2009 HSNCT question discussion

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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Brian Ulrich »

Anti-Climacus wrote:By the way, were the cuneiform, circumflex and Cyrillic questions written by the same person?
I'd rather not go too far along this line of inquiry, but I will say that they were not. In fact, three different writers were involved.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by etchdulac »

I don't know how stern of an objection this is; maybe it's just a sad indicator to me: I moderated a game between two bottom-20th percentile teams that finished 75-60, and was decided by which team got the Hogwarts Staff Members bonus series, as that series was 30'd, and no other bonus series in that game produced more than 10 points.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Sir Thopas »

In Welsh this {diacritical} indicates a {long vowel}. In Esperanto it differentiates letters pronounced as "ts" [T-S] and "ch" [C-H]. In French it often indicates that an 's' was once present after the vowel, as in the word (*) ~h\^opital~ [oh-pee-tahl]; it is also the only mark that can appear above all five French vowels. For 10 points--name this diacritical found between the percent sign and the ampersand on the same key as the 6.

answer: _circumflex_ (accept l'_accent circumflex_; accept _caret_)
Unsurprisingly, this has the exact same problems as the SCT tossup on the acute. Now can we stop writing meaningless tossups on diacritics?
The symbols used in this writing system are supported by {Unicode}, starting with character 12000 ["one two zero zero zero"]. Its early forms used a {rebus} system to encode proper names, and its decipherment began in earnest when Carsten (*) Niebuhr copied the inscriptions at Persepolis. A scribe used a reed stylus to make impressions in a soft clay tablet in--for 10 points--what "wedge-shaped" writing system of the ancient Middle East?

answer: _cuneiform_ [kyoo-NEE-uh-form]
Dear lord, this is horrible. I like can't even say anything about it. I thought we got rid of this kind of clue, which is like just a more inane and obscure cousin of the almanac clue, a few years ago. I'm flabbergasted.

"When doing a Google search for 'Wikipedia', this group's language is the first non-English result." Is this any way to start a tossup on the Sami? It's not that much worse than the cuneiform lead-in.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by DumbJaques »

Mitchell Szczepanczyk
Who is that? If I'm mistaken, I apologize, but maybe the reason people are so regularly unhappy with NAQT linguistics is because the person in charge of editing them is presumably completely detached from the contemporary game. This is not a difficult formula: If NAQT continues to utilize writers and editors who do not put forth the considerable effort to stay in touch with ever-evolving state of the game, then reactions like the one this HSNCT elicited are only the beginning. I know that the reply to this is that the good writers are not lining up to write for NAQT. I can only speak for myself, but I am repelled from writing for NAQT because of the character limits (which seem a needlessly tedious way to limit question length to begin with) and the need to have every question I send perfectly tagged in a completely unique markup language and devoid of even the most minor typo, lest the question be kicked back to me. If these things will no longer be part of the NAQT question writing requirements, it's likely I'd personally sign up to write, and I think plenty of other writers would as well.


EDIT:
Larger organisms that exhibit this behavior can only do so while exhaling. It has a species-dependent frequency of 25 to 150 hertz and can stimulate bone growth and healing; it may be an adaptation to maintain health despite long periods of rest or sleep. It appears to occur without vibrating the (*) {vocal cords} due to a rapid twitching in the larynx. For 10 points--name this sound associated with contented cats.

answer: _purr_ing
I double dog dare the author of this tossup to identify himself.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Brian Ulrich »

DumbJaques wrote:
Mitchell Szczepanczyk
Who is that?
A guy with a masters in linguistics from Chicago, actually. :smile:
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Kouign Amann »

Brian Ulrich wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:
Mitchell Szczepanczyk
Who is that?
A guy with a masters in linguistics from Chicago, actually. :smile:
And just what does that have to do with quizbowl? That, if I'm not mistaken, was Chris's entire point. Just because someone knows some stuff doesn't mean he is qualified to edit what are supposed to be the nation's premier high school quizbowl questions.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by grapesmoker »

Sir Thopas wrote:"When doing a Google search for 'Wikipedia', this group's language is the first non-English result." Is this any way to start a tossup on the Sami? It's not that much worse than the cuneiform lead-in.
Was this an actual leadin at a tournament?
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Not That Kind of Christian!! »

