Search found 567 matches

by magin
Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT's Post-ICT Survey
Replies: 84
Views: 20276

Re: NAQT's Post-ICT Survey

Not that this necessarily takes away from your point, but I was actually the person who negged Bragi in that match, in a buzzer race with Chris Ray somewhere around the "cup," clue, I believe. (I remember it pretty clearly because I stupidly and inexplicably blanked on the answer and got ...
by magin
Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT's Post-ICT Survey
Replies: 84
Views: 20276

Re: NAQT's Post-ICT Survey

I think that there's definitely a large swathe of Mesopotamian and a reasonable amount of Aztec that's toss-upable (perhaps not quite enough--maybe Mayan and Incan can be thrown in here, though I'm not sure that the Mayans or the Incans really have very much toss-upable, which was why I initially t...
by magin
Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Lists
Replies: 29
Views: 5837

Re: Lists

I don't think there's anything terrible in studying lists; however, studying lists tends to be both boring and ineffective (in that it's hard to link one name with another name without any context). I studied lists in high school, and learned of the existence of many books, works of art, and events,...
by magin
Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:31 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: Experimental Tournament, 5/24
Replies: 82
Views: 29155

ANNOUNCEMENT: Experimental Tournament, 5/24

I'd like to announce the William Gaddis Experiment: This Tournament is About Learning, an experimental event to be held Saturday evening on May 24th at the HSNCT. It will feature at least ten rounds of 20 tossups, with powers and superpowers given for early buzzes. The cost for this tournament is ze...
by magin
Sat Apr 05, 2008 10:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: ICT Warmup @ Maryland - 4/5/08
Replies: 41
Views: 9477

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: ICT Warmup @ Maryland - 4/5/08

The First Annual General Buck Naked Memorial Triple-Packet Showdown occurred between two teams of luminaries afterwards in order to read through the unused rounds, and saw Team Mukherjee thrillingly defeat Team Magin 955 to 940 on the very last tossup of the day. I seem to remember that "Team ...
by magin
Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Yes, it's another thread about math
Replies: 102
Views: 28379

Re: Yes, it's another thread about math

Just to clarify a few things: I wrote the Chile tossup. I agree that, to some extent, players have to apply the knowledge of clues (not simply "oh, that novel is by Jose Donoso" but "oh, that novel is by Jose Donoso and he's from Chile"). However, tossups like these are written b...
by magin
Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open Literature Doubles
Replies: 78
Views: 23166

Chicago Open Literature Doubles

Since last year's CO Literature side tournament went over pretty well, I'd like to gauge interest in another literature doubles written by mostly the same people for this year's Chicago Open. The target difficulty would be the same as last year's, and we'd aim for at least 13 packets of 20 tossups. ...
by magin
Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2008 SS/Phil Doubles: "Walden Three"
Replies: 58
Views: 10888

Re: Announcement: Social Science/Philosophy Subject Tournament

Pilgrim wrote:
cdcarter wrote:
SnookerUSF wrote:YES, YES, OH GOD YES, OH PLEASE RIGHT THERE AT THE CHICAGO OPEN, OH YES!
by magin
Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:38 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: DACQ Weekend of Quizbowl Goodness: BYO Dagger (3/15/08) @GMU
Replies: 148
Views: 42697

Re: DACQ Weekend of Quizbowl Goodness: BYO Dagger (3/15/08) @GMU

DumbJaques wrote:If you think you might fit this description, I'd encourage you to attend the University of Maryland.
This is a joke, right? If not, it's pretty embarrassing.
by magin
Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:05 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Earning respect from the community
Replies: 9
Views: 3080

Earning respect from the community

There hasn't been much discussion recently, so I thought I'd try to elucidate how people earn respect in the quizbowl community. When I say "respect," I mean something like "the good opinion of the people who participate in/care about quizbowl, especially the ones with the most perspe...
by magin
Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:56 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Experimental tournament during HSNCT
Replies: 39
Views: 6454

