Search found 74 matches

by zachary_yan
Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:44 pm
Forum: Regular Season Tournaments
Topic: Volunteers needed: Entering tournaments on the DB
Replies: 14
Views: 30684

Re: Volunteers needed: Entering tournaments on the DB

I've been transcribing things from NAQT's schedule onto the db, let me know if this is something that wasn't intended. A couple of questions: 1) It seems somewhat unjust that it says that I "own" something that doesn't related to me in any way. Is there any way to automatically transfer ow...
by zachary_yan
Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:58 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ICCS at University of Minnesota (10/18)
Replies: 3
Views: 3076

Re: ICCS at University of Minnesota (10/18)

How many players/teams participated?
by zachary_yan
Mon May 12, 2014 8:15 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Studying for Poetry
Replies: 11
Views: 5044

Re: Studying for Poetry

http://www.wikihow.com/Memorize-a-Poem-Quickly

How effective is this for memorizing poetry?
by zachary_yan
Mon May 12, 2014 6:52 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Books "for Quizbowl"
Replies: 217
Views: 224587

Re: Books "for Quizbowl"

The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi wrote:I'd love some recommendations for books on Religion.
Sparknotes has pretty good summaries of the major books of the Bible.
by zachary_yan
Sun May 11, 2014 3:33 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42765

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: May 10-11, Atlanta

Kealing goes down to a team they had already beaten 620-210? Weird. St. Mark's was 5-3 yesterday, and now they're the only team left in the winner's bracket. Edit: And it turns out that exact roster tied for 7th at TQBA states 2 weeks ago. That might just be the weirdest thing. On top of that, here...
by zachary_yan
Sun May 04, 2014 7:39 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Is there a space between "quiz" and "bowl"?
Replies: 29
Views: 14876

Re: Is there a space between "quiz" and "bowl"?

Iphone auto correct reverts "quizbowl" into two words, which annoys me to no end. Google also suggests "quiz bowl" to a search query the other way and there is also no way to search for an exact string of "quizbowl". "Quizbowl" seems to be used only by good qu...
by zachary_yan
Fri May 02, 2014 10:46 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Building a Quality Culture
Replies: 27
Views: 7010

Re: Building a Quality Culture

In this vein, how have you drawn people to tryouts at the beginning of the season? And also, what is the ideal size for a club/team? A lot of schools have like, club-fair esque things that you can usually attract people with if you set up a buzzer and read them easy questions No ideal size for club...
by zachary_yan
Fri May 02, 2014 8:45 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Japanese Literature
Replies: 18
Views: 10591

Re: Japanese Literature

Figure out what's best for you as a player; put context to an author when learning about him or trying to memorize works and characters without any context. (As for the negs comment, IDK... I've played lit the way I've described for a while and my most recent NAQT I went 35/27/6.) This tends to wor...
by zachary_yan
Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:25 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Is there a space between "quiz" and "bowl"?
Replies: 29
Views: 14876

Re: Is there a space between "quiz" and "bowl"?

Although there is no universally agreed-upon guideline regarding the use of compound words in the English language, in recent decades written English has displayed a noticeable trend towards increased use of compounds. Recently, many words have been made by taking syllables of words and compounding...
by zachary_yan
Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:09 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: What packets should I study?
Replies: 9
Views: 8152

Re: What packets should I study?

It seems like it would be good idea if the difficulty level of each packet set on the archive was marked (so labeled as novice, regular, nationals or whatever). Also, I'm just wondering what exactly "highly recommended as practice material" is supposed to mean? I'm assuming it's referring ...
by zachary_yan
Thu Apr 24, 2014 5:00 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: So Panasonic is back...
Replies: 32
Views: 20612

Re: So Panasonic is back...

