The huge investment for one player

What i have chosen for posting here is all about football. Football is my favorite sport and i believe that many people around the world also like this fascinating sport. Playing football or watching football competition can help us relaxing. The popularity of this sport support many football league competitions aroung the world to grow up rapidly. It is obvious that most of the popular leagues which have a large number of active fan around the world follow are in Weastern country such as English Premire League in England , Calco Siere A in Italy and La Liga in Spain. Indeed, every team in the world want to beat their rivals so as to gaining champion as much as they can. Absolutely, each football teams know player is part of the team which is the most crucial source for leading their team to overcome their goals. This extream strive boosts football team to invest their money on purchasing the new player for becoming better team. The success of the club does not only give the honour to the club, but it also make the owner of the club be more reputative. However, the price for purchasing one talented player in nowadays is very high and i really want to discuss on this exaggerated price in this respondance.


According to the news, Manchester City, which is one of the football teams in English Premire League, accomplished to buy Edin Dzego, who has been regarded as a talented football player. Man City had intended to bring this player to be their assets since the football World Cup Tournament 2010 arranged in South Africa were officially closed. The incredible ability of this player has been attracting many famous teams aroung the world interesting in him. Therefore, his former team, which was Wolfsburg, seem this player as high value player for their team. At the first time, Wolfburg did not want to sell him anymore and tried to pursuade this player being with them, but the player actually want to leave. Eventually Wolfburg had to decide to sell him out and hope to gain a large amount of money from selling him. Therefore, Wolfburg decided to sell this player at 27 millions pound. Once this news are published, Manchester City showed their extreamly interesting on this tranferring. They tried to do anything for making a contact with this player and finally they accomplished. Edin Dzego are becoming as one of value assets for this football club and are expected to become as the key player for leading Man city to be the most succesful football club in the world.


Actually, i am one of Manchester City fans. I have been cheering this team since Thaksin spent his money to take over this team from the old british owner. Firstly, i have to confess that the most important reason to become as Man city fan is the admiration of Thaksin, who is the first Thai businessman becoming as the owner of football team in English Premier League. Unless he sold this team to the new invertor in 2009, i still cheer this team as my favorite football club. The new owner of the club is the Abu Dhabi United Group for Deverlopment and Investment(ADUG), which the president of this affluent group is Sheikh Mansour. Sheikh Mansour are respected as the most important person for enhancing this football team to become as one of the prestigious football club in the world. Since he took his position as the owner of this club, he has never been stopping to support his team. He has spent approximately 750m pound in every area of Manchester City and also invested 1 billon pound for developing the area around the City of Manchester stadium as contributing factors. It cannot be dinied that the image of this football club has been changed drastically in last three years. Nowadays the first team of this football club are respected as one of the most vigorous teams in the world because their team are consisted of many world class players such as Carlos Taves, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Johh Hart. They are now running for finding the first champion after waiting for a long time. The recently complete contact with Edin Dzego ,which will bring this talented player play for the club, remind me to realize something about the current price of football player. If we think about the price of this player at 27m pound(Equally 1,350,000,000Baht) in the football market, it is reasonable price for this player. On the other hand, people who do not interested in football would probably be amazed with this price. The reason why i think this investment is worthwhile is the benefits that Man city will gain from this player could be more than 27 m. pound. Actually, the club has a long year contact with the player and this contact give the authority to the club for possessing this heritage. As a result, the club can earn the money in various ways from one player such as the distribution from advertisement and the selling of player's shirt. Therefore, i predict that the cost for purchasing this player will be returned to the club rapidly. Moreover, His age is another reason that make his price very high. This player still be young, so his skill can be improved easily and his time for playing football still be in the long term. I also think about this important point and absolutely it influence me to agree with this invesment


I am delighted to know that Edin Dzego will be play for my favorite club. He is a good player that caused by his straight, skill, speed and even extreamly active mind. I am also confident with his ability that can probably adapt quickly for his game in English Premire League. He will become the key player for the club soon as he had been for his former team. Therefore, i think that this player can help my favorite team to be the Champion at the end of the season. So, what do you think about this investment?







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References

Manchester City sign striker Edin Dzego from Wolfsburg. (2011, January 7). BBC News. Retrieved January 28,2011 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/9336604.stm

Do you want Curry soup?

Yes it a late blogging and I have no good reason for my late work. However, I think this topic is always a contemporary argument in this decade, so I blogged it.

I don’t know why in Thailand curry powder is a symbol of prostitute. It a rude word to refer to prostitute. Why will people use food as a symbol of something which they disdain it? Do you know the history of Curry Girl? If yes, please tell me. Come back to the main topic. I read the argument about prostitution on the Economist debates. Before I read this debate I have strong belief that prostitution should be legal; however, after I read it, I consider the difference between criminalization and legalization. Both of them might be not contrast directly, and I think it the important point of this debate.

This debate is about prostitution. Should it be legalized or not? Mr. John Parker, the Globalisation Editor for the Economist is moderator, and Sienna Baskin and Melissa Farley role in a defender and an opponent respectively. Baskin tries to point the drawbacks of prostitute criminalization. She state that criminalization cannot decrease the number of prostitutes because if prostitute is recorded as criminals, she cannot do other work, borrow money, and be limited most opportunities. Therefore criminalization in prostitution cannot solve problems, but motivate problem to be more severe. Moreover, Baskin show the statistic that criminalization is the important factor which persuade prostitute to tell nothing to polices when violence happen because they are afraid that they will be arrested because of their job. In contrast, Melissa point that prostitution is legal or not is unnecessary because both legal and illegal prostitution disregard human rights of woman. In addition, Melissa, show the evidence which confirm that legal prostitution is not have better status more than illegal one. In Amsterdam, Netherland where prostitution is legal, there are about 80% of all prostitute used to be violated, while that legalization leads to increase in the number of prostitution. Therefore, legalization have no ability to solve the problem or help victims of prostitution.

