Transcript 1/25/2008 - Adrian Beckley (carryover)

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Adrian Beckley
Santa Barbara, CA
Systems engineer

Adrian's friends have been very supportive of his appearance and believe that he can win the $1M. Adrian, however, doesn't believe he can do it. Meredith says that's exactly the wrong attitude. Adrian says he's watched the show and known all the questions up to the high levels, and sometimes he doesn't know the $8K question. He doesn't want to make a fool of himself.

Adrian has all his lifelines available.

$2K - Since 1935, Washington, D.C. has held a popular spring festival to celebrate the blossoming of what trees?

A - cherry
B - peach
C - apple
D - apricot

Adrian is from the West coast. His sister told him 7 or 8 times to go with his gut, so he does.

$4K - Derived from Latin roots meaning "removal of meat," what word commonly refers to the period preceding Lent?

A - Jubilee
B - Festival
C - Revelry
D - Carnival

Adrian says it's so much harder when sitting in the Hot Seat. If he had been at home he'd have said "Carnival" right away.

$8K - Mary J. Blige's double-platinum album "The Breakthrough" features the song "One", originally a hit for what band?

A - Coldplay
B - U2
C - Pearl Jam
D - Matchbox Twenty

Adrian was hoping he'd get a U2 question because it's the one band he knows a lot about.

$16K - The Bundestag and the Bundesrat are the two houses of parliament in what European nation?

A - Poland
B - Finland
C - The Netherlands
D - Germany

Adrian thinks this would be a good time to ask the audience.

ATA results:
A - 8%
B - 4%
C - 15%
D - 73%

Adrian goes with the audience's answer and will blame it on them if he loses.

$25K - In 2007, LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold became the first newspaper critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for writing about what?

A - food
B - cars
C - television
D - Web sites

Adrian knew he was going to get tripped up on a question about recent events. He has a guess but he wants to use his Phone-a-Friend. He starts to say he wants to call Olivia but then changes his mind and asks to call Kyle in Santa Barbara. Adrian reads the question twice and with seconds to spare Kyle says, "Food - 100% sure." Adrian says Kyle knows his stuff and goes with that answer.

Commercial break

Meredith asks if he's feeling better about himself. Adrian is happy with $25K but he doesn't want to stop there.

$50K - What is the minimum altitude to which a U.S. Air Force pilot must fly in order to be awarded astronaut wings?

A - 25 miles
B - 50 miles
C - 125 miles
D - 150 miles

Adrian wanted to save his switch-the-question lifeline but he doesn't want to miss the question so he decides to use it.

$50K (STQ) - Celebrating sixty years on the throne in 2006, Bhumibol Adulyedej is the reigning monarch of what country?

A - Nepal
B - Thailand
C - Cambodia
D - Malaysia

Adrian believes that Nepal just had some sort of upheaval and Thailand just had a coup. He guarantees that the computer will leave C and D because it always leaves the two most likely answers. Meredith says that would be conspiratorial. Adrian uses the 50/50 anyway, leaving B and C. Meredith says, "Well, well, well, Mr. Smarty Pants. What do you have to say now?" Adrian admits he was wrong. This helps and he goes with "C" as his final answer, leaving with $25K.

ANSWERS:
$2K - A (cherry)
$4K - D (Carnival)
$8K - B (U2)
$16K- D (Germany)
$25K - A (Food)
$50K - B (50 miles)
$50K - B (Thailand)

[Bob78164]

The show hasn't aired here yet or I'd do it. Would someone mind editing to add the remaining answers? Thanks. --Bob

[jarnon]

I suppose Adrian isn't old enough to remember King Sihanouk of Cambodia.

[tanstaafl2]

Nor apparently did he pay enough attention to the news to realize the the Thai coup affected the elected government but had no impact on the current monarchy. That has been the case for some time in Thailand. They don't mind kicking the elected government out of office periodically with the occasional military coup but they like keeping there king around!

At least he gets a few points for knowing about the coup at all. But he probably would prefer the extra 25K.

The one that surprised me was the other 50K Q. I would have thought the "threshold" of space was higher than 50 miles. I always thought it was 100 miles but I was confusing that with 100 kilometers or about 62 miles (neither of which was an answer to this question of course). That is the relatively arbitrary definition that NASA uses. The Air Force has apparently decided to fudge a bit more.

