to begin this letter, I would like to refer to Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy,
family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and
reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law
against such interference or attacks.
This is one of the fundamental human rights, that is to say, one of the basic rights that should be respected and not violated by any individuum or institution. The objective of a government is to regulate the country in order to ensure a minimum of conditions for all of its citizens. At this point, I shall ask you a question. What kind of government is the one that does not even respect one of the basic rights of its citizens, which are all human?
There is no single reason that might justify the intercepting of private conversations if the people which are affected aren't proved to be a danger for the public well-being. It is a direct offense to the title of "government", that the institution that you direct holds. And it is a direct offense to any other government when this interception reaches a global scale.
I would like to ask you another question. As a family father, how would you feel if someone was observing your woman or your daughters, 24 hours a day, using cameras and other devices that permit hearing and seeing everything they do, as a preventive measure for possible aggressions against the citizens of your country?
I close this letter with the strong hope that you consider that hypothetical situation and reflect seriously about my words and the meanings and objectives of a true government.
Sincerely,
Peter Parker
And now, I ask you to click on the words "Dear Mr President" in the letter before you proceed.
The writer tells us about her shocking experiences interviewing immigrant mothers, emphasising on the case of a Sri Lankan refugee whose children were brought to the Bangkok Immigration Detention Center once they were discovered in their tiny apartment in Thailand's capital city, remarking the bitter irony of today's Mother's Day.
In order to answer the other questions, I'd like to refer to another piece of news I've found (click here)
As Africans Surge to Europe’s Door, Spain Locks Down
MELILLA,
Spain — It is easy to pick out the new arrivals at the shelter for
immigrants here on this tiny patch of Spain in North Africa. One man
limps by on crutches with a plaster cast on his ankle. Another has a
bandaged arm in a sling. Abbdol Cisse, 19, had stitches on his face.
“The
police in Morocco were throwing stones at us, at our heads,” Mr. Cisse
said recently, explaining his injuries. “They had metal bars, and they
hit our legs while we were climbing.”
Ten
years ago Spain spent more than 30 million euros building up the
barriers around Melilla and Ceuta, its two enclaves surrounded by
Morocco on the northern coast of Africa, which offer the only land
borders between the promise of Europe and the despair of Africa. And for
a while the investment seemed to work.
But
in the past year, large groups of sub-Saharan immigrants have been
charging the rows of seven-yard-high chain-link fences here with
increasing frequency, or trying to swim around them, believing with good
reason that if they can just get past they will ultimately end up in
Europe. They often end up injured, not just from falls and the newly
laid concertina wire, but at the hands of the Moroccan and Spanish
authorities trying to stop them.
It's not specifically about immigrant children, but no one should be treated like this, neither children nor adults. As you can see, our own country's police does terrible things to immigrants on the very African continent. Especially in the United States, Latino immigrants that arrive on boats are dealt with quite strictly.
Since this a problem that "only" affects certain areas of a country (basically the borders) and it's about the actions of the police of our own country (who act by law, as it seems), the only possibility I see to provoke a change is through campaigning from the inside of our own country, from the very citizens that were born here. This way, the government should realise that it's actually an issue that concerns everyone, not only the ones who receive the violence.
Of course immigration has to be regulated in some way, but instead of preventing illegal movements using brute force, there should be institutions to negotiate (in a human way, not like the Bangkok Detention Center by separating children and mother) between the different countries who are stable enough to welcome immigrants and give them the a chance of a new life in better conditions than they had earlier. In my opinion, it's the responsibility of the richer countries to enable immigration, especially for refugees and alike, since it's a way to weaken the influence of the political forces that pressured them to escape. At least I think that's a better solution than sending the own military troops and blow up even more innocent civilists.
Should everything be up for sale? Are there civic goods that money can't buy?
At the end of his speech, Dr. M. Sandel leaves these questions open for our own deliberation.
Well, I think money shouldn't be able to buy anything. In an ideal society, money should be nothing more than an instrument, a media that enables easy exchange of properties. After all, that is the very reason why money was invented in the first place. In ancient times, it would have been difficult for me to exchange 2 cows for 5 sheep since the other person had to be interested in my cows. So, if my "business companion" already has 5 cows and is looking for hens instead... What do we do? Money is used precisely for that purpose. It serves as a universal tool for trading. And maybe that's where the problems started. Money was supposed to be a tool, but has ended up being a goal. That is why I'd never state as my life dream "getting rich". Of course I appreciate having money, but only because it enables me to enjoy things that I can buy with money. On the other side, without money you can't really live the way our society is built up. But this is a consequence of our system that everyone has to go to work, thus doing their part for the society.
In the end, I think there definitely are some civic goods that money can't buy. Let's take the example of a marriage. There are marriages (possibly more than we'd expect) that are only based on financial reasons. But the difference is: you can buy the marriage, but you can never buy the love of the other person. You can apply that logic to anything. You may buy the loyalty of your people, but once the money stops flowing, the loyalty ceases as well. And that means that you didn't buy their loyalty, but the illusion of loyalty. Civic goods can only be achieved by genuinely human goods like passion, honesty or willingness.
You know, all I'm saying is, I need to comment 3 ideas from the speech about education while I'm forming part of education while I'm in the lock which is the school which is an educational institution where I do oral presentations and then I do oral presentation self-evaluations, you know!?!
Try to rap this, come on!
When did the oral presentation self-evaluation thing become a running gag?
(...) you know money is only the medium by which one measures worldly success, some of you even have the nerve to say, I don't do it for the money, so what are you studying for? To work for a charity, need more clarity?(...)
