Don DeLillo Presents WAO II Global Announcement (Nov. 2017)

[1992 in spaceflight]

After the successful return of the packet submission through WAO last January, we are pleased to announce Don DeLillo Presents WAO II, which will be ready for this coming November. This tournament will be aimed towards regular difficulty, as is traditionally associated with the late November slot.

Editing Breakdown:
Myself (Jacob O’Rourke): American history, American literature
Isaac Thiessen: History, Auditory Fine Arts, Other Fine Arts
Jakob Myers: History, Geography
Rein Otsason: Science
Joe Su: Assisting Rein with Science, assisting Isaac with Auditory Fine Arts
Harris Bunker: Social Science, Philosophy, Current Events
Derek So: Literature, Visual Fine Arts

We’ll all be helping any other categories not specifically listed here, such as trash.

Packet Submission

Having been inspired by the original WAO, we will be following the same packet submission model as was used in January. This means open teams will be allowed to compete under mandatory packet submission. Please note that open teams include “chimera” teams composing students from multiple institutions (high school or university). Regular school teams can play without submitting a packet, but may do so for an additional discount.

The fee and submission schedule will be as follows:

School Teams: Packet submission optional. $140 base fee; $70 discount for submission by October 1, 2017; $50 discount for submission by October 22, 2017.
Open Teams: Packet submission required. $120 base fee; $20 discount for submission by October 1, 2017.

By the decree of the editor’s, the editing team of ACF Fall 2017 is exempt from the packet-writing requirement.

We are willing to negotiate a half-packet distribution with teams that do not feel capable of writing a full 24/24. Base mirror fees for this tournament will be $45, but will be reduced to $25 per school team that submits a packet ($35 for half packet). High school teams are "school teams" but high school chimera teams are "open teams."

Hosts must provide buzzer discounts of at least $5 and travel discounts of at least $5 per 200 miles.

Submission Distribution
History (5/5)
1/1 – US History
1.5/1.5 – Euro History (1/1 Post 800 CE, 0.5/0.5 Pre 800 CE)
0.5/0.5 – Anglosphere (Britain, A/NZ, Canada)
1.5/1.5 - World History
0.5/0.5 – Other History, Including any of the above categories, historiography, multidisciplinary questions etc.

Literature (5/5)
1.5/1.5 – Novels
1/1 – Poetry
0.5/0.5 – Short Stories
0.5/0.5 – Drama
0.5/0.5 – Miscellaneous (such as nonfiction, literary criticism, epic poetry, other literary questions)
1/1 – Any

Across your 10 literature questions, 3 must be on European (including British) Lit, 2 on American Lit and 2 on Non-Western Lit.

Science (5/5)
1/1 – Physics
1/1 – Chemistry
1/1 – Bio
1/1 – Other (Must include 0.5/0.5 Math or CS)
1/1 – Any

Fine Arts (3/3)
1/1 – Auditory Fine Arts
1/1 – Visual Fine Arts
1/1 – Other Fine Arts (1 each on Other Visual and Other Audio)

In light of the trash distribution outlined below, please use the “Other Fine Arts” category conservatively.

Thought (2/2)
1/1 – Social Science
1/1 – Philosophy

Belief (1.5/1.5)
1/1 – Religion
0.5/0.5 – Myth

Other Academic (1.5/1.5)
0.5/0.5 Each – Geography, Current Events and Modern Institutions, Academic Questions which do not fit elsewhere or additional Geo/CE.

Please do not feel constrained to writing about just raw Current Events, please use the full “Modern World” concept that has been floating around college quizbowl world recently.

Trash (1/1)
0.5/0.5 – High Trash (Borderline academic literature, fine arts, and history, see this thread for an idea of what we would like in this category)
0.5/0.5 – Regular Trash

The addition of a “High Trash” category, is meant to provide a space to ask about popular things with significant Cultural or Academic merit. This is a place to ask about things such as Tolkien or Lin-Manuel Miranda. Please feel free to be creative here, we are excited to see what you can come up with here.

Total (24/24)
The submissions will be edited down to 20/20 packets, containing 4/4 of History, Science and Literature. Please ensure all submitted tossups are at least seven lines long and that questions do not exceed the standard difficulty of ACF Regionals.

Packets should be submitted to [email protected].

