Fast Food Is Fantastic!

Daily prompt.  Be sure to check out previous blog posts here.

Automation has made it possible to produce so many objects — from bread to shoes — without the intervention of human hands (assuming that pressing a button doesn’t count). What things do you still prefer in their traditional, handmade version?

You know, what?  Someone needs to come up with a 3D printer that is able to print out cheese burgers ready to eat!. Think about it  All you would have to do is buy spools of burger meat, that would never expire, and same for the bread, ketchup, pickle and whatever else.

It would be so much better than microwaving a day old patty that’s lumped over like a person with no self esteem.

It would be an even faster food with no expiration.  You wouldn’t even have to leave the house.

Well, if you ask, “Why not cook your own food if you wont leave the house anyway?” I wont have an answer for you.

3D printers are taking over everything.  If it’s made of plastic, it can be 3D printed.  Very soon, it wont be limited to just that.  Soon, things like actual houses will be 3D printed and even things like body parts, and quite possibly, the meat you eat.  What better way to fight starvation, right?

But, of course, I’m joking.  Meats are in bad shape already and if you’re not careful, you might be eating bleached, repackaged old chicken, or something.

I don’t like fast food.  I don’t like restaurant food.  I’d much rather fire up the stove and cook something myself.  No, I’m not on a farm.  I just think you have to be careful and look at the food before you pick it up.  No one has microscopic vision, but if it doesn’t look healthy in the store, I don’t think I’d try it.

I don’t mind slicing.  I’m not the fastest slicer in the kitchen, but, I’d like to make sure I don’t get cut, as I don’t need to add my blood samples to the recipe.

Rather it’s something simple, like an experiment on a new recipe, (tried chicken-potato soup for the first time last week and it came out awesome on my first try.) or cutting things for a salad, or whatever else, it always beats the fast food places.

I’m aware that the only way to be 100% sure that your food is all-natural is to grow it yourself, but sometimes, that just isn’t always possible and I would like to enjoy myself at least a little bit, which means not worrying so much about what’s in the meat as long as it looks like a healthy cut.

There’s always the butcher too.

I don’t like dressings on my salads, I don’t like potato flakes in a box.  I’ll take my real potatoes and mash them myself.  I like adding sour cream and butter, which makes the texture so much better.

I also make sure there’s nothing too weird in the ingredient labels too.  Yes, I know that just because you can’t pronounce it, doesn’t mean it’s not natural,  but I always look to avoid some things like aspartame and others that probably shouldn’t be in our foods anyway.

How does that saying go about an ounce of prevention?

Random Write-Up.

Just a random story I wrote up, enjoy.

 

“Is it ready for my introduction?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Very well,” said the mysterious scientist as he walked over to the surgical bed  at the laboratory’s center.

“Absolutely astounding,” the doctor admired. “In due time, the word will know of my advancements.  This is the birth of our new age!”

The doctor leaned over the bed with his hands grasped together behind his back with his assistants sitting at computers on a platform behind him.

“Initiate the program!”

“Initiating!” said an assistant at the far end of the lab.

On the bed, laid an android.  It began to mimic breathing patterns and soon opened it’s eyes.

“Wonderful,” said the doctor. “Tell me — Just how do you feel.”

The android slowly turned his head and torso, observing its surroundings.  It eyes struggled to stay open as if it were fatigue.

“Where am I?” It asked.

“You are in an undisclosed location.  Now tell me,  how do you feel?!!”

“Confused?” It replied. “Who are you?  Everything seems foreign.”

“You will learn of my name in due time.”

“Why is that?” The robot questioned rubbing its hand over its face. “I feel so drained.”

“I wish for you to carry out a favor,” he said, ignoring the android’s words.  ” I’ve saved your life and I intend to be re-payed for my efforts.”

“Saved me from what?  What are you talking about?”

“Your unfortunate car wreck, of course.  You were presumed dead.  The marvelous team here acquired your brain and installed it into your current form.”

