I'm More Than Just Funny

The purpose of humorists such as stand-up comics, is to make the audience laugh or satirical writers to make the audience aware and evoke change. Although their job is to be humourous and provide entertainment and awareness to their audience, they also have to be communicators. As communicators, they are able to convey messages that the general public would otherwise keep to themselves. Alain de Botton argues the reason is because of “messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly.”

In A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, he uses a satirical writing style to convey to the public about how the Irish should eat their own children because it would not only improve the state of poverty, but also provide food for the rich people in Ireland. Swift’s main proposal of eating children to rid of poverty is outrageous because in his satirical writing, he is making the claim of resorting to cannibalism in order to resolve a poverty increase in the lower class in Ireland. Additionally, he even goes as far as to degrade the Irish by referencing their offsprings with demeaning language that is reserved for animals. The purpose of this humourist and as a satirical writer, is to raise awareness and to evoke change. Thus, while Jonathan Swift makes atrocious claims for the Irish to eat their children, he is actually conveying “with impunity messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly.”

It seems unlikely for just anyone to make the statement, “I think the impoverished Irish should start raising babies so that they can make a profit by selling them off to the rich to be eaten!” The statement would be highly impossible to be stated directly because of the possible negative impact it would have on society. Society might dub the person who dare to utter such atrocious words to be insane or even instantly reject such controversial statements. However, when humourists like satirical writer Jonathon Swift come along and share ideas that otherwise would not normally be expressed by others, humourists suddenly not only become entertainers, but also communicators.

While humourists may only be trying to provoke laughters by scandalizing sensitive issues to garner attention for themselves, humourists are actually communicators that are able to serve society by dealing with sensitive subjects such as race, religion, politic, gender or sex. Most of the time, when it comes to these sensitive subjects, the audience will be less likely to be interested in hearing long lectures, sermons or speeches and more likely to pay attention to compelling stand-up comedies, cartoons or satirical writing. When humourists have succeeded in capturing the audience’s attention with an act, a cartoon or piece of writing, then they are able to convey messages straight to the audience.

In a way, humourists have their own special method of communicating with their audience and functioning within a society. Using jokes to alleviate serious and sensitive topics, they are able to voice unspoken thoughts and help raise issues. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift was able to capture his audience’s attention with an outrageous proposal instead of outrightly lecturing with a formal essay on how the Irish people are impoverished. He was able to entertain with his proposal with strong and seemingly valid arguments, but yet he also attempted to establish the settings for a parody. While mentioning a rather sensitive subject about the British policy and the heightened state of impoverishment in Ireland, he was able to create a comfortable environment for a serious argument that would have otherwise been off limits under different circumstances. He, like many other satirical writers and humourists, was not only able to entertain, but was able to convey with impunity messages through interesting and creative methods that could really capture the audience’s attention.

The Kids Sure Are Growing Up Fast

In Korea, in order to debut as a singer in the music industry, a lot of hard work is required. Most people who desire to become singers are often selected through singing competitions or they are scouted by scouts from music-producing companies. When these companies spot talent, they approach the talents and sign them into their company as trainees. Then, as trainees, most will train for at least two years in not only singing, but also dancing. Additionally, they are even required to learn foreign languages.

The trainees that go under training to become singers are usually still in junior high school. This means that not only do the trainees train to become singers, they also attend school at the same time. The amount of time that goes into training to become singers is a large amount of time. They have to juggle time between learning in school and debuting as a singer. They are not able to properly attend school like other students nor are they able to properly spend time with friends. In other words, most singers in Korea have given up a large amount of their childhood in order to stand on stage and sing today.

Many girl groups and boy groups in the Korean musical industry are young and under twenty years old. Most of them have been trainees since they were around 14 to 15 years old and have debuted at around 18 to 19. The average age of girl groups were under twenty years old, but recently the average age has dropped. In 2010, the youngest girl group called Girl Story debuted into the K-pop music industry had an average age of 9.75. Two members of the group are nine year old, one is ten years old, and the other is eleven years old. If they debuted and had began to sing on stage at the average age of 9.75, then they must have been even younger when they had trained as trainees under their company. Instead of going out to play with their friends and properly learning in school, the young girls are subjected to a harsh life as singers in the K-pop industry.

The group, Girl Story, created a big controversy in Korea because they are the youngest girl group that debuted in the K-pop music industry. They may have become singers because it is their dream and people should support that, but they are simply too young. At such a young age, they have to live the life of celebrity singers instead of the life of ordinary 8-10 year olds. Like their seniors in the music industry, the members of Girl Story will not only have to perform live, they have to attend variety shows, promote their song, and attend interviews. They have to deal with fans and anti-fans and harsh news articles and overall pressure that comes with being a celebrity. At such a young age, the members of Girl Story should not have to be scrutinized as celebrities by the public eye so early on in their life.

