Is Hartmann right? Should all drugs be legalized?

"Medicine and Drugs: Addictive Substances" is the title of chapter 7 of Quest; it suggests the topic of the chapter very broadly, although not enough for us to actually know what the chapter is specifically about, which is the personal and social problems caused by the use of addictive drugs such as heroin, whisky, wine and other alcohol, yaa baa, cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products, cocaine, marijuana and so on. I am sure everyone can add to this short list of popular recreational drugs that people like to use and to which they sometimes become addicted.

At the end of the chapter, after three readings which establish the nature and extent of drug use and the associated problems, Hartmann gives us an example of a persuasive paragraph to analyse in which she answers the question: "What can be done about the problem of drug addiction?" (2007, p. 227).

It is Hartmann's answer to this question that prompted the latest poll for you to vote on, and which we want to discuss in the comments below.

So, what do you think? Is Hartmann right that all illegal drugs should be legalized to help solve the problem of drug addiction in societies?

• Of the three voting options in the poll, which do you think is right?   
• Why are the other two options wrong?  
• What arguments or evidence support your opinions here? You need support both for your own opinion and to oppose the contradictory opinions. 

As the discussion progresses and you are persuaded from one position to another, you can change your vote when you are signed in. 

__________

References

Hartmann, P. (2007). Quest 2 Reading and Writing, (2nd. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Didier Drogba will leave Chelsea this summer

Chelsea FC is the winner of UEFA Champions League. This is the good news for Roman Abramovich. One of the players that bring this success is Didier Drogba. He shot the final score to win FC Bayern Munich in the final match of UEFA Champions League last week. But it is a bad news that he decides to leave in this summer.

According to the news article “Didier Drogba will leave Chelsea this summer” from BBC website, He said "It has been a very difficult decision for me to make and I am very proud of what we have achieved, but the time is right for a new challenge for me."  It means that he will have a decision to leave from Chelsea. It is the bad news especially for the fan club because since he come to Chelsea, FC he is the one of the superstar in the team.

I think he is one of the most important players in the team. If he leave Chelsea it will be hard to find the new player to play like him. He is the legend player of Chelsea FC.

__________

References

Didier Drogba will leave Chelsea this summer (2012 May, 21). BBC News.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18152689

Is it right to diet during pregnancy?

Did your mother get more chubby than before after giving a birth to you? Will dieting in pregnancy period harm your unborn child? We have learnt from previously blog post about how overdue born affect a baby. Now, what if mother dieting while pregnancy?

According to “Weight management 'benefits' for mother and baby”, two groups are arguing is it appropriate to diet and monitor weight during pregnancy. London-based team said dieting and monitoring weight prevent excess weight gain and cut the risk of complications, while the advice from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), published in 2010, says: "Dieting during pregnancy is not recommended as it may harm the health of the unborn child."(¶5)

To solve this case, National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) compared mothers who diet and mother who doesn't control their weight during pregnancy period. As the result, mothers who diet are less likely to develop complications in the future and dieting doesn't affect babies' weight. However, Dr Shakila Thangaratinam, a consultant obstetrician at Queen Mary, University of London who led the study, warn that we should consider that researcher didn't advise women to lose weight during pregnancy, they just advised them to diet and control their weight properly.


This is a new knowledge for me as I keep doubting why my mother and my friends' mother are a little bit chubby more than before they became pregnant, maybe there're some misunderstandings about dieting while pregnant. They might think that they should eat for their babies too and that cause obesity or fatness in women after pregnant. But, according to this research, it's unnecessary. Mothers could control their weight while they are pregnant and it doesn't affect babies' health and weight. All they need for their babies is just nutritious food that provide essential vitamins. So, now you can tell someone who is going to become pregnant not to eat too much in order to have slender shape as before after pregnant instead of the chubby and out of shape one !


References
“Weight management 'benefits' for mother and baby”. (2012, May 18). BBC News. Retrieved May 18, 2012 from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18101423.

Rainbow Gaga is Lady Gaga's Fan or not??

When I introduce myself, my name is Rainbow Gaga, your thoughts probably immediately jump to Lady Gaga. Indeed, my English nickname does have a link to Lady Gaga. During the time, she came to Taiwan, I sang her hit song "Poker Face" so frequently that people surrounding me started to call me Gaga gaga.... As a result of  combining Rainbow which is original one with Gaga which is parts of Lady Gaga, I got this super long and a bit super star name.  But it doesn't mean I am one big fan of Lady Gaga. Maybe her edginess is too over to me.

BBC News reported a piece of news on this Tuesday about 2012 Lady Gaga Concert in Indonesia. It is said that concerning about security, Indonesian police have refused to issue a permit for US pop star Lady Gaga's concert next month because that Islamic groups and community leaders had objected to the show. They claimed Lady Gaga is a vulgar singer who wears only panties and a bra when she sings, also has negative effects on their younger generation. On the other hand, there are some opposite voices from Lady Gaga's fans saying ¶ "Lady GaGa is in fact a very unique singer. She's one of my inspirators", "Watching The Born This Way Ball for 2 hours won't hurt Indonesian people! GOD GAGA IS NOT A TERRORIST!!" ¶


Although Lady Gaga's clothes, make-up and hair styles sometimes is too exaggerating to me, like wearing raw beef, I just regard it as her performance style which is wacky, edgy or unique. However, these personal characteristics of Lady Gaga are seen as coarse, dangerous on different person or in the different place, such as Indonesia which their culture is more conservative and puritan. There is no doubt that culture plays an vital role to us. It is relevant to the passage "Culture and Mental Illness" on Chapter 6 Quest which talks about " the role that culture plays in the labeling of behavior as "abnormal"". Sometime, a person is assumed that he/she is abnormal only in which the culture think it is not normal. Hence, we can understand why Lady Gaga is not welcome to perform in Indonesia.

