Learned League

[cuervo72]

Thanks; it's easier now that I am both working at home (at least, am for now, we'll see if that ends up changing) and that the kids are out of the house. And I suppose that my wife works three nights a week so I have those evenings to myself. I've mostly stopped playing video games (though I've picked up Township on my phone which I should curtail...), don't much go anywhere, and if I'm watching TV it is background stuff, at least once we get past the news and Jeopardy! (if wife is at home). Trivia is basically my main hobby at this point.

So, there's a lot of extra time to try to fit study in here and there. And it IS something I can do while semi-watching football (or hockey, lately), though that does end up distracting so I'm not as efficient in getting through the decks. For instance last night; I had a backlog of OQL questions from the previous day/weekend (moved Younger Child to Hagerstown on Saturday and didn't bother opening Anki when we got back); made it almost through by time I went to bed. Probably would have finished if I wasn't half watching NHL. Unfortunately because of the backlog and distractions, another deck didn't get touched at all. So OQL has 267 cards today vs ~200 and "Trivia" (combo of other smaller decks) 190. Neither of which are really that bad as my other decks have settled in and are more "mature." (LL deck is only 82 today, and those are typically quick.) I think on a normal day I'm more at 600 reviews vs 800/900. Of course I should probably ramp that back up some. There are tons of OQL questions, LL 1DS questions, open tabs on my phone for things I want to remember, etc. that I could/should be adding.

What's really been getting hit lately is time for reading. If I'm not finishing Anki until almost bed, not much time for that.

[ntndeacon]

Just got into one of my few championships for a minileague. World History. I just hope I am not last!

[cuervo72]

World History 2 was a challenging ML. I made the championship and did ok enough in it, but there were definitely some deeper cuts/things I could stand to learn better.

[Passacaglia]

I though Goodbye Yellow Brick Road might have been a trick question, thinking the song was on Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Since I couldn't think of the name of that album anyway, I answered Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, then felt really stupid for giving it a 3 when I found out that was the answer. My opponent didn't get it anyway, though. They gave me a 3 for Moo Deng, which was the 2nd easiest question, and I got it. They gave me a 0 for sigma, which despite being totally in my wheelhouse, I completely blanked on and didn't get.

[cuervo72]

Up against QS today. There is an opening there as I didn't run the table.

----

Season has been weird for me so far -- I've been off as far as answering questions goes, but have somehow bubbled up to first, at least as of today. Easier schedule I guess.

[QuikSand]

congrats, i missed 2, and getting 4 in our league is typically a loss, especially against you

[cuervo72]

Close one though, and a day where my first pass through the questions had me thinking oh, shit. "POLYMERS" was a "crap what are they called again?"* moment before that came to me, Q3 was a guess based on "Is it that movie where that robot went into the woods and got all wild with a bunch of animals? What is that called??" that paid off. Q4 I had no clue, and Q5 was more of a "I think this sounds right..." rather than a lock. The only ones I was dead certain about were Q2 and Q6. I figured you might well know the art question but gave it a 3 anyway because, well, ART. Had no idea how to defense Q3/Q4.



* SCIENCE is probably the one category where, while I've improved with it, I've had the hardest time studying for. There's just so much to it and so many things that can be asked, and unless I've specifically added a study card on it or it has been asked about in LL/OQL, it's more of a "hope to piece together" proposition rather than a "get it because it's been drilled into you" one. And while POLYMER has shown up in the wording of a number of questions (kevlar, proteins, bakelite, teflon, nylon), I don't know that it's ever been asked for. It's more a general exposure thing, and those do trip me up on occasion (thankfully not here ).

[QuikSand]

Art history is a relative strength of mine generally (painters specifically) though LL tends to add a wrinkle that sometimes evades my fairly thin grasp of the material. But yes, I did get the art question, mainly because of the name hint -- I'm vaguely aware of the piece, but am not sure I would have gotten it without the homonym mention (and that made me drop it to a 2).

I also had no clue on 4, but knew 5 (failed to add the "s" at the end but still got credit). I guess you getting the movie one was the difference - I had no clue at all.

[cuervo72]

Art history seemed like one of those things you might have a natural inkling on, but I ended up defending the category. I liked the homonym clue both to stop me from mixing up Millet/Millais (usually can discern, but on occasion will slip up) and to pin the question on that "Gleaners" (as opposed to maybe Lhermitte).

