What I read

According to the article, a Chinese hotel group is investigating the possible leak of millions of customers' records, which appears to be for sale on the internet. An advert is offering the 140 gigabyte data trove in exchange for bitcoin on a dark web forum. Data breaches are nothing new for China, but the scale of customer data involved has led to international press attention for the hotel group. 

Cyber-security firm Zibao told a local news outlet that it believed the breach was a result of the hotel group's software developers accidentally uploading a database to github, a service where developers can collaborate. The group told BBC in a statement " we have paid significant attention to this matter and immediately implemented an internal audit to guaranteed the safety of our guests' information" 

It added that it was using external companies to verify whether a leak had happened. 

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My response 

As it says in the article, The guests' data are leaking out on the internet for exchange of bitcoin on dark web forum. The hotels is also one of the largest hotel in China but how could the data is leaking? In my opinion, I think there must be some kinds of group in the hotel that are making this systems for bitcoin though I don't really understand what bitcoin is. 

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My question

Does this situation effects the customers? What is your opinion? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Chinese hotel group investigates possible leak of millions of guests' data. (2018, August 29)  retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45349036

Modern Primitives

What I read

In "What is 'primitive technology' and why do we love it?" George Pierpoint (2018) cites an expert who explains that our desires to both create something as individuals and to live independently when we worry about government failures support the popularity of the Primitive Skills channel on YouTube, where its superstar, John Plant, now makes a living posting videos himself creating fire blowers and other things using only materials found in the natural bush around his home in Queensland, Australia. Mr. Plant, whose name only became known when he took action to receive what he thinks is fair payment for his 21st century YouTube creations, emphasises that he does not live a primitive lifestyle, but that he lives in a modern house, where he enjoys modern food. 

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My response 

Whilst I agree with Mr. Plant that it's sensible to enjoy the benefits of a modern lifestyle, I can understand the appeal of creating something with your own two hands. That's probably the only reason I still cook a little. I like to eat something that I've made myself, even if it's very simple. Living where I do in Bangkok, it would be easy to never cook. There is a market full of food stalls next to my condo, and plenty of restaurants, including at least one 24-hour one, within  a few minutes walk. But it's fun to sometimes make something with my own hands. But I'm a long way from Mr. Plant's adventures in the Australian bush. 

Those adventures remind me of growing up in a similar setting as a child, except that when my brothers, sisters, cousins and I built our tree-houses and other "primitive" creations, we also tended to raid my father's tool kit and building supplies. I don't think it ever occurred to us to make our own axe or hammer, although we did like making our own bows and arrows to go hunting with. The local animals pretty safe — we never managed to hit a single one with our very primitive weapons, which also required the use of 20th century pocket knives in their creation from the natural supplies our family property provided. 

Matthew's place

I was also wondering as I read the article the second time whether Mr. Plant would be able to enjoy his passion for primitiveness were he not also living in the comfortable abundances of the 21st century, with its vast and vastly complex social network to support him, including making a living by posting on YouTube. If he could build his own video recorder, computer and internet equipment starting from what he had found lying around in the bush, I would be truly impressed. In the meantime, I love strolling around the native bush on my brother's property when I visit Australia, but I also love his 100-year-old traditional Australian farmhouse that has been refurbished to have every modern convenience, from a coffee grinder to wi-fi. 

___________________________________ 

My question

What, if anything, do you create with your own hands? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Pierpoint, G. (2018, August 27). What is 'primitive technology' and why do we love it? Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-45118653 

Funny Smokers

What I read

 According to “E-cigarettes can be key weapon against smoking, say MPs” (2018), the science and technology MPs' committee has released a report about e-cigarettes suggesting that many rules and regulations, that were meant for normal cigarettes, should be revised due to the fact that e-cigarettes are totally different from cigarettes and also much less harmful regarding current evidence, although many public spaces such as hospitals, buses, or subways usually prohibit vaping the same as smoking. They even proposed that e-cigarettes should be categorized as a medical tool for quitting smoking. While studies about e-cigarettes have been conducted, but the benefits are still inconclusive. There are many responses to the report on twitter, some people don’t mind vaping in public, while some people strongly opposed to the idea.

___________________________________ 

My response 

 The reason why I chose this article is because I have seen some people using e-cigarette quite often lately at a shopping mall near my home when I go jogging. It always makes me curious what exactly they were smoking? All I know is that it is obviously not cigarettes because there is massive thick smoke coming out when they smoke in which I’ve never seen any smokers smoke like that before. It reminds me a picture of boiling kettle. I didn’t mean to make fun of them, but no matter how I look at them, vaping people always looks funny to me. Then I found this article and I think reading this article might give me more information about e-cigarettes. So, that’s why I chose this article.

