2015 BHSAT: Specific Question Requests and Discussion

[Grace]

Please post here if you want to discuss specific individual questions or small subsets of questions from the BHSAT 2015 set. If you need us to post a question for you to comment on it, you can make those requests here as well and we'll try to upload the version you played; that said, it'd be nice to have some heads-up about why you're making a given request (e.g.: "Can you post the tossup on fish? It seemed like one clue was actually about birds", rather than just "Can you post the tossup on fish?").

[Lefty734]

Can you post the psychology toss up on education? I remember hearing a clue about something we had just learned in class and buzzing in with "parenting" (although I had trouble deciding between that and the correct answer).

[Grace]

Can you post the psychology toss up on education? I remember hearing a clue about something we had just learned in class and buzzing in with "parenting" (although I had trouble deciding between that and the correct answer).

Description acceptable. The traditional “banking” approach to this activity perpetuates oppression, while an “authentic” approach to it makes people more human, according to Paolo Freire. Another theorist of it focused on “human tendencies” and advocated a “constructivist” approach to this. Vygotsky’s idea of a “Zone of proximal development” has led to the (*) “scaffolding” approach to this activity. Benjamin Bloom created a taxonomy of its objectives. John Dewey believed that it was the key to democracy. A theorist of it argued for working with many ages at once, and noticed “spontaneous discipline” with the right choice of activities. For 10 points, name this activity studied by people like Maria Montessori.
ANSWER: education [or pedagogy; accept Pedagogy of the Oppressed; accept any answer involving teaching, instruction, learning, etc.] <JR>

[Amethyst]

Could I see the tossup on harmonic motion?

I buzzed in on the "simple harmonic motion" tossup on the mg clue (something like that) and said "simple harmonic oscillation." My answer was not taken, even though the question said oscillations later in the tossup. Shouldn't you at least be prompted on my answer?

[vinteuil]

Could I see the tossup on harmonic motion?

I buzzed in on the "simple harmonic motion" tossup on the mg clue (something like that) and said "simple harmonic oscillation." My answer was not taken, even though the question said oscillations later in the tossup. Shouldn't you at least be prompted on my answer?

This phenomenon stops as quickly as possible when its characteristic equation only involves one double root, a “critical” situation. In another situation, this phenomenon can be easily modelled by setting “I alpha” equal to “negative m-g-l-theta” using the small-angle approximation. Modelling it involves solving a second-order differential equation with no first-derivative term—like “m d-squared-x d-t-squared equals negative k-x.” When its equation has a first-order term, it exponentially decays (perhaps due to friction), or is (*) “damped.” It occurs when the displacement is proportional to the restoring force, as in Hooke’s law. For 10 points, name this oscillation demonstrated by springs and pendula.
ANSWER: simple harmonic motion

I didn't have any other prompts on the grounds that "simple harmonic motion" is as much a definite thing as "Pride and Prejudice"; if I'm completely wrong about that, I'll change it.

[Maury Island incident]

Can I see the bonus that had different parts with different values, rather than the standard "for ten points each"? I just recall that being kind of weird to hear and was confused by it.

[Grace]

The “A10” countries joined this body in 2004, marking its largest expansion in terms of land and population. Answer some questions about it, for the stated number of points:
[10] For 10 points—name this supranational institution. Most of its member states implemented a common currency in 2002, following on the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht.
ANSWER: European Union [or EU]
[10/15] Two French politicians were influential in the creation of the EU. One of them founded the European Coal and Steel Community, while another was first President of the European Parliamentary Assembly. Name either for 10 points, or both for 15.
ANSWER: Jean [Omer Marie Gabriel] Monet and [Jean-Baptiste Nicolas] Robert Schuman
[5] For 5 points—the EU is headquartered in what city? It’s also the capital of its member state Belgium.
ANSWER: Brussels [or Bruxelles; or Brussel] <MW>

[vinteuil]

The “A10” countries joined this body in 2004, marking its largest expansion in terms of land and population. Answer some questions about it, for the stated number of points:
[10] For 10 points—name this supranational institution. Most of its member states implemented a common currency in 2002, following on the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht.
ANSWER: European Union [or EU]
[10/15] Two French politicians were influential in the creation of the EU. One of them founded the European Coal and Steel Community, while another was first President of the European Parliamentary Assembly. Name either for 10 points, or both for 15.
ANSWER: Jean [Omer Marie Gabriel] Monet and [Jean-Baptiste Nicolas] Robert Schuman
[5] For 5 points—the EU is headquartered in what city? It’s also the capital of its member state Belgium.
ANSWER: Brussels [or Bruxelles; or Brussel] <MW>

Can I see the bonus that had different parts with different values, rather than the standard "for ten points each"? I just recall that being kind of weird to hear and was confused by it.

This question was definitely an experiment, partly because I think it's much harder to distinguish between Monet and Schuman than to know what they both did; I thought it would make the hard part easier.

[Northern Central Railway]

The _Euler_ tossup seem easily fraudable to me, one of my players who knows very little about math other than that Euler did lots of things was able to confidently power that tossup. Is having _Euler_ and _e_ as tossups in the same tournament a good idea? Although the high school math canon is indeed small, it's not impossible to find more variability in math tossup answerlines.

The _dictator_ tossup ended up being a first clue buzzer race in my room, but that may reflect more on the talent of the teams involved rather than the tossup itself.

The _1848_ tossup seemed a bit transparent - there's only so many individual non-election years that can be appropriately tossed up at the high school level, and the number becomes even smaller when the first two lines are about European things only.

[vinteuil]

The _Euler_ tossup seem easily fraudable to me, one of my players who knows very little about math other than that Euler did lots of things was able to confidently power that tossup. Is having _Euler_ and _e_ as tossups in the same tournament a good idea? Although the high school math canon is indeed small, it's not impossible to find more variability in math tossup answerlines.

The _dictator_ tossup ended up being a first clue buzzer race in my room, but that may reflect more on the talent of the teams involved rather than the tossup itself.

The _1848_ tossup seemed a bit transparent - there's only so many individual non-election years that can be appropriately tossed up at the high school level, and the number becomes even smaller when the first two lines are about European things only.

The convergence on those two tossups was more or less a fluke (different writers)—it didn't seem bad enough to replace one of them at the time. What in particular was fraudable about the Euler tossup ("lots of things" applying just as well to, e.g. Gauss and Newton)?

I agree with your second clause about the dictator tossup, but, then again, maybe we needed to find a harder leadin—if anyone else had that experience, I'd be happy to hear from them.

I was a bit worried about 1848—again, I'd love to hear from people if it became an actual issue in an actual game.

[Bosa of York]

If I recall correctly, there was a really fluffy clue in the Euler tossup about him being probably the most diverse mathematician ever or something to that effect.

[Halved Xenon Stinging]

Personally, i know very little about the revolutions of 1848, but hearing "year" and then something about overthrowing someone made it very transparent and i was able to confidently fraud it for power after the other team had already negged.

[vinteuil]

Personally, i know very little about the revolutions of 1848, but hearing "year" and then something about overthrowing someone made it very transparent and i was able to confidently fraud it for power after the other team had already negged.

