Physics VS Psychics

Physics, a general analysis of nature, is conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves. Skeptics try to make assumptions and do the experiments to disclose the secret of nature. Some are successful while some are still struggle until the last breath in their lifetime. Without our ancestors's great discoveries, we may not thrive or even survive as highly developed creatures on the earth as we are today. Hence, we should always bear in mind the merits of our generous and hard working forefathers.

According to the article "Top five physics discoveries chosen by magazine", there are five discoveries that are quite outstanding since they seem to transform our understanding of the world. They are in chronological order as follows:

        Quantum teleportation (1992)
        The creation of the first Bose-Einstein        
        condensate(1995)
        The accelerating expansion of the universe (1997)
        Experimental proof that neutrinos have mass (1998)
        The sighting of the Higgs boson at Cern (2012)

In my view, physics is quite a difficult subject. I hate to only remember physics' formulas and substitute their values without comprehensive understading of why and how does each variable come from. With repetitive reading and practicing, finally I am amazed with how powerful this discipline is. It can unlock any mysteries about our earth or even the universe. I enthusiastially watch how innovative technologies are implemented based on the researches in physics to improve our qualities of lives.

However, one day after I had a chance to read a book written by  Dr. Art-Ong Jumsai Na Ayudhya, I change my mind about the value I give to physics. Dr. Art-Ong illustrates the most advance discovery regarding traveling in physics that is to travel with the speed of light. By the way, this speed is not enough to bring humans to reach some galaxies that are far away from us within our lifetimes. Additionally, Dr. Art-Ong points out a better way of communication, the way that we can get in touch with lives in the other galaxies that is to use "telepathy". Telepathy is the fastest way that our messages can travel, however; only well practiced minds will be able to master this competency.

I myself also hope to possess this ability. I would like to know whether there is the other forms of lives outside the earth or not. What do they think about our planet earth ? Have you guys believe in psychics ?
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Reference

Morgan, J. (2013, October 3).  'Top five physics discoveries' chosen by magazine. BBC News Science & Environment. Retrieved October 4 from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24282059.

Teacher is revered?

Should teachers retain elevated status? If you are Thai, your answers must be “Yes”. But, there are many people in other countries might say “No”. Why? What is wrong with those who believe so? Or What is wrong with Thai culture?

 The consequences of two researches have a coincidence in which teachers in China are considered, by attitudes to professional status, trust, pay and desirability of teacher, the highest respectable person from the public comparing in 21 countries.  In “Teachers in China given highest level of public respect” also significantly states that UK, although it is in a lower range than China, display positive views toward teachers that they should be supported better salaries and had more respect by students.

In Thai culture, it seems common to pay respect to any teacher, even though he or she doesn't teach us in a class room. We have been taught that teachers are our second parents who both enlighten and take care of us. Similarly, as the article say, Chinese teachers are compared with doctors. That is to say, China is likely to have a cultural emphasis on the important of teachers as Thailand.

 On the other hand, some countries, such as US. and Japan, have different views. The first country compares teachers with librarians. The second one compares with government officials. Do they suggest that they have different sets of value?  Frankly, I’m not sure that I know well about those cultures, but I do think it might be concerning seniority, especially in western culture where people believe in equality. Teacher might be considered as adults who love teaching people as a career. Anyway, this supposition is probably not compatible with Japanese culture in which respectability is found in any level of society. But as a Japanese manga lover – a fan of comics created in Japan -  I know, form many comics that I have ever read, Japanese respect every elders. Then, in my opinion, the low level of public respect must relate to teachers’ salaries, which is one of studied factors.

However, teachers play an important role in education in every county. No matter how much they receive admiration, as long as people do think teachers educate their children, they must provides teachers something which can encourage them in doing their jobs well.
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Reference

Sean Coughlan. "Teachers in China given highest level of public respect" .(2013, October 4) BBC New Education and Family. Retrieved October 4, 2013 From http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24381946

When sci fi movies meet real world

Have you seen sci-fi movies and thought some technologies in the movies are so spectacle? Many of them came to real life or at least it close to happen.

According to "'Terminator' self-assembling cube robots revealed by MIT," scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in California demonstrate their M-Blocks robots, which can flip, jump and assemble themselves into different shapes, project researching in their Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The researhers believe if they continue developing this project, they can use a large number of M-Blocks robots to
adapt to whatever task or shape that they want and they can apply this kind of robot to construct self repairing buildings.
Click to see Video

At fist time i see the title of that article,I am excited and feel that it is so interesting. The World is going to have more wonderful innovations inspired by sci-fi movies. I think of many movies that have the same kind of idea that robot can re-assemble themselves. Robots in the movie "Transformers." They are so intelligent that they can transform their shape and appearance as they wants.