As I expected, I’ve learned a new word, ‘vaping’, from this article. After I looked at the oxford dictionary, I found out that ‘‘vaping’ was newly invented in 1980, specifically for e-cigarette. Both vaping and smoking look similar to me in terms of action, and that made me wonder why they had to coin a term for such activity. Perhaps, they might want to imply that e-cigarette is not the same as normal cigarette because most people perceive ‘smoking’ as something unhealthy, so for e-cigarette users they can use ‘to vape e-cigarette’ instead of ‘to smoke e-cigarette’’. And if you read the article, you will see that they used ‘vape’ a lot when they talking about e-cigarettes, while rarely used ‘smoke’. Could this be the real intention of inventing this new word?

To be honest, after I read this article it made me suspect whether there is something fishy going on; I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that there are some big tobacco companies pull strings behind this scheme. If I were one of MPs committee, I couldn’t come up with any good motivations why I should raise issues about e-cigarette regulations in the first place without being lobbied by someone. Especially when you look at the reason they use to support e-cigarettes, all they said is just it’s less harmful than conventional cigarettes. In fact, there is no such thing as a harmless substance, even water can be toxic if you drink too much let alone excessive vaping for long-term. Furthermore, I wonder what the benefits of vaping really are. If someone successfully gave up cigarettes by using e-cigarettes instead, then should they quit e-cigarettes afterward? To me, it sounds like recommending someone to stop drinking whiskey to drink beer. What good can come out of this? You just change from whiskey addiction to beer addiction, but you are still an alcoholic. The same goes for e-cigarette case, changing from cigarette addict to e-cigarette addict. Is this really a good thing to do?

___________________________________ 

My question

If someone you know would like to quit smoking, would you recommend e-cigarettes to them?

___________________________________ 

Reference

• E-cigarettes can be key weapon against smoking, say MPs. (2018, August 17). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45212444 

Getting into Unit 9 = Water (SkRW2, p87, Discussion point)

Click to enlarge

What I read

As usual, Rogers and Wilkin introduce unit 9, which is titled "Water," with a large image and some questions for us to think about and respond to. 

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Rogers and Wilkin's questions

Think about them for a moment, perhaps one minute, and then write your ideas responding to these questions: 

• Where does your drinking water come from? Do you drink tap water or buy bottled water? Why?
   
• Water covers more than 70% of the Earth's surface, yet many parts of the world don't have enough water. Why is this?
   
• Which of the following water related problems (choose one only) do you think is the most serious? Why is it more serious than the other two? 
• drought 
• flooding 
• water pollution

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Rogers, L. & Wilkin, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 2. London: Macmillan Education

Balaclava

What I read

According to "Nike removes balaclava accused of 'targeting gun culture'" (2018), it said that Nike has criticized by people playing Twitter from releasing their new product in online called as balaclava. Due to the picture used to promote, it shows a black model wearing their Nike balaclava and having straps and pockets also. It refers to the gang cultures and the criminals, so the stream of criticize is not only their endorsing knife crime, but also enforcing racial profiling. After that, Nike has apologized for making a big mistake and  had deleted that picture around the Internet yet.  

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My response 

From the news, creating the balaclava fashion is not the wrong idea and I also think that Nike can make it if the balaclava is designed properly not to mean endorsing the crime. Because of the fact that the crime still  occurs every day, it is not surprised that people are aware of this issue seriously. Anything causing to the negative effects more than the positive one  should be considered carefully especially the well-known brand like Nike having a significant impact on global population. thus, it is not a good idea to push it up.

Moreover, this situation shows that people in the present day change their way to input information by using social media more than reading in newspaper or even watching TV. So when we post or do anything in online, every posts should be checked over 1 time in order to make sure that its message will not do mistake whether it will be passed on or not.


___________________________________ 

My question

Are you like this fashion? Do you think that people will not accept this trend next 20 years from now? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

Nike removes balaclava accused of 'targeting gun culture'. (2018, August 21). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-45258541

Do you agree with open-plan offices is more active than desks in cubicles?

What I read

According to " Workers in open-plan offices 'more active' " (2018), The research said that the worker who works in open-plan has more active and less stress than the worker who works in cubicle-plan because in the open-plan environment will make you more comfortable to look away from the table where a lot of work. Moreover, some research said that office design is very important for physical and mental health. Some people like individual offices or cubicles because they need more private nevertheless the researchers found open plan offices have more benefit than a cubicle or private office, for example, it can be better communication and increased awareness of your colleagues.

