Margo's journal entry

We had a chance to look through a theme that had been discussed at the Cardiff On-line’s forum. I chose the topic about using poetry in teaching English language. There was a great number of comments and to say the truth I didn’t read till the very end but I liked the part I had opportunity to read. I liked the idea people spoke about. On the last year’s main cours of English we learned a poem. It was rather long so we had to remember it little by little. It helps very much with right pronouociation of difficult words such as “corps” and “sword”. Besides I am interested in poetry since school so I believe it would be great if we have learned more poems and literature.

Reference to Cardiff Online Forum

I've got acquainted with the forum discussion of the topic What is critical thinking? The author of the topic, Sue, opened the discussion on the question what people do during the class when the hub is critical thinking. Under this term she means what kinds of tasks are involved and how students are tought to think critically, especially in a conversation with other adult students or tutors. Some members of the forum discussion say that critical thinking helps to put recieved knowledge into life, but there is a point which showes that not all knowledge is usefull in life, for example, studying physics at the university a person can't use the knowledge of this field of science for such an ordinary act as repairing an iron. But when one speaks about critical thinking s/he means, in general, two components: 'a set of skills to generate information and beliefs, and the habit, based in intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behaviour'. According to these components one can say that each person has his individual critical thinking.

How Green Is My Bottle?

Have you ever think what the word “green” means? I always think that it is something environmentally friendly. Often we have to choose from two evils the least one but it appears that sometimes we are mistaken. Daniel Goleman and Gregory Norris researched the damage on the environment using the stainless steel water and plastic bottles. I was surprised that the stainless steel water bottle needs seven times as much fossil fuel, frees 14 times more greenhouse gases, involves the extraction of hundreds of times more metal resources and causes hundreds of times more toxic risk to people and ecology than a 32-gram plastic bottle makes. So what things we use calling them “green”! Is there really innocuous material that we can use in our everyday life without any risk?

Annie Dentsova's Journal Entry

I have read the article about Free Relationships recently. It is about many young people in the modern world who are not aimed at building their own families. They live only for their own pleasure at the present moment, so they don’t think about the future. These young people want to be independent and not to have any responsibilities to their lovers. It leads to the relations for a night when they don’t need to know even their names. That’s why a lot of young people go to a night club having this purpose on their minds. Such relations cause the wrong valuable’s priority. Young people begin to deny family’s importance in the life. They think that money and entertainments give much more pleasure. But I guess it is the wrong point of you. When you have the person who you really love and trust you are a happy person. Of course, it is difficult to build lasting relations but the result will give you real pleasure, not fake one.

Ania Belkina's Journal Entry

I have read one sad article about the results of gambling. A man started to gamble because of his friend’s advice. First time he played on game machines, and it didn’t have much influence on him. He got rid of stress at the end of a hard working day. Later he began to visit casinos. He was very lucky and often won big amounts of money. However, it couldn’t last for a long time. He began to lose. As he got used to win, he wanted to recoup his losses and began to borrow money. As soon as he paid off, he had other debts. This story seemed to be endless, but he got involved with the casino’s mafia. The mafia doesn’t remit debts, so they kidnapped his son and made his wife be a prostitute. The man tried to solve these problems and take up money, but he couldn’t. His business was finally destroyed, and his debts were very high. The mafia couldn’t wait any more, so the man and his family were killed. It is a terrible story, because the man began an addict. He didn’t want any evil to his family, he didn’t controlled himself. Unfortunately, there’re a lot of similar cases in the life because gambling is connected with a big amount of money. Each city has its “gambling mafia”.

Margo's journal entry

Why is it difficult to predict earthquakes?

I’ve read an article from New York Times’ science section. There was a way of prediction of earthquakes contains measuring a level of radon gas releasing from rocks and a few examples of situations where the method was confirmed or not. Quakes can be set off by human activity such as pojects connected with digging the ground too deep and injecting water there or with reservoirs. And they said that, unfortunately, prediction of earthquakes damaging buildings and even whole cities, leading to deaths of many people becomes a frustrating and chancy activity because of a gap in knowledge about earthquakes.
This topic was interesting for me to read because I like science and nature and I am really interested in such phenomenon as earthquake. I know that scientists from all over the world think how they can make prediction of underground quakes more accurate and opportune. If you ask me whether I have a personal interst in the theme, I will say that everybody has it. Earthquake can take place in any point of Earth and all humanity should be interested in their own security.