In "The Matrix Revolutions" (2003) ,each machines, enemies of human-beings, can also assemble or group together to be new shape or to form strategic attack. Scene of battle for Zion is so spetacle espicially when watch in theather.

"Star wars," film series, is one of my favorite movies. When i was young, Jedi's light saber is so cool. I saw some light saber toys from Japan cost estimated ten thousand Yen but in that time i can't afford that.

Another smart divice that i can remember is Jedi breathing device. After searching for more information, I found "Jedi breathing device
Wesa Goin' Underwater, Okiday?." The writer says that this small mounthpiece supply oxygen to help Jedi go underwater for two hours. I pridict that If this devices come to reality, people will totally forget the heavy weight oxygen tank.

Anyway, we can see many fictional piece of technoly that exist in real life. These technogy can change the way people act in various situation. GPS navigation technology is one of the best example. I rarely use map book after i knew Google map. Smart phone and touch screen technology are also change people habit and lifestyle.

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References

"'Terminator' self-assembling cube robots revealed by MIT", BBC News Technology, Retrieved October 4, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24397880

"Jedi breathing device"  Retrieved October 4, 2013 from http://starwars.com/explore/encyclopedia/technology/jedibreathingdevice/

Time to save our oceans

What is the first thing that come to your head when you hear the word global warming? Many people might think of its causes or effects on people and animals or what we can do to solve this problem but some might realize its impact on oceans, which is the biggest part of this world. However, there are many things that cause bad effects to oceans, not only global warming.

How can we increase the quality of life in oceans?

According to "Health of oceans 'declining fast'", Harrabin says that oceans is getting worse faster than it was because of many factors, such as climate change, fishing, and pollution. In addition, this problems will lead to the extinction of many sensitive species living in oceans like coral reef.

When I read this article, I think of one big problem in Thailand which is the leakage of crude oil pipeline what cause a lot of damage to the gulf of Thailand and surrounded islands. I think this event should not happen. The company which is the owner of that pipeline should be careful on their equipment and process because crude oil is toxic and it can cause very bad effects not only on people but also on environment. Crude oil which float over the sea can kill many animals and when it comes up to the island, it stick on rocks and sand. It is very difficult to clean all of crude oil from very tiny things.

The problems about poor quality of oceans might sound to be the duty of the government in that area but I do not think so. I think this is our problems because all oceans and seas are linked; we cannot separate them. Therefore, this is our duty to protect our environment which have a huge impact on our lives.

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Reference

Harrabin, R. (October 3, 2013). Health of oceans 'declining fast'. BBC News Science & Environment Retrieved October 3, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24369244

The place for elder people

Problem about Elder people happens in many countries in the word. Older peoples have to has more careful about their health and the environment around them than younger people. By this cause, many counties make a good supporting and helping to elder people in many ways, but which country is the best place for elder people living?

According to "Sweden ranked first for treatment of elderly in UN report" in the BBC World(2013), The Global AgeWatch Index says that Sweden is the best place for elder people to live and Afghanistan is the worst. They use 13 difference indicators such as, employment, health,and education to indicate ranking.

Elder people problem is a big problem in the world. As days go by, older people is more increasing and Many government try to solve the problem but seldom country can fix it because fixing this problem, they have to use a lot of budget and a very good plan to make a great system supporting older people. In Thailand, government also can not solve this problem. For long time, Thai people does not think about this problem too much because Thai economic system is capitalism which everyone want to gain only profit and does not care about social welfare. People who does not have enough potential become unemployed and some lineage does not take care of their parent or ancestor when their parent has lose their capability and have no work. In addition, Thai environment is not good to support and help elder people, health, mental health, comfort.The government just pay 600 baht per mount to older people and it is not enough for living. Consequently, Thai government have to solve and reduce the problem as fast as they can, because elder people problem is going to be a serious problem in the future.

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Reference
Sweden ranked first for treatment of elderly in UN report.(2013, October 1). BBC World. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24346962

Next step to beat the cancer

For the last decade, the cancer is the significant cause of death around the world; moreover, the rate of survival is too low, and many people can survive less than a year since they have found it; as a consequence, many scientists attempt to search for the treatments which can effectively cure the patients or extend their life expectancy. Fortunately, the efficient approaches are discovered in every moment, and the following paragraph is interesting example of discovery.