I mean, there's an 1830 too...

If I recall correctly, there was a really fluffy clue in the Euler tossup about him being probably the most diverse mathematician ever or something to that effect.

"Prolific," and I'm not sure how that's "fluffy"—it's an important characteristic of him as a mathematician.

[Jeremy Gibbs Paradox]

The 1830 revolution is primarily limited to France while the 1848 one is universally regarded as the most important geopolitical event in Europe between the fall of Napoleon and World War I. I had the same fraud thought when I was reading it. If this subforum is to be of any use to you for future endeavors, might i suggest actually CONSIDERING the feedback you are receiving instead of defending yourself from criticism as a reflex?

[Bosa of York]

"Prolific," and I'm not sure how that's "fluffy"—it's an important characteristic of him as a mathematician.

Sure, but it's unquantifiable, unverifiable, and insubstantial, and thus a bad clue in the same way that “His intermittent surrealist depictions and use of vivid color belied the realism and monochromatic pigments that the public associated with him.” is a bad clue for an artist. It's needless words that at best just make the tossup longer and at worst promote frauding.

[vinteuil]

The 1830 revolution is primarily limited to France while the 1848 one is universally regarded as the most important geopolitical event in Europe between the fall of Napoleon and World War I. I had the same fraud thought when I was reading it. If this subforum is to be of any use to you for future endeavors, might i suggest actually CONSIDERING the feedback you are receiving instead of defending yourself from criticism as a reflex?

Look, I'm not saying this was the best answerline choice in the word, nor that it's not fraudable (although, Belgium and Poland would probably be a bit miffed at your assertion that nothing happened there in 1830!). What do people think about changing the answerline to "revolutions of _1848_" and thus making the answerline a little less guessable?

"Prolific," and I'm not sure how that's "fluffy"—it's an important characteristic of him as a mathematician.

Sure, but it's unquantifiable, unverifiable, and insubstantial, and thus a bad clue in the same way that “His intermittent surrealist depictions and use of vivid color belied the realism and monochromatic pigments that the public associated with him.” is a bad clue for an artist. It's needless words that at best just make the tossup longer and at worst promote frauding.

I mean, as I said, Euler is well-known specifically as the most prolific mathematician ever, which is as verifiable as cluing Telemann as "most prolific composer ever" (the point stands even if someone "decides" that Graupner or whoever is the most prolific composer).

[Halved Xenon Stinging]

In any case, I think it shows more deep knowledge to know about Euler's totient function than to know that he was the most prolific mathematician. Putting the "prolific" clue near the end or giveaway could be acceptable, but i think its location in the tossup is part of the problem.

[vinteuil]

In any case, I think it shows more deep knowledge to know about Euler's totient function than to know that he was the most prolific mathematician. Putting the "prolific" clue near the end or giveaway could be acceptable, but i think its location in the tossup is part of the problem.

Fair enough; I'll move it.

[mgysac15]

Could I see the tossup on harmonic motion?

I buzzed in on the "simple harmonic motion" tossup on the mg clue (something like that) and said "simple harmonic oscillation." My answer was not taken, even though the question said oscillations later in the tossup. Shouldn't you at least be prompted on my answer?

This phenomenon stops as quickly as possible when its characteristic equation only involves one double root, a “critical” situation. In another situation, this phenomenon can be easily modelled by setting “I alpha” equal to “negative m-g-l-theta” using the small-angle approximation. Modelling it involves solving a second-order differential equation with no first-derivative term—like “m d-squared-x d-t-squared equals negative k-x.” When its equation has a first-order term, it exponentially decays (perhaps due to friction), or is (*) “damped.” It occurs when the displacement is proportional to the restoring force, as in Hooke’s law. For 10 points, name this oscillation demonstrated by springs and pendula.
ANSWER: simple harmonic motion

I didn't have any other prompts on the grounds that "simple harmonic motion" is as much a definite thing as "Pride and Prejudice"; if I'm completely wrong about that, I'll change it.

I'll accept at least some of the blame for that one - I looked over a number of the science questions, and adding that as promptable or outright accepted didn't occur to me at the time. I don't see anything in the question that using the term "harmonic oscillation" would be wrong for, so it probably should be accepted.

[Lo, a momentary rabbit-stage]

There was definitely a little bit of annoyance at the proliferation of "people from this country" tossups in a variety of categories. Two specific tossups come to mind (can you post these, too? I don't remember them perfectly).

1. The most annoying one that comes to mind personally was the tossup on British philosophers. Within the first line or two, I knew they were talking about Russell, but I wasn't sure (for whatever reason, in the spur of the moment) whether Russell came from Britain or the US. Needless to say, I chose the wrong thing, and I can't help but feel a little annoyed at it. While in some cases the language people wrote in or the country they come from is very relevant to their writings (to keep it in the same category, the tossup on philosophers who wrote in German was relevant because a lot of german culture and thought is intrinsically tied with their philosophers). However, I can't think of anything that necessarily ties Russell to Britain other than the fact that he lived there - it just seems like a kind of trivial extension to write a common-link tossup instead of just a tossup on Moore or Russell. I'm not an expert on his works, but I'm fairly certain their main focus is not on the fact he lives in Britain.

2. I really have little expertise in this, but one of my teammates was annoyed at the Netherlands art tossup - she knew the first painting and artist, but didn't know where they came from, leading her to wait two lines and neg with Germany fsr. It seems to me that questions like this just encourage lateralization based on the phonetics of the names used rather than real knowledge - someone who knows Jacob van Ruysdael's works probably shouldn't be beaten on tossups by people who manage to figure out that "these names sound Dutch!" in the second or third line.

Another tossup that seemed to be universally annoying was the "right-angle" architecture question. We managed to guess it randomly at the end, but it did not lead that way at all, and the way the question was structured didn't seem to point towards an answer like that. While in retrospect (and probably while writing it) it makes sense, it's uncommon enough of a concept to ask about that it's not something that even crosses your mind.

Some other minor things: for the nymphs question, I'd suggest replacing "creatures" with "beings". While nymphs are technically "creatures", "creatures" seems to evoke more animalistic or basic figures. It's a super nitpicky thing, but on the first line I was like "I think this is referencing Salmacis / Hermaphroditus, so is it nymphs? Nah, that doesn't seem write with creatures..." before negging it with Centaurs somehow the next line (Can you please post this tossup? Not sure why I buzzed lol). The muses question seemed fairly transparent, especially with dropping "...one of these was related to the music tutor Linus" or however that was phrased.

Overall this was an awesome set, and I don't want to seem overly harsh, but it did seem like a fair amount of the questions were good ideas not necessarily refined and edited to be optimal for quizbowl. This continues with the slightly-too-common trend of quips in the bonus and editing snafus.

[vinteuil]

There was definitely a little bit of annoyance at the proliferation of "people from this country" tossups in a variety of categories. Two specific tossups come to mind (can you post these, too? I don't remember them perfectly).

I was a bit worried about this, and tried to keep it under control; we'll do a better job next time.