("Earthquakes’ Many Mysteries Stymie Efforts to Predict Them" New York Times 14 April 2009)

Animals in science

"The end justifies the means." In my opinion this phrase is rather disputable. But if it's applied to a medical research, which purpose is finding a medicine for a seriouse disease?
The article, which I've read, was devoted to the problem of animals usage in researchers. As an example Stanford University was taken. According to the author, this university has a number of requirements to the research in which animals are used. For example, before beginning any research an investigator should submit a special paper. This paper includes a detailed description of the research's procedure, a list of reasons of animals necessity,moreover, there should a list of medicines which will be used during a research. Then this paper must be approved by the special committe and by the president of the university. Only after this procedure a research begins.
This article surprised me, because I've never heard about such rules. Also it will be interesting to find out whether Russia has such kind of rules or not.

Olya's journal entry

Have you ever tried to write poems? Have you ever thought why this form of expressing own feelings and ideas is always popular among almost all young people all over the world?  
I’ve read an article about collections of poems which were written especially for teenagers. The author of the article gives rather positive estimate to this event. She writes that it’s much more useful to create something even not so original than hide suffering by some other activities. I am totally agree with her because I think that even one simple line can change the inner world of young person, can help for better understanding his or her worrying. As teenagers becoming young adults are faced with a lot of problems and contradictions and very often they can’t communicate with their parents and even friends because of fear being not properly understood. And according to the article the poetry may greatly help them to solve their problems only if they wish. 
I consider that the topic of the discussion written in this article would be interesting for everyone because every person experiences feelings and emotions which are better to write, to structure in the sheet of paper then to tell someone. Also reading poems and tales of other people might help to see them in more private way and to understand them better.
So writing poetry is the most exiting and wonderful process which has a lot of advantages! And if you never tried to do, it’s never late! 

(New York Times 'A Lovely Way to Burn'; Published: By Katie Roiphe; April 10, 2009)

Doc, I like ur userpic!!! It's amusing!

Olya's essay: " Japan’s Whaling Obsession"

Currently there is a really terrible problem of whaling in Japan. The reason is in killing these rarest mammals in large amount. In spite of the fact that almost all countries have forbidden to hunt and kill whales, Japanese officials and researchers consider such murders as a matter of cuisine’s tradition, continuing to kill whales under the name of “research”. The social opinion about whale catching has dramatically changed for the last years. None of countries approve Japan. Also the nineteen offices of Greenpeace organization sent to Japan’s government letters blaming whales’ slaughter. Greenpeace calls Japan to stop its program immediately. So what measures should be taken for saving whales? Why it’s so awful to slaughter them? I will try to answer these questions and prove my opinion in this essay.

First of all, as for economical point of view, according to official data Japan every year kills more than five hundred whales. I think it’s rather a big number considering that whales are in a danger and every representative is greatly important. Certainly, this is very profitable for restaurant and supermarket’s business but never the less; there is a great amount of fish and many other sea products which can also bring in big revenue in economy of the country. 

Secondly, it’s impossible to kill whales by more humane methods because they are too big and that’s why they are slaughtered by explosive which destroys almost every vital creature. Also whale men often use harpoons and that’s why whales died slowly and with torments. I suppose that to hurt such innocent mammals without any weighty reasons is absolutely incorrect. This is not any arguments which could be allowed to kill whales. Moreover, in my point of view, everything that people receive from whales can be received without cruelty and murder. Thereby, killing whales is very unethical act.

To sum up, I would like to say that, people in Japan should revise their views concerning the value of these mammals. I am against any slaughter even if there is a question of national traditions. Killing of whales should be stopped because it causes unnecessary suffering to poor mammals who are also able to enjoy their life.

Ania Belkina. Family Business

Family companies are not new and rare nowadays. Some people prefer this kind of business, another prefer to work in unknown group of people. So what is good and bad about it?

First of all, family business is based on absolute trust between companions. For example, a wife commits all the financial book-keeping to her beloved husband because she knows him very well and trusts him as herself. As all the money goes to the one family, all the members can plan how to increase their capitals. I think it is very effective because they combine actions in order to reach their common goal.

But with some time these advantages may be ruined. Business is a well-counted and “cruel” way to turn everything to highest possible advantage. It is made with the one goal: to make a huge wealth. This aim makes people very selfish, so they forget about everything. And this case can happen with family business. Yesterday companions can turn out to be today rivals and even enemies. Several years ago there was a case about such kind of business. One not very big company was owned by a father, son and uncle. The son was an ambitious young man who’d like to make himself a career really fast. He needed the uncle’s share holding because he wanted to be on equal terms with his father. At first, the young man tried to ask him to give the shares deceiving that the company became noncompetitive on the market. However, the uncle refused and was shot by the nephew, whom he had brought up.

Nowadays the family business can not be suitable form of business. Time is changing, and people in the business world are getting greedier. This kind of people is ready for everything to get all the money. So even blood relations is sometimes nothing for this cruel world, where money determines everything.

