PaulLau.com

One year gone…

Paul Lau — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:19:08 +0000

And just like that, the first year of university is over. It’s been a strange transition. One might be forgiven for thinking that the IB was a tough new world, but academically speaking, the IB was not so different from IGCSEs. Certainly not compared to a curriculum that has maybe 8-9 hours of lectures a week and requires you to actually demonstrate your knowledge/learning only thrice a fortnight. It brings with it not only an incredible amount of freedom, but the phrase ‘self-directed learning’ takes a whole new twist when you literally have to learn almost everything by yourself. No-more classes, teachers and detailed mark-schemes for you to memorise. Just lots of books and the freedom to think. If nothing else, the lack of posts this academic year (bar the now almost obligatory WSDC and WIDPSC coverage) is evidence of the taxing nature of Oxford, and perhaps my involvement in too many things for my own good.

It’s been quite a fun year, despite all the work. There are thankfully no exams now until 2015, a fact that is both comforting and intensely worrying if one were to consider the number of hours that will need to be spent in exams come that time. Debating and MUN are both more varied and fun at university level, albeit a lot scarier. And then there are a host of other things available at university that have tickled my fancy and stolen my time and energy.

Now that summer has dawned, I can finally catch-up on sleep (managed nearly half a day of sleeping night before last) and hopefully gear myself up for the next year or two.

Filed under: Personal, University of Oxford Tagged: Oxford, University, University of Oxford

ASDC 2013 [MOTIONS]

Paul Lau — Mon, 27 May 2013 12:39:35 +0000

Motions for the 2013 Asian Schools Debating Championships hosted by Claret School of Quezon City in the Philippines from 15 May to 21 May. The Chief Adjudicators were Dino de Leon, Syed Saddiq, LP, Shamalie Madhu Jayatunge, and Ratib Ali.

Round 1: Politics and governance
THW make the salary of politicians equal to the per capita income of the country
THBT believes that corporations should not be allowed to contribute to campaigns
THW prefer a technocratic autocracy over a populist democracy

Round 2: Religion
THW compel religious adoption agencies to accept capable LGBT parents
THBT Free Speech should include the right to offend religions
THW remove all legal and economic privileges granted to religious organizations

Round 3: Finance and Economics
THW break up the big banks
THBT home countries should not penalize is citizens/corporations for bribery in foreign states
THBT multinational corporations have a duty to maintain a strong presence (majority of their industry) in their home countries

Round 4: parents and children
THBT parents should be given access to all password of their children’s social networking accounts
THW pay teenagers/young individuals who do not get pregnant/impregnate before they graduate
THW prevent parents from religiously indoctrinating their children

Round 5: Rights
THW force feed prisoners who go on Hunger strikes
THBT welfare benefits should be contingent upon a drug test
THW allow workers to sell their rights

Round 6: What ifs
In the face of Armageddon, THW fill the last boat (the last boat will survive) with seriously ill people instead of criminals
Assuming we had the technology to detect homosexual genes, THW allow individuals to abort their gay fetuses
THBT the government should actively invest in human beings to attain “Marvel Comic” powers

Round 7: IR
TH supports the disbandment of the EU
THBT it’s high time for Palestine to absolutely lay down its arms in its quest for independence
THBT the ICC should prosecute crimes against democracy (i.e. Massive electoral fraud and vote rigging, vote buying, suppression of the opposition, etc.)

Open Octo Final: Education
THW abolish affirmative action criteria based on gender/ethnicity in university admissions
THW stream (put them in one class) students based on their academic performance
TH actively supports the move towards online degrees

Open Quarter Final and Novice Semi Final: Environment
THBT environmentalists should exaggerate the effects of global warming
THW subject the conviction or acquittal of environmental terrorists to a referendum
THW prohibit developed nations from dumping toxic waste in developing nations

Open Semi Final: War
THBT it should be the legal obligation of invading countries to pay for the reconstruction of occupied nations
THW launch a full military invasion against North Korea
THW try its citizens who commit acts of terrorism as enemy combatants

Novice Grand Final: Media and the arts
THW rewrite Disney stories to account for political correctness
THR the Hollywoodization of independent films (Hollywoodization: when Hollywood buys the rights over these films and when Hollywood actors star in them)
THW prevent journalists from covering mass shootings in detail

Grand Final: Meta-debates
THBT there is no such thing as animal cruelty
THBT humanity is better off without sexual desires
THBT God is nothing but a social construct

Source: DebateAsia Mailing List

Filed under: Motions Tagged: ASDC, ASDC 2013, Motion, Motions

Hong Kong’s Tiger Tutors

Paul Lau — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:29:00 +0000

Lots of people have probably heard me joking about the asian stereotype of studying all the time. If you’ve got some free time, then I’d encourage you to watch this documentary.

Admittedly it is somewhat exaggerated and of course this sort of experience isn’t universal (so don’t go around talking to everyone from HK as if they did go through all those), but certainly it’s representative of the experience of lots of people. It also gives you an idea why I dislike the tutorial system in general. It’s not that it doesn’t help people, but rather that it should be a necessary component of the education system.

All that sad, having not been through this system myself, my own experiences are only peripheral.

Filed under: Miscellaneous, Opinion Pieces Tagged: Education, HK, Video

Oxford Women’s Open 2013 [MOTIONS]

Paul Lau — Sat, 11 May 2013 22:52:11 +0000

The Baillie Gifford Oxford Women’s Open 2013 was CAed by Anat Shapira, Leela Koenig and Tasha Rachman.

