Search found 862 matches

by Sir Thopas
Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:29 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: PACE NSC: format changes, 2010 information
Replies: 287
Views: 133897

Re: PACE NSC: format changes, 2010 information

gyre and gimble wrote:Fun fact: our tiebreaker against Hunter finished 210-210. All tossups and all but one bonus part was converted. We played 3/3 as a "sudden death" and Hunter got all 3 tossups.
What was it after 8, 210-130.
by Sir Thopas
Mon May 31, 2010 9:51 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2010 HSNCT discussion thread
Replies: 194
Views: 51254

Re: 2010 HSNCT discussion thread

The one problem I had with the round was the math comp bonus which was dramatically longer than any other question I had heard all day-- it seemed out of place and detracting. On that note—I strongly recommend against giving more time for calculation bonuses. They eat up the clock like a starving l...
by Sir Thopas
Thu May 27, 2010 6:57 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2010 NAQT HSNCT
Replies: 228
Views: 45627

Re: 2010 NAQT HSNCT

Hey kids. Once again I have made the last minute decision to attend HSNCT and be the roving reporter of your dreams. I will have Chiego feeding me where the best games should be, but if you are a top team and you know me personally, feel free to shoot me an email with a contact phone number that I ...
by Sir Thopas
Mon May 24, 2010 3:17 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: ScoreBit -Academic Competition Scoreboard
Replies: 7
Views: 2471

Re: ScoreBit -Academic Competition Scoreboard

The Granny wrote:A combination Swiss Pair scheduling program/thought experiment.
WHAT?!
by Sir Thopas
Sat May 22, 2010 9:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: Spring Offensive at HSNCT (5/29/2010)
Replies: 217
Views: 87872

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Spring Offensive at HSNCT (5/29/2010)

The Atom Strikes! wrote:It turns out that the Chris Romero team will not be happening. As a result, I am now a free agent for this.
Crazy Andy Watkins wrote:I am definitely out. Sorry, Guy and Auburn kids who were added.
I see no problem here.
by Sir Thopas
Thu May 20, 2010 9:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Quiz Bowl Memoirs of a Robot (A Guide to Improving at QB)
Replies: 46
Views: 22411

Re: Quiz Bowl Memoirs of a Robot (A Guide to Improving at QB)

An random example of one reason I like quiz bowl is something that happened earlier today. I was at Birch Bark Books, a Minneapolis bookstore owned by Louise Erdrich. It is a small bookstore that has an American Indian theme, but also other books (Erdrich is a an American Indian, and she wasn't at ...
by Sir Thopas
Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals Comments
Replies: 52
Views: 10101

Re: ACF Nationals Comments

On a side note, if Sudheer had ever won ICT it would have been awesome if future generations would have referred to this event as "the fifteen" Side note to Bruce's side note: if I ever write an all-Jacobite theme packet, I have now resolved that it will contain 45-point superpowers. Oh, ...
by Sir Thopas
Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Side Event: The Jean-Baptiste Lully Memorial
Replies: 275
Views: 116201

Re: CO Side Event: The Jean-Baptiste Lully Memorial

I'd like to write a bit for this.
by Sir Thopas
Wed Apr 21, 2010 8:46 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals Comments
Replies: 52
Views: 10101

Re: ACF Nationals Comments

recfreq wrote:I have to plea my ignorance on rebellion of 1745, are there other notable Jacobite rebellions?
There was another, smaller one in 1715, so I have no problem with "Jacobite Rebellion" being prompted; I don't see why "Second Jacobite Rebellion" wasn't acceptable, though.
by Sir Thopas
Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:58 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Question About Rules
Replies: 15
Views: 2340

Re: Question About Rules

Allowing buzz withdrawals, on the other hand, is far too exploitable (until we get computer readers which stop the instant a player buzzes). Actually, there's not insignificant delay, at least for me, between at least my irrevocable commitment to buzz and my physically having buzzed. I say not insi...
by Sir Thopas
Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:16 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals Comments
Replies: 52
Views: 10101

Re: ACF Nationals Comments

I would parrot what those above have to say that this set was a ton of fun to play on, and definitely had a good amount of stuff rewarding people knowing things early on, with good buzz distributions, etc. The biggest complaint I have is that there seemed to be a dearth of modern art. I'll quantify ...
by Sir Thopas
Tue Apr 20, 2010 3:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Quiz Bowl Memoirs of a Robot (A Guide to Improving at QB)
Replies: 46
Views: 22411