According to “Blood pressure drug 'fights cancer'” in the BBC News Health(2013), the researchers used Losartan which is a blood pressure drug to make the blood vessels work more effectively to convey blood; as a consequence, the chemotherapy drugs easily deliver to the target. This test was accomplished in mice, but they plan to run this approach with the patients who are suffering from an inoperable pancreatic cancer.

Since the medical science has rapidly improved, many treatments are launched for the patients who have to face with the terrible diseases such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. These treatments are so effective and there are fewer side effects. I’ve read the interesting article about a new cancer drug in Time. The author says that the researchers have found the new substance that can use instead of chemotherapy drug. The patients just take 2-3 pills a day to cure themselves from the cancer and side effects are fewer than using chemotherapy drugs. I think it’s a very good news for the patients who suffer from not only the symptoms of disease but also the side effects of the drug; however, this approach is ready for some kind of cancer.

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Reference

Michelle Roberts.(2013,October 1). Blood pressure drug 'fights cancer'. BBC News  Health. Retrieved October 1,2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24346541

Officially Addicted to Failure

It was once widely believed that the ground up horn of the rhinoceros made ageing men once again virile and able to satisfy their typically much younger sex partners. These traditional beliefs have been disastrous for the rhinos, who grow the horns that are highly valuable ingredients in traditional medicines to boost the libido. With the solid evidence long available, what should we think of the sanity and the morality of those old men who continue to pay a fortune for these worthless "medicines" that are so harmful to endangered animal species?

The news story "End war on drugs, says Durham police chief Mike Barton" (2013) reports that, although strongly agreeing that all addictions are harmful to addicts, British police constable Mike Barton has proposed legalizing even the strongest and most addictive drugs since the policy of making their sale and use illegal has been a failure ever since it began decades ago. Barton argues that current law harms society and drug using citizens whilst enriching criminal gangs, and that making drugs such as heroin and cocaine legal would be more beneficial for society and citizens. 

I have long thought exactly what Police Constable Barton has now very clearly and strongly said. The evidence we see in the newspapers daily shows that current drug policy is a total failure. Illegal drugs are being seized by police, but they keep coming. The drug laws are not reducing the amount of drugs in society, and I don't think there is any good evidence that the current drugs laws of Thailand, for example, are reducing the number of people who use drugs such as heroin, yaa baa, marijuana and so on. 

These strong anti-drug laws are certainly popular, however. I remember when Thaksin Shinawatr launched his campaigns to end illegal drug use in Thailand, resulting in over 2,000 deaths of Thai citizens, that it was very popular, and I suspect that many ordinary Thai people do still approve of such actions by the police and other government officials. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. Strong anti-drug laws do seem to me very popular in Thailand and many other countries, although this might be starting to change in my own country, in the US and, as shown by Police Officer Barton, in the UK. And this is a good thing. 

If we look at the evidence, I don't think it has ever supported current drug laws. Since the drug supply and number of drug users, addicts and non-addicts, has not been reduced by making any drug illegal, these laws are a failure. And Barton gives more positive reasons against such drug laws, arguing persuasively that they actually cause very real harm to both society and to citizens by, for example, allowing criminal mafia gangs to make fortunes, which they can then use to corrupt police, courts and politics, and by making it more difficult to help citizens who need it. In fact, I think the harm to society and to decent citizens is much greater than the article reports Barton saying, but it is encouraging to hear a voice of reason, honesty and sanity when almost all police, other officials and politicians continue to support doing exactly the same thing that is a proven failure. Do they expect their expensive failure to suddenly become a success? That is insanity. 

Barton is right: it's time to end the insane addiction to failure that characterizes most countries' response to recreational drug use by informed and decent adult citizens.

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Reference

End war on drugs, says Durham police chief Mike Barton. (2013, September 28). BBC News UK. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24320717

Getting a tattoo?

If you notice people around you, you will easily find the one who have a tattoo. Interestingly, the last long art on skin seems to be more popular in today’s world. I always wonder why people decide to get tattoo and it make me more curious why they return to do it again and again.

According to “Why do people go back for more and more tattoos?” in BBC News Magazine, it points out that the one in five of American adults have tattoos and the proportion dramatic increase. Although, there are no concrete facts of this behavior, some researchers suggest that it happens because of the aesthetic desire and the satisfaction of controllable painfulness during the process.

