Better Treatment for Acne

Acne can be very painful and distressing which might cause some effects to our confidence and metal health suffers.  It is a common skin problem affects around 80% of the teenager.  I believe most of us were experienced with acne and still recognize how fustraed and embarrassing when we had many pimples on our face and seriouly tried many treatments to get rid of them.

In  "Harmless skin virus fight acne" was lighten up by Prof.Robert Modlin Lead scientist said " Harnessing a virus that naturally preys on the bacteria that causes pimples could offer a promising new tool against the physical and emotional scares of severe acne".  The virus called a phage, is naturally built to target and kill bacteria that cause acne. The better treatment for the sufferers who are paintful and distress with acne is under developing by the experts from UCLA adn U of Pittsburge.

As I understand that there are 2 main reasons can cause the bacteria infected from dirty dust in the air polution and folicles blocked with oily substance.  I think the better solutions for these causes would be the preventive treatment rather than reactive treatment.  For example, we can aviod bacteria infected on our skin by cleaning our face more often, using tonner to release oily subtance, or even better to have healthy drink and meals.  We knew that being healthy helps a lot to prevent any diseases, I am strongly believe and also advised to my daughters and son to practice the same, as I can say "it works well".

I found this matter is interesting not only for teenager but many people aged from 20 - 35 who are affting from serious symtoms of acne.  It is not easy to teat them properly beacuse most of antibiotics can kill many types of bacteria including good one and potentialy produce risky side effect.  So why we have to wait until it comes, would it be better to start a simple preventive practice?  Or if anyone have any ideas, please be welcome to share.


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Reference

Health news (2012, September 25). Harmless skin virus fight acne. BBC News Health Retrived September 30, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19702511

Sleep on it

For many people, it is "common knowledge" that making drugs legal must increase use and addiction rates. Fortunately for just solutions to drug problems, this belief might be very common, but it's not knowledge: it is a false belief, with the evidence overwhelmingly against it. When I was growing up and throughout my life, it was similarly "common knowledge" that we needed a solid eight hours or so sleep every night; again, the evidence does not support this common belief.

In "Rethinking Sleep",  David K. Randall talks about the mounting evidence that the long held belief that we should get about eight hours of sleep in one session at night is a common but false belief (2012). Randall says that historical literature through to academic research suggest that splitting up sleep, even into the midday naps traditional in some cultures, can be a very good thing, and that waking up and doing a bit of work in the middle of the night is probably nothing to worry about, but is more likely a benefit to enjoy.

I wish I'd known this when I was around 13 - 14 years of age. I used to go to bed at a reasonable hour according to my well meaning parents' idea of what that meant. Unfortunately, I would wake up a few hours later. And it was very painful. I would read, or try to read, hoping to get tired and go back to sleep, but always worrying that I should be asleep, and thinking that there was something wrong. And this quickly became a vicious cycle. It sort of corrected itself later in high school. My indulgent mother decided that I could set my own sleep times, and other than popping her head in to tell me I should put my books away and go to sleep, she didn't worry too much. I guess she was taking the sensible and practical approach that I was going well at school and had no obvious health or other problems. But I continued to worry about my "abnormality", even though it wasn't doing me any harm apart from my worrying about it.

There was a problem because I had to wake up at 6:00 AM to get a bus for a 45 minute trip to school, and since I was regularly going to bed after midnight, when I always felt amazingly fresh and bright, I definitely wasn't getting enough sleep at night. Thankfully, I found a happy and obvious solution to this: I slept on the bus. The afternoon naps on the bus back home were especially useful, and perhaps primed me for my midnight study sessions, when everyone else had gone to bed and all was still and quiet, apart from frogs croaking, owls hooting and the occasional dog barking. This solution was not so happy in my last year of high school. My parents had given me the use of a car to make the trip more convenient, and after almost doing it several times, I did fall asleep driving home one afternoon. Thankfully, it was on a country road and there were no cars coming toward us, so when we ran off the road and spun around a few times it just gave myself, sisters and brother a sharp shock. I decided to go back to the bus and let someone else worry about the tedious business of driving, which I've not done since I was 18 years old. I've never owned a car, and it's never been a problem.

And since I had my usual afternoon nap today, I'm starting to feel more awake and inclined to keep writing. But I think I've done enough here. My Kindle has just been getting its monthly charge, and I've downloaded a few new books, so I think I'll settle down now to read Thomas Nagel's latest - I already know the claim he's making and I'm inclined to disagree with him, but I also know he will present very strong arguments to support his ideas (he's one of the most brilliant philosophers writing today), so it will be a good workout for my brain. I'll let you know if he persuades me to change my mind.

Unlike last night, I do have to wake up early tomorrow - really early at 6:00 AM for my 8:00 AM class at AUA. But I get back home by 11:00 AM and ... go back to bed for an hour or so.

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Reference

Randall, D. K. (2012, September 22). Rethinking sleep. The New York Times. Retrieved September 28, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/rethinking-sleep.html

Earthquake technology

Fantastic, modern technology going to completely protect mankind from natural disasters, especially earthquake which that killed a half thousand people in one time.

According to the BBC report, "Chile hopes earthquake technology can help save lives" a huge 8.8 magnitude earthquake impress in the Chilean's memory. Construction technology, high flexible steel buildings,  access of water to the cut off communities by flexible polyethylene pipe lines, high efficiency instant alert softwares all of them are the useful stuffs which that they are trying to do more.

Surely, earthquake will occur one days but we don't know when it'll happen. from the record, It occur by the cycle, maybe 100 years or 1000 years, no one know. but  I appreciate that the chilean government concern their people. They learned to deal with the unpredictable disaster.

Amazingly, the 190 meters building still alive after 8.8 magnitude earthquake attacked Santiago. It assures me that some subjects I learned in the university can be true and I though that there are many new technologies in Japan where earthquake occur frequently as well.

In Thailand, we have just enforced new regulations for the structural engineers but it can be done only the new buildings. For the old buildings, I heard that AIT(Asian Institute of Technology) has a research about reinforce structure with 30cm wild carbon fiber sheets. They rap it at the upper and lower of the column. Then, they tested it by applied horizontal force with the same earthquake frequency.

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Reference
Katie Manning. (2012, September 25). Chile hopes earthquake technology can help save lives. BBC News Technology. Retrieved September 28, 2012 from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19589471

Epilepsy treated more seriously

Epilepsy had to be a global health priority, according to Lancet editorial. An international team of researchers says that epilepsy is twice as common in low and middle-income countries, where about 85% of the cases occur. The death rate in developing countries is much higher than in developed ones, because more than 60% of sufferers in those countries receive no appropriate treatment.

