Search found 159 matches

by Jem Casey
Sun Mar 03, 2024 11:34 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: CO Matchmaking
Replies: 3
Views: 1307

Re: CO Matchmaking

Cheynem wrote: Wed Feb 28, 2024 1:45 pm Kind of late, I know, and the field is almost full
Just wanted to cross-post from the main thread to note that the field is not almost full just yet, so matchmake away!
by Jem Casey
Sun Mar 03, 2024 11:24 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: 2024 Chicago Open (July 27th at Northwestern)
Replies: 7
Views: 3884

Re: 2024 Chicago Open (July 27th at Northwestern)

What is the field cap, and what's the procedure for waitlist/standby teams and/or expanding the field if it is reached? I understand that room reservations are unlikely to be finalized for a few months, but the field is almost halfway to its eventual final size from last year, and the situation was...
by Jem Casey
Thu Feb 08, 2024 9:18 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: 2024 Chicago Open (July 27th at Northwestern)
Replies: 7
Views: 3884

Re: 2024 Chicago Open (July 27th at Northwestern)

The tournament will be held July 27th at Northwestern!
by Jem Casey
Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:00 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2024 Chicago Open Date Poll
Replies: 5
Views: 1212

Re: 2024 Chicago Open Date Poll

In predictably oafish fashion, I included two dates in the poll, August 10th and August 17th, that JinAh and I will not be able to make. Given this, I'd prefer to select July 27th or August 3rd; however, August 10th is winning in somewhat of a landslide, with 7 more votes than either of those dates ...
by Jem Casey
Tue Jan 16, 2024 9:04 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2024 Chicago Open Date Poll
Replies: 5
Views: 1212

Re: 2024 Chicago Open Date Poll

Forgot to set a deadline but get your votes in by the end of the month, we'll decide around then.
by Jem Casey
Sat Jan 13, 2024 11:26 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2024 Chicago Open Date Poll
Replies: 5
Views: 1212

2024 Chicago Open Date Poll

This is a date poll for 2024 Chicago Open.
by Jem Casey
Sat Jan 13, 2024 11:16 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: 2024 Chicago Open (July 27th at Northwestern)
Replies: 7
Views: 3884

2024 Chicago Open (July 27th at Northwestern)

I am honored to announce the 2024 edition of Chicago Open. The tournament will be held at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, on July 27th. Production Team I, Jordan Brownstein, will serve as head editor and Young Fenimore Lee will serve as tournament director. The subject editors are: Jordan B...
by Jem Casey
Mon Nov 13, 2023 12:32 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 ACF Winter Discussion
Replies: 23
Views: 7086

Re: 2023 ACF Winter Discussion

Copying some comments from the Discord to preserve them for posterity: Thanks for doing this, Kevin! I'd love to see something like this become common practice for set discussion threads (until the longed-for day when everyone simply posts their thoughts on the forums themselves, anyway). On the to...
by Jem Casey
Mon Oct 30, 2023 10:54 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Science Editor Request - Chicago Open 2024
Replies: 0
Views: 1763

Science Editor Request - Chicago Open 2024

Hello, the 2024 Chicago Open team is looking for science editors. If you're interested and can commit to editing at least 1/1, please contact me by forums pm, discord dm, or email (my gmail is jordanzbrownstein) with the categories you'd like to handle and some info about your writing/editing experi...
by Jem Casey
Mon Sep 04, 2023 9:03 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Discussion
Replies: 3
Views: 3446

“Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Discussion

This is an all-purpose thread for discussing "Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me" , which is now clear. You may use it post general thoughts, specific question feedback, errata, memorable buzzes and other anecdotes, etc. The set will be submitted to the archive later today. T...
by Jem Casey
Sun Sep 03, 2023 8:43 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)
Replies: 8
Views: 2978

Re: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)

Description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in IPCC reports (Natan Holtzman, Tejas Raje, Ryan Rosenberg, and Marianna Zhang) and Obsolete Serbian units of measurement (Michael Coates, Michał Gerasimiuk, William Golden, and John Lawrence) both went 4-1 in playoffs. Since all packets we...
by Jem Casey
Sat Sep 02, 2023 7:34 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)
Replies: 8
Views: 2978

Re: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)

Free agents have been assembled into teams and a logistics email has been sent to team contact and free agent email addresses. Let me know if you're playing but didn't get it.
by Jem Casey
Wed Aug 30, 2023 9:00 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)
Replies: 8
Views: 2978

