Question-specific discussion: 2015 Division II SCT

[Important Bird Area]

This is your specific-question discussion for the 2015 DII SCT.

[Jeremy Gibbs Paradox]

Whomever name checked Lee Epstein in the SCOTUS TU, I would like to give a slow clap. She was probably one of the best profs I ever had, and it thrilled me to no end to see her in the set!

[Excelsior (smack)]

Can I see the "(linked) lists" tossup from division 2 (packet 3, tossup 18)? Given Ike's comment in the errata thread, I want to take a second look at it.

[Important Bird Area]

This data structure is returned from Python's ~zip~ and ~map~ functions; in Perl they are ephemeral entities usually used to initialize arrays and hashes. Some implementations add "sentinels" to eliminate checks for null. A typical implementation has a (*) "head" pointer to a "node" structure, with each node containing both data and a pointer or reference to the "next" node. For 10 points--name this kind of "linked" data structure.

answer: _list_s (accept _linked list_s)

[Emperor Pupienus]

Would you mind posting the Egypt tossup?
If I remember correctly, the second clue was that it was the largest grain producer for the Roman Empire other than Africa, which is kind of confusing. Yes, they are different provinces, as Africa refers to the Tunisia/Lybian area, as far as I know, but it was still a bit confusing.

[coldstonesteveaustin]

Could I see the art tossup on railroads? I said carriage at the Daumier clue and was promptly negged.
Could I see the bonus on alcohol/Markovnikov/primary? After we answered the bonus, our opponents noted that the third part referred to the order of nucleotides as the primary structure of proteins.
Could I see the bonus on soil? We said topsoil for the first part, which was not accepted, and I was wondering if I should have been antiprompted or not.
The palindrome bonus was not fun for my opponents.

[Corry]

The palindrome bonus was not fun for my opponents.

Yeah, this bonus was really pretty dumb.

[Aaron's Rod]

The palindrome bonus was not fun for my opponents.

Yeah, this bonus was really pretty dumb.

My thoughts were something along the lines of "is this Jeopardy! or quizbowl?" I don't know who in their right mind thought that was a good idea at SCT. A full 30 points of total BS.

[Important Bird Area]

Augustus banned all senators from entering this province, which, together with Africa, provided most of Rome's imported grain. Pescennius Niger and Avidius Cassius were declared emperor in this province, which supplanted a kingdom whose queens included Arsinoe IV and a woman who was (*) rolled up in a carpet to see Julius Caesar. For 10 points--name this province annexed after the Battle of Actium and Cleopatra's suicide.

Edward Hopper painted "The House by" this type of infrastructure. In Infinite Jest, teens who play a game on it become the Wheelchair Assassins. Phineas Gage got his personality-altering {injury} building one, and parts of them were deformed to make (*) "Sherman neckties" during the Civil War. For 10 points--name this kind of transportation infrastructure of which a "transcontinental" example was completed with a Golden Spike.

answer: _railroad_s (or _railroad tracks_ or _train tracks_; accept clear equivalents; prompt on "rails" or "tracks"; do not accept or prompt on "train(s)" by itself or "transcontinental railroad")

Some of these molecules are formed by addition of water to an alkene. For 10 points each--

A. Name these organic molecules, like methanol, that contain an OH group.

answer: _alcohol_s (prompt on "hydroxide(s)")

B. When water adds to an alkene to form an alcohol, it obeys this rule named for a Russian chemist stating that the OH group adds to the more highly substituted carbon.

answer: _Markovnikov_('s) rule

C. This adjective indicates an alcohol in which the OH group is attached to a carbon with one other R group; it also denotes the lowest level of protein "structure," which is the sequence of nucleotides.

answer: _primary_ (accept _primary alcohol_ or _primary structure_)

The uppermost layer of this material is denoted 'O', for "organic." For 10 points each--

A. Name this porous portion of the regolith, formed by pedogenesis, that consists of a mixture of minerals and organic humus.

answer: _soil_ (do not accept or prompt on "dirt")

B. This is the technical term for a distinctive layer of soil.

answer: soil _horizon_s

C. In waterlogged, boggy areas, the second horizon is named for this organic material formed from decayed vegetation, most often sphagnum moss.

answer: _peat_ (or _turf_)

"Live" and "evil" are one of many pairs of words which, when spelled backward, form one another. For 10 points each--give these other pairs from brief definitions:

A. "A creature" and "a thin layer"

answer: _animal_ and _lamina_

B. "Stems of dry grain" and "small skin lumps"

answer: _straw_ and _warts_

C. "Algal culture medium" and "melodic mode of Indian music"

answer: _agar_ and _raga_

[coldstonesteveaustin]

Whoops, it seems like I negged the railroad tossup with tennis court on Infinite Jest. I remember there was a tossup with a clue mentioning Daumier though, could I see that?

