Search found 854 matches

by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:21 pm
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: Before & After Packet 2023
Replies: 1
Views: 1134

Re: Before & After Packet 2023

This is a reminder that I'm going to be reading this in the Discord tonight at 9 PM ET.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Jan 02, 2024 12:00 am
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: Before & After Packet 2023
Replies: 1
Views: 1134

Before & After Packet 2023

Next week, I'm going to do one more reading of my most recent Before & After packet (from Festivus 2023), before I post it on the archive. This is most likely going to be on Wednesday, 01/10 at around 9 PM ET.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sat Sep 02, 2023 7:01 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 2124

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)

Congratulations to Panic at the Discord (Eric Bobrow, Jason Golfinos, Nick Jensen, and Alex Li), who beat Champ (Chris Manners, Tim Morrison, Shahar Schwartz, and Tejas Raje) 395-335 in the final to win the tournament! Stats are already up for the prelims. Stats from the playoffs will up ere long. T...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Sep 01, 2023 8:13 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 2124

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)

A logistics e-mail has been sent to the contact person for each team. Please let me know if you did not receive it.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Sep 01, 2023 3:06 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 2124

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)

We're going to run an eight-team tournament. It appears that three teams still have rooms for free agents, so don't hesitate to reach out to players if you're considering playing.

The tournament will start at 10 AM ET. I'll send a logistics e-mail tonight.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Aug 29, 2023 11:56 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 2124

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)

There are three teams officially registered, and three teams that have expressed interest in playing. This adds up to six teams, which is an excellent amount for this mirror, so I'm going to close the field, until/unless we get to eight teams. On those six teams, there's a total of four free agent s...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Aug 27, 2023 10:08 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 2124

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)

Right now, including the one fully registered team of four players, the two partly formed but not registered teams of three, and the five free agents, we have fifteen people signed up, which is enough to fill out four teams (plus one spare spot). This would be excellent, as we'd be able to run a tri...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Aug 09, 2023 11:33 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
Replies: 41
Views: 19530

Re: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks

Thanks to the editors for this tournament. I want to particularly commend Caleb for what I thought was a very fine set of Philosophy questions. This post is about the Literature questions. On an individual level, I feel like most of the tossups in these categories were well-executed. (Like Andrew, I...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Aug 09, 2023 10:53 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 2124

IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 2 (09/02/2023)

Our online mirror of the second part of the IQBT Undergraduate Championship set will be on September 2nd. It will be held over Zoom. I’ll be serving as TD. This is an open mirror. Anyone who did not write for or playtest the set or who did not play or staff the championship is welcome to play. The t...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:15 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)
Replies: 6
Views: 2883

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)

Attached are the first nine packets of the set, which were the questions played at this mirror. We're releasing them publicly in part because there might be people who didn't play the first part of the tournament, but wish to play the second; and it seems odd to say that only the people who played t...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:12 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: COLONIAL @ CO (8/6)
Replies: 12
Views: 2948

Re: COLONIAL @ CO (8/6)

I'm confused. Are you closing registration after only three teams have registered? Or is the spreadsheet not updated?
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sat Jul 29, 2023 5:27 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)
Replies: 6
Views: 2883

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)

Congratulations to Nothing, Nowhere, Consecutively (Chris Manners, Tim Morrison, Shahar Schwartz, and Tejas Raje), who beat Leste Is Timor (Jason Golfinos, Nick Jensen, Chinmay Kinsara, and Kevin Ye) in the final to win the tournament! Stats are already up for the prelims, playoffs, and crossover ex...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Jul 28, 2023 5:10 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)
Replies: 6
Views: 2883

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)

I've finalized teams, assigned remaining free agents to each team.

