Wednesday, May 30, 2007
1986: JON PENNINGTON - National Spelling Bee | TIME
"YOU DON'T WANT TO GIVE THE IMPRESSION OF HAVING PEAKED AT 14": Time Magazine profiles each of the National Spelling Bee champions from 1986-1992, all of whom have fond memories about the experience and seem to be high-achievers today. "How many people can say they were number one in their field at one time in their life?" asks 1989 winner Scott Isaacs, who doesn't often talk about the championship or list it on his office website. "In some ways, I view it as bragging. I ask myself if it's really germane to the conversation, would people be impressed or would they be put off? Some friends don't know, a lot of acquaintances don't know. It's almost kind of like a private little joy of my own."
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
A THOUSAND POINTS OF LIGHT: Today, I received one of those endless fliers from an expert witness service. They had a list of every conceivable kind of expert and, since I'm looking for an expert in an obscure field of late, I flipped through the list. There are some mighty obscure fields out there, but for all of them, I could conceive a reason to hire them: crowd control, suicidology, structural pest control. And then I saw "astronomy."
Now, I'm more of a bug for astronomy than anyone I know. But with the exception of "telescope manufacturing defect" can anyone in our readership please suggest a need for an expert astronomy witness? The more plausible, the better. But any reasonable rationale will suffice.
Now, I'm more of a bug for astronomy than anyone I know. But with the exception of "telescope manufacturing defect" can anyone in our readership please suggest a need for an expert astronomy witness? The more plausible, the better. But any reasonable rationale will suffice.
A-N-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-I-O-N: We should talk a bit about how the Bee actually works tomorrow. Here are the Rules.
The 286 spellers first will participate in a 25-word multiple-choice, written round with words of increasing difficulty like this. Then everybody has one turn at the microphone with a pretty damn hard word. The kids receive one point for each written word correct, plus three points if they get the oral word correctly for a maximum potential of 28 points. The 90 kids with the highest scores (and then including all those tied with whoever's in 90th) continue to the rest of the competition, which according to Sean Mussenden last year required a score of 21.
That's where the part of the competition that's most familiar kicks in. Single elimination, at the microphone, increasing difficulty each round (though round 3 is actually pretty easy by Bee standards.) They'll do a round or two of that on Wednesday, and continue Thursday morning until a round ends with around 10 kids, at which point they'll shut things down until prime time.
What can the kids ask of Dr. Jacque Bailly? Definition, sentence, part of speech, language(s) of origin, and alternate pronunciation(s). "If the speller wishes to ask if the dictionary lists a specific root word as the root of the word to be spelled, the speller must specify a pronunciation of the root (not a spelling), its language, and its definition." There are time constraints, and a speller can be disqualified for a variety of reasons, including not starting to spell when it's time, engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct, or someone "who, in the process of spelling, utters unintelligible or nonsense sounds."
[We'll be running a pool again this year, with the rules the same as last year. It'll open tomorrow afternoon and close at noon on Thursday.]
We'll go over the rules for the ending later, but I wanted to say a word about why we do this every year: it's because these are great kids who deserve praise and public attention, and they worked their asses off to get to D.C. The best way we can show respect for what they do is to take it seriously -- with a sense of humor, of course -- but always standing in awe of the fact that they can do something at age 10-14 that we can't do now ourselves as grownups.
Back in 2005, we rooted for South Carolina's Morgan Foster Gilliam, then the youngest entrant at age 9, and swore she'd be back some day. So did her mom, commenting here. Now, two years later, she has returned to the Finals, and I'm glad to see her mom has kept her sane:
The 286 spellers first will participate in a 25-word multiple-choice, written round with words of increasing difficulty like this. Then everybody has one turn at the microphone with a pretty damn hard word. The kids receive one point for each written word correct, plus three points if they get the oral word correctly for a maximum potential of 28 points. The 90 kids with the highest scores (and then including all those tied with whoever's in 90th) continue to the rest of the competition, which according to Sean Mussenden last year required a score of 21.
