Roger O Green

ARA: How’s Ken Jennings doing on JEOPARDY

pressure cookers

Kelly, who lives near Buffalo, asks an Ask Roger Anything question, wanting to know:

Ken Jennings: he’s been there a while now, so how’s he doing?

He’s doing fine. I could leave it at that, but his arc has been tricky. As you probably know, he was asked to be the first guest host after Alex Trebek died, and Alex had intimated that Ken should be his successor.

Ultimately, after all of the guest hosts made the situation a bit zooey, producer Mike Richards picked himself, but soon the hosts were Mayim Bialik and Ken. They seemed to get along, but fans either liked him and hated her or vice versa. At the time, I hated the big gap between the contestants’ responses and her saying it was correct or incorrect; my wife found it oddly endearing and suspenseful. No, I argued, it took longer, so the chance of the contestants clearing the board was lessened.

Matt Amodio, who won 38 games on the show, said that Mayim “was a great person to be around on the stage. Very nice, very fun. [But she] clearly is not the Jeopardy! fan that Ken is, and was just unable to bring that same level of knowledge and energy. As an experienced player like myself, it’s a little frustrating when the host doesn’t know to do something that I would have known just as a viewer of the show.” I agree with the sentiment.

Practice

Ultimately, when Mayim Bialik chose not to cross the picket line during the writers’ strike – even though it was not required (different union) – Ken got more repetitions as host. This made him better at the job, so they eventually squeezed Mayim out.

Most of the comments I read now are people complaining about whether a pronunciation or spelling should have been accepted. During the Trebek era, much of that was under the producers’ and judges’ purview. There have been a few cases when I thought they were pretty lax.

I didn’t know until recently that Ken Jennings talks to the contestants before the show, while Alex Trebek would never do that. This made Alex more imposing but may also make Ken more relatable. When I was on, I only heard Trebek before the games when the local press in Boston interviewed him.

Too many tournaments

I have to admit that I hate the Second Chance Tournament on JEOPARDY! This was a direct result of the writers’ strike when they chose to use previously selected questions. People didn’t win a game, but they brought them back one more chance at becoming a champion, and then three of them had a two-game final.

This happens for two weeks, and those winners, in turn, go to the Champions Wild Card tournament, which predates the Tournament of Champions. It’s way too many tournaments for my taste! Moreover, most of Ken’s contestant questions are of the “What did your friends say after your first appearance/how did you prepare for this appearance” mode; astonishingly boring.

One of the things Ken has done that some people think was really sweet is that the people who participate in the Second Chance Tournament on the second of their two days during the final get to thank people for supporting them in their JEOPARDY effort. This was something that Alex Trebek did near the end of a Tournament of Champions or another substantial tournament. Doing this during the Second Chance tournament frankly feels undeserved. It bugs me a little, but he’s doing it because Alex used to do it in the ToC.

Boom!

People have told me that “old-school” pressure cookers were terrifying appliances. We never had one. Did you, and if so, were they as scary as all that?

I’ve seen a few of them, but if we ever had one growing up, I don’t recall. I never owned one as an adult because of the stories I had heard, such as this comment from a 2023 post: “Old-time pressure cookers could be dangerous. They had several knobs and locks to secure the lid. If things weren’t lined up and tightened correctly, there could be an explosion when the pressure got high enough.”

So, I can totally see myself mucking that up. No, thanks.

The Siena Senators

sound like me

Apparently, a guy named Roger Owen Green from Albany, NY wrote a letter to the editor of the Albany Times Union that was published on December 22nd, 1988, about an issue at a local college. What’s weird about it is that the little snippet of a newspaper clipping seemed to come out of nowhere. Where had it been before? My wife found it on my dresser.

Anyway, it was titled The Siena Senators by the newspaper.

To the editor:

Your reader who did not understand the reasoning for Siena’s sports teams changing their designations from Indians may be interested to know that there are groups who are trying to get the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, and Washington Redskins to change their nicknames.

If these names are not offensive, then why have we not seen the Cincinnati Caucasians, the Oakland Orientals, or the Newark Negroes? The hue and cry would be vigorous and appropriate.

My recommendation for Siena is the Senators, a historic team in north Albany, and a nifty alliteration.

Ahead of the curve

I have no recollection of writing this. It does sound like me, though, so I can’t attribute it to someone else. When she read it, my daughter said, “Oh yeah, Roger’s always been woke.” I was woke before woke was a thing.

The historical reference was to the Albany Senators.

The Cleveland Indians became the Guardians after the 2021 season. Meanwhile, “the NFL‘s Redskins became the Washington Football Team in 2020, then the Commanders in 2022, but the team may return to the identity it previously held for 87 years.”

