what do you expect/want the curriculum to entail for next year? remember that Scholar's Cup curricula have to extend to a multitude of cultures, and typically don't focus on one topic like USAD (eg, civil war or china), but rather an overarching theme. Additionally, discuss cool locations for the 2010 Finals. the WSC has participants on every continent now, so the options are boutiful. these things may already have been decided, and might also have been announced. if that is the case, discuss their respective and collective merits.

and what is the friggin deal with cabbies who say they know where the hotel metro is and then drive around downtown seoul asking for directions and charge you like eighty thousand won when you get there? jeesh.

Have internationals in Dublin so I can have another excuse to go to Ireland.

no schools in ireland do it. i'd like to see it move away from east asia for a year or two though. sydney would be pretty awesome.

I was thinking West Europe to help recruiting there.

As a subject, it's hard to guess since the topics are so broad.

yeah, it would be hard to come up with one. western europe would be cool, but i think the reason behind holding it in East Asia for the past few years is that the schools are concentrated there (it was originally supposed to start as the East Asian Scholar's Cup, i believe), minimizing travel costs. sydney's not too far from there, so it could enjoy a similar benefit, i think.

the counterargument is obviously that it discourages participation from schools in other places, focusing the competition in asia and creating a monopoly for those countries.

actually, that is a very strong counterargument. i reverse my position. go western europe or south america or something.

I would think a rota of Asia, Europe, N. America, and S. America would be pretty suhweet.

africa would be cool, but as a practical matter it's so hard to travel to africa that it probably wouldn't work

Istanbul for 2010.

not a great call! i can't imagine the cabbies there are super good at finding the hotel!

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople

...

Istanbul (Istanbul)
Istanbul (Istanbul)

Why Constantinople got the works, is nobody's business but the Turks!
IS-TAN-BUL!

those are almost the words...

Did I managed to screw up the lyrics? Meh, I haven't heard the song in awhile.

Fo' sho.

Walla Walla, because then I could go.

For the new folks, this falls into the "JSK Loves Washington State, Seattle in Particular" phenomenon. We'll save discussion of that for another thread, just thought I'd point it out here.

But it does bring up an interesting idea: the USA would have to be quite an exotic destination for foreign teams, wouldn't it?

I wouldn't mind a SCup international event in Memphis. I love that town.

Please keep those ideas coming! We're listening.

Quick note on why the US is tough for a World Finals - visas. Many students from other countries (Bangladesh, Nigeria, etc.) might not receive visas on time to participate. So one criterion we consider is a government's openness to outsiders.

Good point... so that kinda rules out Beijing, then...

What about Mexico City?

Istanbul is on our short list for 2011.

how's australia with letting people in?

My first guess is "bad." They have very restrictive immigration laws.

Somalia's wide open, but I wonder aloud if they have sufficient facilities...

ix-nay on Somalia I think.

Germany?

Germany would be fun. How about Bangkok? Or Taipei? Or Italy?

Bangkok was on our short list for 2010, but the political situation seems dicey.

Yeah, it's best if the competition site isn't barricaded by thousands of disgruntled citizens.

I like the idea of a rotating regions (Asia, oceania, europe, south america, North America) Africa is a bit too unstable for my taste, though. Not sure how they're set for facilities either. But south america or europe would be neat...

Istanbul is a heavy favorite for 2011 - at the bridge between Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Istanbul is a great place. Lots of friends there. Definitely worth considering for a competition...

disgruntled is a very polite word for the way the citizens in bagkok are.

And, hey, how about the curriculum...?

Robotics, anyone?

Only if they have a mini competition mimicking Battle-Bots

Importing battle-bots through international customs checkpoints may prove tricky...

But seriously... Japan's approach to a declining population is to increase use of robotics. Would that really solve their issues or actually accelerate the decline in population?

One other thought on choosing topics... what if they arose out of discussions on this board? Hmmm...

Art: You laugh you lose
Music: It's 7:51 here
Lit: Random Quotes +Lit topic
Econ:Articles written by Zzzptm, Tsrjr, RM, and AK_WDB
Math:The evil math thread we have
SS: I have no clue

that's all I can think of
(I did it in AD format because I'm not familiar with how Scup sets things up)

Anyone else catch the WALL-E parallels in that?

You gotta know I did lol, I love that movie.



Istanbul is cool, I knew a kid from there, nice guy.