FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficulty)

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FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficulty)

Post by Sniper, No Sniping! »

The sixth annual iteration of the Fall Kickoff Tournament is seeking mirrors for the 2014-2015 school year.

FKT is a tournament traditionally written by educators, coaches, and former quiz bowl players from the state of Ohio. This year's iteration will be written primarily by Thomas Moore (Ohio Wesleyan quiz bowl), but also contributions from Joe Czupryn (coach, Sidney HS), Robert Kilner (formerly of Garfield Heights and Team Ohio) and Michael Sedlack (coach, Fisher Catholic HS). Joe Czupryn, the head editor and writer of last year's edition of Fall Kickoff Tournament which earned a "Satisfactory" rating from the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence, will serve as the primary editor of this year's FKT as well.

FKT 2014 will have twelve packets consisting of 20 tossups and 20 bonuses, with two tiebreaker tossups at the end of each packet.

The difficulty for this tournament is being marketed as a medium between "novice" and "regular" difficulty; tossups in this tournament will be accessible for all but are not written to where the first few clues are instant buzzer-races, especially among the most seasoned of teams. Last year's event saw national powerhouses Detroit Catholic Central, Northmont, and Paul L. Dunbar, among others, enjoy this tournament as well as lesser-experienced, local teams take part in the fun; so this is definitely a set that all crowds of quiz bowl can enjoy. Tossups are at a hard cap length of seven lines, 10 PT Times New Roman. For a reference point of difficulty, refer to the 2013 Fall Kickoff Tournament or the 2013 Brookwood Invitational Scholars Bowl.

Distribution

4/4 Literature
4/4 History
4/4 Science
3/3 Fine Arts
2/2 Religion, Philosophy, and Social Science
1/1 Mythology
1/1 Geography
1/1 Trash

The tiebreakers will come from two of Literature, History, Science, or Fine Arts.

The fee to mirror this outside the state of Ohio is $10 per team.

Prospective mirror hosts, or anyone with questions about this set, are encouraged to contact me at [email protected]

Confirmed Mirrors
The Ohio State University - Columbus, OH [10/4]
Sidney High School - Sidney, OH [10/4]
Youngstown area - Mahoning Valley, OH [10/11] Columbian High School - Seneca County, OH [10/4]
Chillicothe High School - Chillicothe, OH [10/18]
Vanderbilt University - Nashville, TN [10/4]
Wheelersburg High School - Scioto County, OH [11/1]
California Cup JV @ UC-Berkeley - NorCal [11/1]
University of Central Oklahoma - Edmond, OK [12/15]
Kaneland HS JV - Kaneland, IL [11/1]
Last edited by Sniper, No Sniping! on Tue Sep 23, 2014 10:43 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Sniper, No Sniping! »

The original post has been edited to reflect mirrors already in place and likely to happen.

Also, we have decided to produce two versions of this set. Version 1 will be the set marketed as "regular difficulty", 6-7 line toss-ups intended for more seasoned teams. Version 2 will be the same set in terms of packetization and answerlines as Version 1, but will be an abridged, novice-friendly edit of v1. Version 2 toss-ups will be at a hard cap of 4 lines. These shorter toss-ups virtually will be the removal of the first few lines of toss-ups from v1. This is done for a couple reasons: 1) This set will be mirrored in areas that have either never seen pyramidal quiz bowl before or whose only exposure to pyramidal quiz bowl are Introductory sets ("A-sets") by NAQT. As a result, there is just no reason to inundate said new teams with nauseatingly long toss-ups if they are likely won't be converted until the very end. 2) This set will also be mirrored in areas that have a dearth of readers experienced at reading toss-up/bonus, let alone pyramidal questions. There's no reason to compound the rough transition many of these newer teams will face by having a reader struggle through long toss-ups.

