Food: Beef over Pasta

Okay! I live by myself and I really don’t cook often. I barely have enough kitchen equipment to make any basic meals (pots and plates). Most of the time I end up ordering in or dining out 99% of the time. So this was a nice change and challenge for me! I started the day by searching the web for an organic grocery store. I found Yogi Organic located at (2233 31st Street Astoria NY 11105). This location is very convenient for me as I live nearby. I decided to buy pasta, accompanied by some of my favorite ingredients, peppers and corn. I followed a whim and stepped into Key Food Super Market next door, and I was lucky enough to find Great Range brand Bison Ground Beef.

To be honest, I really didn’t have a specific recipe in mind. I just had an idea of what I wanted to taste that day. So, I headed home and lined up on the kitchen counter the following ingredients:

Ground Beef

Onion

Corn

Tri-color Pasta

Green and  Yellow Bell Peppers.

I needed to figure out if I wanted to have this to myself or share with someone else. I decided to telephone two friends and asked them if I could come over and cook for them at their place, not to mention they have a larger selection of cookware. (Keep in mind, I don't even have salt at my home!) Thankfully, they were more than happy to accept. I then telephoned my mama and asked her a couple of questions and for tips about how to cook the meat. She refreshed my memory on what she has taught me during my upbringing, and I was set to start my cooking.

The cooking went smoothly! Thank God! Haha. I started prepping the bell peppers by slicing them up. I cooked the meat first and then began cooking the pasta. As fried the beef, I slowly and steadily added seasonings. I stuck to the basics: salt, pepper and garlic. The fat in the beef contributed to a texture similar to that of chili. I salted the pasta water to add flavor. The whole ordeal took around 45-60 minutes, which was far quicker than I had anticipated. Who knew simple cooking could be so easy! I plated the pasta, topped it with my beef "chili" and some Parmesan cheese.
All in all, it was a great experience! My friends and I had a lot of fun; they even helped out a bit with the prep. The food tasted awesome. Be jealous!

Myth: Bottled water is convenient.


“Bottled Water Myth Versus Reality” - Prepared by The Story of Stuff Project - is a document that exposes the lie in the myth which states "Bottled water is convenient" and explains why is tap water much more beneficial than bottled water, one good reason is nothing beats the convenience of free tap water from your own kitchen, there is nothing convenient about shipping water thousands of miles from its source, plus the effort and the money spend just to dispose this bottles takes away all the so called convenience they say there is.


It does not make sense to pay relatively so much for a product that is available for free. Is absurd to take money out of your pocket and keep recurring to buy bottles of water when you can have one reusable bottle and refill it as much as you want at the same time helping against pollution. I’ll say one of the biggest problem occurs right after drinking the bottle of water, you are left with a plastic that takes over 1000 years to dispose and harms the world in many ways.

Blog Entry 10

In The Meatrex 1, Leo, the young pig, takes the red pill and watch the truth of what has being going on in farms for decades. Leo is introduced into the reality of the problem caused by big corporation farming. Moopheos the cow, explains how this is affecting the local farmers and society which are exposed to pollution and disease caused by the unhealthy condition animals are kept in captivity while farmed.


In the Meatrex 2, Moopheus, Leo and Chickity expose the dark side of the dairy industry to the others animals in farms and start fighting the corporation agents. They also adise how e can join this movement and help to improve this situation farms are in by advising on how to making the world safe for sustainable family farms.

 In the Meatrex 2-1/2, Leo takes us to a processing facility where we learn how how big corporations feed process all this animals. Also, employees inside the factories facilities are exposed to dangerous condition and woke in a fast passed without any concern to their safety or the public whom will consume the product. Leo mentions how this corporation don’t care about problems such like salmonella or mad cow disease and only care to sell and make profit.

Blog Entry 11: (Genetic Engineer)

Genetic Engineer has more cons than pros. It can be dangerous. Is unknown the harm of Genetic Engineer (GE) can cause if not tested correctly. Scientist still cannot determine the effect of introducing DNA of one species into another. Genetic pollution cannot be cleaned up, once released into the environment, genetically engineered organisms cannot be reversed or recalled.

Blog Entry 9

Not everyone will accept the information of the truth. Unfortunately the truth is not for everyone to assimilate. Sometimes reality cannot be absorbed in the right way without the proper conditions been taken placed first.

Like in the matrix when neo is first contacted he refused to wake up from the fictional life, even Morpheus mentioned to Neo that is not recommended to unplug those after certain age because they cannot handle the truth and are tended to refuse the liberation.

