Something that I never thought about was my consumption of meat each day. Usually when I eat food, I eat meat for breakfast lunch, and dinner. It wasn't until I heard that the FDA believes that you don't need more than a handful of meat each day and I realized I had exceeded the daily limit of the amount of meat we should eat each day. I knew it would be difficult but I decided to lower my consumption of meat each day. For the day I didn't eat breakfast, I had sushi for lunch, and for dinner I had pork Chops. This routine was followed continuously as I ate lower portions of meat throughout the day and saved the most meat for dinner time.
I liked eating this way because usually when I eat meat, I eat it because I want to finish all my food and not because I actually want it. After eating all that meat I felt stuffed and had a stomach ache but as I began eating lower portions of meat I actually feel full. I strongly believed that since I was eating less meat I would be hungry but that's not the case. Eating less meat has made more room for other foods I like to eat but may not have been able to enjoy due to the fullness I felt after eating large portions of meat.
I learned that it takes a routine to break certain habits that have been embedded in our minds, such as our consumption of fast food. Reading Fast Food Nation and watching Fast Food, Inc. has helped me come to some conclusions about our society. We may find out the truth behind fast food but that doesn't mean we will use that truth and apply it to our lives. There are many reasons why we stick with fast food knowing that we are being used. One reason, is that we love the taste, and the second reason is that we love the prices. Fast food is made in a hurry and after coming home from a long day at work the last thing we think about doing is cooking. This is the role fast food plays in our lives, we may think we are making our children happy but in reality we are setting them up for possibly diabetes, or other fatal illnesses.
Knowing all this information about fast food has made me more aware about the production and sales of food, and I begin to analyze the things I eat and think about the bigger picture. I can't say that right now I will leave all that food behind me and go organic because I don't make any money for myself so I can't help support my mom. I can continue to think about the different fast food restaurants and their involvement with meat packing industries and slaughter houses.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
HW 10 Food, Inc Response
Power is being used against workers, farmers, and consumers who don't understand the complexities of food in the United States. Farmers are being exploited by these big businesses who purposely give them less money for a larger quality of food. Workers in these factories are being exploited because they are used up until they can't work independently. Working in slaughterhouses is one of the most dangerous jobs out there, because everyday workers risk stabbing someone, cattle falling on them, and other dangers. Big corporations have a connection to the government because in the movie there was a guy working for Monsanto, who moved on to get a government job, then came back to work for Monsanto after being offered a higher salary. The main idea is that all these people have a connection and this is what allows their businesses to strive. In the movie, something that was not mentioned in Fast Food Nation was that Monsanto sued a man whose job was to clean seeds, to save money. Monsanto didn't want that, the goal was to make people spend more money to buy seeds and they would continue to increase the prices. Monsanto sued this man because he would interfere with that goal. In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser made an interesting point, he said, "Today the handful of agribusiness firms that dominate American food production are championing another centralized system of production, one in which livestock and farmland are viewed purely as commodities, farmers are reduced to the status of employees, and crop decisions are made by executives far away from the fields" (Pg. 266). Basically the most powerful businesses in the past have been replaced by technology and a new system of capitalism. This new system exploits farmers,workers and the consumers who don't know the truth.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
HW 7d Reading Response
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Chapter 1: The Founding Fathers
Precis:
The sacrifices we make for something can either affect us in the future or expand our growth. Carl Karcher helped to create the fast food industry through his persistance to stay in the game even with all the competition from McDonald's and the development of several other fast food businesses.
Gems:
"My whole philosophy is-never give up..The word can't should not exist...Have a great attitude" (Pg. 27).
Thoughts:
1. If people were more informed about fast food restaurants do you think they would apply that knowledge to their daily lives?
2. McDonald's is a franchise, it is in politics, and sports and many other things, making it that much harder to change our natural way of life.
Chapter 2: Your Trusted Friends
Precis:
As competition intensified between McDonalds and other fast food restaurants, McDonalds found new ways to keep their business sales up. One of the ways in which sales increased was through children. Advertisements were created to use children to persuade their parents to bring them to McDonalds.
Gems:
"The aim of most children's advertising is straightforward: get kids to nag their parents and nag them well" (Pg. 43).
"The fundamental goal of the "My McDonald's" campaign that stemmed from these proposals was to make a customer feel that McDonald's "cares about me" and "knows about me" (Pg. 50).
