Identity: reading 2, "Sports Fans and Identity" (B&S3, p11, Developing critical thinking)

What we read

We have read "Sports Fans and Identity" (Bixby and Scanlon, 2013, p. 11), and done the exercises that checked our understanding of the ideas in it. 

___________________________________ 

Our responses 

As you were reading, you might have been thinking to yourself things like: 

• Yes, that's right. 
• No way. I don't agree with that.
  or 
• Really? Is that right? 

This critical assessment of what we read is an important skill, and one that the following exercise practices. 

___________________________________ 

Bixby and Scanlon's questions

1. Read each statement based on "Sports Fans and Identity". Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Or are you unsure about it?
   Think of a comment or example to explain your agreement or disagreement.
   
   a. When you are a fan of a particular team, at a game or event, you instantly feel that you have thousands of friends. (Agree? Disagree? Not sure?)
   b. If a sports team is a very important part of a fan's identity, winning is extremely important. (Agree? Disagree? Not sure?)
   c. Winning a championship changes the way fans feel about themselves for a while. (Agree? Disagree? Not sure?)
    
2. Why do you think fans continue to support a team that does poorly year after year? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education. 

Adult values

What I read

According to the article "Perth academic, 104, chooses to end life" (2018), supporters of Professor David Goodall's mature decision to end his life have expressed dissatisfaction with Australian law, which the Premier of Western Australia has said would not be revised to allow such freedom. Although he has no terminal illness, 104-year-old professor Goodall wants to kill himself because "his quality of life has deteriorated." His daughter agrees that he has the right to make this decision, as do groups supporting his trip to Switzerland this week, where the law respects his wish to die. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

Although I found a couple of other interesting articles on the BBC News as I browsed it with my morning coffee, this one in Australia's daily newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald, which I've read regularly for several decades, beat the others. But I've also emailed myself links to them as possible sources to respond to blog later. 

Breakfast from the market
next to my condo.
Yum!

In fact, I thought that there was a connection between this article about euthanasia and a BBC News story about the rapidly developing research and production of non-animal meats for human consumption. When we kill and eat animals, we need a reason why it is OK to kill those animals since the fact that they are animals is not a good supporting reason for turning them into steaks, burgers, or other tasty meals, such as the kai yang I've just enjoyed for breakfast. Making connections such as this between different ideas from different sources is an important part of academic work, as you saw this morning in the two new Classroom questions I posted from Bixby and Scanlon's critical thinking questions in exercise 2 on page 12. 

When we kill and eat animals, we need a morally relevant reason for treating non-human animals differently to ourselves, and that they are not in the given group identity of being human is not a good enough reason: that is like arguing that women can't be engineers like men because they are not in the given group identity of being male, or that black can't vote because they are not in the given group identity of being white. Accidental membership of a given group is not a reason to treat members differently to non-members unless there is also some other characteristic that comes with being a member of the given group. Since you know I eat meat, you can probably guess that I think there is such a characteristic, but I haven't told you what it is: I think it will make an interesting question for you to respond to, even though it's not the one I wrote below that directly addresses the ideas in my chosen source. 

Finally, the idea that you haven't killed an animal if you only buy meat already dead is wrong. When we order a hamburger at McDonalds or buy a tasty pork leg at Tops supermarket, we are paying someone else to kill for us to keep up the supply, which makes us responsible for the  killing. When I bought my kai yang for breakfast, I was effectively paying someone else to kill a chicken for me. If myself and others were not buying kai yang, those chickens would not be being killed: when we eat meat, we are killers. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Should the law allow adults to choose to die? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Perth academic, 104, chooses to end life. (2018, April 29). The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-academic-104-chooses-to-end-life-20180429-p4zcc7.html 

Loyalty a core value

What I read

In the article "Elderly dog helps save girl lost in Australian bush" (2018), we are told that police have honoured the loyalty of a rural Australian family's dog, whose eyesight and hearing are weak because of age, by making him an honorary police dog after he helped a lost child. We also learn that an expert on animal behaviour at Sydney University was not surprised to learn that Max, a 17-year-old cattle dog, had loyally stayed with three-year-old Aurora overnight when the girl got lost in bush on family property after walking away from the house. He explained that valuing human contact is a care value of dogs, especially when they are older. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

My brother's fan club

Before I got caught up with drugs and violence, I almost blogged this article on Wednesday evening. It is a more cheerful story, and I also like the way that Prof. McGreevy, the cited expert from Sydney University, says that dogs "value human contact," which reminded me of the idea of core identity in the first article we read in Skillful. It hadn't occurred to me before, but that comment by the professor made me realise that it isn't only human animals that have values, attitudes and behaviours. At least some other animals are also capable of the same sorts of things, and dogs are an obvious candidate for demonstrating such characteristics. I'm not sure that dogs spend time reflecting on their identity the way humans can, but they do have unique identities made up of different aspects, although I might not call them given, chosen and core identities that make up our own sense of being unique individuals. 

Piled into the back of my brother's truck.

