General Discussion

[Smuttynose Island]

This thread is meant for general discussion about OLEFIN. Discussion on specific questions may certainly occur in here; however, if enough of that occurs I will create a separate thread. Also, we have atleast one upcoming mirror so DO NOT DISCUSS THE QUESTIONS OUTSIDE OF THIS THREAD.

[sir negsalot]

For RM, as far as I remember, the only tossup that went dead in 10 games was Eudora Welty, that was a bit of outlier in difficulty. There never seemed to be any misplaced powers so that was good. Along with TP/StA as some of the best housewrites

[theflyingdeutschman]

One mistake I remember is that Tchaikovsky was incorrectly named as one of "the five" on a bonus part.

[Smuttynose Island]

One mistake I remember is that Tchaikovsky was incorrectly named as one of "the five" on a bonus part.

That error was noted during the tournament and will be fixed. Also the "perfect milkshake" clue in the entropy TU will be replaced.

[Kouign Amann]

This set was solid. Answers were interesting and difficulty was very good. Inevitably, there will be haters who are all "OMG QUIZBOWL IS TOO EASY LOOK AT ALL MY POWERS," but, well, haters gonna hate. As always, there were some outliers, but if this set is indicative of what housewrites will look like in the immediate future, then I think quizbowl difficulty may be going in the right direction.

If individual question discussion is allowed, could someone post the tossup on "cultures?" Maybe I was just really tired, but I remember immediately figuring out that the leadin was about Geertz, but then having no idea what was being asked for. Also, I think this was discussed yesterday, but the "bonds" TU could stand some editing, and someone might want to take a look at the "ideal milkshake" clue in the entropy tossup. Several pretty good players had absolutely no idea what that even meant. Confusion and giggling ensued.

[Smuttynose Island]

If individual question discussion is allowed, could someone post the tossup on "cultures?" Maybe I was just really tired, but I remember immediately figuring out that the leadin was about Geertz, but then having no idea what was being asked for.

One work about this concept claims that man is suspended in "webs of significance" he spun, and that work defined an explanation of not only a behavior but also its context as a "thick description." That work about this concept was written by the author of "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight". The Interpretation of (*) these concepts was written about by Clifford Geertz, and another prominent anthropologist called this concept "personality writ large" in a work comparing Pueblo, Dobu, and Kwakiutl ways of life. For 10 points, identify this concept, the socially transmitted knowledge and customs shared by a society.
ANSWER: cultures

In hindsight, having the indirect reference to Geertz was probably a bad idea and will most likely get changed.

Also, I think this was discussed yesterday, but the "bonds" TU could stand some editing, and someone might want to take a look at the "ideal milkshake" clue in the entropy tossup.

We plan on editing the "bonds" TU to be on "covalent bonds." Additionally, we to were confused by the "perfect milkshake" clue and plan on editing out of the set.

[DrCongo]

I thought the set was incredibly well-written and it was accessible for all the teams there. I do however remember the chimera team we played literally falling asleep in the middle of the game, but I doubt that was related to the questions difficulty... Can you post the Battle of Saratoga toss up? I don't remember the clues before Freeman's Farm, which I think was out of power.

[Smuttynose Island]

Can you post the Battle of Saratoga toss up? I don't remember the clues before Freeman's Farm, which I think was out of power.

Absolutely:

During this battle, Breyman's redoubt was captured after the failure to capture Balcarres' redoubt. The Treaty of Alliance was signed after this battle. The first phase of this battle began when troops under James Hamilton were fired upon by Daniel Morgan's Provisional Rifleman. That phase, an American loss, was the Battle of (*) Freeman's Farm. The second phase of this battle was the Battle of Bemis Heights, during which the American charge was led by Benedict Arnold. This battle ended when Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to Gen. Horatio Gates. For 10 points, name this battle of American Revolutionary that led to France entering the war on the American's side.
ANSWER: Battle(s) of Saratoga

[theflyingdeutschman]

Could you post the Egypt tossup? I remember negging it off the February clue with Libya.

