Correct? Is it even English?

What I found in the news

A British trading post was
established in 1819

In "The Language the Government Tried to Suppress," James Harbeck reports on the failure of the Singaporean government's efforts from 1999 "to eradicate Singlish," the distinctively Singaporean version of English that has over a century of evolution brought together elements of the native English, Chinese and Malay languages that spoken by Singaporeans (2016). Harbeck explains that although there is considerable disagreement even among its users whether Singlish is actually English or not, or whether it is "good" English, it certainly "has its own coherent, systematic grammar," however different that might be from the officially preferred standard version of English. Harbeck also notes that Singlish plays an important role in the cultural life of Singapore, even among some who worry about its effects on the English spoken by themselves and their fellow citizens.

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My response
After the discussion in class this morning exploring what makes grammar or a word use correct, seeing this in the BBC News was too perfect not to respond to.  Harbeck's article not only addresses concerns about correctness and what makes language use good or not, but it also reminded me of other things.

As I am sure you already know, there is not one standard version of English, but several. The two big ones are the British version and the American version, and the differences persist in the academic versions of these languages. The most obvious difference in spelling. My habit, for example, is to spell the word centre as c-e-n-t-r-e, which conflicts with AUA's preferred American spelling, c-e-n-t-e-r. One detail Harbeck tells us is that the spelling of Singlish has not been standardised, but then, neither had the spelling of any standard version of English until relatively recently. Shakespeare often spells exactly the same word differently in the same piece of work! And a glance at a typical entry in the massive and massively scholarly Oxford English Dictionary (OED) shows that before around 1800, English was very flexible about spelling. For example, have a look at the variety of spellings in the Forms section for the English word academic in the OED entry.

Since the OED requires a subscription to access, I've copied this entry into the MS Word document that you can view. With more than 600,000 entries, the OED is a great dictionary, but this example also shows you why I do not recommend it to students. The much smaller Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary or the free Oxford Dictionaries online that we have already used are much more useful dictionaries for most purposes. But the OED is fun, and I thought you might like to see a typical entry.

Moving on from spelling, a small detail that sometimes annoys me is the way my students use commas and full stops with "quotation marks." But this is probably also in part a result of the conflicting American and British standards of English. I also get annoyed when I see academic work that starts sentences with the word so, although using but or and to do the same no longer annoys in most cases, and I even do it myself sometimes. Oxford Dictionaries online also has a very useful grammar section, for example their notes on the use of "quotation marks."

All of these variations in language use might have reasons for against their use, but as your discussion clarified so well this morning, those reasons depend on the context and the purposes of the language users: one version is no more correct than any other, nor is one version more good than another. But of course, language use is still incorrect if it does not follow the rules used, usually unconsciously, by its native speakers. If tried to speak Singlish, I would fail. In fact, I can't even manage the version of informal language that my young nieces and nephews use: I don't know some of the vocabulary, so would use it incorrectly, and some of their grammar structures really do seem wrong to me, even though I know that they are perfectly correct for that group of native speakers.

And when I just checked, I saw that bogan has now made it into Oxford Dictionaries online - but if it appears in your academic writing this term, I will likely mark it in green.

_______________________________________ 

Reference

Harbeck, J. (2016, September 19). The language the government tried to suppress. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160919-the-language-the-government-tried-to-suppress

Pressure - Skillful Reading & Writing, p57

Image copied from Digibook

Source background
On page 57 of our text, Rogers and Wilkin introduce the topic of pressure, which is also the title of Unit 6. They open with a large photograph and some discussion points. We will do that discussion here on our class blog. Clicking the image on the right will show it full size. It's a copy I made from the Digibook version of Skillful Reading & Writing 2. It is almost identical to page 57 in the print version, the single difference being ...

_______________________________________ 

Discuss these questions in a comment below.
There are also some useful language suggestions included in the image. You might like to use some of those expressions in your comments.

1. Look at the picture. Why do you think the man looks stressed? 
2. What other things make people stressed? Why? 
3. What makes you stressed? Think about the words in the box. 

You are not writing an essay here, so although you should write your ideas down in sentences, don't spend ten minutes worrying about the whether your language is correct: just write! You have a total of six minutes. I would suggest spending about 1, 2 and 3 minutes respectively on each of Rogers and Wilkin's questions. 