Re: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)

Since we have a good number of total players for a field of 12 teams, I'm going to close the field to free agents for now. If you're interested and aren't on the spreadsheet yet, put your name on the waitlist; if there's sufficient interest, I'll consider expanding. And don't forget to find teammate...
by Jem Casey
Sun Aug 27, 2023 7:29 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)
Replies: 8
Views: 2978

Re: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)

With this tournament coming up a week from today, don't forget to assemble your team and register! I'll assign remaining free agents to teams on Thursday or so.
by Jem Casey
Wed Aug 09, 2023 11:05 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
Replies: 41
Views: 19530

Re: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks

(just for my own amusement, a last word on the above discussion--actual set content comments below) I'm still not sure I see how Andrew's conception of "aboutness" cashes out differently than what Matt J called being "tightly themed." The writing process that Andrew advocates cer...
by Jem Casey
Tue Aug 08, 2023 9:31 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
Replies: 41
Views: 19530

Re: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks

Andrew, I think your distinction is interesting but I’m somewhat confused by your diagnosis of the issue wrt to this set and your examples. Are “horses [in Sahelian state building],” “rafts [in pre-Columbian South American material culture],” “Kashgar [in the medieval Central Asian world],” “Sassani...
by Jem Casey
Tue Aug 08, 2023 3:02 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)
Replies: 8
Views: 2978

Re: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 02, 2023)

Ah sorry Mike, I was going with the winner of my date poll and didn't see your announcement. Because of the conflict with Seattle Open I'll be moving this to the following day, September 3rd (also at 12pm ET) . My apologies to anyone who has put their name on the sheet so far and can't attend on Sun...
by Jem Casey
Tue Aug 08, 2023 11:05 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)
Replies: 8
Views: 2978

“Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)

This is an announcement for an online mirror of “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” , to be held on Saturday September 2nd (update: to be held on Sunday, September 3rd) . I'm intending to start games at 12pm ET, though would be happy to move a little later or earlier if people feel st...
by Jem Casey
Mon Aug 07, 2023 6:52 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 all the editors, writers, and staff for a very enjoyable CO! I'd like to post later with more specific praise/feedback, but wanted to share a couple things first. Victor (who made this nifty app for viewing the buzz data ), Young, and Henry were kind enough to let me add the CO stats to my...
by Jem Casey
Fri Jul 14, 2023 3:53 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Announcement: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” (2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 4455

Re: Announcement: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” (2023)

With the first mirror of QBOWLOSM coming up next weekend, wanted to post a couple updates on the set. The packets will be 20 questions each instead of 22. There will still be 10 packets total. Accordingly, the approximate per-packet distribution is now more like: 3.0 Literature 4.5 History 1.0 Scien...
by Jem Casey
Fri Jun 23, 2023 11:35 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12507

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

I whole-heartedly endorse Andrew’s posts in this thread and hope they will be remembered and quoted during all future iterations of this topic. Anyway, I'm a little surprised by Angry Kevin's suggestion that scrounging around for leadins is a major time sink for writers. In my experience at the 3-do...
by Jem Casey
Thu May 18, 2023 1:32 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Announcement: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” (2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 4455

Re: Announcement: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” (2023)

Since it looks like this event won't fit on CO Sunday, I'd like to encourage hosts of side event weekends this summer to mirror “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me.” I don't plan on collecting mirror fees, but hosts are welcome to charge teams for the purpose of paying staffers or club...
by Jem Casey
Mon May 08, 2023 7:22 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Five Questions I Liked From 2023 ACF Nationals — And Five I Didn’t
Replies: 7
Views: 4702

Re: Five Questions I Liked From 2023 ACF Nationals — And Five I Didn’t

Thanks for posting this, Michael! I like the idea of chopping it up a bit about questions that didn’t attract any “specific questions” discussion, but are still worth praising or analyzing. The buzzpoint data is amazing to have, but I don’t want to rely too heavily on it for assessing questions; aft...
by Jem Casey
Thu May 04, 2023 11:38 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

I've deployed a simple app for viewing the Nats buzz and bonus data here. Thanks to Caroline Mao for supplying all the good ideas for the ui (if you don't like something it's safe to assume I came up with it).
by Jem Casey
Wed Apr 19, 2023 3:49 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 BHSU: General discussion
Replies: 35
Views: 14529

Re: 2023 BHSU: General discussion

This is probably an even less common take, but I don't particularly like swerves even if they're in category. The Elena Ferrante bonus is the one I remember best - I was excited to hear a bonus on a book I read a week ago, and quickly picked up the first two parts, only to be confronted with a hard...
by Jem Casey
Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:39 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Best Debut Performances?
Replies: 18
Views: 8135

Re: Best Debut Performances?

