A Case for Putting Milk First

          Imagine a person waking up in the morning and pouring a bowl of cereal the way the majority of people do, with cereal first followed by the milk. Suppose the person gets up to use the bathroom or make a phone call. By the time they get back the cereal has become a soggy mess and no longer appetizing. This consequence could even happen if the person eats too slowly or if the bowl of cereal is too large to get through in a timely manner. Everyday the issue of soggy cereal ruins someone’s morning. However, there is a simple solution; put the milk first. Putting milk first reduces the issue of soggy cereal substantially and is the better way to enjoy a bowl of cereal.

          First, it needs to be established why crunchy foods are better than soggy foods. For most of us, the preference is unconscious but not always understood why. Evolutionarily, crunchy foods such as ripe vegetables, insects, or nuts contain a lot of nutrients which is why our ancestors gravitated towards these foods. When we learned how to control fire, crispy foods such as cooked meats were associated with richer flavors and were safer to eat. Our affinity towards crunchy foods is ascertained by the generalization that foods that are crunchy are generally safe to eat, such as ripe fruits, while foods that are mushy tend to be rotten. Additionally, we are drawn to crunchy foods because the sound of the crunch substantially delays sensory habituation so that we get bored of the food less easily. Research also shows that more regions of the brain are active when eating crunchy foods than foods that do not crunch. This is due to the added auditory stimulus that engages the brain during eating. For these reasons, the crunchiness of the cereal is crucial to fully enjoy it.

          By putting the cereal in after the milk, the cereal floats on top of the milk with the majority staying dry. As a result, the eater is in full control of when they want to submerge the cereal in milk by dunking with a spoon for optimal crunchiness. Even if someone is abnormal and claims to like soggy cereal, they can still enjoy cereal however they like because they have the agency to choose how much and for how long their cereal is in the milk. One might argue that the bottom layer of the cereal could still get soggy and while that is true, cereal eating is an act of compromises. It is better to have only a small portion of cereal become soggy than it is to have all of the cereal soggy by pouring milk all over it. By pouring milk first, one can enjoy their cereal with confidence that the cereal towards the end of eating will be just as crunchy as when the cereal was first poured.

          By pouring the milk first, one can know how much cereal they are going to be getting. There is a certain ratio how much milk is needed for a certain amount of cereal. The amount of milk needed is the amount absorbed by the cereal plus the amount that goes with eat bite on the spoon. Therefore, over time one can figure out how much milk to pour for the certain amount of cereal they want to eat. Since milk has a consistent volume and density, the amount of milk that fills to a certain line of a bowl will always be the same. However, the same cannot be said for cereal since cereals come in different shapes and sizes. Therefore filling to the same line with different cereal yields varying amounts of cereal. Thus pouring cereal first is inferior in that it is harder to determine how much cereal one is really getting, which leads to either not having enough or having too much cereal. Furthermore, already having cereal in the bowl blocks one’s line of sight of how much milk they are actually pouring in. Without the visual stimulus to judge how much milk is being inputted, one runs the risk of under or over-pouring. One could overpour by failing to realize that the depth of the milk underneath far exceeds the desired amount needed and one could under-pour for similar reasons with the added consideration that one would have to prematurely stop pouring milk if the cereal risks overflowing. It is far easier and more convenient to pour additional cereal than it is to pour more milk, which has to return to the fridge after every trip. The amount of time cereal spends submerged in milk also affects its flavor as the cereal is infusing with and saturating the milk. The juxtaposition of the dry, crunchy cereal with the sweet richness of the milk enhances the eating experience. Any hints of sogginess would diminish its effect. Author Neal Stephenson in his novel Cryptonomicon asserts that the best way to eat cereal is the have “the dry nuggets of cereal and cryogenic milk” enter the mouth with minimal contact so that the main reaction takes place in the mouth. This, he claims, is the art of world-class cereal-eating.

          At this point the reader might wonder, “Why does any of this matter? Why does it matter how one eats their cereal? A trivial task at best.” Well contrary to common sense, it does matter, a lot. Many people eat cereal for breakfast in the morning and enjoying cereal better gives a better start to one’s day, increasing mood and productivity and improving quality of life. The auditory stimulation achieved from crunching results in heightened brain activity, leading to increased awareness and problem solving skills. Moreover, a significant portion of the Earth’s population is starving everyday and yet thousands of tons of food is wasted in America alone. People do not want to eat soggy cereal and pouring in cereal first greatly increases the probability of soggy cereal, leading people to throw away what would have been perfectly good food. Therefore, it is not only for the sake of enjoying cereal better, but by pouring in milk first, we could be one step closer to ending world hunger.