[Important Bird Area]

Cyrus Smith uses one of these vehicles to escape Richmond, Virginia in Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island. An Honore Daumier lithograph shows the camera-wielding Nadar "elevating Photography to Art" inside one of these vehicles developed by the Montgolfier brothers. One of them brought L. Frank (*) Baum's wizard to Oz. For 10 points--name these vehicles that lift a basket by igniting a burner under a sack of trapped gas.

answer: hot-air _balloon_s

[dxdtdemon]

I was just curious if the "hands up, don't shoot" tossup had the same text in DI and DII, or if they were slightly different.

[Emperor Pupienus]

Whoops, it seems like I negged the railroad tossup with tennis court on Infinite Jest. I remember there was a tossup with a clue mentioning Daumier though, could I see that?

You're not the only one. Someone on our team did that too.

2015 DII SCT round 11 wrote:
Augustus banned all senators from entering this province, which, together with Africa, provided most of Rome's imported grain. Pescennius Niger and Avidius Cassius were declared emperor in this province, which supplanted a kingdom whose queens included Arsinoe IV and a woman who was (*) rolled up in a carpet to see Julius Caesar. For 10 points--name this province annexed after the Battle of Actium and Cleopatra's suicide.

Yeah so does anyone who knows more about Roman history want to provide an answer here? I'm quite sure that Africa and Egypt are considered different provinces, but did anyone else think it's confusing?

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

2015 DII SCT round 11 wrote:
Augustus banned all senators from entering this province, which, together with Africa, provided most of Rome's imported grain. Pescennius Niger and Avidius Cassius were declared emperor in this province, which supplanted a kingdom whose queens included Arsinoe IV and a woman who was (*) rolled up in a carpet to see Julius Caesar. For 10 points--name this province annexed after the Battle of Actium and Cleopatra's suicide.

Yeah so does anyone who knows more about Roman history want to provide an answer here? I'm quite sure that Africa and Egypt are considered different provinces, but did anyone else think it's confusing?

I don't know particularly much about Roman history, but this is probably a case where the term province was used right away so as the help players consider Egypt as an answer and you may have just been thrown off due to readers going at infinity speed

[Important Bird Area]

Every tossup has distinct Division I and Division II text (the two divisions have different length limits).

In December 2014 Sally Kohn, Mel Robbins, and Margaret Hoover, three CNN Newsroom anchors, performed this gesture on air. After this gesture was performed by Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens, Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, and Jared Cook, the SLPOA demanded an apology. That association of (*) police officers said that five members of the St. Louis Rams were "way out of bounds" for performing--for 10 points--what gesture protesting the Michael Brown shooting, usually accompanied by the words "don't shoot"?

In December 2014 three CNN Newsroom anchors performed this gesture on air. After it was performed by Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens, Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, and Jared Cook, the SLPOA demanded an apology. That association of (*) police officers said five members of the St. Louis Rams were "way out of bounds" for performing--for 10 points--what gesture protesting the Michael Brown shooting, often accompanied by "don't shoot"?

[Adventure Temple Trail]

Yeah so does anyone who knows more about Roman history want to provide an answer here? I'm quite sure that Africa and Egypt are considered different provinces, but did anyone else think it's confusing?

The Romans divided the northern coast of the continent whose entirety we now call "Africa" into several provinces; these included a province-level region governed by a former consul which was then known as Africa (or Africa Proconsularis) (covering largely what's now Tunisia and the center of what was the Carthaginian domain) as well as Aegyptus (the same place we now call Egypt through Anglicization of that name). I can see how this might have been confusing to non-specialists, so perhaps saying "proconsular Africa" or "the province they called Africa" would have been preferable if either could work within the strict character limit.

[1.82]

I had no problem with the Egypt question at all; the term "province" was used right away and in any case it doesn't strike me as reasonable to assume that "Africa" in the context of Rome would refer to the continent.

[Emperor Pupienus]

jasonzhou wrote:
Yeah so does anyone who knows more about Roman history want to provide an answer here? I'm quite sure that Africa and Egypt are considered different provinces, but did anyone else think it's confusing?


The Romans divided the northern coast of the continent whose entirety we now call "Africa" into several provinces; these included a province-level region governed by a former consul which was then known as Africa (or Africa Proconsularis) (covering largely what's now Tunisia and the center of what was the Carthaginian domain) as well as Aegyptus (the same place we now call Egypt through Anglicization of that name). I can see how this might have been confusing to non-specialists, so perhaps saying "proconsular Africa" or "the province they called Africa" would have been preferable if either could work within the strict character limit.

Ok good. I buzzed on the grain clue and was fairly sure it was Egypt, I was just momentarily confused while parsing the question and wanted to check my understanding of Roman provincial organization. The word province in the first line definitely made it clear then.

[setht]

Could I see the bonus on soil? We said topsoil for the first part, which was not accepted, and I was wondering if I should have been antiprompted or not.

As best I can tell, there is no widely agreed upon, formal definition for topsoil, but I think that answer probably should have been accepted—"soil" fits some of the clues a bit better (e.g. it is all of "the stuff formed by pedogenesis"), but I don't think there's anything that rules out topsoil as it is commonly construed. I apologize for not thinking of this as a possible answer.

-Seth