[1992 in spaceflight]

Sites:
Mid-Atlantic: VCU (2/17/2018)
Upper Midwest: Michigan State (11/11/2017)
Lower Midwest: Missouri (11/18/2017)
Northeast: Princeton (11/18/2017)
Canada: Waterloo (11/18/2017)
Southeast: Georgia (11/11/2017)
Florida: Central Florida (11/18/2017)
South:
Southwest:
Northern California: Stanford (1/27/2018)
Southern California: UCSD (2/17/2018)
United Kingdom: Oxford (11/18/2017)

Other: HS Mirror at New Trier Varsity (12/23/2017)

If you're interested in hosting a mirror, please send me an email at [email protected].

[A Dim-Witted Saboteur]

Submitted Packets

October 1 Deadline:
WUSTL A (-$70)
Toronto B (-$35; half-packet)
Florida A (-$70)
Rutgers A (-$70)
Busse/Carson/Raje/Rangaraju (-$20)
Alston/Kuang/Wang/Yu (-$20)
Aggarwal/Bentley/Gurram/Wang(-$20)

Packet submissions will still be accepted through the 22nd for a smaller discount (for school teams) or no discount (for open teams).

October 22nd Deadline:
Michigan B (-$50)
Maryland A (-$50)
Michigan A (-$50)
De Anza (-$25, half-packet)
Minarik/Peterson/Silverman/Gupta
Kendall/Beyer (Billy's portion)
Berkeley A (-$50)
Berkeley B (-$50)
Rutgers B (-$25, half-packet)

LATE:
Wright State (-$20, half-packet, 1 day late)
Ohio State A (-$30, 2 days late)
Kendall/Beyer (Seth's portion) (+$10, half-packet, 2 days late)
Nguyen/Gossiaux/Gerr (+$60, 6 days late)
Brownstein/Lifschitz/Choudhury (+$40, incomplete packet, 2 days late)

[1992 in spaceflight]

We'd like to put out a call for an oversight/"final eyes" editor for the tournament. We plan on offering this person $50-100 to make sure the tournament is of very high quality and that none of our questions are very bad ideas. If you've edited a regular difficulty or harder tournament before, we'd love to talk to you! Please email us at [email protected] if you've edited a regular difficulty or harder tournament and are interested in being the oversight/"final eyes" editor.

[naan/steak-holding toll]

15 y/n

[Sigurd]

15 y/n

There will be powers!

[Zealots of Stockholm]

What will the discounts for school teams approved to submit half packets be on the two submission dates?

[1992 in spaceflight]

What will the discounts for school teams approved to submit half packets be on the two submission dates?

Like last year, it will be half the discount for a full packet. For the first submission deadline, it would be -$35; for the second, it would be -$25.

Also, teams do not need to be approved to write a packet. You just need to contact the editing team if you want to write a half packet. When you're ready, please contact us with a proposed 12/12 distribution to be approved by the editors (this is to make sure that one category [i.e. science] isn't getting the shaft).

[naan/steak-holding toll]

Richard Yu, Kevin Wang and I will be playing this somewhere in the New England/New York area and submitting a packet. Seeking fourth.

EDIT: Found one in Raynor Kuang.

[Harpie's Feather Duster]

Andrew Wang and I are seeking teammates for a Midwest site of this.

[Cheynem]

I'll probably play if this gets mirrored at Michigan State (which I would guess...is likely...?).

[1992 in spaceflight]

We'd like to put out a call for an oversight/"final eyes" editor for the tournament. We plan on offering this person $50-100 to make sure the tournament is of very high quality and that none of our questions are very bad ideas. If you've edited a regular difficulty or harder tournament before, we'd love to talk to you! Please email us at [email protected] if you've edited a regular difficulty or harder tournament and are interested in being the oversight/"final eyes" editor.

Jonathan Magin has agreed to be the oversight/"final eyes" editor for this tournament.

[1992 in spaceflight]

We have mirrors confirmed at Stanford and Waterloo. If you'd like to host a mirror for your area, please send me an email!

[1992 in spaceflight]

I forgot to mention this, but please make sure, when you submit your packets (to [email protected]), that you submit them as a word document and follow the formatting guidelines presented on the ACF website.

The first date this set will be available for mirrors is November 11th.

[1992 in spaceflight]

I'll probably play if this gets mirrored at Michigan State (which I would guess...is likely...?).

I just updated the post to reflect that I was told this. Michigan State's mirror will be on November 11th.

