Search found 104 matches

by Brian Ulrich
Wed Dec 26, 2012 5:56 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Keeping up with current events
Replies: 18
Views: 8140

Re: Keeping up with current events

In my opinion, one conceptual problem is that people tend to emphasize the idea of current "events" as discrete events that have happened very recently. When people write about particular events -- rather than broader trends about a particular place, person, idea, or theme -- that is when...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon May 28, 2012 1:09 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2012 HSNCT discussion
Replies: 173
Views: 81080

Re: 2012 HSNCT discussion

Re the second comment: Looking over the CE in the set, the only one I can see that of is the "posting nude pictures on the internet" bonus, which I approved as category editor sometime last year. We probably both suspected it would be/stay a bigger deal than it did. Kyle actually seems to...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon May 28, 2012 12:56 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2012 HSNCT discussion
Replies: 173
Views: 81080

Re: 2012 HSNCT discussion

The current events often seemed outdated, as if many questions were written in 2009, chilled out in some database for a few years, and then emerged this weekend. The "I'm Kyle Haddad-Fonda, here are a lot of clues about things in the Arab world that I think are important but that the western m...
by Brian Ulrich
Sat May 26, 2012 8:06 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2012 NAQT HSNCT: Congratulations to Bellarmine!
Replies: 100
Views: 54652

Re: 2012 NAQT HSNCT: May 26-27, Atlanta

May the odds be ever in your favor!
by Brian Ulrich
Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2012 SCT individual question discussion
Replies: 114
Views: 24029

Re: talk about individual questions here

On the mountain issue, I basically agree with Kyle, and can never get much of a mountain question going above level 3 where you need fewer clues. That said, in addition to sitting there, they also block rain and affect invasion routes.
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT distribution change 2010-11
Replies: 28
Views: 6241

Re: NAQT distribution change 2010-11

I'd like to see technology and science current events excised. These questions are obnoxious to write and probably end up badly (although I don't recall what questions actually fit into these categories last year). Speaking from inexperience here, I don't see what is inherently troublesome about sc...
by Brian Ulrich
Sun Jun 06, 2010 12:36 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Know your current events
Replies: 42
Views: 14341

Re: Know your current events

Foreignpolicy.com can send their "Morning Brief" to your e-mail every morning. Here's what you get: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/Morning_Brief I, personally, find this the best way to stay in touch with a broad view of world events. Also, since my motive for lobbying for NAQT's CE editing...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon May 31, 2010 9:37 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2010 HSNCT discussion thread
Replies: 194
Views: 51159

Re: 2010 HSNCT discussion thread

I guess that's the point of "current events" but there should be some distinction between engaging, relevant topics and stuff about random politicians who did some sort of important thing once. :w-hat:? This is a national-level tournament and the current events matched these standards. Yo...
by Brian Ulrich
Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 36881

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

I don't think the "not" clause of the middle sentence is true. Most colleges have English departments, while departments in other languages are scattered to certain ones at different schools, often in regional combinations. Departments in other languages also focus more on language teachi...
by Brian Ulrich
Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 36881

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

I still don't get the appeal to "what people playing SCT read." People read all kinds of things and fortunately we live in a time when translations of major non-English language works are widely available in cheap paperback form, not to mention the fact that these books are assigned and a...
by Brian Ulrich
Thu Feb 18, 2010 7:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Better options available
Replies: 31
Views: 5038

Re: Better options available

I mean, the clear partial remedy is to include subject editor as well. No question it's imperfect, but it would certainly have the effect Susan described--it'd also just create some false positives, which can be accounted for via you chiming in and saying "I'd have kept this question this way ...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Better options available
Replies: 31
Views: 5038

Re: Better options available

For collegiate sets, I'd like to see people sign up to write a specific quota of questions ahead of time rather than a "contribute what you want" approach. For instance, if I was given a specific quota and deadline for questions for next year's SCT (e.g. 50/50 by 12/1/10), I'd be more lik...
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: a broader perspective on this discussion
Replies: 25
Views: 3528

