Science and Society - Best - E Public Feed
Leah Kelly Food Project
Instructions on how to make Nigerian Suya:
Caution: Very spicy
Ingredients:
-Strips of beef (however many you please)
-Suya spice **
-Groundnut oil
-Salt
** If Suya spice is unavailable in your area, the following can be used to make the spice:
-5 tablespoons of crushed Kuli Kuli (groundnut powder)
-5 tablespoons of ginger powder
-2 tablespoons cayenne pepper flakes
-10 strands of African Pepper
-1/2 teaspoon salt
Process:
1. Cut the beef into thin fillets and thread them onto skewers.
2. Put some groundnut oil in a bowl and add a dash of salt.
3. Using a cooking brush, rub the oil on the strips of beef (this will help the suya spice stick to it).
4. In a wide dish or counter, spread the suya spice and dab the strips of beef in it so that the suya covers as much of the meat as possible.
5. Place the spiced meat on a plate and let sit for an hour.
6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Place the beef flat on the oven rack to roast for 15-20 minutes.
8. After 15-20 minutes, flip the beef over to cook the underside for another 15-20 minutes.
9. Rub a small amount of groundnut oil on both sides of the beef, turn the oven up to 325 degrees F and roast for another 5 minutes.
10. Enjoy!
Suya is commonly served with chunks of onions, tomatoes, cabbage or cucumbers.
Analysis of my Ingredients:
Overall, this meal is extremely healthy especially since it is commonly served with lots of vegetables. To begin with, suya is made from all natural ingredients. It depends on where the beef is purchased from, but it is completely possible for the meat to be free range and organic, which means that there will not be preservatives. In addition to the beef, there are only three other ingredients: a small bit of oil, salt and spice, which are all natural. So overall, my entire meal is whole food.
While red meat is not always the best for you, it is certainly a great source of protein and your body will process it well. The only major thing that could affect your body is the spice, which may cause some heartburn and depending on what your body is used to, you might not be able to eat this every day.
Depending on whether or not his meal is being prepared in Nigeria or America, the ingredients may have traveled from far away. In America, there are Nigerian stores that sell suya spice that has traveled all the way from Nigeria, but they are in small packages that would not impact the environment in major ways during transport.
This meal is not very expensive to make but does take some searching for the ingredients, especially if you have to make your own suya spice. In my opinion it tastes better and is definitely healthier for you than fast food but unfortunately, most people would choose fast food because it is simply more convenient. Overall, however, the people who would be financially benefiting from this meal would be Nigerians either working in the store or in the country preparing the spice.
Since this meal is such a large part of the Nigerian culture, it is nearly impossible for someone to grow or gather all of the ingredients themselves. However in terms of the beef there could be lots of corruption along the line of production because of the mistreatment of some animals in some slaughterhouses.
Overall, this meal is extremely healthy and although it is hard to gather the ingredients, it is certainly worth it for this amazing meal.
Self-Reflection
I have sincerely enjoyed this unit because I love learning and health and nutrition. However, it was a little hard to watch the TED Talk called “Teach Every Child About Food” because it was heartbreaking to me the food lives that some of these children have and in some cases, how it is slowly killing them. It inspires me to want to make changes wherever I can to improve the health of children nationwide.
Through this unit, I have actually learned different ways to help. First of all, in our Organic Food warmup, some very specific and helpful things were pointed out in the New York Times article. First of all, that not everything “local” is organic, and not everything organic is local. This brings up a stereotype that many people simply believe because that’s how it is advertised. Speaking of advertising, there is tons of false advertising in the industry. Products that are in fact not organic are labeled as so due to lack of clarity in the rules of what “organic” is. Another thing that I can do to change the food industry is to sign petitions and join in movements that will require companies to correctly label their products.
In addition, that is one way that I am going to improve my own “food life”: reading the label. Through this unit, I have learned to not always trust the advertisements and the words on the front of the packaging, but to instead fully read the label and understand the ingredients. Also, the “Food Rule Slides” that our class created really made me thing about what I eat and what restrictions I should put on what I eat. Specifically I loved Ron’s, “You’re only as real as the food you eat.” That made me reevaluate what I’m putting into my body and will cause me to make changes about what I’m eating.
