Re: OT Jeopardy Winner 12/15/2022

[ABLE1 <somebody@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 12/19/2022 10:47 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
> On 12/16/2022 4:34 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
>> On 12/16/2022 4:27 PM, ABLE1 wrote:
>>> On 12/16/2022 6:17 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
>>>> On 12/16/2022 3:42 PM, ABLE1 wrote:
>>>>> On 12/16/2022 5:13 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
>>>>>> On 12/16/2022 2:59 PM, ABLE1 wrote:
>>>>>>> On 12/16/2022 4:44 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
>>>>>>>> On 12/16/2022 1:40 PM, ABLE1 wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On 12/16/2022 3:25 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> On 12/15/2022 6:07 PM, ABLE1 wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> Hey Bob,
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Do you know or are you related to a "Ray La Londe"???
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Well either way he is now the Jeopardy Champion as of tonight!!
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> He won #32,600.   Maybe more on the way.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Just I would share the news!!
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Les
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> If I wasn't before I am now.  LOL.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Nah! I don't actually know all that many La Londes.  Less than
>>>>>>>>>> a hundred probably. We've been in country since the 1680s, but
>>>>>>>>>> most are in the north country with a few in the deep south.
>>>>>>>>>> Cajuns and Canuks. Mostly Canuks.  Far less of us are Damn
>>>>>>>>>> Yankees.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I don't have any immediate relationship I am aware of.  No,
>>>>>>>>>> I'm not directly related to that Canadian boxer either.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Now if you asked if I was related to that Bob La Londe who was
>>>>>>>>>> a research mechanic at NASA's Lewis Research Center who
>>>>>>>>>> retired in the early 1980s.  Yes.  That was my Grammpa.  If
>>>>>>>>>> you asked if I was related to the Paul La Londe who held
>>>>>>>>>> several patents for R&D work with Donn Products (USG NOW)
>>>>>>>>>> including the ceiling tile grid latch most of us have cursed
>>>>>>>>>> at one time or another. Yes.  He was my uncle.  If you asked
>>>>>>>>>> if I was related to the grocery and hardware store owner from
>>>>>>>>>> Dateland.  (2 miles north of Dateland actually.) Yep.  That's
>>>>>>>>>> my dad.  If you asked if I am related to that kid named Rob La
>>>>>>>>>> Londe who is a licensed pharmacy tech, crazy smart gamer (with
>>>>>>>>>> paid creds as a gamer), and mad higher math skills. Yep.
>>>>>>>>>> That's my son.  If you asked if I am related to that hack
>>>>>>>>>> shade tree button pushing wannabee not a real machinist.
>>>>>>>>>> That's me.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Sorry.  I do not know who Ray is.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> LOL thanks for the Family Tree!!
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Depending on how long this "Ray La Londe" can maintain his
>>>>>>>>> championship on Jeopardy it might be a good thought to check
>>>>>>>>> the DNA just to know.;-)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Last week the Champion walked out with more than $850,000.00
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Les
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It was probably more like $400,000 and many of the prizes
>>>>>>>> wouldn't be claimable if he couldn't independently pay the taxes
>>>>>>>> on them first.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I've day dreamed about winning the lottery so I only have to do
>>>>>>>> jobs that really interest me.  I've done the research.  LOL.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Jeopardy it is only ca$h.  No prizes!!  And yes, the actual
>>>>>>> take-home
>>>>>>> is always less than what is posted. It is the taxes! That will
>>>>>>> get you.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> But, forgetting the taxes, the WHAT IS LEFT!! Is not to be cried
>>>>>>> about!!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I gave up on the Lottery before the Flood of 1972!!
>>>>>>> They always say "You gotta to play to win"
>>>>>>> What they don't say is, You gotta to play to lose!!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ultimately you play to have fun.  (I don't buy lottery tickets but
>>>>>> my wife does once in a while.)Â  I used to enjoy playing low limit
>>>>>> 7 card stud in Vegas.  Even if I was losing I had fun.  Sometimes
>>>>>> I won and a few times I pulled crazy movie level bluffs and won
>>>>>> (and lost). Then everybody switched to high pressure, high speed
>>>>>> aggressive play Texas Holdem.  It wasn't fun for me.  I could hold
>>>>>> my own unless there were more than two or three good players at
>>>>>> the table, but it was not fun. It was hard work in your face game
>>>>>> play.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I figure one day I'll come home and find my wife gone with a
>>>>>> couple bags missing.  I'll know we finally won the lottery.  I'll
>>>>>> call her of course.  I hope I catch her before she gets to far out
>>>>>> to sea on her round the world cruise, so she can tell me where my
>>>>>> half is stashed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> Back in the 80's when I got my first computer "Timex Sinclair".  I
>>>>> got it on a 30 Day Trail basis for $99.99 and $39.99 for a extra
>>>>> 16K memory
>>>>> card.  It connected to my TV and the keyboard was about 4"x7" pressure
>>>>> sensitive keys.
>>>>> After I taught myself to write a Basic Language program to generate a
>>>>> random 3 digit number I ended up calling my Dad and told him what I
>>>>> got.
