Search found 335 matches

by Corry
Thu May 20, 2021 10:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?
Replies: 8
Views: 4163

Re: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

This thread came to mind when I was reading this New Yorker article from today, on Learned League. Questions that seek to expand the canon can be met with derision, Anupama Srirangan, who plays LearnedLeague and has appeared on “Jeopardy!,” told me. A question about the Kardashians, for instance, mi...
by Corry
Wed Dec 19, 2018 9:45 pm
Forum: Databases and Quizbowl Software
Topic: Announcing Qblitz
Replies: 23
Views: 18890

Re: Announcing Qblitz

This sounds like a really cool idea! Will be interested to see how things progress.

One quick comment after playing the sample: it'd be nice to get real-time feedback on whether you were right/wrong per tossup, rather than waiting until the end of the sample to know your score.
by Corry
Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:36 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 Sun God Invitational Specific Question Request and Discussion
Replies: 125
Views: 21960

Re: 2018 Sun God Invitational Specific Question Request and Discussion

As for the tossup on Kongo, the clue about quilombos confused me because I have heard about that only in the context of Brazilian slave history, so if I had been a little less buzzer shy I would have buzzed (and negged) with Brazil. I suspect once again that my delirium caused me to mishear the clu...
by Corry
Thu Aug 02, 2018 2:34 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Fuck it, let's rank the sets
Replies: 28
Views: 25992

Re: Fuck it, let's rank the sets

Relatively few college sets have stood out in my memory, but Terrapin 2016 was definitely one of them - the questions just felt "fresh" in a way that I can't quite articulate. Still have no idea how Jordan and co. pulled it off. Regarding side events, I too have recently enjoyed GEODUCK an...
by Corry
Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:17 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF and Powers
Replies: 20
Views: 9126

Re: ACF and Powers

I also support this proposal. I believe there was a thread back in like... 2008 where someone proposed the same thing, and a bunch of veteran quiz bowl players immediately shot down the idea. However, I didn’t find any of their reasons to be particularly compelling back then (well, back when I first...
by Corry
Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:20 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: community question clinic
Replies: 95
Views: 92680

Re: community question clinic

A gold scarab with the name of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti was found in this shipwreck. For 10 points: [10] Name this Bronze Age shipwreck discovered in 1982, which contains many trade items including copper and tin ingots. ANSWER: Uluburun shipwreck [10] The Uluburun shipwreck was discovered off ...
by Corry
Mon Feb 05, 2018 5:24 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 SCT general discussion
Replies: 22
Views: 1869

Re: 2018 SCT general discussion

I also enjoyed the historiography in this set, which was fun and well executed. It seemed like there was more than in previous SCTs, which is probably a good thing. However, I don't see any reason why historiographical tossups on "actual events and things" are necessarily better than hist...
by Corry
Mon Feb 05, 2018 3:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 SCT general discussion
Replies: 22
Views: 1869

Re: 2018 SCT general discussion

I will attempt to post a more thought-through analysis (mainly the history) when I have the packets on me, but for now some initial thoughts: This is likely because I am bad at it, and also maybe because NAQT questions go quickly, but I enjoyed the historiography questions (I recall Civil War, Cold...
by Corry
Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 Division I SCT: specific question discussion
Replies: 35
Views: 2305

Re: 2018 Division I SCT: specific question discussion

While it's true that sometimes a more substantive clue outweighs technical concerns, in this case, you would maintain all of the substance AND the technical accuracy by just saying the Blue Lagoon was outside the city. Yep if I had to do this over again, I'd have changed "in" to "out...
by Corry
Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 Division I SCT: specific question discussion
Replies: 35
Views: 2305

Re: 2018 Division I SCT: specific question discussion

What? There's nothing "technical" about it -- it's just factually wrong, and just for the record the international airport in question is actually called the Keflavik Airport, because it's in Keflavik, not Reykjavik. The Blue Lagoon isn't even in the Reykjavik metro area -- it's 50km away...
by Corry
Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:16 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 Division I SCT: specific question discussion
Replies: 35
Views: 2305

Re: 2018 Division I SCT: specific question discussion

In terms of actual errors, the only one I noticed that hasn't been mentioned is that the Blue Lagoon is not in fact in Reykjavík. I wrote the question on Reykjavik - and admittedly this is technically true! I visited Iceland last year, and yes, the Blue Lagoon is like a 30 minute drive west of Reyk...
by Corry
Sat Feb 03, 2018 10:58 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 ACF Regs packets, recordings, and detailed stats survey
Replies: 67
Views: 32184

