Entry #6: The End

Did I like blogging?  No.  Did I take it seriously?  No, because I'm not someone who is into social media.  I used to have a Facebook account, but it annoyed me, so I deactivated it.  I'm on the computer all day at work, so the last thing I want is to be on it more when I get home.

What I learned from blogging for this class was learning about the people in the class, through their blogs.  I learned that some of them need to take grammar courses, unfortunately.

I understand that blogging is useful, due to its popularity in social media today, but it was not useful to me, personally.  On the other hand, considering how much I didn't want to take this class, I think I got the right teacher to teach it to me.

I think this kind of thing, blogging, is a good idea.  Nowadays people love to be on the computer, so this is a good thing to learn.  I'm not that kind of person.  I'm an individual!  I will not be assimilated!

Resistance Is Not Futile!

stuDYING

Why are we forced to take classes that have nothing to do with our career choice?  Studying is much more interesting when it is on a subject that I'm... interested... in.  In college, it becomes a waste of money and a waste of time.  This time could be better spent delving deeper into the subject matter that I am passionate about, not subjecting me to test my patience.  Studying unnecessary subjects is a form of torture, inflicted by teachers onto students, forcing them to learn material that they will never need or use again.  I believe "cruel and unusual punishment" was banned by the Geneva Convention? 

Stop the cruelty, save the future.

Bad Dad or Bad Rap?

The ad was offensive and I was offended.  I expect more from myself as a father, and I expect more from my kids as parents.  There's nothing that women can't do as mothers, besides giving birth, that I can't do as a father.  If you believe that love and financial support is enough for your father or yourself as a father, or your children's father to provide, then you are part of the problem.  I, myself, am more involved.  I support my kids in school, help them with their homework, I can hem a pair of pants, cook a delicious meal, teach them to work on cars, and more.  I am everything that my children need, without the gender bias of determining whether something is the "mother's job" or the "father's job".  I am the parent to my children that I always wanted for myself, not the stereotypical father mold that media has assumed I will settle for.

I Am Ra, Mold-Breaker.

Entry #5: Media Synthesize

I now understand how advertising works, and how something is sold, whether it is a message or a product.  I don't trust the news or media, because it's no longer about what They are saying, but more about what They are not saying.  I don't watch the news because it is nothing but negative reporting.  When was the last time you heard GOOD news on the TV?  As soon as anything bad happens, you can guarantee that almost every news station will be telling the same story(except maybe Fox News), but if anything good happens, it gets almost no mention.  If you do hear about anything good on the news, it will play for about a day, while disasters will be shown for weeks after they happened.  Every day we are being sold some kind of product, whether it be a message, an idea, or a product, and most of the time, we aren't even aware of it.  I am a happy and positive person because I don't watch the news!  I take anything reported through the news with a grain of salt.

Question everything, and trust no one.

Entry #4: Capitalism: A Love Story

Michael Moore's film was more a story of hate than anything else.  It helped reinforce negative opinions that I already have, regarding politicians and the government.  It was surprising to see how big business takes advantage of how our economy is run, and how they benefit from the deaths of their employees.  It's been said that politicians can't be trusted, and even with examples and proof, nothing is done about it.  Large corporations are the ones funding the politicians who are creating laws that only benefit the corporations themselves.  It makes people like us feel helpless, because we don't have the money or the influence that big companies have access to, and we can't make the changes that need to be made.  So, what do we do?  We don't have any way to hold companies and corporations accountable, unless we become informed and take action, otherwise nothing is ever going to change.

Canada is looking pretty good!

VEGAN RICE!

This recipe was inspired by two friends who happen to be vegans!  Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups long-grain rice

1 large red bell pepper

1/2 onion

1 16 oz can of sweet corn

2 large vegetable bouillon cubes(1 large cube for every two cups of water used in the recipe.  In this case, I ended up using 5 cups of water)
5 cups water 
1 tsp. granulated garlic

1 tbsp. alternative/vegan "butter"
1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil, or "vegan approved" oil

Chop the onion and bell pepper into 1/2 inch sized pieces.  Put the oil into a large saucepan and heat on medium-high until it's about 350 degrees, or until it starts smoking.  Add the onions and bell peppers, and sprinkle salt over them to help sweat out the sweetness in the vegetables.  Saute until the onions are translucent.  Add the two cups of rice.  Stir rice until light brown.  Add the 5 cups of water and stir.  Heat to a boil, then add the garlic and bouillon.  Stir.  Reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and let cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking to anything.  After 15 minutes, turn off the heat, and let it stand for 5 minutes.  Drain the corn, and mix into rice mixture with the "butter".

Serve!

(There is a picture at the bottom of the blog, if you're curious as to what it should look like.)

The Ingredient Incident

So, today... was interesting.

I asked my son to make Banana Nut Bread from a recipe that my mother gave me the other day.  I provided him with all the ingredients that he would need to make it and I set him loose.  I went into the living room to watch the television while he worked.  Things seemed to be going well.  He is a teenager, and has cooked before.  He knows where everything is, how to work the oven, and so on.  He IS a smart kid, I swear...

