To reduce plastic bottles

What I listened to / read
In every major city in England, peple can drink free water in stead of buying water in a plastic bottle.
To reduce the wastes of plastic bottles is impotant in England.

Source;BBC news
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-42808302_____________________________________________ 

What it says
Shops, cafes and businesses will offer free water refill points in every major city and town in England by 2021 to reduce the water bottle.Environmental concerns are growing due to plastic wastes.Refill campaign has more than 1,600 refill stations across the UK and operates in 13 towns and cities in England.
Water companies already taking part in local schemes, for example, Bristol adopted the campaign and the city now has more than 200 refill points.
According to Water UK’s chief executive, industry want to tackle the problem caused by plastic bottle and UK has some of the best drinking water in the world. So they want everyone to benefit from this initiative.

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My response 

In Japan, people usually buy beverage in a plastic bottle or a can at a convenience store or a vending machine though Japanese tap water are so clean that everyone can drink everywhere in Japan.

I think water in a plastic bottle tastes better than tap water, so many Japanese people don’t drink tap water.

Considering the problem of plastic wastes, drinking tap water is admirable like UK new initiative. But I don’t think so, because in Japan, recycle system for plastic bottles has been developed greatly and Japanese people are more concerned about environmental problems. For example, after drinking water in a plastic bottle, they can throw it away into a designated trash box in order to recycle it. Plastic bottles are recycled into nwe plastic bottles again, the material for clothes, pellet for power generator materials, and so on.

Not only recycling plastic bottles, but also using eco-bag is helpful to solve the environmental problems. Eco-bag is used as a bag when they bring products their home after shopping. At a shop, they are sometimes given plastic bags, but when they bring eco-bag to a shop, they don’t need to get a plastic bag from a shop.
It is helpful preserving environment.Though the effort of one people is small, the the effects by many people is so huge.
I want more countries to be concerned about recycling.

The luxurious ghost airport in one of the world's poorest countries

What I read

I chose to read "The luxurious ghost airport in one of the world's poorest countries" on BBC News due to its interesting topic.

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What it says

The $200 million airport in Mozambique, one of the world's poorest countries, named as Nacala International Airport which was hoped to benefit the region now lied empty among no departures, no security, no one at baggage and no one waiting. It was built by Brazillian company Odebrecht which has been caught up in a corruption scandal. The company was responsible for the airport's construction, and admitted to having paid bribes to high level officials. But Mozambique and Brazil were hit by economic turmoil.

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My response 

It has surprised me a lot! I haven't thought that such a luxurious and expensive airport is in one of the world's poorest countries and can be lain among the emptiness and insecurity. After I had read this news, I searched for the airport's pictures to see how it is then and now. In my view, it looks like regular beautiful airports which we haven't had an idea about dereliction.

The country that brought yoghurt to the world

What I read

After I finished my class on Friday, I started looking for an interesting article to share with everyone then I saw the topic “the countrythat brought yoghurt to the world” By Madhvi Ramani  on www.bbc.com. I am interested in this topic because I am a fan of dairy product because they are delicious. 

What it says

On this article, the writer shows a long history of yoghurt. Many Bulgarians claim it was accidentally discovered here around 4,000 years ago when nomadic tribes roamed the land. However, Bulgaria played a vital role in introducing yoghurt to the West and turning it into the popular, commercial product we know today. Yoghurt is an intimate product linked to the land, the animals and the particular taste of the family. If we eating yoghurt that made from the different villages, the taste will different. 

My response 

Yoghurt has been consumed for many years. This article makes me know about history of yoghurt and the process of making yoghurt. Moreover, it makes me interested in its health benefits because I think many people still don’t realize about its benefits.

When I searched on the internet, I found many interesting reasons to love yoghurt. Firstly, yoghurt is rich in essential nutrients that our body need such as calcium, minerals and vitamin B. Secondly, some yoghurt contains probiotics which are healthy bacteria . Probiotics can boost the immune system, regulate digestive system and reduce the risk of cancer. Furthermore, it can help us lose  weight or keep the weight off. There are studies have found that eating yoghurt may reduce obesity.  Finally, yoghurt is brain food because it contains the amino acid tyrosine. Brain food helps our brain function effectively.

However,yoghurt may not good for everyone because it can cause negative effects for example, in the person who has milk allergy or lactose intolerance. Moreover, we should not having too much yoghurt per day as it may increase the level of sugar and cause kidney stones. In my opinion , eating yoghurt 2 cups per day is enough.

