Search found 286 matches

by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:48 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fall High School Novice Tournament?
Replies: 106
Views: 21168

Re: Fall High School Novice Tournament?

All right so I am already at 6/6 regarding History, Geography, and RMP. Is this what I am limited to in subject writing, or can I write on more subjects? I also would like to know if I could write more then 20/20 because I want some of my questions to be in the tournament. I can do like 30/30 Sweet...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Jun 04, 2009 6:11 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO 2009 SW ONTARIO MIRROR
Replies: 80
Views: 12695

Re: VETO 2009 SW ONTARIO MIRROR

My signature is an actually a real VETO question I have to admit, I'm really confused--was the question wrong (about the escaping to England in 1848 part) or is there some King of France I'm not getting? It's a terrible, no good, awful question with Jerry's name subbed in for the answer. What's not...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Jun 04, 2009 5:21 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49314

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

...I disagree tha ... the NHL bonus was difficult... That bonus was very, very hard. MaS PS: Hay guys, don't spend so much time talking about the sports questions from an academic tournament! Wait, what's that you say? 7% of the distribution? Oh, carry on, then! PPS: In case you didn't pick up on w...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Jun 04, 2009 3:56 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: PACE NSC: format changes, 2010 information
Replies: 287
Views: 133908

Re: PACE NSC: format changes, 2010 information

Every weekend from the beginning of March until the middle of June will have conflicts. Get over it. Pick something that you can change to criticize, like question quality.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Jun 04, 2009 7:48 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49314

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

That tennis bonus was actively really, really easy. If you want an absurdly hard trash bonus, take a look at Days Go By/INXS/702. That was nuts! Did anyone actually get 702 from anything other than knowing what Las Vegas's area code is? The Madden curse bonus seemed pretty easy, too, or is Shaun Ale...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:11 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCING the Fall Novice Tournament available for mirrors
Replies: 20
Views: 12577

Re: ANNOUNCING the Fall Novice Tournament available for mirrors

Chris - who's writing this tournament? I might be interested in mirroring it in Wisconsin. This tournament is being written by a rather large group of current high school students and ultra recent graduates (class of '09). It is being edited by Zhao Zhang, Sarah Angelo, and myself. A small group of...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:25 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49314

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

By the way, has anyone noticed the seeming plethora of Laplace based clues? This reminds me. This tournament had 150000 questions on Chicago or Chicago things. Haymarket Square was referenced at least 3 times. I realize that Chicago is damn important, but it's not that important and it got frustrat...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The John Adams Rule
Replies: 41
Views: 8819

Re: The John Adams Rule

Isn't there some sort of general guideline regarding pronunciation that says something to the effect of "if the pronunciation is believable if the answerer has never heard the name said, it is acceptable" (for example, GOTH instead of Gurt-UH)? Couldn't that be applied to compound last nam...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:01 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49314

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

I'd certainly agree that a lot of the lit was a bit too hard. Lawrence Sterne is one of those things that really good teams will snap up but bad teams will be befuddled by. Same deal with, like, Benet, The Luciads, and Le Cid. Ras the Exhorter seemed a bit unduly hard for the 3rd part of an Invisibl...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:04 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49314

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

On a positive note, I really liked some of the tossups. Stephen Vincent Benet was pretty cool, because he's awesome. I also really enjoyed the Draft Riots tossup. Gross Clinic was well done, as was Great Northern War. I'll never turn down a tossup on Evelyn Waugh, though it sort of seemed rather eas...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:11 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 NAQT HSNCT
Replies: 349
Views: 102569

Re: 2009 NAQT HSNCT

This tournament wasn't so good. Let me count the ways: 1. Even if you ignore the wildly huge amounts of trash, CE, geography, and "general knowledge", the distribution still sucked hard. There just were no arts nor social sciences. Basically, you were tremendously lucky if you happened to ...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon May 25, 2009 10:56 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NSC 09 question discussion
Replies: 132
Views: 24588