Additionally, because they are so young, they are not yet fit to live the life of a celebrity singer in Korea. Most of the singers in Korea are worked to the bone in rehearsing their songs and perfecting their performances. Not only that, but they often have to run from one program taping to another. Popular and successful singers often have work schedules that run from morning to midnight. One singer had also once fainted from exhaustion while filming a commercial because he had only slept 2-3 hours (Allkpop). Because young children are not as physically capable as older teens and adults, they should not yet be exposed to a such a hectic and harsh life.

Instead of venturing into the K-pop musical industry prematurely, children should be children a little longer and have time to mature before they chase after their dreams.

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References:

Allkpop:

http://www.allkpop.com/2010/12/girl-story-under-fire-for-having-an-average-age-of-9-75

http://www.allkpop.com/2009/04/kim_hyun_joong_rushed_to_the_hospital

How crooks fake an ATM and steal your money

There is no argument in the fact that technology has advanced and has come a long way. While cellphones and all kinds of other modern technology have continued to become more and more widespread, so has the crime that is associated with the use of modern technology. In other words, the criminals who work in the black market and use frauds as ways to gain riches, have taken to advanced modern technology for their illegal criminal activity.

According to MSNBC, "When it comes to new and creative ways of pilfering personal financial data, ATM crime is enjoying something of a renaissance here in the U.S. In the past year alone, devices like skimmers have been found on point-of-sale machines, inside gas pumps, on ticket vending machines, and affixed to ATMs throughout Northern California and the rest of the country. In some cases, thieves have successfully made off with tens of thousands in cash and/or personal card data before anyone was the wiser."

What I would like to discuss in today's blog is how cautious everyone - even a crook - has to be when it comes to frauds of any kind. While there are criminals out there that are hoping to trick the money out of you by swiping fake credit cards or using skimmers on ATM machines, there are other swindlers that are tricking these criminals into buying components for skimmers that don't actually work at all.

Here's another explanation: In the criminal world, it is "every-crook-for-himself" because well, thieving isn't easy. The former Washington Post staff writer who now runs Krebs on Security, Brian Krebs says, "As with everything in the criminal underworld, the biggest issue is not getting ripped off." In fact, during the past two years, "Krebs discovered one overarching trend while reporting on the myriad forms of skimmers for his site: Obtaining real, working components -- without getting swindled yourself -- is friggin' hard." Now what kind of world are we living? We are worried that criminals might be swindling us, while the criminals are worried about being swindled by other criminals. Does this even make any sense? No wonder the author of the article quotes this roundabout cycle as, "the food chain you learned about in 7th-grade bio."

The risk of having one's personal data stolen is relatively low compared to the risk of the person doing the swindling, so there really is nothing to be worried about. Although, due to the eye-catching headline, of course there will be people who unnecessarily panic and become extra - if not already - more cautious. Bottom line is, the most interesting item of this article was the roundabout cycle of people tricking others and the person that is tricking others is being tricked as well. Honestly, everyone should just stray from conducting acts of frauds. You could get swindled before you swindle others. Apparently, this is the how the criminal underworld operates. It's that complicated.

References:
Article and Photo from:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40496218/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

Ahmadinejad urges girls to marry at 16

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is urging young girls to marry at 16. In his very own words, he says, "We should take the age of marriage for boys to 20 and for girls to about 16 and 17. The marriage age for boys has reached 26 and for girls to 24, and there is no reason for this."

Upon reading his words, a reason as to why the marriage age has raised came to mind. In many countries, it is no longer encouraged to be married at a young age. The reason being is that most married couples will have kids and in the economy today, kids are very expensive. Girls and boys who are under eighteen should still be getting their education completed. It can be noted that in particularly less developed countries, unwanted births are on the rise. Parents of many children are at a young age and have clearly not been fully educated. Why raise lower the marriage age when raising the marriage age is the better option?

In countries like China, the government had issued a One Child policy where each family is allowed one child. The reason is due to the overwhelming population growth. Also, there is the global problem of resources running on low. Even if Iran claims that the country can feed 150 million of its people, early marital statuses should not be encouraged.

According the news article, the Iranian president has sought to raise the country's population. In July, he had inaugurated "a new policy to encourage population growth with financial incentives for every new child born." Critics towards the new policy has pointed out the holes in his plan because there is an estimated 3 million unemployed people of working age in the country, yet the Iranian president is encourage population country in Iran. If the new policy were successful and did indeed spike up population rates, unemployment rates would increase as well. It is not only Iran's problem, but unemployment is all over the world. Therefore, why is Iran seemingly the only country seeking to raise its country's population?

References:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40298045/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

Women with stressful jobs have 40 percent higher heart risks

In many of today's societies, men and women are on equal working grounds. There are less and less gender inequality concerning work opportunities. So, men and women are able have the same type of work that induce different levels of stress. The necessity of earning money is undeniable and many people are heading towards the extreme for a job. Whether it be a doctor working in an emergency room or a secretary answering calls at a busy firm, stress levels are on a rise and people's heath are becoming a concern.