___________________________________ 

My response 

In my opinion, I like to work with open-plan desk more than a cubicle desk because when I study or doing the exam with cubicle-plan, I always feel more stress and more pressure than open desk environment. The most of library in Thailand is always use cubicle desks because they do not people to talk together. Sometimes, I think the desk with cubicle is a symbol of silence. If you don't need a noise and distraction, the desk with cubicle is a good choice but if you want more active and less stress the desk without a plan is better choices. Everybody has a different style, you can choose the desk that you like. I believe that happy with the desk makes you happy with your work.

___________________________________ 

My question

If you can choose your style office, what style office do you like? desks in cubicles or open-plan office?

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Workers in open-plan offices 'more active'. (2018, August 21). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45247799

Can Radioactive went missing from a pickup truck?

What I read

Malaysia is hunting for a radioactive device which went missing from a pickup truck earlier this month. Authorities say the radioactive substances inside the radiography device could spread dangerous contamination if dismantled improperly. The missing object is used in industrial radiography. The 23kg large metal tube with a carrying handle had reportedly been used to spot cracks in metal. It contain the radioactive isotope iridium-192 which can cause radiation exposure or be used as a weapon if combined with a conventional explosive device. Whether or not the missing iridium can indeed be used for a so-called "dirty bomb" depends on how much of it was inside the device. 

___________________________________ 

My response

This is actually quite mysterious.. No one knows where the radioactive device is and how it gone missing. The driver doesn't even noticed that the radioactive device was missing until when he is at his arrival. 

Last year, a similar incident happened and that there has been no information on that radioactive device either. Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman confirmed the incident had taken place but insisted "everything is under control" 

I have a feeling that the driver must have something to do with the missing device.. 

___________________________________ 

My question

How do you think that the radioactive device is missing? Is it stolen or fallen off the pickup? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

Radioactive device gone missing in Malaysia. (2018, August 21)

Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45255181

Marry to yourself if you want

What I read

According to “Why I never want babies” (2018) by Simon Maybin, many modern Korean women have chosen not to marry nor have children, which might lead to population shrinkage in the future. This phenomenon is so pervasive, it even has a name called ‘the Sampo Generation’, which means people who give up relationships, marry, and children. There are many reasons that might explain why Korean women don’t want babies. For example, many women don’t want to lose their jobs after having babies, many women think it is unfair that they have to take responsibility for most household affairs compare to men after they were married, and also women worry about educational cost for their children in order to keep up with others.

___________________________________ 

My response 

As mentioned in the article that South Korea is facing low fertility rate problem, it seems that we have similar trend going on in Thailand. Even we don’t have issue about gender inequality issue, husband and wife have quite equal status in Thai family. But I think this phenomenon is attributed to  the increasing of living cost. One good example is housing price. Within a couple of decades housing price has skyrocketed, in which it is too expensive for an ordinary person to buy just a single bedroom condo, now it costs more than 3 million bahts in Bangkok, let alone 2 or 3 bedrooms if you would like to build a family. I don’t know how much would it cost to build a family these days, but I am sure the estimated figure must shock me. Imagine if someone is going to marry, buy a house, buy a car, and raise a child, what reasonable family income would be to afford all those things sustainably. Only few people could afford that, especially for young adults if they have to build family from scratch. So, to me, It is a logical choice for people who decide not to have kids, they just adapt to economic environment.

For those who decide to have kids, I think that it is unfair to them regarding what they did for the country. Raising kid is no easy job. It requires effort and commitment to take care of a child until growing up. Some of parents might have to give up their jobs, when they have children. But our country perceives their hard work as a volunteer job. If we think in terms of opportunity cost, these parents should get some compensation for what they did to their country.  I would agree if our government would offer them a temporary job for taking care of their children so they can do their best to raise their kids and don’t have to worry much about making a living. Although, we already have a measure by the revenue department that allows parents to have tax deduction for their children, 30000 baths per child per year, but I think this number is way too low and very unrealistic. How can parents use this amount of money to support their kids? Obviously, this is not enough to motivate middle class families to have children. If the government really want to address the low birth rate problem, they should come up with more realistic measure. Anyway, I really appreciate all those parent, who volunteered to do such hard work for our country, and hope that someday our government would recognize and reward your dedication.

My question

Do you want to have babies? Why or why not?

