29
October
The National Federation of High Schools announced today that the finalists for the 2011-2012 policy debate topic are space and China. The resolutions are as follows: SPACE Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere. CHINA Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially [...]
26
October
The new version of Microsoft Office for the Mac—Office for Mac 2011—was officially released today. It is a major upgrade from the previous version that many Mac users have been eagerly awaiting. Of particular interest to debaters is the restored Macro support: Office for Mac 2011 includes Visual Basic and the Ribbon and so should [...]
21
October
Debate is hard — there are no shortcuts to success. Students often look for a blueprint that will get them from the 2-4 bracket to the finals; in response, coaches emphasize that there’s no substitute for hard work. “Nose, meet grindstone” seems to be the best answer anyone faced with the “how do I get [...]
20
October
Maybe that estimate of 300 by the CIA discussed in Season 2 E1 of the podcast was off? http://www.aei.org/article/102682
13
October
In a first for The 3NR, we have released two podcasts today for our loyal listeners. In addition to the regular episode, Scott and Maggie recorded a special podcast with James Herndon of Emory University that discusses the politics disadvantage (and the Midterm disadvantage in particular). Details about the episode are available at podcast.the3nr.com where [...]
13
October
The newest episode of The 3NR Podcast is now available — head over to podcast.the3nr.com to download it or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. This week’s episode focuses on skill development and provides practical advice that can help debaters at all levels reach their goals.
12
October
Inevitably each summer when students are asked what makes a k different from a da one of the answers given is that a k doesn’t require uniqueness. This view is reflected in many debates I see where a team reading a k will respond to arguments about uniqueness by saying “duh, we are a k” [...]
9
October
The 2008-2009 alternative energy resolution provided high school debaters with an opportunity to research and discuss one of the most important issues of the day: global climate change. Summer institutes collectively spent thousands of hours researching all aspects of the climate debate and students invested many more thousands of hours preparing blocks, organizing files, and [...]
7
October
Answers to misc. questions that didn’t really warrant their own individual post:
1
October
One of the topics that was discussed in the first podcast episode of season two was the quality (or lack thereof) of most terrorism impacts. As if on cue, Charles V. Peña of The Independent Institute has written an excellent new article about the relative impact of terrorism — a card from the article is [...]