Six preliminary rounds are over, night has fallen over Botswana. Tomorrow will bring three more pre-rounds at Worlds 2011. These are going to be closed rounds – no feedback and no info on the ranking will leak from the judges. Socials tonight feature a “culture night”.

No more complaints about waiting and queuing are to be heard in Gaborone, but speculations on the ranking of teams and institutions. The teams of Debattierclub Stuttgart feel fine with their performance, Andreas C. Lazar reported this morning: “Gaborone, 32 degrees Celsius. Both Michael [Saliba] and I (Stuttgart A) as well as Jana [Gilke] and Nils [Haneklaus] (Stuttgart B) are doing very well so far and are on course for the break. Wish us luck.”

Ranking high is Sydney A on 17 out of 18 points after six prelims, as Colm Flynn states on his World Debating Website. Does this result have anything to do with the zinc that Tim Mooney mentioned in last night’s tweet. Do you remember? “Heading to bed after a big day at WUDC. Coach says we need to keep our zinc levels up.” Have doping tests ever been considered for Worlds?

Those who had to stay behind are more and more happy about livestreaming the prelim debates. And they are sad like the Dutch debater Daniel Schut twittered today: “Seeing all these livestreams of WUDC is really disorienting – how come I’m not there? You all seem so close yet are so far!“ For those who slept in or had to do some boring job in some boring office far away from being able to watch any livestreamed debates: You may watch the recorded debates online on iDebate.

Surprsingly enough, our correspondent Henrik Maedler accomplished to be happy about the small things – and beer was not involved! He mentioned his favorite quote of the day: “There will now be toilet paper in all restrooms.” Even more pleasant is the fact that pools are going to be opened on campus … albeit: “Any certified lifeguards, please come forward.” Why Henrik suggested that Bastian Laubner (Berlin Debating Union)and Marcus Ewald (Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz) might follow that call was not clear at editorial deadline.

A German saying has it that self-praise reeks … well, yes … even if! The Achte Minute editorial team is so happy about Mite Kuzevski’s tweet today in the early evening: “You should have come here. With your reports we could be a great team.” Mite is responsible for the Livestreaming on iDebate. Maybe we could all work together at Euros 2011 in Galway, Ireland? Manos Moschopoulos and Colm Flynn are going to be on board, too.

Today’s motions:

• Round 4: This house believes that independent central banks should set limits on government spending.
• Round 5: This house would prioritise asylum seekers who have engaged in armed struggle against oppressive regimes.
• Round 6: This house would deny Teachers Unions the right to strike.

apf / glx