When I was young, I had a negative perception with the one who have a tattoo. They seemed to be gangsters or aggressive rockers because of the influential believing from elder. They always teach me that it is an impolite manner. However, when I grow up, my perception changes. I think the tattoo people are cool and fearless. They have freedom to do what they want and they have no need to cover it; moreover, they are stronger to show the world what they think. I also think that the main reason why new generation accepts of having tattoos is the well known celebrities have the beautiful tattoos and they always show it to public eyes, such as David Beckham, Angelina Jolie, Amy Winehouse, Johnny Depp, Lady Gaga and so on.

The process of getting tattoos is also interested issue. Why people are willing to be pained? Stuart Ross, a psychology lecturer at Newman University, says that "even while it's painful, it's always controllable. That's why I think you see a lot of athletes with big tattoos - it's a kind of a rite of passage, like running a marathon." From the Ross’ view, I infer that the ability to overcome painful and fear is the pride of tattoo people. They believe that if they pain more, they will gain more. Moreover, it seems to be another way of practicing themselves to be the better one.

By the way, I have no reasons to have my own tattoos. I fear of painfulness and I really like my original skin.

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Reference

Jon Kelly. (2013, October 1). ‘Why do people go back for more and more tattoos?’. BBC News Magazine. Retrieved October 1, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24296713

Birth of Youtube Music Awards

Since when we have start remember a thing, we start to compete and want to be just only the number one. Moreover, Everyone want to be a winner in the way that they are fighting. Luckily, There are a lot of awards in these planet even in the same kind of award. For example, music award, there are massive number of music awards like MTV music award, American Music Awards or world music awards. And now is the turn of Youtube music awards with its first time to give prizes to singers and composers.

Artists that are going to perform in YMW 2013 at NYC.

In YouTube announces music awards show, the article states that it is the first time of the youtube that give prizes to nominees, who have contributed their singles to people around the world. Same like others, Audiences can online vote their favorite tracks, artists and so on on in social media, and these shows are going to take place around the world with difference artists at each place like Lady Gaga and Eminem are going to perform at NYC.

Youtube is one of my favorite website to enjoy with when I have a free time. I like that youtube can count the number of viewers, who watch those plenty video, not only various kind of musics and entertainments educations are also in this website. People can search for almost of things they want, and easyly download to apply that video to make other aims. For example I searched for "Wristler's Mother" to do my presentation and they shown me a lot of searching results, so it is a very convenience, and make life easier.

In my opinion, Youtube is the one website that we can trust in an award judgement, because it provides a lot musics and audiences around the world are committees, Obviously, I'm the one, who will vote for Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry as well. and who is your favorite artist?, don't forget to support them on youtube.

Reference
YouTube announces music awards show. (1 October 2013). BBC Radio. Retrieved October 1, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/24345058

Formed the island by earthquake

I have never heard that the island can be formed by earthquake before I saw this article " Pakistan quake island off Gwadar 'emits flammable gas' " that makes me curious to know how it can be.

On 24 September 2013, After a major earthquake around 7.8-magnitude in Pakistan, the new island has appeared near the offshore and then lots of people gathered to watch it as if they have never seen before. There were some dead fish on the surface and hissing sound of the escaping gas, they put a match to the fissures where the gas, methane, was oozing and set it on fire.

The island that was formed by earthquake in this time is the fourth in this region, it will be shortly subside in a few months because of the pressure that propelled the sea floor to the surface is slow down or starting to erode due to sea action

By a volcano, erupting magma from under the sea, is another way that can form an island. However, not only natural can do, the human also form the islands as well. For example, The Palm Islands, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are constructed from sand by the Belgian company and the Dutch company. They started working in 2002 and had finished by the end of 2006. 

Someday, If the island appeared at your backyard, who should own this one ?

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Reference

Ilyas Khan. Pakistan quake island off Gwadar 'emits flammable gas'. (27 September 2013). BBC News Asia. Retrieved September 30, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24272552

Palm Islands. (23 September 2013). Wikipedia. Retrieved September 30, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Islands

Attack on Giant Duck

Interestingly, the biggest news in Taiwan now is not economic problems, political issues and government announcements. However, it's about a "giant rubber duck" in the harbor in Kaohsiung city in southern Taiwan.