___________

Reference

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

Den's academic interests not studied at university

Although I studied economics and law in the university, I have interests in learning new languages. I think it is a challenging idea to explore my talent in this field. There are many reasons why I am interested in learning new languages especially the language that my peers think that it is difficult. First, I am a mathematics prodigy, dubbed by myself. There is a saying in Thailand that it is impossible you can be good at both mathematics and languages; therefore, I want to make the impossible possible. You may say that I am a risk taker, but that is who I am. That was also the reason I chose to study in an international program in my first bachelor degree because it sounds challenging. Second, as I grown up, I found out that new language gives me advantages over the others. You can get to know many people that you would never have a chance, if you do not know the language. By learning a language, it will also be easier to learn another language on and on and get to know more and more different culture.

Topp's academic interests not studied

In our modern world, many people are interested in the stock markets because they think investment in stock market could make them rich. However, many folks don't realize that they don't have enough experience and knowledge before jumping into the market. that cause them lose all their money. Some of university friends put their money in the market without knowledge, so some of them have been successful, but most of them haven't. Therefore you should be aware of failure and be continue collect knowledge much as much possible.

Tissara's academic interests not studied

My major now in university is Buddhist Studies,There are many things about Buddhism that i didn't learn yet.For example,the history of India Buddhism,For me, this part is very important and useful,i can make more research through learning it,to know more about original Buddhism.On the other hand,i also interested in Pali canon of Buddhism,it was said that Pali language is the teaching language of Buddha,so learning Pali canon is real necessary for me to research Buddhism.

Phu's Academic Interest Not Studied At University

Mathematics is always surprise me with theorm and logic. Last we, I had a change to talk about abstract algrebra with my dad's friend. At first, I studied group with is the fundamental object in this field of mathematics. Group theory has many applications although I had to learn many lammas and definition in order to use it. One of the most important things to study in group is four axioms of group : Associativity, Inverse element, Identity element, Closure. Group theory at the start may me quite boring because of Lemmas and defintions. Not only group theory that I interest but also linear algrebra. I use this a lot through out a year from forward-propagation in feed-forward neural network to eigenvalue that describes spins in Quantum mechanics. I am still learning both abstaract and linear algrebra today.

People may thinks that abstract algrebra is "abstract " ,however, I found out that it has many applications in real world for example the proof that the game "Puzzle-15" cannot be reverse the element number (1-15 can't be arrage to be 15-1). Also, Euler's theorem that is very useful in public key cryptography called RSA encryption can be proven using Group theory.

Anya's academic interests not studied

I have studied in Accounting at high school but what I am interesting to study in University is Film studies. I found myself love watching movies, dramas and theater shows a lot then I decided that I should go for a film studies courses at University. Besides, I'm quite enjoy writing a diary or a story so I guess I might take a minor for a script writing. In addition, there are also an acting classes that I want to take because if I want to write for people who are actors I might need some skills for acting as well.

Aon's academic interests not studied

I have studied about Nutrition, but I always interest in Marketing. Maeket is a very interesting area , everything in life can link to marketing. And I hope to adapt marketing with Nutrition area. Because in a future, I have a plan to build my own bussiness.
 

Ae's academic interests not studied

Although I'm studying in marketing, I really interested in classical music. The reason why I interested in music because I have been teaching piano music for kids for five years. The more I teach, the more I want to learn more about music. Moreover, the more I learn about music, the more I love it.

I always dream to have my own business. This reason make me to study in marketing. That's why I expect that I'll have a business related to music such as music school in the future.  

Rati's academic interests not studied

I'm interested in Travelling around the world. For me my life is journey. When i studied in university I had my part time jobs for saving money to go to travel. I have been  around 16 countries and I always have plans to go to new destinations. I studied on the weekend and got guide certificate. I feel alive when I travels not only other countries but also in my country as well. I really love to know and learn new cultures and cuisine food, if isn't too weird. 

I love all about music not only listen but also sing and play it. I can play 2 Thai instruments when i was young. If I had more time,I would have learn to play more instrument as many as I could.And for singing I plans to learn more about it next month not for benefits but because I'm happy when I do it.

Peter's academic interests not studied at university

How people make the decisions they do about where they live, what they do, what jobs they do, what they buy and so on interests me, so I read a lot of behavioural economics. Actually, it was only after I'd read a bit on this that I learned that behavioural economics is an area of academic work, a subset of economics.

In some places, parents turning up late to collect the children after school is a problem for the schools.

