Ntuple Indemnity

Today’s issue of The Gateway was fairly notable. First was the much-anticipated Council Forum, which I wish was twice as long so it could give the activities of the evening a proper drubbing. No chance of that regarding the smoking ban policy, of course, as the paper is staunchly vocal in its opposition of the prohibition recommended by the Senate. However, they did call Science Councilor Duncan Taylor “Red Hat Guy” (albeit erroneously identifying him as representing Arts), which leads me to wonder what they are going to say when they find out about his reputation concerning sheep.

This issue also marked my return to writing for The Gateway after a fair absence, with this opinion piece on talking garbage receptacles, which do in fact exist. I first saw them in North Hill Mall, Calgary back when I went 11-3 in a very successful Winter Tournament, a pivotal event when I finally started to break out of the bottom-division rating threshold. It was not until a few days ago that I finally identified the product itself, WasteCare Corporation’s “Smart-Pack” intelligent trash compactor. Don’t you just love technology?

Anyway, be sure to check out the article here. There are some editorial errors that were mistakenly introduced, such as the HAL9000 misquote, which I originally wrote as the correct “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid you can’t do that.” I’ll forgive Adam… this time.

I’ve been mentioned in a number of different newspapers over the years, sometimes overtly, other times in a very sideways, “but we wouldn’t want to bring any attention to him, would we” sort of way. Of the latter category, my favourite mention is in The Ubyssey (Feb. 28, 2003), and concerns an especially entertaining debate tournament I attended last February. If anyone happens to have the hard copy of this article, let me know.

Here’s the relevant excerpt:

Suddenly, it’s Sunday and Bring in Da Noize, Bring in Da Funk has broken into the quarter and semifinals. I miss the morning rounds again, but watch the novice finals while Mike and Rahim madly prepare a final case. The novice round is a riot.

“This house would force North America to adopt a world standard Scrabble dictionary.” Kevin and Mike Kotrly groan and shake their heads. Only one novice team is funny and, predictably, they win. In front of a much larger crowd, the Sunday rounds are more like performances, and comedy is often what saves or sinks a team.

She didn’t mention that we actually lost in a unanimous 5-0 decision.

For the record, if the NSA were to hold a SOWPODS referendum tomorrow, I’d vote No. In principle it’s a decent idea, for many of the reasons Jim Geary covers far more extensively than I could. (Doesn’t make a very good debate case, unfortunately.) My objection is admittedly out of pure selfishness, as I’m plowing my way through the OSPD fours and can’t be bothered to sink back down to the twos and threes just yet until my word knowledge is a little more solid. At least let me hit 1400 first.