Search found 131 matches
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:09 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Nationals Discussion
- Replies: 27
- Views: 4084
Re: 2024 ACF Nationals Discussion
Across all categories, I noticed much more content about China than past ACF sets have had, i.e. 1-2 questions in every packet*, most of it from well before the 20th century. I don’t object to this; while pre-modern Chinese history/culture isn’t an especial strength of mine, there are thousands of ...
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 1:31 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Nationals Discussion
- Replies: 27
- Views: 4084
Re: 2024 ACF Nationals Discussion
Thank you to everyone who made ACF Nationals possible this year. While working on the set over the past nine months, I dreaded the weekend of the tournament. I often felt inadequate to the responsibility of editing a national championship, and I’m grateful to all of my co-editors and the scores of p...
- Tue Apr 23, 2024 11:31 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Nationals Discussion
- Replies: 27
- Views: 4084
2024 ACF Nationals Discussion
I will post some longer reflections about the set and its many contributors in the next day or two. In the meantime, you can use this thread for discussion.
We should also post the packets in a few days.
We should also post the packets in a few days.
- Mon Dec 04, 2023 11:05 am
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: 2024 ACF Nationals: April 20–21, 2024 at Duke
- Replies: 11
- Views: 8518
Re: 2024 ACF Nationals: April 20–21, 2024 at Duke
Packets received: December 3 Claremont A (full) Columbia A (full) Cornell B (full) "Geodesic University" (full) JHU A (full) Texas A&M B UNC A Yale A (full) Yale B December 24 Berkeley A Cornell A (full) Harvard A Minnesota A WUSTL B January 14 ASU A Ottawa A Rutgers A Vanderbilt A Wat...
- Wed Aug 09, 2023 10:37 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
- Replies: 41
- Views: 19890
Re: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
If I were thinking about writing on the Comoros, I wouldn't start there, however. I would sift through the history of the Comoros and decide on something I would like my tossup to be about. I would pick something from the history of the Comoros that I felt was important, interesting, and had good c...
- Sun Mar 05, 2023 11:43 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
- Replies: 12
- Views: 12766
- Sun Mar 05, 2023 12:10 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
- Replies: 12
- Views: 12766
Re: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
The packets have been uploaded to the archive. Teams who submitted a packet may fill out this form before April 1 to receive feedback on their submissions.
- Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:18 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 27
- Views: 8315
- Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:15 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 27
- Views: 8315
Re: 2023 ACF Regionals Discussion
Hello, Unfortunately, there was one question that stood out to me as being extremely misleading (which had major consequences for me and my team): Tossup 11 in packet D, with the answerline of "Billie Jean King." The question reads "This athlete names...a stadium in Flushing Meadows....
- Tue Jan 31, 2023 2:32 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 27
- Views: 8315
2023 ACF Regionals Discussion
This is the discussion thread for 2023 ACF Regionals. I know that it’s customary to create two threads, but that seems excessive to me when most recent discussion threads are relatively short. If it gets confusing, we can always split off the specific questions later. I hope that the set was at leas...
- Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:49 pm
- Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals Playtesting
- Replies: 0
- Views: 3258
2023 ACF Regionals Playtesting
The editors of 2023 ACF Regionals are seeking playtesters. Playtesting will be held over Discord during the week of January 14-22. Playtesters must be out of school, but we welcome constructive feedback from anyone who has graduated, even if you don't consider yourself an expert at a particular cate...
- Sat Dec 10, 2022 11:37 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
- Replies: 12
- Views: 12766
Re: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
This is a reminder that tomorrow is the last day to submit a packet for ACF Regionals without a penalty for late submission (or to receive a discount for an optional packet).
- Thu Dec 01, 2022 5:29 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
- Replies: 12
- Views: 12766
Re: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
The main post has been updated with hosts and registration forms for teams and staff.
ACF is still looking for a host in the UK; please email John Nienajadlo at [email protected] if you are interested!
ACF is still looking for a host in the UK; please email John Nienajadlo at [email protected] if you are interested!
