This won't be my last post...

     In the facebook, everybody is talking about how to end blog with impact with minjok essay. When everybody was talking about the end of the blog, it reminded me of the moment when I first made the blog. I made this blog for English conversation class for Mr. Garrioch and I am still using it for my English class. I might not have used this blog if I recognized the fact that it would be reflected on my grades. However, by using blog for one years now, I started to like the concept of blog regardless of my grades. The grading will be ended in 10 minutes, but my blog will last forever!

Finding Myself

     After one year and a half, I have to feel out admission paper to the college. This means that I have to decide my major in a year and a half, which also means that I have to find out what I want to study profound. I've always thought that I would major in one of the subjects in natural science. However, I found more interests in other subjects in science after I studied in KMLA such as politics or laws. I could broaden my perspective in here KMLA and experience a lot of things. Mr.Tame's class helped me to think creatively and Mr. Menard's class helped me to think about my self identity by studying about the concept of minjok. Math class enabled me to study math more profoundly by studying about the concepts that I was not sure at. Other classes also helped me to broaden my perspective. I don't think that my academic ability has enhanced as certain amount that I wanted to achieve this year, however the wide outlook in field of study and life made my life was worth valuable.

Reflection on the Concept of Minjok

(Nazi was most proud of this poster among the numerous posters they have made)

Reflection on the Concept of Minjok

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121132 Jo Hyung Woo

(Obama's acceptance speech)

     While minjok is often defined as "a community of people who have inhabited in same place sharing the same culture for long history", in fact this concept has become famous recently, during the Japanese colonial period. During the Japanese colonial period, Japan endeavored to destroy Korean culture by blurring Korean identity and enfeebling bonds between Koreans. Korean intellectuals who recognized Japan's intention have popularized the concept of minjok by giving a sense of similarity to Koreans so that the nation could be efficiently organized to stand against Japan. Furthermore, research has shown that the best way to organize the community was giving strong pride to the community's common ground. An epitome would be Hitler's usage of the concept "superior race" which not only evoked pride but also rapidly stabilized a defeated nation. It enabled HItler to form a strong army with a strong war spirit. Another adequate example would be Park Jung Hee's use of concept of minjok. He led noticeable economic development by encouraging people to work hard, claiming that the outstanding Korean minjok can achieve rapid development. Most of the politicians, recently, also started using such methods to persuade citizens. One of the most famous events related to this was the president election between Michael Dukakis and George H.W. Bush in 1998. Michael Dukakis was overwhelmingly leading George Bush, however, Bush succeeded in upsetting the election by using nationalistic symbols like the national anthem and the Star Spangled-Banner. Such national symbols played significant role in winning the election by defeating reason and activating emotion of voters.

(EBS Documentary prime "King Maker" edited by me)

(Part of Drama "The Newsroom")

     As previous examples show, the concept of minjok, or one nation has been mainly used as a tool to unite the dispersed crowds. In other words, the feeling of pride that Koreans felt was actually intended to effectively systematize a huge community. The concept of minjok is now actually becoming ambiguous as the society is being globalized. There are a lot of blood-mixed children in Korea, and the numbers are consistently increasing. There are no such concepts of race and pure-blood in our society. For instance one can be partially Korean, partially Japanese, partially Canadian. Nowadays, Koreans are
being proud of single-race nation, Korea. This pride sometimes leads us to unconditionally believe in race supremacy. There are such words like, 짠깨, 외놈, 양키, which insults Chinese, Japanese, American respectively. Such words show that we feel superior compared to other nation. Every citizen like to hear either their race or country is the best in the world. It gives them pride and sense of belonging. However, as the society is gradually turning into what we call a "melting pot", the concept of pure race or blood is disappearing. Pure race or blood is only a concept to persuade a crowd by appealing emotionally. In addition, the word "best" implies that one is superior compared to other competing concepts. There might be the best nation or race but it will always change following to the criteria, whether it is illiteracy rate or national defense expenditure. Thus, there is no such thing as an absolutely best nation or race.