If you punish parents with a small fine for turning up late to pick up their kids after school, will that solve the problem? No. In fact, it makes it worse. And it's hard to get back to the pre-fine situation. This surprised me, but it's just one example of something I've learned from the researchers working in behavioural economics. What was really interesting was the subsequent explanation for what was going on in this and similar cases, which has wider implications for society and social policy. Another example: almost everyone is dishonest - and the dishonesty and stealing of people cheating on taxes, insurance claims, pirated software and so on is vastly greater then the dishonesty and theft from robberies of homes and bank holdups. The things that send people to prison for years cause much less cost to society than the white collar crimes that tend not to be prosecuted at all.

Welcome to AEP Reading and Writing 2, term 6, 2016

Welcome to our Reading and Writing level 2 (CD) class for the term.

Our textbook for this class

Over the next six weeks, we will be working through a few units in Skillful Reading & Writing 2, which involve reading and writing several different kinds of texts (2013). We will also add some extra reading and writing to keep things interesting every day; we will, for example, be regularly writing on this class blog and reading a text from outside of Skillful Reading & Writing.

I hope you find the class useful and also enjoyable.

And since we are using Skillful Reading & Writing for the first time this term, it will be new and challenging for me, too. For a start, it offers some online options that look promising. We'll see how they go.

In the meantime, you might like to have a look at the some of the posts on this blog by my students in previous classes.

Peter.

___________

Reference

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

Is Stephen Law right that it's morally wrong to eat meat?

Source background
As we see in the introduction to Law's "Carving the Roast Beast" (2003, p. 1, lines 1 - 14 in our ed.), Stephen Law's thesis, stated by Gemma, who presents his argument in the Wilson family dialogue, is that eating meat is morally wrong. We also see in the introduction that the rest of the Wilson family strongly disagree with this thesis, which Law must support in the body of his essay.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Is Stephen Law right that it's morally wrong to eat meat?

My answer is:
No. Law is wrong. But we need a strong reason to support a contrary opinion. 

Like the Wilson family, the initial reaction of our class was strong disagreement, so Law must do some serious persuading in the body of his essay if he is to change our minds and bring us to agree that it is morally wrong to eat meat.

You already know that I don't agree with Law. I did not choose this reading for us because I think you should stop eating meat, and I'm not about to give up steak, prawns, bacon or fish myself. I chose Law's essay because it's a very well organized set of strong supporting ideas. It is a strong piece of writing, even if I don't agree with it. Although Law is not writing for an academic audience, he still thinks and organizes his ideas like an academic. We just happen to think he's wrong. But when we disagree with a fellow academic, we are expected to give strong reasons to support our claim that the other person is wrong. It's quite OK, and common in academic work, for people to disagree, but if you say that Stephen Law is wrong, you do have to have a good reason for saying that; the fact that your teacher thinks Law is wrong is not a strong reason for you to think that Law is wrong: it might be your teacher who is wrong.

In your average Aussie supermarket

So, if you are one of the majority who currently think that Stephen Law is wrong about eating meat, why do you think that? In a comment, tell us your reason for thinking that Law is wrong. As we read on, we can then see whether Law addresses our opposing arguments or not. (I don't want to unduly influence the discussion, so I'm not saying yet why I disagree with Law.) Of course, if you are persuaded that Law is right and that morally good people do not enjoy hamburgers, kangaroo steak, lamb shank, steamed fish or dog soup, you can add a comment to present your reasons for that belief.

___________

Reference

Law, S. (2003). Carving the roast beast. In The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas [Kindle Edition] (pp. 124 - 140). Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/
The handout edition I prepared for us to use is at https://1drv.ms/w/s!AvLRvG3dUEtbw3Fm4_Mn-_T6Be_S 

Should the US government give adoptees the US citizenship?

Source background

According to “They grew up as American citizens, then learned that they weren’t”, Justin Ki-Hong (33) adopted in 1985 from South Korea to the US has found he is on the verge of being deported from the USA where he has lived as an American for his life time because adoptive parents didn’t know the adoption law in the 1980’s. After The Child Citizenship Act went into effect since 2001, more than 100,000 international adoptees under 18 who were already in the US automatically received the US citizenship; however, over 18 years old adoptees at that time hadn’t received that benefit. The number of adoptees who are in trouble is more than tens of thousands adoptees from Venezuela, Germany, India, Guatemala, Vietnam and Iran and Korean international adoptees is estimated up to 18,000 and the article showed different cases like Justin Ki-Hong (2016)

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:

Should the US government give adoptees the US citizenship?

My answer is:

Yes, because they are Americans, the US government should revise the law immediately and make them feel pride in Americans.

