Search found 286 matches

by Terrible Shorts Depot
Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:24 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: GAUGING INTEREST: Spring Tournament at Carleton
Replies: 6
Views: 1547

GAUGING INTEREST: Spring Tournament at Carleton

Hello all, Would you all be interested in there being a tournament in April or May at Carleton? Questions would almost certainly be HSAPQ (I can't think of any tournaments to mirror that late in the year). This would be a nice chance to get in a bit more preparation before various nationals and/or g...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:29 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Paul Goodman Memorial Open
Replies: 157
Views: 59618

Re: Announcement: Paul Goodman Memorial Open

I'll probably play this. According to most sources, I know "horrible" trash. Also, Frank will probably play this and want to win. He's actually good at trash. Carsten has the worst taste in stuff. Expect tons of good buzzes on tossups about nurses, pop music my 15 year old sister wouldn't...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Paul Goodman Memorial Open
Replies: 157
Views: 59618

Re: Announcement: Paul Goodman Memorial Open

Anyone want to play this with me? Expect deep knowledge of indie music and more modernish sports (esp. hockey, football, and basketball) and decent knowledge of movies. I know literally nothing about TV and the internet.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:34 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open matchmaking thread
Replies: 57
Views: 16420

Re: Chicago Open matchmaking thread

I'm quite interested in playing this. It's not 100% that I'll be able to attend, but it's pretty likely. I'm willing to write anything but science and social science and I don't particularly care about winning (though any and all wins are welcome). Expect some low PsPG from me with very rare moments...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MUT mirror at Carnegie Mellon (3/20/10)
Replies: 23
Views: 6986

Re: MUT mirror at Carnegie Mellon (3/20/10)

If you need me to, I'll come and staff this, because I've already played it and I live like 5 blocks away.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Mar 08, 2010 12:01 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MUT 2010: General discussions and thanks
Replies: 43
Views: 7185

Re: General discussions and thanks

I really liked this set. My lone general complaint is that the tossups seemed more difficult than the bonuses. There were a fair amount of bonuses where my reasonably superficial quizbowl based knowledge could earn me 20 or 30 points with no trouble, while tossups seemed to be rather lead-in heavy. ...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MUT 2010: history
Replies: 14
Views: 2826

Re: history

The milk tossup and the cash tossup were rather unsavory, but all the rest of the history seemed categorically pretty good. I had no general problems with the history.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Some DII Feedback
Replies: 37
Views: 4724

Re: Some DII Feedback

Finally, in at least three rooms that I know of at the CCCT, the Easter Island toss-up led to negs on folks who couldn't come up with "Moai" after being prompted; in my room, a player came in before the power mark with the answer of "Easter Island heads" but had no idea about wh...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Blowouts and How to Learn from Them
Replies: 10
Views: 4121

Re: Blowouts and How to Learn from Them

I really like bringing a notebook to tournaments and writing down answers. It keeps you engaged and, at least for me, writing things down really helps me internalize knowledge.

Also, I like setting some sort of goal for points or tossups or whatever in a game against a really good team.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 21, 2010 6:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Academic WorldQuest
Replies: 9
Views: 2237

Re: Academic WorldQuest

I memorized every country's flag last year and that helped. Additionally, spending a lot of time with maps will do you well.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 14, 2010 9:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: General Discussion
Replies: 46
Views: 7606

Re: General Discussion

I really liked this tournament, despite playing pretty poorly. However, powers were really, really stingy. I didn't realize there would be powers until about round 5, because we hadn't seen one yet. I don't see how this squares with the stated goal of "good players buzzing early". One par...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 14, 2010 9:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: History
Replies: 34
Views: 5516

Re: History

I liked most of the history, though there were some really, really odd answer choices. I was especially peeved by the wacky common links, like "invading France" and "invading Persia." My problem wasn't that they were especially poorly written, but that they confused the shit out ...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 14, 2010 9:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: General Discussion
Replies: 46
Views: 7606

