Search found 71 matches

by otsasonr
Tue Apr 30, 2019 2:10 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 Canadian Player Poll
Replies: 44
Views: 24148

Re: 2019 Canadian Player Poll

To be clear, nobody is saying that you can’t have a Canadian Circuit poll. Just call it that (“2019 Canadian Circuit Poll” or “2019 Ontario Region Poll,”) and be done with it. But sniffily dismissing reasonable concerns with “read the rules we wrote” is not a good answer to “the rules are unreasona...
by otsasonr
Tue Apr 16, 2019 12:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2019 discussion: Question Content
Replies: 90
Views: 46740

Re: ACF Nationals 2019 discussion: Question Content

I'm going to delay more general commentary on the set until I have a chance to read through it, but there were a few questions I wanted to mention off the top of my head. First, the tossup on quasiperiodic systems needs to have an expanded answer line. I don't recall what exactly the clue was, but i...
by otsasonr
Mon Apr 15, 2019 2:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Why don't we have 1/1 math?
Replies: 59
Views: 30549

Re: Why don't we have 1/1 math?

I stopped reading here because that isn't what I said. There is interesting math that is not useful, just not 1/1 of it. The interesting math that is useful generally does bring us to 1/1 or close. It very much is what you implied though. I'm sorry if you feel misconstrued, but implying that "...
by otsasonr
Mon Apr 15, 2019 2:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Why don't we have 1/1 math?
Replies: 59
Views: 30549

Re: Why don't we have 1/1 math?

Because sets (not counting ACF Nationals 2019) have 1/1 math and usually more. Math that normal people usually care about is clued in almost every science tossup (and as you pointed out logic-based philosophy/thought TUs and probably some SS/Econ). There is no need for 1/1 "Content that is tau...
by otsasonr
Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Lederberg 3: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 13
Views: 1367

Re: Lederberg 3: Specific Question Discussion

On the topic of the Laplace transform tossup, the clue about the transform of a step function should be clarified to indicate that this is describing general step functions, since in engineering contexts, unqualified use of “step function” usually just means the Heaviside unit step function, the tra...
by otsasonr
Mon Feb 11, 2019 4:59 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 NAQT Canada SCT at Queen's (9 Feb 2019)
Replies: 17
Views: 7986

Re: 2019 NAQT Canada SCT at Queen's (9 Feb 2019)

Anyone perusing the official NAQT results for this tournament will encounter a troubling peculiarity in the Div II results. Namely, that a 6-4 team is ranked second, ahead of a 7-3 team with better statistics across the board. Dennis has passed on to us NAQT's position that in these situations, resu...
by otsasonr
Sat Aug 18, 2018 8:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2019 - 4/13-14/2019 - University of Pennsylvania
Replies: 105
Views: 82802

Re: ACF Nationals 2019 - 4/13-14/2019

After internal discussions, we have moved the date of Nationals one final time to the weekend of April 13th and 14th to make it easier for us to recruit the highest quality staff. We apologize for any inconvenience. Could we get a more substantial explanation of the logic for the shift than a citat...
by otsasonr
Wed Aug 08, 2018 7:40 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Where does the Commonwealth go?
Replies: 17
Views: 9209

Re: Where does the Commonwealth go?

This is a game played largely by people from the U.S. and there's a crap ton of interesting, askable U.S. history. The fact is that, by virtue of the particular culture that we've grown up in, topics like Hungarian history are simply more accessible than Burmese history, regardless of the fact that...
by otsasonr
Mon Jul 30, 2018 3:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: When do questions "belong" to a set?
Replies: 25
Views: 13771

Re: When do questions "belong" to a set?

I think there are some important details missing from the account presented here, which factor into the justifiability of the actions taken. If Eliza produced questions under the explicit understanding that Eric would not be involved in the production of the set, then I think she would be well justi...
by otsasonr
Wed Feb 28, 2018 1:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: SMT 2018 Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 81
Views: 22907

Re: SMT 2018 Specific Question Discussion

First things first: whoever included the Sunbather clue in the "dream" tossup, you are my Most Favourite Person. I'm going to echo what was said above: Beltrami's identity is too hard for this level. In addition, it's also just not that important, going unmentioned in two classical mechani...
by otsasonr
Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:36 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: SMT 2018 - Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 10
Views: 4052

