Search found 444 matches

by marnold
Mon Jan 31, 2022 5:55 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Quizbowl-"Trivia" Community Relations: What Are They? What Should They Be?
Replies: 25
Views: 15758

Re: Quizbowl-"Trivia" Community Relations: What Are They? What Should They Be?

Interesting post. I'm too disconnected from both the trivia and quizbowl communities to say anything of much value. I've played Geek Bowls, TRASHionals, WQCs, TCONAs (not to reminisce about various OLDs, but David Seal, Andrew Hart and I were the core of a team that lost the last prelim round to qua...
by marnold
Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Your Favorite Question
Replies: 45
Views: 30780

Re: Your Favorite Question

Damn kids with your fancy websites! Why, in my day, if it wasn't on the Stanford Packet Archive or Chicago's secret vault of packets, it didn't exist: I checked the Stanford archive and the only version of CO Trash I saw on there had the first toss-up with the answer line "Lee Henry" (lol)...
by marnold
Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Your Favorite Question
Replies: 45
Views: 30780

Re: Your Favorite Question

I don't know how to find the set, but I believe the first tossup of the tournament for CO Trash in 2008 (?) had the answer line "jars of urine." It's a great question in its own right, but if I'm correct in thinking it was the first question of the first packet, I think it gets a boost for...
by marnold
Thu Feb 08, 2018 8:27 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Quizbowl men, get a haircut
Replies: 102
Views: 49900

Re: Quizbowl men, get a haircut

Counterpoint: do none of the things Charlie says, because the consistent strangeness and inappropriate public behavior of quizbowl people is a long-standing community tradition and provides invaluable grist for mockery. My quizbowl experience would have been worse without the various (and numerous) ...
by marnold
Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What keeps you doing quizbowl?
Replies: 25
Views: 15256

Re: What keeps you doing quizbowl?

*ctrl+F "spite"*

You guys are missing the truest motivation of all!
by marnold
Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:59 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Greatest Upsets in Quizbowl History
Replies: 74
Views: 77806

Re: Greatest Upsets in Quizbowl History

In the 2009 Chicago Open a team of me, Andrew Ullsperger, Paul Gauthier and Evan Nagler (lol, what a team) beat a team of Seth, Selene and Sorice. We thought we were world-beaters.... until we lost the next round to the Rom/Tim Hartman juggernaut when Rom obliterated a toss-up on ROME, OPEN CITY (19...
by marnold
Thu May 01, 2014 10:38 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Praise Song
Replies: 35
Views: 15034

Re: Praise Song

I would like to thank Michael Arnold, a man with an enemies list the length of his arm, a scornful attitude toward high school quizbowl, and a perceptive and merciless critic of those around him. Despite (or because of) all of that, it was in large part his delightful personality and company that w...
by marnold
Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:17 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: The greatest quizbowl photos
Replies: 123
Views: 87717

Re: The greatest quizbowl photos

It was totally inevitable this thread would end up being 100% about David Seal.
by marnold
Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:20 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: The greatest quizbowl photos
Replies: 123
Views: 87717

Re: The greatest quizbowl photos

Ukonvasara wrote: Michael Arnold: Style. Class. Grace.
Oh ho ho hoooooo - two can play at that game!
by marnold
Thu Apr 03, 2014 1:13 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: The Secret History of Shantanu, Chicago Quizbowl, and NAQT
Replies: 33
Views: 70102

Re: The Secret History of Shantanu, Chicago Quizbowl, and NA

For those interested in the sillier aspects of this story, I present the GJR-GARCH email: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have little proclivity to place myself as the proximal cause of a consortio interruptus twixt this redoubtable coupling of editors. In...
by marnold
Thu Jan 23, 2014 9:43 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Likelihood of NAQT Champion.
Replies: 116
Views: 44884

Re: Likelihood of NAQT Champion.

I'll make some poorly-informed guesses based on past ICT winners. The frontrunner, Virginia, is maybe 30% to win, and the chance of a team outside of [Will's top-5 + Harvard + Michigan] winning is probably under 5%. Ways a surprise team could win ICT, in order of plausibility: 1. An elite player jo...
by marnold
Thu Nov 28, 2013 3:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Are online tournaments "pernicious beasts"?
Replies: 34
Views: 13454

Re: Are online tournaments "pernicious beasts"?

