週六(8/1)1.「好人法」2.衝動消費習性

因為有您 一路情義相挺 英文讀書會 得以成長  周年慶聚餐聯誼 來了  還望您繼續相挺
好朋友  8/2星期日 6:30 PM  說吧英文讀書會  將舉辦 周年聚餐聯誼
餐費清潔費共250元  提供自助式晚餐   咖啡飲料無限暢飲
失聯的朋友 老朋友 趕快來聚聚   桌次有限 請跟 Billy 報名繳費 確定座位
每次聚會 除了討論英文主題 大家較少機會聯誼  請好友們踴躍出席支持
(哪位 朋友 能幫忙帶團康活動?) TEL 82581011 請於午後2點後撥
聚餐地點下方 6:30pm 入席

板橋區文化路段421巷11弄1號 (陽光甜味咖啡館)

新埔捷運站1號出口 旁邊7-11巷子進入20公尺 看到夏朵美髮

左轉       聚會時間7:00pm--9:30pm

「好人法」

Good Samaritan law  Wikipedia

Good Samaritan laws offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated. The protection is intended to reduce bystanders' hesitation to assist, for fear of being sued or prosecuted for unintentional injury or wrongful death. An example of such a law in common-law areas of Canada: a good Samaritan doctrine is a legal principle that prevents a rescuer who has voluntarily helped a victim in distress from being successfully sued for wrongdoing. Its purpose is to keep people from being reluctant to help a stranger in need for fear of legal repercussions should they make some mistake in treatment. By contrast, a duty to rescue law requires people to offer assistance, and holds those who fail to do so liable.

Good Samaritan laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, as do their interactions with various other legal principles, such as consent, parental rights and the right to refuse treatment. Most such laws do not apply to medical professionals' or career emergency responders' on-the-job conduct, but some extend protection to professional rescuers when they are acting in a volunteer capacity.

The principles contained in good Samaritan laws more typically operate in countries in which the foundation of the legal system is English Common Law, such as Australia. In many countries that use civil law as the foundation for their legal systems, the same legal effect is more typically achieved using a principle of duty to rescue.

Good Samaritan laws take their name from a parable found in the Bible, attributed to Jesus, commonly referred to as the Parable of the Good Samaritan which is contained in Luke 10:25-37. It recounts the aid given by a traveler from the area known as Samaria to another traveler of a conflicting religious and ethnic background who had been beaten and robbed by bandits.

Q:

What do you think about Good Samaritan laws?

How to be a Good Samaritan?

Are you willing helping strangers?

Are you reluctant to help a stranger in need due to fear of getting troubles?

When you do a good deed and expect something in return? Are Good Deeds Rewarded?

Do you believe in Karma? If so, have you truly experienced it?

衝動消費習性
Consumer Behavior-- Reasons We Impulse Buy   by Philip Graves

Take a moment to look around your house and you’ll probably find lots of products that you never really use.

The gadgets in your kitchen cupboards, the exercise equipment in your garage, the unworn clothes in your wardrobe: I’m guessing that, if pushed, you could easily explain why they aren’t things you use, but what might have caused you to buy them in the first place?

The fact of the matter is that your unconscious mind is often driving your behaviour as a consumer: under the influence of basic evolutionary drives and the tactics of retailers, it’s easy to feel compelled to buy something that later doesn’t find a place in your life.

Loving Shopping

The simplest explanation is that some people just derive an enormous amount of pleasure from acquiring something new. The act of buying is an act of empowerment that may be felt all too rarely in other aspects of life.

As children, people are often conditioned by their parents to feel good about something new being handed to them. You only need to go back a couple of generations to understand why this was an

understandable sentiment. However, even in these tougher economic times, we can still indulge ourselves (or our kids) far more often and novelty becomes the goal, rather than the signal of something of value being placed in your hands.

Twisted Heuristics

Most shopping is too arduous and time consuming to carry out with conscious attention. Imagine if every item you bought was cross-referenced with every other product available in the market: you would need to look at price, product composition, reviews and maybe even the quality of customer service supporting it. Even if you could find all the information in comparable formats it would take hours to buy one item.