Not a mental illness, epilepsy is a condition in which disturbances to the brain's normal electrical activity cause recurring seizures or brief episodes of altered consciousness. Unfortunately, adequate facilities for diagnosis, treatment and ongoing management are virtually non-existent in many of the world's poorest regions. Furthermore, many people with epilepsy or their families do not even know that it can be controlled with biomedical treatment. And, in some countries, traditional beliefs about the causes of the condition, including bewitchment, spiritual causes and curses, lead to stigma and increase the chance that a person with epilepsy will not get the treatment they need.

When I first read this report, I was sad for realizing that there are a lot of people in the world that doesn’t know what epilepsy is, if they have or not that condition, how it can be controlled and which treatment they need. I know there are a great number of people that probably have this condition, but they are treated like if they have other diseases. Unfortunately, some of them never will know that they have epilepsy and, worse than that, a lot of them will die without realize that they have this condition. Then, how can these people be treated properly if they do not even know they have this condition? This is impossible! Because of that, I agree that awareness campaigns to increase understanding about epilepsy and the access to treatment should be greatly improved in developing countries and included as a priority on the public health agenda, being treated more seriously for all governments.

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Reference

Epilepsy ‘is a global health problem’ (2012, September 27). BBC News Health. Retrieved September 28, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19746452

Heading for death

Climbing to the peak of Mt. Everest may be one of many challenge lovers’ dreams.  Also, the person who can accomplish is always regarded as a hero. However, to do this, the person has to be mentally and physically strong in order to survive in a freezing cold, low pressure, long snaking line mountain area.

According to “Plane crashes in Nepal capital, killing all 19 on board”, Sita Air, Nepali commercial airline, heading for Lukla, the hub in the Everest region, has crashed after a few minutes taking off from Kathmanu, the capital city of Nepal.

In my first reading of this article, I felt very sorry for the loss of those who were on board. I have heard that there are a limited number of airlines that are authorized to operate in such a mountainous country. This is because an aircraft must be operated by only a qualified pilot, who has been well familiar with the area. Therefore, all passengers can be ensured that they will reach the destination safely. Even though, flying on a plane is considered fastest and safest way of transportation, it causes a huge number of casualties if one accident occurs. This is due to the fact that a flight can serve several passengers at same time excepted for charter flight.

Since a plane crash does not normally occur, the accident can draw many attentions from every corner of the world. Consequently, before taking off any flight, all related person should consider internal factors such as an aircraft capacity and a pilot ability as well as external factors such as weather in that region. Moreover, all passengers have to comply with rules and regulations from an airline for their safety.

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Reference

Plane crashes in Nepal capital, killing all 19 on board. (2012, September 28). BBC News Asia. Retrieved September 28, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19754351 

When I set out on a journey to find movies

When I heard the new trilogy is going to be released, I was very happy but also I wanted to say that I wait for long time, almost 10 years!

According to “First instalment of The Hobbit to get Royal premiere”, the first part of Peter Jackson’s new trilogy, The Hobbit, which tells the story 60 years before his world famous Load Of The Rings(LOTR), will be released at the royal premiere on 12 Dec. Some actors who acted in LOTR act again in the new film which will show in 3D and 2D from 14 Dec. The fund from royal premiere will be used to help employees and their families in suffering.

I’m looking forward to watching it because I’m a big fan of the last trilogy which first part is released about 10 years ago. When I saw it, I was impressed by the beautiful images, computer graphics, characters, stories and more. All of them are splendid and I think it is as good as recent fantasy movies. I was interested in how to create the movie so I bought a special DVD box which includes how the movie was made and interview of the casts. I liked all of the casts especially Viggo Mortensen. Besides he acts very well, he is a political, environmental, social conscious actor. He inspired me very much. Although I had watched only the so-called entertaining movies until then, I started to watch other movie in which he acted. I realized that there were many kinds or types of movies in the world. As Frodo (the hero of LOTR) met his fellowship, I have met the lots of movies until now, such as asking us social problems, making me happy or sad, having charming conversation, imaging artistic beauty, describing human’s egoism or cruelty, giving meaning only by image and showing common daily life. Each movie has fascination for me. Some of them became “my precious”.

Because of reality of the movie, I am often absorbed in it even until after watching it. When the movie made me think about lot of serious things, I sometimes felt depressed. In spite of that, I thought that it was great time in my life. I also like books and comic books, and I can learn many things from them, but for me, movies taught a lot. This is why I continue to watch movies.

These days, we can watch movies in 3D or more beautiful and bigger monitor. It is a nice progress, but at the same time, I concern about movie’s future. Because I thought that small movies will disappear if production costs will be used only for blockbusters and many people pay attention only to them. I’d like to see the future of movie while I keep on watching movies.

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Reference
First instalment of The Hobbit to get Royal premiere. (2012, September 24).
BBC News Entertainment & arts. Retrieved September 27, 2012
from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19698562

Spend Big Amount Money

I want to win the lottery someday, but I rarely buy it because I have never won it. Have you ever won lottery? What would you spend this money if you get 1 million dollars (30 million thb)?

According to “Norway Oksnes family celebrates third lottery win”, this family members have won the lottery 3 times, and they get a total of more than 3.9m dollars (120m thb). One person has won the lottery twice by now, but it has never that 3 members of the same family have won.

I envy that people who win the lottery, and I want to ask them how to spend the money. If I got 1 million dollars, I would deposit in the bank and live by the interest. However, Japanese bank’s interest is very low, so I would save 50% of the other country’s currency such as Thai, US, Euro, Chinese or Australian currency in the bank. My friends say “Your dream is boring”. After that they ask me again “If you got 1 billion dollars what would you do?” I would answer the same.

One of my friends asked me, “If you get 1 million dollars from bank's interest every year, what would you do?” I like this question because I could answer it easily. I answered that I want to buy the stock of JR (Japanese Railway Company) every year, and to be the large stockholder of it someday. I want the company to be spent a lot of money to develop Shinkansen and linear motor car (magnetically levitated train). My dream might be getting money constantly which I can spend money with feeling relieved, or I might want to develop or be developed a new bullet train as soon as possible.

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Reference 

Norway Oksnes family celebrates third lottery win. (26, September 2012). BBC News Europe. Retrieved September 26, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19725307

The eagle's rival: the dragon.

