Rounds: Here.
It's the crucial fourth night for Samuel Hastings, and we find out that he is involved in managing a fitness company. He manages all the background work from marketing to accounts -- everything except for the fitness parts. Somehow there's not seemed to be much substance to the chats with Samuel -- maybe he's been the victim of a slow filming day, and the production crew were trying to make up lost time.
Tonight's challenger is Brian Morgan, a retiree with a background in banking and computers. Brian is also fanatical about bridge, and has even played it at an international level. As he explains, he was recently on holiday in Vietnam, and on the way back he had a chance to play in a congress (for some reason this is the term used for certain bridge contests) in Kuching in Malaysian Borneo. He says it was wonderful fun.
The first third of the game was fairly tame: Brian got a small lead in the first round, then the contestant found equal results in the second, and neither could score points in the first numbers round. The second was slightly more lively, with Samuel finding a good word to take the lead, only for Brian to find a better word to regain it, and then again neither was able to score points in the numbers. Brian was just six points ahead at that point, but then he outdid Samuel in the last letters round to stretch the lead to twelve points, and Samuel was suddenly in a lot of trouble. This time both solved the numbers round, and that ensured Brian's victory. Brian rounded it off by solving the conundrum, for a final scoreline of 46 to 24.
Showing posts with label Samuel Hastings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samuel Hastings. Show all posts
Friday, 29 July 2016
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Ep 139: Samuel Hastings, Colwyn Buckland (July 12, 2016; originally aired February 10, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Samuel Hastings is back for his third night. The pre-game chat is essentially just that Samuel has a lot of hobbies, and a lot of unfinished projects as a result.
Tonight's challenger is Colwyn Buckland, who works for a national stationery supply company, and also has a love of the stage. That turns out to be as an actor -- Colwyn and a group of his friends are in an independent theatre company called the Theatre of Rats. Richard asks about the origins of that unusual name; Colwyn indicates that it is an inside joke from school, but also an acknowledgement that most of them don't have money, so are working from the ground up. They have had one performance at the Brisbane Festival, a group-devised piece called Papyrophobia in Yellow.
There was very little to choose between the contestants tonight -- they had equal-scoring answers in seven of the eight main rounds. The crucial break came in round six, when Samuel navigated the numbers better than Colwyn did, allowing him to take a seven point lead into the conundrum. Colwyn buzzed in first, but did not have the answer, and that was game to Samuel, 58 to 51.
Samuel Hastings is back for his third night. The pre-game chat is essentially just that Samuel has a lot of hobbies, and a lot of unfinished projects as a result.
Tonight's challenger is Colwyn Buckland, who works for a national stationery supply company, and also has a love of the stage. That turns out to be as an actor -- Colwyn and a group of his friends are in an independent theatre company called the Theatre of Rats. Richard asks about the origins of that unusual name; Colwyn indicates that it is an inside joke from school, but also an acknowledgement that most of them don't have money, so are working from the ground up. They have had one performance at the Brisbane Festival, a group-devised piece called Papyrophobia in Yellow.
There was very little to choose between the contestants tonight -- they had equal-scoring answers in seven of the eight main rounds. The crucial break came in round six, when Samuel navigated the numbers better than Colwyn did, allowing him to take a seven point lead into the conundrum. Colwyn buzzed in first, but did not have the answer, and that was game to Samuel, 58 to 51.
Ep 138: Samuel Hastings, Matthew Ball (July 1, 2016; originally aired February 9, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Samuel Hastings takes up the champion's chair tonight, and Richard asks for some more information about Samuel's teaching methods. Samuel expounds that he does a lot of teaching online (I linked to a video yesterday of him talking about that), so he teaches students all over the world and throughout Australia, live using the Internet, and everyone can interact. A virtual lecture hall, is how Richard puts it.
Tonight's challenger is Matthew Ball, who travels all over Australia as a business development manager. Richard enquires as to just how remote that travel gets, and Matthew responds that they are off to Ularu in three months. He adds that that might be more of a bit of playtime with the clients, but he does bounce around a lot -- Brisbane one week, Hobart, then Perth, that kind of thing. He also throws in a Melbourne mention, since that is where the filming is.
Both contestants found the same good word in round one (aided by it coming up before in the previous episode, really), then had invalid answers in the second round. Thereafter it was all Samuel, who managed to find better numerical answers and longer words, except for one letters round that the contestants tied on. Samuel also solved the conundrum, pushing him over the half century for a final score of 58 to 12.