Re: Packets, recordings, and detailed stats warm-up survey

I just want to say that from a writers’ perspective, these are like, god-tier stats. I’ve always personally preferred to write for NAQT because they were traditionally the only ones to provide after-the-fact conversion data - and therefore, the only ones who could offer empirical data to address fam...
by Corry
Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:08 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Common Link Questions
Replies: 3
Views: 3940

Re: Common Link Questions

I don't have much to add here, except to say that I personally prefer the second group of questions you posted (i.e. the ones you described as "I don't know whether or not these questions count as common link"). To me, the clue structure in this second group feels far more organic - for in...
by Corry
Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:39 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)
Replies: 37
Views: 21913

Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

DuPhos wrote:Any idea when stats will be posted?
Also interested in seeing this!
by Corry
Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)
Replies: 37
Views: 21913

Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Well since this is apparently the best geography tournament ever, I'm even more interested in playing an online mirror of this - is that still happening?
by Corry
Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:19 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The Case for Short Questions
Replies: 25
Views: 14445

Re: The Case for Short Questions

I think it's in fact more tiring to listen to a set of six line questions that are a series of short declarative sentences than a set of eight line questions that have a certain natural-natural-language flow to them. I find long tossups more fun, as you said you do too. We're certainly not alone in...
by Corry
Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Limits of the "Back to the Classroom" Movement
Replies: 33
Views: 12182

Re: Limits of the "Back to the Classroom" Movement

(why would they be taught in class otherwise?). I mean, as someone who taught for four years, a lot of classroom lectures, while focused on important, relevant things also tend to contain things that you the instructor is personally interested in. Very true. I suppose what I meant to say is that yo...
by Corry
Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:24 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)
Replies: 37
Views: 21913

Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Hey, I just remembered this was happening. Any updates on your progress? I'd be pretty stoked to play this sometime in the next few months.
by Corry
Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Limits of the "Back to the Classroom" Movement
Replies: 33
Views: 12182

Re: Limits of the "Back to the Classroom" Movement

This is only tangentially related, but I think a really good way to avoid this pitfall when writing tossups is to start from the clues , rather than the answer line . Something I've noticed is that many people prefer to start writing questions with a particular answer line in mind, and then they sea...
by Corry
Tue May 09, 2017 5:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Social Media Idea for Tournaments
Replies: 5
Views: 3543

Re: Social Media Idea for Tournaments

This was done at ACF nats this year (and may have been done in previous years idk) There's a difference between YouTube videos (which is where the ACF Nationals videos are, from 2012 on) and Facebook Live. Think about it. How many people have a Facebook page? And how many quizbowl organizations hav...
by Corry
Fri Apr 21, 2017 8:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Better Hype Videos
Replies: 1
Views: 3389

Re: Better Hype Videos

pretty cute tbh
by Corry
Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)
Replies: 37
Views: 21913

Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

As the dude who's currently writing this year's iteration of Geography Olympiad, I will most certainly play this.
by Corry
Thu Feb 23, 2017 5:16 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Gender & Quiz Bowl
Replies: 6
Views: 5500

Re: Gender & Quiz Bowl

Hi Avery, welcome to the forums! You might find this collection of threads on women in college quiz bowl to be useful: viewforum.php?f=176
by Corry
Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT rules revisions 2017
Replies: 44
Views: 21483

Re: NAQT rules revisions 2017

But dang, you'd sure like to think that even far-flung SCT sites could find readers who could hit 20 in 24 minutes; As someone near the far-flung SCT site of Upstate NY who has consistently hit at least 20 in normal length SCT rounds (at other sites), I might be able to shed some light on why some ...
by Corry
Fri Jan 13, 2017 7:17 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Surviving Graduate School: Twelve Thoughts
Replies: 7
Views: 1482

Re: Surviving Graduate School: Twelve Thoughts

While I'm not pursuing academia, I found this post to be fascinating, and I'd be eager to hear if any other quiz bowl academics have thoughts on grad school matters.
by Corry
Fri Dec 30, 2016 3:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 1st annual JAKOB: Online History Extravaganza
Replies: 46
Views: 35088