Ambition is not a dirty word.

What I listened to 

           After all day long, I hardly have the time to log into my Facebook account then I found something interesting and very powerful. It is an old viral from 2015 : Reese Witherspoon woman of the year full speech - Ambition is not a dirty word! (It would be  more convenient if you play from Youtube.) 

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What it says

           What  Was Reese wants to tell us? She wants to tell us especially all girls and women to believe in themselves and trust in their abilities to do something no matter what people say or laugh with it and she left a question : What would happen if  we were all brave enough to be a little bit more ambitious?  

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My response 

           For me, I always think ambition is a dirty word but after I listened to Reese's speech I have to change my mind. Everybody has a dream but what would they do to make their dreams come true. Since I was young I usually heard "You should do that" or "You should not do that" and if you think different from most people, they may look at you like you are an insane that makes you fear and you might throw your dream away because you want everyone accept you so you do not want be a weirdo. Sometimes Ambition is good if you use it in the right way. It could help you create something new and fabulous or it would be a motive to do what you never thought you have abilities to do that.
          We do not deny that there is not equality between men and women although in the land of equality,the USA. Does it has a chance to change? It needs more time but the most important thing is you are brave enough to show your abilities and make it happen.
         

Do men and women find different films funny?

What I read

I found an interesting article on the BBC News so I would like to share it with my teacher and my classmates! This article is "Do men and women find different films funny?"

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What it says

This article shows answers from the surveys about "Do men and women find different films funny?". There are 3 surveys. The first one is US Study which found that opting for the genres of film partly depends on gender, female college students tended to enjoy romantic film while male opted for dark comedies. The second one is BBC Culture which polled to find out the top 10 comedy films of all time, and the comedies more popular with male and female critics. The last one is German research which found that gender differences in preferences for film genres do exist.

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My response 

There are plenty of film's types, as you know, horror film, funny film, action film, adventure film, whimsical film, drama film, fantasy film, historical film, romance film, science fiction film, thriller film, political film, philosophical film etc. Everyone has his favorite film style. Mine is funny film.

Actually, We cannot refuse to enjoy the funny film! But there are many genres of the funny film such as romantic comedy, dark comedy etc. According to this article, girls prefer romantic comedy but boys prefer dark comedy. For me, I enjoy all genres of the funny film as the funny film makes watchers be happy and laugh out loud!

Tortured Colour Brazilian mothers by Zika virus

What I listened to / read

While I am drinking hot jasmine green tea, I look for some science news in The Huffington Post. My eyes stare at the news titled "Poor women of color bear the brunt of Zika burden in Brazil". I read only the title and feel great pressure taking on me,but there are a lot of questions appearing on my mind. Why does Zika virus involve Color women in Brazil?

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What it says

The HuffPost in Brazil Marcella Fernandes, gave a report on the life of color women in the rural region of Brazil. Those women have one of son/daughter in their family who have birth defects associated with Zika virus infection such as microcephaly (small head) and neurological diseases. they told that their life are very difficult since they are poor, low-profile of education or even illiterate, teenage pregnancy and live so far away from medical center. they always stayed at their home for being housewife and taking of their children especially son/daughter who is congenital Zika syndrome. Those children are physical disabilities and mental impairments leading the mothers have a large task and reduce herself time. Moreover, the social and medical assistant provided by the Brazilian government were too slow, sometimes lacking or even rejected their disability benefit applications as the worst. In term of Brazilian government, they did not only lack of responsibility to their people, but they also concealed both the number of those cases and the number of denied applications from public.

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My response 

It is hard to finish reading this article since it made my feeling goes negative emotion. As we know, Zika virus infection had been broken out of Brazil in 2015. In the same year, the researchers around the world especially NIH and WHO was found the correlation between birth defects and Zika virus infection, and they also introduced the measures against the outbreak of virus. these things seem to control the virus widespread ,stall the increase of the number of child with microcephaly and provide the treatment for recover the infant's symptoms. But, Why are Brazilian mothers still torment from the outbreak?

