Critical thinking: Steinbeck v. Law v. Singer

What we read 
In his essay "Carving the Roast Beast", Stephen Law quotes from the philosopher Peter Singer, who is perhaps the most famous philosopher now working. In fact, reminding us that Socrates was sentenced to death by the law in democratic Athens, Singer received death threats from people who hated his ideas when he took up his post at Princeton University. 

Death threats? Yes. Even 2,400 years after the Athenian democracy killed Socrates according to the rule of law, philosophy can still be a dangerous business: some people hate critical thinking, sound reasoning and solid evidence, which signs of healthy education often tend to threaten traditional falsehoods, customs, myths, and prejudices, among other morally and factually bad beliefs inherited from our ancestors or elsewhere. 

Although Law uses Singer for support, Singer does not agree with Law that killing is always wrong. On the contrary, whilst agreeing with Law that speciesism is wrong, Singer makes a strong case that it is Law's first supporting reason in "Carving the Roast Beast" that is the one that provides a solid basis for good morals, with the speciesism argument reminding us that we cannot justly treat living things differently merely because they are different species. I agree with Singer, which is why I think that Law is wrong when he says that "It's morally wrong to eat meat" (2003, p. 1). 

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My questions for readers 

What do you think? 
Unlike our other critical thinking exercises, you might like to spend a little more time thinking about these questions before you write your comment or comments. (You might prefer to discuss the questions in separate comments.)

• Would Peter Singer approve of the shooting of Candy's dog? Would he agree with Steinbeck's presentation that George was right to kill Lennie?
  In other words, what does Law's first supporting reason say about the shooting of Lennie by George?
   
• Why might Singer's ideas about the basis of good morals have so upset some people that they wanted to kill Singer?
   
• And you? Do you agree more with Stephen Law or with Peter Singer?
   
• Finally, was George right to shoot Lennie? Why was it right or wrong?
  And if you think that George should not have shot Lennie, what should he have done instead in the situation? 

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References

• Law, S. (2003). Carving the roast beast. In The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas [Kindle Edition] (pp. 124 - 140). Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/
   
• Steinbeck, J. (2015). Of Mice and Men (Online edition prepared for AEP classes at AUA). Bangkok. Retrieved from https://1drv.ms/w/s!AvLRvG3dUEtbvXfk3Udqvmkiyi34

Critical Thinking: The Secret Garden (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 92)

What we read 
We have just read an excerpt from the 1911 novel The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. In this reading, you probably noticed that in the dialogue, the speech, Burnett uses apostrophes (') in much the same way that Steinbeck does in Of Mice and Men to help show the language of her character, specifically of Martha, the young maid. 

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Bixby and Scanlon's questions for readers 
We spent some time discussing important details in the first chapter of Steinbeck's novel and also inferring what the lives of the people might be like, Bixby and Scanlon's critical thinking questions for this reading have similar purposes. 

This process of making inferences continued in the essays on the characters introduced in chapter 2. Steinbeck, like most great novelists, does not usually tell us what his characters are like; rather, he shows them to us through the action and the dialogue. Weak writers like Dan Brown cannot to this: they are continually telling readers about their characters because they lack the skill to show them. 

• What could be making the crying sound? Give reasons to support your guess(es).
   
• What can you infer about daily life from the story? 

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Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

Before we read (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 88)

What we read 
As usual, Bixby and Scanlon have a prereading question for us to think about before we read their chosen text. 

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Skillful's question to respond to 
When you were young, do you remember a place that was secret or mysterious or where you used to hide? Where was it? What did you do there? Did you play games, read, talk with a friend? (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p, 88)

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Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

Critical thinking: Steinbeck v. Law

What we read 
In John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, the action-packed chapter 3 includes the shooting of Candy's dog, clearly paralleling the coming events in chapter 6, which conclude the novel (2015). We have also read Steven Law's "Carving the Roast Beast" (2003), in which Law argues that eating meat is normally morally wrong, countering the likely opposing arguments with which he expects his meat-loving readers to come up. 

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My questions for readers 

What do you think? 

• Would Steven Law approve of the shooting of Candy's dog?
   
• And you? Do you agree with the novel that it was right to kill the dog? 