And of course the stratosphere, which contains the vast majority of air, ends at only about 50 klicks up.

It is indeed a thin envelope in which we live...

[ne1410s]

I would have thought the "threshold" of space was higher than 50 miles.

I seem to remember the X-15 pilots getting "astronaut" wings. I don't know if they were awarded at that time or after the Mercury program began. But, I do remember that 50 miles was the minimum limit.

[smilergrogan]

And of course the stratosphere, which contains the vast majority of air, ends at only about 50 klicks up.

The stratosphere contains much more volume, but the troposphere has about three times as much air because the air in the troposphere is much more dense.

At least that's what the professional atmospheric scientists say. Probably they just made that up to try to get more funding though. Better ask Rush what he thinks.

[NellyLunatic1980]

$25K: No clue. Better PAF.

$50K: No way. Switch.

$50K #2: Great switch! I knew this one immediately as I read his name in the recent obit of Galyani Vadhana, the princess of Thailand.

So I'm going for $100K with two lifelines at hand.

[earendel]

Adrian Beckley
Santa Barbara, CA
Systems engineer

Adrian's friends have been very supportive of his appearance and believe that he can win the $1M. Adrian, however, doesn't believe he can do it. Meredith says that's exactly the wrong attitude. Adrian says he's watched the show and known all the questions up to the high levels, and sometimes he doesn't know the $8K question. He doesn't want to make a fool of himself.

Welcome to the club, Adrian. But Meredith is right - you have to be confident as long as you can.

$2K - Since 1935, Washington, D.C. has held a popular spring festival to celebrate the blossoming of what trees?

A - cherry
B - peach
C - apple
D - apricot

Adrian is from the West coast. His sister told him 7 or 8 times to go with his gut, so he does.

Did the Cherry Blossom festival stop during WWII? I never thought about that before.

$8K - Mary J. Blige's double-platinum album "The Breakthrough" features the song "One", originally a hit for what band?

A - Coldplay
B - U2
C - Pearl Jam
D - Matchbox Twenty

Adrian was hoping he'd get a U2 question because it's the one band he knows a lot about.

I was expecting Three Dog Night as the answer (though technically, I think, their song was "One is the Loneliest Number"). I know enough about U2 to know they did a song by that name.

$16K - The Bundestag and the Bundesrat are the two houses of parliament in what European nation?

A - Poland
B - Finland
C - The Netherlands
D - Germany

Adrian thinks this would be a good time to ask the audience.

ATA results:
A - 8%
B - 4%
C - 15%
D - 73%

Adrian goes with the audience's answer and will blame it on them if he loses.

This seems like an extremely easy $16K question, given some that they've used lately. No WWOQ this.

$25K - In 2007, LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold became the first newspaper critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for writing about what?

A - food
B - cars
C - television
D - Web sites

Adrian knew he was going to get tripped up on a question about recent events. He has a guess but he wants to use his Phone-a-Friend. He starts to say he wants to call Olivia but then changes his mind and asks to call Kyle in Santa Barbara. Adrian reads the question twice and with seconds to spare Kyle says, "Food - 100% sure." Adrian says Kyle knows his stuff and goes with that answer.

This one, OTOH, is a toughie for me. Might as well ATA and see what happens.

$50K - What is the minimum altitude to which a U.S. Air Force pilot must fly in order to be awarded astronaut wings?

A - 25 miles
B - 50 miles
C - 125 miles
D - 150 miles

Adrian wanted to save his switch-the-question lifeline but he doesn't want to miss the question so he decides to use it.

I was torn between B and C, but then remembered that the X-15 pilots were awarded astronaut wings and they never went as high as 125 miles (which would be orbital distance)

$50K (STQ) - Celebrating sixty years on the throne in 2006, Bhumibol Adulyedej is the reigning monarch of what country?

A - Nepal
B - Thailand
C - Cambodia
D - Malaysia

Adrian believes that Nepal just had some sort of upheaval and Thailand just had a coup. He guarantees that the computer will leave C and D because it always leaves the two most likely answers. Meredith says that would be conspiratorial. Adrian uses the 50/50 anyway, leaving B and C. Meredith says, "Well, well, well, Mr. Smarty Pants. What do you have to say now?" Adrian admits he was wrong. This helps and he goes with "C" as his final answer, leaving with $25K.

I wouldn't have seen this question, but would have known the answer. So I'd be going for $100K with three lifelines still available.