There hasn’t been what I would call an overwhelming registration for Newark’s MHL this coming Saturday. I’m hoping that entries went to the invitational on the Goy of Tournaments to be passed along. Otherwise it’ll be Bronx vs Bronx and I guarantee that Bronx is going to take home at least some of the trophies as a result. You can quote me on that.
Last night I put up the latest Nostrum, which was one of the lads’ classics, if you ask me, namely, the ld-l episode. It’s strange reading it aloud, as it’s all emails, but it does bring back those glory days before PCB came on the scene. Things haven’t changed all that much, for those of you who read LOL’s comments; only the venue has switched an inch or two.
Then there’s the new topics. Finally. Needless to say as far as LD for Mar-Apr is concerned, the focus of the UN is marginally unfortunate, but I have always been interested in the extent of sovereignty, and seldom seen topics where the idea of sovereignty, even if it was absolutely the point of the resolution, was ever really argued. When the word itself hits the fan, however, you don’t have much choice. And the construct of protecting human rights v respecting sovereignty is a real one. As I just happened to be browsing Manny the K’s “The Idea for a Universal History with Cosmopolitan Intent” recently—seriously!—I can report that, like all LD novices, he believed that sovereign nations were in a virtual state of nature in the Hobbesian sense, and would remain so until some overarching body came along to change things. That is, he drew the logical conclusion of a body something like the UN being needed to adjudicate claims among nations. I’ll point out that other ways of settling claims include good old-fashioned war, diplomacy, trade, whatever else you happen to have in your international bag of tricks. A propos of nothing, I would wonder if one can claim that Iraq is, at present, a sovereign nation. Sovereignty seems to require two things: a bunch of people claiming it, and a bunch of other people respecting it. Is Taiwan a sovereign nation? Depends on where you live… Anyhow, this is definitely a topic with strong LD bloodlines, and I’m glad the Sailors will get a few opportunities to debate it. As for the Pfffft topic… well, it’s Pfffft. Can’t say I sit around worrying about the personal credit issue much, but it’s normal economic stuff, so it shouldn’t be hard to find reasonable positions on both sides. We’ll be Pffffting at CFL Grands, which is why the subject is of interest. I soooo want to go to CatNats with a Pfffft team!
I’ve got O’C entering his own data for the MHL, by the way, which makes sense given that most of the data is his to enter. We’re sharing a Google spreadsheet, a take on the one I created that concatenates the team names automatically so that all you have to do when entering TRPC data is keep your trigger finger poised on the copy key. I could take it the next step and develop macros to create the data files, but I don’t have enough time on my hands that wouldn’t be better spent achieving the next level in RCT. I mean, you have to weigh results against effort in these things. And while we’re on the subject of theme parks, I am almost fully set for the May trip. Rooms are reserved, most of the park tix are in the mail, the meal reservations are 99% made. I still need to figure a few off things, like the logistics of Shamu day and where to eat at Universal, but obviously when you reach that point, you’ve got all of the heavy lifting behind you. The big question: Will O’C pop out of the woodwork at the Adventurers’ Club? I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s been to WDW more times than Minnie Mouse.
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