2010-11 NAQT IS sets: question-specific discussion

[Important Bird Area]

I seem to remember Achebe being tossed up twice in IS-100. (Anyone else have a better memory of those?)

I can only find one:

In one novel by this author, a newspaper editor named Ikem Osodi is assassinated, leading his friend Christopher Oriko to go into hiding. In addition to that novel set in the fictional country of Kangan, (*) ~Anthills of the Savannah~, this author of ~Arrow of God~ wrote a 1958 novel whose characters include a child named Ikemefuna. For 10 points--name this author of a novel about Okonkwo, ~Things Fall Apart~.

Also too hard to power: 0/19/0 in 32 rooms.

[Important Bird Area]

Can you post the Neruda, Oregon and Orange River tossups in 102, the Texas question in 98, and the Marquette question in 105 please?

This poet wrote about the "perfume of the plums that rolling on the ground / rot in time, infinitely green" in his "Dead Gallop," the first poem in his book ~Residence on Earth~. "A Lamp on Earth" and "The Liberators" are parts of his (*) ~Canto general~, which contains the section "The Heights of Macchu Picchu." For 10 points--name this Chilean Nobel Prize-winner who wrote ~Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair~.

Steens Mountain, in this state, stretches for 50 miles and overlooks the Alvord Desert. In this state are the cities of Ashland, Klamath Falls, and Medford, while in its middle a group of volcanoes dubbed the Three Sisters lies near Bend. Its Mount Jefferson and Mount (*) Hood are part of the Cascade Range. Crater Lake is found in--for 10 points--what U.S. state with capital Salem and most populous city Portland?

This river, also called the Senqu, rises in the Drakensberg Mountains 120 miles west of the Indian Ocean. Its tributaries include the Molopo River, which flows past Mafikeng, and it receives the Vaal River near Kimberley. This namesake of a 19th-century (*) Boer "free state" enters the Atlantic after flowing along the border of Namibia and South Africa. What river--for 10 points--is named after the Dutch royal house?

Rod Paige, a native of this state, has opposed initiatives from the likes of Don McLeroy involving the solvency of Medicare, global efforts to undermine U.S. solvency, Jefferson Davis's inaugural address, and whether (*) Joseph McCarthy was right. For 10 points--economies of scale may lead to nationwide use of textbooks conforming to the new social studies standards of what largest former Confederate state?

After his time among the Huron in 1666, this man traveled up the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes, where he met the Illini. He founded missions in present-day Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace, the latter of which was the starting point for his voyage to explore the (*) Mississippi River with Louis Joliet. For 10 points--name this Jesuit priest who names a university in Milwaukee.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

Can you give combined conversion statistics for literature, philosophy, and religion from this year's IS (not A) sets?

[Important Bird Area]

Literature: 717/2625/440 in 4986 rooms

67.03% conversion, 21.45% power rate

Philosophy: 37/207/33 in 428 rooms

57.01% conversion, 15.16% power rate

Religion: 67/374/108 in 603 rooms

73.13% conversion, 15.19% power rate

(The literature numbers do not include myth, religious literature, children's lit, or popular genres lit. The religion numbers are the totals for those questions classified as "religious literature" and "theology.")

[No Electricity Required]

Can you post the tossup on "money" from IS-102?

[Important Bird Area]

In older textbooks, it had "functions four: a medium, a measure, a standard, and a store," and it titles Martin Amis's 1984 novel about "A Suicide Note." In ancient Rome the denarius was the most common form of it. (*) Gresham's Law asserts that the bad kind will always drive out the good kind. For 10 points--name this commodity of exchange, the love of which, the Bible says, is the root of all evil.

answer: _money_ (accept _currency_ or other equivalents before "Martin Amis")

[i never see pigeons in wheeling]

Could you post the tossup on the Mahabharata from IS-105 as well as its conversion rate?

[Important Bird Area]

Like ~The Return of the King~, the end of this work signals the beginning of a fourth age. Toward its end, the god Yama accompanies a group climbing a mountain in the form of a dog. Two brothers fail the climb to due to vanity, two more fail due to martial pride, and their wife (*) Draupadi fails because she loved Arjuna more than the four. For 10 points--name this 18-~parva~ Sanskrit epic that includes the ~Bhagavad-gita~.

