Gotta love the infinite wisdom that is “The Simpsons.” The headline to this post is my new response every time I flub up a question. (That won’t get old, right? I mean… I won’t have to say it a lot, right?) And for those of you who doubted that Arnold Schwartzenegger was the President in the Simpsons movie, to paraphrase a former Commander in Chief from Arkansas, ‘I feel your pain.’ Look at those two above — how can you tell the difference between them? Well, look at this image below:
NOW can you tell the difference? Come on, it’s so obvious! Look at the hair… and, well, of course the name tag also helps.
But the Rainier v. Arnold throwdown was the least of our worries last night, as the “Stumbling Drunks,” “Burning Betties,” and “They F’n Rock” outsmarted all the other smarties to crack their way into the Challenge Round. But they weren’t smart enough to answer the “Presidential Math” final question, and it all came down to the wager. “Burning Betties” was the most conservative of the nights candidates, betting less than the rest and coming out on top. “Stumbling Drunks” took the centrist route and landed second place, while “TFR” went big… and then went home (empty handed). Check out dem Betties at their post-quiz inauguration bash:
That’s all for this week! Be sure to drop by QUIZMASTER JPP’S FACEBOOK PAGE during the week — you never know what I may throw up there. (Bonus points? Secret hints? Finger tagging?) And until next week, be well, play hard, and try to remember everything you can…
They did not ask the math question at the Bridgeport, but I honestly think that the answer given was wrong. The problem part of the question is.
Number of days William Henry Harrison was in office..and the answer given was 30.
Here is a blurb about Harrison…
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was the ninth President of the United States, an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. The oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the United States Declaration of Independence, Harrison died on his THIRTY-SECOND DAY in office[1] of complications from a cold – the shortest tenure in United States presidential history.
So even if you claim that the 32nd day was not a full day, thats 31 days of Harrison right there.
He was sworn in on March 4th 1841…and died on April 4th 1841. Its all semantics about what are “complete days”, and because of that its a terribly written question.
So if he was sworn in at two in the afternoon on March 4th, but didnt die until 4 in the afternoon on April 4th, is that a complete day?
Thank god we didnt get this question, because I think there would have been a riot. The writers of this quiz need to really think about questions like that, and keep in mind that they need to be ABSOLUTE facts, and not just opinions.
Sorry to hear of your disappointment, Barry. The question was, in my opinion, rock solid. It was tough, it was involved, but it was very clear in what it asked for. Here it is verbatim as it was on the sheet, so you can see where emphasis was added to make it doubly clear:
“What is the number of FULL days William Henry Harrison was in office before he died, TIMES the number of FULL years FDR was in office, MINUS John F. Kennedy’s age when he took office?”
The fact is, 30 is correct for the number of FULL days Harrison was in office. His first day (March 4) didn’t count because it wasn’t a full day, and his date of death (April 4) didn’t count, because it was also not a full day. If you count the days from March 5 to April 3, you’ll get 30. All of these things are absolute facts, and work within the confines set forth within the question.
No..because you have no idea what time of day Harrison was sworn in, nor when he died. Do you see the issues there?
I pointed out the issues there above. If he is sworn in, in the morning, but doesnt die until the evening, thats more than a “full day” right there. He died on his 32nd day in office….so how can we lose two full days there? Is it only midnight to midnight listed as “full days”? Again thats very subjective, and no where does it say what the definition of a full day is in the question. If I wake up at eight in the morning, and stay awake until eight the following morning, have I stayed awake a full day? Or is it only if I wake up at midnight, and stay awake until the following midnight?
Its so freaking ambiguous. Those arent facts at all. Thats a question that opens you up to all sorts of challenges. We did not have this question at The Bridgeport, so I dont have a horse in this race, but you honestly think its “rock solid”?
In keeping with the theme of the title blog post, we remembered the length of time thanks to The Simpsons song; “We are the Mediocre Presidents”
“We are the mediocre presidents
You won’t find our faces on dollars or on cents
There’s Taylor, there’s Tyler, there’s Fillmore and there’s Hayes!
There’s William Henry Harrison – “I died in thirty days!”
We are the adequate, forgettable, occasionally regrettableCaretaker presidents of the U.S.A!”
And we all know that The Simpsons are never wrong.
Here……just a quick final bit of info here. A direct quote on how long Harrison served.
“Harrison served the shortest term of any American president: March 4 – April 4, 1841, 31 days, twelve hours, and 30 minutes”
Thats more than 31 full days….as far as “full days” go.
Unfortunately that’s not accurate, and we don’t allow our fact checkers to use Wikipedia to validate questions. (That quote appeared on Wikipedia, so I assume that’s where you got it from.)
Let’s say Harrison was sworn in around noontime (I’m guessing they did it around noon back then, too). He died at 12:30am on 4/4. So, whether it was midnight-to-midnight days or days adding up in 24-hour blocks, he was still only in office for 30 full days.
But regardless, I think the fact that we’ve had to go back and forth on it this much shows that the question could have been better. I’ll send this up the flagpole and make sure the writers learn from it.
And I hope to see you at the Belmont on Thursday, Barry — because I’m going to ask some real dick questions, just for you.
Ha…thanks John. See you soon. Looking forward to dick questions. Damn that sounds bad doesn’t it?
Alright, so to be clear (because there’s more quizzin’ to be had this week), according to the Oxford English Dictionary:
“Harrison, William Henry (1773–1841), 9th president of the U.S…. he was a popular candidate for the presidency but served only 32 days before he died of pneumonia.”
But since he was sworn in on one day and died on another, only 30 of those days were full (and this last bit is NOT in the OED).
Seriously? The bottom line is that the question sucks. Instead of worrying about what ‘full day’ means, you should ask yourself what ‘trivia’ means. And if the oxford english dictionary doesn’t clarify, feel free to check wikipedia…
Yeah, WTF?! That dumb question didn’t even specify Earth days! And if it had, everyone knows the Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing down, so does it mean 1841-length days or does it mean 2010-length days? This kind of ambiguity is unacceptable!
Nevermind that we couldn’t even do the math right for the wrong numbers we made up; that’s completely irrelevant.
Wait, I have a better quote for you “It depends on what your definition of the word “is” is…” That sound familiar?
Dave, it’s all moot! Hope to see ya next week.