Search found 196 matches

by bmcke
Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:31 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Fine arts/music
Replies: 117
Views: 44845

Re: Fine arts/music

I think making new "art criteria" for the academic QB canon could easily just mean trying to rebuild the "inaccessibility criteria" without actually invoking issues of what's in the mainstream. I recognize that it's unfair to the Beatles and Beatles experts that they're excluded ...
by bmcke
Fri May 04, 2012 7:50 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Article in Slate about ACF Nationals
Replies: 32
Views: 12073

Re: Article in Slate about ACF Nationals

I'm a bit embarrassed by the storm of nerdery in their comments section Where? I see a total of 2 posts from quizbowlers, out of 8 total, one of which is a 100% justified rebuttal to some jackass using this as a chance to grandstand for Chip Beall. I'm about to hop in too, so I guess that will make...
by bmcke
Fri May 04, 2012 3:28 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Article in Slate about ACF Nationals
Replies: 32
Views: 12073

Re: Article in Slate about ACF Nationals

Emotionally invested as I am in this stuff, I'm a bit embarrassed by the storm of nerdery in their comments section, and kind of disturbed by how quickly the article went beyond just saying "here's a neat thing some people do" and found the dark corners of list knowledge. Maybe this is the...
by bmcke
Wed Apr 04, 2012 7:41 pm
Forum: Best of the Best
Topic: The New Oberhausen Manifesto: Film Question Reform
Replies: 28
Views: 20596

Re: The New Oberhausen Manifesto: Film Question Reform

There was a Blithedale Romance thread that sort of acknowledged that a crucial function of quizbowl is to distinguish between levels of Blithedale Romance-knowledge held by people who have never actually read The Blithedale Romance. Most movies are shorter than most books, and a lot of people actual...
by bmcke
Sat Feb 25, 2012 9:56 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Odd Ways of Learning Things
Replies: 177
Views: 198194

Re: Odd Ways of Learning Things

A teammate once first-lined "Whitehorse" because the tossup mentioned her grandfather.

(Plus if I remember these forums right, Ted Gioia has accomplished similar.)
by bmcke
Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: BARGE at Buffalo - 1/21/12
Replies: 22
Views: 5313

Re: BARGE at Buffalo - 1/21/12

Non-zero chance I am bringing a team of Ottawa high schoolers. Will check in when I know for sure.

EDIT: Just me after all.
by bmcke
Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: BARGE at Buffalo - 1/21/12
Replies: 22
Views: 5313

Re: BARGE at Buffalo - 1/21/12

It's not a commitment, but I might come to this one. We'll see if I can round up some Ottawa people.
by bmcke
Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Fall and numbers of packets
Replies: 35
Views: 10784

Re: ACF Fall and numbers of packets

I'll take one last stab at middle ground. Andrew talked about teams "composed of players with two or more years of experience," but what if the writing requirement were reduced for those teams with only one player across the two-year line? I think half a packet would be more fair for those...
by bmcke
Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Fall and numbers of packets
Replies: 35
Views: 10784

Re: ACF Fall and numbers of packets

Veterans in this thread might be under-rating the effort it takes for a team of inexperienced writers to make even a bad packet of questions. The high school idea is terrific; I bet most teams would be glad to see their writing get used somewhere.
by bmcke
Mon Oct 31, 2011 4:31 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Rule Amendment Proposal: Eliminate Blitz Rules
Replies: 15
Views: 3641

Re: Rule Amendment Proposal: Eliminate Blitz Rules

I've never seen a new or casual player actually use the blitz rule. To make the rules generous, at least at beginner levels, I'd rather be allowed to prompt on answers that are just the wrong category. When someone gets negged for naming work instead of author, for instance, it's often just that the...
by bmcke
Sat Sep 17, 2011 3:31 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2011-2012 Collegiate Preseason Podcast
Replies: 22
Views: 5445

Re: 2011-2012 Collegiate Preseason Podcast

Waterloo are best in Canada this year.
by bmcke
Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Human Bio
Replies: 25
Views: 7256

