Search found 335 matches
- Thu May 20, 2021 10:55 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 4225
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...
- Wed Dec 19, 2018 9:45 pm
- Forum: Databases and Quizbowl Software
- Topic: Announcing Qblitz
- Replies: 23
- Views: 18991
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.
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.
- Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:36 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2018 Sun God Invitational Specific Question Request and Discussion
- Replies: 125
- Views: 22165
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...
- Thu Aug 02, 2018 2:34 am
- Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
- Topic: Fuck it, let's rank the sets
- Replies: 28
- Views: 26182
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...
- Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:17 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: ACF and Powers
- Replies: 20
- Views: 9206
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...
- Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:20 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: community question clinic
- Replies: 95
- Views: 93179
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 ...
- Mon Feb 05, 2018 5:24 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2018 SCT general discussion
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1908
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...
- Mon Feb 05, 2018 3:26 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2018 SCT general discussion
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1908
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...
- Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:55 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2018 Division I SCT: specific question discussion
- Replies: 35
- Views: 2352
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...
- Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:44 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2018 Division I SCT: specific question discussion
- Replies: 35
- Views: 2352
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...
- Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:16 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2018 Division I SCT: specific question discussion
- Replies: 35
- Views: 2352
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...
- Sat Feb 03, 2018 10:58 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2018 ACF Regs packets, recordings, and detailed stats survey
- Replies: 67
- Views: 32782
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...
- Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:08 pm
- Forum: High school area archives
- Topic: Common Link Questions
- Replies: 3
- Views: 3959
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...
- Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:39 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)
- Replies: 37
- Views: 22029
Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat
Also interested in seeing this!DuPhos wrote:Any idea when stats will be posted?
- Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:13 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)
- Replies: 37
- Views: 22029
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?
- Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:19 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: The Case for Short Questions
- Replies: 25
- Views: 14556
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...
- Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:46 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: Limits of the "Back to the Classroom" Movement
- Replies: 33
- Views: 12269
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...
- Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:24 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)
- Replies: 37
- Views: 22029
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.
- Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:21 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: Limits of the "Back to the Classroom" Movement
- Replies: 33
- Views: 12269
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...
- Tue May 09, 2017 5:27 pm
- Forum: High school area archives
- Topic: Social Media Idea for Tournaments
- Replies: 5
- Views: 3567
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...
- Fri Apr 21, 2017 8:15 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: Better Hype Videos
- Replies: 1
- Views: 3406
Re: Better Hype Videos
pretty cute tbh
- Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:26 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)
- Replies: 37
- Views: 22029
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.
- Thu Feb 23, 2017 5:16 pm
- Forum: High school area archives
- Topic: Gender & Quiz Bowl
- Replies: 6
- Views: 5527
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
- Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:30 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: NAQT rules revisions 2017
- Replies: 44
- Views: 21546
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 ...
- Fri Jan 13, 2017 7:17 pm
- Forum: High school area archives
- Topic: Surviving Graduate School: Twelve Thoughts
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1496
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.
- Fri Dec 30, 2016 3:14 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 1st annual JAKOB: Online History Extravaganza
- Replies: 46
- Views: 35171
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.
- Wed Dec 14, 2016 1:21 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: community question clinic
- Replies: 95
- Views: 93179
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...
- Mon Dec 12, 2016 5:19 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: community question clinic
- Replies: 95
- Views: 93179
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...
- Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:37 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
- Replies: 71
- Views: 36639
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.
- Tue Nov 15, 2016 1:02 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
- Replies: 71
- Views: 36639
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?
- Sun Nov 13, 2016 11:40 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
- Replies: 71
- Views: 36639
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.
- Sun Nov 13, 2016 11:38 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
- Replies: 71
- Views: 36639
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...
- Sun Nov 13, 2016 9:08 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2016 Terrapin Specific Question Discussion and Errata
- Replies: 71
- Views: 36639
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...
- Sun Nov 13, 2016 8:42 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2016 Terrapin General Discussion
- Replies: 30
- Views: 7585
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...
- Fri Nov 11, 2016 10:42 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: Penn Bowl at Yale (10/29/2016)
- Replies: 6
- Views: 5886
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...
- Tue Nov 08, 2016 2:16 pm
- Forum: New High School Teams
- Topic: How to attract new members
- Replies: 11
- Views: 18222
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...
- Mon Nov 07, 2016 4:05 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2016 ACF Fall general discussion
- Replies: 49
- Views: 26227
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...
- Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:45 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: PSA: Mohammed Reza Shah is not "Reza Shah"
- Replies: 39
- Views: 16534
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...
- Thu Oct 27, 2016 1:16 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: PSA: Mohammed Reza Shah is not "Reza Shah"
- Replies: 39
- Views: 16534
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...
- Mon Oct 24, 2016 5:13 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: EFT 2016: Thoughts on Target Difficulty
- Replies: 6
- Views: 1744
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.
- Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:09 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: Ensuring future team success?
- Replies: 10
- Views: 5884
Re: Ensuring future team success?
Oh, don't take yourself so seriously.The Stately Rhododendron wrote:Don't quote Donald Trump as a joke, for one.
But actually, signing up for EFT would be a good idea. Can confirm, is fun.
- Thu Aug 18, 2016 12:37 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: HIT (Historically Intensive Tournament)
- Replies: 67
- Views: 32092
Re: HIT (Historically Intensive Tournament)
I'd play this if there was an online mirror, preferably held sometime in the winter or later.
- Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:58 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: NASAT - Skype Mirror
- Replies: 9
- Views: 7894
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?
- Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:20 pm
- Forum: High school area archives
- Topic: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?
- Replies: 75
- Views: 81582
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...
- Sat Jul 30, 2016 5:36 pm
- Forum: High school area archives
- Topic: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?
- Replies: 75
- Views: 81582
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,...
- Sat Jul 30, 2016 5:00 pm
- Forum: High school area archives
- Topic: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?
- Replies: 75
- Views: 81582
Re: Would You Recommend Working for NHBB?
I personally don't see a problem with that case, actually.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.
- Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:44 pm
- Forum: High school area archives
- Topic: Would You Recommend Working for NAQT?
- Replies: 22
- Views: 9601
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...
- Fri Jul 29, 2016 10:17 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: Chicago Open 2016 Set Discussion
- Replies: 110
- Views: 49941
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...
- 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: 6163
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...
- 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: 6163
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.