Search found 261 matches

by Santa Claus
Thu Feb 15, 2024 4:56 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Alternate locations for ACF Nationals
Replies: 30
Views: 4173

Re: Alternate locations for ACF Nationals

I think ACF Nationals should be held in space. Some pros: Equidistant from all teams , lying a short 100km flight away Can have rooms arbitrarily close, as sound does not travel in a hard vacuum Readily available Wi-fi via Starlink Excellent vi ews of all of nature at once No chance of being rained ...
by Santa Claus
Tue Jan 16, 2024 1:52 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Packet submission thoughts
Replies: 16
Views: 3368

Re: Packet submission thoughts

I had a long post drafted up for this but realized I was literally repeating myself from 4 years ago it's actually very simple - either: talk to your team about the packet sub tournament earlier than one month before, set a deadline to write 3/3 each, check in on everyone's progress, reassign things...
by Santa Claus
Mon Jan 15, 2024 5:41 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: WORKSHOP template
Replies: 0
Views: 806

WORKSHOP template

I said I would put together versions of the docs + spreadsheets used by the team after 2022 WORKSHOP (discussion here ). I then forgot about it for a year, then remembered and did all the work, then forgot again until just now. Here is a folder with all of the documents: WORKSHOP template . For thos...
by Santa Claus
Fri Dec 08, 2023 11:35 am
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: CANONINFLATION reading (12/7/23)
Replies: 1
Views: 1628

Re: CANONINFLATION reading (12/7/23)

reading was held - fun was had by all (or at least by me). enjoyed seeing a lot of very good buzzes as well as being able to read some of my later clues to people Name 30 20 10 Total kai smith [ex-UChicago] 4 12 11 470 Finn 1 4 8 190 Alex Li 2 5 160 Adam Smith [Palomar?] 3 2 2 150 richard (cornell) ...
by Santa Claus
Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:30 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Why is NAQT's distribution so different from housewrites?
Replies: 3
Views: 2242

Re: Why is NAQT's distribution so different from housewrites?

Here's what I found. (via the QBWiki) [...] This paragraph ( link ) is referring to how the distribution is implemented, not what the particular subdistributions are or the reasoning behind them. As Mike notes, it is simply a choice that NAQT made. One might also ask why so many housewrites choose ...
by Santa Claus
Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:42 pm
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: CANONINFLATION reading (12/7/23)
Replies: 1
Views: 1628

CANONINFLATION reading (12/7/23)

thought it'd be fun to hold an online reading of CANONINFLATION on the Discord. slated for Friday 12/8 let's do Thursday 12/7 instead (8 PM ET I guess)
by Santa Claus
Sun Nov 12, 2023 9:56 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 ACF Winter Discussion
Replies: 23
Views: 7118

Re: 2023 ACF Winter Discussion

Copying some comments from the Discord to preserve them for posterity: eurolit was fun from what i remember [...] the balls tu [...] whoever wrote the sn2 bonus definitely my favorite question along with my teammates in the tournament had fun with winter but on the whole it did seem a bit more diffi...
by Santa Claus
Sun Aug 20, 2023 5:37 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: CANONINFLATION
Replies: 15
Views: 8828

Re: CANONINFLATION

stats - format was a shootout with 30 point superpowers/20 point powers/10 point gets/0 point negs. also I let people rebuzz after FTP if they negged before it was read, meaning that in addition to these numbers there is some comical number of 0s (like honestly it might have been 100+) -------- 30 |...
by Santa Claus
Sun Aug 20, 2023 5:10 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: EMACS specific question discussion
Replies: 2
Views: 335

Re: EMACS specific question discussion

questions I remember: "Wumpus" was cool; great theme linking together a certified oldie with a new thing really liked "statics" - me doing an incredibly ill-advised neg meant that I got to hear all the clues on this one and I was very pleased to hear about something I had learned...
by Santa Claus
Sun Aug 20, 2023 4:54 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: EMACS general discussion
Replies: 2
Views: 609

Re: EMACS general discussion

I had a great time at the tournament. I played this with Corry and the balance of engineering-focused with tech news content really benefited us (at one point he was outscoring me despite, as I joked at one point, him not knowing what "emacs" was). This was more or less exactly what I want...
by Santa Claus
Sun Aug 06, 2023 2:24 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: CANONINFLATION
Replies: 15
Views: 8828

Re: CANONINFLATION

currently planning on running after will’s film event - should start no earlier than 5 pm so feel free to wander until then will update this post as time gets more concrete UPDATE: film set going fast - set may start earlier if it doesn’t cause issues for anyone who plans to attend. Will say tentati...
by Santa Claus
Tue Jul 04, 2023 7:50 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12539