Yep, I do have the nerve. At least I don't do it primarily for the money and much less exclusively for the money. Is money only a medium to measure of worldly success? What do you define as success? The other day I was talking to a friend about that topic. When I told him that I was going to go to University next year and do my studies for 4-5 years, he wished me luck and said that he found it funny to follow the process of someone becoming successful. I was a little confused about his way of expressing it ("someone becoming successful") and he was rather surprised because of my reaction. He answered that someone with universitary studies is bound to earn lots of money in the future, hence successful.
Then I asked myself: is having lots of money really success? If that was true, is Justin Bieber a successful person, an idol to follow? I see real success as achieving something in life. Setting yourself an objective, working hard for it and eventually accomplishing it. So if Justin Bieber set himself the objective to become famous with his music, well, yes, I guess he is kind of successful. But not because of the money. It's because what he wanted to be, what he dreamt of.
And what if someone dreams of having lots of money and that's his objective? Maybe earning lots of money so you can reach other goals, so the money helps you to achieve them. Maybe you want to accumulate a fortune so your children will have an easier life. But the money itself and only the money should never be your goal. Money is just an instrument.
Since I just got shot some picadilly towards my bottom (so many tasks to do, man) and I overdid things with the first idea... Let's hit the gas pedal and try to increase the relation quality/quantity.
Education is not just about regurgitating facts from a book on someone else’s opinion on a subject to pass an exam.
Like, +1, #educationisthekey or whatever you prefer, but this, ladies and gentlemen, is the damn truth. This is the major problem I see in our eduaction system. You have to fit in. You have to learn to repeat, you're not asked to learn to learn. Personally, I hate memorising for exams. That's probably why history's one of my less favourite subjects, even though I find it interesting. One of the reasons I enjoy science classes is that you can resolve most of the exercises applying logic. Okay, true, there are formulas that you have to memorise, but as long as they explain how scientists deduced the formula and you know it, the memorising serves only as a time saving factor. We are hardly ever asked to think for ourselves. Now we have philosophy classes, which are tragically interesting. Tragically because, after all, it's still 80% memorising and understanding another one's opinions and thoughts. If you are actually interested and you like "philosophing" by yourself, you will end up reflecting and contrapose your own opinion and the ones of the philosophers. The problem becomes enormous when you do not have an own opinion. And I fear this is a more wide-spread problem than many might believe. I myself felt a little opinionless, thoughtless, when we began philosophy of 2nd of Batxillerat. Last year there were more debates in class, more exercises that emphasised on our own point of view. This year, from the very beginning, we almost exclusively studied the conception of the authors. My proposal is that the school system should focus way more on individual thinking and creativity, starting from primary school.
I'm just writing comments equally long... This can't be T_T
Looking at David Beckham, there is more than one way in this world to be an educated man.
Or woman :)
It's totally true. A painter can be as intelligent as an astrophysicist as a shopkeeper. This is related to the previous quote. Why do we all have to fit in into the few possibilities that our education system promotes? Being educated is more than knowing school stuff. There is also social intelligence. Creativity. The ability to find practical solutions. Flexibility. These are all qualities of outmost importance to be successful in the real life. And school kills most of them. We feel too comfortable here. We should learn to face our problems.
Human rights are the rights a person has simply because he/she is a human being. In other words, the laws that must be respected and cannot be violated which protect a person's dignity, their life, etc. without any single exception; they are universal.
The human rights were created in 1948 as a consequence after the horrific deeds of the Nazis under the direction of Hitler such as the merciless genocide known as Holocaust. People knew that something had to be done to ensure that no more similar tragedies would come to happen again. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights consists of 30 different articles.
One of the articles that I found most interesting was Article #26: The Right to Education
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at
least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education
shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made
generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to
all on the basis of merit. 2. Education shall be
directed to the full development of the human personality and to the
strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It
shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations,
racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the
United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Point 1 implies that all students should be treated equally and that the access to higher education levels should exclusively be regulated by their results in relation to their effort. That is to say, students should work for their future, not simply relying on mommy's and daddy's money. I didn't know that the worries for equalities of the Human Rights even arrived at that point. In fact, I'm not sure if there's any place on the Earth where this is applied consequently. That would be an example of a Human Right with a simple idea which is violated practically everywhere.
Point 2 basically is self-propaganda. Human Rights should be taught and promoted in school, which is, I believe, a good idea. If we make the children know about Human Rights early in school, they will stick to the idea and it will become something more natural for them. Probably this is the main problem of the Human Rights right now: the concept is great but they're vastly ignored by governments around the world.
Finally, the last point introduces the authority that parents have when it comes to decisions about their children. Maybe this is a critical issue since parents don't always make the right choices either... But I guess there has to be someone to decide as long as the children aren't mature enough to decide by themselves. And when is that? Questions over questions... After all, the Human Rights are not perfect. But most articles should already be applied without any problems and that's not the case. Apathy won't solve the problem.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice is related to empiricism. But how? Let's apply the rules of a rational process and analise the topic, only accepting as true what we can perceive in a clear and distinct way.
Time to do some philosophy. All you have to know is that you don't know anything.
You asked for bad and overused philosophy jokes? You get them :)
Since we haven't had the honour to introduce ourselves into Hume's or Hobbes' conception yet, I'm going to refer only to Locke's empiricism.