5/5/5 in 21 rooms.

[No Electricity Required]

In older textbooks, it had "functions four: a medium, a measure, a standard, and a store," and it titles Martin Amis's 1984 novel about "A Suicide Note." In ancient Rome the denarius was the most common form of it. (*) Gresham's Law asserts that the bad kind will always drive out the good kind. For 10 points--name this commodity of exchange, the love of which, the Bible says, is the root of all evil.

answer: _money_ (accept _currency_ or other equivalents before "Martin Amis")

So, according to the answerline, "coins" shouldn't have been acceptable at around the word "common," correct?

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

In older textbooks, it had "functions four: a medium, a measure, a standard, and a store," and it titles Martin Amis's 1984 novel about "A Suicide Note." In ancient Rome the denarius was the most common form of it. (*) Gresham's Law asserts that the bad kind will always drive out the good kind. For 10 points--name this commodity of exchange, the love of which, the Bible says, is the root of all evil.

answer: _money_ (accept _currency_ or other equivalents before "Martin Amis")

So, according to the answerline, "coins" shouldn't have been acceptable at around the word "common," correct?

Not once they mentioned the title, since titles should be exact. This was confusing though, the denarius was a type of coin if I'm correct, and I was trying to decide whether or not I should buzz with coinage and hope to be prompted when the other team got it right.

[No Electricity Required]

In older textbooks, it had "functions four: a medium, a measure, a standard, and a store," and it titles Martin Amis's 1984 novel about "A Suicide Note." In ancient Rome the denarius was the most common form of it. (*) Gresham's Law asserts that the bad kind will always drive out the good kind. For 10 points--name this commodity of exchange, the love of which, the Bible says, is the root of all evil.

answer: _money_ (accept _currency_ or other equivalents before "Martin Amis")

So, according to the answerline, "coins" shouldn't have been acceptable at around the word "common," correct?

Not once they mentioned the title, since titles should be exact. This was confusing though, the denarius was a type of coin if I'm correct, and I was trying to decide whether or not I should buzz with coinage and hope to be prompted when the other team got it right.

Yeah, our opponent said "coins" there, and our moderator accepted it off of a plea from them on the basis that dinarius isn't money (it is, but that's not the point), and she would not begin to listen to my problem with the title thing (unfortunetly this was a pivital game (won by 45 points, and I easily could have power-vulched that tossup), and could have even cost us the tournament). Well, I'll stop complaining about it and suggest that: Ideally, a different clue could have more clearly pointed at money (or whatever answer) so that situations like this don't happen (especially in regions where moderators aren't as experienced with this kind of stuff.

[Important Bird Area]

We should certainly have written that tossup in a way that prevented people from buzzing with "coins" or similar answers.

[Important Bird Area]

Per request:

Cladribrine can treat the "hairy cell" type of this disease, which like its large granular variety is easily treatable and non-aggressive. Types of this disease are distinguished from each other by whether they affect B cells or cells in the bone (*) marrow, and it was commonly reported in Hiroshima after the bomb. For 10 points--name this disease characterized by a sharp increase in white blood cells, a cancer of the blood.

answer: _leukemia_

[theflyingdeutschman]

Can someone post the Inception tossup?

[Important Bird Area]

In this film, one character uses the "Mr. Charles" ploy previously used on the Stein job, and a forger named Eames impersonates Maurice Fischer's assistant to get a safe's combination. Ken (*) Watanabe's character goes into limbo, but Ellen Page rides the "kick" back up through a zero-gravity hotel with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. For 10 points--name this movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio about a man who invades dreams.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

I usually don't pick on trash questions, but man, if you've seen that movie, you will power the heck out of that question. Do you have conversion statistics on it?

[Important Bird Area]

6/10/0 in 16 rooms; that's a bit higher power rate than normal, but not really outrageous.

[Erogo]

I was wondering if I could see a tossup from IS-102 that was about the color "yellow." I think it was one of those common link tossups with mixed trash and academic clues.

EDIT: I think the tossup referred to the title of a certain play in the first sentence, and I'm curious as to what that play was.

[Harpie's Feather Duster]

Can I see the tossup in one of the IS Sets about the state of New York? I vaguely recall being shocked that Tammany Hall was within power range.