Re: 1st annual JAKOB: Online History Extravaganza

So I don't know exactly what going on here, but Will Alston told me to show up. Is it still possible to sign up as a free agent? If so, I'm interested.
by Corry
Wed Dec 14, 2016 1:21 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: community question clinic
Replies: 95
Views: 92680

Re: community question clinic

I'm new to both the game and writing questions -- I didn't write these for a tournament but it would still be great if y'all could take a look: Overall, these questions are quite well-written, especially for a new writer. The only big thing that pops out is that some of the questions are really har...
by Corry
Mon Dec 12, 2016 5:19 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: community question clinic
Replies: 95
Views: 92680

Re: community question clinic

Might as well do what Mr. Wolfsberg did and post my unused questions for ACF Fall at Maryland. Assuming you're relatively new to question writing, these questions are a pretty good start. In their current state, however, I'm not sure I'd approve any of them to go into a finished packet without some...
by Corry
Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
Replies: 71
Views: 36496

Re: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata

Can I see the tossup on colonial Virginia? The first clue seemed to be on William Byrd's diary, but I was having a hard time differentiating that from Thomas Thistlewood's diary in Jamaica, so I was hoping to see the specific wording on the line.
by Corry
Tue Nov 15, 2016 1:02 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
Replies: 71
Views: 36496

Re: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata

Oh yeah, that tossup on Basques was good stuff. Especially that first line- can I see the full text?
by Corry
Sun Nov 13, 2016 11:40 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
Replies: 71
Views: 36496

Re: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata

Also, could somebody post the art tossup on Alexander the Great? There was one clue there that I found somewhat confusing.
by Corry
Sun Nov 13, 2016 11:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
Replies: 71
Views: 36496

Re: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata

The econ in this set was decent, but the tossup on "Pareto efficiency" seemed suboptimal. The Edgeworth box clue didn't seem to be particularly helpful, or was at least very difficult to parse. Could I see the text of that? According to the Greenwald–Stiglitz theorem, markets will not sat...
by Corry
Sun Nov 13, 2016 9:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
Replies: 71
Views: 36496

Re: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata

Overall, I liked this set quite a bit. Some random thoughts: The tossup on the Red Guards should really prompt on you on other things, e.g. "Chinese Communist Party" (which I buzzed with), "Chinese students," etc. "This group" is a reasonably nebulous term. This set occ...
by Corry
Sun Nov 13, 2016 8:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 Terrapin General Discussion
Replies: 30
Views: 7512

Re: 2016 Terrapin General Discussion

I enjoyed playing this set quite a bit. I'm only qualified to speak about history and geography, but overall, I thought the history was clued very well. Constantly throughout the tournament, I felt like I was buzzing on history clues that I had learned straight from a class or independent reading, a...
by Corry
Fri Nov 11, 2016 10:42 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl at Yale (10/29/2016)
Replies: 6
Views: 5866

Re: Penn Bowl at Yale (10/29/2016)

Thank you to all the teams who came on Saturday and congratulations to MIT A, who won a one-game final against Harvard A to win the tournament. Stats are now up at http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/3914/stats/all_games/ . So this is way after the fact, but I just noticed that Amherst is reco...
by Corry
Tue Nov 08, 2016 2:16 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: How to attract new members
Replies: 11
Views: 18065

Re: How to attract new members

At the College's activities fair this year I had a pitch that got us over a hundred signatures, with an ultimate yield of about ten members of the team, mostly freshmen, with three returners, including myself. This was the pitch: Me: DO YOU KNOW THINGS? Freshman: Uh, yes, I think (or something simi...
by Corry
Mon Nov 07, 2016 4:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 ACF Fall general discussion
Replies: 49
Views: 26118

Re: 2016 ACF Fall general discussion

I believe NAQT data shows geography is one of the least powered categories at HSNCT. This was true at some point in the past, but was not true of the 2016 HSNCT (where geography actually had an above-average power rate). As reigning geography editor, I claim 100% of the credit for this, long live m...
by Corry
Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:45 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PSA: Mohammed Reza Shah is not "Reza Shah"
Replies: 39
Views: 16268

Re: PSA: Mohammed Reza Shah is not "Reza Shah"

Going off this, shouldn't we not accept Tokugawa for Tokugawa Ieyasu given Tokugawa Iemitsu and many of the other shoguns during that particular bakufu were important in Japanese history. Who accepts this? At any tournament I've been involved in, saying "Tokugawa" gets you a prompt. There...
by Corry
Thu Oct 27, 2016 1:16 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PSA: Mohammed Reza Shah is not "Reza Shah"
Replies: 39
Views: 16268

