Myths, Ancient to Modern Time

I used to be one of those people who feel dizzy before exam; the world seems to keep it pace to move. Before I knew it, I failed!

According to Judith Burns’ article “One in three studentswears 'lucky exam underwear'”, there are polls, meaning to say students’ faithfully personal items along with revision tactics. They believe those stuffs and methods could help them to do their exams well.

It wouldn’t surprise me that most of Thais rely on superstitious. But people from the other sides of the world also believe in it too, especially about taking exam. Examination is a significant part in student’s lives, undeniably. I’m still wondering, where lucky pants actually come from?

The decisions students made base on superstitious belief. Might it also develop to their lucky and unlucky results? Zero to one hundred percent chances is totally different. If I had worn my lucky gems on that day, I would have passed the astronomy exam in high school. It is possible that lucky items, attractively persuasive, could help me to accomplish at that time. At least, it could cheer me up when I literally invent my answers. The fact is that it can be only 2 outcomes, either pass or fail. Regrettably, I got the latter. So did half of my classmates; some even drank oily fish instead of rice during a week before exam, some hold popular amulets, such as Jatukam Ramathep when they took exam.

Another example, a black cat commonly represents bad luck, followed by loads of myths. On the contrary, the black cat better not cross the road in front of my car on the exam day because that day will be its last day to cross the road. Obviously, bad luck seems to pass on the poor cat rather than me (but I hope this will never happen). My point is that superstitions are used to trick people, warning that something either bad or good could happen to someone. Might it somewhat give me illusion control? Like when Thais hear lizard’s voice, they better not leave home; something bad would happen if they do so. However, it is an old saying. These days that sort of animal increases even more and would be in anywhere. All things considered, it looks like to remind one to check before he/she go out rather than worry about odd sound.

Notwithstanding the fact that we live in the world of science and technology today, anthropology provides us the useful reasons about folk tales as human studies. But some of the activities labeled magic still sound interesting until now. Do they stray away from mainstream? Most of myths have neither practical way investigating nor evidence to support. Can I count organic veggie assembled the healthy angle myth as magic superstition?   

__________

Reference
Burns, J. (2013, May 9). One in three students wears 'lucky exam underwear. BBC News UK. Retrieved May 10, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22465114

Let's take a bake!

Cake has been known as a classic dessert over the world that most people, especially girls, are indulgent with it. As a result of loving cake, people tend to start baking it on their own.

According to "Why Britain Has Gone Mad About Baking", due to the economic recession and the high cost of food, baking has become a fashionable activity in the UK. There is a Cake club which is established by Lynn Hill, a retired woman who is passionate in baking cake, and it has been growing very fast over the past three years. These new trend leads to both the growth of home-baking market and cooking shows on TV.

Baking is a great leisure that lessen people's pressure from hard working or study and also broaden their's creativity. While baking, ones will mess up with flour, eggs, chocolate or other ingredients which they will be busy enough not to think of work or have free hand to check an e-mail on mobile devices because they have to concentrate on what they are baking. Nowadays, it is easier to bake since there are many bakery shops that provide baking ingredients and equipment, and there are also many online recipes on the internet that you can search for or even VDO clips on YouTube that show the process of baking.

Some people start cooking or baking since they have a deep affection for eating, and I am also one of them. I really enjoy every kind of desserts, then I start to bake by myself because I can eat it every time I like. My first bake ;however, I am not sure whether it should call bake or not, is blueberry cheese pie since it does not use the oven to cook. It is pretty easy that it must be the first menu for many rookies and it is quite delicious. When I have a chocolate lava at one dessert cafe, I am so in love with it then I find the recipe online and strictly follow the recipe. It is better than I had thought. However, my baking is sometimes not successful. When I try to bake brownie but it turns out to be like stone cookies, so I have to throw them all away. Even though it is unsuccessful, I still enjoy baking because it is fun. One thing that I don't think it an enjoyment of baking is washing after baking.
____

Reference

Guttman,A. (2013, May 7). Why Britain Has Gone Mad About Baking. NPR the salt. Retrieved May 8, 2013 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/05/07/181932121/why-britain-has-gone-mad-about-baking

Bad news for Man U T_T

If you are one of the Manchester United, or we always call "Man U", fans, do not delight with the champion which you have just got. Today, I have a news about your team that can make you shock. After bringing Man U to be one of the best team in the world by winning several cups, I believe that Man U's fans respect and esteem Sir Alex Ferguson, a Manchester United manager, as one of the best manager. I  also agree with that. However, he is going to retire after this season. That means Manchester United will not have him as a team manager anymore.

According to "Sir Alex Ferguson to retire as Manchester United manager", the BBC Sport has mentioned that Sir Alex Ferguson, a Manchester United manager, is going to retire after this season. In the news has written about Sir Alex Ferguson's history from being as a football play until becoming as a Man U's manager. While he was working in this position, Manchester United won several trophies such as Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Champion League, Cup Winners Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Inter-Continental Cup, and FA Charity/Community Shield.     

After working for a long time as a manager, Sir Alex Ferguson has done a very fantastic work by bringing Man U to be one of the best team. He has a skill to train general football players to become famous players. I believe that everyone can remember of his accomplishments and regard him as a legendary football manager. His retirement is very surprising.

I am a person who really love football as many people around the world. I love to play, read, and talk about football. When I was in grade 1, I did not know anything about football. Because my school had a great football team and everyone in my school was crazy in this sport so much, I heard a lot of things about football at school making me be interested in this kind of sport. After watching football for a long time, I realize that being as a football manager is an very interesting job. Don't you want to try??