As Scientist's view, Zika virus can transmit from the mother to son via placental route once she was infected by mosquito's bite. the researcher had been found that Zika virus targets Neural stem cells of embryo during neurogenesis or brain development of embryo. the virus causes the inhibition of terminally neural differentiated genes and the activation of programmed cell death related genes such as  apoptosis or even necrosis, at worst. These occurrences leads to stall of brain development especially brain enlargement and neural circuit connection result in physical disabilities and mental impairment of infant. in this case, the medical team together with researchers will used a method called "early stimulation therapy" as a basic treatment to the child for activating those neural stem cells to break the arrest to differentiated to neurons and body will then automatically repair and connect the circuit again. this way takes time at least a decade. In some severe cases, there are a possible way that the doctor will clear the remnant of neural stem cells in child's brain to prevent tumourigenesis and virus migration. the cultured neural stem cells will be transplant to the brain again. this method are also effective and sustainable for child development.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of limitations especially political policy. If we look at Brazilian's government,  they are very dominate in corruption and have a high risk to turn into bankruptcy state. Base on those conditions, it is impossible to distribute the social and medical support throughout the country. There also have a very broad of the gap between people especially currency status and skin color. It is a truth that color people around the world still have a life quality under social standard. As Marcella told in the report, those mothers are poor, low educated and difficult to access to their benefits. these things lead them to less attention in medical support and understanding and how to take care of the disease which the family member is fighting. And because of concealing on number of Zika infected baby and benefit application rejection, the other nations cannot estimate the amount of money and utility which they transfer to Brazil leading to the unequal distribution.

Looking back to Thailand, I feel thanks you that I was born here. Thailand, excluding political instability, have a lot of benefits that we are easy to access especially medical care. In fact, Zika are well known virus for Thai medical research. Hence, every hospitals have a measure to fight with this disease. And even your child is Zika associated disability, you can take him/her to get their benefits both at the center under provision of the ministry of  public health or the minister of social development and human security. those minister will provide you both of medical care, social support ,education and financial aid to your family for taking care your child throughout his life. you do not only have a support from the government, but Thai people also always support you and your family because Thai characteristic is always merit, kind and love to help. That's why I said that I Thanks you myself.    

3 thoughtful ways to conserve water

What I listened to

After I have finished all my work, I try to find an interesting video clip from www.ted.com to share with my teacher and my classmates. When I saw the topic " 3 thoughtful ways to conserve water" I think it is newsworthy. This is because water is the most essential thing of our lives, I can't imagine living without water. So, we should know about water conservation.

What it says

On this talk show, Lana Mazahreh who grew up in the country that faced water scarcity, shares three lessons from water-poor-countries such as Australia, United Arab Emirates and Singapore about how they conserve water. Firstly, tell people how much water they really have. Secondly, empower people to save water. Lastly, look below the surface. Now, it's really just up to all of us to take action.

My response 

Water is a necessary part of our lives. All animals and plants need water to survive. We use water in many activities such as cooking, drinking and washing. Nowadays, there are many countries experienced water scarcity. This can cause negative effects to our lives. Therefore, we need to know how to save water and use water properly.

After listening this talk show, I realize that water scarcity is a problem that can not be solved by a group of people, it needs cooperation of every people in the World. In my opinion,the lessons that speaker presents are nice idea of water conservation . However, when I read the comments below video clip, I quite agree with some comments about animal agriculture then I started to search about this on google. I found the fact that a pure vegetarian diet requires only 1,137 litres of water per day, while a meat -based diet requires more than 15,160 litres of water per day.

I think there are many easily ways for me to help conserving water in daily life. To begin with, don't let the faucet run while  washing dishes. Second, water a garden in the morning because the water evaporates less. In addition, washing when full loads of  laundry. If we can do this, we help  save the World.

Why Italians are saying 'No' to takeaway coffee

What I read

When I am looking for a nice story to write and share with my classmates, I saw the nice one, which is not very serious. It is " Why Italians are saying 'No' to takeaway coffee ". It sounds a bit strange, but I feel really interested in this topic.

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What it says

The article reports that Italians don't like to takeaway coffee because of three reasons. Firstly, drinking coffee in Italy is a quick ritual. Secondly, it is just one moment to be relaxed or to interrupt the long work day.The last reason is the coffee in Italy is served in a right temperature.

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My response 

When I have read this article, I feel that it is very interesting that is why Italians don't like to takeaway coffee, and I really love the way they drink it. Because the coffee in Thailand is pretty hot, I don't like to drink it much. But the coffee in Italy is not as hot as in Thailand, and people can immediately drink it, it sounds nice for me, who hate a hot coffee. As I am not a coffee lover, I don't know much about the way people drink coffee, but I think that if I have a chance to travel to Italy, I will try to taste their coffee. 