Re: NSC 09 question discussion

This tournament was memorably awesome. I had a super time and I'd like to thank everyone who had a part in this weekend. The questions were mostly really good. There was a boatload of music, though. Also, there were a few tossups that were absurdly hard (Albrecht Altdorfer comes to mind). The IRA to...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon May 11, 2009 10:40 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Maryland Spring Tournament Discussion
Replies: 38
Views: 5650

Re: Maryland Spring Tournament Discussion

Man U/Bayern Munich/Borussia Dortmund This bonus was far from impossible. If you have heard of soccer, you'll get 10. Man U is one of the world's 2 or 3 most popular teams and Cristiano Ronaldo is very, very famous. If you've heard of German soccer, you'll get 20, as Bayern is far and away the most...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon May 11, 2009 12:14 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The Relative Importance of Art and Sports
Replies: 79
Views: 17402

Re: The Relative Importance of Art and Sports

There is an irreconcilable difference here. I believe Sports can be a worthy academic pursuit, while the rest of this particular message board doesn't. That's OK, but while I can't convince you to even consider my point, I will not accept yours either. You remain wrong. May I suggest this website f...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun May 10, 2009 7:29 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: University of Minnesota Nationals Warmup, 5/9 at the U of M
Replies: 53
Views: 11647

Re: University of Minnesota Nationals Warmup, 5/9 at the U of M

Spite has made me the player I am today. That and a passion for looking at pretty pictures and hearing pretty words. I guess I like learning things too, or something.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sat May 09, 2009 10:19 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Discussion of NAQT's future
Replies: 11
Views: 2030

Re: Virginia NAQT Championship May 9 (Richmond)

lots of stuff You do realize that NAQT is not the only group capable of producing a bajillion questions, right? Another group, similar to NAQT in structure, could easy organize and do the exact same thing. You are probably right that NAQT is the only current organization with that sort of capabilit...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu May 07, 2009 12:09 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bouncebacks?
Replies: 47
Views: 7025

Re: Bouncebacks?

quantumfootball wrote:I'm a fan of the reduced-value bounceback just because the answer (or answers in OAC) that one team gave can often narrow down the answer space for the other team.
We should never, ever base anything off of OAC. What a terrible format.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon May 04, 2009 4:48 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bouncebacks?
Replies: 47
Views: 7025

Re: Bouncebacks?

On the one hand, quiz bowl is, as designed, a combination of speed and depth of knowledge, and awarding bonus opportunities to only the team that wins the toss-up rewards this. On the other hand, if depth of knowledge is important, then giving the team that may not be as quick to the buzzer a chanc...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:45 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF distribution
Replies: 200
Views: 36440

Re: ACF distribution

I am currently studying for the AP Human Geography exam. There is a whole ton of cool, more social science-y geography related stuff that isn't just "FTP name this mountain" available, just from the syllabus of this course. Also, at least some of this stuff would be askable on the Fall lev...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:43 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Another Great Aukassion (Spring 2009 KMO)
Replies: 10
Views: 1897

Re: Another Great Aukassion (Spring 2009 KMO)

I want to say we had 1519, but I'm not sure. This could not have been more frustrating.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:39 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fall High School Novice Tournament?
Replies: 106
Views: 21168

Re: Fall High School Novice Tournament?

I'd really like to edit a tiny portion of the history distribution. Any sort but ancient history. I could also possibly do things like visual arts or American Literature.

EDIT: I have absolutely no experience editing, but I'd sure like to get some!
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: HI Mirror at CMU (4/11/09)
Replies: 15
Views: 3364

Re: HI Mirror at CMU (4/11/09)

Is this happening?
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:46 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fall High School Novice Tournament?
Replies: 106
Views: 21168

Re: Fall High School Novice Tournament?

As far a social science goes, I think that you can just really broaden the definition of it. In addition to "real" social science (ex. economics, sociology, anthropology, etc.), you can add in stuff like government (I believe most people take Civics in 8th grade, so this should be rather b...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:07 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fall High School Novice Tournament?
Replies: 106
Views: 21168

Re: Fall High School Novice Tournament?