Reference
Sir Alex Ferguson to retire as Manchester United manager. (2013,May 8).
BBC Sport. Retrieve May 8,2013 from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22447018

Another green project

Nowadays, almost every country in the world launches the campaigns to make people more awareness of global warming and climate change. There are many things that people can do, but what we can do to decrease pollution, and make the world better? Is another green project help?

According to “Grocery Home Delivery May Be Greener Than Schlepping To The Store”, groceries delivery can reduces the carbon dioxides, time go/back the store, and more environmental friendly because the delivery truck “shares ride for the food” (¶2). Journal of the Transportation Research Forum said that it is more efficiently if the households are in the cluster routes.

The idea of “share ride for the food” is a great idea that use the truck and deliver the foods in the same routes. People more concern about what causing the global warming after it's happening.

Many company have launch projects to make the world better, for example, the new design of their building that using natural resources such as wind and solar cell to make their own energy, and reduce power from the electricity. To reduce carbon dioxides and greenhouse gas are the factor that contributes the climate changes. When the climate change is tend to make the natural disaster around the world.

Home delivery is comfortable for lazy people, and people who lives far away from the store or grocery. However, many people like housewife and chef, they want to choose the fresh products themselves. My friend is the owner of one restaurant in Bangkok, her chef always go to the market or supermarket, and choose the fresh vegetable, fruits, and meat by himself. He wants to choose the best ingredients for his customers. This is make restaurant well-known because of delicious foods and the ingredients also fresh. It makes my friend restaurant very famous. As same as the TV show on Japan, Japanese chef especially sushi chef always wake up very early in the morning and going to the fish market for the fresh and best fish. I watched a different TV program about sushi chef, but the lifestyle of best sushi chef are the same. That's why sushi in Japan is very delicious.
___________
Reference

Shute, N. (2013, May 2). Grocery Home Delivery May Be Greener Than Schlepping To The Store. NPR the salt. Retrieved May 8, 2013 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/05/01/180330444/grocery-home-delivery-may-be-greener-than-schlepping-to-the-store

Should we ban 3D printer?

Should we ban 3D printer? 3D printer technology is a technology that printer can create 3 dimension objects from ABS plastic sheets which it can use to create many things from an Eiffel Tower model to a firearm.

In “Working gun made with 3D printer”, Morelle reports that the world’s first gun which created by 3D printer technology and made from ABS plastic had been successfully tested to fire real bullets in Texas, while all Americans still are ongoing debate about gun controls.

New technologies always become with many benefits which many people would like to use them; however, people might not realizes that the technologies are also have many disadvantages within themselves. Television, for example, when TV was newly invented, people found that it was a big changing because they can watch many news, TV shows or movies from TV instead of read novels or listen to radios. As time goes, people realize that their children might be get some disorder from watching TV too mush such as poor eye vision , Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) which is a syndrome that child who cannot focus on what he or she is doing and easily changes to do another activities instead.

When I was a child, many time I watched Doraemon’s cartoons on TV. One of the main characters is Doraemon. He usually has very useful tools that he and his friends can use to solve problems. One of the most favorite very useful tools is the machine that can crate real things from copying its pictures. Whether things or food, it can create both of them just put the picture into the machine. At that time, I thought that the copying machine did not exist in the real world and none can build this machine. At this time, I think I should rethink about it because nowadays the 3D printer technology can create what things we wanted even through the printers still cannot create food as the copying machine in Doraemon’s story did.

The serious question is that new technologies encourage people to do bad things or not. In my point of view, I strongly agree that new technologies do not encourage people to do something bad, but people do themselves. Some people change themselves into criminals which are caused form their behaviors. Moreover, many new technologies created very useful tools which some of tools can kill humans easily but, without humans and humans’ intention. Any tool cannot kill people by itself. Weapons, for example, are tools that people use them to kill others. However, without humans and humans’ intension, weapons cannot kill people by itself because they need people with their killed intension to use them. So, the 3D printer technology should not be banned from the cause that people use them to do something bad.

What do you think?
Do new technologies encourage people to do bad things or not?
Should we ban 3D printer?

__________

Reference

 Morelle, R. (2013, May 6). Working gun made with 3D printer. BBC News Science & Environment. Retrieved May 7, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22421185

Anything else, sir?

I didn't mean to overthrow an article about food into this blog. But, I choose it because it catches my eyes by its title. I just want to recheck my understanding whether the personal condition has a consequence in the choice of food.

In “Hungry shoppers 'buy more calories'”, Briggs reports that the people who go shopping at the supermarket when they are starving tend to buy high calorie food more than when they are full.

Before reading this article, I believe that when we buy food at a supermarket or order food at a restaurant when we are hungry, we want more food than when we are full or in the normal state. This is based on my personal experiences, when I go to the restaurant when I am super hungry; I tend to order whatever I like. And, it seems that I like everything in the menu! Therefore, I end up with excessive food, and I have to pack it home, which sometimes I don’t even remember that it is in my fridge. I know that it’s kind of waste of food, especially when I think of some people who are starving. They don’t even have food to feed. On the contrary, if I shop after the meal; I prone to think of nothing to buy even I face the items I regularly buy. However, according to this article, I have the wrong idea. The quantity of food bought is not relevant to the hungry feeling, but the calorie of the food chosen is. Consequently, we may not need “calorie counts posted for restaurant food” (Shute, 2013, ¶1). This is because we know how to avoid high calorie food.

