The poll

This will shed some light on the poll in the top right.

It's pretty funny, too.

Topic for Comp Contrast

I've decided, ignore any other suggestions.

I'm going to compare and contrast digital versus print journalism, with a possible emphasis on Twitter and fact checking.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Three points- Ethics, Public service/informative role, investigative reporting.

This article gives a good primer on the traditional view of journalism.
I'm thinking I may modify the three points I have there to better incorporate the nine major tenets of journalism and how they differ from digital, or non-traditional, journalism. I'll also have to discard or condense those nine in order to get down to three.

EDIT: Three points revised: Business model, ethics, results of the previous two.
Not sure how I'll introduce or conclude, but I think the topic is suitable.
Thoughts?

Reporters

Will there be reporters in the future?
What are the benefits of people working as reporters?
How does that relate to the fall of old media companies and rise of blogs and other news media?

Government for Hire

I'm thinking in terms of contractors, not bribery.

Also considering this for comp contrast, contractors and government employees.

Why does the government contract out security duties instead of hiring more people?
Which would be more expensive?
Which is generally more effective?
What are the legal issues?

Cheesecake revision

Another huge long cheesecake post: (it's the last, I promise)

New York’s Cheesecake

            The New York style cheesecake is one of the most popular desserts in America and has a history stretching back to at least the fifth century B.C (CulinarySchools). It has gone from a dessert served to Olympians to an errand run by reality show contestants (Making the Band). It is the favored dessert of characters on shows ranging from Golden Girls to Friends (Season 7; Episode Recap; Golden Girls). In between being fetched by aspiring musicians on MTV’s Making the Band, the New York Style cheesecake has a long and rich history (Making the Band). To better understand how the New York style cheesecake came to be, it is best to examine the history of cheesecake in general, the unique ingredients, and the cultural phenomena associated with it.

            The history of the modern cheesecake is long, stretching back to the ancient Greeks and Romans (CulinarySchools; Crownover X). The first written recipe comes from Cato the Elder, a Roman emperor. He wrote books on a number of other culinary topics, but the first one of concern here is called placenta. His instructions involve creating a soft cheese, mixing it with honey, and cooking it inside a pastry crust (Nova Roma). It does not include the eggs that are used in a modern cheesecake, but is remarkably close. Cato also writes of another pastry in the same text (De Agricultura), the libum cake. To make it, mix a crushed, hard cheese with flour and an egg (Nova Roma). While neither of these dishes are quite the modern cheesecake, together they have all of the elements of a New York cheesecake. Cheesecake, along with many other trappings of civilization, was then introduced to the rest of the world with the conquering Roman armies (CulinarySchools). By 1872, every ingredient of a modern cheesecake was present except one: cream cheese.

            Before 1872, cheesecakes were primarily made with ricotta, cottage, or neufchâtel cheeses. A dairyman, William Lawrence, created the first cream cheese while attempting to replicate the French Neufchatel cheese (Philadelphia). His soft cheese was heavier and creamier than the cheeses being used for cheesecake at the time; this is because it contains more fat and water (Neufchatel; Cream cheese). This new cheese was sold under the trade name of Philadelphia, which has continued to this day. The use of cream cheese in cheesecake, however, didn’t occur until 1928. During that year, a chef named Arnold Rueben claimed to have sold the first New York style cheesecake using cream cheese instead of the usual cottage cheese (Practically Edible). Whether his claim is true or not, by 1930 the New York style cheesecake existed in its present form.

