Search found 854 matches

by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 Unanswered Question - Specific Questions/Errata
Replies: 23
Views: 1723

2019 Unanswered Question - Specific Questions/Errata

This thread is for discussion of specific questions and for the identification of errata to be corrected before future mirrors.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:59 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Illinois Side Event Weekend - 7/20/19
Replies: 91
Views: 36957

Re: Illinois Side Event Weekend - 7/20/19

Many thanks to the folks at Illinois for running an excellent Side Event Weekend--for being so accommodating about packing in so many events, for keeping everything moving at a good pace, and for helping to staff all of the events. Further results/stats from various events will trickle in over the c...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:23 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Before & After Packet
Replies: 3
Views: 5288

Before & After Packet

Unless there's something else going on with which it would conflict, I'm planning to read my annual Before & After packet on the Discord tomorrow night (Wednesday 06/19), starting at 9:30 PM Eastern time.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jun 10, 2019 9:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The Unanswered Question: A 20th Century Fine Arts Tournament
Replies: 21
Views: 12065

Re: The Unanswered Question: A 20th Century Fine Arts Tournament

I'm not monitoring the Visual Arts, but the Auditory Arts is 1/3 done, and the writing pace has really picked up now that people are finishing (or have finished) their finals. The set will be done in time for Illinois Side Event Weekend on July 20th.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Thu May 02, 2019 11:46 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Guerilla Imaginary Landscape
Replies: 19
Views: 14505

Re: Guerilla Imaginary Landscape

If you (the community) can quickly propose a distribution that submissions would “aim for” rather than a strictly enforced requirement, and that would be easy for submitters to keep track of, and easy for the editor to remedy imbalance by adding a few more questions to the editor’s packet, then sur...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Thu May 02, 2019 9:47 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Guerilla Imaginary Landscape
Replies: 19
Views: 14505

Re: Guerilla Imaginary Landscape

I am delighted by the announcement of another edition of this. But this time, could we maybe set some basic distributional requirements? (Even just very broad ones about genre or time period.) This is a quite normal thing for guerrilla tournaments to do, and might iron out some of the more extreme i...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Apr 08, 2019 5:40 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 ICT DI general discussion and thanks
Replies: 27
Views: 2956

Re: 2019 ICT DI general discussion and thanks

Another point: in the pop culture distribution, I would suggest reducing the number of TV questions. This is not because TV is an unimportant topic, but rather because TV tends to have a much more bimodal distribution of knowledge than other pop culture areas - people who watch a given show tend to...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Thu Mar 07, 2019 7:27 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What is the purpose of a first line?
Replies: 36
Views: 16267

Re: What is the purpose of a first line?

I will surprise no one by saying that I disagree with Andrew's claims about what he calls "coherent" and "hodgepodge" tossups. (I find these terms already unfairly loaded. I will call these "themed" and "unthemed.") Like him, I want to leave aside the aestheti...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Feb 22, 2019 12:52 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PIANO/Minnesota Open @ JHU (3/9/19)
Replies: 33
Views: 14796

Re: PIANO/Minnesota Open @ JHU (3/9/19)

After a grand total of 0 responses to the SHAWARMA II poll, we will not run that event. What poll was this? Like Charles, I am also bewildered by this. Scrolling up through this thread now, I see a poll link. But that poll link was certainly not visible when I checked this thread on February 18th, ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Feb 18, 2019 12:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PIANO/Minnesota Open @ JHU (3/9/19)
Replies: 33
Views: 14796

Re: PIANO/Minnesota Open @ JHU (3/9/19)

Might we also be able to run SHAWARMA II on Sunday?
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 Division I SCT: specific question discussion
Replies: 25
Views: 1747

Re: 2019 Division I SCT: specific question discussion

I don't really understand why questions like these are written (besides on regnal/papal names). I get that it's a convenient way to ask about topics that would be more suitable for higher levels You have successfully answered your own question. I don't think "one of these buildings" or &q...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:17 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 Division I SCT: specific question discussion
Replies: 25
Views: 1747

Re: 2019 Division I SCT: specific question discussion

Could the tossup on "palazzo" be posted? I'm curious as to the reasoning for not outright accepting "palace", or for giving a specific prompt instruction -- at the Northwestern site, two players with clear knowledge answered with that, were prompted and confusedly said something...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Jan 25, 2019 3:31 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The D-value SOS calculation is broken
Replies: 17
Views: 10481

