WDI Holds Workshop in Malaysia

Originally filed on 16 December 2007.

I am here in Malaysia and the World Universities Peace Invitational Debates are in full swing.

I arrived Friday and spent most of the day recovering from a 30 plus hour trip from the USA.

On Saturday morning I was joined by Malaysian trainer Iqbal Hafiedz and we went over to Bangi area (where there are many, many training centers) to the CIMB Bnk training center (CIMB is the host and sponsor for this entire event) and we did a training session for about fifty high school students.

We did five different sessions before breaking in the afternoon. Including:

• "Why debate?" session by me.
• "Macro view of a debate" by Hafiedz.
• Coffee, tea and snack break (wow, and what great snacks).
• "Speaker roles on World Schools format" session by me.
• "Structure and strategy for argument" session by Hafiedz.
• Small group sessions on analyzing motions and building arguments, by both of us, where the students were very spirited and involved.

A wonderful late lunch followed, and then we had a sad farewell with the students and it was back to Kuala Lumpur and the Novotel where people are staying. A good first day and many thanks to CIMB Bank and HNGSC Strategic Communications.

Internet Traffic "Shaping"

Ma Bell, we really got the ill communication...

CBC's the National does a segment on traffic shaping (a euphemism if I ever heard one)

Take Action
http://stopthethrottler.ca
Read more

Via Campaign for Democratic Media

(04.01.08) Recommends:

The LA64.
#55: The View From Mt. Olympus.
Achilles Dr.

(explanation of series here.)



Some of our fondest memories of Los Angeles are the times that we've been called by our oldest friend in Los Angeles -- okay, by this we mean the friend from Los Angeles we've known the longest, not actually the oldest person we know in Los Angeles (though it seems worth noting in this space that this friend has now claimed to be 25-years old for the entire four year duration of our friendship. Now that we put it all together, it is very likely that she's in the Witness Protection Plan) -- to the top of Mount Olympus.

These calls usually end in a night that includes an amazing shabu shabu dinner with endless bottles of wine and music and merriment. At some point in the night, we usually lose a game of Scrabble. [1] After all the shabu shabu (and don't think we're kidding around when we say we can poke around for like three hours feeding ourselves with beef and shrimp and whatever other magical hot pot goodness is in there), we often strip down into bright yellow swimming trunks and marinate, hot tub style. With the above stunning view of LA before us. In fact, it was probably during one of these shabu shabu-wine-Scrabble-being-on-the-top-of-the-mountain induced experiences that gave us the courage to pull the trigger and move back to Los Angeles.

You should note that, for all the merits of this view, you cannot get a sense of the hellish traffic below. Therefore, as lovely as we'll always find this view, we do think it's something of a material misrepresentation of life in Los Angeles.

But we'll take it, we'll take it, we'll take it.



[1] Of course we are merely being diplomatic here, in the hopes of being invited back. For the record, we've never lost a Scrabble match on the top of Mt. Olympus. Frankly, we can only recall losing three Scrabble matches in our entires lives. And if you challenge this assertion, we say, bring it on, mofo.