R1: THW ban religious street preachers in the public sphere
R2: THBT The US Should Give South Korea Independent Control Over A Nuclear Arsenal
R3: TH, as a professional female athlete, would not pose in a sexualised manner for magazines and commercials
R4: In areas where hostage taking is a tactic, THBT soldiers, whose unit mate is about to be captured, should be required to kill their unit mate
R5: THW subsidise art that glorifies the working class
SF: In newly democratised nations, THW limit voting rights to those who have completed secondary education.
GF: TH as a feminist, would not join the army

Filed under: Motions Tagged: Motion, Motions

Why humans like to cry

Paul Lau — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:17:42 +0000

This is a random collection of thoughts that came after a talk organised by the Oxfordshire Branch of the British Science Association. It was titled ‘Why humans like to cry – tragedy, evolution, and the brain’ by Professor Michael Trimble.

Why even worry about this issue? Simple really. Animals have emotions and are capable of producing tears. But humans are unique in that they cry and produce tears emotionally rather than for biological reasons.

Women cry more than men at a ratio of about 5 to 1. This raises the question of whether this is for biological reasons (in terms of the way men develop or their brains are wired) or whether this is attributable to sociological reasons (such as societal views that make crying acceptable or unacceptable in particular circumstances or for people of different genders).
I think this is, for the most part, a social construct. That said, it may have arisen from perfectly defensible societal demands such as the fact that men in hunter-gatherer time had to continue hunting or growing crops even in the face of hard times and adversity, whereas women may have had more time to mourn and grieve so to speak.
What is more interesting, as was noted by Prof. Trimble, was the question of why the gender gap hasn’t been reduced if its source has been sociological. One would expect that societal views might change given the new circumstances. And yet, men are more likely to apologise for crying, more likely to cry quietly and in less discoverable places.

Undoubtedly, crying is very much a contextual activity. The perhaps obvious explanation for crying is that it is something triggered by emotions. Joy, sorry and bereavement can all be causes, in some instances injustice also triggers crying. More interestingly are instances where there is no prescribed or specific emotion that is easily identifiable, but rather the weight of a myriad of emotions that triggers crying.

If crying is purely contextual, then putting someone in a particular situation should naturally provoke crying.
However, take those instances where people cry in part because of the people around them and their expectations. It is socially acceptable to cry in church. And perhaps in funerals, there is almost an expectation that people cry, which I suspect increase the likelihood that people will actually cry rather than just sob. This suggest that crying isn’t merely a question of emotion, which would perhaps be the default answer when asked what triggers crying.

Unfortunately, Prof. Trimble’s focus was on crying in regards to art forms. To that extent, he noted that we are far more likely to cry in response to music than in response to poetry, paintings or sculptures. He attributes this to the movement involved in music, which makes it more dynamic as compared to the other forms which are static. Whilst it seems to be an intuitive conclusion, my problem is that I don’t fully understand why movement alone makes certain art forms more likely to trigger crying.
I guess one could say that such art forms trigger crying because they bring up a particular emotion within us. And to that extent, dynamic forms of art are more likely to create memories of real life situations that might be the root causes or memories of those sets of crying-inducing emotions. But that still seems a rather difficult chain of logic to take. This does however fit with the correlation between crying and higher levels of empathy.

One final interesting thought which was that crying makes us happier. Prof. Trimble was rather reluctant to suggest that crying always makes us happier, predicating this on happy contexts I guess (suggesting that crying at a funeral doesn’t make us happy). That’s true. But that doesn’t mean crying doesn’t make us happier. I would suggest that it makes us happier than we otherwise would be. Of course, if you start from being very very very unhappy, then it will make you just very very unhappy. But that is still an improvement of your mood in any instance. In some respects, I think that crying helps us release emotions and make them easier to deal with. This hypothesis is however problematic when we look at cases of crying that stem from emotions such as joy or relief. Releasing emotion would presumably make one less happy or joyful.

Filed under: Opinion Pieces, University of Oxford Tagged: Art, Crying, Opinion Pieces, Oxford

WIDPSC 2013 – Grand Final [VIDEOS]

Paul Lau — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:03:41 +0000

Other WIDPSC 2013 videos can be found in my earlier post. These are only from the Grand Finals hosted at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Debating Grand Final
Motion: THW sacrifice economic gain for the good of the environment
Proposition: Nick Marine (South Africa) and Emma Pottinger (South Africa)
Opposition: Joseph Kahn (South Africa) and William Richardson (Canada)
Result: Joseph Kahn – Champion; Emma Pottinger – 1st runner-up; Nick Marine – 2nd runner-up; William Richardson – 3rd runner-up

After-Dinner Speech Champion
Emily Leijer (Australia)

Interpretive Reading Champion
Ryan Sherbo (Canada)

Persuasive Speaking Champion
Eleonora Lekaviciute (Lithuania)

Impromptu Speaking Champion
Nicolo Mazaro (USA)

Filed under: WIDPSC Tagged: 2013, Durban, Results, South Africa, WIDPSC, WIDPSC 2013

WIDPSC 2013 Speaker Tab [RESULTS]

Paul Lau — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:11:58 +0000

The overall speakers tab for the 2013 World Individuals Debating and Public Speaking Championships hosted in Durban, South Africa are included below. These results are taken from the WIDPSC Facebook Page.