[Smuttynose Island]

Could you post the Egypt tossup? I remember negging it off the February clue with Libya.

Opposition groups in this country studied the work of Gene Sharp on non-violent revolution, while Habib el-Adly was arrested on February 17 for ordering the use of live fire on protesters while Interior Minister. Saad Ketatni founded the Islamist Freedom and Justice Party in this country after the lifting of a ban on his organization's political activities. (*) Omar Suleiman had earlier been appointed as Vice President of this country though, as intelligence director, he had maintained close relations with Israel. Home to the original Muslim Brotherhood, for 10 points, name this African nation whose 2011 revolution, centered at Tahrir Square, forced out long-ruling President Hosni Mubarak.
ANSWER: Arab Republic of Egypt [accept al-Masr]

[Kouign Amann]

One work about this concept claims that man is suspended in "webs of significance" he spun, and that work defined an explanation of not only a behavior but also its context as a "thick description." That work about this concept was written by the author of "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight". The Interpretation of (*) these concepts was written about by Clifford Geertz, and another prominent anthropologist called this concept "personality writ large" in a work comparing Pueblo, Dobu, and Kwakiutl ways of life. For 10 points, identify this concept, the socially transmitted knowledge and customs shared by a society.
ANSWER: cultures

In hindsight, having the indirect reference to Geertz was probably a bad idea and will most likely get changed.

This doesn't look too bad now. It just needs to be more concrete, I think. I probably could have played this question better, but I was confused by what "about" meant. Saying that "The Interpretation of Cultures" is "about" culture seems accurate but pretty vague and not all that helpful for someone trying to buzz. If it had instead said "One work with this concept in its title..." or something, it might have been more clear. I dunno. Maybe it's fixable, maybe it should be changed completely.

[theflyingdeutschman]

Could you post the Egypt tossup? I remember negging it off the February clue with Libya.

Opposition groups in this country studied the work of Gene Sharp on non-violent revolution, while Habib el-Adly was arrested on February 17 for ordering the use of live fire on protesters while Interior Minister. Saad Ketatni founded the Islamist Freedom and Justice Party in this country after the lifting of a ban on his organization's political activities. (*) Omar Suleiman had earlier been appointed as Vice President of this country though, as intelligence director, he had maintained close relations with Israel. Home to the original Muslim Brotherhood, for 10 points, name this African nation whose 2011 revolution, centered at Tahrir Square, forced out long-ruling President Hosni Mubarak.
ANSWER: Arab Republic of Egypt [accept al-Masr]

Thanks. February 17th was the day that the Libyan protests began FYI, sort of an impulse buzz, my fault.

[salmon of wisdom]

In the Egypt TU, I don't think the "Gene Sharp" clue is uniquely identifying. I remember his work being cited by Iranian opposition groups and in the Velvet revolution. Don't get me wrong, it is a great clue, but I think it needs a few words to identify it with Egypt.

[DrCongo]

Thanks for posting the couple toss ups. Also not a big deal, but my stats and Jimmy's in our first Saint Anselm's game are switched.

Any update on when OLEFIN will be totally cleared for discussion and released online?

[Smuttynose Island]

Thanks for posting the couple toss ups. Also not a big deal, but my stats and Jimmy's in our first Saint Anselm's game are switched.

Any update on when OLEFIN will be totally cleared for discussion and released online?

We'd like to keep OLEFIN available for mirroring into the winter, so probably not until sometime next year. If it doesn't appear as if any more mirrors will occur before then though, we will release it early.

[Smuttynose Island]

In the Egypt TU, I don't think the "Gene Sharp" clue is uniquely identifying. I remember his work being cited by Iranian opposition groups and in the Velvet revolution.

Noted. This will be looked into further.

[tribble]

Thanks for posting the couple toss ups. Also not a big deal, but my stats and Jimmy's in our first Saint Anselm's game are switched.

