Is Benjamin so cryptic? Does he remind you of anyone?

Source background
Benjamin is, as Orwell describes him, a cryptic character in Animal Farm In fact, cryptic is the very word that Orwell twice uses in connection with Benjamin repeated comment that "Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey" (p. 12; also see p. 26).

Benjamin is clearly a comrade that the other animals cannot understand. But is he so hard for us to understand? What do we know about Benjamin? What is he like? What are his important characteristics?
And these questions lead, naturally, to another set: what group in our societies is symbolized by Benjamin? What is Orwell symbolically telling us through this character? Who does he remind you of? Why?

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Is Orwell's character Benjamin so cryptic?
Does he remind you of anyone? 

My answer is:
Yes/No. Coming in a comment

___________

Reference

Orwell, G. (2016). Animal Farm [MS Word version]. Peter for use in the AEP program at AUA. Retrieved from https://onedrive.live.com/redir?page=view&resid=5B4B50DD6DBCD1F2!15309&authkey=!ALrp9sMITsyRnvQ (Original work published 1947)

Is it natural? Is it reasonable? Is it right?

Source background

In Hartmann's coming general interest reading, "The New Science of Mind and Body," she contrasts alternative or complementary medicines with what has become conventional, science based medicine (2007, pp. 235 - 238). For some people, one of the attractions of alternative forms of medicine such as massage, acupuncture, aroma therapy, yoga and so on is that they are natural or comparatively more natural, in contrast to the surgery, drugs and other methods of conventional modern medical treatment by doctors and in hospitals.

Similarly, in Animal Farm, we see that both Major, who uses the word nature three times on page 2, and the humans drugging at the Red Lion (p. 15) think that there is something special, even morally good, about Nature or being natural and following "the order of nature" (p. 2) or "the laws of Nature" (p. 15). Is this right? Are natural things better in some moral or other way than things that are unnatural?

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Is it natural to value natural things over non-natural or unnatural things? 
Is it reasonable to have such preferences, or are they merely prejudices? 
Is what is natural or in accord with nature morally better than what is not? 

My answer is:
Yes/No. Coming in a comment.

___________

Reference

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

Orwell, G. (2016). Animal Farm [MS Word version]. Peter for use in the AEP program at AUA. Retrieved from https://onedrive.live.com/redir?page=view&resid=5B4B50DD6DBCD1F2!15309&authkey=!ALrp9sMITsyRnvQ (Original work published 1947)

Are they random? Was it random?

Source background
In her academic reading for chapter 5, "The Function and Meaning of Dreaming," Hartmann tells us that according to the author of the activation-synthesis theory, neuro-transmitters in the brain "randomly stimulate memories," which are then synthesised into coherent narratives, which are are our dreams (2007, p. 153).
But what does it mean to describe the initiating events as random? Are the neuro-transmitters in our brains acting at random during sleep? Do they activate random memories?

Further, part of our procedure for choosing the topic of your essays on Orwell's Animal Farm included a randomizing element - the number draw from a  plastic bag. Was this in fact random? Is it incorrect to use the word random to describe such a procedure?

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do neuro-transmitters activate random events in our brains during sleep? 
Was the number drawing in our procedure for choosing a character to be an essay topic  from Animal Farm random? 

My answers are:
Yes/No. Support

___________

Reference

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

With knowledge of these studies, might you change anything in your life?

Source background
Yesterday we read Hartmann's introductory reading to chapter 8, "What Does New Research Tell Us?" in which she reports on the findings of five studies (2007, p. 231).

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
With knowledge of these studies, might you change anything in your life?

My answer is:
Coming in a comment. 

___________

Reference

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

Did any of the studies in "What Does New Research Tell Us?" surprise you?

Source background
Yesterday we read Hartmann's introductory reading to chapter 8, "What Does New Research Tell Us?" in which she reports on the findings of five studies (2007, p. 231).

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Did any of the studies in "What Does New Research Tell Us?" surprise you?

My answer is:
Coming in a comment. 

___________

Reference

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

Do you believe that alien exists?

Source background
In “UFO hunters: They are still watching”, Jon Kelly (2012) tells us that there are special phenomena in the sky without explanation, but this might be good proof for intelligence outside world. Bufora or British UFO Research Association is trying to check a lot of unexplained sightings, whereas some skeptics think that Ufology is the combination of pseudo-science, conspiracy theory, and mystical nonsense. However, Dr. David Clarke (Sheffield Hallam University), who believes that it is worth studying as a powerful instance of folklore and mythology interestingly, said that "Of course, it's pseudo-science. But, people had always looked in the sky and seen things that were odd or puzzling. Before aliens, it was angels, ghosts and spirits. What it told us was that, as human beings, we needed to find explanations and believed in something bigger than ourselves."

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you believe that alien exists?

My answer is:
Yes, personally I believe it exists.

