Economic crisis everywhere, colleges included!

 This article is about Yale university having $150 Million deficit and its solutions due to this problem. The article was very intersting since it shows that the importance of one country’s economy for its development. Last week, I learned about Frederick Douglass’s solution to end the slavery and it was education. Not only that but education is the basis of the country’s now and future. The fact that institutions for education, such as Yale, is negatively affected by U.S.’s economy is not a good news for not only U.S. citizens but also students in other countries who are eager to study in U.S.

Maybe they need to sell this magnificent building, too?

  This article says that Yale is elminating staff, freezing salaries for deans and officers, reducing the number of graduate students. It also mentions about colleges who have taken similar actions such as Cornell and Princeton.

 I do not have stance on whether the actions taken by colleges are right or wrong. But agains, I realized the importance of economy for many countries including United States since it even affects educational institutions. While educational institutions should receive lots of financial support from a country, it is harmed by the country’s bad economy. To end, I never understood people who said that they are going to become economists for their countires when they grow up; however, I see the reason why they wanted to help country by being economists and I truly support those people who told me that they will become economists.

Cornell struggles, too. I hope my friend Steve, who will go to Cornell next year, would not get any negative effects from this deficit problems

“Hi” from Space by Tweeter!

This article was very intersting to me since the title itself was captivating. Although I do not use Twitter nor I have interest in using Twitter, I was interested in the process of Twitter’s growth as a new source of online networking. To add, I was astonished by the fact that the one can send a message from the space when I was not able to send any message from the plane when I was coming to Boston. When I get on the planes, I usually do not have anything to do. Thus, I always imagined how great it would be to send and receive messages via cell phone or other networks. But, it has never been possible to send messages from the planes when they are flying. When I looked at the title of this article, I thought, ‘Then would I soon be able to communicate with my friends on the plane?’. Within these interests, I started to read this article.

 This article is basically about a man, who is called Timothy Creamer, sending a message from Space by Tweeter. Compared to other networks, sending message from space by Tweeter was a very hard task; however, finally it happened.

 I am strongly for the development of online networking since it allows the world to become smaller and to be more accesible to eachother. The fact that we succeded sending message from Space by Tweeter does not actually help the current status-quo of online networking; however, I believe that it shows the expansion of area where we can communicate with different sources of online networking. I hope that there is faster development of online networks so that I would not be bored so badly when I am on the plane for 18 hours!

I wish for the fastest development of Twitter

College over Money, That’s right!

          

This is the most important thing!!!!!!!!!!!Money? Noooooo.

    This article is about the increase of applicants for colleges’ early programs despite of the financial crisis. I was interested in this article due to many reasons. First of all, the fact that I want to go to good college makes me to be interested with any articles related to college. Second, many of my friends got into the great colleges with early programs so that I was willing to see how many more applicants there were in spite of the financial crisis.        

   This article basically claims that people’s interest and passion to get into great college is not even close to being discouraged by financial problem with some exceptions. When they apply to early programs, applicants will hardly get financial aid from colleges; however, the article says financial aid was not a big problem for many applicants. Brown Universtiy and Stanford University were the examples of having more applicants than last year. It says nearly all the colleges had similar or more applicants for early-decision programs, including binding and non-binding; however, Williams college and Yale University were one of the exception which had decrease of applicants for their early-decision, or early admission, program.        

    To be honest, I was not surprised by the fact that the number of applicants for early programs increased in most of the colleges. In my opinion, students and their parents are eager to go to one of the best American colleges than ever before. The passion for education and gaining reputation have increased upto the peak and the statistics of applicants for early programs validates it. Many people not worrying about financial problem than education shows how much education and institutions are valuable.           

      To add, I felt like the family needs to have enough money to have its kids to go to great college since they cannot ask for financial program in most of the cases. It is not only the education and passion of the students but also money that their family have. This trend makes me sad since poor people will struggle even more than ever to send their kids to good colleges in this financial crisis.Many students going through financial crisis while they have to pay for their college.

         Besides being sorry for not affluent family who could afford college without financial problem, I was delighted that two of my dream schools had decrease in their numbers of applicants of their early programs which are Yale University and Williams College. I hope this trend continues until next year! (very selfish) 

Emma Watson might be why Brown had more applicants than last year!

