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Salman Rushdie and Freedom

It would seem that the Salman Rushdie affair has blown over. There is still a price on his head, however -- his life is still at stake. The issues involved affect any individual who writes anything, offensive to Moslems, offensive to the government, offensive to game show producers. Public debate on controversial issues is a good thing. Censorship, by force of law or force of terrorist bomb is evil.

The merits of what Mr. Rushdie has to say are irrelevant, the important thing is that he has the inalienable right to say it, and no-one, not the Ayatollah, not the British Foreign Ministry can silence him. His publisher can choose not to print his works, but his publisher cannot stop anyone else from printing them. B. Dalton can choose not to sell his works, but B. Dalton's customers can just as quickly become former customers.

No rights of Mr. Rushdie should be abridged because of unrelated actions. He should be able to walk the streets of London, or write works without literary merit, or visit Iran safely, if he so chooses. --DML

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Contents

19 Years of the Southeastern 2

Applications 2

Mentis 3

Results Winter 89 5

Consultation Question Typologies 7

The Big Event

KNOXVILLE 1989 It would seem that every academic buzzer season, teams from around the nation gather at one select tournament, time of early Spring, and compete in a really BIG tournament. This year it is shaping up to be the Sixth Annual Tennessee Invitational, hosted again by Carol Guthrie. Without mailing invitations, there are 12 geographically dispersed teams who have requested entry. It is looking like it will be Swiss pairing.

This is not a COLLEGE BOWL™ TOURNAMENT, and does not claim to be, it adheres to the rules of the Intercollegiate Buzzer Association, a division of the Independent Buzzer Association, and is so sanctioned.

19 Years of the Southeastern

A brief history of this long lived competition:

1970 -- Valdosta State College (GA)
1971 -- Berry College (GA)
1972 -- Georgia Southwestern College
1973 -- Georgia Southern College
1974 -- Berry College (GA) 
1975 -- Georgia Tech
1976 -- Berry College (GA)
1977 -- Georgia Tech
1978 -- Georgia Tech
1979 -- Georgia Southwestern
1980 -- Georgia Tech
1981 -- Georgia Tech
1982 -- Georgia Tech
1983 -- Emory University (GA)
1984 -- Davidson College (NC)
1985 -- Emory University (GA)
1986 -- Davidson College (NC)
1987 -- Georgia Tech
1988 -- North Carolina State Univerity
1989 -- Georgia Tech

1990's Southeastern Invitational will be held at Tennessee Wesleyan College, Date TBA

The nation's oldest continuous academic buzzer competition turned 19 this year (older than some players!). Held in late January in the city of Atlanta by the Intercollegiate Buzzer Association, the tournament was won by the Georgia Tech after a playoff match against Florida State. Finishing a strong third was the University of Tennessee Team. This marks the eighth time that Undergraduates from Tech have won the "Granddaddy of Them All." Members of the All Star Team were

Albert Layland of Georgia Tech II,
Scott McGraw of Emory I,
Robert Trent of Tennessee(MVP tie)
Albert Whited of Georgia Tech I (MVP tie)

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Computer Applications

With the advent of the Personal Computer, it was only a matter of time before the ingeneous, practical types that academic buzzer competitors are would develop applications and systems for using the machine to make time more productive.The applications which have been developed include:

- CALCULATING STATISTICS

- WRITING QUESTIONS

- ASSEMBLING & EDITING ROUNDS

- SCHEDULING TOURNAMENTS

- TRANSMITTING ROUNDS

- SELF QUIZZING

- PUBLISHING NEWSLETTERS

In the future this column will discuss various APPLICATIONS and their benefits. BUZZER welcomes contributions to this column and to the software public domain, because the market just isn't large enough to try and sell any of these programs.

** FIRST A SIMPLE PLEA **

All tournament rounds from now on be written on a Word Processor and submitted that way to the question editor. All rounds on disk should be saved for posterity on paper and magnetic media.

It has been suggested that a standard Word Processor be established. How's Abouts:

Word Perfect 5.0 on the IBM-PC

Microsoft Word on the Apple Mac

and if you don't have those, save it as an ASCII text file.

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Mentis: A Preview

In the Spring of 1988, ACU-I was considering whether to renew their contract with the College Bowl Company, Inc. The Mentis Company was also invited to present a proposal for the provision of academic game services to the ACU-I. "The Mentis Alternative" outlined the programs of The Mentis Company. While the contract was renewed with CBCI, Mentis is still in business. The following is an interview conducted with Scott Hatfield (SH) by the IBA.

