Announcement: Geography Monstrosity (May 2009, Chicago)

Post by **Important Bird Area** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:25 pm

This is the announcement for Geography Monstrosity, a packet-submission geography-only tournament to be held Friday, May 29th, after the scrimmage rounds of NAQT HSNCT.

I am pleased to announce that George Stevens has signed on to edit this tournament; please send your packets to him at [email protected] .

Packet guidelines, distribution, and field to follow.

Edit: specify precise time and date of tournament

Post by **Important Bird Area** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:41 pm

Packet guidelines:

This is a tossup-only tournament. Submitted packets should consist of 24 tossups. The scoring format will include powers and superpowers, but no negs. Please provide suggested superpower and power marks in your submission, following the format used by the 2008 Gaddis (archive).

Except where otherwise noted, please follow the ACF submission guidelines.

The expected difficulty is about that of ACF nationals. A handful of tossups harder than that, like the geography found in the 2008 Gaddis, is fine, but please make sure that most of your questions are answerable at the end by players who are not geography specialists.

One content-related guideline I would like to emphasize, above and beyond the usual tenets of good question writing: Do not use almanac clues as leadins. By almanac clues, I mean clues of the form "this mountain is 6,324 feet high" or "this lake has a surface area of almost 394 square miles." These clues are unhelpful to players who have not memorized lists of statistics from almanacs; they are the geography equivalent of chemistry tossups that begin with atomic weights or literature tossups that begin with "This winner of the 1951 Nobel Prize in literature..." Clues like this are fine if used in moderation (say, 3 to 4 per packet), but their appropriate place is as middle clues, allowing a player to narrow the answer space. ("This could be the Don or the Volga, but the question just gave a length that is too short for the Volga...")

Submission dates and guidelines:

Base fee: $0. Everyone plays for free if you send in a packet on time.

Packet submitted by April 28th: no penalty
by May 2nd: $5
by May 16th: $10
after May 16th: play at the discretion of the tournament director and editor.

Edit: we're using powers, and ask teams to provide powermarks in submitted packets

Post by **Important Bird Area** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:02 pm

Distribution:

Note that there are two distributions listed below. Packets are expected to follow both of them to ensure both geographic and subject balance. There should be enough your choice/miscellaneous in both of these that you shouldn't be boxed into writing something crazy.

1. Geographic distribution.

-3 United States and Canada (preferably 1 Canadian, but no more than one)
-4 Latin America and the Caribbean (at least 2 South America)
-4 Europe
-4 Asia (at least 1 each Middle East, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia)
-3 Africa
-2 Australia/Oceania
-4 Your Choice (more of the above, things not required above like Antarctica and minor islands, catchall home for non-specific things like common link tossups)

2. Subject distribution.

-10 physical geography
including:
-1 to 3 bodies of water
-1 to 3 islands
-1 to 3 mountains

-10 political/human geography
including:
-max 4 polities
-1 to 3 cities

-up to 4 parageography and metageography

-including but not limited to such topics as:

-earth science
-biogeography
-cartography
-historical geography

-up to 4 your choice

George and I aren't committed to any particular part of this, so consider the above open for discussion in this thread.

Post by **Important Bird Area** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:07 pm

Field:

Open to teams of whatever size people wish to reasonably form. The field has now been capped at seven teams.

This draft is copied from Charles in the other thread. I'll update as people form teams.

Teams:
Halford Mackinder's Eagle-Owl (Jeff Hoppes/Ray Luo) (packet 5/3)
Firth of Forth Four (Andrew Hart/Mike Cheyne/Brendan Byrne/Ian Eppler)
Unnamed team (Steven Wellstead/Mike Bentley/Aaron Cohen/Matt Greenbacker) (packet 5/16)
Unnamed team (Chris Chiego et al)
Unnamed team (Dallas Simons/Mike Sorice/Cody Simons)
Unnamed team (Charles Meigs et al)
Unnamed team (TBD; please organize yourselves, remaining free agents)

Free agents:
Ryan Westbrook
Steven Hanley
Arnav Moudgil
Dwight Wynne
Kyle Haddad-Fonda (?)
Billy Beyer (?)
Matt Chadbourne
Harry White (?)
Henry Gorman
Tony Cheng
Micah Manary
Naren Tallapragada (?)
Ray Anderson
Ted Stratton

Moderators:
Donald Taylor
Ian Drayer
Jeff Price

Other possible staff:
Andy Watkins
Auroni Gupta
Bryce Durgin (playing?)
Rob Carson
Hannah Kirsch (?)
Trygve Meade
Aaron Rosenberg
Katy Peters
Chris Kennedy

Edit: field update 5/22

Post by **theMoMA** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:11 pm

I'd like to play

Post by **DumbJaques** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:48 pm

If I am at the HSNCT, I'll play this.

wd4gdz · Post by **wd4gdz** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:54 pm

DumbJaques wrote:If I am at the HSNCT, I'll play this.