Re: The D-value SOS calculation is broken

Nearly a year has passed since Ryan's original post in this thread, and this year's SCT is fast approaching. Have any steps been taken to tweak the strength-of-schedule metric in the D-value calculation, in response to the flaws that Ryan demonstrated?
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Dec 21, 2018 8:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: SNICK: Global Announcement (All 90s, Late Summer 2018)
Replies: 46
Views: 24463

Re: SNICK: Global Announcement (All 90s, Late Summer 2018)

MLafer wrote: Fri Dec 21, 2018 8:32 pm works for me. I know John Lawrence was another person who really wanted to play this, if we could alert him somehow.
Your words have summoned me.

The evening of the 27th should work for me.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Nov 13, 2018 1:39 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: 2019 PIANO/Minnesota Open
Replies: 89
Views: 49424

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: 2019 PIANO/Minnesota Open

I am not going to wade into the debates about the correct number and location of sites for this tournament, whether travel sacrifices should be reciprocal, etc. I just want to comment on this horror of an idea: So, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that the UMN site would require Illinois player...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:30 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Replies: 23
Views: 12309

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4

The last mirror of this has concluded, and the set has now been posted to the archive.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:29 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Online Mirror
Replies: 2
Views: 1882

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Online Mirror

Congratulations to Samuel Lam for winning this mirror! Scores were as follows: Samuel Lam: (26/5) = 235 Mia Nussbaum: (20/0) = 200 Natan Holtzman: (23/9) = 185 David Dennis: (12/1) = 115 Sameer Apte: (15/8) = 110 Michael Li: (11/3) = 95 Aaron Rosenberg: (11/4) = 90 Jasper Lee: (9/1) = 85 Isaac Thies...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Online Mirror
Replies: 2
Views: 1882

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Online Mirror

Based on the results of the poll, we will hold the online mirror of Imaginary Landscape No. 4 on Friday September 14th, starting at 8 PM Eastern. If you plan to play this mirror, please e-mail or PM me to register and to discuss payment. Registered (13): Sameer Apte David Dennis Mia Nussbaum Jason Z...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:40 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Online Mirror
Replies: 2
Views: 1882

Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Online Mirror

With Ophir’s kind assistance, I am running an online mirror of Imaginary Landscape No. 4 sometime on the week of September 10th. The fee for playing is $8 per player (reduced from the $10 fee for playing this at a physical site). Here is a Google poll so that those of you who wish to play the tourna...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:27 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: SNICK: Global Announcement (All 90s, Late Summer 2018)
Replies: 46
Views: 24463

Re: SNICK: Global Announcement (All 90s, Late Summer 2018)

Ditto to what Matt and Mike said. I would love to play this online, and even more to play it in person, should it be possible to hold a physical mirror sometime in the autumn.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Best Film Player
Replies: 44
Views: 27984

Re: Best Film Player

Perhaps the FILM distro was too trashy to reward JL's knowledge A common (if perhaps understandable) misconception. The opposite was true. I'm lousy at art film. I'm strictly a trash film player. It's just that I'm better at older trash than I am at newer trash. You can really see how different whi...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:17 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chomping Down at Shoney's Memorial Tournament (Film)
Replies: 10
Views: 8405

Re: Chomping Down at Shoney's Memorial Tournament (Film)

This set is an absolute delight. Much recommended to potential players.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Thu Aug 09, 2018 12:41 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Stats
Replies: 2
Views: 177

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Stats

Fucitol wrote:I assume you have access restricted on these sheets so that people can't share them and give away answers by accident, but be prepared to get a bunch of permission request via email over the next couple weeks.
I am prepared.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Boston Summer Open I
Replies: 59
Views: 30517

Re: Boston Summer Open I

Considering Imaginary Landscape may not be clear, posting these stats is probably not the wisest decision. I get why you withdrew the spreadsheet that included info about answer lines, but I don't see why the scores for IL can't be posted, along with the other side event scores. I don't either. I a...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Stanford Weekend of Quiz Bowl (August 4–5, 2018)
Replies: 10
Views: 5379