- Sat Nov 26, 2022 4:09 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 20
- Views: 5500
Re: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion
Up until the Song dynasty, low volume, high value products, which had a large interregional price difference, were common, but from the beginning of the Qing dynasty cargoes of coastal ships in particular are often large volumes of commodities. These would include rice, soybeans, and sugar. Fujian,...
- Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:05 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 20
- Views: 5500
Re: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion
Hi Oliver, Thank you for pointing out some nuances that were elided by these questions. In some cases (such as Tocharians really referring to speakers of Indo-European languages and cinnabar referring to the color of many seals, not the main material component of seals), the language was originally ...
- Fri Nov 11, 2022 7:04 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 20
- Views: 5500
Re: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion
The indicator of "this site" makes it sound like everything described was at a single archaeological site, which is definitely not the case. Futhermore, not all of the things described are actually in Aswan, only in the modern administrative region named for Aswan. Abu Simbel is a village...
- Fri Nov 11, 2022 7:03 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
- Replies: 12
- Views: 12766
Re: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
This is a reminder that the deadline to submit a half-packet for a -$50 discount is this Sunday!
- Mon Nov 07, 2022 12:06 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022 ACF Winter – Thanks and General Discussion
- Replies: 12
- Views: 3329
Re: 2022 ACF Winter – Thanks and General Discussion
This might just be a feature of the 11 packets I did play, but as with many tournaments there was a tendency in World History for the tossups to skew modern and the bonuses to skew older. 7 out of 11 packets had world history tossups that would fit most people's definition of modern (Chile, China, ...
- Sun Nov 06, 2022 11:33 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 20
- Views: 5500
Re: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion
The sentence in the Calgacus speech definitely indicates the revolt taking place under the leadership of the unnamed woman — the error made by Tacitus here is saying Brigantes in place of Iceni, rather than a conflation of the two women (both of which he wrote about distinctly). Thanks for catching...
- Sat Oct 22, 2022 3:02 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
- Replies: 12
- Views: 12766
Re: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
This is a reminder that October 30 (one week from tomorrow) is the deadline to submit a half-packet for the all-new discount of -$75! We would love to see some early submissions.
- Wed Oct 05, 2022 6:07 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
- Replies: 12
- Views: 12766
- Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:53 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
- Replies: 12
- Views: 12766
2023 ACF Regionals (January 28, 2023) Global Announcement
This is the official announcement for the 2023 edition of ACF Regionals, which will be held on January 28, 2023. I, Nick Jensen, am the head editor. This year’s subject editing team comprises: -Alexandra Hardwick (European Literature, World Literature, Linguistics) -Nick Jensen (Biology, Religion, M...
- Thu Feb 03, 2022 5:20 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 53
- Views: 26045
Re: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
20. Nderit ware is found with evidence of this practice at sites like Hyrax Hill from the Elmenteitan and Savanna phases of its namesake period of the Neolithic in the Great Rift Valley. The (emphasize) most recent rock art at Twyfelfontein depicts a men’s game with this practice, which was abandon...
- Wed Feb 02, 2022 2:09 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 53
- Views: 26045
Re: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
For the above examples, I would personally have used the following: Quran -> this thing ... Any thoughts from anyone on the above suggestions specific, or the creation and collation of a "pronoun guideline doc?" Although I didn't write the Quran question, in the context of that question (...
- Tue Feb 01, 2022 5:36 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 53
- Views: 26045
Re: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
My knowledge of biology and genetics isn't the best, but can I ask what the reasoning was behind having "this phenotype" as the indicator for the death tossup? A lot of people I talked to at our site were really confused by that question, since it seemed like a fairly obtuse way to ask fo...
- Tue Feb 01, 2022 5:10 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 53
- Views: 26045
Re: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
I felt the use of the pronoun "this ethnicity" was misleading for the tossup on Indians in Caribbean history . The answerline is definitely very clear on accepting specific ethnic groups from the Indian subcontinent, but if I had been playing the question I probably would have hesitated t...
- Tue Feb 01, 2022 4:20 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2021 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 17
- Views: 6413
Re: 2021 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
While browsing some questions today, I had a quibble with one of this set's tossups: 8. Note to players: The answer is a political office, not an occupation like “soldier” or “painter.” A text on this office’s “Installation” was illustrated with its characteristic white robes for its holder Rekhmir...