I'm wondering if Lady Gaga promises she will not wear any strange, odd costumes by no means showing any parts of her body, only face, is she allowed to held on her concert in Indonesia? I think it will make more and more people curious about how she will look in a totally different style. Moreover, I am also looking forward seeing how she use her creative idea into the controversial concert. Now, I am thinking maybe I should buy Lady Gaga's ticket for the concert in November in Thailand 2012 to experience and to find out how amazing, how attractive, and how creative she is. Maybe I'll become one of her Big Fans one day.

__________

References

Lady Gaga Indonesia concert denied permit by police. (2012, May 15) BBC News. Retrieved May 18,
2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18073961

Hartmann, P (2007) Culture and Mental Illness. Quest 2 Reading and Writing. Retrieved May 18, 2012

Fugu: The fish more poisonous than cyanide

     Japanese food is always amazing! Most of them are fresh and have delicacy texture and taste. Fugu or blow fish is one of them that is not only the most superp menu but also the most dangerous thing to eat.

     According to BBC news, Fugu fish is a lethal fish whose deadly poison, Tetradotoxin, is 200 times more dangerous than cyanide. However, Japanese people still love to eat it because of its extraordinary texture and taste. Japanese people have a method to cut Fugu so that its poison cannot harn eaters. Japanese Fugu cheif has to get an authorized license before he can serve Fugu in the restuarant. Nevertheless, the Japanese government has recently allowed Fugu to be sold by non-authorized seller in an off-site. This results in the outcry from the former authorized cheif who tried very hard to get the license.
     I do not agree to the Japanese government 's consensus. I think if Fugu can be bought easily, even in the bar and marketplace, and who sells it is not an authorized Fugu cheif, the mistake when cutting or cooking it can occur and then cause a harm to the customers.
     I also wonder why Japanese people have an eager to eat strange things like Fugu even though they know their dangerousity and in the past many people died from misusing it. As I know, the tetradotoxin can make the body numb, paralyzed and finally dead. For me, it is not at all worthwhile eating Fugu and ending with paralyzed or dead only for trying the so-called beautiful texture and taste.
     Maybe the possible result of Japanese government's consensus such as having more people died from Fugu will enlighten the Japanese how dangerous it is why it should not be eaten.

P.S. I know eating Fugu is their culture, but I am only talking in scientific way.  

                                               __________

References

Roland Buerk (2012, May 17). Dicing death: The fish more poisonous than cyanide. BBC news. Retrieved May 18, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18065372

Snow White and the Huntsman director uses his own blood in fairytale film

Snow White and the Huntsman director uses his own blood in fairytale film

This video is the trailer of "Snow White and the Huntsman"

Nowadays, entertainment world can affect everyone than we can guess; such as, movie and music. As you can see, the activity which has very rarely people can deny is watching movies. That make the entertain became one the biggest marketing from consumer all around the world. Therefore it is very important to have good director to make the best movie to catch the consumer as much as they could.

Any companies which make the movie have to find talent director to make the movie. May be that’s not only produce it easily just for fun but also fighting to another company to catch largest number of consumer as they could. No matter how they do but mention only the best result and reflect from the watcher like us. We may call it ‘rating’. One of the a bit strange way but work is using his own blood to upgrade the movie!

The director of new fairytale blockbuster Snow White and the Huntsman, Rupert Sanders, thought the fake blood in his film looked too fake. He solve this problem with an unusual solution… using his blood instead fake blood.

He think that fake blood looked like raspberry jam. He asked for any pig's blood but there was no result so he drew 50cc of his blood to use in the movie. "It was a real race because it was congealing under the lights, but we got it in the end and the blood looks like real blood." He said.

At last his dream came true. Sanders is best known for his award-winning work as a director of commercials, including video game Halo 3, and has three Directors Guild of America award nominations for his work.

__________

References

BBC News-Entertainment and arts correspondent. (2012,17 May). Tim Masters.

from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18061939

Google’s reality glasses

Google has launched a new technology that might change our dairy life. The project has known as “Project glass”. The technology behind glasses can make us see things more reality and there are many function that help us to live easy life.

According to “Google patents its augmented reality Project Glass design”, “wearable display device"(¶2) is the three patents new technology of Google product, it can characterize to futuristic glasses. The function is displaying data in front of wearer’s eyes, it’s showing image of different versions of augmented reality glasses. It’s can playing audio, listen to music, browse the website and also take photos. The prototype demo is produce in research lab, Google X. There are providing with a microphone and partly transparent tiny screen right above the user's right eye, and many function like smartphone. "There are huge opportunities for tailored advertising with augmented reality systems - especially if they have in-built GPS location tracking," Chris Green said. (¶13)

I am not the person who always catching the technology; on the other hand, I like to watch the futuristic movies that use a new technology such as MIB, Startrek, 007, tron etc. There are many new technologies happening every day, good and bad, useful and useless. But we have to choose which one is fit for you and what kind of advantage that you’ll get. As I read the another website, it’s has to wearing contact lens, and they’re developing contact lens by embedded electronics and can display pixels to person’s eye. The more advance technology becomes the sooner we can cure diseases and maybe it’s can reduce crime around the world.

I like this new product; I think it’s awesome. I can have everything within my glasses, even though glasses isn’t necessary for me now. If this product has launch, I will own it one. Many people on the Internet are talking about this product; they are waiting to see the real one same as me. I want to how much is it cost. If Google did something’s like this, I think sooner or later other companies will launch it. And the price will go down.