Andy and I took notes throughout the tournament on questions we thought were particularly problematic. Going back and typing out the list, I see question after question that just seems like a regression from last year's HSNCT. Aside from the horror that is tossing up "purring," there were tossups whose first clues were completely nonidentifying and whose giveaways were cutesy means of helping a team get 10 points without knowledge of the actual subject. Another recurring problem was tossing up an author with one famous work that high schoolers might, maybe, if they're quite good, know. Laurence Sterne comes to mind.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Sir Thopas »

grapesmoker wrote:
Sir Thopas wrote:"When doing a Google search for 'Wikipedia', this group's language is the first non-English result." Is this any way to start a tossup on the Sami? It's not that much worse than the cuneiform lead-in.
Was this an actual leadin at a tournament?
haha no of course not i made it up

save your apoplexy
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Brian Ulrich »

Prof.Whoopie wrote:
Brian Ulrich wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:
Mitchell Szczepanczyk
Who is that?
A guy with a masters in linguistics from Chicago, actually. :smile:
And just what does that have to do with quizbowl? That, if I'm not mistaken, was Chris's entire point. Just because someone knows some stuff doesn't mean he is qualified to edit what are supposed to be the nation's premier high school quizbowl questions.
True, I admit, though knowing what you're talking about is also necessary, and actual knowledge of linguistics can be hard to come by.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Sir Thopas »

Brian Ulrich wrote:
Prof.Whoopie wrote:
Brian Ulrich wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:
Mitchell Szczepanczyk
Who is that?
A guy with a masters in linguistics from Chicago, actually. :smile:
And just what does that have to do with quizbowl? That, if I'm not mistaken, was Chris's entire point. Just because someone knows some stuff doesn't mean he is qualified to edit what are supposed to be the nation's premier high school quizbowl questions.
True, I admit, though knowing what you're talking about is also necessary, and actual knowledge of linguistics can be hard to come by.
Honestly, you don't need to know a thing about linguistics to write high school linguistics. You can just spurt out that tossup on the Great Vowel Shift again. Whether or not this is a gross exaggeration or a sad reality, it's a better idea to have people plugged into the circuit who know more or less what a linguistics question looks like than to bring in a random linguist.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Kouign Amann »

Brian Ulrich wrote:
Prof.Whoopie wrote:
Brian Ulrich wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:
Mitchell Szczepanczyk
Who is that?
A guy with a masters in linguistics from Chicago, actually. :smile:
And just what does that have to do with quizbowl? That, if I'm not mistaken, was Chris's entire point. Just because someone knows some stuff doesn't mean he is qualified to edit what are supposed to be the nation's premier high school quizbowl questions.
True, I admit, though knowing what you're talking about is also necessary, and actual knowledge of linguistics can be hard to come by.
Sure. I see that this Mitchell Szczepanczyk seems to know what he's talking about linguistically, but if those cuneiform and circumflex tossups are indicative of his general work, he obviously has no idea how to find and use good clues in quizbowl questions.

EDIT: examples
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by master15625 »

Prof.Whoopie wrote:
Brian Ulrich wrote:
Prof.Whoopie wrote:
Brian Ulrich wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:
Mitchell Szczepanczyk
Who is that?
A guy with a masters in linguistics from Chicago, actually. :smile:
And just what does that have to do with quizbowl? That, if I'm not mistaken, was Chris's entire point. Just because someone knows some stuff doesn't mean he is qualified to edit what are supposed to be the nation's premier high school quizbowl questions.
True, I admit, though knowing what you're talking about is also necessary, and actual knowledge of linguistics can be hard to come by.
Sure. I see that this Mitchell Szczepanczyk seems to know what he's talking about linguistically, but if that cuneiform tossup is indicative of his general work, he obviously has no idea how to find and use good clues in quizbowl questions.
Dude, you can at least show some respect. I really don't think that would be indicative of his general work, but I could be wrong.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by DumbJaques »

A guy with a masters in linguistics from Chicago, actually. :smile:
Your emoticon gleams like the bitter tears of teams losing games on tossups on Butthead. Whatever, Aidan essentially made my point for me, but I would advise you to like, read the post I made, instead of deciding you can stop at the first sentence and hey now it's emoticon time! I googled the guy and saw his masters in linguistics (and CS, to boot), and saw that he played quizbowl like 8 years ago. Unfortunately that means absolutely bubkes, since we are talking about editing quizbowl questions and not publishing journal articles or discussing the Great Vowel shift over bad wine (or good wine, I don't really know enough about wine to know what kind you drink when you discuss linguistics). Based on the "linguistics" questions posted here though, I would have an approximately infinite preference for Guy Tabachnik (who as of at least a few days ago had like, I don't know, a middle school diploma I guess) to be editing my linguistics questions over the esteemed Mr. Szczepanczyk. I'm sure he's a very smart guy, and probably a very good guy. But the effort it takes to stay in touch with where the game has gone, even in the last few years - the last year - is significant enough that unless Mitch begins each day with a fresh reading of the most recent tournaments, he's just going to be disconnected from the game (preoccupied, one presumes, with the laudable pursuit of having a family, earning compensation for labor, exchanging it for goods and services, etc). That's cool! But stop having these people write your national tournament or you will keep getting tossups on purring.*