1. Connor Campbell (Canada)
2. Joseph Kahn (South Africa)
3. Nicholas Marine (South Africa)
4. Madhav Menon (Hong Kong)
5. William Richardson (Canada)
6. Raja Noureddine (Australia)
7. Nicolo Mazaro (USA)
7. Ryan Sherbo (Canada)
9. Lucien Wang (Hong Kong)
10. Ella Thomson (Canada)
11. Greta Hoaken (Canada)
12. Emma Pottinger (South Africa)
13. Jaclyn Flom (Canada)
14. Philip Balson (USA)
15. Clare Moffat (Canada)
16. Zachariah Lee (Hong Kong)
17. Shaun Gohel (USA)
18. John French (USA)
19. Katie McAllister (Australia)
20. Pierce Dickson (Canada)
21. Samantha Starkey (Canada)
22. Claudia Man-Yiu Tam (Hong Kong)
23. Rahul Naidoo (South Africa)
24. Madeline Nam (USA)
25. Camilla Akbari (Canada)
26. Christopher Skliros (Australia)
27. Sophie Kruger (USA)
28. Eleonora Lekaviciute (Lithuania)
29. Jordan Pfotenhauer (South Africa)
30. Natalie Ganzhorn (Canada)
31. Waris Asmal (South Africa)
32. Farris Peale (USA)
33. Agibail Gabrieli (USA)
34. Caitlin Li Yan Fischer (Hong Kong)
35. Yui San Anson Cheung (Hong Kong)
36. Ariela Karmel (Canada)
37. Anisha Dhaya (South Africa)
38. Lok Yee Petra Ho (Hong Kong)
39. Andrew Kosc (Canada)
40. Pauline Gabrieli (USA)
41. Aspen Wang (Hong Kong)
42. Dannah-Grace Suter (South Africa)
43. Hiu Kay Nicole Liu (Hong Kong)
44. Jane Logan (USA)
45. Agarwal Udbhav (India)
46. Emily Leijer (Australia)
47. Anahita Sachdev (India)
48. Safir Jazayeri (Canada)
49. Emma Henke (Australia)
50. Povilas Rutkauskas (Lithuania)
51. Matthew Podlesak (USA)
52. Thandoluhle Khumalo (South Africa)
53. Siliziwe Mtwa (South Africa)
54. Taha Iqbal (Pakistan)
55. Tawanda Mulalu (Botswana)
56. Alan Gigi (Hong Kong)
57. James Hallier (South Africa)
58. Nicholas Cullinan (South Africa)
59. Deoran Wessels (South Africa)
60. Arthur Faulkner (South Africa)
61. Tyler Demchak (USA)
62. Gianluca Truda (South Africa)
63. Jacob South-Klein (USA)
64. Angelina Helen Li (Hong Kong)
65. Yoojin Chung (South Korea)
66. Joshi Arnav (India)
67. Brendan Allan South (Africa)
68. Alexandra Farrell (Australia)
69. Charles deBerry (USA)
70. Seong Jun Park (South Korea)
71. Kate Anderson (South Africa)
72. Onachi Obiorah (USA)
73. Ciara Burrows (Bermuda)
74. Jeong Eun Oh (South Korea)
75. Imogen King (Australia)
76. Jina Woo (South Korea)
77. William Liam Peniston (Bermuda)
78. Jihoon Kim (South Korea)
79. Anna Klink (USA)
80. Hyun Thur Cho (South Korea)
81. Ahab Meer (Pakistan)
82. Jodie Rodrigues (Australia)
83. Laura Pajuodyte (Lithuania)
84. Tibrewal Anshul (India)
85. Mostakin Habib (Botswana)
86. Andrew Borg (Australia)
87. Mahir Wagh (Bermuda)
88. Kristijonas Pajeda (Lithuania)
89. Gabriele Mantuskaite (Lithuania)
90. Goda Gausaite (Lithuania)
91. Christina Agroti (Cyprus)
92. Baco Mmipi (Botswana)
93. Agarwal Devansh (India)
94. Aleksander Stepanyan (UK)
95. Roxanne Ioannides (Cyprus)
96. Myrto Colocassides (Cyprus)
97. Thummala Vishal (India)
98. Anshula Rattan Atre (India)
99. Melissa Morapedi (Botswana)
100. Lohiya Krishna (India)

Filed under: WIDPSC Tagged: Results, WIDPSC, WIDPSC 2013

WIDPSC [VIDEOS]

Paul Lau — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 13:09:34 +0000

A compilation of videos from the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships in reverse chronological order.

Filed under: WIDPSC Tagged: Video, Videos, WIDPSC

WIDPSC 2013 [VIDEOS]

Paul Lau — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 11:56:27 +0000

The videos of the Grand Final have been moved to a separate post for simplicity’s sake. These are videos of the rounds and of WIDPSC 2013 as a whole, created by the Clifton Film Academy at Clifton School, Durban, South Africa.

Debate Final 3
Proposition: Clare Moffat (Canada) and Nicholas Marine (South Africa)
Opposition: Aspen Wang (Hong Kong) and Waris Asmal (South Africa)

Interpretive Reading Finals
Claudia Tam (Hong Kong) [Broke 1]

Impromptu Speaking Finals
Katie McAllister (Australia) [Broke 1]

After Dinner Speech Finals

Filed under: WIDPSC Tagged: 2013, Video, Videos, WIDPSC, WIDPSC 2013

WIDPSC 2013 [RESULTS]

Paul Lau — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 10:43:29 +0000

The 2013 World Individuals Debating and Public Speaking Championships recently concluded, having been hosted by Clifton School in Durban, South Africa. In particular, the organisers were quite efficient with the results and accompanying videos of the event, much of which are included below. Almost all of this information can originally be found on the WIDPSC Facebook Page.

