Bombini

Its the Exams!

2008-11-13T23:21:00.001+08:00

It's that time of year again. Students have taken their finals, and now it is time to grade them. It is something professors have been looking forward to all semester. Exactness in grading is a well-honed skill, taking considerable expertise and years of practice to master. The purpose of this post is to serve as a guide to young professors about how to perfect their grading skills and as a way for students to learn the mysterious science of how their grades are determined.

Grading begins with the stack of exams, shown in Figure 1 below.

The next step is to use the most precise grading method possible. There never is 100% accuracy in grading essay exams, as subjective elements can never be eradicated from the process. Numerous methods have been proposed throughout history, but there is one method that has clearly been proven superior to the others. See Figure 2 below.

The key to this method is a good toss. Without a good toss, it is difficult to get a good spread for the grading curve. It is also important to get the toss correct on the first try. Exams can get crumpled if tossed too much. They begin to look as though the professor actually read them, and this is definitely to be avoided. Additional tosses are also inefficient and expend needless time and energy. Note the toss in Figure 3 below. This is an example of a toss of considerable skill -- obviously the result of years of practice.

Note in Figure 3 above that the exams are evenly spread out, enabling application of the curve. Here, however, is where the experts diverge. Some contend that the curve ought to be applied as in Figure 4 below, with the exams at the bottom of the staircase to receive a lower grade than the ones higher up on the staircase.

According to this theory, quality is understood as a function of being toward the top, and thus the best exams clearly are to be found in this position. Others, however, propose an alternative theory (Figure 5 below).

They contend that that the exams at the bottom deserve higher grades than the ones at the top. While many professors still practice the top-higher-grade approach, the leading authorities subscribe to the bottom-higher-grade theory, despite its counterintuitive appearance. The rationale for this view is that the exams that fall lower on the staircase have more heft and have traveled farther. The greater distance traveled indicates greater knowledge of the subject matter. The bottom higher-grade approach is clearly the most logical and best-justified approach.

Even with the grade curve lines established, grading is far from completed. Several exams teeter between levels. The key is to measure the extent of what is referred to as "exam protrusion." Exams that have small portions extending below the grade line should receive a minus; exams with protrusions above the grade lines receive a plus.

But what about exams that are right in the middle of a line. In Figure 6 below, this exam teeters between the A and B line. Should it receive and A- or a B+?

This is a difficult question, but I believe it is clearly an A-. The exam is already bending toward the next stair, and in the bottom-higher-grade approach, it is leaning toward the A-. Therefore, this student deserves the A- since momentum is clearly in that direction.

Finally, there are some finer points about grading that only true masters have understood. Consider the exam in Figure 7 below. Although it appears on the C stair and seems to be protruding onto the B stair, at first glance, one would think it should receive a grade of C+. But not so. A careful examination reveals that the exam is crumpled. Clearly this is an indication of a sloppy exam performance, and the grade must reflect this fact. The appropriate grade is C-.

One final example, consider in Figure 8 below the circled exam that is is very far away from the others at the bottom of the staircase. Is this an A+?

Novices would think so, as the exam has separated itself a considerable distance from the rest of the pack. However, the correct grade for this exam is a B. The exam has traveled too far away from the pack, and will lead to extra effort on the part of the grader to retrieve the exam. Therefore, the exam must be penalized for this obvious flaw.

As you can see, grading takes considerable time and effort. But students can be assured that modern grading techniques will produce the most precise and accurate grading possible, assuming professors have achieved mastery of the necessary grading skills.

Written by Daniel J. Solove, a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. Just for Fun (:

I'm bored (:

2008-11-06T00:19:00.000+08:00

我的家庭（欠扁的作文）‏

2008-10-18T20:26:00.003+08:00

For those who are stressed out. And can read chinese. Do de-stress abit (:

作文名稱：我的家庭

　我出生在一個非常貧苦的家庭，記得小時候，爸爸的生活很無聊，整天只能數錢，媽媽也是，整天都在掃錢。

我家住在深山中，每次要出去買東西，都相當麻煩，開保時捷要 5 小時，開賓士也要4 小時；雖然家裡有直昇機，但是開到那邊很難找到停機位，相當的不方便。

我偶爾也會出去逛街，爸媽怕我被綁架，隨身有 20 多個保鑣保護著，大家看到我都嚇跑了，所以我從小就開始被排斥...... 因為家裡是在深山，每次到了冬天都非常冷，爸爸也說，出去買東西很麻煩，所以冬天沒有暖爐 ...沒有棉被 ...每天只能陪著爸媽燒錢取暖 ... 而睡覺的時候，也只能蓋著錢睡覺 (我覺得英鎊比較溫暖) 。