Re: General Discussion

I really liked this tournament, despite playing pretty poorly. However, powers were really, really stingy. I didn't realize there would be powers until about round 5, because we hadn't seen one yet. I don't see how this squares with the stated goal of "good players buzzing early". One part...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:45 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ICT schedule discussion
Replies: 76
Views: 14229

Re: ICT schedule discussion

Friday night rounds are rough on any team that has to travel a considerable distance (like, say, Carleton!). Missing class is really not something I want to do.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT North SCT (at Minnesota, Feb 6, 2010)
Replies: 8
Views: 1756

Re: NAQT North SCT (at Minnesota, Feb 6, 2010)

The mods in D2 were, with one exception, uniformly good to excellent.

This was an enjoyable tournament to play. Thanks to Minnesota and R.. I did neglect to bring the trophy to Midwinter Ball last night, which was regrettable.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 07, 2010 4:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: NAQT SCT Europe in Oxford, 6 Feb 2010
Replies: 43
Views: 17718

Re: Announcement: NAQT SCT Europe in Oxford, 6 Feb 2010

Peter Sloman wrote:Chris Christmas
best. name. ever.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Where is the line between "literature" and "trash"?
Replies: 43
Views: 7945

Re: Where is the line between "literature" and "trash"?

I'm curious as to the feelings of the community towards very contemporary (i.e., released their most famous/important/best work within the past five years or so) authors with some amount of academic and/or critical reputation. I'm thinking of people like Aravind Adiga, I suppose. Are these authors a...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Dec 29, 2009 5:05 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Studying Geography
Replies: 15
Views: 6610

Re: Studying Geography

I find reading the newspaper to be very effective for the exact same reason that learning about history is.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Writing Trash for Academic Tournaments
Replies: 30
Views: 5150

Re: Writing Trash for Academic Tournaments

For high school, should writers assume Tracy McGrady can be an easy part of a sports bonus? Or would he be a middle part with Houston Rockets being an easy part (with obvious gettable clues)? T-mac is only the highest paid player in the NBA. As for sports, there is little distinction between high s...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:17 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Writing Trash for Academic Tournaments
Replies: 30
Views: 5150

Re: Writing Trash for Academic Tournaments

For high school, should writers assume Tracy McGrady can be an easy part of a sports bonus? Or would he be a middle part with Houston Rockets being an easy part (with obvious gettable clues)? T-mac is only the highest paid player in the NBA. As for sports, there is little distinction between high s...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:08 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: ELVIS
Replies: 27
Views: 23369

Re: ELVIS

Coelacanth wrote:magine playing on questions from CBI, TRASH (with some academic content), ACF Regionals and an NAQT IS-set in the same tournament. That's what the early Elvis was like.
I smell a side event.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TRASH Regionals Discussion
Replies: 31
Views: 6048

Re: TRASH Regionals Discussion

bmcke wrote:Ducky Medwick is certainly no Gary Unger.
This tossup was an atrociously bad idea! Noted Red Wings fan Mike Cheyne didn't get it! My god, what on Earth were you people thinking?!

This tournament was awful. Please, never write such a piece of crap again.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Nov 17, 2009 7:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Spring Offensive History Doubles
Replies: 9
Views: 2224

Re: Spring Offensive History Doubles

I'd be willing to write a few questions for this.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Nov 11, 2009 12:37 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Caesar Rodney Rider Bowl (April 17th, 2010)
Replies: 105
Views: 35295

Re: Caesar Rodney Rider Bowl (April 17th, 2010)

(especially since Gov is going to ACF Nats) !!! Perhaps even scarier than the fact that they're going to ACF Nats is the possibility that they could win it. You mean D2 title, right? I'm not quite willing to anoint Gov over Minnesota/Brown/Chicago/Illinois/Harvard and various other contenders just ...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Nov 01, 2009 4:44 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: List places you'd like to see the 2011 HSNCT
Replies: 127
Views: 26145

