Do you want to bring your own microwave cooker when you go backpacking?

Source background
In "Next-gen microwave ovens are small enough to sling on your back" (2016), David Hambling introduces 2 new microwave ovens. One is a portable microwave oven which is in compact size with high efficiency. In addition, it does not create smoke and carbon monoxide like camp stoves. Thus, it is suitable for someone like backpacker.  Another one is smart oven which can cook complex items that require different heat at the same time.

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My Yes/No question is:
Do you want to bring your own microwave cooker when you go backpacking?

My answer is:
Yes, I prefer hot food. 

I love cooking my own food. One of the reason is that I can eat it when it is still hot. I do not like cold noodle or rice. Heat make food more delicious. So, it might be good to have my own personal microwave cooker with me everywhere I go.

Sometime I want to buy street food and have them for lunch. However, if I buy it in the morning and leave it in the room with air-condition for 3 hour, it will be cold as it just get out from the refrigerator and that make the taste worse.

It might make people healthier by killing some bacteria in food with its heat. Street food might contain a lot of bacteria due to the fact that they are cook next to the street and cookers do not concern about hygiene. So, it one wants to have street food it is a good idea to heat it before eating.

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Reference

Hambling, D. (2016, May 20). Next-gen microwave ovens are small enough to sling on your back. New Scientist. Retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/article/2089181-next-gen-microwave-ovens-are-small-enough-to-sling-on-your-back/

Can you solve these math problems correctly by yourself?

Source background
In “Can You Solve This Math Problem That Went Viral In Japan?”(2016), Kristy Hamilton shows the viral question in japan which might cause you to make a mistake in basic math calculation. The statistics reveals that 60 percent of testers in the study can solve this equation correctly within 20 seconds (approximately). More interestingly, this percentage is lower than the rate in the 1980s, that is, 90 percent. Likewise, another questionfor testing children (Mathematics Year 2) according to “Parents Are Freaking Out Because They Can't Answer A 7-Year-Old Kid's Exam Question.” (2016) is being highly criticized. This is because even adults are getting confused and scratching their heads.

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My Yes/No question is:
Can you solve these math problems correctly by yourself? (Please count time for each question)


My answer is:
Yes I can for the first problem, but I cannot for the second one. 

Before talking to the detailed methods and solutions of each question, I want to tell you my results and time I spent without the aid of any (scientific) calculators. For the first math question, I spent 10 seconds getting the correct answer. On the contrary, I was a bit disappointed in the tricky problem. I took time figuring it out more than the first one 18 seconds and eventually got the wrong answer. Although both of them are fundamental math questions for students in primary school or maybe secondary school, I cannot solve one of them as I expected. Why not? I have more explanation below.

Regarding the viral problem in japan, it might not cause me trouble in my calculation because I get used to math equations for long time throughout the years of my studies. Plus, this question is not relevant to any word problem in mathematics. There is just a simple equation. Nevertheless, it does not mean everyone who are students or adults can still solve it fluently and accurately. I think it depends on various factors. For instance, those who used to learn this subject in high school may barely calculate it again or just use the calculators or programs to figure out instead. They might feel pretty challenging for them. Another possible factor is systematically explained in the below video which also shows  the technique for how to solve it correctly.

Inconceivably enough, the second one which is actually a 7-year-old kid’s exam problem can baffle me as well. When I calculated it, I firstly defined X as the initial number of people on the train. Then I translated the text in this math question into the equation like this: X-19+17= 63. Therefore, X in this case is equivalent to 65. That is my answer in 28 seconds. But this is incorrect and the actual answer on the mark sheet is 46. Are you confused too?

When looking at the question closely and interpreting it again, it is in fact asking us how many original passengers are left (or how many people were on the train to begin with). So, if 63 passengers who are on the train minus 17 new ones, the rest of them are original people (63-17=46). Tricky and ambiguous? Briefly, I got the wrong answer due to my misunderstanding in the language of the question, not my calculation deficiency. For mathematics, words problems often seem to more challenging and maybe more vague than merely numerical problems. This makes students and us have to read and comprehend their text carefully before writing a proper equation and calculating.