“Hey!  Stop with that weird stuff!  Just who are you?  Do you think this is funny?  I’m not in the mood for games.”

“You have been offline for over a week.  We were running tests to make sure you would fiction normally.”

“This isn’t funny, I said!  What hospital is this?!  Where am I?!”  The android asked.

paranoid, it stood  from the bed, barely able to maintain balance.

“Where do you think you’re going?  I’m advising you to sit!”

“I’m not in the mood!”

The android clinched his hands and lunged forward with a punch.  The scientist stepped backwards as the robot’s animation froze, crashing to the floor.

“You think I’m here to play games with a toy?!  You have no free will and you WILL do what I ask of you!  You have no other option!” Yelled the doctor as he leaned over the floored bot.

“What do you want from me?”

“Stand him up!” commanded the doctor to his assistants. “Sit him back on the table!”

“Commencing!”

Against its will, the android stood and retook its seat, negating any assurance of its humanity.

“Go to your residence and eradicate your wife.”

“What?!”

“I have reason to believe she stole my research.  She will pay dearly for her thievery.”

“Go to hell!”

“I’ve given you a chance to cooperate.  However, your response was expected,” replied the doctor. “So much for the thanks I get for leaving your mental status intact, while giving you a body durable enough to take down a brown bear — maybe two?”

“If you don’t need me, why did you revive me?!  You’re a thief yourself!”

“To prove it possible and to make that woman of yours pay,” the doctor said. “It’s all fair.  The three of you can die at least once.”

“Three?  Are you telling me my son is dead?”  The android questioned through internal speakers, still unable to move.

“Precisely.  However, I assure you that I had no involvement.  Your wife just so happens to be popular with the wrong people.”

The doctor began to walk in circles with a smile over his face, locking eye contact with the android.

“I’ll stop you!” It calmly stated.

“Sure you will!  But first, you’re going to kill your wife.  It is my understanding she cannot die of natural causes.  I do not know how she managed to steal my research, but she will soon meet her demise.”

The android made no other response as it sat, with all movement suspended.

“This will no doubt be interesting to see play out.  To ensure you do as you’re told, your commands will be carried out from here.  Once she is erased from existence, the rest of the species may grow under my leadership.  Prepare yourself.  You will be a conscious witness to her death — free will, or not.”

The doctor raised his arm, signaling the end of the session, before leaving the room.

How Old Am I Again?… Oh, Yeah…

Well, I’m back to it.  Here’s my Daily Prompt.

“Age is just a number,” says the well-worn adage. But is it a number you care about, or one you tend (or try) to ignore?

There isn’t any number I try to ignore.  To me, it really is just a number.  There are people in their fifties in better shape than others in their twenties, or thirties and what-not.

It isn’t so much the age, or the number, but rather how you treat yourself.  I know for me personally, I try to eat healthy and exercise, but, I might not always do so.  And I know that sure, I’m the last person that needs to go on a diet, I but I’m cautious (somewhat) about what I eat, so I feel at least I think so, anyway, at my appropriate age, of 24.  Sure, ask me 10 years ago, I would have said anyone who’s 24 is old.

But, as you get closer to the numbers you once thought were old…  it doesn’t seem very old anymore, at least that’s how it is so for for me.  Maybe I’ll still think 50 is old when I’m at fifty. 🙂  It’s just a number.  For now, at least.

Thanks for reading, and, please check out mg other posts, here.  If you like what I have here, please be sure to comment, follow, like, and all that good stuff that makes people feel appreciated. 😛

Second-Guessing.

Well, as I said in a previous blog, “Just Where, Exactly Did You Say You’re From Again?” I was just making it up as I went along, it isn’t based on anyone I know, and I’ve never been in a coffee shop before, because I really don’t drink the stuff.  Normally, what I like to do is read over things, review it, make tweaks and such  But, it was a daily prompt, so I couldn’t give it the attention I wanted.

