Friday, January 24, 2020

Ida Tarbell the Muckraker: Digging up the Dirt Essay -- Essays Papers

Ida Tarbell the Muckraker: Digging up the Dirt During the late 1800's and early 1900's, change in American society was very evident in the economy. An extraordinary expansion of the industrial economy was taking place, presenting new forms of business organization and bringing trusts and holding companies into the national picture. The turn of the century is known as the "Great Merger Movement:" over two thousand corporations were "swallowed up" by one hundred and fifty giant holding companies.1 This powerful change in industry brought about controversy and was a source of social anxiety. How were people to deal with this great movement and understand the reasons behind the new advancements? Through the use of propaganda, the public was enlightened and the trusts were attacked. Muckraking, a term categorizing this type of journalism, began in 1903 and lasted until 1912. It uncovered the dirt of trusts and accurately voiced the public's alarm of this new form of industrial control. Ida Tarbell, a known muckraker, spearheaded this popular investigative movement.2 As a journalist, she produced one of the most detailed examinations of a monopolistic trust, The Standard Oil Company.3 Taking on a difficult responsibility and using her unique journalistic skills, Ida Tarbell was able to get to the bottom of a scheme that allowed the oil industry to be manipulated by a single man, John D. Rockefeller. Being a conscientious journalist, Ida Tarbell is known for the inauguration of muckraking. President Theodore Roosevelt had given the term ‘muckraking’ to this type of investigative journalism done by Ida Tarbell. Roosevelt did not fully support her work because of its "focus and tone." The President got this name from a c... ...s Press, 1994), 4. 2. Kathleen Brady, Ida Tarbell, Portrait of a Muckraker (New York: Seaview/Putnam, 1984), 140. 3. Ida M. Tarbell. "The History of the Standard Oil Company." 1904. Available [online]: http://www.history.rochester.edu/fuels/tarbell/MAIN.HTM. (15 February 2000). 4. Fitzpatrick, 2. 5. Mary E. Tomkins, Ida M. Tarbell (New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1974), 15. 6. Brady, 136. 7. Tomkins, 15. 8. Brady, 121-124. 9. Brady, 133. 10. Fitzpatrick, 60-70. 11. Tarbell 12. Tomkins, 65. 13. Fitzpatrick, 77-79. 14. Tomkins, 59-65. 15. Tarbell 16. Tomkins, 66. 17. Lowrie, Arthur L. "Ida M. Tarbell: Investigative Journalist Par Excellence." 1997. Available [online]: http://merlin.alleg.edu/hmccell/tarbell/biobib.html (15 February 2000). 18. Brady, 160. 19. Lowrie