    Recently, China's government has the open ceremory of a new chinese noval aircraft carier. This's the important step of China to become to be a new giant of world navy.
   In the first time when I saw this news I didn't get any surprise. In the other way, China are China, and they did what they have to. I think this's better than some countries that use the other way to show them military by war or nuclear boom. It's true that world became to be dangerously but we always dangerous, and already has a lot of warship and nuclear bomb. In America I have no idea how many aircraft carier they have, how much for military reseach they already spent. But in China I just saw only first aircraft carier.


Reference
china's first aircraft carier enters service(2012, September 25) BBC News Asia  from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19710040

My Dream nearly Comes True

Yesterday, I have just written about one of my dream which is purifying all rivers in Thailand. However, today there is a way to bring the rivers back to their origin.

According to BBC Future , Emily Anthes reports in her title, "Natural's water purifiers help clean up lakes", that Fish Fry Lake in Montana, which was totally polluted, is back to nature by the mimicking nature innovation, called "BioHaven floating islands", which can treat water pollution by adding Oxygen into water and removing waste.

At first, if I become a professional scientist, I will create a special bacteria which consumes some pollutants such as carbon dioxide, plastics, or even metals, has short-life and after die it release oxygen. If it is complete, I will throw this bacteria to polluted water as Percy Jackson throw his sand coin into sea to eliminate pollutants. However, after reading this tittle, I should change my mind. Because nature treatment should be solved by natural way, it might hardly have any after-effect. If I continue my idea, it might cause some serious effect as bacteria will take control the world. The main problem would be bacteria which is a creature and it will protect itself from extinction. Therefore, it would develop itself to resist to extremely condition; for example, if pollutants was gone, this bacteria had revolutionized to consume water instead. Of course, this revolution would have been continuing until nothing would leave, even us. We would face to horrible trouble from bacteria. Or maybe I saw too much scientific movies.

However, I have some questions about the lake in Anthes's report. How to be severe pollution in the lake? If I use this innovation in Klong Sean Sab, it will be effective as the result of Fish Fry Lake, or not.  How expensive is this floating island? Can I create legally in Thailand ? We have not enough money to buy copyright because corruption have stolen all our money.

Unfortunately, Thais will have been suffered from water pollution because if the floating island are installed now,  we will drown. Because this innovation will block the flow of the river, the cities located near the edge of river, especially Bangkok, will be deluged.

                        
Reference
Anthes, E. (2012, September 26). Nature's water purifiers help clean up lakes. BBC Future. Retrieved September 26, 2012 from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120925-natures-water-purifiers

China Threat Theory?

The bigest news about China in this few days,It's China's first aircraft carrier are enters service.And I been very pride and glad to hear this news.That's symbolize that we are stronger than ever before.

Acording to BBC News reporting"China's First Aircraft Carrier Enters Seveice" the first aircraft carrier of China was enters seveice,And it will be used for training.But there also have some fun reporting,"The country's Communist leaders are spending billions modernising their armed forces so they can project military power far beyond China's borders."says the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing.

 Everytime I read or heard some same reaporting make me assosiation that "China Threat Theory".Does China really Threaten any one or any of other country?

In my own opinon,the answer is absolutly no.Not because I'm a Chinese that if I said yes it's bad for my country,It's just a guy who's very familiar with China's opinon. Then why does China always improve our military capability.

In the China's modern history,It's China's Humiliation history.Many other country were invasion us,and robbery anyting they want,They also called Chinese is the “sick man of eastern Asia".Every Chinese in now,It's fell shamed about that part of histroy.But it taught us a truth"Falling behind will suffer beating”.

And why other country don't need to worry about China's developing.We can find the reason in China's histroy again.According to China's histroy ,It has many differnt period that China is the biggest country also the most developed country in the world.In those period,China did't start any of the war to invade other country.Most of the time, We prefer to do more trade diplomcy.
   

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Reference

China's first aircraft carrier enters service. (2012, September 25). BBC News Asia. Retrieved September 26, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19710040

When you wish upon a space junk

Watching shooting stars was always my childhood’s dream. I wondered what kind of wish I should make, when I saw a shooting star. For some children like me, can it be good news, that there might be more opportunities to see them, even if not genuine?

According to “'Meteors' sighted in skies across UK”, a big fireball was observed in wide area of UK. Many people reported about the lightning object at coastguards or police offices, because it was different from normal shooting stars. Some experts suggested that it might have been a burning space debris. 

I was a member of the astronomy club at my high school. Our main activity was to observe a sunspot cycle every day around noon, so, I carried a heavy telescope to the rooftop of the school building, and checked a sunspot, while other students enjoyed eating lunch, listening to music or having conversation there. Once a month we organized star observation night which was not only for  club members but also for every student who had interest in astronomy. In spite of our effort to make posters which appealed to join the activity, in most cases there were not any other students, so we just enjoyed watching our favorite stars or planets. During watching stars, we talked many things. Most of them were small talks, but sometimes it became a more serious conversation about uneasiness in adolescence, some problems in relationship with friends or parents, or prospects of future. Darkness of night helped us to talk frankly. 

The biggest event of our activities was a small trip to the countryside where the sky was clearer. Staying at a cheap guesthouse, we observed the moon, planets and stars every night until dawn. We arranged the trip to be able to watch the Perseus shower, which is most stable and famous meteor shower. I still remember how I was excited to see a shooting star for the first time. I forgot wishing something because of excitement, and what I did was just shouting, “Wow!!” 

Although I believe what I watched then was a genuine shooting star, I don’t care if it is real or not. I love beautiful starry night, orange colored crescent and silver shining full moon, but above all, meteors, whose radiance disappears in the next moment as if it were a dream.



Reference
'Meteors' sighted in skies across UK.(2012, September, 22). BBC News Science & Environment . Retrieved September 26, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19683687

Clashes interrupt freedom of expression.

Freedom of expression is necessary for everyone, but many times it has been interrupted by violence. We, Thai citizens and also people around the world, usually see clashes during demonstrations although several protesters gather peacefully to be against issues.

According to "Athens clashes as Greek police fire tear gas" there was a group of anarchists breaking out upheaval by throwing petrol bombs during the first general strike since the conservative Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, ruled the debt-stricken country. However, most of protesters peacefully expressed their position against the austerity measures by Greece's government. In fact, the reason they set this general strike, which occurred across country, is that they fear Greece's economy will continue to shrink, result negatively in rising unemployment, as well as cut government officials' salaries.