IBA: Did CBCI threaten to take any legal action against Mentis for copyright infringement of their naem, rules, and format, etc.?

SH: An attempt was made to suggest that the activities of The Mentis Company might be in violation of College Bowl's copyright. This matter was immediately put to rest in a conversation between the President of the Mentis Group, Inc. Ronald F. Kiser, and the President of CBCI Richard Reid. [Mentis claims protection of the US copyright and trademark laws]

IBA: What is your position on the copyright issue?

SH: Nobody has granted College Bowl a monopoly on academic buzzer games. Although their contract with the ACU-I makes College Bowl an official supplier of academic games materials and tournaments to ACU-I schools, it does not forbid ANY member institution from conducting similar games in other formats using other materials.

IBA: Why do you believe you were not awarded the ACU-I contract?

SH: After many months of debate, ACU-I elected to retain College Bowl as its games contractor. A direct consequence of The Mentis proposal was that CBCI was directed to address the concerns outlined therein. In response, CBCI gave assurances to the [selection] committee that it would immediately improve the quality of its products and services. Although Mentis was not awarded the 1988-1989 ACU-I contract, you can rest assured that Mentis played an important role in motivating CBCI to clean up its act. Our proposal and related studies provided the ACU-I with the additional tools required to effect the changes in College Bowl seen today.

IBA: What is the Mentis format?

SH: Mentis is a question and answer academic game that employes three types of questions: Teasers [In IBA parlance - Individual Questions], Stumpers and Super-Stumpers [Consultation Questions]. Teams receive five points for each Teaser correctly answered and an additional five

points for a successful Anticipation. For a complete discussion of the Official Rules and Strategies of Mentis, we recommend "The Official Mentis Handbook of Academic Games"

[In the next issue of Buzzer look for a critique of various Mentis products &emdash; ed.]

IBA: What experience does your organization possess in running tournaments, writing questions, etc.?

SH: Our company's officers and employees have more thatn 75 [sic] years of combined experience with academic buzzer competitions such as College Bowl, Kiwanis Bowl, etc. Our customized research library and database contain over 100,000 entries developed in accordance with the California State Board of Education.

IBA: Is there anything else you would like to tell the academic buzzer community?

SH: We're in this business because we enjoy these competitions as much your [BUZZER's] readers do. Our company is comprised of former players who want to advance the concept of academic buzzer games. Our ultimate goal is to legitimize and unify the various nationwide competitions. We take these games seriously and we would like to see more players and schools join us. To be sure, this is an economic opportunity for us, but, at the risk of sounding cliched, it is also a labor of love.

IBA: If you want more information write to:

Neither the Independent Buzzer Association, Inc. nor the Intercollegiate Buzzer Association or BUZZER: The Original Journal of Academic Buzzer Competions currently sanctions or endorses the Mentis Company.

BUZZER GETS RESULTS

Winter 1989

Futurities:

(Open to First and Second Year Players)

IBA FREEBIRD 1st: Tennessee 10-0 2nd: Georgia Tech A 7-3 MVP: Robert Trent - Tennessee All Stars: Albert Layland - Georgia Tech Alicia Long - Agnes Scott Garry Butler - Tenn. Wesleyan

JUNIOR BIRD 1st: Florida State 2nd: Emory

Invitationals:

PRINCETON NC State 13-1 Virginia 12-2 Columbia 10-4 Penn State A 10-4 Brown A 8-6 Maryland A 9-5 Brown B 8-6 Penn State B 7-7 NYU 6-8 Maryland B 6-8 Penn State C 5-9 Princeton A 5-9 James Madison 2-12 Dickinson 1-13	NITTANY LION Georgetown A 7-0 Brown 6-1 Penn State B 7-2 Catholic University 5-2 Penn State A 4-3 Georgetown B 4-3 Frostburg State B 3-4 Frostburg State A 2-5 Moravian 1-6 Union (Schenectedy) 0-7
WISCONSIN Elvis Aaron Presley Memorial Illinois 10-1 Chicago A 9-2 Purdue 8-3 Minnesota B 8-3 Minnesota A 6-5 Wisconsin A 6-5 Wisconsin B 6-5 Chicago B 5-6 Beloit A 4-7 Minnesota C 2-9 Beloit B 1-10 Chicago C 1-10	FLORIDA Georgia Tech 12-0* Florida State Garnet 8-4* Miami-Dade 8-3 Tennessee 7-4 Florida State (Gold) 7-4 Florida (Blue) 5-6 Miami (Orange) 4-7 NYU 4-7 Miami (Green) 3-7-1 Florida (Gators) 3-7-1 Stetson 2-9 Florida (Orange) 1-10 * indicates meaningless playoff

