Welcome back to the ninth installment of Andy’s Weekly Thoughts, where I give my thoughts about various happenings in the world of Jeopardy!—it’s a little bit of a shorter one, but it’s still important!
Raising Money for MS Canada
Next weekend—Saturday, July 29, beginning at 8:00 AM Eastern, I will be doing a lengthy fundraising live-stream on my Twitch channel (twitch.tv/thejeopardyfan/) to raise money for MS Canada‘s Gamers vs. MS “Boss Battles” July campaign. How long will the stream be? Well, that’s up to you with your donations! For every dollar (Canadian) raised before the start of the stream, one minute will be added to the clock. However, it doesn’t end there. During the stream itself, every two dollars (Canadian) donated will add another minute to the live stream. Donations are being handled by Tiltify; you can donate here!
Canada has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the world, with an estimated 90,000 Canadians living with the disease. MS is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Since that includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve, MS can affect vision, memory, balance and mobility. The disease attacks myelin, the protective covering of the nerves, causing inflammation and often damaging the myelin. Myelin is necessary for the transmission of nerve impulses through nerve fibres. Currently there is no cure, but each day researchers are learning more about what causes MS and are zeroing in on ways to prevent it.
Using Better Language In Clues
I saw a smattering of complaints—not that many, but enough for me to note—of complaints about the categorization of Tuesday’s Final Jeopardy clue. (For those who don’t remember, the category was “Man-Made Objects.”) Because of the inherently gendered meaning of “man”, the writers should be more cognizant of this and should have seriously considered a different category, maybe “Manufactured Objects”? There were certainly other choices that could be made that have a significantly less gendered connotation. It would be nice for Jeopardy! to lead more by example and choose less gendered terminology in their writing.
Play The LearnedLeague Jeopardy! One-Day Special!
If you’re a member of LearnedLeague, I wanted to bring to your attention that our favorite show is the subject of a One-Day Special quiz on the day of the season finale (Friday). It’s been written by Tournament of Champions player rowan ward; I had the opportunity to play-test the question set, and I think that it’s an excellent set of questions about the show’s history!
When Will I Post My 2023 Playoffs Predictions?
With so much uncertainty, especially after Friday’s announcement of solidarity with the striking writers by Ray Lalonde and others, it will be impossible to predict the postseason—because we won’t know the actual tournament composition until the tournament tapes! Thus, while I will post general player rankings earlier this summer, I won’t be posting actual predictions until the tournament lineup is posted publicly (which, presumably, won’t be posted until the tournament has been taped.)
There’s A Very Simple Solution Here
With all of the consternation going on about the start of Season 40, there’s a very simple solution here that would pretty much solve everything, get the writers back to work, and give the fans a normal Season 40. Sony (and the rest of the AMPTP) needs to give the writers what they are asking for: fair working conditions, fair residuals, fair pay, protection against being replaced by AI writers, and more. Stop being greedy, bring the writers back to work, and all of these problems end.
In Conclusion:
There’s one week left, and it could be an interesting one. Let’s enjoy it!
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“constructed” or “fabricated” maybe?
I hope Sony and the AMPTP attend to reason.
I’d go with “constructed” as “fabricated” might be taken to mean “fictional”. The clue then sounds like it means IRL, but if a player had taken the category to mean fictional, it would take up extra seconds to reconcile.