- Tue Aug 17, 2021 12:27 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: Chicago Open 2021 Team Formation Thread
- Replies: 6
- Views: 3542
Re: Chicago Open 2021 Team Formation Thread
Our team (me, Weijia, IKD) is also looking for another player.
- Wed Nov 11, 2020 4:23 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 42
- Views: 11789
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
-The prohibition bonus felt harder than most other AmHist. -I think the question on sarcophagi could have used a prompt on "tombs" I'm glad you enjoyed many of the questions you mentioned! The Prohibition bonus originally specified that Meyer Lansky was a leader of the Jewish mob, but I r...
- Tue Nov 10, 2020 12:13 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 42
- Views: 11789
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
I remember being confused that tossup on "tragedy of the commons" used "this model" as a pronoun. I've always thought of the tragedy of the commons being more of a general scenario, which could be formally modeled in multiple ways. Sorry about that, while the tossup generally ca...
- Tue Nov 10, 2020 4:11 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
- Replies: 38
- Views: 11978
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
First of all, I would like to apologize again for the problems with my questions mentioned here and in the other thread. I’m very sorry if any of these issues ruined your experience with the tournament. I’m also sorry that many of my bonuses were on the longer side; as a player I often dislike terse...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:16 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 42
- Views: 11789
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
I was also curious as to whether the "Light" question in science was physics, chemistry, or other science. Chemistry. I greatly enjoyed the vast majority of the questions in this set, but I was a little confused as to why there wasn't a prompt on either aldose or ketose on the bonus part ...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 8:55 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
- Replies: 38
- Views: 11978
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
There's no hard and fast rule. If all the philosophers were recent 20th century philosophers of science few people have heard of and then there's the cliff with Newton, the question would have problems; I think it'd be reasonable to complain about a hose or being unclear. (I feel this way a little ...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 4:51 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
- Replies: 38
- Views: 11978
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
I agree with Will Alston about the "freshness" of the questions. (I was particularly excited to see Old Europe coming up after hearing about it on Patrick Wyman's podcast .) I think the editors made it more difficult than Fall the correct way: have a good number of questions that wouldn't...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 4:47 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 42
- Views: 11789
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
I enjoyed reading this set! There were a lot more good ideas than I could list, but I remember particularly enjoying the bonus on fantasy coffins and the tossup on creoles. [10] In the guru–shishya system, students lived at gurukulam while supposedly using these scriptures to learn mathematics and ...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 4:35 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
- Replies: 38
- Views: 11978
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
I'm not sure if Olivia would agree with me here, but I think answers like "that time of the month" should just be rejected. To use a significantly more extreme example for rhetorical purposes, a hypothetical bonus part on black people would not accept or prompt on the n-word--all normal q...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 4:32 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 42
- Views: 11789
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
Could I see the bonus on Brahmans whose first part was flowers? The middle part confused us a lot - my teammates and I were under the impression that upanayana represent part of the transition to becoming a Brahmin, and we were quite confused when the answer was schooling. I'm not sure that the clu...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 4:18 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
- Replies: 38
- Views: 11978
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
(e.g. Ashalaho and Ashshipíte seemed similar enough to Ashkúale for a moderator to recognize a knowledgeable player's answer). This is illuminating and, I think, a very unusual philosophy of answerline acceptability. In general we give points for saying what's in the answerline, not for sounding kn...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 2:17 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 42
- Views: 11789
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - Specific Question Discussion
It’s not war, but Ammon Hennacy’s opposition to this practice led Dorothy Day to argue that Christians should defy it in The Catholic Worker. This opening clue would have baffled me had I been playing. I know that Dorothy advocated that the Catholic Worker houses not take advantage of the tax-exemp...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 2:06 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
- Replies: 38
- Views: 11978
Re: 2020 ACF Winter - General Discussion and Thanks
My main concern with the set involved its answerlines, many of which were long and complex but did not address answers that a knowledgeable player might reasonably give. Often the answerline listed a lot of synonyms & related terms to the main answer, but didn't take the important step of consi...