Champions and Grand Final

In reverse order of the occurence of the Grand Finals.

Overall
1. Connor Campbell (Canada)
2. Joseph Kahn (South Africa)
3. Nicholas Marine (South Africa)
4. Madhav Menon (Hong Kong)
5. William Richardson (Canada)
6. Raja Noureddine (Australia)
7. Nicolo Mazaro (USA)
7. Ryan Sherbo (Canada)
9. Lucien Wang (Hong Kong)
10. Ella Thomson (Canada)

After-Dinner Speech
1. Emily Leijer (Australia) [2]
2. Raja Noureddine (Australia) [3]
3. Povilas Rutkauskas (Lithuania) [5]

Persuasive Speaking
1. Eleonora Lekaviciute (Lithuania) [5]
2. Lucien Wang (Hong Kong) [11]
3. Madhav Menon (Hong Kong) [4]

Impromptu Speaking
1. Nicolo Mazaro (USA) [10]
2. Lucien Wang (Hong Kong) [7]
3. Clare Moffat (Canada) [2]

Debating
1. Joseph Kahn (South Africa) [4]
2. Emma Pottinger (South Africa) [8]
3. Nicholas Marine (South Africa) [9]
4. William Richardson (Canada) [3]

Interperative Reading
1. Ryan Sherbo (Canada) [4]
2. Shaun Gohel (USA) [2]
3. Connor Campbell (Canada) [9]

Finals

Again, in reverse order of the occurence of the Finals.

After-Dinner Speech
1. Jaclyn Flom (Canada)
2. Emily Leijer (Australia)
3. Raja Noureddine (Australia)
4. Connor Campbell (Canada)
5. Povilas Rutkauskas (Lithuania)
6. Jordan Pfotenhauer (South Africa)

Persuasive Speaking
1. Claudia Tam (Hong Kong)
2. Rahul Naidoo (South Africa)
3. Sophie Kruger (USA)
4. Madav Menon (Hong Kong)
5. Eleanora Lekaviciute (Lithuania)
6. Nicole Liu (Hong Kong)
7. Katie McAllister (Australia)
8. Joseph Kahn (South Africa)
9. Dannah-Grace Suter (South Africa)
10. Zachariah Lee (Hong Kong)
11. Lucien Wang (Hong Kong)
12. Farris Peale (USA)
13. William Richarson (Canada)
14. Yoojin Cheung (South Korea)

Impromptu Speaking
1. Katie McAllister (Australia)
2. Clare Moffat (Canada)
3. Peirce Dickson (Canada)
4. Pauline Gabrielli (USA)
5. Samantha Starkey (USA)
6. William Richardson (Canada)
7. Lucien Wang (Hong Kong)
8. Ella Thomsen (Canada)
9. John French (USA)
10. Nicolo Mazaro (USA)
11. Greta Hoaken (Canada)
12. Shaun Gohel (USA)
13. Madhav Menon (Hong Kong)
14. Joseph Kahn (South Africa)

Debating
I am making the assumption that this is in order of rankings. There is no reason for this, just an assumption.
Final 1
1. Connor Campbell (Canada)
2. Lucien Wang (Hong Kong)

1. William Richardson (Canada)
2. Joseph Kahn (South Africa)

Final 2
1. Philip Balson (USA)
2. Zachariah Lee (Hong Kong)

1. Christopher Skliros (Australia)
2. Emma Pottinger (South Africa)

Final 3
1. Nicholas Marine (South Africa)
2. Clare Moffat (Canada)

1. Aspen Wang (Hong Kong)
2. Waris Asmal (South Africa)

Interperative Reading
1. Raja Noureddeine (Australia)
2. Shaun Gohel (USA)
3. Nicholas Marine (South Africa)
4. Ryan Sherbo (Canada)
5. Claudia Tam (Hong Kong)
6. Tibrewel Anshul (India)
7. Jaclyn Flom (Canada)
8. Ziliziwe Mtwa (South Africa)
9. Connor Campbell (Canada)
10. Jane Logan (USA)
11. Peirce Dickson (Canada)

Filed under: WIDPSC Tagged: 2013, Results, WIDPSC, WIDPSC 2013

Oxford Schools Debating Tournament 2013 – Finals Day [MOTIONS]

Paul Lau — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 12:23:04 +0000

The Tournament was CAed by Hasan Dindjer and Stephanie Bell.

R1: THW Grant An Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants
R2: THW Remove Patent Protection On Life-Saving Drugs In Low Income Countries
R3: THW Place Significant Decisions On Environmental Protection In The Hands Of Scientific Experts Rather Than Democratic Bodies
R4: THW Require All Religions To Allow Women To Ascend To Their Highest Ranks
GF: TH Opposes The Funding And Arming Of The Syrian Rebels By Western Nations

Filed under: Motions Tagged: Motion, Motions, Oxford, Oxford Schools, University of Oxford

Oxford Schools Debating Tournament 2013 – Finals Day [RESULTS]

Paul Lau — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 12:22:56 +0000

The finals day of the Oxford Schools Debating Tournament 2013 was sucessfully held yesterday at the Oxford Union. I rather brutal tournament where 87 teams competed to break into the Grand Finals.

