NDLS 1L and Gonzaga alum Kristin is performing in a karaoke contest at Beacon Bowl tonight (Friday), and she needs our support! She writes via e-mail:
I am competing in a karaoke contest tomorrow night at Beacon Bowl at 9:30 pm. The top prize is $5000, with $2000 and $1000 as second and third places, and only six other people are competing! I need all the support I can get, so I was wondering if you weren’t doing anything if you and Becky could swing by for an hour or so. The guy who’s running it said something about choosing judges from the audience, so you can see my motivation! Anyway, I would love it if you were able to come, and please let anyone else who is interested know too! (You have my permission to blog this if you wish)
So, there you have it. Come and support your fellow law student! Go Irish, Go Zags and Go Kristin! :)
I’m not sure yet, but I only get one song. In the running are Something To Talk About by Bonnie Raitt, Walking After Midnight by Patsy Cline, and Independence Day by Martina Mcbride. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
In other words, cheat by stacking the audience with your friends so that your friends will choose you as the winner no matter how good or bad you really are? Nice. The only thing preventing me from making a snide comment about Domer integrity here is the sad state of affairs going on with USC football right now….
Considering that “the guy who’s running it said something about choosing judges from the audience,” it’s pretty clear that the contestants are being encouraged to “stack the audience,” or if they’re not beign actively encouraged, at the very least they have every incentive to do so and no disincentive — which means that if Kristin doesn’t bring her friends, the other contestants surely will, and the judges will be other contestants’ friends! I don’t generally buy into “everybody’s doing it” morality, but in a contest where there is no hope whatsoever of actual fairness, I’m not sure the word “cheating” really has any meaning.
I honestly don’t know how the judging is going to work. When I asked the man, it was quite loud, and I only partly heard his answer, which included the words “judges in the audience.”
I have not asked a single person to help me to win “no matter how good or bad” I am, nor would I. I would like to think that if some of my friends were chosen as judges, they would judge fairly. I wouldn’t want or expect them to do any less. If the other contestants are better singers than me, then they will (or should) win. I expect to be judged on my singing ability and performance, not on favoritism. I want my friends there regardless of how the judging is set up because it will be a confidence booster knowing that some people there are rooting for me. I promise that I had no (at least conscious) nefarious purposes in asking my friends to come watch me perform.
To tell the truth, I was a bit surprised to see this sort of reaction on your blog Brendan, although I shouldn’t be after the taxi cab fiasco. Only here can a quickly and not very thoughtfully typed email to a friend be analyzed as proof of a lack of “Domer integrity.” I try my best to treat other people, in person or online, with common courtesy at the bare minimum. Is it too much to ask for the same in return?
According to the source code, you tried to end italics, not boldface. I’ve stacked the front of this comment with a bunch of end boldface tags, which should restore things to normal. Or, as normal as they get around here.
Mike’s solution didn’t work, for whatever reason. But I just went in an edited Alasdair’s comment.
Alasdair, you do need to be careful about not using end-italics tags when you mean to use end-boldface tags. You do this fairly frequently (Mike’s description of the problem is exactly right), but I usually catch it right away. This time I wasn’t paying attention :)
No apology needed, Alasdair. What happens is, occasionally you do this…
<b>boldface text</i>
…or, once or twice, I think you’ve done this…
<b>boldface text<b>
In other words, you put in an “end italics” instead of an “end boldface,” or else you forget the “end” part.
It’s easy to do absent-mindedly… I do the same thing on occasion. I also sometimes do this:
<a href=”link”>boldface text</i>
or
<a href=”link”>boldface text</b>
(substituting an “end i” or “end b” for an “end a”)
That, of course, results in an unexpectedly long link. Yeah, HTML is an unforgiving language. But of course, when I mess something up, I can edit it and fix it. That’s the wonder of being the webmaster. :)
Anyway, the point is, it’s just important to proofread to make sure your closing tag matches your opening tag. :)
April 28th, 2006 at 1:19:27 am
Thanks Brendan! :)
April 28th, 2006 at 9:02:36 am
What are you singing?
April 28th, 2006 at 10:13:10 am
I’m not sure yet, but I only get one song. In the running are Something To Talk About by Bonnie Raitt, Walking After Midnight by Patsy Cline, and Independence Day by Martina Mcbride. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
April 28th, 2006 at 1:18:01 pm
“I Hope You Dance” by LeAnn Womack
April 28th, 2006 at 2:03:00 pm
I vote for Independence Day. “Let freedom ring….”
April 28th, 2006 at 2:10:47 pm
In other words, cheat by stacking the audience with your friends so that your friends will choose you as the winner no matter how good or bad you really are? Nice. The only thing preventing me from making a snide comment about Domer integrity here is the sad state of affairs going on with USC football right now….