Last weekend, most of my friends took picture with a giant yellow duck and posted on Facebook and I was interested in it too. According to "Giant Duck conquers Taiwan", there was an 18 meter-tall duck created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman in Kaohsiung and 500,000 people showed up and saw the duck within five days; on the other hand, the local government in Kaohsiung estimated that the duck would draw 3,000,000 participants and generate business worth tens of millions of dollars in it.

Have you saw the Japanese comic, called Attack on Titan, and the Titan is giant humanoid creatures which are 5 to 60 meter-tall. The humanity builds three walls to protect themselves for one hundred years, but a sudden attack by a gigantic sixty-meter tall Titan, the wall is destroyed and the war is stared. I never image the thing that is attacked by giant creatures because humanity is always in the top of food chain, and try to hunt and kill all the other animals, sometimes, it's just for fun. However, what do you think about it if you were a prey, can you escape from the giant creatures whatever it's a Titan or "giant yellow duck".

Yesterday, my wife told me that she wanted to see the giant rubber duck. But it is in Taiwan now and I'm not interested in "seeing" it; however, I'm interested in why the duck draw so many people in the world. In my opinion it's only a "big yellow duck" and made of rubber.

Reference

Hiufu, W. (2013, September 25). 'Giant Duck conquers Taiwan'. CNN News Retrieved September 30, 2013 from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/24/travel/rubber-duck-taiwan/index.html

Attack on Titan, (2013, September 30). Wikipedia. Retrieved September 30, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Titan

Cyber War

Cyber war, I think it is not far from us anymore, because there are many cyber-attacks to people or governments and it is rising in every year. Anonymous groups are group of activists that aim to fight against governments via cyber space; in other words, they often attack government’s web sites for stealing confidential data or taking web sites down. These lead governments to prepare themselves for the cyber defence and counter back.

According to “UK to create new cyber defence force” The UK defence secretary announces that The UK creates a new unit to help defend national cyber securities as cyber defence force. The ministry of Defence states that the recruitment will allow it to qualify on individual talent, skills and expertise gained from their civilian experience to meet cyber-attack.

When I read this article it makes me think of Thai government, I am not sure about its cyber space policy that cyber defence force should be under ministry of defense or ministry of information and communication of technology - ICT. Thai government has many problems about cyber security; for example, Web site of ministry of ICT took down by unknown hacker. Web site of office of prime minister was hacked and modified data. I imagined that when hacker got into weapon launching system and launched it. I think Thai government should invest more in cyber security because from the article that I have read the cyber is the fifth domain of five defence domain (land, sea, air and space).

I think this is time to think about cyber security because cyber technology is involving our daily life and we cannot refuse it.  The basic of personal security is the password; you must keep your password secretly and must not write out. Every time when you use public’s computer do not forget to log out and clear browser data, you should to avoid to use public’s computer or network to access your internet banking because we never know there is a malicious program on the computer or the network, that waiting for capture your password.

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Reference

UK to create new cyber defence force (2013, September 29). BBC NEWS UK. Retrieved September 30 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24321717

Education Campaigns as Solutions: Put them to Sleep

People and governments seem to love education campaigns to solve social and personal problems. Cigarettes are killing people: we need to educate them about the dangers. There are too many car accidents: run a campaign to educate people to drive better. Obesity is a growing health and social problem: people need to be educated about the healthy eating. But can you think of a single such campaign where educating people about risks and safe practice has actually solved a problem?

In " 'Sleep - Key to Tackling Obesity'," Neil Stanley argues that since the various government education campaigns to persuade UK citizens to change their eating habits have failed, a different type of solution is needed (2013). Unlike education, which Stanley thinks unlikely to be successful, he presents evidence of a strong correlation between getting less sleep and weight gain, a result supported by fMRI studies of the brain, which together lead him to argue that more sleep is likely to prove a more effective way to control obesity.

First, I like the straight forward way that Stanley uses the evidence to counter what I think is the common idea that more or better education can solve such problems. That idea, however attractive and easy, just seems wrong to me. If it were true, all social and other problems could easily be solved. They have not been. The safe-driving campaigns before every Songkran do not reduce traffic deaths and accidents. The constant anti-drug education campaigns are not reducing drug use in Thai society. The warnings to educate about unhealthy dietary habits are not reducing people's waistlines or heart disease. All such campaigns seem to me a repeated story of failure after failure after failure. I wonder why the same faith in education campaigns is so religiously repeated without any evidence of success? Is it just because its an easy solution for officials and parents too lazy to think critically, or do they have some worse motivation?

