Search found 29 matches

by Inifinite Jest
Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:48 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PB 2016: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 82
Views: 19438

Re: PB 2016: Specific Question Discussion

What the hell was up with that tasmanian devil tossup? It seemed like a bad idea on several different levels. FWIW, people in my room were entertained by that one, and I overheard another team talking about enjoying it as well. The question seemed to go fine when I read it at the Penn site as well ...
by Inifinite Jest
Mon Oct 31, 2016 10:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PB 2016: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 82
Views: 19438

Re: PB 2016: Specific Question Discussion

What the hell was up with that tasmanian devil tossup? It seemed like a bad idea on several different levels.
by Inifinite Jest
Sun Oct 30, 2016 4:55 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PB 2016: General Discussion
Replies: 23
Views: 6625

Re: PB 2016: General Discussion

This set wasn't as bad as the pre-tournament rumors would've had me believe (in fact I kind of liked it better than last year's iteration). However, I thought the humanities in this set were peppered with poorly executed questions. In particular, this tournament seemed to feature a lot of old time-y...
by Inifinite Jest
Fri Oct 21, 2016 11:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT 2016: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 63
Views: 15102

Re: Specific Question Discussion

Boolean operators are equivalent to logical connectives Right, but you're not simplifying the connectives themselves, you're simplifying the expression as a whole. That's like saying "conjunctions" when the question wants "sentences" (in a natural language sense). Okay, that mak...
by Inifinite Jest
Fri Oct 21, 2016 2:02 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT 2016: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 63
Views: 15102

Re: Specific Question Discussion

14. A function for simplifying these structures in double exponential time first finds all of its prime implicants and neglects “don’t care” terms. The Quine–McCluskey algorithm simplifies these expressions, which can also be simplified through a refinement of a Veitch diagram called a Karnaugh map...
by Inifinite Jest
Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:33 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Let's Predict Who Wins the 2016 Literature Nobel!!!!
Replies: 64
Views: 3626

Re: Let's Predict Who Wins the 2016 Literature Nobel!!!!

He's had a big impact on my life. Songs like "Visions of Johanna, with its lines like "The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face" and "Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial" are beautiful in their gnomic weirdness to me. It's funny you mention that son...
by Inifinite Jest
Mon May 30, 2016 6:43 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2016 HSNCT discussion
Replies: 133
Views: 76872

Re: 2016 HSNCT discussion

So first off could I just have confirmation that u guys made these questions harder than last year like looking at the stats their isn't even a comparison. This was probably the easiest HSNCT set that NAQT has ever produced, I think that the lower stats are probably just indicative of a somewhat we...
by Inifinite Jest
Sat May 07, 2016 11:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 MYSTERIUM Question-Specific Discussion
Replies: 31
Views: 9883

Re: 2016 MYSTERIUM Question-Specific Discussion

I though it was a little harsh that the serialism tossup explicitly instructed the reader to not accept or prompt on the twelve-tone technique. I mean sure there are many serialist works that don't employ the twelve-tone technique, like a lot of Boulez and Stockhausen's stuff, but in layspeak those ...
by Inifinite Jest
Fri May 06, 2016 9:24 pm
Forum: Scheduling reform
Topic: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.
Replies: 65
Views: 62227

Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Itamar and I are working on a regular-difficulty tournament (which Itamar has tentatively named MARTYNAS JABLONKIS). We'd like to run it in late spring but if the schedule is too crowded we'll run it in the summer instead.
by Inifinite Jest
Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:58 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion
Replies: 74
Views: 31509

Re: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion

one's own personal experience is not necessarily universalizable. This is a fair criticism. Also I think I've come off in thread as snarkier/angrier than I actually am. That said I look forward to writing a tournament's worth of philosophy someday very soon. EDIT: a quick hour's jaunt to the other ...
by Inifinite Jest
Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:36 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion
Replies: 74
Views: 31509

Re: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion

Alcibiades from Plato's Symposium I seriously doubt that you would ever read the Symposium in a philosophy class because it's not even really a work of philosophy! Certainly, if you take a class on the history of ancient philosophy you would probably read Timaeus or Parminedes...I have no idea why ...
by Inifinite Jest
Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion
Replies: 74
Views: 31509

Re: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion

IJohn Locke's Essay This was an excellent tossup and I actually just read the Essay like two weeks ago for a class. Alcibiades from Plato's Symposium I seriously doubt that you would ever read the Symposium in a philosophy class because it's not even really a work of philosophy! Certainly, if you t...
by Inifinite Jest
Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion
Replies: 74
Views: 31509

Re: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion

No Rules Westbrook wrote:I think the "quizbowl as a reflection of the classroom" movement has always been misguided, pernicious, and boring.
Next year I'll be sure to submit a biology tossup on Trofim Lysenko and a chemistry tossup on phlogiston.
by Inifinite Jest
Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion
Replies: 74
Views: 31509

Re: ACF Nationals 2016 Discussion

I really enjoyed this set. The editors did an admirable job of controlling the number of crazy answerlines, and making sure every bonus had a definite easy part. I do think the middle parts could've been a little gentler, and I wasn't a real big fan of the social science and philosophy which seemed ...
by Inifinite Jest
Fri Apr 15, 2016 12:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals - University of Michigan, 04.16-17.2016
Replies: 104
Views: 60726

Re: ACF Nationals - University of Michigan, 04.16-17.2016

Does anyone have updated contact info for Caleb Kendrick of Oklahoma, or anyone else on the Oklahoma team? The logistics email I just sent out bounced from his mailbox, so if you have another contact for anyone involved with the team, please email me, or forward the logistics email to that person. ...
by Inifinite Jest
Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:46 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 ICT: "Comment on my questions" thread
Replies: 17
Views: 6366