The tournament seems like its going to be held during the exact same time as NASAT, except that the NTAE is going to make you stay a few more days to see Disney world. Looks like they're literally trying to avoid the mainstream quizbowl demographic this time around. But anyways, doesn't the Florida ...
by zachary_yan
Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The Role of a Moderator
Replies: 41
Views: 13672

Re: The Role of a Moderator

I guess since the discussion has turned to "role of pseudonyms" now, just wondering, what kinds of reasons, school administration related or otherwise, would a team want use a pseudonym.
by zachary_yan
Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:54 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

It's the logic that teams use when planning activities and yet another reason why It's Ac is bad for the circuit.
by zachary_yan
Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

If I may interject, no matter what the format you're playing, you're going to have teams absolutely getting creamed. In the local "bad" format I played in High School, the same 7 or 8 teams were always at the top and the same 7 or 8 teams were always at the bottom. This never stopped them...
by zachary_yan
Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:38 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Driving to FAR AWAY Tournaments
Replies: 25
Views: 8648

Re: Driving to FAR AWAY Tournaments

Yeah, last year we took coach bus from MN to ATL (Saint Paul central was going to tag along, but later dropped out of HSNCT). One reason our coach, Meaghan Decker, decided to take a bus instead of flying, which we usually do, was because we were bringing a total of 31 people, so it saved money compa...
by zachary_yan
Mon Apr 14, 2014 2:57 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

Zachary, I think a large part of the confusion/miscommunication that's going on here is that you seem to have some conception of "Good Quizbowl" as an entity composed of its participants, as opposed to an activity etc. etc. It looks like I'm greatly overestimating the existence of good qu...
by zachary_yan
Sun Apr 13, 2014 2:12 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

Planning out how to promote quizbowl and start a team by listening to a few high school students and a college freshman OR by listening to people who have track records of successful tournaments and circuit building: who would you rather listen to? This is expressly why good quizbowl needs a better...
by zachary_yan
Sun Apr 13, 2014 3:11 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

As somebody who co-founded the Missouri Quizbowl Alliance and spent a subsequent 5 years of my life fighting very vigorously to convince teams that the MSHSAA series was a horribly run boondoggle and had to work even harder to force good quizbowl to exist at all in the state in the face of a bunch ...
by zachary_yan
Sat Apr 12, 2014 11:54 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: All videos of Quiz Bowl
Replies: 206
Views: 154976

Re: All videos of Quiz Bowl

:lol: :lol: :lol: Someone needs make an infinite loop of Richard Montgomery getting hosed like it's cool on It's Academic http://youtu.be/2rUbcZXbe7c?t=21m19s
by zachary_yan
Sat Apr 12, 2014 10:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

Nooo, it's not "necessary" at all! Why would you conclude that? Edit: In retrospect I think misunderstood which instance of "necessary" this question was referring to. (Some of these quotes are taken slightly out of context but reflect a general sentiment) This is going to be co...
by zachary_yan
Sat Apr 12, 2014 9:36 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

A problem with current quizbowl is that a lot of people that are needed for a school to run a team (coaches, admins, etc.), don't understand what QB is find it shady because new teams go to competitions, pay ~$70 and then come back home with nothing to show for it. The TV show works, even though it...
by zachary_yan
Sat Apr 12, 2014 9:16 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

I think Varun and the others have done a great job elucidating the accessibility point I was referring to. QB has a tough barrier to entry. It's not particularly established and you have to look damn hard for info on it when compared to other scholastic activities like debate, Science Bowl, Model U...
by zachary_yan
Sat Apr 12, 2014 2:25 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

The IHSA has apparently gotten worse this year as a side-effect of all the good writers resigning in protest and/or being fired for reporting plagiarism. VHSL Scholastic Bowl hasn't gotten worse in terms of questions in the past few years, although the redistricting nonsense that occurred right bef...
by zachary_yan
Sat Apr 12, 2014 12:00 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

At this point, I would go so far as to say that in Virginia, Illinois, and Missouri, good quizbowl has never been accepted by any of their respective statewide athletic governing bodies. Still, it's definitely made a LOT of progress in the next few years. and despite the glaring flaws these formats...
by zachary_yan
Fri Apr 11, 2014 11:33 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42765

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: May 10-11, Atlanta

What difficulty would the packet set be comparable to? Also, is it targeted to be easier or harder than last year's?
by zachary_yan
Fri Apr 11, 2014 11:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

Honestly, as a freshman starting out in quizbowl, I would have much preferred playing something like It's Ac over real quiz bowl. If one cannot get questions even at the end (or only buzz in at the end) and does not receive any direction or method of improvement, what is the point in playing good q...
by zachary_yan
Fri Apr 11, 2014 5:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

GDS will go to the "It's Academic" playoffs this year! April 26th conflicts with History Bowl AND Academic WorldQuest, but it's all good! "It's Academic" taping yesterday! GDS pulled off a pretty good-looking victory, so we live to fight another day. About Ikenberry's support of...
by zachary_yan
Fri Apr 11, 2014 4:51 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