__________
References
BBC News-technology. (2012, May 15). Google patents its augmented reality Project Glass design. BBC News Retrieved May 17,2012 from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18091697

Student loan brings a success or a dilemma

Students loan brings a success or a dilemma

To enter into the higher education, students need a large amount of money to spend on the academic expenses. The students from families with less financial abilities may have no choice to put their children on the student loan scheme. Although the student loan system helps students to attain their higher degree, it can lead them to face with a dilemma.

An analysis conducted by The New York Times of the latest data from the Education Department, students loan for pursuing a bachelor's degree was increased from 45 percent of students in 1993 to 94 percent in 2011. The average debt for all student debtors was $23,300. The highest average debt in the country belongs to graduates with bachelor's degrees of Ohio's educational institutes. E. Gordon Gee, the president of Ohio State University does not reckon that college tuition fees will affect students' families. Also, many economist and parents are confident of students' abilities to repay their loans, or even to earn more income after graduation. Consequently, these students have been granted more loans by the Obama administration with a reason for the U.S. to be a top leader in education among developed countries. However, some economist states that increasing student debt delays the country's economic recovery as 40 percent of the candidates postpones their major spending on a home or car. They, finally, drop out of the university; otherwise, they have to become a debtor forover.

I strongly oppose people to be any types of debtors. Eventhough education is a tool for students to achieve success in their professional lives, uncertainty can be happened all the time that might cause them to be unable to pay back the debt. To tackle this problem, the government sector should play an important role on finding the alternative way to raise fund to support people's education. In stead of easily granting student loans, they should offer programs to encourage students to work and study at one time in order for them to the income to the studying cost.

In Thailand, student loan is not a new project. We have known it since a period of Mr. Takin's government. As far as this project has been continued, I just wonder how it will make Thai's educational system improved and when graduates will be free from debts. I have raised up these questions because the income graduates earned is still not sufficient for their living costs. How they can repay for debt!

__________

References

Martin, A. & Lehren, W. A. (2012, May 12). A Generation Hobbled by the Soaring Cost of College. The New York Times. Retrieved May 15, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/student-loans-weighing-down-a-generation-with-heavy-debt.html

Truth or Dare

After reading the title, if you think that the main idea of this story will relate to the game that is very popular in the age of the young, you are wrong. This story will revolve around the rumor globally influencing on both business and political stuff. The one I will write about cannot be others except Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

According to "Strauss-Kahn files $1m counter-claim against hotel maid", After prosecutors let Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF chief, off the hook of the allegation which hotel maid accused him of sexual harrassment one year ago, Mr. Struass-Kahn decides to take a legal action against the hotel maid by demanding $1m for the compensation for the loss of his job, defamation and false imprisonment (¶ 7) as well as his chance of becoming the socialist presidential candidate back in France (¶ 6).

 Well, if we normally read this news, we may think that Mr. Strauss-Kahn has a bad luck due to false confinement. However, for me, this news sounds strange and seems like it was set up because what a coincidence that this rumor happened and ruined his chance to come back to France in political area.

However, as told, this case is weird. I just expand the idea that what if this situation was made up in order to ruin Mr. Strauss-Kahn's career path, there will be the following question who take the interest of this. By the same token, what if what that poor hotel maid said is true, but she may not have that credibility, which makes the prosecutors changed their mind, she has to face the ridiculous truth thrilling all her life.

However, even though it can be either way, we have no proficiency to rectify what has done and if we can, we also have no power to do so. Either what Mr. Struass-Kahn is innocent or that the hotel maid has an unjust decision is a thing of the past, we only are able to probe on the problems and remind ourselves that every step of our life, we must have the voice in our mind that "WATCH OUT!".

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References

Strauss-Kahn files $1m counter-claim against hotel maid. (2012, May 15). BBC News. Retrieved May 16, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18072141

China's search giant Baidu releases low-cost smartphone

Do you have a smartphone? I think everyone would say 'yes' because nowadays smartphone is like one of our limbs that everyone should have. If we don't have, I think, everyone will think that we are Saor Krao.

Changhong H5018

According to "China's search giant Baidu releases low-cost smartphone", Baidu, China's search giant has launched its first smartphone. Changhong H5018 is built by Foxconn and "powered by Baidu's own mobile operating system, Cloud." (paragraph 3). The phone will be the first mobile device to run on Baidu's Cloud Smart terminal platform and will come with 100GB of cloud storage on Wangpan, the local equivalent of Dropbox and Google Drive. (paragraph 4) This smartphone cost less than 1,000 yuan or 5,000 baht which "face fierce competition at the Chinese low-end smartphone market." (paragraph 5) Baidu's director of international communications, Kaiser Kuo, believed that H5018 would do well in a competition of making low-cost handsets between made firms such as, Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corp, HTC, Lenovo and Xiaomi.

Baidu

In the world full of competition, many people always seek for better thing to do and to use in daily life which should suit their lives and make their life better and more comfortable. Many companies try to invent and create something that people want. And now, there are too many choices for us to use something such as a smartphone. We can see that there are many companies that have launched their smartphone such as Blackberry, iPhone, Nokia, Wellcom, and Sumsung. They also create some benefits from using it, for instance, if we have Blackberry, we can use 'BB Chat' for free by using BB signal. However, most of them have to link with some companies such as Google. 