Moving on, even better is how Stanley backs up the surprising claim that more sleep is what we need. This certainly surprised me. In fact, I thought exactly the opposite, that more sleep would mean less energy use, and therefore greater weight gain from unused calories. But just because I think something is reasonable doesn't make it true, and it looks like I was wrong again. The only way to find out how the world actually works, whether the planets above us or the complexities of human behaviour, is to actually look at the world, get facts, and then try to explain the results.

Finally, eating and sleeping are two things I enjoy, but it seems there is some conflict here: if I sleep more, I might be inclined to eat less, or at least less of the unhealthy food. But perhaps there is no conflict: why eat sickly muck when you can enjoy more yummy oysters and blue cheese? I guess now I need to put the theory to the test and start sleeping more.

Tonight? Or tomorrow? I like putting things off until tomorrow. Maybe I need a government sponsored education campaign to persuade me sleep more?

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Reference

Stanley, N. (2013, September 27). 'Sleep - key to tackling obesity'. BBC News Health. Retrieved September 28, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24162508

Working at home works if...

Telecommuting (working from home) sounds a good idea to balance between career and personal life since we can establish our own schedule that when we prefer to work and when we need to stop to spend time with our families. In contrast, there is a study finding that telework can worsen feeling of exhaustion among employees.

Regarding “Why working from home could be bad for you health”, teleworkers may struggle to separate workspaces and personal responsibilities because They have to get the jobs done on time while personal times are needed. Nevertheless, some companies choose trainings for both managers and employees in an attempt to help workers prepare for new independence and ensure employers good productivites. 

As my father runs his own company, he spends a lot of times at home to work and handle his employees. He seems happy and not exhausted at all. It is probably due to being a boss and scheduling work time by his demand. However, I believe that there must be some other factors which help him equalize between work time and family time. He doesn’t set up his formal workspace in home because everyone knows what to do while he is working. For that example, self-discipline seems to be the first thing that a person who work at home must have, whereas giving space is a thing in which other family members are supposed to do. Besides, for someone who is employee, making agreements must be done before start working independently. Companies should provide you enough flexible work time but still frame your work appropriately. Meanwhile, you should manage your time and keep being productive. However, there is no a definite answer for everyone that which one is good. It depends on what type you are, what kind of work you do and how company treats you. Sometimes we should try both of them in order to realize by ourselves.


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Reference
Ronald Alsop, "Why working from home could be bad for your health", (2013, September 26). BBC News Capital, Retrieve September 27, 2013 from http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20130925-the-stress-of-working-from-home

The World Is Not Enough

World population is increased tremendously every year and making humans harder and harder to thrive or even survive. A lot of researches and innovations are made to improve our quality of lives. China is also one big country that play an important role in the world development. Besides launching a space station for significant experiments that might not be able to do on earth, have you guys ever thought about bigger goal like preparing the habitats for the next generation when “The World Is Not Enough” ?

Although it is just 10 years after China, a dark horse in outer space exploration, has firstly sent their astronaut to outer space, this powerful country currently established a mega project to launch a space station to low-earth orbit by 2023. With two laboratories as core modules attached to three capsules and a cargo vessel to transport supplies, this high technology space station will be able to accommodate six astronauts for short-term missions and the other three for long-term missions.

This BBC article reminds me of my high school years when I was very crazy of astronomy. I joined my school astronomy club for three years and was also appointed as the vice president of the club. In my perspective, the universe is so wonderful. It arouses my desire to explore deeper and deeper to find out how was our universe originated, what is the mechanism underlying its complex structure that is like miracle, and what will happen to this magical system in the future. Like many kids, I was attracted by the beauty of stars shining brightly at nights. I even made my own telescopes from plastic tubes and cheap lens that an ordinary high school student could afford. By the way, it is still not good enough to give a clear picture of the moon. However, I was very proud of this invention that I made it by myself.