>>>>> He really never understood that "computer thing" but I said that I
>>>>> could
>>>>> generate a 3 digit number for him to play on the Lottery this week.
>>>>> He always played the Lottery!!  He said "Ok?"
>>>>>
>>>>> So I loaded the program and pressed Enter.
>>>>> The number that came up was 2 7 2
>>>>> I said to my Dad "The computer says 2 7 2 so play that number this
>>>>> week!
>>>>> He said "Well Ok  ?"
>>>>> Soooooo Friday night I am watching the News and at the end at
>>>>> 6:59pm they do that Lottery Drawing thing.
>>>>>
>>>>> The first number was a     2
>>>>> The Second number was a    7
>>>>> The third number was a     2
>>>>>
>>>>> I called my Dad and said "DAD!! DAD!! You Won!!!!
>>>>> There was dead silence............................
>>>>> I said Dad did you see the number came up you WON!!!
>>>>> He said, I forgot to buy a ticket.................
>>>>>
>>>>> He kicked himself for years after that.  And it never happened again!!
>>>>>
>>>>> Totally TRUE STORY!!!
>>>>>
>>>>> Oh, I ended up taking the Timex Sinclair back and got a refund.  Then
>>>>> went out and bought an ATARI 400Â  :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> Hope you enjoyed the History Story!!!
>>>>>
>>>>> Les
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Well if you just want to talk about antiques I learned to write
>>>> BASIC on a Commodore Pet 2001 with a push button tape drive.  That
>>>> would have been around 1977.  I wrote a numbers instead of colors
>>>> version of Master Mind on the Heathkit H89A and I was in the process
>>>> of writing a black jack program when APS dropped a wire across
>>>> another wire feeding a massive over voltage into every household in
>>>> the area.  I knew there was a problem when the surge suppressor
>>>> exploded and flames shot up the wall.
>>>>
>>>> The H89A with its Z80 could have eaten a half dozen Timex Sinclairs
>>>> before breakfast.
>>>>
>>>> I got to play with some Apple II+ computers in school in 81/82, but
>>>> it wasn't until 83 when I discovered the wide open world of the PC/XT.
>>>>
>>>> In the mid 90s a buddy of mine was setting up networks in local high
>>>> schools.  At one point he had a bunch of the old PC cases with the
>>>> holes for the two big connectors in the back.  He was whining
>>>> because he couldn't put AT boards in them.  I said, "I have a
>>>> Sawzall and a bunch of hole saws."Â  We were installing computers
>>>> with sushi cases before anybody knew what a sushi case was.
>>>>
>>>> Sushi cases were the nickname we gave the cheap Chinese stamped
>>>> cases that were not deburred.  The joke was you would get chopped up
>>>> like sushi building computers with them.  Used to buy a lot of that
>>>> stuff from Yokohama Telecom.  Back then the Computer Shopper was
>>>> still a great resource for computer businesses and serious hacks.  I
>>>> used to call Yokohama Telecom about once a week and ask what the
>>>> specials were. Often as the new tech was coming out they would be
>>>> selling the last gen at dumpster fire pricing.  I made a little bit
>>>> of coin on the bulletin boards upgrading PCs (XT and AT) for the
>>>> social computing crowd.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> A couple years earlier my buddy with the PC cases at one point was
>>>> just dumping XT hardware from his computer business.  I offered him
>>>> a dollar a board for everything he was going to throw in the trash.
>>>> I made a pretty good coin upgrading XTs for people.  For 20 dollars
>>>> I'd drop an RLL controller in a PC and give somebody 50% more drive
>>>> space.  For $30 I'd set them up with an MFM-A controller and almost
>>>> double their drive space.  All the folks who couldn't afford a real
>>>> computer store.  I'd give them a small bump instead of forcing them
>>>> to buy current generation right now like the computer stores.  The
>>>> PC I used for surfing the bulletin boards back then was an XT with a
>>>> 5 meg Seagate (not gig meg) hard drive and an RLL controller giving
>>>> me a whopping 7.5 meg.  I also had a 286 with a bit more specs, but
>>>> that was my play computer.  LOL.  I probably still threw away 75% of
>>>> those boards, but I made money first.
>>>>
>>>> That was also when I started writing the story, "Hackers & Phreakers
>>>> & Things That Go Bump In the Night," on the never ending story board
>>>> on Timelords BBS.  Things have changed so much since then I don't
>>>> know if its even still relevant.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Gee Whiz Bob, just think if you could go back and do it all over AGAIN!!
>>> With what you know NOW you could have made enough coin to take your wife
>>> on the around the world trip and beyond.......................
>>>
>>
>> It could have gone either way really.  At one point I was delivering
>> pizzas at night, doing shipping and receiving at a tool store during
>> the day, and working on computers when I could.  If an old Alarm Data
>> customer hadn't asked a buddy of mine to get me in touch with him to
>> work on his home computer I'd probably be a pizza store manager, and
>> the owner probably wouldn't have gone to jail for arson.
>>
>>
>
>
> Some La Londes have just allowed it to be shortened because large number
> of bureaucrats are to stupid to know how to manage a two word last name.
>
>

Well he is from Canada.....................