Day 2 wrap-up

Suddenly the first three rounds of Worlds wrenched themselves from the future to the past. And, in the moments we glimpsed them passing through, they were great! All the topics were super interesting and original and, it seems to me, rigorously balanced (except the liberal arts one, obviously opp-weighted, says the privileged philosophy major) - and the streamed debates did them justice (especially those third debates - Ashish's breadth! Emma's stunning introduction!). And ANU did super well, which is particularly great if you're from ANU or of ANU inclination, A and B on 8 and C on 7 - congrats to them all and good luck tomorrow! And the official social media coverage has been so thorough - even up to accidentally posting, then taking down, a ranking after Round 3 that took speaker scores into account, which only sad people like me saw, and quickly unsaw - that there's almost nothing left for me to say. But I have noticed a few interesting things, like 
- Political will, as a concept, slowly becomes meaningless before contemplation, like a snowman before sun
- The colour "beige" has become such a resonant insult in the debating world because it is true of debating itself, which means it hurts 
- Since Sydney Mini, violent thunderclaps follow Tyrone Connell around everywhere
- You can't fight tribal instincts - I swell with embarrassing pride at the successes of my friends from ANU
- B