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References

• Law, S. (2003). Carving the roast beast. In The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas [Kindle Edition] (pp. 124 - 140). Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/
   
• Steinbeck, J. (2015). Of Mice and Men (Online edition prepared for AEP classes at AUA). Bangkok. Retrieved from https://1drv.ms/w/s!AvLRvG3dUEtbvXfk3Udqvmkiyi34

Study Skills - online sources (Bixby & Scanlon, p. 86)

What we read 
One focus of our class this term has been learning to use sources, and the Study Skills for Unit 8 (p. 86) discusses selecting and evaluating online sources (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013). 

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Question to respond to in a comment 
How many times a week do you use the Internet for these activities?

• to get the news
• to find out about historical events
• to do research for a school paper or project
• to get ideas for places to go on vacation
• to get driving diections
• to do other things

Have you ever found information that was untrue or incorrect on the Internet? How did you find out? What was the result? 

Why do you think it is important to check the reliability of information you find on the Internet? 

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Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

Developing Critical Thinking, 2 (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 82)

What I read 

Bixby and Scanlon's second pair of critical thinking prompts on page 82 asks us to make use of the contrasting ideas in the two readings "Making a Difference" (2013, p. 79) and "Most Likely to Succeed" (p. 81). 

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Questions to respond to 
Choose one only of these questions to respond to in your comment.

• Who is the most successful person you know? How did they achieve their success?
   
• Write about an idea you have that you have not yet followed through. What stopped you? 

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Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

Developing Critical Thinking, 1 (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 82)

What we read 
Having now read and checked our understanding of the ideas in "Most Likely to Succeed" (2013, p. 81), we can move on to Bixby and Scanlon's critical thinking exercises, the first two of which focus on this reading.

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Questions to respond to 
Bixby and Scanlon's first two critical thinking questions on page 81 are: 

• The article claims that while there are some people who are driven to be high achievers, others are "perfectly happy  with whatever life brings."
  Which type of person are you most similar to? Why do you think so? What do you think might have made you the way you are?
   
• Do you agree with the writer's suggestion at the end of the article for how to find the balance between stress and success? What other suggestions help people avoid feeling the pressure to succeed?   

Write a comment to respond to both of questions here.

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Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

less German spoken in Berlin

What I read 

East London, a restaurant that served English cuisine in Berlin (now closed down). Photograph: Timothy Fadek

In "Berliners frustrated over restaurants where no German is spoken." Philp Oltermann (2017) says people in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and one of the most attractive cities in the world. feel a sense of frustration that waiter and waitress are not speaking German. Thus, some German members of parliament write a letter to the ministry of Germany to support the use of German. Merkel's chief of staff responses to keep in German, French and English. In order to improve the country, there should concern about the diversity of languages in the country. Conversely, the majority of the people in Berlin are quite happy with this. The reason is Berlin is one of the big capital businesses, so the city should improve their ability to speak English. Now Berlin is becoming a bilingual city.   

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My response 
It is, now, very common that English is becoming more and more powerful on every part of the world. In the article, the author tells in Frech we would not see people speak English much. I do not know how true it is. I am quite surprised that there is a place that people try not to speak English. I infer that they have a strong economy, so they might not care whether the customer can speak Frech or not. (You come to my country, so you should speak our language.) In Thailand, there a lot of English school are opening right now in Thailand. People are more and more interested in learning English, yes, it is very important to have English language abilities. People can make use of English to increase their salary.

Back to Berlin, I have never been there, but I have heard from my friend that more and more people in Germany can speak English. Their sound is easier to listen comparing with French. (I quite agree with it.) I have met many Germans when I was studying German in Thailand. Most of the people I met speak English very well.

For me, It is not a big deal that waiter or waitress in Berlin speak English. This brought me a question that how important it is to learn other languages? Learning language is hard and also long-term work. So what we get back is not worthwhile. Most people learn a language because of its pay something back. The minority of people learn a language because of culture or try to understand particular culture truly, which something that people not likely to pay for.

Learning language is still very crucial to people not only to communicate but also to understand cultures, which is what I concern most. However, to make it more effective people should learn it in the early of your study due to the abilities to learn language process very well when we are young. So government should concern that learning language in the basic educational program

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My question for readers 
What do you think if your home town is becoming a bilingual society? Is it help you to improve abilities to speak that new language or it make you no longer belong to the society? 