Re: SMT 2018 - Thanks and General Discussion

I thought the science was fairly good overall, I'll mention some particular concerns in the other thread when I have a chance. But as a comment on the physics subdistribution, I don't recall there being any tossups (or bonuses?) on thermodynamics or stat mech, which is not good, since it's a core ar...
by otsasonr
Fri Jan 19, 2018 5:39 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018 ACF Regionals @ Toronto (2018/01/20)
Replies: 4
Views: 4293

Re: 2018 ACF Regionals @ Toronto (2018/01/20)

Dear all, This is your logistics email for ACF Regionals this weekend. We are excited to be hosting this tournament once again, and look forward to seeing you this weekend. Please forward this email to at least one member of each team playing this weekend, so that everyone has the required informat...
by otsasonr
Sun Nov 19, 2017 7:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Difficulty and General Discussion
Replies: 40
Views: 10209

Re: WAO II Difficulty and General Discussion

And maybe this is just a stylistic thing, but I also really did not like that in several places, commas or periods were placed outside of quotation marks. (That is, I'd see "Thing in Quotation Marks ", instead of "Thing in Quotation Marks ." ) At least for me, that made the set ...
by otsasonr
Sun Nov 19, 2017 4:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 88
Views: 22147

Re: WAO II Specific Question Discussion

The first of these is the tossup on control systems theory. I understand that this is a Reified Thing and have heard of it discussed as such by knowledgeable people, but the issue is that it is (to my understanding) multidisciplinary and incorporates a lot of techniques that can be used elsewhere. ...
by otsasonr
Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Difficulty and General Discussion
Replies: 40
Views: 10209

Re: WAO II Difficulty and General Discussion

The number of buzzes I got off of random eponyms I learned in high school is obscene. Could you perhaps provide some specific examples of what was obscene? At a certain level this game is always going to involve some buzzing on "random eponyms", so I'm mostly concerned with times when you...
by otsasonr
Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 88
Views: 22147

Re: WAO II Specific Question Discussion

--The whistler mode is something that can occur in ANY plasma, not just the Earth's ionosphere, and thus can be caused, in theory, by many different things, not just lightning. Here are a few sources I found from a cursory Google search describing whistler modes in different contexts. Okay, I had o...
by otsasonr
Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:33 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 88
Views: 22147

Re: WAO II Specific Question Discussion

Here are some comments. the tossup on diagonalizability was excellent, but the first clue was very neg-baity for "primality" -- I made this neg and I know at least one other math person did as well. Thanks to Rutgers for the excellent submission, which I essentially only edited for phrasi...
by otsasonr
Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:14 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 88
Views: 22147

Re: WAO II Specific Question Discussion

Answerlines, particularly in science, particularly in chemistry, were not extensive enough. Things like hydroxyl/alcohols have been extensively conflated in quizbowl and textbooks for so long that you should at least prompt on one for the other. Contrary Conor, you should absolutely just accept chr...
by otsasonr
Sun Nov 12, 2017 11:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Difficulty and General Discussion
Replies: 40
Views: 10209

Re: WAO II Difficulty and General Discussion

For the most part, I enjoyed this set, and it was a good effort by relatively inexperienced editors. I have just two general comments I'll make here: Answerlines, particularly in science, particularly in chemistry, were not extensive enough. Things like hydroxyl/alcohols have been extensively confl...
by otsasonr
Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:52 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Difficulty and General Discussion
Replies: 40
Views: 10209

Re: WAO II Difficulty and General Discussion

Likewise, according to your post, most of the science was basically unedited -- and yet, there were multiple clearly-defined "science" editors who have been in the group since the beginning. Not to be defensive, but the only category which could be categorized as "basically unedited&...
by otsasonr
Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:40 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WAO II Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 88
Views: 22147

Re: WAO II Specific Question Discussion

Here are some comments. the tossup on diagonalizability was excellent, but the first clue was very neg-baity for "primality" -- I made this neg and I know at least one other math person did as well. the tossup on "transition states" should maybe use a pronoun other than "st...
by otsasonr
Wed Aug 30, 2017 5:32 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: There Will Be Stock Clues General Discussion
Replies: 12
Views: 4563

Re: There Will Be Stock Clues General Discussion

This was amazing, and made me very happy.

