Search found 175 matches

by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sat Feb 23, 2019 2:50 am
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Feeling Trapped in Hudson Valley(NY)
Replies: 8
Views: 11997

Re: Feeling Trapped in Hudson Valley(NY)

Hi Michael, It's great to see that there are players from Westchester who want to get more involved in pyramidal quizbowl and I'm sorry that you've hit a few roadblocks along the way. Speaking as someone who also played in Westchester, I know that getting yourself and your teammates involved isn't p...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Wed Oct 24, 2018 1:40 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Introducing BPA, a new evaluation metric using detailed stats
Replies: 10
Views: 8375

Re: Introducing BPA, a new evaluation metric using detailed stats

Does this metric factor in negs? Would that be a useful feature? It seems that adding a negative value, namely the difference between the minimum of question length and correct answer buzz point and the neg point, could shed some insight on how negs affect how much of the tournament is heard. I supp...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The end of the match
Replies: 26
Views: 14252

Re: The end of the match

SNIP And I couldn’t tell u how many times I’ve had in my lifetime people in those lines tell me to “fuck off” (any sport applies). So I think the current system although chaotic is better at its heart Good grief, where did you grow up? (Sees Austin is from the Detroit area) All right, story checks ...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 Division I ICT: specific question discussion
Replies: 64
Views: 8246

Re: 2018 Division I ICT: specific question discussion

"Era" was a somewhat suspicious pronoun for "The Fifties". Is there a reason why anything more specific couldn't have been used? To head off any confusion, the DI set had a sociology tossup on the 1950s (in America), while the DII set had a completely unrelated tossup on the 195...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sun Feb 11, 2018 1:30 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 ACF Regionals Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 36
Views: 13963

Re: Thanks and General Discussion

So I've seen a few posts saying that this year's Regionals was harder than usual. This puzzles me a bit, because I actually felt that Regs was actually slightly easier than normal this year. I don't plan on presenting anything more than an anecdotal opinion, so if the stats bear out that this year t...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:08 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: IT IS THE FINALS: Best Song of the 2000s

merv1618 wrote:Hey Ya! because good god people
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Feb 01, 2018 5:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Tournaments need staff in order to run
Replies: 8
Views: 4510

Re: Tournaments need staff in order to run

In fairness, I presume one of the tournaments that Eliza is referring to is Sectionals at Yale where 36 teams are registered. When is the last time that a college tournament had a field of that size (excluding Nats obviously)? I looked back through the NAQT website and over the past 7-8 years no Sec...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Mon Jan 22, 2018 4:21 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: ELITE EIGHT: Best Song of the 2000s

Toxic

Chicago

Take Me Out

Hurt
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Wed Jan 17, 2018 7:28 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: SWEET SIXTEEN: Best Song of the 2000s

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley vs. Mr. Brightside by The Killers I think I've voted against Mr. Brightside a number of times now. I need to fix that. Jesus Walks by Kanye West vs. Toxic by Britney Spears I'm not a huge Kanye West fan, but I definitely enjoy Jesus Walks. The verses are really good and the p...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:55 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: ROUND TWO, PART ONE: Best Song of the 2000s

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley vs. Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day I think I would've taken Boulevard of Broken Dreams over both of these. Mr. Brightside by The Killers vs. Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson Jesus Walks by Kanye West vs. Wake Up by Arcade Fire Kanye is pretty good at making m...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: ROUND ONE, PART FOUR: Best Song of the 2000s

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes vs. Fidelity by Regina Spektor I was not aware that it was cool to hate Seven Nation Army. Maps by Yeah Yeahs Yeahs vs. Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz I never really got into Maps, so this is an easy choice. Yeah! by Usher featuring Ludacris vs. Cry Me a River by ...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Wed Dec 27, 2017 9:38 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: ROUND ONE, PART THREE: Best Song of the 2000s

Hey Ya! by Outkast vs. Blind by Hercules and Love Affair It's gonna take a lot to beat Hey Ya!. Blind has really grown on me over the past week, it definitely could've put up a much better fight against some weaker entries. Time to Pretend by MGMT vs. The Funeral by Band of Horses This vote just mi...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sun Dec 24, 2017 1:16 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: ROUND ONE, PART TWO: Best Song of the 2000s

