Random Thoughts on Bristish Food

Being from Louisiana I really love food! I think that a big part of culture is the food you eat. Food is more than just eating, it says a lot about a person and their surroundings. I think that most British food is normal, but I also think they have some questionable choices. So this is my thoughts on random British food. (Disclaimer!! I have not tried most of this food. Most of these reviews are based simply off of how the food looks and the name of the food) First off beans on toast... Who in the world thinks of putting beans on toast?! Not only does it look disgusting it also sounds disgusting!!!! They even make cheese and beans on toast and ketchup and beans on toast. Sorry to be rude but that sounds absolutely repulsive. Next up is mushy peas... Honestly anything that has mushy in the name sounds gross! What I want to know is are the peas similar to mashed potatoes? Why not just eat peas how they come? It sounds like food a baby would eat. When I hear black pudding I think of dark chocolate pudding! UM WRONG! Black pudding looks like a link of sausage. It is actually onions, oatmeal, pork fat and blood all in a casing. I love rare steak but thinking of mixing blood and oatmeal is disturbing. It just sounds so unappetizing. Next is a food called haggis. Haggis kind of looks like a loaf of boudin. But like off brand boudin. One food item I want to try is Yorkshire pudding. This pudding is not really a pudding at all it is like a rich dinner roll. I think I can eat my own weight in dinner rolls so I am really interested in these. One British food I actually grew up on Shepard's pie. I love the combination of the potatoes, meat, and vegetables! The only thing that was different from the British version is that my parents always topped the potatoes with cheese! It added extra flavor! Okay... a proper Sunday roast... WOW I am kinda sad I have not had this as a meal.  A proper Sunday  roast comes with roasted beef or lamb, roasted potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. This literally sounds SO amazing!! One food I am a little confused on is a mince pie or "mincemeat" when it has nothing to do with meat. So I am confused because when I think meat pie I think of a Natchitoches meat pie. But this mince pie is a mini pie filled with dried fruit and spices and it usually a dessert served around Christmas. Honestly I would not mind trying it. Finally the last thing I want to bring attention to is England's choice of chip flavors. Walkers which is the same company as Lays in the United Kingdom, has a prawn cocktail flavor... Prawns and shrimp are very similar and I can not imagine the taste of eating a shrimp chip! They also have flavors such as pickled onion, beef and onion, and tomato ketchup. I know there is a difference in culture but all of those flavors sound disgusting. I think I will stick to my VooDoo Zapps. I think food is a direct link to culture. I think your surroundings impact what food you eat. I am sure that British people think Cajun and American food is gross. Certain foods hold sentimental value. Hopefully soon I will travel to the United Kingdom and maybe get to try some of these dishes!

