5 ms·

I was actually surprised at how funny he is - many times I find the personality type that supports being so good at that type of thing tends to be lacking in so

I was actually surprised at how funny he is - many times I find the personality type that supports being so good at that type of thing tends to be lacking in social skills (broad generalization of course) but he comes off as humble, personable and funny. His answer to the Now do you know how people felt when they were competing against you? question was especially interesting to me.

icegreentea 16y ago
At one point during his winning streak, he purposefully answered incorrectly so he could say "what is a hoe". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKA0K7bf7Rc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKA0K7bf7Rc Well, I think it was purposefully anyways. (btw, he's a Mormon)
- andrewce 16y ago
  I watched that match back in high school (his streak corresponded with my own academic bowl team's season), and "What is a hoe?" was my response, too. I'd never heard that semantic sense of "rake" before, and felt somewhat scandalized that "hoe" would be a response on national television (while in high school, I felt great affinity toward the puritans).
  - ojbyrne 16y ago
    I have known that from this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Rake%27s_Progress http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Rake%27s_Progress
- philwelch 16y ago
  Does anyone else think "hoe" is actually a valid answer there, though? It's hard to tell from Ken's facial expression whether he "purposefully answered incorrectly" or just found himself amused at the situation.
  - bena 16y ago
    Hoe is not a valid answer because the other word you are looking for is "ho" which is a shortened form of "whore". Rake, on the other hand, is a homonym.
lpolovets 16y ago
He gave an author talk at Google a few years back, and he was surprisingly charismatic and hilarious. 50 minute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YMRVwdeHB4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YMRVwdeHB4
Andrenid 16y ago
Not being from the US (and not getting Jeopardy in my country), i've never heard of this guy. He's incredibly entertaining in this interview, definitely caught me off guard considering how serious and straight-faced he seemed throughout the Watson matches (Thanks, YouTube). This interview is the funniest thing i've read today (3 hour work commute, I read LOTS.) Oh, and did anyone else keep wanting to upvote his answers?
- bmelton 16y ago
  Ken Jennings got famous as being the longest-lasting Jeopardy contestant ever. He remained undefeated in Jeopardy for over 70 games, and won over 2 million dollars. He was very likeable on the show as well, especially given that we were able to enjoy so much of the show with him on it, which is unusual for contestants. He's somewhat notorious in the IT industry because his day job (not sure if he still holds it) was a programmer, which at least endeared him to me.
  - lylejohnson 16y ago
    Notorious?
    - jcsalterego 16y ago
      As in the Duran Duran song
    - bmelton 16y ago
      Notorious: publicly or generally known, as for a particular trait It's an acceptable usage, though I freely concede I overuse it when 'famous' would be more easily understood.
      - lylejohnson 16y ago
        Ah, OK. Given the negative connotation (at least for its more common usage) I was wondering if there was some Ken Jennings backlash out there that I'd missed.
zach 16y ago
Ken is super-great. He was a fun and friendly guy when I met him at a book signing. I've become a regular reader of his blog, where he shares random trivia and his love of cinema, hipster bands and the 1980's era of Games Magazine. And if you noticed he's a computer programmer and you're wondering, the answer is emacs.
- SoftwareMaven 16y ago
  Of course it's emacs. He can actually remember all of the commands, functions, variables, and key bindings. (Before people get their flamethrowers out, I spend more time in emacs than any other piece of software I own.)
  - jodrellblank 16y ago
    And the rest of your time in a text editor, right?
    - SoftwareMaven 16y ago
      I spend so much time in it looking for the "optimal" way to do what I'm trying to do. I know there's a command for it somewhere!
- gthank 16y ago
  That's too bad about emacs. I was really starting to like him. ;-)
- jimmyjim 16y ago
  > ..and you're wondering, the answer is emacs. He blog doesn't say anything about him using emacs. Just out of curiosity, can you link to where there's any sort of discussion about his setup?
  - zach 16y ago
    He mentioned it on his forums once, way back in 2007 when I was preparing to be on the show myself: http://www.ken-jennings.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?p=12616#12616 http://www.ken-jennings.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?p=12... (Tuesday Trivia is his weekly email trivia contest.)
bitwize 16y ago
That's odd, I've always thought that given its college-bowl atmosphere, Jeopardy! is uniquely poised to attract people who are both erudite and of quick wit. The guy who hacked Press Your Luck fits more your stereotype; given its flashing lights and general brouhaha, PYL seems more of a magnet for that sort than Jeopardy!. There are also quite a lot of that sort in The Price is Right fandom (yes, it has a fandom!).
m_myers 16y ago
His Twitter feed is worth a read too, if it's legit (I guess he's not notable enough to rate a checkmark): http://twitter.com/kenjennings http://twitter.com/kenjennings "@IBMWatson, I'm-a let you finish, but homo sapiens is one of the smartest species of all time."
- ydant 16y ago
  I was curious, and looked through his blog - he references that twitter account as his own here: http://ken-jennings.com/blog/?p=2437 http://ken-jennings.com/blog/?p=2437
ashbrahma 16y ago
If you are trivia geek like me, you should sign up for his Tuesday Trivia emails.. Send an email to tuesdaytrivia@ken-jennings.com to subscribe...