            Around the same time as the New York style cheesecake was created, the term cheesecake was entering the cultural lexicon as a slang term (Popik; Morris). “Cheesecake” was used then to refer to attractive women posed in risqué positions, generally nude or semi-nude. In essence, “cheesecake” was used as a synonym to “pinup” or “French postcard”(Sex-Lexis). The first anecdotal evidence of its use is in an exclamation of an editor for a New York newspaper. The Russian opera singer Elvira Amazar stared in one of those French postcard shots, when reviewing it, the editor was reported to have said, “Why, this is better than cheesecake!”(Popik). As is the case with language, the actual story of the origin of any slang term is never totally understood, so an alternate theory is in order. Evan Morris, a researcher on the topic of slang terminology, offers an idea which finds root in the times the term “cheesecake” became popular (Morris). He postulates that, because of the economic times, the Great Depression, cheesecake would be simply an unattainable goal. This idea of the unattainable goal dovetails nicely with the attractive women posing semi-nude for various publications; i.e., the men reading said magazines had the same chance of meeting the women as they did eating a cheesecake- none (Morris). While the slang term “cheesecake” may not be in current use in the same definition as the first use, it is still out there. The open site Urban Dictionary may not be reliable, but it is a remarkably accurate measure of what people think a term refers to. While many of the top rated definitions are the historic one, the later definitions are interesting as well. The definitions have retained the connection to sexuality and females, but have grown generally more explicit (Urban). This is extraordinarily interesting, as linguistic shifts have historically been difficult to measure, but can be seen in this case.

            The modern New York cheesecake is not only a study in antiquity with roots stretching back to Rome, but also has inspired a slang term. While cheesecakes had been made for centuries, when the cream cheese was added in 1928, a classic dessert, with a uniquely American twist, was created. Damon Runyon assured the New York cheesecake its place in history when wrote a New York deli called Lindy’s into two of his short stories as Mindy’s (eBooks). Later, those short stories were converted into a Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls, which pushed Lindy’s, and the New York style cheesecake, into the public mind. This 1955 musical was not by any means the last use of cheesecake, Friends, Golden Girls, and Making the Band are only some of the mentions of this confection in popular culture. Popular culture will also adopt concepts for its own use, as evidenced by the slang meaning of cheesecake. The evolution of this term is incredible, and shows the ever-changing nature of culture while reflecting the changes of the cheesecake: gradually growing from a comparatively tame pastry to a sinfully rich dessert.

I'm not posting the complete works cited because it's really long, and I have hyperlinks that'll take you to my sources. This is the print works cited:

Crownover, Mary. I Love Cheesecake. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Pub., 2005. Print.

Any comments would be very appreciated. Thanks!

Seven

Why is the number seven thought lucky?
Why, when a person picks a number between one and ten, is it so often seven?
Why are there seven deadly sins? Why only seven?
Is that in any way related to the fact that there are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church?
I just googled "number seven"- Why is seven so used in scripture?
Wow... I can't believe this wasn't the first question- Why are there seven days of the week?

Censorship

How long has government censorship been around?
What countries currently practice it?
Is there any difference between public pressure censorship (political correctness) and overt censorship?
How strongly has the Supreme Court defended the 1st amendment in regard to censorship?
What are the ways that there may be censorship in the U.S. today?

Uniforms

EDIT: I'm considering this for my comp-contrast paper, considering the effects of chosen uniforms versus  compelled ones. thoughts?
EDIT: I'm also thinking comp-contrast of school uniforms. I think that's a more interesting topic. thoughts?

When were the first uniforms?

Beyond old. There are no sources I could find that would even hazard a guess.

What are the psychological reasons behind why people wear uniforms?
Could dressing "preppy" or "goth" be considered a uniform?
Why do some organizations require uniforms?

To crush individuality.
Not really, but the general idea is to foster general group spirit.

Do school uniforms help learning?

No. There is no credible research connecting school performance to uniforms.

If so, why, if not, do they do anything else?

Compare-contrast paper

I think I'll write mine about the contrast between the preception of the Pinto and what actually occurred, and hopefully show why that disconnect occured.

Questions and answers are here.


Does Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed have anything to do with it?
Is this phenomena related to the general crappiness of American cars during that era?
What does perception of corporate culture have to do with it?
Is it because it just makes a good story? (watch the clip from Top Secret to know what I mean)

End of the World

Why haven't I made this post before?

Because I was preoccupied with tastier topics, I think. And exploding cars.

How many times has it been predicted that the world will end?

Thank you, Internet! A zillion times is the technical term, here is a semi-exhaustive history of the apocalypse .

By whom?
Are there secular doomsayers?

The only certain secular end time is the explosion of the sun. I've already mentioned the concept of Malthusian catastrophes , which is the big secular end of the world, but there may be some nutty New Agers who think the world will end but aren't overtly religious.

What could actually cause the end of the world?