I just sent a logistics e-mail to the person who registered for each team. If you are that person and haven't received it, please let me know right away.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Jul 28, 2023 12:05 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)
Replies: 6
Views: 2883

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)

This tournament will start at 10 AM ET / 7 AM PT. I'll send out a logistical e-mail tonight, once the field is finalized. I'm currently trying to move around some free agents among teams to get the field to a workable number.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Jul 24, 2023 4:42 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)
Replies: 6
Views: 2883

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)

The tournament is this Saturday. It looks like we may have four total teams, in which case registration is just a matter of figuring out which of the current free agents are banding together to start a fourth team, and which are joining Jason and Nick's team.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Thu Jul 20, 2023 10:11 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)
Replies: 6
Views: 2883

Re: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)

This tournament is a little more than a week away. Two teams have registered but there are enough free agents listed to fill out two more teams, and thus meet our minimum field of four teams. We'd be very happy too, of course, with a field of six teams, should more players wish to join!
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Jul 07, 2023 10:34 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)
Replies: 6
Views: 2883

IQBT UG Championship Online Open Mirror, Part 1 (07/29/2023)

Apologies for the delays, everyone. Our online mirror of the IQBT Undergraduate Championship set will be on July 29th, as Fred previously announced. It will be held over Zoom. I’ll be serving as TD. This is an open mirror. Anyone who did not write for or playtest the set or who did not play or staff...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sat Jun 24, 2023 11:04 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12507

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

Andrew, I'm utterly baffled at how you derived basically most of that long post from what I said. Perhaps the rest of this discussion is best had in another medium? I responded briefly and directly to two quotations from you, plus one summary that I would think is unobjectionable (that a benefit of ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sat Jun 24, 2023 12:17 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12507

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

I'm having trouble following part of Andrew's argument, in as much as I feel that he has articulated a strong premise for the opposing side, while drawing the opposite conclusion. In his first post, he says: In any event, almost any eight-line tossup can be edited down to seven while keeping all of ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Apr 26, 2023 9:06 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: 2023 ACF Nationals: April 22-23, MIT
Replies: 25
Views: 24006

Re: 2023 ACF Nationals: April 22-23, MIT

Here’s a counterpart to Andrew’s. Instead of squaring Team PPG and Max team PPG without any logical justification whatsoever, I raised them to the 1.5 power without any logical justification whatsoever. The results are similarly revelatory.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Thu Apr 20, 2023 12:54 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ACF Nationals 2022 Recordings
Replies: 0
Views: 1796

ACF Nationals 2022 Recordings

At long last—but before ACF Nationals 2023, as promised!— here are all 52 (!) audio recordings of ACF Nationals 2022 matches. This is possibly their temporary home, as these may be migrated, in due course, to ACF’s official website. There may also be some re-editing in future. (On a few of these, I ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Feb 26, 2023 5:02 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 BHSU: Favorite questions/clues/buzzes/moments
Replies: 21
Views: 4028

Re: 2023 BHSU: Favorite questions/clues/buzzes/moments

Thank you for the lead-in to the Lucy poems tossup, my favorite buzz. This is a great literary theory/criticism clue, because it's so much more memorable than some critic's random quip about a particular work. Speaking of quips, though, I loved the bonus parts on "dancing about architecture&quo...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sat Feb 04, 2023 9:15 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Addressing a common moderator error
Replies: 19
Views: 4026

Re: Addressing a common moderator error

Suggestion: the reader counts down from five on their fingers and calls time when they're all down. That way, players always have a warning for when they need to say an answer, but it's not a distraction that interrupts the thought process. This is a hassle for the moderator. Please do not require ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Dec 26, 2022 6:11 pm
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: 2021 Before & After Packet Redux
Replies: 2
Views: 3394

Re: 2021 Before & After Packet Redux

This has been moved to Friday. Stay tuned for further updates about the time.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Dec 26, 2022 12:13 pm
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: 2021 Before & After Packet Redux
Replies: 2
Views: 3394

Re: 2021 Before & After Packet Redux

For those who missed my Festivus packet this year, which was also Before & After, I'm tentatively planning to do another reading tonight (12/26) at 8:30 PM ET.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Thu Dec 22, 2022 11:11 am
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: 2021 Before & After Packet Redux
Replies: 2
Views: 3394

2021 Before & After Packet Redux

I never posted my Before & After packet from last year, because I was planning another reading that never materialized. As a preview of tomorrow's Festivus packet, I'm going to read last year's tonight (12/22) at 9 PM ET in the Discord. If you're not sure whether you played it last year, err on ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sat Nov 12, 2022 1:49 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Can we cool it a bit with the "note-spelling"?
Replies: 27
Views: 7837

Re: Can we cool it a bit with the "note-spelling"?