I'll make a fortune selling scratch-n-sniff quizbowl funk pages to all the people in this thread pre-nostalgic for in-person quizbowl.
by marnold
Mon Oct 14, 2013 10:54 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Preseason Poll
Replies: 54
Views: 23611

Re: Preseason Poll

I'm still finishing my degree at St. Charles CC, so I might play a couple of tournaments for them. Do we have a new CCCT favorite!? Although I don't know if this will play out like 95-96 MJ or more like 94-95 with those spunky ankle-biters from Valencia Black playing the role of Orlando Magic... St...
by marnold
Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:29 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Literature theme packet
Replies: 14
Views: 4777

Re: Literature theme packet

And no meta! I would have negged alternating author questions with David Seal and Ray Luo.
by marnold
Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:00 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Eric Hillemann's packet archive
Replies: 1
Views: 5627

Re: Eric Hillemann's packet archive

The masses yearning for more Designate Bowl packets are MOST thankful for this bounty.
by marnold
Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:47 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT's agreement with ACUI
Replies: 242
Views: 66319

Re: NAQT's agreement with ACUI

As long as ACF is talking about this stuff... Also, as long as we're putting on the table things people have been saying in other places: the D-Value for D1/D2 is obviously ludicrously broken. Northwestern had 4 powers/game on the D1 set and they're behind a team that put up 4 powers/game on the D2 ...
by marnold
Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:29 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2014 qualifying system
Replies: 46
Views: 16621

Re: ACF Nationals 2014 qualifying system

One thing people are worried about, Ryan, is that having a subjective component will give the appearance that this is all just a tournament run by a Cool Kids Club who gets to decide who is good enough to play or not. Much like the pushback to your CO-FUBU idea, the fear is that it will make quizbow...
by marnold
Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:34 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Stats Repository
Replies: 11
Views: 3697

Re: Stats Repository

Someone hasn't been paying attention: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/ Not what I mean! Not for going forward, I mean for historical tournaments. Life may not even be worth living if I can't conveniently figure out who was on Chicago Random Street Corner . Though I guess this can also serve to encoura...
by marnold
Fri Jun 14, 2013 7:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Stats Repository
Replies: 11
Views: 3697

Stats Repository

Quizbowl should have a somewhat centralized stats repository where SQBS files (or at least the html outputs of them) can be kept for posterity. This would be good since (1) ad hoc hosting each tournament on someone's college webspace is a tragically impermanent option (some ridiculous percentage of ...
by marnold
Wed May 08, 2013 12:05 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2013 (7/20-21/13)
Replies: 147
Views: 83743

Re: Chicago Open 2013 (7/20-21/13)

One of the joys of CO is the superhard questions sometimes producing delightfully wacky upsets among roughly the middle 3 quintile teams when tossups break in unusual ways. Bouncebacks stymie that. On the other hand, bouncebacks reduce the penalty for negging, which might be good for a superhard tou...
by marnold
Mon May 06, 2013 9:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The 2013-14 Tournament Schedule
Replies: 79
Views: 25694

Re: The 2013-14 Tournament Schedule

People who need 3 tournaments in a semester just for them before they play big-mean-scary regular difficulty aren't going to play quizbowl for long anyway.
by marnold
Thu May 02, 2013 1:07 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Postseason Poll
Replies: 32
Views: 15881

Re: Postseason Poll

gyre and gimble wrote: I think Berkeley won the third bracket easily.
Um, no? What are you talking about? It was a circle of death in the playoffs with them, us and Rice all with one loss, with our game against them decided in extra tossups.
by marnold
Wed May 01, 2013 1:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2013 Discussion
Replies: 129
Views: 36406

Re: ACF Nationals 2013 Discussion

Yeah, as people have sussed out, I wrote the Marx question. I got the answer line the same way I got the answer line for that human geography bonus people seemed to like in Regionals: find one of the most cited geographers and work him into a question in an answerable way. David Harvey is by miles t...
by marnold
Mon Apr 29, 2013 5:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2013 Discussion
Replies: 129
Views: 36406

Re: ACF Nationals 2013 Discussion

Yeah, besides Chicago/Minnesota and us/Michigan St., I think Berkeley got negged on the Wittgenstein issue too but unlike the others it wasn't close enough to be game-deciding. And my Marxist geography tossup was a work of art - art, I say! The swings in bonus difficulty were the only thing systemat...
by marnold
Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:02 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Left-Wing Questions?
Replies: 42
Views: 19725

Re: Left-Wing Questions?