icegreentea 16y ago

At one point during his winning streak, he purposefully answered incorrectly so he could say "what is a hoe". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKA0K7bf7Rc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKA0K7bf7Rc Well, I think it was purposefully anyways. (btw, he's a Mormon)

andrewce 16y ago
I watched that match back in high school (his streak corresponded with my own academic bowl team's season), and "What is a hoe?" was my response, too. I'd never heard that semantic sense of "rake" before, and felt somewhat scandalized that "hoe" would be a response on national television (while in high school, I felt great affinity toward the puritans).
- ojbyrne 16y ago
  I have known that from this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Rake%27s_Progress http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Rake%27s_Progress
philwelch 16y ago
Does anyone else think "hoe" is actually a valid answer there, though? It's hard to tell from Ken's facial expression whether he "purposefully answered incorrectly" or just found himself amused at the situation.
- bena 16y ago
  Hoe is not a valid answer because the other word you are looking for is "ho" which is a shortened form of "whore". Rake, on the other hand, is a homonym.

lpolovets 16y ago

He gave an author talk at Google a few years back, and he was surprisingly charismatic and hilarious. 50 minute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YMRVwdeHB4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YMRVwdeHB4

Andrenid 16y ago

Not being from the US (and not getting Jeopardy in my country), i've never heard of this guy. He's incredibly entertaining in this interview, definitely caught me off guard considering how serious and straight-faced he seemed throughout the Watson matches (Thanks, YouTube). This interview is the funniest thing i've read today (3 hour work commute, I read LOTS.) Oh, and did anyone else keep wanting to upvote his answers?

bmelton 16y ago
Ken Jennings got famous as being the longest-lasting Jeopardy contestant ever. He remained undefeated in Jeopardy for over 70 games, and won over 2 million dollars. He was very likeable on the show as well, especially given that we were able to enjoy so much of the show with him on it, which is unusual for contestants. He's somewhat notorious in the IT industry because his day job (not sure if he still holds it) was a programmer, which at least endeared him to me.
- lylejohnson 16y ago
  Notorious?
  - jcsalterego 16y ago
    As in the Duran Duran song
  - bmelton 16y ago
    Notorious: publicly or generally known, as for a particular trait It's an acceptable usage, though I freely concede I overuse it when 'famous' would be more easily understood.
    - lylejohnson 16y ago
      Ah, OK. Given the negative connotation (at least for its more common usage) I was wondering if there was some Ken Jennings backlash out there that I'd missed.

zach 16y ago

Ken is super-great. He was a fun and friendly guy when I met him at a book signing. I've become a regular reader of his blog, where he shares random trivia and his love of cinema, hipster bands and the 1980's era of Games Magazine. And if you noticed he's a computer programmer and you're wondering, the answer is emacs.

SoftwareMaven 16y ago
Of course it's emacs. He can actually remember all of the commands, functions, variables, and key bindings. (Before people get their flamethrowers out, I spend more time in emacs than any other piece of software I own.)
- jodrellblank 16y ago
  And the rest of your time in a text editor, right?
  - SoftwareMaven 16y ago
    I spend so much time in it looking for the "optimal" way to do what I'm trying to do. I know there's a command for it somewhere!
gthank 16y ago
That's too bad about emacs. I was really starting to like him. ;-)
jimmyjim 16y ago
> ..and you're wondering, the answer is emacs. He blog doesn't say anything about him using emacs. Just out of curiosity, can you link to where there's any sort of discussion about his setup?
- zach 16y ago
  He mentioned it on his forums once, way back in 2007 when I was preparing to be on the show myself: http://www.ken-jennings.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?p=12616#12616 http://www.ken-jennings.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?p=12... (Tuesday Trivia is his weekly email trivia contest.)

bitwize 16y ago

That's odd, I've always thought that given its college-bowl atmosphere, Jeopardy! is uniquely poised to attract people who are both erudite and of quick wit. The guy who hacked Press Your Luck fits more your stereotype; given its flashing lights and general brouhaha, PYL seems more of a magnet for that sort than Jeopardy!. There are also quite a lot of that sort in The Price is Right fandom (yes, it has a fandom!).

m_myers 16y ago

His Twitter feed is worth a read too, if it's legit (I guess he's not notable enough to rate a checkmark): http://twitter.com/kenjennings http://twitter.com/kenjennings "@IBMWatson, I'm-a let you finish, but homo sapiens is one of the smartest species of all time."

ydant 16y ago
I was curious, and looked through his blog - he references that twitter account as his own here: http://ken-jennings.com/blog/?p=2437 http://ken-jennings.com/blog/?p=2437

ashbrahma 16y ago

If you are trivia geek like me, you should sign up for his Tuesday Trivia emails.. Send an email to tuesdaytrivia@ken-jennings.com to subscribe...