Then, came the second guessing…  And, there was a lot of chatting, and I could have done better with the ending, I know.

But, what I want to say here is that you are (probably) your biggest critic, and what you write might not be as bad as you think.  It’s very tempting for me to go back and re-write the ending, after I think about it a little more, but I’m going to let it sit.

Oh well.  I know I’m not writing gold, or anything like that, but I do still enjoy it.  I’ll be sure to take my own advice next time too.

Please be sure to check out the linked post above, as well as previous posts, here.

 

What Does It Mean To Exist?

It’s open to interpretation, however, there was an interesting story I found, about a kid who found his father’s ghost in a game, whom he’d lost at the age of six.  What on Earth am I talking about?

Well, racing games are very unique in their style of play, in that you can play against a racer that isn’t actually racing with you. Many games have too much decision making, which would make it impossible to say, play against the ghost of another person.  Tekken games attempt to do this, with their “ghost battle” mode, but, you cannot teach an Artificial Intelligence to act human.

People choke under pressure, they learn, they adapt, they read the enemy mid-battle (or, try to) and they also make mistakes and downright forget what to do at times.  Some mistakes you make in fighting games go in your favor, though rare –  almost always, a single mistake shifts the outcome of battle.

As far as racing games are concerned, the person of the fastest lap has their play recorded.  This is saved to an AI who will then re-do everything the fastest racer did… exactly.

This kid, now 16, remembered playing against his dad when he was young.

On one day fantastic day, he found the ghost racer of his dad, whom had long passed away, and was able to play against it.  Losing race after race, again, and again, until one day, he did it.  He got so far ahead that he could have won the race, but just before he got to the finish line, he stopped.  Only to make sure his dad’s ghost would remain as the fastest time.

Still being able to play against someone who’s not actually there anymore.  It’s something nice.  For those five minutes of racing, (or longer depending on the track, laps, etc.) it must be great, almost as if they’re still there, spending time with you.  But not quite.

Original article may be found here.

Now if only a game actually could make a ghost in fighting games, of someone playing at their best (sometimes, I forget important stuff that costs me plenty of matches.)  It would be amazing, as it would be something to interact with.

Needless to say, in racers, if you’re occupying the same space as the ghost, you’ll pass through.

Please be sure to read the rest of my posts.  I appreciate it.

Where’d The “Happy” Go?

 

Daily Prompt

As a kid, you must have imagined what it was like to be an adult. Now that you’re a grownup (or becoming one), how far off was your idea of adult life?

As a kid, around the age early age of five, I distinctly remember  thinking, (probably because I said it once) you only needed $100 dollars to be rich.

Needless to say why.  One hundred, to me back then was just completely unimaginable.

But, we know today, banks create money whenever they feel, thus, depreciating the value of the dollar.  How great would it be if one hundred dollars actually had the same power as a million today.  But, I’ve read articles stating that not even a million dollars is enough to be rich.  Perhaps it depends on how much self control you have, and how old you are when you get the million.

People that win lotteries don’t stay rich either.

Anyway — back to to the subject, I can’t remember much else in terms of how I thought things would be as an adult, while being a child.  I just remember getting whatever I wanted almost all the time and being a kid.  I am curious, though.  What happened between being a kid and now.  One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m smiling a lot less.

But I do still smile, don’t get that wrong. 🙂

Maybe that’s it, outside of the usual, that we already know about.  Everyone’s just… a lot less happy, surely we all thought that getting to have whatever we wanted while also making all the rules would result in more happiness.  Why not fix it?  I’m going to work on that starting today.

Tried to change it up a little, as we’re all writing about the same subject and we were all naive at some point as kids.  We could ask kids today how they think thinks are, and most will say the same things we thought.  And, to the ones that have an idea of what it’s really like…  Well, I hope they’re enjoying themselves and thinking about how to make change for the better.

Please remember to like, favorite, comment, and such.  And check out my other blog posts too, I’d appreciate it.

Just Where, Exactly Did You Say You’re From Again?

