Well, we now really *are* doubly-qualified
Apr. 2nd, 2005 07:22 pm...although I don't think that means we get to send two teams.
(Today was Columbia KIP.)
We didn't have buses; Bernadette's and Josh's dads drove us there. I was in the car with Josh; we made a wrong turn, however, and ended up in East Orange, and ended up taking a considerably longer route than normal. We got there, expecting the rest of the team to ask where were we, but they were not there! They arrived a bit longer. "How did we get here before you?" I asked. "We got lost and ended up in East Orange!" At least two of them replied in unison, "We got lost and ended up in West Orange!"
Ah yes, the teams.
A team:
Me, Chris, Ben, and Josh
B team:
Marc, Vlad, Noam, and Bernadette
It was round-robin followed by single elimination (taking 8 teams). Round robin was in 4 brackets, John, Paul, George, and Ringo. We were in Ringo Bracket, B team was in Paul.
Round 1: Verona A. WIN 370-95. This round we had a particularly bad moderator, who thought that "all or nothing" meant the *entire bonus* was all or nothing, and who thought that "prompt on" meant "only prompt on". She also began to mispronounce "Equitorial Guinea" as "Equilateral Guinea". The "all or nothing" bonus was, given two atoms in a certain molecule, name the number of sigma and pi bonds between them. The answer to the 3rd one was "1 sigma, 0 pi" and she would not accept a simple "1 sigma". We didn't bother to challenge that (though we did correct her that we still got 20 on the bonus).
Round 2: Millburn B. About 3/4 of the way through the round, we get the announcement: "Round 1 has not yet ended; we do not have all the scoresheets from it. If you have started round 2, you have done so in error; however, you may complete it. Otherwise, remain in your round 1 rooms." So we wandered around and played dots and doodled on the blackboard through most of the actual round 2 time. As for the game, this round saw the funniest neg when Josh buzzed in early with "homosexuals" when the answer was "the Amish".
(19:39:51) Sniffnoy: IIRC, it was about them living in Ohio, being about some percent in the population, and, in the 2004 election, generally siding with- and of course, after Josh got it wrong, the question continued that they generally sided with Bush
This round was close, and we probably would not have won had the moderator not failed to prompt the other team on "extinction" (the answer was "mass extinction"). The question was thrown out, new question, interrupted by an announcement halfway through, also thrown out, new question, this one we get and win. WIN 265-210.
Round 3: William Tennent B. WIN 355-30.
Round 4: Livingston C. WIN 230-85.
These two rounds were in the same room, with the same moderator and all - and most notably with a clearer who often forgot to clear. The result was we were often shouting "it won't buzz!". "Hippocratic Oath" had to be thrown out as a result, as everyone tried to buzz at the same time and it wasn't cleared. Also in one of these rounds, we got a bonus about Ohm's Law. The first part asked what the law was called. Ohm's Law. The second part asked what's the quantity that replaces resistance in AC circuits, with the symbol Z. I correctly answered "impedance", except that I pronounced it as "impotence". "I'll accept that, but it's really pronounced impedance, and as an electrical engineer, I don't much like it being called 'impotence'."
I think the moderator also said "the France" at some point.
Then lunch. It was raining pretty heavily, so for once I actually ordered pizza with the others. And it was by far the worst pizza I have ever eaten. I only ate about half a slice.
Also at lunch we saw scoresheets, which showed both us and Bergen B as being in the top 8! Yay! (Actually, that's a lie, we didn't see the scoresheets until later, but this is when we *should* have seen them.)
By this time our B team had beaten Governor Livingston[3], beaten Livingston B, lost to William Tennent A, and beaten Bloomfield B.
Round 5: The Elevated Ground That Is Not Entirely Solid A[0]. WIN 345-245. This round had a moderator that was really tired and tended to annoyingly pause in the middle of questions, and especially to mispronounce things (especially, pronouncing something-or-other-diene as just something-or-other-dine). He also said some really funny things which I didn't bother to write down, unfortunately.
