Reference books

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koozbane
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Re: Reference books

Post by koozbane »

If we're talking websites, I'd go:

The J! Archive
Sporcle
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Re: Reference books

Post by bpmod »

koozbane wrote:Wikipedia (Yes, I'm serious. I use it at least 6 times a day to fact check)
How do you use it for fact checking?

Brian
...but the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.

If I had 50 cents for every math question I got right, I'd have $6.30 by now.
koozbane
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Re: Reference books

Post by koozbane »

If I encounter a question on a trivia site that I don't know, or come across something in my reading that I'm not familiar with, or even if something comes up in conversation that's new to me, I'll go bone up on it at Wikipedia. Some of today's musings were Granville Woods (the so-called "Black Edison"), Lewis dot diagrams, the latest Tyler Perry movie, and the Maldive islands.
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Re: Reference books

Post by bpmod »

Yes, but if you are using Wikipedia to either learn about something, or verify something you suspect to be true, you will not have much success.

Double-check all facts with reputable sources.

Brian
...but the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.

If I had 50 cents for every math question I got right, I'd have $6.30 by now.
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Woof
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Re: Reference books

Post by Woof »

Brian,
I think that you're painting with a brush that's a bit too broad. Wikipedia is quite reliable on technical subjects. A study done a few years ago by Science or Nature concluded that Wikipedia's information on technical topics was factually more correct than comparable selections taken from the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. On more "squishy" subjects, or subject that are political hot potatoes, Wikipedia is less reliable, but it should be discarded altogether.
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whoisalexjacob
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Re: Reference books

Post by whoisalexjacob »

bpmod wrote:Yes, but if you are using Wikipedia to either learn about something, or verify something you suspect to be true, you will not have much success.

Double-check all facts with reputable sources.

Brian
If you are using wiki to learn something, you wont have much success. Bold statement. I use it all the time, so I'd be interested to see some examples of false information in articles. Double checking every fact is great if you're working for national geographic or something, but personally I don't want to add all those mouse-clicks to my reading time.
koozbane
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Re: Reference books

Post by koozbane »

I've been using Wikipedia in this manner for about the last ten years of trying to get on Jeopardy. I play trivia every week at the pub, every day on line, and I've passed all 5 Jeopardy tryouts I've been to (increasing my score each time, I might add). I've not once had facts I've learned on Wiki lead me astray, nor cause me to miss an answer. To the contrary, it's probably helped me double my knowledge base. Would I use it to write a dissertation? Probably not. But for simple information gathering, it's been a convenient, reliable, and indispensable resource.
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Re: Reference books

Post by Bamaman »

I agree that I wouldn't use Wikipedia for my doctoral dissertation. But studying for a Jeopardy! appearance would be fine. A lot of study materials is just basic lists of people and things.Wikipedia provides tons of lists of thing s like world leaders, countries, movie award winners, etc.
TheSpiceWeasel
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Re: Reference books

Post by TheSpiceWeasel »

Creed Bratton wrote:So now that I have an audition in 19 days, I need to really cram in a couple of areas where I have no knowledge at all: poetry and royalty. And suggestions on good guides to at least get me the basics? Other than the pavlovs, of course.
What are the pavlovs?
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Rafferty Barnes
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Re: Reference books

Post by Rafferty Barnes »

TheSpiceWeasel wrote:
Creed Bratton wrote:So now that I have an audition in 19 days, I need to really cram in a couple of areas where I have no knowledge at all: poetry and royalty. And suggestions on good guides to at least get me the basics? Other than the pavlovs, of course.
What are the pavlovs?
Jeopardy pavlovs, where the clue should lead you directly to the correct response. Like sitar player= Ravi Shankar. Of course there are other sitar players out there, but Jeopardy never asks about them.

I think most of the ones from the old board have been collected here.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=343
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SkoolRN
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Re: Reference books

Post by SkoolRN »

I downloaded two free apps for my iphone, one on state facts and one on presidents, which I reviewed regularly on my lunch hour. Of course, the game before mine had a state capitals category.
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BobF
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Re: Reference books

Post by BobF »

SkoolRN wrote:I downloaded two free apps for my iphone, one on state facts and one on presidents, which I reviewed regularly on my lunch hour. Of course, the game before mine had a state capitals category.
I have an 8 year old that serves the same purpose. :-) That kid either knows all the state facts and presidents and either recites them or quizzes me on them all the time. What we don't know, we'll sit down together and google.
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Re: Reference books

Post by bpmod »

BobF wrote:
SkoolRN wrote:I downloaded two free apps for my iphone, one on state facts and one on presidents, which I reviewed regularly on my lunch hour. Of course, the game before mine had a state capitals category.
I have an 8 year old that serves the same purpose. :-) That kid either knows all the state facts and presidents and either recites them or quizzes me on them all the time. What we don't know, we'll sit down together and google.
Is there a place I can download an 8-year-old?

Brian
...but the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.