Do you mean the game in round 8, or the first of the two final games? I'd be glad to correct the mistake.

[DrCongo]

Thanks for posting the couple toss ups. Also not a big deal, but my stats and Jimmy's in our first Saint Anselm's game are switched.

Do you mean the game in round 8, or the first of the two final games? I'd be glad to correct the mistake.

Yeah, the Round 8 game. Thanks

[tribble]

It should be fixed now; sorry about the delay. If you notice any more errors, feel free to tell me about them.

[Charles Martel]

I thought this set was great. However, I thought powers were a bit too easy to come by on this set; power marks should have been a bit earlier on some tossups. Also, I was disappointed at modern US politics being relegated to a single CE bonus, although that's mostly because I'm strong at it.

[Smuttynose Island]

However, I thought powers were a bit too easy to come by on this set; power marks should have been a bit earlier on some tossups.

Do you have any specific TUs in mind? Although I don't foresee us changing any of the powermarks, if there was a truly egregious case we might. Also when it came to the actual powermarking, the powers were designed to be reachable by mid-level and even lower-level teams, not just the top level teams, in order to make the game more enjoyable for them, while still rewarding points for deep knowledge, which is why they may have come across as "too easy."

Also, I was disappointed at modern US politics being relegated to a single CE bonus.

Unless the set was altered between when we sent it off to David Garb and when you played it, I don't believe that this statement was true. (I also don't believe that the set was altered at all). By my and my colleagues count there were, in the CE distribution, 1/3 questions dealing with American politics.

[abnormal abdomen]

I, too, thought this set was pretty good. I commend you guys on a job well done. Of course, I do have some concerns:

Like Aidan, I was extremely confused by the "cultures" tossup. I buzzed in before the end of the first sentence, figuring out that it was talking about The Interpretation of Cultures. I reflex buzzed and thought, "Well, this is confusing. Why are they tossing up... deep play?" Indeed, my answer was "deep play" and I was negged. The way it's written, it doesn't specifically refer to the word "culture" and I could have theoretically buzzed in with a lot of "concepts" that the book is about.

Also, for "equilibrium price," I'm almost certain there are other acceptable answers, particularly "market clearing price," which is what my AP Macroeconomics book refers to it as. Actually my econ teacher says that "equilibrium price" is somewhat of a misleading term (not that it's wrong or anything), and he prefers "market clearing price."

Oh, and I'm obviously biased, but, like, where was the Islam in this set? I know there's no rule that says that YOU MUST REPRESENT EVERY RELIGION IN YOUR DISTRO, but I was a little surprised that there was zero Islam in the 11 packets that I played.

All in all, though, this was a good tournament and we enjoyed playing the set. I liked a lot of the innovative answer lines that came up in bonuses. We also liked the trash a lot, heh.

[Smuttynose Island]

Like Aidan, I was extremely confused by the "cultures" tossup. I buzzed in before the end of the first sentence, figuring out that it was talking about The Interpretation of Cultures. I reflex buzzed and thought, "Well, this is confusing. Why are they tossing up... deep play?" Indeed, my answer was "deep play" and I was negged. The way it's written, it doesn't specifically refer to the word "culture" and I could have theoretically buzzed in with a lot of "concepts" that the book is about.

I'll go back and rework this TU again in an effort to make it clearer.

Also, for "equilibrium price," I'm almost certain there are other acceptable answers, particularly "market clearing price,"

"Market clearing price" does appear to be an acceptable alternative answer for "equilibrium price." This will be added to the set before we send it out to future mirrors.

[No Electricity Required]

I thought the set was pretty awesome overall.

A few comment I have:

The round 2 tossup on phosphorus at some point said something like "three of these anions are found in [a description of ATP]." I realized that it had just been talking about phosphate and that it might have said "those anions," and, if so, it's probably fine, but our moderator certainly said "these anions," so I negged with phosphate before realizing that it had said "this element" a few times earlier in the tossup.