Another reason I liked the story of the loyal Max was that it reminded me of my own family. On my recent visit over Songkran, my brother cooked a great lunch for us one day at his home, where I stay when I visit, and my mum and most of my sisters turned up with their kids or dogs. I don't remember them all (the dogs – I do remember by nieces and nephews), but there were about 15 dogs in varied sizes running around also enjoying themselves and each other. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Why do you think that many people like to keep dogs?

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Elderly dog helps save girl lost in Australian bush. (2018, April 23). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43860787

Our violent ancestors

What I read

The article "Swedish archaeologists reveal 5th Century massacre at Sandby borg" (2018) says that a three-day dig on a Swedish island shows that the inhabitants were apparently all violently killed by enemies 1,500 years ago, perhaps when a traitor opened the gates of their walled fort to invaders.  The rich jewels and remains of meals also give insights into the ordinary lives of the people who had lived there. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

This short article makes  a nice contrast to the one I blogged earlier this morning, although it's not exactly cheerful reading with my morning coffee. Although it wasn't really surprising, the title caught my interest as likely to provide evidence for my belief that our ancestors were much more violent than we are today, which explains the title I've chosen for this blog post. I think it's common for people to think that society is becoming more violent, but it isn't. When we read old literature, like Homer, Chaucer and Shakespeare, it is clear that the daily lives of people in those times were far more violent than our lives are today in modern, developed nations, where murder is actually rare and generally decreasing. The crime statistics also show that in most countries, murder rates are generally dropping, even though there are exceptions. When, for example, was the last time that there was a brutal massacre of an entire community in your country? I would guess you have to go back at least to the time of the wars with Burma for a similar atrocity in Thailand. 

The photograph of the brooch also reminds me that violence often goes together with beauty. Human beings are complex, and the same people who commit awful acts might truly love beautiful things. In fact, it might have been their love of the beautiful things of other people that led to the massacre 1,500 years ago. Thankfully, these days most people focus more on creating value than on killing and stealing. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Do you agree with me that society is becoming better?
This is a Yes/No question, but when you respond, It would not be the best strategy to simply write "Yes" or "No." You should write for five to ten minutes as we have been practising. The question is only a prompt to start you thinking.  

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Swedish archaeologists reveal 5th Century massacre at Sandby borg. (2018, April 26). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43899393 

Addicted to Madness

What I read

According to Alex Therrien in "Regular excess drinking can take years off your life, study finds" (2018), the popular belief among red wine users that their chosen drug is good for their hearts is false, since the minor benefits of drinking alcohol are "swamped by the increased risk of" more deadly heart disease. Therrien says that a large international study of 600,000 people over 19 countries confirms that more than about one glass of wine or equivalent daily has a negative health impact that quickly begins to shorten the drinker's life span. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

The findings that Therrien reports did not surprise me, since it has long been known that the addictive drug alcohol is more harmful than most illegal drugs. But what made this report interesting is the large size of the study and that it was not restricted to a single country. There is little doubt that as drugs go, alcohol is one of the most dangerous, both for users and for society. Naturally, this tells us that the drug laws of most nations, including my own, are not only irrational in their rejection of the solid factual evidence, but seriously immoral in their unequal treatment of different drugs. 

No, it isn't good for your health
even in small amounts!

If the reason for making a drug illegal is that it harms the user, then all those people who drink beer, red wine, champagne and other forms of alcohol should be treated exactly the same as marijuana or yaa baa users. At this point, I should confess that I'm one of the people who use the drug alcohol: I enjoy a glass of red wine over a meal with family or friends. My family is of Italian ancestry, and when my great grandparents left Italy about 140 years ago, they brought grape vines to Australia with them so that they could make red wine just like back home. And family still has cutting growing from those same vines, although we don't make our own wine these days. 

Actually, I think that social enjoyment is a good reason to drink wine. I don't go to pubs and drink beer, but obviously many people do enjoy that,  and provided they don't then try to drive home, it seems to me that their pleasure is a good reason to enjoy the drug, but exactly the same is true of other drugs: if young people go to a dance party and use ecstasy or marijuana or whatever other drug is popular, including cocaine, which is a popular party drug, that is an equally good reason for using the drug as drinking beer in pub or red wine with dinner, or champagne at a wedding. 

Unfortunately, not all drugs are equal, and whilst alcohol is only about number three in the harm it causes to its users (heroin and methamphetamine are both more harmful to their users), alcohol is much worse in the harm it causes to society and to other people. This is obvious in Thailand where the annual deaths on the roads every Songkran and New Year often involve the drug alcohol. Alcohol is also a stimulant to violence, which is why it is commonly implicated in rape, public fights, and domestic violence where fathers or mothers get drunk and then beat up their kids or spouse. Heroin is the most harmful drug to the user, but at least heroin users don't usually hurt other people much: they just fall asleep, sometimes forever. 

I will continue to enjoy my occasional glass or two of red wine, but I think that other people should also be allowed to enjoy their preferred drugs, even if there is some danger to themselves in doing that. My own alcohol use is so low it probably isn't any danger according to the research, but clearly many people in Australia, Thailand and other countries regularly use alcohol at levels that are dangerous to them, although to be honest, a one or two year reduction in life might seem a reasonable price to pay for a lot of enjoyment during the decades before death. I think adults should be allowed to make that decision for themselves. 