Well, there is the explosion of the sun in around 4.5 billion years. Of course, you also have the gray goo scenario, where out-of-control nanobots eat the whole world. Or Ebola might mutate into a pandemic form and we all die. Or WWIII occurs and you get an On the Beach gone with a whimper type end of the world.

On a happier note, you could just have the world change so far as to be utterly unlike the current world, the "as we know" it line.

How likely are those events?

The explosion of the sun is certain. 1.0. Will happen. It is, however, inconceivable! that it would happen in the near future. I don't know about the rest at present.

What could theoretically be done to prevent said events?

Moral Majority

When did the "reverent in the right" become a political force?
Why is it called the right?
How much do the views of various people in the religious right differ among themselves?
Among the wider world?
When did the phrase "moral majority" become common?
Who came up with that phrase?
What is the general political platform of that movenment?

Rapture

What is the Chritian Rapture?
What basis in scripture is found for the rapture?
How do beliefs about the rapture vary from sect to sect?
Do any other belief systems share similar ideas?

Patriotism

What is patriotism?
Is it beneficial?
What are the risks?
What does it mean to be patriotic in this country?
How does a norm of patriotism affect politics?

Cheesecake 2nd draft- now with no plagiarism!

I added the cites and reworked some just plain bad sentences.

            The New York style cheesecake is one of the most popular desserts in America and has a history stretching back to at least the fifth century B.C.(CulinarySchools) The cheesecake is a baked custard, so it also contains eggs and heavy cream, but with flour added. The cheese used is always a soft, fresh type (Corriher 222)(Labersky, Hause 1097). Together, those ingredients create the smooth, rich texture that cheesecake is known for. Some types add sugar to the mix, but there are some savory cheesecakes that do not. There is a huge variety of ways to top a cheesecake without flavoring baked into the filling, the most common include berry sauces and glazes and sour cream toppings. New York style cheesecake most often uses a crumb crust, but a cheesecake can be prepared without one (Labersky, Hause 1097). To better understand how the New York style cheesecake came to be, it is best to examine the history of cheesecake in general, the characteristics that make a New York style cheesecake unique, and the ingredients of that cheesecake.

            The history of the modern cheesecake is long, stretching back to the ancient Greeks and Romans (CulinarySchools)(Crownover X) The first written recipe comes from Cato the Elder, a Roman politician. He wrote books on a number of other culinary topics, but the first one of concern here is called placenta. His instructions involve creating a soft cheese, mixing it with honey, and cooking it inside a pastry crust (Nova Roma). It does not include the eggs that are used in a modern cheesecake, but is remarkably close. Cato also writes of another pastry in the same text (De Agricultura), the libum cake. It is made by mixing a crushed, hard cheese with flour and an egg (Nova Roma). While neither of these dishes are quite the modern cheesecake, the two cakes together have all of the elements of a New York cheesecake. Cheesecake, along with many other trappings of civilization, was then introduced to the rest of the world with the conquering Roman armies (CulinarySchools). By 1872, every ingredient of a modern cheesecake except one was present, and that was cream cheese.

            Before 1872, cheesecakes were primarily made with ricotta, cottage, or neufchâtel cheeses. A dairyman, William Lawrence, created the first cream cheese while attempting to replicate the French neufchâtel cheese (Philadelphia). His soft cheese was heavier and creamier than the cheeses being used for cheesecake at the time. The new cheese was then sold under the trade name of Philadelphia, which has continued to this day. The use of cream cheese in cheesecake, however, didn’t happen until 1928. A chef named Arnold Rueben claimed to have sold the first New York style cheesecake using cream cheese instead of the usual cottage cheese in that year (Practically Edible). Whether his claim is true or not, by 1930 the New York style cheesecake existed in its present form.

Here is a simple recipe for New York style cheesecake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Homemade Cookie Crust

1 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix flour and sugar. Add eggs, butter, and vanilla extract. Mix well. With generously greased fingers, press dough evenly onto bottomed of greased 9-inch cheesecake pan. Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Keep oven at 350 degrees.