Music

Sixth grade was a big time for expansion in my musical knowledge. I had just discovered Bon Jovi the preceding summer and a whole new world of non-radio music had opened up to be. I quickly fell in love with the band, the era, and the music. I would not look back onto modern music until tenth grade.

It follows that every time that I want to 'discover' an artist I go through their albums in chronological order. I like albums over scattered singles because I enjoy discovering the overarching conceptual stroke the artist tries to put into their album, the conceptual statement that unfolds with each song. Chronologically because it feels right listening to it that way. It almost feels like I was right there, enjoying the progression of the artist's career as if I grew up with them. 

So in middle school it followed that almost every month(that's how long it took to properly 'discover' each artist) I would find and be fascinated with a certain artist or band. Bon Jovi however would never be topped because you can't top kings. I started with eighties music, then explored not only sixties and fifties music, but their respective cultures too. More recently I've delved into 90's Bon Jovi and 90's pop culture, mainly through T.V. shows. I was nostalgic for a time I had never lived. It was a romantic time for me. 

And now here I am. Stuck. Unsure of where to go next. My playlists are getting stale. I've been thinking about going back through sixties music but instead of looking at the folk revival this time I could look at something else. There is a world of music out there. I just need to see where it takes me. 

Will Humans Ever Break 3:30 for the Mile?

In 1954, Roger Bannister was the first human ever to break four minutes for the mile. Ever since then, the record has slowly been tapering down to its current time of 3:43:13 for men. This record has stood for over ten years, longer than any mile record has ever been kept since IAAF has been officially keeping track. This could mean that we are nearing the maximum speed that a human can possibly run.

Does this mean that the exciting days of running are over? The days when records were broken left and right and we were beginning to see the true potential of ourselves. Unfortunately I was born too late into the 20th century to experience any of it. It very well may be that records will never be broken by more than mere milliseconds. 

In looking at the data of mile times from 1900 to today, it shows an exponential decay going towards the limit time of around 3:39. (https://gravityandlevity.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/the-fastest-possible-mile/) 

However, I believe that there is still hope that we will one day break 3:30 for the mile without any artificial help. As humans evolve, we become better and faster. I hope our limits have not been reached yet as I this track season am looking forward to breaking 5:00 for the mile. 

Articulation for Junior Year

Were we all born to die? Surely our cells age through every division via mitosis as each succession causes a loss in DNA strands due to the nature of DNA polymerase. Is the fabric of our lives an arrow that crawls from the cradle to the grave? Our time comes and when it does, can you really say you've lived a full life worth remembering, worth dying for? The Greeks believed that only through acts of heroism is a life worth remembering and therefore is a complete and satisfying one.

What constitutes a satisfying life? Is it one where we try to benefit the world in some way, to accelerate and progress mankind? Or is it simpler than that and only depends on individual happiness? Were hunter-gatherers more happy before they settled down and had new worries such as crop failure and territory? Through recent investigations of our fellow ancestors, some might say the life of a hunter-gatherer is simpler and consisted of more free time for leisure activity.

Does one really need to take AP classes? Why must we do all of these things in the first place? Will our progress and achievements really matter in the long run? The universe is made of matter and nothing is forever. So with the short time we have should more of it be spent doing the things that make us happy. More time should be spent on entertainment and leisure activity. Sure, society won't advance much but looking through history, one can see that one man's accomplishment usually meant another's suffering. For example, the industrial revolution reaped great wealth for some and miserable working conditions for most.

So stop the worries. In the end, we'll all just die. Our dreams crumble into ashes as our future blows away but that's okay. Hakuna Matata. No worries. Live life the way it you want to. Run, enjoy a sunset, or just stop and listen to the music of nature. Earth will be inhabitable in a couple million of years anyways. The sun will burn it. So relax. Life begins the moment you stop worrying.

On the Topic of January 31's Shower Thought

In a society dominated by extroverts, you are judged for your outward appearance and your behavior is controlled by the masses of followers who think that they are the leaders of cultural trends.  This characteristic that is favored upon, as shown in the ones who dominate popular culture, leaves the rest, the introverted outcasts and everyone in between, scrawling for their place to belong to.

So you spend you entire life catering to those who you consider worthy beings to judge your value and worth in living on this planet. You spend your whole life getting ready, dressing up for the part to look decent and to show the world that you're a somebody in a society that treats you like a nobody but at the end of the day you can't even look yourself in the mirror and like what you see.