Firstly, the existence of all life on Earth implies us that there would be also life on other countless planets under the universe. Earth would not be truly one in a million or even in a several billion where there are living things. Secondly, it might be possible that NASA or the related organizations in the world are concealing this kind of information despite knowing them very well. Thirdly, either the advancement of technology of alien or human on Earth might be the biggest limitation to discover each other. Last but not least, there might be some necessary reasons why alien, whose technology is much more superior to ours, does not want to contact us.

In fact, we usually see a lot of ET stories through media. Some of them sound humorous and nonsense, while others sound plausible. To demonstrate, I have seen video in which there was one Thai academic who could contact with alien through his smart phone. More surprisingly, the alien could speak Thai. This is the only one example that I think it sound like a joke’s story to make the temporary social trend. Overall, to say that alien never exists is to certainly jump to the conclusions. Why don’t we wait for more evidences against this or excellent technology and devices to prove this? Someday we will know exactly that we in fact might never live alone in this universe. Don’t you think like me?

___________

Reference

Kelly, J. (2012, September 25). UFO hunters: They are still watching. BBC News. Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19702652

Should announcing that you hate your job and eating smelly food be concerned mistake in the office?

Source background
According to "Work habits that make people hate you" (2016), they are nine habits which is concerned as mistake that you're doing in your office two of them are announcing that you have you job and eating smelly food.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Should announcing that you hate your job and eating smelly food be concerned mistake in the office?

My answer is:
Yes, it should. Because I think that if people announcing that they hate their job and other people hear it, this action will reduce morale of other people which will effect with the quality of works. Moreover, I think that this is some kind of negative thinking which will be able to let thinker do not satisfy with their works and lead to less productive in finally.

The second is eating smelly food. I think that it's not suitable to eat smell food in the office because it can disturb others people which want to concentrate on their work a lot. This will lead to less productive of other people's work and will be effect with production of the company in the long run.

___________

Reference

Work habits that make people hate you. (2015, April 17). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150416-the-worst-office-behaviours

Do you prefer taking the stairs to taking the elevator after you read this article?

Source background
According to the ScienceDaily "Want a younger brain? Stay in school -- and take the stairs" we are told that keep taking the stairs in daily life and educating in school are some useful methods to keep your brain younger. Not only making your strong and healthy body but also improve your brain's health. The article tells "... they compared brain volume to the participants' reported number of flights of stairs climbed, and years of schooling completed.
Results were clear: the more flights of stairs climbed, and the more years of schooling completed, the younger the brain", and the researchers found that "...brain age decreases by 0.95 years for each year of education, and by 0.58 years for every daily flight of stairs climbed"

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you prefer taking the stairs to taking the elevator after you read this article?

My answer is:
Yes, I do prefer taking the stairs, actually, I have never known that keep taking the stairs can help the brain younger, I know only it can decrease cholesterol and weight. it depends on how many floors I going to? or is it rush hour? Normally, I always use the stairs when without any conditions. However, some people don't think carefully about it because there are many ways to build up the brain younger such as keep learning Math or taking some medicine, so they ignore to do and elevator can respond to their comfortable more.

___________

Reference
Want a younger brain? Stay in school -- and take the stairs. (March 9, 2016). ScienceDaily. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160309125520.htm

Do you think many forbidden things in modern culture like tattoo or marijuana will be more important for developing technology in the near future?

Source background
According to "Sorry mom: Getting lots of tattoos could have a surprising health benefit" from The Huffington Post, The persons who have got tattooing more than one time would increase the immune markers more than those with only one time tattooing. Even though this study don't support tattooing especially people who have never done tattooing before because of certain risks, for example infection or scarring, It can be useful for developing the new approach of vaccine delivery which reproducw the tattoo method like piercing through many spots on the skin and left small portion of ink.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you think many forbidden things in modern culture like tattoo or marijuana will be more important for developing technology in the near future?

My answer is:
Yes, I think so. There must be some certain for our heritage from far history not just the popularity among lower class people to pass on those things in their way of life. The article also said that tattoo may be used as sign for differentiating "attractive" people who have better physical response than the others who would be judged as "less-healthy peers".

Our modern world never get tired of judging something to be good or bad, appropriate or hazardous and sometimes based on prejudice especially on racism and social classes. I think now is a good time to revise many thing based on objective data and not to be credulous or ignorant, because we can have more evidences for evaluating than in the past time.

___________

Reference

Moye, D. (2016, March 11). Sorry mom: Getting lots of tattoos could have a surprising health benefit.  The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/multiple-tattoos-immune-system_us_56e1a321e4b0860f99d80ce6?section=australia&adsSiteOverride=au

Should junk food adverts be banned during children's TV programs?

