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====== 2001 Convention Reports ======


[[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/07/15/DD48020.DTL|2000 San Francisco, CA Con article]] in the //San Francisco Chronicle//.

Here are some convention reports from NPL members [[#sounding_off|Wrybosh]] and [[#Convention_Notes_from_a_newbie|zapot]].

===== Sounding Off =====

**by Wrybosh**

I had the pleasure of running Sound Off at the Newark convention.
Sound Off is a speech recognition game, in which we play samples of
speech from famous people, and teams of three to four players try to
identify the speakers. While the speech sample is playing, anybody
can declare, "Sound Off!", in which case the speech sample is
interrupted and players have to try to identify the speaker based
only on what they've already heard.

We played 30 rounds in Newark and collected 31 answer sheets. The
easiest samples seem to have been Neil Armstrong, Mel Blanc, and
O. J. Simpson, followed by Vivien Leigh and Julia Roberts, Dan
Quayle, Lou Gehrig, and Mother Theresa. Most difficult were Charles
Lindbergh and Princess Elizabeth, William Shatner, and Richard
Feynman.

Seven teams thought that Joseph McCarthy warned against "the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought."
If the recording had continued ("by the military-industrial complex"),
more people probably would have recognized the speaker as Dwight
Eisenhower. Similarly, 6 teams thought that we played Jim Bakker
begging for forgiveness, not Jimmy Swaggart. I wonder if either of
them was ever forgiven.

Wendell Willkie was the most popular choice for the speech opposing
Roosevelt's positions during the early years of World War II, with 8
votes, while 4 teams thought it was Alf Landon. Willkie ran against
FDR in 1940, during the war, while Landon was FDR's opponent in 1936.
Not that Landon agreed with FDR's conduct before the United States
formally entered the war . . . or that it mattered, since the speaker
was Charles Lindbergh.

Eleven teams thought that Elizabeth Taylor was talking about a
disease (instead of Nancy Reagan), and 7 thought that Frank McCourt,
not John Lennon, reestablished a relationship with his mother at age
16. There were 16 votes for Martin Luther King talking about
nonviolence (instead of Malcolm X), and 11 teams thought that Carl
Sagan, not Richard Feynman, was talking about planetary motion. Nine
teams thought that Jane Fonda, not Kathie Lee Gifford, was railing
against people who are like cockroaches, and 13 people thought
Hillary Clinton, not Gloria Steinem, was talking about a society in
which roles are chosen or earned.

Total number of correct answers for each speaker:
  * Vivien Leigh -- 30;
  * Neil Armstrong -- 31;
  * Dwight Eisenhower -- 10;
  * Jimmy Swaggart -- 19;
  * Mel Blanc -- 31;
  * Julia Roberts -- 30;
  * George Carlin -- 11;
  * Charles Lindbergh -- 1;
  * Mother Theresa -- 26;
  * Lou Gehrig -- 27;
  * Nancy Reagan -- 14;
  * John Lennon -- 15;
  * Dan Quayle -- 29;
  * Tim Curry -- 16;
  * Cher -- 6;
  * Frank Morgan -- 23;
  * Princess Elizabeth -- 1;
  * O.J. Simpson -- 31;
  * Patrick McGoohan -- 14;
  * Malcolm X -- 10;
  * Anthony Hopkins -- 11;
  * William Shatner -- 3;
  * Richard Feynman -- 4;
  * Kathie Lee Gifford -- 5;
  * Leonardo DiCaprio -- 5;
  * Amy Tan -- 12;
  * John Kennedy -- 11.5;
  * Gloria Steinem -- 13;
  * Groucho Marx -- 16;
  * June Foray -- 19.

===== Convention Notes from a Newbie =====

**by zapot**

When I first learned of the convention I hadn't managed to solve a
phrase shift or a welded transposal yet, so I was sure I would be a
liability to any team play and would fail miserably on my own. I
contacted Tyger, though, and she told me that there was an
instructional session during the flat-solving time and that I could
do that instead of solving.

AHA! You mean these come with instructions?

By the time I got to the con, I had (see -- newbie gets it
-- we call it con) managed to solve a phrase shift (that camera
copper, you know, not to mention the anorexic sloth) and a welded
transposal (and learned a bit about columns along the way). So I
felt okay entering the ballroom at the Hilton.

I was not disappointed. The people at the table I approached were
welcoming and very helpful. If there was an empty chair, anyone was
welcome to sit in it, or take it to another table.

I sat.

Through the next three days I was entertained, amused, and confused
by a succession of puzzles created by the members of the group for the
enjoyment of the group. The puzzles were not all difficult nor were
they only about words, although words predominated.

As much as I enjoyed those, the real fun was in meeting the creators
and the solvers, putting faces to the noms, and watching these creative,
funny, friendly people in action. [[:cons:2002:photos|Next year in Vancouver]]!