blog 16

In the article Happy Meals by Michael Pollan, he talks about 8 ideas about ways to eat better he thinks people should follow.

   Michael Pollan believes that we should not eat anything that our grandmothers wont eat, I understand where he is coming from, but things have change, the way food is being process is a little different then before, older people would say a cereal bar is not healthy as a bold of cereal, but for me I would rather have a bold of cereal, not because the cereal bar is unhealthy is that I am just use to it. Michael Pollan also talks about don’t eat anything incapable of rotting. I would not disagree with him on that one. Food to me should have an expiration date, and if it don’t I need to know why. Avoiding food products that contain ingredients you are not familiar with should be your reason to not eat the product, it should be more about doing your research and if it is bad for you then leave it alone. Avoiding food products that make health claims, it should be something to look into before making that decision, because energy bars can be good for you. To shop in the peripheries of the supermarket is good way to know right away where the fresh foods are never before I realize that setting until now. They said that you won’t find any high- fructose corn syrup at the farmers market, that is something people should research to find out where. Although a plant diet is probably the healthiest, then eating food that is process, is something I would consider but I would have to really think about it. Pay more eat less is something that I am doing I would rather go to traders Joe or Whole Foods, then to go a supermarket that has un organic stuff. I know it is hard for a lot of people because of prices but people need to change the way they eat. Cooking and planting a garden is a great idea but the problem is finding the time to do it and finding the space to grow it.

Blog 14

In the article "The Dangers of Reality TV" by Timothy Sexton he explains the message that Reality TV sends to the people. Timothy Sexton believes that Reality TV is more concentrating on competition shows and shows that have no substance for example American idol, the Apprentice, Jersey Shore, Survivor etc..... just to name a few. Timothy Sexton believes Reality TV focus more on the value of image over ability, and the obsolescence of education. These Reality TV shows are said to promote an old belief that competition is the key to success in a capitalist economy. I agree and disagree with what Timothy Sexton is explaining to us because from what i have witnessed in most reality TV shows is that all it takes is someone with a good image to win competitions but on the other hand some reality shows might have a positive affect on people. 


                The experience with the Dangers of Reality TV is that most shows i have watched are always sending a message that a person doesn't really need an education to make it in this world. All someone will need is an ability to get on TV and stand out more than the rest and act a fool because that will bring ratings to show, but people don't realize that kids watch shows like that, and we live in a generation that most kids faces, are in a computer or a tv and that can be an issue because the kids are the future of this world. Just like Timothy Sexton mentioned that "who would Tune-in week after week to watch a boring show. One example is the show Jersey shore you have people in that show that all they do is get drunk and party, it is entertaining for the viewers and they don't find it boring, but people have to understand that once you are in a position that people admire you, look up to you, you are going to have be aware of what you are doing because you could the new generation 


           On the other side of the coin in my opinion i believe that some Reality TV shows are even sometimes  good for kids. for example a show on MTV called "I use to be Fat". Some people would look at it and say there goes another show making people of heavier size feel insecure, but in reality it is really showing kids the importance of eating healthy, and going to gym can help you from getting type 2 diabetes which is an epidemic that is going on all over the United States, and other complication that comes with of not taking care of yourself. So for me it all depends what the kids are watching granted they are way more garbage on our TV then stuff that can be good for kids, but that is when the parents or the legal guardian at the time as to come in and make sure to see what their are watching.


            In conclusion, Reality TV needs to start sending the viewers more good messages and not garbage because they are telling us that acting a fool is the way to stay on television, and what they need to do is show example shows like "I use to be Fat" help this generation move forward. 

Blog 15: Manufactured Demand

   In the article "The Story of Bottled Water" there is a myth that Plastic bottles are recyclable, and are being made with thinner plastics, making them increasingly “green.” But after some investigation that is far from the truth, just because bottle water are being made thinner that does not stop the supply and demand for bottled water which makes it hard to get rid after being used.  Researchers found out that some 4 billion PET bottles end up in the U.S. waste stream each year, costing cities some $70 million in cleanup and landfill costs.  A plastic water bottle can take up to 1000 years to deteriorate in a landfill. And plastic bottled water is made out of oil so when is burned in incinerators, it releases dioxins, and the rest get send to other country or disposal. If we as a people keep going this direction it is only going to get worst, there is going to come a time that we are not going to be able to continue to do this process because the planet can take only so much, and we need to find a solution

One solution we can start is by doing research on how clean our water is around your area, another solution if already know the damage buying plastic water does to our planet, just buy a water mug and fill it up every morning before going to work, school or wherever you need to go, make sure you do that effort to make our planet more green. The more research we do the more solution we can come up with, so to solve this issue join organization anything that can help this problem to being solved.

