Welcome to Bovine Blvd. So glad you turned down this street today. My love of the bovine species always takes me in so many different directions. One of which are the interesting and detailed origins of some of the breeds. Like us they have a history filled with immigration, cross-breeding and evolution. One such bovine that I love particularly because of its beauty and natural ability to evolve and adjust to its environment is the Scottish Highland. It’s more than an interesting animal. They exhibit phenomenal qualities both genetically and physically. Above all of that, it is believed that they are a mellow tempered and even friendly breed of bovine. I know, the very thought is exciting to say the least. Hope you enjoy these little fun facts and snippets that always give me a smile.
With long horns and wavy coats they are born with black, brindled, red, yellow or dun colored hair. They are now imported mainly to Australia and North America. And surprisingly ( to me) although groups of cattle are known as ‘Herds’, a group of highland cattle is referred to as ‘Folds’. You can’t get any cuter than that.
They are proud herbivores whose lifespan is generally 15- 22 years and they possess a fun scientific name, Bos Taurus, and weigh anywhere from 900 lbs- 2200 lbs. Which is like weighing that of a tiny little Fiat. There only predators are the wolf, coyote and ……Humans. Surprise!
The Scottish Highland is the oldest registered breed of cattle. ( 1885) What this truly means I am not entirely sure. All I could ever find was the fact itself but I suppose being the first of anything is cool in and of itself.
They are disease resistant. With the new scares in our country of Ebola and weird mosquito transmitted diseases popping up I’d try whatever they are trying.
They are said to be genetically advanced and have evolved to encumber harsh climates, both extreme heat and colder than cold climates. Even those colder and harsher in temperature than their native highlands. I can barely survive in 65 degree weather as I am always cold. I literally wear sweaters and scarves all year-long, which is borderline ridiculous seeing that I live in the Northeastern part of America. I wasn’t born with fur though, so … you know.
They thrive on foods, pasture and range lands that other breeds simply can’t or won’t bother to sustain themselves with.
– They are an even-tempered breed, reportedly, so much so that I’ve read that many farmers/breeders find them a joy to herd and raise and often they will even allow any children nearby to pet and stroke them on occasion.
The highland cattle’s meat is wonderous in regards to nourishment. It’s meat is very lean, high marbled and lower in cholesterol than most others. It’s super flavorful, I imagine this is due to their very strict diet of “all things others won’t eat” hehe At the very least this holds true in the British Isles where they consider highland beef premium and it’s recognized and the finest you can get.
DuClaw Brewery- Baltimore, MD 6.5 % Alc, Medium bodied
Flavor:
Sharp, bitter and citrus-y on the tongue.
For a second time I was thoroughly impressed by the brewers at DuClaw. Aptly named ‘Neon Gypsy”, this new Indian Pale Ale brought out a raucous, giddy way in me. There are many IPA’s, good ones, out there that can taste very similar to each other in that they are sometimes either over or under hopped. However this IPA being slightly more bitter than their ‘Serum” but less hoppy and strong, seriously held its own among the great IPA’s I’ve had. The bitterness gave a slight lemon feel to me and the aroma was unusually sweet. I decided to on snack on some white cheddar popcorn while I enjoyed a bottle and the pairing was surprisingly perfect. I tasted ginger, orange and lemon.
Made mostly with a blend of 7 different hops: Columbus, Simcoe, Chinook, Amarillo, Citra, Nelson Sauvin and Sorachi Ace
I love this beer and would recommend it for a beautiful fall evening, wrapped in your favorite sweater with good company and a snack. 🙂
One of the best things I discovered later on in life was candy. Now this may sound weird but my mother was one of those awful parents who wouldn’t let me consume unnecessary amounts of sugar and rot my teeth until I was old enough to choose for myself to eat unnecessary amounts of sugar and rot my teeth. So as you can imagine, most of the wonderful candies out there in the world didn’t enter into mine until I was well into my late teens. Now, this is not to say I didn’t sneak some skittles here and there, which were always in abundance at my grandparents house, or have a sweet snack from time to time. But I discovered most of my favorite little gummy sugary treats later in life. And I enjoy them still, but for some reason or another I always get a little pang of guilt when I have had just a few too many pieces and my moms voice is in my head urging me to put them down. I thank her for that now, Diabetes is a scary thing and I am sure she saved me from it so very long ago.