Round 6: Northern Highlands A. They were near dead last on the lunchtime scoresheet. They were a 3-person team, using the names "Stalin", "Mao", and "Castro". We didn't bother to come up with clever names in response. (Though my own nametag, which I'd been using the whole time, did read "Cap'n Harry (Arr!)".) WIN 280-55. Also, for once we hada really good moderator. This round had a question whose answer was "The Red-Headed League" (from the Sherlock Holmes story). I'd read the story (actually, I'd heard it on a book-on-tape some years back) and I remembered it, but I couldn't remember the name of it, though I knew it was for redheads. The final clue was that Carrot Top might be able to join it. The other team guessed "Telephony?". I then went ahead with "The Red... yeah, I don't remember." Oh, also we got a question where the answer was "WarioWare", and I was the only one who knew it. Chris got an amazing power with "telescope" after only about 4 words. (The answer was actually "reflecting telescope", but "telescope" was acceptable before the word "relatively", whenever that would have been.)
Round 7: Bye. Also for our B team, who had, in the meantime, lost to Lenape Valley A and Pingry A. Our B team tells us that the team they played against, had, on a bonus, answered "Pokemon" instead of "Magic the Gathering". Ow.
Now for the playoffs!
Seed order:
1. Millburn A
2. Bergen A
3. Pingry A
4. Bloomfield A
5. Livingston A
6. Pingry B
7. Livingston C
8. Verona A
Most notable feature: Pingry vs Pingry! Also, we would begin by playing Livingston C, who we had beaten 230-85 before.
Quarterfinals: Livingston C. WIN 370-175. Also, this round had a moderator who was actually a quiz bowl player.
Meanwhile, Millburn beats Verona, Bloomfield beats Livingston A, and Pingry A beats Pingry B.
Semifinals: Pingry A. This time, we actually *did* get to play Tan Dan in the finals. Very few Pingry shirts this time - I suspect it's now a way we can identify the older members of the team; they don't seem to be making them anymore. The 3 we saw were "Slave (e)", "Irénée Starbuck (1/0)"[4], and, one I don't think I'd ever seen before, "Tungare (13)". Hm.[5] Of those, only Slave and Irénée Starbuck were on the A team. They went by the names of "Solitary", "Poor", "Nasty", "Brutish", and "Short". Again, we didn't bother to return with clever names of our own. ("Nasty" was out for the first half; he was subbed in for Tan Dan, who then really was "Solitary".) Well... we were tied 215-215 going into the last tossup, and they got it. The answer was "Jonathan Edwards"[8], and Chris was really kicking himself, saying he should have known it. They got 20 points on the bonus as well. LOSS 215-245.
Meanwhile, Millburn went on to beat Bloomfield. Whether Pingry or Millburn actually won, I don't know.
So, we got a nice trophy for being semifinalists. Also, 28*.15=4.2, rounded up is 5, and, being the top 4, we were definitely in the top 5, so we now really *were* doubly qualified for nationals. I don't know whether we were considered 3rd place or 4th; they probably didn't care. Of course, other people on the team pointed out that we ranked above Bloomfield in the seeds - though that noticeably was not what counted last year, when our exact place actually mattered - meaning that, again, we got 3rd.
So many 3rds recently...
Well, that ends this entry.
-Sniffnoy (Still to come: Spring KMO, possibly some competition on the 23rd I keep hearing about (though never with any name) (and which, if it turns out actually exists, I can't go to anyway), and, of course, NAQT nationals...)
[0]No, they didn't actually call themselves that. For those new to this, the team is actually Half Hollow Hills. (A.)
[3]The "Governor Livingston" team is not associated with the 3 "Livingston" teams; it's not just a funny name for Livingston A.
[4]I may have the accents wrong.
[5]This increases my list of Pingry shirts to:
Blonder (1453) (with 1453 in a different font from what the other shirts used)
Mehta (753)
Kruschev (√2)
Wang (π)
Slave (e)
Freedman (10)
The Boosh (03)
Irénée Starbuck (1/0)
Goldfish (½)
Tungare (13)
[8]Not to be confused with John Edwards. Jonathan Edwards is the preacher who wrote "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", which was the last clue before Pingry buzzed in.