Before I read this debate, I strongly believe that legalization is only one way to help the prostitutes. However, now I’m not sure. Like Melissa said, even if prostitution is legal, it does not lead to the better quality of life of prostitute because pimps and other violent factor still exist. However, I still believe that prostitute legalization is better than prostitute criminalization because even if both of them cannot reduce violence and disregard human rights, prostitute legalization grantee that prostitutes can protect themselves through the law such as tell polices or the court. Prostitute is one of the world oldest job. It occurred in every civilization. Some societies might disdain people in this job such as Thai society or most societies but some societies have different aspect. For the example, In ancient India, prostitute is the public persons they relate with every class in society, or in Greek prostitute is the acceptable job but they might have no rights to be the representatives in The Council of 500. Therefore, each society have deferent perspectives to prostitution. However, in modern societies the number of prostitutes increases rapidly and if there are no policy to curb this phenomenal it might develop to be the severe problem. I think legalization is one of the best ways to handle to this problem. If the prostitute is the legal job, people in this job will have to pay tax and have right to access into social welfare or other thing which can develop their quality of life. Yes it might increase the number of prostitutes, but I think it OK because in that time it not legal job. What is the problem if it increase? Moreover, someone might thing it might make bad reputation to countries. Yes it might and then? I thing good reputation cannot make people be full, while legal prostitution can. Now Thailand has bad reputation in this issues, so we should use this to develop the quality of this job. Make a standard of prostitutes, fix the rate, guarantee hygiene and make Thailand to be the centre of prostitution of the world. I believe this policy will generate countless money and will be the main product of Thailand. Now Thailand’s economy run partly be unofficial business, so what anything else should we concern, while moral cannot make people be full?

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References

Prostitution,This house believes that prostitution should be legal. (2010, September 6). The economist debate. Retrieved January 25, 2011 from http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/572.

Gay rights, and wrongs: Why Aristotle matters today.

In case you had not already guessed, my major at university was philosophy, with logic and ethics being my main areas of interest, so when I saw "Aristotle" in the title of a story in the BBC News, a couple of days ago, I emailed it to myself after a quick skim. In his very short discussion of a recent British court decision, in "Aristotle on modern ethical dilemmas", philosopher Mark Vernon manages to both mention the names of leading representatives of the radically different approaches to moral questions and perhaps also to show why philosophy really does matter in daily life.

Using as an example the decision "last week [by] Bristol County Court, [which] found that Peter and Hazelmary Bull, of Chymorvah Hotel in Cornwall, acted unlawfully in refusing [gay couple] ]Martyn Hall and his civil partner Steven Preddy a double room." (2011, ¶ 4), Vernon shows how the moral philosophies of deontology, utilitarianism and virtue ethics, as expounded by Immanual Kant, Jeremy Bentham and Aristotle respectively, would answer the question: "Should Christian hoteliers be forced, by law, to offer hospitality to a gay couple?" (¶ 3). As  Vernon reports, the argument is over what is morally right and wrong. The Bulls are a devout Christian couple who sincerely believe that homosexuality and unmarried sex are wrong; Hall and his partner are a gay couple in a civil union (legally equivalent to a marriage), and believe that they have a right to be treated like any married couple. The court agreed with Hall and Preddy that they have the same legal right to be given a room in the Bull's small hotel, and that the Bull's acted illegally in denying them that service because they are not a married male and female couple. As Vernon emphasises in his very brief exploration of the Kantian, Benthamite and Aristotelian answers to the deep moral question raised, the legal ruling by a court does not and cannot settle the much more important moral issues at stake here.

So, is the Bristol Country Court's legal decision the morally right decision?
Although he does not explicitly say so, Vernon appears to agree on broadly Aristotelian grounds that the judges legal ruling is also the moral decision. But I think he is wrong: gay couples, even married gay couples, do not have a right to be served or treated by people the same way those people treat or serve others. When Vernon reports that the judge based his legal ruling "on broadly Kantian grounds", he is correct; and he is also right to explain that Kant would argue "that individuals in civil partnerships must be treated in the same way as individuals who are married" (¶ 5). However, I don't think Kant would agree with Vernon's next sentence, that "it's their right".

