Do you like soft drink?

Source background
According to "Soft drinks named in Liverpool tooth decay battle" (2016), Health officials in Liverpool has created a new campaign called "Is your child's sweet tooth harming their health." The campaign aims to warn people about large amount of sugar in soft drinks that can lead to tooth problems in children. As nowadays about two thousand children in the city have suffered from tooth extraction by the age of five and one of the reason is tooth decay. The campaign specifically tells amount of sugar containing in each popular or well-known soft drink such as Coca-Cola, Tropicana and Capri-sun. And it also show the maximum daily allowance of sugar for children in each age.

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My Yes/No question is:
Do you like soft drink?

My answer is:
Yes, I do. I usually drink it twice a week.

Firstly, after I read this article, I wasn't surprised much because I already knew that soft drinks contain a lot of sugar. But I prefer to drink it anyway because it makes me feel fresh. For example, when I drink Coca-cola, its fizzy and sweet taste make me feel energetic. So I usually drink it when I crave for something sweet and when I am tired. Furthermore, most of people think that sugar is harmful to our health. But, I think that sugar can give something good to our body as well. For example, taking in sugar can make people active because it will transform to energy in our body. However, too high consumption of sugar may lead to some disease such as heart disease and diabetes. So we should control and concern amount of sugar that we take in our body in our everyday life.

Moreover, I think that this campaign is a good idea to make people aware of drinks or foods that they choose to eat. It also helps people think carefully to make the right choice of food that is healthier and good for their health. I think there are many healthy choices of food in the market now. And because of innovation nowadays, you can choose to eat or drink sweet products that are not contain sugar such as Coke Zero. Therefore when you eat it, you wouldn't have to concern about how much sugar contain in that drink.

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Reference

Soft drinks named in Liverpool tooth decay battle. (2016, May 9). BBC News. Retrieved from  http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-36247176

Do you mind how much sugar you eat?

According to Soft drinks named in Liverpool tooth decay battle, in Liverpool, children drink high amount of sugar beverages such as Lucozade, Coca-Cola, Frijj chocolate milkshake, and Capri-Sun. Health center in Liverpool said that “the maximum daily allowance of sugar for children is five to seven cubes, depending upon their age.” But these beverages contain more than 8 cubes of sugar. So, children have tooth decay in alarming level, especially in city.

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My Yes/No question is:

Do you mind how much sugar you eat?

My answer is:

Yes. I pay attention not to take sugar much.

Actually, I like sweets, like chocolate and cookies. But I don’t like too sweet things such as these kinds of drinks. I feel I eat sugar directly. Actually, I can’t understand why some people love the food which contains a lot of sugar.

 Anyway, if we have a lot of sugar, we have a possibility to have serious diseases. For example, there are diabetes, heart attacks, cerebral stroke and arteriosclerosis. People say that it takes a long time to be treated completely and also it is easy to recur unless you changes eating habits. 

I don’t want have these diseases. Taking care myself is the best way to avoid them. So I want to continue to have less sugar life. 

 

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Reference

Soft drinks named in Liverpool tooth decay battle. (2016,May, 9). BBC News.Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-36247176

Do you drink alcohol?

Source background
According to "Filipino netizens react to Duterte alcohol ban proposal." (2016), on the ninth of May, people elected the 16th Philippines' president and Rodrigo Duterte has been the new president who was voted by 14,916,444 people. So, his first policies to do are imposing a liquor ban in public places and banning the sale of any alcohol from midnight to 8 am. Unfortunately, there are some people who disagree with his policies. For example, Facebook user Angelica Mercurio who compared the 16th president's actions to martial law rule said that "You want a dictator? Well, you got one now." However, other people vote him because of these policies, such as Anzel Deschanel.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you drink alcohol?

My answer is:
Yes, I do, but I'm not an addict.

When I was born until 17 years old, I wasn't interested in any alcohol because my father told me it had not been good time for you to drink this. But, I tried drinking it when I was 15 years old. At that time, I thought it was disgusting and I also much preferred milk or hot chocolate to beer and whisky.

By the way, 3 month ago, I went to a party with my pals at OliveKeeper Pub & Restaurant on Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Road. Definitely, I drank one cup of Black Label Whisky and I also talked with my buddies about anything we could remember in the past. For example, my friend Mic said to me that he had used to get 3.5 in physics when he had studied in grade 11. After he had told me about his grade, I was very surprised as he was one of four students in my classroom who attained a physics certificate when he graduated from Assumption College.

Furthermore, on 15th April, I went to a party at Wipe Out Ibiza RCA near Central Plaza Grand Rama 9 with lots of my friends. Honestly, my main purpose were drinking Blend 285 Whisky and dancing with any acts I desire. Actually, I became a little bit boozy, yet I reminded myself that I mustn't be drunk because my father told me I mustn't sleep on a footpath like dogs, this act had been very pitiful. I felt very fun that night although I had to paid approximately 1,000 baht for a ticket, foods and drinks.

I think some people disagree my act because they believe that there are many disadvantages to drink alcohol. Firstly, if you drink a lot, you will have high percentage to get many severe diseases, such as stroke, atrophy of the brain and cirrhosis. And, all of these maladies are tough to be treated. Secondly, you have to waste lots of money on something foolish. some people told me that I should save my money for your wonderful future instead of paying on whiskies.