So instead we use heuristics – unconsciously held rules of thumb – that help us make quick decisions that we’ve learned generally work out well.

Retailers take advantage of this by packaging up products as bulk buys, or they include ‘free’ extras. We get the impression that it must be good value, and we go with this feeling rather than researching any further.

Q:

What are the reasons we impulse buying?

Have you ever buy some products that you never really use?

Can shopping make you happier?

What factors influence your buying behaviors? (Ex: TV commercials)

How to attract customers if you were a products supplier?

Do you like luxurious items? Why?

How luxury brands can promote your social status

FOCUS新聞／見人摔倒不敢扶　北京訂「好人法」防誣告

在大陸街頭看到有人摔倒或生病倒地，很少有人敢出面照顧，因為傳出太多「好心沒好報」的案例，幫忙反而遭誣告求償，北京近日就提出制定「好人法」，用法律保障緊急現場的救護行為，除了是保障好人，也希望能重新喚起民眾的善心意識。

監視器截圖畫面，一位老先生騎腳踏車穿越馬路，可能是天雨路滑摔倒了，穿紅色衣服的男學生，趕緊上前幫忙，但老先生的一句話卻讓他傻了。好心學生：「他當時問這是誰家的孩子啊，然後看見有車子過來，就在那裡說開慢點開慢點，別把人撞著了，他說了你撞他了嗎？他說我第二次把他撞了。」

怎麼救人成了凶手，大批民眾圍過來，老先生緊抓著學生堅持不放手。目擊者：「當時上午下了雨，路面是濕的，大爺一開始起來的時候，沒說冤枉那孩子，起初起來的時候他說沒事，然後他起來過了幾分鐘，他就不讓那小孩走。」

目擊者幫忙證明，加上警方調出監視器畫面，這才還給男同學一個公道。好心學生：「你覺得你今後，還會去做這些事情嗎？我覺得會吧，對別人要有愛心，家裡人也是這麼教的，反正到時候肯定就是吃一塹長一智，要多留個心眼，比如拍照之類的取證。」

好心幫忙卻被反咬一口屢見不鮮，北京決定祭出「好人法」，根據北京市院前醫療急救服務條例第38條規定，鼓勵具備醫療急救專業技能的個人，在醫療急救人員到達前，對患者實施緊急現場救護，而救護的行為受到法律保護，雖然還是草案但已引起熱烈回響，因為過去實在太多好心人受了不白之冤。

好心民眾：「我正在走路準備到前面去坐車，那個老太太就這樣摔倒在我面前，我是聽到聲音，然後我就去扶她了，扶她的時候她就身體往我身上倒，腳就往我車子方向移過去，就不起來了，就說是我撞到她的。」

好心被雷劈例子不勝枚舉，情節還被搬上央視春晚。大陸央視春晚節目《扶不扶》：「你是個好孩子，還知道把大媽扶起來，我這做好事上癮，這要換了別人啊，撞完我早跑了。」

看人跌倒扶還是不扶，本來該是反射動作，卻讓人怯步。大陸民眾：「多一事不如少一事，很多人抱著這種心態，我想要看那個時候是什麼情況，如果很多人都選擇離開，我覺得我應該也不會，去參與這件事。」

就怕惹禍上身，日行一善的美德，可能變成給自己找麻煩，事實上在2013年，深圳就率先推出所謂的好人法，對救助人權益加以保障，一旦發生爭議，被救助人必須自己舉證，隨著北京跟進，也引發是否該在大陸一起實施好人法的討論。

