第９１回　WORKSHOP報告（１０月４日） / 参加者７３名

第９１回　WORKSHOP報告（１０月４日） / 参加者７３名

 

1

（１：新人の方が多く参加してくれました）

 

 

2

（２：前半のマテリアル作成者Hさんからご挨拶です）

 

 

11

（３：今回初参加　ネイティブ講師のJさんからご挨拶でした）

 

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《　今回のworkshop　》

 

○workshop参加人数：７３名（うち新人の方：９名）

 

○【前半】：”Have you ever dreamed of transferring your living space to another planet?”というテーマでディスカッション

 

○【後半】：”Legalization of Marijuana: Pros and Cons”というテーマでディスカッション

 

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＜英語サークル　E’s club　第９１回workshopのご案内＞

 

みなさまこんばんは、E’s club幹事のKです。

１０月４日（土）開催の第９１回workshopの詳細をお送りいたします。

 

今回は久しぶりにネイティブ講師をお迎えしてのworkshopとなります。

講師は米国人のJ先生です。

韓国で英語講師の経験もあります。

 

J先生には後半のマテリアルをご作成いただきました。

 

前半のマテリアルはHさんにご作成いただきました。

ディスカッションのテーマは”Have you ever dreamed of transferring your living space to another planet?”です。

E’sのWorkshopでは珍しい計算問題もありますが、こちらもぜひチャレンジしてみてください。

 

[今週のマテリアル]

＜FIRST HALF＞

今回のFIRST HALFはHが作成いたしました。

秋の夜長、空を見上げる時間が多くなってきましたがみなさんいかがお過ごしでしょうか。

昨今都会では昼も夜も明るく、じっくりと星空を眺める時間もないかもしれません。

 

忙しい毎日の中、『ぱっと気晴らしにどこか遠いところに行きたい』、『誰もいないところでゆっくり休養したい』そんな想いを寄せる方に耳寄り情報です。

火星に行ってみませんか。

帰りのチケットなしのOne-way tripになりますが。。。

 

<Topic>

Have you ever dreamed of transferring your living space to another planet?

 

<Introduction>

Recently a very intriguing news emerged from a Dutch company called “Mars One” which was founded by 36-year-old engineer Bas Lansdorp.

 

According to the statement, there had already been over 200 thousand applications, from all over the world, including a few from Japan before the company chose some candidates, although the trip would be one-way to Mars.

 

If all proceeds as planned, until 2023 human-beings will have settled and construct a colony on the surface of Mars. After the first team landing, every two years a team of four additional astronauts would arrive to reinforce the existing colony.

 

After hearing this dreamy project, we could not help hit on one question.

“Why should we launch ourselves into space?”

“What makes us head into the stars?”

I guess there are probably many answers, viewpoints, yet the ultimate one may be  that we are searching for our the origin of our species; “Where on earth are we from” to be brief.

 

In the aspect of technology, we already have enough skills to succeed in this aggressive project such as launching manned rocket, establishing colonies, fostering plants and animals – even on Mars!!

 

Some scientists adamantly opposed this unprecedented project, in light of ethics, cost, religion, safety and danger.

 

On the other hand, others argue strongly that this challenging project “Must DO”.

Looking back our planet, we have quite a lot of complicated problems stemming from natural disaster such as unknown viruses, tsunami disasters, acid rains, global warming, climate change and so on. Some of them are caused by human beings. Additionally, we cannot find a solution for any of our sorrowful wars existing among the nations.

 

While these complicated problems are threatening our habitats, “Transferring living space to another planet”, which our human-beings have been long for, is becoming more realistic.

 

This time, I want you to debate the questions as written bellow.

 

Q1: If you had a chance to go to Mars, (but your safety and return tickets were secured), would you want to hop on the band wagon? And if one of your friends or relatives made a decision to take it, would you dissuade him or her? Why?

<tips>Curiosity, Honor, Challenge, Contribution, Interest, Family, Relatives

 

Q2: Do you think that we have the rights to reform environment on Mars.

<tips> Heritage, Ethics, Religion, Morals and Values

 

Q3 Do you think that changing Mars to let human-beings settle can be a solution for complicated problems occurring on the Earth?

<tips> Global population, New technology, Unknown problems, Environment, Renewable energy, Territorial boundaries, Racial problems

 

Q4 If a new tax system named “Universe tax” imposed us in order to raise money to keep running the project, would you agree or disagree on it?

<tips> burden, financial cost, Personal goals, Scientific endeavor, human obligation

 

Q5 Imagine. If we could live on Mars, what kind of problems would happen in your daily life?

<e.g.> You might be willing to measure your weight on a weigh-machine beside your bath room, because the gravity of Mars is much less than the Earth’s.

 

Q6 What the Earth would be like 10,000 years later.　Would you think your descendants will thrive?

 

Q7 Calculate: How much is her weight on Mars? (Her weight is 45kg on the Earth.)

