defining "submit" in the international criminal court resolution

Several readers have asked how "submit" should be defined in the current LD resolution. Here are some thoughts on the subject.

1. Affirmatives especially should look for definitions that involve "yielding to the authority of." For example, from dictionary.com:

to give over or yield to the power or authority of another

or, perhaps

to defer to another's judgment, opinion, decision, etc.

Either of these avoids the negative connotations that involve "surrender."

2. Really, though, the best definition might involve providing an example of the entire phrase, "submit to the jurisdiction of." In layperson's terms, this means that the United States would grant the international court the authority to prosecute its citizens. What if a U.S. general were brought to trial, say, for arresting and detaining inmates held at Guantanamo who were later released without punishment? If the international court found the general guilty, even though he had not been prosecuted under U.S. law, affirming the resolution would mean deferring to the court's judgment, for good or ill. (There are many other crimes considered "crimes against humanity;" this article is extremely helpful.)

3. As always, your thoughts, comments, and questions are appreciated.

your happiness isn't (only) up to you

Social networks can influence an individual's happiness in heretofore unimagined ways.

Christakis also found that a person's happiness is dependent not only on the happiness of an immediate friend but - to a lesser degree - on the happiness of their friend's friend, and their friend's friend's friend. Furthermore, someone's chances of being happy increase the better connected they are to happy people, and for that matter the better connected their friends and family. "Most people will not be surprised that people with more friends are happier, but what really matters is whether those friends are happy," says Christakis.

They also discovered that the effect is not the same with everyone you know. How susceptible you are to someone else's happiness depends on the nature of your relationship with them. For example, if a good friend who lives within a couple of kilometres of you suddenly becomes happy, that increases the chances of you becoming happy by more than 60 per cent. In contrast, for a next-door neighbour the figure drops to about half that, and for a nearby sibling about half again. Surprisingly, a cohabiting partner makes a difference of less than 10 per cent, which coincides with another peculiar observation about some social epidemics: that they spread far more effectively via friends of the same gender.

Data came from the Framington Heart Study, ongoing since 1948. The limit of social influence seems to be three degrees--beyond a friend of a friend, influence is minimal.

Specific behaviors are also altered by social dynamics.

"Obesity appears to spread through social ties," Christakis says. Again, how likely you are to catch it depends on who you are interacting with: after controlling for factors such as difference in socioeconomic status, the researchers found that an individual's chances of becoming obese increased by 57 per cent if one of their friends became obese, 40 per cent if a sibling did and 37 per cent if their spouse did, irrespective of age (The New England Journal of Medicine, vol 357, p 370).

However, neighbours have no influence, and how far away you live from a friend counts for little, which implies that obesity spreads via a different mechanism to happiness. Rather than behavioural mimicry, the key appears to be the adoption of social norms. In other words, as I see my friends gain weight, this changes my idea of what an acceptable weight is. One similarity with happiness is that friends and relatives have a far greater influence if they are of the same gender. While it is not evident why that should matter for emotional contagion, norms of body size are clearly gender-specific: "Women look at other women, men look at other men," says Christakis. This could also help explain the epidemics of eating disorders reported among groups of schoolgirls in recent decades.

The spread of a social norm appears to account for another of Christakis's findings: that when people stop smoking, they usually do so along with whole clusters of friends, relatives and social contacts. As more people quit, it becomes the socially acceptable thing to do, and those who choose to continue smoking are pushed to the periphery of the network. In this case, people are most strongly influenced by those closest to them - if your spouse quits, it is 67 per cent more likely that you will too.

The next question, then, is to what degree MySpace and Facebook amplify these phenomena.

Capital High School might reopen on schedule

There's still a chance that Capital High School, which recently suffered a roof collapse over its library, could reopen this coming Monday.

"The goal is still to open Monday," said Jim Crawford, Olympia assistant superintendent of fiscal and operations. "We don't yet have confirmation that can happen for sure, but we haven't ruled that out. We are doing everything we can."

Tim Byrne, supervisor of capital planning and construction, said district officials have been brainstorming options in case the building won't be ready for students by Monday.

"We were thinking about calling (The) Evergreen (State College) or one of the local colleges to see if their buildings would be available, if they start school later, but that's not going to work out," Byrne said. "Maybe if it impacts just one classroom, we could be using Jefferson (Middle School), which is under capacity. Using Olympia High School — that was one of the things that was thrown out there."

According to Crawford, those options are still in the brainstorm stage.