As we know that Google is a website that we use to search thing, send emails, translate word, and etc., and we can use it across the world. It also provides many functions that benefit for us such as map and fun such as Google Earth which can make us see and learn more about the world. And if you have an iPhone, the best way to use it is to sign in a Google account, so it can perform faster and we can be updated in every second and your contact will never lose. However,It was important for internet companies to secure presence in the mobile industry. I don't think we want anyone else access into our critical information, do we?

Google

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References

"China's search giant Baidu releases" (2012, May 15). BBC News.
Retrieved May 16,2012 from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18069498

Apple drops '4G' from iPad adverts

When we saw the advertisement, you can be known that it was true, especially, when we buy a new technology product.

According to the article “Apple drops '4G' from iPad adverts” from BBC, there is the problem with the slogan of “The new iPad” in the UK and another country. It claims that “The new iPad” is a 4G device. This advertisement will make the consumers believe that it can use the 4G frequency network in their country because the 4G that use in the U.S. is a different frequency from another region. So the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) concern about this problem. They want to cut the word “4G”. Apple Company will cut this word and use “The new iPad wifi+cellular”. From my opinion, it is the better way to make consumer to understand the meaning. The consumer can make a decision to by or not from the new slogan because maybe Apple will launch the new model that supports 4G in another region outside the U.S.

This is the good thing to make it clear about the advertisement. The authority Unit in the U.K. can help the consumer to know about the fact. I wish the authority Thailand could learn this example to protect the consumer to know the fact. This will help the people in Thailand to be a smart buyer.

References

Apple drops '4G' from iPad adverts (2012, May 14). BBC News.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18059732

Naturally better?

Poupee's excellent post on Obama's support for same-sex marriage against traditional cultural norms and against traditional religious teaching raised several questions that force us to think critically about  number of issues in addition to the question of whether or same-sex marriage is moral or not (Puppy Poupee, 2012). To highlight one of those relevant issues, I tried to think of an example and then did a search for a BBC News story on it, which led me to "Food: Organic growth?", which was published, a few weeks ago, on April 25.

In this article, Richard Black reports on studies comparing organic farming with intensive modern agriculture (2012). The results are clear: intensive farming produces substantially more food than do organic methods, making it more likely to actually be able to feed the world's burgeoning population, although critics rightly argue that intensive techniques are harmful to insect species such as bees and contribute to wider ecological imbalances through the nitrogenous fertilizer run-offs. Further, the smaller, labour intensive nature of organic farming appears to have some social benefits, such as employment.

The reason I've chosen to blog on this topic is that it conveniently exemplifies the question of natural versus unnatural which came up in Poupee's blog on same-sex marriage, especially in the discussion. The connection with organic farming is clear: many people support organic farming and consumers willingly pay higher prices for organic foods solely because it's seen as more natural than intensive farming's use of technology such as fertilizers, pesticides, heavy machinery, and the like. The underlying feeling seems to be that natural equates with  good. But is this right?

As Black's article clearly suggests, if we want to actually produce food efficiently, the natural, traditional methods of organic farming are bad news: they are more expensive, use more resources and are unlikely to be able to successfully produce enough food to feed the world well. That is, the artificial, unnatural methods of human culture and ingenuity seem superior to the far more natural and traditional methods of the organic farming movement favoured by deluded consumers with much money and little sense and by dishonest political manipulators who push things like organic farming and small, sufficiency scale production to keep farmers poor and under control.

And the specific question I wanted to discuss is: Does being natural equate with being good?
Even if, for example, heterosexual sex and lusts were natural and homosexual sex and desires unnatural, would that be in any way relevant support for either?

My own opinion is that the common thinking on these questions is completely wrong, but what do others think?

__________

References

Black, R. (2012, April 25). Food: Organic growth? BBC News. Retrieved May 15, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17829764

 Puppy Poupee. (2012, May 12). Obama says same-sex marriage should be legal. Class Blog - AEP at AUA.  Retrieved May 15, 2012 from http://peteraep.blogspot.com/2012/05/obama-says-same-sex-marriage-should-be.html

Japan power crisis

 
 Japan power crisis

  As we are breathing, the world is changing every second. Who would have known that nowaday people can travel from other side of the world in only few hours. Technology helps us a lot in many ways such as car,airplane,electrical appliances. Most of our household things use electricity to make it works. Where we get the electricity from ? The answer is power plant. Coal and oil are the main rew materials to make an electricity. In Japan the island country that import most of raw materials from outside countries choose Nuclear power to be the alternative way. One-third of electricity in Japan use this power. Last year reactors were damaged in tsunami and earthquake.

Acoording to "Japan's Tokyo Electric Power reports full-year loss"  TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) The loss of money was 781bn yen ($9.7bn; £6bn).(¶2) Also Japan government has measure to provide 1tn yen to the utility and take a controlling stake. "No nuclear" Due to that tragedy, japan goverment has a policy to shut down all nuclear power plant in Japan. The result is an extremely increasing cost of fossil fuel to import. Also TEPC raised the electricity rate for household in July about 10 percent.

In my opinion the problem can cause anywhere and anytime, you should prepare yourself all the time. In Japan, the country that was called to be the most safety for protecting tsunami. The reactor that blew up was set to endure the earthquke but doesn't enough to protect it with tsunami that come at the same time. When it's come no one was prepared so it caused a heavy damaged to Japan both economic and social, but japan recover very fast because of the unity of japanese helps this country to pass this crisis. I cannot imagine this crisis if it happen to Thailand. Only the flood last year that cause many problems until nowaday, the government cannont solve it. I hope someday Thai government could be hard-working more than now.