What’s coming up to next, I think that not only the inner feeling can drive one to pick food, but also the color temptation. I remember that when I studied Marketing course, one of the strategies the restaurant apply is the use of color. I was taught that colors of food have impact on food consumption. It can be seen that the pictures in menus are intended to be colorful, especially at the fast food restaurant. The pictures of food are in complementary colors such as green and red. This is because they are two of the tempting colors that arouse one’s appetite. The traditional picture of burger is a good example of this. There are green lettuce, red tomato, and golden cheese in the middle of a brown bun. How mouth watering it is!

Furthermore, what allures customers to buy stuff such as food, clothes, or even cars is sales promotion. Sometimes, we buy stuff that we do not actually want it just because it seems to give a good deal. One such an obvious example of this is that the 100,000 Baht tax return for the first car registered last year. As a result, there are a lot of people buying cars in the previous year. I even think that those people can defer their need of buying new cars to whenever they really want them. But, because of the alluring policy, it arouses people to spend money before the right time. I think that it’s a wise strategy for the sellers and the tax receiver; however, it’s such a bad idea for the impulsive purchasers. 

Finally, it will be a good idea to think before buying anything.

_________

References

Briggs, H. (2013, May 6). Hungry shoppers 'buy more calories'. BBC News Health. Retrieved May 5, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22426965 

Shute, N. (2013, April 23). When Cheeseburger = Walking, Will We Eat Less?. NPR the salt. Retrieved May 7, 2013 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/23/178632857/when-cheeseburger-walking-will-we-eat-less

"Peach" to the far southern Thailand ?

Do you know the southern Thailand conflict has lasted for almost century? As you may know, the three-provinces violences have been gradually more serious in recent years. However, I realized a looming hope that the Thais wished and a positive progress of the rift between the government and the separatists when I read the Bangkok Post Online last night about their coming peach talks in Malaysia.

According to "BRN demands, but Thais say 'prove you represent' insurgents", the Barisan Revolusi Nasianal (BRN), a reportedly leading southern insurgent group, recently issued their five demands on Youtube in response to halt their violent attacks in the three deep southern provinces but subsequently "were rejected by the Thai officials" (¶ 3) due to its too much conditions. However, in the second round of peach talks between the two sides in Kuala Lumpur Monday, the government officials gave the souther militants group one month to prove its status of leading southern group by making the southern violence abate first prior to discussing further about the possible agreement. The meeting conclusion is to resume the talks on June 13.

This is such a good start from the both sides but we are still not certain whether this group is a truly leading group who has a power and influence on the rest of the insurgent bands or not. If it is, the government has to be cautious as the opposition party said in the news that the southern militants might use this opportunity to take their advantages. Nonetheless, I'm supporting this approach, following the development closely and wishing my government do their utmost without any corruption.

Anyway, although it's greatly difficult to solve this prolonged problem in the reality, I still hope, one day,  the deep south of the Thailand territory will meet the needs of all the Thais in bringing the real and sustainable peach to the stunning lands of Thailand.

Reference :

BRN demands, but Thais say 'prove you represent' insurgents. (2013, May 5). BangkokPost Online. Retrieve May 5, 2013 from http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/347612/nsc-brn-demands-affect-peace-talks

Meaty Matters

If you read the title "Meaty Matters" and came to read about the latest scandal of horse and other animals thrown in and minced up for hamburgers, this time from China, I'm going to disappoint you, at least for now. Throwing a bit of mink, or even rat, into the dish doesn't excite me that much, although it does raise some interesting questions. My topic is actually about a set of problems with Buddhism, starting with the thoughtful and thought provoking "Why are Buddhist monks attacking Muslims?" by Oxford University academic Alan Strathern, an expert on the issues he discusses.

In his article, Strathern (2013) argues that the explanation for the recent violence by Buddhists against non-Buddhists in both Sri Lanka and Burma is consistent with and a result of the traditional alliances that Buddhism, like Christianity, Islam, and other religions have made with kings who benefit from associating with the moral respect of the religion, and in return offer the religion power to enforce its "true path" on others. The result is that despite more seemingly peaceful sacred texts, Buddhism is in fact as historically violent as the monotheistic faiths against which Buddhists in some countries now see themselves competing.

As Strathern points out, it does seem at first odd that Buddhism should be so prone to violence since there is nothing in the canonical texts of Buddhism which seem to preach, or even to condone, violence. On the contrary, as Strathern emphasises right from the start, in Buddhist teaching, "the promise not to kill comes first" (¶ 1). This is in marked contrast with, for example, Judaism and Christianity, whose holy Bible is a very bloody, warmongering piece of writing: the entire "Book of Exodus", the second book of the Bible, is basically a terrorist manual which praises the use of escalating force against innocent people to achieve a political aim. It is no surprise that Jews, Christians and their sibling Islam all readily condone and practise extreme violence, both against others and their fellow citizens. But it does seem puzzling that Buddhists behave in the same awful way whilst claiming a religious motive. When Strathern quotes the enlightened Buddhists comforting the great king who violently unified Sri Lanka almost 2,000 years ago as explaining that "the slain were like animals; you will make the Buddha's faith shine" (¶ 17), I could not help but think of the respected Buddhist monk who assured the Thai soldiers shooting and killing their fellow Thai citizens in 1976 that is was OK because they were communists, and not really human! This Thai Buddhist monk might well have been respected, and have stated a view that was very popular, but he was also contradicting the Buddha's version of Buddhism. And the explanation is, I think, exactly the same as Strathern gives for Sri Lanka and Burma: the Thai version of Buddhism is not the Buddha's version of Buddhism, but a version made up to be a tool of the Thai government - first of the Thai kings from the Sukothai period who used it to unify the nation, and then of all Thai governments since 1932.