Experimental tournament during HSNCT

Gautam Kandlikar and I are writing an experimental (probably doubles) tournament to be held sometime during the weekend of the HSNCT. It will be tossup only, with powers and superpowers, with target difficulty easier than Westbrook's event but harder than ACF Nationals 2007. The tournament will be f...
by magin
Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: New Computer Ranking System
Replies: 9
Views: 2976

Re: New Computer Ranking System

Jonathan Magin not on the list? The horror! The horror! If you read Brian's post, he explains that Python is currently unable to realize that "Jonathan" and "Jonathan Magin" are the same person, thus leaving me off. Also, this looks really, really good. Now all we need is that p...
by magin
Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:17 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Private Sectionals Discussion Forum Signup and Access
Replies: 94
Views: 17769

username: magin
by magin
Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2008 Penn Bowl Discussion
Replies: 23
Views: 5120

Barring some outliers, I thought this tournament was pretty good. I remember not liking the leadins to the tossups on the Corn Laws (which mentioned Richard Cobden) and the Frankfurt School (which mentioned the culture industry), but most tossups were appropriately pyramidal. I also appreciated the ...
by magin
Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Improving
Replies: 12
Views: 3242

Improving

To foster discussion, I thought it would be useful to post my theory about playing quizbowl and how to improve as a player. In several prior threads, people have identified looking at good packets, writing questions, doing research, and reading as some effective ways to improve. However, I think tha...
by magin
Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:41 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TIT/MLK Discussion
Replies: 50
Views: 11511

If teams want feedback on their packet (why some questions were cut, why we edited questions the way we did), please send me an email (with your original submitted packet attached, since we combined them) at jmagin AT umd DOT edu. Also, several people have expressed concerns that some questions were...
by magin
Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: January Avatars: THE RETURN TO LORD WEARY'S AVATARS
Replies: 63
Views: 10062

Here's my contribution.
by magin
Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:43 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: RESULTS: TIT XXII - 1/19/08 - Maryland
Replies: 39
Views: 20293

Yeah, feel free to write geography questions for the "Your Choice" distribution.
by magin
Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:37 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: New Postseason College Basketball Tournament
Replies: 3
Views: 1233

New Postseason College Basketball Tournament

Apparently there's going to be a 16-team invitational tournament for teams who don't make the NCAA or NIT tournaments: the College Basketball Invitational. Interesting.

http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sto ... 07abr.html
by magin
Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Titanomachy thanks & discussion
Replies: 19
Views: 5922

Despite having read Something Wicked This Way Comes, I didn't remember the name of the carnival; that said, I think that was a fine hard part, but it might have been a better idea to make the bonus Something Wicked This Way Comes/Bradbury/Cooger and Dark (Chris and I were confused on the first part ...
by magin
Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Talk about lit singles
Replies: 13
Views: 4270

This was an incredibly well-written tournament, and a blast to play. Andrew and the other people who helped write the questions did an outstanding job.
by magin
Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:48 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Illinois Open Literature subject tournament
Replies: 17
Views: 6131

Sure, I'll play this tournament.
by magin
Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: New ACF Rules
Replies: 90
Views: 28401

As a practical rule, I think letting people correct one piece of information once before they finish giving the answer should do it. In the aforementioned Beethoven's piano sonatas example, someone could correct themselves if they said Mozart's piano sonatas or Beethoven's string quartets, but not M...
by magin
Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:45 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: New ACF Rules
Replies: 90
Views: 28401

Maybe I'm retarded, but I still don't understand how that's acceptable. How can you possibly guarantee that this "Mozart's-no, Beethoven's" person didn't just have a sudden revelation and adjust very quickly? That's certainly not outside the skill set of many if not most of the people par...
by magin
Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: New ACF Rules
Replies: 90
Views: 28401

