Final Jeopardy: Plants (6-25-13)
The Final Jeopardy question (6/25/2013) in the category “Plants” was:
Economically speaking, this plant family with about 10,000 species is by far the most important.
6-day champ Andrew Moore is SO CLOSE to the No. 1 spot on the TOC list, with $137,803. Will he get there today or will one of these players take him down: John Simpson from Providence, RI and; Padraic Scanlan originally from Montreal, QU Canada?
Andrew found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Washington Math.” He was in the lead with $7,200, $5,800 more than Padraic in second place. He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
Obama’s number as president divided by the number of heads carved on Mount Rushmore. show
Andrew finished in the lead with $10,800. Padraic was second with $3,400 and John was last with $1,200.
Padraic found the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “Diaries & Journals.” He was in second place with $10,600, $7,400 less than Andrew’s lead. He bet $8,000 and he was RIGHT.
In January 1770 this explorer wrote, “Natives brought … the heads of the men they had lately kill’d”. show
Andrew found the last Daily Double in “American History.” He was in second place with $17,600, $2,200 behind Padraic’s lead. He also bet $8,000 and he was also RIGHT.
In 1977, on the 50th anniversary of their execution, a proclamation was issued saying this pair had been treated unjustly. show
Andrew finished in the lead with $26,400. Padraic was next with $21,400 and John was in third place with $5,200.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
“The grass family, known scientifically as the Poaceae or Gramineae (both names are correct), is one of the four largest families of flowering plants, with approximately 500 genera and 10,000 species. Grasses range from tiny inconspicuous herbs less than an inch high to the giant bamboos that grow to 130 feet tall. The family is undoubtedly the most important flowering plant family to humans, directly or indirectly providing more than 3/4 of our food….” (VirtualHerbarium.org)
John wrote down “grain.” He lost his $5,199 bet and finished with $1.00.
Padraic thought it was “rice.” That cost him $10,000 and he finished with $11,400.
Andrew wrote down “corn.” He lost his bet of $16,401, finishing with $9,999, and also losing the game to Padraic.
Looks like Padraic has attained his medium goal of a trip to Hawaii with his fiancée, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see if there’s any chance of tycoon-level wine purchasing by the case!
My answer to myself was ‘The Grasses’. I think I still hold with that.
For those botanists out there, isn’t it true that grain – rice and corn all belong to the grass family? Maybe each contestant was right but only partly.
Sorry Andrew, but glad to see you gone. You bounce around way too much. It gets annoying and you even do it when the doubles have been used.
Ian
as to the subject on fj: I really had no conscious guess, but “grass” popped into my mind immediately. maybe because it’s everywhere. it must be the most abundant organic substance on earth by volume. it grows out of every crack even in mountainous areas like Switzerland , Afghanistan etc.even weed is grass… not the way you guys might think now :), but in general. not to mention how much is cut daily or burns up.so the first instinct was right in that case. the contestants just overcomplicated it I think.”important” may have been a little misleading, because normally you don’t consider grass as “important” although it is. simply by binding water to the soil and thus making it possible for all other kind of plants and trees to grow. now look who’s overcomplicating it….