There appears to be no room for argument in the recently big U.S. government funded study that found "female workers with stressful jobs were more likely than women with less job strain to suffer a heart a heart attack or a stroke or have clogged arteries."

The research that distributed the study involved 17,415 participants in the Women's Health Study regarding heart disease and cancer prevention. According to Associated Press, "the women were healthy, 57 years old on average, and had worked full or part-time when the study began in 1999." This study is credible since it is a known health organization that has a long ongoing study. The results of the study showed that there is a 40 percent risk for women who have highly-stress jobs. They are more likely to suffer from a heart attack.

What's interesting to note from this article, is the explanation for why excess stress can be harmful for the body. Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of the Women and Heart Disease program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York says that , "stress can harm by releasing 'fight or flight' hormones, spurring inflammation and and raising blood pressure." This will then raise the chances of clogged arteries or strokes.

On a personal note, this is a worrying result because my own mother is someone who has a stressful job. She works long hours and often complains that different parts of her body hurts. After reading this article, it seems that her level of stress may conclude to an unhealthy future. Stress appears to be unavoidable when it comes to different jobs, but of course there are ways to relieve stress, as mentioned in the article. This includes exercising.

These are the facts and these are the data. A high level amount of stress is not good for the body. While I personally think that sometimes stress can be inevitable, it still better to find ways to relieve stress. So, for the people who are working their body to the limit, they should be wary of the health risks and learn how to reduce stress levels.

References:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40182278/ns/health-womens_health/

Pictures:
http://www.yroma.com/tag/stress/

Hotel replaces room keys with mobile phones

According to Associated Press, "visitors to Stockholm hotel will be able to use mobile phones instead of keys to unlock the doors to their rooms." How it works is that the hotel will lend repeat customers hand-held mobile phones so that they can check in before arrival. These hand-held mobile phones can also be used as keys to hotel rooms. The mobile can activate a scanner-like sensor instead of having a card-like key originally used to swipe open the suite doors.

This new technology is called Near Field Communication and envisioned for ticketing and card payment. This new radio technology is expected to be built into smart phones and will be a new addition in the mobile phone market. Although currently the use of these mobile phone keys are on trial.

"The head of Assa Abloy's mobile keys division, Daniel Berg, acknowledged that participants in the trial may find it cumbersome to have an extra mobile phone." I agree with this. I don't understand what is the point of using a cell phone when a room key is sufficient enough. I don't see the problem with having a room key and carrying around and then having to swipe it to open the hotel room. People are always looking to modernize and update technology in the present time, but sometimes some upgrades are not necessary. According to the article, it said that this new technology will be adapted into smart phones, but I know a lot of people who do not own such advanced cellphones and are still using cell phones without touch screens. In fact, they prefer their phones to stay old-fashioned with key pads instead. I think by introducing this new mobile technology for hotel rooms may be trying to change modern technology too quickly and too fast.

In the article, it said "hotels can continue giving key cards to visitors who don't have the new technology in their phones." Even though the new technology is currently on testing trial, it needs be sent back to the lab so it can be revised more. Not everyone is a smart phone consumer. What the developers of the new mobile technology are aiming at, are at the upper class people who can afford the smart phones. Instead, they should consider that there is a significantly larger amount of population of people who are unable to afford smart phones and who do not want to upgrade their mobiles. A key card seems simple enough since it is provided from the hotel itself.

References:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39976610/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/

Facebook in Privacy Breach

Facebook is a phenomenon that has breached people everywhere. It is an easy connection from friends and coworkers to other friends and coworkers anywhere and everywhere. Besides the social network that is Facebook, it is also a place where users can control and choose to share information with people they are familiar with. But recently, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found that some Facebook applications have been exposing users' personal information to an outside party.

"Many of the most popular applications, or "apps," on the social networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information -- in effect, providing access to people's names and, in some cases, their friends' names -- to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found."

I believe I can speak for many others when I say that I use Facebook a lot. It is the main type of social networking that many people use these days. It has replaced myspace and personally, I use it more than I use instant messaging. I always believed that I could surf the web anonymously and use Facebook without a third party accessing my personal information. I think I can openly say for a lot of people that they would like to keep their personal information private while using Facebook. According to the investigation made by Wall Street Journal, popular applications "have been transmitting identifying information." This is very shocking because Facebook applications are overwhelmingly popular. Applications such as Farmville and Restaurant City have attracted millions of Facebook users and these users are unaware of their names or their friends' names being sent to advertising and Internet tracking companies. Facebook is indeed a growing social networking website that people everywhere appear to have connected with. Facebook should continue to strengthen its privacy functions so that users can continue to be anonymous and use the social networking site freely without their personal information being breached by third parties.

Reference:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558484075236968.html?KEYWORDS=facebookKEYWORDS%3Dfacebook

Picture:

© Facebook