Wednesday, May 26, 2010
How important is your name?
Experts say that names are becoming more diverse. Names also influence your grades, job, and etcetera. Two men whose life changed due to their names were Wes Moore and Wes Moore. One Wes Moore was on his local newspaper for having good academic achievements, and the other was on the same newspaper for a jewelry store robbery where one police officer and one father of five were killed. When the first Moore saw that the second shared his name, he befriended him. The first went on to work in the White House and the other went on to get a life sentence. But the two remained in contact. Also, a study showed that a person with a “black sounding” name is 50% less likely to get a call back from a job interview than a person with a “white sounding name”. That is the effect of a name. Names are also getting more diverse as parents are thinking over what to name their child longer. "They want their child to have something neat or inspiring," Michael Campbell, owner of Behindthename.com, said. The number of baby girls who have the most popular name is half of 1960. Some unique names are Neveah, heaven spelled backwards, or Memphis.
Anyone can be named anything, so I don't believe your name makes any difference in your life. Even if there were stories of how a name changed a life, there is no proof that another name wouldn't have done the same effect. I believe that it is not important what you are named, but rather I think a person can change his own destiny. Wes Moore’s name didn’t get him out of jail, and the same name got a person into the White House. There is obviously no effect of names on people. Being named a popular name, or being named a unique name is not important. What is more significant is what you make of that name in your life. It is interesting to see that people want their children to stick out more. However, a name will not be more important than the other aspects of you. If a nation like the U.S. is still discriminating due just to the sound of the person’s name, I think there is a long way to go for racism to be gone.
Prime time TV Show has character with autism
In a TV show named "Parenthood" of NBC, the son of main characters Adam and Kristina Braverman, has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (Asperger's syndrome). This is not a usual case, as directors avoid such a sensitive topic. The last prime-time character who had Asperger's was Jerry Espenson on ABC's "Boston Legal." That character ended the show two years ago. "Grey's Anatomy" had a short-term character who was on for three episodes. People who have been affected by the disorder has given it good reviews, one saying, "Overall I think it's been really true to the behavior our Aspie kids display -- which is often confused for being naughty or a lack of discipline. Thanks for doing your homework NBC!" Executive Producer Jason Katims says it didn't clearly seem such a good idea in the beginning. He is personally affected by it as his son has the disorder as well. The show works with experts to make it as real as possible. Some people are not satisfied, however, as the show may not have gone deeply enough into the effects of an autism diagnosis to the family.It is great that this TV show is accurately representing autism through one of the children. It will do great for awareness for autism as well as making people realize what they were mistaken about autistic kids. It is good that television is creating an awareness for this disorder. I was only worried that they would not be accurate and it might just make the viewers have misconceptions of the disorder, but I am glad that they have been clearly appropriate with how people behave around the child or how the child behaves. I think if they continue to be careful in being realistic and truthful about autism, the idea will be a success in creating awareness as well as for the show as well.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/26/autism.in.prime.time/index.html
Paid-for Online newspapers the future?
The Times and Sunday Times newspapers have decided to start charging users for the online service. Some predict that this move will change the course of online newspapers forever.News International owns these two newspapers. It stated that an online subscription will cost $1.43 per day, or $2.87 per week. Right now, there is a free trial period and the "paywall" will begin in June. Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp. (News International's parent company) said the free access model was not working. "We are now in the midst of an epochal debate over the value of content and it is clear to many newspapers that the current model is malfunctioning," he said. Some people are wondering whether people will pay this price when there is so much other news available.
I believe that it is actually useless to start charging users online unless the business is sure that everyone will fall in with this idea. If there are many other newspapers that are free, there is no reason to stay with these companies. Unless there is a regulation or contract that forces all businesses to charge for the online services, it is a very risky move to try to start charging people for something that they are used to getting for free. Although the point of this is to make more profit, it might actually make them lose.
www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/05/26/britain.times.online.paywall/index.html
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
North Korea threatens to use military action
North Korea has accused South Korea of trespassing their waters on Tuesday. (Yonhap News agency) They have now threatened to go back into military action.A South Korean report has said the the North fired a torpedo at a navy ship, which killed 46 sailors. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said that they will stop trade with the North, close their waters to the North's ships, and have an agressive military attitude towards the North. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the North to tell what they know of their "act of agression" and said the U.S. supports South Korea's defence immensely. She said that North Korea should stop its "belligerence and threatening behavior." President Obama directed military commanders to work with South Korea now.
As a South Korean, I know my opinion may be very biased, but I feel that through the course of history in the conflicts between the North and the South, the South has not been very agressive
towards the North before the North's behaviour has been wrong. I think that in this case the North Koreans should admit what happened with the Korean ship and avoid a larger conflict. It seems as if the U.S. is ready to fight with the North and that is good in the case of an attack, but it would be best if there is no attack in the first place. That would not be good for the people of Korea, as well as the U.S. It is relieving that the U.S. fully supports its ally South Korea.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/25/north.korea.threats/index.html?iref=allsearch
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Cop-watchers look for racial profiling
In Phoenix, Arizona, Margarito Blanco and Andrew Sanchez are watching the policeFriday, May 7, 2010
The Fate of a 12 year old Murderer
13 year old Demarco Harris was sentenced guilty to have murdered Trisha Babcock. However, he did it when he was 12, which means that he was a child when he committed the murder. However, he was sentenced as a 13 year old, who is an adult. It has not been decided yet whether he should be sentenced as an adult or a child. He could be sentenced as a juvenile, an adult, or a combination of the two. Currently Harris is in a juvenile detention center and will be sentenced on June 1st. Steve Babcock, Trisha Babcock's father, feels that Harris deserves to stay in jail for the rest of his life because he "knew what he was doing".Harris does deserve a lifetime in sentence. However, even though he did know what he was doing, as a child he also should get some counseling and a second chance as it is a horrible thing for a 13 year old to have to live the rest of his life in prison. His parents also must get some of the responsibility as this sort of action almost always comes from the environment that the child lives in.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/06/fate-of-12-year-old-killer/
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