4521 and done
If you hadn't already heard via Twitter, this is the official announcement: I'm getting out of blogging. Thus endeth decorabilia.I started blogging seven years ago largely for my own benefit. Over...
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a blog reborn
I'm back.I should say: we're back.I never anticipated reviving decorabilia, but with my wife's encouragement and blessing, and with (slightly) fewer professional obligations these days, and with a...
View Articlea closer look at the LD time skew
What follows is an analysis of particular empirical evidence for the fabled "time skew" in Lincoln-Douglas debate.The ContextI've heard several theory shells that rely heavily on time skew arguments,...
View Articledo the rules of LD actually matter?
This post is aimed at my Washington state colleagues, but you're welcome to read it, too. It's about something I first considered three years ago, when invited to Washington state's premier progressive...
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improving borscht
The other day, we made borscht. Well, beet soup, really, as "borscht" has a certain charm that "beet soup" just doesn't merit. Our beet soup may have had flavor, but it had no class.We used Slate's...
View Articlehow to parametricize an LD resolution
One of the hot buzzwords cropping up in debates about the "environmental protection versus resource extraction" resolution is the matter of parametricization.If your browser red-squiggly-underlines the...
View Articleyou are going to die
You are going to die. Don't be scared. (Unless you are Shakespeare's greatest waffler.)There are two basic options, vis-Ã -vis the outcome.a. You'll stop existing as your body returns to the earth. If...
View Articlethe zen mastery of Marshawn Lynch
The Seattle Seahawks--this blog's Super Bowl favorites--are blessed with two of the greatest talents in football. One has talk to match the game; the other is all game, no talk.I refer, of course, to...
View ArticleResolved: Placing political conditions on humanitarian aid to foreign...
The National Speech and Debate Association (formerly the National Forensic League) has released the March-April 2014 Lincoln-Douglas debate topic. Resolved: Placing political conditions on humanitarian...
View Articleeight years in the making
In 2006, the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl.In 2006, Walter Jones cleared lanes for Shaun Alexander and pass protected for "We want the ball and we're gonna score" Matt Hasselbeck. The Hawks' eventual...
View Articlethe agent of action in the humanitarian aid resolution
The March/April LD humanitarian aid resolution invites a careful parsing. Resolved: Placing political conditions on humanitarian aid to foreign countries is unjust.One of the primary questions: who or...
View Articledefining "political conditions" in the humanitarian aid resolution
An important way to divide up ground between the Affirmative and Negative in the humanitarian aid resolution...Resolved: Placing political conditions on humanitarian aid to foreign countries is...
View Articledoes humanitarian aid forestall political solutions?
As someone who watched Phil Hartman kill it on Saturday Night Live in the early 90s, I'm old.Hartman's second-to-note Bill Clinton impersonation is on full display in the classic skit in which the...
View ArticleSB 5246: test scores for me, but not for thee
Washington State stands to lose $44 million in federal funds if the legislature fails to meet Obama Administration demands to include state test scores in teacher evaluations, The Daily O reports:...
View Articlevalue / criterion pairs for the humanitarian aid resolution
This post consists of value and criterion pairs for the March-April 2014 LD humanitarian aid resolution, which states: Placing political conditions on humanitarian aid to foreign countries is...
View ArticlePresident's Day facts
If, as punishment for enjoying a day off, your teacher has assigned you a report on President's Day facts, look no further than this handy list. It contains all the President's Day facts you will ever...
View ArticleSB 5246 goes down in flames
Probably because I blogged about it, the terrible Senate Bill 5246 was voted down in the Senate yesterday.The legislation failed 19-28, with minority Democrats joining with seven members of the...
View ArticleEmmanuel Levinas, ethics, and LD
This post is inspired by Max, who wrote an LD case for the March/April humanitarian aid resolution based on the work of Emmanuel Levinas. Thanks for the idea, Max.I'll quote from two useful sources in...
View Articlepolitical realism in LD
A Twitter follower has asked me to elaborate on one of the V/C pairs I listed for the humanitarian aid resolution. Over at that post, I wrote:V: Prudence (defined as carefully weighing political...
View Articlea story template for literary naturalists
I've loved teaching American Literature this year. It's the first time I've had the class since I was a student teacher, so the material feels completely fresh to me. (It's also dredged up memories of...
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joy in doubt: the State Public Forum Championship
Until a few days ago, it had been an up-and-down year for my Public Forum squad. Back in 2013, we had not one, but two teams preparing for Nationals, the first time we had ever closed out PuFo in the...
View Articlethe short baseball life of Luther Lane Stuart
I'm not sure what drove me to imagine a major league ballplayer who had one monstrous at-bat, and then never did anything at the plate again. That vision, of course, led me to Google, which led me to a...
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Carsten's words
At just over 19 months, Carsten, pictured above, not only has fantastic hair, but an ever-expanding vocabulary. For the sake of history, here's a list of the words he knows how to "say," which reveal...
View Articlenot everyone needs a four-year degree? gasp!
I wish this message resonated louder and farther: you can have a perfectly excellent career without a four-year degree. Yes, you can: Those who pursue short-term degrees in high-demand areas are being...
View Articlerationality as a value
Regarding the "Right to be Forgotten" resolution for November/December 2014, reader @ayfreewilly writes, and I'm paraphrasing a little: "Could rationality be run as a value? I'd tie it to the...
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