Final Jeopardy! 8/29, 9/1

8/29

Category: Ancient Times

Clue: Plutarch's chapter on Romulus quotes this much later man as saying, "I love treason but hate a traitor."

Answer: Julius Caesar

This was easy. Ancient times --> Romulus --> Rome --> "traitor" --> Caesar. It's a pretty obvious, straightforward deduction. Two of the contestants thought it was Cicero, which I suppose is a decent guess if you're just taking a wild stab at any important Roman names that come to mind. They both got the nationality right, at least.

And most people who think they hate anchovies don't realize that it's an ingredient in authentic Caesar salad dressing. Raw eggs, too.

9/1

Category: Inventors

Clue: In 1894, in his West Orange lab, Thomas Edison shot this sport, the first ever sporting event ever filmed.

Answer: Boxing match

In 9th grade Film Class, the first stuff we learned at the beginning of the year -- long before we got around to watching any actual movies -- was the historical and technical side of film-making: Eastman Kodak, celluloid, the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope, blah blah blah. And of course, Thomas Edison. It was actually a really fun class taught by a teacher was very passionate about the subject, so I've since retained that little bit of useless trivia. That, and the early, grainy footage of the guy with the rad handlebar mustache sneezing in front of the camera.

Also, according to everthing I've read and heard, Edison was an asshole -- an aloof, cut-throat, backstabbing, idea-thieving, self-aggrandizing asshole. Not that any of it is a bad thing, I'm just saying.