First of all, what exactly does empiricism imply? If you're an empiricist, in terms of epistemology, you accept that any knowledge that you obtain has previously passed through your senses. The logical consequence of this is the opposite of what Descartes' rationalism tries to sell us: any knowledge that we achieve exclusively by implementing rational arguments is not to be trusted if we can't prove it "experimentally".
In the book Elizabeth initially dislikes Mr. Darcy, but in the end, after realising that her vision was blurred, she falls in love with him. And this is how we relate Locke's empiricism with Pride and Prejudice. According to Locke, there are 3 main causes of bad reasoning in humans:
Received hypotheses: Often we just accept what other people tell us without questioning it, sometimes this even happens unconsciously. In other words, we take the validity of others' statements for granted if they don't cause obvious suspicion. This is what happens to Elizabeth when she believes Mr. Wickham's tales about Darcy. Since his stories seem to reaffirm Elizabeth's first impression of Darcy, her prejudice is enforced and she doesn't even consider to doubt Wickham's words before reading Darcy's letter.
Dominating passions:Pride and Prejudice is all about love and marrying. And I think we all know one thing for sure about love: it makes us blind. When you're madly in love with someone, all those heavy feelings you experience replace what, in normal conditions, would be rational thinking. There was this one sentence that I personally liked a lot, I'm not sure if it appeared in the film, the book or both... Anyway, it was: "We are all fools in love." You may think this is quite obvious, but in my opinion we tend to judge either ourselves or the other too strictly when it comes to love matters. After all, no one ever really knows what is the right thing to do when you feel great affection for someone else. Sometimes we just have to remind ourselves that others are as blind as us when it comes to love (while other people need to bear in mind that they aren't smarter than others).
Authority: Similar to the first cause, we tend to believe in certain statements easier when claimed by people we respect. We are easily influenced by authorities, which can be teachers, parents, siblings, famous people or even friends and partners. I consider this one the most dangerous of all, because many people don't manage to make the giant step away from all those old opinions they have received by other people and reflect seriously about them, with their own rational arguments. Of course it is important to learn from others, but we must remember that not all authorities are trustworthy and even if they are, they're still humans like you and I and therefore, they make mistakes. The best way to avoid a narrow mind is to compare different opinions from different authorities. This helps us to reconsider things from other points of view. In Pride and Prejudice, their social status grants some people great authority, like for example Lady Catherine. But Elizabeth is clever enough to distrust people despite their authority.
Finally, we can conclude that it's the accumulated experience that lets Elizabeth perceive the truth about Darcy. His letter triggers a certain switch in her mind that makes her think: She starts to remember everything that happened, all the experiences she has lived in relation to Darcy and then she realises that these experiences tell her the truth and not her own prejudices.
Oh God, what have I done. Thanks to that post title I'm going to sound really arrogant when I say:
This is the last oral presentation self-evaluation! (seriously, say that out loud once)
Presentation (10%):
I think I did a good job preparing the Prezi and the bonus video in the end means bonus points... Well, at least I hope you liked the little gimmick, guys.
10 out of 10
Body language & eye contact (10%):
Yep, I do use my body. A lot. Too much. I'm getting a little nervous while watching myself in this presentation... Maybe it's just because I can't stand seeing/hearing myself in recordings... But in my opinion my movements are too hectical.
7 out of 10
Structure (10%):
Well, the structure was quite clear... A small introduction into particle physics so I can explain WHAT neutrinos are, then WHAT makes them so interesting and WHAT are they good for. And curiosities. People love curiosities. Fun facts. Trivia. 10 out of 10
Content (40%):
I think the content in itself was solid and I tried my best to explain new and interesting information related to neutrinos without getting too much into complicated and unnecessary details. BUT - and someone remarked that on the evaluation on the 2batspace website, thank you, you were totally right - I didn't mention MY OWN RESEARCH PAPER at all. I did this willingly though. I knew that was the weakness of this presentation, but I prioritised teaching something about the topic in general. Nevertheless, it's still a weakness.
30 out of 40
Language (20%):
So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so.
SO MANY SO'S! SOS! HELP! I CAN'T BEAR IT ANYMORE!
Well, apart from that I guess the language was okay. 17,5 out of 20
Pronunciation & intonation (10%):
Again, I'm too hectical, speaking too quickly... I thought I got over this. Well, at least I'm warned now. I'd love to do oral presentations without a specific time limit because then I could decide freely by myself about the content. I wouldn't need to cut things out that I consider important for the sake of time and I suspect I would talk more slowly as well.
7,5 out of 10
Final mark (100%): 10%+7%+30%+17,5%+7,5%=82% => 8,2
I must admit, English presentations helped me to get rid of my anxiety of speaking in front of many people. I hated it before Batxillerat. Now I'm quite fine with it.
Exclusive VIP material, don't show it to anyone! Either that one person noticed me as hectical as I do or he/she hates me
And finally, the final script of the final oral presentation of the final round of oral presentations in the final year of English classes in the final year of school which actually coincides with the final year of Batxillerat and now I finally put a final point on this dumb sentence.
Neutrinos
matter = matèria
vacuum = buit (absència de
matèria)
Good
morning everybody! So today I’m telling you some things hor about neutrinos. Yeah, I also preferred to talk
to you about sitcoms and Barney and Sheldon and all these things… So I thought,
how to make this presentation at least a little interesting and entertaining
for you? I was thinking really hard about it for a long time and in the end I
found out that… it’s impossible. So, ladies and gentlemen, make yourself
comfortable, please don’t fall asleep (I’m not looking at any specific person),
I’m going to start.
Canvi 2
Ok,
the first big question. What is a neutrino? Can you eat that? Sounds kind of
radioactive.