1. The most annoying one that comes to mind personally was the tossup on British philosophers. Within the first line or two, I knew they were talking about Russell, but I wasn't sure (for whatever reason, in the spur of the moment) whether Russell came from Britain or the US. Needless to say, I chose the wrong thing, and I can't help but feel a little annoyed at it. While in some cases the language people wrote in or the country they come from is very relevant to their writings (to keep it in the same category, the tossup on philosophers who wrote in German was relevant because a lot of german culture and thought is intrinsically tied with their philosophers). However, I can't think of anything that necessarily ties Russell to Britain other than the fact that he lived there - it just seems like a kind of trivial extension to write a common-link tossup instead of just a tossup on Moore or Russell. I'm not an expert on his works, but I'm fairly certain their main focus is not on the fact he lives in Britain.

2. I really have little expertise in this, but one of my teammates was annoyed at the Netherlands art tossup - she knew the first painting and artist, but didn't know where they came from, leading her to wait two lines and neg with Germany fsr. It seems to me that questions like this just encourage lateralization based on the phonetics of the names used rather than real knowledge - someone who knows Jacob van Ruysdael's works probably shouldn't be beaten on tossups by people who manage to figure out that "these names sound Dutch!" in the second or third line.

Hmm, the thing is that Russell is actually importantly British—the foundation of Analytic philosophy (the topic of that question) was distinctly English, and I think that's an important fact to know. Same thing with the Netherlands—"Dutch Landscapes" is a very real thing that art historians talk about (among the other kinds of very "Dutch art" things in that tossup); at that point in time, it really would not have been very likely for Ruisdael to be from Germany.

Another tossup that seemed to be universally annoying was the "right-angle" architecture question. We managed to guess it randomly at the end, but it did not lead that way at all, and the way the question was structured didn't seem to point towards an answer like that. While in retrospect (and probably while writing it) it makes sense, it's uncommon enough of a concept to ask about that it's not something that even crosses your mind.

That's a fair criticism. I think this tossup ended up being more "creative" than "good."

[Grace]

1. The most annoying one that comes to mind personally was the tossup on British philosophers.

A philosopher from this country called sentences that do things as “performative utterance.” Another philosopher from this country proved that good does not simply follow from natural properties. Yet another of its philosophers resolved the ambiguity of sentences with non-existent objects, like “The present King of France is bald.” A philosopher from it argued that the external world exists by saying “here is a (*) hand.” A philosopher from this country furthered the logical work of Frege with works like “On Denoting,” and attempted to prove things like God not existing and 1+1=2. For 10 points, name this country of the authors of Principia Mathematica, Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell.
ANSWER: England [accept United Kingdom, U.K., Britain, etc.; the first two philosophers are J. L. Austin and G. E. Moore] <JR>

2. I really have little expertise in this, but one of my teammates was annoyed at the Netherlands art tossup.

A landscape painter from this nation painted cloud-covered landscapes like The Jewish Cemetery. This nation was home to artistic families like the Claesz [“clahss”], the Cuyp [“cowp”], and the Ruisdael [“ROWS-dahl”]. A painter from this country depicted rowdy household scenes like The Feast of Saint Nicholas, which centers on a little blonde girl in a golden dress. Another painter from this nation depicted a pregnant Woman in Blue (*) Reading a Letter, and a blue and yellow-dressed Milkmaid. That painter from this country depicted maps in The Geographer and The Art of Painting. For 10 points, name this nation home to Jan Steen [“yawn” “stain”], and the painter of Girl With a Pearl Earring, Jan Vermeer.
ANSWER: the Netherlands [or Nederland; prompt on “Holland”] <JR>

Another tossup that seemed to be universally annoying was the "right-angle" architecture question.

Hippodamus of Miletus introduced these constructs as a component of the layout of the ideal city. These constructs are the most prominent feature of the plain white Villa Müller by Adolf Loos. Oscar Niemeyer and Gaudì’s Casa Milà avoided these things entirely. A groin vault is composed of two barrel vaults overlapping to give this construct. Le Corbusier buildings like the (*) Villa Savoye inspired International Style architects to have the roof and the walls form these constructs, despite the danger of snow accumulation. Many architects avoid these constructs, for an “organic” look. For 10 points, name this geometric construct produced by the transept and nave of a church to give a cross shape.
ANSWER: right angles [or 90 degrees; or pi over two radians; accept answers with the words normal, orthogonal, or perpendicular; prompt on “square,” “rectangle,” or “straight lines”] <FM>

Some other minor things: for the nymphs question, I'd suggest replacing "creatures" with "beings". While nymphs are technically "creatures", "creatures" seems to evoke more animalistic or basic figures. It's a super nitpicky thing, but on the first line I was like "I think this is referencing Salmacis / Hermaphroditus, so is it nymphs? Nah, that doesn't seem write with creatures..." before negging it with Centaurs somehow the next line (Can you please post this tossup? Not sure why I buzzed lol).

One of these creatures merged her body with a son of Aphrodite and Hermes while that boy was bathing in a fountain. These creatures kidnapped Hylas, causing Heracles to abandon the Quest for the Golden Fleece. Besides Salmacis, another of these creatures was punished for amusing Hera with stories while Zeus cavorted on Mount Kithairon; that figure tells her unrequited love, “Alas! Alas!” while he gazes into a (*) pool. Separated into dryads and naiads, one of these spirits was transformed into a reed to avoid the attentions of Pan. For 10 points, identify these mythological spirits who are often chased by amorous gods and satyrs, including Echo and Daphne.
ANSWER: nymphs [or oreads; accept naiads before mention; accept dryads before mention; prompt on any kind of “spirit”] <GL>

[Jason Cheng]

Hippodamus of Miletus introduced these constructs as a component of the layout of the ideal city. These constructs are the most prominent feature of the plain white Villa Müller by Adolf Loos. Oscar Niemeyer and Gaudì’s Casa Milà avoided these things entirely. A groin vault is composed of two barrel vaults overlapping to give this construct. Le Corbusier buildings like the (*) Villa Savoye inspired International Style architects to have the roof and the walls form these constructs, despite the danger of snow accumulation. Many architects avoid these constructs, for an “organic” look. For 10 points, name this geometric construct produced by the transept and nave of a church to give a cross shape.
ANSWER: right angles [or 90 degrees; or pi over two radians; accept answers with the words normal, orthogonal, or perpendicular; prompt on “square,” “rectangle,” or “straight lines”] <FM>

I quickly compiled the conversion stats for this tossup, which I found rather... out there when I was reading today (whoo online scoresheets!)

6 rooms: 0/2/4

While I understand that there are plenty of statistical reasons not to put all your faith in conversion rates, the fact is that a not entirely weak field barely managed to convert this question at all--and I suspect the reason doesn't lie in the difficulty.