EDIT: It was from IS-99A, I believe.

[Important Bird Area]

Henry Wimbush owns the title home in a novel by Aldous Huxley whose title mentions this color. A song of this name includes the lines "your skin and bones / Turn into something beautiful" and a command to "look at the stars." In addition to that song by (*) Coldplay, this word appears in the title of a 1968 animated film about a watercraft. For 10 points--name this word that describes a "submarine" in a Beatles song.

answer: _Yellow_ (accept _Crome Yellow_; accept Aldous _Huxley_ before his name is given)

In this state the 1840s saw conflict between the Hunkers and the Barnburners, two Democratic Party factions. The Hunkers opposed Tammany Hall and were the successors of a group led by Martin Van Buren, the (*) Albany Regency. For 10 points--name this state that built the Erie Canal.

I don't have any conversion stats for this one.

[abnormal abdomen]

Magritte and Weber tossups from IS-98, please. Thank you!

[Important Bird Area]

This artist depicted a bird cage that is wearing a cloak and hat in his painting ~The Therapist~. The suicide of his mother influenced his ~The Lovers~, while he juxtaposed a nighttime street scene with a daytime sky in ~The Empire of Lights~. His other works feature a (*) pipe with a contradictory message, men in bowler hats, and a train coming out of a fireplace. For 10 points--name this Belgian surrealist painter.

2/7/2 in 16 rooms

This man distinguished between three types of authority, legal, traditional, and charismatic, which develop in a pattern of increasing rationalization. He also defined a state as having a monopoly on the use of force in his work ~Politics as a (*) Vocation~. His best-known work claims that savings and investment arose out of Calvinist moral values. For 10 points--who wrote ~The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism~?

3/7/2 in 16 rooms

[BlueDevil95]

Is the SCT set clear for discussion? As in, the one played at GA Tech on April 16th?

[Important Bird Area]

Yes, it's clear, and SCT discussion can be found here.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

This artist depicted a bird cage that is wearing a cloak and hat in his painting ~The Therapist~. The suicide of his mother influenced his ~The Lovers~, while he juxtaposed a nighttime street scene with a daytime sky in ~The Empire of Lights~. His other works feature a (*) pipe with a contradictory message, men in bowler hats, and a train coming out of a fireplace. For 10 points--name this Belgian surrealist painter.

2/7/2 in 16 rooms

This is pretty good, but wouldn't a Magritte question be better that literally mentioned the titles "Time Transfixed" and/or "The Son of Man" and/or "The Treachery of Images"? I realize that these paintings (or, at least, parts of them) were described, but some players who basically have knowledge of titles should at least be rewarded for that miniscule knowledge if possible. I know that rewarding list knowledge isn't optimal but it'd be a shame for an art tossup to go dead - already among the least-converted tossups in high school - because an important title or two weren't mentioned.

[Important Bird Area]

It doesn't really help:

One of this man's paintings shows an egg inside a cage; another shows a cannon in front of a wall divided into four very different quadrants, ~On the Threshold of Liberty~. A third canvas has an apple hovering in front of a man's (*) face, while hundreds of men in bowler hats fall from the sky in ~Golconda~. ~The Treachery of Images~, with its tantalizing caption "This is not a pipe," is by--for 10 points--which Belgian surrealist?

2/0/2 in 10 rooms

This artist painted a man facing a mirror that incorrectly reflects his back, rather than his front, in ~Not To Be Reproduced~, and showed a canvas with a seascape that lines up seamlessly with the shore as seen through a rounded arch in ~The Human Condition~. ~Golconda~ shows dozens of hovering (*) men in bowler hats, and his ~The Treachery of Images~ is not a pipe. For 10 points--name this Belgian surrealist.

0/0/0 in 7 rooms

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

That's a shame, then.

[Masked Canadian History Bandit]

The Kirchoff and Directory tossups from IS-98, please?