Yeah, in the past, I had the same thought like them. Therefore, I talked to my father about alcohol and then he said that alcohol had enabled you to have a good relationship amongst mates. In Addition, it's hard for you to drink alcohol when you are an adult because you have to spend lots of time working and taking care of your family instead of traveling and going to parties with your friends.
Hence, if you don't drink it now, you may don't have enough chances to drink it.

After I had listen to my father's speech, I thought I understood what my father want me to do. How about you? In your opinion, what do you think about alcohol?            
___________

Reference

Filipino netizens react to Duterte alcohol ban proposal. (2016, May 11). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36263815

Do you think SpaceX's spaceship will be able to reach Mars in 2018?

Source background

According to SpaceX says it will fly a spacecraft to Mars as soon as 2018 (2016), this article is mainly about landing an unnamed spaceship on the Martian surface or it can be told that the SpaceX is trying to explore the Red planet to make a preparation for transferring people to Mars. The author states that this huge ambitious campaign is a collaboration of SpaceX and NASA. NASA has said that the agency provides some useful technology for the American industry without any charge but in return NASA would get reports of the Martian exploration if the campaign is perfectly completed. However, the US has spent large amount of money from decades to decades to try robotic experiments to reach the Red planet surfaces which the author said there were about 43 experiments but only 18 experiments have been successes. Also the American spacecraft industry ,SpaceX , is currently working on creating new Dragon spacecraft that would carry people in it not just cargo, which mean this new invention is going to need more sufficient engines, heavy body and developed machines. If this invention came out as a real spacecraft, it's going to be the world's most powerful rocket. Moreover, in the original article, writer said "On its website, SpaceX says that the Falcon Heavy rocket 'was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the moon or Mars.' " which shows that the industry has a serious plan on transferring people to live in the new planet before the world would have violent suffer from disasters.  However, this collaboration would take a long time to achieve their goals, they're still looking forward to the result and even more have announced that this experiment is going to be success as soon as 2018.

SpaceX landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a droneship April 8, 2016 in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. (Photo courtesy of SpaceX)

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you think SpaceX's spaceship will be able to reach Mars in 2018?

My answer is:
Yes, I think the new invention would be able to reach Mars. 

As you have seen from the summary of this article, this spacecraft is a Dragon kind which means it has more power than any other kinds of spaceship and even more the industry is working on developing this spaceship to be more sufficient and most powerful. With big help from biggest space agency as NASA, the equipment the agency has provided for this American industry is going to be useful for the new invention. If we look through the benefits which this American industry has received from NASA is much more than needed but the thing is this industry is going to need specialists and engineers to work on designing the body to be most effective when it's flying out in the space.

The reason why this rocket is going to be most powerful rocket, I think it's because the engine and the machine need to work together to be able to carry tons of people out in the space and reach the Red planet surface which means the engine right now has not yet reach the solution of carrying loads of people in the middle of the space, the rocket is going to run out of the engine before reaching Mars. However as they said that they're working on creating new Dragon spacecraft which would include contributing new sufficient engine and with the help of big agency and the support in financial sources, the industry will be able to reach their own's goals

But I'm not saying it would be able to explore Mars, I think that's going to need morethan a Dragon spacecraft. As I have learned from my courses, to explore a planet you need to set up the station in that planet first then you're going to need another kind of spaceship which is smaller and faster to fly inside the planet. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft may be able to reach Mars in 2018 but might not be back to send the report to NASA in time they have planned in case if the engine and machines are not sufficient enough or possibly might never be back to the world which resemble failed robotic experiments that NASA had attempted to try so many times over a big while.

___________

Reference

Davenport, C. (2016, April 27). SpaceX says it will fly a spacecraft to Mars as soon as 2018. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/04/27/spacex-says-it-will-fly-a-spacecraft-to-mars-as-soon-as-2018/

Are you good in pretense?

Source background

According to BBC News, “BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes andteam expelled from North Korean” (2016), the BBC team went to Pyongyang, North Korea to report about the Worker Party Congress which is first in 36 years. They are deported after reporting about aspect of life in the capital, Pyongyang. In their video report “North Korea: BBC team begins week in Pyongyang” the reporter said that more traffic on the road than his last visit 12 years ago. They were served with nice accommodation and nice view although it restricted to go out of the boundary without officer assist. In Pyongyang, there is a nice playground as it showed in the video “May day at a North Korea playground”. It was unexpected to see for the team. They were also surprised with many young people can speak English, and yet they could not answer what major they are taking in the university and this is the first time for them to meet a foreigner. The video showed the biggest children hospital in Pyongyang and give some comments as it is a nice, clean, modern and highly equipment. The children are considered as patients are healthy looking, the doctors are not real according to the comment of an important guest, a researcher. The reporter tried to approach a local people but they run away from them. And others were hardly to answer question about their opinion because they are watched. In the Kim Il Sung University, everyone have to bow in front of Kim Il Jung image before enter the building, according to “A rare look inside North Korea’s Kim Il Sung University.” They said the student can access internet with no restricted website to do research but in the video show that they even do not know how to search on the internet. The reporter said that “everything we see look like a setter.”

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My Yes/No question is:
Are you good in pretense?
My answer is:
No, I'm not.