How about you? Do you get the right answer? Do you think it is too tricky?

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References

Hamilton, K. (2016, May 8). Can You Solve This Math Problem That Went Viral In Japan? IFL Science. Retrieved from http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/can-you-solve-math-problem-went-viral-japan

Hale, T. (2016, May 10). Parents Are Freaking Out Because They Can't Answer A 7-Year-Old Kid's Exam Question. IFL Science. Retrieved from http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/7-year-old-kids-homework-confusing-adults-internet

Should racist comments be banned by law?

Jerome Boateng is a mainstay of
Germany's defence, with 57 caps.

Source background
According to the BBC News's "German row over right-winger's 'racist' Boateng remark" (2016), formed three years ago to oppose migration to Germany, the Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) political party has denied the charge of being racist following the controversy caused by a comment made by Alexander Gauland, the right-wing party's deputy chief. Gauland said in an interview that Germans "don't want to have [footballer Jerome] Boateng as a neighbour."

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My Yes/No question is:
Should racist comments be banned by law?

My answer is:
No, racist comments should not be illegal. In fact, ugly racist comments should be protected by rule of law.  

First, the comments as quoted does not sound racist to me. It is reporting the attitudes of the German people. It might or might not be true, but the way to check that is to conduct a poll of public opinion. It such a poll were conducted in Australia, my guess is that many Australians would say they don't want black people as neighbours, especially not Australian Aboriginals. I don't think I'm racist for saying this: it is an honest report of what I think it true. And in fact, as my earlier posts have suggested, I strongly disagree with those Australians, including my own mother and other older relatives, who hold these ugly and deeply offensive opinions. I don't know whether the right-wing German party member agrees with what he says is the popular German opinion, but the evidence presented does not seem to me to show him to be racist. As he is a member of a right-wing party formed to protest new immigrants to Germany, I would not be surprised if he were in fact deeply racist, but I don't think the evidence supports that presumption.

The more interesting question, I thought, and hence my Yes/No question for this post, is whether the law of a nation should ban or protect vile hate speech that is truly racist, or otherwise offensive. For example, should it be legal to say that you hate transgender people, or that "God hates fags" (fag or faggot is an extremely offensive term for gay men)? I used the fag example because I'm gay. I don't normally mention this personal detail, but I think it is relevant here. And some of my oldest friends in Australia are transgender people, dating back to the 1970s and 80s in Australian culture, when they were hated by most people and in very real danger of physical assault as well as a lot of filthy hate speech inspired by the Christian religion and other morally bad influences in traditional Australian culture.

As you can see from my short answer, I think that the law must not only allow, but actually protect the speech that expresses such disgusting, deeply offensive opinions. But this time I'll leave my supporting reasons out until I see whether you agree or not.

If you would like another example of speech that I think good morals require that just law protect, it is the mockery of political leaders and heads of state, as we regularly see in democracies such as my own and England's, where everyone is up for some healthy laughter.

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Reference

German row over right-winger's 'racist' Boateng remark. (2016, May 29). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36408935

The Rules of Egyptian Art - Quest 2, pp. 106 - 109

Source background
These are some larger colour copies of the images in Hartmann's academic reading "Egyptian Civilization: A Brief History" (2007, pp. 118 - 119).

The ka statue of Khafre, c. 2600 BC,
The Old Kingdom.

Portrait of Sesostris III, c. 1850 BC,
The Middle Kingdom

Statue of Akhnaten (Ikhnaton), c. 1360 BC.
The New Kingdom

Ahknaten with his wife Nefertiti and their children.

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Reference

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

Should you be overdressed to the job interview?

According to  Elizabeth Garone writing in "What not to wear to a big job interview" (2016), Since first impression is everything, appearances, handshakes, and communication skill are the factors that make interviewers remember the candidates. Indeed, the outfit are also really important to make the positive impression.To do so, you have to do research about that company;what do people wear in general?, think about the image you want to show up, and always be overdressed. Although some employees, even Facebook's CEO "Mark Zuckerberg", go up with jeans and t-shirts, pertinent outfit is highly recommended. Because the ones who dress formally to the job interview absolutely won't be discouraged.  