A point that popped up in my mind when I first saw this news is the freedom of expression. It reminds me that a few years ago this kind of trouble also happened in Thailand. The demonstrations of the Red Shirt and the Yellow Shirt went into violence as well.  I think any interruption by anarchists during a peaceful protest is disgusting because it insults people's freedom. Everyone should have his/her own freedom of expression. This also means we are all in democratic society that pay respect to other's views despite their difference.

Another focus is the Greek government's fiscal plan. It seems to be like Thai case of financial crisis in 1997 (or B.E. 2540) or so-called "Tom Yum Kung Crisis". The crisis was instability in both fiscal policy and financial sector. Thai government at that time was pressured by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to restructure financial institutions and industries, the major source of country's GDP. The austerity plan resulted in a large number of bankrupt businesses. However, western investor took over them and gain millions baht as its profit in a short period. This case meets a revisionist International Political Economy theory that attack conditions from the international lender as cronyism among western capitalists.

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Reference
Athens clashes as Greek police fire tear gas (2012, September 26). BBC News Europe, Retrieved September 26, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19724284

Robot save cost and our hero.

I usually interest and read the science news, but I do not why I missed this news even though I had heard about Mar’s Mission which occurs in 2012 since I was in university. This news reminds me to think about the good things from using the robot to do dangerous works besides using human.

According to “Mars rover examines rock close up” a little mission on the Mar which is not high research value using new robot rover which still has been operating since it landed on the Mar seven weeks ago to test their tools and instruments and to close up the Mar’s rock.

I think it is a good idea using robot rover to do researches on the Mar. There are good benefits to using the robots to do the experiment on the Mar for two reasons especially saving human life.

 Firstly, robots can save the astronaut life who NASA invests on training highly from doing dangerous works on other planet. No one wants to take risks by putting them self in the dangerous situation which is far away about 34.8 million miles from the earth. In fact, everyone loves their life and it is not worth to do dangerous works  even though it give huge money back and  your family or your friends feel very proud of you, after you were death.

Secondly, NASA can reduce huge cost by using robot rover in this Mar mission. For example NASA spent 2.6 billion USD in this mission. It might be higher if they sent the men to do these jobs because they have to prepare all things such as food, air and water which need the space carrying with the shutter and prepare the way and processes which bring their hero back home. This cost will not happen with robot although it needs very high investment on robot technology in preparation process.

All in all, I completely agree with robot rover on the Mar and I suppose the Thai government should think about using machines or robot to deactivate the bomb in the south of Thailand and save our government officer life.

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Reference

Mars rover examines rock close up. (2012, September 25). BBC News Science & Environment, Retrieved September 26, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19712033

Distance From Earth to Mars - How long would it take to get there? (2012, August 6). distance-calculator.co.uk, Retrieved September 26, 2012 from http://www.distance-calculator.co.uk/distance-planet-earth-to-mars.php

Food for Thought

How much beef, not pork, duck, fish, dog or any other meat, but beef only, did humans eat last year? According to US Department of Agriculture statistics, it was almost 60 billion kgs (as cited in Keller & Txchnologist, 2012, p. 2). That's a serious lot of dead cows. Is there an alternative?

In "Tissue-Engineered Leather Could be Mass-Produced by 2017", Micheal Keller and Txchnologist report on engineering efforts happening now to make both meat and leather factory products not animal products. Keller and Txchnologist point out that producing meat and leather by growing them in factory cultures using known biological science would massively reduce not only the need to kill animals to feed humans, but also enormously reduce the land and other natural resources that are needed to produce beef.

When I first read this report in the current issue of Scientific American, I was amazed that the technology was so far advanced. I've been reading with interest reports of similar technology being used to produce transplant organs and parts for humans in surgery, but the last time I read about using similar techniques to produce meat to eat, it sounded as though it was a long way off, but five years for leather and ten years for edible beef isn't that long. And the way science and technology progress, that time might well be shrunk. And a good thing, too. The sooner we can stop using vast resources to produce meat at enormous expense, the better for all: for the cows, the environment, and us human beings who like to eat and dress up in animals we have killed. Again, science and technology are providing real solutions to a host of problems.

But how long will it be before duck, goose, prawns and the other yummy meats we like to eat are available in Tops from this wonderfully unnatural source? (Who said natural is good?) I guess some traditional farmers will object, and that's OK, but I don't think governments should do anything to help them. Interfering in the economy to help selfish groups who don't want to change and compete freely is bad for the whole national economy, as we see, for example, in Thailand where greedy local shop owners want to stop large supermarkets opening stores that people want because they provide a better range of goods are cheaper prices. These selfish groups opposing large supermarkets want the Thai government to force poor Thai farmers and other ordinary people to keep paying higher, non-competitive prices for lower quality goods and poorer service. This is not only bad economics, it's seriously unjust.

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Reference

Keller, M. & Txchnologist. (2012, September 18). Tissue-engineered leather could be mass-produced by 2017. Scientific American. Retrieved September 25, 2012 from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tissue-engineered-leather-could-be-mass-produced-by-2017

Peace's academic interests

In today’s world, the development of each country is measured by the country's economic and financial status. In other words, economics and finance drive the country’s development. Therefore, in order to be able to compete in the global market, it is essential to have knowledge in economics and finance so that strategic plans and decisions can be made. They are admittedly some relationships among accounting, economics, and finance. Accounting is involved in providing quantitative information which is the basic in supporting financial decisions. For example, an accountant prepares raw quantitative figures and then financial information. After that, a financial controller will use this information as the first criterion to make a decision. As I graduated in accounting major and have worked for an auditing firm for a while, I gained some understandings about business processes and financial records. However, I feel that even with my accounting background, I still need deeper knowledge in the field of economics and finance so that I can broaden my career perspective. Consequently, I desire to further my career in another level of financial related field.

BAS's academic interests

My academic interests is science. I have been interesting it since I was a boy. when I was a child, I quite often wondered in the truth of the world and I usually asked why after I got the answer from other people . I often asked my question in science class, but sometime I felt too shy to ask a stupid question which I through  that i doubt with and the answers were not clear. It encouraged me to find out the answer and I also like to do experiments. Once I had a question about how can we know a battery have an electric current on its. someone answered my question by saying that just test it with your tongue and then after I got the answer about battery I went to my home and looked for 9V battery. Next, I put the anode and cathode side on my tongue and I felt some spark or electric shock on my tongue. After that I knew we can use the voltage meter to check remained voltage in battery.