Support

In “Total Recall” (1990), “Oblivion” (2013), “Maze Runner” (2014), there are people who don’t remember who they were and what they were doing in the past. Their memories were, however, technically erased and skillfully implanted with new memories by secret groups which could have probably worked for the government and whose work is covering the government’s dirty faces. Even though they don’t know how to remember and regain their erased memories, they are struggling to find and know who are they and try to do everything they can.

People were adopted into the US family have remembered everything what they have done so far and who they were and are, so they don’t need to try to reveal and investigate their past and their authentic nationalities. They are absolutely Americans not stateless people. Nonetheless, because their parents hadn’t known the fact that they had to change and submit the documents, adoptees are in hot water. It is an unbelievable story, yet I would rather talk about people living in Korea than talk about US people related to this story. Because adoptees were once Koreans and they were abandoned by whom people had given birth to.

Abandoning baby is not a private matter, yet a social issue. There is a box named of “the Baby Box” and was prepared by a church located in Seoul, Korea. It is neither a cradle nor a baby carrier. It is a special box equipped with a bell and a life support system, a.k.a., an incubator. When people put a baby into the box, they are encouraged to put a memo written down baby’s birthday and ring the bell so that people inside the church can hear the sound of the bell for 24 hours and rescue a baby immediately. It wasn’t there until December 2009. A church set up the baby box to rescue abandoned babies who might have died in the street. After installing the incubator box, abandoned babies come from not only Seoul, but also other cities. According to the church, roughly 300 babies are abandoned per year, and more than 900 hundred babies are put into the box from 2010~2015 in South Korea. Even though the church involved in social service is trying to rescue abandoned babies, some human rights organizations in Korea criticize the baby box because the church is doing not only illegal behavior, but also instigation of illegal delivery which could sever the chance to meet between moms and babies in the future. However, in despite of criticism by the human rights groups, the church needs more facilities for abandoned babies because the number of abandoned babies into the box increases sharply annually.

The South Korean government should actively deal with this problem. South Korean’s international adoption had started just after the Korean War in 1953. After the Korean War, mixed-blood children were sent to abroad under the pretext of returning to father’s country, so South Korea could have dealt with the problem of war orphans and curtail expenditure of social welfare. The government, then, enacted the special Act on orphan in 1961 and they prepared for the legal foundation of international adaptation. In the middle of 1970’s, South Korea sent more than 5,000 children to foreign countries annually and just before the Olympic Games, 8,837 Korean children were sent to overseas in 1985. Before the South Korea holds the Asian Games in 1986 and the Seoul Olympic Games in 1998, many people and human rights groups criticized an international adoption is one of South Korea’s export goods. The South Korean government then severely considered not to export Korean babies to overseas and tried to reduce international adoption. The administration of Kim, Dae-Jung and Noh, Moo-Hyoun declared the government tries to reduce the number of international adoptees remarkably. However, it has failed. According to the US government report, South Korea took fourth place; China, Ethiopia, Russia, followed by South Korea, from 2009 to 2012 and the number of adoptees is more than 20,000 babies from 1999 to 2015.

Ironically, even though there are many abandoned babies waiting for their new parents, the South Korean government has been promoting the increase of the birthrate since in the middle of 2000’s because the birthrate of South Korea is the tailender in the world with Japan, Hong-Kong, and Singapore. In recent years, many do not, on the one hand, want to get married and give birth to babies because of economic difficulties, on the other hand, some indiscreetly had a meaningless sex and have babies. A lot of abandoned babies are delivered by single mothers whose age ranged from 15 to 20. They are to be blamed at and should take responsibilities for their behaviors that are extremely imprudent and unwise. They had to abort their babies at the initial stage although the South Korean government bans women from aborting their babies except for special occasions. (According to “The Mother and Child Health Law”, the abortion is permitted in following cases, including rape, incest, hereditary disorders, and when the mother's health is in mortal danger). On account of their reckless decisions and momentary pleasures of the body, they make lots of people settle problems and the government spends the taxes in the social welfare services. What is more, South Koreans ought to change their mind in some ways. Most Koreans, for example, have a tendency not to adopt children and they think their legitimate son can only succeed to their lineage. It shows the number of overseas adoptions is far bigger than the number of domestic adoptions.