Re: List places you'd like to see the 2011 HSNCT

Pittsburgh is indeed a great place to visit and stuff. I have no problem with perpetually hosting HSNCT in Chicago, but, if it had to move, Pittsburgh wouldn't be a bad place at all. Carleton tends to have finals either right before or during HSNCT, so don't count on anyone coming up from Northfield...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Nov 01, 2009 4:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Fall 2009 Discussion
Replies: 129
Views: 22063

Re: ACF Fall 2009 Discussion

This was a really good tournament. Right now, I can only think of two things to complain about that no one else has: there was no need to have 2/0 World War 2 conferences and the Velvet Underground tossup was criminally awful. "Venus In Furs" is probably their second most famous song, whic...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Proposing: Collaborative Middle School Tournament
Replies: 45
Views: 7900

Re: Proposing: Collaborative Middle School Tournament

If the second part of a bonus was Peter the Great, all you would need to do for an easy part would be to ask which country was run by Peter the Great. If you wanted to make it more interesting and still historical, you could say that it was also run by Catherine the Great and Ivan the Terrible and ...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:38 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Proposing: Collaborative Middle School Tournament
Replies: 45
Views: 7900

Re: Proposing: Collaborative Middle School Tournament

I'm also not a huge fan of the idea of 2 part bonuses, given that I don't see them saving much time for editors. The way I see it, the hard part of a 3 part mACF middle school bonus would be in the middle part range of the Fall Novice Set, and so if the middle part of this set is like a Fall Novice...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Minnesota Open Weekend on 10/17
Replies: 112
Views: 41772

Re: Minnesota Open Weekend on 10/17

Hello all, Here's another reminder that this place is getting pretty cold, and that it would be advisable to bring in a good jacket, a pair of gloves, and a some warm object which covers the head. If it's going to be absolutely impossible for you bring some warm clothing with you, let me know. I ca...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Oct 08, 2009 11:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: THUNDER at Carleton College (10/24/09)
Replies: 14
Views: 2147

Re: THUNDER at Carleton College (10/24/09)

Oh, I'd certainly play FOGHAT. I want to pit my rap knowledge against Frank.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT Discussion
Replies: 186
Views: 27916

Re: EFT Discussion

...[The children question] seemed to play just fine in IRC and when I read it in the finals, so I'm not convinced that your particular experience on that question necessarily condemns it. Sorry to bring this up again, but didn't we accept an answer of midgets for this question in the IRC? That was ...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Oct 05, 2009 5:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT IV Mirror at Macalester College--St. Paul MN
Replies: 14
Views: 4124

Re: EFT IV Mirror at Macalester College--St. Paul MN

While we await stats:

Minnesota (Brendan/Lauren) beat Carleton (Andreas/Frank/Carsten) in the final, and, if I remember correctly, Minnesota (Andrew/Rob/Bernadette) beat Minnesota (Gautam/Eliza) in the 3rd place game.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Oct 01, 2009 11:54 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Math As We Move Forward
Replies: 139
Views: 34220

Re: Math As We Move Forward

Using your definition of science, we end up with a combined social science and science distribution, Kay, because, if my one year of high school economics taught me anything, it was that collecting and analyzing data is some important stuff. I don't think anyone has ever advocated this line of reaso...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Durantula and Uncle Jeff Present: Guerrilla Sports at MO
Replies: 54
Views: 10731

Re: Durantula and Uncle Jeff Present: Guerrilla Sports at MO

It looks like I won't be playing this. I'll let you know if I'm going to.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:13 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pennsylvania 2009-2010
Replies: 20
Views: 3901

Re: Pennsylvania 2009-2010

Charlie, do you see Shady Side being very active this year? With us being so close to Pittsburgh, we will probably travel to as many Pittsburgh tournaments as we can. I really don't know. As mentioned above, our sponsor is on sabbatical, which could be a bit of an impediment, but, from talking to P...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Aug 20, 2009 11:05 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69022

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

The more interesting topic to me is not the number or college tournaments that a high schooler plays in, but Chris's belief in the need of a super-star to win a national championship. I find this curious as I have not seen any recent example of a super-star winning any national championship. Every ...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:11 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Want to get a literature foundation
Replies: 38
Views: 12631