After four tough rounds of debating, the following teams emerged atop the tab:

1. Westminster A (Ellie Shearer, Louis Willis) – 11, 658
2. Eton ET (Harry Elliott, Toby Tricks) – 10, 670
3. Dulwich KP (Arnav Kapur, Patrick Kenny) – 10, 640
4. TWGGS A (Lucy McCann, Elly May) – 10, 635

On the motion that TH Opposes The Funding And Arming Of The Syrian Rebels By Western Nations, Closing Opposition, Eton ET, emerged as Champions of the Oxford Schools Debating Tournament 2013. I understand there was a recording of the Finals but I’m not sure where it might resurface.

A full tab may be released by the organisers, the speaker and team tabs as relased on the evening are included below.

Team Tab

View this document on Scribd

Speaker Tab

View this document on Scribd

Filed under: Debating, University of Oxford Tagged: Oxford, Oxford Schools, Results, University of Oxford

Debating Archive: ASDC 2009 Public Speaking Topics

Paul Lau — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:31:17 +0000

While I’ve been sorting the remains of two years at UWC Atlantic College, or at least that which I have brought back to Hong Kong, I’ve also been sorting through old notes and files which is where I stumbled upon this list of topics used at the inaugural Asian Schools Debating Championships 2009 in Manila, Philippines.

The Grand Finals were incidentally won by Prakash Sanker from South Island School (HK)

GRAND FINAL
What’s more heart breaking, debate or love?
Which adjudication core member would you date?
How to loose a girl in 10 days
Should life partner be debate partner?
Should we deny non-tax paying citizens the right to love?
Why girl is better than whip
Why is chocolate a better boy food
I kissed a gay and I liked it

PRELIMINARY
Why the grass is greener on the other side
Why my sex is better than the other
Why is true love overrated
Who is the most beautiful/handsome person you’ve seen in ASDC
Why your home country is more awesome than the rest
Why are there two less lonely people in the world
Why I’m not that innocent
WHy is my milkshake better than yours
What is true love
Would you ever go back in time to live in a simpler era?

Filed under: Debating Tagged: 2009, ASDC 2009, Debate Archive, Public Speaking

LSE Open 2013 [MOTIONS]

Paul Lau — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:57:45 +0000

Motions for the 2013 LSE Open. The Chief Adjudicator was Jonathan Leader Maynar, who as joined by DCAs Leela Koenig and Christine Simpson.

R1: THBT western liberal democracies should institute bans on their citizens visiting illiberal states whose economies depend on tourism
R2: THW require prospective owners or large shareholders of sport clubs/teams to gain majority support from season ticket holders or other representatives of the fan base to complete their acquisition
R3: THW make conscription a war crime
R4: THW require close relatives of the homeless to pay their welfare costs to the extent that they can afford to do so
R5: THW allocate state funding for the arts exclusively to new and original work, and never to reproductions of ‘great works’ or other old plays, opera, music, films or art
QF: THBT the International Criminal Court should focus on indicting and prosecuting larger numbers of middle-to-low ranking suspects for war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, rather than smaller numbers of high ranking suspects
SF: THBT the civil and criminal legal system has no business considering or regulating behaviour that exclusively occurs in online virtual worlds such as ‘Second Life’
GF: THW support policies of ‘ever increasing political union’ – i.e. progressive political integration aimed at the distant goal of federal unification – amongst members of the League of Arab States

ESL GF: THW allow pro-life organisations to offer to pay women considering abortions to carry the baby to term (assuming adequate child support services exist)

Source: https://www.facebook.com/events/522231484472774/

Filed under: Motions Tagged: LSE, LSE Open, Motion, Motions

Social Media at War

Paul Lau — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:03:54 +0000

Not really a large collection of new thoughts, but certainly some interesting reminders (and a few new perspectives). The CCW seminar by went through some of the obvious facts about the growth of Social Media and trends in its use by security forces and in a military context. Quite a few of the people attending were a little skeptical of whether social media would really change the way wars were fought on the ground.

The Bin-Laden raid live tweeted (from turnstyle)

I can’t say I know much in that respect, but one fo the more salient ideas was the ability for competing narratives and messages from both sides of the conflict to engage on a more immediate basis to seek to influence the conversation. I have doubts over whether this has an impact more broadly speaking, but in terms of shoring up existing supporters I can certainly see how it might work. Of course, the powerful thing about social media is the ability to instantly and continuously tailor the message depending on the feedback and sentiment that are gauged over the social network.

There was some discussion in the presentation about the psychological aspect of social media, and how social media engaged with the more emotive and spontaneous side of our minds than, say, the cognitive side of things. I would hope that doesn’t mean my ability to be rational is diminished, but I guess the point was more that social media could better influence and connect on an emotional level whereas traditional filtered media was more cognitive.

For me, perhaps the biggest point to take away was social media’s capacity to build groups and coalitions that are limited to intersections over unions. So while old forms of coalitions and groups had greater inertia, perhaps from how they are constructed, and thus are better conditioned to creating a union of interests amongst people, social media allows people to move around with greater flexibility, leading to the creation of coalitions or movements that can at times be stronger, but are also more likely to b based on the intersection of interests rather than a union of them. Which is better? I’m not sure.

5th February 2013

Filed under: Opinion Pieces, University of Oxford Tagged: Oxford, Social Media, University of Oxford, War

[VIDEO] WSDC 2013 – Octofinal (Mexico vs. India)

Paul Lau — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:12:07 +0000

Octofinal debate between Mexico (proposition) and India (opposition) on the motion ‘THW cut welfare support for compulsive gamblers’. Mexico won the debate 4-1 and progressed onto the semifinals.