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My Yes/No question is:
Should you be overdressed to the job interview?

My answer is:
Yes. It shows our respect

Some people might think they need clothes just because they can't go out and walk around without wearing anything, then, they don't really care what are on them. Well, that's wrong. Outfit depicts who we are; it shows our style, position, or even personalities, hence we should ponder more about what to wear. Especially, in the important ceremony, on date, and job interview.

In the interview, including collage, exchange, and career, first impression is everything. The interviewers will certainly judge you from your appearances, gesture, communication skills, and, of course, outfits. So, to  impress the interviewers, you shouldn't ignore that details, although you may say that you're smart and talented enough to hit on the seat. Since being smart is not enough, everyone can be smart. The most considerate and prepared will win the position.

Dress the same way people occasionally dress there is good, but being overdressed is much better. Because you'll totally considered as respectful, prepared ,and impressive which result opposite outcome from the more casual. You should avoid casual attire, for example, jeans, t-shirts, and flipflop, since there's always a chance for wrong judgments and errors, especially in Thailand and most of Asian countries nearby where appearances are matters.

Don't let your dress ruin your opportunities! Be overdressed!        

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Reference

Garone, E (2016, May 23). What not to wear to a big job interview. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20160520-what-not-to-wear-to-a-big-job-interview

Should governments lead in economic help to the poor?

Borrowers can't drink alcohol if they
are applying for the micro-lending
scheme run by Phra Subin Paneeto.

Source background
According to "Karmic borrowing: Micro-lending based on good deeds" (2016), a Thai monk and the Jordanian chief executive of a non-profit finance business that evolved from an NGO are helping the poor and socially disfavoured or rejected to get loans to start businesses that can bring them independence and the ability to support their families. In Jordan, Muna Sukhtian's micro-finance business lends almost entirely to poor women, who could never get a loan from a traditional finance company in that very traditionally male dominated society. Meanwhile, in Thailand, Phra Subin Paneeto initiated a micro-lending community credit union in 1992 that replaces the traditional collateral demanded by banks with Buddhist based community principles.

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Raeda Jaryan has expanded her business
after receiving loans.

My Yes/No question is:
Should governments lead in economic help to the poor?

My answer is:
No. It is dangerous to trust in governments to help.  

My first question was: "Have you heard of this monk?" I had not, which sort of surprised me, not because I'm particularly well-informed on such Thai stories, but because in Quest 3, one of Hartmann's chapter's on economics includes a reading that discusses Muhammad Yunnus's Nobel Peace Prize-winning Grameen Bank, which is very similar. Perhaps a student has mentioned it and I forget.

I was very impressed by both the monk and the female CEO, who are successfully doing much better than either the Thai or the Jordanian government are doing to effectively help the members of their community who most need help because the traditional social values, attitudes and customs are failing to help. The BBC article also reports that in Jordan, Ms Sukhtian has done much to smash the traditional cultural values that see women as inferior to men. Had the government been involved, they would very likely have been influenced by powerful elites to keep the old values and customs in tact, and women treated like objects of little value.

And in Thailand, the excellent Phra Subin Paneeto is helping people and at the same time setting the best example of what Buddhism can be. Again, were the Thai government involved, it's much to easy to imagine them focussing uselessly, often harmfully, on the whether people were following the proper custom respecting lumps of stone shaped like an imagined version of the Buddha, or obsessing about the sex lives of youth. By sensibly ignoring the Thai government as much as possible, this good monk has actually helped thousands of poor Thais on whom traditional Thai "good" people look down on, as was clear in the disgusting comments made by some of the PDRC mob leaders when they insulting dismissed the great majority of Thai citizens as not being intelligent or well educated enough to vote sensibly, despite the evidence being very much to the contrary.

The two best examples of what happens when a government is trusted to manage very much, or when a government simply takes all the power from the people, are the communist state of China under Mao and the fascist state of Myanmar under the army generals: both were economically disastrous for the nations under the control of those sorts of centralized, all-powerful governments.