New York Filling

40 ounces cream cheese

1 ½ cups sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 ¼ teaspoons orange extract

1 ½ teaspoons lemon extract

1 cup whipping cream

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla, orange, and lemon extracts. Stir in cream. Pour filling onto crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 200 degrees and bake for 2 hours, or until center is firm and no longer looks wet or shiny. Remove cake from oven and carefully run a knife around inside edge of pan. Turn oven off and return cake to it for an additional 2 hours. Chill overnight. (Crownover 228-229)

This recipe has every element mentioned previously. The echoes of the Roman placenta and libum recipes are still there- it includes a soft cheese, a sweetener, and eggs. This recipe has an additional binding agent that the Romans would not have had, the cornstarch, but the similarity is still striking. The custard base is made up of the five eggs and cup of whipping cream. The forty ounces of cream cheese give the cheesecake its particularly rich feel. The flour and cornstarch together bind the other ingredients together and give it a more bread like texture than it would have without those ingredients. Together, all those parts make up a New York style cheesecake.

            The modern New York cheesecake is, in fact, a study in antiquity with roots stretching back to Rome. Tracing the history of the cheesecake illuminates the traditions that have gone into this class of dessert. It is not a custard, nor a cake, but something entirely different. When the cream cheese was added in 1872, a classic dessert, with a uniquely American twist, was created. Damon Runyon assured the New York cheesecake its place in history when wrote  a New York deli called Lindy’s into two of his short stories as Mindy’s (eBooks). Later, those short stories were converted into a Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls, which fixed Lindy’s, and the New York style cheesecake, in the public mind.

Works Cited;

“Arnold Rueben”. Practically Edible. N.p., 27 May 2009. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/arnoldreuben>

 “Cato’s ‘De Agricultura’: Recipes”. Nova Roma. Nova Roma, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.novaroma.org/religio_romana/cato_recipes.html>

Corriher, Shirley O. Cookwise. New York, NY: William Morrow and Co, 1997. Print.

Crownover, Mary. I Love Cheesecake. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Pub., 2005. Print.

“July 2007 CulinarySchools Newsletter”. CulinarySchools. CulinarySchools, July 2007. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.culinaryschools.com/newsletter/July%202007%20CulinarySchools.com%20Newsletter.pdf>

Labersky, Sarah R. Hause, Alan M. On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2002. Print.

“Philadelphia- 1872-1920”. Philadelphia. Kraft Foods, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.philadelphia.co.uk/philadelphia3/page?siteid=philadelphia3-prd&locale=uken1&PagecRef=584>

“Damon Runyon”. eBooks-Library. Chrysoma Associates Ltd, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.ebooks-library.com/author.cfm/AuthorID/900>

Blog Analyzer

This site analyzes blog posts and tries to figure out the age and gender of the person writing. It wasn't very accurate for me, but was kind of cool. The gist of the methodology is the correlative method, they collected large text samples and sliced them in various ways, then check how much a blog conforms to the stored data.

Last thing, I know this doesn't have anything to do with English, but I think it's cool, and I can post what I want here.

Cheesecake draft

I know there aren't any citations, I'll do them later. However, any other comments would be very welcome!

            The New York cheesecake is one of the most popular desserts in America, and has a history stretching back to at least the third century B.C. The cheesecake is a baked custard, but with flour added. The cheese used is always a soft, fresh type. As a custard, it also contains eggs and heavy cream. Together, those ingredients create the smooth, rich texture that cheesecake is known for. Some types add sugar to the mix, but there are some savory cheesecakes that do not. There is a huge variety of ways to top even a cheesecake without flavoring baked into the filling, the most common include berry sauces and glazes, and sour cream toppings. Cheesecake is usually prepared with a crust, but can be prepared without one, New York cheesecake, however, most often uses a crumb crust. To better understand how the New York style cheesecake came to be, it is best to examine the history of cheesecake in general, the crucial changes that make a New York style cheesecake unique, and lastly the ingredients of that cheesecake.

            The history of the modern cheesecake is long, stretching back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The first written recipe comes from Cato the Elder, a Roman politician. He wrote books on a number of other culinary topics, but the one of concern here is called placenta. His instructions involve creating a soft cheese, mixing it with honey, and cooking inside a pastry crust. It does not yet include the eggs that are used in a modern cheesecake, but is remarkably close. Cato also writes of another pastry in the same text (De Agricultura), the libum cake. It is made by mixing a crushed, hard cheese with flour and an egg. While neither of these dishes are quite the modern cheesecake, the two cakes together have all of the elements of a New York cheesecake. Cheesecake was then, along with many other trappings of civilization, introduced to the rest of the world with the conquering Roman armies. By 1872, every ingredient except one was present, and that was cream cheese.