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Reference

• Oltermann, P. (2017, August 18). Berliners frustrated over restaurants where no German is spoken. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/14/berlin-restaurants-german-english

The Return of The World Fastest Train

What I read 

In the article "China relaunches world's fastest train" (2017), the writer reports that China will increase the maximum operation speed of their high-speed trains from 300 to be 350 kilometers per hour and become the world fastest high-speed train again after two accidents in the year 2011 that cause them to decrease the speed of the high-speed train. This speed will be used by the new train series name "Fuxing" on the route from Beijing to Shanghai and these trains took time less than the old series about one hour. Moreover, China now has build about 19,960 kilometers of high-speed rail tracks and start to develop a new railway that allow the train to run at the speed of 400 kilometers per hour.

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My response 
China usually copies other countries products and produce it for selling with a worse quality. This is a negative opinion that people around the world think about this enormous country which is absolutely true. We can see the news about Chinese's products cause a huge problem every year, such as fake rice that cause lots of people in their country to death. As a result, people are scared of products from China.

Because many people think that Chinese products have low quality. Let's think about this quenstion "what will happens when China build high-speed train for use in their country?" If they had invited me to be on their test ride, I would not have been there for sure because I do not think that their safety is insufficient for using. High-speed train need to have the best quality because the train run with a very fast speed. If any part of the train has broken, an accident will occur and many people will die. Just as I expected, this problem that I was scared has come true, the problem happened in the year 2011, there were two accidents happened with their train because the corrruption of the railways minister. These two accidents cause the reform of Chinese Ministry of Railways and their train quality to be improved.

Therefore, nowadays China claims that their train has a quality equal to the other countries, such as Japan, the first country that developed the high-speed train. They also claim that Fuxing is a high-speed train that create from 100 percent Chinese's technology, not a copy version of Japan or Europe train. They believe that Fuxing can ride with the world fastest operate speed and it will not be in an accident again. This year, Thai government makes a decision to use Chinese technology for Thailand high-speed train bound for the northeastern region. Many people think that their quality is not good enough. The government should use technology from another country which is better but more expensive because they are afraid of an accident will occur in Thailand too.

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My question for readers 
Do you trust in China high-speed trains safety that you will survive after you have to ride on it?
Is it a good decision for Thailand to use Chinese's technology for our high-speed train?

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Reference

• China relaunches world's fastest train. (2017, August 22). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41011662?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook

Carry something abroad for a stranger

What I read 
According to "Would you carry something abroad for a stranger?", it is a new global trade about you can buy something that it does not import in your country or it may cheaper than buying from abroad. Worldcraze is a company that was founded in 2012 by the entrepreneurs, Frederic Simons and Guillaume Cayard in French. Travelers can bring the product to the buyer and arrange the date and the place to meet to hand on their product to the buyer. Worldcraze can charge the transaction fee about €2.50 from buyers. Some of the customers could discover some new thing that they have never heard before. The idea is came out from Olivier Kaba, once he take a trip to New York, he found that there is a large price difference between the Levi's jeans in the US and French. In Singapore there is a company has a similar business model named Ouibring, was launched in 2016.

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My response 
When I first saw this title, I thought that it is illegal to help strangers to carry something in the airport. Because it is dangerous to help strangers carry something when we pass through the customs. Some strangers may ask for help to carry something dangerous or illegal thing. For example, drugs might be the most hazardous materials to carry by or something that it is prohibit to bring to that country. When I keep reading on the news, I discovered what I thought is totally different, this trade is legal in the law. Before I read this news, I have not thought about to carry something abroad for a stranger. But I think this is the new business opportunities. This idea not only can make money but also can buy some new thing that we have never seen before. Like Joel says"For shoppers this is a way of getting previously unavailable products, full stop," ."For bringers [the travelers who deliver the items] it's about making some money, and meeting interesting people who appreciate the effort, and can share tips for exploring the place you're visiting, or the next step on your journey."

There is also some problems about carrying illegal stuff or counterfeit products. It is a really serious problem, if the travelers help the buyer carry some illegal stuff which is prohibit in that country , he might break the law in there or maybe pay a bill. To solve this problem Worldcraze's chief marketing officer Constance Claviez Homberg came up with a way to solve this situation, that is travelers have to upload the product's bill for them to prove the product is legal and in accordance with the product. So the travelers must have to  according to the company's rules. I think it is a really interesting business that the travelers can carry some products to the buyers. It also is a way to make friends with different people from different countries.