Samuel Hastings takes up the champion's chair tonight, and Richard asks for some more information about Samuel's teaching methods. Samuel expounds that he does a lot of teaching online (I linked to a video yesterday of him talking about that), so he teaches students all over the world and throughout Australia, live using the Internet, and everyone can interact. A virtual lecture hall, is how Richard puts it.
Tonight's challenger is Matthew Ball, who travels all over Australia as a business development manager. Richard enquires as to just how remote that travel gets, and Matthew responds that they are off to Ularu in three months. He adds that that might be more of a bit of playtime with the clients, but he does bounce around a lot -- Brisbane one week, Hobart, then Perth, that kind of thing. He also throws in a Melbourne mention, since that is where the filming is.
Both contestants found the same good word in round one (aided by it coming up before in the previous episode, really), then had invalid answers in the second round. Thereafter it was all Samuel, who managed to find better numerical answers and longer words, except for one letters round that the contestants tied on. Samuel also solved the conundrum, pushing him over the half century for a final score of 58 to 12.
Tuesday, 26 July 2016
Ep 137: Daniel Drumm, Samuel Hastings (June 30, 2016; originally aired February 8, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Daniel Drumm takes his turn in the champion's seat tonight, after his close win over Felix last night. Richard turns to the topic of the paper that Daniel recently had published (as I mentioned in the previous episode, that was Thermodynamic stability of neutral Xe defects in diamond), and asks what it was about. Daniel explains that it was on a particular defect in diamond, involving a xenon atom, adding that these defects are relatively simple to think about: You take a couple of atoms out and put something else in, and maybe a little bit of a hole. In response to Richard's followup question about utility, Daniel notes that this idea of making defects in any kind of semiconductor is the basis for all of modern electronics.
Tonight's challenger is Samuel Hastings, a lawyer, university lecturer, and business manager. Samuel lectures in both criminal law and trial advocacy, and notes that he is a lawyer by training. Richard asks whether trial advocacy is the process of teaching students how to stand up in court and present their case, and Samuel agrees: It covers how to prepare your case, strategy, and how to deliver the case in court. (As an aside, there's a video available here of Samuel talking about Curtin University's online study options.)
Daniel started off with a good word to take the lead, and should have gone further ahead in the second round. He was undone by the Macquarie, however, which did not list his choice and that let Samuel right back into the game. Samuel did well in the next numbers round to gain the lead going into the first break. Three flat rounds followed, and then Samuel found a good word to put him eleven points ahead with two rounds to play. Daniel needed unanswered points in the last numbers round, but it was a difficult one and the points were shared. Daniel did solve the conundrum quickly, but Samuel just barely had the win, 46 to 45.
Daniel Drumm takes his turn in the champion's seat tonight, after his close win over Felix last night. Richard turns to the topic of the paper that Daniel recently had published (as I mentioned in the previous episode, that was Thermodynamic stability of neutral Xe defects in diamond), and asks what it was about. Daniel explains that it was on a particular defect in diamond, involving a xenon atom, adding that these defects are relatively simple to think about: You take a couple of atoms out and put something else in, and maybe a little bit of a hole. In response to Richard's followup question about utility, Daniel notes that this idea of making defects in any kind of semiconductor is the basis for all of modern electronics.
Tonight's challenger is Samuel Hastings, a lawyer, university lecturer, and business manager. Samuel lectures in both criminal law and trial advocacy, and notes that he is a lawyer by training. Richard asks whether trial advocacy is the process of teaching students how to stand up in court and present their case, and Samuel agrees: It covers how to prepare your case, strategy, and how to deliver the case in court. (As an aside, there's a video available here of Samuel talking about Curtin University's online study options.)
Daniel started off with a good word to take the lead, and should have gone further ahead in the second round. He was undone by the Macquarie, however, which did not list his choice and that let Samuel right back into the game. Samuel did well in the next numbers round to gain the lead going into the first break. Three flat rounds followed, and then Samuel found a good word to put him eleven points ahead with two rounds to play. Daniel needed unanswered points in the last numbers round, but it was a difficult one and the points were shared. Daniel did solve the conundrum quickly, but Samuel just barely had the win, 46 to 45.
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