Moving forward, I feel much more knowledgeable and therefore much more confident about what I know about healthy food and will adjust my life and diet accordingly.
The following is my food rule, which is to not drink your fruits because fruit juice or soda is not nearly as good as the real thing because it loses a lot of the fiber and other nutrients and adds sugars and artificial flavors and colors.
insanity defense
For my project I decided to focus on the Insanity Defense. Below is a visual piece explaining what the insanity defense is, when it is most used, and some of the examples behind it. what it is, and give some examples of how the controversy affects peoples lives throughout history.
Sources:
http://listverse.com/2012/04/11/top-10-most-notorious-insanity-defense-cases/
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/23/nyregion/insanity-defense-fails-for-man-who-threw-woman-onto-track.html
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/andrew_goldstein/index.html
The Insanity Defense & You
During This Project, I interviewed three people on what they know about the Insanity Defense, these are there responses.
THESE INTERVIEWS DO NOT SHOW MY PERSONAL STANCE ON THE ISSUE, THESE ARE OTHERS OPINIONS, NOT MY OWN.
Interview 1# Rachel
Age: 19
Q: What do you know about the insanity defense as it is used in law ?
A: I don’t know much about out it other than the fact it’s used for people to not be held responsible for their actions and basically get off free for crime.
Q: What was your first time seeing something pertaining to the insanity defense ?
A: The first time I saw someone use the insanity defense and get acquitted was in the aurora murders in colorado. The guy who shot up the theater with that machine gun during the dark knight.
Q: What is your overall take on the insanity defense ? Is a viable option and who do you think are the people who get off using it the most ?
A: I believe that the defense is a viable option depending on how you look at it. For example, I think that it can be used in some cases when the personally is generally thought of and seen as criminally insane. When they have something extremely wrong with them such as really, REALLY bad schizophrenia or multiple personality disorders they cannot be fully held responsible for their actions because they aren’t truly the ones making them. As it is portrayed in the media, “Only white people are criminally insane”. While it is true that most people who use this pled successfully, at least from what i’ve seen are white it’s not race exclusive. Mental illness can and affect other races and it does. So putting as a stigma for a specific race is wrong.
Interview 2# Donna
Age 48
Q: What do you know about the insanity defense as it is used in law ?
A: I’ve not heard much about it other than the fact that crazy people use it to get off on trials and things like that.
Q: What was your first time seeing something pertaining to the insanity defense ?
A: I mean, It’s been around forever from what i’ve seen. The first real time I remember it being in the news was with the “Son Of Sam” case in the late 70’s/ early 80’s. The case was basically about a guy who went around a killed people in New York. He said he did it because the neighborhood dog told him to.
Q: What is your overall take on the insanity defense ? Is a viable option and who do you think are the people who get off using it the most ?
A: I honestly don’t think the insanity defense is a viable reason. I’ve known people who have gone to trial for some horrible things and tried to cop an insanity plea just to get out and stay in the cuckoo’s nest. While I think that it used to be able to be used back in the day I don’t think it’s really that bad now. People will manipulate a jury's feelings try and get off. You mostly see white people using it as a way of getting off. Because for some odd reason, being white and insane is more believable than being black and unarmed for example. I honestly think you are in control of your actions and while there may be outside influences working on your mind. You as a person ultimately make the choice on what YOU do. Not some dog voice or someone making you think that. You hit that person or kill them not the voice.
Interview 3# Josh:
Age: 32
Q: What do you know about the insanity defense as it is used in law ?
A: I’ve only heard of it really in cases with really jacked up people. Like Jeffrey Dahmer or John Du Pont. In all honesty I should know more about it since my father was a lawyer.
Q: What was your first time seeing something pertaining to the insanity defense ?
A: My first time really seeing it was with the Jeffrey Dahmer case back in 92. My dad explained to me that something was wrong with Mr. Dahmer but not exactly what. Since I was young, I think he tried to shield me from what was really going on and what he really was. A sick and psychotic man that really needed a lot of help.
Q: What is your overall take on the insanity defense ? Is a viable option and who do you think are the people who get off using it the most ?