I don't said that I've never pretended myself. I did pretend in some situations that I though I have to but honestly saying that it is really hard in pretending, better be yourself. I feel the hardship of the Korean when they have to pretend to the outsiders about the country with full of food in the store but yet high malnutrition rate, clean, modern and most equipment hospital but yet un-real doctor and patient, joyful youth in the playground and advance in education but yet can't search on internet by themselves.
Everything in North Korea which show to the world seem to be in setter. People dare not to answer the foreigner, dare not to express themselves. Everything, every action seem to be controlled and watched.
Although you are a good pretender, your face expression is the one betray you. In the video we saw that the faces of the people are very stressful, serious and careful. It seem like they know what they have to do but yet it is not real for them.
Why do they have to pretense? Why can't they speak out? Why can't they express themselves? I don't have the answer. I may know the answer but yet I need a proven answer.  

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Reference

Wingfield-Hayes, R. (2016, May 9). BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and team expelled from North Korean. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36244994

Wingfield-Hayes, R. (2016, April 30). North Korea: BBC team begins week in Pyongyang. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36176895

Wingfield-Hayes, R. (2016, May 1). May day at a North Korea playground. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36183688

Wingfield-Hayes, R. (2016, May 4). A rare look inside North Korea’s Kim Il Sung University. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36199683

Do you like yoghurt?

Source background
According to "What yoghurt tells us about the obesity fight" (2016), yoghurt can increase your immune system which is good for your bone. However, most of yoghurt is not made from natural stuff. It is made from partly substituting yohgurt and adding a combination of other ingredients such as gelatine, sugar, and flavourings which can contain almost enough sugar for a day in young child.

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My Yes/No question is:
Do you like yoghurt?

My answer is:
Yes, I do like yoghurt. I like to eat yoghurt with many kinds of food especially for cereal.

I haven't known before that yoghurt contain a lot of sugar because some yoghurt brand such as, DUTCHE write the word "0% fat free" on its package, ACTIVIA promote that its can improve digestive system.

Moreover, almost every yoghurt brand print a lot of vegetable pictures on the package, it make me perceive that yoghurt contain a lot of vegetable that is good for my health.

By the way, after read this news, I insist on eating yoghurt the same as usual because I love its flavour especially when I mix and eat it with other foods.

___________

Reference

Triggle, N. (2016, May 9). What yoghurt tells us about the obesity fight. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/health-36154736

Are dating apps good ideas?

Screen shot showing the picture
and caption that got my interest.

Source background
According to "How Robyn Exton grew popular lesbian dating app Her," Suzanne Bearne says that although the meeting app Her for lesbian and bisexual women has yet to make a profit, it has earned a good name among the growing group of women who use it for dating and networking (2016). Author Suzanne Bearne also tells us that founder Robyn Exton began it by giving out free hard alcohol to women who agreed to try it out under the original name of Datch, but that she now has more substantial investment that has allowed her to move out of her father's home to join the tech. scene in San Francisco, where Her, her app, continues to grow.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Are dating apps good ideas?

My answer is:
Yes, they seem to work for many people. 

It was the drug picture of tequila shots with bright green lemon, and the caption under it, that caught my eye as I was looking for a useful BBC News story to blog with my morning coffee. Of all the versions of alcohol popularly used by addicts and non-addicts, tequila has always seemed to me one of the worst, but I remember from my own days in the heady gay liberation scene of Sydney in the 1970s and 80s that tequila and other hard forms of alcohol were popular with the lesbians. Then again, alcohol and other drugs were also popular with the men and most people having an active social live at the time.

When I clicked on the story, and saw that it was in the Business section, which I don't normally look at, I almost passed, but it did meet my prime criterion: the author's name was there, and I needed an author's name to strike-through. The name of the dating app also caused a couple of jerks as I read the article, even for the second and third times. It's hard to read, "Her was born from Ms Exton's frustration," and not think there was a weird grammar mistake. It is, however, a cool name for the app, and after my third reading in preparation to write my Source Background section above, the automatic proofreading warnings were at least more quickly squashed.

The story I really wanted to respond to was about the criminalizing by Chinese authorities of the erotic eating of bananas, but that one doesn't have an author name, hence the quick browsing and choice of the story about Exton's app for women who like women. On the whole, I'm happy found it: the memories it brought back of how ugly the common social consensus abut gay sex was only a few short decades ago, and the awareness of how quickly Western society has progressed morally in just a few decades was a cheerful start to the day.

I much prefer coffee to tequila to start my day. But now my coffee is finished and I haven't done my daily quota of commenting and replying! And I haven't said much to support my answer to the Yes/No question I asked, but there is the comments section.

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Reference

Bearne, S. (2016, May 9). How Robyn Exton grew popular lesbian dating app Her. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36202226

Should the health system label medical error as a cause of death in health report?

Source backgroun

According to “Medicalerror is third biggest cause of death in the US, experts say” (2016), the journalist reported that 250,000 deaths every-year in the United Stated were caused by medical error. Although in the US has no coding system for this cause but two researchers Makary, M and Daniel, M at Johns Hopkins University’s school of medicine had analyzed data from studies since 1999 onward and find out that 9.5% of death cases related to medical error. The medical error is at the third ranging on the cause of death after heart disease and cancer, and it is far away from the cause next to is respiratory disease which cause 147,101 deaths in 2015. However, medical error is not label as a death cause in the US and in 117 countries according to the World Health Organisation. The researcher recommended that should label the medical error cause of death in the health report system to improve the death cases by this cause.    

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:

Should the health system label medical error as a cause of death in health report?