Reference

• Maybin, S. (2018, August 18). 'Why I never want babies'. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-45201725

Attack of Water

What I read

"Eleven hikers killed in flash flooding in southern Italy" 11 hikers have been killed and others are missing after flash flooding in southern Italy. In a national park in the Calabria region when they were hit by a storm by heavy rain. Local officials say the exact number of those unaccounted for is unclear because some of them still missing. They still keep searching in the Pollino National Park, they also brought a spotlights for keep searching on through the night. Carlo Tansi, head of civil protection, told reporters that when the hikers were hit by the water and were washed down the valley for about 3km (two miles). Eugenio Facciolla, chief prosecutor of the provincial capital Cosenza, said rescuers were trying to spot small patches of shore or tiny islands where survivors might ended up. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

This news is a bit scares me because it remind me of when the Tsunami was attack in Thailand. Think of the people who was drowning and suffering underwater to dead many people had died from it. In this case I feel like it similar, they were attacked by water and the water take them to somewhere. I hope they were save and the rescuers will find them soon.Talk about the water, I am the one who scares from a deep water, for example like sea and ocean just think of when I'm in the sea or in the ocean alone I will feel really nervous that in the dark deep water there might be something came out you can call it Thalassophobia and I think I'm might be thalassophobia meybe.

 ___________________________________ 

My question

Do you afraid of natural disaster? what is it?

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Eleven hikers killed in flash flooding in southern Italy. (2018, August 21). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45252497?ns_campaign=bbcnews&ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=facebook

Therefore, the US president truly is a pumpkin.

What I read

In "Giuliani Says ‘Truth Isn’t Truth’ in Defense of Trump’s Legal Strategy" (2018, Melissa Gomez says that contrary to the definition of the word truth in the Merriam Webster dictionary, which the publisher has tweeted in response, and contrary to the former FBI director James Comey, who has tweeted in response that "Truth exists and truth matters," Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, has likely created a new bad meme that matches the earlier one that there are such things as "alternative facts" from US President Trump's counselor last year. Gomez reports that Giuliani said, "Truth isn’t truth" during an interview on TV. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

To be fair, I thought that Giuliani did have a good idea. I mean, he had an important point to make. Unfortunately, he expressed it very badly, perhaps under the stress of defending his famously badly spoken boss, the current president of the United States. Perhaps what Giuliani needs is a refresher course in academic English, perhaps a workshop that focuses on defining our terms clearly. As I've said in the first draft of my recent paragraph defining the noun philosophy, a dictionary is often only the starting point in giving a useful definition of the word for a complex concept, and truth seems to me  a very complex concept, as are facts. For example is it a fact, a truth, that the Earth now circles the sun? Was it a fact, the truth, the sun circled the Earth 2,000 years ago? Is it a fact that Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia? Is it a fact, is it true, that Santa Claus has a long white beard, as his pictures on Christmas cards typically show? You  might like to answer these questions in a comment below. 

Obviously, what I liked about Gomez's article in today's New York Times is its relevance to what we were looking at in class on Saturday, and what you are currently writing a paragraph to practice. Fortunately, the words truth and fact are not subjects that we might study, so they are not appropriate topics to choose to discuss in answer to the question on page 85 of Skillful. Even they were, they are, like democracy, very complex. The paragraph I've written, even after substantial review and revision, to define the word democracy is still 464 words, which is well over the 300 limit. Democracy is even harder to define than an academic subject such as philosophy. And things like truth and facts are what philosophers write books to define. 

And my title? That's just elementary logic. 

1. If X is true, then it's also not true. (Giuliani's statement.)
2. The president is a pumpkin or he is not a pumpkin. 
3. If he is not a pumpkin is true, then from 1. it's also not true. 
4. From 2 and 3, the president is a pumpkin or he is not (not a pumpkin). = He is a pumpkin or he is a pumpkin. 
5. Therefore, the president truly is a pumpkin.
   The general principle is that anything, however silly, follows logically if you accept a contradiction which says that A is not A. Asserting a contradiction such as Giuliani has done is a serious problem. 

The special counsel investigating Trump should cook and eat him.  

___________________________________ 

My question

Do you agree with me that Giuliani probably did have an important idea behind his badly chosen words? (More than "Yes" or "No" is expected for a good answer to this Yes/No question.) 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Gomez, M. (2018, August 19). Giuliani Says ‘Truth Isn’t Truth’ in Defense of Trump’s Legal Strategy. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/giuliani-meet-the-press-truth-is-not-truth.html

The cutest terror

What I read

According to "German police save man from baby squirrel terror" (2018), after they rescued a man from its attack, German police adopted a baby squirrel, which they have named Karl-Friedrich. The article also says that when hungry or in trouble, squirrels are known to chase or attack people as other reports from the US and UK show. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

When I read this last week, my first reaction was: "That can't be right," but apparently it is. Perhaps because it seems so unlikely is the reason that the article also mentions reports of other cases from around the world where squirrels have terrorised people. But I still find is a bit weird. The baby squirrel is so small that anyone larger than a small child could easily pick it up and throw it away. But perhaps those claws can inflict a nasty scratch. 