And this is where the meat comes in. There are, in Thailand, different groups of Buddhists, each with their own set of monks and their own versions of Buddhist teaching, which do not agree. There is the majority, which also has government support, and then there is the Santi Asoke group. One specific, and I think instructive, point of disagreement between these competing Buddhist groups is over the question of whether or not the first precept of Buddhism, with which Strathern opens his discussion, and which the sidebar translates into English as "to abstain from killing living creatures", requires that good Buddhists normally avoid eating meat or not. There are two opposite views on this, so one group must be wrong. They cannot both be right.

So, may Buddhists eat meat? I think that the Santi Asoke group is right: the first precept of Buddhism as understood by the Buddha does require that modern followers normally avoid eating meat. The summarized argument is that in most cases today, unlike in the remote past, when the Buddha sensibly allowed the eating of meat, people eat meat not from any need, but solely for the pleasure it gives; that is, meat is eaten almost never for any health or other requirement, but because of a strong desire for the taste. And in order to satisfy this desire which is not a need shoppers pay meat producers to kill animals for them, typically after raising them in pain. This is the same as a mafia boss paying an underling to carry out a murder: the intention, the desire to kill, is all with the mafia boss, not the man who pulls the trigger of the gun, nor, indeed, is there any intention in the gun, which is another tool used to kill according to the order of the mafia boss. Similarly, when we buy meat at a supermarket, we are killing animals: we just use other people as tools to carry out our intended killing, but the intention and desire to kill is with us when we buy packs of chicken or a nice steak: the chicken breasts and sirloin we buy today tells a producer to kill more chickens and cows tomorrow.

And this is where the problem with making Buddhism a tool of the state, and supporting it with law, becomes really problematic: the dishonesty needed to, for example, prop up a very dubious interpretation of a basic teaching, an interpretation that is most likely the opposite of what the Buddha intended, leads to pervasive dishonesty throughout society. And this is not a good thing. If the most basic, most foundational teachings can be twisted to mean the opposite of their true intent, then they can also be deliberately misinterpreted to give a nice but false image to whatever else the rulers want to do, such as executing criminals, which is surely against the first precept of Buddhism, as is killing communists. In fact, I do think that capital punishment is a reasonable punishment for some murderers, and I also enjoy a healthy variety of meats on a regular basis, but I'm not a Buddhist whose religion teaches otherwise.

__________

Reference

Strathern, A. (2013, May 1). Why are Buddhist monks attacking Muslims? BBC News Magazine. Retrieved May 6, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22356306

There are cancers more than ever

Many countries, including Thailand and UK, spend a lot of budgets on research and medical technology for preventing and reducing the cancer, but the situation is not getting any better.

According to “Breast cancer cases in UK under-50s top 10,000 a year” article, in 2008-2010, the figures of women, under 50 years old, who was diagnosed as having a breast cancer have reached 10,000, rising 15% compared with 1993-1995.

Nowadays, more and more new diseases have arisen. Our daily life activities cause us having more diseases, such as stress, eating unhealthy food, or lacking of exercise. Some of diseases are developed and have severe form of the disease. Last year, I went to Ramathibodi hospital in the evening clinic to have an eyes exam. There are so many patients. It was not entirely unexpected, but it just has a lot more than I thought. Many of them had to stand waiting for the doctor; some sleep sitting up in the chairs. I spent four hours there just to see the doctor only four minutes. It such a boring four hours and was waste of the time.

Many of gardeners, who grow fresh vegetables to sell, use a lot of insecticide, so when I eat vegetable I feel like I eat another form of poisoning, this is one of my excuses for eating less of vegetables. Long time ago, I was told a story about gardeners that plant vegetables for sale. In the whole village, they have two separated gardens. One is for themselves to eat in the house and another garden for selling to stupid people in the city. They all do not eat vegetables in the garden which they grow to sell because they use a lot of insecticide. I do not know this is a true story or not, but I always think of this story when I eat food that have a lot of fresh vegetables or when I see fresh vegetables in market.

Reference

Breast cancer cases in UK under-50s top 10,000 a year. (2013, May 3). BBC New Health. Retrieved May 4, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22383416

Think before ink

How things change. When I was a little boy, tattoos were unusual, being associated with bikie gangs, and the like. The most respectable group who got them were probably sailors, and they are not of high repute. Today, they are common everywhere, from celebrities like Angelina Jolie to parents with office jobs in small country towns.

In "Tattooists want better regulations across the industry", Rick Kelsey tells us that groups of tattooists in the United Kingdom, where about one-third of young people now have a tattoo, disagree as the need for greater government regulation of their industry, with one organization calling for this and another arguing that greater education is sufficient.

Since government interference is generally bad both morally and in practice, I'm on the side of the group who think that no more regulation is needed: if someone wants to call themselves a tattooist, or a tattoo artist, or a dermal ink technician or whatever sells, they should be allowed to. The normal laws relating to fulfilling a contractual agreement should be sufficient, along with reviews. If happy customers, and the professional opinion of other tattooists, give good reviews about results that are clearly visible, that will benefit tattooists who do a good job, just as heart surgeons make their reputation and subsequent income from satisfied patients who stay alive to tell how well the new heart works. And just as patients can and should take doctors to court for compensation when the doctor screws up, so too must the law allow tattoo customers to take practitioners who fail to deliver the promised goods to court for compensation, and to punish them in the case of criminal negligence.