I was also wondering why it was really necessary to prompt on and not accept "amendments" on the U.S. constitutional amendments tossup (Round 5, number 16 according to my notes). I think that almost anyone who buzzes and says "amendments" means constitutional amendments, and in my match a player from Loyola buzzed with amendments and couldn't figure out what to say when he was prompted (I don't imagine this phenomenon was unique either).

Can you post the Khrushchev tossup (round 5, number 19) because I think there was a bit of ambiguity in the leadin that led me to neg, but I could be wrong?

Several people I talked to yesterday and I thought the round 7 tossup on tangent had a big difficulty cliff when mentioned that its derivative is sec squared, so you might want to smooth that one out a bit.

I'd like to see the Putin tossup from round 9 because at the point I buzzed it had just mentioned something about the Georgian invasion that I remember being pretty generic (I could be wrong about that), so I buzzed with Medvedev since he was Russian president at the time.

The round 10 tossup on eagles was really bad neg bait for Yggdrasil on the leadin and should be reworded. I was lucky enough to lose the buzzer race on the third word, and people were pretty mad all around.

And like Abid I was wondering what happened to Islam, but it really wasn't a huge deal.

Like I said before I loved the set and had a great time playing it against some good teams. Thanks for producing such a great set.

[Smuttynose Island]

I thought the set was pretty awesome overall.

A few comment I have:

The round 2 tossup on phosphorus at some point said something like "three of these anions are found in [a description of ATP]." I realized that it had just been talking about phosphate and that it might have said "those anions," and, if so, it's probably fine, but our moderator certainly said "these anions," so I negged with phosphate before realizing that it had said "this element" a few times earlier in the tossup.

The question reads:

three of those ions are also present in living cells' most common energy carrier.

I was also wondering why it was really necessary to prompt on and not accept "amendments" on the U.S. constitutional amendments tossup (Round 5, number 16 according to my notes). I think that almost anyone who buzzes and says "amendments" means constitutional amendments, and in my match a player from Loyola buzzed with amendments and couldn't figure out what to say when he was prompted (I don't imagine this phenomenon was unique either).

The reason why the question calls for a prompt is because there are other types of amendments. I have not heard of any other circumstances where someone was unable to come up with "Constitutional" after being prompted; however, if this did cause widespread confusion, then I would appreciate knowing.

Can you post the Khrushchev tossup (round 5, number 19) because I think there was a bit of ambiguity in the leadin that led me to neg, but I could be wrong.

This man ended the Informbiro period in Soviet-Yugoslav relations and, during the Vienna Summit, he threatened to sign a peace treaty with East Berlin. At the Paris Summit, this man failed to receive an apology for the Gary Powers incident. He later authorized Walter Ulbricht to build the (*) Berlin Wall and stressed the soviets’ focus on "things that matter" in the Kitchen Debate. This soviet's namesake thaw began when he denounced Stalin in his "Secret Speech" and in another speech he claimed that the West would be buried. For 10 points, what shoe-banging Soviet leader was caught attempting to place nuclear weapons on Cuba?
ANSWER: Nikita Khrushchev

The potential ambiguity in the first half of the leadin was brought up during playtesting (that "Tito" could be a potential answer); however, Khrushchev initiated the negotiations that ended the Informbiro period so we did not change it.

I'd like to see the Putin tossup from round 9 because at the point I buzzed it had just mentioned something about the Georgian invasion that I remember being pretty generic (I could be wrong about that), so I buzzed with Medvedev since he was Russian president at the time.

Here it is:

This man promoted the concept of strategic corporations called National Champions, an idea which he introduced in his possibly-plagiarized PhD thesis. This leader dealt with hostage crises at the Dubrovka theater and a school in Beslan, and he ordered the arrest of Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky. This leader called the secession of Kosovo a "terrible precedent" and fought the South Ossetia War against (*) Georgia. In September 2011, this leader's party announced that he would seek to switch places for a second time with current President Dmitri Medvedev. A former KGB officer and President from 2000 to 2008, for 10 points, name this Prime Minister of Russia.
ANSWER: Vladimir Putin

The round 10 tossup on eagles was really bad neg bait for Yggdrasil on the leadin and should be reworded.