New and Historic chapter for the mission: Afganistan and Barrack

   

This is the speech about Barrack Obama announcing what his administration’s plan is with Afganistan. I was interested to watch this speech from the whitehouse website since my U.S. History teacher provided us extra-credit. Not only that, since Barrack Obama is my role model, I did not want to lose one of his greatest speech as the president of United States. Watching and listening to the speech allowed me to think about Barrack Obama’s effective skills on having speech and how this new plan is going to solve the problem with Afganistan.

"This is why we need more troops!"

 United States has been struggling in Afganistan for a long time. This speech is made in the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y, to announce what is Barrack Obama and his adminstration’s plan for Afganistan is. THe new plan is the deployment of 30,000 additional troops in the ”epicenter of the violent extremism practiced by Al-Qaeda” but also withdrawing those forces within 18 months. This surge of forces will bring the total American commitment to nearly 100,000 soldiers in Afganistan and he announced that the soldiers will be deplyoed at “the fastest pace possible”. Barrack Obama also mentioned about alleviating the relationship with Afgan President Hamid Karzai because Amercian officials recognize they have little choice but to reinvent their relationship with Mr.Karzia.

  I support Obama administration’s new plan on Afganistan but I have few worries in the plan. The new plan is a great measure since Barrack Obama is actually listening to the troops in the Afganistan. Generals in Afganistan were asking for more troops to solve the problem in Afganistan; however, Bush admistration tend to ignore the demand and focused on Iraq war which was totally unnecessary. In Obama’s administration, it is listening to the generals who knows the most about how to eradicate the problem in Afganistan. Therefore, I wholeheartedly agree with accelerating pace by deploying soldiers to Afganistan. Moreover, I support the idea of alleviating the relationship with Afgan President Hamid Karzai. In my point of view, it is close to being impossible to get rid of Al-Queda without the Afganistan government’s aid. Thus, better relationship will enable the American troops to eradicate Al-Queda from Afganistan and Middle-east.

 Although those are great measures, I am worried about Obama promising to withdraw American troops in 18 months. I support in the aspet that withdrawal in 18 months is setting a goal to the American troops; however, nothing is predictable so that it might not be possible to withdraw troops from 2011. I am worried since Al-Queda will just try to survive for 18 months and American troops might fail to eradicate Al-Queda on time.

  I wish Barrack Obama’s plan gets the whole world and United States into the peace as Barrack Obama promised in his speech when he got the Nobel Peace Prize.

 Watching and listening to Barrack Obama’s 30minutes-speech was a great experience as a student who is “interested” in political science and international relations. Moreover, this speech made me to watch other Barrack Obama’s speeches which always astonished me.

p.s. This speech by Barrack Obama was one of my favorite speech that I’ve watched after watching 30 minutes-speech on Afganistan.

Water on MOON!!!!!

not for water, just to land..!

This article is about NASA finding water on moon which is an astounding achievement by NASA. I was interested in this article since water on planet was such a big issue throughout history especially from the Cold War. To be honest, I thought the article was talking about water on Mars when I first glimpsed at the title of article on the CNN’s website; however, it was water on moon. More than I expected, water on moon had crucial importance on our history and our future.

 This article is basically about NASA discovering water on moon through long research and its effects. The effects include the possibility of development of a lunar space station, opening the new chapter of new information on moon, unlocking the mystery of solar system, and being a key to the history and evolution of the solar system. Moreover, water on moon is potential resources that could sustain future lunar exploration. The effects of the new discovery show how much the discovery is important to our society now and in the future.

This article basically mentions the effects of this new discovery, water on moon. I agree with the author that this new discovery has big impact on U.S.’s development in space and future lunar exploration. I am very glad to hear that NASA’s discovery of water on moon and the new chapter of our history and future at the same time.

Swine Flu and Young Children

Usually, kids are not strong enough to stand swine flu.

This article is about swine flu’s effects on young people that swine flu has bigger impact on young people under 18. I was interested in this article since my favorite Korean actor’s son just died two days ago due to swine flu. Due to the young kid dying of swine flu, I was interested in the article which claimed that children are more prone to be affected by swine flu than adults.

 This article says the swine flu killed at least 540 children only in April since children are not even close to being immune to H1N1. The article says kids who get hit hard are more likely to go downhill very fast due to their weak immune system. This article gives the idea of swine flu’s future in two ways that swine flu can be less infectious since vaccine started to become available; however, the author worries about the real winter started to come to people where H1N! virus prevails. This articles is very significant since it warns how kids should be more prevented from H1N1 virus due to its weak immune system.

