Search found 38 matches

by Evan Lynch
Sun May 03, 2020 5:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Running Zoom Tournaments
Replies: 67
Views: 33327

Re: Running Zoom Tournaments

Yeah to add to this, Zoom seems to be an excellent platform for online tournament play - we had a couple of individual connection problems across the weekend but nothing major, and as Oli said, the experience is far improved and less headache-inducing than playing on Discord. We managed to run the T...
by Evan Lynch
Sun Feb 23, 2020 6:17 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2020 MWT Specific Questions and Errata
Replies: 60
Views: 6435

Re: 2020 MWT Specific Questions and Errata

Miscellaneous comments: packet 3 B17.2 (Garmisch-Partenkirchen): a six-syllable city with a population of 27,000 is not going to play as an acceptable hard part at this level (or possibly any level), especially when its only notable clue is trivia. Thanks for the feedback, Stephen - we'll make the ...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Feb 17, 2020 8:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2020 MWT Specific Questions and Errata
Replies: 60
Views: 6435

Re: 2020 MWT Specific Questions and Errata

Since I haven't posted here yet - firstly, thank you to everyone who has offered feedback; I've been following quite closely and implementing many of the suggested changes after each mirror. Special thanks to Cody and Kevin and the others who took the time to break down feedback by packet - this mak...
by Evan Lynch
Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2020 ACF Regionals: Specific Questions and Errata
Replies: 66
Views: 25409

Re: 2020 ACF Regionals: Specific Questions and Errata

I think the question on the "oxide" anion was rather confusing, given that the majority of the question was on the formation and usage of silica, a covalent compound. The question would have been clearer as a tossup on just "oxygen" (as "this element"). I'll add to thi...
by Evan Lynch
Sun Nov 24, 2019 9:32 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 Fall Open Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 66
Views: 14368

Re: 2019 Fall Open Specific Question Discussion

I feel like the haem TU would have benefitted from a directed prompt on the various types of haemoprotein - whilst using the identifier “this complex” is not incorrect, the binding of the haemoprotein to the haem cofactor is essentially forming a complex itself, which caused a bit of confusion.
by Evan Lynch
Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:26 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Fall 2019 Specific Question Discussion and Errata
Replies: 51
Views: 14578

Re: ACF Fall 2019 Specific Question Discussion and Errata

I felt the ouroboros clue in the aromatic tossup could have done with a disclaimer that the answer was not "cyclic" - this was a neg in my room despite seeming like a pretty natural answer. I'm pretty sure that was already disclaimed in the previous sentence when the conditions described ...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Oct 28, 2019 12:36 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 Penn Bowl - Specific Question Discussion Thread
Replies: 60
Views: 10281

Re: Specific Question Discussion Thread

I enjoyed this tournament a lot and might get chance to feedback on a few more questions later, but I did want to point out that the leadin to the Picasso tossup made it abundantly clear that the answer was a) a notably sexist artist who b) painted a lot of warped faces - this seemed to turn the res...
by Evan Lynch
Tue Aug 06, 2019 8:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Fall "Gentlemen's Agreements"
Replies: 5
Views: 5354

Re: ACF Fall "Gentlemen's Agreements"

The UK circuit has historically maintained a gentleman's agreement regarding who plays ACF Fall, and while it hasn't always worked perfectly it's generally been pretty successful. Our aim has always been to give a somewhat-sanitised environment for newer players to find their feet in, without overly...
by Evan Lynch
Sun Jul 28, 2019 12:39 pm
Forum: New Collegiate Teams
Topic: Logistical Barriers to Starting Successful Collegiate Quizbowl Teams
Replies: 7
Views: 11318

Re: Logistical Barriers to Starting Successful Collegiate Quizbowl Teams

2. Lack of Time to Organize II. Why are the Collegiate Novice events scheduled very early in the Fall Semester? While this is convenient for established programs to send their new players to and is likely a good introductory experience to quizbowl for those players who do participate, a new team wi...
by Evan Lynch
Sat Dec 08, 2018 10:58 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 Penn Bowl - Specific Question Discussion Thread
Replies: 50
Views: 10339

