Daedalus

I used to cube, then I took an arrow to the knee.

Okay, so I haven't the time to go through all of the posts, so mine might be just a tad irrelevant. But I noticed a comment a long time ago in the thread saying that "the pieces don't fit," as well as multiple comments about how homosexuality isn't natural. Obviously most of us know that homosexuality is found in an abundance of species, but we're the only ones who are homophobic. As well, in terms of sex, the puzzle pieces most definitely do fit, in my opinion. Women have g-spot and clitoral pleasure centers, and men have a penis and a prostate. So, both sexes are capable of fulfilling one another. I actually kind of think there are more options for male-on-male sex in terms of pleasure. I think that sexually, that completely cancels out the 'unnatural' and 'puzzle-piece' theory.
Also, a 'handicap' implies some sort of disadvantage, to which there are none. True, it's not the most popular sexual orientation, and so perhaps one could label it a 'social abnormality'. However, homophia is something that is developed, and to me that's the real handicap. Homosexuality, to any open-minded person, is not a hindrance in any sense. Homophobia, on the other hand, is hurtful and holds back from the general societal progression towards peace and equality.

Sorry for choppiness, irrelevancy, and potential bad grammar.

There's seems to be some doubt as to the method used for selecting the IA samples for group 4. I can confirm that the IBO use an 'algorithm' to select the samples. However, it's pretty simple to see what it does.

The highest mark is selected (A marks)
The lowest mark is selected (Z marks)
The mark which is closest to (A + Z)/2 is chosen as the middle sample (M marks)
The remaining two samples are taken from the students that are closest to (A + M)/2 and (Z + M)/2

We use this to 'predict' which samples are going to be chosen and have never been wrong.

There is a chance for your teacher to flag students that he/she does not want to send. He is allowed to flag two 'atypical' candidates and ask for them not to form part of the sample. The IBO algorithm simply selects the student closest to the atypical one that it originally wanted.

In terms of what moderation does, they do produce a moderation curve, but it is not worldwide standardising; this would be impossible.

Many samples get slaughtered in group 4 IA and it is not unheard of for marks to be slashed by 50%. Every year a different moderator is assigned to each schools sample and gives feedback (although limited) as to why he has downgraded or upgraded marks.

However, as a different moderator has a different subjective approach, this feedback is essentially useless.

The same teacher providing the same samples two different years would likely be moderated in different ways. Of course this is impossible to prove as the students and their work are a variable every year.

But, essentially this should not matter as the teacher's judgement is beng moderated, not the student's content.

I can confirm that my moderation samples over ten years have varied from +2 for the highest student to -15, while ever trying to improve. This year my best student was downgraded 6 marks (44 - 38), while my lowest student was upgraded 2 marks.

Funny thing is, my highest student was an atypical candidate who did not even do the practical course with me - he arrived late from another school with portfolio already completed. How on earth could my moderation affect him????
Explain that one to me! (answers on a postcard, please)

Vanderlyle, on Aug 26, 2011 - 03:26, said:

I take the opposite view and think that it is an invalid justification. I agree that it is a necessity to consume all 22 types of amino acids to maintain a healthy body but this does not translate to making the consumption of meat (which contains all types) a necessity. Again I put forward my view that it isn't right to justify the consumption of meat based on the fact that we are 'naturally' evolved omnivores; just because we have consumed meat as part of our diet in the past does not mean we should continue doing it at present and in the future, especially under the circumstances that the amino acids from meat can be substituted with the correct combination of vegetables.

There are different levels of protection. If it is protected with FileOpen, then well, I've tried cracking it for ~2 hours once with no luck. It's a third-party protection system implemented by Adobe themselves, so I don't think many people can. If it is password protection, you'll need to bruteforce it, which may take hours depending on how complex the password is. If you're able to open the file, I believe you may convert it to an unprotected pdf using software like ABBYY (which is not really made for that purpose, but it can do it).

Many students find it quite difficult to formulate a thesis statement for their language A essays.
So, I'd thought I'll help you guys out.

Firstly, what exactly is a thesis statement and what is its function?

