NEWS ON 25-31 DECEMBER 2015
Global Warming Highlights Need for Risk Map
Recent disasters have shown Thailand is no longer a natural safe zone and there's growing need for a "risk map" to prepare for unexpected events likely to cause huge financial damage and casualties, said a city planner.
Thongchai Roachanakanan, director of the Department of Town and Country Planing's Center of Earthquake Disaster Watch and Studies and coordinator of the Climate Change Convention Office, said the map was intended to show areas prone to risk like floods, landslides, drought and quakes.
At present such a map is available, but-drawn by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry- it is large scale at 1:100,000. Thongchai's plan is to go for a 1:10,000 scale or eventually 1:2,000 map, which could reveal the risk threat at a given time to a property in a particular area.
Precise data is necessary given weather and terrain conditions can change drastically. Even without volcanoes on its soil, Thailand frequently experiences quake, for example. "Disasters in the past few years tell us Thailand cannot sit idly without doing anything to mitigate the impact (of global warming or manmade disasters). The map should raise public awareness, particularly to residents of riskprone areas, of how dangerous their situation is, " he said.
Phuket and Koh Samui are now under the office's close watch, given that some mountain could trigger landslides soon-particularly as rainfall this year could be close to or higher than the 2010 level. Some areas in Chon Buri risk floods due to rises of sea levels in inhabited areas which were mangrove forest just 30 years ago.
Thongchai said it should take at least three years to thoroughly survey all of Thailand. But due to limited budget, he proposed provinces which have frequently witnessed disasters like Nakhon Si Thammarat (floods), Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai (landslide and quakes).
Source : http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/06/17/national/Global-warming-highlights-need-for-risk-map-30158003.html 
What did you get from this news?
I also knew that Thailand is no longer considered a natural safe zone and it needs a better risk map for its disaster preparedness. Because Areas prone to earthquakes can be identified by a risk map. But it costs a considerable amount of money to produce a risk map.
Making a Long Distance Relationship Work
Despite miles of separation, long distance relationships can be equally romantic and satisfying as more traditional arrangements. Most of us share a healthy skepticism about long distance relationships; they are certainly difficult to sustain over the long term. Whether because of career commitments, family obligations or educational pursuits, having to live in different locations for the majority of time is bound to alter the dynamics of any romantic relationship and poses unique challenges that couples living together rarely face.
Being together and spending time with each other are keys to building a healthy, lasting relationship. While separation clearly makes this more challenging, my experience tells me that long distance relationships are more likely to be successful when both partners are strongly committed to the relationship and each is willing to make the extra effort to overcome distance-related obstacles.
Keep the connection strong: When distance separates you and your partner, being in love isn’t enough by itself to sustain a strong romantic connection. Communication and adequate contact are critical. Be creative and consider choosing several different ways beyond the telephone to stay in contact; technology has made this much easier thanks to innovations like social networking, online chat, instant messaging, VDO calls and text messaging.
Update each other about new things you’ve experienced, focus on positive topics, be supportive of each other, and tell your partner how much you miss him. Take note of the strong connection rule-of-thumb: View each conversation as an opportunity to strengthen your bond and get closer to your partner.
Don’t overdo the phone calls: A phone call every day should be more than enough to keep a feeling of closeness between partners; any more than that may begin to feel more like an annoyance. Remember, multiple phone calls and messages day after day may be more like stalking than talking.
Speaking by phone once or twice a week should be enough for a typical long distance couple. This less-than-daily frequency will make for more exciting updates to share and allows for anticipation to build before the next call. Giving your partner some “space” can help both of you maintain enough independence and freedom-two important components of long distance relationships that succeed.
Source : www1.ilovetranslation.com/iVMV0wg16t6=d What did you get from this news? I also knew that when we are separable, try to contact each other. Both partners need to connect more through different channels. No need to frequently contact, just 2-3 times per week it's okay. It's a way to keep romantic each other when we are separable. If we pass this obstacle, we will get more lasting relationship as well.
Robot English Teacher Start Work in South Korean Schools
Almost 30 robots have started teaching English to youngsters in a South Korean city, education officials said Tuesday, in a pilot project designed to nurture the nascent robot industry.