I can't think if any reason that makes the insane drug laws of my own and other countries morally right. To put someone in prison merely because she smoked marijuana or took a yaa baa pill seems like seriously bad morals to me. But perhaps someone can suggest a reason I have not thought of that does justify the seemingly mad drug policies that many countries are addicted to. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Should the sale and use of all popular drugs be legalized in your country? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Therrien, A. (2018, April 13). Regular excess drinking can take years off your life, study finds. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/health-43738644 

Tasty living fossils

What I read

According to "Pakistan's Ziarat: An ancient juniper forest and its living fossils" (2018), the ancient juniper forests in the Ziarat region of Pakistan are threatened by local people who need the wood to burn since the government does not provide them with that preferable alternative to wood fires, even though their region is a source of  natural gas to the country. In addition to the trees, some of which are thousands of years old and whose berries are used to flavour food, there are animals such bears, wolves and wild species of sheep and goats in the forest, which was made a biosphere reserve in 2013 in order to protect the trees, whose great age makes them valuable for climate research. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

Google Doc's very useful "Word count" tool (on the "Tools" menu) tells me that I managed to write my summary above in 121 words, which is still safely below the 130-word maximum allowed: shorter is usually better for a summary. I always read an article a couple of times, and sometimes more, before I try to summarize it, but this one was more difficult because it's badly written. If you look at my source, it's really just a collection of unconnected sentences, so turning it into a couple of connected main ideas for my summary was challenging. But the photographs are great, and the pieces of  poorly connected information are interesting. 

I decided to read the article a couple of days ago because the title, which was on the front page of the BBC News website, includes the word juniper. I like flavour that juniper berries add to soups and stews, but I really didn't know much about them, not even that they were a type of pine,  so the article was educational. It was also interesting to learn a bit more about Pakistan, especially something more cheerful than the usual religious intolerance and other bad news  that is what most often seems to put Pakistan in the news. 

And as I read the story, I was also reminded of the recent controversy in the Thai news about the luxury houses that judges have been having built for themselves on Chiangmai's Doi Suthep. The poor traditional inhabitants of that northern Thai province are not allowed to gather wood or other resources from the area, but it was legally OK for the judges to have a large area cleared for their own comfortable housing paid for by our taxes! Sometimes the law seems made up to be unjust, usually to the advantage of rich and influential groups who do not need such generous help from the state, just as the poor people in the ancient juniper forest do not get the advantages of the natural gas taken from their region, but are instead forced to illegally cut down the ancient trees so that they can warm and cook for their families in what looks like a very cold climate in the photographs that accompany the story.  

___________________________________ 

My question

What do you feel should be done with the houses built for court officials on Doi Suthep? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Pakistan's Ziarat: An ancient juniper forest and its living fossils. (2018, April 22). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43660466 

Outclassing social myths

What I read

In "The Myth of the Online Echo Chamber" (2018), David Robson says that "teaching basic critical thinking skills" should be one part of the solution to social divisions that often occur surrounding political issues. However, he also reports that the common idea that the Internet, especially social media, has made people's points of view narrower than in the past appears to be wrong: that social media actually helps users to get more varied opinions than they would otherwise expose themselves to. The experts that Robson cites suggest that more complex psychological theories are the real cause of deep divisions between groups in society.
(This summary of the long BBC News article is only 103 words, safely short of the maximum 130 words.) 

___________________________________ 

My response 

As I was browsing the BBC News and my other daily sources the last few days, I was also looking for interesting articles to blog. Robson's article caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, he uses the term critical thinking, which is an important part of any class in academic English. At university or in any other academic context, we are expected to think critically about what is being said, not merely to listen passively and blindly accept what we are told. And this is a good thing. 

Related to my first reason is the fact that I was actually surprised by what Robson reports in his article. Like many people, I had accepted the socially popular idea that people who relied on social media for their news were likely to only see one side of an issue, the side that they already agreed with. It appears I was wrong, along with most other people, and when I'm wrong I like to have my false beliefs corrected. In this case, the correction is pleasing. It's good to hear that social media is not only not as bad as many people think, but might be better than traditional sources of news such as newspapers actually printed on paper. I wonder how many people in our class actually read newspapers or magazines in their original paper versions? I don't. Ever. I read a couple of newspapers and magazines every day, but they are all the online versions, which are way more convenient than the old fashioned paper versions were. AUA still gets paper copies of The Nation and The Bangkok Post, and I think they just clutter up the teachers' lounge. It is, after all, 2018 already. 

The other thing I liked is that Robson cites research for the surprising ideas he presents. If you go to my source ( = Robson's article), you can click to follow the links in it to the journal articles that report the research that supports the ideas. Unfortunately, I had accepted the common idea that social media were causing society to divide into isolated bubbles that didn't listen to opposing points of view or interact with each other, but I had failed to check whether this idea, which sounds very reasonable, was actually supported by the facts: it isn't. I was wrong. This reminds me of other popular social myths; for example, that if drugs are legalized, more people will use drugs and become addicts. The facts show that this plausible idea popular with many people is also false. 

