Hi everybody,

Yeah, I'd like to attend, too, if it's not too late. I guess a third
team would have to be cobbled together, but if I'm reading the rules
right, pretty much anyone can play.

As far as questions go, I'm going to write some this week, whether or
not they're needed for VETO. We're in the midst of selling our house
and everything's a zoo here so I'll get, at most, about a dozen
questions and boni done...I'd need to coordinate with other people to
complete a pack.

Stephen.

Quoting j_dickson5 <jason.dickson@...>:

> It starts (at least in theory) at 9 AM. As far as I know, Eric,
> Chris, Anirudh, and myself will
> be there (we have formed a team already), Rico, Jessica, Lev and you
> look posed to make a
> second. Have you heard from Steve Lalonde?
>
>
> --- In qb-utoronto@yahoogroups.com, "Jonathan English"
> <jon.english@...> wrote:
>>
>> I'd like to go as well. What time does it start on June 30th, since I'll be
>> out of town the day before. I've also started writing a question pack over
>> the past few months, so I should be able to provide.
>>
>>
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>>
>>
>> _____
>>
>> From: qb-utoronto@yahoogroups.com [mailto:qb-utoronto@yahoogroups.com] On
>> Behalf Of Jessica Pilkington
>> Sent: June 7, 2007 3:58 PM
>> To: qb-utoronto@yahoogroups.com
>> Subject: RE: [qb-utoronto] Re: June tourney
>>
>>
>>
>> Well, I'm going to be in Toronto, so I was planning on going. Who else is
>> here?
>>
>>
>> _____
>>
>>
>> From: "Eric J. M. Smith" <eric@...>
>> Reply-To: qb-utoronto@yahoogroups.com
>> To: qb-utoronto@yahoogroups.com
>> Subject: [qb-utoronto] Re: June tourney
>> Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 18:44:11 -0400
>>
>>
>> On 1-Jun-07, at 6:05 PM, Anirudh Dani wrote:
>> > Any news about the tournament in June?
>> Yes, it's on for June 30th. I've attached the announcement from the
>> qb-canada Yahoo group.
>>
>> So if any of you out there are interested in forming teams, now's the
>> time to discuss it. Note that teams are expected to write questions
>> (which is good experience for quiz bowl players). It might be an
>> idea for players who have never written questions to form a team with
>> someone who has done so. I would suggest Bobby Hsu, Zhan Zhou, Rico,
>> and myself as grizzled veterans you might want to recruit for your team.
>>
>> Note that the entry fee in Toronto (which works out to $5/player if
>> you write a question pack) is to help build up our club's funds so
>> that we don't have to repeat the situation where the club went into
>> deficit to send a team to the NAQT championships.
>>
>> E.
>>
>> NINTH ANNUAL VANCOUVER ESTIVAL TRIVIA OPEN
>> plus FIFTH ANNUAL VETO'S EASTERN TRIVIA OPEN in TORONTO
>> SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 2007
>>
>> The Vancouver Estival Trivia Open (VETO) is the nation's longest-
>> running annual quiz bowl tournament. Again, there will be a mirror in
>> Toronto, and we're also hoping to have a championship match between
>> the site winners. For up-to-date information, check the web page
>> http://caql. <http://caql.org/events/veto07.html> org/events/veto07.html
>> and the weblog
>> http://veto. <http://veto.caql.org/> caql.org
>>
>> VETO will be run "guerrilla" style, meaning:
>> * each team must bring an original packet of questions, which will
>> not be edited by anyone else associated with the tournament;
>> * participants must moderate and keep score during rounds when they
>> aren't playing.
>>
>> This event is FREE for those playing in Vancouver.
>> In Toronto, it will cost $20 per team with a packet of questions,
>> or $40 without a packet.
>>
>> Links to detailed reports of VETO in previous years can be found here:
>> http://caql. <http://caql.org/results.html> org/results.html
>>
>> === WHO CAN PLAY ===
>>
>> VETO is an "open" tournament in the sense that we don't exclude anyone
>> because of age, student status, degrees obtained or not obtained,
>> nationality, etc. However, recognizing that people come to VETO with
>> vastly different levels of experience, we'd like to give priority to
>> those who have a history of providing good questions in the
>> tossup/bonus format.
>>
>> So instead of accepting teams on a "first come, first served" basis
>> until space fills up, this is what we'll do:
>> * Any team that has won VETO in a previous year (in Vancouver or
>> in Ontario) has an automatic invitation to play this year.