LIFE AS A MODEL

Nowadays fashion is one of the most popular spheres of our life, so many girls dream about a model’s career. They’d like to walk along the podium demonstrating the most fashionable and expensive clothes. However, only few of them meet a chance to become a successful model. Although these girls’ dreams fulfill, most of their parents are not happy and stand against their daughters’ decisions.
The career as a model has a lot of considerable advantages. Girls are taught to defile, do the suitable make-up, and work for photo and video camera in a fashion school. They are also taught ethics and etiquette. This knowledge is really useful for presenting themselves in a right way to make a good impression on the society. I think it is important even for everyday life. Models travel to different parts of the world for fashion shows. But in many cases these shows take place in the capitals of fashion, Paris and Milan. As a lot of famous and rich people attend the fashion shows, models have a lot of acquaintances between them. So models are well-connected, and they can use these personal contacts for the progress in the career. And of course models are highly paid. Despite the profits depend on their fame; even the beginners in Russia are paid several tens of thousands of rubles for the one show.
However, each medal has another side, the bad side. In most cases the model’s career is quite early and transient. In Russia girls become models at least at the age of 14. If they decide to become professional models, they will make much more effort to reach this goal. However, at this age they had better think about their education in school and university. As the world of fashion always needs young and beautiful models, the career finishes before 30 years old. As a result there is a capricious and addicted to glamorous life woman without any education left, who, if she is very lucky, can be only an oligarch’s wife. Models should watch over their figures in order to be thin. Because of this fact they always keep to a rigorous diet and practically eat nothing. That’s why they are easily prone to anorexia, which some models even died of. Models have some bad reputation. They accompany rich men at parties and other events. It is believed that they become mistresses of the wealth men and spend as much money as they want. The model business is connected with a large amount of money, so there can be murders because of money. Last year there was such a strange story about one Kazakh model, who lived in the USA. It was considered that she had jumped from the balcony of her flat situated at a great height. However, later the official version, suicide, was denied by some new facts.
To sum up, being a model can be good for a self-development of features, which can help every girl to behave herself more confidently. But having it as a main profession is not advantageous.

We become responsible for what we have created.

We become responsible for what we have created.

Inventors, who are they? In different periods of time they were treated differently: in the ancient times people thought that they were magicians, in the middle ages they were thought to be controlled by an evil spirit. Even nowadays people don’t have any definite opinion about such kind of people. I think that it mostly depends on their inventions.

Only few hundred years ago people didn’t know what electricity is, and now we can’t imagine our life without it. On the one hand, during the history of mankind lots of discoveries have been made and a great number of useful things has been discovered, but, on the other hand, some inventions have become real disasters. That’s why the questions of the inventor’s responsibility keeps me think a lot.

The brightest example of such inventions is the hydrogen bomb. It was one of the most important, but at the same time the worst invention of the twenty century. Firstly it was invented by the American scientist Advard Teller. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked with it. Consequences of this attack were awful: both cities were destroyed, 2oo thousand people were killed and tens of thousands of people were dyeing of radiation. But it didn’t become a signal to stop the creation of such kind of weapon. Four years after the Soviet hydrogen bomb was made by Sakharov.

Of course, it’s difficult to decide whether two scientists had any rights to create this weapon or not, because during that period America and Soviet Union were in the Cold War, and there was a danger of World War III or nuclear war, that’s why both countries were eager to create strong weapon. But what disappointed me most of all is that niter Sakharov nor Teller didn’t feel sorry about what they had created. In the biography Sakharov said that it was necessary to create the bomb, because he thought that concentration of nuclear weapon in one hand is really dangerous- he wanted to create a balance, to avoid the nuclear war.
Some years after the bomb creation, the radiation influence was studied carefully. Sakharov and many other scientists expressed the idea of nuclear disarmament.

All in all, in my opinion all inventions should be used for the benefit of mankind, but not against it. The main people’s mistake is that firstly they do and only after think about consequences. It’s thought that we are responsible for those we have tamed. The same should be applied to inventions and it doesn’t matter in what period of time it is created.


( materials from http://poiski-s.narod.ru/soznanie/sah-bomba.htm)

Take Control

It is not a secret that television has a great social impact on young people. Parents should know that television has both positive and negative influence on the children. They try to forbid watching TV, playing different computer games while the character of the children and their habits are being formed. Erica C. Roach is a woman who made her children read books and almost didn’t allow them to watch television until they aged 13. She thought that nowadays children are becoming more dependent on the mass media and different kinds of entertainment. They spend too much time in front of the computer which influence on not only their physical state but mental health too. I think parents should be aware of what their children do and watch, and then children will become mental healthy. Very often this is the mistake of the parents who allow their children to do what they want. I suppose that to make children do something is not a good way to bring up them. So, there are different peaceful ways to involve them into other leisure activities.