IBA US OPEN *Onus Army 10-0 (L) River Phoenix Fan Club 9-1 (L) *Ramblin' Wreck 7-3 (C) FSU Seminoles 6-4 (C) Bogus Army/Free James Brown 6-4 (C) Fifth Column 4-6 (L) KKG & Associate 4-6 (L) Yellow Jackets 5-5 (C) Berry 2-8 (C) MDCC (R.W.Ellison's Team) 1-9 (C) NNCSU 1-9 (C) * Indicates Divisional Victor Onus Army: Tom Waters, Byron Boyd, Chris Moody, Bud Avila   All Stars (From College Students) Albert Layland -Yellow Jackets (MVP) Albert Whited - Ramblin' Wreck Jeff Jones - Ramblin' Wreck Steve Taylor - Bogus Army/FJB

FLORIDA STATE Georgia Tech 12-1 Florida A 11-2 Emory A 10-3 Florida State A 10-3 Emory B 10-3 Florida State B 9-4 Berry 7-6 Florida State C 7-6 Florida B 4-9 Georgia Southern 3-10 Jacksonville State 3-10 Florida Community College 3-10 Stetson 2-11   MVP - Jim Dendy All Stars- Mike Brooks Peggi Malys Jason Shipp Hans Reodica

DUKE: Georgia Tech 7-0* Maryland A 4-3* Guilford 3-3 North Carolina 3-3 Maryland B 3-3 Duke 2-4 Elon 0-6 *indicates meaningless playoff

MARYLAND STATE at George Washington University George Washington A -- 1st place Maryland A -- 2nd place Georgetown -- 3rd place Catholic University* Johns Hopkins* George Washington B* Maryland B* *also competed

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CBCI 1989 REGIONALS

1989 List of Winners Provided by CBCI

Region	1989	1988**
1	Brandeis	Harvard
2	Cornell	Cornell
3	Princeton	Princeton
4	George Washington	Georgetown
5	Virginia*	N.C. State
6	Georgia Tech	Emory
7	Kent State	Kent State
8	Chicago	Chicago
9	Illinois-Champaign	Indiana
10	Minnesota	Minnesota
11	Wash. St. Louis	Wash. St. Louis
12	Rice	Rice
13	Utah	Utah
14	Idaho	Washington
15	15. Pomona	**
Wild Card.	Michigan State

* Region 5 Regionals Snow Impacted

** 1988/82 Regionals Used Repeated Questions

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BUZZER

FOUNDED 1987

by Albert Whited & David Levinson
 
Publisher - in - Chief
David M. Levinson
 
IBA Board of Directors
David M. Levinson
W. Albert Whited
Jim. R. Dendy Jr.
Robert A. Forsythe III
 
Board of Advisors
Dr. Gordon Carper
Dr. Donald Windham
Frank E. Brown
Gregory R. Hanthorne
Tom Waters
 
Unnamed Sources
Will Remain Unnamed
 
©1989 David M. Levinson, BUZZER is affiliated with the Independent Buzzer Association, 
which is not associated with any other organization, profit or non-profit.
 

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In the next issue of BUZZER:

The ACADEMY of BUZZER ARTS and SCIENCES

presents

The BEQUIES

Best Question Award

Nomination for Bequies will be accepted through June 1, 1989. All questions must have been read at an academic buzzer competition which took place between June 1, 1988 and May 31, 1989. All decisions based on artistic merit, literary style, and content, will be made by the IBA, and will be arbitrary and subjective.

The IBA Academic Buzzer Competitions Coaches Poll.

The idea comes from Albert Whited, who intends to organize this -- remember, you heard it here first.

In the past few years, there has been a proliferation of academic buzzer competitions, both of the independent and corporate varieties. Interestingly enough, it is often very different teams which excel in these different tournaments. This year, there has even been a multi-regionality to the invitational competitions. It is no longer easy to ascertain who the nation's top academic buzzer team really is. It is time to stop accepting the arbitrary competitions which have been run in the past as absolute. Examples of such tournaments are the CBCI National Championship, the Emory University National Invitational Tournament, and the Mentis National Championship.

Furthermore, the best team in a region of the nation should not be necessarily recognized as the CBCI Regional Championship winner, as Georgetown University, North Carolina State Universiy, The University of Tennessee, and Florida State University would be more than happy to point out to you. I believe, therefore, that a Coaches' Poll, although subjective, would reflect the national opinion of who's the best, and would give proper credit to whom credit is due.