[vinteuil]

Hippodamus of Miletus introduced these constructs as a component of the layout of the ideal city. These constructs are the most prominent feature of the plain white Villa Müller by Adolf Loos. Oscar Niemeyer and Gaudì’s Casa Milà avoided these things entirely. A groin vault is composed of two barrel vaults overlapping to give this construct. Le Corbusier buildings like the (*) Villa Savoye inspired International Style architects to have the roof and the walls form these constructs, despite the danger of snow accumulation. Many architects avoid these constructs, for an “organic” look. For 10 points, name this geometric construct produced by the transept and nave of a church to give a cross shape.
ANSWER: right angles [or 90 degrees; or pi over two radians; accept answers with the words normal, orthogonal, or perpendicular; prompt on “square,” “rectangle,” or “straight lines”] <FM>

I quickly compiled the conversion stats for this tossup, which I found rather... out there when I was reading today (whoo online scoresheets!)

6 rooms: 0/2/4

While I understand that there are plenty of statistical reasons not to put all your faith in conversion rates, the fact is that a not entirely weak field barely managed to convert this question at all--and I suspect the reason doesn't lie in the difficulty.

I'll replace this.

[Schroeder]

I felt that many of the bonuses asked for quotations or details that were overly specific, at least for this level. The ones that come to mind at the moment are the "coffee spoons" in the Eliot/Prufrock bonus, the sweets that Nora Helmer eats against her husband's wishes, and the "O Death, where is thy sting" in the 1 Corinthians bonus.

[Grace]

Both "macaroons" and "coffee spoons" came from bonuses I wrote. I felt they were memorable lines or plot points from works that players were likely to have read at some point (A Doll's House and Prufrock, respectively). That said, I would agree that they were on the more difficult side for third parts, and I'm open to changing them if other players agree that they were too picky.

[Jason Cheng]

I'll agree that I found "coffee spoons" one of the more reasonable bonuses at this tournament--it's a pretty well-referenced line in general, and a fair enough hard part if you want to test for actual knowledge of the poem itself.

A better example of the lit being several shades harder due to overly-specific cluing in general would be something like the Recognition of Shakuntala bonus, which was... something else. I think it went Shakuntala/Sanskirt/seven, with the third part saying something like "the Shakuntala has this many acts, and there are this many volumes in In Search of Lost Time." The last bit is not something I expect a ton of people to know.

Other examples I can pull off the top of my head are:

[*]_Anna_s in Russian lit tossup which, while extremely cool, was also probably kind of hard for regular HS
[*]_albatross_es in poetry--I love the Baudelaire poem, but you probably could have made it a lot less top-heavy by cutting the second line (which I seem to recall was about as hard as the first line, which mentioned the main gist of the poem). Also, you definitely could've afforded to include specific lines from Rime of the Ancient Mariner in there, because I think the "He prayeth best..." line is at least worth a "just-before-power-ends" placement for this level
[*]Bonus on _Demons_ by Dostoyevsky. This one was more or less fine, I just thought there wasn't much of a point in adding the sentence "It's sometimes translated as The Possessed" to a kind of long bonus part and then requiring the title _Demons_, rather than just having both versions of the translation as the answer line.

[Lo, a momentary rabbit-stage]

There was definitely a little bit of annoyance at the proliferation of "people from this country" tossups in a variety of categories. Two specific tossups come to mind (can you post these, too? I don't remember them perfectly).

I was a bit worried about this, and tried to keep it under control; we'll do a better job next time.

1. The most annoying one that comes to mind personally was the tossup on British philosophers. Within the first line or two, I knew they were talking about Russell, but I wasn't sure (for whatever reason, in the spur of the moment) whether Russell came from Britain or the US. Needless to say, I chose the wrong thing, and I can't help but feel a little annoyed at it. While in some cases the language people wrote in or the country they come from is very relevant to their writings (to keep it in the same category, the tossup on philosophers who wrote in German was relevant because a lot of german culture and thought is intrinsically tied with their philosophers). However, I can't think of anything that necessarily ties Russell to Britain other than the fact that he lived there - it just seems like a kind of trivial extension to write a common-link tossup instead of just a tossup on Moore or Russell. I'm not an expert on his works, but I'm fairly certain their main focus is not on the fact he lives in Britain.

2. I really have little expertise in this, but one of my teammates was annoyed at the Netherlands art tossup - she knew the first painting and artist, but didn't know where they came from, leading her to wait two lines and neg with Germany fsr. It seems to me that questions like this just encourage lateralization based on the phonetics of the names used rather than real knowledge - someone who knows Jacob van Ruysdael's works probably shouldn't be beaten on tossups by people who manage to figure out that "these names sound Dutch!" in the second or third line.

Hmm, the thing is that Russell is actually importantly British—the foundation of Analytic philosophy (the topic of that question) was distinctly English, and I think that's an important fact to know.

So mobile hsqb has deleted a really long post I wrote about this as well as another slightly shorter so this is an incredibly summarized summary.

1. The question wasn't entirely on the foundations of analytic philo. Austin wasn't relevant until the mid 20th century, at which point the focus of analytic philosophy had at least partly shifted to Wittgenstein and the Vienna circle. This is mostly semantic, but still.
2. The foundations of analytic philo, even if that was what this tossup was entirely about, are admittedly distinctly British and drawn as a reaction to British idealism. I may be wrong in this, but I sincerely doubt that many people at all in the field for this tournament are aware of the historical beginnings of analytic philosophy. The fact remains that if you don't know where russell or Moore are from but know their works, like I was, you're no better off on the third line(not the first two, like I had thought I buzzed on, sorry!) than you are at the end of the question.

If I'd sat down for a minute and realized that Russell was probably British because he did principia with Alfred whitehead whose name just exudes Britishness and he worked with Wittgenstein which probably implies him being European and he wrote in English... but unfortunately a tournament situation isn't really one in which that happens realistically. I feel like it's an unnecessary addition of difficulty to a question whose ties to the answer are perhaps not trivial, but deep enough that it's really difficult otherwise.

[vinteuil]

I'll agree that I found "coffee spoons" one of the more reasonable bonuses at this tournament--it's a pretty well-referenced line in general, and a fair enough hard part if you want to test for actual knowledge of the poem itself.

A better example of the lit being several shades harder due to overly-specific cluing in general would be something like the Recognition of Shakuntala bonus, which was... something else. I think it went Shakuntala/Sanskirt/seven, with the third part saying something like "the Shakuntala has this many acts, and there are this many volumes in In Search of Lost Time." The last bit is not something I expect a ton of people to know.

Other examples I can pull off the top of my head are:

[*]_Anna_s in Russian lit tossup which, while extremely cool, was also probably kind of hard for regular HS
[*]_albatross_es in poetry--I love the Baudelaire poem, but you probably could have made it a lot less top-heavy by cutting the second line (which I seem to recall was about as hard as the first line, which mentioned the main gist of the poem). Also, you definitely could've afforded to include specific lines from Rime of the Ancient Mariner in there, because I think the "He prayeth best..." line is at least worth a "just-before-power-ends" placement for this level
[*]Bonus on _Demons_ by Dostoyevsky. This one was more or less fine, I just thought there wasn't much of a point in adding the sentence "It's sometimes translated as The Possessed" to a kind of long bonus part and then requiring the title _Demons_, rather than just having both versions of the translation as the answer line.