            Before 1872, cheesecakes were primarily made with ricotta, cottage, or neufchâtel cheeses. A dairyman, William Lawrence, created the first cream cheese while attempting to replicate the French neufchâtel cheese. His soft cheese was heavier and creamier than the cheeses being used for cheesecake at the time. The new cheese was then sold under the trade name of Philadelphia, and has continued to this day. The use of cream cheese in cheesecake, however, waited a short while, until a chef named Arnold Rueben, in 1928, claimed to have sold the first New York style cheesecake. Rueben says that he was the first to use cream cheese instead of the usual cottage cheese. Whether his claim is true or not, by 1930 the New York style cheesecake existed in its present form.

A simple recipe for New York style cheesecake follows:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Homemade Cookie Crust

1 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix flour and sugar. Add eggs, butter, and vanilla extract. Mix well. With generously greased fingers, press dough evenly onto bottomed of greased 9-inch cheesecake pan. Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Keep oven at 350 degrees.

New York Filling

40 ounces cream cheese

1 ½ cups sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 ¼ teaspoons orange extract

1 ½ teaspoons lemon extract

1 cup whipping cream

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla, orange, and lemon extracts. Stir in cream. Pour filling onto crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 200 degrees and bake for 2 hours, or until center is firm and no longer looks wet or shiny. Remove cake from oven and carefully run a knife around inside edge of pan. Turn oven off and return cake to it for an additional 2 hours. Chill overnight.

The above recipe has every element mentioned previously. The echoes of the Roman placenta and libum recipes are still there- it includes a soft cheese, a sweetener, and eggs. This recipe has additional binding agents that the Romans would not have had, the cornstarch, but the similarity is still striking. The custard base is obvious, the five eggs and cup of whipping cream make up that element. Then, the cheese should be taken into account, this gives the cheesecake its particularly rich feel. The flour and cornstarch, together bind the other ingredients together and give it a more bread like texture than it would without those ingredients. Together, those parts make up a modern cheesecake.

            The modern New York cheesecake is, in fact, a study in antiquity. With roots stretching back to Rome, it shows its lineage in every ingredient. Tracing the history of the cheesecake illuminates the traditions that have gone into this contradictory dessert. It is not a custard, nor a cake, but something entirely different than its parts. With the last piece of the modern New York style cheesecake falling into place in 1872, the end of the story was almost assured. A classic dessert, with a new, uniquely American, twist. Lindy’s, a New York deli, assured the New York cheesecake its place in history when Damon Runyon wrote it into two of his short stories as Mindy’s. Later, those short stories were converted into a Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls, which fixed Lindy’s, and the New York style cheesecake, as a classic dessert.

 

Cheesecake prewrite

I always start with an outline- so:

EDIT: Prof. Kerr wants a thesis, so: To understand the New York style cheesecake, examine the history of cheesecake in general, then the compostition of a NY cheesecake, and lastly the curcial ingredients of a NY style cheesecake.
I know that's a bit winding and difficult to understand, but it works for now.
I. Introduction:

• What exactly is a cheesecake? Pose the question, then answer. It is a custard with flour added. (Cookwise) How did that evolve? Pose question to be answered in next paragraph

II. History of the Cheesecake (narrowing to the NY style)

• What were the first recognizable cheesecakes? Pose, then answer.
• Discuss cheeses and how they change the texture.
• Invention of cream cheese in 1872

III. NY cheesecake

• Open with simple recipe.
• What is the purpose of each ingredient?
• How can it be changed?

IV. Explain the custard-flour link in more detail.

• What exactly happens?
• Explain how the texture is changed, with opposing examples

V. Summarize

• Identify 'turning points'
• Crucial ingredients
• Popularity

It seems like the basic form of this paper is turning out to be pose a question, answer the question; then lead into the next topic. The conclusion paragraph feels weak, but exigence is tough with a dessert as the topic. Maybe I could emphasize the popularity?