Many people think that koalas, one of the iconic animals of my country, are cute and harmless, but they aren't. They have seriously long, strong claws for their life in trees, and if handled by careless humans, they can inflict very nasty scratches. And the kangaroo, which is on my country's coat of arms, can kill dogs, humans and other large animals with a kick from its powerful legs. I think that the emu, which is the other animal on my nation's coat of arms, can also be fairly dangerous, unlike your average chicken or duck. A redeeming feature of both kangaroos and emus is that they can be eaten, although emu is not nearly so commonly eaten as kangaroo meat. Koalas, in contrast, are perfectly inedible. I remember when one fell down dead at my brother's home a few years ago that it just lay on the ground untouched by the local wild animals. Apparently, their diet of strongly flavoured gum leaves makes their flesh inedible to animals that might otherwise enjoy eating them. I have no idea whether squirrels are eaten any where. 

The pictures with the article also reminded me of the possums that lived in the trees around my family home in Australia. They were also very cute, and although they had both claws and teeth, it never occurred to me to be afraid of them. I suppose if under threat they might also attack a human, although they never attacked me or my brothers and sisters. But we never attacked them, either. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Should there be any limits on eating animals that are not in danger of extinction, for example, dogs, ducks, kangaroos, pigs, cats, chickens and so on? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• German police save man from baby squirrel terror. (2018, August 10). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45150298 

The Kids Are All Right

What I read

According to Pallavi Singhal in "Religion in decline in Australian schools" (2018), religious schools report that they are happy to accept students with a range of beliefs or no religion when their parents want them to benefit from the education offered by religious schools. This follows a recent report showing that the general trend in Australian society towards not having a religion, which had risen to about 30% of the population in 2016, is also seen in increasing numbers of school children who say they have no religion, at 37% over all, varying from a high of 45% at government schools to a low of 14% at Catholic schools. 

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My response 

How things change! Since my parents were Catholic, my brothers and sisters and I all went to Catholic schools for all of our primary and high school. Back in the 1960s and 70s, no one at my schools would admit to not believing in the Catholic religion, although I'm sure that a few students in higher years had doubts. But even back then, things were changing. By the time I'd finished high school, it was clear, as the article suggests, that Australians were becoming less religious. Even in my own family, although my father continued to serve on the local school board, less importance was attached to things like going to mass every Sunday, and today, even my mother no longer does that, and none of my brothers or sisters go to mass except for a special occasion. For example, my youngest sister recently had her youngest daughter baptised a Catholic, although I'm not sure what her reasons were: perhaps, as one of Singhal's sources says, it was to give her a better chance of getting into popular Catholic schools later. 

One thing I liked in the article is that the decline in religious belief is not seen as a problem, even by the people running religious schools. And I'm pretty sure that as religion has become less important, morality has improved. Australian society, and Australians, are better than they were in the past when more people were more religious. They care more about justice for all people, for fair treatment of all, and for making the country a better place for everyone to share. This can be seen in awareness of traditional prejudices such as sexism and racism, which are not tolerated as they used to be. The same is seen in changes to the law earlier this year that allow same-sex marriage, something that has wide support among the Australian people today, which is a massive change from social attitudes in the more religious bad old days of my childhood. 

Aussie kids like my nieces and nephews are doing well. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Is the world getting better than it was in the past? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Singhal, P. (2018, August 12). Religion in decline in Australian schools. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/education/religion-in-decline-in-australian-schools-20180806-p4zvtb.html

An Eye to the Future

What I read

In "Artificial intelligence 'did not miss a single urgent case'" (2018), Fergus Walsh writes that expect artificial intelligence (AI) shows great promise for diagnosing more medical conditions, such as cancers, following the results of a test by Google's DeepMind, which proved itself as accurate as the world's best medical experts in detecting eye problems. Because of the algorithms it uses, this development in AI also avoids the "black box" problem, where it is unknown how the program reaches its results, which lessens trust in those results. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

I knew that AI was evolving rapidly, but this report still surprised me. Computers, which I think only came to notice around the Second World War, less than 100 years ago, with the work of people like the mathematician Alan Turing, have evolved rapidly, and their rate of development continues to accelerate. When I studied computer science at university back in the late 1970s, the computer (there was only one) took up a full room, and we had to type our programs on cards to feed them into the machine, and then wait for the output the next day! That university computer was less powerful than the one I now carry in my pocket. And the first computer I ever bought was a high-end laptop in 1994, which had a hard drive with 80 MB and a whopping 2MB of RAM - nothing today! 

It sounds like science fiction, and probably still is, but given the rapid rate of development, I don't think it can be long before our machines are as intelligent as we are, and the day after that, they will be far more intelligent. I'm not sure that I want to think where they might be a week later. 