<Conditions>

Earth mass : Mars mass = 1 : 0.107

Earth radius = 6370[km]

Mars radius  = 3440[km]

＜tips＞ You can use the law of universal gravitation which Isaac Newton discovered.

F =G×M1×M2÷R÷R

 

<Reference>

＜英語版ニュース＞

http://abcnews.go.com/International/dutch-company-offering-trip-mars/story?id=18832412

 

Company Offers One-Way Trip to Mars

Mar. 28, 2013

By BEN WALDRON via World News

 

A Dutch start-up named Mars One is hoping to send a select group of brave astronauts on a one-way trip to the Red Planet in the year 2023 with the aim of establishing a permanent human colony.

 

If all proceeds as planned, Mars One would launch four astronauts on the interplanetary voyage in 2022, landing the team on the surface of Mars in 2023, after which they would begin constructing the colony. Every two years, a team of four additional astronauts would arrive to reinforce the existing colony.

 

Founded in 2010 by 36-year-old engineer Bas Lansdorp, Mars One says it has developed a road map and financing plan for the project, and that the mission is perfectly feasible. “Mars One has developed a precise, realistic plan based entirely upon existing technologies,” the website says. “It is both economically and logically feasible, in motion through the integration of existing suppliers and experts in space exploration.”

 

Lansdorp told ABC News the primary colony, which will consist of several interlocked modules, will include small bedrooms, a larger common room, and areas for computer and research work. “It will look a lot like an Arctic station,” said Lansdorp.

 

In the years leading up to the astronauts’ landing, several cargo missions will take place to prepare the settlement. “Two rovers will move the equipment to the right location to the settlement, which will be habitable before they depart from earth,” said Lansdorp. “After they land they will have to do a lot of construction work to make it their new home.”

 

In order to raise the estimated $6 billion required to fund such an ambitious project, Lansdorp says that it hopes to capitalize on vast public interest in a manned mission to Mars by selling global broadcasting rights to the mission.

 

“The revenue garnered by the London Olympics was almost enough to finance a mission to mars,” Lansdorp said. “We believe that if we can make this happen it will be much bigger than the Olympic games.”

 

In effect the entire mission, from the early stages of planning, to the selection of the crew, to the landing and construction of the settlement, would be a massive reality TV show.

 

Mars One expects to begin the selection process for the astronauts who will be participating in the mission this spring.

 

“It will be a worldwide search for the best candidates and about six groups of four people will be selected in 2015,” Lansdorp said. “From that time on they will be full-time employees of Mars One and they will learn all the hardware, medical skills, how to construct and repair and grow their own food.”

 

Lansdorp says he is expecting over a million applications from prospective Mars One astronauts from around the world. After several application rounds designed to narrow the field and ensure that candidates are qualified, Mars One intends to broadcast the national selection process worldwide as a type of reality TV show, with viewers picking the eventual winners.

 

“We feel the selection of the first people to go to Mars should be a democratic process, we want to ask the audience ‘who do you want as your ambassador to Mars and your envoy for mankind?'”

 

The project is not without its skeptics, and concerns have been raised about the logistics required to get the astronauts to the Martian surface, and their ability to provide for themselves upon arrival.

 

“To send people there, with life support, with food, with air, with all the other things that they need, books, entertainment, means of communication, and means of providing for their own resources for a long stay on Mars, that’s even more challenging,” said Mars expert Dr. Alan Baker of Kingston University in the U.K. in an interview with Reuters. “The sheer size of the rockets you’d need to do this would be absolutely colossal,” he said.

 

But Mars One and Lansdorp remain optimistic, and stressed that the technology required for a one-way trip to Mars already exists.

 

“We know that we are working on a complex, ambitious project. There will be many hurdles to take, but we are eager to face and overcome those hurdles with the help of our suppliers, advisers and ambassadors,” he said.

 

＜日本語版ニュース＞

http://www.tel.co.jp/museum/magazine/spacedev/130422_interview02/index.html

 

 

＜LATTER HALF＞

Questions for discussion

1. What do you think of when you hear the word marijuana?

2. How many nicknames for marijuana (there were two mentioned in the article) do you know?

3. What are the pros and cons of marijuana legalization?

4. Do you think marijuana legalization is a good idea?

5. Do you think marijuana for medical use should be allowed?

6. Do you think marijuana will ever be legalized in Japan?

7. Do you think marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol?

8. Have you ever tried something in another country which was legal there, but illegal in Japan? For example, firing a hand gun?

9. Can you think of anything which is legal in Japan, but illegal in other countries?

10. Is there anything you would like to see legalized in Japan? Is there anything you would like to see illegalized in Japan?

11. Are there any laws you would like to change in Japan?

12. Can you think of any laws in America or other countries which eventually became laws in Japan?

13. Do you know of any strange or unusual laws in other countries?

14. Currently, Washington and Colorado are the only states which have legalized marijuana sales and consumption in the United States. Do you think it will become legal in all 50 states? Which states in the U.S. do you think will legalize marijuana next?