Academic interest of Mo

My academic interest is Civil Engineering Design. It is the design about house, bridge, building, dam , road, these are developed for mankind living.

At the first time, The national geographic TV program influenced me to make a decision to be an engineer. I interest in this field because it challenge me to design a bigger infrastructure and I want to take place in the construction industry. Actually, I avoided to study in the complex subjects that have to use a lot of abilities to memorize. I like revising the lesson with my student group, share own idea, discuss some doubts and share technic to do the examination.

A semester before I graduated, I watched a documentary on MCOT channel about petroleum industry. that it challenge me to be on offshore platforms in one day. Then, I asked for some advice from my parent about study aboard and they support me to study in Australia.

Aor's academic interest

Today, I set my eye on drug discovery; therefore, I attempt to work hard and study more about new medicine. This field is very popular in present because there are many serious diseases we can not treat and have been seeking any ways to treat our disease.Consequently, this major is really competitive in US. I hardly have any chance to be accepted from university in US.

Grace`s academic interests

My academic interests is about bible and Jesus` life. I really love talk about Jesus, about what he came to do here, what he did for all people, even they did not know and they did not understand. For me, Jesus is the son of God, and we only get to have a relationship with God trough Him. He is the way, the truth and the life, nobody can go to the Father (God) without Him. 

Cee's academic interest

My academic interest is International Relations which is not far from every one. It seems like globalization that has great impacts on humanity in this information age. The reason why my academic interest is International Relations is that there are many issues affecting people and we cannot avoid its impact. At this moment, global issues become more essential to people all over the world. Although some may say that they do not care about that, they have already involved in international Relations and globalization. For example, when Haiti and its people were hit by a catastrophic earthquake in 2010, people around the world including Thai people contributed their money to aid disaster victims.

My Academic Interests (Mori)

My major was Engineering, and I'm interested in bullet trains now. There are many trains around world. Famous ballet trains are TGV and Shinkansen. Their systems have been used many countries. However, their systems are very different.

My Favorite Club in the academic by Pun

The first time I went to the university, I didn't think about what I studied but I love to do the activities in the university. I believe that the knowledge won't come from only the classroom. In the university, There is a lot activities we can do to get a great experience and the easily way to do that is you join the club. There are a lot of club in university. Yeah Yeah Yeah.

Peter's Academic Interests

My first academic interest was science, specifically, biology, and more specifically, botany. When I was in primary school, around ten years old, I became interested in growing trees, I was fascinated by how an enormous oak or fig could grow from a tiny seed. I had pots with plants growing on ledges all around my family home. From this, my interest spread to biology, which was my favourite subject in first year high school, but that didn't last. By second year, I'd moved on to chemistry, and then physics. For most of high school, my real loves were physics and mathematics, but especially mathematics, which I went on to study at university.

However, one of the Catholic brothers at my school, my physics teacher in fact, introduced me to philosophy. I'm not sure why he did this. Maybe he thought it help me to remain a good Christian. It failed. In the last years of high school, I started reading philosophy more and more, and that is what became my major at university, where my main interests were in logic and moral philosophy. These continue to interest me.

Reading has been a favourite activity for my free time since I was about ten years of age, and I still enjoy it every day. I like to read new work in philosophy, behavioural economics, neuroscience, and history. I also read fiction, but even though some of my favourite stories are subjects of academic study, I just enjoy them because they are great writing and  joy to read.

Chieko’s academic interests

My adademic interests have been changed several times. At the university, I studied German literature, because in those days I was interested in some German books very much. Then I got an opportunity to study in Germany, where I met many students from different countries. Some of them came from the countries, whose economic and political situation was not stable and the relationship to Germany was not good enough, and because of that, they had difficulities to get visas, working permits, and other official papers, which others aquired easily. This is why I was interested in international relaitonship of countries. Besides it, I studied also development psychology as a second major. After coming back to Japan, I did some volunteer activities dealing with children. Some knowledge about psychology helped me with my work.

Nowadays I'm interested in sociology. In Japan, influence of religion is not as strong as some other  countries. Most part of Japanese morals comes from how others think about a person's  behavior. It's important how the majority think. If it is accepted by majority, it is morally ok. If not, it can be morally wrong. If the majority's opinion about something has changed, moral  may also change. I'd like to know what kind of change has occured, and also how and why. In Japan there is the special college called Broadcasting university, where students study through watching broadcasted lectures on TV. I already found some interesting lectures in its Syllabus. I'm looking forward to watching the lecture when I go back to Japan.

Nopporn's academic interests (donut)

     Firstly, I want to talk about my academic interest in this class that has two things. One is talking and share the idea of the student in class by any topic at the time(news, sport, interesting movies, etc). And the other one is learning academic writing, that is the most important for all students. 
     And my interesting outside class are political and philosophy. These are my major and minor in university.  For me art, political, philosophy,economic, administration and religion their are from the same root. And if we understand the way of once we will understand the way of the other, and if we understand all of these we will understand the way of yourself.

Skinny Dipping: Too Cool

I don't much like beaches, and I'm definitely not keen on the idea of stripping naked for the general public, but the antics of a group in the UK do sound like good, wholesome fun.

According to "Druridge Bay Skinny Dippers Miss Out on World Record", a very chilly length of beach on England's coast was the venue for hundreds of people to strip naked and plunge into the cold sea (2012). Although they failed to set a new world record in their effort "to held to raise money for mental health charity Mind," it was "a lot of fun," said one participant.

It was also a fun report to read, and a cheerful change from the often depressing news that makes the headlines. It's also something I might have done in my younger, much younger, days, but with age, I guess I've become a bit more conservative in outlook, or perhaps just a bit less fond of the cold. Actually, my dislike of cold weather was an important consideration in my moving to live in Thailand. I hate cold weather, and although it might get cool in Bangkok around Christmas and New Year, it's never cold. I love Australia, too, and visit every year, but always at the end of the Australian summer, when the weather is similar to Bangkok in December - pleasantly cool, not much rain, and generally a wonderful time to be in Australia. That time in April also corresponds with Songkran and the hottest time of the year in Thailand, and I don't mind missing those for a week or so either.

