Search found 33 matches

by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:34 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Lederberg Memorial Science (10/17 or 18)
Replies: 34
Views: 13776

Re: Announcement: Lederberg Memorial Science (10/17 or 18)

I plan on staffing this, if at all useful.
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:44 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: KLEE: Minnesota Open Fine Arts Tournament
Replies: 41
Views: 13743

Re: KLEE: Minnesota Open Fine Arts Tournament

I intend to play this, so I guess I'm looking for a partner. I would say I'm good at architecture and 20th century painting, and more or less adequate at other painting and sculpture. Anybody with any music knowledge would help.
by SepiaOfficinalis
Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Quick ICT schedule question
Replies: 9
Views: 1863

Re: Quick ICT schedule question

There's also the matter that for a conventional tournament, an 8:30 start time means a 9:30 start time; for ICT, maybe 9:10 would happen with a substantial majority of teams present, but nonetheless, a 10AM start is far more like to mean an approximately 10AM start.
by SepiaOfficinalis
Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:35 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Interest in ICT Guerrilla Tournament?
Replies: 24
Views: 4212

Re: Interest in ICT Guerrilla Tournament?

In the interest of including more people in this tournament, we can nix the dream packet idea. How about packets distributed in the following manner: 2/2 History 2/2 Literature 2/2 Science 1.5/1.5 RMP 1.5/1.5 Arts 1/1 SS/Geography/Trash 10/10 Your Choice The 10/10 Your Choice would be your oppurtun...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Sat Mar 07, 2009 3:54 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Concept tossups in the social sciences
Replies: 40
Views: 7798

Re: Concept tossups in the social sciences

Speaking of the cultures that you suggested to write on, I negged that Kwakiutl tossup with Yanomamo, as I took the first clue to be a reaction to the sobriquet "the fierce people," and they commonly use face paints, so I buzzed there. I think it's a pretty good tossup, although I think th...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: SCT Private Discussion Forum
Replies: 129
Views: 22706

Re: SCT Private Discussion Forum

Registered as SepiaOfficinalis.
by SepiaOfficinalis
Mon Jan 26, 2009 11:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: A Defense of the Muddy Battlefield Hypothesis
Replies: 20
Views: 5854

Re: A Defense of the Muddy Battlefield Hypothesis

Maybe I'll have something substantive to say later, but in the meantime, I think that any tournament that produced such cogent and reflective comments from so many quizbowl luminaries is nothing but an unqualified success (but then, I liked this set too.) My contrarian instincts are defeated, so I'l...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge
Replies: 64
Views: 11546

Re: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge

If people come to Nationals expecting EFT, then, sure, they're poorly informed, but that they're poorly informed doesn't obligate them to stay. Sucks for the rest of us, but I don't see any moral argument here other than "you ought to stay for my benefit," as I've more or less stated befo...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:02 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge
Replies: 64
Views: 11546

Re: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge

But this doesn't have much to do with reality. When teams leave early, they're leaving early once they're playing teams of their caliber , so boo-hooing about the plight of weaker teams when they're outmatched is not really relevant. It's especially irrelevant because you come to quizbowl tournamen...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge
Replies: 64
Views: 11546

Re: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge

I must agree that any teams that leave have in fact effectively discharged their responsibilities to the TDs/hosts when they pay to play in the tournament. I agree it disrespects the other teams, but then, lesser-skilled teams really aren't there for the amusement of good teams in order that they m...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge
Replies: 64
Views: 11546

Re: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge

everyday847 wrote: If the letters in your sig lined up appropriately, I would take this seriously, but as they don't, I cannot.
My thoughts exactly.
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge
Replies: 64
Views: 11546

Re: leaving tournaments early part II: the revenge

I must agree that any teams that leave have in fact effectively discharged their responsibilities to the TDs/hosts when they pay to play in the tournament. I agree it disrespects the other teams, but then, lesser-skilled teams really aren't there for the amusement of good teams in order that they ma...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Announcing BEeS: A Better Electronic Stats program
Replies: 50
Views: 27083