99 Problems by Jay-Z vs. Helicopter by Bloc Party 99 Problems is gonna win by a huge margin anyway, just out here showing some love for Bloc Party Hips Don't Lie by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean vs. One Armed Scissor by At the Drive-In Upon seeing this again I realize that 90% of my enjoyment of thi...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:28 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: ROUND ONE, PART ONE: Best Song of the 2000s

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley vs. Machine Gun - Portishead Briefly considered Machine Gun here, but going against Crazy here is, well,crazy Wake Me Up When September - Green Day vs. Beautiful - Christina Aguilera SOS - Rihanna vs. Mr. Brightside - The Killers I was gonna go with Mr. Brightside here, but I...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Wed Dec 20, 2017 6:10 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: ROUND 0 PART 2 FIVE HOURS LEFT: Best Song of the 2000s

The Fear – Lily Allen vs. Love Story – Taylor Swift Never heard this Lily Allen song before, but I like it. Love Story on the other hand, upon listening to it again, doesn't reach the heights it did in middle school. Dashboard – Modest Mouse vs. Bonkers – Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden It's ac...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sun Dec 17, 2017 2:09 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2000s: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Replies: 735
Views: 152847

Re: ROUND 0 PART 1 VOTING NOW: Best Song of the 2000s Bracke

Little Lion Man – Mumford and Sons vs. Can’t Get You Out of My Head – Kylie Minogue I actually enjoy Little Lion Man. I don't know that I'd enjoy listening to Mumford and Sons for an hour or more. I also suspect that Little Lion Man is a bit more unique than a good number of the songs on the list, ...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Aug 24, 2017 12:11 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Don DeLillo Presents WAO II Global Announcement (Nov. 2017)
Replies: 77
Views: 91368

Re: Don DeLillo Presents WAO II Global Announcement (Nov. 20

Fine Arts (3/3) 1/1 – Auditory Fine Arts 1/1 – Visual Fine Arts 1/1 – Other Fine Arts (1 each on Other Visual and Other Audio) Can we get some elaboration on this? It doesn't make sense to me to have 1/1 Audio and 1/1 Visual and then have the last 1/1 be Other Audio and Other Visual. Am I to assume...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sat Aug 05, 2017 9:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: It's Lit Skype Mirror - 8/6/17
Replies: 11
Views: 5208

Re: It's Lit Skype Mirror - 8/6/17

I will be replacing Sameen on Michael's team.
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Jun 08, 2017 2:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Cambridge Open mirror in NYC (07/01/2017)
Replies: 35
Views: 18679

Re: Cambridge Open mirror in NYC (07/01/2017)

that awful system that makes a sound like a dying bird Is that our buzzer system you're talking about? I just put myself down as a staffer on the spreadsheet and it looks to me as if I'm the only one staffing so far. I don't know if there are other people who have otherwise signaled intent to staff...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Wed Feb 15, 2017 7:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2017 ICT bids
Replies: 157
Views: 80918

Re: 2017 ICT bids

That system seems like the best approach so far, though I'm a little leery of that kind of value judgement in general, unless there's something like a large benefit of the doubt. I think pretty much all the reforms (save getting rid of UG bids and forbidding teams from going to different sites, whi...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: SCT, autobids, and ICT size discussion
Replies: 131
Views: 57205

Re: SCT, autobids, and ICT size discussion

First let me say that, as far as I'm concerned, splitting teams is no different than sending a team to a different site. I suppose if people want to argue that it may stunt the growth of certain regions (an argument that, judging from the comments of people who actually run tournaments in such regio...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sun Jan 15, 2017 8:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What keeps you doing quizbowl?
Replies: 25
Views: 15256

Re: What keeps you doing quizbowl?