Re: a broader perspective on this discussion

I don't think it's debatable that, no matter which categories they were in, there were a lot of questions this year on US political figures, many of whom are still active. I'm not saying, "don't write questions on these people," I'm saying that something is wrong with your distribution-ch...
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: a broader perspective on this discussion
Replies: 25
Views: 3528

Re: a broader perspective on this discussion

I am also, and this may shock some people, mostly fine with NAQT's macro-level distribution. I mean, I don't want to see trash in national tournaments, but given that I'm not going to get that wish, I think a reduction of trash concentration is a reasonable compromise that still leaves room in quiz...
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: a broader perspective on this discussion
Replies: 25
Views: 3528

Re: a broader perspective on this discussion

Since I'm a former rather than current player, I'm not sure my perspective is really what Andrew is seeking, but I've always liked NAQT's broader answer selection - what seems a desire to push the bounds of culturally useful knowledge in ways only imperfectly captured by the academic/trash dichotomy...
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 36881

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

The foreign language question: Teaching in this system was promoted by the {Z.T. experiment} and the textbooks of John DeFrancis. This system replaced that used by the Postal Map Reorganization of 1906. It does not use the notions of (*) consonants or vowels, but rather "initials" and &quo...
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Miscellaneous and Cross-disciplinary questions
Replies: 55
Views: 8238

Re: Miscellaneous and Cross-disciplinary questions

The Christo question doens't seem that CE-ish to me It's not, but I wrote this literally an hour before the set shipped Friday morning and needed something artsy and vaguely recent. It may well be terrible, but the alternative was "no tossup." Oh, yeah, I figured that was the reason. Over...
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Feb 09, 2010 2:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Miscellaneous and Cross-disciplinary questions
Replies: 55
Views: 8238

Re: Miscellaneous and Cross-disciplinary questions

The deaccessioning was "Arts Current Events" I guess this is the most appropriate place to discuss this, but I really wish that the mixed CE categories would disappear. I guess something like deaccessioning would be a fine hard part for some art bonus and it's not really the focus of my p...
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:58 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 36881

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

I just wanted to say that I agree with Andrew Hart's critique of a lot of our current events, especially U.S. political current events.

Brian
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Miscellaneous and Cross-disciplinary questions
Replies: 55
Views: 8238

Re: Miscellaneous and Cross-disciplinary questions

Deaccessioning is actually one of those really cool but offbeat things that makes a fine Miscellaneous bonus. It rewards a certain level of academic study (I studied it in my master's program and did it when I worked in a museum) that doesn't pop up in the other forms of the distribution (nor shoul...
by Brian Ulrich
Sun Feb 07, 2010 6:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 36881

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

at least one reader who would refuse to read/toss out questions with words she found difficult, which usually meant science questions What! Yeah, the whole "NAQT will work with ACUI people to make sure they know what they are doing at all " thing may have failed in some instances, it seem...
by Brian Ulrich
Sun Feb 07, 2010 6:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 36881

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

at least one reader who would refuse to read/toss out questions with words she found difficult, which usually meant science questions What! Yeah, the whole "NAQT will work with ACUI people to make sure they know what they are doing at all " thing may have failed in some instances, it seem...
by Brian Ulrich
Sun Jan 17, 2010 6:14 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: ELVIS
Replies: 27
Views: 23361

Re: ELVIS

I actually edited an ELVIS in 2002 or 2003 or so - I forget the exact year. If I recall correctly, it was the first year we went from packet submission to in-house writing, which was a definite mistake.

If Mark "Death" Zimmer is still at Wisconsin, he'd be the one to ask.