      It is evident that the community needs a tool to keep the components united. However, the tool should be natural, not artificial. Since artificial tools can cause cultural or ethical exclusivism due to feeling of superiority, we should assemble people by appealing to such constructive emotions like patriotism which comes from respect to the community. Thus, we should have pride to the community that we are belonged but this pride should not go further to the extent that it becomes ultra-nationalism.
     We were unconditionally accepting the concept of minjok uncritically since it gave us pride and honor. However, we should think critically about the concept that may seem to benefit us. We should always be critical about the conception we encounter during our lives and we should never discriminate a person or a specific group by their "innate" characteristics. While writing this essay, I learned that I had to broaden my perspective by thinking creatively and questioning concepts which I believed to be an absolute answer.


In short, Koreans should be proud of the fact that they are a Korean but they should avoid nationalism. Examining the history of Korea, the concept of minjok has enabled us to effectively fight against Japanese colonial rule and accomplish unbelievable economic development. Therefore, most of the people think about the concept minjok positively. Nevertheless, the concept minjok is diminishing as the society is diversifying and now the term minjok is used politically to persuade people, for example, the Democratic Party(Korea)'s objection against FTA(Free Trade Agreement) with U.S.A. As the concept of minjok turns ambiguous, the best way to unite the community will be simple respect to other groups sprouting from the bottom of the heart.




Embedded Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7r3qeo3pF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC8ovJYAU3U
http://www.nazism.net/about/ideological_theory/
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuu1mc_ebs-yyyyy-yyyy-1y-yyyy-yy_news?search_algo=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism
http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ultranationalism
http://www.nationsworld.kr
http://www.banmin.or.kr/kimson/home/minjok/index.php
http://blog.daum.net/qlcrhdmf2/222
http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%B5%AD%EC%88%98%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%98
http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%AF%BC%EC%A1%B1%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEAYnGMBKU
http://blog.daum.net/dandakhan/16566014
http://cimio.net/401
http://www.pressian.com/article/article.asp?article_num=40081128122039&Section=04
http://uncyclopedia.kr/wiki/%EB%AF%BC%EC%A1%B1%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%98
http://mybox.happycampus.com/c00lguy/153079
http://preview.britannica.co.kr/bol/topic.asp?article_id=b02g2609a
http://myvh.tistory.com/entry/%EA%B5%AD%EC%88%98%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%98%EC%97%90-%EB%B9%A0%EC%A0%B8%EB%B2%84%EB%A6%B0-IT%ED%8A%B9%ED%97%88-%EB%B6%84%EC%9F%81

Changing Decisions

      Recently, changing one's promise has been an issue as president election is approaching. Current president is now being evaluated by electors and their questioning whether candidates have capability to keep their promises. It is true that “ Man should not change that they have said”, however we should recognize that changing some decisions according to the situation in necessary. To live in modern society, revised change should not be prohibited but proposed.

Decisions, it might seem unnecessary in human lives however it modified human history several times significantly. For instance, Truman’s decision to bomb Hiroshima has changed the history of science which easily enabled homicide. So, such decisions should be made seriously. So to be a perfect decision, it should be revised for several times

Decisions should be revised due to the numerous changes of the situation. When situations change, decisions should adapt to the changed situation to maintain its’ effectiveness. For example, when one decides to go abroad one week later and one have recognized that typhoon will strike one week after, one should change decision like changing dates. Even though this is an example of unimportant decision, some important decisions like which are from army seldom change following to the climate. If one refuses to change decisions when circumstances change the decisions would not have power than the previous one possessed. In addition, decisions are sometimes forced to change when circumstances modify. Even though one have decided to go to the University they wanted to attend, one should change their decisions when his or her scores are to low that one could not even register for the test

Moreover, unrevised decisions provoke anxiety and nervousness. When a person changes their decision when the situation changes, they would feel relaxed because revised decisions are the latest and has safety proved. On the other hand, when decisions are unrevised one would gradually feel anxiety because they believe that there decisions are old an inadequate to the changed circumstances.  An epitome would be the changed standards of acceptance of a school. When one prepared to go to the school and received qualification the school required previously, but they may change decision to go to that school because one cannot be accepted following to the changed standards. However, if one does not change his or her decision one would be nervous due to the decreased possibility of being accepted. So, one should change decision following to the changes of situation to be satisfied and relaxed.