Re: Human Bio

Alright. I'd take a quick explanation why anatomy's a bad idea, if someone wants to give that. Otherwise we can wrap things up here.
by bmcke
Tue Aug 09, 2011 7:47 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Human Bio
Replies: 25
Views: 7256

Re: Human Bio

I actually have no idea.
by bmcke
Tue Aug 09, 2011 7:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Human Bio
Replies: 25
Views: 7256

Human Bio

I have a teammate studying health science (maybe it's kinesiology) who feels kind of slighted that she doesn't hear many human biology questions in practice or tournaments. I don't know if there's any specific constitution or mission statement that explains ACF or NAQT distribution, but is it possib...
by bmcke
Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:08 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The thirty-or-zero problem (80s trash)
Replies: 51
Views: 9740

Re: The thirty-or-zero problem (80s trash)

If I was saying that, then I was wrong. Almost as wrong as the great Marvin Gaye song, "Party Rock Anthem."
by bmcke
Tue Jul 26, 2011 5:36 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The thirty-or-zero problem (80s trash)
Replies: 51
Views: 9740

Re: The thirty-or-zero problem (80s trash)

Looking at the power stats that got posted in the other thread, a lot of the trash questions were the easiest of the tournament. If "older" trash is a way to keep that stuff in check or line it up closer to rewarding, like, intellectual curiosity, then I am pretty okay with that. Almost as...
by bmcke
Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: Moon Pie Mirror @McMaster August 6th 2011
Replies: 34
Views: 7100

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Moon Pie Mirror @McMaster August 6th 2011

Have mentioned this to some other people, but Ottawa teams are pretty amorphous. If anyone shows up to this thing without a team, we can probably set something up.
by bmcke
Fri Jun 24, 2011 11:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: Moon Pie Mirror @McMaster August 6th 2011
Replies: 34
Views: 7100

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Moon Pie Mirror @McMaster August 6th 2011

Will, Sinan, and Jordan will now be playing Moon Pie on a team with Mario Chalmers.

Ottawa will bring you one or two teams.
by bmcke
Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO?
Replies: 67
Views: 16383

Re: VETO?

Sinan's right, but it might be too late by now.
by bmcke
Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VCU Open and Trash 2011 @ DCC (Aug 6-7)
Replies: 77
Views: 19357

Re: VCU Open and Trash 2011 @ DCC (Aug 6-7)

I'd do this with anyone driving in from Ontario.
by bmcke
Thu Jun 16, 2011 3:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: FOGHAT Mirror-University of Toronto, JUNE 18th
Replies: 16
Views: 2939

Re: FOGHAT Mirror-University of Toronto, JUNE 18th

The protest riots in Canada always get overblown. For G20 in Toronto last year, the damage was basically four police cars plus windows. In Vancouver there were actual stabbings last night and a lot of people hurt -- as far as I can tell, the only riot we've had in Canada in my lifetime. (Hijacking t...
by bmcke
Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: BLASTOISE (Hybrid: Half-Trash) at UToronto, May 21st
Replies: 32
Views: 6543

Re: BLASTOISE (Hybrid: Half-Trash) at UToronto, May 21st

Come on now, Michael Frolik. When I saw there were bad questions, instead of coming here to rant, I talked to the editors and helped them fix it up. I'm not sure what the current state of the set is, but it's certainly better than what we played in Ottawa -- maybe someone from the Delaware site can ...
by bmcke
Sun Apr 24, 2011 11:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: VETO?
Replies: 67
Views: 16383

Re: VETO?