Quizbowl is way less left-wing than by rights it should be. It's an activity run and populated almost entirely by people that are either committed leftists themselves or slot into the blithe, squish liberalism towards which thoughtless high school and college students gravitate. Like Bruce said, qui...
by marnold
Wed Apr 17, 2013 12:36 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2013 ICT DI general set discussion
Replies: 35
Views: 5923

Re: DI general set discussion

Let me put on my NostradamusLAFFO hat. This will get split off into a new thread, then Jerry (or, Matt Jackson as new-Jerry, or whoever else) says trash should go away, then some other people say it shouldn't because it makes NAQT unique, then someone points out the clock is unique, then the first g...
by marnold
Tue Apr 09, 2013 11:50 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total
Replies: 112
Views: 183387

Re: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total

[checks to make sure this is in the college realm of the board] “The act of loading that Web page was a tiny little transgressive thrill,” he told me. “And if there was motive, I think that’s what it was.” Watkins, who’s now a graduate student at New York University, says that if he were more matur...
by marnold
Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:08 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: The Most Subversive Tournaments: The Definitive Collection
Replies: 5
Views: 6844

Re: The Most Subversive Tournaments: The Definitive Collection

I love how TTGT11 and some shit Matt Weiner didn't even get around to writing get mentioned over Andrew's tournaments, which actually were highly influential and, I guess, "subversive."
by marnold
Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:36 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Venting rage: Cheaters edition
Replies: 74
Views: 54236

Re: Venting rage: Cheaters edition

Let's just try to rebuild and preserve our most precious memories.

Image
by marnold
Tue Mar 26, 2013 7:02 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total
Replies: 112
Views: 183387

Re: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total

I will note that slightly more suspiciously he gets a good buzz on "World Bowl" (side note: lol) in the semifinal when there's a very juicy clue in the first 40 characters and then lets Derrick Thomas (to my mind an easier NFL answer line) go dead after my neg in the final. To reinforce wh...
by marnold
Tue Mar 26, 2013 6:48 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total
Replies: 112
Views: 183387

Re: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total

I've listened to the podcast for our match and it isn't particularly revelatory. He gets a good buzz on the first science question of the round for specific heat at constant volume, picks up kurtosis after Seth negs in the middle, gets acyl halides right after power (though makes a big show that he ...
by marnold
Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT security review: three more cases
Replies: 61
Views: 23354

Re: NAQT security review: three more cases

Why bother even entertaining what is obviously a totally ludicrous excuse? The quote you describe is followed by "He declined to elaborate on his motivations for accessing the page, and would not say why he opened it repeatedly before important games" which more than speaks for itself. NAQ...
by marnold
Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total
Replies: 112
Views: 183387

Re: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total

For what it's worth, this story is about 50 minutes away from being totally irrelevant to the outside world.
by marnold
Sat Mar 23, 2013 9:46 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total
Replies: 112
Views: 183387

Re: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 15 Total

What kind of attention/reputation do you think quiz bowl in general will get because of all this mess? It's not important unless it's important enough to cheat in. This legitimizes quiz bowl. Maybe? Yeah, I agree with this. Maybe my personal euphoria* about all of this exacerbates my contrarianism,...
by marnold
Thu Mar 21, 2013 11:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT Security Discussion
Replies: 72
Views: 25080

Re: NAQT Security Discussion

the cheating was almost just made worth it
by marnold
Wed Mar 20, 2013 6:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT Security Discussion
Replies: 72
Views: 25080

Re: NAQT Security Discussion

Hey, it's obviously shitty this announcement had to be made, but I'm really glad that NAQT is taking all these things seriously and making things public. Even though it's a little embarrassing in the short term, it's showing (genuine) good faith that makes me trust NAQT as an organization.
by marnold
Thu Mar 14, 2013 3:44 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Terrapin Invitational Tournament 2013 (3/24/13)
Replies: 57
Views: 171985

Re: Terrapin Invitational Tournament 2013 (3/24/13)