"We're not even close on a decision like that," Crawford said. "Until we really know what does that time line look like, we're really not there yet."

There's a bit of good news, too: 95% of the books in the library were undamaged, which is a massive relief.

Update 12/31: Last night the School Board met, declaring an emergency so work can proceed forthwith.

Crews on the site told the district they still hoped to be able to open the building in time for school to resume Monday.

"We're shooting to get kids back in the school as soon as we can. There a chance we can do that by the fifth," superintendent Bill Lahmann told the board.

The District will decide tomorrow whether that's feasible.

today's football links

1. Making my schadenfreude complete, the Jets fired Eric "Mangenious" Mangini.

2. Rod Marinelli got the boot, too, after the Lions ended the season 0-16. It was the perfect conclusion to an otherwise unremarkable NFL year.

3. Mike Holmgren, bless him, is done. The Seahawks lost to Arizona in his honor.

4. Remember the quiz about the NFL's obscure / obscurantist rules? Well, there are plenty more that make the game more convoluted than any other sport, except perhaps curling.

5. Vegas likes a Giants / Titans Super Bowl. Colts / Eagles. You heard it here first. (Don't bet on sports.)

Added: 6. After years of stagnation, NFL offenses are set to evolve.

a weekend of delights in Vancouver

My wife and I spent a weekend in Vancouver. (The real one, Mom.) Although I'm still irked by shabby treatment from a 20th-century behemoth unable to cope with a 21st century world, the trip as a whole was relaxing, weird, and fun.

Some highlights:

1. The Vancouver Giants' victory over Prince George in WHL action. Photos arriving later.

2. Bin 941. Top-notch tapas. We filled up with habanero mussels, cinnamon-rubbed flank steak with pommes frites, fry bread, and chocolate torte.

3. Joe's Grill (on Davie). Friendly, fast, cheap. Breakfast was so good, we went there twice in two days.

4. Robson Street: Lush and slush.

5. The Vancouver Art Gallery.



(Past Vancouver-blogging here and here.)

Sutton Place Hotel, Vancouver: you stink

Dear Sutton Place Hotel:

Why, why, why do you charge customers nearly $15 for 24 hours of internet connectivity?

Even Scharf's Motor Inn in Deer Lodge, Montana has free wireless.

Still steamed,

Jim

Seattle sports and the end of a (really bad) dream

2008 is almost behind us, and with it, the worst year in Seattle sports history.

You know a city is having a bad year when its biggest fan is forced to draw inspiration from the possibility of watching Jose Vidro, Willie Bloomquist and Richie Sexson play the last-place Washington Nationals.

The thing is, though, Seattle's sports year isn't even that bad yet as Big Lo lies in the hospital with summer approaching. The Mariners aren't even halfway to becoming the first team to lose 100 games with a payroll of more than $100 million, nor have they fired their first manager of the season, let alone their second. The Washington Huskies have yet to suffer a single one of their historic 12 losses or fire their coach or get called for delay of game on their first play from scrimmage. (Delay of game on your first offensive play of a game -- how is that possible? What, did Kenny G play the national anthem?) The preseason magazines hitting the newsstands are picking the Seahawks to win the NFC West for the fifth straight year, not lose 11 games (and counting) on the way to saying goodbye to their coach, Mike Holmgren. And most importantly, the SuperSonics trial over their lease has yet to begin, so there still is hope they will remain in Seattle rather than move to Oklahoma @$&%ing City.

So it's probably best Big Lo finds himself in the hospital in June before the year really gets bad for Seattle, before the year repeatedly reduces him to tears and before he starts routinely asking, "Did we do something wrong?"

I can't say I've shed any tears--or punched any walls, for that matter--but I've learned to appreciate the works of Marcus Aurelius.

roof collapses at CHS

Under the weight of Yuletide snow, 2500 square feet of roof collapsed over the library at Capital High School. No injuries--not surprisingly, no one was in the school at the time--but water damage and a broken natural gas line are presented as a lovely gift to the District.

And a very merry Christmas to you.

Oh, and I should add that staff are barred from entrance to the building until further notice, for safety and insurance reasons. Followers of this blog might also want to know that my classroom is a good distance from the library, and is in all likelihood perfectly intact. Although my roof section is also flat....

Update 12/26: The Olympian offers a little more detail concerning the extent of the damage.

There is water damage in several areas of the school, caused by sprinkler systems activated when the collapse set off the building's fire alarm, and by a waterline that was severed in the collapse, said Peter Rex, a spokesman for the Olympia School District....

