Alex Trebek has died
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With the coronavirus, [our family] can't go out to eat, we can't go out to public places, even the park next door has limited its use. Here I am wanting to enjoy what might be the last of my days, and, what, I'm supposed to just stay at home and sit in a chair and stare into space? Actually, that doesn't sound too bad.
Except instead of a chair, I'll sit on the swing out in the yard. That's my favorite spot on the whole property. I used to do it with Mom. Just sit there and rock. No need to talk.
It's just very peaceful. I suppose the feeling I have sitting on that porch swing is similar to what people feel when they meditate, though I would never call it meditating. I just consider it goofing off, not doing anything.
Yep, I'll be perfectly content if that's how my story ends: sitting on the swing with the woman I love, my soul mate, and our two wonderful children nearby. I'll sit there for a while and then maybe the four of us will go for a walk, each day trying to walk a little farther than the last. We'll take things one step at a time, one day at a time.
In fact, I think I'll go sit in the swing for a bit right now. The weather is beautiful — the sun is shining into a mild, mild looking sky, and there's not a cloud in sight.
(copied from https://www.nextavenue.org/alex-trebek-in-his-own-words which has a couple more excerpts from the memoir)
My takeaway thought: No matter how rich, how successful or how famous - most of us get the most satisfaction from the simple things in life. Never take even those simple things for granted, they will be the memories you may most cherish.
The moments Trebek desribes are too fulfilling to be so precious. 80 years is a blink of an eye, and in my opinion, a soul like Trebek deserves much longer.
You were an incredibly kind, witty, and passionate role model. Your ability to be simultaneously no-nonsense yet fully human was was second to none. You will be missed greatly.
(For Jeopardy! fans, I believe the show producers approached Jennings earlier this year and he expressed interest in taking over as host.)
EDIT: Link to a placeholder NYT obit, which I'm sure will be updated shortly, courtesy of HN user scrollaway: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/08/arts/television/alex-treb...
It's worse for other relatives. A bunch of people I remembered from when I was smaller came to my sister's wedding. And they were old. :/
With your parents, at least it doesn't happen all at once.
Turns out I never saw them before, and I’ve been to all these “exotic” locations as the aspirations have been deeply woven into our society!
Everything is so familiar because the tropes have been done so many times since, even video games have spent the last few decades trying to accurately simulate these same circumstances, looking at you, Uncharted!
I got the biggest kick when he brought out a bottle of “Don Perignon, 1953”. I’m pretty sure HIRED sent me one of those from 2009 and my guests were very impressed and pleased when I used it.
He liked to verbally spar, always quick with a joke, a flair for the dramatic - a perfect fit for a TV quiz show host.
A small anecdote:
We filmed college Jeopardy in Columbus, Ohio. After taping was over, all of us contestants were all hanging out in the hotel lobby waiting for our flights.
Alex and the crew were doing some kind of local press thing in a nearby conference room.
Out of nowhere, into the hotel lobby walks .. Jerry Springer. He kind of just meandered into the lobby where we sitting and sat down, by himself, with no apparent agenda?
We being a bunch of not-too-shy college kids struck up a conversation and learned he was campaigning on behalf of some state Senator and they were going to use the same TV crew and setup that the Jeopardy! team was using to film some interviews.
He was very nice, and then Alex and the crew came out during a break and we all got a couple of pictures of us, Alex, and Jerry Springer.
A surreal meeting of two very different TV personalities!
RIP Alex, the coolest of the nerds!
IIRC, Springer was the mayor of Cincinnati for a bit. I seem to recall he also got busted passing a bad check to a hooker. I don't think hookers take checks anymore.
To make it fair, Prime Minister of the UK Boris Johnson was born in NYC.
I understand you indicated the actual reason 'film crew' but people in entertainment (or who write) often do similar in order to bank some content or idea for a future show. Talk to people see what's on their mind and then file it away for future reference. Comedians do that not like you get funny ideas sitting in a room not interacting with people.