Thoughts:
1. Good marketing strategies come when you include the influences into your plans. For example: if your mom takes you to McDonald's she may order food for your family and that gives McDonald's a couple more customers.
2. What makes McDonald's so special, why are there more McDonald's in the world and not Wendy's or Burger King?
Chapter 3:Behind the Counter
Precis:
WW2 helped to create economic prosperity for certain businesses that's why fast-food restaurants succeeded. McDonald's is a business that likes to keep processes simple, their is an instruction manual that breaks down how every single object is used. Behind the counter is where it all goes down and you notice specific patterns among workers and a certain age group as well.
Gems:
"Her family's modest townhouse sits beside a busy highway on the south side of Colorado Springs,in a largely poor and working-class neighborhood" (Pg. 67).
"At Burger King restaurants, frozen hamburger patties are placed on a conveyor belt and emerge from a broiler ninety seconds later fully cooked" (Pg. 69).
"Godbout called McDonald's "one of the most anti-union companies on the planet" (Pg. 77).
Thoughts:
1. What would happen if a manager wanted to start a union, would the corporation "leaders" handle that situation?
2. Why isn't McDonald's willing to compromise as a result of all the difficulties the restaurant has been facing with workers?
3. It's very interesting that most of the people working in McDonald's come from poor or working class families and their job becomes their life. Sometimes when you get a job it becomes more important than everything else because you feel like an adult but in a way McDonald's is robbing its workers of their freedom and salary.
4. It's sad how some people can look down on someone for having a job at certain fast food restaurants. The most important thing is that the person is working because they know there is no one else to care for them at home.
5. What are the ethnic percentages among the customers?
Chapter 4: Success
Precis: McDonald's and other fast food restaurants are not the problem. Everyone is being squeezed by the government and those who have more power can avoid being squeezed. Opening new franchises is the way these businesses succeed.
Gems:
"Set goals to meet key people. Imagine yourself talking to them. Plan in advance what questions to ask them...When there is an important individual you want to network with, be prepared to say something insightful to them that shows you're aware of their achievements.." (Pg. 106).
"I see people who achieve these conventional goals," he says in a mild, even tone. "None of it matters" (Pg. 107).
Thoughts:
1. Their marketing strategies are good but there are a number of people being exploited in fast food businesses. Illegal immigrants, teens, and the people that are buying the products.
2. When they had the fast food convention it was interesting reading about the things the speakers said to the audience. They gave them words of wisdom and possibly helped some people to realize that you don't get joy from material things because they can be gone in a second.
Chapter 5: Why the Fries taste Good?
Precis: We prosper because the things we make originate from us and it's better when people don't follow the things we created. When people do follow our lead it becomes more difficult to succeed in competition. Our consumption of potatoes is a big part of society as well as it's production.
Gems:
"The only thing I did smart, and just remember this- ninety-nine percent of people would have sold out when they got their first twenty-five or thirty million. I didn't sell out. I just hung on" (Pg. 116).
"You increasingly find two classes of people in rural Idaho: the people who run the farms and the people who own them" (Pg. 118).
"If potato farmers don't badn together they'll wind up sharecroppers" (Pg.119).
Thoughts:
1. It's interesting when businesses are always in competition with one another when it would be much easier for them if they worked together. There are some skills that each business that someone else can benefit from.
2. Businesses want to sell as much as they can. This is a good thing but sometimes there are disadvantages to wanting to sell as much as possible in a small amount of time.
Chapter 6: On the Range
Precis: As meatpacking industries become more high in demand, the need for ranchers is decreasing. Ranchers pay is decreasing and they fear that they will become powerless and in debt. As society progresses their is less demand for farms, and the work farmers contribute to the meat industry.
Gems:
"Ranchers currently face a host of economic problems: rising land prices, stagnant beef prices, oversupplies of cattle, increased shipments of live cattle from Candada and Mexico, development pressures, inheritance taxes, health scares about beef" (Pg. 136).
"Anger toward the large meatpackers is growing, and a new range war threatens to erupt, one that will determine the social and economic structure of the rural West" (Pg. 137).
"Over the last twenty years, the rancher's share of every retail dollar spent on beef has fallen from 63 cents to 46 cents" (Pg. 138).
"Instead of buying their own ranches, the meatpacking companies have been fincancing a handful of large feedlot owners who lease ranches and run cattle for them" (Pg. 138).