However when I do indulge I sometimes get so excited as to which ones to pick my hair stands straight up as though I had been playing with the electrical sockets. When asked what is my favorite snack or candy bar or treat it is always a brain burner. So I decided to make an official list of them. Why I love em and as many fun tidbits and facts as I could find on them. hooray!!!!
First up, Gummy Bears!
As the above video shows, they are gummy and dance and sing down my into my belly every time I eat them. In German they are called Gummibärchen. Which is their place of origin.
In 1920 their was a man and he was a confectioner by the name of Hans Reiger Sr. and he started the Haribo company. Haribo gummy bears are my favorite brand actually, they were the first gummy bears ever made and in 1922 he was inspired by the dancing bears at festivals throughout Europe in the 19th century.
They come in an array of ingredients to suit the needs of everyone. For example in Turkey they produce a Halal bear and they even make sugar-less bears for those with diabetes. They also produce ones that are made with pectin or starch instead of the original gelatin so that it’s suitable for vegetarians.
Twizzlers, they make mouths happy!
Look at this amazing idea I found online for Twizzlers in a mason jar!
Y&S Candies Inc. ( a subsidiary of Hershey) produces Twizzlers. 1929 was the year the Twizzler candy brand was created in Montreal, although I believe the licorice itself was introduced in 1845.
I love Licorice but only actually eat Twizzlers, the strawberry flavor. However they come in a variety of sizes and flavors now like chocolate, watermelon and cherry. They are so yummy and I love to put them in giant mason jars as edible decoration. The best thing you can ever do for your life is open a pack of Twizzlers and bite off each end and use it as a straw. This may sound juvenile but I assure I only use it to drink my beer therefore it is an adult activity. 🙂
All Twizzlers are apparently Kosher Certified by the Orthodox Union, so yay to that I guess. And they also do not contain any gelatin or other animal products so the people of PETA love them and they are vegetarian safe!
The workers who make twizzlers are alloted 2 pounds of candy per week, which means I am considering quitting writing and joining the twizzler factory.
They are 8 1/4 inches long and next to popcorn, Twizzlers are the second most popular movie theater snack.
Next up the amazing Air Heads!
Created in 1986 by Perefetti Van Elle in Erlanger, Kentucky they are brightly colored, chewy taffy like candies that look like a giant tongue. I usually can’t eat more than one at a time because they are so sweet but delicious nonetheless.
They are only sold within the United States and Canada.
Flavors include cherry, lemonade, watermelon, white mystery, green apple, strawberry, blue raspberry, orange, Cola, Pink Lemonade, Grape-o-licious, Mang-o-tastic, Strawberry Banana, Tutti Frutti
and “Slammin’ Sour” and “Flaming Hot.”
Lemon Drops
The original Lemon Drops, were a hard candy shaped like little lemons and rolled in sugar. They originally come from England, which somehow makes so much sense to me.
Starting off as a throat lozenge the lemon drop has a clouded history of sorts, meaning I could barely find any information on them whatsoever. There are tons of brands of these candies and I actually haven’t had any in a very long time. But the best ones to get are the ones you find in an actual candy store where everything is perfectly placed in clear mason jars and you have to scoop them out into a little baggies.
If you’re looking for the old fashion kind that are a perfect combination of sweet and tart there is a great website to order them from, appropriately name oldtimecandy.com yum!
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Created by H. B. Reese in 1928 this is one of those wonderful milk chocolate candies that doesn’t bombard you with chocolate, instead its overwhelmed with peanut butter. Fun!! As it turns out H.B. Reese was a dairy farmer and a shipping foreman for Milton S. Hershey. It would seem the reeses peanut butter cup was destined to happen.
As of 2012 the Reese’s candy brand is the #1 selling candy brand in the US.
With 10 million likes, It even has more friends than I have on facebook. 🙂
I love to eat these after letting them sit in the freezer for a bit, wait until after you have put on your pj’s and forget to brush your teeth then have one. It is the best midnight snack ever.