Hartmann is a rather gentler in her readings, but I thought a little non-gentleness would go well following your excellent essays on elements of your culture that multinationals need to understand. As the examples of Ms Sukhtian and Phra Subin, it might be important to understand an element of a culture, but that does not mean we should agree with it, accept it, or pretend that it's right.

And in case your worried that I'm being ethnocentric, I could also have pointed out that the US also shows very well that government regulation tends to make things worse: Microsoft is not branch of the US government. Google is not happy to cooperate with the invasive US government and its legal authorities. And Harvard University is a private business.

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Reference

Karmic borrowing: Micro-lending based on good deeds. (2016, May 27). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36343434

Do you want the shock wristband?

Source background

In “The UK firm that wants to give big spenders a big shock” (2016), Zoe Kleinman reports the Intelligent Environments, the UK firm, has launched their new platform for a wristband called Pavlock. This platform link the wristband to the user bank account, and gives user a 225 volts electric shock when the users spend money over an agreed limit. It also able to controls the Google Nest, an automatic house temperature control device, by turn down the heater temperature if funds are low in order to save the energy bill.  Even though there are no bank has announced that they will offer this gadget to their customer, the Intelligent Environment believes that it would be an advantage for their customer financial well-being.

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My Yes/No question is:
Do you want the shock wristband?

My answer is:
No, I don’t. 

First, I think this gadget is unnecessary thing. It doesn’t solve the problem at the root cause. It is very easy for the wristband user to ignore the electric shock if they need to pay for something. For example, a woman spends a lot of money on foods and cloths after she receives her salary, in the end of the month, the money in the account is almost reach the threshold limit, but she have to pay for a doctor.  Do you think she still care of the electric shock?

It would be more effective if people know how to manage their financial themselves, one of the reasons is they really don’t know if they have to pay for any emergency cases. For my case, I simply categorize my expenses in to a group such as transportation, foods, and miscellaneous, then record my daily expenses in google doc. Each week, I’ll check whether I over spend money. If I found that I pay too much on unnecessary things, I will be more careful to spend money in the next week.

Last, it’s quite dangerous to link our financial data with many gadgets. There is a chance that those data will be hacked.  And I think that we rely on the technology too much, sometimes it doesn’t help us as we expect.

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Reference

Kleinman, Z. (2016, May 19). The UK firm that wants to give big spenders a big shock. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36301778

The Rules of Egyptian Art - Quest 2, pp. 106 - 109

These are the pieces of art that Hartmann uses in her introductory reading to chapter 4, "The Ancient World: Egypt."

The Great Sphinx of Giza

Nakht and His Wife. 
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Paletter of Narmer
See Wikipedia entry

Queen Nefertiti
See Wikipedia entry.

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Reference

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

Are you afraid of getting cancer?

Source background

According to Robin Andrews (2016) writing in " These four things could cut U.S. cancer deaths in half," a new publishes study by the researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston states that a risk of getting several types of cancer could be reduced by just small changes of lifestyle. In their stud, they considered carcinomas type of cancers which includes all cancers except skin, brain, lymphatic, hematologic and nonfatal prostate variants and they made a study about lifestyle of American people, especially health-based lifestyle. It turned out that the number of people getting cancer will be reduced by 40 to 70 percent, if every American adult doing just 4 things which are quitting smoking, reducing their alcohol intake, maintaining a healthy weight and doing a little exercise each week.

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My Yes/No question is:
Are you afraid of getting cancer?

My answer is:
Yes, I do afraid of it.

Nowadays there are many people suffering from getting cancer and many people died from it. I think cancer is like a mysterious disease that in some type of cancer, doctors or researchers cannot know and find why it can happen in human's body. Fortunately, some people can recover and completely cure from this disease. But unfortunately the majority of people with cancer died from it.

Four years ago, my aunt was diagnosed getting breast cancer. Everyone in my family was very confused because she is a very healthy person. She did exercised everyday and she liked to eat healthy food. She got chemotherapy and she got better for like several months. But she got worse in one year later and unfortunately she passed away. This makes me scare of this disease and I think I have to concern about it more.