[1992 in spaceflight]

Central Florida will be hosting a mirror of the set. We're still looking for another mirror in a different part of the Southeast to help maximize the number of teams that can play the set.

[1992 in spaceflight]

Central Florida will be hosting a mirror of the set. We're still looking for another mirror in a different part of the Southeast to help maximize the number of teams that can play the set.

The University of Georgia's team will be hosting this mirror, which is tentatively set for November 11th.

[1992 in spaceflight]

Princeton will be hosting a mirror of this set on either November 11th or 18th, depending on when they can get tooms. We're still interested in getting a mirror for the more Northern Northeast teams.

[ProfessorIanDuncan]

Fine Arts (3/3)
1/1 – Auditory Fine Arts
1/1 – Visual Fine Arts
1/1 – Other Fine Arts (1 each on Other Visual and Other Audio)

Can we get some elaboration on this? It doesn't make sense to me to have 1/1 Audio and 1/1 Visual and then have the last 1/1 be Other Audio and Other Visual. Am I to assume that 1/1 Auditory means Classical non-opera and that 1/1 Visual means Painting/Sculpture? Does it mean that Other entails audiovisual media (like ballet,opera, or "talkies"), and the other two categories are purely auditory and visual respectively?

Additionally, now that I'm talking about elaborating on aspects of the distribution,

Please ensure all submitted tossups are at least seven lines long

Does this mean 7 full lines or text on the 7th line?

[Sigurd]

Fine Arts (3/3)
1/1 – Auditory Fine Arts
1/1 – Visual Fine Arts
1/1 – Other Fine Arts (1 each on Other Visual and Other Audio)

Can we get some elaboration on this? It doesn't make sense to me to have 1/1 Audio and 1/1 Visual and then have the last 1/1 be Other Audio and Other Visual. Am I to assume that 1/1 Auditory means Classical non-opera and that 1/1 Visual means Painting/Sculpture? Does it mean that Other entails audiovisual media (like ballet,opera, or "talkies"), and the other two categories are purely auditory and visual respectively?

Additionally, now that I'm talking about elaborating on aspects of the distribution,

Please ensure all submitted tossups are at least seven lines long

Does this mean 7 full lines or text on the 7th line?

Yes indeed, 1/1 Auditory refers to classical non-opera, while 1/1 visual refers to painting/sculpture. I apologize for the lack of clarity there. 1/1 Other should indeed include audiovisual media such as ballet and opera (additionally, Jazz has traditionally been put in this part of the distribution). While it should also include "other visual" such as architecture, fashion, graphic novels, film, photography, and performance art.

Additionally, the length cap means there is some text on the 7th line. However, you may have your submissions be longer than that, they will just be edited down to 7 lines in the finished product.

[ProfessorIanDuncan]

Thank you, I appreciate the clarification.

[1992 in spaceflight]

A few things: first, I forgot to clarify that the 7 line cap is for the final packets, NOT for submissions. If you're submitting a packet, please don't feel like you have to hit 7 lines exactly.

Second, we've had our first submitted packet! Many thanks to WUSTL A for making me very happy before leaving work tonight.

[Mike Bentley]

Not sure who the Stanford TD is, but when can we expect a confirmed date?

[vengefulsweatermensch]

Not sure who the Stanford TD is, but when can we expect a confirmed date?

Due to scheduling conflicts in the fall, our mirror will most likely be held sometime in January or February - exact date to be announced soon.

[1992 in spaceflight]

We have 2 more mirrors to announce. VCU will be hosting the Mid-Atlantic mirror on November 18th; Mizzou will be hosting the Lower Midwest mirror on the same date as well.

We're interested in having mirrors in the following regions: Boston-area; Southern California; the South (Texas/Oklahoma/Louisiana area), and the United Kingdom. If you're interested in hosting in one of those regions, please contact us!

[Bosa of York]

Is the second post's statement that Princeton's mirror will be on the 11th (which has not been stated anywhere else to my knowledge) known to be correct?

[1992 in spaceflight]

Is the second post's statement that Princeton's mirror will be on the 11th (which has not been stated anywhere else to my knowledge) known to be correct?

Jared told me it will be the 11th or the 18th. The 18th is the backup date.

[1992 in spaceflight]

Oxford will be hosting the UK mirror on November 25th, and New Trier will be hosting a HS mirror of the set for the upper division of the New Trier Varsity tournament on December 23rd.