15. In the 2012 elections in America, Initiative 502 in Washington and Colorado Amendment 64 in Colorado, legalized the sale and purchase of marijuana. Both laws were passed by popular vote, with about 56% of voters voting yes, and 44% voting no. Do you think it is a good idea to allow people to vote on the laws of their states?

16. Do you have any unhealthy habits (drinking, smoking, gambling, etc.)? Why do you do them?

 

July 23. 2014 12:01AM

Legalization of Marijuana: Pros and Cons

 

Is legal marijuana really the fiscal and medical savior that advocates claim it to be? Maybe, maybe not.

 

The legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington was a boon to stoners everywhere – if they weren’t taking pilgrimages to the new Pot Promised Land, they were reveling in the fact that each state victory on the marijuana front is potentially one step closer to legalization everywhere.

 

But is legal marijuana really the fiscal and medical savior that advocates claim it to be? Maybe, maybe not. Here, we weigh both sides of the debate.

 

Weed, the Super Drug…

Certainly the case for the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes in Washington and Colorado was aided by the relative success of medical marijuana programs in 22 states around the country. In fact, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a respected neurosurgeon and CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, wrote acannabis love letter of sorts in 2013, retracting his previous opinion that marijuana should not be legalized. “…There are very legitimate medical applications. In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works,” wrote Gupta, recounting the story of Charlotte Figi, a Colorado woman whose 300-plus seizures per week has been reduced to 2 to 3 per month thanks to medical marijuana. “I have seen more patients like Charlotte first hand, spent time with them and come to the realization that it is irresponsible not to provide the best care we can as a medical community, care that could involve marijuana.”

 

Marijuana has been reported to help with medical issues ranging from simple pain relief, to glaucoma treatment, to an appetite stimulator for patients suffering from cancer, AIDS or anorexia. Even still, not everyone agrees with Gupta. “Smoking is generally a poor way to deliver medicine,” says Dr. Akikur Mohammad, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist with a specialty in addictive medicine. “As a doctor, I assure you that it is almost impossible to administer safe, regulated dosages of medicines in smoked form. Morphine, for example, has proven to be a medically valuable drug, but no responsible physician endorses smoking opium or heroin.”

 

Recent studies have also suggested that marijuana use in youth can lead to permanent damage, a problem that would likely be exacerbated by widespread legalization. Ultimately, though, definitive conclusions on the medical benefits or drawbacks of marijuana are hard to come by, since the drug’s status as a schedule 1 substance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency makes it’s difficult to obtain even for research purposes.

 

Or Cash Cow?

Marijuana’s potential effect on the medical community may be unclear at this point, but one thing is certain: It’s economic impact is massive. In an interview with Katie Couric, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper estimated that his state will bring in between $60 and $100 million in marijuana-related taxes this year, and as much as $130 in 2015.

 

And when it comes to the war on drugs, the DEA’s much-maligned and generally unsuccessful attempt to stem the street drug trade, legal marijuana is a winner yet again. “By legalizing, regulating and taxing the drug, we are able to keep illegal inventory out of circulation,” says David Cohn, editor-in-chief ofFloridaMarijuanaInfo.org. “By using seed-to-sale tracking systems like what Washington has put in place, all inventory is accounted for, which makes it nearly impossible to slip in illegal inventory from outside drug cartels. More importantly, making it easy and safe for people to get marijuana from legal dispensaries puts illegal drug dealers out of business. A recent FBI report noted that violent crime has gone down in places like Colorado where it has been legalized.” Hickenlooper shared a similar sentiment, stating that Colorado’s black market for weed had definitely been damaged.

 

There are expenses related to this brand new industry, however. Hickenlooper noted that, because the federal government still considers marijuana illegal, banks won’t accept money from drug retailers. As a result, Colorado is working to create a financial institution of it’s own to combat the issue, thus allowing the pot industry to graduate from it’s current cash-only status.

 

“The major drawback economically is the costs inferred by repealing the current laws and the costs of implementing and enforcing the proposed reforms,” adds Cohn. In Colorado Hickenlooper is also working to control the amount of THC (marijuana’s active ingredient) in edible products, as well as working on a campaign to discourage vulnerable adolescents from getting high.

 

The Jury’s Still Out

The legalization of marijuana will likely go down as one of the largest social experiments of the 21st century, and that’s just it – it’s an experiment. Proponents argue that the drug is no different (and perhaps safer and less addictive) than alcohol and tobacco. But at this point, determining whether marijuana works long-term as a legal industry is impossible to call. All we can do is wait and watch.

 

As Bill Clinton stated in his recent Meet the Press appearance, “We should leave it to the states. This really is a time when there should be laboratories of democracy because nobody really knows where this is going. Are there adequate quality controls? There’s pot and there’s pot; what’s in it? What’s going to happen? There are all these questions. And I think that, unlike where it is now, if the state wants to try it, they can. And then they’ll be able to see what happens.”

 

This article originally appeared as on Spry Living

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20140723/NEWS/307239976

 

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