References

"Japan's Tokyo Electric Power reports full-year loss" (2012,May14) .BBC News. Retrieved  May ,14 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18055244

Facebook tests 'pay to promote post' tool

Once up on a time, we had to send a letter and wait for a long time, a day or maybe a few months, if we would like to contact someone. However, it is much easier nowadays to keep in touch with someone or even a group of people because of something called social network. When we talking about social network, I quite sure that no one would disagree if I say that a word which pop up in everyone's mind is Facebook.



According to "Facebook tests 'pay to promote post' tool", Facebook has created a new function that is highlighting your post to make it more visible to your friend. Moreover, if you want to promote your post, you have to pay a small fee for it. Recently, this function has been tested in New Zealand to find that "if users were interested in paying to flag up their information" (¶4). Because of "both Facebook's imminent stock market flotation and a recent slowdown in revenue growth" (¶13), Facebook has to find a way to make money to run the company.

I'm a Facebook user and I love it. The reason why I love Facebook is that it let me easily keep in touch with everyone I love (if they have a Facebook account). Facebook is useful especially now, the time I and almost all of my friends from schools have to separate to different university. Another reason why I like Facebook is that it's FREE.

When you click on a homepage of  Facebook , you would find this one sentence "It's free and always will be". I like this so much that's why I feel a little bit angry when I saw the word 'pay' in a title of this article! It's like I'm betrayed by Facebook, the website that I trust. However, I feel calmer when I read the whole article and find that there is some reasons why it have to make money. Moreover, now, I think it is acceptable if we have to pay to make sure our friend would see some important post of ours. I admire Facebook that it keep a promise.

__________

References

Facebook tests 'pay to promote post' tool (2012, May 11). BBC News. Retrieved May 14, 2012 from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18033259

In a world of no secret

                Have you ever tried to hide something because it’s too embarrassed to show or it’s better to bury it? I expect to hear “yes”. Everyone must have something they want to express hiding inside, at least, in their heart. But is the secret still being covered safe and sound all the time? This news will prove this question.

enigma cipher machine

                From “Enigma cogs ‘found in cupboard’ reunited with machine”, The three rotors were discovered at the Royal Navy training establishment HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire. They were found to have come from an enigma machine in the world war ll. Richard Noyce, curator of artifacts at the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN), said "The number M15653 on the machine matches the number on the box of rotors and the box is stamped with 'Kommando der Marine Sation Der 021'” (¶10).This enigma cipher machine was used by the German military during the world war ll. A NMRN spokesman said "Breaking the Enigma ciphers gave the Allies a key advantage, which, according to historians, shortened the war by two years, thus saving many lives."(¶15)

                First word that made me interest in this news is Enigma. From dictionary, enigma means a mysterious or puzzling person or thing. As a child, I’m a real inquisitive girl. I always wondered in everything. When I grew up, I’m interest in mysterious story. I love to watch the movies or series about investigation such as CSI, NCIS or Castle. Because the criminal usually abandon the alibi which leading to him/her, it makes me really excited to find who the criminal is?, why he did that? , or how do the police prove that he’s the killer?

                However, from my last question in the first paragraph, you’ll see that even it has been passing for a half of a century, the secret still being revealed in the final. But if I agree with the word “There’s no secret in the world”? No might be my answer. Because we have secrets, the world continues moving vivaciously. If the world is a dish and we’re a food. Secret might be the seasonings. You might not clearly understand this, so, this poem from Brittany Graviet will remove your suspicion.

In a World of No Secrets....

In a world of no secrets.....
Wow what a change that would be.
We could hide nothing,
Everyone would know,
Our dark deeds,
And our virtues.

In a world of no secrets...
Its hard to imagine,
We could all be honest,
Because we couldn't lie anyways.
We could truly just be who we are.

In a world of no secrets....
I'm not quite sure I would mind,
If you knew my secrets,
And I knew yours.
I've always wondered what people hide.

In a world of no secrets....
No one could have,
Their own life.
It would be everyone else's too.
I'm not sure I would want that.

In a world of no secrets....
There could be no surprises.
No unknown thoughts,
No, 'I bet you didn't knows'
How sad that would be.

In a world of no secrets
We would probably think twice,
About what we are doing,
But then again they would know,
That we still thought about doing it.

Maybe there is secrets....
So that we can repent,
Of all those dark deeds.
So we can choose,
If we sin and lie.

I like our world of secrets....
The good outweigh the bad.
I like having some things,
Only to our selves.

By:Brittany Graviet

__________

References

Enigma cogs ‘found in cupboard’ reunited with machine(2012,May9) .BBC News. Retrieved  May ,11 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-18009653

In a World of No Secrets.... (2008, Dec 06). Brittany Graviet. . Retrieved  May ,11 2012 from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-a-world-of-no-secrets/

Should I use the word " I " ???

Dear all,

For the thesis statement sentence homework. Considering almost sentences that begin with the word " I " in the following body paragraphs on pages 156 and 163, I also use " I " in the thesis statement sentence to make the essay sounds coherent, but I am not sure it will make the thesis statement weaker or not. Because I remember that when we did peer editing, we discussed that "in my opinion", "I think" or "I believe" make following idea weaker, we'd better talk what everyone knows to support our main idea. Please give me some advice, thank you!!

Have a good day ^^

Barely Serious Fun

Although sports don't interest me very much, and I couldn't say much about football when Notes posted on that topic, sometimes a title catches my attention and I read the article. "Hawaiian surfer breaks wave-riding record at Nazare, Portugal" did exactly that.