The trouble is that between his two sentences, Vernon has made the same sort of mistake that Stephen Law warns against in his discussion of faith defined as "belief without good reason" in "Faith in the Twenty-first Century". (Law, 2003, p. 119 - 120). Vernon has confused two very different meanings of the words he is using. In Law's essay, the confusion is between the idea that faith means "not absolutely proved" and the very different idea that faith means "blind faith", which is completely unrelated to and independent of any reasons, evidence or support. Unless we careful, it is easy for us or others to confuse and switch between these two very different definitions of what we mean when we use the word faith to describe a belief. The usual meaning of faith when contrasted with reason is "blind faith". If a belief in god or anything else is based on reasons and evidence, then it is not faith, but reason. Similarly, Vernon seems to have confused two very different meanings of the word "right". He begins with a discussion of the law, and in that context, the obvious interpretation is that he is talking about the legal rights of gay and lesbian couples, which is certainly all the judge was concerned with. The judges job is to interpret and apply the law, not to decide moral right and wrong (and there is another completely different use of the word right). The judges decision was to find that the gay couple in the civil union had exactly the same legal right as a married man and woman. However, what is controversial, and what Vernon really wants to discuss, is the moral question: do gay couples have a moral right to be treated the same as married men and women? As everything that follows shows, it is the question of moral rights, or natural human rights independent of any law, with which Vernon is really concerned, and it is the moral questions that are controversial. It is the moral question that leads some people to argue that the judge's decision about legal rights is morally wrong, even if it is exactly what the law requires.  This might be confusing, so I'll give an example: the law is anything that a people or government approve as law, so the Thai government could make a law tomorrow that all people with Italian surnames would be paid 1,000,000 Baht / month by the government. That would mean I had a legal right to get 1,000,000 Baht / month from the Thai government. But I would not have any human right to the money - moral principles do not require that I or anyone else with an Italian surname be paid anything by any government simply for having that sort of surname, and a lot of people would argue, rightly, that the law was unjust and immoral, as many well made laws are. A legal right and a moral right are not the same, and it is important not to confuse these two completely different things.

So, where does that leave the gay couple in a civil union and the married Christian couple who think the gay people are sinners behaving immorally as their religion teaches?

With regard to a legal right, I would agree with Vernon that the judge made his decision on the Kantian grounds that justice requires the people be treated equally (that's not exactly Kant's view, but it's close enough.) There is already a moral component here: justice is a moral, not a legal, concept and most legal systems do include the moral idea that the law should be impartial and consistent. However, after saying that "it is their right", Vernon clearly leaves the legal issues and moves onto strictly moral concerns as he discusses from various perspectives whether the law and the judges decision is in fact morally right. That is, he moves on to discuss whether gay couples have a human right to be treated same way as married male and female couples, and this is where I disagree.

Kant's moral theory might require that the law treat people equally when they are relevantly equal, but it does not require that we treat everyone equally, nor does it give anyone any such right. We might find short people sexy, and Kant would allow that we may therefore discriminate on the basis of height when we choose our marriage or other sex partners, that we have no duty to treat everyone the same way. Equally, when we invite people into our home, we have the right to make up whatever rules we like, however idiotic and offensive they might be: I can require that everyone I invite in be over 1.98 meters tall if I want; that is a stupid rule, and will likely offend many people, but causing offence does not make it wrong for Kant. As Vernon makes fairly clear, Bentham's utilitarian moral theory does not give anyone any human rights at all, so that theory cannot provide gay couples with any special human right to be treated the same as mixed sex couples. Finally, Aristotle argues that things should be allocated not because some people have a right to them, but because they will best use them, so on his theory, the legal privileges of marriage need only be available to those who best use them for the purposes for which they are intended. Aristotle would argue that the law and people should discriminate according to the quality of the relationship created by teh people. He would not give any right that all be treated equal, but the contrary, that marriages and other relationships not be treated equally. For example, that the Bulls could rightly discriminate against married men and women with bad marriages to refuse them admission to their hotel. I think that the theory that Vernon really wanted is the much more recent Kantian type of theory proposed by John Rawls in 1971 (Rawls, 1973; 2001), which could give strong reasons for believing (not merely having faith) that gay couples do have a right to be treated the same way as any other couple in a marriage, or indeed any other sort of committed relationship, whether married or not.

The type of moral theory that is applied has serious repercussions, and they cannot all be right. The search for good reasons to inform our moral beliefs so that they are not merely blind prejudices, wishes, cultural conventions or other arbitrary accidents has kept moral philosophers and everyone else in Western culture who cares about right and wrong, good and bad, justice and injustice, busy and perplexed since Socrates kicked off moral philosophy some 2,400 years ago.

Because these questions are so very complex, I wrote the essay questions you are currently working on to largely avoid them. None of the questions actually ask you to say that something is right or wrong, good or bad, justified or not.

So, what about gay couples? Do they have a moral right to be treated the same as mixed sex married couples? When? Why?
Or as Vernon puts the moral question:  "Should Christian hoteliers be forced, by law, to offer hospitality to a gay couple?" (2011, ¶ 3).

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References

Law, S. (2003). Faith in the twenty-first century. In The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas (p.113 - 123). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Rawls, J. (1973). A Theory of Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rawls, J. (2001). Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Harvard: Bellknap, Harvard University Press.

Vernon, M. (2011, January 25). Aristotle on modern ethical dilemmas. BBC News. Retrieved January 29, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12275094

Poor sleep, poor life

How many hours do you sleep or need to sleep per night? How often do you think that you don't have enough sleep? We have heard that we should sleep six to eight hours a night. However, if we can't sleep for that long, what will happen? We will be sleepy, that's right but could you imagine that lack of sleep will lead to much more serious problems in your life? You may think it can't, but can.

According to the article 'Insomnia damages relationships, according to study', the Great Britain Sleep Report led by the Mental Health Foundation shows the connection between insomnia and poor relationship, low energy level and an inability to concentrate. Also, poor sleep leads to health problems, including depression and heart disease. Moreover, from an online survey, the result shows the different experience between good sleepers and insomniacs. People with insomnia were four times as likely to have relationship problems, three times as likely to feel depressed and three times as likely to suffer from an inability to concentrate. Dr. Robotham, senior researcher of the Mental Health Foundation and lead author of report said that it's important that people should find efficient ways to improve the quality of their sleeping because poor sleep leads to mental health problems which cause even worse sleep.