What he said.

Auroni · Post by **Auroni** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:17 am

If I can come to HSNCT, then I'll certainly staff this.

dsimons · Post by **dsimons** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:28 am

I'll play this.

Deckard Cain · Post by **Deckard Cain** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:35 am

I'll play this as well.

Post by **Auks Ran Ova** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 1:03 am

I volunteer my reading-place-names-at-people-for-a-few-hours services!

dtaylor4 · Post by **dtaylor4** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 1:38 am

JelloBiafra wrote:If I can come to HSNCT, then I'll certainly staff this.

This.

Sima Guang Hater · Post by **Sima Guang Hater** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 4:57 am

I'll staff if I'm at HSNCT.

Not That Kind of Christian!! · Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:43 am

I'll staff as well if I'm there.

closesesame · Post by **closesesame** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:04 pm

Count me in to play.

The Atom Strikes! · Post by **The Atom Strikes!** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:25 pm

I would (tentatively) like to play (depending on how late this is supposed to run in the evening)

Post by **Important Bird Area** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:32 pm

Can't make any promises, but if we run this thing Friday night:

1. I would like to get done before midnight if at all possible.

2. The actual starting time is dependent on how quickly I and others can extract ourselves from staffing the scrimmage rounds.

millionwaves · Post by **millionwaves** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:12 pm

I will almost certainly be there, and I can read for this. I could also probably help out with some questions, if that's needed - let me know.

ieppler · Post by **ieppler** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:30 pm

I'll play.

Lagotto Romagnolo · Post by **Lagotto Romagnolo** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:47 pm

I'll be glad to staff.

canaanbananarama · Post by **canaanbananarama** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:40 am

Possibly, this is the two liter bottle of Montenegrin beer talking. Be warned, and geography nerd alert:

Would anybody be interested in a post-Geography Monstrosity freehand cartography event? No atlases, no resources, we just get a random country, city, historical region, alternative historical region, etc. and we draw it. There's some sort of judge with an atlas who decides who wins. Points could be scored on accuracy of placement, accuracy of borders, accuracy of place names, beauty of calligraphy, all sorts of things. Like, for "Romania," say, persons would be given ten minutes to produce an accurate map of Romania, with cities, mountain ranges, rivers, i.e. as much as they know, represented. Obviously, since there is a prominent Saxon culture in Transylvania, some ability with Frankfurter calligraphy might get some points. Persons could be given anywhere from five to ten minutes to draw a freehand map of whatever region the moderator decides. Perhaps we could give out the freehand maps produced as prizes at HSNCT, assuming that there are enough quizbowlers with a talent for freehand/no-resource cartography. I mean, who wouldn't want a signed Jeff Hoppes map of Albania?

Charles Meigs

... and the chaos of Mexican modernity · Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:02 am

Well I really cannot draw beyond an Art I class, but I could give it a shot (assuming my team still goes to HSNCT)

Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:01 am

canaanbananarama wrote:Would anybody be interested in a post-Geography Monstrosity freehand cartography event?

Of course I'll play this. And I'd better brush up on my Albanian geography.

pray for elves · Post by **pray for elves** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:18 am

bt_green_warbler wrote:
canaanbananarama wrote:Would anybody be interested in a post-Geography Monstrosity freehand cartography event?
Of course I'll play this. And I'd better brush up on my Albanian geography.

I'd probably also give it a shot, though I'm terrible at drawing. No, seriously, I still can't color inside the lines.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:34 am

This is a pretty awesome idea, despite the fact that I'm not likely to be there and that I lack geography knowledge. Or knowledge, really.

cchiego · Post by **cchiego** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:23 pm

Would anybody be interested in a post-Geography Monstrosity freehand cartography event?

Definitely, if I show up at HSNCT (which is still up in the air). It'll be nice to finally do this for a semi-productive purpose for once.

moskatoe · Post by **moskatoe** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:50 pm

I'd be interested in both the geo tournament and Meig's proposed map drawing contest.