Hi; I wrote the Shakuntala bonus (I always think Proust is more well-known than he is—sorry); the albatrosses tossup (fair point); and the Demons bonus. I was a bit worried about the difficulty of that last one, and thought that this would make it easy (and there really is no justification for the translation as "The Possessed")

There was definitely a little bit of annoyance at the proliferation of "people from this country" tossups in a variety of categories. Two specific tossups come to mind (can you post these, too? I don't remember them perfectly).

I was a bit worried about this, and tried to keep it under control; we'll do a better job next time.

1. The most annoying one that comes to mind personally was the tossup on British philosophers. Within the first line or two, I knew they were talking about Russell, but I wasn't sure (for whatever reason, in the spur of the moment) whether Russell came from Britain or the US. Needless to say, I chose the wrong thing, and I can't help but feel a little annoyed at it. While in some cases the language people wrote in or the country they come from is very relevant to their writings (to keep it in the same category, the tossup on philosophers who wrote in German was relevant because a lot of german culture and thought is intrinsically tied with their philosophers). However, I can't think of anything that necessarily ties Russell to Britain other than the fact that he lived there - it just seems like a kind of trivial extension to write a common-link tossup instead of just a tossup on Moore or Russell. I'm not an expert on his works, but I'm fairly certain their main focus is not on the fact he lives in Britain.

2. I really have little expertise in this, but one of my teammates was annoyed at the Netherlands art tossup - she knew the first painting and artist, but didn't know where they came from, leading her to wait two lines and neg with Germany fsr. It seems to me that questions like this just encourage lateralization based on the phonetics of the names used rather than real knowledge - someone who knows Jacob van Ruysdael's works probably shouldn't be beaten on tossups by people who manage to figure out that "these names sound Dutch!" in the second or third line.

Hmm, the thing is that Russell is actually importantly British—the foundation of Analytic philosophy (the topic of that question) was distinctly English, and I think that's an important fact to know.

So mobile hsqb has deleted a really long post I wrote about this as well as another slightly shorter so this is an incredibly summarized summary.

1. The question wasn't entirely on the foundations of analytic philo. Austin wasn't relevant until the mid 20th century, at which point the focus of analytic philosophy had at least partly shifted to Wittgenstein and the Vienna circle. This is mostly semantic, but still.
2. The foundations of analytic philo, even if that was what this tossup was entirely about, are admittedly distinctly British and drawn as a reaction to British idealism. I may be wrong in this, but I sincerely doubt that many people at all in the field for this tournament are aware of the historical beginnings of analytic philosophy. The fact remains that if you don't know where russell or Moore are from but know their works, like I was, you're no better off on the third line(not the first two, like I had thought I buzzed on, sorry!) than you are at the end of the question.

If I'd sat down for a minute and realized that Russell was probably British because he did principia with Alfred whitehead whose name just exudes Britishness and he worked with Wittgenstein which probably implies him being European and he wrote in English... but unfortunately a tournament situation isn't really one in which that happens realistically. I feel like it's an unnecessary addition of difficulty to a question whose ties to the answer are perhaps not trivial, but deep enough that it's really difficult otherwise.

I ended up conflating my original two points; one of them was that Russell is importantly British, and I honestly think it's pretty hard to understand him without knowing that he was, e.g., a member of the aristocracy (talk about un-American!!).

[Lo, a momentary rabbit-stage]

So mobile hsqb has deleted a really long post I wrote about this as well as another slightly shorter so this is an incredibly summarized summary.

1. The question wasn't entirely on the foundations of analytic philo. Austin wasn't relevant until the mid 20th century, at which point the focus of analytic philosophy had at least partly shifted to Wittgenstein and the Vienna circle. This is mostly semantic, but still.
2. The foundations of analytic philo, even if that was what this tossup was entirely about, are admittedly distinctly British and drawn as a reaction to British idealism. I may be wrong in this, but I sincerely doubt that many people at all in the field for this tournament are aware of the historical beginnings of analytic philosophy. The fact remains that if you don't know where russell or Moore are from but know their works, like I was, you're no better off on the third line(not the first two, like I had thought I buzzed on, sorry!) than you are at the end of the question.

If I'd sat down for a minute and realized that Russell was probably British because he did principia with Alfred whitehead whose name just exudes Britishness and he worked with Wittgenstein which probably implies him being European and he wrote in English... but unfortunately a tournament situation isn't really one in which that happens realistically. I feel like it's an unnecessary addition of difficulty to a question whose ties to the answer are perhaps not trivial, but deep enough that it's really difficult otherwise.

I ended up conflating my original two points; one of them was that Russell is importantly British, and I honestly think it's pretty hard to understand him without knowing that he was, e.g., a member of the aristocracy (talk about un-American!!).

I conceded that Russell was importantly british in one of the other two iterations of my reply that got lost to the whim of my phone, so sorry about that. I guess I'm not as much saying that it is unimportant that he is british, but rather that tossups on countries where people come from should only be done if all of the people referenced in the tossup are immediately identifiable as members of that country. While the connection Russell --> Britain may be instantaneous to you, it wasn't to me at all - and, while I'm definitely not a god at philo in any sense, I'd like to think I know more about modern and analytic philosophy than a large percentage of the people in high school playing this set. Remember that your audience is a group of people whose knowledge of philosophy comes almost entirely from quiz bowl - it's not something taught at school and it's not something there's much exposure to, especially modern philosophy.

As such, there are two legitimate reasons that one would know that Russell is English. The first would be that one had read tossups that do reference his nationality (which is around half of them, almost always at the last line) in their entirety. This would require the person in question to either not know enough about him to answer before the tossup ended, or that they read it online to themselves and don't immediately skip to the next question once they get it. The second way to gain this knowledge would be to actually know the historical birth of analytic philosophy as a reaction to British idealism or to know autobiographical information on Russell. While these things are not perhaps unreasonable, they are by no means a given.

The general feeling about country tossups like this - especially at the high school level - is that they just add an unnecessary layer of hardness that is infuriating for the people who know the clues but don't know the answer, and that they should only really be done if there isn't enough information to write about specific people themselves. Is it possible that I'm just an anomaly who happens to know most of the concepts of Russell's most famous works but managed to not know he was British, and that everyone else who knows anything about Russell knows that he's British? Sure, this is entirely possible - I may be completely off base on this. However, I think you're approaching this from the perspective of a person with much more exposure to philosophy than high school quiz bowl players, and might be misjudging the difficulty a little. (In fact, the question is actually pretty hard to begin with. I mean, "On Denoting" is usually name dropped in the first two sentences or straight out described in the first sentence when it's mentioned in most high school sets. "Here is a hand" is probably exclusively known by most high schoolers - if at all - in the sense that it was analyzed by Wittgenstein - a fact that does very little to point towards the origin of its speaker -- and it's not even entirely in power).

I'm sorry to keep harping on this, but unnecessary addition of difficulty in questions is something I feel perhaps a little bit too strongly about, and even if this isn't the perfect example it was the most relevant to my own experience playing the set.