It occurred to me that the group of tattooists calling for more government control might have a less savoury and less honest motive: they might be trying to use the law to stop fair and free competition. Having already set themselves up, they don't want others to enter the business, possibly lowering their own profits. This is what we see in the efforts of selfish groups within countries who pressure governments to set up controls on free trade and business. They make up false and dishonest excuses about "protecting" poor farmers, or whatever to, for example, make it illegal for foreigners to buy land; the result is that rich elites buy up land for much less than it is worth and take advantage of the poor citizens because there is no free and fair market. This is not just dishonest, it is wholly immoral and bad for the entire national economy, except the small, selfish elites who are legally abusing their fellow citizens unjustly to benefit only themselves. I seem to have moved a bit away from my original topic here, and I didn't get to say what I actually had in mind when I started; on the other hand, this is not irrelevant to the weekend reading in Quest: a pleasing if unexpected outcome. Perhaps my subconscious brain was controlling my response here all along with this outcome in mind.

__________

Reference

Kelsey, R. (2013, May 3). Tattooists want better regulations across the industry. BBC Newsbeat. Retrieved  May 4, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/22364980

Is your (future) job safe from technology?

In my last blog post, I commented on the accelerating advance of technology, which has largely done away with film photography, which I think is doing away with paper (Peter F AUA, 2013), and which is probably in the process is doing away with a lot of traditional jobs. As pointed out in our discussion of Hartmann and Blass's questions on page 98 (2007), small time rice farming might no longer be a viable option for Thai citizens, and today's Dilbert seemed most apt.

The summary was easy for this one. I've "quoted" the whole strip. There are two other comic strips I read every day, and Dilbert is probably my favourite, hence, the only one to make it onto my list of suggested reading. This one isn't as subtle as some, but I like the way Scott Adams, the creator of these wonderful strips, manages to address what is often a serious issue, such as job loss and other social changes as a result of rapid technological development, in a way that is often very humorous. And as with most reading, the pleasure improves with the familiarity that comes with practise. So, if you were looking for an excuse to read more comics, I hope I've helped.

You've probably also noticed the cartoon on page 98 of Quest (Hartmann & Blass, 2007). I like it, but with the recent headlines that Bitcoins has been making everywhere, from technology magazines to staid and serious financial journals, I thought that my revised version of question 5 might be both a lot more topical and a bit more academic.

Back on the Dilbert topic of human redundancy resulting from technological advance, our machines have a massive advantage over us: under our guidance, they are evolving at an every accelerating rate that leaves their creators in the dust, and when one day, in our lifetime according to experts such as Ray Kurzweil who has recently joined a Google venture to work on precisely this, they become conscious and start making their own decisions ... Armageddon or Eden?

__________

Reference

Adams, S. (2013, May 3). Dilbert [Comic strip]. Retrieved from http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2013-05-03/

Hartmann, P., & Blass, L. (2007). Quest 3 Reading and Writing (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Peter F AUA. (2013, May 3). Disrupting government control: Bitcoins for PayPal? Class Blog - AEP at AUA. Retrieved May 3, 2013 from http://peteraep.blogspot.com/2013/05/disrupting-government-control-bitcoins.html

Disrupting government control: Bitcoins for PayPal?

Although I had not planned it, I was pleased when Bas brought up Paypal in our brief discussion of Bitcoins yesterday. It was a great help in the subsequent discussion, which left a few issues healthily unsettled for future analysis. Unfortunately, the newspaper article I'd read earlier that morning was from The Sydney Morning Herald, which is not on my list of approved sources for response blogging homework, but a quick Google turned up an equally interesting article in the respected Wall Street Journal, which is on the approved list.

According to Greg Bensinger, writing in "Will Bitcoin Be Accepted by PayPal?", the eBay subsidiary PayPal is considering adding Bitcoins, a virtual currency which has fluctuated wildly over recent weeks, to the set of currencies amongst and between which it currently facilitates money transfers. According to its chief executive, PayPal appears to be attracted to the increasingly accepted Bitcoins precisely because "it’s a new disruptive technology" (2013, ¶ 3), even though the US government has recently said it will treat Bitcoins the same way it deals with other money transfers.

I first heard of Bitcoins a couple of months ago, when it was, I think, relatively unknown, but already on the way up. Then over the past few weeks, there was an explosion of news reports on this new currency in all of the newspapers and magazines I regularly read: not just the regular news sources such as BBC News, The Economist and The New York Times, but also the science magazines I follow, which include New Scientist and Scientific American. Why would a science magazine be reporting on a strange new financial tool? Because of the mathematics and computer techniques that underlie this virtual currency. I don't want to give away too many details before we conclude our discussion on the inherent inflationary tendencies of Bitcoins, but it uses encryption, which is mathematics, to store and transfer money between online wallets, and everything is wholly outside of government support and interference. I'm not about to start using it, but I like the idea and will be watching to see how it develops since it seems to suggest how citizens might free themselves from the grasp of excessively controlling governments.