A thesis statement:

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

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Now, let's look at an example prose passage from a May 06 TZ0 Paper. While you are reading, have a think of what sort thesis statement you want to write.

So!  Did my sisters hate me? This time I know happened only once. It was the weekend and the house was empty for the whole afternoon. I went into our parents' bedroom with the same two sisters, Eva and Maria. I sat on the bed, and they went to my mother's dressing-table and took out all her things.  First they painted their fngernails and waved them in the air to dry.  They put creams and powders on their faces, they used lipstick, they pulled hairs from their eyebrows and brushed mascara on their lashes. They told me to shut my eyes while they took off their white socks and put on stockings from my mother's drawer. Then they stood, two very beautiful women, and looked at each other.  And for an hour they walked about the house, looking over their shoulders into mirrors or windowpanes, turning round and round in the centre of the drawing-room, or sitting very carefully on the edge of the armchair arranging their hair. Everywhere they went I followed, looking at them all the time, just looking.  "Are we not beautiful, Robert?" they would say. They knew I was shocked because these were not my sisters, these were American film stars. They were delighted with themselves. They laughed and kissed each other for now they were real women.

Later in the afternoon they went to the bathroom and washed everything off. In the bedroom they put away all the pots and jars and opened the windows so Mama would not smell her own perfumes. They folded the silk stockings and suspender belts away, exactly the way they had seen her do it. They closed the windows and we went downstairs to wait for our mother to come home, and all the time I was very excited.  Suddenly the beautiful women had become my sisters again, tall schoolgirls.

Then came dinner, and I was still excited.  My sisters behaved as if nothing had happened. I was aware that my father was staring at me.  I glanced up and he looked straight through my eyes, deep into my mind.  Very slowly he put down his knife and fork, chewed and swallowed everything in his mouth and said, "Tell me, Robert, what have you been doing this afternoon?"  I believed he knew everything, like God.  He was testing me to fnd out if I was worthy enough to tell the truth. So, there was no point in lying. I told him everything, the lipstick, the powders, the creams and the perfumes, the stockings from my mother's drawer, and I told him, as if this would excuse everything, how carefully these things had been put away.  I even mentioned the window. At frst my sisters laughed and denied what I was saying.  But as I went on and on, they became silent. When I had fnished my father simply said, "Thank you, Robert," and went on eating.  No one spoke for the rest of the meal.  I dared not look in the direction of my sisters.

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There are various thesis statements that can be made from reading this prose passage. To include a few:

• The excerpt from The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan explores the concept of authority through the narrator Robert's characterisation of his own family members as he reflects on a past event. He represents himself as a child who was submissive to those in his family who had more power and authority than he did.

• This prose extract from what appears to be a novel, The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan, is about a young boy who is scared of his sisters and father. He shows that when his sisters 'dress up' in their mother's clothing, they appear to him to become 'beautiful women' whom he adores. Thus, the extract hints at an underlying illicit sexual desire.

• The extract from Ian McEwan's The Comfort of Strangers focuses on the idea of 'the mask'. When the narrator's big sisters play 'dress ups' and put on make-up the author is symbolically highlighting the way humans can put on and take off 'masks' to try out, reveal or hide different identities or ways of being.

• In the prose extract starting with "So! Did my sisters hate me?", the author is displaying to readers how excitement and fun can quickly turn to seriousness in the face of authority.

• In this excerpt from The Comfort of Strangers, author Ian McEwan explores the ways in which sibling relationships can be affected by authority.

• In this extract from The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan, the author focuses on childhood and the common everyday play activities of sisters. Through this subject matter, he highlights the fascination expressed by the male narrator and thus explores ideas about gender during childhood.

• The excerpt from The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan focuses on secrets and revelations in the lives of growing siblings. It does this with the symbolic use of the motif of 'windows' which represent the opening-up of or the closing-up of windows on adolescent girls' 'secret business'.

• The prose passage from The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan explores ideas about authority and assertiveness in the lives of the characters.

• The passage beginning with, "So! Did my sisters hate me?" illustrates the naïve longing of a young boy who seeks approval from his domineering father and who holds a hidden fear of his elder sisters. In the extract the presence of male dominance and the suppression of the feminine suggest an imbalance of power and desire.