Thoughts:
1. If a selection of ranch owners are chosen to lease ranches and run cattle for them I can understand why some ranch owners share's are starting to decrease. There may be a number one farm that these companies look to for their meat and they raise that industry higher than the others. If you are financing for a farm of course the farm owner will make more money.
2. Are farm owners rights being stripped from them once they decide to partner with businesses that rely on the meat industry?
3. I think farms should continue to run because everything that is done on farms are more natural. A farm may not be easy to maintain but i'm sure that once you get the hang of things you can handle it. Machines can break down but the farms will always be there to provide meat.
Chapter 7: Cogs in the Great Machine
Precis: Workers at slaughterhouses are being exploited. Illegal immigrants dominate jobs at meatpacking industries because they will not organize unions and they are willing to work for little pay. These jobs are dangerous because these immigrants are not provided with health insurance, and they are replaced very easily.
Gems:
"Insurance is not available to new employees until they've worked there for a period of a year or, in some cases, six months. Vacations don't acrue until the second year. There are some economies, frankly, that result from hiring new employees" (Pg. 161).
"Far from being a liability, a high turnover rate in the meatpacking industry-as in the fast food industry-also helps to maintain a work-force that is harder to unionize and much easier to control" (Pg. 161).
"Mexington"- as it is now called, affectionately by some, disparagingly by others-is an entirely new kind of American town, one that has been transfigured to meet the needs of a modern slaughterhouse" (Pg. 165).
Thoughts:
1. There is so much corruption in the meatpacking industry, not that I wouldn't guess, this book confirmed it. Workers are being exploited because they hire workers that will not compain about the working conditions. Whenever someone attempts to organize a union they move the plant to another location as a warning not to organize unions.
2. Farmers are being cheated out of their money because one company had a law suit filed against them because they purposely misweighed grain to buy it at a lower price from the farmers.
3. I can't imagine what life would be like working in a meat-packing industry. Workers constantly smell burning hair, blood, and an odor of rotten eggs. They have gotten used to this smell and this is their way of life because they are willing to do anything to provide for their family. I can tell they have great family values because they are willing to put up with anything just to provide money for their families.
Chapter 1: The Founding Fathers
Precis:
The sacrifices we make for something can either affect us in the future or expand our growth. Carl Karcher helped to create the fast food industry through his persistance to stay in the game even with all the competition from McDonald's and the development of several other fast food businesses.
Gems:
"My whole philosophy is-never give up..The word can't should not exist...Have a great attitude" (Pg. 27).
Thoughts:
1. If people were more informed about fast food restaurants do you think they would apply that knowledge to their daily lives?
2. McDonald's is a franchise, it is in politics, and sports and many other things, making it that much harder to change our natural way of life.
Chapter 2: Your Trusted Friends
Precis:
As competition intensified between McDonalds and other fast food restaurants, McDonalds found new ways to keep their business sales up. One of the ways in which sales increased was through children. Advertisements were created to use children to persuade their parents to bring them to McDonalds.
Gems:
"The aim of most children's advertising is straightforward: get kids to nag their parents and nag them well" (Pg. 43).
"The fundamental goal of the "My McDonald's" campaign that stemmed from these proposals was to make a customer feel that McDonald's "cares about me" and "knows about me" (Pg. 50).
Thoughts:
1. Good marketing strategies come when you include the influences into your plans. For example: if your mom takes you to McDonald's she may order food for your family and that gives McDonald's a couple more customers.
2. What makes McDonald's so special, why are there more McDonald's in the world and not Wendy's or Burger King?
Chapter 3:Behind the Counter
Precis:
WW2 helped to create economic prosperity for certain businesses that's why fast-food restaurants succeeded. McDonald's is a business that likes to keep processes simple, their is an instruction manual that breaks down how every single object is used. Behind the counter is where it all goes down and you notice specific patterns among workers and a certain age group as well.
Gems:
"Her family's modest townhouse sits beside a busy highway on the south side of Colorado Springs,in a largely poor and working-class neighborhood" (Pg. 67).
"At Burger King restaurants, frozen hamburger patties are placed on a conveyor belt and emerge from a broiler ninety seconds later fully cooked" (Pg. 69).
"Godbout called McDonald's "one of the most anti-union companies on the planet" (Pg. 77).
