Hacker News Reader

Comment by ComputerGuru | Hacker News Reader

RIP, Alex. You were one of a kind and inspired millions. I am incredibly glad to have had the opportunity to meet you (and grateful to my wife for making it happen, as I would never have indulged myself). You played a huge role in making nerdy cool, in addition to bringing credibility back to trivia game shows.

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...

View on HN

I was hoping Sean Connery would take over for a week, but a little late for that dream too.

One of the unfortunate aspects of growing older is witnessing the passing of people we know and care about. While I enjoy “skilling up” seeing my parents age, while natural, is a bummer.

> seeing my parents age, while natural, is a bummer.

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.

Just now, I’ve been watching all the 007 movies from the beginning

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.

Ken Jennings has already stated he's not interest––listen to his episode on the podcast "People I Mostly Admire".

This is correct, Jennings said (a while back but probably still true) that he doesn't want it. Short version: he doesn't want to uproot his family from Seattle to LA or have to commute between them. He also doesn't really want any more of a showbiz career than he already has.

From what little I've had a chance to see, it seems like being in show business can be kind of awful for you. I wouldn't blame him at all for saying "This bit is enough for me, thanks".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com