International Korean Adoptee Associations (I.K.A.A.) holds a meeting in Seoul every year, and gives adoptees chances to learn Korean culture, and history. Especially, hosts place emphasis on the recovery of their identities because they got confused and were suffered from an identity crisis when they were young, so Koreans and the South Korean government could help their problems and we have to soothe their scars on their minds even though scars cannot be removed forever. Not only are they our overseas Koreans, but they were also abandoned by Koreans and the government. We should also find the solutions to reduce the pregnancy of reckless mid –teenagers by teaching abstinence and the bad consequences of pregnancy at school. The government should support abandoned babies and take care of them constantly until they can stand alone in our society. 

___________

Reference

     Abortion law. (2016, September 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:54, September 5, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abortion_law&oldid=737335168

Bahrampour, T. (2016, September 2). They grew up as American citizens, then learned that they weren’t. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/thousands-of-adoptees-thought-they-were-us-citizens-but-learned-they-are-not/2016/09/02/7924014c-6bc1-11e6-99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_adoptees-8pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory#comments

International adoption of South Korean children. (2016, August 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:14, September 5, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_adoption_of_South_Korean_children&oldid=735763793

Nixon, R. (2009 November 8). Adopted From Korea and in Search of Identity. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/09adopt.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Oblivion (2013 film). (2016, August 26). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:39, September 5, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oblivion_(2013_film)&oldid=736288642

The Maze Runner (film). (2016, September 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:45, September 5, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Maze_Runner_(film)&oldid=737694618

Total Recall (1990 film). (2016, August 31). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:40, September 5, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Total_Recall_(1990_film)&oldid=737130446

The Rules of Egyptian Art - Quest 2, pp. 106 - 109. 2016, term 5

These are the pieces of art that Hartmann uses in her introductory reading to chapter 4, "The Ancient World: Egypt."

The Great Sphinx of Giza

Nakht and His Wife. 
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Paletter of Narmer
See Wikipedia entry

Queen Nefertiti
See Wikipedia entry.

_______________________________________ 
__

Reference

Hartmann, P. (2007). Quest 2 (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Is smartphone harm to human daily life?

Source background
From "Samsung recalls Note 7 flagship over explosive batteries", The decision follows reports in the US and South Korea of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 "exploding" during or after charging. The South Korean company said customers who had already bought the phone would be able to swap it for a new one but it had been difficult to work out which phones were affected among the 2.5 million Note 7s sold. The recall comes just one week ahead of an expected presentation of a new iPhone model from its main rival Apple.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Is smartphone harm to human daily life?

My answer is:
No, but it depends on the way you use. 

Nowadays, many people use smartphone in their daily life, it seems to be human body parts. For the advantages of using smartphone, people can contact each other easily which helps people keep relationship to others. Moreover, it can make phone calls, provide directions through GPS, take pictures, play music and keep track of appointments and contacts. Through the installation of apps in smartphone, there are social network applications ,such as Twitter, Facebook and Line, also game applications which tend to increase the used of smartphone by tens of thousands and grows longer everyday.

On the other hand, there are some disadvantages by using smartphone. Many people are victims because other people misuse in their smartphone. For instance, bullying on mobile phone, such as malicious texts, the spreading of a video clip, or spreading rumors in social application, could be negative effect to people who are mention or in the video clip. Furthermore, accidents may cause by misused of mobile phone, such as texting message while driving a car. So, to prevent misused of technology, the government should introduce the laws of using smartphone and use them sticky.

Personally, I think smartphone is very useful for human. It helps me to arrange priority works and relieve stress; for example, I usually use YouTube application in iPhone to see funny TV shows. Also, smartphone helps me to keep in touch my long lasting friends too. In case of accident, using smartphone carefully by stop using mobile phone while driving could help to prevent this problems. So, using smartphone carefully would brings benefits to human life.

___________

Reference

Samsung recalls Note 7 flagship over explosive batteries. (2016, September 2). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37253742

Should Thai government make an investment in cycle lanes?

Source background
In "Olympians call for 'everyday cycling' investment in UK", the British Olympians write a letter to their government calling for 5% of their transport budgets to go on cycle lanes in order to honor their success from Olympic (2016).

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Should Thai government make an investment in cycle lanes?

My answer is:
Yes, but bike lanes might not work practically.

Theoretically, the government should do everything not to only maintain but also to improve the quality of life of its citizens. Improving transportation infrastructures is one of the most urgent policies that governments in many countries address the importance. In Thailand, the government collaborating with other organizations tried to run several campaigns to urge people to ride a bicycles in special occasions. This is simply because cycling ,which is considered as one kind of physical activities, is obviously beneficial for health. Also, bicycle is an environmentally-friendly form of transport. It does not generate greenhouse gas, which has detrimental impact on our health, to the atmosphere.

