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I hope this tournament went well for everyone, even with the password problem with two of the packets. We don't plan to clear this set until at least the fall, as we are trying to host more mirrors, so please refrain from any open discussion of the set until it is. A usergroup for specific and gener...

Hey Mr. Laird:

I just sent you the packets. Sorry about that--I have no idea what was wrong with the passwords. Best of luck with the rest of tournament, and I'm incredibly sorry if this caused major problems with the tournament--it was completely my fault for not responding earlier.

Thanks to UVA and VCU for running a very smooth tournament that proceeded without a glitch despite having to run the tournament in two different buildings. Congrats to Western Albemarle for clearing the field; Eric is looking more and more fearsome by the tournament. And congrats to our B team for c...

Looking forward to playing this.

Oh yeah, should have elaborated on the types of negs-- Well, to put it sadly, it's most of what you just described. Basically I have a low threshold for when I buzz, so I end up buzzing on reflex when I shouldn't have--convincing myself I know the answer when I don't actually--going for that fraud w...

Negs are bad. We already know that. However, after recognizing long ago that proper buzzing discipline was my biggest problem, I still haven't managed to curb my plethora of negging. Thankfully, it's been slightly masked by still getting a lot of questions right, but the problem bit me in the butt t...

Now that I've seen the full Argentina lit question, Tlon--- should probably be in power, and there's probably no reason to give that much clue space to Bioy Casares, who is simply pretty hard just as a name drop (I'm not very firm on that latter point, though, especially since I like seeing him come...

yeah, tragic prelude seems hard, but I'm okay with it leaning on the hard side, I guess

While agreeing that this LIST took much better steps to differentiate top teams in bonuses, I think some of the lit went overboard; Anthills of the Savannah is a fine hard part even with Achebe given--and pretty dang hard without it--, as is Thin Man, and arguably In Cold Blood. On the plus side, th...

We would have had Tajin, too, if it weren't for our inane admissions system... But yeah, I concur with Tajin: the freshmen show a lot of promise, and if they work as a team, they will probably be a top 5 team in their senior year, if not sooner. We also have some good juniors and sophomores to hold ...

Unfortunately, a conflict came up on my end and I won't be able to do playtesting tonight. Playtesting should take place tomorrow night, same time, same channel, same subject.

I'm going to start playtesting this set on IRC soon, and all people ineligible to play the actual set are free to drop by and give some feedback. The first bout should took place tomorrow (Friday, 2/7) at 8:00 PM EST in SlashNET at #tjqb. I plan to just do literature, but if time permits I might do ...

Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology (TJHSST) of Alexandria, VA and the Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) of Austin, TX are now seeking mirrors nationwide for JAMES ( Just Another Magnificent Extravaganza for Students ), a housewrite to be produced as a collaboration between both sch...

I won't speak for others, but for me it's always been that as I've gotten better (i.e. better knowledge of subjects, more time spent studying) I've been more confident and more willing to buzz earlier; not the other way around. That is, because I've felt like I knew what the question was talking abo...

Skepticism and Animal Feed wrote: When you adopt any given quizbowl strategy, be it reflex buzzing, buzzing on word associations, or waiting until you are absolutely sure before you buzz, you assume the benefits and the risks of that strategy. Quizbowl writers have no obligation to reduce risk that...

I reflex buzz a lot (helps win buzzer races!), so, yeah, I would have preferred an Achilles excluding clue, but I think the best way to do it here is to reword it "this figure's shoulders were his only weak spot," where beginning with shoulders precludes Achilles.

I suppose I also agree with the mentality that players should know better than to guess, but I feel like that's still a fault of the question writer. If the player had the knowledge to discriminate between two works of the same name, they would presumably have buzzed in earlier on the description, w...

As for poetry, the only "poet" that I can think of at all is Basho, but the whole haiku thing is very commonly asked, so that's worth studying heavily. For prose (in addition to those mentioned already), Mishima deserves mention. Akutagawa and Murakami are occasional HS answers as well. I ...

So now that I no longer have the inimitable James Bradbury on my team, I'm starting to work on becoming a decent current events player, with the goal of aiming at being better at NAQT questions (I've completely forsaken geo; when you still get lost on the roads in your hometown, you know it's not fo...

An email should have been sent, but I'll post here as well. TJ will be sending one team and three buzzers.

I supposed I've already added myself to the free agents on the spreadsheet, but, yeah, I'm also a needy free agent looking to play at this tournament.

Hate to be that guy, but--

Will the set be posted somewhere?

I will probably end up playing this tournament and it would actually be better if I could just be tossed on a team that still has space, since I might leave in the middle of the tournament. Sorry for the late notice.

Can I see the myth tossup on giants?

Not sure if I should be asking for the question as well here, but one of our sophomores (Sid Verma) tells me that a bonus on Hindu festivals was incorrect. The question asked for where the Kumbh Mela was held: the answer given was Varanasi. Actually, "Varanasi is incorrect and Haridwar should b...