While looking in the NY Times online edition for something else, I came upon this interview with the man who is setting "Jeopardy!" records, James Holzhauer.
I'm not able to watch "Jeopardy" nearly as often as I like, because in Chicago it airs during my workday, at 3:30 pm. But whenever I am able to watch an episode, I've noticed that contestants tend to come from fairly brainy professions: a lot of lawyers, a lot of teachers, a lot of tech geeks.
Holzhauer has a different professional background: he earns his living by betting in Las Vegas on sporting events. That background has conferred some advantages when it comes to playing "Jeopardy!": he has higher-than-average risk tolerance and an aggressive in-game strategy. Here he is on risk:
The fact that I win and lose money all the time helps desensitize me, so I can write down $60,000 as the Final Jeopardy wager and not be trembling at the thought of losing that money.He also has an interesting way of acquiring facts:
And thinking: “This isn’t a trivia question. It’s a coin flip that’s going to land heads for me a lot more often than it’s going to land tails, so I’m going to bet as much as I can on heads.”
I have a strategy of reading children’s books to gain knowledge. I’ve found that in an adult reference book, if it’s not a subject I’m interested in, I just can’t get into it.As I understand it, his run hasn't ended yet. Even though he has won over $1 million on the show, the all-time champion, Ken Jennings, earned over $2.5 million. So he still has a ways to go.
I was thinking, what is the place in the library I can go to to get books tailored to make things interesting for uninterested readers? Boom. The children’s section.
I confess that I don't really have the knack for making money. I wish I did: it would be nice to have the option to retire whenever work gets too stressful or irritating. Probably my biggest money-making character flaw is the same as that of Holzhauer's opponents: I'm too risk-averse. I once spent an interesting evening in Lincoln, NE, speaking with a coworker who had previously worked for the Koch brothers. He informed me that, whereas our current employer is very big on providing training in technical subjects and attaining technical certifications, in Koch businesses, they train their employees and leaders to be less risk-averse, and to seek out risky investments with a high potential payoff.
This risk-appetite approach has a Christian application. In this weekend's Gospel reading, which is John's account of the risen Jesus' appearance to the disciples in the locked room, he gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit and then sends them forth ("apostles" = "sent" or "messengers"), just as God sent Jesus forth. Go forth and proclaim the the kingdom, even if that means making enemies of the powers that be. Go forth and risk martyrdom. Go forth and put everything on the line for my sake and that of my kingdom.
The risk-taking strateg is brought out clearly in the parable of the master who goes away and leaves his possessions in the hands of his servants. The one who invested five talents earned five more; the one who invested two earned two more; both are lauded and rewarded by their master. The one who was given one talent and simply buried it in the ground is fired, with his talent given to the man with 10. The ones who prosper in the kingdom of heaven are those who are willing to risk their gifts for the sake of the kingdom.
One way to understand the church's sex-abuse crisis is that our leaders have been too risk-averse. They have chosen to conserve assets rather than do what is necessary to bring about justice for victims, even if that means great financial cost to the institution. The public instinctively gets that church leaders are using the wrong criteria.
Interesting thoughts on risk! Our old Episcopal parish owned a lot of rental properties around town that had been willed to the church by deceased congregants. The vestry was often embroiled in eviction proceedings. I protested at one meeting that this was an unseemly biz for a church to be in and suggested that the property be sold and the proceeds put towards a homeless program. The priest liked the idea, but he was already at odds with the vestry and "didn't want to die in that ditch." The vestry felt it would be disrespectful to sell the property because it belonged to someone's great-grandparents.
ReplyDeleteAll kinds of risk aversion.
While the Catholic Church hierarchy and Church Ladies might be risk averse, groups within it are not. The Franciscans, the beguines, Catholic Workers, L'Arche--all these groups were willing to take chances on ideas that allowed them to bring Christ to their communities.
Radicals are never beloved of the hierarchy, but they manage to flourish anyway.