* I can, uh, only presume that one of these people wrote that tossup, but I'm wishing against hope for my request for author ID to be realized.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by DumbJaques »

Dude, you can at least show some respect. I really don't think that would be indicative of his general work, but I could be wrong.
Dude! All he said was that "if this awful tossup is reflective of a body of work, then its writer is bad at finding good clues." That tossup has a terrible leadin, and if it's indeed par for the course for NAQT's linguistic editor (who, it should be noted, has been publically identified as such by members of NAQT, and is thus pretty open to justifiable critiquing), then logic dictates said editor is bad at finding good question leadins. Nobody's making value judgments about anyone's personal worth here, we're talking about quizbowl questions. If you're going to tell people how to post,* at least say things that make sense!

*Hint don't do this.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Brian Ulrich »

OK, I apologize for indulging my sense of flipness. Chris, I didn't mean to ignore the rest of your post - I just answered the question part of it, since I happened to know the answer, and then got myself into trouble with how I did it.

The circumflex tossup was not linguistics, it was foreign languages, and edited by Emily Pike.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Strongside »

I was in the stats room on Saturday, so I didn't see most of the questions.

The one thing I wanted to address was trash at the end of packets. I don't know if ACF has an official policy on this, but I believe ACF and mACF tournaments try to make sure the last tossup is not trash. I would like to see less trash in NAQT.

NAQT has been responsive to shifts in question distribution in the past, specifically with this year's SCT and ICT.

It is also worth noting that the last question in the game at ICT that determined who would play Chicago in the finals was on the University of Wisconsin football team, while the question before that was on Evan Hunter.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

Okay. I will say this: I have never, ever seen a good "foreign languages" question in any set produced by NAQT. Indeed, most of the questions are bad both because they are on insignifica and because they are poorly written. Either every NAQT writer who has written one is terrible and should be sacked, or these questions are inherently not too great and should be excised from the distribution.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Kouign Amann »

everyday847 wrote:or these questions are inherently not too great and should be excised from the distribution.
What a novel idea!
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Brian Ulrich »

Upanishads bonus:
Roughly 200 texts are known by this name, but the ten principal ones, or ~mukhya~, have near universal acceptance. For 10 points each--

A. Name these Hindu scriptures nominally learned sitting at the feet of a teacher.

answer: _Upanishad_s or _Upanisad_s

B. This is the unchanging, conscious, infinite universe described in the Upanishads. Its name is similar to that of the priestly caste.

answer: _Brahman_ (accept _Brahma_)

C. The scriptures also discuss this separate, individual soul of each being.

answer: _Atman_
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by DumbJaques »

Was there really a tossup on Keyboard Cat at this tournament?
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

There was also a tossup on a 2003 Foo Fighters single. This lends further credence to the suggestion that trash doesn't actually increase conversion stats so there's no actual argument for including it unless the academic importance of internet memes and inaccessible music (> 7/7) is greater than philosophy (7/7).

I'd also like to decry the move towards having a ton of terrible binary matching bonuses.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

I will attest to the ridiculousness of the Keyboard Cat tossup (no players in the room i was in had any idea what that even was when the answer was revealed) and Foo Fighters 2003 tossup on the song "Times Like These" (which isn't even close to a memorable, meaningful, or in-any-way-significant song of theirs, and came out when these kids were about 10 or 11 years old).
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Not That Kind of Christian!! »

DumbJaques wrote:Was there really a tossup on Keyboard Cat at this tournament?
Yeah, this was beyond ridiculous. I can't decide if this, spiderwebs, or purring wins the Worst Question sash.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by grapesmoker »

DumbJaques wrote:Was there really a tossup on Keyboard Cat at this tournament?
I think the writer of this question owes it to all the teams that played this tournament to come forward and apologize.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

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HKirsch wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:Was there really a tossup on Keyboard Cat at this tournament?
Yeah, this was beyond ridiculous. I can't decide if this, spiderwebs, or purring wins the Worst Question sash.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by etchdulac »

grapesmoker wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:Was there really a tossup on Keyboard Cat at this tournament?
I think the writer of this question owes it to all the teams that played this tournament to come forward and apologize.
Also, wasn't it in packet... 18 or later? A playoff packet?
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