If I had 50 cents for every math question I got right, I'd have $6.30 by now.
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HugoZ
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Re: Reference books

Post by HugoZ »

bpmod wrote:
BobF wrote:
SkoolRN wrote:I downloaded two free apps for my iphone, one on state facts and one on presidents, which I reviewed regularly on my lunch hour. Of course, the game before mine had a state capitals category.
I have an 8 year old that serves the same purpose. :-) That kid either knows all the state facts and presidents and either recites them or quizzes me on them all the time. What we don't know, we'll sit down together and google.
Is there a place I can download an 8-year-old?]
Yes, but they only have 1-year leases, after which you have to upgrade to v9.0.
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Re: Reference books

Post by bpmod »

HugoZ wrote:
bpmod wrote:
BobF wrote: I have an 8 year old that serves the same purpose. :-) That kid either knows all the state facts and presidents and either recites them or quizzes me on them all the time. What we don't know, we'll sit down together and google.
Is there a place I can download an 8-year-old?]
Yes, but they only have 1-year leases, after which you have to upgrade to v9.0.
But, would they still be fully functional? Or would I have to upgrade too?

Brian
...but the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.

If I had 50 cents for every math question I got right, I'd have $6.30 by now.
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Re: Reference books

Post by DCTanner »

My fiancé and I found this board just yesterday preparing to take the online test for the first time. It seems that even a high score last night could mean several years of online tests before even getting an in person interview - but it's been fun to browse the forum and recognize names from quiz bowl. There seems to be some disgression on if knowing former players (even 15 years ago!) could help or hurt selected in the long run. Does anyone have any insight on being old acquaintances with people who have appeared on the show?
Last edited by DCTanner on Fri Mar 30, 2012 8:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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immaf
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Re: Reference books

Post by immaf »

How many times you've taken the online test has no bearing on whether or not you are called for an in-person audition. If you scored high enough ("enough" is widely rumored to be 35/50) you are put in a random drawing for the in-person interviews in your selected audition city.

If you are offered an audition in your selected city and can't make it, you will usually be asked if there is a different city you could go to. When invites for your alternate city go out, you will (probably? definitely?) get one.

At the in-person auditions, you will be asked if you know any former players. I don't think it hurts your chances of getting THE CALL if you do. It is my personal belief (although I have no hard facts to back me up) that having a relative who was on the show before HELPS your chances of getting THE CALL -- it makes great interview fodder.
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Re: Reference books

Post by DCTanner »

Thanks for that info ( and sorry for the auto correct misspellings). My city would be DC and for this year it seems a lot of the " in person" slots were filled via Jan online test. Crossing our fingers we get an in person interview someday! Seems like a fun process.
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Doug527
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Re: Reference books

Post by Doug527 »

I would, and did, use the following:

1) NYT Guide to Essential Knowledge
2) Wikipedia (notwithstanding Brian's objections, I think it's an EXCELLENT source and is much more refined now than in the days when it was much iffier)
3) Sporcle

All were great in various ways. 1) gave me a great gloss, high-level relevant stuff, 2) dug deeper into some topics and 3) forced me to have rapid recall.
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Re: Reference books

Post by bpmod »

omgwheelhouse wrote:
bpmod wrote:Yes, but if you are using Wikipedia to either learn about something, or verify something you suspect to be true, you will not have much success.

Double-check all facts with reputable sources.

Brian
If you are using wiki to learn something, you wont have much success. Bold statement. I use it all the time, so I'd be interested to see some examples of false information in articles. Double checking every fact is great if you're working for national geographic or something, but personally I don't want to add all those mouse-clicks to my reading time.
I am mostly referring to articles which have contradictions within the same article.

For instance (and I don't have time right now to look up those examples, although one is very easy to find), I was reading about an actress the other day. Under the years active, it gave a beginning year of when she was about 13. Then in the body of the article, it said she had been acting since she was two and it cited a particular movie. Upon clicking that movie's link, that article said that that particular actress appeared in that production as an infant. Infant and two years of age are not the same. Similarly 2 and 13 are not synonymous.

But the most glaring examples are usually topics on which I am an authority, being personally involved or living (almost) my entire life within the subject in question. In the article for my hometown Hamilton Ontario, there are many contradictions and misleading statements. Under local government, it implies that we elect 60 (or 45, depending on whether you take the number or the list that follows as correct) school trustees for our various school boards. It also states that there are three school boards serving the city and then goes on to name all four of them.

Similarly, there is an article (two actually) on the expressway that was recently completed in Hamilton which took 58 years to build. The two articles refer to the two sections of the highway as two separate highways but does not state anywhere in either article that it is one and the same highway of which, at various times, separate sections were renamed.

The people who wrote these articles have obviously not done more than rudimentary research. Why should I trust that any article appearing in Wikipedia was more thoroughly researched?

Brian
...but the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.

If I had 50 cents for every math question I got right, I'd have $6.30 by now.
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