This BBC News story tells us that professional surfer Garrett McNamara has just set a new record for riding the highest wave (2012). Garrett had almost not gone into the water off the Portuguese coast on the day, but followed his friends promptings, leading to his catching the record  breaking wave, which was verified by comparing his own height to the wave, as recorded on video. As well as receiving $15,000 for his ride, Garrett is using his fame to tell people that "the world would be a much better place if everyone was doing what they wanted to do" (¶ 14).

Whilst I'm not sure that I agree with the way he's stated it, I do like  McNamara's idea that the world would be a better place if more people were "doing what they wanted to do". It's important to remember that having fun is a good thing, that having fun is actually a real value, and that enjoying things is, ultimately, a powerful motivator for human beings and other animals. I think that other things than fun matter, and some types of fun should not be allowed, but at the same time, if a life lacks any fun or enjoyment, I think it makes sense to ask why be alive at all.

I'm lucky because I enjoy most of what I do, as I've already noted in my reply to Rainbow Gaga's post on the stressfulness of teaching. And my life outside of AUA is also fairly enjoyable and comfortable. Perhaps I'm lucky that some of my main interests, like reading and arguing, are not very expensive, but I also thinks it's sensible to spend a bit on a special meal sometimes, and otherwise "waste" money. As far as health and other "practical" concerns go, a meal that cost 90% less might be just as healthy and "useful", but I think there is a serious misunderstanding here: the same misunderstanding that tells people that smoking cigarettes or using other addictive drugs like wine and whisky is not "useful".

And if surfing is dangerous, what about the government's role: shouldn't it be making laws to stop people enjoying something just because it's fun?

I'm glad that McNamara's friends didn't let him miss the wave; such serious fun has lessons for us.

__________

References

Hawaiian surfer breaks wave-riding record at Nazare, Portugal. (2012, May 11). NNC News. Retrieved May 13, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18036392

Obama says same-sex marriage should be legal

    The word "gay" , "lesbian" and "bisexual"  has dramatically been popular these day. We can find the same-sex lovers everywhere from TV to school. The transgender seems to be unusual for normal people like us, but why the primeminister of the biggest country in the world, Barack Obama, recently says that same-sex marriage should be legal?

    According to the news published on The New York Times, President Obama offered an interview affirming that same-sex couples should be able to get married. Obama also said that after nearly two years his views on same-sex marriage changed in part because of prodding by gay friends and by conversations with his wife and daughters. Obama supported his decision by claiming Christian faith  "treat others the way you would want to be treated". Reaction to Obama's announcement includes both immediate opposition from his Republican rival and support from the transgenders.

    Before I am going to say if I support Obama's thought or not, I want to tell the readers my background knowledge about the transgenders first. (If I have misunderstanding, please allow me to know^^)

    "Gay" is not a modern word. In contrast, it has been existing since Greek time. According to Plato, in this period although a man was supposed to marry a woman, most men simultaneously had his man acting as a intimate partner. Whenever there was a long-lasting war, the men had to be soldiers leaving the women at home and living day and night with his man. This proximity is the start of the same-sex lovers, particularly gays.  

    That is why I believe the first cause of transgenders is due to lacking of the other sex in their surrounding, not because of nature's intention. In other words, only the isolation between two sexes make them interested in the same sex. For example, boy schools are prone to have gays more than co-ed schools and girl schools are likely to have lesbians more than co-ed schools.

     However, when noticing, the number of transgenders nowaday has dramatically increased from the past even though men and women can more easily contact each other. Therefore, I believe there must be other factors contributing to being transgenders. That is hormone.

     As you know, human is one of organisms all of which have to conform to law of evolution, according to Charle Darvin. When time passed, human's structure and function gradually changed. If the level of sex hormone changed, usually caused by mutation, the sex abnormality could be presented and then the transgenders were possible.

    It is not his/her fault to be a transgender, I know. Nevertheless, I will not be able to accept that the same-sex lover is natural either. So, I oppose to the fact that same-sex marriage should be legal. For me, the word "marriage" should be reserved for only between a man and a woman!

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References

  Clames, J. & Baker, P. (2012, May 9). Obama Says Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal. The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/us/politics/obama-says-same-sex-marriage-should-be-legal.html 

Is Teacher a Stressful Job?

Many people are envious of those who are teachers due to the strong stereotypes with good pay, plentiful welfare and more vacation than others. Is it real true that being teacher is an easy money, nice job? Are you one of them who think in the same way? Here is a piece of News about it. Let's take a look.

According to " Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw: Teachers not stressed " from BBC News, ¶ The outspoken head of Ofsted has hit out at teachers who complain their jobs are "too stressful" and make excuses for poor performance. ¶ Because his viewpoints to what Stress is are different which is particular for one who lacks of sufficient resources, such as unsatisfactory workers, skills, budge, especially lack of opportunities, he thinks now teachers who are in privileged position are not stressed. But Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers does not identified with him, that 's where they differ.

I agree to what Dr Mary said that it is no use criticizing teachers. Also, criticizing is a main cause of stress. Only when people release their stress, can they stop complaining. However, everyone puts the most pressure on teachers is helping students to pass exams to win good reputation for the school. It seem as the score decides everything. It is unfair to the teachers who devote themselves to teaching but without outstanding performance results because it may involve with many reasons. For example, a teacher has a different teaching concept to the school so that he/she never meet the standard of the school. Or a student who come from an incomplete family usually skips classes and has rebellious personality. Even though the teacher already put all the effort and patience, the result effects slightly so often.

