kim

2006-10-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

A firewoman's death at her post

One fire-woman who gained the confidence an associate was killed at work. According to buy.com, Wed. Aug. 16, 2006, Dana MacCrimmon had worked at the Carbondale fire station since 1998. She had responded to a fire call at 10:59, Thu. Aug. 10 2006, and became ill. After returning to the fire station, she was transported to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, where she died at 2:20 P.M the next day. She was 45 years old and left 3 children, two sons and one daughter.

This news is a very heart-rending experience. First of all, may her soul rest in peace! Before I've heard the work of firefighter was hard and dangerous, so even young and strong men tend to avoid doing it. Some people said that it was one kind of 3D(Difficult, Dangerous, Dirty) job. But she carried it out as a woman. Our society is getting better, and giving a valuable wages to live, which satisfies firefighters like her. I think the society should take care of her children. Once more I would like to say may her soul rest in peace!

2006-09-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

Wonder Women
- Profiles of leading female CEOs and business executives -

According to Infoplease.com, Infoplease.com, today in American business, professional females have increased. In 1995, the Fortune 500 companies had women CEOs or presidents, and 90 of those 500 companies didn't have any women corporate officers. But after 5 years one survey, by the Catalyst, 10% of the Fortune 500 companies have women holding at least one - quarter of their corporate officer positions. It's no longer an issue for female to hold a professional career. It also introduced some powerful women-Catherine Elizabeth, radio personality, Executive, Muriel "Mickey" Siebert, a Stockbroker, Mary Kay Ash, a Business Executive......etc

These days in American life, women's power is strong, not only in business but also in politics, administration and others. It was the distant past when a woman became the chief of the Space Shuttle and the affairs minister. Some American said that U.S. will have a woman president in the near future. I think it‘s a foolish idea that women are impossible for any position. So I expect women to be new leaders in new positions in a variety of areas in which we had thought it was impossible for women to advance in, in the past, for example, as famous football players or general commanders in the army.

2006-09-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Europe's gender gap

According to the BBC News on March 8 2006, there are still wide gender gaps in Europe. Even though 80% of women, which is more than 75% of men, were educated in secondary education, they earn an average of 15% less and hold only a third of managerial jobs. So the European Commission adopted a roadmap that lists 21 activities, including setting up a European Institute for gender, and reviewing a gender equality law designed to end gender inequality. It seems that they need about 52.5 million Euros. European Commission president said the legislation is “less but better”

Even though the gender gap is not of recent occurrence, these days, many females have a professional occupation and have launched hard jobs that we had thought belonged to only men. I was surprised to see still too much of a big gender gap remains in Europe. There would be no problems if females get salary by their ability, as they have different jobs by their characters and ability. It’s a false idea that women’s accomplishment shouldn’t be taken seriously women’s accomplishments are insignificant that we can ignore women’s all efforts. I think real gender equality means that we should never ignore women, but that we should also not give them special treatment.

2006-09-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Goose with the Golden Eggs
- Aesop’s Fable -

A countryman had a goose that gave him golden eggs every day in the story of The Goose whth the Golden Eggs by Aesop’s Fable. He became rich because he sold the golden eggs, but he thought he was still avaricious. He killed the goose in order to get many golden eggs at one time. When he opened the goose’s stomach, he couldn’t find any golden eggs there. So he lost the good opportunity to get golden eggs. This was a result of his too many desires.

This is a famous example of Aesop’s Fables. Most children in the world might have read it. I also have read the fairy tale books that my parents bought me pleasantly. It was a brief and interesting story and it gave us a good lesson. This reminds me of my elementary school life. One day my teacher said that if we had too many desires, it was very dangerous for us to fall in the fail. So we should try to make effort step by step. I think this is a good story for children, so I’d like to recommend it to children’s parents, even if they enjoy watching T.V or video instead of reading books.

2006-09-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

Legend of the Sun and the Moon

This is a story that was told by my grandmother when I was a child.

Once upon a time, there was one family, one brother and one sister with their grandmother, living very happily in the countryside in Korea.