> He was very nice,
When you think about it if you are a celebrity (and forgetting that you probably like attention) you have to be nice. You don't want people spreading around bad things about you. This is a theme that comes up a great deal.
It's like if someone shows up in the lobby for an interview. They are on their best behavior. Last thing they need is for someone (who they might talk to later) thinking they aren't nice.
I, after a couple of attempts ended up being "screened" for the the show, and failed - Baseball and Civil War were the topics. I still do bad in these topics. Still much to learn, but thanks to Mr.Trebek, America offers a fleeting familiarity.
If anyone wants to witness the two sides of American popular culture, spend an hour between 7-8pm on ABC - For the first half you will see Jeopardy, and then a cheerful but vapid (by design) Wheel of Fortune.
I was telling my wife, two days ago, that CNN political host John King will be a good stand-in for Mr.Trebek and today I heard this news.
I will miss Mr.Trebek in a way that will last my lifetime.
They film 5 episodes in a day, and maybe he had to re-record 1 or 2 per episode? I remember thinking that was incredible, and I still do. Even some of the things they re-recorded I wasn't sure why (possibly he mis-pronounced a foreign word I wasn't familiar with).
I guess taking 2 of my favorite musicians wasn't enough, 2020 had to come for the host of my favorite game show.
Rappers are getting murdered all the time lately, assuming that's what you're referring too. It's really gotten to me this year too, especially the situation in Chicago. I'm guessing most people on HN don't know that a very popular musician was killed just two days ago.
One of the highlights was he tried cocaine at a party via someone who worked for him (accountant maybe) and Alex said he didn’t like it. He also mentioned ingesting a large quantity of cannabis edibles not knowing you weren’t supposed to. He said he slept all weekend and didn’t realize how long he was out. Pretty interesting given I always thought he was a straight edge.
[Also can we fix the last name typo in the title please - it's Alex Trebek not Trebeck.]
There isn't. The shows are sold as a package to the local stations, and the local stations very often sell the advertising for both shows as a package to local businesses because the viewership is similar.
For people with the time to watch the whole two hours, it's an opportunity to show your message multiple times, which improves retention.
I'm sure there some purists as there are purists in anything. But purists are small portion of the overall audience.
The overlap fanbase between the shows were easily the majority. It's why they put the shows on one after another. Like you mentioned one got the 7pm slot and the other got the 7:30 slot. Networks do that when there is substantial common fanbase. They don't want a significant portion of the viewing audience to switch channels at 7:30.
I absolutely look down on the people on “Family Feud” - their weird semi-matching themed outfits, outrageously terrible answers to idiotic questions filled with sexual innuendo with the subtlety of a kick in the crotch - but I love to watch. It’s just more fun. I’m not sure what’s wrong with “Wheel of Fortune”. Pat and Vanna seem nice enough, but the show has the charm of a visit to the eye doctor.
But the truth is almost everyone who watches one watches the other, especially in markets where they air back to back.
Although if you read Pat's Twitter, I can see where you might get the red/blue thing from. Pat is a Trump superfan.
Though it’s called “trivia” there’s really nothing trivial about it. People who have no interest in these facts often express deep ignorance of the world and people from other cultures and places. I think people would come closer together and learn to reconcile our differences if we all took more of an interest in trivia.
Alex, you brought so much professionalism, dignity, and gravitas to the game show business. Your strength of voice and sincerity, together with the show’s simple format, elevated the game above the usual sensationalism and addictive patterns we see in other formats. Your tireless and selfless commitment to charity has made a difference to so many people around the world. Thank you and Rest In Peace.
I think this is an unfair statement. Certainly there are facts that are not interesting to a large majority, doesn't mean that they are ignorant. Personally my brain does not work well with remembering specific facts, I always admire people who can recall so easily.
Anyway I do not want to take away from the thread, just a bit surprised at that sweeping statement, unless I misinterpreted it.
In other words, even if you have no answer to the question, a curiousity or interest in the world makes Jeopardy appealing. People who lack that curiosity may "express deep ignorance of the world and people from other cultures and places," as the comment put it.