　記得小時候，有一次，因為房間太大，還來不及跑出房間，就尿褲子了。所以，爸爸在我房間放了一台小綿羊機車，好讓我能在 10分鐘以內，衝出 1000 坪的房間，穿越 5公里的走廊，到達 800 坪的廁所 (我常常在走廊迷路 ) 。

　爸爸又另外叫人加蓋了 20間 600坪裡面有著250 坪小廁所的破房間。爸爸說：以後如果尿濕了，直接換房間，如果房間不夠或是太小的話，再告訴爸爸，爸爸再叫人來多蓋幾間，我們的生活很辛苦，你要忍著點！！

現在想起來，爸爸真是個善良的人！！

　還記得有一次，家裡遭小偷，因為他用炸藥炸壞了我爸的保險箱，使得裡面的金幣不斷的往外滾出來，結果竟把那個小偷壓死了 ......我覺得那個小偷好可憐 ......
金幣壓死人是很痛的!! 他不像之前那個被鈔票悶死的小偷一樣幸運。

媽媽也常常告訴我，我們家生活非常困苦～要我學著吃苦～
　所以我從小養成了刻苦耐勞精神，我將來的志願，是要找 200 隻會吃錢的怪物，好把家裡的錢都吃光，為那些可憐的小偷報仇！！

嘉義市蘭潭國小六年一班黃淙暐

老師評語：去死啦！

BOOM (:

2008-10-13T01:39:00.002+08:00

the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS, May 24, 1994 MOSCOW

Doctors are blaming a rare electrical imbalance in the brain for the bizarre
death of a chess player whose head literally exploded in the middle of a
championship game!

No one else was hurt in the fatal explosion but four players and three
officials at the Moscow Candidate Masters' Chess Championships were sprayed
with blood and brain matter when Nikolai Titov's head suddenly blew apart.
Experts say he suffered from a condition called Hyper-Cerebral Electrosis or
HCE.

"He was deep in concentration with his eyes focused on the board," says
Titov's opponent, Vladimir Dobrynin. "All of a sudden his hands flew to his
temples and he screamed in pain. Everyone looked up from their games,
startled by the noise. Then, as if someone had put a bomb in his cranium,
his head popped like a firecracker."

Incredibly, Titiov's is not the first case in which a person's head has
spontaneously exploded. Five people are known to have died of HCE in the
last 25 years. The most recent death occurred just three years ago in 1991,
when European psychic Barbara Nicole's skull burst. Miss Nicole's story was
reported by newspapers worldwide, including WWN

"HCE is an extremely rare physical imbalance," said Dr. Anatoly Martinenko,
famed neurologist and expert on the human brain who did the autopsy on the
brilliant chess expert. "It is a condition in which the circuits of the
brain become overloaded by the body's own electricity. The explosions
happen during periods of intense mental activity when lots of current is
surging through the brain. Victims are highly intelligent people with great
powers of concentration. Both Miss Nicole and Mr. Titov were intense people
who tended to keep those cerebral circuits overloaded. In a way it could be
said they were literally too smart for their own good."

Although Dr. Martinenko says there are probably many undiagnosed cases, he
hastens to add that very few people will die from HCE. "Most people who
have it will never know. At this point, medical science still doesn't know
much about HCE. And since fatalities are so rare it will probably be years
before research money becomes available."

In the meantime, the doctor urges people to take it easy and not think too
hard for long periods of time. "Take frequent relaxation breaks when you're
doing things that take lots of mental focus," he recommends.

(As a public service, WWN added a sidebar titled HOW TO TELL IF YOUR HEAD'S
ABOUT TO BLOW UP:)

Although HCE is very rare, it can kill. Dr. Martinenko says knowing you
have the condition can greatly improve your odds of surviving it. A "yes"
answer to any three of the following seven questions could mean that you
have HCE:

1.Does your head sometimes ache when you think too hard? (Head pain an
indicate overloaded brain circuits.)
2.Do you ever hear a faint ringng or humming sound in your ears? (It
could be the sound of electricity in the skull cavity.)

3.Do you sometimes find yourself unable to get a thought out of your head?
This is a possible sign of too much electrical activity in the cerebral
cortex.)

4.Do you spend more than five hours a day reading, balancing your
checkbook, or other thoughtful activity? (A common symptom of HCE is a
tendency to over-use the brain.)

5.When you get angry or frustrated do you feel pressure in your temples?
(Friends of people who died of HCE say the victims often complained of head
pressure in times of strong emotion.)

6.Do you ever overeat on ice cream, doughnuts and other sweets? (A craving
for sugar is typical of people with too much electrical pressure in the
cranium.)

7.Do you tend to analyze yourself too much? (HCE sufferers are often
introspective, "over-thinking" their lives.)

Hello! I ripped this off some random website. Scary, but authencity not guaranteed (:

Futility.

2008-10-10T16:41:00.002+08:00

For all those trying to cram more stuff into your head and attempt to make it grow bigger..