One day, it was dark when grandmother headed home from the far distant market. She met a big tiger in the mountain, and the tiger said, “If you give me delicious food, I won’t eat you.” The grandmother gave him the dried persimmon and candy that she’d bought for her children. But, after the tiger ate it, and found out that she didn’t have any food, the tiger ate her eventually.

And the tiger arrived at grandmother’s home in the middle of the night. The tiger disguised his voice as grandmother’s and said “Dear children, I’m home. Open the door.”

The brother and sister, who were waiting for grandmother, thought the voice was not their grandmother’s voice. And they asked, “Why is your voice changed, grandmother?”

“Because I’m tired.”

“Then, could you show us your index finger by sticking it between the doors?” they said.

As soon as they saw it, the brother and sister were surprised, because it was not grandmother’s finger, it was a tiger’s talon. They said composedly, "Our grandmother doesn’t have hair. Why do you have too much fur?” Then, the tiger went to out to cut the fur. When the tiger disappeared, they stole out of the room and climbed up a tree in the garden.

They prayed to God for help. “God, help us. If you help us, give us the hard and big robe.” At that time, they could catch the good rope which heaven had sent. The good brother and sister could climb to heaven. Having seen this, the tiger also prayed. But the tiger got the old and weak rope, so he fell on the earth on the way to heaven and died.

After they arrived in heaven, the brother and sister were pleased to see their grandmother and their hometown, which they asked for God to see. God also gave them an opportunity to see the hometown anytime they wanted. The sister, who feared the dark too much, became the sun, and the brother who was a man, became the moon. So, these days the sun and moon rise in Korea, because the brother and sister want to see their grandmother and hometown.

By Kim

There is another version of this story here. You can make any comment about it that you like.

2006-05-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Chinese cell phones change North Korean culture

According to YaleGlobal (Jan.2005) by Rebecca MacKinnon, North Koreans began to use cell phones. Of course, it belongs to the Chinese system, and the authority of North Korea has tried to ban it, but now as many as 20,000 North Koreans are believed to have Chinese cell phones. They receive information about what is happening in the world, and being enriched through the trade with China. If we consider North Korea isolates itself from the world, it must be evidence that they are actually changing.

We are thinking that North Korea is one of the five poorest countries in the world. It’s isolated from the world, and many people are undergoing all sorts of hardship because of lack of food and supply of goods for living. It’s foolish policy when some are running fast, but only one sleeps or walks slowly. Why don’t they try to use the modern conveniences for people? How long are they going to keep the policy as they just ignore the developed civilizations? I think it’s good news, and expect them to come out in the world and go together with us for further happiness, as soon as they can.

2006-05-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

Traffic Waves

We have often suffered with a great loss of time from traffic jams. We lose our important time and get stress, which decreases our efficiency. According to “traffic Waves” by William Beatty (1998), it’s not all about traffic accidents on roads. The almost case of it, of course, the origin is in the traffic incidents. Sometimes it occurs because of in most case a driver’s poor ability, carelessness, or while a car enters or exits from the highway. In order to protect from it, we should make the traffic being like a flowing liquid.

Even though we can’t live without traffic, many big cities in the world have problems of traffic jams. Some cities’ traffic jams are known as “murderous.” In Bangkok, Thailand, if you are late for something, because of the traffic jam, many people accept it. The traffic became a big issue with energy and environment. If we can account for the economic cost, including opportunity lost, it’s a huge fund. Therefore, if we can divert it to promote national prosperity to use it, our lives in future will be better than today.

2006-05-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

The Crash of 1929

I read the article of "The crash of 1929" in the website. On October19 1987, the Dow-Jones industrial average plummeted to over 500 point. All Americans were shocked and afraid of depression. The bust reminded them of the crash of 1929. Everybody got pained at that time. The number of unemployed people soared and all people who had lost their hope wandered on the street. The government that declared laissez-faire couldn’t drive any policy. It’s fallen in the national panic. Therefore the accident of 1987 was something that Americans feared.

Many people say that the stock market is a symbol of the economy in the present. If stock prices rise, present economic condition is good or will be better in the future, because it is impossible to rise in a bad economic condition. I think the economy is like the flow of water. As if the flowing water stops, we get great damage. Therefore, the government or an organization should take steps to revitalize it. From this point of view, John Maynard Keynes’ economics is full of suggestions for us.