大陸主播：「你不用再擔心，被誣陷被冤枉，因為法律替你撐腰。」

深圳大學教授：「我們對施害者，我們相關的條例，應該對他們進行適當的懲罰，只有兩方面結合起來，才能夠真正改變，我們社會的誠信缺失。」

保護善意懲罰惡意，雖然是多數共識，但如何透過法律手段執行，學界法界還有不小分歧，但至少都希望能藉此「扶起正能量」。

Read More 看完整內容

週五(7/31)1.約會誰付帳? 2.從夢中看見未來

因為有您 一路情義相挺 英文讀書會 得以成長  周年慶聚餐聯誼 來了  還望您繼續相挺
好朋友  8/2星期日 6:30 PM  說吧英文讀書會  將舉辦 周年聚餐聯誼
餐費清潔費共250元  提供自助式晚餐   咖啡飲料無限暢飲
失聯的朋友 老朋友 趕快來聚聚   桌次有限 請跟 Billy 報名繳費 確定座位
每次聚會 除了討論英文主題 大家較少機會聯誼  請好友們踴躍出席支持
(哪位 朋友 能幫忙帶團康活動?) TEL 82581011 請於午後2點後撥
聚餐地點下方 6:30pm 入席

板橋區文化路段421巷11弄1號 (陽光甜味咖啡館)

新埔捷運站1號出口 旁邊7-11巷子進入20公尺 看到夏朵美髮

左轉       聚會時間7:00pm--9:30pm

約會誰付帳?

Reasons Why Women Should Never Pay on the First Date

1. Dating is really about data gathering.

 Usually, you know little about a man when you first start dating him. That’s why observation mode is so critical. Since you can’t know his attitudes about money or how he’ll react, why risk taking the wrong action? Relax and watch what happens without prompting or paying. You can learn a lot more by observing then by jumping in to handle things.

2. At the beginning, a man will try to impress and please you to win you over.

 Think of a peacock spreading his tail feathers to attract a mate. That’s what paying for you is all about. If he doesn’t do this, it may be a red flag that he’s not generous with his wallet or his heart.

3. Most men expect to pay – it’s part of the chase and traditional dating ritual.

 While we’ve come a long way regarding equality in the workplace and in marriages where men share the chores, child rearing, and bringing home the bacon, dating remains an archaic activity that has simply not caught up. This fact may make you mad, but that won’t change the truth about dating, even today.

4. If you offer to pay, how will you know if he’s interested or generous?

 You won’t know if you offer to pay, but you will short-circuit your ability to observe his natural tendencies. Instead of jumping in to avoid feeling obligated or because you feel it’s "the right thing to do," sit back and let him handle it. One thing is for sure, if your date wants you to split the check, he’ll tell you or the bill will sit there for an hour. Either way, you won’t be wondering, so stop worrying about it.

5. Men are caught in a difficult social dilemma when a woman offers to pay.

 He has to determine if you’ll be insulted by his refusal to take your money or not. While some men confidently wave aside the offer, others won’t want to risk offending you. Many men have encountered angry females who insist on paying so they aren’t "controlled by a man."

6. Some men think a woman’s offer to pay signals that you’re not interested.

 You may use this trick from time to time with a guy you don’t want to see again, but don’t confuse a man you actually like by asking to split the check!

7. Recognize that you are setting a precedent for how you want to be treated.

 If you don’t plan on splitting every check down the center, don’t set that pattern up from your very first date. Of course you’ll reciprocate at some point and you might offer to pay for the movie if you’ve already been to dinner, or for the after dinner drink on the second or third date. But, hold off particularly on the first night to see how he treats you. Everyone is on their best behavior for the first few dates so watch and learn what he’s all about.

Q:

Who should pay for the first dating?

Should woman offer to pay?

How to impress your dating partner at first time?

Where are the good places for first date?

How to show your generosity?

從夢中看見未來

Premonitions - how dreams can predict the future

Most premonitions will come true very quickly. So if something unpredictable happens the next day then your dream could be linked to it.

Many people are dubious about premonitions. They are sceptical and rightly so. Its easy to justify a premonition - a dream about a snake could represent ANY problem? Eventually we all suffer some ill fortune that could be put down to a snake dream - so a sceptic would say its really just a coincidence.

Personally I believe that premonitions ARE a very real phenomena. They are much easier to prove than you would think. The reason being is that if a dream is going to come true it will come true very quickly. So if its a premonition then you merely have to wait until the end of the day to see if it comes true.