-Savanna

Internet Paranoia

Recently in class we watched Black Mirror. The episode we watched was Hated in the Nation. Which was... just wow so interesting. My eyes were glued to the screen. I found this episode fantastic. I have only watched one other Black Mirror episode and I was not a huge fan of it. I think I liked this episode because of the murder mystery. I am a huge fan of crime shows. This episode really got me thinking about technology. This episode's technology is fascinating. The thought that a car can be driven from an iPad screen is so cool. The ADI bees were amazing to me. The fact that someone can create a piece of technology to work and live like a bee is mind boggling. It honestly made me think that the government could be close to doing something similar. I find that super creepy but also super cool. I know that the government taps phone calls but still, sending bees out is like sending a million little spies around the country. I have some of my own theories about internet paranoia. One theory I have is that Amazon Alexa and Google Echo are listening all the time. Lol that might make me sound paranoid. All you have to do is say "hey Google" or "Alexa" and they listen. So both devices have to be listening constantly to hear their "name." So what I want to know is Google and Amazon selling all the information they hear? What are they doing with it? Do you think they are selling it to the government? Another theory that I have is about the self run vacuums. iRobot Roomba is the creepiest thing to me. My parents have one and it freaks me out. Yeah it makes people's lives easier because the machine can be ran with no one at home. So basically the vacuum just turns on and vacuums your house. The iRobot Roomba REMEMBERS the path it runs in the house. so basically iRobot has an extremely basic blue print of your house. It is not like the detailed blueprint but the machine remembers so the data has to be stored somewhere. Which even if the company does not do anything with the blueprint they still have access. Just a little creepy to think about. The only other thing that really bothers me about technology is the ads that pop up on items I have only spoke about and not actually searched. There has been so many times that I have been talking about a new product I want to try or something I want to buy, but I II ne never searched for that item and then BAM an ad for that item will show up on my phone. CREEPY!! I watched a video a few months back where a couple tested their phones to see if the phones really listened. They talked about needing cat foods since they do not own cats or ever speak about them. Well about two days later an ad popped up for cat food. LIKE WTF! I know computers collect data (cookies) on each website viewed so that is why ads pop up after searching an item on the computer. The fact that your phones listens and collects data on you is terrifying. I recently round put that you can turn the microphone off on certain apps on your phone. I turned off all the microphones the phone allowed me to and that has helped reduce the number of ads. There is a theory that the FBI watches you through your camera on your phone and computer. Personally, I do not think that is true. I think that hackers can in to your camera but I do not think the FBI is constantly watching you. There are actually a lot of memes about the FBI watching people through their camera and I think they are hilarious. I am sure that the FBI has the capability to watch people through their cameras but I do not think they do it all day everyday. They have many other things that they are focused on. Honestly the internet is a crazy thing. I think that technology is a double edged sword. So many good things have come from technology and the internet. Things like iPhones, GPS, and even tools used in hospitals. But there are so many negative things that have come from technology like hackers, listening devices, and fake news being spread in the mass media. 

 Here is a link to the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0SOxb_Lfps

-Savanna

The Commonwealth

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

The Commonwealth

If I think about Britain, things like the monarchy, the afternoon tea, Harry Potter and the Commonwealth come to my mind. But for the most people, also for me, the question what is the Commonwealth exactly and when was it created comes to my mind. I always knew that the Commonwealth existed but I never really knew any specific facts about it. This is why I want to take a closer look at the Commonwealth today.

First of all what is the Commonwealth exactly? The Commonwealth is an association of 53 nations united by the ties of the former British rules. Its aim is to create and maintain ongoing prosperity in these countries. All of these countries were a part of the British Empire, before they joined the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was created in the early 1900s. The main goal at that time was to ease the process of British decolonization. At the same time it was a possibility to maintain global unity through history, culture and language, despite growing independence and self-governance of former British colonies.

The Commonwealth represents one third of the world population. Over 2.3 billion people belong to it. These member countries are united through human rights, common values of democracy and rule of law. Entering the Commonwealth is voluntary and withdrawal is possible at any time. Withdrawal from the Commonwealth does not bring any obligations or consequences with it.

But how can countries join the Commonwealth? First requirement to be able to join the Commonwealth is by acknowledging Queen Elizabeth as the head of the Commonwealth. The other requirements are racial equality, liberty, human rights, equality, embrace of world peace and free trade. Those requirements are equally important as the first one. Sovereignty is a must for a member-state. Also English has to be accepted as the primary language of communication within the Commonwealth. The citizens have to have a desire to be part of the Commonwealth. Since 1997 member-states must have a constitutional link with any current member-state. It is also possible to get excluded from the Commonwealth if a nation fails to keep one of the democratic principles.

What does the Commonwealth actually do? The primary aim is to create strong connections or links between rich and poor countries. Also to bring together a variety of religions and demographics in one institution. Through this approach the Commonwealth managed to create diplomatic bounds between its members. Another very important and interesting thing, especially for smaller countries, is the bi-annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which allows them to make their concerns and plans known. This is a great opportunity for those smaller countries to convince the richer and bigger countries to help them.

In my opinion the main advantage of belonging to the Commonwealth is to be a part of a very large network which is able to help and support you. It gives smaller countries a chance to be recognized and heard. It is a impressive and peaceful alliance.

