camillus24 wrote: I think that keeing in mind what everyone should know in a macro context, at least about the core subjects, is a much more valuable guide than necessarily insisting that things like obscure geological facts should be integrated into the canon just because they are important in their field and all fields should be represented. This is the last time I will post about geology in quizbowl (you can hold me to this): Earth Science is an acceptable subcategory for "Natural History." From the ACF Supplement: Science- 7 questions 1. Biology and medicine 2. Natural history (zoology, paleontology, earth science, etc.) 3. Mathematics or astronomy 4. Physics or chemistry 5. Technology, including Computer Science 6. Any of the above 7. Any of the above, or another social science Earth Science includes geology and its subfields as well as oceanographic and atmospheric sciences. Meaning, in a tournament that follows the supplement to the letter, it is acceptable to write one tossup and one bonus question on natural history. If subject matter in this subcategory of science is well adressed in a non-packet submission tournament, an earth science tossup or bonus should come up in every other packet. Very many people misinterpereted my last post (Good Job Artaud/ACF Geology) as saying that I believe that geology is underrepresented in quizbowl. In actuality, if people follow the suggested distribution, it is fairly represented. My gripe, which people tended to write off as yet another specialist trying to get question writers to cater to a personal need, was that geology questions were not diverse enough within the suggested distribution. And, in a tournament that earnestly strived for (and achieved!) difficulty across the distribution, the geology knowledge was limited to the first week of "rocks for non science majors." My final geology comments: Follow the distribution. Too much geology sucks. However, if you're going to try to write a hard packet, make your 1 earth science TU or Bonus more challenging while you're asking about those modern historians and Spanish composers most history and music majors haven't heard of. Perhaps there could even be a small amendment to allow for a business question every now and then. 1 question is not too much to ask for any subject (that may be what the "other" requirement is for). I'm going to shut up now and try very hard to not complain about this awesome game any more--four years ago I was terrified I'd never get to play again. --Wesley
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