Since I know the benefits of cycling, I am not surprised why people try to encourage their government to spend a huge amount of money constructing protected lanes for cycle. This government's scheme seems to work very well in many countries. However, I am not sure whether the cycle lanes will be successful if they are constructed in Thailand where motorcycles are practically allowed to ride even on the footpath and are able to honk pedestrians to pave the way for them as if walking on the pavement is totally wrong. One day, I was on the bus to Sanamluang, I passed the bike routes around Rattanakosin, the road around temples in the old town of Bangkok. I think this bike routes were built so as to facilitate foreign travelers to go to the temples nearby more easily. I noticed that there is a orange traffic sticks on the way in the bike route. I guess that the purpose is to deter motorbikes from using these lanes. And these sticks did their job because there is no motorbike on the protected lanes. But actually there is no bicycles either. I think it is because Thailand's weather is too hot for riding bike for pleasure.

So if the government spend the national budget on bike route construction, I would like to be certain that the lanes will be reserved for the use of cycling ,not for anything else and the government should estimate the value of this as well. The authorities should keep asking themselves whether it is worth investing in or not. What do you think?

___________

Reference

Olympians call for 'everyday cycling' investment in UK. (2016, September 1). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37242352

Is Science dangerous?

Source background
According to  "Japan’s $320 Million Gamble at Fukushima: An Underground Ice Wall," After the triple meltdown of core because of tsunami and earthquake five years ago. The wall is builded by the government and cost almost 35 billion yens or equivalent to $320 Million dollar. This will also protect the leaks of radioactive water to the ocean. Almost 7000 workers has to do the jobs of cleaning ups the waste.

_______________________________________ 

My Yes/No question is:
Is Science dangerous? 

My answer is:
No, but it depends on the usage.

Science in my view is the tool we use to understand the world around us. However, from gun powder to nuclear bomb have killed many people on the human history. We can also use the knowledge to make our live for better or worse.

In July 16, 1945 the first nuclear bomb was detonated on the dessert in New Mexico under the Manhattan Project. J. Robert Oppenheimer was a director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, where they created the first nuclear bombs, which used to kill almost 129,000 people in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. This bomb also leads to many conflicts in this world.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." - J. Robert Oppenheimer (1965)

16 ms after detonation of the "The Gadget"the name for the first nuclear bomb

Not only nuclear power may lead to the destruction of mankind but it also gives the almost unlimited power ,which is nuclear power plant. Furthermore, this knowledge leads to many discoveries and how we understand the world. The effect of nuclear bomb has resonated til today. Computer, internet and many thing that make our live better. 

In my opinion, war causes the advance in technology. The government funded the scientist to create the weapon that used to kill their opponent. All the theory and knowledge lead to another "creative" innovation. For example, microwave ,that we use to cook, was created by the scientist who is working on the radar using to microwave wave to search for Nazi in World War 2. 

"To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates of hell. And so it is with science." - Richard Feynman

I believe that we are now living in the most peaceful time in the history of mankind. We have almost everything we need : food supply, healthcare and education. Our life quality is much better than ever before because of science and our knowledge to use them. There are no major war occurring right now.

What do you think? Has science made us live in better world? 

___________

Reference

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (2016, August 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:00, September 2, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki&oldid=734987193
Fackler M. (August 29, 2016) Japan’s $320 Million Gamble at Fukushima: An Underground Ice Wall. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/30/science/fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-plant-cleanup-ice-wall.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=sectionfront .
Robert Oppenheimer. (2016, May 15). Wikiquote, . Retrieved 12:43, September 1, 2016 from https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Oppenheimer&oldid=2126972. 
Trinity (nuclear test). (2016, August 24). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:56, September 2, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trinity_(nuclear_test)&oldid=735945927

Did Reindeer Deserve to Die by Lightning?

Source background

From “A lightning strike killed 323 reindeer, and this is the ghastly aftermath”, the 323 reindeer were killed by lightning took place in the Hardangervidda mountain plateau in Norway in which there are a verdant and frigid tableau of streams, rocks and glaciers that is home to one of the largest reindeer herd in Europe. The article introduces the similar accidents caused by lightning all over the world; 91 people in Peru in 1971, 68 Jersey cows in Australia in 2005, 21 cows in South Dakota, 52 geese in Canada in 1932 and so on. (2016).

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My Yes/No question is:
Did the herd of reindeer deserve to die by lightning?

