Eric had written: "Pop Culture, Sports, Current Events, and General Knowledge (the latter encompassing the truly miscellaneous as well as questions that are mixes of the other established subject areas) are all subject categories used by NAQT. Each has their own unvarying percentage of NAQT events. None of these three is a "major" category even close to the level of the number of questions we have for each of Literature, History, and Science." <end of Eric's statement> I think the more accurate conception is that, added together, Current Events, General Knowledge, Sports, and Pop Culture are really, to most players, a kind of ber-category. Many players lump them all together as a category in their head known as "fluff", that you pick up mainly from watching a lot of cable. "Fluff", if considered as an ber-category, has to be the most common subject in NAQT-packs. Most good players who make their quiz-"careers" out of memorizing the (relatively) unchanging canon of academia just HATE having to CONSTANTLY keep on top of the latest news, fad, pop-group gossip, advertising campaign, latest issue of Entertainment/The Economist/Sports Illustrated, or the latest SportsCenter Closeup or E! Hollywood Biography. It's much much easier to forget about "fluff" and memoriaze Benets, as it keeps coming back around again and again. If you spend your time learning the fluff-knowledge of 2000, in 2002, well...your efforts are left behind and you have to start all over again. Most people who think like this prefer ACF. They are annoyed that everyone has pretty much equal-access to the so-called "tooth-brushing" question, and that in fact, people who are more in the real world, and not secluded behind closed-doors with lists of elements and plot-synopses, are actually MORE likely to do well on such questions. I think the optimal distribution has to have some fluff. And some of the fluff was pretty good stuff (Paperboy and Gadar are two of my all-time favorite tossups). But maybe reducing the amount of such questions, and maybe adding a few more meaty morsels might make for a more well-balaced meal. - Guy
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