Blog 13

   Antibiotics were meant to be used to inject humans to kill bacteria not into farm animals but that all change, Farmers before would take care of alot of manual labor, farmers would have to properly feed and raise their livestock until they hit a certain age where the animals would be ready to be killed in order to cut the meat and properly seal the meat that was going to be sold.  But that all change, during the first half of the last century, synthetic fertilizers were affordably manufactured and tractors were quickly replacing manual labor.Corporations started taking over family owned farms and putting together their warehouse where they would keep farm animals and raised at a very rapid rate. These corporations would use Antibiotics and inject the farm animals in order to make them grow quicker, fatten them up, and be sold for profit. Antibiotics have been used since 1946 and have steadily been putting hard working farmers out of business. I believe this wrong and in human using Antibiotics to make farm animals grow faster in order to be sold for a profit and not caring for the animals and the people that eat them. These farm animals "live in close confinement, often standing or laying in their own filth, and under constant stress that inhibits their immune systems and makes them more prone to infection. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, as much as 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States is fed to healthy farm animals". It has been estimated that at least 18,000 Americans die every year from drug-resistant infections. Today there are a few farmers that do not use antibiotics at all, in large part because they don't have to compensate for unhealthy conditions. Federal standards prohibit antibiotic use in animals whose meat will be certified organic. In the Eat Well Guide, farms where antibiotics are never given to animals carry the label."no antibiotic use," while those where antibiotics are only used to treat a sick animal carry the label "no routine antibiotic use."

Blog Entry 12: The Meatrix Summaries

  In the first video of the Meatrix Leo is approached by Moopheus. And Leo is be asked by Moopheus if he wants to know the truth about the Meatrix, so he is giving the option of taking the red or blue pill. The red pill is for the truth and blue is to stay in ignorance, but Leo decides to take the red so he can know the truth about the Meatrix. Once Leo takes the red pill Moopheus shows Leo the truth and birth of farming factory and how cruel they treat the animals with all the drugs they give them and more locals farms are being destroyed so that makes more factory farms born.

  In the second video The Meatrix: Revolting Moopheus is giving Leo and walk on the farm factory of how things are done. Moopheus Shows Leo how humans that are working in the farm factory pump the cows with a hormone called RBGH  to make the animals grow faster. And the calves are seperated from the mothers at birth and they get fed milk replacer that is made in parts of cows blood which can cause mad cow disease. And as Leo is gaining all this knowledge about the Meatrix Moopheus is taken away by the humans.

    In the Final video of The Meatrix II 1/2 When Leo goes to rescue Moopheus, Leo overheard the human in charge explaining to Moopheus about that even workers who get hurt in the farm factory can be expendable. And that the process is going so fast that manure is in the meat and not being taken cared of which causes e coli. And before Moopheus doom Leo came to the rescue and save Moopheus and continued there mission about spreading the truth about farm factory.

Blog entry 11

        After reading the passage,  Of Alice in wonderland and Neo from the Matrix are given the opportunity to find out the truth. Both end up taking that chance and one goes to a wonderland and the other goes inside the Matrix.  Alice goes to a wonderlandI which is full of imaginary creatures and things that don’t usually happen are happening there. In the Matrix, Neo is given the opportunity to either take the blue pill, which will make him go back to his regular life that he had going on before anything started happening to him. Neo also was given another choice of taking the red pill, which will make him go inside the Matrix and find out pretty much everything that he has wanted to know.    

      

        In both stories, both characters are taken to a different place out of the ordinary and are presented with what they wanted to find out. In Neo’s case, he was presented with a choice of either taking a red or taking a blue pill. If he were to take the blue pill, Neo’s life would have gotten back to normal like it was before anything started happening to him or even meeting these new people. But, if he was to take the red pill, Neo would have been able to go in the Matrix and find out what he wanted to know.

        I believe that people do want to know the truth that’s why we see both Alice and Neo go after what they have been searching. In the Matrix, Neo is given a choice between the red pill and the blue pill. Neo obviously takes the red pill and is taken inside the matrix which is what he has been searching for in order to find out the truth. I think most of us would take the red pill because there are questions that we want answered. We all have something that we have wondered for years and if given the chance like Alice and Neo did, I think we would take the path to the truth if it’s going to help us to find our answers that we are searching for. To conclude, I agree with both stories and would have done the same as both Alice and Neo.

blog 10

  In the article "Imitation of Film: Here's Smoking at you, kid by Nicholas Balakar. Talks about children from the ages of 10 to 14 are much more likely to take up smoking if they have seen actors smoke in the movies, and he also states from a research he read that thirty eight percent of children who start smoking do so in imitation of movies they have seen. He interviewed Dr. James D. Sergent, the lead author on the study and a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School. And he states that his studies show that kids begin to view R-rated movies at about fourth or fifth grade and R-rated movies contain twice as much smoking so children who had the greatest exposure to smoking in movies were more than two and half times as likely to start smoking as those who had the lowest exposure. I agree and disagree with Dr. James statement.

           The reason one side of me agrees with Dr. James is that I was once young and from personal experience, I know how influential movies can be for children. For example when i was young I went through different phases when it comes to movies or T.V shows, I remember when I was young I use to watch "Power Rangers" and I would always imitate the Green ranger which was my favorite ranger. I never use to like the color green but after i got hooked to the show green was my favorite color. 

        Another example into why I can agree with Dr. James is that as I got older but still young. I was very into martial arts movies because of actors like Bruce Lee, Jean Claude Van Damme to Steven Seagal. Watching their movies inspired me to join a martial art school for years, and these are two examples of things that have influenced me in movies.

      Although I do agree with Dr. James but it is only to a certain extent. Because even though I did get influence by movies my mom did approved of my decision making when I was young. I am pretty sure my mom would not approve of me smoking or anything that can bring me harm especially if I am young.

     Dr. James makes a good point but in the end it is up to the parent or the legal guardian to monitor what their children are doing.