With regard to an owl’s way of hearing, they rejected his simile of “radar” but accepted “satellite” (WTF?!?); in Final Jeopardy, they rejected his answer “Witness Relocation Program” but accepted “Witness Protection Program.”
In his place, I’d be pretty POed! :mad:
RADAR specifically refers to radio frequency waves which an owl doesn’t use, so that one’s not too bad to call an incorrect answer, but why they accepted “satellite” is beyond me.
On the plus side, we got to see Alex wince at a poorly written clue. (“Having fun at the beach/beech”)
that beech clue was so stupid (imo)
An owl’s face is shaped somewhat like a satellite dish to funnel sound to their ears. As noted, owls don’t use radar, that’s bats.
No, it’s called sonar. Sound waves = sonar.
True; but either way, echolocation is about bats, not owls.
That’s what I was thinking too. The clue referred to the shape of the owl’s face, so my immediate response was just “dish.”
What exactly was the owl clue?
They haven’t posted it at Jeopardy! Archives yet, but it was something like “The shape of this owl’s face [a particular species] helps to focus sound waves, as in this kind of technology [or maybe device; I don’t recall the exact wording].”
Now, I thought the owl answer was supposed to be “parabola,” so I was surprised when they accepted satellite. How is an owl’s face shaped like a satellite?
I didn’t question the Final Jeopardy decision. The program has, AFAIK, always been popularly referred to as the Witness Protection Program, and Wikipedia mentions that it is “also known as” the Witness Security Program, or WITSEC :dubious:. They’re usually extra picky on Final Jeopardy answer components, even though they’ll let you get away with misspelling something.
The Witness Relocation Program is a separate entity sponsered by HUD. Link.
The category was Enraptured With Raptors. The clue:
Note this was a video clue, with one of the clue crew reciting the clue in front of one of the owls in question; the video also briefly showed a close-up of the owl’s face.
Responses:
Mike: What is a radar receiver?
Alex: No.
Shanna: What is a satellite?
Alex: We’ll accept that; satellite or antenna, correct.
I’d agree “radar receiver” is wrong, but I’d also agree “satellite” seems incorrect or at least incomplete as well.
In Final Jeopardy, the category was Government Programs, and the clue was “Over 8,000 people have been saved from harm by this program authorized in a 1970 law, but we’re not allowed to name any.”
“Witness Relocation Program” is clearly wrong; that is actually a totally different government program (no, I didn’t know that before I looked it up). The “Witness Protection Program” is the popularly-known name of the program authorized in 1970:
What would have been interesting is if someone had actually answered “Witness Security Program” as that is the technically correct name; I’d think that would have been judged correct as well.
The wording “its enormous facial disk that acts like one of these receivers” could easily be interpreted as a radar receiver, a radio telescope, a TV dish… “Satellite” by itself does not imply a dish at all, nor is it necessarily a receiver.
I certainly didn’t know the difference between the two (or “three”) federal programs, or even that there was more than one. Amazing how one word and a technicality can screw you…
I think they goofed on the owl clue. This article about the great gray owl and its large face describes it as a “radar dish.”
A satellite is not an antenna, but a satellite probably has multiple antennae. They should have rejected satellite if they rejected radar receiver.
A satellite dish also doesn’t work like the owls face at all.
I didn’t see that show, but satellite is wrong. Artificial satellite, maybe, but there are or were plenty up there without any dishes on them.
A satellite would be Earth’s moon. A sphere.
The clue already said receivers, right? So, the answer/question satellite could complete it.
This kind of receiver. What is Satellite?
Neither of those answers made much sense to me. I would have said parabolic receiver. However, I see Wiki calls it a parabolic antenna. It also mentions they are used for both satellite communications and radar reception.
I wouldn’t have accepted satellite, antenna, or radar by itself. But if the first two were acceptable, I can’t see how the last wasn’t.