Rex said Thursday afternoon that a structural engineer had examined the collapse, and determined that there are "some parts of the building that are safe to be in, and there are others that are not safe to be in."

An HVAC ventilation unit on the roof was damaged in the collapse, hanging partway down to the ceiling of the building, Rex said. That is one of the portions of the school that was deemed unsafe by the engineer, Rex said.

No one knows if we'll be able to head back to class by January 5th.

asking Americans questions about Canada

The following six questions provide an easy way to gauge an American's knowledge of Canada. Any American who gets more than five right is a Canadian ex-pat.

(You'll have to do your own research for the answers, eh.)

1. What's the largest state in Canada?
2. Who's the president of Canada?
3. Which is worth more: the American dollar, or the Canadian pound?
4. True or False: Canada's national anthem is "Take Off."
5. Fill in the blank: French fries, Belgian waffles, Canadian ____________.
6. How many centimeters are in a metric tonne?




[155th in a series]

the second cousin of the mother of all top ten lists

[An annual tradition. Installments from 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 also available.]


Top Ten Top Ten-ish Lists
Slate's 10 most popular articles, including a 67-post breakdown of the last (and weakest, sadly) season of the greatest drama ever dramaed. (Itself including a top-13 scenes list.)
The year's best music from Slate and The Onion AV Club.
Best films, from the latter.
Weird holiday decorations. (Best: Flying Spaghetti Monster.)
Top ten nerdy neologisms
Top ten TED talks. (A repeat, and worth it.)
Top Ten Objects That Have Flown in Space
Top Ten Scams of 2008
Top Ten Media Blunders (only ten?)
National Geographic's most-viewed galleries of 2008.


Ten Favorite Posts from 2008
yelling "shush" in a crowded theater
Sometimes I talk too much. This was not one of those times.
our long National Board nightmare is over
I have dreams.
the email address personality test
Science tells you more about yourself than you really wish to know.
the caped crusader strikes out
My mother makes an appearance.
Psalm 139:13-16, the Albert Mohler translation
A flight of literary imagination.
summer of film
Somehow it turned into a summer of Verhoeven.
color me evil
The world's most amazing paint job.
Olympia City Council adopts my "door prize democracy" scheme
My power knows no bounds.
Olympia, late summer
Photos.
Jabberin' Joe vs. Baked Alaska: the VP debate liveblog
I liveblogged so you didn't have to.


Even More Top Ten Lists That Don't Yet Exist
Do-It-Yourself Home Surgery Projects
Rejected Titles for the George W. Bush Autobiography
Dead Newspapers
Ways to Cash In on an Obama Presidency
Google-Busters
Sylvester Stallone Appearances
Cover Bands
Uses of Metonymy
Sculptures Inspired by Balloon Animals
Sarah Palins


Movies Coming Out in 2009
Frank Miller's Mary Worth
Batman Growls
The Amazing Plot Device (starring Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler)
Rocky IX
Harry Potter and the Temple of Doom
Le Silence Maladroit
The Vegetarian Murders
Adze
A Bottle Full of Quirk
Recession Movie


Words To Avoid on a First Date
Xanthous
Abecedarian
Drear
Pedagogy
Filmic
Smooch
Arrondissement
Tasty
Zounds
Blog


The Most Important News Items of 2008, Actually
Barack Obama's Martian Birth Certificate a Forgery
Texting During Mass Added to List of Venial Sins
Yankees Buy Out Elliot Spitzer's Contract
You Are Now an iPhone App
Gatsby Murdered; Deranged Husband, Falling Stocks Implicated
B-Listers Strike
Endangered Animals Hope for Short Recession
Tina Fey, Politician of the Year
Rock Band II: Disastrous Breakup Hits Shelves
Christmas Canceled Due to Lack of Interest

LD mailbag: consequentialism and the international criminal court resolution

Regarding the Jan/Feb LD resolution, a reader writes,

I was wondering if you could help me with my Aff case.

VP: (Morality?)
VC: (Consequentialism?)
Resolution should be looked at from both a global and US standpoint, should be adopted because it furthers the interests of both.

C1: Signing ICC would further US interests
a) Helps with war on Terror
b) Even if the US does not sign ICC, nations can still bring on cases against US.
c) Helps further US image as Human Rights leader

C2: Signing ICC would help further global interests
a) Helps efficiently prosecute crimes against humanity and bring Justice
b) Helps further international law and global cooperation etc.