Movies are tough, like TV. TV I mostly know from watching too much of it as a kid. For movies, I was gifted an Anki deck from a guy* who created it from scraping a lot of info from IMDB. It has gaps (which I try to fill in), but overall it's been a great learning resource. Its main drawback is that it was put together a couple of years ago, and movies are still being made (same issue with TV, which I largely no longer watch in scripted form). So I have to make a point to add new movies, which I am not necessarily good at keeping up with. In this case I was lucky enough to have caught and vaguely remembered a couple of commercials.



* he'd appreciated the literature one I put together and returned the favor

[ntndeacon]

I was expecting the gradians question to be a 0 since math is my best category. Even after I missed it with gradient, I thought it was ok. No! I finally get a 3 on a math question. turned a potential win into a loss. still in 6th in B before today.

[Passacaglia]

My guy gifted me 3 for Homo Erectus, giving me a win 5(3) to 4(4).

[QuikSand]

So, the switch to bold the essential question wording is a nice boon for me, as I have missed scores of questions by responding to the wrong question.

Still managed to botch the “Ford Bronco” yesterday with “White Bronco” as I answered the question I just presumed they’d ask given the setup. Dumbass.

I remain in my usual stratum… battling bravely against relegation. Alas.

[Passacaglia]

My opponent got that question wrong too, which I was shocked by. Maybe that's how it happened for them, too.

I think this might be the first time I came across the answer to a question accidentally. I'm a big Kate Bush fan, so I got the last answer right. But, after I submitted, I saw this article on my Google feed:

Rob Reiner on Making ‘Spinal Tap II: Kate Bush and Paul McCartney'

Around their third meeting, the quartet landed on the basic theme of a forced reunion and decided to incorporate a plot point spurred on by another real-life event: Kate Bush’s 1985 song, “Running Up That Hill,” soaring to the top of the Spotify charts, and Bush earning her first No. 1 album on a Billboard chart after being used on Netflix’s Stranger Things: “We said, ‘Wait! What if some big musician is screwing around at sound check and sings one of [Spinal Tap’s] songs. Someone captures it on an iPhone, throws it on TikTok and it goes viral?’”

[Passacaglia]

Peaking at the right time. I started slow, and was at 20th after 6 days. Today I just clawed my way up to 5th, in the promotion zone to D for the first time this season. No real chance of catching 4th, since i'm 4 points behind with two matches left. 6th and 7th place are just 1 point behind me, but I feel good about them on tiebreakers (my MPD is 19 to their 13 and 1), and my last two matches are against 30th and 23rd. Need to finish strong!

[Passacaglia]

PROMOTED!

I really thought I'd get screwed by ee cummings. I thought "that sounds like ee cummings, but they're looking for some Scandinavian" so I threw down Eriksson as a guess and gave it 3 points. Ended up winning 1(1)-0(0), and stayed at 5th. D League, here I come (back)!

[ntndeacon]

Good Luck today with the new season! May the Kosman Koin always land in your favor.

[larrymcg421]

Started with an 8(5), only missing the drumming.

Not surprised with Louvre getting 99% correct.

I've been steadily improving, to where I'm slightly above 50% correct, but I've been studying heavily and playing many other trivia leagues, so aiming for closer to 3.5/6 correct this season.

[cuervo72]

So yeah, I missed this one on the latest MSC:

What Italian musical term, which derives from the Spanish and indicates its origin as a dance often played in the street, denotes a musical form in which a continuously repeated bass line underlies a set of uninterrupted variations?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

So yeah, I missed this one on the latest MSC:

Looks like I had one job on this board for 25 years and I failed.

[Passacaglia]

Won my last match to stay up in D. It was a forfeit, and it looks like a tie would have put me in relegation. Kind of a hollow way to stay up, but it happens -- I lost in a forfeit myself, when I guess I thought I submitted, so maybe it evens out.

[QuikSand]

Mid-table result this season is my best yet, with 106 TCA, also a best for me I think. Not up there with sr. cuervo (136 TCA! and first place) but a bit less dejected than my usual relegation-bubble position.

[larrymcg421]

I had an abysmal start, 22nd place after 10 matches, but went 9-3-1 the rest of the way to pull off back to back promotions.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Mid-table result this season is my best yet, with 106 TCA, also a best for me I think. Not up there with sr. cuervo (136 TCA! and first place) but a bit less dejected than my usual relegation-bubble position.

12th place is pretty solid -- nice showing.

This season felt good - no pressure, having qualified already. Still, happy to have finished 1st (still have that competitiveness), though it should have been much easier; defense really stymied me this time. But after a bumpy second week, really got into a groove with the questions.

I just hope the continued study translates into improved championship results. Would really, really like to break the top 50 this time. I need to keep ingesting OQL sets.

[ntndeacon]

Good luck to everyone on the first day of LearnedLeague. May you surpass your best season yet.!