Personally my brain does not work well with remembering
specific facts, I always admire people who can recall so
easily.
It's "trivia", but it does not thrive on facts that may be memorized by rote, such as "in what year was Napolean born?" or some such thing.
Notice that the "answers" are referred to as clues; it is really a game of inference and connection-making.
Here's how you play: you think about the clue, and think about the fact that nearly all of the correct responses are things you have heard of.
For example, if the clue is, "This New York Yankee once said: [insert amusingly mangled malapropism here]" you can think: well, there are perhaps ten New York Yankees who might be considered household names to the average middle-aged American. But only one of them is known for malapropisms: Yogi Berra. So, it's probably him, even if you've never heard that particular quote. And the show stays honest to this unspoken conceit: they will generally not try to "trick" the player.
It's not a test of whether or not you memorized quotations by baseball players, or read a book about Yogi Berra. It's a test to see if you can make that connection.
You can see the contestants on the show making educated guesses like this, frequently, usually multiple times per game. Again, that's why it's also a game of wagering. You are not stating unequivocally that you know the correct response; you are essentially assessing your confidence level in your response.
I can thank Alex Trebek for inspiring the first ever computer program I made and actually distributed - a terrible "Jeopardy" game. Made it myself in Java (that I learned entirely from a paper book), then tried to "convert" the resulting JAR to an EXE using some weird converter, then burned the somewhat mangled result onto a bunch of DVD-Rs and gave them out. One of the most difficult parts of the "programming" process was copying and pasting the same few lines around the whole program, because I didn't yet fully understand scope and variables, hah.
"The Answer Is... : Reflections on My Life"
Rip Alex. Thanks for the good family times.
This is still one of my favourite moments https://youtu.be/OpKOm-LLRhA
Thanks for everything. Rest in Peace.
The fact that he continued working nearly until the end shows how much he truly loved his job.
He will be sorely missed.
I'm still hoping someone will release an archive of every single game. A torrent will do if the studio won't release it.
According to Wikipedia, Alex moved to the U.S. in 1973 at the age of 33, became a U.S. citizen in 1998 at the age of 58. Trebek is very much regarded as a Canadian, even in Canada. (RIP)
One of the favorite pastimes Canadians have is that of pointing out Canadians whom people think are Americans. Peter Jennings (also RIP) and Alex Trebek are usually the first two that come to mind. Then there's Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Joni Mitchell, etc. Recently I learned that HN's dang and sctb are Canadians too [1]...
[1] https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/th...
But he is an American. Dual citizenship doesn’t mean he isn’t American.
But they are americans. They chose to immigrate to the US and become americans. They didn't choose to be canadians. The only reason anyone knows about them is because of what they achieved in america as americans. They couldn't choose where they were born, but they could choose where they lived and died. Both chose america.
> One of the favorite pastimes Canadians have is that of pointing out Canadians whom people think are Americans.
Isn't it more like canadians pointing out the people who left canada to become americans? Isn't it rather pointing out canada as a failure and america as a success?
So, no, “immigrated to the US” does not mean “stopped being Canadian”, in either the sense of identity or legal citizenship.
I asked to get a photo with him, and of course he was perfectly gracious. Still have it somewhere.
Deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Thank you Mr Trebek. You played well. You fought well. For inspiring millions of young geeks, you are our champion tonight.
Everyone here should watch. It is the type of show that in general this crowd will enjoy. The host, Victoria Mitchell is wonderfully funny and quirky charming and also a poker player you may have seen. Her husband is the comedian David Mitchell.
I just can't fathom doing something you love so much until your very last breath. Trebek epitomized this - day after day - entertaining millions. A great man that will be sorely missed.
Randy was so inspiring and we’ve made no progress since his death from it in 2008.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=256623
We’ve added close to $20 trillion in debt since then. Better treatments for a few cancers should have been included in there.
Unfortunately there's not necessarily a cure that just needs more money. And enhanced screening has been a total dead end.
I remember people saying AIDS was impossible to treat. It took less than 10 years to find a treatment.