I think drinking coffee in Italians style is quite good for the one who not like a very hot coffee like me but not my father. He is going to be hate it, because he really loves to drink a very hot coffee. But I think that if the coffee shop in Thailand sell the coffee in Italians style, it maybe becomes a popular shop.

When the defibrillator is used in Star Wars

What I listened to / read

"The rain is falling now, I want to take a nap." I told myself after I looked at the sky for a while. However, I did not want to increase my belly size after I had already had a lunch for an hour. I searched a funny short clip on TED.com and I found a very useful and very funny video named "An intergalactic guide to using a defibrillator" talked by Todd Scott.

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What it says

Scott gave a speech on the medical device called "Automated External Defibrillator or AED". This device was applied once your heart goes into Cardiac arrest shock back into the normal heart rate. He told us the information of this device by using this device to the different character in Star Wars such as Stromtrooper, Jedi or Jubba. He also shared a tips and cautions to use the instrument in different situations. 

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My response 

During our life go on, we might meet some situations or someone who have a problem on cardiovascular disease especially cardiac shock. In that case, we usually so the CPR technique to rescue them. However, they sometimes got a sever condition with their heart. CPR are not the proper way for rescue, defibrillator might be the better way. the advanced rescue team always uses this device, but you might be asked for using this instrument during the team helps other people in the case of severe accident with lacking of rescue team member. if the case occurs, the important thing is how do you deal with? Are you running to bring someone or medic to use the device? It sounds a bit weird and impossible. this clip are very helpful and easy to understand on how to use defibrillator to different kind of people. you will know how to use and how can you protect yourself during resurrection and prevent the unforecasted case once using the device both of you and the one who need rescue.

Escape form North Korea.

What I listened to / read

    One of my favorite authors is Wannasingh Prasertkul , he's Thai traveler who always take trips to dangerous and desolate places . Then, He writes all his experience about those places  truly and honestly. I read his book which concern North Korea and I came up with tons of question about escaping from North Korea. To answer my question , I watched "My escape from North Korea".

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What it says

    Hyeonseo Lee was born and grew up in rich family in North Korea. During the year of famine , she was sent to China and separated from family. She got away from China to South Korean safely. Unfortunately, Her family in North Korea was punished because the authority intercepted the money that she sent to them. She helped them to escape to South Korea but  they were caught by Lao polices. At that time , she had money to bribe the polices but a stranger give her money and also help two other refugees to get out of jail.

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My response 

    North Korean is a sovereign state where the government control the economy ,military , politic and education. North Korea officially describes itself as a self-reliant , socialist state and formally holds elections. Their government tries to represent that their'place is plenty of food and their citizens love and respect to their leader, Kim Jong-un . So, Why are many North Koreans attempt to get away from their hometown ? 

     
      After listening experience of Lee, I feel really sorrow Then , I tried to search more information to know the actual life of people in North Korea . This country  allow the foreigners in any nation (excepting South Korean) visit the country but they'll not allow their people to go out freely.  They divide the economy into 2 parts which is international economy and domestic economy , thus the foreigners cannot hold their local currency and the citizens can use only their North Korean money. Moreover, all the things that they provide to the travelers is what they want us to do but it's not real.

  

       In my aspect , The human right in North Korea is lower than other countries. However they try to make everyone have the equal status , there's some gap between the rich and the poor. Because of developing of technologies , many countries have to cooperate for supporting their own population. North Korean's leader and government opposes and denies to collaborate with developing countries. This affects to their people 's life in negative way.

      A lot of North Korean citizens died from starving but the leader still spends money for increasing the strength of military. The kids have to learn the leader's profile intensively and rarely study about other countries. Theses lead finite knowledge and narrow attitude to the citizens. That's why some North Korean people have to escape from their country.
       

It's still early

What I  read

I hope I haven't stolen an article that interested someone else, but the story "Amazon opens a supermarket with no checkouts" on the BBC News hooked me. Who wouldn't want to learn about a future without supermarket checkout queues?

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What it says

In his story, Chris Johnson tells us that Amazon has opened Just Walk Out to the general public. This supermarket has no checkout staff at all, nor even self-checkout. It uses a lot of cameras and other technology to identify and track both shoppers, who scan themselves in with a smartphone app a bit like entering a BTS station, put their shopping directly into the bags that will carry it out, and then just walk out, at which time their Amazon account is automatically billed. 