This has been changed.

[No Electricity Required]

The question reads:

three of those ions are also present in living cells' most common energy carrier.

Okay, well, I guess the moderator just screwed up.

The reason why the question calls for a prompt is because there are other types of amendments. I have not heard of any other circumstances where someone was unable to come up with "Constitutional" after being prompted; however, if this did cause widespread confusion, then I would appreciate knowing.

Maybe it didn't cause confusion elsewhere, but I was just thinking that a lot of the relatively new/very poor teams I've seen where I'm from would have a problem figuring it out, but I may be wrong.

The potential ambiguity in the first half of the leadin was brought up during playtesting (that "Tito" could be a potential answer); however, Khrushchev initiated the negotiations that ended the Informbiro period so we did not change it.

Now that I actually know about this I can see why it's probably perfectly fine. I had just seen clues about the Imformbiro period in Tito tossups I have read more often than in Khruschev ones, so I just figured Tito was the right answer.

This man promoted the concept of strategic corporations called National Champions, an idea which he introduced in his possibly-plagiarized PhD thesis. This leader dealt with hostage crises at the Dubrovka theater and a school in Beslan, and he ordered the arrest of Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky. This leader called the secession of Kosovo a "terrible precedent" and fought the South Ossetia War against (*) Georgia. In September 2011, this leader's party announced that he would seek to switch places for a second time with current President Dmitri Medvedev. A former KGB officer and President from 2000 to 2008, for 10 points, name this Prime Minister of Russia.
ANSWER: Vladimir Putin

I would think that "fought the South Ossetia War against Georgia" would pretty clearly mean the Russian President, who was not Putin.

[Smuttynose Island]

This man promoted the concept of strategic corporations called National Champions, an idea which he introduced in his possibly-plagiarized PhD thesis. This leader dealt with hostage crises at the Dubrovka theater and a school in Beslan, and he ordered the arrest of Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky. This leader called the secession of Kosovo a "terrible precedent" and fought the South Ossetia War against (*) Georgia. In September 2011, this leader's party announced that he would seek to switch places for a second time with current President Dmitri Medvedev. A former KGB officer and President from 2000 to 2008, for 10 points, name this Prime Minister of Russia.
ANSWER: Vladimir Putin

I would think that "fought the South Ossetia War against Georgia" would pretty clearly mean the Russian President, who was not Putin.

You are correct and this has been changed to reflect Putin's role in the war.

[Boeing X-20, Please!]

This was, as everyone has said, a very good housewrite and I thank you for that. Here are a few of my comments/minor quibbles as well:

Rd 3 bonus 16, you might consider adding a prompt on just elasticity since the bonus part already mentioned change in demand with respect to price. I don't take econ so I can't really talk but my teammates seemed to think the answerline was redundant based on the info given.

The tiebreaker bonus in round 3 should also accept rotational for angular.

Rd 6, TU 4: William 3 of England should also be taken for William 3 or Orange. I know this probably seems like it wouldn't cause issues but I specifically answered William 3 of England since I didn't know his # for the House of Orange and it caused another quick pause to quickly look up his number as King of England.

Rd 8, TU 6: Both copper and chromium only have 4s1 and then 3d[multiple of 5] and this tossup needs to distinguish between them as the first 1.5 lines of it could apply to both and currently, it doesn't do that. This caused me to wait for a uniquely identifying clue and miss the tossup.

Rd 11, bonus 4 should accept Eos too, as she is the goddess of the dawn and is actually the one with the rosy fingers that Homer describes.