I think the way people live nowadays and innovative technology have led to higher chance of getting cancer such as the way people eat. An easy example is when we go to 7-11 shop, there are many frozen food or ready-to-eat stuffs such as rice meals, sandwiches or even pilled fruits. These food is very easy and convenient for consumers. You just go to the shop, buy it, put in microwave and then it is ready to eat! so easy right? So many people tend to buy these stuffs and the sales volume of these stuffs tend to be higher and higher because the function of them meet needs of new generation people, as they love everything that convenient to their life. However, they don't realize that there are a lot of chemicals containing in these food because the chemicals make them last longer and more importantly, these chemicals are harmful to our health and it may cause some type of cancer. I also heard that processed products such as sausage, ham and bacon are contained some chemicals that can caused cancer too.

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Reference

Andrews, R. (2016, May 24). These four things could cut U.S. cancer deaths in half. IFLScience. Retrieve from http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/these-four-things-could-reduce-your-risk-getting-cancer-70-percent 

Have you ever used motorcycle taxi services?

Source background
In "Go-Jek: on the go in Jakarta" (2016), Sarah Porter says that Nadiem Makarim, the Harvard Business School graduate and the CEO of Go-Jek, have invented the motorcycle taxi company to solve traffic jams on many roads in Jakarta. firstly, he operated from a small apartment with a few motorbike taxi drivers in 2011. Unfortunately, his company confronted several problems such as competing with other companies like Uber, Grab and local taxi companies; moreover, some local taxi drivers againsted Go-Jek and some riders of Go-Jek were hurt during the demonstrations of local taxi companies. Although his company faced a few problems, especially in the beginning of business, in 2014, that was the first time that he started working for the company full-time as Singapore-based NSI Ventures, the financial backer, invested in Go-Jek. Furthermore, in 2015, Go-Jek launched the application and presently, eleven million people have downloaded this app.

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My Yes/No question is:
Have you ever used motorcycle taxi services?

My answer is:
Yes, I have. 

When I was child, my mother warned me not to use motorbike taxi because it was quite dangerous. Actually, you can see lots of news talking about accidents on roads, particularly motorcycles. my mother said that many motorbike taxi drivers tended to violate the traffic law such as running a red line as well as driving on the wrong side of the road. most of acts that violate the traffic law may cause damage to you and other people (may be injured or dead!). Therefore, that was why I didn't ride pillion on a motorcycle taxi until I studied in grade 12.  

I guess when you read my response until this paragraph, you might doubt why I used these service when studied in grade 12 (Mathayom 6). Surely, I had to prepare for examination to be admitted by famous universities. at first, after I had left my school, I went to Sup'k Center, the tutoring school on Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Road, by the BTS skytrain and then I arrived to this place at 4.30 pm. I went to there by BTS skytrain until three months before the GAT/PAT examination, I realized that I had to find other ways that spent time less than BTS skytrain to go to the tutoring school, otherwise I wouldn't have enough time to peruse lots of books in many subjects. Therefore, at that time, I decided to use motorcycle taxi services. Of course, I could come to Sup'k Center at 4.00 pm. That made me very happy. Consequently, at that time until finished all tests to be admitted in university, I used these services frequently and drivers remembered me where I wanted to go. Ridiculously, motorbike taxi riders didn't have to ask me where I desired to go. Luckily, they discounted fares to me from 40 to 35 baht.

I definitely tells readers that riding pillion on a motorcycle taxi is one of the most important things that enable me to be admitted in the university. To be honest, I was not sure that I had told my mother before I changed to use motorbike services. Indeed, I like using taxi services instead of motorcycle services because sitting in a taxi makes me feel comfortable: having broad seats, air conditioners and space where I can put something in. What's more, sitting on a seat in a taxi is safer than that on a motorbike. Regarding expenses, if you want to go to another place located near your place, I suggest you to use motorbike services. Nevertheless, if you go to some places that more far away than four kilometers, I recommend you to sit in a taxi, for the expenses between them almost equal; sometimes using motorcycle services is more expensive than the other.

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Reference

Porter, S. (2016, May 24). Go-Jek: on the go in Jakarta. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36330006