Thoughts:
1. What would happen if a manager wanted to start a union, would the corporation "leaders" handle that situation?
2. Why isn't McDonald's willing to compromise as a result of all the difficulties the restaurant has been facing with workers?
3. It's very interesting that most of the people working in McDonald's come from poor or working class families and their job becomes their life. Sometimes when you get a job it becomes more important than everything else because you feel like an adult but in a way McDonald's is robbing its workers of their freedom and salary.
4. It's sad how some people can look down on someone for having a job at certain fast food restaurants. The most important thing is that the person is working because they know there is no one else to care for them at home.
5. What are the ethnic percentages among the customers?
Chapter 4: Success
Precis: McDonald's and other fast food restaurants are not the problem. Everyone is being squeezed by the government and those who have more power can avoid being squeezed. Opening new franchises is the way these businesses succeed.
Gems:
"Set goals to meet key people. Imagine yourself talking to them. Plan in advance what questions to ask them...When there is an important individual you want to network with, be prepared to say something insightful to them that shows you're aware of their achievements.." (Pg. 106).
"I see people who achieve these conventional goals," he says in a mild, even tone. "None of it matters" (Pg. 107).
Thoughts:
1. Their marketing strategies are good but there are a number of people being exploited in fast food businesses. Illegal immigrants, teens, and the people that are buying the products.
2. When they had the fast food convention it was interesting reading about the things the speakers said to the audience. They gave them words of wisdom and possibly helped some people to realize that you don't get joy from material things because they can be gone in a second.
Chapter 5: Why the Fries taste Good?
Precis: We prosper because the things we make originate from us and it's better when people don't follow the things we created. When people do follow our lead it becomes more difficult to succeed in competition. Our consumption of potatoes is a big part of society as well as it's production.
Gems:
"The only thing I did smart, and just remember this- ninety-nine percent of people would have sold out when they got their first twenty-five or thirty million. I didn't sell out. I just hung on" (Pg. 116).
"You increasingly find two classes of people in rural Idaho: the people who run the farms and the people who own them" (Pg. 118).
"If potato farmers don't badn together they'll wind up sharecroppers" (Pg.119).
Thoughts:
1. It's interesting when businesses are always in competition with one another when it would be much easier for them if they worked together. There are some skills that each business that someone else can benefit from.
2. Businesses want to sell as much as they can. This is a good thing but sometimes there are disadvantages to wanting to sell as much as possible in a small amount of time.
Chapter 6: On the Range
Precis: As meatpacking industries become more high in demand, the need for ranchers is decreasing. Ranchers pay is decreasing and they fear that they will become powerless and in debt. As society progresses their is less demand for farms, and the work farmers contribute to the meat industry.
Gems:
"Ranchers currently face a host of economic problems: rising land prices, stagnant beef prices, oversupplies of cattle, increased shipments of live cattle from Candada and Mexico, development pressures, inheritance taxes, health scares about beef" (Pg. 136).
"Anger toward the large meatpackers is growing, and a new range war threatens to erupt, one that will determine the social and economic structure of the rural West" (Pg. 137).
"Over the last twenty years, the rancher's share of every retail dollar spent on beef has fallen from 63 cents to 46 cents" (Pg. 138).
"Instead of buying their own ranches, the meatpacking companies have been fincancing a handful of large feedlot owners who lease ranches and run cattle for them" (Pg. 138).
Thoughts:
1. If a selection of ranch owners are chosen to lease ranches and run cattle for them I can understand why some ranch owners share's are starting to decrease. There may be a number one farm that these companies look to for their meat and they raise that industry higher than the others. If you are financing for a farm of course the farm owner will make more money.
2. Are farm owners rights being stripped from them once they decide to partner with businesses that rely on the meat industry?
3. I think farms should continue to run because everything that is done on farms are more natural. A farm may not be easy to maintain but i'm sure that once you get the hang of things you can handle it. Machines can break down but the farms will always be there to provide meat.
Chapter 7: Cogs in the Great Machine
Precis: Workers at slaughterhouses are being exploited. Illegal immigrants dominate jobs at meatpacking industries because they will not organize unions and they are willing to work for little pay. These jobs are dangerous because these immigrants are not provided with health insurance, and they are replaced very easily.
