Flood Relief: Start With A Shoe Box

This 'Flood Relief' donation box was made from a shoe box by my friend who attended the first Wipe The Tied movement. This movement can involve anyone from anywhere that has the heart and will to help Thailand overcome this ongoing catastrophe by breaking into groups and collecting money on busy streets and malls. Members who began the Wipe The Tide movement have already held three events and are planning on the fourth. Because of my own situation at home, I could not attend the first three events, but the sponsors of this movement assured me they would be holding more.  My friend made this donation box on the first event, which is why I chose this particular photo.

Clearly some people who are not affected by the floods take a more selfish approach to the current disaster. Merchants and shop owners are increasing the prices of their products for their own financial gain. I feel that this kind of thinking is extremely unethical. The victims of the floods are in need of certain materials and products, especially after having lost their homes/possessions, yet these merchants are taking advantage of their trouble. To realize that some people are only looking at the floods as a "playing field" for their own gain disgusts me. This is why I feel that what my friend and the people volunteering and are involved in the Wipe The Tide movements are extremely inspirational and are the hearts that will help Thailand move on.

To think that people are willing to come out at times of need to help those who are suffering is not only inspirational but creates a sense of hope. On the first Wipe The Tide event, my friend informed me that they collected an approximated total of 27k. On week 2, approximately 130thousand baht and week 3, approximately 328thousand baht was collected. I feel that this is such a huge achievement and immediately wanted to take part as well. What this photo and the entire concept of the Wipe The Tide movement means to me is that even while people no longer have a home to return to or are arguing over political issues causing the floods, citizens of Thailand are still willing to unite and lend a hand because of the love they have for their country. It gives me confidence that Thailand is 100% capable of overcoming this dilemma and restore the happy faces of the Land of Smiles.

This is a photo of the donation box I made and a photo of me participating in the fourth Wipe the Tide movement:

Here's the Facebook link to the Wipe The Tide movement: https://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=227949590601513

Opinion on Homeopathy

Our immune system fend off potentially harmful germs by being exposed to a small amount of germs and quickly familiarizing with it. Doing so allows our immune system to recognize the type of bacteria it is, the harm it could cause our body and create antibodies that help rid or cure the bacteria.  An example of it would be injections/vaccines for certain types of allergies and other minor conditions, such as chicken pox. Scientists refer to this as "like cures like" and the same idea is used in the theory of homeopathy.
Remedies in homeopathy are very diluted solutions that scientists often say that the original solution (before being diluted with water/alcohol) are no longer present. I feel that this isn't a valid reason to believe homeopathy is a branch of pseudoscience.But I also have hard time believing Benveniste's  "water having memory" theory were water molecule's remember which substances it had dissolved. Perhaps homeopathy studies are able to bring forth remedies that could in fact cure certain disease, but I am reluctant to believe this theory. If a doctor were to suggest means of homeopathy for a condition I had, I would think twice about it and most likely refuse. This area of study would require more concrete facts and conclusion in order to be considered 'scientifically valid' and make its way out of the pseudoscience category to gain more supporters - including mine.

Reflection: Excerpt from Bill Bryson's book about cells

 It's rather amusing how I considered this article to be a tedious activity, another assignment that I'd have to complete because...well, because its an assignment, when in reality; it turned out to be a whole lot more intriguing than I had expected. The topic is cells, and I don't mean any offense to Bill Bryson or any other scientists with an ambition for cell studies, but this isn't the most interesting topic. Yet this excerpt has given me a few surprising points that changed my idea of cells and arouse interacting questions of the topic in general.

 The feature that stands out from this article, are not the facts, but Bill Bryson's voice. His immensity of cell passion seems to be driving him to write in such thought provoking way.  It gives me a new look and a rather ironic idea of how the smallest unit of life, seems to be a motivational force for even the greatest minds. Another example would be Antoni van Leeuwenhock, who, as the article states "..tried to study the explosive properties of gunpowder.....nearly blinded himself in the process." This determination and conquest of cellular understanding  from scientists is appalling - as if it were the cell's way of revenge of being completely unappreciated and unacknowledged. 
Moving on to the factual features of the article, there were two main statements that stood out most. First, we lose approximately five hundred brain cells within an hour. If this is true, this calculates to a total of 12,000 brain cells in a day. This links to the idea that if you hold in a sneeze, you lose a few brain cells as well - whether this is a false statement or not, I'd think twice about holding in my sneeze from now on. The second fact: the egg is eighty five thousand times bigger than the sperm, not as much surprises me as it scares me. Of course from the egg a human form begins to take place so it should be expected the egg is larger, but the idea that the sperm - after traveling and becoming the first to reach the egg, is only a speck in comparison. The potential of the sperm astounds me because that one tiny gamete cell, is able to carry the information to a humungous egg cell where it triggers the formation of human life.


As I finished reading this excerpt, I was left with a few questions. Scientists often "estimate" or "approximate" numbers. But how exactly are estimations to do with cells made? For example, the article said that "It has been estimated that you lose five hundred of them an hour..", but was this estimation done through counting? Another question I found to be curious was how long it takes a cell to destroy itself once it receives the message to do so? Is it an immediate response or a slow one? Does the rate of this affect the organism in general? These were the main questions I had in relation to cellular research after I finished reading this article.