"...an unseemly biz for the church to be in", yeah, I can imagine that it was a can of worms. I read the book "Evicted" a while back. The rental real estate business is not for the faint of heart.
DeleteHmm, we all read the same books around here.
DeleteI once had the pleasure of having a newspaper fold under my feet. (Interesting, at the same time that was going on, a prominent archbishop closed 20-something Catholic schools and went on retreat where he couldn't be reached. Our top suits turned up to share the pain.) In addition to showing up, our suits brought in relocation experts of all sorts to aid in this, that and crying. One gave us all a battery of tests, including the question: What do you want out of your next job? Nearly all of us checked "security." Duh. The expert said, "I see nearly all of you checked security. Forget about that for the rest of your careers. The days of job security are over."
ReplyDelete"The days of job security are over." I feel your pain. My husband underwent four such events over the course of his career. Then I read columnist Robert Samuelson's latest hit piece on SS and Medicare yesterday and it made me see red. The guy is so out of touch about that it's ridiculous. We don't all make it to age 70 with health and finances in great shape.
DeleteIf we have health security via Medicare for all, we won't need as much job security. One less big thing for the Overlords to hold over our heads. Is that what really upsets them about the idea? That they might not be so sure the next hard working employee they push around might just flip 'em one and walk out the door?
DeleteLove it, Stanley. Great comment.
DeleteHow sweet it would be, to be able to flip'em one, head for the door, and say, over your shoulder, as you walked away, "Take THAT, you no good SOB."
Thanks, Gene. We had a technician who decked his previous supervisor as he quit his last job. Sometime back in the 60's, I estimate. Ah, the good old days. Don was a born again Christian. Never asked Don if the punch was delivered before or after his conversion experience.
DeleteStill thinking about the Church being risk averse. What do you think a less risk-averse Church would look like?
ReplyDeleteJean - I think it would look a lot more like Francis wants it to look like: a church that smells of the sheep. It would look a lot more like those orders of religious who go to the margins.
DeleteAs someone intimately familiar with sheep, I can't say that metaphor appeals to me, but the laity will have to step up as the number of priests dwindle, and the Church remains intransigent in its rules about who can be one.
DeleteMy main concern is that the laity that often steps forward are people like the Church ladies. One called the other day asking for bread for a funeral lunch. "Now don't get anything fancy. Just whatever is on sale."
That pissed me off so much I went out and bought a half dozen loaves of the nicest artisan bread I could find.
And of course they complained that "now everybody" will expect high-end goods at funeral lunches. Bitches.
Jean - a church that takes risks? How about a church that risks practicing what it preaches - and then has to listen because it teaches that the Holy Spirit speaks through THE church - including the laity. That would follow what John Henry Newman advised in "On Consulting the Church on Matters of Doctrine". Take a risk by dropping mandatory celibacy Take a risk by opening all seven sacraments to all Catholics, women included. Take a risk by acknowledging that doctrines like claiming ontological superiority of the ordained have nothing to do with Jesus, or the gospels, and everything to do with power and control and has contributed mightily to the sexual abuse scandal along with a whole lot of other institutional sins. After watching a show about Luther and the Reformation, I just shook my head and thought about how sad it is that the RCC so quickly forgot its own history and how its own abuse of authority, its love of material wealth and of power and control and the corruption that it led to tore christianity apart in the west only 500 years ago.
ReplyDeleteFrancis seems to get it, at least somewhat, buta lot of the time it seems that he's fighting a losing battle.
Yeah, I've always kept my foot in the door with the Episcopalians. Different set of problems come with more parish autonomy and open communion, but the lady priest over there has been a peach in the area of spiritual advice.
DeleteThe elderly priests just cannot do it in the Catholic parish, and the laity doesn't seem to want to pick up the slack with Scripture study or anything.
I tried some years ago to get something going. A lot of non-Catholic spouses showed up for it, but the Church Ladies started coming to monitor it and that killed it.