As childhood passes and fades in time, in the same way the voices and faces of the past are gone and forgotten, so to does the bubble of ignorance that protects the innocent until they're supposedly ready to take on the world. But in the most vulnerable of times we are exposed to the harsh realities where ignorance will not save us. It will only lead us down a path feeling content with our lives until we finally deal with our shortcomings. And after years of being suppressed, our problems resonate stronger as it begs to be dealt with. Gone are the days of familiarity and comfortableness.

In a world full of the spoken the out-spoken are left to fester with themselves, only to realize that they'll never be on the same level with them for they lack the capability to express sentiments with extroverted minds. The frustration of wanting to talk but not being able to find the right words, they resonate within our lonely minds and foster anger and resentment for those who can. But it's not their fault that they were born lucky and so we must deal with our handicap and struggle harder just to maintain and decent conversation or maintain appropriate levels of eye contact.

Does the sky not change color or the waves not come crashing down? It is in the darkest our where genius shines through. It is in this time where our voices are most pure when we are not afraid of being heard because we are not heard.

In a world dominated by extroverts I desire the ability to speak my mind but I can not in a way ideal to these people. Whether it be genetics or my upbringings I am hindered in the skill of day to day conversation. But in time the leaves grow anew, as I sit alone in a table standing by the edge of the sea. The sun sets into the vast unknown that is our lives.

In glycolysis, energy must be put into a system for there to be a net gain of energy output. As endergonic  reactions are uphill, so too are our lives at this point in time. But there will be the day, when we reach the point of tipping over, that our lives will begin to have meaning.

I Got Plenty o' Nuttin

"I got plenty o' nuttin, and nuttin's plenty for me" are the words to one of the many songs in Gershwin's opera titled Porgy and Bess. The character who sings this, Porgy, is a crippled beggar who, until he fell in love with Bess, was unhappy. He sings this because even though he does not have many things, he appreciates the non-material values in life such as Bess, the moon, and stars.

Which brings to question, who's happier: the rich or the poor? And does more money mean more happiness?

This reminds me of a poster Mr. Tompkins has on his wall. It is of a monkey sitting on a curb and he's saying, "I've been rich and I've been poor. I like rich better." I believe that having some money and possessions does make the quality of one's life better. It brings security and flexibility. However, Porgy does make an excellent point,

"De folks wid plenty o' plenty/ Got a lock on de door/ 'Fraid somebody's a-goin' to rob 'em/ While dey's out a-makin' more/ What for?"

Having things does add on to the amount of stuff one has to worry about. However, work put into making money is worth it as long as it does not consumes one's life to become the reason for living. Money and material things have the potential to distract people from what really matters, such as love, family, and nature. But as long as balance is kept, money should not interfere with happiness.

More money does not mean more happiness. There comes a point where the excess of money is not needed and so becomes something without value. After that point, money is an object that when enough is owned, greed can start to corrupt one's ambitions. Living in Confucian modesty as shown in Chinese history, is the key to a happy family.  Money means more options and  can lead to a better life if used properly. One such way to benefit yourselves and others is to donate or fund promising projects that will help people.

Money is a human conception and does not necessarily equal happiness. It is a tool used to live a more comfortable life but should not be the object that fuels one's desires in life. There are things more divine and precious in life than money.

Mozart - Symphony No. 25 in G Minor

          Symphony No. 25 in G minor by Mozart (pronounced Motz-art) is one of his best pieces. Used as the opening score to the movie Amadeus, the multitude of violins quickly grasp at the listener's heartstrings and pulls them along for a thrilling experience. I can not listen to this piece without smiling and under certain circumstances, spasm out to let the beauty of the music take me. It is one of two minor symphonies Mozart ever wrote.

          The symphony stays true to traditional form. A symphony normally consists of four movements. The first is usually a sonata with an exposition, development, and recapitulation and is normally played allegro. The second movement slows down to andante. The third picks up the pace into a minuet and trio style type dance. The final movement is allegro and returns to the same key as the first.

          Allegro con brio, 4/4 in G minor: The first movement is most well known. It is full of many memorable motifs utilizing violins and clarinets. It is full of volume dynamics with some dissonance thrown in to keep listeners on edge. Mozart effectively draws in his audience in this stunning first movement.

          Andante, 2/4 in E-flat major: The second, while not as fast paced as the first, is interesting nonetheless. The melody is pleasant and gorgeous. Typical for a symphony.

          Minuet & Trio, 3/4 in G minor, Trio in G major: In 3/4 time, this movement is easier to dance to if one wanted to. The tempo quickens to a brisk walk.

          Allegro, 4/4 in G minor: An excellent resolution to this composition. The themes and motifs of the first movement are reintroduced and have been altered. It brings a sense of completion and resolution.

          I highly recommend watching Amadeus of you are interested in Mozart.