Sad, Sad News

I have some sad news for everyone. I just heard that Carrie Fisher died today. I hope you all feel the loss like I do.

They are one and the same and it is very sad to know that she will not be in the next Star Wars.

Only a few days away.....

Christmas is only a few days away! Goodness this year has gone by so fast! Well, I thought I would share some of my favorite Christmas songs. Here they are: 

Breath of Heaven (Mary's song) -Amy Grant

Strange way to save the world- 4HIM

Mr. Grinch- Thurl Ravenscroft

Carol of the Bells

Hallelujah- Pentatonix

Danny Boy -Pentatonix 

I love all of these and pretty much all of the old Christmas songs. 

Paul Bunyan-Silverstein

Paul Bunyan

He rode through the woods on a big blue ox,

He had fists as hard as choppin' blocks,

Five hundred pounds and nine feet tall . . . that's Paul.

Talk about workin', when he swung his ax

You could hear it ring for a mile and a half.

Then he'd yell "Timber!" and down she'd fall . . . for Paul.

Talk about drinkin', that man's so mean

That he'd never drink nothin' but kerosene,

And a five-gallon can is a little bit small . . . for Paul.

Talk about tough, well he once had a fight

With a thunderstorm on a cold dark night.

I ain't sayin' who won,

But it don't storm at all . . . 'round here . . . thanks to Paul.

He was ninety years old when he said with a sigh,

"I think I'm gonna lay right down and die

'Cause sunshine and sorrow, I've seen it all" . . . says Paul.

So he died . . . and we cried.

It took eighteen men just to bust the ground,

It took twenty-four more just to lower him down.

And we covered him up and we figured that was all . . . for Paul.

But late one night the trees started shakin',

The dogs started howlin' and the earth started quakin',

And out of the ground with a "Hi, ya'll" . . . come Paul!

He shook the dirt from off of his clothes,

He scratched his butt and he wiped his nose.

"Y'know, bein' dead wasn't no fun at all" . . . says Paul.

So he jumps on his ox with a fare-thee-well,

He says, "I'll find out if they's trees in hell."

And he rode away, and that was all . . . we ever seen . . . of Paul.

But the next time you hear a "Timber!" yell

That sound like it's comin' from the pits of hell,

Then a weird and devilish ghostly wail

Like somebody choppin' on the devil's tail,

Then a shout, a call, a crash, a fall--

That ain't no mortal man at all . . . that's Paul!

This poem is one of my favorites by Silverstein. I hope you enjoy it!

What is Today?

Today is......

National Chocolate-covered anything Day!

National Boston Tea Party Day!

National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day!

Free Shipping Day!

Underdog Day!

Stupid Toy Day!
Barbie and Barney Backslash Day! (Oh Yes!)

What is Today?

Today is.....

 National Cupcake Day!
National Regifting Day!
National Lemon Cupcake Day!
National Cat Herders Day!

Jane

There once was a girl named Jane,

Whose father went insane, 

And when she came home,

She was never alone, 

Especially when it rained. 

If it happened to rain,

Her father would loudly say,

"Why are you at home?

Why are you alone?

Go find your friends and play!"

But good little Jane,

Every time would say, 

"Father I'm home, 

I am not alone. 

I'm here with you to stay."

When devoted Jane,

Came home one day,

She found he went home,

now she was alone,

'Cause Jesus took him away. 

What is Today?

Today is.......
National Brownie Day!
National Christmas Tree Day!
Pretend to Be A Time Traveler Day!

What is and What is in Fast Food

Allison McCafferty

Language Arts

6, December 2016

What Is and What Is in Fast Food

        As an American, I eat fast food.  Anyone else who is an American has eaten fast food at some point as well.  Yet, what is defined as fast food?  Is it something that is made fast, is it something that is consumed fast?  What exactly is in the food people consume when we eat at these fast food restaurants? 

     According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, the first use of the word fast-food was in 1951.  “Fast-food was designed for ready availability, use, or consumption and with little consideration given to quality or significance.” (Webster’s) This is true in many ways; all of the food that the restaurants serve can be made in five to ten minutes.  Also, most of the foods served at these restaurants have very poor quality.  Some fast food places try and put some healthy items on their menu, however, their “healthy” food consists of more calories than other items on the menu.  Take McDonalds for example.

