Search found 93 matches

by Nathan
Sat Feb 17, 2018 7:51 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Nathan Freeburg
Replies: 14
Views: 20562

Re: Nathan Freeburg

I was forwarded this and asked if this was discussing me. Been over a decade since I've looked at anything qb related (though I've run into Chris Frankel a couple times). I do not recall the Palm Frond incident but it sounds like it was a great joke :) I did neg a lot; sometimes cause buzzing often ...
by Nathan
Fri Apr 18, 2008 5:10 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open Team Discussion
Replies: 84
Views: 16931

Re: Chicago Open Team Discussion

in my experience, 1 of the top 2 or 3 teams on paper entering the Chicago Open does not finish in the top 2 or 3.

and upsets ALWAYS happen.
by Nathan
Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open free agents
Replies: 15
Views: 9117

schedule permitting....I'll be there and looking for a team.
by Nathan
Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Plagiarism is awesome
Replies: 36
Views: 14840

I don't understand the shots at Matt on this. Not knowing who was responsible there's not much he could do privately. I do think that when a QB neophyte makes such an error -- it is best dealt with among their own teammates -- it's not an unpardonable offense at that point -- but shaming their team ...
by Nathan
Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: BOB (12/9/06) at Yale
Replies: 13
Views: 7478

alas, I'll be in Miami that weekend.
by Nathan
Fri Oct 27, 2006 6:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Science, Science History and Biography, and Askability
Replies: 30
Views: 14715

I don't dispute at all that literary criticism is old...as is aesthetic history.

I even gave some examples.

but anyway...the fact of the matter is that Empson, et al, do not come up. (Samuel Johnson comes up, but not really as a critic.)

thus Chen's assertion was, indubitably, incorrect.
by Nathan
Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Science, Science History and Biography, and Askability
Replies: 30
Views: 14715

along with the Caltech-inspired 2/2 CS requirement...it's going to be an interesting tournament.
by Nathan
Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Science, Science History and Biography, and Askability
Replies: 30
Views: 14715

well, there were theoriticians of aesthetics of course (Lessing, Kant et al) but there weren't too many literary critics that had worked out an actual theory (the fact that one might be able to ascertain a tacit, unconscious theory behind their criticism is both true and trivial). regardless, it's n...
by Nathan
Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Science, Science History and Biography, and Askability
Replies: 30
Views: 14715

literary criticism existed before the 1950's...its hard to call Samuel Johnson, Empson etc...full-blown literary theorists (an exception for Aristotle of course)
by Nathan
Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Science, Science History and Biography, and Askability
Replies: 30
Views: 14715

"where do those who would seem to deny the validity of post-colonial theorists as askable quiz bowl topics feel about theorists from previous centuries?)." Which theorists are you talking about? There weren't any, per se. Look, obviously, insofar as theory matters in the study of literatur...
by Nathan
Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Science, Science History and Biography, and Askability
Replies: 30
Views: 14715

"Just to quickly answer your question: see the Cervantes TU in PARFAIT." I don't know if the rest of that question was good or not, because the Lepanto clue sparked an immediate buzzer race. I find that problematic for the same reason that "son of a sailmaker" is a problematic cl...
by Nathan
Mon Oct 16, 2006 2:18 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PARFAIT II
Replies: 20
Views: 8887

actually the plethora of CS was part of the problem:

no packet should have both a tossup and a bonus on CS (combined with 4 science tossups and a math tossup)....combined with "geek trash"
by Nathan
Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:59 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PARFAIT II
Replies: 20
Views: 8887

I enjoyed this tournament immensely, with one caveat:

the Caltech packets were poorly written and had an immensely skewed distribution.
by Nathan
Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:29 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Vancouver Estival Trivia Open question packets
Replies: 52
Views: 41769

interesting: a couple of mentions in the 90's and then one pretty decent ACF Nats tossup: "18. This theologian’s lesser known works include Christ the Center and Meditations on the Cross, while his first work was on the sociology of religion, Sanctorum Communio. He tried to trace the influenc...
by Nathan
Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:04 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Vancouver Estival Trivia Open question packets
Replies: 52
Views: 41769

actually, Niemoller is relatively well known (and certainly a household name in the history of theology). I'd even forgotten that quote was attributed to him...

however, certainly we need tossups on Bonhoeffer (have there ever been any) and on the Confessing Church before ones on Niemoller.
by Nathan
Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PARFAIT 2: October 14, 2006
Replies: 15
Views: 8481

What is the planned start time?