>> * Any other team must apply to the VETO Invitation Committee.
>> * Applications are simple: just e-mail two OLD full-length quiz bowl
>> packets (at least 20 tossups and 20 bonuses in each), such that the
>> majority of the questions in both packets were written by members of
>> your prospective team.
>> * If some of your team members have written a lot of questions
>> separately but you don't actually have two packets to which you've
>> together contributed a majority of the questions, then just send us 20
>> old tossups and 20 old bonuses that were all written by your members.
>> * Within a few days of receiving your application, the Invitation
>> Committee will inform you of its decision either to accept or to defer
>> your application. If your application is not accepted, you may appeal
>> by sending us more old questions that you've written.
>> * Teams whose applications are deferred, either because they didn't
>> have enough questions to show us or because their questions didn't
>> meet our standards, will have another chance. After June 16, deferred
>> teams will be allowed to play if there is still room. The Invitation
>> Committee will decide whether each deferred team should write
>> questions.
>>
>> Don't feel intimidated by this application/invitation procedure. The
>> point is to make sure that the people who will be writing the
>> questions for VETO have experience writing questions. This is
>> important because it's a guerrilla tournament, and nobody else will be
>> editing. As for how high our standards are: the vast majority of the
>> packets in the Stanford Archive would meet our criteria for
>> acceptance.
>>
>> Even if your team doesn't write questions, we expect you to have
>> enough familiarity with the quiz bowl format to be able to staff games
>> during your bye rounds.
>>
>> A team can have any number of players, but no more than four can play
>> at a time. If you don't have a full team of four, we can match you up
>> with other players. Solo teams are OK, too: we'll set the schedule so
>> that other teams will have byes and you won't have to staff more than
>> one room by yourself.
>>
>> The size of the field in Toronto is capped at 12 teams.
>> The cap in Vancouver is 8 teams. There may be room for a 9th team if
>> it rotates players in and out so that it can supply people to moderate
>> games in every round.
>>
>> === WHEN ===
>>
>> Saturday, June 30, 2007, from about 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time.
>>
>> VETO will be on the same day as the unrelated Sun n' Fun VIII and a
>> 1/2 tournament at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and also
>> the NAQT HSNCT mirror at the University of Maryland in College Park.
>> But if you are interested in either of those events, you can play in
>> mirrors in other locations on June 23: a mirror of Sun n' Fun VIII and
>> 1/2 at the University of Maryland in College Park, and a mirror of
>> NAQT HSNCT at both the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis-
>> St. Paul, and the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga.
>>
>> If you would like to participate in VETO, please notify us by June 16,
>> 2007.
>>
>> === TORONTO LOCATION ===
>>
>> VETO's Eastern Trivia Open will be held in Sidney Smith Hall (100
>> St. George St.) at the University of Toronto's downtown St. George
>> campus. Named after the Secretary of State for External Affairs under
>> Diefenbaker, Sidney Smith Hall is a 7-floor, fully air-conditioned
>> facility, whose modern design showcases (aside from the Quiz Bowl
>> team), U of T's Faculty of Arts and Science. It is easily accessible
>> from West of the city (Gardiner Expressway, exit at Spadina) or
>> East/West on the 401 (exit at Avenue Road). On-campus parking is
>> available either at the Rotman Building (second driveway north of
>> Harbord St.) or along St. George, though many off-campus and nearby
>> alternatives are possible. Located in the downtown core of Canada's
>> largest city, Sidney Smith is surrounded by Bloor, Spadina, and
>> College Streets, all of which offer food and shopping for every taste
>> and a wealth of other attractions. A quick drive to either Yonge or
>> Queen St. W will yield more popular stops and diverse cuisine. For any
>> additional directions or details contact the site coordinator.
>>
>> === FORMAT ===
>>
>> VETO 2007 will be run "guerrilla" style, without central editing and
>> will be staffed by players. We'll play at least a full round-robin, as
