Prisoner of Trebekistan

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Who Hates Whom:
Well-Armed Fanatics,
Intractable Conflicts,
and Various Things Blowing Up
A Woefully Incomplete Guide™

“Revelatory... Harris's sly wit and infectious curiosity make understanding world chaos fascinating... witty, horrific, and necessary.”

-- Boston Globe

"Brave... irreverent... charges into the thick of the globe's myriad simmering wars... hilariously relaxed."

-- New York Observer

“Fascinating, enlightening, and surprisingly: NOT TOTALLY DEPRESSING.”

-- John Hodgman,
author, The Areas of My Expertise and correspondent for The Daily Show

"A rollicking ride of intellectual discovery and emotional growth... his comic timing never fails"

-- The Wall Street Journal

"A surprisingly touching memoir"

-- Entertainment Weekly

"Effortlessly funny and informative... tender, human, and very wise... A must for anyone who loves Jeopardy!, or has ever seen it, or is breathing."

-- Joss Whedon, creator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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Prisoner of Trebekistan

I just saw the new Xerox logo for the first time (I guess I don't buy office equipment much) in the background of the Dodgers game. My first thought: why did Xerox (left) adopt the symbol on the Kyrgyzstan flag (right)?

Obviously a coincidence. Still: small, weird planet we live on.

If you're looking for the book that Jeopardy! mentioned out loud tonight (!):

It's right here:

And while you're here, kick off your shoes, poke around, scroll down, hit the Travel or the FAQ if you're curious or click over to the Trebekistan section if you want more Jeopardy!-related stuff, and otherwise make yourself at home. Thanks for stopping by.

Sometimes weirdness completely outpaces all expectation.

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Turns out tonight was the taping of GSN's first Game Show Awards. Suddenly Ken Jennings and Ed Toutant -- whom you've previously glimpsed here when the three of us played an Jeopardy!-style exhibition match, and here when the three of us were 3/4 of Team USA in the European Quizzing Championships -- were both in town.

Next thing you know, we're all sitting in the Wilshire Theater surrounded by Charo, Meat Loaf, Bob Barker, Cloris Leachman, Monty Hall, and dozens of other people I grew up watching on TV.

If you'd asked me on Wednesday, I'd have told you I had no plans at all this weekend. Now I've got Rip Taylor's confetti in my pockets.

Rip Taylor's actual confetti, people.

I can't give away any details, but it's one of the more delirious TV productions I've seen. Highly recommended.

My thanks to Ken, Ed, Paul Bailey of the Game Show Congress, and some kind GSN PR people for interacting in ways that led to me finding myself in a ringside seat.

I touched on some of this in Trebekistan, in the bits about encoding information so that it could be retrieved in competitive conditions.

But the more scientists learn, the cooler this stuff gets.

Just a heads-up: last year's "Quiz Show" episode of Ira Glass's This American Life is repeating this week, including a very brief chat with yours truly in the wake of Prisoner of Trebekistan.

It's a free listen on the TAL website this week.

Next week, Ira takes an inside look at the writers of The Onion. Now that's an episode I'm looking forward to.

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