FKT 2014 v1 and FKT 2014 v2 will both be ready by September 13, once we get a date down we'll post. One does not necessarily need to choose one version against the other; if you know there's a disparity experience/talent wise between the top and bottoms of your field, split divisions could use both versions (top flight use v1, bottom flight use v2), ala "varsity" and "jv".
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Important Bird Area »

Sniper, No Sniping! wrote: Possible Mirrors
Vanderbilt - Knoxville, TN [TBD]
Which of these sites is correct?
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Sniper, No Sniping! »

bird bird bird bird bird wrote:
Sniper, No Sniping! wrote: Possible Mirrors
Vanderbilt - Knoxville, TN [TBD]
Which of these sites is correct?
It should be Vandy in Nashville, mea culpa.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Potatoes »

Hey guys, Kaneland High School would like to mirror this set on November 1st. Could someone email Ken Dentino at [email protected]? Thanks!
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Sniper, No Sniping! »

OP should be updated to reflect current mirror situations.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by TylerV »

I've heard rumors regarding the completion of this set. Is there any official statement?
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by TheDoctor »

I heard today that the set is scheduled for completion this week. Hooray! :)
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by TheDoctor »

TheDoctor wrote:I heard today that the set is scheduled for completion this week. Hooray! :)
Unfortunately, this didn't work out. Is the set going to be ready for 1 November mirrors?
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

How many originally-scheduled mirrors of this tournament have now had to be cancelled, rescheduled, or forced to use another set due to the lack of completion of this set? Has there been communication with those hosts about what to do? Do the editors have an explanation for the continued delays or a date by which the set will be ready, or is it being cancelled outright?
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by TheDoctor »

Matthew Jackson wrote:How many originally-scheduled mirrors of this tournament have now had to be cancelled, rescheduled, or forced to use another set due to the lack of completion of this set?
All scheduled FKT tournaments to date have used other sets. SCOP was used for Jackson-Milton and Chillicothe; the others used an A-set.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Potatoes »

I emailed Tom Moore after I heard that there were issues with this set. From what he has told me, the set has not been completed yet. He has also told me that he plans to have it done next Friday.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by GBRodgers12 »

Potatoes wrote:I emailed Tom Moore after I heard that there were issues with this set. From what he has told me, the set has not been completed yet. He has also told me that he plans to have it done next Friday.
I have been hesitant to post anything, as I am not looking to attack publicly attack people but I do want to set the record straight on a couple things concerning FKT. I cannot speak on behalf of Bob Kilner and Mike Sedlack who are also listed as writers for the set, but I for one was told my help was not needed several times, as a writer or editor. When the initial post was made, I had indicated to Tom that I was more than happy to help write a packet or some science questions and to edit the set once it was completed. However, when I contacted him shortly thereafter to see if he had everything setup to share with all of the writers, I was told my help in any capacity was not needed - that he and a few others had it under control.

I have always run my fall tournament on the FKT set and still intended to do so. Obviously this didn't happen. In the weeks leading up to my tournament, Tom would constantly tell me I would have the set by a certain date, and then the next night, and then the next. Until the Thursday before my Saturday tournament, he indicated the set would not be complete. After much pushing on my end, I got to see what was done, and it was not even half of the set. So either, he was delusional enough to think that he could write over 6 packets in 24 hours or was lying to myself and others the entire time.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by TheDoctor »

Do you have any idea as to who is actually writing the set, then? It seems like the original post is probably misleading on that front, since you're listed as head editor.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by GBRodgers12 »

TheDoctor wrote:Do you have any idea as to who is actually writing the set, then? It seems like the original post is probably misleading on that front, since you're listed as head editor.
I was told that Tom Moore, Mike Sedlack, and Rohan Nag were going to be the writers several months ago when I asked. However, I have since gotten the impression that Tom decided to write the entire set himself.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin »

I asked Tom if he needed help in the beginning, but was basically denied. Just like everyone else, I was given affirmations as to when he would be able to deliver the set (the Friday before or the Saturday of) until the Thursday before our tournament, upon which we changed the set to BELLOCO and Tom profusely apologized and said that FKT would be available for a Pre-Nationals type event in the spring.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

Having seen e-mails from Tom sent to his hosts as they requested SCOP to save their tournaments from destruction, we're dealing with a classic case of a writer having bit off more than he could chew and failing to recognize the consequences. Hubris prevented him from advising his tournaments of the problem in a timely fashion; I hope he's learned his lesson about owning up to mistakes before the trouble is compounded, but one of those e-mails described wanting to avoid the "storm" that would ensue on the boards once the truth got out, and that's not a positive sign -- but it's not fatal, either.