Similar when a person starts a gym routing, the first week of lifting weight the muscles will get very sore and will hurt after gym sections, after several months this pain goes away because the muscles grows and gets used to the tension and the weight pressure imposed to them. Same way our brain works, and many other things in our life works similar to this assimilation stage as well.

When kids are growing is not wise to expose them the crude and cold adult world, they are many things we need to hide(disguise) and not teach them yet  till certain age later on when they are older and ready to bare the shock of reality.

Taking the assimilation process in consideration there is no doubt that some people will just not be ready to accept the real information of the truth and will stay in the shadows till the timing is right or maybe not at all, some will stay in the dark shadows without the chance of ever waking up to the real light.

Blog Entry 8

Ignorance is bliss?

Sometimes is not so easy to handle the truth. The truth can hurt and is not always the most pleasant. For example some people choose to be a joyful pig rather to be an unhappy human. This leads people even to deny and not to accept the truth. Same way of reasoning it was for Cypher which preferred to live inside the program of the matrix, have a good and easy life with all type of pleasures, fame and money rather than living in reality outside the Matrix. For him Ignorance was better than the liberation.

Blog Entry 7:

Reality TV is delivering dangerous messages to its viewers, particularly to those in early childhood and adolescence, as this is a critical period of brain development, rapidly and easily absorbing information.  The prominent themes showcased in Reality TV are those of survival, fame, and vanity.

Timothy Sexton, writer of “The Dangers of Reality TV,” mentions that reality television promotes competition as the key of success, and compares it to the capitalism economy, similar to cooperation’s monopolizing the market. In Sextons words “life is nothing but a competition that we continually engage in with each other.” This is the message we are receiving from this medium of entertainment. The majority of realty shows revolve around a grand prize where the most aggressive competitor has a greater advantage of winning. We also always see a system of elimination where participants must survive each round in order to remain on the show.  

I believe is very sad to know how popular this so called “Reality TV” has become in the American Society, how young minds are mold believing that just being competitive and having a more attractive image than others is the most important in life. I personally experienced the influence of this type of shows and I noticed by watching this for many hours how empty the content of this TV series really are. I could notice for example that some reality TV participants are constantly looking for attention by provoking the most strange and extreme situations, like gossiping, use of profane language, nudity, etc. participants use any means possible to draw attention to themselves and work along with the TV channel's directors which are looking to boost the ratings even if they end up making a fool of themselves.


Probably this TV companies are very aware of what is going on, hopefully there can be changes made in programation for the shows to be more instructive but is not in the Channels Owners intererst because there only concern is the ratings which brings them profit. Reason why I say we will see much more of this Reailty TV for now and for the future to come.

Blog Entry 6

The Perfect World:

Cristoff creates what he considers a “perfect world” for Truman to live “happily ever after.” How does Seahaven compare to your world in terms of family life, neighborhood life, work life, and leisure time? Would you choose to live in Cristoff’s world? Why or why not?

I would not choose to live in Cristoff's world because is not real. I would prefer my life which is true rather to live inside a make believe world or fantasy. Some times I can compare my work place to Seaheven where a form of artificial society exist within employees. Most of us masking our real self’s and playing a role to each other, at least  that’s how I see it maybe is hard to explain and express what I really think from my work place. I don’t see Seahaven compared to my family life, I would say in other aspect of my life.

Blog Entry 5: "I know the Truth"

I believe humans are easily deceived by rumors and flat out-lies becasue we accept others person's word due to fear of not being accepted with the rest of the group. Also, humans tends to follow the pack, similar behavior is found in other species inside the animal kingdom.

Is a proven fact humans don’t like to be alone. Unconsciously sometime we tend to agree with others just to fit in, to make friends, to be accepted. This can be extrapolated to the example of what happened in Nazi Germany, huge use of misinformation and misleading lies that convinced massively the majority of the population of a wrong ideology, there were some people not completely convinced but still could not express their opinion because of fear, maybe at first just fear of not being looked at the same way by their friends and close ones, thereafter escalated to fear of imprisonment, furthermore fear to death. We all know that history and we all know what happened but learning from that experiences we can see how easy people can be manipulated.

Likewise the behavior found in other species, humans are not an exception to follow the pack and stay inside the group, animals use it as an instinct of survival for example when is being hunted by the predator. Humans also want to survive, let’s say in maintaining their position in society or whatever the reason is and to use it to their own benefit and to improve their well-being in life. Networking with others can lead you on getting a job. Theirs is more chance of success as a group rather than staying behind the pack where the chances of survival will decrease.