Re: Specific Question Discussion Thread

18. One artist in this movement used the “soak stain” technique to depict Nova Scotia in pastel pinks, blues, and greens in Mountains and Sea. For 10 points each: [10] Helen Frankenthaler was a member of this movement, which Harold Rosenberg described as producing “apocalyptic wallpaper” in his ess...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Nov 05, 2018 9:30 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Fall 2018 - Specific Questions and Errata
Replies: 53
Views: 26614

Re: ACF Fall 2018 - Specific Questions and Errata

The Eyjafjallajökull bonus seemed very easy. Iceland and "air travel industry" are both easy parts in my opinion, and I'm not sure Poland there is a hard part, but maybe it is. Either way, I think most teams would get at least 20 here. The bonus on cossacks/Ukraine/Poland-Lithuania mentio...
by Evan Lynch
Fri Mar 30, 2018 2:38 pm
Forum: Scheduling reform
Topic: What Does an Ideal Season Look Like?
Replies: 16
Views: 17160

Re: What Does an Ideal Season Look Like?

Having a regular set around April/May would allow the UK circuit (and others too, for that matter) to run Deep Bench properly.
by Evan Lynch
Thu Mar 29, 2018 8:16 pm
Forum: Scheduling reform
Topic: Quizbowl Needs a Scheduling Committee
Replies: 50
Views: 38560

Re: Quizbowl Needs a Scheduling Committee

I couldn't disagree with this more. Having to apply to a committee to have your tournament 'sanctioned' is probably the simplest way to put off a group of new writers. There's clearly a dearth of college quizbowl tournaments at the moment, and I'd like to encourage people to organise their own tourn...
by Evan Lynch
Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 ACF Regs packets, recordings, and detailed stats survey
Replies: 67
Views: 32317

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

I haven't seen the advanced stats yet to confirm this, but on my read-through the set, I recalled early buzzes by basically every team we faced through the day. Personally, my buzzes also seemed pretty evenly distributed throughout the tossups. With that in mind, I'm going to disagree with the notio...
by Evan Lynch
Sun Nov 19, 2017 6:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 88
Views: 22141

Re: WAO II Specific Question Discussion

I haven't seen a copy of the set yet, but here are a few things I remember: Writing a tossup on the " inner mitochondrial membrane " was probably not the best choice of answerline. I buzzed with "mitochondria", was prompted and said "cristae" then "mitochondrial me...
by Evan Lynch
Thu May 11, 2017 6:07 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MASSOLIT (May 2017) Announcement
Replies: 41
Views: 30690

Re: MASSOLIT (May 2017) Announcement

If anyone is interested in running this on, say, a Sunday/weekend afternoon in June, I'd be very interested in playing - as it is it's too close to finals for me to stay up into the wee hours playing, but I'm certainly keen (and maybe a few more UK people might be too, if we can solve the timezone p...
by Evan Lynch
Sun Feb 19, 2017 1:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2017 ACF Regionals - thanks and general discussion
Replies: 39
Views: 13488

Re: 2017 ACF Regionals - thanks and general discussion

I'm curious - is there a breakdown of how much British/Celtic mythology was in the set relative to other traditions? It felt like there was *a lot* in the 13 packets I played, and I'm intrigued as to whether I was right to get this impression or not.
by Evan Lynch
Thu Feb 02, 2017 7:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Gauging interest for late spring Oxbridge mirror in NYC
Replies: 16
Views: 6981

Re: Gauging interest for late spring Oxbridge mirror in NYC

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea wrote:As an old person, I don't get to play normal NAQT tournaments, so the opportunity to play something that imitates NAQT is exciting. I also like powers, and I take it that the Cambridge set has powers.
Yes, the set will be powermarked.
by Evan Lynch
Tue Jan 31, 2017 9:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Gauging interest for late spring Oxbridge mirror in NYC
Replies: 16
Views: 6981