My answer is:
No, it should not. 

Cure is not only a task, a responsibility of a doctor but it is also the will. No doctor wants to see their patients die. And if the patient dies, I am sure that the doctors do feel sad although they already do their best to help and it really effects their emotion. The label of medical error death case will be a condemnation letter to the doctor. It will be very much effect to them in two aspects with themselves and patient relative.

For the doctor, they will condemn themselves as a murderer if the report records the death cause although they try to cure the patient. It may lead to the psychological effect. They may too careful in making decision to cure the patient which may lead to late in giving treatment, or even dare not to take responsibility to the case.

For the patient’s relative, they will easily to accept the death cause by diseases than by man. They may get angry with the doctor and may harm them.

There are many ways to improve the medical error aside from label in health report system. Firstly, the doctors have so much experience through the cases. Secondly, encouraging doctors write their experience to share with their collages. Thirdly, conferences on this issue can help the doctors have more information and learn from other.           

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Reference

Holpuch, A. (2016, May 3). Medical error is third biggest cause of death in the US,

expert say. The gruardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/03/cause-of-death-united-states-medical-error

Is driverless good?

Source background
According to "Google and Fiat Chrysler announce driverless cars deal" (2016), Fiat Chrysler has announced a deal with Google to double the size of the tech giant's fleet of self-driving cars. Google tries to increase the number of road testing and believes the driverless car could be ready on sale in 2020. Their engineers thought that self-driving car will make our road safer. Moreover, both Google and Fiat will be free to work with others companies to develop driverless technolgy.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:, 
Is a driverless car good?

My answer is:
No, it isn't.

Firstly, I think this idea is good for human daily life because they can do many activities while sitting in their own car which go to the office but nowadays, we prefer to travel without traffic jam. For me, this idea will provide the number of cars on the road because one who cannot drive can has own car and drive anywhere. However, it maybe useful if you must have driving license even though you have a driverless car.

___________

Reference

Google and Fiat Chrysler announce driverless cars deal. (2016, May 3) BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36199738

Will Mr. Trump win the election?

Source background
In US election: What will Clinton v Trump look like? (2016), Anthony Zurcher stated that Mr. Trump has won the votes in Indiana state and now he's planing for the Republican to work on more for convention and the autumn general election campaign. Which might sound strange that Mrs. Clinton has lost the votes in Indiana state but the fact is that she just need to work a little bit more to win the votes all around. So the Democrat can win in this election. Can't deny that Mr. Trump is a rich man but he's not a giver. Amassing that kind of bankroll requires a well-developed network of donors - something that Mr Trump just doesn't have at this point. Add in Mr Trump's currently record-setting unfavorable ratings with Hispanic and female voters, and that electoral tilt looks like a brick wall. States like Florida will be incredibly challenging. Nevada, Colorado and Virginia are all swing states that will be tough to put in play. Mr Trump may have the ability to reach Americans not normally inclined to vote Republican - blue-collar workers and the economically distressed. The question is whether those gains will make up for losses within the Republican ranks and what could be massive turnout from elsewhere in the Democratic Party. The Clinton campaign has already begun hammering Mr Trump on his sometimes impetuous personality, late-night tweets and all. They'll try to paint him as a dangerously erratic occupant of the Oval Office.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Will Mr. Trump win the election?

My answer is:
No, I don't think so.

I'm not going to choose side or which team I'm in. But from the report, it is shown that the result in counting in Indiana state Mr. Trump may had won there but for most parts of the state Democrat is still on top of lists. Also in so many campaign, Mrs. Clinton has already started it while Republican is still planing on to do some of them. "Throughout this campaign, Donald Trump has demonstrated that he's too divisive and lacks the temperament to lead our nation and the free world," Clinton campaign aide John Podesta said in a statement on Tuesday night. "With so much at stake, Donald Trump is simply too big of a risk." Facing off against Mr Trump is going to take a nimble, creative campaign and candidate. That hasn't always been a strength for the instinctively controlled and cautious Mrs Clinton. Also there are some requirements for being a president which one of them is the president need to be a giver, Mr. Trump is a wealthy man but he's not so wealthy as to self-fund the near billion-dollar enterprise that a modern presidential campaign has become. That's something Donald trump doesn't have.


___________

Reference

Zurcher, A. (21\016, May 4). US election: What will Clinton v Trump look like? BBC news. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36200002 

Will robots replace humans?

Source background

In “Tomorrow's Buildings: Construction industry goes robotic” (2016), Jane Wakefield reported that the conservative building methods are going to be replaced by hi-tech technology, such as drones, robotic bulldozers and 3D printers. One of Japanese construction machinery company Komatsu has used drones from Skycatch as a visual system for automated bulldozers. The bulldozers receive the 3D models of building from the drones in order to plot the route automatically. Christian Sanz, Skycatch's chief executive said that “The more visible data that you have on a site, the more you'll see machines and robots moving things around rather than humans."

______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Will robots replace humans?

My answer is:
No, they won't.

I think that the robots are suitable for some type of works that can be harmful to human life or beyond human capability such as searching the bomb, exploring the space, medical operating and working in construction site. In the manufacturing process, many big companies also modify the production line by replacing the labors with automatic robots so that to increase the productivity and reduce labor cost.