Filed under: WSDC Tagged: Team India, Team Mexico, Video, WSDC, WSDC 2013

WSDC 2013 – ESL Tab [RESULTS] [UPDATED]

Paul Lau — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:20:51 +0000

Top 20 English as a Second Language speakers following the 8 preliminary rounds.

Note that this is different both to those announced at the Grand Finalas well as the subsequent list posted earlier. This is becaues a number of issues arose in the calculations of the scores and the CAP have had to continiously update this list as this information becomes integrated. This post is accurate only as of the time it was udpated {4pm 14/2/2013}

Position. Name (Country) Debates – Average
1. Diego Cepeda (Mexico) 7 – 72.667
2. Siddarth Shrikanth (India) 8 – 72.521
3. Jose de los Heros (Peru) 6 – 72.417
4. Aaron Luke (Malaysia) 6 – 72.222
5. Ariel de la Garza (Mexico) 5 – 72.000
6. Dhruva Bhat (India) 8 – 71.979
7. Shriya Suriyanarayanan (India) 4 – 71.917
8. Kaan Ülgen (Turkey) 6 – 71.722
9. Luis Enrique Zela-Koort (Peru) 7 – 71.619
10. Yerin Yang (South Korea) 6 – 71.611
11. Amy Bakx (Netherlands) 4 – 71.500
12. Sun Young Hwang (South Korea) 7 – 71.405
13. Şafak Kılıç (Turkey) 5 – 71.400
14. Jure Hederith (Slovenia) 8 – 71.271
15. Yoon Joe Sul (South Korea) 4 – 71.250
16. Sebastian Salomon (Peru) 6 – 71.083
17. Deivi Ois (Estonia) 8 – 70.979
18. Abdurrazaq Fazail (Malaysia) 6 – 70.861
19. Rene Kukk (Estonia) 8 – 70.833
20. Denis Horvat (Slovenia) 6 – 70.806

Filed under: Miscellaneous, WSDC Tagged: Results, WSDC, WSDC 2013

WSDC 2013 – EFL Tab [RESULTS] [UPDATED]

Paul Lau — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:20:13 +0000

Top 20 English as a Foreign Language speakers following the 8 preliminary rounds.

Position. Name (Country) Debates – Average
1. Joris Broeders (Netherlands) 7 – 71.667
2. Roel Becker (Netherlands) 8 – 71.146
3. JunHyub Lee (South Korea) 4 – 70.917
4. Carrisa Tehputri (Indonesia) 8 – 70.875
5. Simonas Bartulis (Lithuania) 7 – 70.833
6. Ziva Antolin (Slovenia) 7 – 70.750
7. Jonathan Shvartz (Israel) 7 – 70.667
8. Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita (Indonesia) 8 – 70.604
9. Bogdan Andrei Morosanu (Romania) 8 – 70.333
10. Egle Kavaliunaite (Lithuania) 6 – 70.167
10. Atakan Paksoy (Turkey) 4 – 70.167
12. Georgios Marinos (Denmark) 8 – 70.104
13. JingTian Chen (China) 7 – 69.976
14. Noa Khen (Israel) 4 – 69.958
15. Andrei Dan Olaru (Romania) 7 – 69.929
16. Marketa Ticha (Czech Republic) 8 – 69.833
17. Justinas Mickus (Lithuania) 5 – 69.767
18. Adeline Tiffanie Suwana (Indonesia) 7 – 69.619
19. Zoran Fijaz (Sloevnia) 5 – 69.600
20. Christina Badea (Romania) 4 – 69.500

Filed under: Miscellaneous Tagged: Results, WSDC, WSDC 2013

[VIDEO] WSDC 2013 – Round 8 (India vs. Scotland)

Paul Lau — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 08:16:15 +0000

Final round debate between India (proposition) and Scotland (opposition) on the motion ‘THW require university students to work in their country of origin for a number of years after graduation’

Filed under: WSDC Tagged: Team India, Team Scotland, Video, WSDC, WSDC 2013

WSDC 2013 – Final Team Tab [RESULTS]

Paul Lau — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 19:49:19 +0000

The final team tab that factors in the results of the knock-out rounds following the preliminary team tab.

Rank	Team	Wins	Ballots	Average Score per Debate
1. (5) GF	Australia	7	20	768.5
2. (2) GF	Swaziland	7	21	764
3. (3) SF	Singapore	7	21	763
4. (9) SF	Ireland	7	17	759.5625
5. (4) QF	South Africa	7	21	758.0625
6. (6) QF	England	7	20	757
7. (7) QF	Mexico	7	20	755.0625
8. (16) QF	Canada	6	14	752.875
9. (1) OF	New Zealand	8	21	763.375
10. (8) OF	Peru	7	19	752
11. (10) OF	India	6	19	756.8125
12. (11) OF	Hong Kong	6	18	760.125
13. (12) OF	Netherlands	6	16	750.5
14. (13) OF	UAE	6	16	750.0625
15. (14) OF	Slovenia	6	16	742.9375
16. (15) OF	Greece	6	16	741.9375
17.	Pakistan	5	16	750.6428
18.	Malaysia	5	15	744.25
19.	Korea	5	14	749.5
20.	Wales	4	14	743.25
21.	Scotland	4	13	757.0625
22.	Indonesia	4	13	738.8125
23.	Estonia	4	12	744.6875
24.	Lithuania	4	12	738.4375
25.	Thailand	4	12	737.6875
26.	Israel	4	12	737.3125
27.	Czech Republic	4	11	729.875
28.	Germany	4	8	728.125
29.	Denmark	3	12	732.4375
30.	USA	3	11	742.3125
31.	Turkey	3	11	740.4375
32.	Argentina	3	11	727.25
33.	Romania	3	10	736.625
34.	Slovakia	3	9	729.125
35.	Qatar	3	8	723.3125
36.	China	2	8	728.0625
37.	Philippines	2	6	741.9375
38.	Sweden	2	6	732.8125
39.	Barbados	2	5	720.7857
40.	Hungary	2	5	709.8125
41.	Montenegro	2	5	707.125
42.	Mongolia	2	5	695.4375
43.	Bermuda	1	8	719.6428
44.	Bosnia & Herzegovina	1	6	725.8125
45.	Chile	1	5	719.9285
46.	Kuwait	1	5	717.9375
47.	Japan	1	3	695.875
48.	Bangladesh	0	3	734.4285
49.	Nigeria	0	1	698.625
50.	Lebanon	0	1	697.5