Now that I think of it, there are a few beaches in Australia, a couple in Sydney and others near my family home on the north coast of NSW, about 700 km north of Sydney, where nude swimming and sun bathing is allowed. One of my brothers likes to visit and I think a couple of my young nieces and nephews pop by, but my beach days are pretty much behind me now. I don't like the sand. I don't like lying around on the beach, and there really isn't anything that really attracts me to beaches. The views are nice, I guess, but mountains, lakes and rivers appeal to me more. And I'm very sure that I don't want to see a lot of ageing bodies that might look much better covered up a bit, or a lot.

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Reference

Druridge Bay skinny dippers miss out on world record. (2012, September 22). BBC News Tyne & Wear. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-19685041

More Religious Controversy: No Killings Yet.

Growing up as a Roman Catholic type of Christian in Australia, where my parents sent me to private schools run by nuns, brothers and priests, and in a family who went to mass every Sunday, I automatically believed a lot of things simply because I never heard anything different. Whilst much of that started to change as I read more widely and became more critical in high school, it never occurred to me that Jesus himself might actually have had a wife, but it appears that even this is not so certain as many Christians have traditionally believed.

According to " 'Wife of Jesus' Reference in Coptic 4th Century Script", a business card sized piece of ancient papyrus contains the words "Jesus said to them, 'my wife' ". However, the article also clearly reports that Karen King, the Harvard University professor who has recently presented her research for further critical discussion by academics in various fields, directly says that this "was not proof of Jesus's marital status", only that some very early Christians did believe that he had had a wife.

The piece of papyrus, photographed by Dr. King

As you might have inferred from my title, and certainly from the previous paragraph, I thought that this story was good news. The first thing I like is that it's another example of how valuable disagreement and argument is whenever we want to learn the truth about anything. This example is from a very different field than the biological research on the possible effects of GM crops which I responded to a couple of days ago. In fact, I think that Dr. King has behaved in the best academic tradition: she started by assuming the scrap of papyrus was a forgery, and got the advise of other experts who she thought might disagree with her conclusions, an essential step if errors and misunderstandings are to be  found and corrected. Again, since she made her research and conclusions public, there has been a lot of disagreement and argument. This tiny piece of ancient paper has caused, and continues to cause a lot of controversy in various scholarly fields and of course in society more generally, and that is a very good thing, as Dr. King herself happily agrees. She wants people to check her results because she cares about uncovering what is true. Finally, she has been very cautious and sensibly told everyone that even if it is perfectly real, it does not prove that Jesus had a wife, only that some very early Christian traditions believed that he had a wife.

In fact, I was thinking of blogging The New York Times' reports on this fascinating story, but the BBC News version is very good and the language is a bit easier. However, if you would like to read a more challenging account of this Harvard academic's work and the ongoing controversy, I recommend "A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus' Wife", which is more detailed and more fully explores what this discovery might mean (Goldstein, 2012). And for the well-balanced and thoughtful response of a Jesuit priest and academic, also writing in The New York Times, the short opinion piece "Mr. and Mrs. Jesus Christ?" might interest you (Martin, 2012).

I will be keeping an eye out for further articles on this as more academics from the different fields involved investigate and present their arguments for and against the the claims made by Dr. King.

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References

Goldstein, L. (2012, September 18). A faded piece of papyrus refers to Jesus' wife. The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/us/historian-says-piece-of-papyrus-refers-to-jesus-wife.html

Martin, J. (2012, September 19). Mr. and Mrs. Jesus Christ? The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/opinion/mr-and-mrs-jesus-christ.html

'Wife of Jesus' reference in Coptic 4th Century script. (2012, September 19). BBC News Europe. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19645273

Ban Popcorn!

Should whisky, yaa baa, cigarettes, heroin and champagne be banned because they are unhealthy? Some people might say: "Yes, if something is unhealthy, then governments should ban it to protect citizens and society." If you said "Yes", then you now need to ban popcorn!

The BBC News report " 'Popcorn Lung': Wayne Watson Wins $7.2m in US Court" tells us that Wayne Watson "has been awarded $7.2m (£4.4m) in damages" (2012) by the jury in a US court case as a result of developing an incurable lung illness because he had often eaten popcorn. The article says that evidence suggests that a chemical used to give an artificial butter flavour to popcorn causes this irreversible disease.

I think the jury of peers made the right decision in this case. The manufacturers of the popcorn might or might not have known that their product was dangerous, but if they were ignorant because they did not do enough testing before using the chemical, they are responsible for the consequences and must pay compensation to Mr. Watson and others, such as their employees, who have suffered as a result of their failure.

A convicted health risk.

But should popcorn now be banned because it's known to be dangerous? I don't think so. If the cinemas and other businesses now put warnings on the product so that customers know there is a risk, that is enough. If customers know that there is a risk and still decide to use the product, it's their responsibility, not the producer's, if they get sick. Of course, if you agree with my reason here, exactly the same reason must also apply to red wine, yaa baa, cigarettes and cocaine: all of these things are health risks, like popcorn, but if the risk is clearly stated and known, the fact that there is a health risk cannot be a good reason to ban any of these unhealthy products. If we should ban cigarettes because they are unhealthy to smokers, then popcorn must also be banned. And if alcohol should be banned because of the serious social costs it causes, then so too must ice-cream, chocolate cake and fatty pork be made illegal since they all cause obesity which causes massive costs to society today.

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Reference

'Popcorn lung': Wayne Watson wins $7.2m in US court. (2012, September 20). BBC News US & Canada. Retrieved September 21, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19657878

Academics in Action: Healthy Controversy

Is controversy and disagreement a good thing? Should argument be encouraged or discouraged? A story of strong disagreement amongst scientists might help us to better understand these issues.

In "French GM-fed Rat Study Triggers Furore", Jonathon Amos writes about the controversy that a recently published study by a group of French scientists on the effects of genetically modified (GM) corn on rats fed on it (2012). According to Amos, the researchers found that a diet of GM food and herbicide correlated with earlier deaths, along with more cancers and other problems than for rats on non-GM diets. However, the study has been negatively criticised by other scientists for using bad research methods and statistical analysis.