As far as distribution goes: 4/4 History 4/4 Lit 4/4 Science 2/2 Art 2/2 Social Science 2/2 RMP 1/1 Trash/CE/General Knowledge/What-have-you 1/1 Geography Thoughts? I think, if anything, Soc. Sci. might be a little high. However, I don't know where the extra question(s) would go. Also, I'd be pretty...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: WorldQuest?
Replies: 6
Views: 1233

Re: WorldQuest?

BGSO wrote:What's worldQuest?
This.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:20 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: WorldQuest?
Replies: 6
Views: 1233

WorldQuest?

So, Academic WorldQuest Nationals are this weekend, and, due to magic, Shady Side qualified. Will anyone else be there?
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Proposed trash/TRASH guidelines
Replies: 100
Views: 18656

Re: Proposed trash/TRASH guidelines

Could someone outline why album tossups are so bad? I just don't see it. Obviously, you don't want to tossup How Does Your Garden Grow? , but you could easily tossup Born in the USA . Just conform to difficulty standards. Just like how in academic quizbowl, no one tosses up Put Out More Flags ; inst...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: What To Do With No-Shows
Replies: 13
Views: 2353

Re: What To Do With No-Shows

Has anyone ever had a team show up without notice? I'm pretty sure this happened at a CMU tournament this year. Trevor/Dan/CMU folks: can you confirm that Sewickley did indeed just arrive at Mellon Bowl without notice?
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Judging difficulty.
Replies: 6
Views: 1792

Re: Judging difficulty.

High school difficulty is a wildly different beast than college difficulty. Due to the wide variation in high school "quality"*, the "guaranteed" knowledge base is actually rather small, whereas, in college, I would contend that this "guaranteed" base is much wider, dee...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:49 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pennsylvania '08-'09
Replies: 39
Views: 6135

Re: Pennsylvania '08-'09

Hey Walker,
Is Shady Side among those 26? I don't know if Dr. Malone ever registered, and, since I won't be able to make it, I'm rather out of the loop.
Thanks.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:41 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 NAQT HSNCT
Replies: 349
Views: 102569

Re: 2009 NAQT HSNCT

Just out of curiosity. According to the field update, State College has not registered for the HSNCT. I was hoping Ben or Graham can answer why they have'nt? They will be plotting insurrection against Tyrant Rendell with me and Barry Liu. Duh. Can I get in on this? Content: We've got 3 months to th...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:39 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: IHSA regional assignments
Replies: 73
Views: 15134

Re: IHSA regional assignments

A question:
Who is this Sister John, and is she at all qualified to head-edit a state championship?
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:02 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bad Negs Again
Replies: 494
Views: 114004

Re: Bad Negs Again

AlphaQuizBowler wrote:
la2pgh wrote:From Prison Bowl:
Given: Kevin Bacon
Correct: Stanley Milgram
Let me guess, off the Six Degrees of Separation clue.
Bingo, except he waited about half a line after that, which made it more ridiculous.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:36 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bad Negs Again
Replies: 494
Views: 114004

Re: Bad Negs Again

From Prison Bowl:
Given: Kevin Bacon
Correct: Stanley Milgram
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: HI Mirror at CMU (4/11/09)
Replies: 15
Views: 3364

Re: HI Mirror at CMU (4/18/09)

So, I'd like to play this, since it is literally 5 blocks from my house, but I'm surely not doing it alone, so if you have any interest in teaming up, fire me an email at la2pgh03 AT gmail.com .
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:50 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions
Replies: 76
Views: 11140

Re: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions

With that said, I still think most high school tournaments (Prison Bowl, too) are too difficult. After seeing the performance of our(very, very inexperienced) B-team, I am inclined to agree with you that most tournaments are too difficult for the lower-tier teams. My new theory is that part of this...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions
Replies: 76
Views: 11140