However, this was not the problem.

I made the mistake of pulling out powdered sugar instead of flour for him.  Normally, people can tell the difference between sugar and flour, but this was POWDERED sugar, and therefore looked almost identical to flour.  The containers also looked almost identical, just slightly different sizes.

He preheated the oven, started to work, and I answered any questions that he had along the way.  He mixed the dry ingredients together, then the wet ingredients together in separate bowls.  As he was greasing the loaf pans, I started mixing the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  That's when I noticed that it didn't look quite right, but never having made this particular recipe before, I continued on.

He finished greasing the pans, I filled both with the mixture, and we put them in the oven to bake for one hour.  As we were cleaning up, I asked him to put the new bag of flour into the nearly empty container.  As he began to do so, he asked me, "Why are they different colors?"

As I looked in the container, I noticed that what he was about to put into the container was light brown, and what was already in there was bright white.  That's when I realized that he had used powdered sugar instead of flour, and we quickly took the loaf pans back out of the oven.  I took out a large mixing bowl and combined the ingredients from the loaf pans with the same amount of flour that SHOULD have been in the recipe, and increased the amount by a half-cup, to compensate for the extra sugar that had been put in.  Then I divided them back into the two loaf pans and put them back into the oven for one hour.

Crisis averted!

Entry #3: ASU Providing Shorter Classes

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2011/02/22/20110222arizona-state-university-shorter-classes.html?nclick_check=1

I think that the 7.5 week courses are a good idea, because it gives students more options and with more options come more students.  Making the courses shorter will also decrease the expenses required for students and continue to make classes available to more potential students.  Students can finish courses faster, graduate faster, and end up paying less tuition in the long run.  By providing these options, ASU is enabling themselves to retain students for longer periods of time overall, rather than lose them to non-traditional schools.

The comments left by... commentators... seemed like they didn't actually read the article itself.  There was someone worrying about their engineering classes, when the article said that it wouldn't affect all classes.  Other people were more concerned about a comment's grammar than the subject matter itself.  Most of the comments didn't seem like they had anything to do with the actual article, and those that did, seemed confused as to what they were commenting on.

Entry #2: Slanted Fox News Reporting

This is a perfect example of slander reporting.  The producers pulled Tom Ricks off the air as soon as he started saying things that they didn't agree with.  It's obvious that was the reason why they did that, because as far as I know, they don't schedule interviews that only last 49 seconds.  Rather a pointless interview, and didn't say much other than showing Ricks' distaste for Fox New's reporting.

Another example, slightly related to this, is that news stations will edit a particular report to make it say whatever they want it to say, rather than the original intended message.  This allows them to let the viewers see what the station wants them to see, not allowing viewers to form an educated opinion for themselves.

Blogs: Assigned Entry #1

I find most blogs uninteresting unless there is some personal attachment or insight into a personal interest. I do not have a FaceBook or Twitter or whatever else people do nowadays. I spend all day on a phone and a computer so the last thing I want to do when I'm off work is get back on either. I am artistic, so grab my attention with good pictures that make me want to read further. Just like a good cook book, your blog must first be pleasing to my eye so that I may delve deeper into your world. I have an interest in food and nutrition so http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/ was interesting to me with a nice design and photographs with an artistic flare. However, I have no interest in business or finance so a few blogs weren't even interesting enough for me to check out such as http://futurebanking.bankofamerica.com. While other blogs triggered a personal bias which made me even more reluctant to access their posts, like http://www.checkoutblog.com/, which was a blog associated with Wal-Mart. I have a personal hatred of Wal-Mart because of the lack of customer service and extremely long checkout lines. Blogs have unlimited potential and like a library has books, the internet has blogs on a vast variety of interests and uses.

DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES YOU CAN MAKE!

I know many people that think they can't cook but I find it has more to do with attitude than with capability. These cookies are easy!

MY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (yields about 48 cookies)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You’ll need a large bowl and a medium sized bowl, a whisk and a wooden spoon.

Medium Sized Bowl

2 ½ cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

¾ tsp. baking soda

In the medium sized bowl you’ll add the flour, salt and baking soda. Stir well with a whisk or a fork so you don’t get clumps of baking soda or salt.

Large Bowl

I Stick  (softened or melted) butter or margarine (I prefer real butter)

¾ Cup of packed brown sugar

¼ Cup of white sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

¼ Cup of toffee pieces

In the large bowl add softened butter, sugars and vanilla,  then add 1 egg at a time and mix well. After that is ready slowly start adding in the flour mixture (about half a cup at a time). Mix well.

Now you’re ready to add chocolate chips and toffee pieces (this is the secret ingredient that will make your cookies a step above!) Just enough but not too much. With wooden spoon, combine until chips are distributed evenly

Drop teaspoon sized balls of dough onto cookie sheet and bake about 8-11 minutes (I like my cookies softer so 8 minutes works for me).

Allow to cookies to cool for a few minutes before removing from cookie sheet.