    Furthermore, education changes the decision. When a person is educated, they might change the decision that they have made earlier.  After learning a specific fact that wasn’t previously educated, decisions might change because the fact will prove that the latter would be a better one. So, when one is educated they would have variety of decisions to make and also they would have improved ability. Rather than educations, there are also some changed circumstances that changes decisions like ability and accidents. For example, when one had a traffic accident and as a result one could not dance, one should change their decision being a dancer.

     In conclusion, one’s decision should be flexible rather than being stable to maintain the effectiveness of the decision, to be comfortable and modification which occurred in oneself. In the global society, stubborn leaders are not welcomed because they do not change imperfect decisions that they have made. To add, successful managers usually revise their decisions over and over when the situation changes over and over to make the situation easily adapt to the situation.

History of cryptology

History of cryptology

10B1 조형우

    Cryptography is derived from combination of two ancient Greek Words krypto meaning hidden and grafo meaning to write. Therefore the literal meaning of cryptology is “hidden writing” which is crucial tool for secure communication. Nevertheless, the first intention of the cryptography was not related to concealing the message, it was utilized to decorate tombs to make one’s life seem noble in Egypt, around 2,000 B.C. Cryptology have started from decoration but it developed and started to function as a tool to conceal messages. This history of cryptology is widely classified in three eras: from ancient civilizations to 1940s, around Second World War, after Second World War to modern society.

   

Cryptography was used for mainly three purposes in the ancient society which is private communications, delineation of religion and secure communication for military. The most important function in the ancient period was delineation of religion and decoration of tombs. For example, in the Book of Jeremiah, a few English words transformed into other English words: "hob"="sly", "hold"="slow", "holy"="slob", "horn"="slim", "zoo"="all", "irk"="rip", "low"="old", "glow"="told, and "grog"="tilt". Furthermore, it was sometimes used for secrete communications such as Caesar cipher which was used for politic purpose. This was a method shifting alphabet three positions so that e 'a' is transformed into 'd', 'f' into 'i', 'z' into 'c'. For example, if there is a word “Term paper” it will be enciphered to “Whuo SdShu”. So, the plaintext would be term paper, ciphertext would be whuo sdshu and the key would be shifting alphabet for three positions. Even though this technique might be seen easy to decipher, majority was not able to read such codes in the time of Julio Caesar which made cipher powerful. After Caesar cipher the development of cryptology was unnoticeable. Nevertheless the French diplomat Blaise de Vigenère have developed polyalphabetic cipher in 16^th century. This cipher has been called “the unbreakable cipher” and actually has been unable to be broken for the four centuries. It has been deciphered by numerous researchers between the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of 20^th century. Another important, more modern, substitution cipher in the history of cryptography was The Hill cipher, a polygraphic substitution cipher. It was the first cipher which enabled use more than two symbols for a word.  Instead of substituting one letter for another letter, a polygraphic cipher one can substitute a word by more than a two group of words. This has made frequency analysis (a technique based on the fact that inside a text certain letters and combinations of letters occur with varying frequencies). attack ineffective since a word could be substituted by various words.

   

As time passed, when it became Second World War, people began to recognize the importance of machine in cryptography since machine was capable of making cipher more complicated and also easier to create cryptography. Therefore, Germans have made enigma machine which have played significant role win Second World War, which was used to encrypt and decrypt the cipher. As the war continued, however, allies were able to decrypt the cipher so that they could receive information about Germany. Therefore, some people believe that deciphering enigma was one of the main reasons of ally’s victory. As a result cryptography has played a significant role in the World’s History.

