2011 HSNCT conversion stats discussion

[bt_green_warbler]

These stats are ready.

Overall: 82.3% of tossups answered correctly, 20.6% powered.

(2010: 78.5% of tossups answered correctly, 15.7% powered.

2009: 73.3% correct, 14.9% powered.)

That's a very substantial improvement in conversion.


Least-converted tossups (min. 60 rooms played):

Alvar Aalto
--10% conversion--
C. Wright Mills
--20% conversion--
Carrie Anne Moss
Caprivi Strip
Peter Minuit
--25% conversion--
Charles Evans Hughes
Lewis Cass
Phedre
--30% conversion--
cycloid
Cavalleria Rusticana
Tlaloc
--35% conversion--
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Mehmed II
The Power and the Glory
planetary nebula
--40% conversion--

Last year's thread for comparison. Overall, we seem to have done a better job of weeding out difficulty outliers, but obviously there's still some work to do here.

[bt_green_warbler]

Power stats (again, minimum 60 rooms heard)

Not powered by anyone:

Alvar Aalto
C. Wright Mills
planetary nebula
Raman scattering
Alexander Stephens
Claude-Levi Strauss
Fountain of the Four Rivers
reinforcement
pyrimidines
Sea of Marmara
William Wordsworth
The Ransom of Red Chief
Cincinnatus
Vientiane
index of refraction
Fur Elise
dopamine
fullerenes
fandango
Puck
molybdenum
Malta
Malaysia
Allan Pinkerton
heart attack
Royal Air Force
Idaho
Beauty and the Beast
avocado
Upton Sinclair
Pancho Villa
Vitus Bering
Arizona

[Transparent Pudding]

The Caprivi Strip, as happy as I was that that was tossed-up, may be a little too difficult. But besides that, Aalto, and Carrie Anne Moss, everything else seems reasonable for this tournament (note: I don't claim to be an authority, obviously). And for a tournament this size, that's impressive.

It's interesting that no one powered Wordsworth. Also interesting: someone powered Carrie Anne Moss.

[Mechanical Beasts]

The Caprivi Strip, as happy as I was that that was tossed-up, may be a little too difficult. But besides that, Aalto, and Carrie Anne Moss, everything else seems reasonable for this tournament (note: I don't claim to be an authority, obviously). And for a tournament this size, that's impressive.

To give some question history, Caprivi was originally a DI SCT question (I believe) that got re-coded for a high school range just because--as far as I could tell--the G: editor thought Caprivi Strip questions had been coming up entirely too much in college (I know little geography, but even I do know that that's a stock clue for Namibia and stuff); the question of whether it actually was meaningful on the HS level was, to me, pretty open. I can guarantee you I'll never not turn it into a tossup on Namibia again.)

[Kentari]

If I remember correctly, the Fur Elise tossup was written abysmally. I think everything up until "E to D sharp" was completely unbuzzable. I do remember that it listed the keys it went through, which is completely useless to someone who knows a piece of music, since you don't need to know that to play it, and the only reason you would know it is if you were analyzing it, which no one in high school does. My teammate and I and can both play Fur Elise from memory, but we were beaten out on the "E to D sharp" clue. Fur Elise is too short to write a whole toss-up on. Additionally, questions which describe musical compositions are usually vague or impossible.

Graham Greene seems rather difficult to ask about, but I don't pretend to know for sure.

[Excelsior (smack)]

Could you post the "planetary nebula" and "avocado" tossups, please?

[TheKingInYellow]

I'm pretty sure I powered Sea of Marmara

[Ukonvasara]

That Wordsworth tossup looked like someone had put a poorly-written ICT tossup in a blender, so I'm not particularly surprised it wasn't powered.

[Andrew's a Freshman]

That Wordsworth tossup looked like someone had put a poorly-written ICT tossup in a blender, so I'm not particularly surprised it wasn't powered.

Could I see this and the Ransom of Red Chief tossups? I played the Wordsworth and remember a blur until "Lake Poet" but might have missed something. I didn't get to hear the Ransom tossup, but I've read it.

[bt_green_warbler]

The opening theme of this piece is repeated after a fast section in F major, and another theme in D minor follows. A lighter section in F major is followed by bars in C major, then the first section repeats. This piece in rondo form begins in (*) 3/8 time as the right hand alternates between E and D sharp. For 10 points--name this so-called bagatelle in A minor that Beethoven may have written for a female pupil.