Re: Question-specific discussion: 2016 DI ICT

Packet 7: Marshall Plan / Christian Democrats / Mezzogiorno Even though this was a pretty tame bonus I really enjoyed it; I recently read Tony Judt's Postwar and this bonus did a good job hitting on a lot of really important and underasked things. Also, whoever wrote the D1 bonus part on Ian Hodder...
by Inifinite Jest
Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:41 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Question-specific discussion: 2016 DII ICT
Replies: 17
Views: 6266

Re: Question-specific discussion: 2016 DII ICT

That E.T.A. Hoffman tossup was atrocious. I don't know why anyone thought it would be a good idea to drop the title of "The Sandman" in the leadin.
by Inifinite Jest
Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:04 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: "stanford housewrite" Question-Specific Discussion
Replies: 41
Views: 14361

Re: Question-Specific Discussion

I was reading through this tonight and I noticed a bonus clued a non-existent essay by noted fake* Lithuanian poet Martynas Jablonkis. I know it didn't affect game play, or really detract from my enjoyment of what was an excellent set, but I think this is kind of a dangerous precedent to set. *well,...
by Inifinite Jest
Sun Mar 27, 2016 8:02 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 MUT: Specific question discussion
Replies: 52
Views: 16445

Re: Specific question discussion

I interpreted the given answer as something like saying "the Pilgrims from Massachusetts," i.e. identifying the important thing is saying the Nephites came to America. Yeah, I could see where a moderator might misinterpret this answer. I don't know what makes it inherently godawful. Calli...
by Inifinite Jest
Sun Mar 27, 2016 7:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 MUT: Thanks and general discussion
Replies: 51
Views: 11532

Re: Thanks and general discussion

Was it just me or was the bio in this tournament really heavily skewed towards ecology and evolutionary bio?
by Inifinite Jest
Sun Mar 27, 2016 7:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2016 MUT: Specific question discussion
Replies: 52
Views: 16445

Re: Specific question discussion

The "Lost Tribes of Israel settling in America" tossup is a godawful idea for a tossup. But like at the very least you need to drastically expand the number of things accepted in the answerline, my teammate Finn buzzed really early and gave the completely right answer of the "Nephites...
by Inifinite Jest
Wed Mar 23, 2016 9:39 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open Team Formation
Replies: 22
Views: 15833

Re: Chicago Open Team Formation

I'm pretty shitty at high level quizbowl but I'd like to play this tournament. Hit me up if you're interested.
by Inifinite Jest
Mon Feb 29, 2016 10:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: "stanford housewrite" @ Oklahoma (March 19, 2016)
Replies: 2
Views: 2326

"stanford housewrite" @ Oklahoma (March 19, 2016)

The University of Oklahoma will host a mirror of "stanford housewrite" on Saturday, March 19, 2016. This tournament is written by members of the Stanford University Quiz Bowl Club, with an intended difficulty level of "Nationals-minus, i.e. noticeably harder than tournaments such as A...
by Inifinite Jest
Thu Feb 25, 2016 12:43 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals 2016 Corrections
Replies: 38
Views: 13720

Re: ACF Regionals 2016 Corrections

I know this doesn't affect the tournament anymore, but I just want to get this out there: the novel by Rousseau is usually called La Nouvelle Héloïse in French, so that should definitely be acceptable in all cases. Yeah I accepted that answer in the original version that I submitted. I thought it w...
by Inifinite Jest
Sun Jan 31, 2016 8:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals 2016 Individual Question Discussion
Replies: 37
Views: 14275

Re: ACF Regionals 2016 Individual Question Discussion

I already mentioned this to you, but the clue about meta-language and object language in the "truth" tossup is not specific enough, since those concepts are used to characterize meaning in general, in many different contexts. It's true that Tarski used them in his paper on truth, but ther...
by Inifinite Jest
Thu Jul 02, 2015 4:48 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VCU Open Mirror at UL Lafayette (8/15)
Replies: 19
Views: 8458

Re: VCU Open Mirror at UL Lafayette (8/15)

I would like to play this.
by Inifinite Jest
Sun Jun 01, 2014 9:37 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Where Will You Be Going To College Next Year? 2013-14
Replies: 45
Views: 20767

Re: Where Will You Be Going To College Next Year? 2013-14

If everyone wants to know, I will be attending the University of Oklahoma and *not* playing quizbowl. However, I will still do other things depending on my mental/emotional state and other interests (e.g. writing packets and staffing/running tournaments) If you change your mind I will be attending ...
by Inifinite Jest
Tue May 27, 2014 2:19 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2014 nAC
Replies: 27
Views: 12437

Re: 2014 nAC

Our state is making a lot of strides, for one hopefully we'll field a NASAT team next year, instead of this NTAE nonsense. It's also cool that we have a nice state like Texas to our south, playing teams in the Dallas metro and at TI has really motivated me to study a lot. I think a lot of the older ...
by Inifinite Jest
Sun Feb 17, 2013 12:06 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Timberwolf Invitational (LIST Mirror, Norman, OK 3/9/12)
Replies: 1
Views: 1659

Re: Timberwolf Invitational (LIST Mirror, Norman, OK 3/9/12)

Field-
Choctaw
Cistercian
Comanche
Edmond Memorial
Hilldale
Norman
Westmoore

Someone on this list has entered two teams (Cistercian I think.) Keep those registrations coming guys.