___________________________________ 

My question

How hard do you try to find opinions that disagree with your own? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Robson,  D. (2018, April 17). The myth of the online echo chamber. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180416-the-myth-of-the-online-echo-chamber 

Identity: reading 1, "Discuss it online" (B&S3, p9, Developing critical thinking)

What we read

We have just read and checked our understanding of "Discuss it online," the first reading in Skillful.

___________________________________ 

Our response 

Having read the text a couple of times, Bixby and Scanlon now invite us to respond to the ideas in a critical thinking exercise. 

___________________________________ 

Bixby and Scanlon's questions

Comment on the following questions, which are the critical thinking questions on page 9 (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013), and then reply to at least two of your classmates' comments. 

questions

• If you had to write a response to the discussion question, what part of your identity would you write about? Why?
   
• Why is the family an important part of a person's identity? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education. 

Slaying the audience

What I read

In "How accurate is the murder rate in Miss Fisher’s Melbourne?" Lizzie McNeill (2018) says that the popular Australian TV series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries exaggerates the number of murders that actually happened in 1920s Melbourne much less than similar TV series tend to do, with the first series being close to Melbourne's actual murder rate of 32 per million people. McNeill also says that since it was suffering an economic depression and alcohol prohibition at the time, Melbourne was less glamorous and exciting than the series presents it through the adventures of the shockingly "modern" Phryne Fisher, who is always dressed to kill. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

Central Melbourne in 1925

I wouldn't normally have seen this article in the BBC News, but this morning I was browsing more widely than usual as I looked for some examples to use for a coming writing task. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on NetFlix, although I hadn't realised it was so popular as McNeill reports. No one I know in Australia has mentioned it to me, but that might just be because we talk about other things at family meals and other get-togethers. The murder rate didn't worry me as I watched it, but when I thought about it, I was actually surprised that it is so close to the real figure for the time. I assume that TV crime shows greatly exaggerate the reality to be more exciting than things really were. Naturally, I was not surprised that the real Melbourne of the 1920s was a more boring place than it appears in the jazz-age world of Ms Fisher. But that's OK: we don't expect perfect historical accuracy from TV shows. And as McNeill writes, the outfits are always impressive. 

The most unlikely thing about the show seemed to me to be the portrayal of Miss Fisher as a shockingly modern woman. Just going out alone would be shocking enough, but her adventures running around shooting her gold pistol and with the various men seemed a bit unlikely, although when I think about it more, I guess that at least some women have always had sex with men who were not their husbands, just as men have a strong habit of having sex with women who are not their wives. Perhaps it was the openness of Miss Fisher's liaisons with handsome males that was unlikely, but again, it was fun and the exaggeration is expected in TV series that are for entertainment. 

If she were alive today, Miss Fisher would surely be Ms Fisher. But when we look at women today, it's hard to image anything that they might not do as confidently as a man, at least in more developed countries not stuck the bad old ways of traditional attitudes. 

___________________________________ 

My question

What do you think? How much equality with men have Thai women traditionally had? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• McNeill, L. (2018, April 25). How accurate is the murder rate in Miss Fisher’s Melbourne? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43860914

Getting into Unit 1 = Identity (B&S3, p7, Discussion point)

What we read 

Bixby and Scanlon introduce each unit with a discussion activity, that is, an opportunity for us to share our ideas on the topic of the unit in a way that relates it to our own lives, ideas and experiences. Unit 1 of book 3 (Bixby & Scanlon [=B&S3], 2013, p.7) does this. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

The research solidly shows that brainstorming or discussion activities for groups are more effective if participants start by working individually (O'Connell, 2010; Markman, 2017). In fact, experts at Harvard University's School of Management and elsewhere are sure that this can be very effectively done using online tools (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2015). Blogging is one effective way to do this, which is the reason I've turned Bixby and Scanlon's discussion exercise into a quick blogging discussion. 

___________________________________ 

Bixby and Scanlon's questions

In a comment, or two if you prefer, share your ideas on these three questions: 

• What are five words that you would use to answer the question, "Who are you?" 
• What are some of the social groups you belong to? 
• In what ways are these groups important to you? 

For all of these, you should write full sentences. You will also need to write a few sentences for each of your ideas, giving explanation, examples and other details to clarify and develop your ideas. 

You can address the questions in any order. You can write one comment, or if you prefer, two comments, but not three. So that you don't worry about Bixby and Scanlon's numbers too much, I replaced them with bullets. 

Open a new comment box and start writing. You have five (5) minutes.   

___________________________________ 

References

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education.
   
• Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2015, April 2). Why brainstorming works better online. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/04/why-brainstorming-works-better-online
   
• Markman, A. (2017, May 18). Your team is brainstorming all wrong. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/05/your-team-is-brainstorming-all-wrong
   
• O'Connell, A. (2010, February 4). Sometimes, it’s better to brainstorm alone. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/02/when-its-better-to-brainstorm 

Zemach's foreword (B&S3, p4, To the Student)

What I read

Click to view full size.