In my life, I often don't get enough sleep, according to both a lack of time and insomnia. I always go to bed after midnight and sleep about four or five hours a night or less. Also, when I have stress, it's hard for me to get a nice sleep. I know these are not good for my health, both physical and mental. For me, if I didn't sleep enough or couldn't sleep well, I'll wake up with a headache and feel tried all day. Sometimes, I couldn't catch up what people said or what I was studying. So, after I read this article, I understand well what they said. I think many people have the same experiences; however the question is that why do we still don't get enough or don't find some ways to have a good sleeping if we know it's not good for our health? I think the answer is that we are familiar with them. Most people used to have lack of sleep and insomnia. We don't think they can cause problems because we don't have them long enough to get serious problems. However, in the long run, they are actually not good for our lives. Since sleep is one of the most important factors for living, we should pay more attention to it. If healthy eating is a key to healthy life, a high-quality and enough sleep is also an answer for living well.
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References
Insomnia damages relationships, according to study. (2011, January 27). BBC News. Retrieved January 27, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12287535

How will a polar bear live without sea ice?

If people do not have land for living, they will make boats or rafts for living on water, and in this case, if it happens to animals, how they will do for surviving themselves?

The region around the North Pole where polar bears live has faced in the same above problem. That is polar bears land has been decreased because sea ice is melting.

According to “Polar bear's epic nine day swim in search of sea ice”, the scientists who study bears around the Beaufort sea, north of Alaska, reported that a result of climate change could be a cause of the event that the polar bear had to swim continuously for over nine days. Moreover, they said that increased sea ice melts force polar bears to swim long distances which risk to polar bears health and their future generations.

After I read the article, I do not know exactly whether I should blame climate change or natural cycle. However, this problem was occurred and it has effected directly on the polar bears living. We know that the polar bears can swim; moreover, they swim between land and sea ice floes to hunt seals, and the polar bears hunt their prey on frozen sea ice. Therefore, when the sea ice has decreased, their pattern of the hunting will be changed. In this situation, I wonder if the polar bear cannot adjust their habitat, they will face with extinction.

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References

Davies E. Polar bear's epic nine day swim in search of sea ice. (2011, January 25). BBC News. Retrieved January 26, 2011 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9369000/9369317.stm

Teaching manners to Chinese children – a solution to better image of China

Talking about China, do you know what normal manners of Chinese people are and how they behave in their daily lives? From my experience, I saw many men spitting on the road while I was walking to a grocery store located in a rural area of China. Additionally, hearing loud noise from cars’ horns along the way was also very annoying. These behaviors are usually acted by Chinese citizens, in other words, they seem to be unconcerned and neglected to behave in good manners. As I saw the news “China sets classes in good manners for schoolchildren” in BBC News, I think it is a good idea to improve etiquette of Chinese inhabitants.

According to the article, the major purpose of setting classes of what is called “civilized manners” to schoolchildren are to improve quality of people especially in morals and impact on perspectives from overseas. The ministry of education includes the classes to teach since the early age which is from primary schools to high schools. The lessons are classified and assigned to each level from the easiest understandable to the most difficult conducts. For example, lessons for students in primary levels involve using polite language, learning traffic rules and respecting the elders, while for high school pupils, involve etiquette of dispute and delivering speeches. However, although this action seems to give benefits to all Chinese dwellers rather than drawbacks, but it is still concerned by communists for value of society in terms of communist principles.

From my own experience, I totally agree of what the government acts to improve manners of their residents which can definitely lead to many benefits such as better quality of lives and also better viewpoint from foreigners. First of all, to start the lessons of courtesy since people are young is an effective and efficient learning method because they can easily memorize and gradually realize what good and bad behaviors is as well as its effects as a result of their distinct behaviors. Moreover, teaching not only good manners but also demonstration of how people in other civilized countries behave to each other is very crucial which can contribute students to imitate from good examples. They will indirectly obtain wide vision from other cultures and continuously act the same habits as those civilized persons. Focusing on Chinese cultures only does not lead to effectively enhance their manners because, if young people do not act according to what they have learned but choose to behave as same as adults’, the lessons will be useless at all. What is more, good manners can lead to peaceful societies such as people queuing for using toilet, dealing business with compromise and complying traffic rules. They can result in less fight and more harmony. Finally, enhancing etiquette can develop foreigners’ aspect which can result in increasing number of tourists in the country. If people from other countries see Chinese citizens as civilized person, they will certainly travel and then persuade others to travel to China also which can reflect to economics of the country at the end. Thus, I hope that the government of China will succeed in this action and gain best results as they expect.

I would suggest to the ministry of education that they should consider course structure carefully in order to manage and assign the lessons properly. They may integrate the lessons with real situations for only once a week such as how to queue and wait with patience, how to talk politely to strangers and how to act to people under or over their age. Furthermore, the lessons of etiquette should be included in the whole education systems, not only schools but universities also. Last of all, adults must behave with good manners in order to be examples to their children. If it starts by only young people, it can result in different attitudes among people in the same cultures. Thus, if the government intends to develop civilization of their populations, they should concern about adults’ behaviors also.

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References

China sets classes in good manners for schoolchildren. (2011, January 24). BBC News Asia-Pacific. Retrieved January 25, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12269505

Are you full or hungry?

Nowadays we don’t need to worry about our food. We just consider our menu, which food is good tasty or healthy food. But lots of countries are still suffering from poverty. When I saw the title, “Report: Urgent action needed to avert global hunger”, I want to know that what author wants to say in his article. I really wonder what the author say to us.