First of all, parents should watch TV with the child explaining what is good or bad and why. If they are watching something violent it could be useful to ask the child to think of other ways to solve problems without hurting someone or something, to talk about why nonviolence is important for them. Also, it is essential to ask the child to compare what is seen on TV with people, places and events they have seen or learned about in school. All these tricks will help the children to choose programs themselves according to .parents’ explanations.

Then, I think the best way to get a child away from TV is to find another arousing interest and fascinating pastime. I remember a conversation that several students of psychological department were discussing this problem. They said that the parents who make their children read books or to do something else instead of watching TV commit one big mistake. Their strict prohibitions may not only put a strain on the psych of the child but converse effect. There are many techniques parents can use. It will be useful to cook something together or to plant flowers in the garden, to play educational computer games or to visit the library, museums, shops or other points of interest. Such methods draw children’s attention away the television; moreover, they develop their imagination and different skills. Also, the relationship becomes warmer and closer, because parents try to spend as much time with their child as they can.

Anyway, the parents are responsible for mental health of their children that is why they must actively manage television viewing by young children, balancing it with a variety of daily activities to promote healthy development. But children are members of society and I think it is not allowed to prohibit them to be connected with the world.

Using Wild Fish in the Pet Food Industry by Margo

Nowadays a lot of people have got pets such as dogs and cats in houses. Many of these people feed their animals with special pet food bought in a shop. There are a great number of pet food we can find in shops — Whiskas or Pedigree. Also many of pet owners use fish to feed their cats, and somebody even feeds dogs with fish. It is also known that there are farms where fish, and poultry, and swines are raised and farms use wild fish as a forage. A lot of wild fish and animals caught in the ocean become a food for the farm-raised animals.

Is using the wild fish in the pet food industry god or bad, profitable or unprofitable, healthy or unhealthy? This question can be studied from different points of view such as moral, economical, and political.

What do you think a usual person will answer if somebody ask him or her, “Is it good to catch fish and kill sea animals in order to make food?” A single person will probably say, “No, killing animals is bad.” He/she would answer in that way without much thinking because it is a habit. Killing is immoral, nobody argues with this statement and this idea. However, as I’ve already mentioned, many people keep pets and feed them with forage made from this fish.

So, I want to stop here because the topic is rather difficult and disputable and an answer depends on a personal opinion. Everybody can give their own thoughts and explaination.

Speaking about economical point of view I want to underline that fishing is an important part of national food production together with planting cereals and vegetables and raising animals on farms. I do not mention the part of caught wild fish that becomes human’s only food. Mentioned farm-raised animals also become a food. Human beings couldn’t imagine their lives without pork, poultry and salmon now. Domestic and farm-raised animals need to be fed as well. Feeding them with ocean fish is very spread in countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Russia, etc. So, for the economy using fish is really profitable and it would be hard to refuse this activity.

I have also said there is one more point of view to the problem. Political problems connected with fishing can also be seen as moral in several cases but the main idea is a little bit different than moral’s one. The thing is that some nations such as islanders or people from several Asian countries live just on fish and fishing; and when big good developed countries like the US catching too much fish these people starve. This is a political problem. It is something like a choise between people of poor countries and animals of rich developed states.

I think that fishing and using fish are very important but they are rather problematic as well. Maybe if wild fish stopped to be caught in so big quantities, it would help many problems and misunderstanding. Speaking about the pet food industry I think that scientists could find a solution, maybe even a vegan food for cats and other domestic carnivors.

Margo's journal entry

I have sent this work to Natalia Yurievna through e-mail and now I thought that it would be better if I post it too.

I've read an article the main idea of which contains an opinion that there is too much wild fish, taken from ocean, is being used in the pet food industry. Obviously, fish is a very important forage for domestic or farm-raised animals and necessary human food. Fish meat and fish oil are parts of ration of not only people but also piglets, and salmon, and many others. The problem is familiar for us. Most of people know that ocean resourses are exploited too often and strong; so, it is important and necessary to find a way that could help both difficulties. They are necessaty of food or so called forage for farm-raised swines, poultry, salmon; and need to stop using fish and sea animals that much. Than the author of the article said there are many debates about all of this in America, and few solutions had already found. One of them is making a vegan food for cats and other domestic carnivors.

This theme was interesting for me, firstly, because I was always worried about protection of environment. Since school I like nature and parts of science exploring living creatures and environment itself, so I prefer naturalistic articles to, for example, mathematical or economical. Secondly, the topic of the article is more or less important for me in practical way. I have got a cat and that's why my interest in pet food industry is obviously higher than people's who don't keep an animal. My cat needs to be fed and the question about what food is good for him and what would be being sold in some time concerns me directly. (New York Times 'Cat Got Your Fish?'Published: March 21, 2009 )