One dream I had myself made me very worried when I woke up. I was extremely scared that a dream could represent something really bad. If ever a dream was a premonition this was it! I tried to decode the dream. I linked the dream with one person - and this woman's two sons also appeared in the dream. By the end of that day I was surprised that the day had passed without incident. But just at that time the person I linked the dream with died in a car accident. The dream featured a car accident which was identical. I was absolutely convinced beforehand that this dream was significant. So the premonition was quite astonishing. It certainly convinced me.

So if you get a snake dream which is truly a premonition it could come true very quickly. Usually only one bad thing will happen per day(usually none). So it could be considered much more than a mere coincidence. Often other little things in the dream may help convince you.

Dreams need not pinpoint bad things. They may foretell a good day ahead. They show us having a good day or bad day. A dream may foretell something that happens by surprise which we would not associate with premonitions. A surprise event or unusual incident or even something on TV (if it sticks in your mind).

Most ordinary dreams link to important events and emotions from the day before. Premonitions are also very much in the here and now - they come true very quickly.

Q:

Do you believe that dreams can predict the future?

What Causes Vivid Dreams?

Is it normal to have weird dreams?

Can animals predict futures?

Experiences for Sleep Disorders and Treatment for Sleepwalking?

Do you believe in fortune-tellers?

Why do we have Nightmares? How to Stop Having Nightmares?

Read More 看完整內容

週四(7/30)1.哪裡找新朋友?2.名人失敗記

因為有您 一路情義相挺 英文讀書會 得以成長  周年慶聚餐聯誼 來了  還望您繼續相挺
好朋友  8/2星期日 6:30 PM  說吧英文讀書會  將舉辦 周年聚餐聯誼
餐費清潔費共250元  提供自助式晚餐   咖啡飲料無限暢飲
失聯的朋友 老朋友 趕快來聚聚   桌次有限 請跟 Billy 報名繳費 確定座位
每次聚會 除了討論英文主題 大家較少機會聯誼  請好友們踴躍出席支持
(哪位 朋友 能幫忙帶團康活動?) TEL 82581011 請於午後2點後撥
聚餐地點下方 6:30pm 入席 也歡迎攜伴參加

板橋區文化路段421巷11弄1號 (陽光甜味咖啡館)

新埔捷運站1號出口 旁邊7-11巷子進入20公尺 看到夏朵美髮

左轉       聚會時間7:00pm--9:30pm

哪裡找新朋友?

Where To Meet New Friends?  getthefriendsyouwant

Facebook : Of course, you have to know how to do it properly, or else, you’ll waste a huge amount of time.

Non-Profit : Join a non-profit or just go to their events, talk to people and get interested in the people. You can talk to people about the event’s subject, but the more you can talk about THEM, the more chances you’ll become a friend.

Social Events : Expat Events, Social Groups, Networking Events, 20-something After-work Events. These are great, I went to hundreds of events like them. The people are open and interested in making new friends. Also, if you’re a little shy, don’t worry, these are the EASIEST people to talk to.

Neighbors : Simple sequence : go from Hi to How Are Things Going? to How’s work? to What do you do? to Care for a drink?

Online Forums : Fitness, Dating, Sports… it’s amazing how you can take any subjet, let’s say “fishing”, go to google, type “fishing forum san diego” and you’ll find a whole community of people interested in that. You can go to a forum around something you love, start sharing your opinions on topics and then send private messages to some people you want to meet.

Bars and Pubs : Yes, they can be intimidating. But you can just start talking to someone at the bar, guy or girl. If you want to meet new people at bars, go to busy bars where the music is not too loud. If you put yourself in a busy area, people are going to be all around you. Turn on your confidence and talk to people.

Personally, I go to bars because my social life gets stimulated in there. I happen to bump into a lot of people I know that I would like to turn into friends. I meet existing friends and I get to meet THEIR friends. And also, it gives me a chance to introduce my friends to each other which is very important.

Book Clubs and Book Stores : Never tried a book club but I met a few female friends in bookstores. One time, I just said to a girl holding a personal finances book “Hey, that’s what rich people read… you must be rich, let’s get married or something!”. She was into self improvement so we hit it off pretty quick.