Canvi 3
Well.
You know that we are all made of atoms, right? You know that an atom consists a
nucleus where you can find protons and neutrons and spinning constantly around
the nucleus there are the electrons.
At
least I hope that you know this because that’s what they explained to us in
ESO, maybe even before of that, I’m not quite sure.
Ok,
so this is the smallest form of matter that exists, you know that, right?
RIGHT? Yes. Well, actually you don’t know that, because it isn’t.
Canvi 4
A
proton, for example, is made up of 3 quarks. And quarks are elemental
particles. So, you can say that a proton is formed by smaller particles, but
quarks aren’t. I guess, the reason why we never talk about quarks as single
particles is because they always appear in groups of 2 or 3 building bigger
particles, like protons.
A
neutron is also made of 3 quarks, but it’s another combination of quarks,
that’s why a proton and a neutron are different.
Alright,
so let me see if you can think logically. A proton is made of… quarks. A
neutron is made of… quarks. And the electron is made of… (quarks), Exactly!
You’re completely wrong! :PPPP
As
strange as it might to you, an electron is, in fact an elemental particle, you
can’t divide an electron into even smaller things.
Canvi 5
Please
have a look at this. You know this one, this is the periodic
table, we use this in chemistry and here you can find all the elements that
we’ve discovered so far.
Well,
this table here is called the „Standard Model of Particles“ and it’s kind of a
periodic table for physicists. This is a collection of every elemental particle
that has been detected in experiments up to this day. These 6 here are the
group of quarks. Here you can see the electron, as I mentioned earlier, another
elemental particle. And these 3 right here, are neutrinos. Yeah, I’m sure that
now you feel like 5 million times more intelligent than before, right?
Canvi 6
So,
the next big question is. Ok, so that’s a neutrino. What’s so special about
them?
It’s
very simple in fact. There are maaaaaany of them. For every proton, neutron and
electron there are approximately 1.000.000 neutrinos. BUT. They practically
don’t interact with matter. Every second about 650 billions of neutrinos coming
from the sun are penetrating every square centimetre of your bodies. And you
don’t even notice it. You’re ignoring them. Poor neutrinos.
Canvi 7
So,
if they don’t do anything. What are they good for? Precisely because they don’t
interact with matter they conserve a lot of information from their origins. For
example, when a star explodes because it has arrived at the end of its life
cycle, we also call this a Supernova, it sends off a huge amount of neutrinos.
Detecting these neutrinos can help us to determine the energy of the explosion
or almost the exact direction of the star. Another thing that is very
interesting about them is, that the neutrinos the come from a Supernova arrive
at the Earth before the light of the explosion. In other words, if we detect
the neutrinos we’ll be able to tell there’s a Supernova before a telescope
could see the light of the explosion. Neutrinos aren’t really faster than
light, at least not in a perfect vacuum. The reason why the neutrinos get to
the Earth earlier is that the Supernovae occur in very far galaxies, so it’s a
ridicously long distance that they travel. The particles of light are
theoretically faster, but since there is a lot of matter between the Supernova
and the Earth, the particles of light interact with that matter on that way,
unlike the neutrinos, the interactions with the matter slow the light particles
down and therefore the light arrives here after the neutrinos. But the actual
speed of the neutrinos is lower than the speed of light.
Canvi 8
In
fact, two years ago there was a big debate about this issue. Some scientists
measured neutrinos travelling with a higher speed than the speed of light. In
the end it turned out to be an error in the measurements. And that’s rather
good in my opinion, because if it had been true they would have crashed
absolutely everything about Einstein’s theory of relativity. And that means
basically, punch modern physics in the face. It’s like telling you after all
these years that 2 and 2 make 5 and not four. Yeah, you would all commit
suicide immediately.
Finally,
I’m about to finish, ok, I wanted to point out some curiosities.
Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory works with the stuff I just exposed to you. So
if you hear him talking about neutrinos in some episode, think about me, I told
you. For the people who think that particle physics isn’t actually important
for our daily life, all of your mobile phones, computer and YOUR iPad were,
partially, developed thanks to particle physics. So neutrinos and Candy Crush
aren’t that much separated in fact.
And
the last thing, do we have time? I wanted to show you a video that has nothing
to do with neutrinos but with quantum physics in general. It’s just something I
found impressive to see.
Particle physics is
one of the most advanced fields in modern science. Many products that we use in
our daily lives were developed thanks to the discoveries of particle physics,
from the microwave in your kitchen to the computers in your school.
But even at the
forefront of technological progress and new scientific methodologies there are
still many unsolved questions about the Universe. Why is the Universe the way
it is? How did its beginning, the Big Bang, occur?
The neutrinos, a
special kind of subatomic particles, are promising candidates to find the
answer to these puzzles. Due to their special properties, even within the
mysterious world of quantum physics, experiments with neutrinos are getting
more and more relevant, in particular nowadays since more sophisticated
technologies are available.
My research project
consists of an introduction (beginning from the basics) into particle physics,
a concrete study of neutrinos underlining their unique
traits and the history of neutrino science and a report of three practical
tasks: a visit to the Laboratori Subterrani de Canfranc, an oral interview with
a scientist working at the South Pole at the project IceCube and a
collaboration with the Spanish physicist Federico Sanchez in relation to the T2K
experiment located in Japan including calculations using real data from the
experiment.
In
general, we can claim with certainty that humour is, as a matter of
fact, a good thing. Someone could come up with the idea that,
occasionally, we need to be serious to focus on what’s essential. But we
won’t talk about that. Our question is if humour isn’t simply good, but
even necessary, vital. My statement is: humour is just like medicine.