There is no doubt, cultivating one to be a pillar of a country so as to serve our country in the future has much to do with education. A successful education needs supports and efforts among school, teacher and family which is the most important factor from my personal point of view but, in fact, most people think that teacher play the most important role in educating. I firmly believe that teachers now facing more stress than before, coming from their supervisors for creating innovative teaching methods all the time and parents with higher and higher educational degree.  So now, do you still think teacher is an easy, envious job ?

__________

References
Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw: Teachers not stressed. (2012, May 10) BBC News. Retrieved May,   11 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18025202

Oops - MS Word strikes again

I use MS Word every day. It's a great program and Bill Gates richly deserves his billions of dollars for giving us and the world so much value. His success perfectly exemplifies (to use Note's verb) the superiority of free market capitalism over every state dictatorship alternative, which are sadly so popular in Thailand.

But MS Word also contains a lot of formatting behind the scenes, and when you paste that into a blog post and do not use the "Remove formatting" tool to get rid of it, the result is ... what we now see. Pasting in from MS Word messes up the way the blog displays.

So the new rule is that, if you do write something in MS Word, you must always and without exception remove all weird formatting before you publish your post; it isn't difficult: just select the text you've pasted in and apply the "Remove formatting" tool. Although I think it's better to write in the blog, saving as a draft until you are ready to publish, if you prefer, you may write in MS Word provided that you follow this rule to clean out anything that might mess up the display.

It isn't a big problem; I'm not sure which post has caused it this time, and it's nothing to worry about. I will fix it later today.

How to aviod travel scams

You are planning for the trip. You are looking for the cheapest tour program. You should beware of the scams such as the scams of Taxi drivers and local tour companies. The official-looking badges can also be deceiving. How do you know are they real or scams?

The tourist should have the information about the country that he wants to travel and also knows some tricks for protect your self from the scams. According to “How to avoid travel scams” The ways that you can check, they are real or not? First, when taxi drivers told you, “The hotel that you want to go is closed or the booking is full.” That means the other hotels pay the taxi drivers for commission to take you to their hotels. Second, in Beijing you may be get invite into the traditional teahouse or art exhibition and put pressured to you to buy expensive products. Beware attractive people who invite you to a bar and they will disappear. The result is the huge bill for the tourist. Last, you should beware of the offers to sell bad products, after that they lie to you and tell you that can sell their products in your country. These products can make money for you.

Thailand always has scams. They have many tricks the foreigners. I ever heard the scams told the foreigners you should buy these products because it cheaper than another shop. This product is really cheap but not good in quality. I think Thai people should not lie to foreigners because they will distrust and maybe not travel toThailand again. When the tourists will visit that particular country.They should have information and also know some scams tricks before travel.

__________
References

http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120224-how-to-avoid-travel-scams

New design makes our life better

Nowadays natural disaster affect our life, its common effect is earthquake. Tara Hutchinson, an engineering professor showing the high-intensity artificial earthquake on the 5-floor building with medical equipment. He designs the new technology that can make our life better, we can live in the building securely.

According to “Engineers launch artificial earthquakes at ‘hospital’”, “Shake table” is the object that engineers building it to make the similar movement of earthquake. The engineers also build a fake hospital on the shake table, which they can test how strong it is and how does it work. “The tests are designed to determine if hospitals built on rubber bearings could function after a quake.”(¶3) They use rubber bearing, because it’s common in earthquake-prone japan. During an earthquake the bearing take a part a building from motion of the ground, “like putting the building on roller skates.”(¶7) The rubber bearing was successful to protect the building from the most of damage.

I am the one who used to interested in the building technology. Because I studied in architecture, so when I was in university, I have to do some research and I have to design a new bearing system. Sometimes work and sometimes didn’t work (because my teacher told me which one is work). When I design architecture, I also think about the building system such as column, beam, and floor system to finish my project. If I only think how my architecture’s beautiful but it can’t construction, it isn’t to become real. Many time that I design what I like but I can’t get my grade from my teacher because I didn’t concern about building system, so I failed.

Architect and engineer are difference, many people confuse between them. Architect is the person who designs architecture but an engineer is a practitioner of engineering. First, architect designs a building and designs building system. Then an engineer calculates weight in every square metre, every column and every beam, it has to strong enough and it has to be safe. They have to work together to build an architecture.

__________
References

BBC News -Technology (2012, May 7). Engineers launch artificial earthquakes at ‘hospital’. BBC News Retrieved May 10, 2012 from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17954352

What Apple has that Google doesn't

Nowadays, a lot of people are using Apple's product such as iphone, ipod, ipad and so on. Some of us have known that Apple is now the most valuable company in the world, but why? Why does Apple achieve so much like that? Is there some secrets for their successful? Let's see the difference between Apple and other companies such as Google, for example.


According to "The Auteur vs. the Committee" , the article in The New York times, which was written before Steve Jobs passed away, tell us what Apple has that Google doesn't. At apple, one person, Steven P. Jobs, the C.E.O., is the dec

ider for final design of all products, while at Google, they followed conventional method, there are committee to have collaborative decision. Two years ago, the technology blogger John Gruber presented a talk, “The Auteur Theory of Design”(¶4). He compared Apple's C.E.O. as an auteur, the director that has a vision and make all decisions in his movie, he implied in his theory that it's better to have one person to make all decision in design than to have many people in charge of decision.

This article shows the idea that successful work may not need to rely on a group of people or many people, on the other hand, it's possible to have only one decider who can strongly make a decision, Apple is one example of successful companies that Google can't beat because they use different method in management.

