Blog 18:Too Much Stuff

Summary: According to Mary Elizabeth Williams, cheap is bad and it's ruining our lives. You keep throwing away your old things and buying new ones because of it's durability.When we see the low prices from aggresive advertising we tend to react and buy their products.Not only it's bad for the consumers to keep buying it, it's bad for the workers that makes these products and it's also bad for the enviroment since there's more junk being throw away.

My Thesis: Mary Elizabeth Williams is informing us that cheap is bad and it ruining our lives. There is one problem with her argument: Why is it bad?

Reason 1: The workers that makes the product

Example: In the movie, Sleep Dreamers workers were being paid very little to produce these products from the consumers

Reason 2: It's bad for the enviroment

Example: On black friday the busiest shopping day we spend so much money because there so cheap

Ninth Lab/Blog 17: Reflection on Blogging

1. Blogging has improved my writing in so many ways. For example, in Blog 1 when I wrote about the Advertisment story my ideas were very vague, no structure of any kind and to short. Now I know how to write an organized essay for the CATW. Things like elaborating on your examples, your summary is in your own words, starts in the first paragraph, include author's name and title of the passage. Also in your response which comes after should have multiple paragraphs, and have at least two quotes from the reading. Looking at recent CATW's I wrote like in blog 13 and 11, there's a major difference.

2. I probably could of done more writing on certain blogs to make them longer like expanding on my ideas. I also probably would spend more time writing everyday so my writing would improve.

Blog 16: The Industrial Migrants

                                                         Part 1:
 
        In Eric Scholsser "The New Industrial Migrants", Scholsser explains that MIGRANTS that are coming from Mexico, Central America and Southeast Asia are working in meatpacking jobs that offer low wages and high TURNOVER rate. Most of these immigrants came from places like River Park Mobile Court, beaten trailers and not far down the road from slaughterhouses. Most of them had to share rooms in old motels and sleep on the floor. During one 18-month period, more than five thousand different people were hired at the Greeley beef plant- an annual turnover rate of about 400 percent. This lead to an average worker quitting or fired every three months.
        One thing this article reminded me of is the films we watched in class called The Meatrix because they both had the same mindset in PROFITABILITY and not care about their workers. According to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, many of the workers suffer from back problems, torn muscles, deep cuts and amputated fingers. Many of the workers was illiterate. Mike Coan in an 1994 interview with Business Insurance, an industry trade journal stated  that "We're at the bottom of the literacy scale and in some plants about a third of the people cannot read or write in any language."

                                                         Part 2:
        In Schlosser second excerpt, Schlosser tells us how companies like IBP would hire immigrants since they would work for lower wages than americans and would be more reluctant to join unions. According to The Immigration and Naturalization Service about one-quarter of all meatpacking workers are illegal immigrants. He also tells us how companies deny hiring illegal immigrants to work for them. Spokesmen for IBP stated "We do not knowingly hire undocumented workers," and "IBP supports INS efforts to enforce the law and does not want to employ people whot authorized to work in the United States." Nevertheless, meatpacking companies target are poor communities and there willing to accept any kind of job because  getting pay is better than no pay at all.

Blog 15

Some interesting things was that Greenmarkets were founded in 1976. It began with 12 farmers in a parking lot on 59st and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan and now has over 51 locations throughout New York city. I never knew there were so many greenmarkets in NYC. There's actually one near the park I live at Fort Greene Park. Every year New Yorkers throw 25,059 tons of recyclable plastic bottles in their household garbage.

Blog 14: Ideas for Improving my Performance in the CATW

Ways that we can improve on our annotation of the reading:
- underline important ideas
- organize your ideas
- ask questions
- underline words you don't know
- underline topic sentences

Ways that we can improve on our response to the reading:
- Be organized
- Have a structure
- Elaborate on your examples
- Use words such as For instance, In another case to give reader examples

Transitions that would help us organize our CATW better:
- Sentence one should be your topic sentence
- Sentence two provides specific detail/examples as a restatement of the first. It "opens up" the first sentence.
- Use Further, Besides, Equally important, Finally as some of the transition words

After doing this excersice things that were emphasized was to include quotes from the passage, use transitional words to connect your idea, use at least two examples from your personal experience and to explain in details. Also to check your passage over again for spelling/grammar mistakes.

After reading the comment posted by Ellie, I learned in the summary you have to address who, what and why and to just proofread for grammar mistakes.

Blog 13

      In "How to do one thing at a time", Nancy Jones explains that multi-tasking is bad and is harmful to the brain. Things like talking on the phone while driving, texting while driving or chatting with your friends while sending out an office email. One significant idea in the passage is the experiment done at Stanford Unviersity.
      The experiment proved Nancy's point. The poeple that weren't multi-tasking did significantly better than the other group. I agree with her because whenever I'm writing a paper or doing a project, while listening to music and watching a basketball game, I tend to get distracted and can't focus on the things I'm going to write for my essay. According to Clifford Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford Unveristy, "A tremendous amount of evidence shows that the brain does better when its performing tasks in sequence rather than all at once." It seems to me that I'm not alone.
      Another reason that the experiment is important is that according to another article published in the science journal, "NeuroImage revealed that when we attempt demanding tasks simultaneously, we end up doing neither as well as we should because our brains have cognitive limits." That explains why it's so hard to focus when your doing multiple things.
      In conclusion, we should break our multi-tasking habit and sharpen our fous. Some solutions such as yoga and acupuncture can be helpful according to experts.