It also reminded me yet again of how increasingly quickly technology is changing the world we live in. The Wall Street Journal article mentions as examples of other disruptive technologies Kazaa and Napster, which have come and gone, but left in their trails a world of online sharing that did not exist even ten years ago. And I'm now looking forward to getting rid of my 600+ collection of DVDs when Thailand joins the rest of the world of online movies, which progress is being hindered by the massive intellectual property theft that is still too common in Thailand, with citizens who mistakenly think they are honest regularly stealing by buying pirated DVDs, software and the like. I've already given up buying paper books these past couple of years, now buying Kindle versions of every book I want: paper had a long run, but I think it's going the way of film photography. Do you remember that? Once upon a time, about ten years ago, taking photographs meant buying a roll of film, putting it into a camera, snapping of a mere 36 shots, changing to a new roll of film, taking it all to a shop and paying them a fortune to have the film developed and paper copies of the photographs printed, and paying more if you wanted to post (as in an envelop) to a friend a relative. Today, taking a photograph means whipping out your mobile, clicking, and viewing the uploaded photograph online before sharing with whoever you want, to the great relief of the millions of trees and other resources that are not gobbled up to indulge our little pleasures.

__________

Reference

Bensinger, G. (2013, April 30). Will Bitcoin be accepted by PayPal? The Wall Street Journal, Digits. Retrieved May 3, 2013 from http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/04/30/could-paypal-be-on-horizon-for-bitcoin/

Eat equal Exercise?

There is limited time with many workers to eat in a busy city. Many people don't have time to cook themselves, snack and high calories foods are the solution. Thus, the number of city people become fat and obese is increasing, not only in America, but everywhere around the world. 

According to "When Cheeseburger = Walking, Will We Eat Less?", federal food imposes the restaurant to post the calories counts because they what American choose to eat healthy. Ashlei James did the test and the results came out that people reduces their foods after they see exercising time on the menus, however, there is no effect when people see calories counts on the menus.

I'm the person who always looking and read at the calories counts label beside the food products, but I always eat it even though it is low or high calories. The fact is people doesn't know how these number will be effect their body and their weight, because people doesn't have any idea or knowledge about it, like me.

In America, there are many fast foods, high calories foods, snack, soda, and so on, that provide people every corner of the road. And the number of obesity is rapid increasing. I watched the news few months (or more than that) ago, in New York legislate to sell super size soda pop in every restaurant. This kind of rule makes people aware of their health. I watched movie Super size me, it’s about American man name Morgan who filmed himself 30 days ate only McDonalds foods. The result of his health after finish 30 days is affecting his health a lots. He becomes risk on many diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, headache, weight gain, high cholesterol, and gain fat mass. This make me more concern about foods that I consume every day.

__________

Reference

Shute, N. (2013, April 23). When Cheeseburger = Walking, Will We Eat Less?. npr the salt. Retrieved May 2, 2013 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/23/178632857/when-cheeseburger-walking-will-we-eat-less

World War 3 ?

Do you remember the two nuclear bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War2 and have you ever thought of the dawn of the World War 3 in this globalization era? If not, you might change your mind when you realize what were the aggressive actions made by the North Korea. I fear not only the WW3 but also a war of nuclear when I read a news from the BBC News online report yesterday.

According to "North Korean threats: US to move missile defences to Guam", North Korea issued a threat of striking Guam, Hawaii, the South Korea and the US mainland in recent weeks prior to the US preparing a missile defense in Guam in response. It announced "a formal declaration of war on the South" (¶ 10) and would resume a nuclear reactor in breach of the UN security council resolutions. Besides, the aggressive North also carry out another reckless actions of ban on the South worker's access into the joint industrial complex in the North.

Although the North holds a few deadly nuclear warheads compared to the US's after a lot of its effort to become a nuclear state has been carry out, pressures by the international community and the United Nations to stop its ambition and remove all of the nuclear stuffs it built up might spark a potential violence in the international community. If it happen, it would not be a conventional war but "nuclear war". Despite the fact a dozens of analysts think a first missile strike from the North to any states is impossible, I fervently hope that the North would not be crazy enough to carry out its threat regardless of effect and consequence resulted in the World War 3 of nuclear.

This is an important and agent issue that all states have to find a resolution to solve it peacefully. The first thing is to seek another meeting between the UNSC members and the North in order to discuss possibility of the North remove of nuclear things in respond to a lot of financial benefits it could obtain from the global community such as establishment and strengthening of diplomatic relationships, tourism as well as import and export with low tariff and limitations. If this measure is not work, all countries across the world "have to" make more pressure on the North by cutting every ties and kinds between the North and all countries and international organizations. I strongly believe that the North can not stay alone in this world of globalization especially when considering its economy that is depressed following a series of the UN sanctions. It is probably making the violent Nuclear story up to deceive the world but in fact, it desires something such as oil and other energy. It might use the global fear to gain more beneficial imports in return to remove the nuclear site as the rest of "human" want.

Reference

North Korea threats: US to move missile defences to Guam. (2013, April 4). BBC News Asia. Retrieved May 1, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22021832

How Good Reviews Are?

Apart from my sister suggestion, another reason I enrolled to study AEP at AUA came from the internet – that is, review comments which are more positive than negative. As I expect, this course fulfills my English skills and provides me to meet lovely people.

According to Michael M. Phillips, writing in The Wall Street Journal “These Amazon Products Are No Joke, But the Online Reviews Are”, a lot of examples, particularly jokes, from reviews on Amazon website are randomly responded by reviewers, who left either funny or weird comments, sharing their ideas about products to readers.