I hope for four things -- one, that alternative sets were found and no teams were unduly harmed by FKT's last-minute cancellations; two, that no tournaments are forced to be canceled due to FKT's disappearance; three, that no one signs on as a mirror for FKT's re-appearance in the spring until a third party (PACE?) is able to verify the existence of a full, acceptable set of questions; and four, that Tom bounces back from this ordeal with his head up.

You screw up, you apologize, you work hard to fix the problem, you learn from the mistakes you made, you put in good, hard work on your next project, and you get forgiven. That's how this works; I hope things work out well for Tom.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Potatoes »

Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin wrote:I asked Tom if he needed help in the beginning, but was basically denied. Just like everyone else, I was given affirmations as to when he would be able to deliver the set (the Friday before or the Saturday of) until the Thursday before our tournament, upon which we changed the set to BELLOCO and Tom profusely apologized and said that FKT would be available for a Pre-Nationals type event in the spring.
My site, scheduled to be run on 1 November, has not been informed that the set won't be fully finished until Spring. Did Tom mean the longer version of FKT won't be finished until spring? Or the shorter version?
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by TylerV »

Has anyone bothered to contact the other sites who plan to mirror this set (wheelersburg specifically comes to mind). If people who were connected with this set were being lead along about the completion I have concerns about hosts who were independent from FKT.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin »

My site, scheduled to be run on 1 November, has not been informed that the set won't be fully finished until Spring. Did Tom mean the longer version of FKT won't be finished until spring? Or the shorter version?
He didn't mention- he said he had a family emergency on that Thursday and wouldn't be able to complete the set in time for our Fall tournament, but never specified when exactly it would be finished. He then offered to provide the set for our pre-nationals in the spring if he was able to get one more writer aboard and offered to cover half the loss if any teams dropped for the fall tournament.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Sniper, No Sniping! »

So I'm finally here. In many ways I have messed up, and in several instances I could've rectified or handled more appropriately things that I ultimately did not. One of the ways I could've handled this better was to check this board (which I didn't) and respond to posts (which I didn't). I'm not sure if this is the thread where I can make the post I owe to you all, but I do know it's long overdue.

First things first, I want to clarify and set the record straight not for my sake, but to absolve and clear the names of three of the best people I've come to known that have served as mentors, leaders, and guys in general that enabled me to have the prolific and amazing high school quiz bowl experience that I was fortunate to have. When I asked around who'd be willing to help, the answers I got from Joe Czupryn and Mike Sedlack were the only ones that extended beyond "yeah I/we may write a packet". However, when they talked to me about it and asked what they could do to help later, I basically told them I'd be fine and if I needed any help, I'd let them know. At the time, I had felt pretty youthful yet really driven and I got a good start on the American Literature tossups, finishing that easily. I have experience writing large quantities of pyramidal style questions that are aimed to be written at what would be a "novice" level anyways through another writing gig I had. I can bang out a lot of these American Lit tossups pretty easily, just like that. I got a summer ahead of me, there's no reason why I can't get this done. Well, I had some setbacks during the summer with various issues and events - it hadn't affected my ability to write - it had affected my drive to write. But I still thought and had convinced I would be more than fine. To simply cut to the point here, I declined their help when I really should have taken it. At that point, I should have adjusted the credits sheet to just say me because what if something goes awry? They don't deserve to take any part of the fall, nor do they deserve any part of the fall. It was all me.