On page 4 of our text, the series consultant, Dorothy E. Zemach (2013), briefly introduces the full series of Skillful books, and also suggests a few general strategies for that she thinks will help you, the students, to get the most out of the course. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

Long before I ever heard of Skillful, I had used text books that Dorothy Zemach had written or helped to write, and had become an admirer of her practical implementation of effective learning strategies. She is, for example, the chief author of the book Writing Essays: From Paragraph to Essay (2011), which is used in AUA's General Writing 3 and 4 courses. And I might use something from the original 2003 edition of that book in a week or two. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Quickly read Zemach's foreword on page 4 of Skillful. Then respond to these questions with a quickly written comment. (Again, don't write an essay – we'll get to that in a week or two.) 

• Which of Zemach's strategies to you think most important? Why? 
• Do you disagree with any of her five strategies for students such as yourself? 
• Which one do you think is my favourite? (Note that I had trouble answering this question.)

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Zemach, D. E. (2013). In J. Bixby & J. Scanlon. Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 3 (p. 4). Oxford: Macmillan Education 

Ins's Academic Interests

Language
     I really like to study language because there are many words with same meaning and some word can fit with the sentence better that's why I like to study them. The language I interested other than english is Japanese because I listen to japanese songs and I have become interested in the language and the meaning of the song.

Media Production
     I always wonder when I think about a making of movie like script,scene element or soundtracks while watching a movie or sometimes when I saw a scene with extraordinary camera placement I was like "Wow,I have never seen this camera angle before".

Progamming and Game development
     Since I like to play video games,of course it also interested me about programming because it really amazing when you make an application program to make anywork more convenient.
And for game development,I interested because when I played in a story mode,it feels like I'm in that situation and really enjoy the interaction between each character. It's feel like watching a movie but with a deeper perspective.

Orn's academic interests

My main interest is Fashion design. I remembered enjoy watching fashion design contest and reading magazine as much as watching Cartoon. I practiced drawing , sketching to got into school of fashion design.

I realized that I also enjoy Fashion merchandising and retail management while studying in university. I had a chance to exchange study in Paris about Luxury fashion management.

As I have my own fashion business and I believe that marketing and business administration is important skills to learn to grow a business. I read some marketing books and tips and ideas for online business.

Apart from fashion , I also like studying fashion history because fashion can be great influence to the society and I can learn history of the world through fashion.In my free time, I like to go museum and learn more about Arts, particularly Western Arts.

Chatt's academic interests

There are many kinds of academic interests. My academic interests are about Mathematics, Thai history and Medical.

Firstly, I love mathematics because I think that's the subject I am good at.

secondly, I love watching  Thai history movies and series, such as Pranaresuan and Buppesannivas.

Finally,I would like be a doctor because when I was young I was always sick so Medical is what I really interest and want to learn.

Yoon's academic interests

I am currently studying rehabilitation psychology but other than my major I am also interested in History, which I am not familiar of, and languages. It's kind of like stories that keep me interested in and make me wonder and find more. That is why I also like the Bible. I do not have any religious but I enjoyed reading the Bible itself. Language is another that I would like to spend time with.

Bee's academic interests

Even though I studied in Math-Sci program, I love English. English is the language that most of people in the world are studying, so I think it's the good opportunity to study English. Moreover, English helps me to watch videos on youtube and read some foreign website easily.

Apart from English, I also love mathematics. Math, the foundation of everything, should be learned by everyone in the world. Because, in my opinion, it's the language that the world speaks, and if I don't speak it, so it can be really tough for me to survive in this world.

Due to my interest in business and finance, I love reading business and some business-psychology books. For example, I read the intelligent investor, one up on wall street, and other books.

Ben's academic interests

Listening Music

          I always enjoy listening in many kinds of music in the world such as Jazz Music, Classical Music, Thai Classical Music etc.

          I also enjoy playing Music sometimes like a String Music Instruments, piano (seldom).
          So, I do like 

Boom's Academic Interests

My academic interest is an Interior Architecture Design. I also interested in the filed related to Interior Design such as Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Furniture Design. I love to design and interpret a built-environment for people to enjoy their living because it is how they live in everyday lives.

My second interest is Everyday Psychology. For example, How our brain works, How to improve our learning skills in the right way. Understanding daily psychology may make our lives healthier and easier.

Another interest is philosophy subjects. I love to think about what people think and live their lives. Therefore, I always spend my free time to read philosophy books.

Kan's academic interests

I studied in Computer Engineering. So, my main academic interests are most about Information Technology.  I love to catch up with IT news and learn about the technology. It helps to improve my work as well. 

Also I am keen about Philosophy. I find the idea and philosophy theories are very fascinated and can explain a lot about life.

History is also an interesting topic for me. It explains whatever happens in the present.

Peter's academic interests

My first academic interest was botany, which was probably inspired by the farm I grew up on in Australia. I loved to grow trees. I had coral trees, oak trees and fig trees growing in pots from the age of around eight. This led to my next interest, which was biology generally, with a particular interest in how cells worked, and that in turn led me to chemistry.