Among the utilities of such a Poll, would be the possibilities of seeding tournaments. For those who hold Swiss-paired tournaments and those who persist in holding elimination-style tournaments, the initial pairings could be made in accordance with the tenets of equity. Furthermore, this poll should be made up of coaches/advisors from all parts of the country.

Therefore, BUZZER would like coaches/advisors to volunteer (yes, volunteer) to decide who is the best. BUZZER will keep all of the voters as up-to-date as possible on tournament outcomes, and will publish said poll in each issue. If you are interested, please contact Albert Whited at:

Consultation Questions

Listed Below are some examples of different formats of Consulation Questions used at the

U.S. Open. The list is partial and certainly does not exhaust the possibilities for such questions,

(although some may exhaust the players.)

The List 1.When Michael Dukakis announced that he would not run for re-election as governor of Massachusetts, speculation immediately began that he would run for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination. For 5 points each, and 5 for all correct&emdash;which five men since the Civil War have won their parties' nomination after previously losing a presidential election? Answer: Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, Thomas Dewey, Adlai Stevenson, Richard Nixon &emdash; Onus Army	30-20-10 18. 30-20-10 identify this individual in the music industry. (Thirty points for naming him on the first clue, twenty on the second, ten on the third) 1. When he was seventeen, he visited Vienna and played for Mozart, who remarked to his friends "Keep an eye on him- he will make a noise in the world some day" 2. He studied with Haydn in Vienna at the expense of Elector Max Friedrich, but Haydn and he did not get along. The aging Haydn said "He has learned nothing and will never do anything in decent style" 3. He lived from 1770 to 1827, but in his late twenties, he started to lose his hearing. ANSWER: Ludwig van Beethoven &emdash; Chelsea Katz Blind Round
Matching 10. Match the following architects: James Hoban, Benjamin Latrobe, Henry Bacon, Robert Mills, James Renwick, Cass Gilbert with the given Washington D.C. landmarks. Answers are not repeated. 1. The U.S. Capitol ANSWER: Benjamin Latrobe. 2. The Washington Monument ANSWER: Robert Mills 3. The original White House ANSWER: James Hoban 4. The Smithsonian Castle Building ANSWER: James Renwick 5. The Supreme Court ANSWER: Cass Gilbert 6. The Lincoln Memorial ANSWER: Henry Bacon &emdash; KKG & Associate	Multipart 2. Identify the following psychological defense mechanisms given a brief example of a Player's thoughts about his Reader (five points each): 1. I don't think the reader is bad, Our Captain thinks the reader is bad ANSWER: Projection 2. The Reader Bad? He's the best reader we have ever had ANSWER: Reaction Formation 3. O.K. the reader is awful, I probably wish that he'd lose his voice so that we could have Don read to us. ANSWER: Intellectualization or Rationalization 4. I don't dislike the reader, but the reader sure hates me ANSWER: Reversal 5. Dislike the reader, no, I hate the question writer ANSWER: Displacement 6. What on earth are you talking about ANSWER: Repression &emdash; Chelsea Katz Blind Round
Lightning Round: 7. Your category: authors whose name begins with the letter "S" You will hear as many questions as you can answer in 30 seconds, up to a maximum of 10, and the authors may of any genre or nationality. You will receive five points for each author over three you can correctly name. Obvioulsy you must answer a total of 4 correct for 5 points, 5 for 10, 6 for 15, 7 for 20, 8 for 25, 9 for 30 and 10 for 35. I will accept the first answer I hear, so please be careful. You may pass on a question and come back to it if time permits. 1. The Don Flows Home to the Sea Ans. Sholokov 2. Love Story Ans. Segal 3. Wilt on High Ans. Sharpe 4. Travels with Charley Ans. Steinbeck 5. Sophie's Choice Ans. Styron 6. Oedipus at Colonus Ans. Sophocles 7. Captain Brassbound's Conversion Ans. Shaw 8. Love's Pilgrimage Ans. Sinclair 9. Two Gentlemen of Verona Ans. Shakespeare 10. The School for Scandal Ans. Sheridan &emdash; Bogus Army/Free James Brown Question Tip.	Multipart Reflective 9. Answer these questions For Five Points each. 1. Who painted "In the Gallery of the Louvre"? ANSWER: Samuel Finley Breese Morse 2. Unscramble Morse's four initials and give the acronym which names a major rhythm-and-blues band of the early 1970s. ANSWER: MFSB 3. What was MFSB's biggest hit, also known primarily by its acronym? ANSWER: TSOP or The Sound Of Philadelphia 4. What TV show used "TSOP" as its theme? ANSWER: Soul Train 5. Trains, whether "soul"-ful or not, run on tracks, which by the 1870s were often paralleled by what? ANSWER: Telegraph Lines 6. Who made this possible by developing the first workable telegraph key? ANSWER: Samuel Finley Breese Morse &emdash; Rob Roggenkamp Blind Round
Chronological Order 9. Arrange the following events of World War I from earliest to most recent for 5 pts each, with 5 additional points for getting them all correct:The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the battle of Verdun, US enters the war,the Gallipoli Campaign,and the first battle of the Marne? MARNE, GALLIPOLI, VERDUN, US ENTERS WAR, BREST-LITOVSK &emdash; MDCC	Calculation 5. Paper and pencil ready for this physics bonus. A 1 Kilogram battery converts 180 Joules of chemical energy in sending .5 amps through a 3 meter tall lamp for one minute. 2. For 15 pts, how many coloumbs of charge have passed through the lamp in one minute? Answer: 30 COULOMBS [ 0.5 amps x 60 seconds= 30c] 1. For 15 pts, calculate the emf of the generator? Answer: 6 VOLTS [ emf=v=J/C; V=180J/30C = 6Volts] &emdash; MDCC
Outburst 10. The game of Outburst, while it is not one of the newest games on the market, is certainly one of the loudest. The object is, given a category (Such as: Cars Rich People Drive), to name the ten examples of that category that are listed on the game card. The team may give as many answers as it can within 60 seconds, but they must get the exact cars which are on the list to get credit for them. For example, if BMW is not on the list, and the team guesses it, they don't get credit even though rich people do drive them. The idea therefore is to guess as many as you can in order to get the ones actually on the list. Scoring goes 30 points for all 10, 25 for 9, 20 for 8, 15 for 7, 10 for 6, 5 for 5, and nothing for less than 5. Your category will be animals whose names begin with "A". Good luck and go!   Answer: Albatross, Anteater, Ape, Alpaca, Aardvark, Alligator, Armadillo, Anaconda, Antelope, Amoeba &emdash; Mike Dupee