Although Apple is successful from the method of having only one person to decide everything about the design of the products, I think it's better to have a group of people or a committee to brainstorm ideas and make a decision together, because one who has such talent as Steve Jobs is rarely found and generally, having only one person to decide everything without consulting anyone might be a disaster to business. Furthermore, there is a risk in business if that person who is in charge leave the job or pass away like Jobs and no one know the way to decide, if there is a committee, more people know how to decide on their products and if someone leave the job, it isn't a big matter. In addition you can get more idea from the other as well. So, to apply this, if you think you have enough talent and are ready to challenge, just try it out, change the method to have one person decide everything. Maybe it will make your company grows faster than before.

References

The Auteur vs. the Committee. (2012, March 26). BBC News. Retrieved July 23, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/technology/what-apple-has-that-google-doesnt-an-auteur.html

RSPB says heavy rain has been disastrous for birds

RSPB says heavy rain has been disastrous for birds
5 May 2012 Last updated at 00:44 GMT

Nowadays many world population are grave in danger many species lost by pollution, global warming and climate change. One of case that I will talk about is about lost many species of bird because of flood.

According to the BBC news "RSPB says heavy rain has been disastrous for birds" ,The problem from heavy rain lead to the reserve being risk to be flood, so it have no choice but release the water. Large quantities of water cause many of wetland habitats. Therefore many birds died. Nesting grounds of many wading birds were washed away; such as, red shank, lapwing and rare black-tailed god wits.

The disaster of this effect is larger than we could even think. "Literally, we have all our eggs in one basket and we've lost them." The BBC's rural affairs correspondent Jeremy Cooke said. They can do only watch the nests succumb to the rising waters without being able to do anything to prevent it.







In my opinion, it is very miserable for me because I like every kinds of bird very much. I think this flood may be one of effect of “Green House Effect”. Not only some species of bird but also from the past to the future which compound with many species that may be extinct because of changing environment. We should cooperate to heal the world together before human will become one of species that disappear from earth!!

__________
References
"RSPB says heavy rain has been disastrous for birds"(5 May 2012) From http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17966324

Essaying Essay - warming up

Tomorrow we want to look at writing an essay, so in preparation, I had a look at the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary [OALD] entries for this word. There are two: one for essay the noun and another for essay the verb. For the verb, the OALD lists a single definition, but for the noun, there are three definitions listed ("essay, verb", 2011; "essay, noun", 2011). These definitions are:

essay, noun

1. essay (on something) a short piece of writing by a student as part of a course of study
   an essay on the causes of the First World War
2. essay (on something) a short piece of writing on a particular subject, written in order to be published
   The book contains a number of interesting essays on women in society.
3. essay (in something) (formal) an attempt to do something
   His first essay in politics was a complete disaster. 

essay, verb

• essay something (literary) to try to do something

Invitation to comment

The context is writing an essay for the academic writing assignment in Part 5 of chapter 5 of Quest. Hartmann asks only for two paragraphs, but we are revising that to an essay. 

As a useful warm up for tomorrow, as well as to clarify and deepen our understanding of what an essay is in this context, how do you think these different OALD definitions might be related? Can you suggest an explanation that relates them all to show how they are relevant to the word essay in our context?

__________
References

essay, noun. (2011). Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Retrieved May 9, 2012 from http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/essay_1

essay, verb. (2011). Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Retrieved May 9, 2012 from http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/essay_2

A similarity in a difference

Do you believe in hope? Personally, I think everything has a chance to occur in every area of our life. The statement that do not halt to fight until the final whist can prove that well in football. This sentence is so powerful and if you are the big fan of Premier League, you are feasibly certain that it is true.

According to "Ferguson and Mancini insist Premier League title not over", Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United Boss, hopes Queens Park Ranger will be able to help his team to obtain the title by stopping Manchester City from finishing the line because QPR now are fighting relegation and need a point to save their Premier Status (¶ 4), whereas Man City boss Roberto Mancini is not careless and says that it is not over and that his team has to make an effort to win a one game left.


As known, Premier League is one of the best football leagues in the world. There are many tought football teams, which makes it not easy for the team wishing to win the title, It demonstrates that the winner is the best team in England having most consistence for 38 games through out a year. For this reason, it seems reasonable that two teams on the lead have to compete for the championship until the final day of the season. However, from my perpective, no matter which team between Man Utd and Man City grabs the title, both of them already lost in this season (2011-2012). The reason why I think in this way because they both have not shown some good qualities that the champion must have, which I am going to expound in the following paragraphs.


For Man Utd, although I am a very big fan of them, I cannot turn a blind eye to their mistakes. The most succinct mistake they have done is that Man Utd failed to get a title when they have a chance. Last month, they had 8 points over Man City, which was the best opportunity. Moreover, Man Utd lost their credit that they are the best at having experience in moving forward to getting a cup. Also, they were defeated in all leagues they entered this year namely League Cup, FA Cup, UEFA Champion League and UEFA Europa League. Finally, what I think it is bad is that they changed their style of playing football. I believe that other red devils are not satisfied with this as well.


For the view that I have for Man City, the first thing that I think it should not be appropriate for Man City to do is to show their disharmony. Many football players in this team criticize one another via media. Also, Man City manager Roberto Mancini did something which I think is unacceptable and unprofessional is that he rebuked his player in public. Furthermore, their team members have had many scandals in this year, which is not a model for kids. The last reason is that the owner of this team invested a ton of money--I have a strong feeling that he should have not done that because it seems like that money can buy everything in the world, but I think Man City's result should be better than this.  


All in all, I would like to reinforce my standpoint that whether either Man Utd or Man City get a title, they already are debacles. And I hope they both will improve in the next season.

__________

References

Ferguson and Mancini insist Premier League title not over. (2012, May 6). BBC News. Retrieved May 7, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17977868