Table Topics

This past Thursday at Tokyo Toastmasters I took the role of Table Topics Master. This role is basically to present topics to the floor and and assign a member to speak for about 2 and a half minutes on the subject. The idea is to encourage quick thinking "on your feet" and the ability to make an impromptu speech. Quite a few people gave me positive feedback on the topics I presented, so I thought I'd post them here to all to ponder. :-)

1. According to a recent article in Newsweek magazine, "scientists
have made a billboard that can tell when you're bored and when you're
paying attention". This means public advertisements in digital format
(a computerized "LCD poster") that would have cameras that recognize
if a person five meters away is looking toward the screen or away from
it, signaling the content of the ad to either launch into a
promotional video or change to a new product to try to "catch" your
attention. Do you think this is a "fair" way of advertising? Is this
invading a person's privacy to have a camera monitoring their every
move so they'll buy a certain brand of breakfast cereal or fly with a
particular airline?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18754460/site/newsweek/

2. I have a problem. I really like the taste of Pringles potato chips
(http://www.pringles.com/). The problem is the canister in which they
are sold is not recyclable; the bottom of the can is steel, the body a
coated paperboard tube and the top is foil and plastic, (the container
can not be disassembled). I care about the environment. So, in your
opinion, what should I do?
(for more detail about the container, look here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmenvfru/385/385a40.h\
tm)

3. Cell phones are an ubiquitous item in Japan and it's common to see
people use them in such places as trains. Cell phones are also
becoming technologically advanced to handle video and even view PDF
files on their 2+ inch screens. Do you think using cell phones for
school work is a viable idea, say for internet-based, correspondence
learning? Would this be a good way for teachers to require high
school students to submit school work? Explain.

4. Car radar detectors that are able to alert drivers to a police car
in the vicinity should be banned. The purchase of such a device
indicates that the person is openly planning to break the law by
driving over the speed limit. What do you think?
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-28-200\
7/0004536725&EDATE=

There were quite a lot of interesting responses to these topics, including an anecdote given by one member on getting caught speeding despite having installed a "fuzz buster", criticism of the Internet intruding on positive teacher-student interaction, and an imaginative suggestion to modify a Pringle's canister into an Australian didgeridoo.