According to the article, the current system that has been prepared for global hunger should be changed, because this system will not support global hunger problem that is near at hand in the world. Due to increasing population and urbanization, which is changed country into city, but also growing the demands for the basic needs such as water, food, and energy, our system are in the urgent situation now. The author said that this is complicated problem that has the different sections such as climate change, water, food, and energy, not the only one. According to this situation, there will be some alternatives such as genetic modification, cloning, and nanotechnology. In order to offer future generation also to finish global hunger, it is necessary to redesign it and continue to study.

This article reminds me an opinion by one professor that I read few years ago. He expected the third World War, that is Food War. He mentioned that nations want to make highly their economic profits by their crop products or the climate should seriously change so some country want to keep their products or shouldn’t want to export or exchange. So at that time people might fight with each other for their basic needs. I thought it’s really interesting guesses. But now it could be happened in the future. Our lives have been changing rapidly. We can get the various information easily. But still we have lots of problems. Poverty is one of serious problems in the world. But the poverty is not restricting places, it could be happened everywhere. So our governments should keep their agricultures using supporting some money or teaching developing skill to farmers. And nations try to solve the problem such as making union or countries should help each other even reduce their economic profits.

And the article mentioned one of solution, particular technology, such as genetic modification. Do you think it could be one solution of nation hungry?

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References

Ghosh, P. (2011 January,24).Report: Urgent action needed to avert global hunger. BBC News. Retrieved January 25, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12249909

Jobs in a hard time

ipod, ipad or iphone is a famous device in this period of time. It is new technology that becoming a top of listening, watching, capturing devices. Tape, vdo, and dvd or those devices player are dying. Form of medium is changed to new thing that much more easy for portable-lighter and smaller than the old one- and also more space to keep the data. New form of meduim look more friendly to user devices. This new technology is an Apple's product series, all product is in a top list of high selling point on worldwide devices chart. Who is standing behinds this success?.

According to the article, “Jobs Takes Leave at Apple Again, Stirring Questions” in New York times news that Steven P. Jobs, who is head of executive management team of Apple, is leaved because of the health problem. He is the wise leader of the company who brings Apple business to the spot light. After he got a cancer which he could only work on and off and need more time to rest in the hospital to cure his disease. The news reported update of his health problem and also staging of the marketing status among their competitor like Samsung.

I feel very sad for his health problem and wishing he will get well soon even his problem become a serious stage. Steve had to leave from the management team, even he is a group head leader who create many effective marketing plan which show a fully creative aspect. Two years ago I search Apple website and found that Apple has a similar promotion in the summer time which give a support for the student when they buy MacBook. Why does i think it's very interesting promotion? In a summer time, it was a summer break for school. It is a time that universities or collages waiting for new students to join in. Then Apple has an good offer to all student who buy MacBook at this term, they will get free ipod touch. The strategy brings Mac become a popular item among student who are a big target group in the country. Even Steve will stop working but the company still move on while the selling prices is raising up, new director of the management team have to make a decision and keep running their business to accomplish their goal. It is the best way that the new director have to deal with it in the hard time.

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References

HELFT, M. (2011, January 17). Jobs Takes Leave at Apple Again, Stirring Questions. New york times news. Retrieved January 25, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/technology/18apple.html?

The vast investment for one player...

What i have chosen for posting here is all about football. Football is my favorite sport and i believe that many people around the world also like this fascinating sport. Playing football or watching football competition can help us relaxing. The popularity of this sport support many football league competitions aroung the world to grow up rapidly. It is obvious that most of the popular leagues which have a large number of active fan around the world follow are in Weastern country such as English Premire League in England , Calco Siere A in Italy and La Liga in Spain. Indeed, every team in the world want to beat their rivals so as to gaining champion as much as they can. Absolutely, each football teams know player is part of the team which is the most crucial source for leading their team to overcome their goals. This extream strive boosts football team to invest their money on purchasing the new player for becoming better team. The success of the club does not only give the honour to the club, but it also make the owner of the club be more reputative. However, the price for purchasing one talented player in nowadays is very high and i really want to discuss on this exaggerated price in this respondance.

According to the news, Manchester City, which is one of the football teams in English Premire League, accomplished to buy Edin Dzego, who has been regarded as a talented football player. Man City had intended to bring this player to be their assets since the football World Cup Tournament 2010 arranged in South Africa were officially closed. The incredible ability of this player has been attracting many famous teams aroung the world interesting in him. Therefore, his former team, which was Wolfsburg, seem this player as high value player for their team. At the first time, Wolfburg did not want to sell him anymore and tried to pursuade this player being with them, but the player actually want to leave. Eventually Wolfburg had to decide to sell him out and hope to gain a large amount of money from selling him. Therefore, Wolfburg decided to sell this player at 27 millions pound. Once this news are published, Manchester City showed their extreamly interesting on this tranferring. They tried to do anything for making a contact with this player and finally they accomplished. Edin Dzego are becoming as one of value assets for this football club and are expected to become as the key player for leading Man city to be the most succesful football club in the world.