On another note, could I see the O'Connor tossup? I'm pretty sure the first line referenced the grandmother's flashbacks in "A Good Man…" but I didn't hear it clearly at the time. Thanks!

[hydrocephalitic listlessness]

A better example of the lit being several shades harder due to overly-specific cluing in general would be something like the Recognition of Shakuntala bonus, which was... something else. I think it went Shakuntala/Sanskirt/seven, with the third part saying something like "the Shakuntala has this many acts, and there are this many volumes in In Search of Lost Time." The last bit is not something I expect a ton of people to know.

Yeah, I'm not sure that "seven" qualifies as a middle part, but the fact that The Recognition of Sakuntala is structured in seven acts is extremely important, and far from overly specific.

[Jason Cheng]

My issue with that question, however, is that this is a question ostensibly written for the regular-to-regular-plus high school level, and the depth ("specificity") of the cluing made it inappropriate in terms of difficulty. That issue is magnified when the work being asked about is The Recognition of Shakuntala. I guess my point could be restated as an example:

"Should people know that Guido Cavalcanti addresses the ballad itself in "Because I do not hope to turn again?" Yes, because Cavalcanti did exactly that in many of his poems, and it exemplified his personal style of poetry and writing.

"Should we be asking high schoolers at a regular season tournament to first name "Because I do not hope to turn again," and then tell us that he addresses the ballad itself in the poem for the hard part?" No.

[vinteuil]

My issue with that question, however, is that this is a question ostensibly written for the regular-to-regular-plus high school level, and the depth ("specificity") of the cluing made it inappropriate in terms of difficulty. That issue is magnified when the work being asked about is The Recognition of Shakuntala. I guess my point could be restated as an example:

"Should people know that Guido Cavalcanti addresses the ballad itself in "Because I do not hope to turn again?" Yes, because Cavalcanti did exactly that in many of his poems, and it exemplified his personal style of poetry and writing.

"Should we be asking high schoolers at a regular season tournament to first name "Because I do not hope to turn again," and then tell us that he addresses the ballad itself in the poem for the hard part?" No.

Again, I was assuming that 50% of teams would know that Proust is in seven volumes; I was definitely not asking for people to know the seven-act structure. I think you understand this; again, sorry about the Proust clue being too hard.

[hydrocephalitic listlessness]

My issue with that question, however, is that this is a question ostensibly written for the regular-to-regular-plus high school level, and the depth ("specificity") of the cluing made it inappropriate in terms of difficulty. That issue is magnified when the work being asked about is The Recognition of Shakuntala. I guess my point could be restated as an example:

Yeah, I was responding to your characterization of the clue as "overly specific"—I'm not saying that it's not difficult, just that there's a reason why Jacob tried to ask about it. I agree that aiming for 50% of the field to know that In Search of Lost Time is in seven volumes is optimistic.

[Grace]

On another note, could I see the O'Connor tossup? I'm pretty sure the first line referenced the grandmother's flashbacks in "A Good Man…" but I didn't hear it clearly at the time. Thanks!

One work by this author features a woman who reminisces about Edgar Teagarden and tells Bobby Lee’s companion, “Why you’re one of my babies.” In a story by this author, Carver’s mother violently refuses a penny and wears the same hideous purple and green hat as Julian’s racist mother. Upon realizing that a plantation with a “secret panel” is actually in Tennessee, one of this author’s characters causes a car accident by kicking (*) Pitty Sing’s basket. That character “might have been a good woman if there had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” and is killed by “The Misfit.” For 10 points, name Southern Gothic writer of “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”
ANSWER: [Mary] Flannery O’Connor <GL>

Excellent "A Good Man is Hard to Find" knowledge! That's indeed what the very first clue was referring to.

[Amizda Calyx]

This set really suffered from the issues Auroni outlined above. In particular, many, many bonuses were divorced from the topics actual, average high school players know and relied too heavily on college packet clues. The top teams will do well on this set because they are more familiar with college-level material; however, these are not the teams to which you should be writing for a regular-difficulty high school set. There were also many bonuses that had reasonable-sounding answerlines but whose clues were far too hard. The science in particular was sloppy and it seemed like there was not much effort put into verifying clues as unambiguous or appropriate.

Answer some questions about randomness, for 10 points each:
[10] Modeled by the Wiener process, this phenomenon is an example of a stochastic process, in which a system’s next state is determined by its current state and a random variable. It is exemplified by pollen floating in water.
ANSWER: Brownian motion [prompt on “random walk”]
[10] Many random number generators actually use of this type of algorithm, which appears random but is actually created by a deterministic procedure like picking a number from a “book” based on the current date and time.
ANSWER: pseudorandom process
[10] Monte Carlo algorithms make use of random samples. One common example calculates the value of this constant by generating a lot random points and looking at how many fall inside a circle.
ANSWER: pi [do not accept or prompt on “3.14159…”]

This is inexcusably difficult.

This process most often proceeds by forming vesicles out of coated pits. For 10 points each:
[10] Name this process in which a cell engulfs, or “eats” large molecules like proteins.
ANSWER: endocytosis
[10] Endocytosis occurs when the desired molecules are too big to pass through this outer structure of the cell, and the vesicles used in it are formed from this structure. This structure is formed from a flexible phospholipid bilayer.
ANSWER: cell membrane [or plasma membrane; or cytoplasmic membrane]
[10] The most important kind of endocytosis depends on this protein, which coats coated pits. This protein supports the inside of the vesicle.
ANSWER: clathrin

Probably close to 100% of teams who answer this first part will say a correct answer of "phagocytosis", because DUH. Clathrin is way way too hard a hard part and it also could use more precise clues than "most important" and "depends on".

This word names lymphocytes originating in bone marrow without the markers of B or T cells. In Perl, this kind of string can be denoted “q, left parenthesis, right parenthesis.” For a matrix A and a vector v, the solutions to the equation “A v equals zero” constitutes the kernel, aka the [this] space. In C, strings are terminated with this character. Pointers in C with this value cannot be dereferenced, as they point (*) nowhere. In ASCII, it has value 0. This kind of string is denoted by two quotation marks. In statistics, a hypothesis that can be rejected or not rejected, but never proven, is known by this name. For 10 points, what value in Java is equivalent to “None” in Python?
ANSWER: null [during, and immediately after the sentences highlighted in pink, accept empty]

It's my understanding that this question was edited to accept "empty" the whole time (as it should be--variable answerlines are absolutely not okay) for the SoCal mirror; however, this question is still very poor because it is a) too hard a concept to toss up at this level, b) inexplicably has a biology leadin that would be worthless even in a tossup on lymphocytes, and c) only has a vague suggestion of pyramidality.

Other semi-randomly-selected tossups:

In A Farewell to Arms, the major tells Frederick Henry that Lieutenant Rinaldi believes he has symptoms of this disease. Composer Adrian Leverkühn claims that he acquired this disease in exchange for musical genius in Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus. Helen considers euthanizing her son Oswald Alving after she learns that he has this disease in Ibsen’s (*) Ghosts. A character who believes that he lives in the “best of all possible worlds” is infected with this disease after he cavorts with Paquette. For 10 points, identify this sexually-transmitted disease which, according to Pangloss, came from the New World via the Columbian exchange.
ANSWER: syphilis

While the conceit of this tossup is interesting and would work well at the college level, it is too hard for high school.