From huge billboards on big buildings to glossy screens on BTS to shiny magazine covers, those are forms of advertising we tend to encounter wherever we go. We have such plentiful options, yet which one we should buy? Review is very useful, particularly if you are choosey. It gives us ideas from many perspectives on many aspects. I think it's very much like a group of friends who have never seen each other but help each other to decide which one is better for you. We can learn from their experiences that they share in online source. This looks like someone helps us to do our homework. We can save time and make decision to buy things more carefully. Since each idea of ​individuals comes together, as a guideline, I can decide which one suits me. Additionally, examples are very interesting – reading with feeling that doesn’t lean to right or left, I look for reasons.

What’s more, there are the people who share a joke when they left comments. I admit that I always love to read them, especially when they located next to 5 stars rated or thousands of thumb ups. Most of them are silly. In the state of confusion, I bobbed. Yes! I think I agree with them. However, some might think that they are garbage, but I don’t. Honestly, I love to read them because those “wiseman”, who left ridiculous comments, always presents ideas, which I’ve never ever have. While those reviews may seem crazy, I come up with nothing but fun. I often have no ideas that those goods they talk about are worth to buy or not. How about you?

Although it sounds delightful, some people use review in wrong ways; for example, they overpraise their products or organization in reviews – we would call them fake review. Illustrations, for instance, we probably know that the images in the websites don’t show the true condition. Like they present, some pictures were taken and magnified, turning to enchanting stuffs. In addition, the sense of humour also has a long lasting effects. But if it is too much, it appears to be foolish instead of fun. In our societies, we still need rational reasons based on our instincts to discuss.

Lastly, this article is a good fun – I recommend you to read it. If you don’t fancy to read, just watch banana slicer clip on the top of the article. How imaginative reviewers are!

__________

Reference

Phillips, M. (2013, April 30). These Amazon Products Are No Joke, But the Online Reviews Are. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 2, 2013 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323528404578454763919379102.html?mod=WSJ_hp_Asia_EditorsPicks#articleTabs%3Darticle

Caffeine in coffee, double-edged sword

Coffee has consistently been one of the most classic drinks around the world since it has classy and special taste, which no other things can replace this. Not only does its taste, it also contains caffeine which is used as a stimulant drug worldwide.

According to "Why Caffeine In Coffee Is A Miracle Drug For The Tired", individuals respond to caffeine in different ways due to "genetics, tolerance and other factors" (2013, ¶ 7). Caffeine stimulates brain and mind particularly in exhausted people ; however, it harms to people who are anxious to be less productive.

The characteristic of caffeine is to arouse the brain to be more active then one who drink a cup of coffee will feel fresh and energetic. Moreover, coffee has a good taste that many people are fascinated. There are many kinds of coffee such as arabica and robusta but the most expensive coffee is civet coffee (Kopo Luwak). The origin of this coffee is in Indonesia and it is collected from the feces of civet this is why it is called "civet coffee". Civet eats only the good quality of beans, then this is the selection of coffee by itself and it will not be digested in civet's digestive system. When people collect its excretion, the shape of coffee is still the same as before eating but adding unique smell. The process of producing this coffee takes time and is not easy, so the retail prices of civet coffee reach € 550 / US$700 per kilogram.

However; consuming a large amount of coffee also has bad effects. If one takes a high dose of caffeine, he or she will be addicted and this harms his or her 's health. One of my bosses is the one who is addicted to coffee then she needs to drink two cups of coffee everyday to make her feel normal. If she does not have coffee, she will be frustrated and will not concentrate to her works. One day when she got down from a taxi and her ankle flipped, it was immediately broken. Her doctor said that her bones were so flimsy because she drank a lot of coffee then they were easy to break whenever she stepped inappropriately.

Not only does drinking coffee consumes just caffeine, it also included sugar, milk and cream which is unhealthy. The best way to drink coffee is to drink black coffee with no addition of any seasoning and drink only when you feel tired.

References

Barclay,E. (2013, April 26). Why Caffeine In Coffee Is A Miracle Drug For The Tired. NPR Eating and Health. Retrieved May,1 2013. from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/23/178627908/why-caffeine-in-coffee-is-a-miracle-drug-for-the-tired

Kopi Luwak. (2013, April 29). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:27, May 1, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kopi_Luwak&oldid=552731955

Big deaths, Big effects

Have you ever think that what you will do, if you were under the wreckage and you cannot move?

According to "Bangladesh building collapse: Death toll passes 400" article, almost 400 bodies were found death in the wreckage of collapsed factory building and around 149 people are still missing. some of thousands protesters proposed death penalty for the building's owner.

This news reminded me to the tragedy that over a hundred of Thai people were killed by collapsed building in Nakhonratchasima province. In the quiet morning of August, 13 1993, Thailand had been shocked with a very big tragedy that the Royal Plaza hotel's building was collapsed. The result of this tragedy is that approximately 137 bodies were been found dead under the wreckage and over 300 people were injured. The owner of the hotel were found innocent and the civil engineer of this build were be in jail for 20 years whereas, the cause of this building collapse is that the building was originally designed to be a three floor building but, the owner of the hotel ordered the civil engineer to reshape it to be a six floor building without new building creating.This tragedy had a very big effects on the civil engineer laws and improved a lot of the structure safety.

I had through that if I were under the wreckage of the building and I cannot move my body in the very hard situation that the building was broken down to the ground by any thing such as bombing or airplane crashing. I prefer to die and get my rest in peace instead of getting too much painfulness from be under the pressing with very heavy things and not being able to move. because my body and mind will get too much suffering and I might not be the same as I was. In other word, I might get some disability and I might have to stay on the wheelchair among of my life, however, I now changed my minds. I would do anything that it can make me get survival because I still have a lot of thing to do before I can die.