Uh, how can you guarantee that the individual misspoke rather than realized he was incorrect midway through his answer? Sorry, people who accidentally say something when you mean something else (something I also find only tenuously acceptable), but we at ACF don't trust you. Well, if you realize yo...
by magin
Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: New ACF Rules
Replies: 90
Views: 28401

The new rules look pretty good to me, although I don't support not allowing people to correct themselves when answering tossups. It seems plausible to me that someone could buzz in with knowledge, accidentally begin to say the wrong thing, and subsequently correct himself or herself. Penalizing some...
by magin
Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT Discussion
Replies: 92
Views: 32242

I thought the answer selection was pretty appropriate for a tournament geared towards novices. Since everyone's nit-picking about the questions, naming Joshua Chamberlain in the first line of a tossup on Gettysburg seems less than ideal to me, and many of the leadins probably could have been cut wit...
by magin
Sat Sep 01, 2007 10:58 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Damn you Orioles
Replies: 7
Views: 2794

Yes, no-hitting the Orioles surely proves that they are the best team in baseball.
by magin
Sat Sep 01, 2007 10:39 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Damn you Orioles
Replies: 7
Views: 2794

Damn you Orioles

Just depressing.
by magin
Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Trash distribution discussion
Replies: 76
Views: 32505

Fuck face came up at Chris McCray. Yet another reason that tournament was awesome. I assume this was a bonus part, as I can't imagine there's enough depth on the card to get a tossup, but that is pretty great. Good show by the author of that. 16) One character with this surname is the creation of J...
by magin
Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Lit Singles Discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 5254

After generously counting any tossup that involved several 20th century clues as 20th century, there were 125 tossups about the 20th century and 135 tossups on pre-20th century stuff.
by magin
Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:59 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Lit Singles Discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 5254

The ideal distribution was 5 American, 5 British, 5 European, and 5 World/Genre/Criticism/Miscellaneous; some packets deviated from that by one or two questions. Generally, I also tried to include tossups on at least 3-4 poems, plays, and novels, and 5-6 authors per packet. Also, myself and the othe...
by magin
Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Lit Singles
Replies: 26
Views: 18909

Due to a shortage of moderators, we ended up playing a literature doubles tournament instead. After 13 rounds, the team of Mike Sorice and Jerry Vinokurov won. The stats are currently on Ahmad's laptop; he's told me that he'll post them by Tuesday. I'd like to thank Rob Carson, Ahmad Ragab, and my t...
by magin
Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Lit Singles
Replies: 26
Views: 18909

So it's certainly going to be a round robin. Also, I would greatly prefer to run a paperless tournament, so if anyone is able to provide laptops for this event, I would really appreciate it. Please let me know if you can by emailing me (or, I suppose, posting in this thread); if, on the other hand, ...
by magin
Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chris McCray Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 11916

Just to facilitate the discussion, here is the text of the Liverpool tossup. Also, as the sports editor for McCray, my preference was to focus on using non-stat based clues, since I really dislike sports questions that are simply compendiums of numbers. So I apologize if the Liverpool question becam...
by magin
Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Sun n Fun Discussion
Replies: 65
Views: 25204

After seeing the list of supposedly ridiculous answers posted by Chris, I'd like to say that -Helene Cixous -Cindy Sherman -Michiko Kakatuni -Heike Onnes -Constantine Cavafy -Satyajit Ray -Ziegler-Natta Catalysts -Beethoven's Opus 61 -Gamelan, an Indonesian instrument -The Jomon Period -Pioneers! O ...
by magin
Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:18 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Lit Singles
Replies: 26
Views: 18909

You're not doing Hilleman singles? According to Seth (although I'm sure he can correct me if I mischaracterize him) a bracketed round robin is preferable given the number of people currently registered. I'm also under the impression that a bracketed round robin using packets of 20 will run faster t...
by magin
Wed Jun 13, 2007 2:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Lit Singles
Replies: 26
Views: 18909

According to Seth, the lit singles will most likely be on Saturday night. Currently, there are 14 people signed up; there's still plenty of room. Also, unless a large contingent of people sign up, the tournament will use a bracketed round robin with packets of 20 tossups, which seems like the most e...
by magin
Wed Jun 13, 2007 2:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The Guns of August: CO History Doubles
Replies: 42
Views: 25519

I'm pretty sure I can read for this.
by magin
Thu May 31, 2007 12:19 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The random video links thread
Replies: 14
Views: 5243

Why ACF?