CATW Revision

Lorick Li
Doctor Ximena Gallardo
ENA 099 0708
10/21/10

Seeing is Believing     

           According to doctors and psychologists from all over the world, many of their patients believe they are in a whole different universe.Many patients believe that their every move is being filmed for a TV show from the news to the psychiatrists,like the 1998 movie The Truman Show. The struggle to sort out reality and illusion is HEARTWARMING.Some would go as far as suicide if he couldn’t leave his supposed reality show. Ian Gold, a philosophy and psychology professor at McGill university believes that people are becoming unstable because of reality shows and the internet.
     I agree with Ian Gold because people are becoming ill quicker through reality shows and the internet.Some reality shows like Jersey Shore, The Bad Girls Club, and The Bachelorette convince the viewer’s experiences are PLAUSIBLE. For instance, I see many of my friends act or do things differently because of what they saw on TV. Some would go out and get all the name brand clothes/jewelry he/she has because they were wearing it. For example, Ed Hardy, Christian Audigier and Armani Exchange.Some might even go as far as changing their personalty because they saw Snooki or The Situation from Jersey Shore express themselves in a certain way. Some would disobey there parents or become a troublemaker. They would do things they normally wouldn’t do. There not being themselves. According to Ian Gold, a philosophy and psychology  professor he believes that reality shows make healthy people delusional, “but, at the very least, it seems possible to me that people who would become ill are becoming ill quicker or in a different way.”They can’t separate fantasy from reality.
          Another reason why people are becoming ill is through the use of the internet. People spend hours on the web and becomes addicted to it. For example, many of my friends spend hours on social websites such as Facebook and Twitter and with the ability to make strangers into INTIMATES will cause them having problems dealing with one another. One of them being  your communication skills.Everything can be done on the web and the way you communicate doesn’t get better on the web.They end up with low self-esteem and not having confidence in themselves.Through Gold and his brothers research, they came across an interesting patient ”A patient in Austria believed she became a walking webcam through the use of the internet.” The internet can effect you in many different ways. A few might consider this as a lifestyle and takes pride in their imagined celebrity but it can be dangerous.These delusions can lead to many diseases or illnesses such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
           In conclusion, people really need to limit the use of the internet and watching TV. More and more people are becoming addicted to it and it must change.Reality shows and things on the internet is affecting who we truly are. Like how Vaughan Bell said “People need to fully understand these delusions.”

Blog 12

     Items in Pollan's advice that make sense is to eat mostly plants, especially leaves because there high in fiber and antioxidants. Also to cook your food so you wouldn't give in to fast food and you tend to eat more healthy if you cook it yourself because you know the indegredients your adding. Things I would do right away is to avoid anything my great grandomother wouldn't recognize as food like breakfast-cereal bars since I eat a lot of those. I'm starting eating more plants, I usally don't eat much of it. One things that would be hard to do is to eat more plants because it ususally don't taste good to me. Another thing would be to stay out of the the middle of the supermarket and lean towards a section of the supermarket. Overall I would try eating more plants, eat home cooked food and try not to eat anything my grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

Blog 11

      In "Let Them Eat Fat," Critser argues that fast food companies are targeting poor communities and is being more aggressive about it. One of every four hamburgers sold by Mcdonalds is consumed by a young black men.Because of it's value many consumers can't resist. The total calories in these meals has risen from 680 to 1,340. According to U.S. dietary guidelies, 1,340 calories represent more than half of a teenager's daily intake.
      I agree with Critser because more fast food resturants such as Mcdonalds and Burger King are showing up in poor communites.There cheap meals has drawn the attention of the consumers. For example, in Mcdonald's they have a dollar menu where many of it's items are a dollar and it ranges from cheeseburgers, apple pie, ice cream and fries. Then in Burger King they also have their own value menu where it consists of nuggets, burgers and drinks for a dollar or two.
      Another reason is that many of these kids are mesmerize by the company's worker into "supersizing" your meal. They would have signs saying "If we don't recommened a supersize, the supersize is free!" Consumers can't resist this oppurtunity and for an extra 79 cents the customer would receive a supersize coke and a supersize order of french fries.
      The reason nutritionists and dietitans object this is because in these meals including the dollar menu and value meal calories has risen dramatically. This correlates in a decrease of physical activity among teenage boys and girls by a half.
      Customers should look for healthier options insead of these supersized meals. If you really need to eat from Mcdonalds or Burger King because of the price, then you should really limit the amount you consume.  

ENG099: Cat # 3

My second evaulation
ENG099: Cat # 3: "Technology has expanded throughout the past years. As it becomes more developed with more high tech inventions, people become emotionally in..."

School-stuff: Practice CATW #3 The Net is The Real World

My first evaluation
School-stuff: Practice CATW #3 The Net is The Real World: "Practice CATW #3 As the technology is showing improvements, unfortunately that is give more access to some sick people to us..."