However, to replace the humans with the robots is impossible. Even though scientists try to invent the AI or artificial intelligent to mimic the human brain, the result still be unsatisfied. Two months ago, Microsoft deleted their new AI after it was released, because it learned dark side of human and turned to be rude AI in a day.


One of the robot rule written by Isaac Asimov stated that robots must not harm humans, but there is nothing to ensure that this thing couldn’t happen in the future if the robot can think.  Like the I-Robot movie, when the robot army tried to kill the humans.  Thus, it is acceptable to use the robots under human control. But to use the robots with full AI, it is the issue that we need to think about whether we really need it or not?

___________

Reference

Wakefield, J. (2016, May 4). Tomorrow's Buildings: Construction industry goes robotic. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35746648

Do you trust the food which exposed to susceptible contamination?

Source background

Do the delicatessen on the bar in a supermarket always indulge your apetite? According to “Michigan Man Sprayed Poison On Open Food At Grocery Stores, FBI Says” from The Huffington Post, Hart tell us about Bessemer, a man who charged of poisoning the food on the food bar from the Michigan grocery stores by spraying a mixture of mice poison. The mixer should not cause a severe health effect; however, the health officers suggest to avoid the suspected food.

_______________________________________

My Yes/No question is:

Do you trust the food which exposed to susceptible contamination like street food or self-service in a supermarket?

My answer is:

No, but up to the food serving like chill or not reheated.

I’m the one who likely to get diarrhea if the food is not clean enough. At the same time, I also love spicy food and street food, so I need to use a lot of decision to buy some dishes on the footpath or not. Mostly I win the game and survive but sometimes I also lose and need to heal myself from diarrhea. There a lot of food to explore everywhere all over Bangkok but you need to know your limit how far you can go for both the dish and place you decide to eat.

The dish you have is the most important factor for me. It’s good if it’s a hot serving dish like the noodle and even better it is freshly prepared. Furthermore, make sure that it’s not too spicy. I mean not only the amount of chilli but also the sour taste of acidity of the dish too. Another factor is place where you buy it from. You should keep in mind that the hawker cannot carry or find the water to wash all of their utensils neatly. Anyway, This does not mean a famous food store or a restaurant in the hotel will clean them neatly. The labour is the main cost of the food price, though.

As a matter of fact, some tourist prefer the taste of the street food even they do know about the lack of hygiene. The balance between the taste and hygiene is the first priority for the people who stay in Bangkok need to know. It’s your choice! Wish you luck for the next delicious meal!

___________

Reference

Hart, PA. (2016, May 5). Michigan man sprayed poison on open food at grocery stores, FBI says. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michigan-poison-food_us_572bf011e4b0bc9cb0464c17

Do you use powder product in your daily life?

Source background
According to "Johnson & Johnson hit with $55m damages in talc cancer case" (2016), company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has been judged to pay more than 55$ in compensation for customer who says she used its talc-based powder product daily for decades and the product caused her ovarian cancer. Even though J&J faces about 1,200 similar cases, the company insists that its products are safe. However, using talcum powder, particularly on the genital has been concerned that it may increase the risk of ovarian cancer. But this issue is still unproven.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you use power product in your daily life?

My answer is:
Yes, I do.

Normally, I use power product every day after I take a bath. I have been using baby powder since I was a child. I think it is like a habit that I have to use it in my everyday life. And I also love using powder because it makes me feel fresh and clean when I use it. It smells very good and it makes my body has fragrant scent. However, after I read this article, I start concerning about using this kind of products as it may be harmful to my health. Even though the article said it is unproven that using talcum powder may increase the risk of ovarian cancer, but I think the number of one thousand and two hundred claims that the company J&J faces is high enough to make people aware of using these products.

Moreover, I think most of Thai people are familiar with using power products especially cooling powder as you know that weather in Thailand is very hot. Many Thai people use it to make them more comfortable and feel cooler in the hot weather. Therefore, companies producing this kind of products should explain and speak out about their ingredients in order to make sure that their products are safe and not harmful to human’s health.


As I read this article, I also wonder that what will be happen if this case happens in Thailand. I think the customer may not get fair compensation because protection law in Thailand does not support customer's rights sufficiently. And it’s different from other countries that seriously concern about rights of customer such as America. For example, in this article, an American customer can claim for their rights when the customer is affected from using Johnson&Johnson’s powder product and she get fair and reasonable compensation from the company.

___________

Reference

Johnson & Johnson hit with $55m damages in talc cancer case. (2016, May 3). BCC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36191495

Will people remember this campaign in the future?

Source background
In the BBC News article "Chicken fingers: trying out the KFC nail polish" (2016), KFC used its motto "finger lickin' good" to create a literal campaign by launching edible nail polishes in Hong Kong. Products contained in half-ounce square bottles which are separated into "Hot & Spicy" and "Original Recipe" Product itself are made of edible ingredients which users can use only one time.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Will people remember this campaign in the future?

My answer is:
No, it won't. In my perception nail polishes which normally contain a lot of chemicals and food product are very different. In theory, it hard to change people's perception that nail polishes can't eat to eat it. Moreover, the core product of KFC is chicken. Chicken is used in almost every menu of KFC. It may be strange and miss selling point for KFC to cut any kind of chicken out of this campaign.

Someone may think that this campaign is interested. This is true. However, it will be hard for them to remember that this campaign is produced by KFC because it lacks the KFC's unique point for people to remember.
___________

Reference

Chicken fingers: trying out the KFC nail polish. (2016, May 6). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-36220142

Do the Japanese run the best meetings?