Matt, I know I have zero person experience with anything outside of a small corner of Minnesota, but it doesn't seem like it takes too much effort to get properly informed about the nature of It's Academic, for instance. Plus only claims I made in that post (after editing) that's anywhere near "...
by zachary_yan
Fri Apr 11, 2014 2:19 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

Purely speculating as an outsider here, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. In terms of preparation for quizbowl, there seems to be an underlying assumption that teams who are exposed to pyramidal quizbowl instantly become competent teams because of the superiority of the format. Even in ...
by zachary_yan
Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:54 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: It's Academic discussion
Replies: 105
Views: 53578

Re: It's Academic discussion

Has good quizbowl ever reached out to the producers of It's Ac to attempt to make some reforms the gameplay?

edit: okay so I said something silly, shame on me
by zachary_yan
Tue Apr 08, 2014 2:41 am
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: How to practice when at an intermediate level
Replies: 10
Views: 6469

Re: How to practice when at an intermediate level

One way to practice against better players is "simulating" it at practice. Basically, what you do is you give one player the access to questions before hand, or maybe just the clues up to a certain point, and then you play against them on that packet. The end result is like if you were pla...
by zachary_yan
Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:08 pm
Forum: Best of the Best
Topic: Writing Good Music Questions for Musical Novices
Replies: 14
Views: 28774

Re: Writing Good Music Questions for Musical Novices

Should song titles and arias be written in the original language or in English or perhaps both? There seems to be a bit of inconsistency about this.
by zachary_yan
Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Writing Good Music Questions for Musical Novices
Replies: 14
Views: 8000

Re: Writing Good Music Questions for Musical Novices

Should song titles and arias be written in the original language or in English or perhaps both? There seems to be a bit of inconsistency about this.
by zachary_yan
Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The Good Quizbowl Media Strategy (or lack thereof)
Replies: 34
Views: 25034

Re: The Good Quizbowl Media Strategy (or lack thereof)

I guess I was exaggerating a bit there, but the point remains the same. HSNCT and NHBB are the only quizbowl nationals I've been to, and neither of them have the superficial value that would make the media want to cover it. HSNCT, in many ways, bears a pretty good superficial resemblance to the not...
by zachary_yan
Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:33 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The Good Quizbowl Media Strategy (or lack thereof)
Replies: 34
Views: 25034

Re: The Good Quizbowl Media Strategy (or lack thereof)

Even the good qb nationals are largely the same but on a larger scale. This is...not true. I guess I was exaggerating a bit there, but the point remains the same. HSNCT and NHBB are the only quizbowl nationals I've been to, and neither of them have the superficial value that would make the media wa...
by zachary_yan
Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:50 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The Role of a Moderator
Replies: 41
Views: 13672

Re: The Role of a Moderator

I vaguely remember hearing about something like this that happened once, and in that case they made the individuals involved pay back some of the registration fee. If any of Charter's money was used to enter these two kids into the tournament, you guys have all the right to politely ask for it back....
by zachary_yan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:24 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: Housewriting a MS Set
Replies: 12
Views: 5952

Re: Housewriting a MS Set

Please don't follow the advice in the next paragraph. --Mgmt. I almost feel like if you wanted to run a very cheap middle school tournament, you could just grab some easier set from online and use that. You can make a reasonable assumption that a middle schoolers from a region not known for good qu...
by zachary_yan
Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:16 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The Good Quizbowl Media Strategy (or lack thereof)
Replies: 34
Views: 25034

Re: The Good Quizbowl Media Strategy (or lack thereof)

I've never had any firsthand experience with Chip, but it seems like QU has a way of making things seem more interesting than they actually are and this kind of enthusiasm just trickles down the system and becomes the kind of thing that the media looks for. On the other hand it seems like good quizb...
by zachary_yan
Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:10 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2014 IHSA
Replies: 80
Views: 26469

Re: 2014 IHSA

Also, myth classified as lit is just wrong. Largely hypothetical question here, but why? All of what we know of as mythology, especially that of the quizbowl canon, is from a written source. The earliest examples of literature are mythologies. Also, where do guys like Snori Sturleson, Elias Lönnrot...
by zachary_yan
Wed Mar 12, 2014 7:24 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Boycotting Bad Quizbowl?
Replies: 14
Views: 4781

Re: Boycotting Bad Quizbowl?