He criticized a convention between Portugal and Great Britain in one of his prose works, ~The Convention of Cintra~. Seven years before his death in 1850, he succeeded Robert Southey as Poet Laureate. His poems include the "tale in verse" called ~Peter Bell~ and the long ~The (*) Prelude~, as well as "Resolution and Independence." For 10 points--name this Romantic poet who also wrote about revisiting Tintern Abbey.

This food's many varieties can be grouped into three types: West Indian, Mexican, and Guatemalan, and its leaves contain the acid persin, toxic to many animals. The most popular U.S. cultivars are the (*) Hass type with rugged brown-black skin, and the Fuerte with a more typical pear shape and green skin. For 10 points--name this fruit also known as an alligator pear, used in California rolls and guacamole.

One character in this work whipped Ed Walker twice on Saturday. Later, that character feeds another individual, whose favorite Biblical character is King Herod, sand rather than oats. Two characters in this short story are given the nicknames (*) "Snake-eye" and "Old Hank the Trapper." For 10 points--name this short story in which Sam Howard and Bill Driscoll come to regret kidnapping the title child, a work by O. Henry.

One solar mass stars spend approximately 10,000 years as these entities. They are formed from asymptotic giant branch stars that pulsate and lose large fractions of their mass in a stellar wind; when the underlying hot core is exposed, the lost mass begins to glow. A (*) white dwarf lies at the center of--for 10 points--what type of nebula whose name, bestowed by William Herschel, reflects its similarity to gas giants?

[bt_green_warbler]

Powered in 25 or more rooms:

Kazuo Ishiguro
A Good Man is Hard to Find
differential equations
relatively prime
Mauryan Empire (this one was read in 70 rooms and generated the remarkable stat line of 26/26/26)
John Winthrop
Heimdall
Gerard Butler
Frank Gehry
Cat's Cradle
Council of Trent
Michael Faraday
Tom Joad
Wicked
Chinua Achebe
Sudan
Vincent van Gogh
Black and Yellow
My Fair Lady
Community
New Jersey
Justin Bieber
Lend-Lease Act
Mormonism
Ace Ventura
New Years Day
dragons
self-immolation
Ashton Kutcher
floods
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Ra

[Madagascar Serpent Eagle]

I'd be interested in seeing the most negged, if you have those.

[Madagascar Serpent Eagle]

Also I'm not surprised to see the Faraday one in the top powers; I thought the lead-in of force lines and ice pail was really easy for this tournament compared to most other ones.

[Transparent Pudding]

Scooter Braun was a really easy lead-in for Bieber, anyone who had seen "Never Say Never" or knows anything about the Bieber creation myth would have annihilated that tossup.

[Masked Canadian History Bandit]

I remember seeing in the liveblog that there was a Canadian politics tossup played in a round late in the afternoon that someone wondered if Lisgar powered. Post the question and conversion stats please?

[Golden-bellied Starfrontlet]

Could I see the Dragons, Fountain of the Four Rivers, and Beauty and the Beast tossups please?

[bt_green_warbler]

A Vietnamese myth claims humanity came from one of these creatures mating with a fairy. The Japanese sea god Ryojin usually took this form, and Japan's imperial sword was found in the tail of one of these creatures. In Chinese myth four of them rule the directional seas, and in Norse myth (*) Nidhogg is one of these monsters. For 10 points--name these mythical reptiles, that, in modern portrayals, often breathe fire.

One figure in this sculpture has a jeweled legband; another, with a robe-covered face, sits next to a palm tree and lions. It is built around an ancient sculpture moved from the Circus of Maxentius and is capped by a symbol of the Pamphili family, the dove. An (*) Egyptian obelisk is surrounded by personifications of the Ganges, Danube, Nile, and Rio de la Plata in--for 10 points--what fountain by Gian Lorenzo Bernini?

Andre Gretry used it as the basis of his comic opera ~Zemire and Azor~. Prince Ardent is the second title character of Jean Cocteau's version, in which he punishes a (*) merchant for stealing a rose, and is served by dozens of disembodied hands. For 10 points--name this French fairy tale about Belle's unselfish love, whose Disney adaptation features the songs "Gaston" and "Be Our Guest."

[bt_green_warbler]

I remember seeing in the liveblog that there was a Canadian politics tossup played in a round late in the afternoon that someone wondered if Lisgar powered. Post the question and conversion stats please?

One leader of this party defeated Charles Tupper because of the Orange Order and was opposed by Catholic bishops; that man was Wilfrid Laurier. Another leader of this party, who feuded with Lord Byng and joined World War II, was William Lyon Mackenzie King. A power struggle in this party pitted Paul (*) Martin against Jean Chretien. For 10 points--name this party waxed in a 2011 election by Stephen Harper's Conservatives.