Some /really/ minor stuff: Rd 4 tossup 7 has Balzac's named typo-ed and you refer to the Kiss as "another sculpture" after already referring to it. Round 4 bonus 10 has do not _to_ gentle into that good night instead of do not _go_ gentle into that good night.The Rd 2 bonus on Lord North's answerline was written a little less than optimally and it caused a pause in our game when we answered with "Lord North", which any good moderator would take but the way the answerline is written it could be interpreted as it seemingly wouldn't, at least by a poor moderator. Just adding an extra underline, like Frederick _North_, Lord _North_ would probably help.

[Cubfan125]

Just like everyone else, I thought the set was great in general. Do you mind posting the question on Ulysses S. Grant (it was in the later rounds, but I can't remember which one)? If I remember correctly -- and to be honest, I may not -- a teammate of mine buzzed in on the first clue which was about the "Force Acts" with Andrew Jackson, believing it to refer to one of the actions Jackson took during the nullification crisis. To be fair, I looked it up and it looks like what Jackson did is normally called the Force Bill, though it was passed into law (which makes it into an act? Maybe?). Either way, it seemed like a little bit of a trap. Or the question did distinguish between the two and I'm completely remembering it wrong. Thanks.

[Smuttynose Island]

Just like everyone else, I thought the set was great in general. Do you mind posting the question on Ulysses S. Grant (it was in the later rounds, but I can't remember which one)? If I remember correctly -- and to be honest, I may not -- a teammate of mine buzzed in on the first clue which was about the "Force Acts" with Andrew Jackson, believing it to refer to one of the actions Jackson took during the nullification crisis. To be fair, I looked it up and it looks like what Jackson did is normally called the Force Bill, though it was passed into law (which makes it into an act? Maybe?). Either way, it seemed like a little bit of a trap. Or the question did distinguish between the two and I'm completely remembering it wrong. Thanks.

This man signed the Force Act prohibiting the use of terror to prevent people from voting. This man signed the Fourth Coinage act which embraced the gold standard and led to the founding of the Greenback Party. James Garfield was implicated in one scandal during his administration, while (*) Fisk and Gould name another scandal during his presidency. His vice-president Schulyer Colfax was replaced after being implicated in the Credit Mobilier scandal prior to the Whiskey Ring scandal. For 10 points, name this Union general and Reconstruction era president who accepted Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.
ANSWER: Ulysses S. Grant

As I wrote this question I was aware of the potential problems with the Force Bill; however, I have never heard of, either in class or in any of the books that I've read on the issue, the Force Bill signed during the Nullification Crisis referred to as the "Force Act.," so I did not change it.

EDIT: In any case, I will reword the question to help players out.

[Charles Martel]

However, I thought powers were a bit too easy to come by on this set; power marks should have been a bit earlier on some tossups.

Do you have any specific TUs in mind? Although I don't foresee us changing any of the powermarks, if there was a truly egregious case we might. Also when it came to the actual powermarking, the powers were designed to be reachable by mid-level and even lower-level teams, not just the top level teams, in order to make the game more enjoyable for them, while still rewarding points for deep knowledge, which is why they may have come across as "too easy."

That makes sense. In general, I prefer it to be impossible for any team to be able to power half of the tossups; top teams should have at most 7 15pg. That said, there's nothing bad about a set with easy, accessible powers.

Also, I was disappointed at modern US politics being relegated to a single CE bonus.

Unless the set was altered between when we sent it off to David Garb and when you played it, I don't believe that this statement was true. (I also don't believe that the set was altered at all). By my and my colleagues count there were, in the CE distribution, 1/3 questions dealing with American politics.

Tea Party/O'Donnell/Bachmann was the only one I could find. Could someone post the abortion tossup? It seemed a lot more like history than US politics to me.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

That makes sense. In general, I prefer it to be impossible for any team to be able to power half of the tossups; top teams should have at most 7 15pg. That said, there's nothing bad about a set with easy, accessible powers.

I don't know where you decided that, but that's nonsense.

[Smuttynose Island]

Also, I was disappointed at modern US politics being relegated to a single CE bonus.