Re: Announcing BEeS: A Better Electronic Stats program

Well, that sounds like pretty pure awesome. I think the only solution to the welter of suggestions is clearly a proprietary plugin format with some ruthless SDK, lol.
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Jan 01, 2009 3:27 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: An NAQTer revisits the ACF question submission guidelines
Replies: 42
Views: 8717

Re: An NAQTer revisits the ACF question submission guidelines

I think you've missed a crucial distinction, Tom, though I can't blame you given the imprecision of my language. I'm not seeking to claim that quizbowl teaches/ought to teach per se (though it does teach to some extent, I agree with you that it's a very poor tool given the format.) Rather, I'm seek...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Jan 01, 2009 3:07 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Non-Unique Middle Clues
Replies: 26
Views: 7907

Re: Non-Unique Middle Clues

I don't understand Andrew's response. I would contend that there is an even greater issue of playing "against the packet" when you have to expend more effort trying to parse dense 80-word sentences than trying to figure out the answer. As for "why not make everything unique," it'...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Jan 01, 2009 4:20 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: An NAQTer revisits the ACF question submission guidelines
Replies: 42
Views: 8717

Re: An NAQTer revisits the ACF question submission guidelines

I can't understand how people claim to learn anything from a quizbowl tournament, it's simply not possible in the format ... In any other category the only other thing to be learned is clues that can be memorized for use in other quizbowl. This is the polar opposite of understanding or mastery and ...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: An NAQTer revisits the ACF question submission guidelines
Replies: 42
Views: 8717

Re: An NAQTer revisits the ACF question submission guidelines

I have to say that the "quizbowl is pedagogy" argument really stands out from the awful bullshit that constitutes this thread. I can't understand how people claim to learn anything from a quizbowl tournament, it's simply not possible in the format. The single, solitary category in which I ...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:45 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Non-Unique Middle Clues
Replies: 26
Views: 7907

Re: Non-Unique Middle Clues

I think this issue is totally different for common-link questions and for regular questions. Indeed, it isn't even desirable to make every middle clue uniquely identifying. This produces an enormous limitation on the possible cluespace, ruling out most of the things that are useful in narrowing down...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Sun Dec 14, 2008 5:00 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Visual Tournament - Date TBD
Replies: 13
Views: 2032

Re: Visual Tournament - Date TBD

I'd just like to state my enthusiastic approval; my favorite round of quizbowl to date was the all-visual fine arts theme round at TTGt11 like in 05 or 06. I would recommend potentially interested people try to go look it up. It demonstrates some of what can be done with this format. Things like sl...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Sun Dec 14, 2008 12:16 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Visual Tournament - Date TBD
Replies: 13
Views: 2032

Re: Visual Tournament - Date TBD

I'd just like to state my enthusiastic approval; my favorite round of quizbowl to date was the all-visual fine arts theme round at TTGt11 like in 05 or 06. I would recommend potentially interested people try to go look it up. It demonstrates some of what can be done with this format. Things like slo...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:02 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Experimental Tournament for the 09 HSNCT
Replies: 52
Views: 7711

Re: Experimental Tournament for the 09 HSNCT

I tend to think that the idea behind the collaborative tournament is that when you're drafting teams anyway, the tournament field is basically always the players against the packets anyways. The teams don't mean anything overall, so the way in which they are divided only serves to make the effort co...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Fri Dec 12, 2008 2:44 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bad Negs Again
Replies: 494
Views: 113996

Re: Bad Negs Again

On the IRC two nights ago: Given: Hebrews Answer: sea people I didn't see the question, but this is almost certainly not a bad neg. There are a lot of theories claiming the Hebrews were Sea Peoples, especially considering the presence of a group known as "Habiru" within the Sea Peoples. T...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:53 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The mystery of stepping stone theory.
Replies: 77
Views: 12942

Re: The mystery of stepping stone theory.