Today’s entry for the Daily Prompt.  Others may be read here.

Honestly, sometimes, I think to myself, “I don’t want  to participate in today’s Daily Prompt.”  Need not to worry, though, here it is… [Just as a little note, I’m (probably) still typing, but I think I’m done.  Just going off the top of my head as usual, nothing special.]

It turns out that your neighbor on the plane/bus/train (or the person sitting at the next table at the coffee shop) is a very, very chatty tourist. Do you try to switch seats, go for a non-committal brief small talk, or make this person your new best friend?

I don’t go to coffee shops much.  Actually, I don’t drink coffee at all, so I don’t need it in the mornings.  But, it was something different.  A place I’d never been, and I was ever-curious to give it a venture.  It was only around the block from my house anyway, I thought.

I also thought about the people I’d probably talk to.  Perhaps I’d even run into someone I knew there.  Now that I’m back, I honestly cannot say if it were a good idea or not.

When I got there, I didn’t want any coffee.  I had my mind set on not drinking the stuff anyway and I was very certain about that.  The smell of the coffee grinds alone as I opened the door, was strong enough to erase even the memory of the dreams I had the night before.  I wasn’t going to need to drink the stuff too.

Inside this new building – well, it wasn’t just new to me, the place actually is new.  It’s part of the recent shopping center remodeling and not to my surprise, still looked new on the inside.  The checkered black and white floor tiling had no scuffs.  In fact, they were so clear, I could almost see my reflection.  Maybe the lighting was a bit too dim for that.

Looking past the plastic props of different varieties of caffeinated beverages and ignoring the huge green chalk board riddled with weird words, I could only assume were names for the drinks, I looked for the attention of the person behind the counter.

“Good morning!  Which drink would you like to order?”

“Wi-Fi, please,” I replied back to her.

With that, she gave me the sharpest stare.  Surely she knew I wasn’t intending to drink the internet.  I just may have been the only person to walk into the place without wanting coffee.  It wasn’t as if there wasn’t a library directly across the street, but I’d been there before and never here.

“Yes,” she finally said. “Public one, the password is coffee — all lowercase.”

“Thank you.”

I turned around a proceeded to walk past the tables and chairs towards one of the empty seats at the wall.  I even had enough time to pull my computer from my bag and connect to the wifi before someone sat at the opposite end of my table.

“Hello, is this seat taken?”

Before saying a word, I looked back at all the tables I walked past.  All but one were still empty.  At that moment, I thought to myself, if I said yes, it would have been no different than hanging out the library.

“No, it isn’t,” I replied.

“Oh, good!  Thank you!  All the other window seats are taken,” she said, starting a conversation. “You were the only one without a drink, so I figured I’d ask you first.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.  So, what, you don’t like the coffee here, or something?” she inquired as she took a small sip.

“No, I just don’t drink it.”

“Well, they have more than just coffee here, you know?  You should try something, some of it’s really good!”

Just then, she handed me her small plastic fold-up menu, as mine was still sitting on the table, underneath my laptop.  She wasn’t being weird nor annoying, so I felt obligated to take it.

“The ones with regular names are food items,” she added.

As I looked through and saw things like a three-dollar-cookie; a single cookie, I was pretty content with the free Wi-Fi, so I handed it back.

“My name is Alessia, what’s yours?” she continued.

“Walter,” I said.

“Nice to meet you, Walter.  I’ve never seen you here before, but I can imagine why.  What brings you here instead of the library?  It’s just across the street.”

“A change of scenery,” I said, this time not breaking eye contact from my screen.

“Oh, really?  Same here!  I know what you mean.  Well, I’ve only been coming here for the past few weeks myself.  But it’s different from where I’m used to.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Never mind.  It’s not important.  You might think it’s weird.”

“Why’d you bring it up, then?”

“Okay, well,” she began to hesitate, “I’m not from here.”

“I know, you said th-”

“No,” she interrupted, “I mean, I’m from a different planet.”