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

This thread ended up going off the rails (several times) so I’ll just make the overarching post I should have made when I first posted. Expectations on writers and editors have increased more or less monotonically over time (at least at the difficulties we’re talking about here). There’s variation h...
by Santa Claus
Thu Jun 22, 2023 8:56 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12539

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

It seems that most of the posts have focused on the playing experience of shorter questions. While this is an important concern, plenty of ink has been spilled about this in the past and it always boils down to "it's subjective". I actually meant for this post to focus on the trade-offs fo...
by Santa Claus
Mon Jun 19, 2023 7:19 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12539

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

I have been reminded of a previous thread in this vein by Victor Prieto in 2017, which has lots of relevant discussion as well. Victor was kind enough to provide some links to other, older threads in the original post as well: 2009, 2012, 2012.
by Santa Claus
Mon Jun 19, 2023 6:51 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12539

Should ACF tossups be shorter?

Glancing briefly at this year's ACF sets, Regionals and Nationals tossups were around 8 lines. Would it be better to have questions which were roughly one line shorter? Some arguments for this shortening: Fewer clues means less writing to do. This strikes me as particular relevant due to packet sub....
by Santa Claus
Wed Jun 07, 2023 7:58 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Is science cardable?
Replies: 6
Views: 4467

Re: Is science cardable?

Good Goblin Housekeeping wrote: Fri Apr 07, 2023 11:46 am whatever how to card article Kevin’s been writing
the aforementioned guide: how to flashcard

as andrew says, read a book etc
by Santa Claus
Tue May 09, 2023 12:02 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Concern for HS Regs+ Sets this Season
Replies: 16
Views: 9227

Re: Concern for HS Regs+ Sets this Season

3. As the coach of a high school team for most of this year: the contention that IS sets have simply become more difficult at a quicker rate than most housewrites is a point I agree with. If you go back and read IS-190 or so, the difference between now and even a couple of years ago is easy to see....
by Santa Claus
Mon May 08, 2023 6:48 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Concern for HS Regs+ Sets this Season
Replies: 16
Views: 9227

Re: Concern for HS Regs+ Sets this Season

2. As of 2023, for whatever reason, housewrite difficulty has ON THE WHOLE gone lower than IS set dififculty. In fact, the standard regs+ difficulty is not appreciably harder than IS sets anymore, and the IS to housewrite regs+ difficulty jump is the lowest it has ever been. This is supported by th...
by Santa Claus
Tue Apr 04, 2023 1:10 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Few questions on how to study for quizbowl
Replies: 5
Views: 6328

Re: VFA Cards

This seems odd but I didn't want to make a whole new post for this but I guess here is my question :) When making cards on VFA, is it logical or acceptable to use paintings as clues/the front of your card? Any tips for how to card VFA? I wrote a short post on this in the wiki: here . Paintings work...
by Santa Claus
Fri Jan 13, 2023 3:22 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: We Need to Make Up Our Minds About Trash
Replies: 27
Views: 8932

Re: We Need to Make Up Our Minds About Trash

I think it's more honest to accept that society has divided the world into these "academic" and "non-academic" buckets and, warts and all, quizbowl has decided to accept this division Would agree with this, if only because it's clearcut in a way that the others aren't. Dividing ...
by Santa Claus
Wed Sep 21, 2022 3:08 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: CANONINFLATION
Replies: 15
Views: 8828

Re: CANONINFLATION

VSCOelasticity wrote: Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:13 pm Are there any plans to play this online (maybe in duos)? Or is it delayed until the 2023 national tournaments?
alas it is delayed
by Santa Claus
Fri Aug 05, 2022 7:24 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: CANONINFLATION
Replies: 15
Views: 8828

Re: CANONINFLATION

flights were cancelled - looked into crazy alternatives but it is infeasible to make it

set is done (5 packets) - to be read at future date
by Santa Claus
Sat Jul 30, 2022 9:17 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: CANONINFLATION
Replies: 15
Views: 8828

Re: CANONINFLATION

since I don't know if people were aware that I was not joking, I intend to run the set as a shoot-out on CO Saturday
by Santa Claus
Thu Jul 21, 2022 11:24 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: QBWiki editing competition
Replies: 2
Views: 2724

Re: QBWiki editing competition

As previously mentioned, the scope of this competition very quickly grew out of my (very small) hands - that being said, I still wish to reward those who helped contribute during the wiki during this time, regardless of whether they did so in the hopes of monetary reward. I have split the $310 I off...
by Santa Claus
Wed Jun 08, 2022 12:52 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Adding new photos to the QBWiki
Replies: 0
Views: 1264