Dominik König  

A Response to Propaganda in Britain

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

A Response to Propaganda in Britain

Just recently in my history class, we were talking about propaganda in the second world war in Germany and we compared in to propaganda of the ally forces. We also talked about Great Britain´s propaganda in the first and second World War. I also read the blog of one of the students in my blog group who also wrote about the propaganda in Britain. In her last part of her blog she talks about futuristic propaganda in Britain and this is the point where I actually got really interested in that propaganda topic. I started to ask myself how propaganda in Britain looks like in the future or even in the present. Because the only real propaganda we know is always from the first and second World War and mainly addresses the same topic over and over again. So for me propaganda is always something that is in the past and not really present in our world anymore.

https://www.google.com/search?q=propaganda+in+britain&rlz=1C1CHBD_deUS761US761&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRu9qC2fXeAhURRK0KHZFYBCYQ_AUIDigB&biw=1584&bih=772#imgrc=MHwcmAwdOg8b9M:

Let me start of by talking about propaganda in the first and second World War and how it looked like at that time.

In the first World War from 1914 to 1918 the first domestic propaganda had the purpose of military recruitment. It was called PRC (Parliamentary Recruiting Committee). It was brought to live at the end of August 1914. I was basically led by the biggest and most influential british parties, except of the Irish Nationalists party. The recruited Volunteers for the war against Germany. In September 1915 the RPC issued over 20 million publications, which included over 8.5 million leaflets, over 5.6 million posters and around 5.4 million pamphlets. By September 1915 over 2 million british men had enlisted themselves as volunteers for the first World War. But also the Irish contributed men to the first World War. The name of the recruiting organization in Ireland was DRI (Department of Recruiting in Ireland). Over 200,000 Irishmen enlisted themselves, voluntarily, to help Britain fight in the first World War. This was seen impressive, because of the complex and difficult situation at that time in Ireland. But both of these propaganda organizations were made solely for the purpose of war and recruitment propaganda. But the British government also created a propaganda Bureau, the so called War Propaganda Bureau or also known as the Wellington House, which was in charge of neutrals and dominions. This Bureau was led by Charles Masterman. His determination was to conduct propaganda on accurate information and measured argument.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=british+propaganda+in+ww2&rlz=1C1CHBD_deUS761US761&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiN_Y_b2fXeAhVLhq0KHSJNAFkQ_AUIDigB&biw=1584&bih=772#imgrc=6T4-5azZkLvquM:

In the second World War there was not really a big change in the propaganda system in Britain. There were still the propaganda organizations which had the job to recruit soldiers and there was still the domestic propaganda organization. But in the second World War the domestic one changed to MOI (Ministry of Information´s). It had the responsibility for national propaganda, so in other words to maintain the moral of the people at home and to influence the opinion about Britain abroad, in a positive way. The MOI also had a new job in the second World War. It became major publisher of magazines, books, postcards, leafslets, etc, which played a major role in the dissemination of propaganda to the British people.

But there is also propaganda in the present Britain. Propaganda about a big decision the UK made not that long ago. It was the decision for the Brexit, which stands for Britain leaving the European Union. In this case the british government released a lot of propaganda pro Brexit. For instance the Office for National Statistics released over a period of time several statistics about the migration into the UK. And showed that the migration rate was the second highest. They also listed the costs caused by the migration but also the immigration to Britain caused by EU laws. But also independent magazines like “The Daily Mail” or “The Sun” spent several millions for pro or contra propaganda concerning the Brexit topic. Not to forget about hundreds of TV shows, which also costed millions.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=propaganda+in+britain+for+brexit&rlz=1C1CHBD_deUS761US761&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjf58jr4vXeAhUGbq0KHV5ZAZoQ_AUIDygC&biw=1584&bih=772#imgrc=hGdvE7KmRskeGM:

My last point is about future propaganda. I think Sarah Johnson made a good point in her blog. I agree with her opinion that there won´t be a great fight or world war again. At least not in the format we already know it. Problems in our world shifted to other, newer and more undiscovered topics like technology. I also think that a potential war between humanity and technology could be our next big conflict in which propaganda will also play a huge role.