[Important Bird Area]

The second of these requires a carrier to have the same potential energy once it returns to its starting place, thereby maintaining energy conservation. That second law also shows that components connected in parallel must have identical (*) voltage drops. The first ensures conservation of charge and is called the "junction rule." For 10 points--identify these laws of circuit analysis named for a German physicist.

answer: _Kirchhoff_'s circuit _laws_ or _Kirchhoff_'s _laws_ of circuit analysis

0/8/9 in 15 rooms

I don't believe that there was a Directory tossup in the 2010-11 IS sets. (most recently: 2011 SCT and IS #95 from spring 2010)

[Masked Canadian History Bandit]

0/8/9 in 15 rooms

In hindsight, that seems quite fraudable if you realize they're talking about electrical laws dealing with circuits early on, without knowing what Kirchoff's laws actually say.

]I don't believe that there was a Directory tossup in the 2010-11 IS sets. (most recently: 2011 SCT and IS #95 from spring 2010)

Maybe it was a tossup on the Consulate or the Committee of Public then, but I could be conflating the set with the 2011 SCT questions that were in the war/stats room at the Ottawa SCT that I staffed.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

The second of these requires a carrier to have the same potential energy once it returns to its starting place, thereby maintaining energy conservation. That second law also shows that components connected in parallel must have identical (*) voltage drops. The first ensures conservation of charge and is called the "junction rule." For 10 points--identify these laws of circuit analysis named for a German physicist.

answer: _Kirchhoff_'s circuit _laws_ or _Kirchhoff_'s _laws_ of circuit analysis

0/8/9 in 15 rooms

I don't believe that there was a Directory tossup in the 2010-11 IS sets. (most recently: 2011 SCT and IS #95 from spring 2010)

Wasn't that one I E-mailed you about, because the lead-in as played at Rowdy Raider, where those stats seem to be from, was a hose for the laws of thermodynamics? That'd explain the excessively high neg rate, which doesn't make sense in the form it's in as posted.

[Important Bird Area]

Wasn't that one I E-mailed you about, because the lead-in as played at Rowdy Raider, where those stats seem to be from, was a hose for the laws of thermodynamics? That'd explain the excessively high neg rate, which doesn't make sense in the form it's in as posted.

It is (so safe to ignore the neg stats). Original text:

The second of these disallows a perpetual motion machine by showing that a carrier must have the same potential energy once it returns to its starting place. That second law also shows that components connected in parallel must have identical (*) voltage drops. The first ensures conservation of charge and is called the "junction rule." For 10 points--identify these laws of circuit analysis named for a German physicist.

[Masked Canadian History Bandit]

The second of these requires a carrier to have the same potential energy once it returns to its starting place, thereby maintaining energy conservation. That second law also shows that components connected in parallel must have identical (*) voltage drops. The first ensures conservation of charge and is called the "junction rule." For 10 points--identify these laws of circuit analysis named for a German physicist.

answer: _Kirchhoff_'s circuit _laws_ or _Kirchhoff_'s _laws_ of circuit analysis

0/8/9 in 15 rooms

I don't believe that there was a Directory tossup in the 2010-11 IS sets. (most recently: 2011 SCT and IS #95 from spring 2010)

Wasn't that one I E-mailed you about, because the lead-in as played at Rowdy Raider, where those stats seem to be from, was a hose for the laws of thermodynamics? That'd explain the excessively high neg rate, which doesn't make sense in the form it's in as posted.

I remember at BOKCHOI, Lisgar's top three teams all negged with laws of thermodynamics. I remember it started off with something about the second one of these prohibits perpetual motion or something, but I could be remembering wrong.

EDIT: Ninja'd by the post above. My first sentence still stands.

[Erogo]

Can you please post the tossups on the Battle of Dien bien phu (is-102) and Red Dead Redemption (is-105)?

And I have a question regarding the tossup on Texas that was posted above. Could I lodge a protest if I were to receive a neg after buzzing in with "Mississippi" before the mentioning of "Don McElroy?" I ask this because Rod Paige spent most of his teaching career in Houston, but he was actually born in Mississippi.

*edited for redundancy

[Important Bird Area]

The losing commander at this battle was Christian de Castries. This battle led to the Geneva Conference, which created a border at the 17th parallel that divided the colony this battle took place in. Vo Nguyen Giap's (*) Viet Minh forces cut off all roads leading to the site of this battle, a fortress near the border of Laos. For 10 points--name this 1954 battle which saw the French defeated in Vietnam.