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My response 

I'm still stuck in the days of traditional checkout. I visit Tops at Silom Complex almost every day for my grocery shopping, and although they have had self-checkout for several months now, I've never been brave enough to try it. It looks complicated, and I'm not sure that it saves any time. It certainly looks like more work for the shopper, so I continue to queue for a staff checkout, although I gave up using cash there years ago. I love the idea of just walking in and having a QR code on my phone scanned as I enter, grabbing what I want, and simply walking straight out when finished.

My next thought was a connection with Top's blog post a few days ago, "Do not let machines compete your work," where he discusses the implications for employment of the rise of ever smarter machines. The world is definitely moving in this direction: even without healthy business competition, as governments raise minimum wages, it becomes more and more attractive for businesses to replace humans with machines. And as Amazon's latest public venture shows, machines can do ever more things much better than humans, giving a far more satisfying customer experience. I can't remember the last time I queued up in a  bank or a bookstore, having moved all of my banking and book buying online years ago.

As the article says, quoting Amazon's chief financial officer, "it's still early." Who knows what wonders may come soon to a store near us? In the meantime, perhaps I should give the self-checkout at Tops a go.

It's very easy to sleep on plane

What I listened to / read

     "I have to go to bed now , it was getting late" I told myself . Despite finishing all of  today's works , I still lie awake . Then I went on the internet to find some way to make me sleep and found an interesting topic. It's " Secret of getting on the plane" by Katie Berk. After reading the ideas and suggestion , I found that it's very useful. So, I want to publish this article to others.

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What it says

        Brian Kelly , a traveler and blogger who can  get great sleep at 300,000 feet on plane suggest that there are 2 important factors of getting well sleep on the plane . The first one is personal space which is different between economy , business and first class . It's not about the leg room but it's privacy. The another one is sleeping strategies such as  drinking alcohol , taking sleeping pills and  bring headphone or special pillows and choosing type of an aircraft.

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My response 

    Most of the passengers always suffer through long-haul flights especially red-eyes flights (any flight departing late at night and arriving in the morning) . This can lead to exhaustion and boring night for your trips. Economy class's passenger have to try to close their eyes against the sound of roaring jet engine and small seat width. While the fist class service offer their customers with private and luxury seats. This 2 difference type of flight's class is space and privacy.

   When I'm a passenger in red-eyes flights , I bring my blanket , travel pillow and a few book . I hope that this stuffs might help me get my mind off of sleeping. I'm also try to eat and drink to make me full but it doesn't help much. After reading this suggestions , I do agree with Kelly .The most important thing to do in plane for getting sleep well is making the privacy. Even though you booked an economy class or  your seat was near the aircraft's lavatory, you can make your space.

    In my bedroom and my eyes was wide open at night , I tried to do as Kelly's ideas to create feeling of privacy and space around me , his advice told me to stop thinking about getting to sleep. I mitigated the anxiety by imagine myself elsewhere and it works as expected. I felt asleep and finally got shuteye. I hope that Kelly's might help you to get sleep on  plane or anywhere comfortably.

Don't eat the marshmallow!

What I listened to

When I first saw this topic,"Don't eat the marshmallow", I quickly open it because I thought that it will talk about the disadvantage of marshmallow. Although I am not really like marshmallow, I still want to know about it. After I watched this video, I am so excited to share it because it is so funny.

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What it says

In clip, the speaker, Joachim de Posada, said about four-year-old kids that have been taken into a room with marshmallow for 15 minutes, and they were told to not eat that marshmallow. The kids who did not eat marshmallow are 100 percent succeed when they grow up. On the other hand, the kids who had eaten marshmallow are fail. That is why he said don't eat the marshmallow.

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My response 

I love his example which is very easy to understand and so funny and I really want to know that if I were on that age, would I eat marshmallow or not?

I think that eating or not eating marshmallow is not the main idea that Joachim de Posada wants to tell us, but the main thing is self-discipline. If the kids have a self-discipline since they were young, they are going to be success. 

As a new generation girl like me, who was treated by a computer and smart phone, I really suspect that what will happen on this generation in that situation. I guess that the rate of the kids who do not eat the marshmallow are going to be decrease. However, I am not really care about it.