Bangladesh is one of cheap labor cost  countries in the world. Many company want much benefit as they can earn from their business so, they took some safeties off for reducing their investment cost. I predict that Bangladesh government will create and use the stronger policies to control the building safety in the future as soon as they want to end their protest. It looks like they have to face with the big deaths before they can do it.

Reference

Bangladesh building collapse: Death toll passes 400. (2013, May 1). BBC News Asia.Retrieved May 1, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22364891

Yellow tigers and broken trust

Do you remember Tiger Woods, the golfer whose mother is Thai? And Lance Armstrong, the cyclist whose name is associated with the yellow Live Strong wrist band? These were the two disgraced former athletes who came to mind when I saw the headline "Eufemiano Fuentes: Anti-doping group to appeal against ruling".

This article explains the anger that has been expressed by Spanish and international sporting groups opposed to drug doping in sports at the decision by a Spanish judge to order the destruction of 211 bags of blood which the groups think might prove cheating by athletes in tennis, running, football and cycling, as well as in cycling, for doping athletes in which sport Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes has been found guilty by the Spanish court.

Until the scandal of his years of cheating and lying broke a year or so ago, I only ever had the vaguest idea who Lance Armstrong was and the significance of the yellow wristband that I saw people wearing now and then. When the ugly truths he had been concealing started to come out however, it was impossible not to learn a bit more - it was in the front page headlines of every newspaper I read every day for what seemed like months. The same with Tiger Woods, whom I had already heard of even before his somewhat less exciting scandal, involving only a bit, or a lot, of sex with women who were not his wife, became public knowledge. But sport doesn't really interest me - when my afternoon class yesterday (Tuesday) was looking for a neat example to explain the metaphor "game changer", which had come up in our reading, I wasn't much use. Happily, a couple of the students who are keen football fans came up with a very effective example.

I was, however, interested in a couple of issues unrelated to sport that the Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong examples brought up. First, both of these sportsmen were and had been internationally famous athletes for many years. They were admired with what seemed to me almost religious devotion by probably millions of devoted fans, and those fans made both of them multi-millionaires via tournament wins and the massively lucrative advertising deals that they struck. And all the time the wonderful image of clean living, devoted family man, honest, and socially responsible benefactor was ... a lie. This made me think how easily large numbers of people can be fooled by clever media control and a little bit of manipulation. Thankfully, there was no law against free speech on the topics of Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong, so the truth did finally come out, and they lost their respect, along with a fortune, as they deserved to lose them.

The examples of these two superstars of sport brought down to earth, from which they are both attempting to rise again, which I do sort of admire, also seem to me to relate to academic discussion: although almost everyone was wrong in their opinion and feelings towards Woods and Armstrong as decent family men, and honest citizens and all that, it was at least possible that knowledge on those two topics, Woods and Armstrong, could be had since free speech was allowed so that errors could be corrected, as they have been by the telling of truths that many perhaps did not want to hear, but which could not be silenced by oppressive censorship. This is why academics also insist on the need for free speech: where there is no free speech, knowledge is impossible. Where there is censorship, opinion is rendered worthless. And we do not want our opinions to be worthless because based on officially enforced ignorance.

Even in their downfalls, Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods can be of service.

__________

Reference

Eufemiano Fuentes: Anti-doping group to appeal against ruling. (2013, April 30). BBC Sport Cycling. Retrieved May 1, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/22359051

A Cat in a Coffee

Art is the expression of one’s imagination in any forms; for example, painting, drawing, sculpture or even on the cup of coffee.

According to Maria Godoy’s article “Masterpiece In A Mug: Japanese Latte Art Will Perk You Up”, even though there is very common in Japan to have an art on the surface of the coffee, it’s now time for a “3-D creation” (2013, ¶2) of a cat in the coffee, changing the idea of a typical cup of coffee.

I think this is new to me because I have never seen the 3-D feature in the coffee before. It’s so amazing that the latte artist can create this kind of art. Not only does he have the imagination of what he’s going to create from the form, but he also has a superb skill of controlling the toothpick and spoon that he used as the paintbrush. Because I have ever tried to create a picture in the coffee, but I get something unidentified instead.

Nevertheless, I wonder how the taste’s like. Sometimes, I find that behind the splendid look that is created and the expensive price, there is an awful taste. However, the consumer is already blind by its look and then ignores its taste. This story also reminds me of the dessert shop in Taiwan. It serves every menu with Hello Kitty’s icon; for example, a creation of kitty by green tea powder on the plate, and a kitty-shaped pudding. I firstly take a lot of pictures of my dishes and I don’t want to make them disappeared by eating them. Therefore, I dip each of them slowly and minimally as if it is my last piece. However, I actually think that the taste is so so, but I am very appreciated with the presentation of the dishes. Taking the last reason into account, for me, it worth paying for.

I am the one who love taking a sip of coffee on the lazy day to arouse me or on the non-rush day to make me relax. I didn't say that I’m a coffee addict, but a cup of coffee a day makes my terrible day away. So does my money. However, I know that the ingredients that are put in my cup of coffee are not healthy because it is enriched by milk, cream, and sugar. Therefore, I try to decrease the frequency of my consumption.

__________

Reference

GODOY, M. (2013, April 25). Masterpiece In A Mug: Japanese Latte Art Will Perk You Up. NPR Art &Design. Retrieved May 1, 2013 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/24/178841995/masterpiece-in-a-mug-japanese-latte-art-will-perk-you-up