This is a very policy-like impacts based case, and I'm having problems figuring out my Value Premise and Value Criterion from it. I've seen people debate LD without a Value or Criterion (and win!), but I'd rather not go that route. The problem with morality as a value is that my case is more arguing that signing the ICC better achieves the interests of both parties, not necessarily that those interests are more moral per se. The consequentialism seems to be a good criterion, but then again, I'm sure there must be something that better links to the resolution and my case. Could you please help me? Thanks!

First, make sure you organize your initial analysis as you do your contentions, since they establish the general warrant for your VC/VP.

Second, a value criterion of consequentialism (or, perhaps to be more specific, universal consequentialism) works best with an ends-based value premise such as societal welfare (or human welfare / global welfare). It's even echoed in the language of the contentions--substitute "welfare" for "interests," and it becomes quite obvious what the VP should be.

There's the potential in the case's construction that either contention could stand or fall on its own. This is good, in the sense that either might be sufficient to affirm, but bad in the sense that it seems to tease apart U.S. and global interests. (It also prompts the question, Why should the U.S. care about global interests?) There needs to be strong rhetoric--perhaps in a third contention--that shows that the U.S.'s interests not only merge with the world's, but that, because of the impact of globalization, they depend on the world's interests. And vice versa.

It's also a nice preemptive move against anyone running a realist case that tries to minimize "morality" as a decision rule for governments.

Lastly, regarding the second contention in particular, the ICC has been viewed as toothless because it has no enforcement authority, which also decreases its deterrent value (which is of great importance in a consequentialist framework). The U.S.'s participation in the process would set the stage for U.S. enforcement of ICC rulings as well.

Readers are, of course, encouraged to offer their own suggestions or questions in the comments.

Sideline Smitty cut from the team

The newspaper hits just keep coming. Craig Smith, a.k.a., Sideline Smitty, has been cut from the Seattle Times.

After 32 years at The Times and nearly eight years of writing this column, I'm voluntarily taking a buyout offer as this newspaper reduces staff. High-school sports will be around next week, but I won't.

Over the years, I've covered hundreds of games, sweated out deadlines in bad working conditions and met a lot of good people plus an occasional snake. I've seen some gifted athletes and a lot more kids who were proud just to put on their school's uniform and try their hardest.

As I exit, I believe more than ever that high-school sports are good for kids and good for schools. Yes, there are problems with interscholastic sports but there are problems with any human endeavor.

As a sports writer, I have found prep sports to be fresher, more fun, often more interesting, and, in their own way, more important, than college or professional sports.

Smitty, perhaps the state's leading expert on Washington's prep sports scene, will be greatly missed. If it weren't for the sorry state of the publishing industry, I'd recommend that he write a book on the subject.

I've got your schadenfreude right here

On the heels of the Jets' magnificently stupid loss to the Seahawks, sportswriters east of here are calling for the thick head of Eric Mangini. A sampling follows.

Will Leitch:

Sure, the Jets still have a chance to make the playoffs, though it’s not much more of a chance than the 0–15 Detroit Lions have. They need to beat Pennington and the Dolphins in the Meadowlands, and they have to hope that the Patriots lose to the Bills AND the Baltimore Ravens lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars. This is extremely unlikely. It is more likely that the Jets, facing a tumultuous off-season, are going to look even more different next year than they did after all the changes this year. This team is over. Eric Mangini is likely over. And Brett Favre is almost certainly over.

Rich Cimini:

It was one of the Jets' worst losses ever, and it is THE worst collapse in team history - assuming they don't make the playoffs. Does anybody think they'll beat Chad Pennington?

From talking to players after the game, they're demoralized, confused, angry and emotionally drained.

They're Jets. It's what they do. It's how they roll.

Mackenzie Kraemer:

I've defended to the death that "Same Old Jets" is gone. But I now understand a lot of what older fans see when they watch the Jets play. The collapse this season is high in the pantheon in great Jet disappointments.

Bob Glauber:

After yesterday's pathetic outing against the Seahawks and his old coach, Mike Holmgren, this much is certain: Favre is done after this year. Kaput. If the Jets ask him back after this late-season meltdown, they're even wackier than I thought. Barring a playoff berth and at least two postseason wins, Favre is at the end.

Mangini should be, too, especially if at this time next week, the Jets are putting their equipment in black plastic bags and explaining how it all went so horribly wrong.

If Mangini doesn't get to the playoffs, the Jets need to show him the door. No excuses. No explanations. He was on board with the Favre decision, and he must pay the price if the collapse is completed next week.