Re: PSA: Mohammed Reza Shah is not "Reza Shah"

I encountered this problem somewhat recently while editing for the HSNCT. I couldn't think of any particularly satisfactory way to set up an answer line for Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. In my opinion, all of the following should be acceptable: Shah Pahlavi, Mohammed Reza, Mohammed Reza Shah, Mohammed...
by Corry
Mon Oct 24, 2016 5:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT 2016: Thoughts on Target Difficulty
Replies: 6
Views: 1724

Re: Thoughts on Target Difficulty

So I was always a bit confused about the intended difficulty of this tournament, but I just assumed it would be slightly harder than MUT. In which case, I think it hit that target. On the other hand, is "slightly MUT+" an ideal "introduction to competitive quizbowl"? I dunno.
by Corry
Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Ensuring future team success?
Replies: 10
Views: 5854

Re: Ensuring future team success?

The Stately Rhododendron wrote:Don't quote Donald Trump as a joke, for one.
Oh, don't take yourself so seriously.

But actually, signing up for EFT would be a good idea. Can confirm, is fun.
by Corry
Thu Aug 18, 2016 12:37 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: HIT (Historically Intensive Tournament)
Replies: 67
Views: 31937

Re: HIT (Historically Intensive Tournament)

I'd play this if there was an online mirror, preferably held sometime in the winter or later.
by Corry
Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:58 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: NASAT - Skype Mirror
Replies: 9
Views: 7799

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: NASAT - Skype Mirror

I had a great time at this tournament. My thanks to Penn for hosting, and Anderson+Raynor for tagging along at the last minute. One small thing- unfortunately, I had to step out before the final game of the tournament. Can the stats be edited to reflect that?
by Corry
Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:20 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?
Replies: 75
Views: 81100

Re: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?

Corry, you really think it's okay for Dave Madden to sue a company that Matt Weiner writes for because he failed to accomplish a project for NHBB? I guess I'll rephrase myself. I always saw the threat as, well, a thing that Dave said when he was pissed. And rightfully so-- at Matt Weiner! I don't b...
by Corry
Sat Jul 30, 2016 5:36 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?
Replies: 75
Views: 81100

Re: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?

Actually Dave Madden threaten to sue anyone or any organization that Matt Weiner might work with without satisfying his extremely weird demands for breaking the contract. I personally don't see a problem with that case, actually. Then you hold a bad opinion and should feel bad for holding it. Haha,...
by Corry
Sat Jul 30, 2016 5:00 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?
Replies: 75
Views: 81100

Re: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?

Cody wrote:Actually Dave Madden threaten to sue anyone or any organization that Matt Weiner might work with without satisfying his extremely weird demands for breaking the contract.
I personally don't see a problem with that case, actually.
by Corry
Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:44 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Would You Recommend Working for NAQT?
Replies: 22
Views: 9527

Re: Would You Recommend Working for NAQT?

Yeah, I'd recommend it. To give some background, I've written like 2000 questions for NAQT since 2013, and edited a couple hundred more. I'm currently the NAQT subject editor for all high school geography, and I formerly edited a bunch of random European and Asian history as well. Working for NAQT i...
by Corry
Fri Jul 29, 2016 10:17 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2016 Set Discussion
Replies: 110
Views: 49386

Re: Chicago Open 2016 Set Discussion

In combination with that, the powermarks were not adjusted appropriately (harder questions should have longer powermarks), so the result was ridiculous things like, for example, this tournament only giving you 10 points for buzzing on the method by which the first 3D photonic crystal was constructe...
by Corry
Wed Jul 27, 2016 2:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The base fee for college qb tournaments should be higher
Replies: 14
Views: 6118

Re: The base fee for college qb tournaments should be higher

BTW, this is neither here nor there, but it is wrong in saying that ACF Fall takes a "fraction" of time to edit than CO. It is a lot of work in writing easy questions. From my own observations having written/edited thousands of questions for NAQT, it takes about half as much time to write...
by Corry
Tue Jul 26, 2016 6:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The base fee for college qb tournaments should be higher
Replies: 14
Views: 6118

Re: The base fee for college qb tournaments should be higher

Yeah, sure. To this day, I have no idea why high-difficulty tournaments charge the same $120 fee as ACF Fall, which takes a fraction of the time to edit.