I know this thread has extended quite a bit past the OP, but I'll try to answer the original two questions from my own experience. 1. What keeps you doing quizbowl? Rather, what keeps you going, even in the face, say, getting slaughtered in a game? I never think about quizbowl as solely about winnin...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:20 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Continuing to rethink the distribution
Replies: 54
Views: 37109

Re: Continuing to rethink the distribution

I can only think of a couple reasons a distribution exists in quizbowl 1. People know what's going to be asked about 2. The games stay fair and there is less packet-to-packet variance If there are a bunch of other reasons that I'm missing, I'm happy to abandon the forthcoming argument I'm sure this ...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:10 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Quizbowl Question of 2016
Replies: 27
Views: 2678

Re: Best Quizbowl Question of 2016

Tossup on the Jews secretly controlling Israel from REDACTED.
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Mon Dec 12, 2016 4:21 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: community question clinic
Replies: 95
Views: 92681

Re: community question clinic

One thing I would suggest when writing bonuses is to use the lead in prompt to clue something as opposed to just stating "answer some questions about [insert topic here]". You only have a couple of lines for a bonus part and especially at ACF Fall you want to pack as many clues as possible...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:12 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: I Don't Understand
Replies: 20
Views: 10862

Re: I Don't Understand

From your signature, I'm assuming that you either a freshman or sophomore and by your statement about your teammate doing something for college that they are older than you by at least 1 or 2 years. If you are a JV player, and by far the teams top scorer, your time to be captain will come. If it rea...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Oct 27, 2016 5:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PSA: Mohammed Reza Shah is not "Reza Shah"
Replies: 39
Views: 16270

Re: PSA: Mohammed Reza Shah is not "Reza Shah"

I disagree with Cody about the prompting on DeWitt Clinton example, because George Clinton is a major figure in New York politics at more or less the same time period in American history. I would definitely confuse these two in a tossup. I dont think its impossible that someone would end up saying s...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sun Oct 02, 2016 2:31 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Early Fall Tournament @ NYU (October 1st, 2016)
Replies: 15
Views: 10453

Re: Early Fall Tournament @ NYU (October 1st, 2016)

Thank you to everyone who came to this tournament, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Thank you to everyone who brought buzzers, everyone who came out to read especially Richard Yu, York Chen, and Jason Lai. Thank you to Will Alston and his team of writers for producing an enjoyable set. Congratulat...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Mon Aug 01, 2016 10:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Side Event Tournament in NYC- 8/7/16
Replies: 31
Views: 16447

Re: Side Event Tournament in NYC- 8/7/16

A member of the NYU quizbowl team received an email saying that we would have 8 rooms until 9 PM. I dont know how long the 3 events planned are going to run, but we do have plenty of time. The registration spreadsheet (which you can get access to by email columbia quizbowl, email address on the firs...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Tue Apr 26, 2016 9:53 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Discuss 2016 NHBB Nationals Here
Replies: 88
Views: 43755

Re: Discuss 2016 NHBB Nationals Here

Regarding repeating answer lines: Obviously some answer lines are broad and well known enough to use completely different clues (for example something like a country like France/UK/US/Germany). However, something I saw at least once was that there were questions whose answer lines were people or eve...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sun Jan 17, 2016 8:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 NAQT SCT at Brown (2/6/16)
Replies: 4
Views: 3671

Re: 2016 NAQT SCT at Brown (2/6/16)

Is there a field cap for this and is it likely to be increased if necessary?
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:21 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: New College Contact List
Replies: 48
Views: 65965

Re: New College Contact List

Awesome. Thanks for the verification.
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:07 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: New College Contact List
Replies: 48
Views: 65965

Re: New College Contact List

Is this still a thing? If so, am I just not finding it?
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:49 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: ACF Fall for high schoolers
Replies: 57
Views: 24790

Re: ACF Fall for high schoolers

This thread makes no sense to me. I would understand if the general idea of thread was "ACF Fall is too expensive, if it remains at this price we wont play". But that's not what I'm getting as the general vibe here. This thread (or at least that part of the thread) seems to just be about c...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:42 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements
Replies: 577
Views: 455161

Re: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements

I wrote a packet of (mostly art) film tossups, which I'll read tonight at 11:00 Eastern in #film.
Will this packet be posted at any point?
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Wed May 27, 2015 4:12 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Columbia Summer Practices
Replies: 5
Views: 3542