The reference to the "black box" problem also interested me because it seems to me we have exactly the same problem with our own minds: we often do not know how our minds work, which is why the research discoveries of economists, psychologists and others can be so surprising, and seemingly counter-intuitive. And of course, we are not very good at predicting our own actions in the future, or even understanding ourselves very well in the present. When asked, most people think that they are more intelligent than average, better leaders than most, better informed than most people, more generous and so on than reason or the facts support. And as computers continue to become more complex and evolve ever more independently of humans, it seems to me inevitable that we won't be able to understand how they work. But I'm not sure how big a problem this is.  

In the meantime, they are ever more sophisticated tools for us to use in ever more areas of our life. I just hope that when they are vastly more intelligent than we are, they treat us more nicely than we humans treat the less intelligent species on Earth. 

___________________________________ 

My question

Should we fear the increasing abilities of computers? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Walsh, F. (2018, August 13). Artificial intelligence 'did not miss a single urgent case'. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-44924948

Stories: readings 1 & 2, "National Hero" and "Mixed Memories" (SkRW2, pp. 79 & 81, Developing critical thinking)

What we read

We have now read and checked our understanding of the readings "National Hero" (Rogers & Wilkin, p. 79, 2013) and of "Mixed Memories" (p. 81).

___________________________________ 

Our response 

As is usual, Rogers and Wilkin now ask us to respond to the ideas in those readings in a critical thinking exercise. 

___________________________________ 

Rogers and Wilkin's questions

Think about the ideas from both "National Hero" and "Mixed Memories." Then discuss these questions in a comment. 

• Why do we rewrite the stories of famous people in history? Is it for the same reasons we rewrite our own stories? 
  The reasons are/aren't the same ...
  It is/isn't the same because ... 
   
• When talking about the past, how can we change how a situation is portrayed? 
  The main factors in how we change how a situation is portrayed are ... 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Rogers, L. & Wilkin, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 2. London: Macmillan Education 

Stories: reading 1 "National Hero" (SkRW22, p79, Developing critical thinking)

What we read

We have just read and checked our understanding of "National Hero," the first reading in Unit 8 of Skillful RW2.

___________________________________ 

Our response 

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

___________________________________ 

Rogers and Wilkin's questions

Comment on the following questions, which are the two critical thinking questions on page 79 (Rogers & Wilkin, 2013), and then reply to at least two of your classmates' comments. 

questions

• Explorers such as Scott do not often become heroes any more. Today, many heroes are famous athletes, actors, or singers.
  Why do you think that the idea of who is a hero changes over time? 
• Heroes have change because  ... As usual, it's up to you whether you use the language that Rogers and Wilkin suggest to help you start responding.
   
• Do you know any other "heroes" whose reputation has changed over time?
  Why did these changes happen?
  One person whose reputation has changed is ...  

___________________________________ 

Reference

• Rogers, L. & Wilkin, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 2. London: Macmillan Education

A new chapter in the Samsung story

What I read

In "Samsung Galaxy Note 9 alerts users to bad photos" (2018), Leo Kelion says that because sales of the company's Galaxy S9 phones were less than it had hoped, Samsung, which remains the worlds top seller of smartphones while facing greater competition, has released its Galaxy Note 9 phone aimed at business users earlier than expected. The new phone offers better photography, with AI enhanced features to detect and correct flaws in photographs taken with the improved cameras, and it also improves the stylus with Bluetooth so that it can remotely control the phone, which also has greater memory and other improvements over last year's Note 8. 

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My response 

I'm one of the happy Samsung customers who decided not to upgrade my Galaxy S8+ this year. The S9 is great, but it wasn't so much better than the S8 that I wanted to buy the new phone; however, I do like the sound of the Note 9, which might tempt me to upgrade in a month or so. The real attraction for me is the stylus. I've never had a phone with a stylus before, but my MS Surface Pro laptop and Samsung Tab 3 both have them, and to my surprise, I use the stylus a lot. For example, these days, I do my brainstorming in OneNote with the stylus, which is much better than paper brainstorm: it's far more flexible, and can easily be shared if I want to let others see my scribbles, although my handwriting can be a challenge. 

The rapid evolution of this sort of technology is amazing, and it seems to get faster every year. The sleek phone that I now carry everywhere in my shirt pocked,  and which I use constantly for everything from staying in touch with people, to taking photographs, doing my banking, and so on, is vastly more powerful than the bulky computers I used to use just a couple of decades ago. I can't imagine what my phone and other devices will be able to do in another ten years. Will they still need me at all? 

Hopefully, it will take a month or so to arrive in Thailand, which will give me time to review the urgent need I now feel to upgrade. I'm sure I could get by with last year's phone for a bit longer, but I can't deny that I'm sorely tempted. An upgrade will also make the eleven-year-old son of my friend Yo very happy: he is eager to inherit my old device, and was a bit disappointed when I resisted his suggestion that I upgrade a few months ago. 