This will affect which train I have to catch...
by Nathan
Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:24 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO History Doubles Criticism
Replies: 43
Views: 19069

Chris: I was thinking about your statement: "substantial areas of legitimate academic scholarship (as opposed to trendy postmodern niche topics like women in Kievan Rus or racial minorities during the time of the Flavian dynasty)." I know (or think I know) what (or who) you're trying to di...
by Nathan
Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:07 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Moderating Speed --
Replies: 20
Views: 8362

Tricia,

There was a certain individual (not you) who infamously did exactly that in a certain tournament.
by Nathan
Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:55 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO History Doubles Criticism
Replies: 43
Views: 19069

Where Angels Fear to Tred is a perfectly legit tossup and has, in fact, been used before as a tossup. I haven't read it but I'm not unfamiliar with the plot (the other team negged so there was no need to take it before the giveaway in my room). Jim Baker got Primitive Culture pretty quickly so at le...
by Nathan
Wed Aug 02, 2006 2:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO History Doubles Criticism
Replies: 43
Views: 19069

" Robert Remini's biography of Daniel Webster" hopefully it is better than his biography of Andrew Jackson. "I'm sorry if you were confused by that, but the answer you gave is simply implausible. It doesn't connect, at all." I don't dispute that at all..my issue is with the quest...
by Nathan
Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:27 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO History Doubles Criticism
Replies: 43
Views: 19069

eh...here's the problem: although a year can be a period in a literal sense... I can't think of any historical period that is anywhere near that short of a unit of time. you would never call a year a period in a historical sense. thus, the question was, by definition, confusing. and sure, the Five G...
by Nathan
Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:55 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO History Doubles Criticism
Replies: 43
Views: 19069

I'm going to stay out of this debate except to note that I generally agree with Chris, although goodness knows good points have been made by everyone. I will note that I thought the "Year of the Four Emperors" tossup was a poor one. The question identified early that it was looking for a &...
by Nathan
Tue Aug 01, 2006 10:56 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Discussion
Replies: 28
Views: 15114

"Nathan, you bonehead, my team beat yours 175-125 just last year, with no McKenzies or Rajs involved." ah that's right...will miracles never cease... "Worry about not getting two negs on the first two questions of a pack read to your team when the opposing team's not there yet (a fun ...
by Nathan
Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:18 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Discussion
Replies: 28
Views: 15114

"Sweet! True to form, it appears that Freeburg's team beat a team tied for 3rd and lost to a team which was 3rd-to-last. And I believe that's the first individual game score of -35 I've ever seen." For the record, I believe that I got one tossup that game...they must have given it to Ahmad...
by Nathan
Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Bonus Policy in ACF
Replies: 13
Views: 6687

I think novice level ACF tourneys are the ones where this policy is of the most use (i.e. ACF fall)...when dealing with a limited answer space...
by Nathan
Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:01 pm
Forum: Best of the Best
Topic: Recent Literature: General Thoughts/Who Makes the Cut?
Replies: 31
Views: 37902

"I hope it didn't actually make its way into the pack!"

it did....
by Nathan
Tue Jul 11, 2006 6:16 pm
Forum: Best of the Best
Topic: Recent Literature: General Thoughts/Who Makes the Cut?
Replies: 31
Views: 37902

ok, I just found an example of what was clearly a student misapprehending the relative significance of (pretty obscure) Victorian novel -- and not due to the author being Chicano or gay. but, I would wager that the UF writer responsible for this tossup was misled by some professor's emphasis in a co...
by Nathan
Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:32 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO History Subject Tournament
Replies: 27
Views: 14281

alas, I will not be able to play in the History tournament as I am partaking of one of my two major non-qb hobbies in Chicago that evening....
by Nathan
Wed Jul 05, 2006 2:02 pm
Forum: Best of the Best
Topic: Recent Literature: General Thoughts/Who Makes the Cut?
Replies: 31
Views: 37902

well, I'm short on time and late to the thread: but, a couple quick thoughts: Discussing literary canonicity is another topic altogether (and a mug's game anyhow) but insofar as there is a literary canon and insofar as it dovetails with the qb canon (which emphatically exists) it would seem that con...
by Nathan
Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:34 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Some constructive ECSO criticism
Replies: 17
Views: 9113

Andrew wrote: "I don't think the game is so rife with title memorizers that we need to go to such extreme lengths to foil them. " I would generally agree. I've never heard of Orley Farm and if you can get it off the plot or simply knowing the title...god bless ya. On the other hand...I see...
by Nathan
Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:29 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Bible/Old Testament Questions: Un-Quizbowl worthy?
Replies: 32
Views: 20027

science questions do not belong in QB

first, how many decent public high schools teach science in any detail at all? second, science questions are inherently unfair. a "science player" can read a book and easily get lit or history tossups (even literary theory)....most philosophy tossups are easy to get that way too. I can't j...
by Nathan
Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Quizbowl Comeback Thoughts (ESCO, UCLA Mirror)
Replies: 5
Views: 3737