I looked up from my computer screen.  I distinctly remember her eyes being brown, but for no reason at all, they were green.  Maybe it was the coffee.  Maybe it was her.  Maybe it was just this strange place.

“Nice trick, you did there, but I think I’m going to go now.” I said as I closed my computer and packed it away.

“I’m sorry, did I creep you out?”

“Sure did.  Go bug someone else.”

I’m all for making new friends as much as anyone else.  I wasn’t going to take the time to figure out if she was playing a joke with me, and I really didn’t care, I just hoped that was my last run-in with that person as  I walked out of that place.  I mean, people go to libraries too.  Surely there would be normal people there.  I should know, I’ve been there before.

If you’ve enjoyed the read, please be sure to check my other blog posts, and perhaps like, comment, follow too as long as that’s not asking for too much.  Thanks for reading.

My Favorite Of Youtube Videos… Ancient… Knowledge…?

My favorite videos on youtube.  Not with the intention of proving anything write or wrong, but, for the simple sake of opening mind and thought, to think about things not previously thought of before.

Quite often, TV and movies bore me to sleep, but, I can watch these videos over and over and never get bored.  They exercise your mind as long as you watch with an open mind.

And here’s part two.

Quick! Close Your Eyes!

Daily prompt.  Please be sure to read the others here.

Doesn’t really happen too often to me.  There’s so much violence in today’s entertainment, that I think I’m mostly desensitized… Although I’m probably kidding myself. — I actually remember the last thing to make me cringe.  It’s that scene in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.

And, thanks to the power of youtube, I can show you exactly! 🙂

SPOILER ALERT.  Although the game only lasts 5 minutes an hour anyway (so you should have completed it already) — that’s why I refuse to play it at 20 bucks.  But, that’s another story.

 Obviously, the video below is disturbing.  Watch with caution!

Please be sure to check out the rest of my blog posts here.  If you enjoy them, please be sure to like, follow, comment, and all that other good stuff.  Thanks a bunch!  I promise the rest aren’t going to make you cringe.

 

Did You Notice Something? It’s Only Rain… Right?

Daily Prompt.

I’ve just got back from the beach.  No, really, I did. 😛 And, I had a great time too… until the weather shifted.

I don’t quite know how, but no one managed to check the weather, which had be quite shifty this week.  Perhaps that in  was a clue that it wasn’t the best week to go to the beach.

I was there, with family and friends, nibbling on an unusually sweet slice of watermelon, which was fine.  I always hate chomping into a flavorless watermelon — tastes no different than a glass of water.

As I was sitting about, enjoying my piece of fruit, we all saw it.  A dark gray cloud loomed overhead, hogging up all the sunlight for itself.  It’s was one selfish cloud, I tell you.

“It’ll only be there for a minute, or two,” I said to myself. “A little nice refreshing rain wont hurt after all.”

I generally like the rain.  I not a person to get dulled out when the weather is gloomy.  But, I guess that means rainy weather isn’t gloomy weather.  So, I just sat there.

And, it happened.  It started raining a bit.  Everyone scurried to finish packing and headed to their vehicles and the nearest shelter to wait the rain out.  I didn’t care to follow suit.  I was going to have the entire beach to myself, in the rain, which I enjoyed anyway.  Until something I wasn’t expecting happened…

It started getting colder and colder.  I looked on my chest and there’s all these cold white specks hitting me.  It wasn’t just rain anymore.  It was hail and I still needed to pack up stuff up.  I grabbed everything I could, tossed it over my shoulder and bolted to the car.  Running through the slush and to my luck, a I somehow managed to get a splinter as I stepped on some type of object.

I ignored it and kept going for the car.  It was just too cold to check.

As I opened the door after feverishly throwing all my things into the trunk, I examined my foot.  A nice sized splinter packed down into the underside of my foot.

“Dummy!” My sister, shouted after seeing my foot. “You should have packed up when the rest of us did!”