Blog Entry 4:

 1. Claim: Humans are easily deceived by rumors and flat out-lies

 2. Reason 1: Fear to not be accepted with the rest of the group.

 3. Reason 2: Human tends to follow the pack, similar behavior is found in other species of the animal kingdom, as well humans are not an exception.

 4. Thesis: Humans are easily deceived by rumors and flat out-lies, becasue we accept others person's word due to fear of not being accepted with the rest of the group, is a proven fact humans dont like to be alone. Also, Humans tends to follow the pack, similar behavior is found in other species of the animal kingdom, as well humans are not an exception.

Blog Entry 3: "The Allegory of the Cave" Summary

How will you describe the difference between, the feeling of knowing the truth and not knowing? Socrates, the inventor of Philosophy was asked a similar question by one of his pupils. He could not answer this question with just simple words. Socrates used  an allegory of a cave to help his student visualize and have an idea of what the answer is. He describes a story of a group of prisoners tied by their neck, looking towards a wall inside a cave since their birth, there only reality to there knowledge was shadows, this was caused by fire and the people passing along the wall. Furthermore, he goes on describing how one of this prisoners is set free and realizes that his life inside the cave was not the true reality. Socrates describes the process of this free prisoner adapting to the light outside the cave. This tale is discussed with one of his student accompanied by questions, stimulating this student to think about the meaning of the allegory in real life situations. Socrates finalize the story, narrating that this free prisoner, now accustomed to the light outside the cave, one day decides to go back, with intentions to show what he now knows to the other prisoner, however fails to convince them about the truth, about the "Light", he is threaten to death by those prisoners which remained inside the cave. They did not want to listen to, those inside the cave did not know better.  The free enlightened prisoner now knowing the truth ends up preferring the light and no longer be in the darkness.


Personally, in this point of my life, it is difficult for me to know with certainty my stage compared to Socrates cave allegory. However, I believe to be in the phase of "walking out into the light" because it is in my main interest to learn and receive the highest education as possible, being in college and studying points me to the direction of where the "light" is. I'm motivated in gaining experience, achieving my career and personal goals. I like to travel and learn about new places around the world, traveling to different country's I consider that opens your mind and provides a valuable experience which expose people to different cultures and reality. I also am into reading books (not counting college course books), where I can find the truth and the answers of many life questions. Another sphere where Ive always been interested since a small kid has been "History", my favorite subject of study. I think is very important to know the past, where we come from, what has been before us and so on. I'm convinced it is indispensable to have knowledge of history at the moment of taking decisions in various aspect of our life, because I had learned that the past tends to repeat itself. Still I had not arrived to the "Light", I have a long way to go, many objectives to accomplish and I wont stop till I am out of the "Dark".

Blog Entry 2: "I Know the Truth".

Jeffrey Kluger, author of “I know the truth, so don’t bother with lies”, presents the situation of how humans tend to easily believe rumors and flat out lies. Mr. Kluger shows a real life example of a Mosque planned to be constructed in downtown (ground zero) which brought along a huge scandal and turned into a problem caused by fabrication of gossip. The human reaction of accepting misleading information despite the real facts, are augmented by Kluger,  with evidence from Ohio State University research and other studies, they all conclude proving the human weakness of ignoring  the truth and falling under, lets say, in some type of group pressure mentality.

Blog Entry 1: "Hype"

I am convinced, that specially now days advertisement are the most toxic of the mental pollutants.

     The marketing field is huge and is taken very seriously by those whose expertize is to attract the public using commercial ads or what ever medium it takes to transmit a message in favor of a product, company or service.

     Once I read in a article of CNN "e-news" quote "More than 50 percent of the total information that America's population  receives, is in regards commercial propaganda" this consisted in a study  between persons of age 12 to 45 years old. Like Kile Lasn the author of "Hype" wrote "There is no where to hide. No one is exempt and no one will be spared." OK, those words might sound a bit drastic, however it is a very true fact. I have noticed myself  being exposed to so much advertisement that I end up impulsively going for shopping with out the need to do so.

Also, allow me to add a fact about the city where I live, New York City, the place where you can find the maximum exhibition of advertisement, nothing similar like Time Square, home of the most enormous displays of ads I ever seen. Every single time catches my eyes.

Not to forget, there is a great amount of research done in marketing in order to develop strategies intended to capture the public's attention.No wonder the most successful company's in America invest the majority of their resources in advertisement.


Advertisement consumes a large part of our mental capacity due to the reasons mentioned above, unfortunately this is a tendency which will not change any time soon. I personally expect, some time in the future there will be an organization which will control this issue and make our daily life less mentally toxic.

Getting ready to blog inside the matrix, for class ENG099.

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