Source background

According to "Junk food ads face online ban in UK" (2016), advertising junk food could soon be banned from children's content streamed online, according to the UK's advertising watchdog. A ban could affect the content on services such as Youtube and ITV Hub.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:

Should junk food adverts be banned during children's TV programs?  

My answer is:
Yes, it should. Since junk food is high in sugar, fat, sodium and calories, but low in nutrients. It cause many health problems. For example, tooth decay, which occurs when the enamel that covers your teeth break down by eating too much sugar. Weight gain, because it contains lots of calories. Most of a junk food adverts are target children. You can sometimes see that there is a toy giveaway with the food. Banning junk food ads can help children to have less interest in those junk food but parents' care are also important. They should give a good advice to persuade their child to eat healthily. I don't think that banning the ads would affect junk food's restaurant much because they are now well-known and exist everywhere.

_________

Reference

Junk food ads face online ban in UK. (2016, March 14). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35803532

Do you think that North Korea is a suitable country for tourism industry?

Source background
According to the BBC News article "US student Otto Warmbier given hard labour in North Korea", it is told that US student, Otto Warmbier is sentenced to fifteen years labour as he was trying to steal a propaganda sign from the hotel. This is severe punishment as compared to those given in the past.

In BBC News, it is stated that Otto was accused of trying 'to destroy the country's unity'. He said: "it was the worst mistake of my life" in the conference. Additionally, US diplomat Bill Richardson has involved in negotiation to secure the release of Americans from North Korea detention and he was amazed with the verdict of North Korean supreme court on Otto Warmbier's case.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you think that North Korea is a suitable country for tourism industry?

My answer is:
No, I don't. Travelling in North Korea is not really a good idea for family trip at all. There are tons of soldiers marching around the area like a group of zombies from the Walking Dead being train to be a warrior. Obviously, who would not be afraid? Just like how the movie 'The Interview (2014)' emphasises the propaganda created (that Kim Jong-Un never pooped), I am curios what are others funny belief of their supreme leader's ability. Not only that, what would happen if i go there and accidentally take photos of North Korean soldier yawning on the street. Maybe 15 years of intense labour in the North Korea? I do not want to risk my life going to such a deleterious place.

Not only that, I do not think there are that many tourist attractions in the North Korea. As I have read from the News, you cannot leave the hotel if there are no government officials to pick you up. Then that is not fun at all. At Pattaya, we can go to the walking street at night. In Singapore, we can go to clubs in Clarke Quay if we want. So if we visit North Korea, of course, our freedom is circumscribed to the maximum limit and it is not fun at all. Is it travelling or being imprisoned while we go there? Thus, I will not land even a single on North Korea in my life time. Take Otto Wambier as a case example.

___________

Reference

US student Otto Warmbier given hard labour in North Korea. (2016, March 16). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35818581

Should we allow kids (without mental disorders) to play war or military toys?

Source background

According to “I banned my son from having toy guns”, Matt Gaw (2014) told us that he would not like to let his son play war or military toys, particularly toy guns, because these kinds of toy seem to represent violence and cruelty in society, although he used to wage war on his brother for several times during childhood. In fact, having published for a decade, the research conducted by London Metropolitan University indicates that children will become disheartened and withdrawn if they are incessantly reprimanded for acting as superheroes or military playing. Additionally, Prof. Klaus Doddes from University of London, who has been studying about playing Action Man with his team, says that "War toys, on the one hand, can be associated with joy, with pleasure, imagination. They can also be used to help children talk about trauma, particularly when guns have been involved. There is some interesting research going on in a variety of places that have looked at play and toys as a way of coping with post-traumatic stress."

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Should we allow kids (without mental disorders) to play war or military toys?

My answer is:
Yes, we should. The more parents are likely to thwart them, the more they tend to disobey. War or military toys never make trouble by themselves. In turn, the problems regarding aggressiveness, violence, cruelty and the like results from behaviors and learning of their players. Generally speaking, it is a right for children to be able to play them, whereas their parents should take care and give advice to them closely in order that children can play safely and learn the possible benefits and drawbacks of that kind of toys when compared the real ones. After normal kids who are not suffered from any mental disorders can play under the careful supervision of parents, they would have create new attitudes, develop their brains or minds, and understand how to play them carefully. Take the case of Songkran Festival as an example. Both children and adults use water guns joyfully. In general, adults allow them to play without worry about the possibility to lead children to harshness in the future despite the fact that it is one kind of toy guns. This would not cause problem like violence in children if they use them appropriately for entertainment, not for attacking anyone or other vicious purposes.

But, my answer can be possibly No as well. This is due to the danger which may result from material used for producing such toys. Perhaps, some of them consist of sharp or penetrating edges. That might be big problems that are harmful to body’s players, particularly on their face. Likewise, some toys are probably composed of many tiny components, which are somewhat dangerous for children if they swallow them without discretion during playing. Sometimes, if they play toy guns which can release toy bullets, that might cause injury or wound on other people. What’s more, those toys may be produced form prohibited chemical or material, or they were produced without good standard and quality, causing hazard to players. In this case, I would agree to not allow children to play toys which are unsafe and not up to correct standard due to the concern about their health and harm.