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My question for readers 

What do you think about carry something abroad for a stranger? Are you interested in doing this business?

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Reference

• Perdikou, T. (2017, May 18). Would you carry something abroad for a stranger? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39851770

Wooden Skyscrapers

What I read 

In the article "Get Ready for Skyscrapers Made of Wood.(Yes, Wood)" (2017), these days, architects are searching for a new kind structure to built high -rise buildings from wood. The usual materials for building skyscraper structure are steel and concrete, not wood because wood is flammable and not as strong as the other two materials. But now there comes out the wood innovation which makes wood light, but strong as steel. Therefore, this becomes a big step of skyscraper innovation by using new wood technology to create a new kind of structure. Recently, there are some timber high-rise building research projects, for example,  The River Beach Tower near the Chicago River, and Oakwood Tower in London.

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My response 
As I am an architect, this article really interests me. When I was at the university, I had thought about the idea of timber skyscrapers too, but I already threw that idea away because I thought it was impossible by the fact that wood is not strong enough to built a heavy giant building. Well, the article proves that I was wrong about it. Moreover, it surprises me that the tallest timber building in the world, Brock Commons, has 18 stories which means the height is approximately 63 meters.

However, after I read all the article, a question just pops up in my mind. Does the timber skyscrapers innovation make benefit to anything or anybody? One advantage I can think of is to show the ability of those people or country that they can make a new challenging kind of wooden high-rise building structure. I think this innovation is not important as much as they said. In the past, architects develop the building structure with purposes to make the building more functional or reducing time and materials in construction process such as building a roof of concert hall with steel truss structure instead of beam structure so that the concert hall will be larger and able to contain more seats. In contrast, wooden skyscraper innovation does not provide any benefit in term of space usability or saving time and cost of the construction. Also, using wood as a main material of a large building is not a way of sustainability.

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My question for readers 
What do you think about wooden skyscrapers? Does this innovation give any benefit, if it does, what is it?

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Reference

• Stinson, E. (2017, May 30). Get Ready for Skyscrapers Made of Wood.(Yes, Wood). WIRED. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2017/05/wood-skyscrapers/

Before we read (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 80)

What we read 
As we often find in our discussion, it is useful to think about a topic before we read a text. 

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Skillful's question to respond to 
What do you think? What makes a person successful? Write a definition of success. 
Think about: achievement, fame, career, power, money, and relationships .

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Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

UK education business

What I read 

According to "Inside the secret and lucrative world of 'the super tutor'", the UK earns £17.5 billion yearly from education business as several parents believe that studying in top British school is "valuable trading cards in an international industry” therefore they willingly spend much money (ranging from £40-£1000 per hour) hiring “super tutor” for their children. Demand on this service is highly increasing as some tutors are offered 2-3 urgent case a year. Moreover, the tutor sometimes is hired to prepare long-term educational plan for someone who isn’t born yet. Asia, Middle East, eastern Europe and Russian are the majority of customers. High benefit comes with high pressure and tension hence the tutor has to discuss with a family before making an agreement.

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My response 
Investing in education is invaluable because an education is a significant fundamental for living and working. Having good education opens to good opportunity. In addition, knowledge is an intangible asset which be with us forever and nobody can steal it. As a result, if you can afford it, it is worth to invest in my opinion. Having read this article shows me two interesting points: high competition in education and booming UK education business.

Firstly, competition in education is extremely high in many countries. I don't know much about other countries however in my country (Thailand), to be accepted to high quality and standard school, parents have to reserve their children place since they are not born. Furthermore, some schools require supporting fund even though children are completely qualified following requirements. This clearly represents unfairness and failure of education system. Poor children who have potential and ability, lose their opportunity which they are deserved it. Another obvious example is that many Thai students have no time for relaxing and doing their favorite activities or exercises, resulting in lack of experience outside classroom and life skills because they have to take additional courses such as mathematics and physics. I think the reason why they have to study a lot is that everybody does therefore if someone doesn't go along with this behavior, he/she probably get unsatisfied result. Secondly, the UK generates a large amount of income from education business. The main source of that income comes from a number of an international student such as revenue from English language test and higher tuition fee charged to an international student.