Re: Want to get a literature foundation

Without regard to knowledge of naming conventions, B&N, Borders, and their ilk aren't necessary the best places to learn about literature. Independent bookstores tend to have better selections and their employees often have actually read a lot of stuff past the Twilight / Harry Potter /Dan Brown...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:39 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pennsylvania 2009-2010
Replies: 20
Views: 3901

Re: Pennsylvania 2009-2010

Moravian : I know absolutely nothing about this team. They were once good? They may still be good? Bridgeport : surprisingly good early in the year. Yet another team I know very little about. According to my research, Moravian returns Gordon from the HSNCT team. He was their highest scorer by a sma...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Aug 16, 2009 1:41 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pennsylvania 2009-2010
Replies: 20
Views: 3901

Pennsylvania 2009-2010

We might as well have one of these. State College : the best team in the state by a huge, huge margin. Not much else needs to be said. Graham is probably the best player in the state, too. I can't see any other PA team getting anywhere near a team of Graham/Monica/Erik/Cristoph. Presumably, a very s...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:14 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: DEATH at Richard Montgomery 09/12/09
Replies: 51
Views: 8250

Re: DEATH at Richard Montgomery 09/12/09

Are you trying to make your program a laughingstock or is that an unintended side effect?
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:52 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Any interest in a HS Tournament in NW FL?
Replies: 24
Views: 3101

Re: Any interest in a HS Tournament in NW FL?

As someone who is involved in the production of the Fall Novice set, I can guarantee that the set will be of high quality and of a difficulty more than appropriate for teams with little to no quizbowl experience. As far as I know, we do not yet have a mirror lined up in Florida, but we would love to...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Illinois '09-'10
Replies: 568
Views: 141857

Re: Illinois '09-'10

Of course, of course. I didn't mean to imply anything exclusionary about PACE, just that in the past, NAQT has had more of an international flavor. I would argue that PACE questions are more inclusive to Canadians. NAQT has a nontrivial portion of trash, geography, and current events (although fort...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VCU Open II at VCU - Saturday, August 8
Replies: 114
Views: 46455

Re: VCU Open II at VCU - Saturday, August 8

I'll be playing with Carsten Gehring, Bernadette Spencer, and Chris Carter.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bad Negs Again
Replies: 494
Views: 114005

Re: Bad Negs Again

From HSNCT:

Given: Cabrini Green
Correct: Freakonomics
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF distribution
Replies: 200
Views: 36440

Re: ACF distribution

At what point do we draw the line between "pop culture figure with possible academic importance" (KRS-One, Bob Marley, and Neil Young come to mind) and "pop culture figure with limited to no academic importance" (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, or, to use a more extreme example...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Math Computation, Round 23748234
Replies: 125
Views: 28176

Re: Math Computation, Round 23748234

I'll do that when you show me somebody on this board claiming that doing third-grade-level calculation within ten seconds in a race against some other person is good quizbowl. 24. Pencil and paper ready. Nate's fruit stand has 123 apples, 456 oranges, and 789 pears. The total number of fruits is ju...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Missouri Open discussion
Replies: 69
Views: 15832

Re: Missouri Open discussion

Here's an easy fix to that bonus: replace Shorter with Steve Prefontaine. Pre is a fitting easy part, because, like, he's America's greatest distance runner. If you can't get Pre, you know nothing about distance running at all.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:35 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Next Year
Replies: 74
Views: 12801

Re: Next Year

Isn't JM graduating Wo, Matt, and Chuhern? I've never seen their B team, but this year's A team was very good, so that's definitely a lot to lose.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:40 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Next Year
Replies: 74
Views: 12801

Re: Next Year

Ben's three teammates clearly outscored him at NSC, so it's looking like he won't be missed much. Your are wrong! Ben is really, really, really good at quizbowl! Ben only put up 100 ppg at NSC. He was getting shadowed to no end. You saw what Ben and Graham did at Lit Singles; they obviously know si...