___________

Reference

Gaw, M. (2014, April 26). I banned my son from having toy guns. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/26/banned-son-having-toy-guns

Do you prefer dogs to cats?

Source background
"West Highland Terrier Devon wins Crufts Best In Show" tells us the winners of this year's Crufts, England's premier show for dogs and dog owners which celebrates its 125th birthday this year (2016).

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you prefer dogs to cats? 

My answer is:
Yes, I do. My family has always had dogs. When I was a child, we had two working dogs kelpies, who were also pets we played with, and a pet only pet, Trixie the fox terrier, although Trixie was also useful at ratting when the vermin invaded the hen houses. There was none of that acceptance of rats as comrades that we see in chapter 1 of Animal Farm.

Pembroke Welsh corgi at Crufts

But what caught my eye in the BBC's report was not the overall show winner, but the picture of the corgi, who reminded me of my grandmother's dogs. She always had a few corgis and a large, long haired collie. I guess as a child, they were a bit more exotic than the dogs we had at home, like most things at Nana's place were exotic. She also had a couple of large, fat cats, but they seemed very much like Orwell's cat: interested only in eating and sleeping in a warm spot, and no fun to play with.

___________

Reference

West Highland Terrier Devon wins Crufts Best In Show. (2016, March 14). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35800182

Do you like to live forever?

Source background 
According to "The immortalist: Uploading the mind to a computer" (2016), Domitry Itsukov, a Russian internet millionaire, says that a human brain works like a computer and it can be copied in a machine.  Then he is going to make our lives immortal by uploading a human brain to a computer within next 30 years; we can all live forever.  It also means he creates multiple bodies and his consciousness is just moving from one to another.  He is quite serious and 100% confident it will happen, otherwise he would not have started the business, he puts.  He is now 35 years old and in another 35 years he may die if he does not stop it.  Several scientists have commented on this and some says that mind uploading is impossible.

The article also explains the mechanism of our brain; it is made up of 86 billion neurons connected cells that send information to each other by firing electrical charges.

_______________________________________  

My Yes/No question is:
Do you like to live forever?

My answer is: 
No.  If people do not die forever, lots of problems will happen.  First I have to face my spouse forever, it's quite hard task each other 555.  Second, it's not romantic.  Our national flower is a cherry blossom.  Our people love it because it has a short life.  In early spring the flower comes into full bloom so beautifully and flutters in a week regretfully.  If it blooms all year round, no one appreciate it so much.  Third, to live forever is monotonous.  I prefer different lives in a different situation to an eternal life.  But actually, I don't want to live physically so much.  If I can live in a spirit, I can fly to anywhere and anytime.  It might be much fun than immortality.
________

Reference

Quinn, T. (2016, March 14). The immortalist: Uploading the mind to a computer. BBC News Magazine retrieved from http//www..bbc.com/news/magazine-35786771

Does Google's AlphaGo's defeat of the human Go champion support the activation-synthesis theory of dreams?

Source background
According to "Google AI wins second Go game against top player," when he lost his second game in a series of five against Google's AlphaGo last week, world champion Go player Lee Se-dol said that he had gone from being surprised after losing the first game to being "quite speechless"  (2016). This follows up the defeat last year by AlphaGo of the reigning European Go champion, which the same BBC News article describes as "an achievement that was not expected for years." Although he has already lost to Google's artificial intelligence machine, Lee did win the fourth game yesterday as we are told in "Artificial intelligence: Go master Lee Se-dol wins against AlphaGo program," (2016). This intelligence contest between humankind and machine was also reported in Thailand's Bangkok Post's "Game over as computer tops Go master," where one of AlphaGo's creators is quoted as saying that what allows AlphaGo to handle the computationally impossible number of possible moves is something "more akin to imagination" (2016). The Post's report in fact is, as they note, a slightly shortened version of the Agence France-Prese (AFP) article "Human vs machine Go showdown kicks off in Seoul" (2016).

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Does Google's AlphaGo's defeat of the human Go champion support the activation-synthesis theory of dreams?

My answer is:
Yes, it does. This is another of those times where my published Yes/No question is very different to the first question that came to my mind. Initially I was going to ask: Do you think we can create machines that are truly more intelligent than we are? But then I liked the imagination and intuition mentioned in the Post article, so thought of asking whether a machine could have human-like imagination and intuition. Finally, when I was reading Hartmann's "The Function and Meaning of Dreaming" again last night, I made a connection between the activation-synthesis theory of dreams and how AlphaGo is said to function to achieve its amazing conquests over mere humans.