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

Kurtis Droge and I are now looking for teammates for this. Let us know if you're down. Presumably we'd be at the MSU site

[1992 in spaceflight]

This is a reminder that the packet-submission deadline is coming up in a week and a half. If you're an open team and want a bit of an extension on submitting, please email the tournament editors.

[naan/steak-holding toll]

How many people are actually submitting packets for this?

[wd4gdz]

This is a reminder that the packet-submission deadline is coming up in a week and a half. If you're an open team and want a bit of an extension on submitting, please email the tournament editors.

For open teams, do packets have to submitted by Oct 1, or can packets be submitted by Oct 22 for no discount?

[Harpie's Feather Duster]

How many people are actually submitting packets for this?

I'm playing this with Greg Peterson, Adam Silverman, and Auroni Gupta. We're submitting a packet.

[Tejas]

I am playing this with Rob Carson, Billy Busse and Rama Rangaraju and we also intend to submit a packet.

[Scipio]

A question: Let's say that one person wants to play in one mirror of this tournament, and another person wants to play in a different mirror. Could they collaborate on a packet?

[Votre Kickstarter Est Nul]

How many people are actually submitting packets for this?

We (Rutgers) are.

[1992 in spaceflight]

This is a reminder that the packet-submission deadline is coming up in a week and a half. If you're an open team and want a bit of an extension on submitting, please email the tournament editors.

For open teams, do packets have to submitted by Oct 1, or can packets be submitted by Oct 22 for no discount?

Packets can be submitted by October 22nd for no discount.

[1992 in spaceflight]

A question: Let's say that one person wants to play in one mirror of this tournament, and another person wants to play in a different mirror. Could they collaborate on a packet?

Sorry for the delay on this, but the answer is yes.

[jaredlockwood]

Is the second post's statement that Princeton's mirror will be on the 11th (which has not been stated anywhere else to my knowledge) known to be correct?

Jared told me it will be the 11th or the 18th. The 18th is the backup date.

As an update to this, I'm still waiting for confirmation that we'll be allowed to use the facilities that I requested last month for Nov. 11th. Sorry I haven't been able to officially announce anything yet; I'll be bugging the department until I get an answer now, so hopefully a real update will be forthcoming shortly.

[1992 in spaceflight]

We'll accept any packet submitted to us at the Don DeLillo email address if it's in the inbox by the time I leave tomorrow morning (6:30 AM Central time). We hope to see a few more packets in our inbox!

[Mike Bentley]

Our team's packet was sent in last night but I don't see it on the list.

[1992 in spaceflight]

Our team's packet was sent in last night but I don't see it on the list.

It went into the spam folder, but it should be on the list now.

[naan/steak-holding toll]

I know the Princeton team has been having some trouble scheduling, but would it be possible to get a date update? My team and I are hoping to book accommodations soon.

[UlyssesInvictus]

I know the Princeton team has been having some trouble scheduling, but would it be possible to get a date update? My team and I are hoping to book accommodations soon.

Ditto on this, or at least some estimate of likelihood that rooms will be available on the 11th so I can go ahead and set plans and let myself get boned if it has to change.

[CPiGuy]

15 y/n

There will be powers!

Should submitted packets be power-marked, or will that be done by the editors?

[A Dim-Witted Saboteur]

15 y/n

There will be powers!

Should submitted packets be power-marked, or will that be done by the editors?

We'll powermark any submitted packets.

[Mike Bentley]

Any update on when the Stanford mirror will be?

[Ciorwrong]

Just a little note from an editor: when you send if your submission, please have it clearly indicate who is on your team. If we don't have this information, we can't tell if you are a school team or not. If you haven't clearly put something like State University A (Jack Smith, Name1, Name2, Name3) at the top of your packet, please email the WAO 2 email or contact me or one of the editors. We also need to communicate who is on which team to hosts as well.

[vengefulsweatermensch]

Any update on when the Stanford mirror will be?

Our mirror will be on January 27th, 2018. A separate announcement will be posted soon.

[edited to correct my silly typo - we plan to host this tournament on the 27th, not the 20th]

[jaredlockwood]

I know the Princeton team has been having some trouble scheduling, but would it be possible to get a date update? My team and I are hoping to book accommodations soon.

Ditto on this, or at least some estimate of likelihood that rooms will be available on the 11th so I can go ahead and set plans and let myself get boned if it has to change.

Sorry for the delay, facilities just got back to me today. Our mirror will be on November 18th; a forum post is forthcoming this weekend.