Exams

IB Exams have begun and I am afraid that I will have to say goodbye to blogging for the time being.
Best of luck to all the other people that are also taking their IB Exams around the world. See you on the other side!

PNDC 2012 [MOTIONS]

Motions for the Polinela National Debating Championship 2012 in Indonesia

Business & Corporation Ethics
THBT inappropriate posts made on social networking sites is a legitimate basis to terminate employment of workers
THW ban companies from advertising their products in a sexualized manner
THW prohibit company owners to employ their family members, regardless the position

Education
THBT Indonesian public schools should be obliged to teach all religions to its students regardless of their beliefs
THBT students should have a power in determining the curriculum in their school
THW punish schools that rejects students with special needs

Animal Rights and Welfare
THBT nations that allows whaling should prohibit its by-products to be imported to other countries
THW shut down all forms of puppy mills
THW establish a National Pet Ownership Registry

Exams, Exams and More Exams

Some of you may have noticed a general lack of updates about stuff happening at Ac or stuff I’m doing. The truth is, there really isn’t that much interesting stuff that’s going on right now. First years are having their end of year exams round about now and the formal IB exams for second years are starting shortly after that. As a result, most of the second years, myself included, are hunkered down in carrel units studying away. Our lessons are all over, which means we now have the entire day to study.

A lovely little list from Julia, a fellow Castle dweller (in the neighbouring carrel unit) that I fell really ought to be shared.
You know the IB is almost here when

• you only ever see Second Years at breakfast and check-in and some briefly at mealtimes in between.
• your social life seems to involve only those in your Carrel Unit.
• everyone supposedly ‘relaxing’ in the Dayroom at check-in is talking about work.
• everyone at supper is so tired they simply stare at their plate.
• people start drinking coffee at 10.30pm
• you go to the Quiet Room when you used to go to bed.
• you see people walking around eating Nutella out of a jar

[VIDEO] Project Week 2012 – Sailing Project

Video by Liam Nash and Rune Øster Mortensen featuring the Sailing Project in March, earlier this year. Essentially, from what I remember, 11 students joined the crew of Challenge Wales (www.challengewales.org/) for about a week.

Sing Tao 2012: Semi-Final Results, Grand Final Match-up

Yesterday saw the semi-finals of the 2011-2012 Sing Tao Inter-School Debating Competition hosted at St. Joseph’s College. Diocesan Girls’ School (Affirmative) defeated Diocesan Boys’ School on the motion that ‘The Hong Kong government should amend the Marriage Ordinance to give transsexuals the right to marry.’ La Salle College successfully opposed St. Paul’s Co-Educational College on the motion that ‘Recruiting mainland athletes to compete for Hong Kong does more good than harm to Hong Kong’s sporting development’. Both DGS and LSC won by 3 votes to 1.

This means that the Grand Final, on the 12th of May, will be contested between LSC and DGS. Both schools have a history in the Sing Tao competition, being the two of just 3 schools that have won the Sing Tao in the last 6 editions. With South Island School winning in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011; DGS won in 2007 and LSC in 2009. I am pretty sure that both teams will feature members of the Hong Kong Debate Team, Natalie So from DGS and Ben Allen from LSC. DGS have won the Sing Tao 6 times; in 1987, 1989, back to back in 1996 and 1997 as well as in 2002 and 2007. However, La Salle does have the more recent success in 2009 as well as winning the Senior HKSDC tournament in September last year and again in February earlier this year.

It looks to be a tight competition with two well accomplished teams facing off. I myself sadly won’t be able to attend the Grand Final, but I look forward to the DVD when it does come out.

Futuristic Creations

I’m not a very powerful man, but if this screenshot of my Mac is to be believed, I have the capacity to travel in time and make things in the future, right now. It says under document info that the image was created “Tomorrow”. In fairness, it is probably because of unsynced times between my camera and my computer. Still a cool situation though.

Evolution of the Workspace

Apologies for the lack of personal updates. It’s been a rather busy few weeks with mock exams handed back to us and a general race to finish the syllabus and get on to revision. I’ve been spending/will inevitably spend most of the remaining weeks at AC holed up in my carrel unit studying away for the IB exams. So I thought I’d be a good time to look back at my various workspaces of the last two years.

I have to say I can’t really remember where I spent most of first term. I think it was largely in the quite-room of Morgannwg. Term 2 was when I moved into the library, later to be joined by Sunley about a year ago. I do recall spending October Break of first year in a carrel unit since most people were off traveling. But since Carrel Units are meant for second years, it wasn’t until Term 3 that I properly moved into S12 where I am currently based. I’ve moved things around and changed my workspace about once or twice a term, but this current set-up will probably stay until exams are over.

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UWC AC Peace and Conflict Conference 2012

Video about the 2012 UWC AC Peace and Conflict Conference made by Media Service at AC.

Appearance, Appearance, Appearance

After much attention on the 2012 Chief Executive Elections, Leung Chun-ying ultimately emerged the new Chief-Executive elect. Although not seen as the ideal candidate, he certainly held the lead in terms of opinion polls, and probably has some genuine support, more so than many of his rivals. A major part of his victory was down to his ability to project a sense that he was the public’s choice and Henry Tang merely China’s choice. This appearance was certainly helped by his visits to public housing estates etc.

What is surprising is his failure to recognize the importance of public perception in the aftermath of the vote. His first order of business, visit the Chinese Liason office. Certainly there are good reasons to do so, though I am doubtful of his explanation. However, for argument’s sake, let’s put aside the suggestion that he went to thank the Chinese Liason Office for their unofficial official support at the end of the campaign. Even if he had a legitimate reason for visiting, he should be well aware of the perception that it would give. I think it is safe to assume that he doesn’t live in a vacuum of his own, which means that he would be fully aware of media reports on the heavy show of hand by the Chinese Liason office as well as the fear that the Chinese government was unnecessarily meddling in Hong Kong affairs. Then it should be clear, even if there is a good reason to visit the Liason Office, such as visit would best be done at another time, in another place, in a more sensitive way. What baffles me is how a candidate can be so conscious of public sentiment during the campaign, and almost instantly ignore or fail to even consider public perception.

Responsibility to Protect: A 5 point test

An interesting 5 point test on whether to invoke the Responsibility to Protect, presented by Gareth Evans, Australia’s foreign minister for eight years in his Project Syndicate article.

1. “The first criterion is the potential harm to civilians: is the threat of a type and scale that prima facie justifies the use of force?”
2. “Whether the primary purpose of any proposed military action is to halt or avert the threat to civilians”
3. “The issue of last resort: has every non-military option been explored and found unlikely to succeed?”
4. “Proportional means: are the scale, duration, and intensity of the proposed military action the minimum necessary to meet the threat in question?”
5. “The final, and ultimately the most crucial, criterion for intervention is the balance of consequences: will military intervention do more harm than good?”