(Today was Columbia KIP.)
We didn't have buses; Bernadette's and Josh's dads drove us there. I was in the car with Josh; we made a wrong turn, however, and ended up in East Orange, and ended up taking a considerably longer route than normal. We got there, expecting the rest of the team to ask where were we, but they were not there! They arrived a bit longer. "How did we get here before you?" I asked. "We got lost and ended up in East Orange!" At least two of them replied in unison, "We got lost and ended up in West Orange!"
Ah yes, the teams.
A team:
Me, Chris, Ben, and Josh
B team:
Marc, Vlad, Noam, and Bernadette
It was round-robin followed by single elimination (taking 8 teams). Round robin was in 4 brackets, John, Paul, George, and Ringo. We were in Ringo Bracket, B team was in Paul.
Round 1: Verona A. WIN 370-95. This round we had a particularly bad moderator, who thought that "all or nothing" meant the *entire bonus* was all or nothing, and who thought that "prompt on" meant "only prompt on". She also began to mispronounce "Equitorial Guinea" as "Equilateral Guinea". The "all or nothing" bonus was, given two atoms in a certain molecule, name the number of sigma and pi bonds between them. The answer to the 3rd one was "1 sigma, 0 pi" and she would not accept a simple "1 sigma". We didn't bother to challenge that (though we did correct her that we still got 20 on the bonus).
Round 2: Millburn B. About 3/4 of the way through the round, we get the announcement: "Round 1 has not yet ended; we do not have all the scoresheets from it. If you have started round 2, you have done so in error; however, you may complete it. Otherwise, remain in your round 1 rooms." So we wandered around and played dots and doodled on the blackboard through most of the actual round 2 time. As for the game, this round saw the funniest neg when Josh buzzed in early with "homosexuals" when the answer was "the Amish".
(19:39:51) Sniffnoy: IIRC, it was about them living in Ohio, being about some percent in the population, and, in the 2004 election, generally siding with- and of course, after Josh got it wrong, the question continued that they generally sided with Bush
This round was close, and we probably would not have won had the moderator not failed to prompt the other team on "extinction" (the answer was "mass extinction"). The question was thrown out, new question, interrupted by an announcement halfway through, also thrown out, new question, this one we get and win. WIN 265-210.
Round 3: William Tennent B. WIN 355-30.
Round 4: Livingston C. WIN 230-85.
These two rounds were in the same room, with the same moderator and all - and most notably with a clearer who often forgot to clear. The result was we were often shouting "it won't buzz!". "Hippocratic Oath" had to be thrown out as a result, as everyone tried to buzz at the same time and it wasn't cleared. Also in one of these rounds, we got a bonus about Ohm's Law. The first part asked what the law was called. Ohm's Law. The second part asked what's the quantity that replaces resistance in AC circuits, with the symbol Z. I correctly answered "impedance", except that I pronounced it as "impotence". "I'll accept that, but it's really pronounced impedance, and as an electrical engineer, I don't much like it being called 'impotence'."
I think the moderator also said "the France" at some point.
Then lunch. It was raining pretty heavily, so for once I actually ordered pizza with the others. And it was by far the worst pizza I have ever eaten. I only ate about half a slice.
Also at lunch we saw scoresheets, which showed both us and Bergen B as being in the top 8! Yay! (Actually, that's a lie, we didn't see the scoresheets until later, but this is when we *should* have seen them.)
By this time our B team had beaten Governor Livingston[3], beaten Livingston B, lost to William Tennent A, and beaten Bloomfield B.
Round 5: The Elevated Ground That Is Not Entirely Solid A[0]. WIN 345-245. This round had a moderator that was really tired and tended to annoyingly pause in the middle of questions, and especially to mispronounce things (especially, pronouncing something-or-other-diene as just something-or-other-dine). He also said some really funny things which I didn't bother to write down, unfortunately.