By the way, the college in Loudonville, Albany County, changed its nickname to the Saints because it’s a private Franciscan institution, which I found to be a reasonable choice.

The timing of the letter is interesting. It was right after I left FantaCo in November 1988 and before I started working for Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in February 1989. I don’t remember writing many letters to the editor, but I had time then.

Now, I would write something in my blog. And I was a Times Union blogger between 2008 and 2021, so that would have been an appropriate venue.

Musician/actor Steve Earle is 70

I Feel Alright

Someone must have given me a Steve Earle album or two back in the 1990s, probably I Feel Alright. His breakthrough album, Guitar Town, came out in 1986, going to #1 on the Billboard Country charts. I hadn’t thought of him so much as a country artist as a folk/Americana (whatever that means) musician.

He has long been an anti-war activist, opposing the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. He’s also been involved in other progressive/socialist causes. On one of his live albums, he mentioned that he sang at an early Farm Aid concert, admitting that it benefited him more than the farmers because “they didn’t know who the hell I was

His biography on Wikipedia is extensive. It mentioned his younger sister, Stacie Earle, and his late son, Justin Townes Earle (d. 2020), both of whom he has sung with. He’s been married seven times, including to one woman twice.

Writer

“Earle wrote and produced an off-Broadway play about the death of Karla Faye Tucker, the first woman executed since the death penalty was reinstated in Texas.“

He’s a bit of an iconoclast: In describing the writing of The Book I Swore I’d Never Write, he noted: “I’m writing a memoir,” he said in a to-be-published article. “I made a deal for two books, a memoir, and a novel. They made me an offer I couldn’t understand [laughs].”

He continued, “It’s not an autobiography, it’s a literary memoir, a little more abstract. It’s not like, ‘I was born a poor black child…’ and it doesn’t try and encompass every minute of my life. I think it’s about something besides me. It’s really about heroes and mentors, good and bad, so obviously the first part is about [renowned songwriter and Earle’s mentor] Townes [Van Zandt], before I started making records. The record-making aspect is in other books about me, I understand, but I’ve never read any of them.

Songs

Roughly leading to my favorite song

Goodbye’s All We’ve Got Left

The Galway Girl

John Walker’s Blues, the song about the captured American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, created controversy. Earle responded by appearing on various news and editorial programs and defending the song and his views on patriotism and terrorism.

Christmas In Washington

The Revolution Starts Now

Way Down The Hole. Earle’s version of Tom Waits‘ song was the “theme song for the fifth season of the HBO series The Wire, in which Earle appeared as a recovering drug addict and drug counselor named Walon (Earle’s character appears in the first, fourth, and fifth seasons).” Earle is a recovering heroin addict.

CCKMP – “Cocaine can’t kill my pain.”

Hard-Core Troubador

Day’s Aren’t Long Enough with Alison Moorer, his then-wife

The Devil’s Right Hand

Copperhead Road

Feel Alright

Ellis Unit One – Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture Dead Man Walking. Earle is an anti-death penalty advocate.

Guitar Town

You’re Still Standing There with Lucinda Williams

Valentine’s Day. My favorite February 14 lyrics

Steve Earle turns 70 today.

January rambling: Lebensraum

Monroe Doctrine

We’ll get to Lebensraum in a bit.

Global temperatures in 2024 shattered records, soaring past 1.5°C as extreme weather devastated millions. 26 Climate-Fueled Extreme Weather Events Killed at Least 3,700 People.

Big Agriculture Is Leading Us Into the Bird Flu Abyss: The federal government’s deference to agriculture industry interests has put the US at risk of a public health crisis.

How The Polio Vaccine Destroyed Trust In Healthcare (a bit of a misleading title, but not entirely wrong)

Bernie Sanders’ Prescription to ‘Make America Healthy Again’: “Our real problem is not so much a healthcare crisis as it is a political and economic one.”

A Disastrous Development in Our Response to Disasters

Veterans rights and discrimination: a guide

New VIP+ Special Report: Generative AI: Deepfakes & Digital Replicas

Aaron Brown, CNN Anchor During the Sept. 11 Attacks, Dies at 76

Ask Arthur 2024: Racism and change; Miscellany

The art of monotasking: “Being busy” doesn’t necessarily mean we’re doing what matters. Focusing your attention on only one task at a time is the secret to performing tasks correctly.

The Best Reviewed Broadway Shows of 2024

A book on Albany’s railroad history? Yes, please…

Embiggen – defined earlier than the Simpsons

“Explain a Movie Plot Badly” — A Fun Party Game

What era?

A real meditation on American greatness

When people would talk about MAGA, liberals wanted to know which era was the “great” one they wanted to go back to. Many thought they were talking about the 1950s before integration. Or the 1920s before the Great Depression and FDR regulations. Maybe they meant the 1880s and 90s during the Gilded Age.