And I was still convinced I could do it. College starts - still convinced I could do it. As the days go by, the sense of urgency is rising but the ability to get myself to write... it's just not there. I did everything I possibly could and tried to get myself in a comfortable, mind-driven but I just wasn't able to get myself there. Then comes the week it's due and I'm working into overdrive but it ended up not being close to complete, but I was still convinced I could pull it out and then a family emergency comes up, which basically sends me to a breaking point which leads me to let everyone know it wouldn't be done in time. Had the emergency not come up, I would've still let everyone know it wouldn't have been good to go in somewhat sufficient time. I was looking to "finish" FKT last week during my break in terms of getting a reasonable amount of packets, like eight or nine completed for a tournament I'd be directing at Chillicothe HS, where I knew we weren't going to be able to get through more than eight rounds of *any* set there since the readers are not very trained or experience and it would've been too long (we ended up running only five rounds plus a final because how slow the matches were being played). During that time period, my laptop updated itself, changed the screensaver and altered my documents in terms of being able to find what I needed to find. At first I wasn't able to find anything, none of my essays, packets, or questions, but I was later able to find them all *except* for the document which had the texts of my non-designated American & European literature. I wasn't in the mood to have to re-write what I had already written and I was mentally worn that we decided to switch to SCOP to save my sanity and let me have a non-hectic part of my break. At the rate and determination I was able to put in to get all that I could done had I not had the hiccup with my laptop, I do think I could've written enough packets for the November 1st mirrors (that have since switched), but whether or not they would've been of the highest possible quality remained to be seen.

As for the future... There's still work to be done, it's not a project I'll abandon. As far as I know, I still have mirror arrangements in the spring of 2015 (I have none in 2014), so that will keep me busy, but thankfully it can allow me to look at my options and figure out what needs to be done and when. I've talked to several people in the community and going off their advice, it is best to collaborate with another writer/writer group and to seek out the help of an experienced editor, the former of which I've done some inquiries for (I have an idea of who I want helping) while I'm going to start contacting some experienced editors I know or know of, and see what can be done. My big incentive for ultimately making this set work and be the best that it can be is to finish what I have started, but more importantly for the reputation of the set - those who have written for it in the past and those who will write it in the future - and because it is what is best for the quiz bowl community in general.

I have disappointed many people as a result of my inability to deliver, and in many respects that is what hurts worse than not being able to finish a set. From a personal perspective, there are plenty of times where I'm constantly reminded the worst thing I have done in a long time is ultimately disappointing the coaches and adults, as well as the players, in Ohio that gave a lot to me and entrusted me to deliver. The other thing that does sting is knowing that "the set we wanted to use to come from Ohio players and alumni isn't ready" is likely a phrase that has been uttered, or will be uttered at tournaments originally planning to use this set. When offered the prospect of doing 2014's FKT, I saw taking on this set as an attainable yet appropriate way of proudly showing what quiz bowl in the Buckeye State has to offer. I only wish I could've had the foresight that a lack of drive and not working hard at the times I really should have would have seriously bad results, and then and only then would I have had to remind myself what this set meant in the bigger picture and not what it meant for just me. And for that, I say with a heavy heart, I am sorry for. For the most part I've been able to do the right thing when possible to alleviate the burdens (notably financial) on the shoulders of those who were affected by my irresponsibility and poor decisions, and I'm still fully committed toward making everything right that I can.

I'd like to take this moment to apologize to all of the hosts and coaches (especially the teachers) that I put in between a rock and a hard place with my actions. If there are any questions, comments, or concerns, I'll gladly heed them although I probably will use the board sparingly (I can be contacted through email which I check a lot and reply quick to). I'd also like to just quickly thank those in the community that have reached out to me and have expressed their support, it does mean a lot to me. This set will get finished and we'll see what we can do in the near future with it.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by TheDoctor »

Thank you for updating us, Tom. Could you by any chance see your way clear to updating this thread's original post as well, to reflect the current writers, projected completion date, and mirrors? Thanks!
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Stained Diviner »

Tom was supposed to write 20 tossups for me over the course of 3 months last year. He ended up finishing 17 of the 20, and that is counting the questions that were two weeks after the deadline. He twice blamed computer failure for not being finished, and the excuses were not convincing. He said he was having trouble transferring files between computers, which shouldn't cause failure with a small number of tossups because retyping them would take a few minutes.

I apologize for not warning the community about his unreliability. I would encourage people to look elsewhere for questions when planning tournaments unless it is using a set that he has already finished. Even if he has finished it, there is a good chance that his computers will break down, preventing him from sending you the questions.