As time passed by, a lot of experiences changed me from a very logical person to the one that strongly believes in astrology. I have believed that our lives are 100% under our control. If we behave well, we will get good things in return. On the other hand, it we behave badly, we have to compensate our lives for these awful actions. My logical belief is shaken when a monk has predicted my life 2 years in advance and it turned out to be absolutely true. Actually, I have a splendid student’s life from my primary school to my university. My road seems to be sprinkled with rose petals. However, my life was destined to struggle for a couple years after I have graduated. One of the most deeply affected events occurred when I worked in an organization under the supervision of the government. That event still imprints in my mind. I think I may not be able to forget it for the rest of my life. I had to run out of the meeting room and went downstairs on foot via fire escape from the 5^th floor to the ground floor in order not to let anyone see tears pouring from my eyes incessantly. As a consequence, I decided to deactivate my Facebook account and also changed my mobile phone number in order to escape from this nightmare. This event taught me a lot of thing both scientifically and astrologically. Our lives partially depend on the destiny, a result from our actions that may be performed before our current lives’ time.

Nowadays our earth seems to be no longer able to tolerate the cruelty of humans. We exploit too much natural resource to serve our greediness without suitably replenish them. As a result, our earth may soon turn into a dessert with no life on. If this is the destiny of our planet, the Earth, we may need to find alternative places to live like Mars. Mars has quite similar geographical properties as the earth and it might not be too difficult for our current experts to turn Mars into lively planet again. Perhaps “The World Is not Enough”.

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Reference

Simpson, C. (2013, September 26). China to launch space station by 2023. BBC News Science & Environment. Retrieved September 27 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24282060

PUT IT DOWN. NOW!

 

 Please see original source of picture

As everyone know, our cost to live is go higher every years. Nowadays, thinking about personal financial management is important for every single person. One technique of money management is controling your expense.

According to "Should I buy it?" Many people feel regret an impulse buy, which means buying without planing to do so in advance or buying without thinking of it carefully. So, the writer wants to help us in deciding whether to buy a things.

Actually, i laugh at it at the fist time i see it because of word using in that diagram. For example, If readers want to buy an expensive one but they can not afford it, the writer ask "THEN WHY ARE YOU ASKING." That question make me laugh because i do agree with the writer.

The next one is "OH BOY..." The writer use is decision box to say that readers is seem to make ridiculous dicision like situation that readers going to spend money in order to find love.

Another point is that one box have a question "ARE YOU A LEMMING?" Actually i do not know what does that sentence means. So, I find the meaning of that sentence by searching on internet and the answer make me laugh again. If readers want to buy a things and they can afford it but they just buy it because everyone else has one, the writer will judge such readers can not thinking for themself. So, please put it down. Now!

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Reference

Julio Rivera(2013,Sep 16) "Should I buy it?" BBC News Capital Retrieved September 26, 2013 from http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20130913-should-i-buy-it

Finding some meal?

The high competitive lifestyle lead a hectic life for many people in which cause them to forget about their health. Although, fast food has have an important role for many people, but there are also the health-conscious groups all over the world whose refuse to consume fast food.

According to "Burger King launches lower-fat chips called Satisfries", one of the most popular fast food restaurant in the US, called Burger King, launches the french fries that contains 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories than those sold by McDonalds to appeal health-conscious consumers. Another reason is from the US society that encouraging their population to eat more healthy food to help reduce the number of obesity.

Nowadays, some group of people are concentrate about their health. Not only they just want to keep their weight down, but also maintain their healthy. However, not everyone can do that. More than one third of Americans suffer from the obese. As you can see in America, most people tend to buying the ready meal instead of cook some fresh meal. Some of them always buying a processing food such as canned food or frozen food. Those are the main causes of obese. On the other hand, if they are spend a bit of time buying fresh products and cooking for their meal, the number of over weight people will largely decrease. For me, I appreciated that Burger King think of something a little healthier than before. Because today, the greasy fast food restuarant can easily found all over the world, not just in the US. If I can choose, I prefer to cook my own meal instead of buying fast food for cheaper and healthier. But if I have no choice, I do prefer to eat the lower-fat chips rather than the greasy one.

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Reference

Burger King launches lower-fat chips called Satisfries.(2013,September 24).BBC News Business Retrieved September 26,2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24225739

Mozart effect

The song of Mozart is very famous in the world. Most of people believes that if they open Mozart's song to their children, the children will be more intelligent but are you sure, is it true?

According to "Does listening to Mozart really boost your brainpower?", regarding the Mozart effect, a lot of people believe that Mozart's song can help them be more intelligent, many people want to prove this effect. Finally, they can prove that this effect is not true, because there is no evidence to show that people will get more intelligent.

