[공지] TN Topic Sample (2009.02.04)

[St. Paul Phoenix]

김지훈 씨가 2009년 1월 31일에 올린 

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-Paul-

◎Boys with Unpopular Names More Likely to Break Law: Live Science Staff

Boys in the United States with common names like Michael and David are less likely to commit crimes than those named Ernest or Ivan.

David E. Kalist and Daniel Y. Lee of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania compared the first names of male juvenile delinquents to the first names of male juveniles in the population. The researchers constructed a popularity-name index (PNI) for each name. For example, the PNI for Michael is 100, the most frequently given name during the period. The PNI for David is 50, a name given half as frequently as Michael. The PNI is approximately 1 for names such as Alec, Ernest, Ivan, Kareem, and Malcolm.

Results show that, regardless of race, juveniles with unpopular names are more likely to engage in criminal activity. The least popular names were associated with juvenile delinquency among both blacks and whites.

The findings, announced today, are detailed in the journal Social Science Quarterly.

While the names are likely not the cause of crime, the researchers argue that "they are connected to factors that increase the tendency to commit crime, such as a disadvantaged home environment, residence in a county with low socioeconomic status, and households run by one parent."

"Also, adolescents with unpopular names may be more prone to crime because they are treated differently by their peers, making it more difficult for them to form relationships," according to a statement released by the journal's publisher. "Juveniles with unpopular names may also act out because they consciously or unconsciously dislike their names."

The findings could help officials “identify individuals at high risk of committing or recommitting crime, leading to more effective and targeted intervention programs," the authors conclude.

☞Questions

1.     Are you really satisfied with your own name? If so or not, let us know the reasons why you like or dislike your name and one more question; do you have any intention to change your name to more preferable one that you’ve cherished in your mind secretly or have you already done before?

2.     Let’s talk about and share your own or other’s unforgettable or funny episodes especially related to name if you have and also if you don’t mind. And do you agree with the opinions that name might affect your life in a good or bad way entirely or partially? What is your opinion?

3.     I am quite sure that all you guys here must have various names (I mean nicknames) in a different circumstance, for example in TN (English name), internet cafe (ID) and chatting room (NATEON) etc. So do you actually do behave and feel differently when you are called another name and how do you feel about the differences between online and offline?  

◎Scientists explain reality show popularity: August 11th, 2005 in General Science

Marketing Professors Randall Rose and Stacy Wood believe viewers desire to blend fact with fantasy in order to create a complexly constructed experience they call "hyperauthenticity."

Rose and Wood say the blending of real and fantasy is the difference between simply watching "real" programming, such as CSPAN, and engaging and interacting with a program such as "Survivor."

"We argue consumers blend fantastic elements of programming with indexical elements connected to their lived experiences to create a form of self-referential hyperauthenticity," explain Rose and Wood. "In contrast to news programs, however, the majority of reality fare depicts common people engaging in uncommon (wilderness survival) and common (home-redecorating) tasks, giving viewers the chance to compare and contrast their own lives with those of the show's 'protagonist.'"

The say the shows' popularity persists because the viewing experience is inherently different than that of other television programs.

☞Questions

1.     Nowadays many Korean people have started to enjoy watching diverse and unique television reality shows such as “one night and two days (KBS)”, “unlimited challenge (MBC)”. So why do you think that the reality show is so popular among people and are you also a big fan of the reality show? If so or not, give us reasons.

2.     What is your favorite reality show and why? And do you have any abnormal and very new ideas or items in case you have a chance to launch a new reality program just for fun (plz don’t consider reality at all)?

3.     To tell the truth, the happenings in the reality show are not “so real” even though it looks so real in front of your eyes. Are you offended by the news that there are certain, specific and even detailed scripts for the reality show? And just imagine how the audiences of TV will react to “so raw and real” reality food without any chemical spices.

◎LAPD: Dad in family's murder-suicide awash in debt

By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer Thomas Watkins, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jan 28, 6:22 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Awash in debt, behind on his mortgage and recently fired from his job at a hospital, Ervin Lupoe was planning on leaving California. He'd pulled his kids out of their school, packed his sport utility vehicle with snow chains and winter clothing for him and his family and appeared ready for the trip to his brother-in-law's home in Garden City, Kan.

It's not yet known if he was planning on leaving for good in a bid to flee his mounting money problems or if the trip would have only been temporary.

Whatever his intention, Lupoe never got to Kansas.

Instead, police say, he shot his five children and wife to death before turning the gun on himself.

"Something happened in the last 48 hours that made him snap," said Detective David Cortez, the lead investigator in the case. "(He saw) no other way, no other direction."

Investigators found evidence of spiraling financial woes. Lupoe owed the Internal Revenue Service at least $15,000 and a check he wrote the agency for that amount had just bounced.

He also was at least one month behind on a mortgage for his home in Wilmington, near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Jobs are scarce in the area and the real-estate market is sinking. Lupoe owed about $2,500 and a late fee, Cortez said. He also owed thousands more on a home equity line of credit.

Police found the bodies of Lupoe, his wife and five children Tuesday morning. It appears the family had been killed the evening before and Lupoe shot himself the next day, Cortez said.

Lupoe and his wife Ana had both recently been fired from their jobs at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center West Los Angeles. The two technicians had understated their income on an application for childcare in a bid to get cheaper rates, Cortez said.

Lupoe faxed a bitter, two-page letter to a local TV news station the morning he killed himself, saying a hospital administrator told him he "should not even have bothered to come to work" and "should have blown (his) brains out."

Investigators interviewed the hospital administrator, who said Lupoe's characterization of their conversation was an out-of-context misrepresentation and denied using the words Lupoe said she did.

In his letter, Lupoe went on to suggest it was his wife's idea to end the family members' lives.

"He had one of those victim mentalities," Cortez said. "There is nothing yet that suggests his wife was a willing party."

☞Questions

1.     Unfortunately, this tragedy is not unusual for us but it’s still hard to believe though. If you were in his shoes, what choices of yours would be? And what kind of recommendation are you going to give to him before it’s too late?

2.     Why do some people usually choose a suicide when they are in a desperate situation like above? And tell us and share your own wise strategy to survive in this real jungle or your own way you usually do when you are in a bad mood.

3.     What about the children killed haplessly by their miserable father or parent? And do parent have a right to handle a life of their own children? I assume that parenting might be the most difficult challenge in our life so Lupoe's as well, do they feel too much pressure and responsibility to raise their children which ends up with terrible results or are they just big cowards that other people calls recently?