I think what Tom is trying to say here is that the reason we enjoy quizbowl the way it is right now is not because we learn from it, not because we enjoy winning for being smart, but that we enjoy it because it gives us satisfaction of knowing we are "better" than someone else based on so...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Sun Nov 30, 2008 11:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The mystery of stepping stone theory.
Replies: 77
Views: 12942

Re: The mystery of stepping stone theory.

If you see some problem with my notion of natural selection and its relevance to psychology, I would be terrifically interested to hear about it (way, way more interested than I am in any of the topics relevant to this thread, as I'm sure my "clarifications" have shown.) It sounds to me li...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Sun Nov 30, 2008 10:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The mystery of stepping stone theory.
Replies: 77
Views: 12942

Re: The mystery of stepping stone theory.

Can you explain this? I am very confused about what you mean here, and I'd like to understand. I mean that at some level the explanation for every action must be reducible to the form that the preconditions for its manifestations must have tended to enhance the reproduction of the actor's ancestors...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The mystery of stepping stone theory.
Replies: 77
Views: 12942

Re: The mystery of stepping stone theory.

To summarize what I said above, my main point is that the people most invested in quizbowl have unique blind spots in judging what makes quizbowl better. I wasn't positing that these are conscious motives or biases, but that doesn't make them less real. I think we will generally agree that we play q...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Fri Nov 28, 2008 2:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The mystery of stepping stone theory.
Replies: 77
Views: 12942

Re: The mystery of stepping stone theory.

I agree with all of Mike's points except that IS sets do not "serve" people as well as ACF Fall. Will ACF Fall/Winter do a better job judging who is better at quizbowl as it stands now, and also improve the players' skills more? Sure, I think so. Will many people be bored as hell sitting t...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Fri Nov 28, 2008 2:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The mystery of stepping stone theory.
Replies: 77
Views: 12942

Re: The mystery of stepping stone theory.

I admit it. I couldn't possibly beat you on a high school packet, that's why I've constructed this terrible argument that questions written for use at high school tournaments are somehow "high school questions." It's all secretly about you, everyone who disagrees with you is a "nerd,...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Fri Nov 28, 2008 1:47 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The mystery of stepping stone theory.
Replies: 77
Views: 12942

Re: The mystery of stepping stone theory.

This seems like an opportune place to voice a general gripe that's been nagging at me since I started reading these boards. The people who dominate the discussion on this board seem to forget that quizbowl is, at heart, a circle-jerk (no offense to the limited female following.) People play quizbowl...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Wed Nov 26, 2008 3:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Fall discussion
Replies: 133
Views: 22693

Re: ACF Fall discussion

After rereading some of the questions: -Aaaagh, I can't believe it took me as long as it did to get that "Love" common link trash toss-up. Buddy Love is referenced right in the first line. Man, that reminded me of one of my favorite pieces of knowledge to get points off of when I got it o...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:15 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Bad Negs Again
Replies: 494
Views: 113996

Re: Bad Negs Again

Wollstonecraft for "diodes" at ACF Fall, most of the way through the question, too. 15 points to whomever can infer the abortive lateral that produced this.
by SepiaOfficinalis
Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Fall discussion
Replies: 133
Views: 22693

Re: ACF Fall discussion (don't read, players at U Wash. site)

Just to second some complaints about bonus variation, I think too many bonuses didn't even try for difficulty variation (which I honestly support in general, I think PLEASE MAKE FUN OF ME BECAUSE I SPEAK NEITHER LATIN NOR ENGLISH should be easy or hard more or less entirely by whether you are good w...
by SepiaOfficinalis
Thu Oct 16, 2008 2:45 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: FEUERBACH discussion
Replies: 22
Views: 3925

Re: FEUERBACH discussion

We just played some of these packets tonight and I have to say the "Florida Keys" tossup was just terrible at the beginning. Unless I really misunderstood it, it began "These things are formed by [insert succinct but full description of coral atoll formation]...clues about places on t...