3/13/3 in 24 rooms

This game had a zombie-themed expansion pack, ~Undead Nightmare~, released as DLC, and it features multiplayer modes like Hold Your Own and Gold Rush. The main character of this game pursues Bill Williamson and Dutch (*) van der Linde, and this Rockstar game ends with Edgar Ross killed by the protagonist's son. For 10 points--name this western video game, which features John Marston.

18/9/10 in 30 rooms

[Important Bird Area]

And I have a question regarding the tossup on Texas that was posted above. Could I lodge a protest if I were to receive a neg after buzzing in with "Mississippi" before the mentioning of "Don McElroy?" I ask this because Rod Paige spent most of his teaching career in Houston, but he was actually born in Mississippi.

That certainly appears to be a legitimate protest; I'll change the phrasing in our archive.

[Erogo]

May I see the Boston Massacre tossup from IS 102?

[Black-throated Antshrike]

Can I see the tossups on phalanx from IS-105?

[Important Bird Area]

It began on King Street when Private Hugh White got into a dispute with a wigmaker's apprentice outside the Custom House. Henry Pelham memorialized this event in an engraving later sensationalized by Paul Revere. It ended when soldiers under (*) Captain Thomas Preston fired into a jeering crowd, killing five Bostonians. For 10 points--name this 1770 skirmish leading to the death of Crispus Attacks by British troops.

Peltasts were contrasted with these military units, whose tendency to drift to the right was checked by an officer called the ouragos. The Battle of Magnesia saw a successor to this unit defeated once its Seleucid support fell, and (*) Epaminondas added a deep "hammerhead" to the left side of this formation. For 10 points--name this eighty-man spear-wielding formation which dominated the military of ancient Greece.

[Black-throated Antshrike]

Peltasts were contrasted with these military units, whose tendency to drift to the right was checked by an officer called the ouragos. The Battle of Magnesia saw a successor to this unit defeated once its Seleucid support fell, and (*) Epaminondas added a deep "hammerhead" to the left side of this formation. For 10 points--name this eighty-man spear-wielding formation which dominated the military of ancient Greece.

Is it just me or should this really have said accept hoplite. It doesn't tell you it is looking for a formation until the very end. This screwed me over because I buzzed very early with Hoplite and was negged and this was in a round where the game went until the very last tossup. If you are going to want the formation as opposed to the independent unit, wouldn't that have been better to state from the beginning so there is no ambiguity?

[Rufous-capped Thornbill]

Peltasts were contrasted with these military units, whose tendency to drift to the right was checked by an officer called the ouragos. The Battle of Magnesia saw a successor to this unit defeated once its Seleucid support fell, and (*) Epaminondas added a deep "hammerhead" to the left side of this formation. For 10 points--name this eighty-man spear-wielding formation which dominated the military of ancient Greece.

Is it just me or should this really have said accept hoplite. It doesn't tell you it is looking for a formation until the very end. This screwed me over because I buzzed very early with Hoplite and was negged and this was in a round where the game went until the very last tossup. If you are going to want the formation as opposed to the independent unit, wouldn't that have been better to state from the beginning so there is no ambiguity?

It looks to me like Hoplite could be accepted in the first line, but the Phalanx's tendency to drift to the right due to shield position rules out Hoplite for the clue.

[Black-throated Antshrike]

Peltasts were contrasted with these military units, whose tendency to drift to the right was checked by an officer called the ouragos. The Battle of Magnesia saw a successor to this unit defeated once its Seleucid support fell, and (*) Epaminondas added a deep "hammerhead" to the left side of this formation. For 10 points--name this eighty-man spear-wielding formation which dominated the military of ancient Greece.

Is it just me or should this really have said accept hoplite. It doesn't tell you it is looking for a formation until the very end. This screwed me over because I buzzed very early with Hoplite and was negged and this was in a round where the game went until the very last tossup. If you are going to want the formation as opposed to the independent unit, wouldn't that have been better to state from the beginning so there is no ambiguity?

It looks to me like Hoplite could be accepted in the first line, but the Phalanx's tendency to drift to the right due to shield position rules out Hoplite for the clue.