The connection, I thought is that the activation-synthesis might have deeper implications for how our brains work than merely to explain the generation of our dreams: the major role it gives to purely physical and chemical events that are creators of images and more suggests that those things, the stuff of our thoughts, are all purely mechanical in exactly the same way that a computer is, and that with the rise of such sophisticated machines as AlphaGo, we are finally starting to see that in fact anything a human brain can do or create, so too can a strictly mechanical machine of our creation, except that our machines will only be as intelligent as we are for a very short time. I don't think AlphaGo can dream (yet), but it seems to be producing something like intuition and perhaps even imagination (I would not have suggested this had its creator not said it) by purely electrical and chemical means, just as activation-synthesis says the brain works to create dreams, and perhaps as the brain works to create a lot more.

I'm sorry about using so many different sources. I couldn't find one source that contained exactly the right set of background information that I wanted, so I combined a few, and each needs to be cited.

___________

Reference

Artificial intelligence: Go master Lee Se-dol wins against AlphaGo program. (2016, March 13). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35797102

Game over as computer tops Go master. (2016, March 12). The Bangkok Post. Retrieved from http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/895204/game-over-for-human-go-master

Google AI wins second Go game against top player. (2016, March 10). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35771705

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

Human vs machine Go showdown kicks off in Seoul. (2016, March 9). AFP. Retrieved from http://www.afp.com/en/news/human-vs-machine-go-showdown-kicks-seoul

Compared with the end of chapter 3, have the animals' expectations changed at the end of chapter 5 of Animal Farm?

Source background
In my reply at 1:00 in the morning last night to Tung's comment on Ploy's blog post "Do you know that pop song can cause ageing in elderly?" I start talking about Shakespeare's tragedies, which I hope no one thinks are positive, cheerful or happy (Peter F. AUA, 2016), That led naturally, at least in my responding brain, to Orwell's Animal Farm, which I also say is not so much a happy story as a very depressing one as our expectations based on the known history of the various political revolutions it can be interpreted as allegorizing  must suggest. In the course of my response to Tung's thoughtful comment responding to Ploy's post and the subsequent discussion, I also suggest a Yes/No question  about the novel.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Compared with the end of chapter 3, have the animals' expectations changed at the end of chapter 5 of Animal Farm?

My answer is:
No, not really. Well, perhaps they are not exactly the same as they were two chapters earlier. A lot does happen in the action packed chapter 5, but on the whole, I think the animals' expectations are still pretty much what they were. Do you agree? If you agree, why? If you disagree, why?

A couple of notes:
If you use your own ideas in a later piece of work, you still have to cite yourself. When you cite a Blog post, comment or similar, use the author's name as shown on your source.

Although the use of bold formatting is common in textbooks, as we have seen already in Quest, it is not usual in academic writing. I did it in my Source Background section above for the same reasons that Hartmann and other textbooks do it: the word in bold is an important one for our writing exercise next week, as you will already have seen if you've looked ahead a little to Hartmann's Mechanics of Writing section for "States of Consciousness" (2007, pp. 157 - 160) and her following academic writing exercise (pp. 161 - 163).

___________

References

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

Peter F. AUA. (2016, March 13). Re: Do you know that pop song can cause ageing in elderly? [Blog comment]. Retrieved from http://peteraep.blogspot.com/2016/03/do-you-know-that-pop-song-can-cause.html?showComment=1457805110181#c219394083754342698

Do you think the fashion in 90’s would come back?

Source background

According to The 90s are back: how to get the look right from The Guardian, Laurence review a lot of stuff from those day not only the clothing but also the series and celebrities which make things became cool. If you are too young to live in those days, this article will show you the hairstyle, the make-up style as well as  the supermodel. If you have lived in those day, there are many things you would have already forgot!

_______________________________________

My Yes/No question is:

Do you think the fashion in 90’s would come back?

My answer is:

No, I don’t think so. I think maybe the trend of music in that period would come but not fashion. When I searched for the youtube for music video in that era, the way they wear is look so weird compared to these day. The waist of the trouser is too high and even too low. Even the suit also look too large, when we prefer more slim and show the curve of our body.

In contrast, the music when we hear at young age will fix for all our lifetime. The song we get familiar with will become part of us no matter how old we are. That reason is persuasive to urge the musician to produce the 90's style music.

___________

Reference

Cochrane, L. (2016, March 11). The 90s are back: how to get the look right. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/mar/11/90s-are-back-how-to-get-the-look

Do you love the Seekers?

Source background
This doesn't count as a blog post responding to a piece of writing from one my list of reading sources, but Ploy's post this morning last night, on which I commented this morning, made me want to share a specific example, but you can't really insert a YouTube video in a comment. The Seekers were one of the great Australian groups that I loved when I was in primary school. The YouTube clip posted by wolstenholme100 (2014) is of their 50th anniversary in London. They still sound great singing many old (some very old) favourites.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you love the Seekers?

