What’s in the Meat?

Taco Bell serving the public cat food.

Recently I have been hearing some disturbing news about Taco Bell’s meat not being real beef.  Not too long ago a lawsuit was filed against them by a woman from California named Amanda Obney because she wants Taco Bell to be more honest in their food advertising.  Taco Bell says their meat is 100% but what really is in their meat? It has been alleged to be very closely related to what cats and dogs eat, but worse.

Personally, I have never been a fan of Taco Bell.  Being raised in San Antonio, Texas, home of the best Mexican food on this planet (after Mexico I am assuming) may have something to do with it.  Hearing the rumors that Taco Bell’s meat is actually only made up of 35 percent meat and is in the Grade D category of meats, a category worse than that of cat food, does not really surprise me.  The reason I have never been a fan of Taco Bell is because their food is disgusting anyways.

However I do feel bad for die hard Taco Bell eaters because hearing these rumors has to be one of the worse things they have ever heard.  When they were kids and got ridiculed by their friends for tasting dog food, all along they could have been eating it!  I wonder if they do now or if they can live with the fact they have been eating what cats eat and continue to dine at Taco Bell.  I also have thought about how in the world did news like this get out to the public?

Taco Bell should really consider hiring a new public relation staff but that is if they do not go out of business.  Their public relation people should have been more careful with this information about their meat so none of these rumors would be spread.  If Mcdonalds has been getting away with what really is in their chicken nuggets all these years then I do not see why Taco Bell’s people could not hide their secrets.  If in fact the rumors are not true and, as Taco Bell says their meat is 100% beef, I still believe it will be hard for them to bounce back from this disturbance to the public.  Their public relation people have a lot of work to do to in order to gain the public’s trust to continue eating their food. But if I were someone who actually dined at Taco Bell, it would take a lot of convincing for me to ever step foot in that place again because I would much rather eat from a taco stand back home in San Antonio with a server who does not wear gloves than eat something alleged to be worse than cat and dog food.

-Alisha Mychele

The Power of Ethics in Decision Making

The world is full of unethical people. We see examples of bad ethics every day both in real life and in entertainment such as mainstream music, television and movies. It is starting to become somewhat normal which is scary to think about. Some of the biggest scandals of our time have evolved around unethical practices, most notably Enron. So many bad situations could be avoided if people just did what was right and acted ethically.

As we learned in class Wednesday, just because something is legal doesn’t make it ethical and just because it’s ethical doesn’t make it legal. This is somewhat of a catch 22 and leaves people with a grey area, wondering how something can be both right and wrong at the same time. How can something be legal and unethical? This is a very good question, although I am not sure I am capable of answering it because I wonder the same thing.

The practices of Enron were both illegal and unethical, the same holds true for various other companies. Wal-Mart, one of the biggest consumer stores in the nation, is another company that has been accused of unethical practices along with Nestle, Capital One and Nike in certain parts of the world. There are three questions you must ask yourself when you are unsure of the ethical validity of an issue. Those being: Is it legal? Is it balanced? Is it right? If the answer to any of those questions is “no” than more than likely it is unethical.

Ethics is necessary in every aspect of life but in different ways. There are personal ethics, which is your value system rooted in the way you were raised; professional ethics, a code of ethics developed by those in the field; and business ethics, those rooted out of company beliefs and value system. Good ethics are necessary in business for many reasons. For one, no one trusts or wants to do business with an unethical company, ultimately resulting in the loss of business and credibility. The two most important aspects of a business; without your customers trust and money you have nothing. A lot of businesses get greedy and so caught up in the money making aspect of things they lose sight of reality and the bigger picture. This is where they end up failing and it can end up costing the business everything.

Ethics, good ethics, should always drive decision making; if it does it will show in the business’ results. Some of the World’s Most Ethical Companies of 2010 include American Express, General Electric Co., Adobe Systems and Ford Motor Company an award given to companies with leading ethics and compliance programs. Companies should be striving to get onto this list instead of striving to only make money. Having good ethics goes a long way and will always pay off in the end.

-Alisha Mychele

Lost Voices, Gained Hope

Lost Voices, Gained Hope

Computer Science Class Designs iPad Application for Boy Who Can't Speak.

So many people, including myself, take communication for granted. No one really realizes just how important it is and how often we use it in every day life. Everything we do on a daily basis revolves around communicating with others, the world around us and utilizing our five basic senses. So imagine what it would be like not to be able to speak? Not to be able to express to your loved ones how and what exactly you are feeling?

Although we are left imagining, it is a reality for so many people including this five year old boy, Victor Pauca. The boy has a rare genetic disorder called Pitt Hopkins Syndrome that delays development of several skills including his ability to speak. Pauca’s father Paul, a professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, enlisted the help of his computer science class to discover a way for him to communicate with those around him. The class after much trial and error successfully developed an iPad application; they appropriately named VerbalVictor, which transforms the iPad touch screen into a communication tool.  The app allows caregivers to take pictures, which then act as “buttons,” and record phrases that relate to the pictures on the screen. When Victor touches a picture, such as a picture of the backyard, the appropriate sentence will play for example, “I want to go outside and play.” Victor’s parents and teachers then know what exactly it is that the boy wants to do or how he is feeling. Another feature of the application is that the user, such as the child’s parent or guardian, records the phrases so it’s not a robotic voice that the child is unfamiliar with. The application is not the first program of its kind but is significantly more affordable than others that are available. There were no direct costs of development because the hardware, iPad and iPhone, already exist and the work was done as part of a class.

The application is now available for purchase in Apple’s iTunes store for only 10 dollars while other programs of the same type may cost thousands. This is only one of many applications that are becoming available for people with disabilities. The category is expanding so fast that Apple has created a separate listing for the applications and more are added each week including, Sign4Me, a sign language tutor that uses an animated avatar to teach people how to sign.

As of May 2009 there was an estimated 48 million Americans with a disability, with arthritis quickly taking the lead. This article affected me personally since I found out in 2007 that my father is legally blind and his condition is only worsening. It puts joy in my heart to see that there are people out there trying to help and that technology is not only evolving but becoming more affordable and reasonable with each day that passes. If there is someone in your family with a disability do not lose hope and realize that if there isn’t already someone or something out there to help them that you can make the difference.

Remember, “Memories and loneliness look backward. Fear looks around. Faith always looks forward.”- E. Lynn Harris

-Alisha Mychele

Related Links:

Video: http://video.aol.com/video/new-voice-morning-express/2717501042 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/24/verbalvictor-ipad-app_n_801098.html

http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/disability-numbers.php

http://www.ada.gov/