Learned League

doing the trip hop 1DS, thought to myself "i really like how these are written, who wrote this?" then i looked up and went "OHHHHHH!" in real life

Ha!

Aw, thanks Will!

Well, I submitted a MiniLeague proposal which is a decision that, if accepted, I'm sure I will come to regret. But it seems fun to try to work out the logistical challenges, at least once.

If you do get it and you need any help please let me know and then…oh wait.

screwed myself out of a 4th place finish on trip hop because i was sure it was marina and not martina lol

Oh, sorry about that. I didn’t play but it was a nice 1DS and a really good writeup.

One thing I don’t get is when people don’t do a recap. I think I remember one guy saying he was on vacation in the mountains or something while it was happening but other than something like that, there are various motivating factors to do the recap as soon as possible if possible.

Reason Zero is that is seems kind of chintzy when there is no recap.

Reason One is that in some ways that is the most fun part of the contest to write.

...and 1DS submissions are open for 2023.

…and I just submitted mine.

I skipped out on a 1DS proposal, I'm all in on my minileague proposal instead

!

As is my tradition, I dropped the first match of the season, although this time in breathtakingly dumb fashion (I completely whiffed on Q2).

Thank God for text notifications, because I completely forgot that yesterday was the start of the season until my phone buzzed at 10 pm. I'm going to blame the short submission window for the fact I missed the Nike question.

Hearing that.

i like the way you work it

From north to south
From east to west

And I just got my alert for today.

In 22nd after the first round of the LL Championship though I could have been top 5 if I'd have moneyed composite (not to mention answering Bletchley Hall instead of Bletchley Park)

Cool!

So a little behind Joon.

Oops. Maybe that’s a bit of a violation.

I'm sure it will be downhill from here but the record will show that at one point I was in 3rd place in the LL championship.

i am only . . . several hundred places behind you

Ha, I looked on the list for familiar names and never noticed/got to you.

Still finished top 25! Really glad that some bad moneying and dumb misses (still mad at myself for not being able to pull Bocephus) didn't hurt too much.

yeah 23rd is very impressive, congrats!

My hero!

wp!

bucknered someone yesterday lol

I won yesterday bc my opponent gave me a 3 on the baby name question, smh

Lol!

I guess I should feel bad for getting credit on Q6 (I answered breasts) that gave me a 6(3)-5(4) win yesterday, but I will never say no to a win, especially one that gives me a little bit of cushion from the relegation zone.

i answered the same

my opponent gave me 2 for the sears tower question even though i have chicago as my location (and they got it right too so they knew what it was)

learned league is a reflection of society because a bunch of dudes incorrectly said BREASTS and got credit for it (including me)

Midseason Classic: Classic or Dud?

I thought I did pretty badly this time around, but since I actually almost qualified, I guess it was one of the harder ones?

learned league is a reflection of society because a bunch of dudes incorrectly said BREASTS and got credit for it (including me)

wtf? i said that and got marked wrong!

Oh no, sorry, I said a different part of the bathing suit area

Some people on the LL message board post about studying for LL, like "I even reviewed my world capitals Anki deck last week, but I guess should have paid more attention to Southeast Asia!" And to each their own, I guess, but I just can't relate to this at all. (I'm not even sure what an Anki deck is.)

Admittedly, I did a bit of general prep before I went on Jeopardy!, and when I used to go to a pub quiz that always announced one round's theme in advance, I'd sometimes read through the relevant Wikipedia page to help my team's chances. (It was usually about a TV show or some other specific piece of pop culture.)

But I like LL as a daily brain teaser, a test of what I already know (or what I'm able to summon from the depths of my memory). Studying a random subject in the hopes that Thorsten might ask about it someday just seems kind of weird to me. If it's mostly about improving one's general knowledge out of genuine curiosity, with success at trivia games an added benefit, I can understand that a bit more. But "studying" just makes me think these people are all try-hard nerds.

Hearing that.

Like a while back I used to buy crossword dictionaries and the World Almanac but not for a long time now.

As someone who started an entire thread on Anki, I started studying flashcards as a way to avoid that feeling when Thorsten asks something and I just have a huge blank in my head about it, especially on a topic that lends itself pretty easily to rote memorization. That said, the amount of time it started to take just seemed like too much to commit to, and I haven't studied at all in a couple seasons (my alternative to flashcards has been to watch more history Youtubes).

Most of my, um, gamified study these days is given over to language learning apps. Other things I’d prefer to learn other ways or live with not knowing.

I have at least one friend who was in the championship who says he nevers studies, just does trivia nights a few days per week, I think.

But "studying" just makes me think these people are all try-hard nerds.

Touché and What of it? :-D

I'll freely cop to being a try-hard nerd! It's like, This Is My Sport* **, and I really do spend an inordinate amount of time trying to be good at it, including cardbin app use (Mnemosyne is my jam rather than Anki). LL is just one of many arenas.

*) my Second Sport is Scrabble (in Norwegian). There has been some fruitful cross-learning actually, such as the time I had a look at the allowed words ending in notoriously shitty letter F, one of which was TREIF, apparently a kind of opposite to KOSCHER – I'd never come across the word, but it turned up in a competitive quiz only a few weeks later yay.)

**) I also truly love orienteering, but am a bad and slow runner, so will never amount to anything competitively there, except enjoying trots in the woods immensely.

This Is My Sport* **, and I really do spend an inordinate amount of time trying to be good at it

The beauty of LL is of course that the small number of questions, and the vagaries of defence, mean that on Any Given Weekday anyone can beat anyone.