Re: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions

Everything Andrew said about writing high school questions is right. That's how I want my questions written. One thing that I found especially pertinent was his mention of answer choice. I would contend that a question can only be as easy as its answer. For example, a tossup on Ernest Hemingway woul...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:38 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions
Replies: 76
Views: 11140

Re: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions

I am detecting something quite dangerous in this thread: the idea that every tossup has to include something that very few people know. On one level, that is a true statement, because it's a bad idea to lead that Great Gatsby tossup off with something about good ol' TJ Eckleburg. But writers of high...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:40 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Prison Bowl Discussion
Replies: 82
Views: 11690

Re: Prison Bowl Discussion

I'm not sure about Harte, I guess. It seemed hard at the time, but that's a pretty easy tossup, considering the answer.

Speaking of round 7, the paper cut outs clue came way too early for Matisse. I was under the impression that his use of collage was very famous.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:02 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Prison Bowl Discussion
Replies: 82
Views: 11690

Re: Prison Bowl Discussion

Though the length is excessive, those are both very good bonuses. Very accessible to scrubs like me who glean all their linguistic knowledge from the blathering of linguistics obsessed former teammates. I like the first one especially, though, for some reason, we didn't hear it.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:55 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Prison Bowl Discussion
Replies: 82
Views: 11690

Re: Prison Bowl Discussion

Cheynem wrote:The only time I can recall which featured a flagrant presentation of "too many clues" was the linguistics bonus which basically give like a lecture on linguistics and then asked for some pretty simple stuff.
I WONDER WHO WROTE THIS BONUS
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:56 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Prison Bowl Discussion
Replies: 82
Views: 11690

Re: Prison Bowl Discussion

As much as I like having copious clues, there is a point where it becomes ridiculous. I'd say that the ACF suggestion of clues shorter than 2 lines is a worthy ideal.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:17 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions
Replies: 76
Views: 11140

Re: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions

It's also limiting in knowledge expansion. If all that's going to be asked are the titles and summaries of an author's most/moderately famous works, a high schooler would have no reason to research more deeply in to Saul Bellow, and learn the plot summaries/titles of works like The Dean's December ...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:55 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Prison Bowl Discussion
Replies: 82
Views: 11690

Re: Prison Bowl Discussion

This was a really sweet set. I suppose the bonuses trended easy, but that's not really a problem at all. I was especially smitten by the literature, though The Maltese Falcon seemed transparent. Ares mentioned his companions way too early, and, as Chris said, the cows tossup was a tad antipyramidal....
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:40 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions
Replies: 76
Views: 11140

Re: Dropping Titles in Literature Questions

It's also limiting in knowledge expansion. If all that's going to be asked are the titles and summaries of an author's most/moderately famous works, a high schooler would have no reason to research more deeply in to Saul Bellow, and learn the plot summaries/titles of works like The Dean's December ...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:34 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Improving my Team
Replies: 6
Views: 1890

Re: Improving my Team

I'm going to go ahead and assume that you guys are decent, not terrible, not great, and you just need some help to get over the bump from decent to good. If you guys weren't good at all, my advice would be a different. First, attend tournaments. As many as possible, with as many teams as possible. I...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:05 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open
Replies: 67
Views: 12681

Re: Chicago Open

In an attempt to avoid derailment: anyone besides Guy have any luck convincing their parents to let them go to this? I would love advice from multiple people as I try to talk my mother into this...hopefully something will work. I would also appreciate some sort of advice or help in talking my mothe...
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:54 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 08-09
Replies: 307
Views: 53417

Re: Southern California 08-09

Hey SoCal people,
Does North Hollywood have a real team, and, if so, are they any good?
Thanks.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Cardinal Classic discussion
Replies: 64
Views: 16528

Re: Cardinal Classic discussion

Gentium is really awesome, though I find that TNR is probably the best of the standard fonts. Sans serif fonts are mostly hideous.
by Terrible Shorts Depot
Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:39 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open
Replies: 67
Views: 12681

Re: Chicago Open

Casting my ballot for any date but July 25th.

I really want to come...