• In this prose passage from The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan, the themes of male superiority and female inferiority are illustrated through the domineering, assertive and authoritarian male presence of the character of the father in contrast to the feminine superficiality and insecurity of the female characters. The passage suggests that females are powerless in the face of male authority.

• In this excerpt from The Comfort of Strangers, author Ian McEwan uses the first person perspective of the child narrator, Robert, to illustrate the confusion that can arise in the mind of a child as he learns to navigate the complex, conflicting and sometimes dangerous nature of authority, secrecy and loyalty in his relationships with family members.

• In this extract from The Comfort of Strangers, the author Ian McEwan expresses a contrast between masculine and feminine concepts by showing the family relationships between Robert (the narrator) and his two elder sisters and their father.

• In this excerpt from The Comfort of Strangers, author Ian McEwan explores ideas around growing up, gender and the loss of innocence.

• In this passage from The Comfort of Strangers, author Ian McEwan promotes the argument that having a dominating and authoritarian father figure in a family can perpetuate negative attitudes about the role of women and may lead to their degradation.

• This segment of prose from The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan highlights gender stereotypes in family relationships. However, it represents the dynamics between the genders as being complex and it blurs the lines that separate the genders.

• In this excerpt from The Comfort of Strangers, author Ian McEwan utilises the techniques of characterisation to represent females as superficial and submissive.

• The passage from The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan is a recount of a past event in the childhood of the narrator. McEwan utilises techniques such as diction, imagery and irony to explore ideas about male dominance and adult authority.

• The extract from The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan suggests that childhood can be a time of encountering the inexplicable and strange mysteries of the adult world where relationships are based on unspoken rules.

• In this passage from The Comfort of Strangers, author Ian McEwan provides a glimpse into the mysterious world of sibling relationships. The event narrated in the passage shows how childhood innocence is slowly lost or eroded as the adult world is increasingly revealed to or encroaches upon the young.

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After reading through all these thesis statements, are you ready to write a good one!

When i first started french, i watched the french channel for 2 days just to hear what the language sounds like when spoken. I then went to my french book and i immediately recognized a few words...not many, just a few. I feel that since you're starting a new language, like all the other have stated above, learning your grammer, tenses, endings etc. are a vital part of the language.

If you want a head start, i can give you very easy tips on how to learn endings, but thats if you are going to choose french, thats the only foreign language that i've studied. But i have heard that spanish is quite easy to learn.

Good luck!

You have very good morals Sandwich. I have the uttermost respect for that.

No, I would not want to have a friend that cheats. But considering the reality of any situation, no one in IB would want to willing to cheat if they had the capabilities to do well. They most likely have no intent to do ill. The person that cheats, specifically BECAUSE they are an candidate in IB2, only wants to do well. They have cheated, that is wrong. They do deserve punishment. It is not fair if they end up scoring higher than other candidates. And I do agree the most appropriate consequence is the suspension of their diploma, but as the person who decides whether to rat them out or not,  I would not want to see my friend or anyone of whom I bled suffer the fate of jeopardizing their diploma. Again, it is not our job to carry out the law, just to live by it. I myself am impious, but I do have a strong sense of morality. Repenting for this and trying to make up for it in the future is no substitution for the ideal consequence, but I (IMO) think it would be too harsh for someone's friend to directly be the cause to having their's friends diploma been taken away. Maybe I'm a big softie.

I cannot argue much further about whether or not the cheater belongs to the cohort family, because as far as this goes, we are generalizing a lot...

As for the second paragraph, I respectfully disagree. IB2 kids are somewhat a family anyway, aren't they? That second paragraph of yours sounds like I'm graduating IB without any support, any kind of peers or good memories in the past. I retain my argument of one being a "target of hate", because although you have the right kind of mindset, there are people of all sorts, shapes and sizes. I am glad there are people like you, but really, compared to everyone, your kind is most likely a minority. Therefore, I believe there would be more people looking down on you than supporting. It's that kinda of mob mentality that gets going on people that rat others out. Friendships and bonds compared to ratting people out (without the negative connotation even) are polar opposites. As people see this, they will see you going over the line.