My, what a busy thread! And one I’m glad to see attracting so many posts. As those of you who are older may know, I spent the first half of my quizbowl career vigorously lobbying for the inclusion of “score clues” (broadly defined) and for the reform of how we wrote them, to make them describe less ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Nov 07, 2022 3:08 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: We Need to Make Up Our Minds About Trash
Replies: 27
Views: 8898

Re: We Need to Make Up Our Minds About Trash

However, if we take popular music for example, there is no corresponding academic field nearly as established as film studies , so (I believe) writers will attempt to use magazines like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork or online scoring sites like RateYourMusic and Metacritic to determine what is 'highe...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Oct 09, 2022 12:18 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Eminent Victorians (a 19th century side event)
Replies: 12
Views: 4640

Re: Eminent Victorians (a 19th century side event)

This set is great. It contains a judicious mix of standard quizbowl fare and stuff you could not easily ask about in a run-of-the-mill tournament (because the clues cut across too many disciplines or belong to categories somewhat outside the mACF distribution). The stuff I didn’t know about sounded ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Aug 17, 2022 7:28 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion
Replies: 39
Views: 12324

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion

Tl;dr: Everyone should resist the urge to write philosophy as if it were literature (that's why it has its own 1/1 guys!) Rather, I think the recipes people use to write hard lit questions (like, find hard guy, find more obscure works by hard guy) really don't make for good hard philosophy (or, for...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:46 am
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Stop giving your sets cutesy names—they have real-world consequences.
Replies: 5
Views: 2855

Re: Stop giving your sets cutesy names—they have real-world consequences.

When something like this happens, the tournament's original namers are not to blame. If the possibility of this sort of confusion exists, it is the responsibility of the person sending the check or filing the reimbursement form to be sensible and avoid such a confusion. (By Karan's logic, we should ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2022 CO Trash: Specific question discussion
Replies: 24
Views: 3369

Re: Specific question discussion

The bonus part on Ted Gioia confuses Harold Bloom (who was not Ted's mentor) with James Wood (who was), to what is surely the horror of Ted, Wood, and Bloom's ghost.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Aug 09, 2022 3:01 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 4636

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: Specific Question Discussion

It is rare that I disagree so strongly with Matt Jackson. And I endeavor not to deliver question-specific tournament commentary these days. But Matt Jackson’s praise for the Chekhov tossup alarms me (because it’s possible that people might read his post and write similar questions in future) and a g...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Aug 09, 2022 11:53 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion
Replies: 39
Views: 12324

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion

I'm responding to Ryan's post from the announcement thread. I figure that this is the more appropriate thread, now that it has been created. The most common way that adherence to the notion of 90% conversion creates a suboptimal playing experience is in the case of a hard tossup on a relatively easy...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Aug 08, 2022 1:11 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: August 6, 2022 @ Evanston, IL
Replies: 98
Views: 48318

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: August 6, 2022 @ Evanston, IL

I don't feel super strongly about this, but I think a 90% conversion target on tossups is actually non-ideal at CO. Ramping down the difficulty to reach that level of conversion is bound to cause buzzer races during the giveaway, and secondarily it lengthens the tournament. Why do you object to a 9...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Jul 17, 2022 11:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: August 6, 2022 @ Evanston, IL
Replies: 98
Views: 48318

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: August 6, 2022 @ Evanston, IL

miamc wrote: Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:41 pm Hey y'all—reminder to submit your vaccination information if you haven't done so yet! This is required of all players, staff, and spectators.
Why are you asking for photo ID?
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun Jul 17, 2022 11:03 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: DRAMA Mirror Announcement (September 11th, 2022)
Replies: 4
Views: 3709

Re: DRAMA Mirror Announcement (September 11th, 2022)

Seeking a teammate who knows shows that were written in the past 25 years.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri Jul 08, 2022 11:32 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: SuMO VII at Tusculum, Greeneville TN (7/9/2022)
Replies: 14
Views: 5316