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etchdulac wrote:Also, wasn't it in packet... 18 or later? A playoff packet?
I'm nearly certain it wasn't. Specifically, I'm nearly certain that it was in a packet between seven and fifteen, inclusive, because I remember being in the room I was in on Saturday for it, and I was doing stats for the morning.

edit: Not that this excuses the question. Also, per Hannah's conundrum, I submit that purring was worse than Keyboard Cat because while Keyboard Cat almost certainly had to be categorized as some form of trash, purring was apparently passed off as zoology, a supposedly academic category.
Last edited by jonah on Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by at your pleasure »

spiderwebs
I sincerely hope that this tossup was not as bad as it sounds.
I can't decide if this, spiderwebs, or purring wins the Worst Question sash
Keyboard Cat and purring should be honoured as equally massive black holes of awful. I will refrain from comment on the spiderwebs question since I have not seen it.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by jonpin »

DumbJaques wrote:Was there really a tossup on Keyboard Cat at this tournament?
Wait, there was one of these distinct from the god-awful LOLCATS tossup in an IS set (I believe the state championship set)? I seriously considered posting something like "Whoever wrote tossup X in packet Y of IS-N should stop writing quizbowl questions forever." These questions need to stop happening. The existence of 1 trash tossup a round or a little bit of general knowledge will not cause a mass exodus. The existence of retarded questions on retarded topics that people don't answer or care about may do just that.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by fleurdelivre »

jonah wrote:
etchdulac wrote:Also, wasn't it in packet... 18 or later? A playoff packet?
I'm nearly certain it wasn't. Specifically, I'm nearly certain that it was in a packet between seven and fifteen, inclusive, because I remember being in the room I was in on Saturday for it, and I was doing stats for the morning.

edit: Not that this excuses the question.
it was also likely late in the packet, because I don't remember it and I was (mostly) paying attention to the questions even when I wasn't reading - but we did have quite a few 21-and-22-tossup rounds between mid-level teams.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by jonah »

fleurdelivre wrote:
jonah wrote:
etchdulac wrote:Also, wasn't it in packet... 18 or later? A playoff packet?
I'm nearly certain it wasn't. Specifically, I'm nearly certain that it was in a packet between seven and fifteen, inclusive, because I remember being in the room I was in on Saturday for it, and I was doing stats for the morning.

edit: Not that this excuses the question.
it was also likely late in the packet, because I don't remember it and I was (mostly) paying attention to the questions even when I wasn't reading - but we did have quite a few 21-and-22-tossup rounds between mid-level teams.
Yeah, it definitely was. The number 22 is floating around in my head, but not extremely confidently.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by etchdulac »

fleurdelivre wrote:
jonah wrote:
etchdulac wrote:Also, wasn't it in packet... 18 or later? A playoff packet?
I'm nearly certain it wasn't. Specifically, I'm nearly certain that it was in a packet between seven and fifteen, inclusive, because I remember being in the room I was in on Saturday for it, and I was doing stats for the morning.

edit: Not that this excuses the question.
it was also likely late in the packet, because I don't remember it and I was (mostly) paying attention to the questions even when I wasn't reading - but we did have quite a few 21-and-22-tossup rounds between mid-level teams.
And I had even shorter games between two bad teams where I didn't read through 20 (the aforementioned decided-by-Hogwarts game). So I must have just been thinking of something else.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by InspectorHound »

The oldest evidence of these structures dates to an amber specimen from about 110 million years ago. The older deinopoids used a specialized, flattened organ called the cribellum to produce dry examples, while modern araneoids roduce more viscous ones through specialized organs called (*) spinnerets. A material with incredible tensile strength makes up FTP what predation tool used by spiders?
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Sir Thopas »

Tetralogy of Fallot? Cri du chat? Whoever decided to make these answer choices is so out of touch with quizbowl in general, especially in high school, that I would advise for them not to write ever again.
Last edited by Sir Thopas on Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Charbroil »

Hogwarts Bonus
That was in Round 13 or 14, since it was in our game against DCC and we 20'd it.
Spiderweb Tossup
I have to admit, I'm curious--what's the issue with that tossup? It seems decently pyramidal and sticks to biology--is the topic just that pointless?
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Jeremy Gibbs-Duhem Equation »

It's a pretty goofy topic, and I don't think I know anyone that could reasonably get it before spinnerets.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by at your pleasure »