2006-04-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

IQ- Genetics or Environment

According to the Fabian Grasso of AllPsych Journal in July 1. 2002, the debates about the life’s developmental forces will be over sooner or later. Many scientists, for example, Lewis M. Term, a professor of Stanford University, David Wechsler, a Psychologist working at the U.S. Army's Camp Logan, Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, the author of 'The Bell Curve',etc, have looked for clues into how we grow, why we do things and what we do. So they have tried to formulate understanding of I.Q. which centers on the effect of argument between nature of nurture. The inability to recognize which factor is responsible for any specific trait, but knowing that one or both of the two is responsible, will keep the argument of genetics vs. environment on the forefront of our search for answers for a long, long time.

Even though it's not easy to know I.Q. clearly, I had thought I.Q. was only depended on genetics before I saw a genius who is called Ung-Yong Kim in Korea. When he was six years old, he was on TV and showed us how to solve the mathematics problems about the differential and integral calculus. All people who had seen the program were surprised, and we had thought he was a great scientist in the world. But, I was disappointed when I heard the news that he changed to a common man. He had studied home with his parents for 10 years. But, his special ability vanished. I think that it teaches us not only the nature but also the nurture are important.

2006-04-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

The family today

According to K. Brown and S. Hood (2006) in the “The family today”, the traditional form of family is decreasing and the new family units, two- career families, single-parent families, and stepfamilies, have become increasingly common.

The two-career families are what the women don’t stay home any longer, but they have jobs outside to get money. So in order to have happiness in the family, their husbands should fully support them to share in cleaning, cooking and child care, but there is frequently conflict. Also single-parent families are increasing, because divorce family and women adopting children are increasing. Most of these families have problems of poverty, lack of social support, and in the children’s education. And with increasing divorce, the stepfamilies are rapidly increasing. The success of stepfamilies depends largely on how well the stepfather gets along with the stepchildren.

In conclusion, today’s family is changed as the nucleus. I think it is a result of development economics and complexity in our lives. So in the future, with more developing of economy and science, our human life will become more complex and the family form will also continue to change.

2006-04-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

The Roma’s Gypsies

Gypsies are everywhere in Romania. There are several classes of gypsy. One of them is affluent groups such as musicians that can travel to the West. And also affluent are those who sell fine products like rugs. They are living in houses. But most of them are poor. They migrate with covered wagons. They have things to sell, but are just as likely to make their living by begging. Based on linguistic and anthropological evidence, many people are thinking that they have migrated from Europe in the early 15th century.

I heard that Gypsy is a wanderer of Europe. They love music and could play music very well. When I went to Sevilla, which is the south-western area in Spain that is famous for Flamenco. I saw their performance. I was impressed by their performance at that time. I also had the opportunity to visit their village, Sacromonte, nearby the Alhambra palace. But it was a surprise to me. They lived in a dugout. My guide told me they do not want to live in the house which was given to them by the government. They did not feel comfortable there. So I think that their lives are like a heritage museum.

2006-04-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

Living together

According to Carol Morello of the washington post, Washington Post, the state Supreme Court of Virginia, Jan.14, 2005, struck down as unconstitutional a 19th – century Virginia law making it a crime for unmarried couples to have sex. It had criminalized not only sodomy, bigamy and adultery but also living together before wedding. Many U.S people thought it was too regulative in their private life and checked the right to the pursuit of happiness. By this ruling, it should be amended. But the state Supreme Court said that it didn’t affect the Commonwealth’s police power regarding regulation of public fornication, prostitution or other such crimes.

I think that the law needs to keep our social security. But it should regulate at least in people’s life. We can’t say that the living together is always good and some people can think it’s a corrupt behavior in religion or morality. I also think so. But if we have a healthy society, there are various pattern of living. Unless it disturbs others’ lives and if it’s chosen behavior by adult’s normal mentality, we try to respect their privacy. Even if it’s blamed in the moral standards, it should not be criminalized by law. So I think this ruling is not bad.