A: Overall I think the defense is overused in society today. Many people now a days see it as an easy cop out to not go to jail. Or as many people of color see it, the way that extremely jacked up white people don’t go to jail. Because their “Insane”. Everyone has problems, I am not an exception to that, neither are you or anyone really. But everyone can find ways to control these urges. No one is just born to kill, you may be born a little messed up but not enough to where you can blame “the voices” or someone else. You do actions of your own accord and I think the media portrays the defense in a bad light considering they show it as only rich people being insane. Knowing how the defense works I’m not going to say it’s a bad thing that should be taken out of courts completely. I just believe that it should only be used under severe circumstance.
Conclusion:
Based upon these interviews the general public is just what I thought they would be regarding the insanity defense. While some see it as a blessing others see it as a curse since at least in today’s society it’s misused greatly. After learning through the neuroscience unit that people are not always aware of and in tune with their actions I feel as though mental health is extremely overlooked. Just as person gets care for their physical wounds their mental ones should be taken care of with just as much priority. I think that neuroscience is something extreme
Lie Detection (Pros & Cons of fMRIs)- Nikki Adeli & Julian Makarechi
This is a podcast on the use of fMRIs that Nikki and I made.
Here is the link to the podcast
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B511LAqd_8g6T1ZvTENQVVF2Wms/view?usp=sharing
Adolescent Development Podcast
Short Live Debate on Jordan Brown Case
Partners: My Truong and Audrey Pham
Topic: Adolescents, crime and brain development
Case: Jordan Brown was 11 years old in February 2009 when he shot his father’s pregnant fiancee while she was sleeping. Still today as Jordan is 14 years old, it has not been decided whether or not Jordan will be going to lifetime prison for two homicide(women and her fetus) first degree murders or remain in juvenile prison until he is 18 or 21 years old. Currently as of today, multiple news station claims that Brown might get a new trial for this.
Presentation: Short live debate
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/10/pennsylvania.young.murder.defendant/
Two sides:
Should convicted as completely guilty and must be sent to adult jail
Not completely guilty, stay in juvenile and receive special treatment and attention
Script:
Must be sent to adult jail side:
Brown still executed his Father’s pregnant fiance. She was pregnant of 8 months so that is TWO deaths that Brown caused. Regardless of anything, he did what he did.
This could only be the beginning of his manifestation. He could end up being a lifetime criminal if we let him back into our society.
He killed his Father’s pregnant fiance in execution style so it was not accident. He intended to do that. If he intended to that, he needs to earn up to his own punishment.
If Brown is going to act like an adult and commit a crime that only adults would commit, then he needs to be served as an adult.
Although brain scans have shown that Brown’s brain is not fully developed yet because he was 11 years old at the time, he does not have any history or proof of psychological issues, therefore, mental illness is not being presented. He did have a mental disorder that would cause him to kill his Father’s pregnant fiance.
Stay in Juvenile prison and receive special treatment side:
The gun that Brown used to shoot his father’s fiance is a hunting gun that HIS FATHER bought for him during Christmas. It is the father’s responsibility because Brown at the age of 11, his mind is not fully functioned enough to own a gun (even if its a hunting gun).
After the shooting Brown showed no fear to the situation. He walked out the house and go school like an normal day. This evidence show that his brain is not functioning properly. Even adults after shooting a person they would show some fear but for Brown, it is just a normal day.
Yes, this might be the beginning of his manifestation, however is not fair to put him in adult prison. That was the reason we have juvenile in the first place.
Many brain develops were tested while he’s in juvenile prison. They also came to an conclusion that Brown brain is not fully functioning. At the age of 11, he should know what right vs. wrong and should know it is not okay to kill someone. However, his brain is not fully developed to understand the outcome of his action.
Not to mention that he might be jealous of the unborn child (his step brother). Being jealous should not be an excuse for him to kill. But he is too young to control his action towards his feelings. Just as how an adult is able to control their anger while is easier for kids to get angry.
- In my opinion, Brown should be responsible for his action. However, it is not fair to put him in adult prison and his father should be responsible for Brown’s action. Because without the gun, the crime couldn't be committed.
Project Podcast
By: Kennedy Coverdale, Chris Tran, and Julien Sykes
We had technical issues with sound so we hope you can forgive us for this short disruption.