The only issue I can think of, that wasn't mentioned by anyone else, is that the tossup on cod mentioned the moratorium in the first line, which is extremely easy to anyone from Canada, and led to a bit of a buzzer race when we mirrored it here.
by otsasonr
Tue Apr 25, 2017 9:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals Thanks and Discussion
Replies: 70
Views: 42438

Re: ACF Nationals Thanks and Discussion

I thought this tournament was good, but there were several problems with physics questions over the course of the tournament: The tossup on viscosity includes a prompt for "momentum diffusivity", but not for the broader category of "diffusion coefficient", even though the questio...
by otsasonr
Fri Mar 24, 2017 3:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2017 ACF Regionals global announcement (2/18/2017)
Replies: 51
Views: 43973

Re: 2017 ACF Regionals global announcement (2/18/2017)

Before distributions can be made to hosts, ACF must have payments from teams. Per the hosting guidelines, hosts are not paid until each team at their site has paid; this has been the system for the past five years, and all hosts were made aware of it going into the tournament. I don't have exact sp...
by otsasonr
Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2017 WAO: Science Feedback Thread
Replies: 7
Views: 2150

Re: Science Feedback Thread

The tossup on resistors contains a first line which also applies to a DC brushed motor. This should be fixed. Also, the beginning of the elasticity tossup seemed to refer to a wing as something with the "aeroelastic" property, which is at best an abuse of language. "Aeroelastic"...
by otsasonr
Tue Jan 24, 2017 8:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2017 WAO: Religion and Other Academic
Replies: 12
Views: 3046

Re: 2017 WAO: Religion and Other Academic

Editors 2 gives the name of Ted Kaczynski's classic treatise as Industrial Society and its Freedom, instead of its proper title Industrial Society and its Future. I'm assuming this was Other Academic, but I may be wrong.
by otsasonr
Tue Jan 24, 2017 6:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2017 WAO: Science Feedback Thread
Replies: 7
Views: 2150

Re: Science Feedback Thread

The tossup on resistors contains a first line which also applies to a DC brushed motor. This should be fixed. Also, the beginning of the elasticity tossup seemed to refer to a wing as something with the "aeroelastic" property, which is at best an abuse of language. "Aeroelastic" ...
by otsasonr
Mon Oct 24, 2016 12:49 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT 2016: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 63
Views: 15142

Re: Specific Question Discussion

Sorry I've been away from this for a while. The answer line should definitely include other answers like "logic expressions" or "logic circuits", since these are also common terms for the same thing in this context. No, you're wrong. In particular, all of these algorithms only w...
by otsasonr
Sun Oct 23, 2016 8:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT 2016: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 63
Views: 15142

Re: Specific Question Discussion

Boolean operators are equivalent to logical connectives Right, but you're not simplifying the connectives themselves, you're simplifying the expression as a whole. That's like saying "conjunctions" when the question wants "sentences" (in a natural language sense). The answer lin...
by otsasonr
Sun Oct 02, 2016 1:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Early Fall Tournament (EFT) at UOttawa (Oct 15 2016)
Replies: 9
Views: 6480

Re: Early Fall Tournament (EFT) at UOttawa (Oct 15 2016)

Can we get final clarification on whether this tournament is going to be completely closed? That seems to be the "word on the street", but it's nice when such things are official.
by otsasonr
Wed Jul 27, 2016 8:27 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2016 Set Discussion
Replies: 110
Views: 49513

Re: Chicago Open 2016 Set Discussion

Canada would like to object to the clue for the bonus part on Tom Thomson, where he is described as a member of the Group of Seven. As all Canadians know, this is false, since he died prior to its formation.

This made us mad.
by otsasonr
Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:27 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: Toronto Hybrid Competition (March 12th, 2016)
Replies: 12
Views: 7595

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Toronto Hybrid Competition (March 12th, 20

Logistics info for tomorrow: As stated above, this tournament will be taking place in Wilson Hall and Wetmore Hall, which are next to each other. Meet in Wilson Hall (40 Willcocks St.) 2002 at 8:30, and the tournament will start at 9:00 AM. This street is the same one that borders the south side of...
by otsasonr
Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

I know I said I would post the stats for VETO this morning, but the need to bike home and return with a set of buzzers tied to my back with an extension cord for the HSNCT mirror meant I lost some expected time this morning. They can be found here.