Your tournament has just been MATT JACKSOND!!@!!#@$(

WONED IN TEH FASE!!!*!@$(
by marnold
Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2013: Harlem Shake Prohibited (Apr 27-28)
Replies: 66
Views: 40359

Re: ACF Nationals 2013: Harlem Shake Prohibited (Apr 27-28)

Congrats to D2 Champion Illinois B!
by marnold
Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:27 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ICT Predictions
Replies: 54
Views: 26377

Re: ICT Predictions

My top bracket: Michigan A - A mix-up in the Michigan travel office means the quizbowl team plays VCU's basketball team March 28 in the Sweet Sixteen while the basketball team will play VCU in Round 4 at ICT. Michigan wins both: VCU can't turn Bryan Berend over and Kurtis finishes with 14 rebounds, ...
by marnold
Thu Mar 07, 2013 3:07 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: autobid thread split
Replies: 62
Views: 13227

Re: autobid thread split

Seth, I don't really disagree: as I noted in the other thread, it's not the end of the world if there's an ICT with no Dartmouth, Northwestern or Columbia. But it seems undeniable that (1) the teams left out are much stronger than teams left out in previous years (e.g., the first D-value out is 279 ...
by marnold
Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:40 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: autobid thread split
Replies: 62
Views: 13227

Re: autobid thread split

Teams would consider not just the current "which SCT site is closest/most convenient for our team to attend?" but also the additional "which SCT site will offer a field strong enough to actually qualify teams to ICT?" But teams can't consider this unless you give them the option...
by marnold
Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: autobid thread split
Replies: 62
Views: 13227

Re: autobid thread split

Teams would consider not just the current "which SCT site is closest/most convenient for our team to attend?" but also the additional "which SCT site will offer a field strong enough to actually qualify teams to ICT?" But teams can't consider this unless you give them the option...
by marnold
Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: autobid thread split
Replies: 62
Views: 13227

Re: autobid thread split

(downside being: teams have to consider whether or not to drive long distances to play marginally stronger fields in nearby regions) How do teams have to consider this? Are you saying that bad teams would get a waiver to go to a better field but a decent team wouldn't get one to go to an easier fie...
by marnold
Wed Feb 27, 2013 1:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT's agreement with ACUI
Replies: 242
Views: 66319

Re: NAQT's agreement with ACUI

Mike, there's no reason to conflate the issues of autobids and B-team wildcards. Teams splitting rosters to maximize bids is a longstanding practice that rewards teams for being good and deep. While I think whoever the first-team-out (whether Columbia or otherwise) is probably better than the B team...
by marnold
Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:12 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT's agreement with ACUI
Replies: 242
Views: 66319

Re: NAQT's agreement with ACUI

Yeah, given that there will presumably be even more autobids accepted in D1 next year (which, by the way, is a good sign for the vitality of quizbowl generally) a larger field seems pretty reasonable.
by marnold
Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:40 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT's agreement with ACUI
Replies: 242
Views: 66319

Re: NAQT's agreement with ACUI

But this seems like far from a guarantee in coming years. As new teams go to D2 and attend and then feed into D1 eligibility, the number of autobids accepted will go up and the scenario like the one described above will be more and more likely. ... But the question I don't see answered here is how ...
by marnold
Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals 2013 Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 61
Views: 16333

Re: ACF Regionals 2013 Specific Question Discussion

This tossup was inappropriately hard for Regionals. ... I found the human geography bonus (from the same packet) quite cool I wrote both the Mackinder toss-up and the human geography bonus in that packet and I think their final form in the set was largely as written (I think I had a different easy ...
by marnold
Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals at Brown University (2/23/13)
Replies: 30
Views: 21578

Re: ACF Regionals at Brown University (2/23/13)

LOL wait, did I post that in this thread? I obviously meant to put it in the thread where the link to that stuff was. Mods can move it there if you want or just delete it altogether, or just leave it here as a shimmering reminder of the dangers of tabbed browsing.
by marnold
Sun Feb 24, 2013 8:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals at Brown University (2/23/13)
Replies: 30
Views: 21578

Re: ACF Regionals at Brown University (2/23/13)

Matthew Arnold, Aidan Mehigan What percentage of the quizbowl community doesn't actually know my first name? Like 30%? EDIT: That is, of people who know who "marnold" is. To say that's not one of my best moments is an understatement. I am really sorry about that, it's fixed now that my br...