Dominik König

Sex and Religion in “Goblin Market”

Friday, November 16, 2018

Sex and Religion in “Goblin Market”

Rosetti was a religiously devout woman so it is not surprising that her works reflect a lot of her religious beliefs. But the more interesting thing about one of her works, to be more specific “Goblin Market”, also one of her most famous works, has been published in Playboy but also as children´s literature. How is it able to appeal to such diverse audiences?

About Sex in Goblin Market

One comment from Norton about “Goblin Market” is about that one possible regarding of the poem to see it as an exploration of sexuality. Laura and Lizzie are enticed by the repeated imperative “come buy”, as if it was a siren call in reverse, men luring women. The way Rosetti describes the fruit, the colour, smell, texture and taste, combined with her describing listening to delicious mouthful sounds, makes it appeal to all the human senses at once. At the same time she uses single complex sentences with rhymes and half rhymes, plosives and alliterations to portray almost all the fruits someone can think of. But from the beginning, even before Lizzie brings up the “evil” about these fruits, it is easy to recognize that there is something not right about this fruit. There is also something unnatural about this abundance and as the poem develops further this hurried ripening of fruits can be compared to a rush into sexual maturity. If we go further into the poem, the virginal innocence is shown by the “unpecked” cherries. Also maturity is shown by the “summer weather” which a spring weather could not present. There is also an opposition embodied in the two sisters. When both of the sisters are introduced an abrupt scene change is marked, which immediately shows the difference or contrast between the two of them. Laura made an effort, by bowing her head towards the goblin men, to understand them better. Lizzie on the other hand was veiling her blushes, modestly hiding, which was considered an erotic response during the Victorian literature.

About Religion in Goblin Market   

Even though a lot of the sexual content in “Goblin Market” was veiled by Rosetti, which was absolutely normal for the Victorian time, Rosetti always denied that “Goblin Market” was actually a religious work, as most of the people saw it. But there is no denial about Rosetti putting a lot of religious and biblical symbolism into her poem. The most obvious one is the “forbidden fruit”. From there on it pretty much takes the same course as it did in the bible with Adam and Eve. Laura could not resist the temptation of the fruit and went to the Goblins and traded it with a piece of her hair. She ate it and was poisoned by it. Her Sister Lizzie could not see her sister suffer like that and she offered herself to the goblins as a kind of sacrifice. We can clearly compare that to a Christ-like symbolism.

Dominik König

My thoughts about “Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation” and its message about technology

Monday, November 26, 2018

My thoughts about “Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation” and its message about technology

The overall concept of Black Mirror is to show how dangerous the future and its technological inventions and advances for humanity can be. It shows us possible outcomes and downsides or side effects of technology and the future itself, besides all the shiny, useful aspects. It really fixates on things no one is thinking about or willing to think about. The episode “Hated in the Nation” shows that in a cruel but also in a realistic and good way.

The episode is structured like a police procedural, in which law-enforcement officials try to protect innocent citizens from an unknown, deranged villain. This episode is basically about deaths of people who are hated by society. An unknown person created an internet game in which people could tag other people with the hashtag “#DeathTo” and their name. After 5 pm the person with the most “#DeathTo” will get executed. At 12 am the game resets every day. After some investigation of the law-enforcement officers it reveals that the mysterious deaths are caused by the robot honeybees, or so called Autonomous Drone Insects (ADI´s). These bees were originally created to fill the ecological gap left by the extinction of the real honeybees. Due to a security gap the unknown killer is able to hack the robot honeybees and use them as killer machines.

“Hated in the Nation” is focues on two huge problems of our society: autonomous drones which are used for flower-pollinating in the first place but are actually used for governmental large-scale aerial surveillance and on another technological problem of our society, cyberbullying. The cyberbullying is portrayed by the internet game #DeathTo, created by the anonymous killer. As I already explained, the purpose of the game is to determine a person, that will be killed, by the hastag DeathTo and the name of the disliked person. But all of the people are actually not aware that the #DeathTo hastag will actually kill someone. As already said, for them it is more of a bullying purpose.