The answer comes at around 1:27.
by magin
Tue May 22, 2007 10:57 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Google Docs as an editing tool
Replies: 5
Views: 4162

Yeah, it's working very well so far. Of course, it's a good idea to copy the Google document into Word now and then. Also, Dave Letzler is the one who came up with the idea, not me. Google documents also have the highly useful feature of saving every single time someone makes a change to the documen...
by magin
Sun May 20, 2007 10:59 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Lit Singles
Replies: 26
Views: 18909

CO Lit Singles

Inspired by Bruce, here's the unofficial announcement for the literature singles event to be held sometime during the Chicago Open weekend. It will almost certainly cost $15, and definitely no more than $20. It's being written by me, Dennis Jang, Dave Letzler, Ahmad Ragab, Phil Durkos, and Chris Bor...
by magin
Sun May 06, 2007 11:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Player Movement/Retirement Thread
Replies: 33
Views: 17367

I'm pretty sure current member of MAQT Phil Durkos is going to a graduate program at UCLA. I don't know if he'll play there, but he's a solid lit player. Also, the highlight of ACF Nationals (at least for me) was watching him 30 the bonus on Christine de Pizan.
by magin
Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: RESULTS:Spring HS Classic (4/29/07) @ University of Maryland
Replies: 38
Views: 34538

Sorry about the Achebe clue; I read the essay, but didn't think it was all that well known in high school. I would have edited the Fathers and Sons tossup if I had had a little more time; sorry about that. Also, I apologize if the poetry tossups began with comparatively easier clues; I tried to writ...
by magin
Sun Apr 08, 2007 12:13 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Interest in literature singles alongside the Chicago Open?
Replies: 11
Views: 5898

Right now, besides me, Dennis Jang, Ahmad Ragab, Dave Letzler, and Phil Durkos are the current writers.
by magin
Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:59 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Interest in literature singles alongside the Chicago Open?
Replies: 11
Views: 5898

Interest in literature singles alongside the Chicago Open?

I asked this in the other CO thread, but I figured I should ask again now that the CO tournament is officially announced. Please post here if you want to play in a literature singles tournament the weekend of the Chicago Open. Roughly, the distribution is 100 American, 100 British, 100 European, and...
by magin
Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open; also, possible HSNCT-coincident college event
Replies: 43
Views: 19115

I'm interested in helping write a literature singles event to go alongside the Chicago Open; however, I doubt that I could write a quality event entirely on my own. So, if anyone else is interested in helping me write such an event, please email me at jmagin at umd dot edu (or post in this thread). ...
by magin
Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:52 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: hahahahaha duke
Replies: 18
Views: 6579

:scheyerface
by magin
Sun Mar 11, 2007 10:24 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Novice Tournament Packets
Replies: 24
Views: 10401

My only problem with "this artist" was when it occurred in tossups on authors (without having the packets in front of me, the Pinter tossup began that way, as well as a few others). When I think "artist", I think fine arts, not literature, and it might have thrown some people off...
by magin
Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:18 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VCU Open 2007: Official Jerk Policy 3/10/07
Replies: 26
Views: 14326

That is correct. Look foward to hearing me neg with "Armory Show" on "Austerlitz" in the coming days. More amusingly, I think that it was actually Armory Show for Auschwitz. Also, VCU ran the tournament very well, the questions were generally at an appropriate level, and congrat...