Re: Quiz Bowl Memoirs of a Robot (A Guide to Improving at QB)

grapesmoker wrote:maybe even my own quizbowl memoir.
i41 can't wait to read From Bear to Buzz.
by Sir Thopas
Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:24 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: Spring Offensive at HSNCT (5/29/2010)
Replies: 217
Views: 87872

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Spring Offensive at HSNCT (5/29/2010)

I shall be participating in this event with A. Martin Watkins.
by Sir Thopas
Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: Spring Offensive at HSNCT (5/29/2010)
Replies: 217
Views: 87872

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Spring Offensive at HSNCT (5/29/2010)

Am signing up, seeking teammate.
by Sir Thopas
Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Country questions, particularly in 2010 ICT
Replies: 19
Views: 2760

Re: 2010 ICT discussion

I wish I could be more helpful and give you the exact round in which this occurred, but one of the DII packets had four TUs with answers being the names of countries (Poland, Norway, and two others). If I recall, two of those were consecutive, and most of them had political and/or geography clues. ...
by Sir Thopas
Tue Mar 23, 2010 4:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GUERRILLA II - 4/9/10 - Chicago
Replies: 67
Views: 11204

Re: GUERRILLA II - 4/9/10 - Chicago

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:
Sir Thopas wrote:Need team, will write.
Want to play with me, Dallin and Ahamd?
Sounds like a plan.
by Sir Thopas
Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:16 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GUERRILLA II - 4/9/10 - Chicago
Replies: 67
Views: 11204

Re: GUERRILLA II - 4/9/10 - Chicago

Need team, will write.
by Sir Thopas
Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:40 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Universal Pronunciation Guide
Replies: 51
Views: 13905

Re: Universal Pronunciation Guide

Yeah, if we're going for a system that is decipherable because it looks like normal speech, then moderators with the cot-caught merger (or the Northern Cities vowel shift, etc.) would just read it in their regional variation. I don't see how it's an issue.
by Sir Thopas
Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:22 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Universal Pronunciation Guide
Replies: 51
Views: 13905

Re: Universal Pronunciation Guide

If the guide contains ow, then a reasonable assumption is that it's the ow in fowl (how else would you say ow aloud?), with the ow in low being represented by an.. o, or oe perhaps, certainly makes sense. the whole point of a pronunciation guide is to use strings of letters that can stand on their ...
by Sir Thopas
Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:21 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Universal Pronunciation Guide
Replies: 51
Views: 13905

Re: Universal Pronunciation Guide

canaanbananarama wrote:One thing that I think people might enjoy (I've always wondered why such a site doesn't exist on the Internet) is included with in the pronunciation guide, actual sound recordings of moderators who speak/know these languages pronouncing the actual words.
Enjoy.
by Sir Thopas
Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Universal Pronunciation Guide
Replies: 51
Views: 13905

Re: Universal Pronunciation Guide

Guess what, they're going to spend 10 seconds doing it anyway unless the pronunciation guide is right there in the text. And since we're never going to have a tournament done two weeks before the deadline so we can go in and write pronunciation guides for all the problematic words, we'll never get ...
by Sir Thopas
Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Universal Pronunciation Guide
Replies: 51
Views: 13905

Re: Universal Pronunciation Guide

But even taking the example of Hungarian, are people really going to be that confused if I say G-yoo-la Andrassy vs. Dj-u-la Andrassy? I suspect no one will care. Even relatively incorrect pronunciations, if consistent, are generally fine. People will be confused if you spend 10 seconds figuring ou...
by Sir Thopas
Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Universal Pronunciation Guide
Replies: 51
Views: 13905

Re: Universal Pronunciation Guide

Digraphs, whatever they are, don't help non-linguists any more than if I were to write out a formula for a non-physicist, so forget those things and focus on putting together a nice cheat-sheet that can be handed out to inexperienced moderators. Really? You don't think what I wrote about Hungarian ...
by Sir Thopas
Sun Mar 14, 2010 2:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Universal Pronunciation Guide
Replies: 51
Views: 13905

Re: Universal Pronunciation Guide

While vowels are thornier (as others have noted), I think that English consonants are versatile enough to count for most sounds that you would find north of the Kalahari. One exception: "kh" is pretty unambiguously [x]. We should use this. For example, Hungarian digraphs. Those who know wh...
by Sir Thopas
Sun Mar 14, 2010 1:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MUT Discussion
Replies: 26
Views: 5958