      McDonalds.  That fast food place that makes a lot of Americans happy.  That restaurant that has been around since 1955.  That glorious yellow M that marks that they are nearby.  They, like every other restaurant has a menu (1).  On this menu, they have selected certain items which are “healthy.”  On said menu is a Bacon Ranch Salad & Buttermilk Crispy Chicken.  This salad contains buttermilk chicken, salad blend, grape tomatoes, cheese and dressing.  This is not the salad for the dieter; it has a grand total of 490 calories!  That is almost twice as many calories that are in a regular hamburger (250 calories).

        If you were to eat a Big Mac, fries and a super-sized Coke, it would take seven hours to walk off those calories.  That would be about 1350 calories in that one meal.  There is something else on the menu that we are going to talk about.  The McRib.

      What is the McRib you say, well, the McRib is a sandwich served at most McDonalds.  It is a “rib” between two buns with onions and sauce on the inside.  Delicious sounding right?  Allow me to share with you what it is actually made with.  The McRib is a product of “restructured meat technology.”

      The restructured meat technology was created by a professor who wanted to find a way to make food out to of healthy excess ends without using a ton more beef.   These processes consists of taking pig bits like tripe, hear and scalded stomach and cooking it, then you blend it in a food processor.  While you blend it you add salt and water so that you can take out any “salt soluble” proteins.  These proteins act as a glue to keep it all together. Although this sandwich is not altogether bad for you, it isn’t all too good either. After adding the bun and the BBQ sauce, it sums up to roughly 500 calories.

         Another thing on the McDonalds menu is the chicken nugget.  Many people argue whether or not the chicken nuggets are made of all white meat of no real meat at all. (1)  Jamie Oliver, British celebrity chef and restauranteur did a video on what is in a chicken nugget.  He shows a bunch of grad schoolers the entire process as he takes a whole chicken and removes the drumsticks, the breasts, the wings and the thighs.  Then he takes the carcass and cuts it into pieces and puts it into a food processor, and then he adds some fat and skin and blends it up.  After he blended it, he strained the goop into a bowl, (this is what it basically looks like.)(3)   Then added flour, bread crumbs and some seasonings.  After that, he flattened it out and made little patties and breaded those and fried them.  He asked the grade schoolers if they wanted a bite…. they all raised their hands with glee.  Even after watching what was in it and how it was made.

       Here is another restaurant, that only the Mexicans decline.  Taco bell!  Many people like taco bell.  The hot sauces bean burritos, the lava taco and let us not forget the dozen taco or burrito deal.  But what exactly is in these items that we call food?  Allow me to shed some light on the subject.       

     Below is a graph I got off of a website called Food Babe. (3)   It shows just how many ingredients are in the Taco Bell Bean Burrito. This graph is made up of a total of 63 ingredients. 63 ingredients to make a bean burrito that someone could make at home with 4!  (Not including the ingredients in an actual tortilla.)  Half the ingredients most people can’t pronounce let alone know what they are or what they contain.  Let us name a few.

Soybean oil, this oil is one of the cheapest that restaurants can use to cook, or fry with and it is almost always hexane extracted from GMO soybeans.  Soybean oil is also high in omega-6 fats, which according to Dr. Michael Roizen, (5) “it causes your arteries to get inflamed, causes your immune system to get inflamed, and decreases your ability to fight infections, decreases your ability to find cancer cells and get rid of them before they cause cancer, and increases inflammation and atherosclerosis in your arteries.”  

Another ingredient in this burrito and in the tacos is hydrogenated vegetable oil.  This oil is not considered good for you.  In fact, it strips the good oils and lowers the good cholesterol from your body and replaces it with bad oils and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

The last restaurant that I am going to bring up, Burger King.  That’s right, the king of the American burger.  Back in 2011, Burger King was the #2 on the list of where to go get a burger. McDonalds was #1. In 2012, Wendy’s stole that title and Burger Kings grasp on the top fell.  It still is falling actually.  The reason for that would be for their constant plagiarism.

Yeah, restaurants plagiarize too.  BK has stolen McDonalds Big Mac and renamed it to the “Big King.”  It is exactly the same as the Big Mac-right down to the bun in the middle of the burger!  The McRib.  That succulent sandwich that was explained in detail above: They serve it. It is served under the name—the BBQ sandwich.  In one of their commercials, they practically admitted to stealing McDonalds McMuffin idea. (6)   Finally the Crispy Chicken Snack Wraps are the same as McDonalds too, surprisingly enough.