April 28th, 2006 at 2:15:29 pm
Because “integrity” is so important to karaoke contests at bowling alleys? LAME!
April 28th, 2006 at 2:18:43 pm
Integrity is as important in bowling and karaoke as it is in football.
April 28th, 2006 at 2:22:12 pm
Considering that “the guy who’s running it said something about choosing judges from the audience,” it’s pretty clear that the contestants are being encouraged to “stack the audience,” or if they’re not beign actively encouraged, at the very least they have every incentive to do so and no disincentive — which means that if Kristin doesn’t bring her friends, the other contestants surely will, and the judges will be other contestants’ friends! I don’t generally buy into “everybody’s doing it” morality, but in a contest where there is no hope whatsoever of actual fairness, I’m not sure the word “cheating” really has any meaning.
April 28th, 2006 at 4:36:59 pm
As an import from the UK, I have to ask …
Is it not possible that one’s friends could judge fairly ???
April 28th, 2006 at 5:29:23 pm
I honestly don’t know how the judging is going to work. When I asked the man, it was quite loud, and I only partly heard his answer, which included the words “judges in the audience.”
I have not asked a single person to help me to win “no matter how good or bad” I am, nor would I. I would like to think that if some of my friends were chosen as judges, they would judge fairly. I wouldn’t want or expect them to do any less. If the other contestants are better singers than me, then they will (or should) win. I expect to be judged on my singing ability and performance, not on favoritism. I want my friends there regardless of how the judging is set up because it will be a confidence booster knowing that some people there are rooting for me. I promise that I had no (at least conscious) nefarious purposes in asking my friends to come watch me perform.
To tell the truth, I was a bit surprised to see this sort of reaction on your blog Brendan, although I shouldn’t be after the taxi cab fiasco. Only here can a quickly and not very thoughtfully typed email to a friend be analyzed as proof of a lack of “Domer integrity.” I try my best to treat other people, in person or online, with common courtesy at the bare minimum. Is it too much to ask for the same in return?
April 28th, 2006 at 6:59:23 pm
OOOPS - looks like I made a mistake and forgot to do {trying to turn bold off} this …
(blush)
Then again, Preview isn’t showing me as succeeding, so it may not have been me in the first place …
OK …
IS THERE A COMPUTER GEEK IN THE HOUSE ?
April 28th, 2006 at 8:56:35 pm
According to the source code, you tried to end italics, not boldface. I’ve stacked the front of this comment with a bunch of end boldface tags, which should restore things to normal. Or, as normal as they get around here.
April 28th, 2006 at 9:01:28 pm
Mike’s solution didn’t work, for whatever reason. But I just went in an edited Alasdair’s comment.
Alasdair, you do need to be careful about not using end-italics tags when you mean to use end-boldface tags. You do this fairly frequently (Mike’s description of the problem is exactly right), but I usually catch it right away. This time I wasn’t paying attention :)
April 29th, 2006 at 1:27:28 am
Five thousand bucks? The only reward I ever get for Karaoke is a hangover.
April 29th, 2006 at 1:41:16 pm
Did she win?
April 29th, 2006 at 10:58:10 pm
Brendan @ 9:01 - I apologise …
I did try to do the logical turn-boldface-off tag thingie - but it didn’t seem to work …
{bracing for lashes with soggy noodles}
(suddenly realising!)
What do you mean by saying “This time I wasn’t paying attention” ???
{offended sniff}
April 29th, 2006 at 11:03:56 pm
No apology needed, Alasdair. What happens is, occasionally you do this…
<b>boldface text</i>
…or, once or twice, I think you’ve done this…
<b>boldface text<b>
In other words, you put in an “end italics” instead of an “end boldface,” or else you forget the “end” part.
It’s easy to do absent-mindedly… I do the same thing on occasion. I also sometimes do this:
<a href=”link”>boldface text</i>
or
<a href=”link”>boldface text</b>
(substituting an “end i” or “end b” for an “end a”)
That, of course, results in an unexpectedly long link. Yeah, HTML is an unforgiving language. But of course, when I mess something up, I can edit it and fix it. That’s the wonder of being the webmaster. :)
Anyway, the point is, it’s just important to proofread to make sure your closing tag matches your opening tag. :)
May 1st, 2006 at 4:16:21 pm
I was going to respond “Tag sÃ¥ mycket” except that it’s “Tack sÃ¥ mycket” … oh well ! (grin)
Thankyouverymuch!
May 2nd, 2006 at 10:28:10 pm
Hmm…. just experimenting since this is now an older post. Please excuse my learning curve.
bold print
italic print
underline print
May 2nd, 2006 at 10:31:42 pm
Okay… I guess underline isn’t an option or I have the code wrong. I believe I’ll go do some research before trying any more of this HTML stuff.