Adding new photos to the QBWiki

It would be nice to have more photos on the QBWiki. There are lots of photos out there, but I'm not about to troll public Facebook pages for team photos or anything like that - much better for everyone if people voluntarily submit photos. I've put together an unofficial form for this - any photo add...
by Santa Claus
Sun May 22, 2022 8:19 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: CANONINFLATION
Replies: 15
Views: 8828

Re: CANONINFLATION

Oh boy! I can't wait to read noted set CANONINFLATION on date laid out in tournament database August 6, 2022. I'm so excited! :grin: :grin:
by Santa Claus
Wed Mar 23, 2022 5:20 pm
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: Ocean Science Packet
Replies: 8
Views: 2635

Re: Ocean Science Packet

I would love to hear these.
by Santa Claus
Sun Feb 20, 2022 10:25 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 WORKSHOP: Packets
Replies: 2
Views: 908

2022 WORKSHOP: Packets

Packets from the 2/20 playtest mirror are attached. Note that these are from before edits, errata corrections, feng shui concerns, etc. have been made.

EDIT: Minor correction made and packets reuploaded.
by Santa Claus
Sun Feb 20, 2022 10:04 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 WORKSHOP: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 19
Views: 4648

2022 WORKSHOP: Specific Question Discussion

This thread is for discussion of specific questions.
by Santa Claus
Sun Feb 20, 2022 10:04 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 WORKSHOP: Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 19
Views: 5555

2022 WORKSHOP: Thanks and General Discussion

I am very happy to once again be thanking the many people who have made WORKSHOP possible: the 28 writers, 9 editors, and 5 logistic team members. Thanks as well to everyone who played, staffed, playtested, or helped in other ways. Each of our subject editors is welcome to thank their writers and hi...
by Santa Claus
Fri Jan 07, 2022 4:14 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: QBWiki editing competition
Replies: 2
Views: 2724

Re: QBWiki editing competition

Updates: 1/17 - I've been informed by board administration that I can advertise cash prizes, so I'll set the tier 1 prize at $20 and the tier 2 at $10. This means there's a total of $310 up for grabs, spread across the myriad categories. 2/15 - thought I'd tabulate some numbers: Category | 1st | 2nd...
by Santa Claus
Fri Jan 07, 2022 4:12 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: QBWiki editing competition
Replies: 2
Views: 2724

QBWiki editing competition

UPDATE: The format of this contest has changed - I will be splitting the prizes amongst those who have participated thus far and will restructure the remainder into a bounty system (to be detailed later). FURTHER UPDATE: I've published a list of people who can ask me for money :) Happy new year eve...
by Santa Claus
Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:38 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: QBWiki Addition Suggestions
Replies: 48
Views: 21120

Re: QBWiki Addition Suggestions

Was wondering whether people would be interested in participating in another collaborative wiki writing effort. I consolidated the content from the document I made a while back into a WikiProject page, which can be seen here . It's rather snazzy (especially the progress page ) and I think it's a bi...
by Santa Claus
Sat Oct 02, 2021 5:10 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Boundaries and Being Off-topic on the Discord
Replies: 17
Views: 10650

Re: Boundaries and Being Off-topic on the Discord

2. Make the Off Topic header off limits to high schoolers [Near universal support] 3. Make the Pop Culture header off limits to high schoolers [Widespread support] By what metric is the support "near universal"? I've heard plenty of other less-active posters on the QB discord voice opposi...
by Santa Claus
Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:27 am
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Boundaries and Being Off-topic on the Discord
Replies: 17
Views: 10650

Re: Boundaries and Being Off-topic on the Discord

silly meme Format aside, do you really think this is an actual criticism of this policy? In my mind, supporting this argument and others of its ilk requires thinking that the issue (or even an issue) being considered here is "adults making age-inappropriate comments and high schoolers seeing t...
by Santa Claus
Fri Oct 01, 2021 12:00 am
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Boundaries and Being Off-topic on the Discord
Replies: 17
Views: 10650

Boundaries and Being Off-topic on the Discord

Recently there's been discussion about boundaries on the Discord, which has largely crystallized around the question of whether high schoolers should be barred from all channels which are not directly quiz bowl related. In the interests of continuing this conversation in a less ephemeral medium, I h...
by Santa Claus
Tue Aug 24, 2021 4:17 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The majority of high school tossups on the Mali Empire are terrible.
Replies: 22
Views: 9568

Re: The majority of high school tossups on the Mali Empire are terrible.