I’m in the camp that believes we will eventually find a solution sooner or later. I was hoping for sooner.
https://www.targetedonc.com/view/challenges-persist-with-car...
I simply wish we would have more of a “can do” attitude rather than “it’s a really hard problem. There’s nothing more we can do“
I'm willing to work on this. I have lots of relevant experience, and a can do attitude. I've tackled (mostly successfully) similar challenges like artificial hearts, dialysis, AI and surgical robots. Coincidentally I'm giving a talk on making an artificial heart in 45 mins at the hackaday remoticon: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/remoticon-tickets-115886905855
I'm confident we could solve this problem. Lets do it.
2. how can we model medicine to be more like open-source, where talented individuals can contribute in surgical ways, in case they can't afford to quit their jobs and focus on healthcare 100%?
The problem is--- staging isn't independent of the cancer's aggressiveness. If you detect a cancer at stage 2, it may be "earlier" detection, or it may be a much less aggressive cancer than one that would have reached stage 4 by the same point.
Some cancer screenings aren't recommended below whatever age because if you have a false positive test, it may lead to worse outcomes due to anxiety, low trust in future tests, or large costs and risks from additional more invasive tests the doctors feel they have to recommend [0]. The medium term solution should be better education and cleverer processes for recommending the invasive tests - if the false positive risk is high, maybe just make sure they get screened again every year - but instead it's just to stop the screening. Pick your own narrative about whether the root cause here is poor application of medical ethics, fear of malpractice cases, or the principal/agent problem in health insurance.
Having less information should never be advantageous. And if the benefits are marginal, doing millions of screens "for real" incentivizes improving the process far more then when it's just a research problem.
Is early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer something like this that needs to be fixed in the "system" or just something we don't have the technology to do?
[0] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041220002224.h... - I'm sure there are better resources but just one paper about how early screening can be "bad" even if it's free.
It's not false positives that are the issue. It's the huge number of false negatives. The standard biomarker we look for is only present in 70 percent of people with the cancer. Furthermore, only 5 percent of the people who present with CA 19-9 even have pancreatic cancer to begin with since it also presents with almost any other gut issue.
>which is a failure of the medical system rather than a deficiency in the medical technology.
The technology that we have to actually find pancreatic cancer is an endoscopy which is going to find a whole lot of stuff. 5 percent of the issues present on your pancreas are pancreatic cancer.
>Is early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer something like this that needs to be fixed in the "system" or just something we don't have the technology to do?
We simply don't have the technology. Below is a link with a bunch of statistics showing just how devilishly hard pancreatic cancer is to find before metastasis.
It's a slow, slow slog. But at least give the scientific world some credit. There's been a whole lot of improvements to cancer treatment in general in the past 12 years, and some small ones that are still very meaningful for some people for pancreatic cancer in the past decade (e.g., just in the past several months, Lynparza).
I think of Steve Jobs, which proves that neither money, nor power, nor prestige can buy what God has granted to all of us: Life.
Most likely by catching it very early.
There’s nothing arrogant about humanity working really hard to solve a problem.
I’m sure the Big Guy would rather we had spent the $2 trillion on cancer research instead of 2 wars.
The caveat was that the entire worlds source of these types of isotopes is only enough for one or two doses a day of targeted therapy.
The general theme of the talk was that centuries from now, this is what medicine will look like, but it will take humanity many years to raise the education threshold enough for people to want ‘nuclear’ in their backyard.
Another interesting tidbit was that the value of single fissile event used for medicine in this way was about ten thousand times more valuable than when used for energy generation.
Will Ken Jennings get past his tweet about people in wheelchairs?
It's not the best joke but he's also not wrong btw. Let's not suggest that having shriveled up wheelchair legs is a boon in the dating market. It's just not nice to point out such inconvenient truths.
I really really wish society to learn forgiveness. Life is too short - and the internet can be so incredibly destructive in its current lack of grace.
My comment is already getting too political and culture wars-ey to be suitable for HN, for me, but at the risk of pushing that further I would like to add this: the moral nitpicking and flogging of public figures needs to end.