5/30/6 in 70 rooms, so at least some American players were able to power this.

[bt_green_warbler]

25 or more minus-fives:

Alvar Aalto
Peter Minuit
Charles Evans Hughes
Tlaloc
planetary nebula
Susquehanna River
CNBC
San Diego Bay
Cadmus
slate
Cardinal Mazarin
Mies van der Rohe
vitamin B1
reinforcement
corundum
critical point
Banquo
apportionment
pyrimidines
Mauryan Empire
Andre Ampere
Battle of the Coral Sea
astatine
New Hampshire
Java
molybdenum
Wicked
Malaysia
Vandals
Thomas Malthus
Syria
symmetric property
arteries

[sir negsalot]

Might I see the tossup and stats for the Michael Scott question?

[Kyle]

The Puck tossup came up in the BSQC final and it was powered on about four words. Perhaps American high schoolers just aren't British enough.

[Mr. Scogan]

The Puck tossup came up in the BSQC final and it was powered on about four words. Perhaps American high schoolers just aren't British enough.

I wonder how many times Relegation didn't get powered at your mirror.

[Kyle]

The Puck tossup came up in the BSQC final and it was powered on about four words. Perhaps American high schoolers just aren't British enough.

I wonder how many times Relegation didn't get powered at your mirror.

You mean you wonder how often the "football" tossups on Schalke and Ghana's 2010 World Cup campaign and the common-link tossup on teams named Rangers (clues from New York, Texas, Queen's Park, and Glasgow) got powered at my tournament?

[sacagawea]

Could you post the Malthus tossup? For some reason I felt misled by one of the clues. While playing at HSNCT, I remember luckily getting outbuzzed by an opponent who negged with the answer I was thinking.

[No Electricity Required]

I'd like to see the Peter Minuit and Vandals TUs, please.

[Blau Space]

In addition, could you post the tossup on A Good Man is Hard to Find? Love the story, but I'm pretty sure we had a bye that round.

[List of Fighting Spirit characters]

A Vietnamese myth claims humanity came from one of these creatures mating with a fairy. The Japanese sea god Ryojin usually took this form, and Japan's imperial sword was found in the tail of one of these creatures. In Chinese myth four of them rule the directional seas, and in Norse myth (*) Nidhogg is one of these monsters. For 10 points--name these mythical reptiles, that, in modern portrayals, often breathe fire.

"Serpent" should have been acceptable for "dragon" before the "breathes fire" clue.

[Christ, I Know]

Could you post the Malthus tossup? For some reason I felt misled by one of the clues. While playing at HSNCT, I remember luckily getting outbuzzed by an opponent who negged with the answer I was thinking.

Was it the "Principles of political economy" clue?

[bt_green_warbler]

In one episode, this man offers batteries to high school students after revealing that he cannot pay for their college educations. More recently, he fell in love with (*) Holly Flax and decided to follow her to Colorado, leading to his replacement by Deangelo Vickers, played by Will Ferrell. For 10 points--name this Dunder Mifflin employee played by Steve Carell on ~The Office~.

24/18/14 in 45 rooms.

One of this thinker's works criticizes William Godwin; another gives rent as an example of surplus. This author of ~The Nature of Rent~ attacked Say's Law in ~Principles of Political Economy~. This proponent of the Corn Laws argued that food supply grows (*) arithmetically while population grows geometrically, inevitably causing famine and war. For 10 points--name this British economist who wrote an essay "On Population."

In 1638, this man established Fort Christina at the present-day site of Wilmington, Delaware, as part of his leadership of the colony of New Sweden. Earlier, while in the service of another European power, he established the town of New (*) Amsterdam. For 10 points--name this director-general of New Netherland who, in exchange for trade goods valued at 60 guilders, purchased Manhattan Island.

In this work, one character sneaks her cat Pitty Sing into a car before they eat at a diner owned by Red Sam. Bobby Lee is assigned the task of watching the children, June Star and John Wesley. Those children's (*) grandmother is shot after she says "you're one of my own children!" to an escapee from prison. For 10 points--name this short story by Flannery O'Connor that depicts the murder of a family by the Misfit's gang.

[Mechanical Beasts]

Could you post the Malthus tossup? For some reason I felt misled by one of the clues. While playing at HSNCT, I remember luckily getting outbuzzed by an opponent who negged with the answer I was thinking.