Why do I say that and what does that mean? Let me explain.
In
the first place we need to determine which advantages humour grants us.
We’ll examine them from two different points of view. On the one hand,
there is the social and mental point of view. When we laugh, which is
the consequence of humour, we attract other people to ourselves. We
relate laughter with enjoyment. When we notice someone is laughing, we
just can’t help but asking what was so funny, because we want to
experience the same feeling of amusement. Thus, we get the chance to
know more people, to potentially create new friendships. And once a
relationship is established, humour even helps keep strengthening it.
Furthermore, by laughing heartily we defuse not only our conflicts with
other people but also our inner tensions. We add more joy to our life,
we relieve the stress we have been accumulating and release all our
negative emotions, like fear and anxiety.
On
the other hand, humour enhances our physical condition. Scientists have
discovered that laughter is actually healthy. Aside from the biological
causes of the mental advantatges I mentioned earlier (decrease of
stress hormones level, relaxing muscles, etc.) it actually has permanent
positive effects on our bodies. By laughing we increase the production
of immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies which ends up in a
better resistance against diseases. In addition to that, having a good
laugh stimulates the blood flow and improves the function of the blood
vessels. That means that humour even participates in preventing heart
attacks and other cardiovascular problems.
Now
I’d like to ask you a final question. Is medicine necessary? I’d say it
isn’t, we can live without medicine being protected by our own body’s
defense system. But it definitely optimizes our life, allowing us to
live longer and qualitatively better. And humour does the same. Probably
none of us would die without laughing, but our natural tendency is to
enjoy life and long for any improvement we can achieve. And that’s just
fine. After all, we are all human.
Scenario: Stacey and her mother are at home having dinner.
Characters: Stacey, Mother
Stacey: Mom, do you think my boobs are too small?
Mother: What?
Stacey: My boobs. You know, I was thinking about... an operation.
Mother: WHAT?
Stacey: Mom, please, give me a sec.
Mother: No no no, I won't give you a sec. You just turned 18!
Stacey: But mom, it's BECAUSE I AM 18! I can decide by myself!
Mother: Stacey, there are just too many reasons why this is not good.
Stacey: Which ones? Mom, today these operations aren't dangerous anymore...
Mother: It's not only that! First of all, why do you want bigger boobs? Who told you that they're small? I think they're perfectly fine.
Stacey: I see the looks of the guys. They only stare at the other girls! They don't look at me at all!
Mother: And what? You don't need some boy that looks only at your boobs!
Stacey: But mom, it's like if I was invisible!
Mother: Haaaangh... And where do you get the money for such an operation?
Stacey: Emmm...
Mother: You didn't even think about it?
Stacey: No, er, yes, I did! I thought I could save some money...
Mother: SOME money? Do you even know how much an operation like that costs? A little summer work won't be enough to pay something like that!
Stacey: Well, if I do the operation then all the guys will follow me like if they were my pets! And then I'll easily get a loaded boyfriend and all the problems are solved.
Mother: Oh yes, Stacey, you're a genius! I didn't know you have such good ideas!
Stacey: You see!
Mother: Stacey, ARE YOU STUPID? THAT'S A TERRIBLE IDEA... Oh my god...
Stacey: That's a terrible idea? And that lawyer you're dating lately? You aren't doing it because of his money?
Mother: STACEY, HOW DARE YOU...
Stacey: And now that I think about it... A little surgery would do you well, too...
Epilogue: Only one of the two survived that dinner...
Yeah. I used my body to sell this topic. Literally. I was doubting until the very last moment if the Knock-Knock-Knock Penny demonstration was a good idea... I'm not sure, but at least I made a huge sacrifice. Really. At the beginning my eyes seek the paper a bit too much for my taste, but I think that part's quite solid. 9 out of 10
Presentation & structure (10%):
Yeah, there was a little error (und~and) and two videos that didn't work :/ It's strange because I tried to open the videos from the offline-version prezi and it worked at home. I guess they were linked to some kind of intermediate shortcut within my laptop's memory. Next time I'll try to check the videos using an another PC before the presentation.Also, because of that my presentation was a little too long :(4 out of 10
Content (40%):
Okay, by all modesty, the content was LEGEN- wait for it -DARY. Oh yeah, by the way, precisely, the "Legendary" gag. It didn't work as expected. I should have foreseen this. A part from that, it's interesting because I tend to decide spontanously during the presentation to skip some boring or unnecessary parts or dumb gags (they seem perfectly funny the night before, I swear!).
This makes me reflect about these stand-up comedians who sometimes act in programmes of more than 2 hours constantly telling their prepared stories and jokes. How do they memorize all these things? How don't they mix up or forget their script? The maximal amount of time I could imagine to be speaking in front of people about a prepared topic is 30 minutes. But I doubt I'd be able to fill that time with good gags. I remark: good ones. 37,5 out of 40
Vocabulary and grammar (20%):
I always do my best to include more than basic vocabulary but without making the comprehension harder than necessary. After all, an oral presentation should include, in my opinion, a dynamic and witty language. But, if it gets overly sophisticated, I would be bored by myself while exposing the topic. If there's no one listening, they can't appreciate the dynamics. 20 out of 20
Pronunciation & intonation (20%):
I checked all the words I could potentially pronounce wrong. I think I was talking a little too fast at some points though, it sounded like I was muttering a bit. 17,5 out of 20
Final mark (100%): 9+4+37,5+20+17,5 = 88 -> That's an 8,8 then
What to improve... What to improve you ask? Really? I mean, really? If you had actually read all the text above, you'd know by now that I already commented about the things I could improve. >:(
Ok, just for you, because you're really special: look less at my notes and more into the beautiful eyes of the wonderful people of my class, triple-check videos and possible misspellings in my presentation, analyse better the functionality of my gags and, finally, speak a little clearer.4
And eventually, here's my initial script including some errors and lots of stuff I didn't talk about in the final presentation. Either because it was getting too long or because I noticed that some things better remain unsaid. Especially if they're dull and don't contribute positively to the content.