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My question for readers
What do think about charging much higher tuition fee to an international students than local students?

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Reference

• Inside the secret and lucrative world of "the super tutor". (2017, July 4). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40447950

Big Ben's last bong

What I read 

According to "Big Ben bongs sound for final time for four years," Big Ben, the monumental clock in England, last bong at noon of 21th, August, and will be under maintenance until 2021. The clock's arm would be "dismantled" and the bell knonker would be "locked" Many ones have gone to the street to listen and take a photo with last bong. At the same time, stopping Big Ben bong are being a controversial project in politics. "Health and safety adviser" and "the house of commons" say the object of the silence is to care about worker's hearing and safety must be taken "priority", whereas the UK's prime minister Theresa May and the party argue that it "cannot be right" to silence.

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My response 
At first, I'm looking forward to summarizing this news about the Big Big silence. I heard the news many days ago and no one wrote my news then it's a good chance to write this news that I'm interested in. However, to say with honest, I'm very tired of this news. As I thought, it's not hard to understand. But it made me headache with a lot of politics. This isn't the only blog I read today; I read another news about this clock, too, but it's fulled with politic. So I choose this news; anyway, it's still politics. So I've done my summary now. I can relieve now after being crazy with many of those names that I don't know in the news. Those names, I admit that we can't totally get the news and have to read again and again until I know who's them. Fortunately, I know an English man and I could get some information easily. However, he also said it's boring to follow the politics. And I totally agree.

Anyway, let's talk with some thing in the news. I'm interesting in this news and I see that it's a big renovation to silence the Big Ben. We all know Big Ben and I'm sure many ones never hear its sound, as well as me. I suspect the reader might want to hear it; you can click into this news and listen to it. Another thing, I'm really glad I'm not going to England that I wouldn't have a chance to hear the Big Ben.

And then come to the most nervous thing, a lot of politician are in the news. If you want to know how confused I am, I bet you to read, not this news, but this, and try to understand who is who and why he or she does that. It's another one that I say there's a lot of politics. I suspect no one would click to it, but it's a lot more information about this project. If you just read once and don't mind who is who, you would be fine. But as I've done reading this nervous news and understand, I still stuck when I start doing summary.

One thing I tried to find and still don't know is why UK's prime minister Thesera May opposes the silence process. But after I scrolled up and down many time, I think that it's all about politics. And I won't find more about it because it's politics. Moreover, another reason I choose this news, not that news, is because the "question for readers" I could think is nothing more than politic. So what I think, I think one group of politician might see that this silence clock would damage the tourism business and also economy. But for me, I think, as in the news, the safety of worker is "priority" and it's not practical to make the sound in the maintenant progress because for the workers to work, they must stop the clock's bong, and to start again it take half a day(as in the news says). So it must be crazy if they have to stop the sound for work and start the sound again every day.

In conclusion, I would say this news is completely like a trap. You who are reading my writing now might seem I got in trouble inside on my head. And that's it. I hope next time I would scan the news more carefully before reading seriously. But now, let me take a rest; I stuck in this couple of political news for about four hours. If my score for this blog is lesser than any of mine, it's no doubt.

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My question for readers 
Do you think it's necessary to stop Big Ben's bong while renovating? Do you think the tourism in England would drop due to this project? If you're about to go to UK, how do you think? Why, do you think, UK's prime minister and a party oppose the silence and insist to continue the bong while maintenance?

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Reference

• Elgot J. (2017, August 21). Big Ben bongs sound for final time for four year. The Guardain. Retrieve from https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/21/big-ben-bongs-to-sound-final-time-for-four-years
• Sparrow A. and Elgot J. (2017, August 16). Officials put dampener on Theresa May's call not to silence Big Ben. Retrieve from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/16/big-ben-backlash-mps-review-plans-silence-bell-four-years

Astronomy phenomenon

What I read 

In the “Solar eclipse 2017: Americans gaze at sky spectacular.” Most Americans were crazy about seeing the solar eclipse and even President Donald Trump were interested in watching solar eclipse because it was the first total solar eclipse visible from America's lower 48 states in 38 years, and the first since 1918 to track from coast to coast.