By the time I got to high school, physics had become my main obsession, but mathematics was also growing in interest. I loved mathematics because unlike everything else, it proved its results. There was no need to do experiments to be absolutely certian that Pythagoras was right, that the sum of the squares on the other two sides of a right angle triangle really did equal the square of the hypotenuse. It was equally certain that the square root of 2 was not a rational number, and that there were an infinite number of prime numbers.

My math teacher in the last year or high school was a Marist brother who might have been a bit worried that my interest in science would lead me away from my Christian religion, so he introduced me to philosophy. That didn't work out the way he hoped: I loved philosophy, but it didn't help me to remain a Christian.

Welcome to RW2A and to our class blog

What I read

Although I've read a lot in preparation for it, this post has a different purpose. I want to welcome you to your EAP class on Monday to Thursday mornings.

So, welcome.  

___________________________________ 

My response 

Thank you for joining our weekday class in Reading and Writing for academic purposes. I hope you find the next six weeks useful, productive, also challenging, and perhaps even fun. 

___________________________________ 

My question

I hadn't planned on a question, but I guess I should follow my own template for our blogs. Perhaps it's worth asking you to write a comment on your previous experience or ideas on using online discussion boards. As you will see in our book, online discussion makes an appearance early on in Unit 1 (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 9) and there is a more extensive coverage of this common part of modern university courses on page 66, so I do have a question. 

Do you agree with the authors of our book and myself? Is a class blog a useful addition to our class this term? (This is two sentences, but it's only one question for you to respond to.) 

You can respond as soon as you accept the invitation I will soon send you to join this blog. 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

Thought, reading 2 (B&S3, p30, Before you read)

What we read

On page 30, Bixby and Scanlon (2013) give us couple of photographs and some questions to think about and respond to as preparation for the coming reading, "How does the brain multitask?"

___________________________________ 

Bixby and Scanlon's questions

Think of three examples of multitasking from your daily life. Which situation is the easiest for you and why?  

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education

Thought: reading 1, "Is your memory online" (B&S3, p29, Before reading)

Before we read

Write a comment to share your thoughts on these questions that Bixby and Scanlon ask on page 28 (2013).

• What do you use the Internet for?
   
• Do you think that the Internet makes today's students better or less informed than students 50 years ago? Why?
   
• How do you know the information you find on the Internet is accurate? 

_

__________________________________ 

Reference

• Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education 

Park Geun-hye: South Korea's ex-leader jailed for 24 years for corruption

What I read

               South Korea's former President Park Geun-hye has been sentenced to 24 years in jail after she was found guilty of abuse of power and coercion.

The verdict was broadcast live and represents the culmination of a scandal which rocked the country, fuelling rage against political and business elites.
Park, who was also fined 18bn won (£12m, $17m), faced a string of corruption charges.
The former leader was not in court on Friday for the verdict.
She has boycotted her trial hearings and has previously accused the courts of being biased against her. She has also denied all wrongdoing and has said she will appeal against her sentence.

___________________________________ 

My response 

      All things considered, laws will give society justice so it is right that Korea's former President has been sentenced to 24 years in jail with fined.
      In my opinion. I think they should have heavier sentenced.

___________________________________ 

My question

1. what do you think about this news?
2. how can we deal with corruption?

___________________________________ 

Reference

• http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43666134

Uber sold business to Grab in South East Asia

What I read

In Uber sells South East Asia operations to rival Grab. Uber sold their business in South East Asia to Grab because Grab is the most popular and has millions of users across eight countries in this area and this is Uber’s third sale in Asia that is China, Russia and South East Asia. They said it was a good combination of reducing costs and giving more benefit customers. And from this happening, people are concerned that the price of the service will be high because it is unrivaled in the market.

___________________________________ 

My response 

From I studied economics this thing happen that Uber sold business to Grab is not good for economy because it made their is monopoly market which the business can set price more expensive than true and the consumers can not have the opportunity to choose better services because there is only one service. On the other hand, combining business together made Grab which is a complete business that provides a full land transportation service. It includes the services of taxi, car, motorbike, and parcel and food delivery.

Although the Thai government banned the services of both companies, there are a lot of people choose to use their services because of the inefficient taxi service. And in my experience, I don’t like about this combine business together because I used to service from two companies and I think I like drivers and system service from Uber more than Grab. So I'm afraid the service will be worse and more expensive price. 

 Finally I think the Thai government should accept their companies to challenge with Taxi Thai that it will make the public service more effective and more efficient. And this is a good effect for the people who use the service.

___________________________________ 

My question

What do you think about this combined? and what are the adventage?

___________________________________ 

Reference

• BBC News. (2018, March 26). Uber sells South East Asia operations to rival Grab. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43536322

The mothers who regret having children

What I read Research found that 8% of women regret to be a mother. A few mothers can reveal about it. Three women were interviewed . First, Recheal said that she didn't  have mother instinct and boring to feed children. She felt more badly because she was curious why no one feel the same as her. Second, Alison told that having children was not what she thought. She did not have her own time and felt that it was not fair having to responsible for other happiness as her priority. She lost living time in way what she want for 15 years. Lastly, Joy prefers to look after her business. She also thinks others lie that they love raising children.    