 I agree with this article’s argument and want to speculate one more thing; old people over 60 are also tend to get easily infected to H1N1 virus because their immune system starts to weaken itself. H1N1 has been a big issue in U.S, and throughout the world. More investigation and research will help people from being prevented; however, more awareness campaign will be needed rather than article saying who died because of swine flu. I hope that there will be more awareness campaign and faster distribution of vaccine throughout U.S. and the other countries with the virus.

Pakistan and U.S.: tough love for Pakistan

 This article is about the relationship between U.S, and Pakistan which I was strongly interested. I loved to look at this article since the relationship between U.S. and middle-east countries is one of my favorite topics in the debate competitions such as Model UN and Model Congress. I was more interested since I have never talked nor researched about the relationship between Pakistan and U.S.

 This article says John F.Tierney, the head of the House subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs, asking for substantial verification to the government of Pakistan due to Pakistan’s hidden usage in the past. John F.Tierney also looks around the government of Pakistan and has meetings with Pakistani leaders. He says that the government of Pakistan seems more stable and Ali Asif Zardari, the president of Pakistan, is not being the target of the military or opposition. This article’s main significance is that U.S. started to be more involved and strict in the relationship with middle-east countries.

The article states about the relationship between two countries being stricter. I agree with this new direction of policy since I think it is a time for U.S. to tighten the relationship with the middle-east countries including Pakistan. U.S. is still in economic recession although it got better. In that sense, U.S. now need to use money wisely; this does not include giving money to terrorist group by giving money to Pakistani government without clear verification of the usage of money. U.S. has enormous amount of money for the Foreign Aid; however, U.S. has not always used the money in a right way. Asking for clear verification is another step to make the money worth as a Foreign Aid. Thus, I am happy to hear that U.S. has taken ‘better’ action in the relationship between Pakistan and U.S.

Money shouldn't be used for terroristForeign aid should be used wisely. Thus, need better verification! good job Mr.Tierney

Future of Twitter!

 Among the US history assignments, one of them was to interview Mr.Conrad, the head of Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School, about ‘Online Social Networking’. While I was interviewing Mr.Conrad, my questions were only focusing on the effects of ‘Facebook’ and ‘MySpace’; however, Mr.Conrad mentioned about how twitter is going to affect our future ‘Online Social Networking;. Online social networking is a big issue in the modern society since it has tremendous impact on many different groups of people. Therefore, the title, Twitter’s users drop 7.9% in October, attracted me due to my interest in the topic of online social networking and Mr.Conrad’s statement about our future with twitter.

 This article states that the number of Americans using Twitter decreased 7.9 percent which is the second monthly decline for the social networking site in 2009; however, the decreased number of Americans was still more than thirteen fold from 2008. In addition, the number of Americans using MySpace also decreased with Twitter. On the other hand, the users of Facebook increased 2% in October which kept its name as the most popular online social network. The author mentions about Evan Williams, the chief executive of Twitter, saying Twitter’s growth is slowing among Web users but growing among mobile phone users. This article is crucial in a way that it mentions the growth of new online-social-networking syndrome is slowing down. Online social networking is a huge part of culture and society. The growth of Twitter slowing down might be a sign that it would not have as big impact as other online social network did.

The article does not have strong argument while it states about the fact of online social networking in U.S today. I think that the impact and the importance of online social networking will increase at least up to the day when nearly everyone in the world starts to use or when there’s medical findings on the its terrible impact on people or society. In my point of view, the growth of Twitter was the new online social network which boosts the growth of online social network by making the community smaller and faster communication; however, this article shows that the growth started to slow down which might mean Twitter would not be as influential as other online social network. At the same time, Twitter’s growth is astounding since it thirteen folded from 2008. I would love to keep my attention on the future of Twitter.

           Although this article is stating the fact, the statistics here online mentions about one month which makes harder to anticipate anything. But, October might be the month which is the starting point of decline for Twitter. 

Can you beat up your peer because he is a gay?!

This is the clip about the ‘Hate crime’:

The author believes the answer to the question should be firm “No!” 

 The article  is about the hate crime which is prevalent throughout whole U.S. I was strongly interested in the article when I saw the title, ‘House Votes to Expand Hate Crimes Definition’, due to the several reasons. First, I had researched on the issue of the ’Hate Crime’ during summer. During summer break, I participated in Korea International Model Congress and was part of Senate 1 Committee. For 3 days, our committee discussed about the bills on the hate crimes. I loved to research and debate about the issue since the hate crime was related to so many aspects of American government and culture. Moreover, I wanted to know how the hate crime is actually going to be debated on the Congress of U.S., not the ‘Model Congress’. Since this article clearly mentions about how the bill on the hate crime resulted, I was interested in the article.