Was it the "Principles of political economy" clue?

Oh, I see: Malthus and Ricardo (and Mill) have books with that title. But the description of Malthus's PPE is unique, since Ricardo defended Say's law (in general, and specifically in his own work with that title).

[jgalea84]

Very surprised at the low conversion numbers for the Peter Minuit tossup.

[bt_green_warbler]

Conversion stats by category:

(%correct, %power)

current events (90.7, 21.1)
fine arts (73.0, 21.8)
general knowledge (86.3, 5.8)
geography (82.3, 12.6)
history (82.4, 17.9)
language (100.0, 0.0)
literature (80.5, 29.5)
miscellaneous (93.3, 13.8)
philosophy (75.4, 17.1)
pop culture (84.7, 41.1)
science (83.4, 14.8)
social science (73.2, 12.4)
sports (76.8, 31.2)
theology (94.6, 27.0)

[bt_green_warbler]

Some subcategories of note:

mythology (78.8, 46.0)
fine arts (visual) (70.2, 25.5)
fine arts (music) (79.3, 20.5)
fine arts (performance) (64.4, 17.7)
biology (85.4, 16.0)
chemistry (85.9, 12.2)
physics (85.2, 14.6)
math (78.5, 19.8)
astronomy (72.5, 12.0)

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Very surprised at the low conversion numbers for the Peter Minuit tossup.

Why? It may be a weirdly iconic American story, but it's not really an important name to remember in the annals of American History. It is of no use to mention his name, for example, in an AP U.S. History class, as i did not do so in teaching the class this year, nor do i ever plan on it.

Come to think of it, no, i wouldn't have been able to remember his name either, if i were asked to do so.

[jgalea84]

Very surprised at the low conversion numbers for the Peter Minuit tossup.

Why? It may be a weirdly iconic American story, but it's not really an important name to remember in the annals of American History. It is of no use to mention his name, for example, in an AP U.S. History class, as i did not do so in teaching the class this year, nor do i ever plan on it.

Come to think of it, no, i wouldn't have been able to remember his name either, if i were asked to do so.

I agree that he's a minor name in American history, but it's the sort of story that it seems like any history player worth his or her salt would remember.

Or maybe I played Sid Meier's Colonization too much as a child.

[nadph]

Can you post the index of refraction tossup? I'm curious why it wasn't powered.

[etchdulac]

Or maybe I played Sid Meier's Colonization too much as a child.

My exact thought. I feel old. Wait, I am old in this context.

[bt_green_warbler]

Can you post the index of refraction tossup? I'm curious why it wasn't powered.

This dimensionless parameter varies as the square root of the medium's dielectric constant, assuming that the extinction coefficient is zero. It can vary with wavelength, resulting in the phenomenon of (*) dispersion. The angle at which light rays bend when passing between two media is calculated in Snell's law using--for 10 points--what quantity which is 1.33 for pure water?

[No Electricity Required]

I'd like to see the Peter Minuit and Vandals TUs, please.

I think you may have overlooked my interest in the Vandals TU, and I'd still like to see it, please.

Very surprised at the low conversion numbers for the Peter Minuit tossup.

Why? It may be a weirdly iconic American story, but it's not really an important name to remember in the annals of American History. It is of no use to mention his name, for example, in an AP U.S. History class, as i did not do so in teaching the class this year, nor do i ever plan on it.

Come to think of it, no, i wouldn't have been able to remember his name either, if i were asked to do so.

I agree that he's a minor name in American history, but it's the sort of story that it seems like any history player worth his or her salt would remember.

Or maybe I played Sid Meier's Colonization too much as a child.

I was surprised by the low conversion of the tossup myself, but I think I can owe my Minuit knowledge to Age of Empires III. The only time I remember learning about it in school was when it came up in a grammar exercise back in fifth or sixth grade.

[Transparent Pudding]

Very surprised at the low conversion numbers for the Peter Minuit tossup.

Why? It may be a weirdly iconic American story, but it's not really an important name to remember in the annals of American History. It is of no use to mention his name, for example, in an AP U.S. History class, as i did not do so in teaching the class this year, nor do i ever plan on it.

Come to think of it, no, i wouldn't have been able to remember his name either, if i were asked to do so.

I agree that he's a minor name in American history, but it's the sort of story that it seems like any history player worth his or her salt would remember.

Or maybe I played Sid Meier's Colonization too much as a child.