Your brain is 75% water.
And your brain stops growing at age18 >.<

Oh wells. Enjoy the weekend (mugging) holiday!

Random fact of the day - Skeletal Muscle cells can reach lengths of 30cm. Thats taller than some people! XD

overload.

2008-10-08T00:05:00.004+08:00

A milk production plant in China - cows being milked by machines.
Thats what my brain feels like now.
Being milked of its memory cells. One by torturous one.

Oh. Random fact of the day - Hallux = Big Toe (:

The Insanity.

2008-10-04T23:55:00.004+08:00

I saw this while waiting for my bus at College Green.
What went through my mind was "Scaphoid, Lunate, Triquetrum, Pisiform, Trapezium, Trapzoid, Capitate, Hamate".

Haha madness.

I showed it to Mayank and JiaAn at spellbound and they said I was like TOTALLY insane..
"You're mad! That can't be the carpal bones! Those are obviously fasciculi surrounded by endomysium.."

Ok. Back to Snell <3

lyrics for

2008-08-28T22:41:00.002+08:00

hi all

haha nice song. just that cannot hear the lyrics clearly. so for those who are still figuring out the lyrics like me...

The PCR Song by Scientists for Better PCR

There was a time when to amplify DNA,
You had to grow tons and tons of tiny cells.(Oooh)
Then along came a guy named Dr. Kary Mullis,
Said you can amplify in vitro just as well.
Just mix your template with a buffer and some primers,Nucleotides and polymerases too.
Denaturing, annealing, and extending,
Well it’s amazing what heating and cooling and heating will do.

[Chorus]PCR when you need to detect mutation (detect mutation)
PCR when you need to recombine (recombine)
PCR when you need to find out who the daddy is (who’s your daddy?)
PCR when you need to solve a crime (solve a crime)[x2]

haha yup

chevres
junyang

For the Bored.

2008-08-28T18:56:00.003+08:00

Hello people! I've just finished my first clinical (which was damn cool) and I'm slacking away in the library. Anyway just a tribute to all those out there who are mugging away at RNA, DNA, PCR and what not.

I think its damn funny lol.

The PCR Song.

D & D

2008-08-22T23:03:00.005+08:00

Hello people!
Pravin, Linus, Nah and I went down to Far East Plaza this afternoon. Found a shop called Lips Enterprises. Its a pretty well-stocked place specialising in dress-up parties.. and we found what we were looking for. Sad thing is that the price is pretty steep ($45 pax), since that shop is having a happy monopoly there.

For cheaper alternatives, we're considering renting costumes from masquerade @ bugis ($35 pax). We're sending a few people down tmr morning to check it out, with their informed consent of course.

Anyway, I'll just post the pictures of what you guys missed. Which really isn't much cos they coerced me to be the model, on the grounds that I was "already wearing black pants".

DISCLAIMER. COSTUMES LOOK BETTER IN REAL LIFE, AND WHEN YOU'RE WEARING IT. CHANCES ARE, THE MODEL MAKES THE COSTUME LOOK BAD.

Gosh this is so embarrassing >.<
TheMole.

2008-08-09T23:40:00.005+08:00

HELLO HELLO!

for those who have missed the many outings ragging and flagging of bombini,
here are the photos!

FLAG DAY: 050808

happy flagging~

the origins of the mingsheng iconic pose!

SENTOSA OUTING: 060808

sentosa express! our first mass cam whore picture!

basking in the sun! yays~

we <33>

siloso beach + bombini = fun and coolness. hahaha!

we really do love trees!
the girls took a lot of effort to get up there k! haha

RAG DAY 080808

OUR sam, pamela and jonathan... strewn on the floor.
but they do look good. haha!

picture of JIAAN! who has been MIA for quite long.
the results of being MIA is really like him - depression.
explains the crazy dementor like outfit.
haha!
but yes great job jiaan for the rag dance!

that's all folks. ENJOY!
cuz school's starting soon! hoho!

2008-08-09T19:10:00.000+08:00

hi m1s! my first post here :D heehee...

i hope these few weeks from the start of medicamp have been an exciting start to your lives as docs in training :D great job for the enthusiasm shown during all rag sessions. as dreary as the stuff we had to do seemed, i enjoyed it whenever i was there.. i got to know u guys better n i know u guys got to know each other better as well. :D

term starts on monday. dun let the fun stop ya?! enjoy med sch but also study hard.. help each other along the way. once in awhile dun forget to jio ur seniors out for some fun too ya ;) haha alright. enjoy the last of hols!

cheerios!!!
Ju :D

2008-08-04T00:22:00.002+08:00

Hello Bombini!

As far as I know, we've got a few things on this week.
To the best of my knowledge, I'll post them here.