Gems:
"Insurance is not available to new employees until they've worked there for a period of a year or, in some cases, six months. Vacations don't acrue until the second year. There are some economies, frankly, that result from hiring new employees" (Pg. 161).
"Far from being a liability, a high turnover rate in the meatpacking industry-as in the fast food industry-also helps to maintain a work-force that is harder to unionize and much easier to control" (Pg. 161).
"Mexington"- as it is now called, affectionately by some, disparagingly by others-is an entirely new kind of American town, one that has been transfigured to meet the needs of a modern slaughterhouse" (Pg. 165).
Thoughts:
1. There is so much corruption in the meatpacking industry, not that I wouldn't guess, this book confirmed it. Workers are being exploited because they hire workers that will not compain about the working conditions. Whenever someone attempts to organize a union they move the plant to another location as a warning not to organize unions.
2. Farmers are being cheated out of their money because one company had a law suit filed against them because they purposely misweighed grain to buy it at a lower price from the farmers.
3. I can't imagine what life would be like working in a meat-packing industry. Workers constantly smell burning hair, blood, and an odor of rotten eggs. They have gotten used to this smell and this is their way of life because they are willing to do anything to provide for their family. I can tell they have great family values because they are willing to put up with anything just to provide money for their families.
Chapter 8: The Most Dangerous Job
Precis: Working in the meatpacking industry is one of the most dangerous jobs. There are different tasks that require a great amount of sacrifice and workers are more often than not, injured. The IBP purposely treats patients with minor injuries so they don't have to report those case to the OSHA. Workers are used up until they are weak and can barely walk, they are then replaced like old shoes.
Thoughts:
1. It's sad the way workers are treated. I remembered some scenes from the movie Super Size me but I didn't know the truth behind the way workers are treated.
2. Do you think the workers organize secret unions outside of work that no one knows about?Are they doing something to protect their rights or at least expose these industries?
3. How can the supervisors be so heartless towards these workers. Most of them have given up everything just to work in these factories where they are mistreated and injured.
Gems:
1. "During a three month period in 1985, the first log recorded 1,800 injuries and illnesses at the plant. The OHSA log recorded only 160- a discrepancy of more than 1,000 percent" (Pg. 180).
2. "The court found that seriously injured workers were required to show up at the IBP plant briefly each day so the company could avoid reporting "lost workdays" to OHSA" (Pg. 181).
3. "They used me to the point where I had no body parts left to give," Kenny said, struggling to maintain his composure. "Then they just tossed me into the trash can. Once strong and powerfully built, he now walks with difficulty, tires easily, and feels useless, as though his life were over. He is forty-six years old" (Pg. 190).
Chapter 9: What's in the Meat?
Preics: If your cattle has not been cleaned properly it's possible that there is feces in your meat. There was an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 due to improper sterilization of the animals. E.coli is a potentially harmful, deathly stomach virus that developed around the time of AIDS.
Gems:
"The meatpacking system that arose to supply the nation's fast food chains- an industry molded to serve their needs, to provide massive amounts of uniform ground beef so that all of McDonald's hamburgers would taste the same- has proved to be an extremely efficient system for spreading disease" (Pg. 196).
"Stomachs and intestines are still pulled out of cattle by hand; if the job is not performed carefully, the contents of the digestivesystem may spill everywhere" (Pg. 203).
Thoughts:
1. If there was an outbreak of E.coli do you think it could be prevented?
2. I remember the process of taking out the animals intestines mentioned some other time. How do the workers take the necessary steps to make sure their are no intetines or other insides left in the stomach of the cattle.
3. Do you think giving cattle dirty water and dirty food has an effect on their bodies, which then causes viruses that are passed on to humans?
Chapter 10: Global Realization
Precis: "Americanization" has lead to an epidemic of different cultures attempting to follow the American way of life. This way of life is not necessarily the best to follow because no country has higher obesity rates than the United States.
Thoughts:
1. The connection between the fall of communism and food is intersting because after winning the war when we got to take colonies we imperialized those countries and left something from the United States in their culture. We are constantly in cotnrol of other countries, we would never stand for another culture/country trying to destroy the United States.
2. It is true that other countries want to be just like the USA because their are advances in technology, and other things that make our country seem more attractive. What these people don't realize is that they are not following the correct way of life. If those countries continue following us theyir obesity rates may increase and everything will collapse, like the fall of communism.
Gems:
"As people eat more meals outside the home, they consume more calories, less fiber, and more fat" (Pg. 241).