Source background
According to, "Do the Japanese run the best meetings?" (2016), Alina Dizik reports some business across culture meeting and what do the the long silences, idle chitchat and serious faces really mean in context in. Dizik tells us that, unlike others, Japanese are more likely to create a detailed agenda and pass out supporting documents several days prior to a meeting than meeting goers in any other countries. It’s expected that you’ll understand the written materials ahead of the meeting.  

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My Yes/No question is:
Do the Japanese run the best meetings?

My answer is:
No, I don't think so. 

If someone say "Japanese", people might probably think about their honesty, punctuality, discipline and affection. So do I.

From Dizik's report, the Japanese "are cognizant of how much time remains and don’t go over" and the more extra time meeting ,the more gathering might be considered as unproductive. At the end, the participants may be seen as inefficient. That's sound very practical for me. It's really efficacious that everybody have the important detailed agenda, as well as read the all necessary documents,a several days before the meeting start ,because we can discuss all the points without wasting time explain things from the beginning.The Japanese's punctual meeting style also shows the respect to others; their time is too valuable to wait for us being late claiming about how sucks the traffic is. With these strengths, the Japanese seem to create the perfect meetings.

But, after those above, why don't I just say "Yes" to the answer? Here are my reasons.

Although the Japanese's meeting style is great, it's not good enough to be the "best". There's the strong weakness which can unconcernedly ruin the meetings. Apart from the punctuality, the Japanese also well-known for their circuitous. A friend of mine, has a Japan boss, once told me that it's really challenging working with the Japanese because they normally don't express their inside feelings or emotions. When her boss say something is good, it may not good for real or when the boss say it's bad ,it may also means not that bad. To know the truths, she has to observe them from her boss's visages, gestures or tone of voices.

It might be fine if that meeting's point is too create some project plans or make an announcement. However, if that meeting purpose is to discuss about the quality of the work or find out the better solution for a problem, it is not gonna work if you don't say what the problem is, what do others need for better work or even what exactly do you want it to happen. Shouldn't you make it simple and straightforward? How can you expect others to know what do you really think and feel? Hence, though I do admire most of the Japanese's working style, I can't agree that they run the best meeting.

Don't get me wrong!(especially for Nori) I certainly like the Japan for many reasons, one of them are the people.          

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Reference

Dizik, A (2016, May 3). Do the Japanese run the best meetings? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20160502-do-the-japanese-run-the-best-meetings

Are we supposed to rely on the very traditional education (no technology-based system)?

Source background
In “Computers 'do not improve' pupil results” (2015), Sean Coughlan says that Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports the surprising results from the global study of the effect of school computers and classroom technology on students’ performance. OECD finds that the more often pupils use computers, tablets and internet in schools, the more likely they get worse learning outcomes which are based on international tests for the student assessment. Nonetheless, Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s education director, remarks that we ought not to make up an excuse by using this study to disregard technology, but to urge to find other better methods instead.

 

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Are we supposed to rely on the very traditional education (no technology-based system)?

My answer is:
No. We should use the integrated method of traditional and technology-based system.

Using computer and classroom technology moderately as a supporting tool and approach will help enhance and substantially contribute to a wide variety of advantages to learning in schools and universities. Both students and teachers can save their time and money to have a class in distant places, particularly for different countries, independently. As well as being helpful for distant learning, it can reduce the production of textbooks and some related materials. Meanwhile, instructors along with learners do not have to carry lots of heavy books or waste their effort to find, borrow and return (some) books to a library because we have online libraries and database.

What’s more, technology-based learning help people learn and teach more easily through video learning, online lessons and assignment, info-graphics, presentations, and the like. Some supporting tools make class much more interesting and encouraging via simulation and visualization techniques which are apparently comprehensible. In terms of assessment, students can get feedback and statistically examine their progress and other related records about the classroom, whilst teachers are more convenient to record and evaluate their students’ performance effectively.

Yet, if we depend on such technology considerably or all time, it might not be helpful as presented in the article. This is because we are having too much information to be easily distracted and misuse it. To demonstrate, students may encounter with a lot of interference during the use of computer, for instance, games, social media, movie and stuff like that. Along the same line, they share their answers of homework and probably come across it online solutions, thereby maybe ignoring to practice by themselves. Another main problem of using them frequently is that students and teachers may possibly suffer from many sorts of health problem like office syndrome or vision problems.

Back-to-basics or conventional education is still good and widespread, but modern education based on technology is beneficial in several aspects as well if applied properly.

Please do not unplug them!!!

___________

Reference

Coughlan, S. (2015, September 15). Computers 'do not improve' pupil results, says OECD. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34174796

Do you read news on your smartphone?

Source background
In "Surprise! People will actually read long news stories on their smartphones" (2016), Hayley Tsukayama tells us that regarding a new survey from the Pew Research Center, it shows, somewhat surprisingly, that people reading on mobile devices actually spend more time with longer articles (stories longer than 1,000 words) on their phones than they do with shorter ones.

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My Yes/No question is:
Do you read news on your smartphone?

My answer is:
Yes, I do. 

I usually read news via smartphone once a day in the morning. After I wake up and have breakfast, I will stay in my living room and read news or new information via my smartphone. Firstly, I always read sport news, especially soccer because I love to play soccer and watch soccer matches with my younger brother on weekends.