Re: MUT Discussion

Did not and will not play, would like to see discussion.
by Sir Thopas
Sun Feb 28, 2010 4:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)
Replies: 44
Views: 10836

Re: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)

Percentage-wise, the distribution for the middle-categories isn't affected. The main categories' distribution changes by an eightieth. The others' effects may be slightly more significant, though I still don't think the one pop culture question is going to decide each match. I think Andy means the ...
by Sir Thopas
Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PENN BOWL: Difficulty Swings
Replies: 30
Views: 5290

Re: PENN BOWL: Difficulty Swings

I didn't mean "everyone who reads a book will remember all the important things about it when answering a bonus," but rather "asking for really important plot details from a novel as a hard part is a good idea which tends to reward reading things." I'm a little confused how you ...
by Sir Thopas
Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:28 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Prison Bowl III at Hunter HS (NYC) - 2/27/10
Replies: 135
Views: 149177

Re: Prison Bowl III at Hunter HS (NYC) - 2/27/10

LASA is a game up on St. Anselm's going into the advantaged final.
by Sir Thopas
Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Prison Bowl III at Hunter HS (NYC) - 2/27/10
Replies: 135
Views: 149177

Re: Prison Bowl III at Hunter HS (NYC) - 2/27/10

lchen wrote:a problem with the stats program
An inherent problem with taft, that is; not a malfunction. Finish your programs, Evan Silberman.
by Sir Thopas
Sat Feb 27, 2010 2:28 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Prison Bowl III at Hunter HS (NYC) - 2/27/10
Replies: 135
Views: 149177

Re: Prison Bowl III at Hunter HS (NYC) - 2/27/10

Preston (location: the Bronx) pulled out at the beginning of the 100-minute (!) lunch break. Eric Douglass: continues to be empirically true.
by Sir Thopas
Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 37018

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

Is she famous in her own right? If you know about biographies of musical figures or some artists in that time period, you should encounter Alma Schindler at some point. I in fact had no idea there was a song about her by Tom Lehrer, but I got those points. I agree that the clues should probably hav...
by Sir Thopas
Mon Feb 15, 2010 7:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: T-Party Discussion Forum
Replies: 20
Views: 3783

Re: T-Party Discussion Forum

Playtested a wee bit.
by Sir Thopas
Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 37018

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

Katamari Damacy wrote:Did anyone pick out the foreign language question this year?
Languages of Brazil would be my guess.
by Sir Thopas
Mon Feb 08, 2010 8:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 37018

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

I'd rather have an ACUI moderator take two seconds to read the pronunciation guide and incorrectly pronounce Mindszenty as "meend-SHEN-tee" than have that moderator take six seconds on the clock to slowly sound it out even more incorrectly or, as I have heard alleged about one actually-qu...
by Sir Thopas
Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:34 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.
Replies: 228
Views: 37018

Re: Welcome to the 2010 SCT discussion.

So, using Hungarian as a good benchmark for whether the pronunciation guides are doing what they're supposed to, I find again that they are not—we have [meend-SHEN-tee] as the pronunciation for Mindszenty. This is incorrect in three (!) ways. Please, if you're going to put pronunciation guides onto ...
by Sir Thopas
Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Winter Northeast at Yale (New Haven, CT)- 1/16/2010
Replies: 12
Views: 3693

Re: ACF Winter Northeast at Yale (New Haven, CT)- 1/16/2010

Aaron wrote:They never signed up. I was told they are busy working on Prison Bowl.
Good on them.
by Sir Thopas
Thu Jan 07, 2010 1:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Where is the line between "literature" and "trash"?
Replies: 43
Views: 7945

Re: Where is the line between "literature" and "trash"?

Matt Weiner wrote:
Volvo Effect wrote: But what about a contemporary author of deep, intellectually engaging speculative fiction-- somebody like say, Charles Stross, Cory Doctorrow, or Neal Stephenson?
No questions on anyone who's been an XKCD punchline more than once, please.
Goodbye Feynmann diagrams, then?
by Sir Thopas
Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Talk About "Your Choice"
Replies: 56
Views: 9056

Re: Let's Talk About "Your Choice"

Ottawa has a full department (and doctoral programs) in French-English translation/interpretation, but I bet you can't find a translation question in the archives. You are happily wrong! 1. Rudolf Schottlaender was one of the first people to perform this task, which was later carried out by the tan...
by Sir Thopas
Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:49 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fall Novice Tournament Discussion
Replies: 29
Views: 5379