Seems like a lot of experienced writers have pledged packets for this non-tournament, plus at least two of them offered to edit categories. If this happens, I'm curious about what distribution would look like. [Edited to retract offer of subject editing. Probably not a good idea, now that I think ab...
by bmcke
Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:52 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2011 ICT Question-specific discussion
Replies: 150
Views: 30436

Re: 2011 ICT Question-specific discussion

The following tossups made my day: - The Gambler - AVClub - Michael Lewis - Giacometti with clues about "Palace" - Nicholas Kristof - David Cross with Ghost World record collector lead-in I am sort of just listing the stuff I was good at, but those are all fun things to have tossups about....
by bmcke
Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: grad students in quizbowl thread #32343
Replies: 62
Views: 18371

Re: D2 ICT eligibility

I'm a bit afraid of getting flak for this, but I don't think it's fair to cite successful young players and undergrad teams as a reason that mismatched games or tournaments need to happen. I think the high turnouts at SCT have a lot to do with the two separate fields, and I'm also grateful for the e...
by bmcke
Sun Feb 27, 2011 4:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GUERRILLA III - Friday, 4/8/11 - ICT Hotel, Chicago
Replies: 107
Views: 20371

Re: GUERRILLA III - Friday, 4/8/11 - ICT Hotel, Chicago

Another non-sciencer here. Are there enough orphans to just make a team of orphans?
by bmcke
Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Reading Fast(er)
Replies: 25
Views: 5023

Re: Reading Fast(er)

Staple the tossups and bonuses separately.
by bmcke
Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:04 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Difficulty
Replies: 30
Views: 4994

Re: Difficulty

I want to mention that everyone in our D2 field got at least four tossups on the day. I was really happy with that statistic.
by bmcke
Tue Feb 08, 2011 6:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)
Replies: 21
Views: 5091

Re: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)

I consulted NAQT on that protest; their ruling (that it was too late) was consistent with their official rules.

The missing game was just a goof in the stats file I sent to NAQT; I'm told they'll add it in before they calculate D-values. The prelims/playoffs issue looks like it's been fixed by now.
by bmcke
Sun Feb 06, 2011 9:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT Timer Policy
Replies: 7
Views: 1914

Re: NAQT Timer Policy

One thing that I haven't heard come up a lot in discussions about the clock is that it encourages moderators to read as fast as humanly possible. At several different SCTs I've heard new circuit teams complain after the first few rounds that they've never heard people read so fast. I actually found...
by bmcke
Sun Feb 06, 2011 6:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Difficulty
Replies: 30
Views: 4994

Re: Difficulty

I kind of liked the hard bonuses, just because I get bored of the ten-free-points questions. I'd have ended up with a lot of 10s and 0s on my "strong" categories in this tournament, but I would have had more chances to guess or remember something and less chances to groan at easy parts. Ex...
by bmcke
Sun Feb 06, 2011 1:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)
Replies: 21
Views: 5091

Re: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)

I'll fix those tonight, plus the UG thing and Meraj's name, before I send the files to NAQT. If anyone else has corrections, here's your ten-hour window.
by bmcke
Sun Feb 06, 2011 12:05 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)
Replies: 21
Views: 5091

Re: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)

Thank you list: - Moderators. I hope this was some fun for you lot, and I appreciate a ton that you got through your rounds quickly. - Scorekeepers. It was a long day, and I hope you weren't too bored. Thank you for writing round number and room number on every sheet. - Jeff Hoppes, for untangling a...
by bmcke
Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)
Replies: 21
Views: 5091

Re: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)

Div II finished at least an hour later. Guelph A wins.

D2 prelim stats
D2 final stats
by bmcke
Thu Feb 03, 2011 7:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What to do with bystanders?
Replies: 10
Views: 1875

Re: What to do with bystanders?

I like these ideas. Definitely our TD won't be reading, and we'll be sure to have someone collecting stats and handing out packets. We also just added an extra house team, so our casual U of O players can rotate between playing / scorekeeping / standing around. Here are two I've wondered about: - Pu...
by bmcke
Thu Feb 03, 2011 5:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What to do with bystanders?
Replies: 10
Views: 1875

What to do with bystanders?