Re: Gauging interest for late spring Oxbridge mirror in NYC

As far as the current status of the Cambridge set goes: The British history and literature are essentially finished, in case there's a wish to start Americanising this set. It would also be mostly playable unamericanised - that's the approach we take with everything regular and above in the UK, and ...
by Evan Lynch
Tue Nov 08, 2016 9:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 ACF Fall general discussion
Replies: 49
Views: 26178

Re: 2016 ACF Fall general discussion

That's why I'd like to ask again why, given the huge glut of packets received, the editors felt it necessary to have five editors' packets. See my post about ACF Fall packet submission reform. We did have a huge glut of packets received, but not good ones. The poor quality of the submissions made i...
by Evan Lynch
Tue Nov 01, 2016 8:53 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PB 2016: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 82
Views: 19455

Re: PB 2016: Specific Question Discussion

LBJ and/or Texas came up a lot in this set. Like, at least three times. (Am I misremembering that "Texas" was an answer line twice?) Texas was an answerline for American history which had some LBJ stuff in, and for a literature common link which included Vernon God Little and Blood Meridi...
by Evan Lynch
Sat Oct 22, 2016 7:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: Penn Bowl 2016 (10/22/16)
Replies: 54
Views: 36143

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Penn Bowl 2016 (10/22/16)

In fairness, some of this tournament will play really well - once it's actually finished. The science was pretty fun.

Is there a private discussion forum available? We have quite the list of errata, which you'll probably want to fix this week. And please, please, please, please, please proofread.
by Evan Lynch
Mon Sep 19, 2016 5:23 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Greatest Upsets in Quizbowl History
Replies: 75
Views: 78506

Re: Greatest Upsets in Quizbowl History

Since I've been waiting far too long to have a worthwhile story to put in here, the upsets thread seems as good a place as any. I can't offer stories of underdogs coming from behind to clinch national championships (though for another five points there might have been a different story), but if I ma...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Sep 12, 2016 4:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 ACF Fall Global Announcement (5 Nov 2016)
Replies: 26
Views: 27766

Re: 2016 ACF Fall Global Announcement (5 Nov 2016)

Submitted packets- Received before 11.59 PM PST September 10 U. Connecticut Caltech A Lawrence A Duke C Johns Hopkins A Johns Hopkins B U South Carolina U Florida A UC Berkeley A UC Berkeley B UC Berkeley E UGA A UGA B UGA C Toronto A Notre Dame A I submitted three half-packets for Cambridge A/B/C ...
by Evan Lynch
Fri Jul 29, 2016 4:52 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The Barbarism of Specialization
Replies: 13
Views: 6781

Re: The Barbarism of Specialization

On the lever rule, it was my opinion after a couple years of Materials Science that nobody actually bothered to remember the equation - because it's so simple I found it becomes instinctive when you're looking at a phase diagram. Could I then answer that hard part from visualising a phase diagram in...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Jun 06, 2016 1:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 3 Discussion
Replies: 24
Views: 10155

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 3 Discussion

Leading in with Land of the Mountain and the Flood for the Scotland tossup was majestic - excellent choice, even if I did spend the rest of the question in a rage trying to remember what it was. On another note, I was disappointed that the set didn't include anything from brass bands, though I imagi...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Jun 06, 2016 1:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Summer Skype Practices
Replies: 16
Views: 6670

Re: Summer Skype Practices

Joker wrote:
Xochicuicatl Cuecuechtli wrote:
Gonzague Truc wrote:
Cheynem wrote:Would there be any interest in a Skype mirror of NASAT (for those who are not playing one of the in person mirrors)?
Yes
by Evan Lynch
Fri May 20, 2016 1:54 pm
Forum: Scheduling reform
Topic: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.
Replies: 65
Views: 62305

Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

I helped organise the British version of VCU Novice last year, and I'm looking to run another iteration of a novice tournament at some point in the autumn. Given that there's a conspicuous lack of a novice set this year, I'd be happy to spend some time this summer writing and editing a similar tourn...
by Evan Lynch
Sun Feb 07, 2016 8:07 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals 2016 General Discussion
Replies: 31
Views: 15162