Re: Stanford Weekend of Quiz Bowl (August 4–5, 2018)

nadph wrote:Stats appear to be up for everything except WORLDSTAR and Imaginary Landscape.
Those who played Imaginary Landscape and wish to see their stats may request to join the private subforum.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Aug 07, 2018 1:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Illinois Side Event Open - 8/11/18
Replies: 92
Views: 37367

Re: Illinois Side Event Open - 8/11/18

I'm not sure when John plans on running Imaginary Landscape, since I assume he is interested in most of these events. People not interested in playing some of these events are welcome to play some gorilla trash or do that late Sunday. I am not, in fact, playing any of the Sunday events except for S...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Aug 07, 2018 12:31 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Private discussion group e-mail requests
Replies: 2
Views: 2994

Re: Private discussion group e-mail requests

Yeah, I reported this problem to the board staff two weeks ago and was told that they were trying to figure out what's going on. That's the last I heard. I also no longer receive e-mail alerts when someone sends me a PM on the forums.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Thu Aug 02, 2018 11:51 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Fuck it, let's rank the sets
Replies: 28
Views: 26043

Re: Fuck it, let's rank the sets

I agree with a lot of the tournaments that have been praised so far. To this I might add a couple of things: - I think Jordaens is one of the best academic side events ever written, from a technical standpoint. It is not merely the model of how to write a good academic side event, but also of how to...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Jul 27, 2018 8:30 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Illinois Side Event Open - 8/11/18
Replies: 92
Views: 37367

Re: Illinois Side Event Open - 8/11/18

John Ketzkorn wrote: Imaginary Landscape for those interested on Saturday either concurrently or following FILM as probably a 1 room shootout.
Definitely not concurrently! (As if I would miss a film tournament...)
by ThisIsMyUsername
Thu Jul 26, 2018 5:27 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Discussion
Replies: 5
Views: 616

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Discussion

If you don't mind me asking, what were some of the ideas that you scrapped because of Guerrilla IL? (If you'd rather not say because you want to save them for later, or for any other reason, no big deal.) Oh, I realize that I forgot to reply to this. Sorry! I cut a tossup on A Thousand and One Nigh...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Jul 25, 2018 2:24 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Illinois Side Event Open - 8/11/18
Replies: 92
Views: 37367

Re: Illinois Side Event Open - 8/11/18

Since there is now time for it, if there is any interest in a one-room shootout of Imaginary Landscape No. 4, please let me know.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Jul 24, 2018 5:58 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Stats
Replies: 2
Views: 177

Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Stats

I'm reserving this post for stats from each site, and perhaps later for some analysis of the stats.

Chicago site
Boston site
Stanford site
Online mirror

NOTE: All of these stats sheets display the answers.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Jul 24, 2018 5:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Discussion
Replies: 5
Views: 616

Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Discussion

First, of all thanks to Drew Scheeler, whose questions were integral to keeping the scope of this tournament’s subject matter as broad as I hoped it would be. Second, thanks to my playtesters. A lot of their suggestions were vindicated, at least at the Chicago site. (e.g. I ordered something XY, the...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Replies: 23
Views: 12309

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4

Thanks to those who played the Illinois site. And especially to Adam and Ashvin for staffing. Congratulations to Ethan for handily winning. Here are the final scores for the 13 players who managed to stick it out for all 8 rounds (bearing in mind that tossups were worth 30 in the top room and 10 in ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Replies: 23
Views: 12309

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4

Scipio wrote:So, is there any way this could be mirrored in East Tennessee on 4 August?
Sure, I'm entirely open to such a mirror. Please feel free to e-mail/PM me to co-ordinate that.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Replies: 23
Views: 12309

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4

The field is closed. If you signed up for this tournament, you should have gotten an e-mail from me about an hour ago about playing the seeding packet.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Jun 27, 2018 6:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Replies: 23
Views: 12309

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4

One last thing: Drew Scheeler offered to write the trash tossups. But I didn't get a response from him to my PM from a while ago, and I don't have his e-mail address. If anyone here does, please let me know. Thanks. Last I checked, his e-mail was andrew.scheeler (atsymbolhere) case.edu. Edit: Meant...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Jun 27, 2018 3:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Replies: 23
Views: 12309

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4

Since any room-variable scoring system is sensitive to the distribution of player strength, I really should get a diagnosis of the field before I finalize the format. So, here's what I'd like to do: If you are planning on playing this tournament, please e-mail me to register by 11:59 PM Eastern this...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Replies: 23
Views: 12309

