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hello
Jul 15, 2007 20:21:21 GMT 10
Post by Guest on Jul 15, 2007 20:21:21 GMT 10
I also hope that my last post dispels all of the idiocy in another thread that I am some sort of loser who won't improve at speaking and adjudicating. I am serious. More serious than anyone can imagine on this thread. It took a lot of backbone to turn up to Toastmasters and start to speak. I even won an award for my stump speech! I used the word of the night "circumvent" twice in meaningful ways! If I ever get to suggest the word of the night...muhahaha ;D Ok, this guy is someone's idea of a bad joke. He need to be starved of oxygen. Stop replying to him I say.
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hello
Jul 16, 2007 12:43:22 GMT 10
Post by bookeditor on Jul 16, 2007 12:43:22 GMT 10
Dear oh dear.
I need to be starved of oxygen when you wrote this:
He need to be starved of oxygen.
I would be happy to give you a booklet on basic English sentence construction, namely the matching of personed verbs, a subject, and an object.
I would also suggest that if you continue to cower behind the bedsheets of being a "guest" that you have far less of a right to reply than what I do.
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hello
Jul 16, 2007 13:06:33 GMT 10
Post by smartarse on Jul 16, 2007 13:06:33 GMT 10
sorry bookeditor, we have some disagreeable 'guests' on this board from time to time. I suggest that people (or more likely, just an individual person) who have a problem with Andrew just chill out. His enthusiasm should be supported, not mocked. For the record, in 1992 i was just starting out in high school, so whoever suggested that Andrew may have debated against me in DAV comp at around that time is being facetious, but i did get a laugh out of it!
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hello
Jul 16, 2007 13:50:39 GMT 10
Post by Tom on Jul 16, 2007 13:50:39 GMT 10
Hmm. Maybe.
While I would support anyone who is enthusastic about improving their public speaking and debating skills, I'm not entirely sure that this is the correct forum for bookeditor.
After all, primarily this forum is for university debating students, and members (former members, in my case) of the Monash Association of Debaters. Of course, most of us are happy to provide what information and advice we can, but I hope that bookeditor is not expecting us to be a long term sounding board for all his ideas regarding public speaking. Although this forum could certainly be better used as a discussion board for issues within university debating, I'd hate to think that we would give it over to more broadly focussed discussions only vaguely connected with its purpose.
And while Tim represents that anonymous post as coming from a disagreeable, negligible minority, I think its probably fair to say that most of us would find it surprising that a 32 year old non-Monash student would see MAD and its forum as a way to advance his own public speaking and debating knowledge.
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hello
Jul 16, 2007 13:51:13 GMT 10
Post by bookeditor on Jul 16, 2007 13:51:13 GMT 10
Tim, that leads me to the quite galling conclusion that I am older than anyone else on these boards I guess that I might as well give my real name while I am at it. I am Andrew and I debated in 1992 for one of the School A teams. That's how I met Andrew Phillips a few times [same school but younger - probably close to Tim's age.] I am not proud of the politics of that school for a variety of reasons that are beyond the scope of this thread. The attitudes of students towards girls were neanderthal then and, from what I can gather, have improved little since the school went coeducational after 1993. I shudder to think that anyone could associate my name with such sexist urges directed at 50 percent of the population. I am looking for work experience in some word-crunching capacity. To pass the time while I look for this, I am doing a research project on Jehovah's Witnesses and their beliefs. After half a year I have learnt a lot of things and next year I will begin writing the manuscript proper. I am trying to understand their beliefs, even if I don't agree with them. What is their thinking behind avoiding blood transfusions? Why do they believe that Jesus died on a stake rather than a crucifix? What are the signs that make them believe that these are the end times? I am also an active member of the Greens. That passes the time too! Tim reaches for his notebook and scribbles ", enviro, left of centre politics... " as he reaches for his textbooks on environmental politics...
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hello
Jul 16, 2007 13:56:06 GMT 10
Post by bookeditor on Jul 16, 2007 13:56:06 GMT 10
I have learnt a lot from Tim's booklet so this forum has been fruitful so far.
If other forums would be of more use to me in improving my speaking could anyone suggest some of them?
I did attend Monash Clayton briefly a long time ago. Once when I was walking through the paths next to the Menzies building I heard these people arguing "men are discriminated since they live about 10 years less than women do". Then a woman replied "utter nonsense, it's essential to maintain women's rights". It was a formal debate between two people in the courtyard/square. Quite a crowd had gathered to watch. I don't know if it was a MAD thing but it was funny!
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hello
Jul 16, 2007 15:09:10 GMT 10
Post by smartarse on Jul 16, 2007 15:09:10 GMT 10
I understand Tom's argument, namely that this board shouldn't degerate into a general forum for discussing anything with a tangental link to debating, and i agree with that. I guess the thurst of my post was that i don't think denigrating someone annonymously is the best way to promote the sort of discussion that this forum is meant to facilitate (and i know Tom would agree with that, i'm simply restating my view in a more direct form). As for Andrew's question, no i can't think of another forum that would be more suited to your general questions about debating and/or public speaking. The DAV is really the best organisation for someone in your situation, but they don't have online resources such as a forum to address your questions, but they would respond to emails or other correspondance. For the record, their url is www.dav.com.au/Finally, as someone with 'enviro, left of centre' political views, i don't think you'll be too out of place on this board. As someone who works for the Minister for Climate Change, i can certainly sympathise with that general position (although obviously our specific political affiliations differ)
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hello
Jul 16, 2007 18:27:34 GMT 10
Post by bookeditor on Jul 16, 2007 18:27:34 GMT 10
In 1996 it was an election year so I phoned every political party for information. Curiously, One Nation gave me excellent material about their policies. [Of course their policies were borne of cloud cuckoo land. Still, they sent clear, readable, current policy materials.] As did the Greens and, to a lesser degree, federal Labor. The standout shocker was the federal Liberal party. The person on the phone was about as enthusiastic to give me material as a drowning man would be to have a shower. I had to prise it from him. What came, moreover, was outdated, incomplete and vague. It was a clear insult to my intelligence in an election year.
If you get nothing else out of me Tim, take it from me that when people write to you or phone for policy information, they could well be judging your party from what you do or don't send. After that episode my contempt for the Liberal party, at all levels, has not waned. Indeed, I detest their policies from IR to refugees to Costello's homilies that I should procreate 3 times just to make the economy better. It is my essential dignity as a human being to decide what I do with my personal life, and not the domicile of some econometrician on taxation. Peter Costello is a fine exponent of the arcane ways of taxation and that's what he should stick to without insulting my dignity and intelligence with homiletics.
I have probably written enough. This is my last post and I will leave you all alone to discuss matters specifically related to MUDs.
When I do the adjudication training early next year I may meet some of you if you are running it.
Thanks for the booklet again.
Andrew
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hello
Jul 19, 2007 1:35:36 GMT 10
Post by Julian on Jul 19, 2007 1:35:36 GMT 10
Just a couple of factoids... One Nation didn't exist in 1996 - their election documents would have been so clear you could see through them to whatever was behind them. We're MAD, not MUDS - we're the ones who can operate a messageboard these days.
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