       As the title clearly states,  the House decided to widen the definition of Hate crime and give more support to the federal government to prevent the american citizens from the hate crimes.  While the definition of the hate crime under current federal law was vague and not enough, the house restated the hate crime as the crime caused by race, color, relgion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. To add, the bill states that the government will provide $5 million a year to the Justice Department to provide assistance to local communities in investigating hate crimes. This bill passed on the final vote of 237 Democrats and 44 Republicans for while 15 Democrats and 131 Republicans against. Democrats finally succeeded in expanding the range of the hate crime; however, Republicans criticized the Democrats for attaching the idea, of widening the definition of the hate crime, to the essential $681 billion military policy bill.  In spite of all the complains of  ‘Democrats’ blakmail’ of the issue, this artcle, or the incident, have crucial importance as itself. U.S. is the country established based on democracy and freedom. U.S. is also the sole superpower that supervise the world on the issue of violating human rights and infringing people’s freedom. However, U.S. have been struggling with inscessant hate crimes. To be specific, 97,000 cases on the local courts were about the hate crimes each year. Since the definition of the hate crime was not accurate and was not able to include all the possible hate crimes, there were many cases that was ignored. Expanding the definition of hate crime is critical in a way that includes all the genenral causes of hate crime. U.S. strived against issue of freedom and equality based on the race throughout its history. In my opinion, it is the time for U.S. to fight against the idea opposed on the gay and disability more than the status quo. In this point of view, passing the bill takes the U.S. a big step toward the better treatment to homosexuals and disabled people.

This is the poster which says “No more hate crime!”

 

    As I mentioned above, this article holds the significant value since it brought America to a better country that people can gain more freedom. U.S. is the country that is absolutely diversed and highlights the diversity. Although diversity and communication with other kinds of people were important, the statistic of the hate crime shows that U.S. has far way to go on freedom and equality issue. I again believe that the expansion of the definition and better aid on the issue will decrease the amount of hate crime court cases from 97,000. Decreasing the amount of hate crime does not only affect U.S. but also the whole world. Since the U.S. is the superpower and is the standard of other countries, especially developing countries, U.S.’s effort to prevent the hate crime will also affect other countries in many positive ways.

        Thus, I am wholeheartedly glad to see this article and wish the effort to work for freedom and human rights should continue!

Barrack Rocks!

This article would be an alarm for the honorable president of the United States, Barrack Obama, since it talks about ‘Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.’  The article captured my attention due to the simple reasons. Barrack Obama is the author’s role model and idle. To add, another role model of the author, Dae-Joong Kim, was also the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. The fact that both of my idles received the Nobel Peace Prize was enough to grab my attention. This article talks about why Barrack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize and people’s opinions on this event. Here is the picture of Barrack Obama speaking in G20 summit for the better relationship among countries:

Barrack Obama's effort for the better international relation

  This article tells the readers that Barrack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize because he changed the “international climate’ of the world. The Nobel Committee claims that Barrack Obama strived to develop the relations between countries. Barrack Obama worked to strengthen international diplomacy, tried to rid the world of nuclear weapons, and promoted the peace talks between many countries including Israel and Iran. This article has significance in many ways. First of all, Obama will be more reliable figure to the people all around the world by receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Moreover, U.S. can be recognized by other countries for working toward the international peace although they struggled with their economic recession. However, Obama can be criticized from the citizens of America in the perspective of not solving domestic issues as well as international issues. Especially, Republicans already condemned Barrack Obama for putting too much importance on international issues despite of hardships in U.S. Although some people do not recognize the accomplishment by Barrack Obama, the author agrees with the Nobel Committee to give the Nobel Peace Prize to Barrack.

Here is the Barrack Obama speaking after he wins the Nobel Peace Prize:

Barrack Obama speaks after he wins the Nobel Peace Prize

    Although Barrack Obama did not have any achievement that is tangible or can be showed clearly, his effort for the international peace is unbelievable and had some signs of incredible accomplishments. I believe that the international peace should be pursued with communication and negotiations between countries. As the Bush administration failed to accomplish international peace with stubborn and conservative stance towards the other countries, the new approach of Obama’s administration has been working out. For example, Iran’s consent to talk with U.S. is clear evidence of Barrack Obama’s effort and accomplishment while George Bush failed every time. Therefore, I am very happy to see Barrack Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize and hope that his new approach toward other countries have better accomplishment through his presidency.

Go Barrack!!!