As my introduction suggests, I was interested in this article because I think it shows us a very important characteristic of science and of all good academic work: it demonstrates the great value and need for argument and for criticism, especially negative criticism. When the Christian churches were powerful in Western culture, science was almost dead because the popes, bishops and priests did not allow disagreement or criticism, and the kings at the time used harsh laws to enforce that repressive censorship. Progress in science and every academic area was almost impossible because false ideas, bad understanding and nonsense could never be corrected. It is only when ideas are tested that truth can come to light. It is only when criticism is allowed, and encouraged, that opinions can be strong and healthy. I have no idea which groups of scientists are right about GM food, but because they disagree, evidence can be discovered, presented and arguments made so that one day we might learn the truth about GM crops and other complex questions. The wrong ideas can be proved wrong, and the right ideas given stronger support. This is a necessary foundation of science and all academic work. If disagreement, argument and negative comments were not allowed, knowledge would be impossible, and opinions would be made worthless - not just in science, but on every topic. And we would still be living in the awful Dark Ages when religions were powerful.

This is also a very practical reason why free speech is necessary for a democracy, even when some people hate it and are deeply offended. We should only limit free speech to topics where we are sure that ignorance and worthless, uninformed opinions are good things. Of course, sometimes ignorance really is a good thing. We do not, for example, want terrorists to know how to make nuclear weapons, so it's reasonable to censor that topic to enforce ignorance. But on the whole, and in academic work, we generally prefer knowledge to ignorance.

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Reference

Amos, J. (2012, September 19). French GM-fed rat study triggers furore. BBC News Science and Environment. Retrieved September 20, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19654825

Rich Rewards Richly Deserved

I never think of myself as poor, but in comparison with the world's super-rich, I am pretty poverty stricken, as a story in the BBC News has just reminded me.

According to "Bill Gates Tops Forbes Rich List for 19th Year", the list of America's wealthiest people is largely unchanged from a year ago, except that most of them are much richer than then, with their total assets having increased by 13% (2012).

Although he is vastly richer than I am, I do not feel any envy of Bill Gates, who tops the Forbes list for the 19th year running. Some people only inherit great wealth, or steal it through corruption, war and other crimes, and never do anything to honestly and justly acquire it, but Bill Gates and his fellow members of the Forbes list are not like that. He is rich because he has created enormous value for billions of other people, and these people, including me, are very happy to pay him a few dollars each for the value he gives in return. For example, I am writing this on a computer running Microsoft Windows 7, for which we must thank Mr Gates, and I have been using Windows, MS Office and other programs productively and enjoyably for many years now. I've always been happy to do the right thing and pay Mr Gates for the value he has contributed to my life through his products. I don't want to steal from him by using illegal software. He might not need my little bit more, but he deserves it more than the criminals who make, sell and buy pirated software, DVDs and the like.

I think most, if not all, of the super-rich Americans made their wealth honestly through fair competition in free markets by providing real value to millions, often billions, of happy, satisfied customers. This can be seen in the large number of technology billionaires on the list, including poor Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune has dropped by nearly half, but he's still 36 on the list with more than $9 billion. Zuckerberg, like Gates, has also earned his extreme wealth by creating immense value for almost one billion users of Facebook, who don't even have to pay for the product they use so very often.

The other thing that always impresses me about a lot of these very rich people, again, the honest ones, not the selfish, worthless type, is their extraordinary generosity, their eager philanthropy. The two richest people on the Forbes list are also the two most philanthropic people on earth, having given away billions, in Bill Gates' case something like $30 billion, to help millions of truly poor people around the world. What a wonderful example they set: having contributed so much to the world through the value they created, they then give selflessly to benefit others.

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Reference

Bill Gates tops Forbes rich list for 19th year. (2012, September 19). BBC News US & Canada. Retrieved September 20, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19652594

Free Market Rules

I wasn't thinking of international business when I was browsing the BBC News yesterday, but the the title "South Korean Host Bars - for Women" did catch my eye, and when I read it, I realised that it is relevant in several ways to the ideas we will be looking at in the first chapter of Quest.

Red Model Host Bar, Seoul. 

In this article, Lucy Williamson reports on the recent rise in traditionally conservative South Korea of host bars for women who want handsome and attentive male company, whether for sex or simply companionship, and are happy to pay the young men a lot for it (2012). According to Williamson, these host bars attract wealthy and, increasingly, women with high social status, for reasons varying from a desire to control men, to wanting someone to listen to them.  Williamson also says that these bars allow Korean women to "challenge traditional gender roles and flex their economic power" in a rapidly developing economy.

I guess that when most of us hear the phrase host bar, we think of men, probably older men, going to places with attractive young women, so when the next words in the BBC News's title were "for women", I thought it might be worth a look. It was. Actually, I've heard of the same thing happening in Bangkok for wealthy, hi-so women who want a handsome young man and who prefer not to visit the numerous gay bars and cocktail lounges in Bangkok. I'm sure it also happens in Australia and every where else. What made it more interesting in this case was, as Williamson reminds us, the fact that traditional Korean society is seen as more conservative than modern American or Australian society, where such things are sort of normal and accepted these days, although when I was a child growing up in rural Australia, prostitution and such things were all very secretive, and illegal.

Sadly, their citizens most private and personal activities, their sex lives and intimate relationships, is something that too many governments take far too much interest in, and almost always for bad reasons, with seriously unjust results. Today, prostitution is legal in Australia, although brothels selling sex remain illegal in the more conservative western states. I think this legalisation has been good for Australian society, for men and women working in the sex industry, and for their customers. It has greatly reduced the police and other corruption that used to exist. It has also made life much safer for male and female sex workers, who can now go to the police if they are abused by customers or employers, and the same for customers in these legal businesses. The related health problems are also much improved. And of course, the sex industry now pays its taxes like every other industry. Finally, I think that it makes the whole society more honest when we can be open and admit how human beings feel and behave, and allow adults to freely agree to do things that do not harm other people against their will. As usual, less government control has been very good for Australian society and citizens.

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Reference

Williamson, L. (2012, September 18). South Korean host bars - for women. BBC News magazine. Retrieved September 19, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19570750

What the Public Wants?

As we saw in the short reading from NPR, food customs vary greatly around the world. Some people think it's OK to eat horse, whilst others would never do that unless forced. Reading the BBC News with my morning coffee yesterday, I came across an article with similar ideas on cultural differences.

According to Guy Lynn in "Cane Rat Meat 'Sold to Public' in Ridley Road Market", butchers at a major meat market in London sell large quantities of a type of African rat, other bush meat, and illegally prepared sheep and goat meat (2012). Lynn reports that a BBC investigation discovered these sales, which the shop owners subsequently denied, and that local government officials had done nothing to stop this criminal activity. The article says that local councillor Feryal Demirci told the BBC team that they "have only received a single complaint regarding the sale of illegal meat" since 2009, and that that report was not proved.

