Volunteers wanted

[Ken Jennings]

As I mentioned in the most recent mailing, I'm keeping up with the Tuesday Trivia workload okay, but I suspect that I won't be able to do it for much of the fall, when I'm going to be on the road flogging Brainiac.

I'm looking for at least one assistant who wouldn't mind taking over most of the scorekeeping chores for the indefinite future. (Or, to put it another way, "until you burn out too.") If you're willing to help but don't want to lose your chance to play in the standings, we can probably work something out.

Right now, it takes me most of Monday to add all the new scores (about 350 last week) to my spreadsheet, update the scoreboard here, and write the new quiz. (You won't be writing the new quizzes, but you might be doing the mass-mailing.) If you have any computer background at all, you can probably streamline those steps in ways that would cut that time almost in half. And much of it can be done an hour at a time during the week, unless you procrastinate until the end like I always do.

Reply here or email webmaster if you think you might be interested.

[hulklyjoe]

I will do it, but just as long as I don't have to attempt the 7th question anymore.

[bi1972]

I'm in if needed.

BTW, how do I edit my user name? I just realized an error I have made.

[TheConfessor]

I'm in if needed.

BTW, how do I edit my user name? I just realized an error I have made.

You realized that you're not bi? Congratulations! Or condolences?

[Ken Jennings]

Ha! I think admins can change usernames, so let me know what you'd like to be. (gay1972 or straight1972?)

[dbriscoe]

First, let me say that after the first week of Round II, I realize that I can't expect to win without cheating (aka Google), although I was able to answer many of the questions myself. (Mea Culpa) So if you need a bit of extra help from a fairly competent Googler who can complete tasks reliably, I'm available.

Second, let me ask for forgiveness in advance (Mea Maxima Culpa) for using this post not only to volunteer to help on Tuesday Trivia, but also to solicit anyone who would like to help write a few much easier questions for an annual 4th and 5th grade Geography Bowl. I have been doing it for 7 years, and have developed a format for the competition, the questions, and the answers that seems to work out pretty well. Each year I generate a total of about 140 questions (mostly open answer) about World, National, Utah, and Miscellaneous (Physical Geography, Celestial, etc). 35 Questions for the 4th grade and 35 for the 5th grade for the preliminary (intra-school) competitions and the same number for the final inter-school competition. I try to maintain a good difficulty range, and to put interesting explanatory notes in the answers. If anyone would like to see what I've done and perhaps help generate a few questions, please let me know.

Dennis Briscoe
Providence, Utah
dbriscoe@wescor.com

[doreen]

I VOLUNTEER!!!!!!!PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

[Xelath]

I'm free to help. Although I get a rare few right (2 points, go me!) I could help with the mass-mailing.

[econgator]

Need any more graders Ken?

[Ken Jennings]

At the moment, we're good. If somebody burns out, I'll be looking for a replacement.

[laughitup33]

I'm really not good at this Tuesday trivia but I love playing it. Since I'm in Seattle, does my geographical proximity earn me brownie points on this one?

[Ken Jennings]

Our scoreboard-updater seems to have gone AWOL on me. Does anyone have a little time each Monday to devote to this? (I can't remember which of the people who volunteered last time said they might be more interested in this particular side of the scorekeeping.)

You can update the scoreboard by hand, which takes a few hours, or you can work out some more elegant method to export it from a spreadsheet. (This is a little harder than it sounds, because the text entered into a message-board textbox must be space-delimited, not tab-delimited.) If you have a little programming/scripting experience, you could probably automate the process without too much trouble.

Anybody want to take a shot? If you think you can be reliable on a weekly basis, send me an email at ken [at] ken-jennings [dot] com.

[holalito]

Ha! I think admins can change usernames, so let me know what you'd like to be. (gay1972 or straight1972?)

I never imagined that coming out of your mouth (more specifically, you typing that) Lol.

[holalito]

This quote crap never works for me (referring to the above message). Can anyone help me fix this?

[Ken Jennings]

This quote crap never works for me (referring to the above message). Can anyone help me fix this?

Remember to leave "Disable BBCode in this post" unchecked. That was the only issue.