- Fri Jul 03, 2020 10:56 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: DECAMERON Packet
- Replies: 4
- Views: 3013
Re: DECAMERON Packet
Here are the scores from tonight's reading of TBD's packet. Mike Sorice did extremely well! Mike Sorice: 9/3/3 150 Taylor Harvey: 3/1/0 55 Jon Pinyan: 0/3/0 30 Avinash Iyer: 2/0/1 25 William Golden: 1/2/2 25 Erik Christensen: 2/0/2 20 Michael Coates: 1/0/0 15 Kevin Lei: 1/0/0 15 Michael Zhuang: 1/0/...
- Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:44 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: DECAMERON Packet
- Replies: 4
- Views: 3013
Re: DECAMERON Packet
I will read the packet by TBD on the Discord tonight at 6:30 Pacific/9:30 Eastern.
- Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:09 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Regionals: Specific Questions and Errata
- Replies: 66
- Views: 25836
Re: 2020 ACF Regionals: Specific Questions and Errata
I was also confused by a number of odd pronoun choices or pronoun switching in tossups throughout this set, which I'm surprised that nobody else has commented on because I recall my teammates commenting on it a couple times. For example, martyrdom was described as a "practice" initially, ...
- Mon Jan 27, 2020 4:34 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2020 ACF Regionals: Specific Questions and Errata
- Replies: 66
- Views: 25836
Re: 2020 ACF Regionals: Specific Questions and Errata
A rather major error (ok, maybe I'm being a tad cartoonishly over-invested in my niche interests here in calling it "major) I noticed was in the religion question on Iran (I think it was a religion question). While I was over the freaking moon to hear a clue on Ibn al-Rawandi/Book of the Emera...
- Fri Jul 24, 2015 9:54 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: RILKE Discussion
- Replies: 33
- Views: 7743
Re: RILKE Discussion
stuff about chickens Nick, the chicken thing is an example of a model organism that I would argue is famous but not as knowable as other ones we tossup like, say E. coli. As far as I can tell, I was responding to John's point with that example. I don't know why you're even referring to Cane Ridge R...
- Fri Jul 24, 2015 5:20 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: RILKE Discussion
- Replies: 33
- Views: 7743
Re: RILKE Discussion
Sure, so I don't look at it like "is this the 7th hardest tossupable answer on Gass*" or not. While I certainly do factor in giveaway difficulty into account, I ask myself if the topic is knowable. Personally, my (gambling) gut tells me that very, very, very few people know anything about...
- Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:07 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: RILKE Discussion
- Replies: 33
- Views: 7743
Re: RILKE Discussion
Joseph Conrad I don't want to pick on this particular question too much, but maybe the thought process it reveals reflects on the rest of the tournament. I wrote a question for the seeding packet in last year's Gorilla Lit on "Typhoon," because I'd seen it around a great deal, read it and...
- Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:19 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: RILKE Discussion
- Replies: 33
- Views: 7743
Re: RILKE Discussion
Will and Ike, you both raise good points, and I know how frustrating it is to only retroactively recognize a clue from a book you've read, especially one you liked. I tried to make all my clues both evocative and interesting, both to help players who have read the works recall them, and to interest ...
- Thu Jul 23, 2015 1:02 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: RILKE Discussion
- Replies: 33
- Views: 7743
Re: RILKE Discussion
I have to agree that many of the common links were excessively hard. The vision for this tournament that John laid out was to have common links which would have early clues about works that are worth knowing but that don't come up much, but later clues about canonical works, in order to incorporate...
- Sat May 31, 2014 12:40 am
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: Wodern Morld - A Real Replacement Side Event That is Real
- Replies: 31
- Views: 10380
Re: Wodern Morld - A Real Replacement Side Event That is Rea
Anyone who would like to have the cleaned-up Modern World questions, for this or other events, can email me to get a copy. There are 10 packets of 20 tossups and bonuses and one additional packet of 20 tossups. I tried to salvage as many questions as possible, but I apologize in advance if I overloo...