In terms of soccer news, I really like to read it and I choose websites depending on what I want to know. For example, when I want to check scores in real time, I will check them on www.livescore.com.  Additionally, I'm a fan of Manchester United FC. Thus, I always peruse its news, such as exchanging players between teams in the same league or previewing matches by coaches, players or its fan club via www.manutd.com.  

Furthermore, after I read sport news, I will read others I'm interest. For instance, last two months, I read the scientific news about how to treat your pimples on your face. it shows that you should drink three cups of water after waking up as drinking water can release lots of waste in your body. In other words, an urinary bladder is able to contain urine at maximum 500 ml. Therefore, if you drink three cups of water (approximately 600-750 ml), your excretory system will release a lot of waste in your body. Consequently, I pursue this act to cure many pimples on my face and chin.

I believe that reading news helps me to get new experience to adapt in my life. For example, I am able to do good scores in social studies because in this subject, teachers usually ask questions about recently news. In addition, I can learn successful people's thoughts, like why Mark Zuckerberg think Facebook is wanted by many people in the world or how The Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) manage its employees and systems effectively.  

Presently, I suggest my younger brother to peruse news via his smartphone although he don't like to read news.
___________

Reference

Tsukayama, H. (2016, May 5). Surprise! people will actually read long news stories on their smartphones. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/05/05/surprise-people-will-actually-read-long-news-stories-on-their-smartphones/

Must the law allow women an abortion on request?

Source background
In "Why are Northern Ireland's abortion laws different to the rest of the UK?" (2016), Jon Kelly reports on the history and current situation of abortion in the United Kingdom country of Northern Ireland. Kelly tells us that unlike the rest of the UK, abortion remains largely illegal in Northern Ireland, whose women must therefore travel to England or elsewhere if they want a safe abortion to end a pregnancy. According to current Northern Ireland law, not even "fatal foetal abnormalities, rape [or] incest" are reasons for a legal abortion, which Day says is likely a result of the still strong, although decreasing, belief in the Christian religion in Northern Ireland.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Must the law allow women an abortion on request?

My answer is:
Yes, with almost no limitations. 

Abortion is a very controversial issue in most countries, with some people strongly favouring it and others equally strongly opposing it. One of these groups must be wrong. Both think they have strong reasons, but one group's reasons are not as strong as they think them. The groups that argue for legal abortion are right. But those in favour of abortion must show why the opposing side is wrong.

First, the main reason in favour of abortion is that human beings have a right to make basic decisions about their own lives, so women who are pregnant, for any reason, have the right to decide not to give birth but to abort the foetus for any reason. Some of these reasons might be awful. For example, a woman might say that she was too lazy to insist that the man responsible use a condom to prevent pregnancy, so she is using abortion to correct a birth control failure by herself and her partner. This does not seem to me a very good reason, but it is not bad enough to deny the woman concerned the right not to have an abortion. It would be morally wrong for the state to force her to have an unwanted baby because she and her male friend had been irresponsible and lazy. Indeed, since much of our personality and behaviour are determined by genes, that the parents are irresponsible, lazy and generally foolish is a reason in favour of abortion.

The usual opposing argument to abortion is, as Kelly says, based on religion. it is that a living thing is sacred and may not be killed. This is a bad argument for several reasons. First, as stated it means that all killing of all things is wrong: cats and carrots are living things, so it would be wrong to kill cats and carrots. This sounds silly, so the argument is usually refined a bit: it's wrong to kill living human beings.

But this is also problematic. There is an issue as to what a human being is. Until late in pregnancy, the embryo and foetus are not obviously human beings. For the first few weeks, it's a blob of cells with human DNA. If human being is defined as "living cells with human DNA," then every time you have a shower, you are committing murder as you wash away and destroy living human cells with DNA. This sounds silly: taking a daily shower does not make us serial mass murderers. I think the definition problem, although challenging for those opposed to abortion, can be answered. But there is a far more serious problem that cannot be answered: not all human beings are persons. And it is being a person that is the morally relevant criteria.

In the movie I, Robot starring Will Smith, Sonny the robot is a person, so it would be wrong to kill him or treat him as a mere object. The cells that will, if not aborted, go on to become a human person are not yet a person. As soon as we say that they will become a person, we admit that they are not now a person, and it is persons, not human beings, that have human rights or the rights of persons generally. Carrots have no rights and may be killed for food or other reasons with few worries. Cats are not persons, but like other animals they can feel, which puts limits on how they may justly be treated. Human beings such as ourselves are fully persons: we are aware of ourselves as individuals, we make plans and have desires, and we can make decisions about our lives. These are defining characteristics of persons, and an unborn foetus does not possess these characteristics of a person, so even if the unborn child is a human being, it is not a person and cannot have any right that would be stronger than the rights of the pregnant woman, who must therefore have a right to a safe, legal abortion. Law that denies this is immoral.

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Reference

Kelly, J. (2016, April 8). Why are Northern Ireland's abortion laws different to the rest of the UK? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35980195

Do you believe in anti-aging supplements?

Source background
Reported by James Gallagher, "'Secret' of youthful looks in ginger gene" (2016) states that the gene linked to "perceived age",the MC1R gene, has been found. Many variants of the MC1R gene cause ginger hair, so the MC1R gene gets its nickname, the ginger gene. The study organised by the Erasmus University Medical Centre said that some variants of the gene made the "perceived age" of their owner 2 years less than other variants. Still, it needs more research to find the "fountain of youth" and ways to reduce the "perceived age."