Round 6: Northern Highlands A. They were near dead last on the lunchtime scoresheet. They were a 3-person team, using the names "Stalin", "Mao", and "Castro". We didn't bother to come up with clever names in response. (Though my own nametag, which I'd been using the whole time, did read "Cap'n Harry (Arr!)".) WIN 280-55. Also, for once we hada really good moderator. This round had a question whose answer was "The Red-Headed League" (from the Sherlock Holmes story). I'd read the story (actually, I'd heard it on a book-on-tape some years back) and I remembered it, but I couldn't remember the name of it, though I knew it was for redheads. The final clue was that Carrot Top might be able to join it. The other team guessed "Telephony?". I then went ahead with "The Red... yeah, I don't remember." Oh, also we got a question where the answer was "WarioWare", and I was the only one who knew it. Chris got an amazing power with "telescope" after only about 4 words. (The answer was actually "reflecting telescope", but "telescope" was acceptable before the word "relatively", whenever that would have been.)
Round 7: Bye. Also for our B team, who had, in the meantime, lost to Lenape Valley A and Pingry A. Our B team tells us that the team they played against, had, on a bonus, answered "Pokemon" instead of "Magic the Gathering". Ow.
Now for the playoffs!
Seed order:
1. Millburn A
2. Bergen A
3. Pingry A
4. Bloomfield A
5. Livingston A
6. Pingry B
7. Livingston C
8. Verona A
Most notable feature: Pingry vs Pingry! Also, we would begin by playing Livingston C, who we had beaten 230-85 before.
Quarterfinals: Livingston C. WIN 370-175. Also, this round had a moderator who was actually a quiz bowl player.
Meanwhile, Millburn beats Verona, Bloomfield beats Livingston A, and Pingry A beats Pingry B.
Semifinals: Pingry A. This time, we actually *did* get to play Tan Dan in the finals. Very few Pingry shirts this time - I suspect it's now a way we can identify the older members of the team; they don't seem to be making them anymore. The 3 we saw were "Slave (e)", "Irénée Starbuck (1/0)"[4], and, one I don't think I'd ever seen before, "Tungare (13)". Hm.[5] Of those, only Slave and Irénée Starbuck were on the A team. They went by the names of "Solitary", "Poor", "Nasty", "Brutish", and "Short". Again, we didn't bother to return with clever names of our own. ("Nasty" was out for the first half; he was subbed in for Tan Dan, who then really was "Solitary".) Well... we were tied 215-215 going into the last tossup, and they got it. The answer was "Jonathan Edwards"[8], and Chris was really kicking himself, saying he should have known it. They got 20 points on the bonus as well. LOSS 215-245.
Meanwhile, Millburn went on to beat Bloomfield. Whether Pingry or Millburn actually won, I don't know.
So, we got a nice trophy for being semifinalists. Also, 28*.15=4.2, rounded up is 5, and, being the top 4, we were definitely in the top 5, so we now really *were* doubly qualified for nationals. I don't know whether we were considered 3rd place or 4th; they probably didn't care. Of course, other people on the team pointed out that we ranked above Bloomfield in the seeds - though that noticeably was not what counted last year, when our exact place actually mattered - meaning that, again, we got 3rd.
So many 3rds recently...
Well, that ends this entry.
-Sniffnoy (Still to come: Spring KMO, possibly some competition on the 23rd I keep hearing about (though never with any name) (and which, if it turns out actually exists, I can't go to anyway), and, of course, NAQT nationals...)
[0]No, they didn't actually call themselves that. For those new to this, the team is actually Half Hollow Hills. (A.)
[3]The "Governor Livingston" team is not associated with the 3 "Livingston" teams; it's not just a funny name for Livingston A.
[4]I may have the accents wrong.
[5]This increases my list of Pingry shirts to:
Blonder (1453) (with 1453 in a different font from what the other shirts used)
Mehta (753)
Kruschev (√2)
Wang (π)
Slave (e)
Freedman (10)
The Boosh (03)
Irénée Starbuck (1/0)
Goldfish (½)
Tungare (13)
[8]Not to be confused with John Edwards. Jonathan Edwards is the preacher who wrote "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", which was the last clue before Pingry buzzed in.