Now, you have been educated, you have been told and warned. The next time you go to any fast food place, make sure you know what you are eating. Don’t think that it won’t affect you, because it will. Maybe not this minute, maybe not today or tomorrow, but in 10 years it will. Eat what you know is good and things that you can pronounce and please, don’t get a McRib sandwich. I read somewhere that they are made of things that make my stomach churn.  

   

   

   

Work Cited Page

Fast-Food; Webster’s Dictionary (2016): https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/  fast%E2%80%93food

1. McDonalds Menu: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu.html      
2. Oliver, Jamie: How chicken nuggets are made;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKwL5G5HbGA

3. Pink Goop Picture; https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi5iJHqs-XQAhUfS2MKHURUD9cQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DnSoJzuUgO6c&psig=AFQjCNG4DmrFQt1Zw16G-IImKYNEWQyVOA&ust=1481314121331938
4. Food Babe; Bean Burrito Graph; http://foodbabe.com/2014/05/05/what-taco-bell-isnt-telling-us-about-their-ingredients-but-you-need-to-know/
5. Roizen, Michael; Omega-6 Fats Inflammation; https://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2013/April/The-Omega-Balance-Getting-Smart-about-Inflammation/
6. Burger King stealing McMuffin recipe commercial; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lag2vDx2faQ

A Knights Tale

     Hello all! The Corey family and I just watched a movie called A Knights Tale. I thought it was a really good movie. It was like stepping into medieval times mixed with the 70's. This movie has a lot of interesting characters and quite a bit of action.
     This is an action packed movie about a peasant squire named William, who has wanted to become a knight his entire life. He finally achieves this dream when his master dies right before a jousting tournament. He takes his master's place and rides in the jousting tournament, knowing that if he was caught he could be arrested or worse.
     He wasn't caught and he decided that, with the help of his two fellow squires, he could make himself a knight! He doesn't know how he is going to do it nor where he is going to go. When he stumbled upon a man who had been "robbed."  He had nothing - literally. He asked that he be clothed and fed and he would write up the papers to make William a legal nobleman so that he could be in the jousting and swordsman tournament.
     After becoming a nobleman, he set out to live his dream. His name changed to Sir Olrich van Liechtenstein and started to compete. After his first joust, he won. However, he lost the last round, causing him to be upset. He decided then and there that he was going to leave and go to the next joust and win that one. Before he left, he met Jocelyn. She was a fair lady who sent her handmaiden to ask what he was wearing to the banquet. He decided that maybe he would stay after all.
     As the movie goes on, he keeps winning tournaments until it was the semi-finals and his major opponent dropped out because he didn't want to go against the Prince of Wales. Him being Royal Blood and all. William didn't back down though. He almost did because to hurt the crown was treason and you would be sentenced to death. However, the Prince looked quite let down that he didn't get to joust because everyone was afraid. When William jousted him, he and Will became quick friends.
     At the finals, Willaim decided to visit his dad. He hadn't seen him in 12 years. When he saw him again, his father was blind. He welcomed Will home with joy. But someone was watching. His major opponent! The guy ratted Will out! William was arrested and sent out into the square for public humiliation. That was when the Prince of Wales stepped in and saved the day! He dubbed William Sir William Thatcher.
     There was still a tournament to win. Out he went and almost lost. Then he gave it his all and won! His father and sweetheart were there to watch it. They all lived Happily Ever After!
                                                                    The End.

Making a Difference

     Early one morning, while walking along the ocean shore, a man came upon a stretch of beach covered with hundreds of starfish. Also on the beach was a young woman.

     The man watched as she picked up starfish one at a time and put them gently back into the waves.

     “What are you doing?” he asked.

     The woman explained, “The tide has washed the starfish on the beach, and they cannot return to the sea by themselves. They are in danger of dying from the relentless sun beating down.

     ” The man gazed in wonder as she again and again threw starfish from the sand into the water.

     At last he spoke: “There are too many! How do you think that what you are doing can possibly make a difference?”

     Once again she bent down and picked up another starfish. As the starfish was released into the cool safety of the water, she simply replied, “It made a difference to that one.”

                                                                                                                                                                        Author Unknown