... and the chaos of Mexican modernity · Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:19 pm

I just wanted to know if the geography tournament will begin at 10:00 pm after the practice rounds?

Eärendil · Post by **Eärendil** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:29 am

If I'm at HSNCT, I'd be up for judging this proposed cartographical contest. I can't draw to save my life.

manary · Post by **manary** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:11 am

I want to play!

Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:30 pm

Bakery, State, and Utopia wrote:I just wanted to know if the geography tournament will begin at 10:00 pm after the practice rounds?

That's about right. Maybe a little earlier if we can extract all of the players and staff from scrimmage rounds, but 10:00 is a safe target. Since these are both tossup-only rounds and normal ACF-length, play should be pretty fast. Ideally I'd like to finish between midnight and 12:30 or so (ie, sooner than last year's Gaddis) so everyone can get a full night's sleep before Saturday.

... and the chaos of Mexican modernity · Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:01 pm

bt_green_warbler wrote:
Bakery, State, and Utopia wrote:I just wanted to know if the geography tournament will begin at 10:00 pm after the practice rounds?
That's about right. Maybe a little earlier if we can extract all of the players and staff from scrimmage rounds, but 10:00 is a safe target. Since these are both tossup-only rounds and normal ACF-length, play should be pretty fast. Ideally I'd like to finish between midnight and 12:30 or so (ie, sooner than last year's Gaddis) so everyone can get a full night's sleep before Saturday.

Thanks for confirming this Jeff, I did want to get in at least 5-6 rounds against other teams before 10:00

Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:38 pm

Bumping this thread to note that the first packet deadline is now less than three weeks away, so it's probably a good idea for people to start forming teams.

26 players have expressed interest, so let's set the field at seven teams right now. We can move that up to nine if a lot more people sign up, or if a bunch of the existing players are interested in playing solo or something.

Also, note that we have something like 10 staffers signed up for a tournament that won't exceed nine teams, so if any of you would rather play instead, feel free.

The Goffman Prophecies · Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:40 pm

Drop my name from the list, please. I'm not going to be attending HSNCT.

Cheynem · Post by **Cheynem** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:01 pm

Hey, I wouldn't mind playing, if I could find a team.

fleurdelivre · Post by **fleurdelivre** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:06 pm

will staff (and freewheel map-create, too).

ClemsonQB · Post by **ClemsonQB** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:13 pm

Packets should be sent to [email protected]

Thanks.

Whiter Hydra · Post by **Whiter Hydra** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:16 pm

I'm not sure if he's told you this yet, but Naren is dropping.

In other news, I am expressing tentative interest in this.

Post by **DumbJaques** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:58 pm

Yeah, I also wont be at HSNCT, so I'm out.

Sima Guang Hater · Post by **Sima Guang Hater** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 6:59 pm

I'd have staffed, but I have to graduate instead.

Auroni · Post by **Auroni** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:08 pm

JelloBiafra wrote:If I can come to HSNCT, then I'll certainly staff this.

this is now a definite yes

fleurdelivre · Post by **fleurdelivre** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 8:25 pm

The Quest for the Historical Mukherjesus wrote:I'd have staffed, but I have to graduate instead.

gah, graduation is a glorified photo-op. skip it!

Not That Kind of Christian!! · Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:46 am

I may be able to staff this, if you still need people.

Maxwell Sniffingwell · Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:29 am

Take me off the list - my HSNCT attendance is still a maybe but being there Friday night looks like a no.

Quantum Mushroom Billiard Hat · Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:31 am

I don't think I'll be there either, so drop my name from the list too.

Golran · Post by **Golran** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:20 pm

I just found out I'm going to Chicago, but I don't know much geography. Can I staff?

Mike Bentley · Post by **Mike Bentley** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:34 am

Eh, what the hell, I'll play.

How is packet writing working? When will teams be forged?

Post by **Important Bird Area** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:09 am

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:How is packet writing working? When will teams be forged?

Teams should start forging themselves now, assuming that people would rather play for free than pay the late-packet fee.

Cheynem · Post by **Cheynem** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:26 am

If anyone who knows stuff about geography would like to play with me and Andrew Hart, let either of us know.

Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:08 pm

I'll go ahead and update the field to encourage people to form teams.

I had planned on playing solo, but would be happy to add free agents, particularly those who know stuff about Asian geography and can tell those pesky West Indian islands apart.