4thAug, Monday.
1130 - 1700 RAG OPS Briefing (rag attire)
1345 - 1600 Freshman Induction Ceremony (smart casual)
1530 - 1730 Basketball with Seniors (cos they're short of players)

5thAug, Tuesday.
0800 - 1800 FLAG! (Meet outside LT28)

6thAug, Wednesday.
Nothing at the moment

7thAug, Thursday.
1800 - Friday RAG OPS commences. (rag attire, bring extra set of clothes, bring sleeping stuff)

8thAug, Friday.
0200 - 0400 Moving and assembly of Float
0800 - 1800 RAG (:
1800 - 1159 Clean Up.

Do enjoy your week people (:
The Mole.

11thAug, Monday.
0830 - 1200 White Coat Ceremony. Bring your parents and Invitation Letter.
1400 - 1800 Introductory Lectures.

2008-07-30T17:33:00.000+08:00

yellooow bombinians! i am your new bee:D

2008-07-20T20:24:00.000+08:00

i dunno how many pple actually read our blog, but anyway, i shall update here and on our groups.. :) haha..

our dear yunpei has helped us to purchase our tickets for the dark knight tmr, at the cathay..show time is at 6.15pm..please rmb to bring your money - 6 dollars per ticket! please come for rag, then we can all go there tog..otherwise, for those who have got good reasons for not coming for rag, meet us at the entrance of the cathay at 6pm.. :) do note that we only purchased 20 tickets, for those people who indicated that they will be watching it during our og outing to ben and jerry's last monday.. as yunpei has paid for the tickets in advance, please be responsible and turn up for the show if you had indicated that you'll be going, or else it'd be very unfair for her.. if you really cannot go for the show, find a replacement to take your ticket.. :) responsiblity should be a quality a good doctor must possess.. :)

so......see you guys tmr at rag or at the cathay at 6pm! :)

-Elaine

ps: if i'm thinking of organising a kbox outing for the og, who's keen on going? when would be a good time for our kbox outing? i think we've been having quite a few outings already, and with d&d coming up, we may wanna save up some money before our next outing?.. how long would you guys need to save up $12 (estimated cost per person)? hee.. ;)

helloz. ~angie

2008-07-18T10:13:00.000+08:00

yo everyone, darkknight is NICE! the joker is CRAZY. please do not end up like him after studying medicine. go watch!:P

Medical Schemes

2008-07-16T01:05:00.000+08:00

Jonathan has been going around requesting for our Personal Statements for the supposed altruistic cause of helping his juniors.
Beware the corrupted minds of medicine undergrads XD

Jn }{ - benidictus says:
i think i can sell them to med hopefulls
2. `[m!Ng.] says:
?
Jn }{ - benidictus says:
hahas
Jn }{ - benidictus says:
compliation of all successful PS
Jn }{ - benidictus says:
for reference
2. `[m!Ng.] says:
WAH LAO SOME SORT OF A SENIOR YOU ARE
Jn }{ - benidictus says:
sell for $10
Jn }{ - benidictus says:
i think can make it
Jn }{ - benidictus says:
LOL

worship me,
or i'll steal your kidneys (:

Dungeons and Dragons!

2008-07-15T23:43:00.000+08:00

Ok. D&D.

Dinner and Dance!
Location : Hilton Hotel
Date : 30th August 2008
Time : (i'm bugging the D&D OIC for this)
Theme : Rope, Knife or Candlestick? (Mystery sort of theme)
Price : S$70

Ookok. I know that by now many of you would be expecting me to ask "who's going!". But guess what! I'm NOT. Cos perhaps you guys need more time to think.. But I'll start bugging soon haha.

But more important (I feel) is for us to come up with what theme our OG is going to have, what costumes we're going to go in. Would some kind souls help to give me ideas? I'm cracking my brains and frying my braincells harder than I've done since As.
Thanks(:

Your beloved D&D rep.
aka the innocent mole.

2008-07-11T19:04:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Interested in going for the movie screening of 'The Dark Knight'? It's on next thursday at cineleisure at 7.30pm. Tickets going at 10 bucks each. We could make this an OG outing, and invite our OGLs along. It'll be a fun and meaningful activity for us. Julia said that we gotta act fast if we wanna grab tickets as they're running out fast. Maybe we could come to a decision and book out tics asap if we wanna go for it. Any violent objections to the movie screening? :)

- Elaine

2008-07-10T22:57:00.000+08:00

Hello(:

The Mole here.
We'll stick to this skin in the meantime alright?

Kay I've not slept since I got back from camp.
Nights!

First Post

2008-07-10T22:13:00.000+08:00

Yo everyone!

Lol. Blog for anything and everything. Rant here, or anything larh. The blogskin is the default one for now. Anyon well versed in html or any other web coding language like css can make one specially for us! =) Haha. I am too lazy to do it. =P

Yupz thats all for now.