Actually, i am one of Manchester City fans. I have been cheering this team since Thaksin spent his money to take over this team from the old british owner. Firstly, i have to confess that the most important reason to become as Man city fan is the admiration of Thaksin, who is the first Thai businessman becoming as the owner of football team in English Premier League. Unless he sold this team to the new invertor in 2009, i still cheer this team as my favorite football club. The new owner of the club is the Abu Dhabi United Group for Deverlopment and Investment(ADUG), which the president of this affluent group is Sheikh Mansour. Sheikh Mansour are respected as the most important person for enhancing this football team to become as one of the prestigious football club in the world. Since he took his position as the owner of this club, he has never been stopping to support his team. He has spent approximately 750m pound in every area of Manchester City and also invested 1 billon pound for developing the area around the City of Manchester stadium as contributing factors. It cannot be dinied that the image of this football club has been changed drastically in last three years. Nowadays the first team of this football club are respected as one of the most vigorous teams in the world because their team are consisted of many world class players such as Carlos Taves, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Johh Hart. They are now running for finding the first champion after waiting for a long time. The recently complete contact with Edin Dzego ,which will bring this talented player play for the club, remind me to realize something about the current price of football player. If we think about the price of this player at 27m pound(Equally 1,350,000,000Baht) in the football market, it is reasonable price for this player. On the other hand, people who do not interested in football would probably be amazed with this price. The reason why i think this investment is worthwhile is the benefits that Man city will gain from this player could be more than 27 m. pound. Actually, the club has a long year contact with the player and this contact give the authority to the club for possessing this heritage. As a result, the club can earn the money in various ways from one player such as the distribution from advertisement and the selling of player's shirt. Therefore, i predict that the cost for purchasing this player will be returned to the club rapidly. Moreover, His age is another reason that make his price very high. This player still be young, so his skill can be improved easily and his time for playing football still be in the long term. I also think about this important point and absolutely it influence me to agree with this invesment

I am delighted to know that Edin Dzego will be play for my favorite club. He is a good player that caused by his straight, skill, speed and even extreamly active mind. I am also confident with his ability that can probably adapt quickly for his game in English Premire League. He will become the key player for the club soon as he had been for his former team. Therefore, i think that this player can help my favorite team to be the Champion at the end of the season. So, what do you think about this investment?

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References

Manchester City sign striker Edin Dzego from Wolfsburg. (2011, January 7). BBC News. Retrieved January 28,2011 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/9336604.stm

If Lunar New Year without fireworks

What do you think? If people turn on the CDs which record of firecracker sounds instead of setting on fire on the real fireworks during the banquets, business openings, or other celebrations. If the Thai government is not allow to use firecrackers when the popular festivals come such as Loy Krathong festival. How do you feel? It makes people have a good feeling if that celebration without a beautiful light from fireworks.

According to the article “Taipei residents urged to use CDs not Firecrackers” in BBC News that the Taipei officials has begun urging residents to celebrate the Lunar New year festival by CDs which record of fireworks sounds replace in setting off the real thing. They claim that firecrackers have a large amount of noise, air and ground pollution when the tradition of setting off firecrackers. Firecrackers can be heard on the island at all hours during the 15-day Lunar New Year period and that sound like explosions. And the air is filled with a smoky smell and the ground is littered with tiny scraps of red paper. Therefore, the Taipei government has offered another way to their people to celebrate the Lunar New Year celebration.

After I finished this article that I thought it is bizarre and how people can get the same feeling in festival when they turn on the CDs sounds instead of real fireworks. It is not satisfaction to Taipei people because festival is not the same everyday. They want to set on fire on firecrackers because they belief it can drive away bad luck and welcome the new years. Actually, they don’t have a strong reason for prohibition. The officials can clean tiny scraps of red paper and sounds and smells are gone after the celebration finish. If they have a serious injured who were damaged by exploded of firework, so it is enough to ban. For example, during in Loy Krathong festival in Thailand, every year people have hurt by fireworks. In Thailand, many patients have a serious problem by fireworks such as lost arm, blind, and some cases have died. The main problem is teenagers toss firecrackers inside crowed for fun. Sometimes they do not think about the others they just want to excite and happy to them. Firecrackers like a beautiful objects it has serious poison if you get near it. Because fireworks have many classifies of power that it makes different power and light. Most problems have occurred by a big size of fireworks that it can kill people like bomb. Therefore, in Thailand should be ban some types of fireworks to protect people get hurt from it.

However, I am someone does not like to go to Loy Krathong festival because I really afraid about fireworks, I prefer setting off firecrackers more than playing CDs sound of fireworks when we celebrate special times as New Year. Because I don’t like pretending and I don’t know how bad luck is far away from my life. I know that it is just belief, but belief can make a strong concept to people. For instance, if you belief something you can do, so you can do it even though it is difficult like studying in English language. But you cannot do it if you lack of belief and confidence.



References

Sui, C. (2011, January 21). BBC News. Retrieved January 21, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12249080.

Should we do tests?

Being directly relevant to what we do, and what you are likely to be doing elsewhere for some years to come, "To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test" in The New York Times caught my eye. And it gave me something to think about as I was reading it.

Pam Belluck reports on some recent research which "[shows] that practicing retrieval produces greater gains in meaningful learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping" (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011). That is, taking tests to check what you have remembered actually helps you to learn better than spending a lot of time on making neat summaries, outlines, charts and other forms of concept mapping. As Belluck notes, the "study supports findings of a recent spate of research showing learning benefits from testing, including benefits when students get questions wrong" (2011, p.2, ¶ 1). Possible explanations for these results are that the act of retrieving something from memory changes, strengthens, the memory, and that making the effort to get it out of memory also helps to strengthen the ability to retrieve it later.