A solar eclipse is a phenomenon that a huge shadow cast by the moon as it passed in front of the sun which means the whole country will be dark for about maybe forty seconds to two minutes and it was from Oregon in the west to South Carolina in the east.

What’s more, it is really important to put on protective glasses to gaze at the sky to look at this breathtaking moment.

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My response 

Total solar eclipse

I have seen an annular partial eclipse but not a total solar eclipse in Taiwan before and I remembered it happened in 2009 when I was 11 years old. It was my science teacher told us the information so that we could see this unusual scene and I put on my sunglasses to protect my eyes from gazing at sun directly. At that time, I think it is really interesting as the moon passed between the sun and earth, the disk of the sun is fully obscured by the moon. Such a phenomenon always appeals to many tourists and astronomers since it is really rare to see it and its orbit is tilted slightly, compared to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the Moon is usually too high or too low in the sky to get in the way of the Sun’s light. Then about once every 18 months, it lines up directly between the Earth and the Sun. The Moon casts its shadow on Earth, causing a total eclipse.

In fact, I also have seen the lunar eclipse which had happened two years ago on Moon Festival in Taiwan. However, the moon didn’t turn completely dark, it turned reddish, as it hit by sunlight bent by the Earth's atmosphere, a phenomenon known as a blood moon and it also called a perigee supermoon. Such a special scene enabled me to leave unforgettable memory.

Indeed, I am the person who are fond of observing astronomy. I like to see the stars shining in the sky and if there is a meteor shower I usually go ahead to see it. To me, the astronomy is very fascinating! 

__

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My question for readers 

Have you ever seen the solar eclipse or lunar eclipse or any astronomy phenomenon? 

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Reference

• 
  
  • Amos, J. (2017). Solar eclipse 2017: Americans gaze at sky spectacular. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40657793
  • BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z29gcdm#zs2wq6f
  
  

Tourist go home!

What I read 

In "Mass tourism is at a tipping point – but we’re all part of the problem", Martin Kettle (2017) says: "human beings across the world make more than a billion foreign trips a year". Mass tourism now is gradually becoming a serious problem of humanity. The quantity of travelling increases every year. Now the most popular tourist places (for example, Europe) are overloaded with the number of travelers. Local people aren't satisfied with this situation, the number of tourists is becoming critical. Tourist places simply can’t cope with the huge flow of people who want to visit it. This problem can be solved at the government level. But, also, the author suggests that we can begin the change with ourselves, and think about how we can travel more consciously. 

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My response 

Almost for one week I have checked a few news sources every evening, in Sunday I spent around five hours trying to find something good in news feeds. But there is nothing good in latest news, only Trump, Putin, riots, murders and robberies. I'm a little tired of this (maybe you too), so, let's talk about tourism.

Mass tourism. How often do you travel? What places for travelling do you choose? Would you like to visit Paris or Venice? For me travelling is not only the best hobby in my life, but the job. I don't like to plan my trip and prefer to decide on spot already that I'm interested in new country. I always try to avoid popular tourist places, or visit it in off-season. But every year it becomes more and more difficult. For instance, the beautiful Angkor Wat in Cambodia: 5 years ago in rainy season this place was almost empty, but now there is no way to see this temple without people. Or, I can talk about Koh Chang island, where I spent four years in my life. A few years ago it was a beautiful, quiet place, but now the number of tourists is changing the island. More and more people come here to work, prices are constantly growing, the quality of services is getting lower. Locals think how they can make more money, and I'll be honest, how to deceive tourists. But what do tourists do? Only a few travelers really respect the culture and religion of the country. On Koh Chang people come for perfect sea and white beaches, and for cheap alcohol, food and a pleasure. Why do they go to the famous Buddhist monastery? Ok, someone goes because they are interested in Buddhism. But most modern tourists do it to make hundreds photos for social networks. Is it normal? I think no.