These round chocolate cups of yummy come in a multitude of variations, most of which I have never tried but now are officially on my list of ” Candies I’ve never had. And yes, I do indeed have such a list. Here are just a few:
Big Cup, Caramel, chocolate lovers, crunchy cookie cup, double chocolate, double crunch, fudge, half pound cup( released in Canada in 2011) lol, hazelnut cream, honey roasted, inside out, marshmallow, miniatures, minis, peanut butter and banana cream and white chocolate. Phew! That is a whole lot of options. I love it and you should too.
These are my favorite candies. I wish I had more to add to the list in all honesty but I simply don’t eat that much candy all that often, however one of my favorite things ever about being an adult is that I get to eat candy whenever I feel like it. 🙂
When is big just too damn big? Well that is the question isn’t it? As someone who has a healthy amount of care and respect for my body, its shape and what nourishes it, I figured I would touch upon the subject slightly. In the U.S obesity is as common and rampant as prime time television shows. Meaning…..it’s happening everywhere and all the time and looks to not be slowing down anytime soon. According the CDC (Center for Disease Control) more than one-third of American adults are Obese. That’s 34.9 % or 78.6 million people. Obesity in this country is higher among middle-aged folks (40-59 yrs old) than younger adults ( 20-39 yrs old). Obesity is determined in adults with a BMI ( Body Mass Index) of 30 or greater.
My boyfriend works on the railroad and as such many of his co-workers travel on the road most of the year. So a balanced, fairly healthy diet generally evades many of these guys. So I’ve seen my fair share of ginormous bellies over-powering their cotton shirts and protruding aggressively over their denim jeans. However this problem is one that we all face as a country. And not including an entire group of people who suffer from thyroid conditions, we are breeding an entire generation of extremely fat and unhealthy children. 17 % of our youth in this country are obese and that number is growing fast.
I always wonder if people ask themselves, when is enough actually enough? Do people understand the difference between large, “big-boned” and just plain ole obese? I think not. Now, let us forget about society’s view of whats perfect, of what women and men should look like in order to be considered beautiful. Because it isn’t about that. As humans we come in all different types of shapes and sizes and we are beautiful exactly for this reason. Let us instead speak on the inner voice that I believe we all have, that many of us simply just don’t listen to and ignore more often than not. Let us speak on the stuff, food and other crap, that we are actually putting into our bodies on a regular basis. Then and only then, let us decide if we are at a decent, livable, healthy size or trapped within a body that no one should have to live in, possibly shortening our lives.
What can we do?
Now there is apparently a great effort to focus on public health issues such as obesity by the government through Special supplemental nutritional programs for women, children and infants and through various new regulations in regards to food packaging information implemented by the US Dept. of Agriculture, however the numbers seem to be growing. I believe it must begin with knowledge. It sounds cliche of course, but knowledge is most definitely power. The more you know about your health, your families genetic dispositions, your chances and likelihood for high blood pressure, obesity etc. the more you can do about it. The more choices you ultimately will have.
Where the fat lives. Below is an obesity prevalence map by state.
What’s it costing us?
The extremely obese of this country have one very significant higher cost than the rest of the population. Increased healthcare costs. Some might think increased gas in one the most expensive things we suffer with as Americans. Ironically enough Americans spend 4 billion dollars a year in increased gas costs due to our weight. Which just simply sounds absurd. There are many unexpected costs associated with obesity. Which makes sense since we have the second highest obesity rate in world, next to Mexico. Things are constantly being altered and changed within society to accommodate the rampant weight increase as a society as a whole. NJ transit is widening their seats by 2.2 inches for passengers. In the year 2000, Airlines had to use and additional 350 gallons of jet fuel in order to handle the increase of weight by passengers. From a medical standpoint, new and larger machines and pieces of equipment, like mini cranes, MRI machines and wheelchairs, have had to be invented and changed to accommodate people larger than 350 pounds.