I would have picked any of those. But I did not have on my bingo card the 1820s. We’re going back to the Monroe Doctrine era. The Daily Signal, a right-wing online publication, favorably suggested the same. The piece by Jarrett Stepman ends: “If Trump does revive some form of the Monroe Doctrine, it could represent a much-needed return to tradition and to a stronger foundation for U.S. security in an increasingly dangerous world.”

Suddenly, the January 7 press conference made sense. djt said he’d be renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

“The once and future president also doubled down on his aims to acquire Greenland, retake control of the Panama Canal, and put pressure on Canada to change its trade relations with the United States” which he voiced before Christmas.

Here’s former Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien on Fox News:

It’s strategically very important to the Arctic which is going to be the critical battleground of the future because as the climate gets warmer, the Arctic is going to be a pathway that maybe cuts down on the usage of the Panama Canal.

Or MAYBE we’re going to become 1930s Germany. Lebensraum is “the policy of Nazi Germany that involved expanding German territories to the east to provide land and material resources for the German people while driving out Jewish and Slavic people.”

The Corporate Giants Bankrolling the Inauguration: PAY to play.

The President Can Self-Pardon, but It Would Be an Impeachable Offense (CATO Institute, Dec 2020)

MUSIC

Bemba Colorá-Sheila E. ft. Gloria Estefan on Jimmy Kimmel; I see Rebecca Jade!

Coronation Procession by Ruth Gipps

You Get What You Give – New Radicals

Love In Action – Utopia

Rocket 88 – Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats

Coverville 1516 and 1517: The 2024 Coverville Countdown

Down By The Riverside – Elvis Presley · Carl Perkins · Jerry Lee Lewis · Johnny Cash. I bought this CD after I saw the Million Dollar Quartet musical

The theme from the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon show – Midtown

Tomorrow – Julie Benko and Cantor Azi Schwartz

Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 21: The final notes – all of the US pop #1s

Peter Yarrow Dies at 86. Leaving On A Jet Plane – Peter, Paul, and Mary

Sam Moore, who died at age 89, was more than a Soul Man – he was one of the 20th century’s great live performers. When Something Is Wrong With My Baby – Sam And Dave.

The CROWN Act

Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair

From the Crown Act website: “The CROWN Act was created in 2019 by Dove and the CROWN Coalition, in partnership with then State Senator Holly J. Mitchell of California, to ensure protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles by extending statutory protection to hair texture and protective styles such as braids, locs, twists, and knots in the workplace and public schools.”

Four years ago, John Oliver “discussed the discrimination faced by black people because of their hair.” He noted correctly, “White people really don’t need to have an opinion.”

While things have gotten better in recent years, “the 2023 CROWN Workplace Research Study notes, “race-based hair discrimination remains a systemic problem in the workplace – from hiring practices to daily workplace interactions – disproportionately impacting Black women’s employment opportunities and professional advancement.” And it applies to black men as well.

From the NAACP Legal Defense Fund page: “The impact of hair discrimination cannot be overstated. Schools and workplaces across the country often have dress codes and grooming policies in place prohibiting natural hairstyles, like afros, braids, Bantu knots, and locs. These policies that criminalize natural hair have been used to justify the removal of Black children from classrooms and adults from their employment…

“The CROWN Act would change that. The legislation demands protection against race-based hair discrimination in the workplace and in K-12 public and charter schools based on hair texture and protective styles. As of 2024, the CROWN Act has been enacted in 24 states.” CROWN stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.

The NIH also has a useful 2023 article about Hair Discrimination, Health, and Well-Being.

Give me a head with hair

I thought about this because the John Oliver piece reminded me of my sisters growing up and remembering the straightening comb our grandma Williams would apply to their hair. She heated the comb over the coal stove and applied it to their hair. I gathered that it hurt a lot because the comb got close to the scalp. And the process smelled; I still have an olfactory recollection of burning hair, which was awful.

When our daughter was a kid, neither her mother nor I were particularly adept at styling her hair. Let me be honest: we sucked at it. While we tried to comb it out, it was not sufficient. One of our daughter’s preschool teachers, a black woman, took it upon herself to work on our daughter’s hair, much to our mortification and appreciation in equal measure.

As a result, our daughter has learned a lot, and her hairstyle will change weekly, sometimes even daily. I’m awed by her adeptness at changing her style.

On New Year’s Day, she wore extensive braids, which she spent several hours assembling. We went out to a party at the house of a relative of my wife’s and had a reasonably good time. But she told us afterward that two folks at the party touched her hair unbidden. People, Keep Your Hands Off the Hair! It is, among many other things, an “othering” action that is unsettling.

It’s for her sake, as well as others, that I hope she does not have to deal with the hair discrimination that too many people have to address.