Author: Steve

  • The NCA Alta Argumentation Conference, day 1

    So far, so great! This is my first time attending the NCA Alta Argumentation conference, and it’s living up to what people have told me about it. This conference is really good so far. Wish you were here. If you aren’t, don’t fret – I’m trying to tweet some bits of interesting information I get from each…

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  • Debate Institute; Debate Camp

    There’s a nice hybrid on my desk – Green Mountain Blueberry coffee in a UNT coffee mug. The combination, apparently, has driven me to the keyboard to put down some of the thoughts that have been rattling around in my head for the past 3 weeks. In a previous debate incarnation, blueberry coffee was a…

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  • The Approach of Euros

    Belgrade Euros: An insider’s view – Nederlandse Debatbond Excellent piece by Manos on the bid for Belgrade Euros. As the current Euros tournament approaches quickly, it’s already time to think about next year. A really well written piece about the work that Belgrade has done in the past few years. It’s quite motivating! I wish…

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  • South African Nationals

    Image via WikipediaThe South African Debate Nationals are in full swing. Here are the motions so far, all from Twitter. Round 1: This House Supports Wal-Mart’s Expansion into Africa. Round 2: This House would create a regulated market for rhino horn. Round 3: This House regrets the partition of Sudan. Round 4: This House would…

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  • The Rhetorical Placing of the Casey Anthony Trial

    Image via Wikipedia Here at my mother’s house the conversation centers around the Casey Anthony trial.  She was interested in it to see if Anthony would be found guilty of killing her daughter. I was interested in it to see how people talk about whether she would be found guilty of killing her daughter. Through…

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  • The Hazards of Video

    I love taking a lot of video, but there are always dangers to it. I’m about to go to Texas. I might not post as frequently as I have been, but I will most likely be updating with some video posts, as I like to do when I travel. One of the highlights of this…

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  • What about Straw Dogs?

    A fairly basic article on the “Straw Man” fallacy. But since fallacies are notoriously difficult to sex, perhaps we could call it the scarecrow fallacy? Or the straw dog? Or straw person? I do like the idea of the Burning Man and Iron Man fallacies. We can keep those that way because of the cool…

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  • Cable TV

    Sometimes I’m ambivalent that I chose to live without cable. But this article showed me a pretty good reason not to have it. Apparently, the DVR/Cable box uses as much energy as a refrigerator. The trend toward always on, always on the starting line devices is something that is both expensive, and a bit troubling.…

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  • Practice Writing

    I don’t think I could do any other job. Sometimes I think I could, but that’s only at moments where I haven’t been properly caffeinated and/or self-medicated. I took this position ABD, on the understanding that if I didn’t finish in 3 years, I would lose this job. Didn’t bother me much until the summer between year…

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  • Darwin’s Library

    They have digitized Charles Darwin’s library and put it online for anyone to use. Better than that – they have transcribed his annotations and marks in the books. That is cool because it gives you a sense of knowing how they read things. I think I could get lost there. There’s also another great time-wasting…

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