CONSTRUCTION on the Dawei project - the weakest link of the East-West Economic Corridor - should revive after being stalled for more than a year, as Thailand is expected to rejoin talks with Myanmar this week.

There have been several meetings between the two countries over the project since July. A source who is close to the project said a meeting of the Myanmar-Thailand Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) had been set for this Thursday and Friday.

The source added that a deal should be concluded after the meeting.

The Myanmar government completed its tendering for the project - with only Thailand taking part in the bidding - at the end of October.

The JCC, which is chaired by a ministerial officer from each side, is responsible for comprehensive development in the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and related project areas.

The committee was set up during the Yingluck Shinawatra administration, as it stepped in to take over the project after Thai private construction firm Italian-Thai Development (ITD) gave up its struggle to finance the mega-project. Originally, ITD was awarded a 75-year concession in 2008 to develop the deep-sea port in Dawei, with an industrial zone, infrastructure and buildings.

Since then, the project has been scaled down to 27 square kilometres for a first phase worth Bt30 billion, compared with 205 sq km originally - 10 times the size of Map Ta Phut in Thailand - worth about Bt240 billion. At the initial stage, ITD is expected to develop some parts of the industrial zone. But the country's largest contractor can still bid for future Dawei work.

The source said ITD president Premchai Karnasuta went to Myanmar two weeks ago and discussed the project with Myanmar government officials.

Aye Myint, Myanmar's minister for labour, employment and social security, said in late October that he was still holding talks with ITD and its partner company to operate some smaller projects such as roads, ports, housing and a mini industrial zone.

He said evaluations of the project's importance to the Mekong-India corridor, the size of the industrial segment of the project, participation of the government and the private sector, and environmental and social impact assessments were being conducted. After that, Japan would join the project.

Excerpt from:
Dawei construction could be back on track soon

C mt khong cch kh xa gia nhng c m p ca cc bn tr Vit Nam, v vic hin thc ha gic m y. i tm nguyn nhn ca tnh trng ny l ni dung cuc ta m nh vi cc khch mi: PGS, TS Nguyn Hong nh (i hc Ngoi thng H Ni), b Mai Huyn Chi (Tng Bin tp trang tin tc ting Vit ca tp on Microsoft) v b Trn Lan Hng (Chuyn gia Hun luyn Dinh dng v Sc khe c Chng nhn bi Hip hi tr liu khng dng thuc Hoa K AADPS).

- Nhiu ngi cho rng, gii tr Vit Nam ngy nay t chu dn thn.

Quan im ca ng/b v vn ny?

- PGS, TS Nguyn Hong nh: Ti ng vi nhn nh . Gii tr ngy nay cng c nhng ngi chu dn thn, nhng s ny l qu him hoi. Ch yu, vn l nhng ngi tm kim s an ton trong cuc sng. Ti chng kin nhiu bn tr chp nhn dn thn, nhng ci h i li ch l nhng dm pha v hoi nghi.

- B Mai Huyn Chi: Vn c mt s ngi tr dm dn thn. Tt nhin khng nhiu, nhng s ny vn ang gia tng. l nhng ngi c c hi tip cn nhng nn vn ha khc, thng tin khc. H khng gi gn mnh vo nhng np c, cch suy ngh c, v h hiu mi th khng ch c mt cch hiu, mt cch lm.

- B Trn Lan Hng:Ti ngh y l kt qu ca mt nn gio dc th ng, thy c, tr chp, hc thuc lng min sao i thi , khng khuyn khch s sng to ca hc tr. Mt mi trng x hi cn e d s khc bit, s tch mnh ra khi m ng s gp bt li cng gp phn to ra tm l an phn v thui cht s dn thn.

- Dn thn c phi l phm cht cn c ca cc bn tr? V iu l bm sinh, hay do s rn luyn v tc ng ca mi trng?

- PGS, TS Nguyn Hong nh: Tt nhin l cn. Tng lai ca nn kinh t c xc nh l trng ch vo nn cng nghip sng to. V v th, phi c cc bn tr dm dn thn, dm chp nhn sai lm to ra thnh qu. y khng th l vn bm sinh, m phi do rn luyn v tc ng ca mi trng.

- B Mai Huyn Chi: Karl Marx nh ngha rng "Con ngi l tng ha cc mi quan h x hi", tc l mi trng c vai tr quyt nh trong vic hnh thnh con ngi, dn thn khng th l mt phm cht bm sinh. V ti cho rng vi tui tr, th phm cht ny l v cng cn thit c th trng thnh.

- B Trn Lan Hng: Khi thi lm cho Tng lnh s qun (TLSQ) M v cc qu u t, i hc li v chuyn sang dy v dinh dng, sc khe v thin, ti khng bit l s dn thn m ch n gin l i tm mt cng vic ph hp hn vi s trng v cc gi tr sng ca mnh. Theo ti, dn thn va l mt t cht bm sinh va l kt qu ca mi trng gio dc v t rn luyn.

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Nhn thc v thi

MUSIC/No I dont think I will kiss you, although you need kissing badly. Thats whats wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how. (Gone With The Wind)

Amanda Smith: A smoochy-smoochy, osculating edition of The Body Sphere here on RN. I'm Amanda Smith, bringing you the science and history of kissing. Why do we kiss? Is it instinct? Is it culture? What clues about yourself are you giving, and getting, when you kiss someone?