Jeff King's is surely up there; he had never before played quizbowl at any level when he put up 27.00 PPG on a challenging Illinois Open set.
by Jem Casey
Sat Apr 01, 2023 10:39 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Announcement: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” (2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 4455

Announcement: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” (2023)

sorry any wiki pages shared in this chat are all rights reserved of the ophir links tournament For many years, my friend Ophir has sent me links to Wikipedia articles he’s come across on his endlessly mysterious internet travels. About 5 years ago, I floated the idea of writing a tournament themed ...
by Jem Casey
Wed Mar 08, 2023 9:34 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion
Replies: 59
Views: 35956

Re: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion

I just remembered a clue I found confusing: Hayden Ellis proposed that defects in this faculty are the cause of the Capgras delusion. I've repeatedly heard Ellis's theory described as holding that people with the Capgras delusion are able to recognize faces, but don't experience the same sense of fa...
by Jem Casey
Sun Mar 05, 2023 9:03 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 BHSU: Thank Yous and Acknowledgements
Replies: 5
Views: 1710

Re: 2023 BHSU: Thank Yous and Acknowledgements

I liked what you had to write Wang
by Jem Casey
Tue Feb 28, 2023 9:29 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion
Replies: 59
Views: 35956

Re: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion

(I'd also put this tossup in the bucket of 'things that narrowed down the answer space very quickly'.) To add some qualitative data re: Matt’s last point here, the tossup didn’t play that way at all in my room. Ophir didn’t even realize it was a ling tossup for the first couple sentences, and Nick ...
by Jem Casey
Sun Feb 26, 2023 7:07 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 BHSU: General discussion
Replies: 35
Views: 14529

Re: 2023 BHSU: General discussion

I was impressed with how well the set hit the difficulty/style benchmarks Matt B laid out: The tournaments I have in mind as models are 2010-2011 Minnesota Open and 2010/2015 VCU Open. Although the Minnesota and VCU Opens were written in very different styles, they both give out early buzzes and 30s...
by Jem Casey
Thu Aug 18, 2022 6:14 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion
Replies: 39
Views: 12324

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion

Thanks for the considered response, Jordan! I actually agree with the points you and Nick have made. I don't really envision a better quizbowl world as one where players have to sift through deep clues they have no real chance of buzzing on (which makes my use of the O. Henry story in my example ra...
by Jem Casey
Tue Aug 16, 2022 5:31 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion
Replies: 39
Views: 12324

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion

Philosophy: especially in the editors packets, Young did a great job of picking buzzable clues for significant thinkers and texts. For the sake of offering feedback, one suggestion: for hard parts that both sound and are very hard (thinking of stuff like The Logic of the Moral Sciences , the Menexe...
by Jem Casey
Mon Aug 15, 2022 4:10 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion
Replies: 39
Views: 12324

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion

A few notes, by category: Literature: while Kurtis’s answer difficulty restraint was impressive, I thought he picked his spots well in the harder end of the lit content too--the few canon-busting tossup answers (e.g. Renata Adler ) were well-chosen, and the hard parts seemed reasonable. In case my s...
by Jem Casey
Sun Aug 14, 2022 8:50 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion
Replies: 39
Views: 12324

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion

Thanks to the editors for a very fun set! I’d like to post some more feedback soon, but a couple other things for now: I did, however, want to draw attention to a question-writing practice that I find creates janky gameplay. Many of the literature commonlinks in this set took a very wide (as opposed...
by Jem Casey
Mon Jul 25, 2022 4:18 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Logomachy (side event, late 2022)
Replies: 13
Views: 4980

Re: Logomachy (side event, late 2022)

This set is an absolute delight, play it if you get the chance!
by Jem Casey
Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:51 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: 2022 WORKSHOP
Replies: 6
Views: 6587

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: 2022 WORKSHOP

The set is now clear and has been posted on the archive. Discussion threads are here and here.
by Jem Casey
Sun Mar 13, 2022 2:24 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Illinois Open 2021 - General Discussion and Thanks
Replies: 12
Views: 2036