This interested me because we do both things in our classes: the summarizing and outlining you are doing this weekend are two concept mapping type activities, and on Monday morning you are doing a written test. I think we will continue doing both. It is clearer in the original paper by Karpicke and Blunt, but the research was limited to science learning; that is, to remembering scientific facts and their connections to theory, to each other and to other sets of facts. What we do in AEP isn't really aimed at learning anthropology, economics or whatever. I hope you find the material at least somewhat interesting and that you do learn something that might be worth learning, but our primary goals are to practice useful skills to enable better, more fluent and more confident reading and writing; we are not, for example, at AUA to memorize grammar rules, vocabulary or fascinating details about Nuchanulth house floor plans (I'm not going to test you on that, and it won't worry if  you forget it next week). Memorizing the rules of football might be very important, but knowing the rules cannot make you a good player unless you practice. You have to actually kick the ball and play real games to become a good football player. Similarly, great piano playing might need you to learn some rules about reading music, but the most important thing is to sit down in front of a piano every day and actually do it: play the piano. Reading and writing are the same: they are skills where there are important rules to learn, but the most important thing is to sit down every day (my suggestion is every day) and actually practise, and that means reading something new in English and writing something new in English. Of course, football players need feedback from an observant coach as much as piano players need tips on improving performance from a skilled teacher, which is why we spend time in class looking very critically (OALD, def.4) at the work you have done, both the reading and your writing. And on Monday, we will be doing more of that. And a test.

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References

Belluck, P. (2011, January 20). To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test. The New York Times. Retrieved January 21, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1

Karpicke, J.D. & Blunt, J.R. (2011, January 20). Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping [Abstract]. Science. retrieved January 20, 2011 from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/01/19/science.1199327.abstract

A full-course breakfast problem.

The first energy intake of a day seems to be breakfast. In general, it is the vital meal which the elderly encouraged their children to have. In the middle age, health concerning may lead to doubt whether it benefits for their well-being.

According to the article, ‘A big breakfast doesn’t reduce calorie intake’, the recent study in Germany claimed that having big breakfast would not be a right way to cut daily-energy consumtion. It showed that the following meal calories didn’t relevant to the morning dish. However, a dietetic expert argued that people who have breakfast tend to have more healthy diets during the day and be more successful in losing their weight.

Personally, I would disagree that weight might decrease by a small portion breakfast. What I have learned in school convinced me to believe that basal metabolic rate (BMR); the minimum rate of body using energy, plays an important role in balancing calories. There is an adaptation of basal metabolic rate of each person bases on their consuming. For example, starvation decreases this rate to prolong life. Evidently, there is a study, ‘Adaptive reduction in BMR . . .’, found a significant decrease of BMR after strict diets which lead to new equilibrium. In other words, people on a diet will have a lower rate in burning energy that can be why some might still gain weight in a long term condition. So, breakfast should not be a key to reduce for decreasing our storage. People who usually eat a big breakfast may not put on weight because of higher BMR.

As a result, most having or skipping breakfast may keep our body scale regardless of the difference in total intake as long as we are satisfied in our habits. So, beginning the day with healthy breakfast is probably a predictor of some personality trait, well organize and sporty for instance. As the nutritional expert mentioned that breakfast isn’t an obstacle in successful losing weight, lacking breakfast can end in an equal amount of intake.

The researchers concluded that breakfast had no influence on people’s lunch and dinner and therefore suggested reducing breakfast calories could help people lose weight. This state might be possible but it is better for us to keep balancing of meals and decreasing body weight scale in a healthy way.

PS. I've just finished my old task. I didn't mean to do the same story. Anyway, we probably gain more opinion.

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References:

A big breakfast doesn't reduce calorie intake. (2011, January 17). BBC news. Retrieved January 20, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12205379

Dulloo A, Jacquet J. Adaptive reduction in basal metabolic rate in response to food deprivation in humans: a role for feedback signals from fat stores. Am J Clin Nutr. 1998;68:599-606. Retrieved January 20, 2011 from http://www.ajcn.org/content/68/3/599.full.pdf+html

From Abidjan to Bangkok.

Do you think that the political conflict in Thailand is so violent for you? If we look beyond the last 5 years, Thai people have faced many severe political incidents so that can be considered as the most violent moment during 20 years period. Now, Ivory coast is confronting much much more brutal and irrational conflict than Thailand because Ivory coast people now have two presidents and two governments. How could it happen?

According to the article Pro-Gbagbo forces attack UN vehicles in Ivory Coast from the BBC News , Mr.Laurent Gbagbo, former Ivory coast president, has refused to admit defeat after the presidential election in November, in which UN approved his rival, Alassane Ouattara as the new president. Mr.Gbagbo sent his regular and irregular troops to attack UN vehicles in largest and important port city, Abidjan. Two vehicles were destroyed, with two people injured, said a spokeman. Last month, Mr Gbagbo ordered all foreign peacekeepers to leave the country immediately, but the UN has refused to recognise his authority to make such decisions.