Unless the set was altered between when we sent it off to David Garb and when you played it, I don't believe that this statement was true. (I also don't believe that the set was altered at all). By my and my colleagues count there were, in the CE distribution, 1/3 questions dealing with American politics.

Tea Party/O'Donnell/Bachmann was the only one I could find. Could someone post the abortion tossup? It seemed a lot more like history than US politics to me.[/quote]

You are correct in that the abortion TU had a historic slant to it:

In his dissent on a case dealing with this practice, Harry Blackmun wrote that "the signs are evident and ominous, and a chill wind blows." A restriction on funding for foreign NGOs which carry out this practice was the Mexico City policy, while the Stupak-Pitts Amendment proposed a restriction on it already implemented by the (*) Hyde Amendment. This practice is opposed by members of Operation Rescue, and Scott Roeder killed Wichita resident George Tiller for assisting this. Plaintiff Norma McCorvey later changed her views on this and now considers herself pro-life. Roe v. Wade legalized and Planned Parenthood facilitates, for 10 points, what removal of a fetus from the uterus?
ANSWER: abortion

Here are the three bonuses, in order of appearance:

One candidate affiliated with this group, Joe Miller, saw his appeal against Lisa Murkowski's write-in campaign thrown out in December 2010. For 10 points each:
[10] Name this ill-defined group of conservative activists who backed candidates such as Ron Johnson, Sharron Angle, and Carl Paladino.
ANSWER: Tea Party
[10] Another Tea Party candidate was this Delaware Republican Senate candidate, who lost to Democrat Chris Coons after assuring TV audiences that she was, in fact, "not a witch."
ANSWER: Christine O'Donnell
[10] This Minnesota Congresswoman and candidate for the Republican nomination in 2012 is probably the presidential candidate most closely aligned with the Tea Party. She gave a Tea Party response to the 2011 State of the Union address and strongly opposed any raising of the debt ceiling.
ANSWER: Michelle Bachmann

In December 2010, the US Senate successfully repealed this policy in a stand-alone bill after failing to do so as a part of the Defense Authorization Act. For 10 points each:
[10] Instituted as a compromise in 1993, this military policy prohibits gays from serving openly in the military and makes homosexual conduct grounds for termination. It formally ended on September 20th, 2011.
ANSWER: Don't Ask, Don't Tell [accept DADT]
[10] This centrist Maine Republican co-sponsored the stand-alone repeal bill along with Connecticut Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman. In spite of heavy lobbying, this senator's Maine colleague Olympia Snowe had voted against the Defense Authorization Act because Majority Leader Reid would not allow Republican amendments.
ANSWER: Susan Collins
[10] This act also failed to pass as an add-on to the Defense Authorization Act, as well as in a stand-alone incarnation. It has been proposed in various forms for nearly a decade and would give young undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship as a reward for two years of military service or higher education.
ANSWER: DREAM Act

President Obama has called for a "reset" in relations with this nation. For 10 points each:
[10] Name this successor state to the Soviet Union led by President Dmitri Medvedev.
ANSWER: Russian Federation
[10] Name this arms-control treaty between the US and the Russian Federation that limits each side to 1550 deployed nuclear warheads. It was signed in April 2010 and ratified by the US Senate 71-26 in December 2010.
ANSWER: New START [accept New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty]
[10] This Senate Minority Whip, a Republican from Arizona, led opposition to New START in the Senate along with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. In 1999, he prevented the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, while he came under fire more recently for a remark which his office said "was not intended to be a factual statement."
ANSWER: Jon Kyl

[Charles Martel]

I missed the bonus about DADT while looking back through my notes earlier, and we never heard the Russia bonus. The abortion tossup contains the clues about the Stupak-Pitts amendment and Hyde amendment, but no other clues are US politics.

[Harpie's Feather Duster]

Since I'm not going to be playing this, would it be possible for me to be sent a copy of the set? I'd be willing to point out anything I notice reading it.

If so, you can email me at [email protected]