So it's tradition to have bad questions and promote shallow knowledge? Think about it this way: "Good Reach" = "Good Quizbowl". What you're saying about Reach is same here in the states, if you'd ask the average adult what they thought of quizbowl, they'd think of a Reach like ga...
by zachary_yan
Wed Mar 12, 2014 6:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Boycotting Bad Quizbowl?
Replies: 14
Views: 4781

Re: Boycotting Bad Quizbowl?

Thankfully, there shouldn't trademark issues; lots of schools host Reach-like events each year independent of the organization. Still, I'm unsure of the advantages this would bring (elaborate please). It just sounds to me that this would create confusion, but it would get coaches and admin to actua...
by zachary_yan
Tue Mar 11, 2014 10:55 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Boycotting Bad Quizbowl?
Replies: 14
Views: 4781

Re: Boycotting Bad Quizbowl?

Don’t expect your school’s Reach funds to just get transferred to another championship, though. Reach for the Top is a Canadian cultural institution. The average adult on the street has heard of it. Important people in Canada have played it. Universities give scholarships for it. All of my past man...
by zachary_yan
Tue Mar 11, 2014 12:54 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT HSNCT: Congratulations LASA!
Replies: 68
Views: 40340

Re: 2014 NAQT HSNCT: May 31-June 1, Chicago

Here's our list of non-NAQT state championships. Let us know if we're missing a non-NAQT state championship that should qualify the winning team for HSNCT. I don't know if this is what you mean, but I feel like the MN Knowledge Bowl winners should get a qualification to nationals. I know there are ...
by zachary_yan
Sun Mar 09, 2014 3:44 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Steering a Team Away From NAC
Replies: 22
Views: 9881

Re: Steering a Team Away From NAC

This is probably a wildly uninformed question, but why don't you guys go to HSNCT? I mean it's more "funn" and has an easier field than the NSC and it's also got a cheaper base fee than Chip bowl.
by zachary_yan
Fri Mar 07, 2014 1:37 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT HSNCT: Congratulations LASA!
Replies: 68
Views: 40340

Re: 2014 NAQT HSNCT: May 31-June 1, Chicago

Can you give a list of the Non-NAQT state championships this year that have berths to HSNCT? I take it American Association of Schools in Central America Knowledge Bowl is one seeing as EIS in Honduras is going.
by zachary_yan
Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:07 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: HSQBRank 2013-2014: Witty Subtitle
Replies: 203
Views: 107569

Re: HSQBRank 2013-2014: Witty Subtitle

About what ppb adjustment would HSNCT and NSC have or does it vary too much from year to year to be sure?
by zachary_yan
Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:51 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: What are the main criticisms of pyramidal Quizbowl?
Replies: 36
Views: 10801

Re: What are the main criticisms of pyramidal Quizbowl?

There's also this notion that pyramidal questions would be unsuitable for a television audience, that they're too long and "boring", and that viewers wouldn't be able to "play along" with the contestants. Such views are often espoused by the likes of :chip: and other Alex Trebek ...
by zachary_yan
Wed Mar 05, 2014 11:30 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2013 NAC
Replies: 89
Views: 47058

Re: 2013 NAC

Any one who's been to the NAC in recent years: What's the NAC "theme music" and is it any better than his questions?

http://www.qunlimited.com/practice.html (mentioned at the bottom of the page)
by zachary_yan
Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:09 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Accidental Buzzes
Replies: 17
Views: 5041

Re: Accidental Buzzes

I didn't feel like making a new thread but an unrelated question about buzzers: Is it legal to hold down the button while the system is locked out to immediately activate the buzzer when it is cleared? I did this at NHBB bee to some avail (obviously I didn't win though). Apparently on some systems i...
by zachary_yan
Sat Mar 01, 2014 3:33 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Good ways to improve literature knowledge?
Replies: 15
Views: 7909

Re: Good ways to improve literature knowledge?

If you haven't seen the other threads about this you can use the search function to find them otherwise: 1 Check out literature pages here: http://ai.stanford.edu/~csewell/culture/ and NAQT frequency lists (it's worth knowing all it it!) 2 read packets/ summaries from sparknotes, cliffnotes and what...