The failure comes from a misconception on what truly makes a good quizbowl question. A popular point of view is that a good question is simply a set of previously memorized facts related in some sense to the answer line. there's not really an argument to be made that a question (good or otherwise) ...
by Santa Claus
Sun Aug 22, 2021 12:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MUSES II at Chicago Open 2021
Replies: 16
Views: 3712

Re: MUSES II at Chicago Open 2021

I would like to make a brief petition to join a team as a fifth member (substitute or otherwise) or as a replacement for someone who is not here. Should this not pan out, I would be interested in reading/score keeping for this.
by Santa Claus
Thu Jul 01, 2021 10:52 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: The Quizbowl Packet Archive IS getting an overhaul!
Replies: 28
Views: 20037

Re: The Quizbowl Packet Archive IS getting an overhaul!

This is very exciting! I'm very happy to hear about these changes. That being said, if you're someone with a vested interest in doing the unglamorous work of packet archive tagging, we're looking for a team to help out with the project! Ideally, we'll be looking for people able to commit to a couple...
by Santa Claus
Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:48 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2021 PACE NSC Discussion
Replies: 13
Views: 6461

Re: 2021 PACE NSC Discussion

As Mike mentioned above, I edited the chem and the other science for the set. I wrote more or less the entirety of the earth and space science for this set (sans I think three bonuses) - I will note the semi-major axis tossup played in round 8 (and found in packet 22) was categorized under physics. ...
by Santa Claus
Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:08 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The Geography Front
Replies: 17
Views: 4671

Re: The Geography Front

this round robin singles tournament Please run this as a shoot-out. It would reduce necessary rooms and staff to one apiece (maybe two) and would certainly accelerate rounds. I think the people who will play this will not mind losing the opportunity to buzz on a handful of questions - there are ple...
by Santa Claus
Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:32 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: JAVA 2021
Replies: 15
Views: 5779

Re: JAVA 2021

jaimiec wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 12:50 pm Based on the responses to this poll (and my own schedule), June 26 will be the day!
What time will it be held?
by Santa Claus
Mon May 31, 2021 11:43 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: A Proposal for the PACE Mentorship Program
Replies: 1
Views: 1477

A Proposal for the PACE Mentorship Program

The PACE Writing Mentorship Program provides an invaluable service for new writers. Here is a short suggestion for how it can potentially be changed to further improve the experience for mentees: hold it earlier. With the current schedule, the program ends in mid-January. By this time, much of the s...
by Santa Claus
Mon May 31, 2021 11:25 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: HSNCT and its Problems
Replies: 30
Views: 16339

Re: HSNCT and its Problems

Now that HSNCT has happened (and Lambert has attended and placed t-19), do you still stand by anything you said in this post?
by Santa Claus
Mon May 24, 2021 1:10 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Call for history editor for 2022 WORKSHOP
Replies: 3
Views: 2418

Re: Call for history editor for 2022 WORKSHOP

We have selected Nick Jensen as our second history editor. Thank you to all who applied - we hope to have the opportunity to work with you on future projects.
by Santa Claus
Sat May 22, 2021 4:11 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Call for history editor for 2022 WORKSHOP
Replies: 3
Views: 2418

Re: Call for history editor for 2022 WORKSHOP

Applications for this position are now closed - we will make a selection from the applicants shortly.
by Santa Claus
Mon May 17, 2021 1:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: 2022 WORKSHOP
Replies: 6
Views: 6591

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: 2022 WORKSHOP

Applications for writers are now open: https://forms.gle/dxYQH7druVPVqcpTA . Please note that we will not be accepting high school students as writers this year. The application will close on 6/4 6/18 6/25. EDIT: The application deadline has been extended two weeks. Get your applications in now! EDI...
by Santa Claus
Sat May 15, 2021 12:59 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcing QB League: a weekly quizbowl tournament
Replies: 1
Views: 2205

Announcing QB League: a weekly quizbowl tournament

We are pleased to announce a new, weekly quizbowl tournament, QB League! Registration opens today (the 15th of May) and will run until the 27th of June; the first season of the competition will begin on the 5th of July. Format and Peculiarities Registered teams will be sorted by skill and experience...
by Santa Claus
Sat May 15, 2021 12:45 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Announcing QB League: a weekly quizbowl tournament
Replies: 0
Views: 2109

Announcing QB League: a weekly quizbowl tournament

We are pleased to announce a new, weekly quizbowl tournament, QB League! Registration opens today (the 15th of May) and will run until the 27th of June; the first season of the competition will begin on the 5th of July. Format and Peculiarities Registered teams will be sorted by skill and experience...
by Santa Claus
Thu May 13, 2021 12:23 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The majority of high school tossups on the Mali Empire are terrible.
Replies: 22
Views: 9568

Re: The majority of high school tossups on the Mali Empire are terrible.

Wouldn’t including new clues and moving more common clues later in the question make questions harder, thus putting them outside of the range in question of regs- to regs+?