However from a business standpoint the increase in obesity is a wonderful opportunity to flourish. In 2008 $40 Billion dollars was spent on diet products. Which I find particularly interesting since the rate of obesity continues to increase. The possibilities business wise are endless if the current weight trends continue to increase as they are. Almost half of the country is estimated to be considered obese by the year 2030, which is basically around the corner folks. And if you were unawares of our current population, in order to put that into perspective, we are a country of roughly 320 million people. So there you are. You’re welcome.
I believe you must listen to your body but not ignore the advice of medical professionals as well. The general knowledge we possess as a society isn’t enough anymore to fight this war on obesity. We must search and find the knowledge and tactics to help us become healthier and ultimately happier starting from the inside out.
This month I came down with a little mini cold. I was under the weather for a few days and so my better half Red brought in from work one day a little care basket filled with all the necessities a sick girl might need. Nyquil, gummy bears, an italian sub, ginger-ale and a bag of pepperridge farm cookies. The short bread ones. You know, all the usual. Well…It got me thinking about my favorite cookies ever. Of course they are my mothers home-made short bread cookies that were made from memory, with no recipe or measurement cups. She’d throw in a pinch of this or a handful of that and presto! Cookies! Man would I love a fabulous plate of short bread cookies, sweet and sugary, that fell apart in your mouth. Many years later I discovered a similar happiness with Pepperidge farm cookies. The short bread ones of course. Now, I like other types of cookies that they make however they always seem to leave something to be desired in my opinion. But then again I may a bit bias since I am sincerely in love with their short bread cookies. :-). Anyhow, after being a bit ill and bed-ridden for a few days and all netflixed out it was a welcomed treat, those cookies.
It turns out they have been around since the early 40’s and so I figured there are lots of good tid bits to discover about the Farm. 🙂
Started by a mother and house wife, from Connecticut, Margaret Rudkin, attempting to find a preservative free bread for her son due to his allergies came Pepperidge Farms. What she started was a conglomerate of fabulous cookies and baked goods. A trip to Belgium in the 50’s and Pepperidge Farm being acquired in the 60’s by Campbell’s Soup brought us the very famous “Goldfish Crackers” and “Chocolate Chunk” cookies and mor..
They rank in the top 2% brands worldwide in brand equity.
Despite my allegiance lying with only the shortbread cookies they actually use real ingredients in all their other products.
Pepperidge Farm products are available in over 45 countries, have relationships with over 40 distributors and 80 retailers all over the globe.
They also offer the opportunity to become a Pepperidge Farm independent distributor. So very awesome, allowing the entrepeneur in us all to shine bright, if it should so be your desire.
To my surprise, their website boasts of a large array of company recipes and ideas from breakfast, pastries and sandwiches to full meals and desserts.
All in all I never thought that I would have so much to say about one of my favorite packaged cookies, however the short bread cookies are simply fantastic! I recommend them with the lights a bit dim and your covers pulled all the way up and your favorite Sylvester Stallone movie on the tube. Or have them after you’ve enjoyed that lasagna you have been putting off making since last fall. 🙂
This has long been one of my favorite beers to find out at a pub on tap. It happens so infrequently that when I am fortunate enough to encounter the Devil, it’s like tasting it for the first time all over again. Half way through the bottle the memories of the Hop Devil’s past flood my mind and I’m brought back to whatever occasion or experience I took part in before. When the broad barley notes roll down my tongue, I remember to sip slowly, as not to miss the enchanting maple sitting beneath the toasted nut flavors that are there. Like the average American, the Devil is full-bodied, but is above average in almost every other way. It’s tangy and very hoppy and almost demands to be drunken alone. It’s for the palate that knows no bounds. It’s for the spirit that does not fear the possibility of it tasting bad. You can not be persuaded to drink the Devil, The Devil must invite you in. And you shall know when it’s your time to be romanced by the complexity of its brewing components.
Made with whole flower American hops and German Malts (one of only a few in the country to do so), this American made Indian Pale Ale, brewed in Downingtown, PA,is described by its own brewers as spicy and menacingly delicious. It makes me wonder if their target audience are to be of the same nature. They also suggest pairing it (if the feeling should come upon you to do so) with grilled meats, bar-b-q ribs or anything with cheddar cheese and the only variant I’d offer in regards to this would be sharp cheddar.