My club's hosting SCT in a few days, and there's a decent chance we'll have more volunteers than we can use. After we fill out mods, scorekeepers, TD, and someone on stats, our attendance numbers show people left over who are attending the tournament but not playing -- highschoolers who aren't eligi...
by bmcke
Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2011 NAQT SCT
Replies: 69
Views: 49802

Re: 2011 NAQT SCT

bt_green_warbler wrote:Hosts are still required to send NAQT the standard per-team fee ($40 for the first team and $35 from subsequent teams; $20 new-team discount)
Hosts send fees to NAQT? This only applies when teams pay the hosts directly, right?
by bmcke
Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:47 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)
Replies: 21
Views: 5091

Re: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)

Accomodations The Embassy Hotel in Ottawa, about fifteen minutes' walk from the tournament site, is offering "executive suites" to quizzers for $150/night on February 4th and 5th. These rooms each have two double-beds and two pullout couches, so they can fit up to eight people. This is pr...
by bmcke
Thu Jan 13, 2011 7:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)
Replies: 21
Views: 5091

Re: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)

Perfect! We can check with the teams who've signed up. Thanks for the fix.
by bmcke
Thu Jan 13, 2011 6:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)
Replies: 21
Views: 5091

Re: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)

Some notes: - Pizza. The U of O club will be selling pizza at lunch. Pizza is a good way of making sure your club gets back from lunch on time. If your team does NOT want pizza, then let us know so we can adjust the size of our order. - Hotels. We're pretty close to figuring out an affordable hotel ...
by bmcke
Thu Dec 23, 2010 6:00 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)
Replies: 21
Views: 5091

Region 2 SCT at Ottawa (February 5, 2011)

The University of Ottawa will be hosting an SCT on February 5, 2011, for teams from Region 2 and other nearby schools. Details Registration starts at 9 AM, and the tournament should end by 6 PM. Headquarters are room 232 of Fauteux Hall . Games will take place in Fauteux and across the street in the...
by bmcke
Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT New York Sectional Sponsored by ACUI Region 2
Replies: 35
Views: 7022

Re: NAQT New York Sectional Sponsored by ACUI Region 2

bt_green_warbler wrote:If the number of registered teams exceeds the field cap, additional teams will be directed to one of the other nearby SCT sites.
As a nearby SCT site, I have some concerns about this.
by bmcke
Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: THUNDER II @ UWaterloo (01/15/2011)
Replies: 13
Views: 3646

Re: THUNDER II @ UWaterloo (01/15/2011)

Ottawa will probably have a team for this.
by bmcke
Wed Dec 01, 2010 12:52 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: CMST II: Searching For Writers
Replies: 42
Views: 13081

Re: CMST II: Searching For Writers

I'd do 15/15 of anything but science.
by bmcke
Wed Nov 24, 2010 12:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: (EFT) at U. Toronto-DATE CHANGE:Sunday, October 31,2010
Replies: 34
Views: 13492

Re: (EFT) at U. Toronto-DATE CHANGE:Sunday, October 31,2010

Stats stats stats stats stats stats stats
by bmcke
Mon Nov 01, 2010 12:50 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TERP Mirror at McMaster October 30th
Replies: 54
Views: 13442

Re: TERP Mirror at McMaster October 30th

I would guess that a lot of the experienced readers on McMaster were playing in the tournament.
by bmcke
Mon Nov 01, 2010 12:41 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: (EFT) at U. Toronto-DATE CHANGE:Sunday, October 31,2010
Replies: 34
Views: 13492

Re: (EFT) at U. Toronto-DATE CHANGE:Sunday, October 31,2010

As seen above, here, everyone I talked to at EFT was/is super-nice to me. Short lunch was a good idea, and I really liked the set.

I'd like to thank Jordan Palmer and Max Trower for running the tournament.

EDIT: Because Jordan destroyed the evidence.
by bmcke
Thu Oct 28, 2010 3:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Anthropology Questions
Replies: 47
Views: 11401

Re: Anthropology Questions

Megalomaniacal Panda on Absinthe wrote:Most humanities subjects aren't really studied in isolation: there's frequent overlap between much of philosophy and all the different social sciences.
2/2 Religion and Myth
2/2 Philosophy and Social Science

Would this grouping make some sense?