Filed under: WSDC Tagged: Results, Tab, WSDC, WSDC 2013

WSDC 2013 – [MOTIONS]

Paul Lau — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:41:31 +0000

R1: THBT important decisions about children’s health should be made by medical professionals and not by their parents
R2: (Impromptu) THBT the media should be prevented by law from intruding the lives of public figures
R3: THS greater US military presence in East Asia
R4: (I) THW allow prisoners to choose death over life sentence
R5: THW cease the exploitation of resources in the Arctic Region
R6: (I) THW require government schools to teach religious studies
R7: THS sovereign debt default as a legitimate economic strategy for countries
R8: (I) THW require university students to work in their country of origin for a number of years after graduation
OF: (I) THW cut welfare support on compulsive gamblers
QF: (I) THBT social movements in democratic countries should drive social change through the courts rather than the legislature
SF: (I) THBT the government should pay house wives and house husbands for their work
GF: THBT Turkey is better off outside the EU

Filed under: Motions, WSDC Tagged: Motion, Motions, WSDC, WSDC 2013

WSDC 2013 – Speaker Tab [RESULTS]

Paul Lau — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:20:52 +0000

Top 50 Individual Speakers based on the scores for the 8 preliminary rounds

Position. Name (Country) Debates – Average
1. Bo Seo (Australia) 6 – 73.694
2. Fanele Mashwama (Swaziland) 8 – 73.542
3. Pavan Hegde (Hong Kong) 4 – 73.333
4. Darion Jin Hotan (Singapore) 8 – 73.229
5. Thomas Simpson (New Zealand) 7 – 73.214
6. Zoe Brown (Australia) 4 – 73.208
7. James Lo (Hong Kong) 7 – 73.143
8. James Penn (New Zealand) 6 – 73.028
9. Adohan Peelo (Ireland) 7 – 72.976
10. Tyrone Connell (Australia) 5 – 72.967
11. Charlie Holmes (Scotland) 6 – 72.917
11. Anisah Mahomed (Canada) 6 – 72.917
13. Teck Wei Tan (Singapore) 8 – 72.771
14. Deigo Cepeda (Mexico) 7 – 72.667
15. Nicholas Salmon (Australia) 5 – 72.633
16. Edward Foley (New Zealand) 5 – 72.567
17. Oliver Havelock Mills (Swaziland) 8 – 72.542
17. James Stratton (Australia) 4 – 72.542
19. Siddarth Shrikanth (India) 8 – 72.521
20. Jose de los Heros (Peru) 6 – 72.417
21. Emma Gates Pottinger (South Africa) 7 – 72.405
22. Joseph Kahn (South Africa) 4 – 72.375
23. Julio Meyer (Mexico) 6 – 72.361
24. Paul O’Dwyer (Ireland) 7 – 72.31
25. Tom Clarke (Scotland) 5 – 72.3
26. Josh Broomberg (South Africa) 4 – 72.292
27. Aaron Luke (Malaysia) 6 – 72.222
28. Will Cook (England) 7 – 72.143
29. Taahir Munshi (UAE) 8 – 72.104
30. Justin Lee (Hong Kong) 5 – 72.1
30. Lucy McCann (England) 5 – 72.1
32. Barnaby Raine (England) 7 – 72.095
33. Colin Besaans (South Africa) 4 – 72.083
34. Hannah Beresford (Ireland) 4 – 72.042
35. Wabantu Hlophe (Swaziland) 8 – 72
35. Ariel de la Garza (Mexico) 5 – 72
35. Julia Milden (Canada) 5 – 72
38. Dhruva Bhat (India) 8 – 71.979
39. Andrew Niven (Scotland) 5 – 71.967
40. Ashley Varney (New Zealand) 6 – 71.944
41. Shriya Suriyanarayanan (India) 4 – 71.917
42. Saul Musker (South Africa) 5 – 71.833
42. Francis Kerrigan (Scotland) 4 – 71.833
44. Jessica Dorfmann (Canada) 6 – 71.75
45. Kaan Ülgen (Turkey) 6 – 71.722
46. Asad Pabani (Pakistan) 7 – 71.714
47. Joris Broeders (Netherlands) 7 – 71.667
48. Ryan Tang (England) 5 – 71.633
49. Luis Enrique Zela-Koort (Peru) 7 – 71.619
50. Yerin Yang (Korea) 6 – 71.611

Filed under: WSDC Tagged: Results, Tab, WSDC, WSDC 2013

WSDC 2013 – Grand Final and Awards [RESULTS]

Paul Lau — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:57:59 +0000

WSDC 2013 Grand Final (from WSDC Ltd. credits Chris Sanchez)

Results still incomplete.
This is Australia’s 9th Championships having previously won in 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1998 and 1997. It is their 14th Grand Final apperance, which means they have won nearly two-thirds of their Grand Final apperances. It is the third WSDC tournament for 2013 WSDC Best Speaker Bo Seo, who also debated for Team Australia in the 2011 Grand Finals. Swaziland may not have won the championship this year, but they have certainly had an amazing run to the Grand Final in only their 2nd WSDC tournament.