Private Parties : Always go to the private parties of people you know. Especially the Birthday parties. People may act aloof about it, but it means a LOT to them if you show up at their birthday party. You make the friendship go a lot deeper. And it’s a great way to meet THEIR friends. Chances are, you’ll meet their close friends and some family. And people get very friendly and open in birthday parties.

Q:

Where to meet new friends?

Do you think facebook is a good platform to meet new people?

Do you know your neighbors?

Are bars and pubs good places to meet new people?

Do you like taking part in parties? Why or why not?

How often you go to book clubs or book stores?

What are friends for?

Why is it hard to make friends?

名人失敗記

Famous People Who Failed at Their First Attempt at Career Success   budbilanich

Not everyone who’s on top today got there with success after success. More often than not, those who history best remembers were faced with numerous obstacles that forced them to work harder and show more determination than others. Next time you’re feeling down about your failures in college or in a career, keep these fifty famous people in mind and remind yourself that sometimes failure is just the first step towards success.

Soichiro Honda: The billion-dollar business that is Honda began with a series of failures and fortunate turns of luck. Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation for a job after interviewing for a job as an engineer, leaving him jobless for quite some time. He started making scooters of his own at home, and spurred on by his neighbors, finally started his own business.

Bill Gates: Gates didn’t seem like a shoe-in for success after dropping out of Harvard and starting a failed first business with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen called Traf-O-Data. While this early idea didn’t work, Gates’ later work did, creating the global empire that is Microsoft.

Walt Disney: Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks around the world, but Walt Disney himself had a bit of a rough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor because, “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didn’t last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.

Isaac Newton: Newton was undoubtedly a genius when it came to math, but he had some failings early on. He never did particularly well in school and when put in charge of running the family farm, he failed miserably, so poorly in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him off to Cambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.

Oprah Winfrey: Most people know Oprah as one of the most iconic faces on TV as well as one of the richest and most successful women in the world. Oprah faced a hard road to get to that position, however, enduring a rough and often abusive childhood as well as numerous career setbacks including being fired from her job as a television reporter because she was “unfit for tv.”

J. K. Rowling: Rowling may be rolling in a lot of Harry Potter dough today, but before she published the series of novels she was nearly penniless, severely depressed, divorced, trying to raise a child on her own while attending school and writing a novel. Rowling went from depending on welfare to survive to being one of the richest women in the world in a span of only five years through her hard work and determination.

Q:

What do you think about famous people’s failures?

What do you think about Bill Gates, Steve Jobs?

What is the secret behind successful people?

What are the tips to get succeed in your career?

Can your interests affect your success?

What are the lifestyle factors that can affect your success?

Read More 看完整內容

週二(7/28) 1.聰明未必是件好事2.需要健康檢查嗎?

因為有您 一路情義相挺 英文讀書會 得以成長  周年慶聚餐聯誼 來了  還望您繼續相挺
好朋友  8/2星期日 6:30 PM  說吧英文讀書會  將舉辦 周年聚餐聯誼
餐費清潔費共250元  提供自助式晚餐   咖啡飲料無限暢飲
失聯的朋友 老朋友 趕快來聚聚   桌次有限 請跟 Billy 報名繳費 確定座位
每次聚會 除了討論英文主題 大家較少機會聯誼  請好友們踴躍出席支持
(哪位 朋友 能幫忙帶團康活動?) TEL 82581011 請於午後2點後撥
聚餐地點下方 6:30pm 入席

板橋區文化路段421巷11弄1號 (陽光甜味咖啡館)

新埔捷運站1號出口 旁邊7-11巷子進入20公尺 看到夏朵美髮

左轉       聚會時間7:00pm--9:30pm

聰明未必是件好事
Can high intelligence be a burden rather than a boon?  David Robson BBC

If ignorance is bliss, does a high IQ equal misery? Popular opinion would have it so. We tend to think of geniuses as being plagued by existential angst, frustration, and loneliness. Think of Virginia Woolf, Alan Turing, or Lisa Simpson – lone stars, isolated even as they burn their brightest. As Ernest Hemingway wrote: “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”

    The harsh truth is that greater intelligence does not equate to wiser decisions

The question may seem like a trivial matter concerning a select few – but the insights it offers could have ramifications for many. Much of our education system is aimed at improving academic intelligence; although its limits are well known, IQ is still the primary way of measuring cognitive abilities, and we spend millions on brain training and cognitive enhancers that try to improve those scores. But what if the quest for genius is itself a fool’s errand?