Engkey, a white, egg-shaped robot developed by the Korea Institute of Science of Technology (KIST), began taking classes Monday at 21 elementary schools in the southeastern city of Daegu.
The robots, which display an avatar face of a Caucasian woman, are controlled remotely by English teachers in the Philippines -- who can see and hear the children via a remote control system.
Cameras detect the Filipino teachers' facial expressions and instantly reflect them on the avatar's face, said Sagong Seong-Dae, a senior scientist at KIST. "Well-educated, experienced Filipino teachers are far cheaper than their counterparts elsewhere, including South Korea," he said.
Apart from reading books, the robots use pre-programmed software to sing songs and play alphabet games with the children. "The kids seemed to love it since the robots look, well, cute and interesting. But some adults also expressed interest, saying they may feel less nervous talking to robots than a real person," said Kim Mi-Young, an official at Daegu city education office.
Kim said some robots may be sent to remote rural areas of South Korea shunned by foreign English teachers. She said the robots are still being tested. But officials might consider hiring them full-time if scientists upgrade them and make them easier to handle and more affordable. "Having robots in the classroom makes the students more active in participating, especially shy ones afraid of speaking out to human teachers," Kim said.
She stressed the experiment was not about replacing human teachers with robots. "We are helping upgrade a key, strategic industry and all the while giving children more interest in what they learn."
Source : http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2010/12/28/robot-english-teachers-south-korea.html 
What did you get from this news? I also knew that having the robots that seem English teachers are good choice. They are designed to help motivate students to learn English. Because teachers have difficulty making some students participate more actively so there are the robots can motivate the students to learn English as well.
Biology and Electricity Appear to Be Closely Related
The modern age is an age of electricity. People are so used to electric lights, radio, televisions, and telephones that it is hard to imagine what life would be like without them. When there is a power failure, people grope about in flickering candlelight. Cars hesitate in the streets because there are no traffic lights to guide them, and food spoils in silent refrigerators
People began to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries ago, while nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for millions of years. Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit humanity.
All living cells sent out tiny pulses of electricity. As the heart beats, it send out pulses of recorded electricity; they form an electrocardiogram, which a doctor can study to determine how well the heart is working. The brain, too, sends out brain waves of electricity, which can be recorded in an electroencephalogram. The electric currents generated by most living cells are extremely small-of-ten so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them. But in some animals, certain muscle cells have become so specialized as electrical generators that they do not work as muscle cells at all. When large numbers of these cells are linked together, the effects can be astonishing.
The electric eel is an amazing storage battery. It can send a jolt of as much as eight hundred volts of electricity through the water in which it lives. An electric house current is only one hundred twenty volts.) As many as four fifths of all the cells in the electric eel’s body are specialized for generating electricity, and the strength of the shock it can deliver corresponds roughly to the length of its body.
Source : https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=1422425291313001&story_fbid=1470008636554666 What did you get from this news? I also knew that the electric eel has more storage battery in it. it can send a jot of as much as eight hundred vols of electricity through the water in which it lives. Hence, it is quite hazardous aquarium animal.
Education and Schooling Are Quite Different Experience
It has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark is important.
Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education knows no bounds. It can take place anywhere, whether in the shower or on the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agents of education can range from a revered grandparent to the people debating politics on the radio, from a child to a distinguished scientist. Whereas schooling has a certain predictability, education quite often produces surprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions. People are engaged in education from infancy on. Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term. It is a lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be an integral part of one's entire life.
Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at approximately the same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The slices of reality that are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the workings of government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught. For example, high school students know that they are not likely to find out in their classes the truth about political problems in their communities or what the newest filmmakers are experimenting with. There are definite conditions surrounding the formalized process of schooling.
Source : https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=1422425291313001&story_fbid=1470008636554666 What did you get from this news? I also knew that all of life is an education. Not only formal education is important but informal education is significant too, it brings about unexpected results and makes us survive in reality.
Social Network and Online Games Rule Our Lives
A new study conducted by market researcher Nielsen reveals that Americans are spending almost a quarter of their online time checking in with friends on social networking sites and blogs -- more than double the time they spend checking their emails.