Modern American Sitcoms
Introduction
Good
morning everybody! Today I’d like to begin my presentation with some questions.
Don’t worry, they are easy ones.
Do
you know these series? (pointing to prezi)
Ok,
now one by one, how many of you watch Two and a Half Men, more or less
regularly? Please raise your hand. Good and now EXTRA POINTS for everybody who
watches Two And A Half Men. Ok, now let’s be serious, ok, this is a very
serious topic.
And
How I Met Your Mother? Yeees, Barney would give you all a high five and tell
you you’re awesome.
And
finally, The Big Bang Theory? Yeeah, I know it’s a lot of exercise to raise the
hand all the time… Okay, so it seems we nerds are quite popular now.
Well,
as you’ve just seen, most of you watch at least one of these series. They are
all really successful and they have one thing in common: They are all modern
American sitcoms. But what exactly is a sitcom? Or rather, which are the
typical characteristics that a sitcom features? What makes a sitcom funny or
entertaining?
------
Traits
and features
The
word „sitcom“ is in fact an abbreviation for „situation comedy“ and that name
speaks for itself. A sitcom is a genre („johnra“),
a type of comedy where the characters share the same environment, such as their
home or their workplace. The humorous part, the funny part usually derives from
the dialogues between the characters which are a result of their current
situation. In other words, there is one character and something good or
something bad happens to them. While that character is experiencing that
situation, they talk to other characters and the intention is to create funny
dialogues between them.
That
is like the definition of sitcom, but now let’s have a more detailed look at
the specific features and traits of a sitcom.
Episode Structure
First
of all, maybe some of how have already noticed that at some point after
watching many episodes of different sitcoms: The episodes of sitcoms
practically always have the same structure:
-
Teaser: The teaser is usually a short scene which is finished by a gag. And
most times, the teaser already introduces the main story of that episode.
-
Opening/Intro: The intro often remains unchanged throughout the series so you
can recognize it easier. It’s the part where the main theme, the main song of
the series is played. In some special cases, for example when one of the actors
is very young and they grow as the series goes on, the intro is modified to fit
the new looks of the actor. A good example would the opening of Two And A Half Men:
I
think Jake was so cute when he was a little boy, now he’s… uuurgh. Well anyway
-
Plot (Story): This the main part of the episode where the problem is presented,
the characters take some actions and at the end the problem is solved or not.
The majority of episodes follow the pattern of a circular dramaturgy (DRA-maturgy). That means, the events in that take place in the
episode normally have no major impact on the big storyline of the whole series.
The episode starts, something happens, they solve it, the end. And the
secondary characters or guest characters never appear again, they have no
important influence on the big story.
Depending
on the type of sitcom the plot is more or less important. So, for example, How
I Met Your Mother focuses a lot more on the main story than Two And a Half Men.
We all want to know who the **** mother is and the series explains the story of
how he met her. But in Two And a Half Men, sometimes there are bigger events
like when Charlie is in a serious relationship or when Jake’s mother marries
the other man, the doctor, but you don’t watch the series because of the story,
you simply watch it because it’s funny. But you watch How I Met your Mother
because you also want to know who the mother is.
Also,
many times the episode features a side plot, which is like a secondary plot
that takes place parallel to the main plot. Here, the characteristic scene
changes are used. Often the two plots, the main plot and the side plot end up
converging into each other.
-
Closing credits: You know this from the movies, this is where we see the names
of the actors, of the producers and usually the opening theme is being played
here once again. Depending on the programme on TV sometimes they cut this part
off.
-
Tag: Some series have a final scene after the credits which is even shorter
than the teaser and it offers a final gag which is of no importance to the
episode’s plot.
Key characters
If
we have a close look at the characters themselves from the sitcoms, often there’s
at least one key character in the series. With „key character“ I mean a
character who has a very special attitude, often exaggerated und strongly underlined and so that character
is the subject of most gags, very recognizable and we could say that character
is the showmaker. The series wouldn’t be the same without that specific person.
Examples:
What would the Big Bang Theory be without Sheldon? His disdainful smartass or
wise guy manner and his lack of social competence, social skills makes him unique and
indispensable fort he show. But, the key character is not necessarily the
protagonist of the sitcom. st heBarney
in How I Met your Mother is a clear example. While the plot is about Ted and
how he mets his future wife, how funny could HIMYM be without Barney’s
„legendary“ lines or his ingenious flirt tactics?
Running gags
Another
reason why sitcoms become so popular are running gags. I’m not sure but I think
one day we talked about running gags in class, didn’t we? Anyway, running gags
basically are gags which are repeated over and over in many different episodes.
With the runnings gags, the writers of the series play with our expectations.
Sometimes they are funny beacuse we already expected them to come, soemtimes
it’s the opposite case and they’re funny because they surprised us. Sometimes
they slightly change the running gag adapting it to different situations. Doing
that, it seems like a fresh idea to us and then we laugh at it once again. One
example of a running gag? toctoctoc Penny? toctoctoc Penny? toctoctoc Penny?