A weighty burden

One possibility is that knowledge of your talents becomes something of a ball and chain. Indeed, during the 1990s, the surviving Termites were asked to look back at the events in their 80-year lifespan. Rather than basking in their successes, many reported that they had been plagued by the sense that they had somehow failed to live up to their youthful expectations.

That sense of burden – particularly when combined with others’ expectations – is a recurring motif for many other gifted children. The most notable, and sad, case concerns the maths prodigy Sufiah Yusof. Enrolled at Oxford University aged 12, she dropped out of her course before taking her finals and started waitressing. She later worked as a call girl, entertaining clients with her ability to recite equations during sexual acts.

    Sufiah Yusof, a child prodigy, enrolled at Oxford aged 12 but later dropped out and worked as a call girl

Another common complaint, often heard in student bars and internet forums, is that smarter people somehow have a clearer vision of the world’s failings. Whereas the rest of us are blinkered from existential angst, smarter people lay awake agonising over the human condition or other people’s folly.

Constant worrying may, in fact, be a sign of intelligence – but not in the way these armchair philosophers had imagined. Interviewing students on campus about various topics of discussion, Alexander Penney at MacEwan University in Canada found that those with the higher IQ did indeed feel more anxiety throughout the day. Interestingly, most worries were mundane, day-to-day concerns, though; the high-IQ students were far more likely to be replaying an awkward conversation, than asking the “big questions”. “It’s not that their worries were more profound, but they are just worrying more often about more things,” says Penney. “If something negative happened, they thought about it more.”
Q:
Can high intelligence be a burden rather than a boon?
Does a high IQ equal success?
What do you think of the high IQ people?
How to become a genius?
Pros and cons of being a genius?
Why smart people get depressed?

需要健康檢查嗎?

Do You Need a Yearly Medical Check-Up? Written By Becky Ham and Taunya

We've all heard about well-baby visits, but if you're a healthy adult, you probably have no plan to see a doctor. When there's nothing to complain about, many of us go years without a comprehensive medical check-up.

John Biersmith feels healthy and hasn't seen a doctor "just because" for more than five years.

The 36-year-old is a regional manager for a toy manufacturer and has health insurance through work. Biersmith goes to the dentist without fail every six months but hasn't felt a similar need to check in with his physician.

"I probably should schedule an appointment, but I'm a little hesitant about what he's going to ask, about how I eat, whether or not I exercise," Biersmith said.

Does he really need a yearly check-up? Do you?

"There isn't a one-size-fits-all recommendation," says Dr. Christine Sinsky, an internist at Iowa's Medical Associates Clinic and Health Plan. Sinsky considers a patient's sex, age, medical history and risk factors before setting up an exam schedule.

Dr. Thomas Weida, a family physician with the Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania, weighs similar factors.

"I may have a 40-year-old guy come in and he's doing well, he has no risk factors, all his family members have lived to 108. He's a perfect weight, he eats well, I'm not going to tell him to come back in next year for a physical," he said. "I'll say 'Hey, why don't I see you back here in five years. There's some age appropriate screenings that we'll need to do at that age. Come on in and we'll see how you are doing then.'"

Weida says the need for a regular check-up grows with age.

"I think 50 is a real watershed year for folks. Certainly if they haven't established a personal medical home by that age they really should because it is so important in coordinating their care, and helping them enjoy the next 50 years of their life," he said.

An initial physical can be a good way to find a "personal health home," a central point for consistent, integrated health care.

Q:

Are Check-ups important?

Do you need a yearly medical check-up?

Can you trust your doctor?

How to live a healthy lifestyle?

What are the ways to avoid getting sick?

“Chinese medicine” does it really work?

What do you think about the national insurance system?

Read More 看完整內容