I learned it from a video I watched on the history of New York, as well as APUSH. What I've done is I've twinned Stuyvesant and Munuit (probably not a good idea) because I learned them at the same time and they are very similar in roles. Due to that, I probably would have negged with Stuyvesant had I not heard a Minuit tossup in scrimmages on the Friday before with similar clues.

[bt_green_warbler]

I'd like to see the Peter Minuit and Vandals TUs, please.

I think you may have overlooked my interest in the Vandals TU, and I'd still like to see it, please.

This group's ruler Gelimer lost the battles of Ad Decimum and Tricamarum. Another ruler, Genseric, kidnapped Licinia Eudoxia following the overthrow of Valentinian III. They were destroyed following a war against Belisarius. This group sacked (*) Hippo, home to St. Augustine, in 430, and later sacked Rome in 455. For 10 points--name this Germanic tribe that plundered North Africa and names a type of destructive behavior.

Not sure why that didn't post properly the first time I tried...

[bt_green_warbler]

I learned it from a video I watched on the history of New York, as well as APUSH. What I've done is I've twinned Stuyvesant and Minuit (probably not a good idea) because I learned them at the same time and they are very similar in roles. Due to that, I probably would have negged with Stuyvesant had I not heard a Minuit tossup in scrimmages on the Friday before with similar clues.

In 1638 this man was drowned in a hurricane in the West Indies, having earlier in the year built New Sweden on the Delaware River. In 1626 he succeeded Willem Verhulst as director of New (*) Netherland, and brought together local Indian sachems to legitimize the colonies of the Dutch West India Company. For 10 points--name this leader of New Amsterdam who supposedly spent 60 guilders to buy Manhattan.

The 2006 tossup also had conversion issues: 1/11/14 in 19 rooms.

(This year's: 3/14/29 in 70.)

Enough for me to conclude: we should stop writing tossups on him because too many people will neg with Stuyvesant.

[Christ, I Know]

Enough for me to conclude: we should stop writing tossups on him because too many people will neg with Stuyvesant.

And write tossups on Stuyvesant instead.

[The Herb]

Could I see that Tossup on "Relegation"--as well as the acceptable responses? I may be misremembering, but I recall it confusing me by mentioning aspects of both promotion and relegation.

[Kyle]

The problem with the tossup on relegation is that it was possible to buzz in and get it right before any clue whatsoever had been given, since it began "This method of entering the Football League..." and there is only one method of entering the Football League that one would ever write a tossup on.

[The Herb]

The problem with the tossup on relegation is that it was possible to buzz in and get it right before any clue whatsoever had been given, since it began "This method of entering the Football League..." and there is only one method of entering the Football League that one would ever write a tossup on.

Ah, shoot. Something about the question must have thrown me off, I guess. I think that when I heard "method of entering the Football League" my brain assumed that the question was asking for something positive.

[pray for elves]

The problem with the tossup on relegation is that it was possible to buzz in and get it right before any clue whatsoever had been given, since it began "This method of entering the Football League..." and there is only one method of entering the Football League that one would ever write a tossup on.

Ah, shoot. Something about the question must have thrown me off, I guess. I think that when I heard "method of entering the Football League" my brain assumed that the question was asking for something positive.

It's true that you can enter the League by being promoted from the Conference.

[Kyle]

The problem with the tossup on relegation is that it was possible to buzz in and get it right before any clue whatsoever had been given, since it began "This method of entering the Football League..." and there is only one method of entering the Football League that one would ever write a tossup on.

Ah, shoot. Something about the question must have thrown me off, I guess. I think that when I heard "method of entering the Football League" my brain assumed that the question was asking for something positive.

It's true that you can enter the League by being promoted from the Conference.

Sure, but would anybody actually write a tossup on promotion?

[jonpin]

The problem with the tossup on relegation is that it was possible to buzz in and get it right before any clue whatsoever had been given, since it began "This method of entering the Football League..." and there is only one method of entering the Football League that one would ever write a tossup on.

Ah, shoot. Something about the question must have thrown me off, I guess. I think that when I heard "method of entering the Football League" my brain assumed that the question was asking for something positive.

It's true that you can enter the League by being promoted from the Conference.

Sure, but would anybody actually write a tossup on promotion?

Truth be told, if I were playing that tossup, I would've negged with "playoff".

[in on these shenanigans]

Sure, but would anybody actually write a tossup on promotion?

I know little about soccer, but it seems to me that promotion and relegation are the exact same process - with the exception that one has you doing well, the other poorly. Therefore, tossupability would be equal, and so I'll ask "would anybody actually write a tossup on relegation?"