Brian
by Brian Ulrich
Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:05 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2008-2009 NAQT IS sets: question-specific discussion
Replies: 87
Views: 13070

Re: 2008-2009 NAQT IS sets: question-specific discussion

For 10 points each--name these Christian groups: A. The ex-gay ministry Love Won Out is a part of this group led by James Dobson; it is known for its radio programs and child-oriented message. answer: _Focus on the Family_ B. In 1993 the Southern Baptist Convention started this group that stresses ...
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NAC schedule info/tournament thread
Replies: 217
Views: 44560

Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

My bad - NAQT started supplying questions for this show last year. I've also learned that there's more going on here, but don't think it's for me to talk about. Others can if they want. Thanks for the update. Had no idea NAQT was already on top of this. Obviously, I'd like to hear more, but I under...
by Brian Ulrich
Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:13 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NAC schedule info/tournament thread
Replies: 217
Views: 44560

Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

In some ways, the El Paso quiz bowl scene is superior to the rest of Texas; in others, it's inferior. But it's definitely different in every way, as you discovered. High-Q has run for 25 years on television there, on the local PBS affiliate. They play Chip's four-quarter format and use either QU or...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:41 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NAC schedule info/tournament thread
Replies: 217
Views: 44560

Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

In some ways, the El Paso quiz bowl scene is superior to the rest of Texas; in others, it's inferior. But it's definitely different in every way, as you discovered. High-Q has run for 25 years on television there, on the local PBS affiliate. They play Chip's four-quarter format and use either QU or...
by Brian Ulrich
Thu Jun 04, 2009 9:12 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 NAQT HSNCT
Replies: 349
Views: 102408

Re: 2009 NAQT HSNCT

Should we enforce some distinction in quiz bowl answer lines that isn't technically correct, for ease of adjudication? I guess you could argue that something similar is often done in mythology. English-language retellings of classical myth have often mingled Greek and Roman names indiscriminately, ...
by Brian Ulrich
Wed Jun 03, 2009 11:02 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

"the hood" for "ghetto", "Big Papi" for "David Ortiz" Both of these are acceptable as they are other valid ways of referring to the answer (well, maybe the first one is sort of debatable, but whatever). I don't know anything about linguistics though. Well yea...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Upanishads bonus: Roughly 200 texts are known by this name, but the ten principal ones, or ~mukhya~, have near universal acceptance. For 10 points each-- A. Name these Hindu scriptures nominally learned sitting at the feet of a teacher. answer: _Upanishad_s or _Upanisad_s B. This is the unchanging, ...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:49 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 NAQT HSNCT
Replies: 349
Views: 102408

Re: 2009 NAQT HSNCT

Dasein wrote:Before i make any comment regarding the Brahma/Brahman argument, can someone please post the exact wording of that question?
I'll post it in the question discussion forum only, since that's where people know will have spoilers.
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:14 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

OK, I apologize for indulging my sense of flipness. Chris, I didn't mean to ignore the rest of your post - I just answered the question part of it, since I happened to know the answer, and then got myself into trouble with how I did it. The circumflex tossup was not linguistics, it was foreign langu...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:55 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Mitchell Szczepanczyk Who is that? A guy with a masters in linguistics from Chicago, actually. :smile: And just what does that have to do with quizbowl? That, if I'm not mistaken, was Chris's entire point. Just because someone knows some stuff doesn't mean he is qualified to edit what are supposed ...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:33 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

DumbJaques wrote:
Mitchell Szczepanczyk
Who is that?
A guy with a masters in linguistics from Chicago, actually. :smile:
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Anti-Climacus wrote:By the way, were the cuneiform, circumflex and Cyrillic questions written by the same person?
I'd rather not go too far along this line of inquiry, but I will say that they were not. In fact, three different writers were involved.
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:44 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Circumflex: In Welsh this {diacritical} indicates a {long vowel}. In Esperanto it differentiates letters pronounced as "ts" [T-S] and "ch" [C-H]. In French it often indicates that an 's' was once present after the vowel, as in the word (*) ~h\^opital~ [oh-pee-tahl]; it is also th...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:15 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Cyrillic alphabet: This system has been used for the Turkic language Karakalpak [KAR-ah-KAHL-pahk] as well as the Sinitic language Dungan, and the informal Volapuk encoding is one way to represent it in ASCII. It contains a "hard sign" and a "soft sign," as well as a vowel resemb...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:56 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Here's the social science in the set: Round 1: Taung Child bonus (paleontology), Engels (sociology) Round 2: social scientists describing religion (sociology), Kenneth Arrow (economics) Round 3: Cyrillic alphabet (linguistics) Round 4: types of goods (economics) Round 5: Pacific ehtnographies (anthr...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:19 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