Re: General Discussion and Thanks

I enjoyed playing this set. Many categories--especially lit, history, and "belief"--included an enviably high proportion of clues that were a blast to listen to (and sometimes outright hilarious--the "dog kings" bonus part comes to mind) even when we didn't know them. Thank you a...
by Jem Casey
Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:44 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 WORKSHOP: Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 19
Views: 5535

Re: 2022 WORKSHOP: Thanks and General Discussion

This set was largely solid , but seems to follow a trend of "weird" regular(ish) difficulty sets (along with, to varying extents, this year's Regionals, ARCADIA, HARI, and Winter; but this "weirdness"--which I feel is invariably the bad kind of "weird"--probably prompt...
by Jem Casey
Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:38 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 WORKSHOP: Packets
Replies: 2
Views: 905

Re: 2022 WORKSHOP: Packets

The packets as played at Yale are attached.
by Jem Casey
Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:14 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 WORKSHOP: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 19
Views: 4635

Re: 2022 WORKSHOP: Specific Question Discussion

Yep, I agree that conflict theory is too hard for a medium, my bad for not changing after Eric noted the issue above. Adjusted that, and added Lacan's name to the "Mirror stage" bonus part, before sending the packets out for this weekend's mirror. In general, I agree with Brad's dictum tha...
by Jem Casey
Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:39 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 WORKSHOP: Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 19
Views: 5535

Re: 2022 WORKSHOP: Thanks and General Discussion

Thanks for your detailed feedback, Brad! I think the truth about the difficulty of the thought (i.e. SS and phil) tossups lies somewhere between your sense that the power clues were mostly “unbuzzable,” and my fanciful hopes that clues coming up a couple times recently and/or being famous in my head...
by Jem Casey
Sun Mar 06, 2022 11:12 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 WORKSHOP: Packets
Replies: 2
Views: 905

Re: 2022 WORKSHOP: Packets

The packets as played at the 3/5 mirrors (and, with a couple minor modifications, the 2/26 mirrors) are attached.
by Jem Casey
Sat Jan 29, 2022 6:23 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: College quizbowl stats website
Replies: 4
Views: 2045

Re: College quizbowl stats website

alexdz wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 5:44 pm
Jem Casey wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:12 am For now, I'd like to collect reports via a google form, ...
FYI, I just tried to use this form and it says it's only accessible to members of the owner's organization, so it looks like some settings may need to be tweaked to collect data with the form.
Thank you Alex, should be fixed now!
by Jem Casey
Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:12 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: College quizbowl stats website
Replies: 4
Views: 2045

College quizbowl stats website

Ryan's exciting announcement of the college quizbowl statistics database project prodded me to finally share a personal project in a similar vein. A couple years ago, I scraped all the college and open tournaments I could find on hsquizbowl.org (as well as some from neg5 and qbwiki) going back to 19...
by Jem Casey
Mon Feb 08, 2021 8:58 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 WORKSHOP: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 43
Views: 4991

Re: 2021 WORKSHOP: Specific Question Discussion

TaylorH wrote: Sun Feb 07, 2021 5:55 pm Packet 13, Q10 on Papua New Guinea: the clue on the film Dead Birds focuses on the Dani people, who live in Western New Guinea ie Indonesia, so it appears this clue is not correct. I like this question otherwise though!
oof, thanks for catching this!
by Jem Casey
Fri Feb 05, 2021 3:07 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Regionals - General Discussion & Thanks
Replies: 8
Views: 4230

Re: 2021 ACF Regionals - General Discussion & Thanks

I had a blast editing the philosophy for this set, in large part thanks to Jaimie and my co-editors being such a delightful team to work with; thank you all! I also enjoyed reading all of your submitted questions. This is by no means a complete list of the quality material we received, but the philo...
by Jem Casey
Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:45 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 39
Views: 15744

Re: 2021 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion

I, and at least a few other people I've spoken to, found the Turing tossup confusingly worded. My teammate buzzed and negged with Searle at the same place I would have, shortly before Searle's name was said. I had just studied the Chinese Room thought experiment with what I thought was a reasonable...
by Jem Casey
Tue Dec 01, 2020 1:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2020 FLopen - Thanks and Set General Discussion
Replies: 9
Views: 2892

Re: Thanks and Set General Discussion

My recall of set content is too poor these days to give much more specific praise/feedback without having the questions in front of me, but I greatly enjoyed playing this set; thanks your hard work, Taylor, Jonathen, and team!