I'm a Seattle sports fan. Schadenfreude's all I've got.

and still I refuse to chain up

Eric Mangini's gift to Mike Holmgren

In (quite possibly) Holmgren's last game at Qwest Field, Jets coach Eric Mangini presented a neatly wrapped gift: a win, bow-tied in three simple steps.

1. Kick a field goal in the first quarter on 4th-and-short near the goal line. After an efficient first possession, where it seems there's no way the Hawks D can stop Thomas Jones on the ground, or Favre through the air, the Jets come away with only 3 points.

2. Not kick a field goal right after your (excellent) kicker has nailed a 45-yarder waved off for delay of game. Instead, with a 50-yarder in his future, Mangini calls on the punting unit, and A.J. Feely pouts from the sideline. For about five televised minutes. The Jets, instead of being down 4, are down 7.

3. Not punt from your own 20 yard line on 4th-and-2, with 2:21 left, down 10-3. Favre throws downfield, incompletion, and Olindo Mare kicks a textbook field goal on the Hawks' ensuing possession. 13-3, game over. Josh Wilson's later interception is almost superfluous.

The only possible explanation I can muster for all three calls is that Eric Mangini really, really likes Mike Holmgren.

and jam we did

Last night we--the Mike Dean Project, soon to be known as Diva and the Snow Men--played a wedding gig at the Elks Lodge in Aberdeen. The snow cut everything short, unfortunately, turning what could have been a glorious bacchanal of epic proportions into a quiet meditation on love and mortality, with dancing.

The manager of the place made our collective evening when, as we started packing up our gear, she asked if we'd like a plate of hot chicken strips. As we contemplated our ride home through sleet and snow, we immediately agreed that if we were going to perish in a blizzard, we might as well die happily.

But I exaggerate, of course. The Suburban struggled only a little through the onslaught.


Every teacher should have one.


No Elks Lodge is complete without elk antlers and dropped consonants.

to boldly jam

Today the Mike Dean Project heads to Aberdeen to play at a wedding, which requires me to sally forth into the Black Hills. Not too boldly, though; I'm being picked up by a band member who has 4WD in the form of a classic Suburban.

I've packed a toothbrush and a change of clothes. Word is a storm is coming.

the triumph of Ruth Bennett

Remember Ruth Bennett? She was the Libertarian who ran against Gregoire and Rossi back in 2004. She earned far more votes than the margin of victory, and probably ultimately swung the election for Gregoire, but disappeared off the political radar after that.

Turns out she had been here all along.

Gregoire told The Olympian's editorial board Friday that some proposed cuts — such as closing a youth-offender camp at Naselle and shuttering a Yakima facility for the developmentally disabled — were "an opportunity" to do the right thing that might not be politically possible in richer times.

Both facilities are under-used by departments that have too little demand to justify the operations.

"So it is a time to rethink government," Gregoire said.

The governor also said she has asked her Cabinet leaders to look again at how they do business, and she said she wants to look at the state's 400 boards and commissions with an eye toward picking out only boards that are essential.

To the eye and ear she's Chris Gregoire, but the discerning mind is not fooled by the clever disguise.

Congratulations, Ruth Bennett, on winning when it really counted.

the preview in review

Last December, among other things, I made ten predictions for 2008. Let's see how I did.

National Board certification: done--maybe even passed

Indeed. And, if the Governor's budget comes through, I'll still have my National Board bonus next year--provided I still have a job.

The Celtics: NBA champs.

This was an easy one. They're looking championship-worthy again, with a ridiculous 25-2 start.

Melissa's college degree: attained.

She got a job, too, which is nice, considering that degree comes with an extra added bonus of college debt.

CHS Cougar football: state-bound.

Right again. We lost in the semifinal to eventual champion Bellevue. (No one was going to stop Bellevue.)

Rubik's Cube The Movie: in development.

Not yet. Wait for it.

Late-breaking cold: conquered.

Alas, this was, as I'm sure I must have known, to be a temporary victory.

Tom Tancredo: retired.

Right again, thankfully.

The Mariners: less moribund.

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Ahem. Ahahahahahahahaha....

The school year: awesome.

Oh, yeah.

Time: dilated.

Sure seems that way.

More prognostications forthcoming, as always, when the next installment of the world's greatest top ten list comes out. Stay tuned.

enjoy the break

Totally called it. Three straight days of snow = no school until January 5th.