My answer is:
No, they are innocent.  

Support

One of the most spectacular and miraculous forms of natural phenomenon is absolutely lightning. It is so stunning and phenomenal that we could be automatically mesmerized by its magical power. No one can deny that it possesses supernatural power by which makes it awe-inspiring. A piercing shriek of lightning is, however, unbearably awful, and its flash is dreadful as well. By the time people run into lighting in the open air, such as the prairie or the plowland, almost everyone must be horrified by the sound of it and obsessed by the fear of being struck by lightning. The fear trembled in every limb does not disappear until we escape from it or lightning goes away by itself.

After its fury, the sky can regain peace. Over the summer, the blue sky is suddenly changed into a pitch-dark night from time to time, shortly after that, the roar of the sky is rumbling all over the place, following that a strong wind is blowing and a heavy raining is ruthlessly beating the ground. Lightning begins from a tiny small point and nose dives to the ground. Then, it outstretches its hands every direction in the middle of the sky. It is so fast and powerful that it appears to be an electric whip of which belongs to Zeus. The rumbling of thunder sounds like the curse of Hera. Lightning must be thrown by Zeus in order to punish people whose misdeed should be paid back. Indeed, as there are so many scoundrels in the world, they should be struck by lightning and they should feel the fear of the heaven. There are two notorious villains; the one is corrupted high-ranking officers, and the other is corrupted politicians.

Corrupted soldiers who commit irregularities should be received heavy punishment. The Ministry of National Defense of the South Korea submitted an additional budget at roughly 2.3 billion US dollars to change soldiers’ beds. A.F.A.I.K., the number of Korean soldiers is at roughly 630,000. If they buy brand new beds which would be at 1,000 US dollars per bed, they would need at about 563 million US dollars. However, they need 2.5 billion US dollars. What is more surprising is that they have already spent at approximately 5 billion US dollars to change soldiers’ beds since 2006. Is that a sound judgement? Do they need beds made of gold or silver? What on earth are they doing something crazy inside barbed-wire? They not only made every Korean soldier and their parents disappointed and demoralized, but they also made Koreans nervous and anxious about our military. The biggest problem is that the North Korea knows there are many corrupted officers inside the South Korean military. Since some corrupted officers damaged reputation of Korean soldiers and military, they should be struck by lightning to be brainwashed. They are absolutely internal enemies, so they should be charged with treason that can never be forgiven.

Politicians are neither guests nor travelers. They are representatives of the people whose belief and hope rests on their shoulders. In other words, they should play a major role in the National Assembly on behalf of the people. They try to their best to enact laws that could make people satisfied, and they should surveil every nook and cranny all over the country. In addition, they should be clean and faithful, for their positions are easily succumbed to the temptation of committing crimes and corruption, so they always keep these in their mind; serving the public, working for the nation, and never giving in temptation or corruption. However, it is not difficult that some politicians took a bribe and have a strong influence on companies and the machinery of law by reason of concealing someone’s irregularity.

According to the law of the Korean National Assembly, Politicians in Korea can be paid at about 130,000 US dollars per year, and they can hire at most 9 secretaries including two interns, and their salaries are also paid by our taxes which come at approximately 360,000 US dollars per annum. On top of that, they are lots of privilege. Politicians’ salary paid by the government means the people want them not to worry about money to investigate social problems and work hard for the country. However, we cannot trust some politicians any longer because they do not work and go on a trip on the excuse of an inspection tour. Even though they deny the fact that they waste money, we know it is definitely a junket since it is expensive, unnecessary, and has been paid for with the taxes. Checking their expenses, they worked few hours, but they spent a lot of time to visit tourist attractions, have fine dining, go shopping centers, luxurious hotels and so on. Are they politicians or junketers? That is obviously illegal and an immoral decision by which could make many jobseekers and ordinary people frustrated and angry. They have already known that a recent debate in Korea is relative deprivation. (I want to write this issue sooner or later) It shows one of our social problems that make many people commit suicides. Politicians are not travelers, whilst they are workers for the people and the nation. They should not forget those duties during the term. Politicians who do not work should be struck by lightning for the purpose of walking them up.

I felt sorry for the death of herd of reindeer and people who were struck by lightning. They should have shunned lightning and saved their lives. They are completely innocent. We knew who should be struck by that lightning instead of them. Some corrupted officers and politicians should have been there. I do not want to send criminals in jail because the prison is funded by taxpayers and needs a lot of money to manage prisoners. We have no money for the criminal, yet there are a lot of people who really need money and the government’s help.