Re: Columbia Summer Practices

Arrggh. I wish I saw this earlier today.
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Tue Apr 14, 2015 8:29 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MUT @ Rutgers (04/12/15)
Replies: 26
Views: 16181

Re: MUT @ Rutgers (04/12/15)

but a number of teams weren't there on time Teams: show up on time! I will say that in defense of Columbia and NYU that we waited 15 minutes for a bus that never came so we ended up walking from the station to campus. Ultimately, we could (and probably should) have arrived 15 minutes earlier. On th...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2015 ICT: Writer(/editor)-specific feedback
Replies: 23
Views: 7341

Re: Writer(/editor)-specific feedback

The Kurt Cobain Suicide note was a great idea for a tossup.
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:52 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: George Oppen: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 88
Views: 28106

Re: Specific Question Discussion

Maybe this is just bias because I knew the answer, but didn't the C. Kirchner question seem relatively easy? I'm pretty sure that the lead-in was the same clue as a clue in the middle of an SCT tossup on Argentina and that seemed a bit off.
Also can I see the Wong Kar-Wai tossup?
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Tue Feb 17, 2015 3:33 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NY NASAT Team?
Replies: 23
Views: 12782

Re: NY NASAT Team?

STIMPY is going to be used well into April, so you guys might be able to ask the people in charge of that if no one plans on playing it. It would be best to get a list of interested people as soon as possible for the reasons Marianna outlined. That way it will be possible to see if an in person tryo...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sat Feb 14, 2015 12:36 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2015 Regionals: Specific question requests and discussion
Replies: 49
Views: 22275

Re: 2015 Regionals: Specific question requests and discussio

Can I see the Dirichlet tossup? Am I correct in assuming that question was in this set? I think I may have missed the clue, but it seems weird that a tossup on him at regular difficulty wouldn't mention his function.
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Mon Feb 09, 2015 11:48 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Question-specific discussion: 2015 Division I SCT
Replies: 36
Views: 7913

Re: Question-specific discussion: 2015 Division I SCT

Can I see the Honduras tossup? I want to see the exact wording on one of the clues
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Fri Aug 08, 2014 11:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: World Leader All-Star Teams?
Replies: 41
Views: 2836

Re: World Leader All-Star Teams?

I would wager that Boris Yeltsin wins the neg prize.
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Sun Jun 01, 2014 9:07 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Where Will You Be Going To College Next Year? 2013-14
Replies: 45
Views: 20767

Re: Where Will You Be Going To College Next Year? 2013-14

Last year, I seem to remember a massive list of graduating seniors and where they were going to college being compiled. Is something similar going to manifest itself this year?
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Thu Jun 27, 2013 1:08 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2012-13 NAQT IS set discussion
Replies: 40
Views: 10767

Re: 2012-13 NAQT IS set discussion

The French New Wave tossup from IS126 please.
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Tue Jun 18, 2013 5:04 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2013 NASAT Set & Tournament Discussion
Replies: 57
Views: 15298

Re: 2013 NASAT Set & Tournament Discussion

Another note: the mutations toss-up was uncharacteristically easy for this tournament. Easy might not be the right word, though--transparent maybe? I didn't know all of the early clues, but "mutation" was what kept coming to mind because of the phrasing of the question. You want transpare...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:05 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Reverse Powering: An exercise in Game Theory?
Replies: 15
Views: 4660

Re: Reverse Powering: An exercise in Game Theory?

This exercise in game thoery would probably lead to a more conservative gameplay. If you keep a -5 for negging, then the opposing team gets an extra 5 points for just waiting till the end of the question. Most players wouldn't wait to get a few extra points, but people would probably sit on question...
by ProfessorIanDuncan
Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:46 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NJ/NY 2013-2014
Replies: 94
Views: 42198

Re: NJ/NY 2013-2014

I am curious as to how many players Livingston is returning. They put up good bonus conversion numbers and held their own against some good teams. West WIndsor Plainsboro should also be strong next year; I think that most of their players are juniors and this is a team that beat Irvington and Ridgew...