Search found 124 matches

by #1 Mercury Adept
Sat May 23, 2009 6:50 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Something from last year's NAC
Replies: 5
Views: 2354

Something from last year's NAC

As the Chip season begins, here's something I came upon today while reading the NAC pages on the Quizbowl Wiki (in my state of extreme disappointment at finding out that my alma mater is going there again): Tom Egan's report from 2008 , as excerpted on the wiki, includes this as an example of the ki...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:43 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bad Negs Again
Replies: 494
Views: 113996

Re: Bad Negs Again

From an RMP packet in practice: One story about this structure relates that a mason readjusted its foundation stone, which had been set by a holy man *BUZZ* Leaning Tower of Pisa Right answer: Golden Temple. Question up to that point: "Outside this structure one can find three sacred trees know...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ICT and Friday night games
Replies: 23
Views: 4430

Re: ICT and Friday night games

Friday night rounds force you to have to leave to travel a lot earlier than you otherwise would have (and given that there are still a lot of places that take some kind of attendance that factors into your grade, it's not as cut and dry as "you can afford to miss a day of class if you really w...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:46 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Concept tossups in the social sciences
Replies: 40
Views: 7798

Re: Concept tossups in the social sciences

Linguistics: Well, there just aren't too many linguists who could conceivably come up in most tournaments. Tossups on the Great Vowel Shift and Grimm's Law are almost always transparent; you'd have to be a wizard to write those well. The best source for linguistics concept tossups seem to be langua...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Mon Mar 02, 2009 3:47 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals Discussion Thread
Replies: 121
Views: 21317

Re: ACF Regionals Discussion Thread

Speaking of linguistic fraud, there was also the question that said something like "name the country where some people named Zoltan something and Ferenc something are from" – if I remember correctly, that was before FTP. And speaking of linguistics, the linguistics bonus that ended up in t...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The mystery of stepping stone theory.
Replies: 77
Views: 12941

Re: The mystery of stepping stone theory.

I would be eager to hear feedback from new college players (i.e. ones who didn't play in HS) and teams who didn't play IS questions and instead started with mACF questions My personal experience is that IS series tournaments might be a good initial introduction to quizbowl for college players who d...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Sat Nov 01, 2008 2:38 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: SNL skit
Replies: 20
Views: 5083

Re: SNL skit

al3xWal3x wrote:btw, has anyone seen the wizards of waverly place "quiz bowl" episode?

the girl uses MAGIC and any qb-er coulda beaten her xD
"The rest of this quiz bowl is under protest!"
by #1 Mercury Adept
Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:22 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bad Negs Again
Replies: 494
Views: 113996

Re: Bad Negs Again

Not a neg, but sort of funny in a similar way (from some old ACF or mACF packet):

Clue in a question about John Cage that listed some of his works: 4'33"
Moderator said: "Four Feet, Thirty-Three Inches"
by #1 Mercury Adept
Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: FEUERBACH discussion
Replies: 22
Views: 3925

Re: FEUERBACH discussion

I remember reading a packet in practice once where Chomsky was the easy part and the other two questions were very specific terms from a book he wrote that I had never heard of. I don't remember what level it was, though, so that might explain it. When I heard "linguistics canon expansion"...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Thu Oct 16, 2008 11:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: FEUERBACH discussion
Replies: 22
Views: 3925

Re: FEUERBACH discussion

Yeah, I'm definitely supportive of more Linguistics in quizbowl (even if Guy is the only other person who shares this view). I just think that expletive infixation was too much of a jump. Perhaps we should have a tossup on "infixation" first. Before I looked at the question in question, I...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Original-language names and different translations
Replies: 7
Views: 2156

Original-language names and different translations

What first made me wonder about this was my search on QBDB for questions about the Kalevala , and noticing that some past tournaments only recognized one answer for some of the names, like only accepting "Pohjola" for where Louhi lives (I was reading a translation that used "Pohjola&q...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:43 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Chip's Love of Pyramids! (renamed from NAC legitimacy)
Replies: 80
Views: 11015

Re: Chip's Love of Pyramids! (renamed from NAC legitimacy)

:w-hat: …He seems to think that if a question includes a reference to less widely-known stuff first and something easy at the end, that makes it "pyramidal", not getting that that's not enough. Like I'll bet he'd call a question that went something like this "pyramidal": "Fo...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2008 QU NAC: B. T. Washington (OK) wins!
Replies: 350
Views: 53996

Re: 2008 QU NAC discussion and comment

Earlier in the tournament, "fusion" and "fusion reactor" were not considered the same answer. (I forget which was sought.) So when "Confederate States of America" was given for "Confederate Congress", I felt the same rule would apply. A country is not a legis...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:06 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Giveaways
Replies: 34
Views: 4260

Re: Giveaways

What do people think about the reverse: putting academic clues (be they lead-ins, giveaways, or other clues) in popular culture questions? I understand why pop culture giveaways (or giveaways that you can get merely by not living under a rock) are bad, but what about if you said something like "...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:08 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Player name pronunciation
Replies: 52
Views: 15863

Re: Player name pronunciation

pblessman wrote:Do people have an absolute right to have their name pronounced in any way they want to?
Sure, unless it entails a clear and present danger – /Skank/ v. US.
by #1 Mercury Adept
Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:02 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Senior Destinations 2008
Replies: 103
Views: 23010

Re: Senior Destinations 2008

evilmonkey wrote:But you can actually live through California winters...
Ithaca…not so much! :grin:
by #1 Mercury Adept
Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:00 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2008 QU NAC: B. T. Washington (OK) wins!
Replies: 350
Views: 53996

Re: NAC Schedules

Losing 600-80 is far better for a weak team's morale than losing 500-0. You get stomped either way, but when you score 80 points you at least demonstrate that you have some knowledge. The presence of the sixty second round allows for teams to score some points without having to compete for a tossup...
by #1 Mercury Adept
Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:44 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Senior Destinations 2008
Replies: 103
Views: 23010

Re: Senior Destinations 2008

ntan wrote:leaving sunny southern california to go to cornell. some say i am an idiot
Oh, there are far more idiotic things one could do. Like living in Ithaca for 17 years but not taking the opportunity to escape, and going to school here anyway. :grin:

Anyway…what they said. Welcome to Cornell!
by #1 Mercury Adept
Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:29 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bad Negs--we miss you!
Replies: 182
Views: 39372

Re: Bad Negs--we miss you!

At PARFAIT, I was substituted out during one round where this neg would have happened if I had been playing–after hearing the name "Ilmarinen" and a clue about something being forged and then lost, I would have said The Silmarillion for the Kalevala.
by #1 Mercury Adept
Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:40 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: (Correct) Answers that made you hang your head in shame.
Replies: 80
Views: 20050

Re: (Correct) Answers that made you hang your head in shame.

fluffy4102 wrote:Wizards after "Little is known about alatar and pallando, the blue"
Wait, what's so shameful about that?

I got a tossup on LiveJournal from a SixApart clue once.
by #1 Mercury Adept
Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2008 Penn Bowl Discussion
Replies: 23
Views: 5117

Well, the questions that were shown on the slideshow were just questions from last year's Penn Bowl (which are freely available online), so any similarities to actual questions were just coincidence. It was pretty funny to hear a tossup start with a clue about Tyro, and then buzz in with no actual ...