"The kiddie factor alone- children urging their parents to shop at Wal-Mart because they have a McDonald's inside the store- could generate an upsurge in customers" (Pg. 233).
"The golden arches have become so commonplace in Germany that they seem almost invisible" (Pg. 233).
Epilogue: Have it your Way
Precis: Officials claim that the United States has the safest food supply in the world. This statement has been proven wrong through outbreaks of E.Coli 0157:H7 and the exploitation of workers in the factories, and the fast food restaurants themselves. There are alternatives to living and eating healthier, including the source of our meat supplies. There are ranches such as: Dale Lasater, which was run by a man who bred cattle in inexpensive, less harmful ways. There are better ways to eat, it's our choice to decide what we want to do about it.
Gems:
"Their philosophy of cattle ranching is based upon a simple talent: "Nature is smart as hell" (Pg. 256).
"According to the consumers polled by Restaurants and Institutions in 2000, the lowest-quality food of any major hamburger chain was served at McDonald's" (Pg. 260).
"If all that mattered were the unfettered right to buy and sell, tainted food could not be kept off supermarket shelves, toxic waste could be dumped next door to elementary schools, and every American family could import an indentured servant (or two), paying them with meals instead of money" (Pg. 261).
Thoughts:
1. This book has opened my eyes to the reality of food and it's connection to the government, and that connection to our way of life. Big businesses have begun to control our society and they are squeezing the workers, and consumers because they want to make money.
2. A question that seems to come up is : "How can we avoid eating this food?" as Ally said. As I began to think about it for days I realize that it takes extra work to eat healthier but if it's worth the work, and it is then we will take the necessary steps to eat healthy. There is also a point of view that it doesn't matter what you eat because if 70% of the meat we eat os coming from factories that are not so clean, theat are cleansing meat with amonia, etc; there is no way to avoid eating this meat.
3. A point that was made in the movie Food, Inc that connects to Fast Food nation is when a family was talking about their eating habits. The father had diabeties and instead of changing his eating habits they remained the same. Both parents worked all the time and the last thing they wanted to do when they came home was cook. When they went to the grocery store they found that a head of broccoli is more expensive than a cheeseburger. These big corporations know this information and they use it to their benefit. It is more expensive to eat healthier and that is why there is such an outbreak of obesity and diabeties. I don't think out eating habits will change too much beacuse the big corpporations have some connection to the government and each law that attempts to be passed does not go through because of the connections these businesses have with the government.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
HW 9- Freakonomics Response
When you develop an idea about an issue that you are passionate about you may want to conduct research to find the results. This is something that was done many times in the movie. In the movie, an experiment was conducted to find out why crime rates in New York had decreased. Through the experiment they found that most of the “criminals” had been placed in jail and since they were in jail robberies also went down because crack dealers are in jail. Some thefts and robberies are committee by crack dealers and since they are in jail it’s no longer as much of a problem. Steven D. Levitt was telling a story about how he got his daughter to use the bathroom. His wife had been doing everything she could think of to make her daughter use the toilet but she wouldn’t budge. Steven D. Levitt is an economist and that helped him to think about a compromise in the situation. Steven decided that he would give his daughter a bag of M&M’s every time she used the bathroom and she did it because she loves candy. At the end Steven found that his daughter controlled her bladder so she would use the restroom consecutively to get more M&M’s. Another experiment that was conducted would be looking at the results of a test to see if the teacher has cheated. Teachers must fill a certain requirement with their students, or their school may have a problem, so this is the motive behind cheating. On a test Steven said that the teachers would help the students with a test by giving them the last few answers. There is a pattern because if you are able to answer the hardest questions when you didn’t fill in the “easier” questions it’s safe to say you can suspect that something isn’t right.