My answer is:
Yes - for almost 50 years now. They also look a tad older than they did half a century ago, but their voices remain clear and powerful. I often listen to them when I'm getting dressed in the morning - that's the sort of multi-tasking I can manage: buttoning a shirt and tying a shoelace whilst listening to music. Maybe I should also take up Cheese's suggestion to sing along to stretch my diaphragm a bit.

Actually, what kept worrying me was that after reading and responding to Ploy's post, I thought a bit about the lyrics, and at least one of them, the very catchy "Georgy Girl" also sounds rather sexist - it's sounds like the only way for women to be happy and fulfilled is to look pretty and catch a man. They are probably safe from the ageism charge, but like most people of that time, they simply accepted as natural the ugly prejudices in favour of males that Ae discusses in her blog post on the wage differences in Silicon Valley. Just because they were totally wrong about some things does not stop their art being great art.

If you don't know the Seekers, you might like to give them a try. YouTube is another wonderful offering from Google. I don't buy paper books any more. I don't buy music on discs. And now that NetFlix has arrived in Thailand, my DVD buying has dwindled rapidly.

And that reminds me - Google has also been making headlines the last couple of days for a very different reason. I hope someone picks it up to blog!

After citing it, I decided I should also include one of the YouTube versions of "Georgy Girl" (rich963, 2011).

___________

Reference

rich963. (2011, November 4). The Seekers - Georgy Girl (1967 - Stereo). [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/wsIbfYEizLk

wolstenholme100. (2014, June 4). Seekers 50th Anniversary Concert, Albert Hall, London, 2 June 2014 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/eCLWWTsWdME 

Do you know that pop song can cause ageing in elderly?

Source background
According to BBC News Health  " Pop songs 'derogatory about growing old' "(2016), Pop records set a bad example by portraying ageing and old people in a negative light, focusing on dying and physical decline, according to a study in a nursing journal.Ms Kelly said: "The message coming out of the negative songs is that the elderly are frail and a burden. It's confidence-lowering.

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My Yes/No question is:
Do you know that pop song can cause ageing in elderly?

My answer is:
No, I don't.For me, I like pop music because many of them are really good in both meaning and melodiousness.I think each music has its own way of expressing feeling. Good song and good listener make the song's duty perfect. Instead of listening to a song that depress your heart, you'd better go to a song that fulfill your heart with happiness. In the article, the pop song's lyrics like "I hope I die before I get old" affect the elderly's mind. I think elderly who hear those lyrics must feel depressed. Even elderly with strong mind would feel so. So I think there should be some suggestion on the CD like this song is not suitable for elderly. I'm sure people want to live as long as they can with people they love. Especially elderly, some of them are suffering from many diseases. The spirit is as important as medical treatment. However, there are many advantages of listening to music especially classic song . These song helps them in many ways for example, increase relaxation, better nights of sleep, etc...
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Reference

Pop songs 'derogatory about growing old.(2016, 10 March).BBC News.Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35747166

Is a wearable device totally useful for blind people?

Source background
From the article "Toyota develops wearable device for blind people", Toyota introduces the exciting gadget that developed by Project Blaid. This developed device will give information about the blind user surrounding by voice, they will notice what objects in front of them or which ways they can pass. The article tells "The gadget is worn on the shoulders and uses cameras to recognize surroundings, such as signs, then directs the wearer with speakers and vibration motors"

According to the detail, give an example that "....how the device could be used to distinguish between one door marked gentlemen's toilet and another marked exit. Toyota said it was primarily intended to help users navigate indoors"

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My Yes/No question is:
Is a wearable device totally useful for blind people?

My answer is:
No, it is not a totally useful device for blind people because this device makes a noise all time like a navigator in car. In my thought, it is still have some error for blind people. People who cannot see anything around themselves must be careful an accident on a road or a direction more than normal person, so they should focus more on voice surrounding at that time. I think this gadget would make blind people have lack of concentration of it.

Reference

Toyota develops wearable device for blind people. (2016, March 8). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35753978 

Should all countries in the world have rights to access to nuclear weapon?

Source background
According to the BBC News report 'North Korea 'has miniature nuclear warhead', says Kim Jong-un', we are told that North Korea has been developing its nuclear weapons in order to improve its own military power. It is still doubtful in the invention of such weapon as there is still no concrete evidence to support the creation of North Korean's miniature nuclear warhead. BBC News also says that if this invention of miniature nuclear warhead is real, it might be a threat to many countries in the world.

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My Yes/No question is:
Should all countries in the world have rights to access to nuclear weapon?

