Text: “GRAND SLAM FINALS.” https://www.getlit.org/classicslam Different poetry slams are conducted in different ways but they usually have some different method of measuring or comparing participants in order to judge winners and losers. It is clearly possible to come up with a set of criteria to use to judge a poetry Read more…
Text: “The abortion clues that can hide on your phone.” BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61952794 Extract: “After the Supreme Court overturned citizens’ constitutional right to abortion in the US, there has been concern about data protection, particularly in the 13 states which have already moved to make ending a pregnancy illegal… Gina Read more…
Text: “Tear-free hair brushing? All you need is math.” Science Daily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220413203128.htm Extract: “In a new paper, published in the journal Soft Matter, Mahadevan and co-authors Thomas Plumb Reyes and Nicholas Charles, explore the mathematics of combing and explain why the brushing technique used by so many is the most effective method Read more…
Text: Timothy McLaighlin. “The Volunteer Movement Enraging China.” The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/05/great-translation-movement-china-censorship-firewall/629914/ Extract: “An informal, online network is translating publicly available articles and social-media posts… stories [published in China] filled with vitriol toward Ukrainians, Russian-state disinformation, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories—accompanied by user comments cheering on Moscow’s violence.” The translations are perhaps one way Read more…
Text: Shweta Sharma. “Imran Khan to face blasphemy charges after new Pakistan PM called a ‘traitor’ and ‘thief’ in Saudi Arabia.” Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/imran-khan-blasphemy-case-shehbaz-sharif-b2069341.html Excerpt: “Imran Khan has been booked under Pakistan’s blasphemy law along with 150 others after the country’s new prime minister Shehbaz Sharif was met with abusive language Read more…
Text: “Japan’s population plummeted by 640,000 in 2021 for biggest drop on record.” Japan Times https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/15/national/population-drop-japan-record/ Extract: “Japan’s population totaled 125,502,000 as of Oct. 1, down 644,000 from a year earlier to mark the biggest decline on record in the rapidly graying nation, government data showed Friday. The population dipped for Read more…
Text: “Inu no owari san” sung by Nonoka Murakata. November 2022 TOK essay prescribed title #5 is focus on a discussion of measurement. Measure can play a role in the arts such as the judging in competitions. The song in the video below is sung by two year old Nonoka Read more…
5. To what extent do you agree with the directive to “measure what is measurable and make measurable what is not so” (Galileo Galilei)? Answer with reference to the human sciences and one other area of knowledge. November TOK prescribed title #5 starts with “To what extent do you agree…” Read more…
Text: Scientific American. “There’s Something Queer about That Face.” https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/bering-in-mind/something-queer-about-that-face/h Sexuality in some respects is quite difficult to measure but there has been more recent research that has attempted to get measurable data. The article discusses how one measurement of faces can possibly reveal information about sexuality.