image of Howard the Duck in quite a silly situation, complete with the guitar sound effect from "The Joker" (because some people call me Maurice).
Harris's system reminds me a lot of Giordano Bruno's, the Italian philosopher-priest who was burned alive for heresy by the Vatican. Bruno would create elaborate mental rooms that he could walk through, allowing him to remember vast quantities of information. His memory was so well-regarded, that he was invited (prior to forsaking his habit) by Pope Pius V to demonstrate his ability. He was given a poem in a language he did not know, memorized it in short order, and recited it for His Holiness. Then he did it again, backwards.
I think Harris would like Bruno the memorizer, Bruno the freethinker (who believed in an infinite universe, extraterrestrial life, and espoused the Copernican system well before Galileo was put on trial) as well as Bruno the incorrigible wanderer, who was never satisfied with the way he found things.
I think Harris would like Bruno the memorizer, Bruno the freethinker (who believed in an infinite universe, extraterrestrial life, and espoused the Copernican system well before Galileo was put on trial) as well as Bruno the incorrigible wanderer, who was never satisfied with the way he found things.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Congratulations! You have been selected...
Having taken the Jeopardy! Online Test a few times already, I no longer had the fevered anticipation after completing my last one. I felt I'd done better than previous years (I estimated about a 90% correct response rate) but since they do not contact you unless you're actually moving on the audition, it is best to take the test and then move on.
Nine days later, I received an email from the Jeopardy! (they always use the exclamation mark) Contestant Department. I had moved on. I was offered an audition appointment in just under two months. I RSVP'd and two days later, received a confirmation with a location and instructions on how to proceed. Don't be late; you won't be admitted. Guests can't come in with you. Dress as you might on the show. No expenses will be paid or reimbursed. If you make it on the show, travel and lodging in LA is at my own expense. That's all fair enough. This is JEOPARDY! This is worth it.
With two months to go, now I begin my training.
My first goal is to analyze my weaknesses. I have begun working my way backwards through the J! Archive, beginning with the most recent games, answering every question (or questioning every answer). My first goal is to amass 1000 wrong answers, with categories, subcategories, cash values and rounds (Single, Double and Final), along with the episode in which they appeared. This data will, I think, provide me with the combination of my MY weaknesses and JEOPARDY!'s tendencies. I may know very little about sports, but if Jeopardy! doesn't have a large proportion of sports questions, it's a wash. I know a lot more about geography, but I'm pretty sure I don't know enough.
I have 200 questions logged so far, and a two broad categories are jumping out at me: History (mostly British and American), and Geography (bodies of water and US geography). I suspect Literature (especially Poetry, and pre-20th century) will be another, followed the Fine Arts (Art, Opera, Classical Music).
One question I'll have to answer soon is how to approach my strengths and weaknesses: do I try to capitalize on my existing knowledge and cement in the facts, figures, names, dates and places that are hanging on the periphery of my knowledge; or do I try to shore up my weaknesses, and start from scratch on many subjects (sports, opera, business and industry)?
I imagine it will be a combination of the two, and after I've logged 800 more things I don't know, I'll have a better sense of my ignorance. Socrates would be proud. (Socrates, Greek philosopher, teacher of Plato, who was the teacher of Aristotle, who was the teacher of Alexander the Great, who was, along with Ramses II, one of Ozymandias's heroes in Alan Moore's graphic novel Watchmen, which was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century and was adapted into a film by 300's Zack Snyder.)
Nine days later, I received an email from the Jeopardy! (they always use the exclamation mark) Contestant Department. I had moved on. I was offered an audition appointment in just under two months. I RSVP'd and two days later, received a confirmation with a location and instructions on how to proceed. Don't be late; you won't be admitted. Guests can't come in with you. Dress as you might on the show. No expenses will be paid or reimbursed. If you make it on the show, travel and lodging in LA is at my own expense. That's all fair enough. This is JEOPARDY! This is worth it.
With two months to go, now I begin my training.
My first goal is to analyze my weaknesses. I have begun working my way backwards through the J! Archive, beginning with the most recent games, answering every question (or questioning every answer). My first goal is to amass 1000 wrong answers, with categories, subcategories, cash values and rounds (Single, Double and Final), along with the episode in which they appeared. This data will, I think, provide me with the combination of my MY weaknesses and JEOPARDY!'s tendencies. I may know very little about sports, but if Jeopardy! doesn't have a large proportion of sports questions, it's a wash. I know a lot more about geography, but I'm pretty sure I don't know enough.
I have 200 questions logged so far, and a two broad categories are jumping out at me: History (mostly British and American), and Geography (bodies of water and US geography). I suspect Literature (especially Poetry, and pre-20th century) will be another, followed the Fine Arts (Art, Opera, Classical Music).
One question I'll have to answer soon is how to approach my strengths and weaknesses: do I try to capitalize on my existing knowledge and cement in the facts, figures, names, dates and places that are hanging on the periphery of my knowledge; or do I try to shore up my weaknesses, and start from scratch on many subjects (sports, opera, business and industry)?
I imagine it will be a combination of the two, and after I've logged 800 more things I don't know, I'll have a better sense of my ignorance. Socrates would be proud. (Socrates, Greek philosopher, teacher of Plato, who was the teacher of Aristotle, who was the teacher of Alexander the Great, who was, along with Ramses II, one of Ozymandias's heroes in Alan Moore's graphic novel Watchmen, which was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century and was adapted into a film by 300's Zack Snyder.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)