Noticed the url was wrong hope this is right now!

JimmyK, on Apr 21, 2011 - 18:37, said:

Gay people are "growing"? Really. So homosexuality was invented... when? During the Industrial Revolution? Do you honestly believe that homosexuality didn't exist in Medieval, Classic or Pre-historic times? Never mind the fact that there are hundreds of species of animals that have exhibited homosexual behaviour, species that arguably do not have any concept of "civilization".

Your understanding of democracy is also rather malformed. It is true that the American Constitution protects minority rights, but if you're going to extend that to saying minority rights are trumping majority rights, and in all democracies, then you've got to elaborate and explain your rather peculiar thesis a little more. As it stands, it just looks like as if you could perhaps use a little more background knowledge of democratic systems.

Also, perhaps Portuguese politics is different, but in North America for the past four decades economic policy has trumped social policy. Politicians don't win votes promising more freedoms. If you're a Republican you would win more promising less freedoms. But social stances like homosexuality, abortion, etc. are 95% ideological, and pander to political bases. They don't actually help any one politician or party win.

Quote

Oh really? Do you have statistics to prove that? Because the only cases of parents forcing their child to be anything that I've heard are straight parents forcing their children to be straight also. It astounds me that you would rather make up stories, while embracing parents who would resort to methods like exorcism to "purge" the gayness from their child.

I have also never had a gay person tell me that they believe everyone is secretly gay. Granted, I don't know many gay people, living in a conservative province, but I have never heard, seen, read, or been informed of anyone advocating such a stance other than yourself, interestingly enough. As for Freud, it doesn't take homosexuality to know that the majority of his theories are completely outdated by modern psychological standards; all it takes to realize that is intelligence.

The rest of your post is irrelevant, since it's based upon your absurd assumptions on the minds of every single gay person in the world. Just three things:

1) The most intelligent animal species also form friendships; it's not exclusive to Homo sapien.

2) Studies have show that gay swans make better parents than heterosexual swans; same-sex divorce rates in one of the Scandinavian countries - I forget which - was lower than that of heterosexual couples.

3) I'm sorry, I don't know what kind of sheltered life you live, but straight people are very much capable of forming orgies too. I mean, you live in Portugal for God's sake.

JimmyK, on Apr 21, 2011 - 19:16, said:

Lol. Oh boy, the posts just get more and more regressive.

Okay. In Alberta, the most conservative province, homosexuality hasn't been listed a mental illness since the '50s. I thought Europe generally had competent health care systems? Also, remember that when you say "psychologist that is morally decent", you are talking about decent with reference to your system of morality. Let's be clear on that. And that is strictly your opinion, not that of a psychologist. And weren't you the one that was talking about how we as students shouldn't be delving into moral debates? Or have you decided that you're in a better position to perform psychological diagnoses than medical professionals?

If one of my friends came out to me, I would be okay with it. It might be strange at first, I admit - I can't see any of my closest friends being gay - but I don't see how it would change our relationship at all. And your apparently supernatural ability to read the minds of every homosexual on the face of this planet hasn't convinced me otherwise.

Pedophilia =/= homosexuality. Full stop. Again, I challenge you to actually find a medical study that proves otherwise, other than make-belief assertions or propaganda campaigns from the Right. It took me 3 minutes of Googling to find this site: http://psychology.uc...olestation.html

The first study found that 47% of the surveyed child molesters were "fixated", or mentally incapable of developing an adult sexual orientation. 40% was heterosexual. 13% was bisexual.

The second study found that of the sampled child abuse cases seen in an emergency room, only 1% of cases in which a molester was identified was a homosexual incidence.

The third study found that homosexual males were no more aroused to male children than heterosexual males were to female children.

I've given my position, and I've supported my medical, scientific assertion with evidence. Where's yours?

By the way, Bieber's 16.

Maybe try the Son of Citation Machine to make your life easier?

I think the point people are trying to make is that what is right and what is wrong within people's decision making is not always the same was what is right and wrong by law. The other point they're trying to make is that not every transgression of the law is serious enough to merit capital punishment.