OK, in the sense some rounds have 1 SS and others have 2. That's the extent of the variance. The exception might be where NAQT break Trash down into multiple to-level categories, such as PC and Sports. Don't forget that a lot of teams (and moderators especially) are used to playing question sets th...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

I'm sure there are other ways to do that. Perhaps for clarity I should have confined myself to saying that the per tournament distribution is not the cause of the problems people attribute to it. Yes it absolutely is. NAQT's per tournament distribution is the reason why some rounds have more trash ...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

I don't have a stake in any outcomes, and certainly don't speak for NAQT as Jeff does, but the per tournament distribution should be a complete non-issue. Questions are scattered evenly across packets. I look through the social science last night just to confirm that, despite what someone said, the...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 HSNCT question discussion
Replies: 262
Views: 49114

Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

I don't have a stake in any outcomes, and certainly don't speak for NAQT as Jeff does, but the per tournament distribution should be a complete non-issue. Questions are scattered evenly across packets. I look through the social science last night just to confirm that, despite what someone said, ther...
by Brian Ulrich
Sun May 31, 2009 10:07 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2009 NAQT HSNCT
Replies: 349
Views: 102408

Re: 2009 NAQT HSNCT

-Fifth, if it's possible to reconfigure the system to do this, switch to a per-packet, rather than per-tournament, distribution of categories. Certain categories like social science and philosophy seemed entirely absent from many games, and the tendency for rounds to fluctuate widely in how academi...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:36 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals discussion
Replies: 151
Views: 30953

Re: ACF Nationals discussion

Regarding the Zanj revolt itself, I am trying to imagine a tossup on it. In my mind, there are six lines of obscure things that nobody could possibly be expected to buzz on followed by an allusion to the fact that they are black and then a mention of the Abbasid caliphate. No? Kyle (I'm assuming qu...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals discussion
Replies: 151
Views: 30953

Re: ACF Nationals discussion

Also, Brian, African history comes up plenty in ACF and mACF, even if Kongo has been underrepresented. Sorry if I seem like I'm just telling people "go read packets and you'll have more well-formed opinions about these things!" but...yeah, that's pretty much what I'm saying, again and alw...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:47 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals discussion
Replies: 151
Views: 30953

Re: ACF Nationals discussion

Kingdom of Kongo I was so seriously elated to see this come up. I learned about it in middle school world history, but have never seen it anywhere. This might have broader applicability for discussions of world history and literature in quiz bowl more generally. From the mid-1990's on, there was a ...
by Brian Ulrich
Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals discussion
Replies: 151
Views: 30953

Re: ACF Nationals discussion

The Zanj Revolt is important, in that it played a critical role in wrecking the economy of southern Iraq, and thus the economic base of the Abbasid Caliphate. The insecurity of trade to Baghdad also led to a shift from Persian Gulf to Red Sea routes, helping set things up for the Fatimids. That said...
by Brian Ulrich
Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2009 ICT discussion
Replies: 173
Views: 28925

Re: 2009 ICT discussion

The term "event" tends to make people want to write about specific events which form the basis of headline stories on CNN. To me, the term "affairs" tends to move the focus more toward issues that lie behind and give meaning to the events. Michelle Obama putting her arm around Qu...
by Brian Ulrich
Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2009 ICT discussion
Replies: 173
Views: 28925

Re: 2009 ICT discussion

For what it's worth, I mostly agree with the Georgian Chris. I also think we might have fallen a tad short on avoiding the random elections from March syndrome; though I rejected several toss-ups on those grounds, I'm not sure all those I accepted had their importance made explicitly within the ques...
by Brian Ulrich
Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2009 ICT discussion
Replies: 173
Views: 28925

Re: 2009 ICT discussion

The fact that a parody tossup actually showed up in a packet should be indicative of some very serious answer choice problems. Yeah, I sort of did a double-take when someone posted that they were a shoe-throwing tossup enthusiast - to me this seems like a really bad direction to take current events...