Ken Jennings’ Jeopardy Run Over?
As some of you may know, and as I wrote about before, Ken Jennings has been on quite a run on Jeopardy. I think he’s up to 43 wins or so now, nearing $1.5 million in winnings.
Ah, but the rumors are spreading of his defeat. If you don’t like spoilers, don’t read any farther. Those interested, read on…
Last week, kottke.org first reported (and cnn.com and yahoo.com soon picked up the story) that Ken’s run ended in his 75th game, leaving with about $2.5 million in earnings
Later, the site reported the final Jeopardy question that partially led to his defeat.
The Category: Companies and Corporations.
The Answer: This company has a workforce of 17000 people, whose average working year is only 4 months long.
The Question: ???
Anyone have any guesses? The answer hasn’t been posted yet, so let’s see if we can come up with the correct response.
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Sep 13th, 2004 at 21:02:43
My initial thought was the IRS, but that’s a government agency, not a company. I also thought the NFL, but the season is actually longer than four months when you consider training camp, and each team is basically a company unto itself.
The answer that I’m agreeing with came from Paul C. He came up with H & R Block. Makes the most sense to me so far, though I’m not sure if they only have 17,000 people employed.
Anyone else have thoughts?
Sep 13th, 2004 at 23:07:22
I also was thinking somewhere along the line of a tax agency.
Sep 13th, 2004 at 23:10:34
Paul is right…. H&R Block. I could have won millions!!
Sep 13th, 2004 at 23:33:12
Geesh, Jeff, you say it like you know for a fact that’s the right answer… Have you heard that one before, or are you just that confident it’s right?
Sep 13th, 2004 at 23:35:05
Dang…and that was just off the top of my head! I want to watch just to see what he answered. I honestly could not thing of any other business that would employ a large workforce for such a short period of time. Excedpt Microsoft each time a service pack or major bug fix needs to be served.
Paul
Sep 14th, 2004 at 01:40:09
Some huge lifeguard contractor
the National Guard
Screen Actors Guild
None seem to work very well, but that’s my train of thought.
Sep 14th, 2004 at 01:42:38
Hrm, H&R block sounds like it has good potential.
The size is about right for Microsoft, I think, but, I doubt the four months. Now, maybe they start working 70 hours a week when they’re about to be late on a release. And the weeks after, until the release actually comes out. Or months.
Sep 14th, 2004 at 19:01:21
It is H&R Block.
Sep 16th, 2004 at 22:54:47
I’m with Jeff on the H&R Block thing. Either that or maybe it’s Santa’s workshop and they start working in the fall…. who knows…
Jan 31st, 2005 at 18:19:55
Its either H&R block or possibly Fed Ex, I don’t know, they both kinda make sense, but I’m leaning towards H&R Block