So, should we limit the number of tourists in the country? Now I want to talk about Thailand, because all of us live and work here. I know many Thai people who don't want their country to be visited by many tourists. But it seems to me very selfish, because many people can live only on tourists' money. Many Thai people on the contrary want to attract even more travelers to the country. But tourists don't care about the nature, about the environment, about relics, about the history of the country. For instance, the Similan islands, where due to tourism the reef was destroyed. So, where is the "golden mean"? I know only one good example of a tourism regulation, and I really like this example. This is Bhutan, the Kingdom of happiness. All tourists (group or individual) must travel only on package tour, and they have to pay around 250$ per day per person. The number of tourists is determined by the number of rooms in hotels. Not bad, is it? Unfortunately, this way of tourism development is not suitable for Thailand and for many other tourist countries. So, what can we do? I have worked in tourism for four years, I visited more than 20 countries, and I don’t know how we can solve this problem. Starting with yourself is probably the best idea.

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My question for readers 

Do you think that mass tourism is a real problem in the world? What do you think about tourism in Thailand? Do you like tourist in your city? Do you think tourism is a problem in Thailand or not?

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Reference

• Kettle, M. (2017, August 11). Mass tourism is at a tipping point – but we’re all part of the problem. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/11/tourism-tipping-point-travel-less-damage-destruction

Developing Critical Thinking (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 79))

What we read 
We have just read and answered questions on "Making a Difference". Now, we want to do the critical thinking exercise. 

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Question for readers 
Write a comment responding to these questions on page 79 of Skillful (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013). 

• Describe your reaction to William's story. How do you think the attitudes of the people in his village changed after his success?
   
•  What words would you use to describe William's personality? Do you (or does someone you know, not someone you know of) share any of these traits? Which ones? 

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Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

Before we read (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 78)

What I read 
in Skillful, Bixby and Scanlon introduce the ideas in a reading with a discussion question. For our next reading, they ask us to first think about our own experience of achieving something. 

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Question for readers 
Think of an experience when you worked hard to achieve something. (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 78)

• What was it? Was it, for example, an exam, an award, buying something, or something else?
   
• What helped you achieve it?   
  

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Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education  

Coffee Meets Bagel

What I read 
In the article "Why we should listen to Jane Austen in the age of Tinder" (2017) and "If Jane Austen characters used dating apps" (2017) H. Anderson and S. Galer S. suggest about Jane Austen,one of the most British's writer, dating guru, marriage market or husband-hunting from early 19th century in England according to her characters in Pride and Prejudice. Comparing socioeconomic dating from 200 years ago with digital dating searching for love in nowadays, gentleman used to takes a lady's hand (under a layer of glove) to the dance floor have a conversation between dancing to know each other instead of dating through TV reality or use dating apps to find the love of their life. Today people are more likely to get marry at the age of 37 than teenager engagement like the past and their divorce is impossible.             

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My response 
Nowadays, technology became part of our life more convenient and more flexible. Talk about women population, it is seem to be a majority in every century and country. Once again, I more likely to agree with Jane Austen about romance rules of dating but think reverse if the characters used Tinder or Coffee Meets Bagel, I think many of the character would be single because in past unmarried couple would never allow to spend time together. They know each other at The Ball but if they have social media as today this world would be a lot of changing and we won't be have The Disney love's stories, fairies tales, daydreaming about Prince Charming and the gentlemen and gentlewoman rules.

First, after I've read Pride and Prejudice I desire a Mr.Darcy in my life but it more likely impossible to happened because I'm also one of a woman with prejudice and because most of literature base on circumstance in each time line but if they have dating apps in that age this story would be hilarious. Think about 200 years marriage is about life time stability and wealth being of young lady, as a matter of fact because they were not allowed to work but housework. But time changes people changes women have more characters and have occupations became importance part of organization. Second, in past we could say "A woman, without her man, is nothing" but now I rather say "A woman : without her, man is nothing" today we can see a power of punctuation than yesterday. However, nobody want to be lonely and I agree that dating application more likely become useful but this kind of love, could it be last long? for personally, I think I appreciate the old fashion rather than talking with the screen through the text, alphabet can not express the personal emotion but the reader instead it could be bad or good, unlike first impression by facing. I want to talk about the disadvantage of digital dating at first it could be beautiful love story in less case it could cause young parents situation. Furthermore, some people use this technology to make more crime such as kidnapping to organs stolen for black market.                  

Why should we listen to Austen? This is the most interesting question to me because we were remarkably respectful in the past. Yes, I mean girls, women and ladies and I strongly believe that we still. In contemporary world we can march with old school to show our reputation than what they call "Net Idol", girls with crazy behaviors in purpose of men attended need. Time changes things changes, it is a rule of nature but we don't have to change everything.      