Question Tips

There have been complaints that certain questions are too difficult, are to inconsistant, or too obscure. There are several potential solutions to this problem.

(1) If you have never heard of it before reading the entry in a reference, don't write it.

(2) If it is not something that a culturally literate American (at this particular level of competition) should or does know, don't ask it.

(3) If it isn't important enough to be in multiple common references (e.g. World Book Encyclopedia), don't look for it.

HINT: Put an easy giveaway "idiot line" at the end of your Individual Questions or Tossups.

Buzzer would like to thank Southern Bell for their consideration

UPCOMING

Spring 1989

April 7,8 Allen Ludden Memorial #5	April 14, 15 Tennessee Invitational #6
April 7,8 Virginia Invitational #1	April 21, 22 CBCI NCT at DuPage Illinois #x

Summer 1989

The Masters #2 ((at Knoxville)) Masters # 0 (the prequel), and #1 were held the past two years with great success for the team of Don Windham, Chris Moody, Chuck Wessell & friend. But that team was torn asunder before the U.S. Open, Chris joined his old Nemesis Tom Waters, creating a victorious combination. Will Demolition reunite? Can the BONUS/ONUS Army win without the Free Democrat Chris Moody? You'll just have to go to find out.

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Semaphore: When to Move On

For every good player there comes a time when everything that is accomplishable at a certain level is done. After your second year, the goal becomes not to win "Futurities" but to win full fledged undergraduate level invitationals. Then to win graduate level invitationals and some version of "Nationals". Once that is done, you have proved yourself - the logical next step is the Open Division, where you can compete against those at your own level. Just as Baseball has Minor Leagues and the Majors, just as College Sports have Division I and IIA, so should Academic Buzzer Competitions. There are perfectly justifiable restrictions on some tournaments. Its not fair for a team with 20 years of collective experience to play teams with 1 year of collective experience. Neither team has fun, and neither proves anything. There is a time to move on and play against those with whom one is truly competitive, to play on questions more suited to one's ability, to allow other players the room for self-actualization. -- DML

Caption: Reaching the End of the Train

The Original Journal of Academic Buzzer Competitions

c/o David M. Levinson

PO BOX 30158

Atlanta, GA 300332