When I first saw this picture in the article, I thought that it was a terrorist achievement. After I read the article, I was really surprised with the content about the cause of this situation. Once again that laws and people rights ignorance are the origin of the conflict but this time it is more serious when the man who controls military and courts has been denied the election result. You may saw this two institutions always involved in many significant events, especially, in Thailand. Who are going to dare with guns and laws? Perhaps, the one important problem of Mr. Gbagbo is he hasn't done it neatly as the recent Thai government has been doing. He shouldn't have proceeded the election but stimulated military forces to make a coup de'tat. Then use the constitutional council to eliminate rival parties. He should have consulted Thai government about to maintain a half democracy and complex power of political structure. Dr.Kanit Na Nakorn said that "Humans can live their life by just two things which are foods and justice" which is so true. A reason that keep Thai people still be patient to the serious common rights ignorance might be because their belly are still full. I think if people are hungry under super double-standards, many more severe riots might be occurred easily. King Louise the sixteenth might not have been executed, if there was enough bread for every French at that time. Although I prefer democracy, I'd like our country to decide which administration we really want to have; democracy, feudalism, dictatorship or absolute monarchy. If it is democracy, I want it be the full one with my full rights not a half or a quarter one. But if it is anything else, so I will be able to prepare for desperate leaving my beloved country and let those power hungers divide this tiny cake.

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References

Pro-Gbagbo forces attack UN vehicles in Ivory Coast. (2011, January 14).

BBC News.Retrieved January 20, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12187805

Bigger breakfast for lower weight?

We have heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and for good health, we should eat breakfast like a king, lunch as a prince and dinner as a pauper. Do you agree with these statement? Also, many studies showed that having breakfast could help us to lose weight.However, according to the article 'A big breakfast doesn't reduce calorie intake', having a big breakfast may not reduce but increase your weight.

From this article, the study published in Nutrition Journal showed that people still eat the same amount at lunch and dinner even they have a large breakfast. Moreover, there is another study led by the team at University of Munich. They followed 400 people who have large and small breakfast, and some of them skipped the meal. The result showed that people who had a big breakfast, approximately 400 calories larger than a small one, ate around 400 more calories a day. This means that people ate the same at lunch and dinner, no matter what they ate as breakfast. However, the British Dietetic Association said that a healthy breakfast is important for balancing diet, and people who eat breakfast have more balanced diets than those who skip this meal and can lose weight more successfully.

I agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In the morning, we should eat breakfast to boost up our bodies to get ready for the rest of the day. But, what should we eat? The researchers at University of Munich said that a big breakfast leads to increasing of calorie intake in a day. However, if we have a large breakfast, does it always mean that we intake more calories than people who have a smaller one? I don't think so. The large amount of food doesn't mean that it always has high calories. It depends on what you eat. You can eat a big bowl of salad but get lower calories than eating a piece of pizza. Some foods have low calories, such as fruit and vegetable, so you'll get lower calories even you eat it more. Nevertheless, if you have breakfast as in the picture above, I agree that having a big breakfast may not reduce calorie intake.

As the British Dietetic Association said that a healthy breakfast is important for balancing diet and this can lead to weight loss, I personally agree with them. From my experience, when I had breakfast, I wouldn't be so hungry at lunch and chose to eat foods which are good for health, such as vegetable and fish. On the other hand, if I skipped this meal, I would so hungry and tended to eat more oily and salty foods. These are reasons why now I try to eat a healthy breakfast everyday. It can help me to eat healthier during the day. If you don't take care of yourself, who will take care of you?

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References

A big breakfast doesn't reduce calorie intake. (2011, January 17). BBC News. Retrieved January 20, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12205379

Studies or Violation?

I am someone who likes to see Discovery Channel or Animal planet, and always impress the effort of researchers, who spend really long period for observing animals’ behavior. My most memorable documentary about animal’s behavior is The Emperor’s Journey, The Oscar Winner in 2005. It tells me about the story of Emperor Penguins, which spend more than 5 years to follow Penguin group, and it influence me to fall in love with Penguins. However, after I read the article from New York Times named Penguins Harmed by Tracking Bands, Study Finds, It leads me to have questions about study or following any creatures. Yes, the study can influence knowledge, but whether it is worth if the study violate the creature’s life?

The article says about the effect of Penguin studies to penguins’ lives. It is show that penguins tagged bands for following or studying them produced 39 percent fewer chicks (their children) and penguin tagged no-band have 44% more than flipper-banded penguins. For the reason, bands can drug while they swim, so they can gather food less than others, and it affect both parents and baby penguins. However, the researcher confirms that the studies about penguins have to continue because penguins is the good indicator for global warming, so researcher might solve that problem by replacing bands with chips, which is small and located inside their body but hard to know which one are tagged chip.

When I finished the news I start to have a question. Is it OK if the study change or kill some creatures?

OK! I understand that every knowledge have to exchange something such as operating frogs in the high school lab. However, I still have suspicion about the morality. I might not concern if other animals was violated, such as Coyote or Kangaroo (Sorry Peter!), so my suspicion might be discriminate like most people who cannot accept eating dogs but they can eat other animal.

However, I think for this situation we have other effective tool for investigate global warming, so killing penguins is unnecessary. In contrast, if purpose of study is for understand behaviors of penguin it should not kill them. In my opinion, the good study should change objects minimally as you can, no matter how important objectives are. However, that is just ideal study. In fact, every particular studies always changed any thing. For the example, in the past when anthropologists studied a tribe, no mater how carefully they try not to change the society of that tribe, it still occurs. They might bring outer knowledge or capitalism to traditional communities something like that.

Now, I understand more why some people protests for animal rights because they thing most of thing run by general societies is unfair for other creatures. However, it just a notion you can care or not or have other reasons for explain why we should kill or disturb other creatures for the knowledge.

Do you agree or not for the penguin studies from the news?

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References

BHANOO,S.(2011,January14),Penguins Harmed by Tracking Bands, Study Finds. The New York Time. Retrieved January 19, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/science/18obpenguin.html?_r=1&ref=earth