This is a joke, right?
by Nathan
Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open Update
Replies: 9
Views: 5526

if people are willing to handle the occasional neg...they're more than willing to join my team...
(and certainly Ahmad -- otherwise I should really start a packet tonight)

thefool75[at]yahoo.com
by Nathan
Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:09 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Some constructive ECSO criticism
Replies: 17
Views: 9113

"This isn't a dreadful question, but unless you are a real Bowles expert it's hard to see how you can buzz before a point roughly halfway through the final sentence." Although the question could have benefited from some more clues (he was a notable composer etc.) anyone who's actually read...
by Nathan
Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Discussion
Replies: 28
Views: 15114

I will make one prediction only:

my team (whomever may be on it) will beat one team that will finish in the top 4. we will also lose to one of the bottom 3 teams (or maybe not if we finish in the bottom 3)
by Nathan
Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:32 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Discussion
Replies: 28
Views: 15114

I'm looking to join up with a couple others. Will share the packet writing...

I can be reached at "[email protected]"
Nathan
by Nathan
Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:16 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NY Times Article on Art History
Replies: 6
Views: 4052

"The main problem, I think, is that there's no longer a general belief that there exists a single canon for art that should be taught to all students," he said. " The problem with this, of course, is that he's confusing some sort of "canon" (i.e. a body of works which purpor...
by Nathan
Sat Feb 25, 2006 8:58 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: pre-ACF Nationals thread
Replies: 17
Views: 9399

Schedule permitting...I will be attending and playing solo for The New School.
by Nathan
Sat Feb 25, 2006 8:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Brandeis Wirt Mirror (Jack Abramoff memorial graft open) 3/4
Replies: 6
Views: 4323

crap...I have a friend in town next weekend...
by Nathan
Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:29 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regs discussion
Replies: 66
Views: 51670

oh...one pedantic note (but I've been hosed by this on more than one occasion so its personal):

Kuznets was Ukranian.
by Nathan
Sun Feb 05, 2006 5:04 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regs discussion
Replies: 66
Views: 51670

There was one noticeable repeat (Akiba Ben Joseph as clue in the Bar Kocheba tossup followed by a bonus in another round on Akiba Ben Joseph that included a Bar Kocheba clue). There may have been too much Longfellow and Whittier. These are the only negatives that I noticed which is, imho, an extraor...
by Nathan
Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:32 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl/Sword Bowl blew ass
Replies: 79
Views: 58331

I will edit in some capacity for free...just don't ask me to do science.
by Nathan
Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl/Sword Bowl blew ass
Replies: 79
Views: 58331

Yoda:

There is a sharp (albeit oft confused) distinction between pyramidal questions and "easy answers". A tournament for novices should have questions on Charlemagne and not on Baldwin IV, but that doesn't mean that the tossup should begin with Einhard.
by Nathan
Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl/Sword Bowl blew ass
Replies: 79
Views: 58331

oy man, calm down. I'm sure the questions were poor; I don't have to have seen them to believe that. I'll also tell you that Charlie's editing style will not change no matter what is written here. I'm sorry if you didn't know what you were getting into at Penn Bowl but that doesn't justify the attit...
by Nathan
Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:36 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl/Sword Bowl blew ass
Replies: 79
Views: 58331

I've attended quite a few Charlie-run tournaments over the years. A couple thoughts: 1. Charlie is a good guy. I was one of several who nominated and voted for his receiving the Carper Award. 2. Charlie runs and hosts more tournaments than anyone else...he's also the best I've ever seen at making ne...
by Nathan
Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: A Masters circuit
Replies: 32
Views: 16109

I, for one, would be quite interested. Even here in the northeast I believe that T. Wang and S. Watchorn could be dredged up for such tourneys...I'm sure there are others around as well. (Where is Colvin these days?) The real logistical problem that I see is location -- I'm more than willing to edit...
by Nathan
Mon Jan 09, 2006 12:36 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MLK and ABD @ BU - Field Updates
Replies: 2
Views: 2369

hmm...the New School might not be able to make it.

I didn't realize the tourney wasn't on MLK weekend. A Sunday tournament before a non-holiday Monday is less than convenient.
by Nathan
Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:48 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: geography
Replies: 36
Views: 21000

well no. I said "historiography" not the nonexistent field of "geographical historiography"... with that said, there are a lot of people in qb who do a fair amount of reading in history or international relations or the like...they'll usually have come across references to his ar...
by Nathan
Thu Dec 15, 2005 4:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: geography
Replies: 36
Views: 21000

the bonus is too hard for most tournaments..but I disagree that it is a 10 or a 30. a lot of people who have taken a class dealing with historiography or have read in the field will have run across the Geographical Pivot of History...it's not that far off in eminence from Turner's frontier thesis (a...