It was the words "cane rat meat" in the title that caught my eye because this reminded me of visiting villages in Sukothai and other provinces where rat from the rice fields was on the local menu. I wasn't keen to try them myself, but they looked perfectly clean and, I guess, edible. They certainly seemed popular with the local villagers, who did kindly offer to share the plumb fur balls they had caught. And that reminds me of visits Chiangrai, where dog seems always on the menu. The first time I visited, I was travelling with my youngest brother, and we had popped into a restaurant in a small town for lunch. We couldn't read the menu, but the helpful owner or cook suggested a few dishes, including a duck dish. When the duck arrived, it tasted fine, but seemed a bit odd: the bones were not like duck bones, and the taste, even with the added spices, didn't seem quite normal. A few questions clarified the confusion: the owner had not been saying "duck", but "dog". Dog certainly seemed right. But we'd already tried it, so continued with our meal, although we might not have chosen that particular dish had we not misheard the main ingredient.

That's my personal memory that interested me in the story, but it also reminded me of a more serious social and political issue: the unhealthy amount of government interference in people's lives. As proven from the almost daily evidence against current Thai drug policy, when governments unjustly try to control people's personal decisions, the result is usually a total failure that benefits only corrupt police and other officials, and mafia gangs. The same thing happens in the illegal meat trade. People obviously want to eat rats and other bush meat, and making it illegal for no good reason does not stop them. The result is obvious. When something that harms no one else is made illegal, people happily break the law and buy rats from Ghana, heroin from Burma and wine from France. The sensible, just, and most practical, solution is to legalise all of these things and only punish real crimes. If rats sales are legal, then respectable business people will do it openly and standards can be properly regulated, making it safer for buyers and society. If the "smokies" (sheep prepared by blow torching off the fleece) are legal, the meat can again be legally tested for safety, better protecting consumers than is possible whilst the practice is a criminal offence. And of course, if these things were all legalized, they can be taxed. Legalization, as usual, leads to a lot of benefits and to no harm.

The strange thing is that so many people continue to support unjust laws of this type. How many people, for example, oppose the perfectly immoral Thai and US laws, among many such, that irrationally and hypocritically criminalise some recreational drugs and not others? All these unjust laws do is cost tax payers an enormous amount for a complete failure, encourage corruption, harm citizens and their children, and profit mafia groups. This seems both immoral and a very silly to me. It's much better for society and individuals to treat adults as adults. If they want to eat rats, let them and protect them.

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Reference

Lynn, G. (2012, September 17). Cane rat meat 'sold to public' in Ridley Road Market. BBC News London. Retrieved September 19, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19622903

Reading the Future

In their paragraphs about a current passion, a couple of people wrote about reading, and this has also been one of my constant pleasures since I was around ten years old. But with the rapid rise of technology, do books and reading have a future?

The BBC News article "Digital Fiction Book Sales Soar, Publishers Association Says", says that even though paper books are not becoming more popular, digital books are rapidly gaining in popularity with readers in the United Kingdom: sales more than doubled from one year ago (2012). According to the article, publishers think that strong intellectual property protection has encouraged publishers "to invest in exciting authors and titles", but they are not sure what might be popular in future.

I agree with the article that reading will remain an important pleasure for many people, but I'm less sure about paper books. They might be holding steady for now, but I think that the paper versions could very quickly die out. I remember that when digital photography arrived, everyone thought that film would always continue and be better. This was true for a while, but then the digital version became so good, so much cheaper and so much more convenient that film and film cameras just disappeared overnight. Do you use a film camera today? If you were interested in photography as a hobby, would you even think of buying a film camera?

I've always loved books, and have thousands of them in Australia and thousands more that I've collected since I settled in Bangkok. If you had asked me about eighteen months ago, I would have said that I would never prefer a computer version to a "real" book. But then a year ago, I tried a friend's Kindle. Then I was reading in bed one night and had to use a dictionary. That was the decisive moment! When I'm working at my computer, I have the wonderful and massive Oxford English Dictionary available online, along with the excellent Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. They are quick and easy to use. In contrast, when I was lying in bed with my book, I had to put the book down, risk losing my page, reach over for the 2 kg Concise Oxford English Dictionary sitting on my bedside table, find the entry, and then read the tiny print. It was a real pain. The dictionary is heavy enough to exercise the arm muscles more than I want, and it's a long, messy business. My friend's Kindle had the excellent Oxford Dictionary of English included to automatically look up words! (I'm a fan of the excellent Oxford range of dictionaries.) The next day, I ordered my Amazon Kindle. I love it! Over the past year, I've bought more than a hundred new books, but only three or four paper books.

I'm sure that the future of reading is bright. But I think paper books might be heading into the darkness of museum exhibits.

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Reference

Digital fiction book sales soar, Publishers Association says. (2012, September 17). BBC News Technology. Retrieved September 8, 2012 from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19626076

Welcome to Reading and Writing 3, term 6, 2012.

Thank you for registering for the Reading and Writing level 3 class in AUA's Academic English Program (AEP).

Over the next six weeks we will be working through two or three chapters in Hartmann's Quest 2 Reading and Writing [Quest] (2007), which might already be familiar to some of you from level 2 last term. As usual, we will be doing both a a bit more writing than Quest asks for and a bit more reading.

And this being 2012, we will be using the tools that are normal in modern academic institutions: email, the internet and so on; academics and students no longer submit their written work on scraps of paper, and we won't be doing that either.

I hope that you find the class both enjoyable and challenging so that our six weeks together will be productive and pleasant.

And if you ever have any question about anything, please feel welcome to ask us in class, email me, or write it up here on our class blog (Peter, 2011). 

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

Peter. (2011, February). AEP, Blogging our class. Class Blog - AEP at AUA. April 22, 2012 from http://peteraep.blogspot.com/p/blogging-our-class.html

Religious Art in Our Cultures

Having read "The Sacred Realm of Art" (Hartmann, 2007, pp. 78 - 79), we now want to follow up Hartmann's invitation and suggestion in the discussion exercise F. on page 82 that we apply the same sort of analysis to our own cultures; we will do this as a response writing exercise here.

Hartmann's three prompt questions, slightly revised, to get us thinking are:

• What kinds of religious art can you find in your culture? (Sculpture? Paintings? Architecture? Other?)
• What are some topics of this art? 
• Does this art make the religion more visible? Explain your answer. 

Since this is a response writing activity, a discussion rather than an academic essay, feel free to share your ideas as you like. 

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Reference

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