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you believe in anti-aging supplements?

My answer is:
No, I don't and never will I. 

I think anti-aging supplements are nothing but exaggerated product claims. The company added so many ingredients thought to be useful and advertise them. However, I don't think human's body has an ability to absorb that many nutrients. In my opinion, naturally, we eat fruits and vegetables and the nutrients are absorbed little by little. Thus, it's better for us to eat fruits and vegetables regularly than to eat any supplements on Earth.

The two things I believe to make someone age more slowly are healthy diets and exercises. Though I do not exercise very often, I have some attempts to do so. I have to admit that I'm not a sporty girl, and I'm not keen on playing sports. The only sport I'm good at is swimming. I used to swim every week when I was in secondary school. However, when I was in high school, I didn't have much time, so I usually skipped my swimming schedule. As I have more time, I'm trying to swim more regularly these days. I do eat healthy diets. I believe that you are what you eat. I'm also trying to refrain from eating junks and sweets, but my attempt often fails when my friends invite me to join them..

If the researchers succeed in finding the "fountain of youth," I won't have to do such boring things as eating healthy food or doing exercise. Now that they haven't succeeded yet, I still have to. What about you? Do you believe in those anti-aging supplements (that let you age more slowly without having to exercise or eat any healthy diets)?

___________

Reference

Gallagher, J. (2016, April 29). 'Secret' of youthful looks in ginger gene. BBC News. Retrieved         from http://www.bbc.com/news/health-36133475

Do you like chocolate?

Source background
According to "Your choice of chocolate and contraceptive affect your gut bugs" (2016),  Jessica Hamzelou thinks that there are many factors -for example, chocolate, medication and a person’s bowel movements- linked to gut bacteria; however, genetics might have the most affect on the types of bacteria in a person’s gut

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Do you like chocolate?

My answer is:
Yes, I really love dark chocolate. 

I am a chocolate lover and I want to be healthy, so I pick this passage to read to expand my knowledge about what choice of chocolate I should choose. However, after I read this, I feel very disappointed. It does not tell me which one is better.

I have loved eating chocolate since I was young. It is delicious and it makes everything more tasty. When I was a kid, I hated drinking milk because it smelled bad. So, my dad bought me chocolate milk and it became the only milk I could drink. I cannot imagine life without chocolate. Nowadays, if I am stressed, I will have some dark chocolate. It make me feel better and it is not too sweet.

If I have plenty of time, I like to bake brownie or chocolate fudge cake. It is very easy and tastes good, even though it makes me fat. I try to adapt the recipes and use more organic ingredients, but it reduce the deliciousness of the bakery. So, I decide to follow the original recipes and decrease the amount that I consume.

 I still wonder if dark chocolate is the best sweet for being healthy?

___________

Reference

Hamzelou, J. (2016, April 28) Your choice of chocolate and contraceptive affect your gut bugs. New Scientist. Retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/article/2086320-your-choice-of-chocolate-and-contraceptive-affect-your-gut-bugs/

Should everybody vote?

Source background
In "Should Everybody Vote?" Gary Gutting (2016) looks at some reasons against the common presumption that democratic principles require that everybody vote, at least in the US system. First, he presents some old arguments which suggest that voting is a waste of time, showing them to flawed arguments. Gutting next presents some new arguments why there might be better alternatives than modern voting to the usual way of a people asserting its democratic right to determine the form of their government and who governs them. He argues in favour of a system which is similar to the random selection of juries in criminal law cases in the US.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Should everybody vote?

My answer is:
No, but everybody should be able to vote, although I'm reviewing my ideas on this. 

I think this is the first time an article I've chosen to respond to in a blog post that has also given me the perfect Yes/No question to ask, but this was a bonus. What I really like about Gutting's essay, inspired by the upcoming US election in which many eligible voters dislike all the likely candidates for US president is that it presents some healthy critical review of democracy. Whilst flawed, Hillary is at least not the joke that is the apparently very popular Donald Trump. Unfortunately, democratic process does not guarantee that the outcome will be wonderful or the best. That's not what makes democracy morally superior to every alternative.

It is, however, the sort of worry that prompts people like Gutting and the other philosophers and academics he cites to search for ways to make democracy work better, including the voting process. Actually, what prompted me to respond to Gutting's article, which is a bit longer and more academic in style than the BBC News, was a superficial similarity between the excellent random representative group that Gutting describes and the morally rotten suggestion by Thailand's ruling group that only representatives of select groups be allowed to form the senate. The first could be not only democratic, but a much better way to assess the informed will of a people; the second contradicts basic democratic principle.

Gutting doesn't directly address it, but his ideas also show two reasons why a healthy society must strongly protect free speech: first, it is necessary for informed opinion of worth on a topic; when ideas some don't like cannot be stated, misunderstandings cannot be corrected, meaning that all such untested beliefs, however popular, are also uninformed, largely worthless and not knowledge; second, free speech is necessary to ensure that all members of a society have a say in what that society looks like, not only it's government and laws, but also its attitudes, customs and values.

Gutting gave me much to think about with my morning coffee a couple of days ago.

___________

Reference

Gutting, G. (2016, April 25). Should everybody vote? The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/opinion/should-everybody-vote.html