Okay so let's start with physiology, because human lips are special. Sheril Kirshenbaum is the author of The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us.

Sheril Kirshenbaum: Well, human lips are unique in that they're everted, so they purse outwardly in a way that's different from all the other members of the animal kingdom. And so when we connect through kissing it means something different, and it affects us differently than in any other species.

Amanda Smith: Well, we're going to focus here mostly on lip-to-lip kissing, but there are, of course, lots of other kinds of kisses. In many ancient texts, from Vedic Sanskrit writings to Homer to the Old Testament, a kiss is a greeting. What information is being exchanged, in a way, why have we greeted each other with a kiss going back for who knows how far?

Sheril Kirshenbaum: Well, we always hear about this confrontation between nature and nurtureyou know, is there instinct behind some behaviour or is it culturaland kissing is a wonderful example of both, nature and nurture, complementing each other. So we kiss people for different reasons. We kiss them because it's what we're familiar with, what we see on the street, what we see today in movies and billboards and things. But we also seem to have this instinctive drive to do this. And a kiss can tell us about the health of another person because you're up close and personal, you're getting a sample of their scent, you're getting clues about whetherif it's a romantic kissthey might be someone you're compatible with. And the odds are pretty good that people have been kissing for as long as humans have been around.

Amanda Smith: So does kissingyou know, using your lips to gather a sense or information about another persontheir smell, their feel, their tasteis it understood to derive in any way from breastfeeding?

Sheril Kirshenbaum: So we think that kissing probably arose and disappeared all around the world for a variety of reasons. One of the leading theories about why we do the practice, why it's carried from infancy into adulthood does indeed deal with breastfeeding. A newborn's first experiences with love and comfort and security involve lip stimulation through nursing, if they're nursed, or even through bottle feeding. We're tilting our head in a similar way that we would tilt our head if we were kissing.

In fact more women more frequently breastfeed to the left, causing us to tilt our head to the right, and when it comes to kissing itself more of us are actually turning to the right and tilting our head to the right to kiss. So we do think that might actually be kind of a carryover. We're associating these very positive emotions laid down early in our lives and then carried over into adulthood, so when we want to express ourselves in a similar way or a more romantic way, we give them a kiss.

Original post:
A History of the Kiss

Scarcely have the holidays departed, the last bite of figgy pudding or sip of egg nog cycled through our system, the last present sorted for use or reuse, than the winter television season comes crashing down upon us, laden with gifts of its own. Yes, friends, there are more television shows to watch, and quite a few are shows you will want to watch or feel as a citizen of the culture that you really should watch. Damn you, New Golden Age of Television! Do you think we are made of time?

Here is a look at not even all of it.

Jan. 4

"Galavant"

ABC, 8 p.m. Sundays

Medieval-modern musical comedy will recall "Spamalot"/"Monty Python and the Holy Grail," "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," "The Princess Bride" to anyone who was alive to see them, but songs by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, who have Disney features under their belt (and are working for Disney here) are catchy and some jokes do make it through the briers. Not G-rated, it seems worth pointing out.

Jan. 6

"Child Genius"

Lifetime, 10 p.m. Tuesdays

Like "MasterChef Junior," for knowing math and history and stuff.

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Capsule reviews of midseason shows

CARBONDALE -- Dawn Prince is using what she learned watching snow monkeys on the Shiga Mountains in Japan to help kids and adults in Carbondale dealing with trauma.

The Muay Thai second degree black belt teaches three classes at the First Christian Church of Carbondale in Snow Monkey Martial Arts, helping her students work through trauma experienced through abuse and drug or alcohol addiction.

"Once I was starting to watch what the monkeys were actually doing I thought, 'Wow, those were all really martial arts moves,'" Prince said. "Those are clearly the way that a primate body was designed to move everyday. They're so playful, and I thought, 'What a great light-hearted way to move through your day.'"

Prince, who struggled herself with drugs and alcohol and was homeless for five years, said life is often a traumatic experience that locks people up in their own bodies.

The holder of a Ph.D. in anthropology said people tend to move through life in very guarded ways and her mix of Muay Thai and the natural movements of Snow Monkeys helps free people, allowing them to "move" naturally through their trauma.

"If you move your body and stimulate the centers of your body that are shut down from trauma, you actually will learn to get better," Prince said. "There are actually a lot of scientific studies that show martial arts are great treatments for PTSD, past physical trauma and abuse you've done to your body with drugs and alcohol."

Kids particularly enjoy the classes that allow them to actually act like monkeys, performing moves such as "monkey grabs branch," "monkey reaches around a tree" and "monkey hangs on the rail."

The kids' class provides time for the kids to have a snack and talk about their experiences.

With some of the kids coming from troubled backgrounds, many are hesitant about the class and assume they won't enjoy it. But she said their defenses often break down as the class develops.

"Pretty soon, you see them lightening up, starting to smile and you can visibly see they're literally moving through trauma, they're digesting these things that have happened to them and really embracing the idea that it's a richness in their lives they can learn from," Prince said. "They don't have to stay stuck in the anger, embarrassment and shame."

See the article here:
Martial arts class helps kids and adults work through trauma