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Reference

Brulliard, K. (2016, August 29). A lightning strike killed 323 reindeer, and this is the ghastly aftermath. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/08/29/a-lightning-strike-killed-323-reindeer-and-this-is-the-ghastly-aftermath/

Have you even been afraid of a flight?

Source background
According to "Shannon Airport emergency landing: 12 taken to hospital," the United Airlines faced an aggresive and unexpected turbulence during flying across the atlantic ocean in which the flight departed from Houston, Texas, and will arrive to London Heathrow, but it had to emergency landing at Shannon Airport, the  Republic of Ireland. Fortunately, there were no died people but twelve people, including three children, were injured, and they were taken to a hospital immediately. After curing these injured people, the flight continues toward London, and all passengers are excepted to charge the fee of this flight (2016).

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My Yes/No question is:
Have you even been afraid of a flight?

My answer is:
Yes, in one time before the airplane took off.

Few years ago, I have an experience before the flight took off. At that time my friends and I needed to go to Phuket for a workshop with a German student group which were collaborative with my university. We booked an economy flight with an economy airlines. And then we already sit in the airplane, we knew that the air condition had a problem because there was very hot in it. Before the flight took off (almost took off), the captain launched the announcement that the airplane couldn't take off because it had a function problem (and also its air condition). Then the airlines changed a new aircraft which is better than the first one, and finally, we can go to Phuket with the delay departure around two hours!

That experience I'm afraid of flight although it had no any accidents during the journey. However, there are many news about airplane crashes and killed a lot of people from flights. I think travelling by airplane is the most dangerous because we can't avoid from accidents which may be occurred on airplanes, like wind turbulence, weather outside, human control error, its function error, or terrorists. And after these situations are happened and captains can't control their aircrafts, it may cause a series problem which can lose a lot people both on airplanes and who live on the ground.

I think we should wear seatbelt every time during a flight, and follow the instruction stickly which is announced on airplanes. In addition, one thing which I don't like to travel by airplane is I can't see any views except clouds and sky. If I travel only in the country, I prefer to travel by cars or trains. Although these take for a long time to travel, I'm happy to see many beautiful natural places of Thailand during journeying. Which mode do you like to travel in your country? Car, train, plane. or other modes?

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Reference

Shannon Airport emergency landing: 12 taken to hospital. (2016, August 31). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37228479

Should Bangkok’s street food disappear?

Source background

From Bangkok’sdisappearing street food,Craig Sauers reported that “Over the past year, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has evicted nearly 15,000 vendors from 39 public areas citywide, part of a campaign to tidy up the streets and pavements.” but now Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Urban Design and Development Center currently planning to implement sustainable changes and restoring the sites in the city to get the streets lives back.

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My Yes/No question is:
Should Bangkok’s street food disappear?

My answer is:
No, it shouldn’t disappear from Bangkok

Support
As one of pedestrian, I have always been envy others’ clean and nice footpaths
when I was travelling to another countries but as I think of flavorful Thai dishes along pavements I couldn’t deny these authentic Thai street food, as we can absorb the cultures beside the streets, eat delicious Thai cuisines, see the way of living through traditional street vendors anytime and everywhere in Bangkok with very low priced and mouth-watering looks.

Thailand’s street foods are the food heaven for many tourists, people and necessary for the low or middle class who couldn’t effort and have no times to cook. It’s importance for them as it’s easy to purchase, convenient, flavorful and cheap. If the foods disappear from the side streets many people will lose their jobs, we also cannot find anywhere else alike Bangkok and for those who couldn’t pay for the foods it’s going to be difficult. For example, the food court at Chamchuri square, the food price is around 70-100 bath per meal which is quite expensive so I don’t think people who earned minimum wage or 300 baht a day can effort it, even some white-collar workers who work in the office complained about it.

On the others hand, some people think sidewalk vending stands should be ban since its intended to use by pedestrians to commutes, its also against the law and exploit others. Sometimes the unhygienic foods from the vending cause diarrhoea and others diseases and vending site are dirty since no one took care of it.

If the government provide lands for cheap rent or free, the vendors can sell cheaper foods, people who have lower income can access it, the side streets are clean and if the government controls, enhances the food qualities and the rising of food prices, everyone can enjoy street foods as before but in different places.

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Reference

Sauers, C. (23 August 2016). Bangkok’s disappearing street food.BBC NEWS. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160817-bangkoks-disappearing-street-food