My answer is:
No, it should not. There should not be any nuclear weapons on Earth. Nuclear bombs are highly destructive weapons that can cause hundred thousands of lives to disappear in an instant and millions are being radiated by the harmful ray. Innocent lives should not be risked in a war between countries. Take for example, during World War II, 'Little boy' and 'Fat Man' are used to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki which kill approximately a hundred thousand people. As lives cannot be created again like how the city is renovated, it is vital for the world to demolish all the nuclear weapons. However, I believe this cannot be done even though the United States ask North Korea to abolish nuclear weapons. But who will just follow United States demand blind when the U.S. still have nuclear bombs in his country (might have even more than North Korea). Thu, this matter should be concerned globally as we do not know when the use of nuclear technology will harm humanity as a whole again.

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Reference

North Korea 'has miniature nuclear warhead', says Kim Jong-un. (2016, March 9). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35760797

Do you think that that mystery fossil could be the earliest humans?

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         According to the BBC journal " A mysterious new species could be the earliest humans" (2016), the BBC Earth spoke to Prof. Chris Stringer at London's Natural History Museum, where the reconstructed hand and jaw of Homonaledi about new discoverable species of the early human evolution H. naledi discovered in 2013. The thousand bones of a new species of extinct hominin were discovered in the Rising Star Cave in South Africa and unveiled to the world in September 2015. The previously-unknown species of extinct hominin has mix features between derived features and primitive features, in comparison, Homo naledi has a primitive small brain-case with human-like hands and feet which as being similar in size and weight to a small modern human, furthermore, had several unique feature of their skull. The new species has not been dated, but some researchers believe it could belonged to the genus Homo that led to us.

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My Yes/No question is:
Do you think that that mystery fossils could be the earliest humans?

My answer is:
Yes, they are. H. naledi could be an earilest humans because they relate with modern humans and extinct human species. They also have mix and similar features between hominins(pre-homo) species  and modern humans.  

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Reference

Hogenboom, M. (2016, 2 March). A mysterious new species could be the earliest humans. BBC Earth. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160301-is-this-the-earliest-human

Are some creatures such as a rat, a pigeon, and so on becoming good diagnosticians or doctors for human in the future?

Source background

According to “the pigeon will see you now”, Lizzie Crouch (2016) tells us that many kind of animal have the amazing ability in the field of medicine. Trained pigeon can help us detect breast cancer accurately. Furthermore, scientists found that rats with long tail have also a special detector in their nose which consists of a great number of olfactory receptors. African-pouched rats are good examples to show that they can rapidly detect tuberculosis (TB) in human without the requirement of special equipment. Interestingly, dog can be both a human’s best friend and a good detector for people who are suffered from epilepsy and are going to have a seizure. In addition to detecting, some animals such as cows have a different medical capability. Its saliva has antimicrobial properties which help prevent infection from bacteria entering the wound.

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My Yes/No question is:
Are some creatures such as a rat, a pigeon, and so on becoming good diagnosticians or doctors for human in the future?

My answer is:
Yes, they are. Although I have ever heard about some animals like worms, fish and the like can help treat some of the people’s diseases, I am still surprised about the ability to diagnose or treat human’s sickness by different kinds of animal, particularly trained animals for medicine. They are smarter than they look and what I think. Many areas in Bangkok are the place where rats or pigeons live and forage. Almost everyone, including I, view them as dirty or pathogen-carrying animals. When I have to walk through a big flock of pigeons on the street, I must hold my breath for a while and use my hand to protect my nose and mouth because someone used to tell me that some pathogens from them can make people get severe sick or even die after contacting or breathing them in.

The research and discovery in this news have demonstrated good instances of creatures’ superior ability to bring about astonishing benefits to human in the aspect of medical science. Even though some are small animals with a pretty tiny brain, they can trigger big changes for the method of diagnosis and treatment in the future. Specifically, the approaches in the news or future ones can be applied for medicine in poor countries where they have not good medical equipment enough for such activities. It can help save cost reasonably due to a little or no requirement of advanced equipment. Unlike chemical-relating or radioactive therapy, treatment or diagnosis by animals seems also safer if we control and apply them appropriately. Finally, it would also be great if we can detect much illness quickly by animals, saving more lives.

I believe our world is getting luckier to find that the skill and ability of creatures are so amazing that such animals are becoming our doctors.

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Reference

Crouch, L. (2016, February 14). The pigeon will see you now. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35542678 

"I cannot describe that dream to you" (Orwell, 2016/1947, p. 4)

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Although question 4, especially 4.a., hints at it, our set of discussion questions on the first chapter of Animal Farm does not directly ask about the short sentence in line 10 of page 4: "I cannot describe that dream to you" (Orwell, 2016/1947). One of Orwell's virtues as a writer is that he is as concise as possible. He works hard to cut unnecessary words. And I think this one short sentence does a lot of work. It is worth some discussion. So, ,,,

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My information question is:
What do you make of the sentence: "I cannot describe that dream to you"? What is Orwell saying to us here? 