I hope that at some point in the future Tom becomes a contributing member of this community.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by GBRodgers12 »

Just for the record, I was approached yesterday by Tom about editing the now complete (?) FKT set but was forced to turn down this opportunity because of too many obligations elsewhere at this point in the year. I have always been a part of FKT because it could be done during the summer when things are slower.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by RexSueciae »

Because I have nothing better to do with my time, I took a look at the tournaments still scheduled to use this question set, according to the main post of this thread:
  • I could find no record of the tournament scheduled for today at Wheelersburg High School on these forums, nor did I find anything on their school's website.
  • The California Cup tournament scheduled for today is, apparently, using SCOP Novice for its JV division instead of FKT.
  • The tournament at Kaneland High School scheduled for today, according to its entry on the Quizbowl Resource Database, using NAQT-141A instead of FKT. There isn't a forum thread for that tournament, and its database entry is owned by Zachary Yan.
  • The tournament at the University of Central Oklahoma scheduled for December 13 is the only mirror site that still plans on using FKT.
It would be nice for this thread to be updated to reflect the current mirror situation. I can only hope that the completed (?) question set made it to the folks at Wheelersburg High School (?) on time.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Important Bird Area »

RexSueciae wrote:[*]The California Cup tournament scheduled for today is, apparently, using SCOP Novice for its JV division instead of FKT.
This is correct (live from the control room). (We have switched Bellarmine Novice to IS #143A.)
The tournament at the University of Central Oklahoma scheduled for December 13
This event will be using NAQT IS #140.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by RexSueciae »

bird bird bird bird bird wrote:
RexSueciae wrote:[*]The California Cup tournament scheduled for today is, apparently, using SCOP Novice for its JV division instead of FKT.
This is correct (live from the control room). (We have switched Bellarmine Novice to IS #143A.)
The tournament at the University of Central Oklahoma scheduled for December 13
This event will be using NAQT IS #140.
Oops, forgot to check NAQT's website (the forum thread for that tournament still says FKT). I stand corrected; in that case, Wheelersburg High School may have been (?) the only site to actually use FKT this year, barring future mirrors (which are probably unlikely for fairly obvious reasons).

If FKT survives 2014, I suggest they use this as their theme song.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

In this day and age, it's frankly inexplicable and irresponsible to not do anything to back up your files. Between Dropbox, Box, iCloud, Google Drive, the old-fashioned "email it to yourself" method, the even more old-fashioned flash drive/external hard drive, and failsafes such as System Restore, there's just too many things you can do for "computer failure" to be a viable excuse. Universities aren't treating "the computer ate my homework" as a legitimate excuse anymore, and neither should we.
Sniper, No Sniping! wrote:During that time period, my laptop updated itself, changed the screensaver and altered my documents in terms of being able to find what I needed to find. At first I wasn't able to find anything, none of my essays, packets, or questions, but I was later able to find them all *except* for the document which had the texts of my non-designated American & European literature.
What OS are you using, and what type of update were you applying? In what way was the basic search functionality of your computer affected? If a routine update could do this to my computer, making it impossible for me to access the questions I was working on for a future tournament, I want to know exactly how to avoid running that update, and I'm sure most other active writers do as well. Fill in as many details as you can, please.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by TheDoctor »

RexSueciae wrote:[*]The California Cup tournament scheduled for today is, apparently, using SCOP Novice for its JV division instead of FKT.
Yup.
[*]The tournament at Kaneland High School scheduled for today, according to its entry on the Quizbowl Resource Database, using NAQT-141A instead of FKT. There isn't a forum thread for that tournament, and its database entry is owned by Zachary Yan.
Was here. Can confirm that 141A was used.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Excelsior (smack) »

failsafes such as System Restore
Side note: unless you do something utterly bizarre like storing the text of your questions in the system registry, System Restore will probably not take snapshots of your questions. It is possible to jimmy System Restore into backing up your documents, but to do so would be more work than spending the five minutes it takes to set up Dropbox or an equivalent.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by crbirdx »

For 2015 FKT we are willing to host a mirror.
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by Stained Diviner »

crbirdx wrote:For 2015 FKT we are willing to host a mirror.
Don't you want to find out whether the set will get written and/or edited before agreeing to host a mirror?
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Re: FKT 2014 Seeking Mirrors (easy side of regular difficult

Post by RexSueciae »

I am still honestly curious if Wheelerburg ever got a copy of this set and if their tournament ended up materializing. My guess is "no," but...
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