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.
having my doubts
So after reading some documentation on LyX and LaTeX, I'm having my doubts. Basically the split between "user" and "designer" is bigger than I had expected. To do debate ev with Latex I'd need to jump the gap immediately. Maybe I'll find someone who knows LaTex and cajole them into writing a debate template for me, but as it stands I'd basically need to learn an entirely new (and seemingly incomprehensible) programming language before I even get to cut my first card.
So I'm back to square one, how the hell should I cut cards? Since nobody's written a software package specifically tailored to the process yet (maybe I will someday...), I'm stuck with adapting a multi-purpose tool to the specific needs of card cutting.
My goals are as follows:
-Pretty evidence. I hate it when evidence looks like crap.
-Minimize work. I shouldn't have to re- re- re- format everything. Table of contents and such should be automatic.
-Working with others. Ideally, I'd like to be able to work with my students/other coaches on files. In the current mileu, this only works if we are all running the same word processor. This means I need to be able to convince people to convert.
My need to cooperate with others and my philosophical proclivities necessitate that this tool be (a) gratis, (b) libre, (c) cross-platform, and (d) collaboration-friendly. I'm maybe willing to cede b if it performs better at a, c, and d but otherwise my conditions are absolute.
Here's my options:
Latex/Lyx:
Pros: Very nice looking output, separation between content and presentation, probably extremely easy to use once I have it set up the way I want it
Cons: Large install size (>100MB), incomprehensible, I doubt I could convince anyone else to learn a new content authoring paradigm to collaborate with
Abiword:
Pros: Small install size, runs on a toaster, UI style follows versions of Word that people are familiar with. Works OK with word documents.
Cons: Not sure if it has some of the more "Advanced" features I need - table of contents, clear delineation of sections, etc.
Open Office
Pros: Like abiword but more features
Cons: bigger install size, can't get standalone (need the presnetation/spreadsheet goo), UI is farther from the de facto standard.
Google Docs
Pros: Runs in a web browser, built with collaboration in mind from the ground up
Cons: Probably doesn't have the features needed to make large files, especially table of contents and handling images.
Right now I am debating between OO and Abiword. Unfortunately, the time I spend learning the quirks and features of one is wasted if I decide that I need to move to another. Since abiword would probably be easiest to convert people from, I am going to start there and see if it gets the job done.
So I'm back to square one, how the hell should I cut cards? Since nobody's written a software package specifically tailored to the process yet (maybe I will someday...), I'm stuck with adapting a multi-purpose tool to the specific needs of card cutting.
My goals are as follows:
-Pretty evidence. I hate it when evidence looks like crap.
-Minimize work. I shouldn't have to re- re- re- format everything. Table of contents and such should be automatic.
-Working with others. Ideally, I'd like to be able to work with my students/other coaches on files. In the current mileu, this only works if we are all running the same word processor. This means I need to be able to convince people to convert.
My need to cooperate with others and my philosophical proclivities necessitate that this tool be (a) gratis, (b) libre, (c) cross-platform, and (d) collaboration-friendly. I'm maybe willing to cede b if it performs better at a, c, and d but otherwise my conditions are absolute.
Here's my options:
Latex/Lyx:
Pros: Very nice looking output, separation between content and presentation, probably extremely easy to use once I have it set up the way I want it
Cons: Large install size (>100MB), incomprehensible, I doubt I could convince anyone else to learn a new content authoring paradigm to collaborate with
Abiword:
Pros: Small install size, runs on a toaster, UI style follows versions of Word that people are familiar with. Works OK with word documents.
Cons: Not sure if it has some of the more "Advanced" features I need - table of contents, clear delineation of sections, etc.
Open Office
Pros: Like abiword but more features
Cons: bigger install size, can't get standalone (need the presnetation/spreadsheet goo), UI is farther from the de facto standard.
Google Docs
Pros: Runs in a web browser, built with collaboration in mind from the ground up
Cons: Probably doesn't have the features needed to make large files, especially table of contents and handling images.
Right now I am debating between OO and Abiword. Unfortunately, the time I spend learning the quirks and features of one is wasted if I decide that I need to move to another. Since abiword would probably be easiest to convert people from, I am going to start there and see if it gets the job done.
Offseason is the time for learning
Now that my super huge project for the semester is over, I have the time to start thinking about debate just a little bit more, as well as a little more time to do some experiments relating to debate that I had been meaning to try out for a while.
The first of these will be testing out whether or not LyX is a good word processor for making some debate documents. It has some features (quality print output, separation of content and presentation) that intrigue me as far as producing debate evidence goes, so I want to give it a shot. I'll be posting my experiences as I go along.
The first hurdle I have to get across is the need to define a "style" for debate evidence. Apparently this is a semi-advanced topic in the world of LyX, but the entire point of LyX is that I only have to do it once and then never ever have to worry about it ever again.
The first of these will be testing out whether or not LyX is a good word processor for making some debate documents. It has some features (quality print output, separation of content and presentation) that intrigue me as far as producing debate evidence goes, so I want to give it a shot. I'll be posting my experiences as I go along.
The first hurdle I have to get across is the need to define a "style" for debate evidence. Apparently this is a semi-advanced topic in the world of LyX, but the entire point of LyX is that I only have to do it once and then never ever have to worry about it ever again.
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