In the film there were several examples of correlation vs. causation. The beginning of the story started with an example of how our names may or may not determine our success. A mother watched the Cosby Show and she really liked the name Tempest, so when she gave birth she decided to name her daughter Tempest. The only problem was that she had given her the name Temptress. Misplacing a t can change your name a lot. The movie showed that she lived a life of promiscuity and robbery and as she was seeing the judge the question came up of whether or not her name destined her for the life she lived. The correlation is that Black people have strange names and the causation would be that those names don’t determine your success, in some people’s opinion. There were two different researchers who tried to answer this question. At first it seemed as if the two researchers agreed but they disagreed. The Black researcher proved that your name does not determine your success and he used an experiment that proved his thesis. There were two African American brothers named Winner and Loser. Winner was born before Loser but their names didn’t determine their success. Loser became a detective and Loser was in and out of jail. Their names didn’t influence their success because it was the opposite of what I thought it would be. The Indian guy argued that your name does determine your success and he also conducted an experiment to prove it. White people with names like Chester, and Sarah sent out their resumes with Black people with names like Tyrone or Keisha. They sent out the same resume for the same jobs and only 33% of the black people received callbacks and most of the jobs went to the White people with more simple names.
The Freakonomics researches mostly rely on the facts, they don’t make judgments if they want to prove something they conduct an experiment to find the truth. I think Freakonomics did provide an inspiration and good example of our attempt to explore the "hidden-in-plain-sight" weirdness of dominant social practices. It shows that you can find the truth if you ask the right questions you need answers to. This provided me with an inspiration and example to use when I ask people about their food ways. The idea that people will do anything for money came from the study conducted at the school. Students received money when they received B’s or A’s on their report card and then they had an opportunity to win $500. It was interesting to see how many of the students grades did or did not improve depending on their motivation and willpower. Based on the experiment 5-7% of the students passed that wouldn’t have passed otherwise. The results were that their goal wasn’t accomplished but it raises ideas such as: Should people get paid to eat healthy? With research I think an answer to this question can be derived.
In the film there were several examples of correlation vs. causation. The beginning of the story started with an example of how our names may or may not determine our success. A mother watched the Cosby Show and she really liked the name Tempest, so when she gave birth she decided to name her daughter Tempest. The only problem was that she had given her the name Temptress. Misplacing a t can change your name a lot. The movie showed that she lived a life of promiscuity and robbery and as she was seeing the judge the question came up of whether or not her name destined her for the life she lived. The correlation is that Black people have strange names and the causation would be that those names don’t determine your success, in some people’s opinion. There were two different researchers who tried to answer this question. At first it seemed as if the two researchers agreed but they disagreed. The Black researcher proved that your name does not determine your success and he used an experiment that proved his thesis. There were two African American brothers named Winner and Loser. Winner was born before Loser but their names didn’t determine their success. Loser became a detective and Loser was in and out of jail. Their names didn’t influence their success because it was the opposite of what I thought it would be. The Indian guy argued that your name does determine your success and he also conducted an experiment to prove it. White people with names like Chester, and Sarah sent out their resumes with Black people with names like Tyrone or Keisha. They sent out the same resume for the same jobs and only 33% of the black people received callbacks and most of the jobs went to the White people with more simple names.
The Freakonomics researches mostly rely on the facts, they don’t make judgments if they want to prove something they conduct an experiment to find the truth. I think Freakonomics did provide an inspiration and good example of our attempt to explore the "hidden-in-plain-sight" weirdness of dominant social practices. It shows that you can find the truth if you ask the right questions you need answers to. This provided me with an inspiration and example to use when I ask people about their food ways. The idea that people will do anything for money came from the study conducted at the school. Students received money when they received B’s or A’s on their report card and then they had an opportunity to win $500. It was interesting to see how many of the students grades did or did not improve depending on their motivation and willpower. Based on the experiment 5-7% of the students passed that wouldn’t have passed otherwise. The results were that their goal wasn’t accomplished but it raises ideas such as: Should people get paid to eat healthy? With research I think an answer to this question can be derived.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
HW 8- Growing our own Food
It felt weird to grow my own food because i'm more used to going to the supermarket and buying my food. I never thought about how much work it takes just to grow food and growing sprouts helped me to think about that. I would water my sprouts but truthfully I forgot to water them sometimes. It wasn't very easy for me because caring for plants is not a natural part of my life. It would be different if I actually worked on a farm and grew food because it would become a natural part of my life. Something that was both shocking and true is that when Andy asked us if we knew any plants that grew in the month of October, no one knew the answer. It is sad that we know more about the number of times that Lindsey Lohan has went to jail than foods that grow in October. This process wasn't very sacred to me because I know I can go to the supermarket and get carrots, corn, the basics, and I don't need to grow the food myself. However if by some strange occurence we had to grow our own food, I don't think we would survive because most of us don't know a thing about Agriculture.
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