In June 2010, the average American spent 22.7 percent of their Internet time on social networks (up from 15.8 percent in June 2009), 10.2 percent of their time playing online games (up from 9.3 percent this time last year) and just 8.3 percent of their time checking and replying to emails (down almost 30 percent year-on-year).
"Despite the almost unlimited nature of what you can do on the web, 40 percent of U.S. online time is spent on just three activities -- social networking, playing games and emailing leaving a whole lot of other sectors fighting for a declining share of the online pie," said Nielsen analyst Dave Martin in a report released on August 2.
A June 2010 study by Hitwise showed a similar pattern in the United Kingdom. In May 2010, visits to social networks exceeded those to search engines in the UK for the first time.
Mobile Internet usage figures in the United States differed slightly with email still at the top of the list. In 2010 email took up more than 40 percent of U.S. users' mobile Internet time. Social network usage is increasing in leaps and bounds in the mobile sector too, with a 28 percent rise year-on-year. Consumers in the US are using their mobile devices more frequently than they were last year to watch videos and listen to music online. Sports and news consumption, on the other hand, have both dropped off by around 20 percent since June 2009.
"Although we see similar characteristics amongst pc and mobile Internet use, the way their activity is allocated is still pretty contrasting," revealed Martin. "While convergence will continue, the unique characteristics of computers and mobiles, both in their features and when and where they are used mean that mobile Internet behavior mirroring its PC counterpart is still some way off."
Source : http://news.discovery.com/tech/social-media-online-gaming-rule-lives.htm What did you get from this news? I also knew that people enjoy spending time on social networking activities via their mobile phone and PC in the United States. The most popular activities are social networking, playing games and email leaving.
Twitter Finds a Place in the Classroom
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Students tap away at their cell phones, laptops and iPads during Enrique Legaspi's high-tech history lesson. In some grade schools, pulling out these devices during class would result in a one-way ticket to the principal's office. But Legaspi encourages this behavior, as long as the kids are using Twitter.
A technology enthusiast, Legaspi learned how to incorporate the social network into his 8th-grade curriculum while attending the annual Macworld convention in San Francisco earlier this year. "I had an aha moment there," he said. "I said to myself, 'This is going to really engage my students.' "
Teachers across the country have been incorporating Twitter into classrooms for a few years, but the site's adoption by educational institutions appears to be limited. A survey of 1,920 U.S. teachers published in April found that 2% of them use the micro-blogging site in college lectures. About half those polled said the use of Twitter and Facebook in class is harmful to the learning experience, according to the study from consulting firm Pearson Learning Solutions.
Still, Legaspi is hopeful. When he explained the plan to his students at Hollenbeck Middle School in East Los Angeles, he learned that only one of them had used Twitter. But most, he said, live on their phones. So getting them started wasn't difficult. Students who don't have Internet-connected gadgets of their own can use the class computers.
A teacher for eight years, Legaspi said experience has taught him that a small group of students tend to dominate classroom discussions. During the seminar at Macworld, other teachers reported seeing broader student participation through Twitter.
CNN observed Legaspi standing in front of a projected screen discussing the death toll from World War I. When he asked the classroom how many people died in that conflict, several tweets started showing up on his screen with various answers. "Many men died because of the terrible conditions they were living in," one student tweeted.
Legaspi said shy students are benefiting the most. For "a lot of them, what it did is help find their voice," he said. "I have many students that do not participate in my classes or share what's on their mind, so Twitter became that vehicle."
Several students praised the new approach.
"It's a great way to get people to notice you," said Oscar Lozoria, a shy 14-year-old with long hair that other students used to tease him about. He said Twitter has changed how his peers view him. "They see me as somebody now -- as an equal," he said.
Ivan Sabaria, also 14, said Twitter makes learning more fun. "I'm paying attention and doing all my work," he said. Occasionally, the students will type in something inappropriate during class. Still, Legaspi is convinced he has discovered the future of education. "I get feedback on the spot. Not only that, all the students can see what they're sharing," he said. "This is powerful."
Source : http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/06/08/twitter.school/ What did you get from this news? I also knew that twitter finds a place in the U.S. classroom. It can be profit, particularly in the shy students, they can tap away or share what's on their mind via twitter. Moreover, it can make the students to participate in the classroom either. Thereby, twitter becomes that vehicle and makes the students to participate in the classroom.