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My question

Could you live without your smart devices? 

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Reference

• Kelion, L. (2018, August 9). Samsung Galaxy Note 9 alerts users to bad photos. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45128899

Revising a national hero

Click them to enlarge images

What I read

According to "Cecil Rhodes row: Oxford protesters march against statue" (2016), Oxford University has responded to protests by the group Rhodes Must Fall by inviting them to participate in further discussion to resolve conflict over a statue to Cecil Rhodes, a famous alumni of Oxford's Oriel College in whose name the Rhodes Scholarship has enabled thousands of people from overseas to study at Oxford University since his death in 1902. The group want the statue removed from the college because they argue that it represents the colonialism and white supremacy ideas of Rhodes. 

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My response 

I would not normally blog a news article more than a few weeks old, but this one fits so well with the ideas in our first reading, "National Hero" on page 79 of Skillful Reading & Writing 2, that I decided to make an exception. For the previous century, Rhodes had been seen as a hero who was a successful businessman and then philanthropist, but in the modern awareness of racism and similar prejudices, his fame has been subject to criticism, with many now emphasizing that he was not so wonderful as the original story says. 

Rhodes was a student at Oxford and a
member of Oriel College in the 1870s

Although I can understand the protesters who want the monument to the benefactor removed from public view, I also think this is a mistake. A better solution, the one that Oxford seems to favour, seems to me to leave the statue in place, but to add a note that although he was remarkable in many ways, his wealth and power were gained by acting on the prejudices that were socially accepted in his time. Rhodes was morally flawed, and we should recognise this truth about him, but I also think that he was a product of his culture, which was not as developed morally as we are today. Just as we make progress in science and technology, with old ideas that were once accepted as facts, for example that the Earth is the centre of the universe around which the sun and everything else revolve, being proved to be false; that is, these universally believed ideas were never facts at all but false opinions, so too do we make moral progress: in the 21st century, we should be able to do better than our ancestors and their traditions. And the way our understanding of what is fact and what is opinion also fits very well with the ideas that Rogers and Wilkin ask us to think about in the Global Reading exercise on page 78. 

Adding the negative details to the story so that it more accurately reflects the reality is a better response than trying to erase history, which the protesters insist is not their goal. This is normal: it was, for example, only long after his death that the ugly details about great English monarchs like King Henry VIII and his amazing daughter the great Queen Elizabeth the First could also be spoken openly as they should be. 

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My question

Do you think that we are morally more developed than our ancestors? 

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Reference

• Cecil Rhodes row: Oxford protesters march against statue. (2016, March 9). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-35766608

Getting into Unit 8 = Success (SkRW2, p77, Discussion point)

What we read 

Click the image to enlarge it.

Rogers and Wilkin, the authors, introduce each unit of Skillful 2 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 8 of book 2 (Rogers & Wilkin, 2013, p.77) does this for Unit 8, which is titled "Stories." 

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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 one reason I've turned Bixby and Scanlon's discussion exercise into a quick blogging discussion. 

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Bixby and Scanlon's questions

We have already looked at the photograph on page 77 and discussed question 1. In a comment, or two if you prefer, share your ideas on the three questions that Rogers and Wilkin ask: 

• Who are some of the most famous people or national heroes in your country?
  Are they writers, politicians, athletes, or other things?
  One of the most famous people is ... He/She is ...
  ... is a national hero because ... He/She was ... 
    
• What are the stories about these people? Does everyone believe these stories?
  One well known story about ... is ...
  Most people believe this, but ...
• Why do you think the facts in stories sometimes get changed?
  The facts can change because ... 

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 them. 

You can answer 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 Rogers and Wilkin's numbers too much, I replaced them with bullets. You can start with their suggested language or not. This is a fluency activity; that is, you want to quickly turn your ideas into sentences one after the other. 

Open a new comment box and start writing. You have six (6) minutes.   

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References

• Rogers, L. & Wilkin, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 2. London: 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 

Ten's Reading and Writing

Actually I didn't read a book too much I always read by social media  because It's easy to get and fast to update.  I like to read content and news in facebook or twitter about psychology such as how to change your attitude, behavior , manage your stress and about depression. Despite I have red a book about psychology. This book was written by Khunkao. He is very popular psychologist in Thailand. A book tells about how to mind control your body and  how to brain working. It's make me understand my self.

Nok's Reading and Writing

I usually read Thai fashion magazine the topics such as cosmetics, fashion, hair design, health and cooking a food. I love to eat out and try new food in other place that recommended, so I need to work out too.

I love to go gym to exercise, I like to join a cycling class, yoga and boxing and someday I need to relax I almost go sauna room. sometimes my friends and me jogging at Chatujak park for 6 km.