For a brewery that is filled with German tradition then wrapped in American ingenuity, their ability to constantly produce creations of true craftsmanship and care astound and please me to no end.
It’s almost a joke that we insist on calling ourselves the most intelligent and highly evolved species on this planet when we continue to brutalize and pollute our environment to the degree that we do and abuse our natural resources, for which if they disappeared then we would too.
The great pacific garbage patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex is an area in the North Pacific ocean filled with marine debris as per Wikipedia. I have heard of it over the years, often disturbed by its description. What has held my curiosity all these years is wanting to know what exactly it is, what it consist of and is it indeed marine debris or garbage and trash accumulated in this particular part of our Earth’s ocean due to natural currents and flow of waters that converge there or is it one of those weird sea stories blown out of proportion.
Well, I can safely say now that, unfortunately, that its not one of those amazing pirate tales of a garbage vortex that sucks boats and seamen alike into it’s grasps only to disappear without a trace. Although less entertaining than that, it’s actually much worse.
It’s located between 135°W to 155°W and 35°N and 42°N. It’s been said that it actually consist of an enormous amount of pelagic plastic, which I shall explain. To understand what they are you must first realize that plastic is forever. It neither bio-degrades nor breaks down from organisms in a natural way at all. They always remain a polymer. So when plastic finds it way to the ocean and is then exposed to long periods of sunlight it goes through a process called photodegredation, which simply breaks it down into smaller pieces and polymers. It will then remain in the ocean for centuries and inflict unknown amounts of environmental damage. These are pelagic plastics. Also within this great patch is chemical sludge and other debris that gets caught in the North Pacific gyre.
Apparently it is quite large ( 4 particles per cubic meter), which is estimated at being as big as anywhere from 270,000 square miles to 5,800,00 square miles big. That is roughly the size of Texas or larger. However it said to not be visible from space or satellite photography. Despite being considered one of the largest and worst examples of marine pollution much of the debris is actually almost invisible to the naked eye because the plastic has been broken down so much over the years into such tiny pieces. Much of it actually lies just beneath the surface of the ocean.
Where does the garbage come from?
The way in which it has been formed is pretty simple. It formed very gradually due to marine pollution that collected in the area due to natural oceanic currents. The circular pattern from these currents in the area pull in garbage and waste material from the North Pacific Ocean, including North America and Japan. The majority of the trash (about 80%) is said to come from land due to improper and illegal disposal and the rest from ships. However I found I had a difficult time when researching, finding numbers or statistics that were concrete that would allow me to be more specific about this claim.
Who discovered it?
The man who first discovered this particular area of floating trash is Captain Charles Moore, he is a surfer, sea-captain and scientific researcher. According to National Geographic the patch was predicted by many oceanographers and climatologists but Moore was the one who actually came upon it and reported his actual findings first to science community. He was sailing from Hawaii to California after a yachting competition of some kind.
What effect it is having on marine life?
The result of such an area with so much incredibly harmful debris and waste can be and is extremely dangerous to our marine life which ultimately means it is detrimental to us as humans as well. These particles end up in the stomachs of sea-turtles and many types of Albatross birds and their young. The breakdown of these plastics also releases all types of dangerous chemicals that are then ingested by the animals which in turn cause severe hormone disruption among other health problems. It also interrupts the animals ability to effectively detect where their natural food source is within the water. I found some research that determined that at least 267 different animal species are directly effected by this particular patch world-wide. That information in of itself shows me how very connected all life on this earth is because only a few of those 267 animals effected directly actually reside within range of the actual garbage patch area.
What can be done?
Well to begin I found a number of organizations and coalitions that are currently working on ways to effectively clean up and reduce the amount of plastic in these areas, which will ultimately be a life long process. However I believe that a lot of these issues are probably preventable for the future and is our responsibility as humans to figure out what not do to contribute to the problem, as most of the seas trash and waste is human produced and discarded by us as well, generally improperly or illegally.