I don't know much trash and don't have much of a taste for it, but I don't understand why people write impossible questions for trash just because they like the subject. I wouldn't write a tossup on The Autobiography of Benventuo Cellini for high school even though it's an awsome book because I know it's probably going to go dead or be buzzer-raced in most rooms. Can I not expect people who write trash to act likewise and focus their answers on reasonably famous stuff?
I have to admit, I'm curious--what's the issue with that tossup? It seems decently pyramidal and sticks to biology--is the topic just that pointless?
Just the massive, massive difficulty cliff after the strucure clues. I suppose it could have been salvaged with an extra two lines, but I don't know enough bio to be sure.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by jonah »

Jeremy Gibbs-Duhem Equation wrote:It's a pretty goofy topic, and I don't think I know anyone that could reasonably get it before spinnerets.
Well, I think buzzing at araneoids is maybe possible, but before that, almost certainly not. Deleting stuff before that leaves basically a four-clue tossup, which is insufficient. And I'm skeptical that there are other possible clues available; having only four clues out there pretty much excludes a topic from making a good tossup. As a weird, easy bonus part, it might be less objectionable, or at least to me.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Not That Kind of Christian!! »

fleurdelivre wrote:
HKirsch wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:Was there really a tossup on Keyboard Cat at this tournament?
Yeah, this was beyond ridiculous. I can't decide if this, spiderwebs, or purring wins the Worst Question sash.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Sir Thopas »

Anti-Climacus wrote:I suppose it could have been salvaged with an extra two lines, but I don't know enough bio to be sure.
No it couldn't, because it's a horrible idea for a tossup, because nobody will actually know scientific clues about it, so they have to resort to silly ones.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by ihavenoidea »

No love (read: hate) for Pure Pwnage?
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by fleurdelivre »

ihavenoidea wrote:No love (read: hate) for Pure Pwnage?
I had forgotten that one, too. (note: the fact that this the running for "worst trash tossup" has such an open, competitive field...? point made.)
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by naturalistic phallacy »

HKirsch wrote:
fleurdelivre wrote:
HKirsch wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:Was there really a tossup on Keyboard Cat at this tournament?
Yeah, this was beyond ridiculous. I can't decide if this, spiderwebs, or purring wins the Worst Question sash.
Sea World, people - Sea World.
Man, I forgot about Sea World. And Fark. And Skype.
How could we forget the first two tossups of the tournament?!

Really, while there were some good questions in this set, NAQT really needs to get its act together regarding its vast quantities of poor general knowledge and "real world" lit/science/social science questions. It's beyond parody now.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by ihavenoidea »

fleurdelivre wrote:
ihavenoidea wrote:No love (read: hate) for Pure Pwnage?
I had forgotten that one, too. (note: the fact that this the running for "worst trash tossup" has such an open, competitive field...? point made.)
sea world rox man...shamu is amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Sadly, our captain powered the Sea World TU....
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by at your pleasure »

"real world" lit/science/social science questions.
Conjecture 1. There is a inverse correlation between the frequency for "real world" answer choices and/or the producer's use of "appeal to the 'real world'" and the quality of that tournament.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by jonpin »

Jeremy Gibbs Paradox wrote:Seriously that "purring" q was barely a step above the infamous "banana" tus of CBI fame.
DumbJaques wrote:Was there really a tossup on Keyboard Cat at this tournament?
jonpin wrote:the god-awful LOLCATS tossup in an IS set
Sir Thopas wrote:Cri du chat? Whoever decided to make these answer choices is so out of touch with quizbowl in general, especially in high school, that I would advise for them not to write ever again.
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by Charbroil »

Sir Thopas wrote:Cri du chat? Whoever decided to make these answer choices is so out of touch with quizbowl in general, especially in high school, that I would advise for them not to write ever again.
Is Cri du chat really that bad? I remember going over it in our sophomore Biology class (which wasn't insanely difficult). At the very least, it seems like it could work as the hard part of a genetic abnormalities bonus...
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Re: 2009 HSNCT question discussion

Post by jonah »

Sir Thopas wrote:Tetralogy of Fallot? Cri du chat? Whoever decided to make these answer choices is so out of touch with quizbowl in general, especially in high school, that I would advise for them not to write ever again.
Forgive my ignorance that is so severe that I should never write a question again, but why are these a problem? I haven't heard of tetralogy of Fallot, but cri du chat got a mention-plus in my intro biology class and is discussed in Campbell and Reece, and I've definitely heard about it a few times since.

edit: I didn't write either of those questions and don't remember the first one. I just don't see why cri du chat, at least, is so bad.
Last edited by jonah on Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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