 

After Second World War, modern cryptology starts with the work that Claude Shannon have done during Second World War. He established the robust basis of cryptography by introducing the term called confusion and diffusion. First, confusion is a skill making the relationship between the key and the ciphertext complicated. On the other hand, diffusion is a skill spreading the influence of the plaintext over numerous ciphertexts. After introduction of two skills there were not significant developments at the beginning of the 1970s. However, in the mid 1970s there have been two major developments in the history of cryptography.  The first was the development of Data Encryption Standard by IBM which was used to develop secure electronic communication. Even though DES itself was not powerful enough, the alternatives made by using similar method was powerful enough to guarantee people secure communication. The second major development was development of new process, distributing cryptographic keys. It has raised the level of cryptography significantly since it have introduced asymmetric key algorithm to the world. Asymmetric key algorithm enables decrypting and encrypting key different. Therefore, we can designate one key of the pair as one private key and one public key(visible) so that no secure channel is needed for key exchange. So long as the private key stays secret, the public key can be widely known for a very long time without compromising security. In modern society, this is the ultimate version of the cryptography used in real life such as digital signatures and online purchasing.

Nacimera? American!

Nacimera? American!

121132 Jo Hyung Woo

      When people judge certain culture or a society, they do it in their own standards. Therefore, the evaluation differs from a person to person. This variety has derived from difference in personal experience, knowledge and the environment that the each panel was raised on. By their own standards, people sometimes criticize others and praise others. Therefore, there are some situations which seem extremely bizarre while others think it is not.

     For those people like me who are not familiar with metaphors, Body Ritual Among the Nacimera seemed like an article criticizing at Nacimeran culture. After having a lot of researches, however, I soon recognized that the article was actually focusing on American culture. When we spell the word nacimera backwards, it actually becomes the word American. Men scraping and lacerating the surface of the face with a sharp instrument meant shaving and women baking their heads in small ovens for about an hour meant drying hairs. Furthermore ancient code alludes that the doctor’s handwriting is illegible in prescription. There are other numerous metaphors that could be found in the book such as holy mouth man, medicine man etc. Actually, every sentences are metaphor of daily lives of American.

     After finishing the research, I was able to find out that the author was actually talking about the American culture. When I first read the article, I was not able to comprehend author’s intention since I was reading the passage based on by personal experience. There is a famous saying “ritual makes a society one, but it does not make societies one.” Rituals are an indigenous part of the society which differentiates society from others. Therefore, to fully understand others culture, one should approach in different perspective. The most important thing to understand other culture is to become free of bias which has been formed by rituals in one’s own society. As a matter of fact, to understand different culture, one should exclude prejudice and think outside of the box.

Monthly Toefl Essay#2

 Monthly Toefl Essay#2

121132 

10b1

조형우

       Airplanes, submarines and racing car: figurative of people’s imagination, enabled ardent human’s desire to fly above the cloud, travel to the world and trespass states in a single day. Human species are continuously developing by creating inventions, new social system and new culture. Humans are progressing every day, taking little step to the advanced society. As the time passes, these accumulated steps created an outstanding breakthrough in our society. Now, the 21^st century has begun, and there will be a significant development in arms industry.

     First, the power structure of the globe is facing new phase in the 21^st century. At the end of the 20^th century, United States had no equal to stand against its superpower. The world has constantly changed, however, and China has grown enough to alert the superpower, United States. Historically, fierce competition between two countries has led noticeable progress on both countries. For instance, competition in space technology between United States and the Soviet Union has enabled human to land on the moon, and it ultimately enhanced space technology significantly. As the example shows, the competition in producing destructive weapons will be fierce between United States and China since they not only possess similar power but also are not in a good relationship. Thus, the arms industry will develop apace in a considerable phase in 21^st century.

    In addition, advanced science technology enables rapid development of weapon engineering.

Development in physics let us to produce nuclear bomb which was excessively powerful than the previous weapons. Now, humans have noticeable advanced scientific knowledge compared to past society. With much more rigid scientific basis, there is a high probability of human producing extremely destructive weapons. For instance, human’s advanced knowledge in biology enabled military to utilize biochemical weapons. Biochemical weapons caused catastrophic genocides such as holocaust. If the science technology had not have reached a certain level, invention of such destructive weapons would have been impossible. Therefore, advanced science technology allows human to invent more destructive weapons effectively.

         In conclusion, 21^st century will bring immense development in arm industry due to the modified power structure of the world and advanced science technology. This change in 21^st century might danger the lives of human, so we should be aware of the technological advance we are making. As a matter of fact, we should be keeping track of political situation of the world and today’s technology to effectively utilize what humans possess.

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