We can start by being smarter consumers. There are many products in our homes that we use everyday that we discard of improperly and don’t even know it. Shampoo bottles, take out bins etc. are just some that actually should not go straight into our regular trash. Plastic is almost a daily used carcinogenic material that is in almost every kind of container in our home. Most of which can not bio-degrade in a healthy and safe way when put into the regular trash. You must actually recycle your plastics not simply throw them in the trash. Find your city’s local recycle regimen requirements and actually apply it to your daily life. Plastic bottles are an extremely huge problem that many people either refuse to recognize or simply don’t understand the repercussions of. For example, 9 out of 10 plastic bottles are not even recycled in the United States. We use 1 trillion plastic bags per year world-wide and considering that everything always leads back to the ocean that number should scare you. If you can’t truly wrap your mind around this number in word form let me show it to you in actual numbers. 1,000,000,000,000,000. Below is a wonderful little infographic that highlights some of the words I’ve written above because adding photos or graphs to data always helps people absorb it better. 🙂
All in all I’d say this is by far a scarier reality than that of pirates inhabiting the great seas and devouring up our sailors. Let’s open our eyes, just a little wider and take a cue from Maximus in “gladiator”. “What we do in life…… echoes in eternity.” Thanks Russel Crowe. 🙂
For the month of September I have chosen a beer to highlight that came to me in a six-pack. Sometimes the best discoveries happen this way. 🙂 As you may have noticed, I love sharing with you guys a wonderful beer every month that I have either found or re-discovered on my quest for all things brewed. However I also think it important to highlight the brewery that produces said beer. As it is often in the pages of their beginnings, brewing style and history put together over the years that allows them to create that one wonderful beer, that I find and share with you. It is so very important to me when I find a beer to add to the list of wonderful consumption, that I also understand something of the people who work hard everyday to produce it. Their mindset, skills and desire to produce and craft what we all sit around and enjoy in the sunshine or moonlit evenings of our lives, giving us a break to relax from all that is hectic in the world and to slowly sip it away.
DuClaw Brewing Co.- Baltimore, MD Established in 1996
This brewery has a wonderful beginning not too different from that of others started up by a young enthusiastic beer lover with a determined mind. It began in Bel-Air by a man named Dave Benfield who in conjunction today with brewmaster Jim Wagner work hard to bring over 35 unique beers with countless variations and blends to us everyday. I thank them. Upon discovering “Serum” I realized their life’s work was not a waste. IPA’s in particular are my favorite type of beers as I have professed so often before but there is nothing like the Double IPA to get your taste buds going like a 100-year-old wooden roller coaster at the amusement park. It starts of as a hesitant appreciation for the beauty of it and then gradually develops into something more. Then one day you find yourself standing in line waiting for your turn on the coaster despite your fear of speed and heights. Ultimately, out of breath and flustered with excitement, there could have been no other choice but to take the ride and then….. you can’t wait to go again. This is how it is to drink this beer.
From ” Beer Bashes” to “Beer Tastings” this brewery offers a wonderful array of monthly events to convene at that also include food and it is what seems to be one of the more merry brew pub locations in the country. If you lived in or around the Baltimore area it’s something I would recommend giving a try.
“Serum”
First released in 2004, Now available year round
Flavor- Despite being a double IPA it’s a fairly lite beer with a super-duper hoppy taste. I tasted lots of caramel and a kind of wheat like flavor, but it’s not so overwhelming that it’s undrinkable. It’s actually quite the opposite at 9% alc after 3 or 4 I was pleasantly buzzed. 🙂 I also feel like this beer has a wonderfully delicious bitterness to it that may not sit well with anyone whose palate isn’t used to IPA’s to begin with however I wouldn’t let this deter me from giving it a taste if you see it at your local pub or store. After all, beer that you don’t like can always be used as an additive to a southern crawfish jambalaya or something like that. 🙂 There is a sweetness that really stays on the tongue long after you sip it.
Medium Bodied, Copper colored
The bottle even has a clever little motivational speech on it as to why you should be drinking it. Which grabs your attention immediately while browsing beers in the store.
The website boasts of this beer being aggressively hopped at several stages of the brewing process including a gradual two-week dry-hopping.