If I think about “Hated in the Nation” my first problem is to determine its actual critique. I mean the episode talks about Psychopaths who are using advanced technology to kill people, collective cyberbullying and the problem of Drones doing government surveillance without being noticed by anyone. Which can get really confusing during you watch it. But I think the answer to this problem is, that it actually talks about all those problems at once. It tells the audience to mostly see the bad side in technology and the future of technology. The same counts for the people. Also in the episode everybody is at fault: the tweeters who keep the twitter game alive, the startup which agreed to leave a backdoor in the bee drones and also the victims of the hashtag game. But on the other side there are also some attempts to undermine stereotypes about cyberbullying. The preschool teacher, one of the hashtag tweeters and the one who sent the cake to the first victim, believes that all the people behind those questionable hashtags are normal people which normal careers who just want to express their hate or dislike towards someone in a certain way. I think the point Black Mirror is trying to make here is that people often represent or appear different in the internet than in real life. Mostly because they behave completely different on social medias than in real life. Which is supported by the anonymity the internet or social media provides.

I think the episodes biggest failure is to recognize the parts of its convoluted storyline which raises the most important and also interesting question. What happens if the people, who participate every day in the hastag game, would actually find out that they had the power of collectively determining someone to die? Could this lead to a more fascinating exploration of the human nature? Maybe more than the villain-focused story is telling instead.

Dominik König

Origins of the British Empire and the Competition with France

Friday, November 16, 2018

Origins of the British Empire and the Competition with France

Britain began to make first tentative efforts to establish overseas settlements in the 16^th century. Mostly driven by the competition with France and commercial ambitions, its maritime expansion accelerated in the 17^th century. Results of this expansion were settlements in North America and in West India. In 1670 the British American colonies where in New England, Virginia, Maryland and also new settlements in the Bermudas, Honduras, Antigua, Barbados and Nova Scotia. Jamaica was obtained in 1655 by conquest, and what later became Canada from the 1670´s on, was first established as the Hudson´s Bay Company. Trading post were established in India around the 1600´s by the East India Company. Penang, Singapore, Malacca and Labuan became British colonies through an extension of that company´s activities. James Island was the first permanent British settlement on the African Continent. In was in 1661 in the Gambia River. This is also around the time when British began with Slave trading. The first trades began in Sierra Leone, even though it was not a British colony. In 1806 Britain acquired south African parts, like the Cap of Good Hope.

Almost all of those settlements or colonies were a result of enterprises of companies or magnates. The English crown did not make much of an effort to obtain any of these territories. Another important fact about the colonies of the British Empire is, that they were mostly self-managing. The crown only gave some ground rules and supervised them.

Competition with France

Under the leadership of Robert Clive, James Wolfe and Eyre Coote, the british military and naval forces gained the most important parts of its empire - India and Canada. The British and French colonies were fighting against each other in North America in the first half of the 18^th century. This war was also known as the “French and Indian War” But this seven year long war ended after the Treaty of Paris (in 1763) was made. This war left Britain dominant in Canada. In India on the other hand, the east was occupied and confronted by the French. Robert Clive managed, through military victories against the French forces and the rulers of Bengal to evict them from those east territories and claim them for the British colonies. This ensured Britain the supremacy in India as well.

During 1776-1783 Britain suffered a loss of 13 colonies in America. But those losses were compensated by new colony settlements in Australia. Through the Napoleonic Wars the British empire managed to acquire further colonies. The Treaty of Amiens (1802) brought them Trinidad and Sri Lanka. And the second Treaty of Paris, this time in 1814, brought them Tobago, Mauritius, Saint Lucia and Malta. Stamford Raffles conquered Singapore in 1819 and Malacca joined the British Empire in 1795.

Dominik König