You know that one? Now I have a another video for you showing how they change
that running gag to make it funny over all that time:
By
the way, have you noticed the laugh tracks? The laughter that are included in
the scenes? Usually, these sitcoms are recorded in front of a real audience and
their laughters are heard in the actual scenes. When the series gets dubbed and
the original sound is lost, they use prerecorded laughters to complete these
scenes. Personally I think it’s quite funny because sometimes I have the
feeling we wouldn’t know what’s funny and what’s not if there weren’t these
laugh tracks.
Influence in the popculture
Especially
these two factors, the key characters and the running gags ensure that sitcoms
become very popular. There are many Internet memes based on sitcom characters
and gags and you can find tons of references on the web. For example, this one,
the „True Story“ meme which is a typical line of Barney.
And
something I found during my research, very interesting: In 2010 there was a
raise of 17% of physics students in the UK and many people actually believe
that this is thanks to The Big Bang Theory, becuase they made „nerds“ or
„physics nerds“ more seem „cooler“. I also want to study physics but it’s
definitely not because I want to become like Sheldon.
So,
this is the end of my presentation, I hoped you liked it. Any questions?
PD: I wonder if I can actually apply the things I've learnt after all these English presentations on my TDR oral defense... Any hints? I'd appreciate your suggestions.
(intended, in case that you're not familiar with that classic meme, look for "Yo dawg")
I think that I improved my English a lot during the last two years. I notice that especially writing posts, because I feel like more comfortable and more accostumed to write in English. I don't need to look up as many words as I had to before. The posts just appear on the screen while my fingers move gracefully up and down like water flowing in the river of destiny... Wow, that sounds freaking dramatic. But I imagine you got the idea, didn't you?
In addition, I have watched some series and films in English and now I understand them waaaaay better than I did before. Even when they talk rather quickly, which used to be quite a challenge to me, is now no bigger problem to me anymore. The same goes for speaking in English. Doing the First Certificate Exam I was forced to practice to speak fluently and spontaneously. That was a great help (and a nice dare too ;D). So in my opinion, the Certificate Test, the blog posts and entertainment activities such as watching films and series were the most important reasons of my progress this year. And the oral presentations helped me to elaborate my own style of presenting a topic. I must admit that I felt quite proud after the success of my presentation...
As for activities that I didn't find useful, in my opinion there aren't any activities that are really useless. Since what we're learning here is a language, it requires practice and practically any contact with it helps improving or at least refreshing and maintaining the level. But if I had to choose one thing that I'd like to change, it would be that we should read more original English texts than adapted ones (I refer to the text book as well as to the readers). I'd like to expand more my vocabulary, this is my main purpose. Additionally to the grammar we do, of course. So to focus a little more on vocabulary could be a nice objective for next year. A part from that, I think that if we keep doing similar activities like this year, we will do well.
So that's it! Goodbye people, have a nice summer and see you in September ;)
Unfortunately, the circumstances were unfavourable to record this dialogue all three together, so we decided to interpret it each of us aaaaaaall byyyyyy ourseeeeeelvees
You are warned, be prepared for a high-pitched voice of a crazy German and terrible sound effects.
Jamie (Speaking
on the phone.) Yes, yes, great party, wasn't it? (Sound of doorbell.)
Listen, Polly, I've got to go. There's someone at the door. Come here
this evening? Yeah, why not? I haven't got any plans. OK, see you later.
Bye, Polly. Bye. (Sound of doorbell again.) OK.OK. I'm coming! (Opens
door.) Oh, hi, Tania. How are things? I wasn't... I wasn't expecting
you.
Tania Well, aren't you going to invite me in?
Jamie I... Yes, of course. Come in. (He sits in front of the TV looking worried.)
Tania Jamie, can you turn that thing off?
Jamie Hang on a second, can I just watch this?
Tania No, you can't. Jamie, I need to speak to you. This is important.
Jamie I'm listening, I'm listening.
Tania You aren't. You never listen. (Turns off the TV.)
Jamie Why did you do that?
Tania Jamie, it's over.
Jamie What do you mean? What's over?
Tania I mean you and me. Us. It's over
Jamie Oh, come on, Tania. Let's not start that again.
Tania A friend told me you were out on Friday night. Is that true?
Jamie Someone invited me to a party, OK?
Tania Ok for you, maybe, but you didn't want to ask me, did you?
Jamie I did. It isn't that simple.
Tania Well, my friend was there and she said that things were very simple for you. (Doorbell rings again.)
Jamie Hang on a second, Tania. I'm sure we can sort this out. (Jamie opens the door. Polly is there, smiling.) Polly. How did you...? Polly I was just around the corner when I called you, so I thought... (Polly sees Tania.) Oh, sorry, I didn't realize.... ..............................................................................................................................................
Jamie (Nervous.) Tania, it's not what it seems! Let me explain, we... Tania I don't want to hear your stupid explanations, you asshole! Jamie But, Tania, listen.... Tania You were lying to me the whole time, weren't you? Polly Maybe I should come again later... Tania (Shouting.) You shut up! Jamie Tania, don't talk to her like that! I'm sorry, Polly... Tania What? Now you're even on her side? Are you fucking kidding me? Jamie Tania, relax! She only asked me to... Tania (Crying.) How... how could do this to me with that fucking... slut? (Sound of footsteps) Derek Hi Polly! (Derek kisses Polly) Er... What's going on here? Polly Tania... This is Derek, my boyfriend. Jamie You see, Tania. I came across Polly on the party and she asked me to help her with her homework today... Tania Oh my god... I'm so sorry...