___________________________________ 

My response 

I would not like to have childern in the future. Now I am single and I know that I do not have maternal instinct. I just feel the same as interviewee even I do not have experience about having children. When my collages take their children to office because  no one can not look after them at home, I do not want to take care of them. I do not know what to play or talk with them. At first, I think It is just because I am the only child in house. I think that if I married with someone, I will be create motherhood that time. But, these article told me that it was not what most people believe. I feels thank you interviewees to tell the truth.  

Some people might against this opinion and claim that if you do not have children when you get retire no one with take care of you. You might feel very lonely at the retirement age. But, I do not agree with this idea. I think if I have not married or I do not have children, I am able to  save money for my retirement. When I am getting older, I can move to good nursing home. In the next 30 years, I think this kind of business will be very boom because we are in aging society.

In conclusion, I feel thankful for this article because I do not read about this kind of this opinion. No one would like to share openly about it because it makes the speaker seems selfishness and they concern about their children think about what they feel. This article will help a family make the best decide about having children or not. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Do you want to have childern in the future? Why?

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Jean Mackenzie. (2018, April 3).The mothers who regret having children. BBC News. Retrieve from : http://www.bbc.com/news/education-43555736

UK’s new law to banivory trade

UK’s new law to banivory trade

What I read

In “UKivory ban among world's 'toughest', Michael Gove says” BBC News (2018) reported that Michael Gove said the new law on ivory sales is to be more strict than the past and the most strict ban in the world and he continued that the ban would affirm the UK’s position as the world’s leader against the disgusting trade. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the highest punishment of five years in prison or an unlimited fine is for selling ivory. In addition, many leaders of organizations relating to tusk poaching praised the UK’s new tougher measure on ivory trade. However, some exceptions will be remained; for example, products made of less than 10 percent of ivory before 1947, and music instruments made of less than 20 percent of ivory before 1975.

___________________________________ 

My response 

I'm glade to know that the big country spotlights the cruel trade and enacts the very strict measures to stop it and relevant processes. This is so big problem relating to international trades from the elephants' habitats to worldwide wildlife markets that a single organization or a country can't deal with alone. So, you can see that, because of inhumanity,  UK, US, China and many countries have focused attention on wildlife trafficking .

 Elephants' tusks are their long teeth. It is believed that the teeth are precious material which is used in jewelry and medicine. More than that, it can be used as the symbol of status and can bring prosperity and good luck to the owners. The beliefs of elephants' teeth have still remained among Asians especially Chinese people, so the ivory trading has still existed. I remember that in the past poachers tranquilized the elephants before cut their tusks off  but due to high costs and avoiding arrest, today the elephants are killed and their frontal heads are removed to take their long teeth. The process of taking tusks is easier but more violent. Not only elephants but other animals with tusks or horns like rhinos, hippos, hornbills and even narwhals are endangered.

With highly advanced technologies in the present time, food and medicine including health service and education are provided, which is much more easier to access than the past, so it's unnecessary to eat and use wild and rare items from forests. Elephants' tusks belong to the elephants, so they are the most beneficial when the elephants use the body part to protect them from predators and break branches.

___________________________________ 

My question

Have you ever seen any products made of ivory? What are they? Where did you see them?

___________________________________ 

Reference

• UK ivory ban among world's 'toughest', Michael Gove says. (2018, April 3). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43620012

City life and Mental Health

What I read

In Does City Living Hurt Mental Health? Matteo wrote the story about relation between mental health problem and living in cities. According to research from King college London university by servery 108 people about city living experience , it found that living in urban area significantly roes mental illness because of noisy pollution, stress and congestion. On the other hand, the American research found that live in rural area can reduce possibility of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is brain disorder. It also found that living in city can develop three times higher mental risk chance than living in urban area. Further more, the researchers have new plan to conduct new survey with more people and more nationality around the world to investigate about this relation.

___________________________________ 

My response 

I have lived in Bangkok for all of my life. I felt that there are many things that increase our strain, for example, traffic congestion, competition in working place or cost of living. More and more people come to city center to find job or learning at university. As in article stated that people in city will have more chance to due with mentality illness. I agree with it. Even though, I cannot compare directly between living in urban area and rural area because I have only one side experience, based on my experience when I visit my grandmother at Ratchaburi province I felt that It is much more relax than living in Bangkok , for instance, surrounding by green environment, living with slow life and friendly people.

Immigration of people to capital city is not occurring only UK or Thailand but I happened all around world. The more citizens come the more stress will occur such as more competitive in job market or pricing accommodation which significantly rise over twenty years. Government should concern about this issue. Personally decentralization is good idea like many countries did before. The provinces like Chaingmai and Phukit, Ubon Ratchathani may be the second capital city of Thailand.