Thank you again to all teams!
by otsasonr
Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:27 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Open HSNCT Mirror at the University of Toronto (2015-07-26)
Replies: 11
Views: 5638

Re: Open HSNCT Mirror at the University of Toronto (2015-07-

Some more details about this tournament: The likely schedule, given the small field, is a round robin, followed by a rebracket. Hopefully we will avoid the need for finals this way, but even if finals are required, we will probably finish relatively early. We will meet at 8:30 AM. Over lunch, we wil...
by otsasonr
Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

I would like to thank everyone who came today and made it through a very long day of quizbowl. I apologize for the length of the main event, but given the nature of VETO that was partly expected. If anyone has any suggestions for how to improve VETO next year (or the next tournament at U of T in gen...
by otsasonr
Fri Jul 24, 2015 8:32 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

Teams should arrive at 8:30 AM.
by otsasonr
Fri Jul 24, 2015 8:57 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

How many permanent staffers will there be? How many players/team will be required to staff during their bye? Rico has kindly offered to be the second staffer for Rock and Roll if we have the demand. I will also staff Geo and Science; Science probably will need a second staffer. Since there are 5 ga...
by otsasonr
Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:45 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

Copy of the logistics email just sent to all teams at their registered email address: Hello everyone, Please arrive at Sidney Smith Hall (100 St George St.) no later than 8:30 AM on Saturday. We will be meeting outside SS 2114. All games will be played on the second floor. Please bring six (6) print...
by otsasonr
Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

I'll be sending an email to teams with logistics either this evening or tomorrow morning, but we are indeed in Sid Smith, in the usual area. I am not playing GeoMon, so I'll coordinate the packets. Jeff, you can send the packets my way at your earliest convenienve; my email is at the top of the thre...
by otsasonr
Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:02 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

Since we're less than a week away from the tournament, can someone provide a more definite schedule of what side events are being played, and when they're being played? BONGOS, GeoMon, and the audio tossups all have enough apparent interest to play them. To help me decide on a schedule for these si...
by otsasonr
Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:39 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Open HSNCT Mirror at the University of Toronto (2015-07-26)
Replies: 11
Views: 5638

Re: Open HSNCT Mirror at the University of Toronto (2015-07-

Field is updated. Two teams have expressed interest but have not properly registered via email.

The schedule will be a round-robin and finals. If the field balloons to 11, I might devise a shorter schedule since some teams have a ways to travel.
by otsasonr
Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:28 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

The Last 21 Stanley Cup Winners wrote: People have expressed interest to do the classical music audio questions over lunch on Saturday. It won't take more than 30 minutes. Is the food truck open for a quick lunch grab?
There are usually a few food trucks outside Sid Smith, even on the weekend.
by otsasonr
Thu Jul 02, 2015 4:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Open HSNCT Mirror at the University of Toronto (2015-07-26)
Replies: 11
Views: 5638

Re: Open HSNCT Mirror at the University of Toronto (2015-07-

The announcement has now been updated with details about the fees for the tournament.
by otsasonr
Mon Jun 29, 2015 4:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Open HSNCT Mirror at the University of Toronto (2015-07-26)
Replies: 11
Views: 5638

Open HSNCT Mirror at the University of Toronto (2015-07-26)

The University of Toronto Academic Trivia Club is pleased to announce an open mirror of NAQT's HSNCT, to be held Sunday, July 26th. This is the day after VETO. The field cap is 6 teams. Please register by emailing me at reinotsason [AT] gmail [DOT] com, and include "HSNCT Mirror" in the su...
by otsasonr
Tue Jun 09, 2015 8:06 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Odd Ways of Learning Things
Replies: 177
Views: 198369

Re: Odd Ways of Learning Things

Another great philosophy-themed webcomic is Dead Philosophers in Heaven, which is updated woefully infrequently.

A favourite: http://www.dead-philosophers.com/?p=422
by otsasonr
Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:40 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MÖRE WEIGHT
Replies: 41
Views: 21074

Re: MÖRE WEIGHT

I am also writing a pack for this.
by otsasonr
Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:31 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

I would support running a BONGOS mirror, as I would like to play it. Unless there is anyone interested in playing both GeoMon and BONGOS, it would probably be prudent timewise to run them concurrently.
by otsasonr
Wed Jun 03, 2015 9:50 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)
Replies: 82
Views: 44799

Re: VETO at the University of Toronto (2015-07-25)

Peter13 wrote:Also, is there anyway we can set up a spreadsheet or something to see each team and the number of people associated with that team?
I will do that shortly.

EDIT: This is now available here.