Re: SuMO VII at Tusculum, Greeneville TN (7/9/2022)

Personally I think the actual COVID risk of letting unvaccinated people play is probably in practice pretty low (especially since I assume Chuck wouldn't let them do so if they were showing any symptoms). However you should still require vaccines solely because anyone who's not vaxxed at this point...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Fri May 13, 2022 10:34 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: DECAF: A Classical Music Set (Interest Poll)
Replies: 10
Views: 4600

Re: DECAF: A Classical Music Set (Interest Poll)

Is there going to be opera, ballet, etc. in this set or is it restricted to things that quizbowl considers not to be Other Auditory Arts?
by ThisIsMyUsername
Sun May 01, 2022 2:18 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: DECAF (5/14)
Replies: 9
Views: 3756

Re: DECAF (5/14)

By when do you expect to know whether or not you're expanding the field? Also, how many rounds are you planning?
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:03 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Undergraduate Championship Interest Poll
Replies: 2
Views: 2907

Re: Undergraduate Championship Interest Poll

This is an interesting idea, John, but I have two questions: If it were created, would this tournament be run under the auspices of ACF or NAQT, or would it be an entirely separate enterprise? Would this tournament's existence obviate the UG title from ICT or ACF Nats? Would these teams still have ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Apr 18, 2022 9:57 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Undergraduate Championship Interest Poll
Replies: 2
Views: 2907

Undergraduate Championship Interest Poll

Currently, the ACF and NAQT national undergraduate titles require all-undergraduate teams to compete against teams composed of mixed undergraduates and graduate students. Several editors (including myself) are considering creating a separate undergraduate-only championship tournament. In such an eve...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Apr 13, 2022 11:20 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ACF Nationals 2022 Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 4550

Re: ACF Nationals 2022 Specific Question Discussion

This might be an issue deserving of its own discussion elsewhere, but the tossup on "violin" in jazz in one of the later packets explicitly names the jazz style developed by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, which has an ethnic slur for the Roma people in it. Given that it is the n...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Apr 13, 2022 12:58 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ACF Nationals 2022 Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 4550

ACF Nationals 2022 Specific Question Discussion

Here is a thread for the discussion of specific questions from the set.
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Apr 12, 2022 6:58 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ACF Nationals 2022 Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 30
Views: 11975

Re: ACF Nationals 2022 Thanks and General Discussion

Now, I swear that I did not know that Chris Sims was going to post in this thread, but I was actually about to talk about the Mendelssohn and Exit West tossups in my post above, and lo and behold, I found that he mentioned them! I mentioned this to John Lawrence during the tournament, but I was part...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Tue Apr 12, 2022 6:47 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ACF Nationals 2022 Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 30
Views: 11975

Re: ACF Nationals 2022 Thanks and General Discussion

I promised a discussion of my editing philosophy for my categories. But I've written a lot of posts on "quizbowl theory" over the years; so I can afford to keep this relatively brief. I announced my retirement from non-NAQT all-subject editing in 2016. But I'd always fancied the idea of he...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Mon Apr 11, 2022 4:10 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ACF Nationals 2022 Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 30
Views: 11975

ACF Nationals 2022 Thanks and General Discussion

INTRODUCTION My immense thanks to everyone involved with ACF Nationals--players, writers, editors, organizers, moderators, etc.! What follows is a quick post about the tournament that just happened. This post is in two parts. In the first, I acknowledge the amazing work of the many people who made ...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Feb 09, 2022 10:32 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 53
Views: 25770

Re: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion

Thanks to Alex and John for the comments on my post – I think it’s useful to try and figure out the best ways to ask about music theory. To be clear, I don’t think this tossup is too “unthemed”: drawing all the clues from music theory certainly makes it thematically coherent (unlike if, say, it dec...
by ThisIsMyUsername
Wed Feb 09, 2022 10:31 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 53
Views: 25770

Re: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion

So, I didn't write this tossup on "A" (although I had a hand in adding and tweaking a clue or two) and I don't normally comment much on individual questions any longer. But I think a couple of remarks from me in response to both Chris and Alex are warranted: If Alex's analysis of the curre...