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Rice Cake Production

Rice cakes have only two critical ingredients—rice and water. The rice itself needs certain characteristics to produce the best quality cake and limit breakage. Sticky rice, whether white or brown, tends to work best, while long-grain varieties don't expand during cooking as vigorously. Water is important early in preparation. Other ingredients like salt (added before popping or sprayed on after) and various flavorings are important considerations to taste-and nutrition-conscious consumers but are not significant to the production process.Product ConceptEase of production and marketability are major concerns when a new type of rice cake is considered. The popping machines are expensive investments, so the product must be readily adaptable to the machine. Production trials have shown that additives greatly increase the likelihood of breakage, so spices, herbs, and seeds are not mixed with the rice before the cake is made although they may be added to the surface later.Similarly , salt and flavorings are now sprayed on; earlier methods of adding them to the rice were less than successful in the survival rate of whole rice cakes and in taste. Some manufacturers have also eliminated mini rice cakes from their product line. The novelty of the smaller cakes was more costly to produce than sales warranted. A constant stream of new flavor possibilities and other options are under consideration, but only careful assurance of a contented public and minimal production difficulties justifies a new product line.The Manufacturing Process1.The simple process of making rice cakes is based on the fact that rice subjected to the right combination of heat and pressure will expand to fill a given space.The rice cakes are sprayed and packaged.The manufacturer's specifically preferred type of raw rice (depending on stickiness, expansion potential, and taste) is soaked in water until the right moisture level is attained.2.The moist rice is fed into hoppers above popping machine s. A major producer of rice cakes may have 80 or 90 machines with one to three cooking heads, each of which produces one cake every 15 seconds.3.The rice is gravity-fed from the hopper into the  cast-iron mold or cooking head in the popping machine. The mold is heated to hundreds of degrees, and a slide plate opens to impose a vacuum on the moist rice mass. After 8 to 10 seconds of exposure to heat at this pressure, the lid of the mold expands, creating an even greater vacuum on the contents. In the last few seconds of heating, the mixture explodes to fill the given space. If the rice forms a large proportion of the exploded mass, it will be more satisfying, have a better texture, and be full of natural flavor. â€Å"Styrofoam†-or â€Å"hockey puck†-like rice cakes show that either too much air and not enough rice is in the mix (styrofoam) or that the moisturedensity relationship is wrong, causing solidity but no flavor (hockey puck). Given the proper chemistry, the bran and other components of the rice bond to each other so the popped mixture sticks together without gumming additives.4.After the cake has exploded in the popping machine, the cooking head opens and the cake falls gently on a conveyor belt. The belt carries the cake past one or more spraying heads where salt may be added or the cakes are flavor-enhanced. Natural flavors are preferred by consumers and include everything from strawberry, caramel, apple cinnamon, blueberry, and almond to salsa, nacho, taco, salt-only, or Tamari seaweed. Some rice cake manufacturers will accept orders for private-label flavors.5.The conveyor, now carrying flavored cakes, passes through a tunnel dryer where the moisture added by the flavor sprayers is driven off.6.The conveyor moves to the bagging area, where the rice cakes are removed from the conveyor by hand, inspected for any breakage, and stacked, sealed in shrinkwrap, and packaged in an overwrap bag printed with the product identification and se aled. The bags are then packed in cartons for bulk sale.Quality ControlQuality control at the rice cake plant is a labor-intensive process. Any breakage means lost revenue, and maintenance of moisture levels and popping machines are critical. Moisture throughout the process and the factory is monitored constantly. The ambient (naturally occurring) humidity may alter production; on a dry day, more moisture may have to be added to the rice. The finished cakes will absorb moisture, but this is avoided by completing the process from popping machine to bagging in a few minutes.The popping machines themselves are cleaned every few hours. If the molds collect  moisture or rice, the new cake will stick to the mold and become brittle and break. Because the cakes are individually hand-sorted prior to bagging, damaged rice cakes can be discarded before they reach a bag. Once they are ready for sale, the rice cakes have a remarkably long shelf life of over a year during which they retain tast e and texture. If rice cakes have lost their crispness, they can be quickly revived at home by reheating them in a toaster. Even the freshest cakes benefit from a little heat that tends to restore their flavor.Byproducts/WasteThere is essentially no waste in the process of making rice cakes except for breakage. Enterprising producers have created markets for the broken cakes by selling them as cold cereal and ingredients in candy bars as well as bags of broken rice cakes for snacking. Flavors that fall out of fashion are removed from the product line and replaced by new flavors that are in development constantly. Chips, crackers, and other snack foods often provide flavor guidelines for rice cake makers.The FutureIncreasing health consciousness bodes well for the future of rice cakes. As the treat has become popular as a snack, buyers have become more discriminating in rejecting Styrofoam/hockey puck products for those with better textures and flavors. The range of designer flavors offers something for every taste, and, of course, the consumer can top the rice cake of choice with fruit, peanut butter, or other enhancements to make an even more varied snack. In an age of energy, health, and time awareness, the 15-second rice cake seems to have harvested its long history.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Artificial Intelligence Is More Complicated Than The...

Question #1 Artificial Intelligence is far more complicated than the mechanical process of thinking. There are multiple things in these world from phones to computers that can be considered Artificial Intelligence. However, the description for an A.I. vary dramatically due to the fact that intelligence itself is not easy to describe design within itself. The Touring test states that you could have an imitation game going on with a computer and if you do its considered to have intelligence. To counter act that point, if one can only imitate and copy someone else’s thoughts and patterns is it considered to be its own entity? Indeed, using language as the bases of intelligence is a good step however it does not answer the conception of a mind. Artificial Intelligence can imitate but since it cannot create its own distinctive answer, therefore Lady Lovelace state that it is lacking conscious and cannot be the basis of a mind. If we look at a human mind, one can input data from var ious sources and create mental images that our sentient mind can handle and process appropriately. With that in mind, we sound and process exactly like a computer or an intelligent program, where we differentiate from is how we make an output. This is where the scale for a weak A.I. and a strong A.I come into play. A weak A.I. can input data per its program but that is where it is limited, while a Strong A.I. can use think for itself possible outside its program. For Example, a human can be on a trainShow MoreRelatedHow Close Are We Really Artificial Intelligence?1249 Words   |  5 PagesHow Close Are We Really to Artificial Intelligence? In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams, a man named Arthur Dent wakes up and finds himself at the beginning of beyond a bad day. 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