A gap year is a (sometimes organised, but not necessilary) trip offered to students before they go to university. There are many possible options to choose between, the students can decide to go to an Asian or an African country, to work as a volunteer or to take language classes, to stay for some months or for a whole year... And of course there are more possibilities.
It's a great opportunity to have a special experience before starting the studies. On the one hand, it can be kind of a break from the daily life. The students get the chance to do something different than studying and working on their desks most time. On the other hand, it also makes the participants know another culture, different traditions and values, a different way of life. That gives them the chance to compare their own culture with the new one and so they get time to think over their life and to grow up as people. Besides, there's the possibility to learn another language or get a motivation to do volunteering.
However, there are some things that the students should consider before deciding to go on a trip. The longer their time outside is, the harder it could be for them to return to the normal life. In a long time, much stuff can be forgotten and the change to get back to routine might be hard. Moreover, they have to think about the costs the trip brings with itself.
All in all, I would say that the gap year is a very nice opportunity for students and if you reflect about it carefully and you know you'll have to be prepared to return, you can experience a great time in a different place. So, why not set off to your own trip?
We have almost learnt to respect the world. Do you agree?
Nowadays, we have not only discovered that we're damaging our planet, but also how to save it. Although in my opinion there's still a considerable way left for improvement.
Firstly, if we had almost learnt to respect the world we would act different. One of the biggest problems of rescuing the Earth is to convince the people to do their part. The environmental matters haven't stopped to be seen as a secondary problem yet. Politicians of many countries underestimate the needs of our planet.
Secondly, if we were near to having learnt to respect our world, we should be able to see some effects of that already. But scientific analysis go on starting with "If we don't stop..:".
So in conclusion, we're in the middle of the process to solve these problems, yet there are some obstacles to be overcome yet. Changing the people's mentality could be an important step to fulfill our objectives.
So, every term there are good and there bad things. And then, there are oral presentations. They are like... Like... Work. Since we're in Spain (oh no, I'm giving details about myself! Oh well, now that I come to think of it, probably the only personal thing about I haven't revealed yet in this blog is that my name is Satoshi Yagami... Whoops), maybe I should explain the concept of work. Put simply, you (normally) hate doing it but you're proud and reliefed after finishing. Apart from that, you noticed the topic-related Spain gag? You noticed? No? Now you do.
Since every term there's one of them, I used to call them, inspired from movie titles, "Self evaluation of my oral presentation I/II". But now, it was not my presentation, it was OUR presentation. And that's not the same thing. Speaking in terms of a series, it's like a spin-off to the presentation saga.
Having said that, you're ready to read my final homewritten blog post this year!
Body language & eye contact (10%):
After so many presentations, I think I have no more problems left with that. I don't read too much, I look almost all the time to the audience and I use little gestures once in a while. 10 out of 10
Presentation & structure (10%):
I think it was structured clearly, although we had a very time to carve out the different subtopics of the big and wide bastard called education. Sorry for the not-really-four-letters-word, but it's actually a combination of several figures of speech. Notice that this swearword and "education" are actually two completely opposed concepts, considering the little wordplay as eduaction can be applied on various meanings.
Oh right, I had to evaluate something.
Well, a part from what I said, the prezi was a bit messy, some of the subtopic-circles can't be seen well or a little bad placed. That's the problem of finishing a prezi at late night... 7,5 out of 10
Content (40%):
If you have a problem with the content of this presentation, then you have a problem with me. Because it was very hard to define our topic, choose the aspects we wanted to talk about, sum them up and picking up the most interesting and important parts... And this stress multiplied by three. Besides that we had different opinions at some points, so a little compounding was necessary. But in the end, at least in my opinion, we had great stuff to talk about and since it's a topic quite close to us and our audience, we hit the interest of the people. So, there's no complaining allowed. 40 out of 40
Vocabulary and grammar (20%):
As for my part of the presentation, I tried to use (at least a little) sophisticated vocabulary and grammar structures without damaging the easy understanding of the content. Katia and Laila also helped me out a little and added and edited some sentences. I'd say we all did a quite gob here. But this stupid "many motivation" is freaking me out. You've probably noticed. If not, well, there's the video evidence above. 17,5 out of 20
Pronunciation & intonation (20%):
I had to look up like 50 variants of the word "motivation" and check out their pronunciation. If they're problems here, nobody informed me about them. Well, I had a tiny blooper, that's all.
As for the intonation and my speech in general...
I really talked a lot, didn't I? At least I got utterly bored listening to myself such a long time when I was watching this video... But maybe it's because I already know the topic and the content. And probably because I hate listening to myself or seeing myself in videos. Especially listening. My laughter. I can't stand it.
And well, since it was a work in a group, I didn't have a lot of freedom to make it a typical "Crazy German" presentation. And this constrained me a little. I think that's the reason why I couldn't present the topic in a more dynamic or original or entertaining way. 12,5 out of 20
Final mark (100%): 10+7,5+40+17,5+12,5 = 87,5 -> That's a 8,75 then
What can I improve? Basically, be less lazy and do the work in time.
To conclude the homewritten posts this year, I'd like to point out that the date shown above these posts is not the correct one. Actually, right now it's the 2nd of June at 11.59 PM. Theory of relativity and stuff like that, you know. Oh, I've got one minute left! I'm in a hurry! Bye, see you next year!