>> many rounds as packets from the two sites, likely ending in a site
>> final (which some may consider an unfair format).
>>
>> Games will be conducted according to NAQT rules, except that matches
>> will be untimed, with 20 tossups per round, and there will be no
>> 15-point "power" tossups.
>>
>> === QUESTION PACKETS ===
>>
>> Detailed question guidelines are on a separate web page:
>> http://caql. <http://caql.org/events/veto07q.html> org/events/veto07q.html
>> which includes a section with many, many useful reference links
>> categorized by subject.
>>
>> Rounds will be untimed, with 20 tossups played in each. But you will
>> have to write more than 20 tossups and 20 bonuses, because you may
>> need tie-breaking questions, or you may end up having to throw out
>> some questions because of game errors or because they ask for
>> information that already came up in somebody else's packet.
>>
>> So your packet should include (at least):
>> * 24 tossups, each worth 10 points -- no 15-point "powers";
>> * 22 bonuses, each worth 30 points -- but no single-part,
>> single-answer questions.
>>
>> Use the following subject distribution for both tossups and bonuses:
>>
>> Science, Math, Technology 3 -- 4
>> History 3 -- 4
>> Literature 3 -- 4
>> Geography 2 -- 3
>> Current Events 2 -- 3
>> Fine Arts 1 -- 2
>> Religion, Philosophy, Mythology 1 -- 2
>> Social Science 1 -- 2
>> Popular Culture, Games, Sports 1 -- 2
>> General Knowledge 0 -- 3
>>
>> Canadian content quota:
>> Of the first 20 tossups, at least 4 must refer to Canadian people,
>> places, things, events, and created works. The same goes for the first
>> 20 bonuses. But overall, don't exceed 50% Canadian content in your
>> packet. Your Canadian questions should also cover diverse subject
>> areas and not be clustered in Geography or Literature, etc.
>>
>> Tossups should include at least two separate clues, preferably at
>> least four. Multiple-choice bonuses should be used sparingly, if at
>> all, and should provide at least four choices.
>>
>> In order that we can keep to a reasonable schedule, questions must not
>> be too long:
>> * No tossup question, and no part of a bonus question, should exceed
>> 6 lines if using a fixed-width font with 79 characters per line.
>> * No bonus question should ever require more than four separate team
>> conferrals.
>>
>> To promote fun and variety, teams are encouraged to bring multimedia
>> questions (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory). These
>> tend to work better as bonuses than as tossups. Let us know if you
>> plan to have any audio questions, so that we can arrange enough of the
>> proper equipment to play them.
>> Every packet must contain at least one multimedia question: It can be
>> as simple as presenting a printout of a picture you found through
>> http://images. <http://images.google.com/> google.com and asking a few
>> questions about the picture.
>>
>> For our further amusement, we encourage rounds with hidden themes.
>> Last year, for example, in one round, every tossup answer was also the
>> name of a school that had participated in the SmartAsk TV game show;
>> in another round, every answer contained the name of an animal.
>>
>> Aim for a difficulty level approximating that of NAQT sectionals.
>>
>> === PRIZES ===
>>
>> The leading individual scorer at VETO in Vancouver will take over the
>> title of West Coast Dominatrix of Relevant Knowledge (WC-DORK).
>> The leading individual scorer at VETO in Toronto will take over the
>> title of Nerd Of The East (NOTE).
>>
>> Anyone may sponsor a prize and select a winner according to any
>> criteria. Last year, there were at least seven prizes awarded to
>> individuals and teams in Vancouver.
>>
>> === CONTACT ===
>>
>> If you are interested in participating, please contact the appropriate
>> site coordinator by June 16, 2007.
>> Vancouver: Peter at pmcc@ (pmcc at alumni.sfu.ca)
>> Toronto: Jason at j_dickson5@ (j_dickson5 at yahoo.ca)
>> Toronto16, 2007, at
>>
>> Updates will be posted on the web page
>> http://caql. <http://caql.org/events/veto07.html> org/events/veto07.html
>> Also check the weblog
>> http://veto. <http://veto.caql.org/> caql.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _____
>>
>> Windows Live Hotmail, with safety bar colour coding, helps identify
>> suspicious mail before it takes your daughter out on a date. Upgrade today
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>>
>
>