Re: ACF Regionals 2016 General Discussion

--The "Turning into a rhinoceros" and "seance" questions were good ideas and well-thought questions. I'm glad to hear people enjoyed the "turning into a rhinoceros" question! The idea came to me as I was reading the play last summer and I initially wrote it out of amus...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Jan 18, 2016 12:34 pm
Forum: Databases and Quizbowl Software
Topic: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search
Replies: 131
Views: 122050

Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

I'm getting a slight issue when I use Quinterest in a Chrome window resized to about half my monitor (resolution 1920x1080, and resized so I can use a Word document in the other half or something). Whenever I click on the search bar to start a new search/enter text it instead misses the bar and clic...
by Evan Lynch
Tue Nov 10, 2015 9:52 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2015 ACF Fall general discussion
Replies: 55
Views: 24847

Re: 2015 ACF Fall general discussion

Upon reviewing the set, I discovered that these tossups of mine made it in - I would welcome feedback on them (though I think the editors did a great job with these compared to my original submissions). Lit: Candide, Ben Jonson, Rubaiyat History: Boston, Ferdinand Magellan Science: Cretaceous period...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Nov 09, 2015 9:39 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2015 ACF Fall general discussion
Replies: 55
Views: 24847

Re: 2015 ACF Fall general discussion

I noticed that a significant portion of the world lit tossups had an answerline of 'this country' - examples including South Africa, Australia, Cuba etc. I actually thought this was a pretty good way to get a lot of authors into the lit distribution, though there was also a tossup on Gordimer later ...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Nov 09, 2015 12:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2015 ACF Fall general discussion
Replies: 55
Views: 24847

Re: 2015 ACF Fall general discussion

The difficulty was inconsistent in parts, and I'll talk about more specific questions later, but in my opinion 'reaction rates' was a god-awful tossup, and I'm pretty sure that the first two clues also refer to 'rate constant' (which wasn't accepted or prompted) and that means the TU is non-specifi...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Nov 09, 2015 11:34 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2015 ACF Fall general discussion
Replies: 55
Views: 24847

Re: 2015 ACF Fall general discussion

The difficulty was inconsistent in parts, and I'll talk about more specific questions later, but in my opinion 'reaction rates' was a god-awful tossup, and I'm pretty sure that the first two clues also refer to 'rate constant' (which wasn't accepted or prompted) and that means the TU is non-specific...
by Evan Lynch
Fri Oct 23, 2015 2:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Specific Question Discussion (Penn Bowl 2015)
Replies: 56
Views: 15906

Re: Specific Question Discussion (Penn Bowl 2015)

Could I see the tossup on fragile-x syndrome please?
by Evan Lynch
Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Specific Question Discussion (Penn Bowl 2015)
Replies: 56
Views: 15906

Re: Specific Question Discussion (Penn Bowl 2015)

I didn't write down many specific answerlines at the weekend so I can't really remember issues with questions until I see the set, but I do recall a bonus on West Germanic languages being mangled grammatically making it difficult for mods. Also whoever wrote the Firefly tossup needs a medal. :)
by Evan Lynch
Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:44 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Specific Question Discussion (Penn Bowl 2015)
Replies: 56
Views: 15906

Re: Specific Question Discussion (Penn Bowl 2015)

The cross section of reactive collisions over the total number of collisions gives a “factor” named this, which is multiplied by the collision frequency to find the pre-exponential factor. Auxiliary groups can direct addition to the re or si face of a compound through this effect. A term for this k...
by Evan Lynch
Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:39 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Specific Question Discussion (Penn Bowl 2015)
Replies: 56
Views: 15906

Re: Specific Question Discussion (Penn Bowl 2015)

I've been waiting my whole life for a bonus set on Parade's End!

Beyond that, I'd quite like to see the 'sterics' question again as the first line seemed unusually transparent and Arrhenius-related.