I have heard about the benefit of listening Mozart' song for a long time. Even if the article of BBC News show that Mozart's song does not help your brain be more intelligent, I still think that Mozart's song have many benefit for peoples. Actually, it is not only Mozart's song but also other music in the word. There are a lot of benefit of music and melodies. First, music help peoples feel more relaxant. Second, music fulfill peoples life. Sometime, music represent feeling of human and when peoples listen to the music, it is like the music answer that what they are. Third, music help peoples have more concentration. In this case, especially, playing the music, because when peoples learn to play a music instrument, they have to concentrate in their song too much and if they lose their conscious, the song might be stop. Fourth, music reduce Sadness. Many people listen to the music when they sad. The melody and lyrics can help their feel better.

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Reference
Does listening to Mozart really boost your brainpower?(2013, January 8).BBC News Future. Retrieved September 25,2013 from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130107-can-mozart-boost-brainpower.

Diplomatic animal

Pandas can easily attract people around the world by their cuteness; as a consequence, for the last few decades Chinese government uses them to signify their diplomacy and pandas can smoothly strengthen the relation between China and other countries.

According to “China's new phase of panda diplomacy” in the BBC News science & environment (2013), in the first phase of diplomatic pandas, they were used to encourage and strengthen relationships with other counties, and then the issue was changed when China desired to recover the relationships with others so pandas were a part of China’s open-door policy. At present, the new stage of diplomatic panda has launched and there is an interesting hidden agenda in this stage since panda loans coincided with the enormous trade deal between Chinese government and others.

I think using pandas for make and strengthen relationships is very sharp idea because Chinese receives the benefit both direct and indirect ways. They can directly receive knowledge and research of pandas from other countries that is very useful for the panda conservation. Apart from receiving the knowledge and research, they smoothly get the trade agreements which bring a lot of natural resources to the country.

Thailand has also received the pandas from China. When I glance on this situation, I think that China gave us their treasure because they just want to strengthen our relation. However, when I’ve profound considered I think there is some hidden agenda in this deal. Thailand is located in the middle of South East Asia which should be the important region in the future because there are a lot of resources in this region. We have played in important role in this region for long time that why Chinese government should strengthen the relation with us.           

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Reference

Melissa Hogenboom.(2013,September 24).China's new phase of panda diplomacy.BBC New science & environment.Retrieved September 24,2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24161385

Why do people buy diamonds?

Diamond is one thing people wear to show how wealthy they are because it is the most expensive gem on earth. But can you imagine how much dose  it cost for the most valuable diamond?

According to "Diamond to be sold by Sotheby's at record price of $60m", the "Pink Star", which is a flawless 59.6-carat oval-cut pink diamond and is one of the earth's greatest natural treasures, is going to be auction in Geneva at a record of asking price of $60.

When I read this article, I think of the movie "Titanic" which the main actress wear a beautiful blue diamond (I think it's name is heart of the ocean). This diamond is very expensive because it is very rare. However, it make me afraid of crime. If someone keep this kind of thing in their house, the thieves will try to come into the house and steal it. Or if someone wears it in public and thieves see her, I think they might kill her in order to take her diamond. Why do people want to take that risk? Being rich is not that easy because many people when the get rich they try to show how wealthy they are and this will make many poorer people to be thieves because they just want to be as rich as other. This might be one reason why poor people commit the crime.

I think rich people might want to buy the "Pink Star" but why don't they spend their money to help others who really want their helps instead of buying a stone which they can use only to hang around their neck.

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Reference

Diamond to be sold by Sotheby's at record price of $60m.(2013, September 25). BBC News Europe.
Retrieved September 25, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24239268

Thinking Ahead: Eating Meat

I've already posted a reply to a comment that Yui posted at "Stirring the Pot" (Sujichantararat, 2013); however, since it is such a useful introductory exercise for a class reading we will start today, I'm republishing it here for you to comment on.

1. Should Buddhists normally be vegetarian, choosing not to eat meat?
   Since buying meat in a supermarket or ordering it at a restaurant does cause new animals to be killed, it seems to me that the First Precept of Buddhism does mean that Buddhists today, although perhaps less so in the past, should not normally eat meat and thereby cause the killing of animals. 
2. Irrespective of any religious teaching, should we all be vegetarian on either moral or health grounds? Why or why not? 

What are your views on these questions, which I suspect are relevant to most, if not all, of our daily lives?

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Reference

Sujichantararat, S. (2013, September 24, 8:45 PM). Re: Stirring up the pot [Web log comment]. Retrieved from Class Blog - AEP at AUA: http://peteraep.blogspot.com/2013/09/stirring-up-pot.html