Re: Fall Novice Tournament Discussion

Crazy Andy Watkins wrote:since kids haven't played before, or not much, so their ability to shout "the Goldman equation! SO EASY" would be limited
High schoolers LOVE tossups on the Nernst equation!
by Sir Thopas
Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:52 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: HFT IV Discussion
Replies: 37
Views: 8215

Re: HFT IV Discussion

Dark Ages: Fae wrote:"empty gasoline drums"
I have learned something today.
by Sir Thopas
Mon Dec 07, 2009 2:50 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How to get better/study for PACE
Replies: 32
Views: 6895

Re: How to get better/study for PACE

My personal thoughts on these: Ralph Vaughan Williams - appeared in at least one IS & a couple of HSAPQ A really important composer, in addition to one who comes up all the time. The Lark Ascending being in both is a little odd, but I'd say that the ACF bonus is a bit on the easy side instead of...
by Sir Thopas
Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:49 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Is this a BLITZ or not?
Replies: 78
Views: 15021

Re: Is this a BLITZ or not?

For instance, at the NAQT High School Nationals (with timed rounds), I didn't see anyone blitz because, presumably, the blitzing would take too long; even without blitzing, teams from all over the country seemed to be able to perform just fine. Well, that brings up another issue, which is that the ...
by Sir Thopas
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: RMPFest 2 Discussion Thread
Replies: 39
Views: 7712

Re: RMPFest 2 Discussion Thread

Hilarius Bookbinder wrote:
Sir Thopas wrote:why not just Hillel?
There was a tossup on Hillel (which I wrote) in last year's RMPFest, and Bruce wanted to avoid asking on the exact same answer lines.
Aha.
by Sir Thopas
Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:45 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: RMPFest 2 Discussion Thread
Replies: 39
Views: 7712

Re: RMPFest 2 Discussion Thread

That's an interesting point. Quizbowl Judaism in particular tends to focus very heavily on holidays. Probably because holidays are one of the few truly "Jewish" things about Judaism, a religion those holy texts and history are largely incorporated into two other religions? I mean, there's...
by Sir Thopas
Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:47 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Quizzy, an Excuse for you to Try Out Google Wave
Replies: 76
Views: 14854

Re: Quizzy, an Excuse for you to Try Out Google Wave

master15625 wrote:
master15625 wrote:I would like an invite to this as well.

ngurramaster7744 at gmail dot com
I got an invite to this, so I don't need another one. Thanks
by Sir Thopas
Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: THUNDER Discussion
Replies: 49
Views: 10452

Re: Better author questions

jpn wrote:Also, who the hell got the tossup on the Chola king Raja Raja I?
Damn, I missed a tossup on this?!
by Sir Thopas
Mon Nov 23, 2009 2:09 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: RMPFest 2 Discussion Thread
Replies: 39
Views: 7712

Re: RMPFest 2 Discussion Thread

Whig's Boson wrote:
setht wrote: What sources did you use for these questions?
Online reference materials. Possibly also that big black "encyclopedia of ancient gods and deities" book for Hungarians and Dazhbog; I forget its exact title.
This or some version of it?
by Sir Thopas
Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:06 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Writing philosophy questions
Replies: 12
Views: 2419

Re: Writing philosophy questions

No Rules Westbrook wrote:What! Quotes people think are helpful and important, and which may in fact even be quite important, often turn out to be not very helpful for even knowledgeable people?! Why, my monocle.
Don't be sarcastic about this, dude, this was a huge problem in FIST.
by Sir Thopas
Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TIT/IO Northeast at Harvard (11/15/09)
Replies: 63
Views: 22020

Re: TIT/IO Northeast at Harvard (11/15/09)

I'm going to make the radical suggestion that once Harvard players were aware that there were 0 dedicated staffers, they should have stopped being players. Guy informs me Anurag was reading, so really only two staffers were lacking. Was there no schedule drawn up? We sort of had a seven team round ...
by Sir Thopas
Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TIT/IO Northeast at Harvard (11/15/09)
Replies: 63
Views: 22020

Re: TIT/IO Northeast at Harvard (11/15/09)

Hunter College (Yetman, Gioia, Arthur, Zhang) Apparently I am so misty in the head still that I didn't even read this. Who staffed this tournament? To my knowledge that puts this tournament at, uh, zero staffers. What!? You are correct. Well, that's not entirely fair. Two Harvard players read on th...