That's where the part of the competition that's most familiar kicks in. Single elimination, at the microphone, increasing difficulty each round (though round 3 is actually pretty easy by Bee standards.) They'll do a round or two of that on Wednesday, and continue Thursday morning until a round ends with around 10 kids, at which point they'll shut things down until prime time.
What can the kids ask of Dr. Jacque Bailly? Definition, sentence, part of speech, language(s) of origin, and alternate pronunciation(s). "If the speller wishes to ask if the dictionary lists a specific root word as the root of the word to be spelled, the speller must specify a pronunciation of the root (not a spelling), its language, and its definition." There are time constraints, and a speller can be disqualified for a variety of reasons, including not starting to spell when it's time, engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct, or someone "who, in the process of spelling, utters unintelligible or nonsense sounds."
[We'll be running a pool again this year, with the rules the same as last year. It'll open tomorrow afternoon and close at noon on Thursday.]
We'll go over the rules for the ending later, but I wanted to say a word about why we do this every year: it's because these are great kids who deserve praise and public attention, and they worked their asses off to get to D.C. The best way we can show respect for what they do is to take it seriously -- with a sense of humor, of course -- but always standing in awe of the fact that they can do something at age 10-14 that we can't do now ourselves as grownups.
Back in 2005, we rooted for South Carolina's Morgan Foster Gilliam, then the youngest entrant at age 9, and swore she'd be back some day. So did her mom, commenting here. Now, two years later, she has returned to the Finals, and I'm glad to see her mom has kept her sane:
The spelling bee semi-finals will be on ESPN on Thursday morning. The finals will be on ABC Thursday night at 8pm. I hope to see Morgan reach both levels, but honestly, I’m not sure she has studied enough for that. She has so much going on in her life and spelling bees are just one part of it. The kids I have seen as finalists eat, sleep, and breathe spelling. Morgan is brilliant but gets to the level she is at mainly through sheer brain power and not from studying. So, we’ll see what happens. I’m not sure that I would want her to be a speller robot anyway.
courant.com | From A `Survivor' Loincloth To A Suit
"I'M A BLUE COLLAR GUY WHO PAID FOR THREE COLLEGE EDUCATIONS WITH 39 DAYS OF WORK": Last seen kicking ass in the greatest Final Three immunity challenge ever, Survivor 10 winner Fireman Tom Westman has found that a million dollars doesn't quite go very far when you've got three 529 plans to fund, and fame can lapse as soon as a new victor is crowned. So what's he doing now? Selling insurance. "I want to be seen as the group benefits rep from The Hartford, not the guy running around in a loincloth," he said. "This is my new tribe now."
I AM GUESSING NO. 232 IS ALREADY ADAM'S SENTIMENTAL FAVORITE: CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell handicaps the Bee, calling his and everyone's favorite, Samir, the Peyton Manning of Spelling Bee.
Further down, Rovell has an update on the NFL's attempt to trademark the phrase "The Big Game."
Further down, Rovell has an update on the NFL's attempt to trademark the phrase "The Big Game."
NOT NOW, I HAVE C-E-P-H-A-L-A-L-G-I-A: Scattered among some of the traditional titles like Casablanca and Say Anything on Nerve's list of the 50 Best Date Movies are some offbeat selections such as Star Wars, The Jerk and The Triplets of Belleville. But perhaps the most unusual selection--unusual I should say unless you are a dedicated fan of this blog--is No. 40, Spellbound (the documentary, not the Hitchcock classic).
So, folks, what were some of your best/worst date movie memories? My favorite has to be watching Uptown Saturday Night in college with nothing for nourishment but a bag of Oreos and a cold bottle of Jagermeister. The worst had to be seeing the Cape Fear remake in a cavernous, run-down theater with three other people in the audience.
So, folks, what were some of your best/worst date movie memories? My favorite has to be watching Uptown Saturday Night in college with nothing for nourishment but a bag of Oreos and a cold bottle of Jagermeister. The worst had to be seeing the Cape Fear remake in a cavernous, run-down theater with three other people in the audience.
NO ONE PUTS BABY ON A CONSOLE: In a sign that we've actually run out of content to make video games out of, Dirty Dancing: The Video Game will arrive on PC later this year.
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