Food Pairing- This beer probably tastes wonderful with any dish or appetizer that’s fried or more on the light side even. However I decided it was perfect for me with a home-made chicken pot pie, where we used cream of mushroom soup, peas, carrots, and gave it a parmesan crust. ( recipe to come in “fantastic foods” later this month). The creamy-ness of the dish just went down well with this beer for me.
I hope you enjoyed my pick for September’s Beer of the Month. I know I truly enjoyed drinking it.
-Happy Sippin’
❤ Cassandra
A few awesome beer facts:
Plato’s- This is the measurement used by commercial brewers to measure the density of solutions.It’s expressed as the equivalent weight of cane sugar in solutions. I stumbled upon this little nugget of info on the DuClaw website.
The difference between a Lager and an Ale. Many people who drink beer do not truly know the difference. And since knowledge is power, let us power up. The difference is the type of yeast used for fermentation and the temperature at which they are fermented. For example Lagers are generally fermented between 48-55 degrees F and Ales between 65-75 degrees F.
Immigration is a seemingly sore topic in this country. Most people feel very strongly about it one way or another. Some may not like to hear or even agree but I support immigration in this country to some degree. The geo-political and economic reasons why it’s always better to do it legally isn’t however, what is on my mind. So many immigrants have migrated to this country over the years to make their way and to make it their own too. I never have nor will I ever have any qualms with humans of any color,religion, shape or size that do what they must to achieve freedom. However, an ongoing result of this pursuit is often seen in the sometimes stubborn behavior that some show and then teach to their children. To not acquire the ability to acclimate. This is not to say ones culture, beliefs and language should be cast aside or left behind or even altered in any way in a new and foreign country. But refusing to be a productive part of society and or choosing total isolation within the community, I believe is detrimental to the generation of people who worked so hard to get here in the first place. This isn’t always the case of course. But if I moved to a foreign land my first priority would probably be learning the language as to be able to do whatever it was I came their to do, live.
I have recently come to the conclusion that in no way is it sensible for a person in the country of the United States of America to be able to be employed in positions that require you to speak English if you in fact do not speak English at all. Everyone deserves to be employed and have an opportunity to earn a living . A prime example of this and what bothers me constantly is when restaurants, hotels or any other type of business within the hospitality industry, where an employee is required to communicate with an almost exclusively English-speaking patron base, then employs people who speak zero words of English. This makes no sense for so many reasons. Now, I am not in any way being discriminatory, I simply see it as inefficient, frustrating and more often than not leads to the resentment and sometimes abuse of said employees from those very patrons.
As a business owner, manager or authoritative figure in a position to hire and train, is it not then your responsibility to find capable people for the tasks you intend to pay them to perform or equip them with the tools they will need to do so? To employ, perhaps even under-pay and then neglectfully train a subordinate (this can include anyone) is a mis-use or even an abuse of power. It’s also categorically poor business practice. If I were to check into a hotel where the majority of your patrons are English-speaking, in a town or city where the general form of communication is also English and you then place a concierge at the front desk whose main responsibility is to see to the needs of these patrons and communicate with them regularly, how can they then do so if they do not speak English and there is a major language barrier. Isn’t this a dis-service to not only the employee, who more often than not will be treated poorly because of this discrepancy but also the people they are trying to help? I believe it is. The same idea would be applied to any job in any other industry and perhaps too in any other country, whatever their main language may be. If there were a college hiring a professor of 15th century literature you would not then hire a person whose degree was in micro-biology to teach lectures. For they would be ill-equipped to perform the very function for which you have hired them. It is the same premise. It just wouldn’t work.
All in all I hope this does not come across as discriminatory but I think it is a problem in this country where franchises and business owners don’t care enough to nurture the future of their business and or employees by accepting what amounts to sub-par establishment standards. Either properly train your employees for all the tasks they will face within their given job position or hire people who are capable of doing so. This is not to say people who don’t speak English should not be fairly employed in any industry but it is an incredible dis-service to them to do so without the proper tools. This problem does not just lie on businesses, as a country we don’t have any kind of assistance for immigrants for assimilation. We do not even have a language proficiency program for immigrants who are going through the citizenship process. According to a Perdue University study conducted in 2013, many other countries take a much more active role to ensure immigrants learn the native language, thus they can acclimate to their new home and be active and productive within the community much better.