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My question for readers 
What do you think about digital dating? Would you try if you has a change? Do you have any idea about future romance dating,what would it be in the next 200 years? 

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Reference

• Anderson, H. (2017, August 7 ). Why we should listen to Jane Austen in the age of Tinder. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170807-what-jane-austen-tells-us-about-dating-today
• Galer, S.S. (2017, August 10). If Jane Austen Characters used dating apps. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170810-if-jane-austen-characters-used-dating-apps

Discussion point: Drive (Bixby & Scanlon, p. 77)

Skillful, Unit 8, p. 77

What I read 
On page 77, the introductory page for Unit 8, "Drive", Bixby and Scanlon (2013) present us with the usual large picture and a couple of discussion questions.

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My response 
As I thought about the quotations and discussion questions that accompany Skillful's photograph, it occurred to me that there were connections with ideas that came up, both explicitly and indirectly, in some of your recent blog posts and the discussions on them – blogging is a great way to not only practice our writing skills, but to explore issues in a more relaxed way than in more formal work, reasons why, as Bixby and Scanlon point out, participation in online discussion boards is a common part of many academic courses these days (2013, p. 66).

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Questions to respond to 
Read these two quotations:

• "The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win." (Roger Bannister)
   
• "Everybody is born with an equal chance to become just as unequal as he or she possibly can." (anonymous)
   

In a comment, explain their meanings in your own words. Do you agree with the quotations? Why or why not?

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Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

My journey to hi-res music

What I read 

According to “Can hi-res music hit the right note?” It’s been 35 years since the invention of the CD, ends the vinyl. The music industry has been trying to sell new formats ever since. It was more convenient, smaller and contain more tracts. What record company didn’t know that consumers preferred in convenience over quality, came the era of low-quality MP3. 1999, SACD and DVD Audio Disc was invented for high-end sound quality but got killed by iPod. But now music industry is “going towards more quality.” The streaming is more popular than downloads but most music streamer use low-quality format, but some are promoting high-resolution music instead. Now, high-end audio market grew bigger for streams and downloads, many portable music players are supported hi-res audio. The vinyl has come back but SACD is not.

My response 

When I first saw this article, I said to myself, I have to write about it. I consider myself as an audiophile. Because most people who like music, but they don’t invest their money in this area that much, but not me. I loved listening to music since I was 10. I have never owned a vinyl, but I started with a cassette tape. Sadly, most of my friends own a Sony Walkman, but I didn’t. I remembered I used to ask my parent to buy me one, but it was too expensive.

At that time, I bought cassettes or CDs I liked and listened on my friend’s Walkman. At home, my father owns a Denon Stereo which is kind-of expensive, so maybe this is how I prefer the sound quality over convenience. I always knew the quality doesn’t come cheap, So I asked my mom to buy me an iPod touch. I was very happy because I never own something that expensive, at that time I still use “i-mobile” while everyone else used fancy Nokia. Since I can take care of stuff my mom become more flexible about what I spent on. Now, I have come a long way from that iPod of mine.

I used to buy CDs but now I switch to Tidal (hi-res music streaming) and downloads. All that CDs I bought I gave it all to my cousin. There is no point of keeping it if you will never use it again. CDs that manufacture in Thailand are usually have lower quality than import, but downloads and streaming quality are same standardized globally. Steaming music has many advantages over downloads music. The most important is it has millions of songs and most of them are CD quality, few of them are better. Downloads quality can go as high as DSD128, it is like 500Mb per song (4 minutes). MP3 320kbps is 10Mb (same song). For me, if you really love specific album, downloads are still a better investment.

When you have hi-quality music the most important thing is a good system to play it. If your system is low quality you won’t be able to hear the difference. The system that you use are more important than better the file quality, means that you can easily hear the difference in sound quality. A very good system needs a quality music file to show their best. So, the best system required the best quality file.

Music can cost you like a cheap T-shirt or a big house. As long as you are happy with your music how much you spend is not important.

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My question for readers 
Did you here the difference between MP3 and Hi-Res music?
What is your system to listen to music?

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Reference

• Can hi-res music hit the right note? (15 August 2017) BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40697475