My answer is:
Coming later. 
What are your ideas? What does this short sentence do? What does it tell us? Why does Major say this at this point in his speech? Rather, why does Orwell have Major speak this sentence here?

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Reference

Orwell, G. (2016). Animal Farm. Peter for use in the AEP program at AUA. Retrieved from https://onedrive.live.com/redir?page=view&resid=5B4B50DD6DBCD1F2!15309&authkey=!ALrp9sMITsyRnvQ (Originally published 1947)

Is it practical in businesses to reduce pay gap between male and female?

Source background
According to "Silicon Valley's gender problem extends beyond pay gap" (2016), a female name Moussouris claims that there are a number of working women in Microsoft (a company in Silicon Valley) who earned less than their male counterparts. However, Microsoft did not disclose any data or admit that they paid differently in the similar job. By the way, Joint Venture at Silicon Valley reports last year that "men in Silicon Valley reported earning as much as 61% more than their female counterparts" which can be an evidence that there really have gender pay gap in Silicon Valley.

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My Yes/No question is:
Is it practical in businesses to reduce pay gap between male and female?

My answer is:
No, it is hard for businesses to reduce pay gap between male and female. Although government have a legislation to reduce pay gap between male and female, It is hard to follow in some businesses because some work in the business is need special skill which is hard for women to do such as engineer, plumber or technician.

In generally, each company pays salary based on employee's skill. If female don't have equal skill as male, it will be hard for them to get equal pay. Moreover, I think that female have some physical condition which is make they hard to work as hard as male. That's why, I think that in some company it will be hard for male and female to get equal pay.  

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Reference

Silicon Valley's gender problem extends beyond pay gap. (2016, March 6). The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2016/mar/06/silicon-valley-women-tech-industry-gender-pay-gap-bias

Should capitalism in America be revised by Sanders, a democratic socialist?

Source background
In "Who is Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders?" (2016) BBC News Magazine, Jessica Lussenhop introduces Sanders as an emerging star of "political revolution" who stands against  billionaires - 2% of the rich in the US and depicted him as an antiwar, civil rights activist. According to the report,  the 74-year-old Vermont Senator gets a larger support from youngsters than Hillary on Google, and he raised $33 million to Hillary's  $37 million in small amount from individuals.  He aims social policies of Nordic countries - universal healthcare, paid leave for new parents, free college education for all Americans, and additional tax to billionaires. To me .he looks like a staunch opponent to capitalism.  Now people in America are devastatedlly suffering from widening gaps between the rich and the poor.  Do you think it is the time to rewrite the US history to a social democratic country by supporting Sanders?

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My Yes/No question is:
Should capitalism in America be revised by Sanders, a democratic socialist?

My answer is:
Yes.  I think his saying is not wrong in the theory and I even admire him for his passion at his age to change America better for youngsters.  America was born as a country of freedom and since then people have not relied on their government much but have tried to settle their public problems by themselves.  However, America is an ethnically and racially diverse country and not everybody is able to live on his or her own efforts or to achieve their American dreams.  The 2015 release of Forbs, the US business magazine, reports that there are 536 billionaires in the US and Americans take 15 seats out of the top 20 of the world wealth ranking.  People started to say that it is an evil practice by the end of the capitalism.  To save the 98% of middle class and the poor, income distribution by the government will be necessary as the practical solution.

Japan is a democratic country but it is often called as a country of democratic socialism. Because there are not many rich people and we settle all social problems by tax income; the system of income distribution.  Nordic countries policies are model of Japan, also.

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Reference

Lusswnhop, J. (2016, January 21). "Who is democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders?" BBC News Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news-us-canada-34532136

Do you like Hartmann's "Dreaming Across Cultures"?

Source background
In "Dreaming Across Cultures," Pamela Hartmann (2007, pp. 145 - 147) discusses the importance that dreams have held for thousands of years over the great variety of human cultures, from the primitive cultures of Africa and Papua New Guinea, through ancient Egypt and Greece, to Mediaeval Christian Europe and the New World cultures of the Americas along with the Far Eastern cultures then opening up to Western interests.

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My Yes/No question is:
Do you like Hartmann's "Dreaming Across Cultures"?

My answer is:
No, I do not. But since your homework is to respond to this question in a comment, or two comments, and perhaps a reply or two, I'm not going to explain this answer just yet.
I normally skip this chapter in Quest when I teach Reading and Writing CD, and this particular reading is one of the reasons I prefer to start with chapter 6, where Hartmann concludes with a solid academic writing exercise, with an example paragraph (p. 227) that happens to agree with my idea about a solution to the harms caused by illegal drugs. But although you might like to have a look at Hartmann's chapter 6, which we are not going to do this term, your homework today is to respond to my question on "Dreaming Across Cultures."

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Reference

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