Wave`s Reading and Writing

When I was a child I read many books which was kind of fairy tale or something like that. But when I grow up I like to read books about psychology development such as How to be successful. And my writing isn`t so good. I just began writing essay when studying at the university so I have never practiced writing before and when I have to do the midterm or final examination. Although I did my best the score was not really good. I`m so disappointed with that.

Petch's Reading and Writing

I read comic and manga in my free time. The comic that I read is about super hero, for example Iron man. I really love to read manga it's a Japanese cartoon as known as anime. My favorite anime is Dragon Ball. I read the manga version and also watch the anime version. I have become a big fan of this story since I was a child.

Noon's Reading and Writing

I read one book about economics on last Thursday. I am normally interested in this field, though I did not study at faculty of economics anyway. I want to have this kind of knowledge, so I begin to read books by borrowing from the library. The book that I want to mention on this blog is one of my suggestion book for the beginner who like to know about economics like me, and it is wroted by SET that makes me sure that the information is reliable.

Pim's Reading and Writing

When I studied in primary school and hight school, I write English a little bit because They almost teach me about communicate skill more than writing and reading skill. So, When I go to the university, Writing and reading skill is very important for me very much.

In my  opinion,  My reading  and  writing  skills is medium. I hardly read English books because sometimes it hard to understand. Nevertheless, I want to improve  my English skills to better and better for my good opportunity career in the future. I promised myself to read at least 1 BBS news everyday and sum up the news with my own word. I hope I can do it soon.

Teng's Reading and Writing

I personally enjoy reading very much. When I have free time, reading books is my activity of choice. These days I have quite a lot free time, so I can read more complex topics such as statistics, maths, and coding. I used to buy books from retail bookstores in shopping malls, but now I prefer buying from online bookstore like Amazon or bookdepository because they have much more books and also are very convenient to find books I am looking for. Moreover I can do all the buying processes within a few clicks using my laptop. That is how I buy books nowsaday.

Aisha's Reading and Writing

I start learning English about 9 years ago and it was my favorite subject.
I want to improve my Reading and Writing even more, so i could be really confidence at writing and speaking with a Native English People.

Sometimes I really want to be able to make a poem my own to see how good i am in English. I really enjoy Reading English books, They are really fun!

I think Reading and Writing is the best way to study English. You get to improve both your writing, reading and spelling even speaking.

One of the things i like the most are quotes, behind every quotes there are a lot of great meanings in it.

Reading and Writing

Peter's Reading and Writing

Since I was in primary school, I have read a lot. I went to a Catholic school and was taught by nuns in primary school, but they were aging and very gentle. I don't think that they were very good teachers for most subjects, but they got me reading. They read stories that were fun, and they encouraged us to read. We had a small library at the school, and before I'd finished to move on to high school, I had read everything.

At high school, there were even more opportunities to read. It was a much bigger school, with a real library packed with books. I loved reading novels, but I also read science books and magazines, and mathematics magazines. My teachers in high school were a bit more strict, but even they used to let me off class sometimes to read what I wanted in the library. 

Today, I still enjoy reading, although I no  longer average a book a day as I did in school and at university, when there were far fewer demands on my time. 

I also try to write a bit every day. Most of the things I write now are short, but if I do something every day, I think it's good practice, and I like seeing the results of my work, especially when it's published for the world to read, although I suspect that only  a very small number of people read my contributions to various discussions. Lately, I've started writing poetry again, and I'd like to get into creative writing, but not today.

A few years ago, I used to Tweet, and that was useful. The 140 character limit forced me to be a bit more concise than I usually am when I write. When I was at university I sometimes had problems because I wanted to go well over the limit on the set number of words, and that is still sometimes a problem for me. I don't Tweet on Twitter any more, but that was a fun bit of writing that was different to what i normally do. 

Welcome to RW1C and to our class blog

What I read

This post isn't really about what I've read, although I have been reading in preparation for your class. Rather, this post is to welcome you to our class blog.

So, welcome.   

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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. 

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My question

In her foreword to students on page 4, the series editor, Dorothy E. Zemach, gives some strategies for successsful learning, one of which is to "be an independent learner" (Rogers & Wilkin, 2013). This class blog is one way for us to do this. As Zemach suggests in her comment, it helps you learn to "find and then share information about ... different topics." 

Some of the topics you will write about here are the unit topics, but I also like Zemach's suggestion that "reading for pleasure and using the Internet in English" are important, so your writing here will not be limited to the topics of the units that we study over the next six weeks. 

Do you agree with Zemach 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. 

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Reference

• Rogers, L. & Wilkin, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 2. London: Macmillan Education