True but the phalanx's units would also drift. They also said this unit, which to me would mean the individual soldier compared to the formation, just the same as legionaire is to century, or maniple, etc

[Irreligion in Bangladesh]

Yeah, hoplite looks at least acceptable for the entire first sentence (and maybe more, I don't know the Magnesia clue). It even looks like a better answer than phalanx off the peltast clue, as a peltast is a unit, not a formation.

[No Electricity Required]

I almost certainly would have negged the tossup with hoplite at the peltast clue because of the word unit. I'm not sure of a better alternitive since formation would be very transparent. If I were tossing it up i would probably call it an entity, but i don't think that's ideal either.

[Important Bird Area]

I've usually seen "hoplite" used to refer to an individual soldier and "phalanx" used for the formation he fought in. For instance:

a round wooden shield some three feet in diameter, the hoplon, so radically different in concept from its cowhide predecessor that it was from this piece of equipment that the infantryman eventually derived his name, "hoplite."

Does anyone have a source using "hoplite" for a group? If so, I'll change this to "also accept."

[Tower Monarch]

I've usually seen "hoplite" used to refer to an individual soldier and "phalanx" used for the formation he fought in. For instance:

a round wooden shield some three feet in diameter, the hoplon, so radically different in concept from its cowhide predecessor that it was from this piece of equipment that the infantryman eventually derived his name, "hoplite."

Does anyone have a source using "hoplite" for a group? If so, I'll change this to "also accept."

Well, I think what some of the players were saying is that "unit" (which the question uses for a while) doesn't have to mean group. It could refer to the individual soldier.

[BlueDevil95]

Could I please see....

Saul Bellow from IS-96? Shahadah (sp?) and "vini-vidi-vici from Is-102? and "equestrian" from IS-103A?

Thank you.

[Important Bird Area]

In one novel by this author, Albert Corde travels to Romania with his wife. Another of his title characters is guided by Romilayu and befriends the chief of a Wariri village. This novelist of ~The Dean's December~ and ~Henderson the (*) Rain King~ also wrote about Tommy Wilhelm in ~Seize the Day~. For 10 points--name this Nobel Prize-winning author of ~Herzog~ and ~The Adventures of Augie March~.

1/9/1 in 29 rooms

The first word refers to a rapid northward march after the Battle of the Nile toward Cappadocia. The second involved observing the territory around Zela in Pontus, a kingdom of northern Turkey, and taking in the forces of (*) Pharnaces II. The third referred to the obliteration of those forces by the legions of Julius Caesar. For 10 points--give this three-word, Latin campaign report meaning, "I came, I saw, I conquered."

0/23/3 in 24 rooms

The statue of Richard I outside Parliament, that of Peter the Great by Etienne Maurice Falconet, that of Marcus Aurelius on the (*) Capitoline Hill, and that of the mercenary Gattamelata by Donatello are--for 10 points--what kind of work depicting a military leader astride his horse?

(no conversion data reported)

There doesn't appear to be a shahada question in IS #102; this is the only such question in the 2010-11 sets:

The basic Islamic declaration of belief begins, "There is no god but Allah." For 10 points each--

A. It finishes by asserting that this founder of Islam "is the messenger of God."

answer: _Muhammad_

B. That declaration is one of this quintet of duties required of every Muslim, which also includes daylight fasting during Ramadan.

answer: Five _Pillars_ of Islam

C. This is the Arabic name of that creed.

answer: _shahada_ (accept _kalima_)

[No Electricity Required]

I've usually seen "hoplite" used to refer to an individual soldier and "phalanx" used for the formation he fought in. For instance:

a round wooden shield some three feet in diameter, the hoplon, so radically different in concept from its cowhide predecessor that it was from this piece of equipment that the infantryman eventually derived his name, "hoplite."

Does anyone have a source using "hoplite" for a group? If so, I'll change this to "also accept."

Well, I think what some of the players were saying is that "unit" (which the question uses for a while) doesn't have to mean group. It could refer to the individual soldier.

This is what I was in fact saying. As you say unit can be both individual and group, although I've always associated the word unit with a singular connotation (this is partly due to my growing up playing RTS games; in this particular case I would have been really been fooled because I used to play a game that had a unit called the hoplite).

[BlueDevil95]

Woops. By shahada I meant Hadith. Thanks.