I am waiting for the result of new survey of the research, which will survey more people and more countries, but I think it will be the same as previous result that city life have significantly correlated with mental illness. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Do you think people living in city or countryside have more mentality risk? Why? which do you prefer to live in ? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Matteo, A. (2018, April 2) Does City Living Hurt Mental Health?. VOA. Retrieved from https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/health-lifestyle-city-living-mental-health/4322919.html

Just let the police work

What I read

In "Gwinnett minister, wife, sons brawl with police during missing child rescue"(2018), Paisa Habersham reports the situation when Gwinnett County minister and his family obstruct and disobey officer's order in front of a church when police team is rescuing the teenage girl which is found in the back of minister's car after being reported a missing girl at Lawrence Highway. The situation goes worse when the minister and one of his son approach and assault the officers while the wife also keeps yelling "[why're you so mean? there're kids here]". The officers can finally restrainedly use their ability to control the situation, the minister and family are arrested, the missing girl is returned to her family, and the video at the scene taken by police camera goes viral on social media.

___________________________________ 

My response 

I've first seen this news and the video on facebook a couple day ago. It really goes viral on Facebook when every sound is kind of supporting the police officers. This is news about the police officers, but I won't mention anything about Thai officers or government here; otherwise, it'll more about politic.

First, this can be such an argument that what officers did exceed their right or they were too cruel to take action when there were kids there because if you take a look in the video, the officer pointed the taser toward minister and did shoot it. The officers, of course, have the right to use the weapon, but just in an inevitable situation, not every situation. We then should consider the law if the situation those officers were was reasonable enough to take up the taser and shoot at the minister. I didn't study law and didn't find any information, but I'll say what I think next.

Yes, and what I think is that what officers have done is reasonable and they have right to do that. There might be some controversial case with the police on social media when the police officers exceed their right. For example, if the officer takes up the gun and shoot and cause a thief to death, there must be an argument. I wouldn't say much about that. But, the situation in this news, it's definitely different from my previous example. If you've watched the short video in the news, the officers did tell the family to "get back" many times but they didn't listen but assault the officer and even grab the taser and radio from the police. I would say the officers had a great restraint to carefully control the situation and nothing went worse than little fight. And that's what I agree with every comment on Facebook - they say the officer had a great restraint.

For the reason that the minister and his family didn't let the officer get to the missing girl, I don't know. But as long as they are government official, they have right to give an order, and minister's family should have obeyed to "get back" and let the police do their work. And when the woman said "why you so mean, there're kids here", there's my favorite comment by someone on Facebook saying that "instead of saying that, why don't you take your kids to a safer place".

I personally don't know much detail about this news but if I think even if they had any good reasons, they still should have done what officer told to do, and they can say their reason to the police or to the court later. Maybe they are, at first, not really criminals; however, what they did gave them new charges - "not complying with Police, assaulting Police Officers, and stealing Police property (radio and tasers)"

___________________________________ 

My question

Did the officers exceed their right? (You might want to check out the video in the news first)
When is the force using by the police officers considered to be excessive and when is not?

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Habersham, P. (2018, March 26). Gwinnett minister, wife, sons brawl with police during missing child rescue. AJC News. Retrieved from https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/gwinnett-minister-wife-and-sons-brawl-with-police-during-missing-child-rescue/MZR2OQRRYMYpKyUP7A7kCJ/

The new trend for online gold investment in India

What I read

In In India, More People Are Buying and Selling Gold Electronically Grow wrote that the trend in the investment in gold has been changed recently from physical gold to electronic gold in India; on the other hand, online gold purchase have been growing worldwide for many years. It is considered to be a major change in one of the investments in India since it is really difficult to change people 's behaviours. Most teenagers are pretty interested in investing in electronic gold because they do not have to use a large amount of money to buy it and it is safer rather than buying physical gold.

___________________________________ 

My response 

In Thailand, we have been trading in gold for ages; however, it is not that popular in my opinion. Many old people still buy physical gold because of theirs' behaviours. As you can see gold prices have been increasing dramatically from the past and it is one of the investments that is against inflation. Normally people buy gold for a few purposes such as buying it for wedding ceremony, investing in gold for a long term or trading. 

The stock market in Thailand is much more popular than gold future. I think investing in stock is easier than gold future. Investors who invest in gold future should have background or learn about it before getting involve the future market due to the complexity of the product. Every stocks in the stock market have their own fundamental from their businesses. We can read it from the news, the company websites, the SEC website, seminars and so forth. There are many ways to learn and understand each stocks in the market. Conversely, we cannot learn the fundamental of gold since it depends on other factors not itself. For example, if there is a war, gold prices will rise. It is just a safe heaven asset. People want to buy it when there are uncertain situations in the world such as wars and politics. 

From the article, I think it is interested that Indians can change their behaviours from buying physical to digital gold. It is so challenging in the beginning. It is a good idea to do this since we are in the globalisation period. We do a lot of thing in applications such as shopping, transfering money, ordering food, reading news, texting and chatting and so on. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Do you prefer investing in physical gold to digital gold? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Grow, G. (2018, April 1). In India, More People Are Buying and Selling Gold Electronically. VOA Retrieved from https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/in-india-more-people-buying-and-selling-gold-electronically/4313396.html