People can't just migrate to another country in most cases (look at all the illegal immigrants and asylum seekers who suffer the pains of not being able to simply wander into the next country) - and in any case, why should you have to? If it were made the law that for a woman to own money or to receive an education is illegal, would you sit back and take it within your own country (or face the death sentence, apparently?!) - especially since other countries don't want you either?

To be honest, Desy, your views are more than just a little extreme. Breaking a law does not always mean breaking a moral code, and not every transgression (in fact, no transgressions in my opinion as I am dead set against capital punishment by law) deserves the death sentence.

The same about Mahuta's argument can be flipped around however. Not every guy has those rock hard abs, or the extraneously long penis. The bottom line is that all porn is a fantasization, which is no different than fantasies perfectly conceivable without pornography. It is ultimately the responsibility of the individual to check and limit oneself, just like a crack addiction isn't the fault of the dealer, but the fault of the individual who chose to try it in the first place. Some classic liberalists liked to think that all men were naturally capable of making good choices; I think this is wildly optimistic in reality. However, I don't think it is right to suppress the freedoms of individuals who are capable of that level of rationality simply because of others who cannot. In life one can't have their cake and eat it too, and if the choice was between liberty and egalitarianism I would always side with the former. The latter is dead (or rather, never existed.)

By the way, I don't think you paint a very accurate picture of the porn industry SmilingAtLife. At least in North America and Western Europe, people enter the industry through free will, and leave it the same way. When you try to portray the broad-stroke images of trafficking, STIs, and puppy torture, you're not really hitting a tone that anyone in the adult industry would recognize. It may be different in Moscow or Bucharest, but those places have other problems, and it becomes an issue that is almost wholly divorced from the modern concept of pornography. Above all, I really can't understand how you can deride pornography for objectifying its subjects, then go ahead and compare these persons to dogs via analogy. It seems hypocritical, and borderline offensive.

Desy Glau, on Jul 31, 2011 - 03:28, said:

You'd beat your sister to death?

Harsh.

Hmmmm... Well this is an intersting one, but as stated by Daedulus it's a question of principle and your personal ethical standards. Of course I think that cheating in any exam is unacceptable in the respect that it gives the person a possible unfair advantage, but I would just let it go for several reasons. First, it's very unlikely that cheating can work out in anycase at least in official IB exams if everything goes par regulation. That's up to the invigilators and your coordinator, but I really don't think it would have been possible at my school without getting caught.  That is, it was abundantly clear that possibilities were non-existent given the checks both before entering the exam room and within the exam room, assigned seating which would change from paper to paper, as well as invigilators sitting in front and behind you. The only thing that can really happen is what was described by Arrowhead, but that provides a very marginal advantage 1-2 hours is not a lot of time to prepare or go through some material. Memory isn't a thing that works just instantly it needs to be processed and this processing can continue during your exam and actually negatively affect your performance    

Second, if someone actually managed to bring unauthorised material into the exam room and use it without being caught, the chances are the material is either not useful at all or only marginally useful in say one question. That is, unless you manage to bring your whole book, which would mean something is seriously wrong. It's also very difficult to continue this in say all three papers for a subject, which makes possible effects even more marginal.

Third, a cheatsheet (in the unlikely event that you can use one) obviously takes time to use and that's time you don't have so you end up with an answer to the questions you couldn't have answered otherwise, but may not have time to answer all the questions that are easier to you.

Basically to sum it up cheating isn't going to work in exams and doesn't work in IB exams so you shouldn't use it. Also from a social standpoint why would I tell on someone that has cheated when it has no actual bearing on me it just makes for a lot of hatred and permanently sore relations to your peers. Furthermore, I support what Daedulus said about ethical standards in relation to regular informal exams vs. formal exams thinking otherwise to me seems hypocritical. If you want to hold up a grudge against someone who cheated and got one more point then you then go ahead, but hard work can also get you the same result. To me it's enough to know I worked every IA, essay, and exam for the IB diploma without a second of dishonesty, plagiarism or cheating and I achieved the best grades I could given the circumstances (including procrastination  ). That is to say, your grades are up to you