Re: Imaginary Landscape No. 4

Now that we finally know where we're going to be on CO Sunday (i.e. at Northwestern, because UChicago royally screwed us, and the Northwestern folks generously stepped up to bat), I'm ready to open the field for registration. I will cap this at 24 people for now. Please register by e-mailing me (hit...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Jun 03, 2018 6:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2019 - Weekend of August 3rd
Replies: 98
Views: 77005

Re: Chicago Open 2018 - July 21st weekend

Is there a sign-up for Imaginary Landscape 4? Has a format been confirmed? I've had a format in mind for a while now. I'm still waiting for confirmation from the university as to which building(s) they're giving us this year. (Whether it will be Cobb again is up in the air.) This could affect how m...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed May 23, 2018 10:28 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements
Replies: 577
Views: 455487

Re: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements

I plan to read my annual Before & After packet in the Discord sometime this coming week. Exact time TBD, but Wednesday night is a strong possibility, if that works for people. I plan to read this tomorrow night (05/23) at 9:30 PM Eastern. Kenji won. Here are the scores (thanks to Mike for score...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue May 22, 2018 9:55 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements
Replies: 577
Views: 455487

Re: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements

ThisIsMyUsername wrote:I plan to read my annual Before & After packet in the Discord sometime this coming week. Exact time TBD, but Wednesday night is a strong possibility, if that works for people.
I plan to read this tomorrow night (05/23) at 9:30 PM Eastern.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun May 20, 2018 9:47 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements
Replies: 577
Views: 455487

Re: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements

I plan to read my annual Before & After packet in the Discord sometime this coming week. Exact time TBD, but Wednesday night is a strong possibility, if that works for people.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue May 01, 2018 9:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Smoothing Out Your Set
Replies: 18
Views: 10826

Re: Smoothing Out Your Set

Though it is obviously preferable in an ideal world, I'd like to challenge the idea that all four traditional geographical subdistributions must necessarily appear in a given packet under the genre-based model. I agree that they don't need to. There were several other packets where you (the editors...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue May 01, 2018 7:18 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Smoothing Out Your Set
Replies: 18
Views: 10826

Re: Smoothing Out Your Set

Let me address the literature subdistribution at this year's ACF Regionals 2018 as an example of how not to sub-distribute a packet-submission set (or any set, really). This tournament used Auroni's alternative way of divvying up the literature distribution--by genre, rather than by geography. I do ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue May 01, 2018 6:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Smoothing Out Your Set
Replies: 18
Views: 10826

Re: Smoothing Out Your Set

The former, why "two tournaments" is a problem. I think that nearly everyone thinks that some version of the "two tournament" effect is bad. For example, I think most of us think that difficulty should be consistent across rounds. We would be upset if ACF Nationals were at high ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Smoothing Out Your Set
Replies: 18
Views: 10826

Re: Smoothing Out Your Set

Could you explain a little more why this is a problem? Intuitively it seems true that there shouldn't be any sudden jumps in the tournament, but as long as everyone hears the same questions I'm not sure I can articulate why. Sorry, to be clear, are you asking why I think the "two tournament&qu...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Apr 30, 2018 8:22 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals discussion
Replies: 121
Views: 62679

Re: ACF Nationals discussion

As the author of the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" question, I'll say no, not "presumably quite a few." Although I didn't consult on the protest resolution, I would have prompted on "out, out brief candle" but not awarded the tossup outright. (That said, it was ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Apr 29, 2018 11:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals discussion
Replies: 121
Views: 62679

Re: ACF Nationals discussion

In my preoccupation with all of the chatter about stats in the Player Poll, I neglected to post in this thread, which I had planned to do much earlier. First of all, as everyone else has said, many thanks to the editors for a very enjoyable set. Luckily, many of the comments I would have made have b...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Apr 29, 2018 11:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Smoothing Out Your Set
Replies: 18
Views: 10826

Smoothing Out Your Set

The "two tournaments" effect--a swing in question philosophy/aesthetic between submitted packets and editors' packets--has affected a lot of tournaments in recent years. Besides last year's CO, I am thinking also of really all of the ACF Nationals tournament since 2013 (but especially 2014...