As of 2012 nearly 41 million immigrants lived in the United States, that’s about 13 % of our population. I just think they all deserve the same chances and treatment as us all.
Just so you know:
“Foreign Born” and “Immigrant” are used interchangeably and refer to persons with no U.S. citizenship at birth. A population that would include naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees, persons on certain temporary visas, and the unauthorized.
Anyways that’s just whats on my mind and it must be said I have found myself becoming frustrated and bothered in similar situations, often becoming impatient at not being able to communicate with someone whatsoever. And to be honest it is not always their fault. I have even thought before, they must surely be pretending, however it should be noted that nationally, 28 % of immigrants live in households where no one over the age of 13 speaks English ( according to the Public Policy Institute of California).
A women’s ability and talent to maintain several different hair-styles without going to the salon every other week is one of the hardest things we all try to attain in our 20’s. This includes blow-drying our hair, flat-ironing our hair, giving it the needed trim to get rid of the split-ends and trimming our bangs if we wear them. This is a life long struggle for many of us that is usually most horrific in our 20’s. The reason is probably because this is the time, statistically when your “friends” are far less likely to actually tell you when your leaving the house looking a mess, or that your new hair cut simply sucks. Ahhh, but fear not….. today we are going to touch upon one of the simplest things to do, no matter what kind of hair you have, no matter what your hair grooming skills may be. How to trim your bangs properly. I have been cutting and trimming my hair for at least a decade. Now this isn’t to say I have perfected anything but I surely know how to perform the simplest tasks on my own hair in between those salon visits, which have become increasingly more non-existent over the years. Enjoy. 🙂
Let’s get straight to it.
I wanted to show you the perfect way however I have posted a Youtube video from Tiliamac instead. She trims her bangs exactly as I have been doing for years. I love the ease in which she explains the process and of course she is totally adorable on camera so I thought it best to just add her video . 🙂 There is also a picture of the my own bangs after I have trimmed them.
Blow dry your hair (optional)- First, no matter what kind of hair you have, you must blow dry your bangs straight, unless you already have incredibly straight hair in which case this wouldn’t be necessary :-).
Part you hair and pull back the rest– Decide how much hair you want in your bang. I wear my bangs fairly full and thick and I make a part from roughly from eyebrow to eyebrow. Also, as in the video, I start my bangs from pretty far back on my head and also use the triangle method to determine how much hair I am going to be trimming.
Trim to your nose– If your starting off with pretty long hair in front of your face you have to get rid of some of it to see what you’re doing and get started properly. Also you don’t want to begin by chopping off your bangs super short. The less you cut the better, because you can always cut more but you can’t go back and cut less. As you will notice in the video, twisting your bangs and trimming them to your nose or a little shorter works well too.
Flat iron/bump your bangs (optional)– I have super curly/wavy/wild hair so I flat-iron my bangs to give them that super silky straight look that blowing drying alone simply doesn’t do for me. Now take a flat-iron or a curling iron if you have one. I prefer a flat-iron for bangs as not to make them look super curled and eighties-ish. Now make sure the make a bump in the hair, meaning you’re going to iron it so it has a slight curl in it as oppose to it being super straight like right after you blew it dry. Remember if your hair is already super straight and silky you may not need to flat-iron.
Trim– With your scissor blades facing upward trim slightly shorter every time you go across, almost as though you are texturizing or layering your hair, constantly making sure you are satisfied with how much you have trimmed. I don’t make my bangs super straight across, instead as in my photo below I like to frame my face with my bangs, but when I do I pull the comb through with one hand then use the scissors in the other hand to go slowly across…
These are my own bangs, the last time I trimmed them.
Below is a video showing you exactly how to do it. 🙂 Thank you Tiliamac.
That’s it, super simple and not that time-consuming. I trim my bangs all the time when I am in the mood for them and the best thing about doing so is that they seem to always grow super fast afterward.
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– They are an even-tempered breed, reportedly, so much so that I’ve read that many farmers/breeders find them a joy to herd and raise and often they will even allow any children nearby to pet and stroke them on occasion.
A cup of Noodle soup 