There are real villains out there, like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby who need to be and have been held to account, and there are real issues out there, like ageism and sexism in hiring processes. Focusing on trivial matters like this not only doesn't help the movement to justice, but actively harms it.
A recent quote from Andrew Yang:
> “I would say, ‘Hey! I’m running for president!’ to a truck driver, retail worker, waitress in a diner, and they would say, ‘What party?’ And I’d say ‘Democrat’ and they would flinch like I said something really negative or I had just turned another color or something like that.” Yang told CNN host Don Lemon during a panel.
> “So you have to ask yourself, what has the Democratic Party been standing for in their minds?,” he continued. “And in their minds, the Democratic Party, unfortunately, has taken on this role of the coastal urban elites who are more concerned about policing various cultural issues than improving their way of life that has been declining for years.” [1]
[0]: https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/987423884436647936
[1]: https://nypost.com/2020/11/07/andrew-yang-calls-out-democrat...
You are not the authority on what constitutes "trivial matters". You read as someone extremely privileged, and entitled, who would rather have their own trespasses swept under the rug.
I don't, by the way, give a fuck about the Democratic party. I am not a member. I do not care what their reputation is.
In some countries, freedom of thought and speech is a basic human right.
You clearly can have the right to state your opinions. Other people also clearly have the right not to do business with you based on those stated opinions.
An anecdote: someone like Dave Chappelle is wildly popular on both the left and the right. Several friends of mine on the right devour his specials like a gourmet buffet. So when Chappelle gets up on stage and talks about his experiences with racism, police profiling, and inequality (as he did on yesterday's SNL monologue [0]), those same people on the right listen. They hear him. It moves the needle of justice forward by reaching an audience who otherwise wouldn't necessarily hear these stories.
Also, disabled people often date each other, which comes with some downsides (like not having an able-bodied partner to be a caretaker), but means you're shielded from that icky stigma and you don't have a partner who's ashamed of you.
Yes it's a horrible thing, yes it's horrible to tweet about... but you know what, it's also horrible to try to act like it's just not a hinderance and this kind of thing needs to be called out. It's great, in fact it's easier! No, it's not. It's significantly harder life. Nobody thinks "man, if I just woke up tomorrow without the use of the lower half of my body my dating life would be so much easier" because it wouldn't be easier, it'd be a great hurdle. In fact nearly everything would be harder. Again this doesn't mean you can't find happiness or that nobody will ever like you for you, I think that's literally impossible in this world, but this is unfortunately sure as hell not an easy path to either of those things. <- this also means you don't have to be in the same situation to not be "ashamed" of your partner, though some may certainly be it's not a requirement of how society operates.
I'm not sure you can make the jump "you could say the same thing about trans people" (more power to you) as the alternative to being or liking trans people is lying to yourself about who you like while the alternative to being disabled is being abled. One is all about who you are attracted to and who's attracted to you, the other is about being able or unable to use part of your body. Of course being true about the former leads to greater success in dating, the latter seems a bit of a stretch.
Could be wrong! But that was how I felt reading through this.
Do I defend the remark in question? No. But at least people should cut the shit and admit that saying something horribly inappropriate once in a while isn’t actually that weird. Funny how we all have people we know that have done this, often people like our close family members, then act like it’s the end of the world when someone moderately popular does it.
Let’s be realistic: nobody should care about this tweet. If it stops them from getting a job six years down the road, I would find that immensely more fucked up than the inappropriate joke itself. If Ken Jennings is actually a terrible person, it would probably manifest in more ways.
edit: Not that anyone thinks it would, but my opinion on this is not going to change due to a low score, so if you are stopping by to leave a vote please consider commenting to explain why you disagree. Otherwise, I am left puzzled.
If you think the joke is too offensive, I would be glad to read your reasoning. I think the joke has a few interpretations, and some are more offensive than others, so hearing someone else's thoughts would be interesting.
But it's hard not to read this comment as an attempt to stir shit up for kicks.
I'd love to know why is this allowed but Kobe threads were all removed?