Affirmative:We should put satellites into orbit that beam power from space using microwaves
Negative:Screw the microwaves, lets use freaking laser beams.
It appears we have opened a space from which only good things can emerge.
EDIT: Turns out this debate ended with Heidegger and PICs theory. What a bait and switch. Ah well, as pete used to tell me, Que sedilla sedilla.
seems like such a good idea until...
I'm generally OK with politics disads, but it gets a little annoying when congress is in the middle of landmark legislation during the gosh darned tournament. Apparently our fearless leaders have put a deal together, all that remains is to vote on it. Does that mean you can't use it as a disad? Does that mean you can (sort of the logical conclusion of the agenda crowd out scenario)? What if the deal passes in the middle of the day... do we all need to take a break between rounds and cut cards? What if we don't have a printer or a laptop?
I mean, the general rule of "Debaters should be prepared with up-to-date evidence" is good, and most of the time congress doesn't do much over the weekend, so it's not a big deal. This weekend is particularly bad, since we also had a presidential debate friday night. This might not be a big enough problem to "do something about," but it is pretty annoying. We should call the "Ev deadline" for the tournament at like Friday 5 PM or something. Nobody should have to decide between updated evidence and sleep.
I mean, the general rule of "Debaters should be prepared with up-to-date evidence" is good, and most of the time congress doesn't do much over the weekend, so it's not a big deal. This weekend is particularly bad, since we also had a presidential debate friday night. This might not be a big enough problem to "do something about," but it is pretty annoying. We should call the "Ev deadline" for the tournament at like Friday 5 PM or something. Nobody should have to decide between updated evidence and sleep.
The return of the disad.
It's pretty tough to be unpredictable if you wanna run disads. Time was that you could come up with some kinda funky politics scenario and you could come outta left field, but with so many teams cutting so many disads and so many websites selling evidence, somebody somewhere is gonna be running the same thing. However, I see a pattern this year that seems like a lot of fun.
Uniqueness: Elbonia's economy is doing great
Link Elbonia's economy is dependent on high oil prices, plan lowers prices
Impact: Elbonia's economic growth is key to prevent like a 100 wars, i swear.
replace elbonia with your country of choice, and you've got yourself a disad. This year is going to be a lot of fun.
Uniqueness: Elbonia's economy is doing great
Link Elbonia's economy is dependent on high oil prices, plan lowers prices
Impact: Elbonia's economic growth is key to prevent like a 100 wars, i swear.
replace elbonia with your country of choice, and you've got yourself a disad. This year is going to be a lot of fun.
I hate the entire travel industry
How the hell does a hotel get off telling you you have one type of room (the type with two real beds) and end up giving you another one. They've got a mother loving computer sitting right there in front of them when they make your reservation. I just don't understand how hotels can be so irritating to a group of people that throw them (what I imagine is) a substantial, dependable chunk of change every year.
Every time I get excited
I thought I'd finally found a pen that I like. It was made by Zebra.
then today the ink tube started leaking. Luckily I caught the leak before it turned to disaster status, but still pisses me off.
They came in a two pack, so we'll see if his brother is any more reliable. I'm not very optimistic.
then today the ink tube started leaking. Luckily I caught the leak before it turned to disaster status, but still pisses me off.
They came in a two pack, so we'll see if his brother is any more reliable. I'm not very optimistic.
schnew media
We've all heard talk about how the "new media" will revolutionize journalism, but we in the competitive debate world just haven't seen it. In the heat of a round, the answer "their card is just some guys blog, ours is the new york times" tends to be pretty convincing. More seriously, the niche best filled by blogs and the like seems to be either in hey-stuff-is-happening-now-omg-and-I'm-blogging-about-it stories or in providing thoughts and opinions that relate to the "average joe," neither of which is particularly useful for debaters.
This is why some guy's home grown election tracker website normally wouldn't be a very good debate source.
But what if some guy gets written up in newsweek after he "had outperformed every established pollster?"
As we say in the biz, that's one hell of a pro-dict
This is why some guy's home grown election tracker website normally wouldn't be a very good debate source.
But what if some guy gets written up in newsweek after he "had outperformed every established pollster?"
As we say in the biz, that's one hell of a pro-dict
mmm that new season smell
I'm all excited about my entrance into novice coaching (and re-entrance into minnesota debate) so I figure I'll maek post.
Quick little observance carried over from Tuesday. I like the novice case limits a lot this year which are:
-Renewable Portfolio Standards
-Domestic Biofuel
-Integral Fast Reactors
-Cap and Trade
I think that these do a good job of introducing novices to the various important debates on this topic as well as preserving some good ground for both sides. But having actually paid a little bit of attention to the topic itself over the past week or so, I'm left with an unease in my stomach. Let's say we'll take what I'll argue is the strictest definition of this year's resolution: (a) that incentives must be positive incentives - "carrots" as opposed to "sticks" and (b) that alternative energy does not include nuclear.
Three of the four cases aren't topical
Now I haven't dived into the debate well enough to know how these debates will shake out, especially among novices, and this definitely wouldn't be the first time that I've claimed "OMG T will be huge on this resolution" and been proven wrong, so grain of salt. But this would definitely be the least topical set of case limits that I've ever seen.
Quick little observance carried over from Tuesday. I like the novice case limits a lot this year which are:
-Renewable Portfolio Standards
-Domestic Biofuel
-Integral Fast Reactors
-Cap and Trade
I think that these do a good job of introducing novices to the various important debates on this topic as well as preserving some good ground for both sides. But having actually paid a little bit of attention to the topic itself over the past week or so, I'm left with an unease in my stomach. Let's say we'll take what I'll argue is the strictest definition of this year's resolution: (a) that incentives must be positive incentives - "carrots" as opposed to "sticks" and (b) that alternative energy does not include nuclear.
Three of the four cases aren't topical
Now I haven't dived into the debate well enough to know how these debates will shake out, especially among novices, and this definitely wouldn't be the first time that I've claimed "OMG T will be huge on this resolution" and been proven wrong, so grain of salt. But this would definitely be the least topical set of case limits that I've ever seen.
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