In a story by this author, a girl refuses to drink her mother’s “consecrated” chicken soup before her brother characterizes God as “the Fat Lady” during a phone call from Buddy’s old room. Both of those characters appeared on a radio show called “It’s a Wise Child,” as did a man who sits next to Sharon Lipschutz, provoking Sybil’s jealousy. That man gets married in this author’s “Raise (*) High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.” Another of his characters resents Stradlater’s date with Jane Gallagher and watches his sister ride the Central Park Zoo carousel after he leaves Pencey Prep. For 10 points, identify this author of stories about the Glass family and The Catcher in the Rye.

This one just looks like a bunch of middle–hard clues mashed together without any semblance of gradation.

A player of this instrument wrote “Minor Swing” and “Nuages.” A kind of it was popularized in “Call It Stormy Monday.” A player of it wrote “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.” Players of it use a “bottleneck” tube or its “lap” variety to play glissandos. Violinist Stéphane Grappelli worked with a player of it who had two paralyzed (*) fingers on his left hand. Another player of this instrument wrote “Crossroads,” supposedly about where he sold his soul to the Devil. This instrument was played by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, and Django Reinhardt. For 10 points, Les Paul introduced what instrument’s electric version, which was played by Jimi Hendrix?

This is not only horrendously difficult, it also veers into trash material in order to make it even gettable for anyone.

Bonuses:

This plant is dried to make fufu. For 10 points each:
[10] Name this massively important staple food for Asian, South American, and African countries.
ANSWER: cassava [or manioc; or Manihot esculenta; or M. esculenta]
[10] People in Nigeria eat a lot of cassava. Name any of the four big ethnic groups of Nigeria.
ANSWER: Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, or Fulani [or Ibo; or Hausa-Fulani]
[10] A 64-ton cassava mill is housed in this largest city of Nigeria.
ANSWER: Lagos

This is probably the laziest bonus I've seen.

Answer some questions about Omar Khayyam’s masterwork, for 10 points each.
[10] This eleventh-and-twelfth-century book of Persian quatrains was translated by Edward Fitzgerald.
ANSWER: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
[10] According to Fitzgerald, Khayyam declares that wilderness would be paradise if he had “a book of verses underthe bough,” this item, “a loaf of bread—and thou.”
ANSWER: a jug of wine [prompt on partial answer]
[10] Homer frequently uses the dark shade of wine to describe this entity. The “[this] of Faith” was once “at thefull…and lay like a bright girdle unfurled” in a Matthew Arnold poem.
ANSWER: the sea [prompt on “ocean;” do not accept any other kind of water body]

The Rubaiyat as the easy part of a high school bonus??? The medium part is also too hard and is only very loosely-related to the other parts.

There were a LOT more examples of poorly-thought-out questions, and a significant percentage of the set betrayed an overestimation of high school players' knowledge. There were some good ideas, and I might get around to discussing them when it's not 2AM, but I felt like I ought to bring up some of the more specific problems while they're fresh in my mind.

[vinteuil]

Right off the bat, I'd just like to apologize for the stupid factual mistakes and the excessive difficulty on some of the questions.

(Maybe you'll be happy to hear that the Nigeria bonus went through about four transformations before arriving at that form, so "laziness" wasn't exactly by design.)

[Halved Xenon Stinging]

Isn't tossing up "The Sugar Plum Fairy" in a high school set unreasonably difficult as well? Maybe change the tossup to be based around the Sugar Plum Fairy but ask for the Nutcracker instead?

[vinteuil]

I think this query belongs in the specific questions thread, but, no, I don't think that a well-known character from a ballet that is often easy enough to see middle- and high-schoolers perform every Christmas, and is played to death on the radio around that time anyways, is too hard.

[Maury Island incident]

I think it's reasonable as a tossup, since people are likely to have some real non-quizbowl knowledge of it. I know personally I knew what it was asking for for a couple of lines but couldn't remember it's name.

[Maury Island incident]

This set really suffered from the issues Auroni outlined above. In particular, many, many bonuses were divorced from the topics actual, average high school players know and relied too heavily on college packet clues. The top teams will do well on this set because they are more familiar with college-level material; however, these are not the teams to which you should be writing for a regular-difficulty high school set. There were also many bonuses that had reasonable-sounding answerlines but whose clues were far too hard. The science in particular was sloppy and it seemed like there was not much effort put into verifying clues as unambiguous or appropriate.

Other semi-randomly-selected tossups:

In A Farewell to Arms, the major tells Frederick Henry that Lieutenant Rinaldi believes he has symptoms of this disease. Composer Adrian Leverkühn claims that he acquired this disease in exchange for musical genius in Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus. Helen considers euthanizing her son Oswald Alving after she learns that he has this disease in Ibsen’s (*) Ghosts. A character who believes that he lives in the “best of all possible worlds” is infected with this disease after he cavorts with Paquette. For 10 points, identify this sexually-transmitted disease which, according to Pangloss, came from the New World via the Columbian exchange.
ANSWER: syphilis

While the conceit of this tossup is interesting and would work well at the college level, it is too hard for high school.

In a story by this author, a girl refuses to drink her mother’s “consecrated” chicken soup before her brother characterizes God as “the Fat Lady” during a phone call from Buddy’s old room. Both of those characters appeared on a radio show called “It’s a Wise Child,” as did a man who sits next to Sharon Lipschutz, provoking Sybil’s jealousy. That man gets married in this author’s “Raise (*) High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.” Another of his characters resents Stradlater’s date with Jane Gallagher and watches his sister ride the Central Park Zoo carousel after he leaves Pencey Prep. For 10 points, identify this author of stories about the Glass family and The Catcher in the Rye.

This one just looks like a bunch of middle–hard clues mashed together without any semblance of gradation.

Bonuses:

This plant is dried to make fufu. For 10 points each:
[10] Name this massively important staple food for Asian, South American, and African countries.
ANSWER: cassava [or manioc; or Manihot esculenta; or M. esculenta]
[10] People in Nigeria eat a lot of cassava. Name any of the four big ethnic groups of Nigeria.
ANSWER: Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, or Fulani [or Ibo; or Hausa-Fulani]
[10] A 64-ton cassava mill is housed in this largest city of Nigeria.
ANSWER: Lagos

This is probably the laziest bonus I've seen.

Answer some questions about Omar Khayyam’s masterwork, for 10 points each.
[10] This eleventh-and-twelfth-century book of Persian quatrains was translated by Edward Fitzgerald.
ANSWER: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
[10] According to Fitzgerald, Khayyam declares that wilderness would be paradise if he had “a book of verses underthe bough,” this item, “a loaf of bread—and thou.”
ANSWER: a jug of wine [prompt on partial answer]
[10] Homer frequently uses the dark shade of wine to describe this entity. The “[this] of Faith” was once “at thefull…and lay like a bright girdle unfurled” in a Matthew Arnold poem.
ANSWER: the sea [prompt on “ocean;” do not accept any other kind of water body]

The Rubaiyat as the easy part of a high school bonus??? The medium part is also too hard and is only very loosely-related to the other parts.