Grand Finals: Australia 9-0 Swaziland
Champions: Australia
Runners-up: Swaziland
Best ESL Team: Peru
Best EFL Team: Indonesia

Top 10 Best Speakers
1. Bo Seo (Australia)
2. Fanele Mashwama (Swaziland)
3. Pavan Hegde (Hong Kong)
4. Darion Hotan (Singapore)
5. Tom Simpson (New Zealand)
6. Zoe Brown (Australia)
7. James Lo (Hong Kong)
8. James Penn (New Zealand)
9. Aodhán Peelo (Ireland)
10. Tyrone Connell (Australia)

ESL Best Speakers
1. Siddarth Shrikanth (India)
2. Jose de los Heros (Peru)
3. Aaron Luke (Malaysia)
4. Dhruva Bhat (India)
5. Shriya Narayanan (India)

Thanks to @tautoru, @AustSchoolsTeam and @Sayeqa for tweeting these.

Filed under: WSDC Tagged: Results, WSDC, WSDC 2013

WSDC 2013 – Grand Final: The fairytale continues

Paul Lau — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:35:32 +0000

The 2013 World Schools Debating Championships may well be one of the most eventful tournaments in recent years. The run-up to the tournament saw a number of unexpected surprises from a call for extra adjudicators, reworked draws and now a truly unexpected Grand Final. Starting at 7pm Turkish time, the Grand Final will feature Team Swaziland against Team Australia on the motion THBT turkey is better off outside the EU. Interestingly enough, the two teams featured are also the two teams who recieved the highest total speaker scores, one of the rare instances in which the speaker scores seem to correlate with actual performance.

Team Australia preparing for the Grand Finals (from @AustSchoolsTeam)

Team Australia are the most sucessful WSDC team in history, winning the Championships on 8 ocassions (2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1998, 1997). Team Australia also featured in the Grand Finals in 1988, 1990, 1991, 2002 and 2011, the latter being a memory that will still be present for members Bo Seo and and Tyrone Connell who were both runners-up in WSDC 2011 in Dundee, Scotland. They will seek to go one better this time now joined by Zoe Brown, Nick Salmon and James Stratton. In reaching the Grand Finals, Australia sucessfully beat Ireland, South Africa and the Netherlands; loosing only to Canada in Round 8 and breaking 5th overall with the highest total speakers scores of the tournament.

Team Swaziland, earlier on, preparing for WSDC 2013 (from @TeamSD2013)

Their opponents, Team Swaziland, will join the short list of WSDC Champions if sucessful. Team Swaziland attended WSDC 2012 for the first time, going 4-0 and ranking 28th. They have returned this year, going all the way to the Grand Finals. The team again features Fanele Mashwama who attended WSDC 2012. He is joined by Sandile Mndzebele, Lindelani Mabuza as well as fellow classmates of Waterford Kamhlaba UWC Swaziland Oliver Havelock Mills and Wabantu Hlophe. Team Swaziland are coached by UWC Swaziland alumnus Mlungisi Dlamini, who graduated in 2010 and was a Davis Scholar at Franklin and Marshall College before returning to teach at UWC Swaziland Waterford KaMhlaba UWC. Winning all but their first debate against Singapore, which Swaziland avenged in the semifinals; Team Swaziland beat defending champions Scotland on the way to breaking 2nd and with the 2nd highest total speaker points of the tournament.

Team Swaziland		Team Australia
Singapore 3-4	SF	7-0 Ireland
Mexico 3-4	QF	6-1 South Africa
Greece 0-5	OF	4-1 Netherlands
Estonia 0-3	R8	1-2 Canada
Lithuania 0-3	R7	3-0 Montenegro
Israel 1-2	R6	3-0 Qatar
China 0-3	R5	2-1 Korea
Scotland 0-3	R4	3-0 Romania
Slovaia 0-3	R3	3-0 UAE
Thailand 0-3	R2	2-1 Mexico
Singapore 1-2	R1	3-0 Germany

Filed under: WSDC Tagged: Antalya, Team Australia, Team Swaziland, Turkey, WSDC, WSDC 2013

WSDC 2013 – Semifinal [RESULTS] Grandfinal Draw

Paul Lau — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:13:33 +0000

SF: THBT the government should pay house wives and house husbands for their work

SF1: Ireland (9)(P) v. Australia (5)(O) == 7-0
SF2: Swaziland (2)(P) v. Singapore (3)(O) == 4-3

GF: Australia v. Swaziland

See Grand Final write-up here.

Team Swaziland during their 4-3 victory over Team Singapore (from @DebatingHungary)

Filed under: WSDC Tagged: Antalya, Debate, Debating, Grand Final, Results, Turkey, WSDC, WSDC 2013