There were a LOT more examples of poorly-thought-out questions, and a significant percentage of the set betrayed an overestimation of high school players' knowledge. There were some good ideas, and I might get around to discussing them when it's not 2AM, but I felt like I ought to bring up some of the more specific problems while they're fresh in my mind.

To comment on the lit:

The syphilis tossup is okay. The syphilis thing is the most important part of Ibsen's Ghosts, and that clue would probably appear in a regular-difficulty Ibsen tossup where it does in this one. Salinger does seem to have a more obscure leadin than most of the Salinger tossups I looked at on Quinterest, though High Tech first liked it against us. Maybe that one could be toned down a little for future mirrors. The Rubayyat one seems to have 3 middle/hard parts and there is no true easy part. I thought the lit as a whole was slightly over regular, but not hard to power like HFT. Also, FWIW I liked the Mr. Darcy tossup. Infinitely better than suffering through another tossup on Pride and Prejudice.

Also, just out of curiosity, what category was that Nigeria bonus classified as?

These last few posts definitely belong in the specific question discussion thread.

EDIT: added some things and deleted irrelevant parts of Joelle's post.

[vinteuil]

Also, just out of curiosity, what category was that Nigeria bonus classified as?

Geography. I think it was originally cassava (middle—bad idea)/Yoruba (hard)/Lagos, and then changed a few times from there.

[Amizda Calyx]

This set really suffered from the issues Auroni outlined above. In particular, many, many bonuses were divorced from the topics actual, average high school players know and relied too heavily on college packet clues. The top teams will do well on this set because they are more familiar with college-level material; however, these are not the teams to which you should be writing for a regular-difficulty high school set. There were also many bonuses that had reasonable-sounding answerlines but whose clues were far too hard. The science in particular was sloppy and it seemed like there was not much effort put into verifying clues as unambiguous or appropriate.

Other semi-randomly-selected tossups:

In A Farewell to Arms, the major tells Frederick Henry that Lieutenant Rinaldi believes he has symptoms of this disease. Composer Adrian Leverkühn claims that he acquired this disease in exchange for musical genius in Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus. Helen considers euthanizing her son Oswald Alving after she learns that he has this disease in Ibsen’s (*) Ghosts. A character who believes that he lives in the “best of all possible worlds” is infected with this disease after he cavorts with Paquette. For 10 points, identify this sexually-transmitted disease which, according to Pangloss, came from the New World via the Columbian exchange.
ANSWER: syphilis

While the conceit of this tossup is interesting and would work well at the college level, it is too hard for high school.

In a story by this author, a girl refuses to drink her mother’s “consecrated” chicken soup before her brother characterizes God as “the Fat Lady” during a phone call from Buddy’s old room. Both of those characters appeared on a radio show called “It’s a Wise Child,” as did a man who sits next to Sharon Lipschutz, provoking Sybil’s jealousy. That man gets married in this author’s “Raise (*) High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.” Another of his characters resents Stradlater’s date with Jane Gallagher and watches his sister ride the Central Park Zoo carousel after he leaves Pencey Prep. For 10 points, identify this author of stories about the Glass family and The Catcher in the Rye.

This one just looks like a bunch of middle–hard clues mashed together without any semblance of gradation.

To comment on the lit:

The syphilis tossup is okay. The syphilis thing is the most important part of Ibsen's Ghosts, and that clue would probably appear in a regular-difficulty Ibsen tossup where it does in this one. Salinger does seem to have a more obscure leadin than most of the Salinger tossups I looked at on Quinterest, though High Tech first liked it against us. Maybe that one could be toned down a little for future mirrors. The Rubayyat one seems to have 3 middle/hard parts and there is no true easy part. I thought the lit as a whole was slightly over regular, but not hard to power like HFT. Also, FWIW I liked the Mr. Darcy tossup. Infinitely better than suffering through another tossup on Pride and Prejudice.

Also, just out of curiosity, what category was that Nigeria bonus classified as?

These last few posts definitely belong in the specific question discussion thread.

EDIT: added some things and deleted irrelevant parts of Joelle's post.

Ghosts is a hard play for high school. It should appear a clue or two earlier in a regular-difficulty tossups on Ibsen. The main thing, though, is that Pangloss is *definitely* not an easy clue.
For the Salinger tossup: The structure goes from relatively-easy Glass family clues to much harder Catcher clues, with the pre-FTP sentence being something that would be about a sentence earlier in a tossup on Catcher in the Rye.

[Schroeder]

Could I see the tossup on J.S. Bach? I remember disagreeing with my teammate over what the work described in the first line was.

[vinteuil]

Could I see the tossup on J.S. Bach? I remember disagreeing with my teammate over what the work described in the first line was.

11. [Note to moderator: please read the gray-highlighted text SLOWLY, with especially long pauses at the semicolons]
One of this composer’s keyboard works is in 3/8, beginning with: a D Minor scale up to B-Flat; a low C-sharp; then back down the scale from B-Flat again. He put a hand crossing-heavy Gigue at the end of his B-Flat major first partita for harpsichord. One of his concertos is scored for violin, two recorders, and strings, while another omits violins and includes violas da gamba. He included a D Minor (*) chaconne at the end of one of his Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin. He also wrote a D Minor concerto for two violins. His keyboard works include sets of two- and three-part inventions. For 10 points, name this composer of six cello suites, the Brandenburg Concertos, and The Well-Tempered Clavier.
ANSWER: Johann Sebastian Bach [or J.S. Bach; don’t accept any other Bach] <JR>

It was the D-minor two-part invention, which is a very standard beginning piano piece.

[Schroeder]

Ah, the part about the melody line sounded to me like the beginning of the violin partita no. 2 (although that's obviously for the violin, and it's not in 3/8).

[Vainamoinen]

Could I see the tossup on fungi? I and another science player I know negged it with "C. elegans" on the first line. I know now that the clue was referring to baker's yeast, but the question seemed very "hosey."

[vinteuil]

I'm on my phone, but C. Elegans was the first multicellular organism to have its entire genome sequenced, not the first eukaryote.

[wordsinblood]

I and another science player I know

Yeah, that would be me. Would it be possible to add "unicellular" to that tossup? To me at least, it seems that the C. Elegans' genome-sequencing is just so much more well-known that although baker's yeast is technically correct, the question still ought to do something to actively discourage against an early "C. Elegans" or "Nematoda" buzz.

[Halved Xenon Stinging]

I and another science player I know

Yeah, that would be me. Would it be possible to add "unicellular" to that tossup? To me at least, it seems that the C. Elegans' genome-sequencing is just so much more well-known that although baker's yeast is technically correct, the question still ought to do something to actively discourage against an early "C. Elegans" or "Nematoda" buzz.

Yeah, i negged it with C. Elegans on mind as well. I said nematoda instead though because i wasn't sure what they were asking.