Category: Uncategorized

Today I am choosing to share about the CVS strike that has been going on for about 3 months now. CVS workers all over the country but especially in Kansas and Missouri have gone on strike because of unhealthy work conditions. A pharmacist in California said they would have to deal with filling long queues of prescriptions, dispensing medication, answering calls with physicians and more all on their own. This is because of understaffing in chain pharmacies. This topic caught my attention because my pharmacists at my job were sharing their stories about when they use to work in chain pharmacies. One of them told me how she used to work the overnight shift all on her own and she would have to fill, verify, and dispense medications on her own. This made me think about how when I am at work, I complain about my job but in reality, we have it better than the chain pharmacies that people believe are better than private ones. Chain pharmacies might get your medication to you quicker, but they have unhealthy work conditions for their workers that in result, makes the service bad.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/19/cvs-walgreens-strike-pharmacy-workers

Recently there have been many incidents going on involving people’s lives and trains. Yesterday a man was reportedly found unconscious and bleeding from his head between two cars at the Jamaica subway station. Ems got a hold of the victim and took him to immediate care but was pronounced dead. The reason as to why he was in this situation is unknown but it makes me wonder what could have been done to prevent this. Not so long ago a woman by the name of Jessica Marleny was waiting for the train to come by and as soon as the train was coming she fainted and fell over the tracks. The images and videos showing the incident happening were gruesome and disturbing but it showed she was still conscious but not well after the train passed by. Unfortunately she later passed away after getting cared for by ems. The reason I bring this up is because it’s scary and something should be done about it. As someone who takes the train everyday it makes me wonder how much my life is at risk simply by staying near or even “behind the yellow line”. It’s not safe and someone could easily fall over and get injured. Some random person could come up and push you over and there was nothing you could have done about it because it caught you by surprise. Statistics say that last year 88 people’s lives were cut short due to train accidents. That was 35 percent more than the 2018-2019 numbers. Remodels should happen in the subways like making the platform bigger for people to have space and be safe and implement guards or people that will keep the people safe. I see the workers almost half asleep leaning over a pole in which they are quote on quote monitoring and helping the people which in reality they are not.     

image form NY Post

I adore New York City, especially during the winter season. There are so many exciting activities and places to explore. One of my favorite spots is The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, which happens to be one of the largest Christmas trees in the entire United States. It’s located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, right in New York City. The tree is carefully placed in mid-November and is lit up during a spectacular public ceremony on the Wednesday evening after Thanksgiving. Since 1997, this magnificent event has been broadcast live on NBC’s Christmas in Rockefeller Center telecast, reaching millions of viewers worldwide. The lighting ceremony takes place at the end of the broadcast, following live entertainment, and is attended by the Mayor of New York, the CEO and President of Tishman Speyer, and other special guests. It’s truly a magical experience that attracts approximately 125 million visitors each year. To me, the return of the tree signifies the start of my favorite time of the year. I make it a tradition to visit the tree annually, mainly to go ice skating with my loved ones. As the city embraces the winter chill and everyone bundles up in their coats, there’s an undeniable sense of joy and hope in the air. The entire city is adorned with vibrant ornaments, creating a festive atmosphere. Every time I visit, I witness countless families capturing beautiful moments and people having a wonderful time. However, what truly fascinates me is the process of selecting the tree. Did you know that you can nominate your very own Norway spruce, as long as it stands at least 75 feet tall and 45 feet wide? It’s incredible! The same person has been responsible for choosing the tree for the past 30 years. According to Rockefeller Center Magazine, the head gardener Eric Pauze precisely surveys, plants, and transports each tree. It’s truly a labor of love.

Sports betting has become an extremely popular activity for many Americans and has grown into a hundred-billion-dollar business. Some of the most popular sports to bet on in the US are soccer, football, basketball, and MMA, and the number of people participating in sports betting is growing every day. Is sports betting better than normal gambling in a actual casino? I think that it is because if you are in a casino, then the odds of you winning are literally a dice roll to see if you win. It is based purely on luck. But in sports betting, you can get an advantage if you know what you’re betting on. If someone knows a lot about football, then they can make a lot of money off betting on football games, and if they are interested in soccer, then they can do research and get better odds on betting on soccer.

Before our class on Wednesday, please spend some time getting acquainted with ChatGPT. To do this, start by setting up a free account at chat.openai.com . Then experiment with assigning the platform to produce various kinds of texts. Think about creative ideas to challenge the AI platform.   Once you have spent around 30 minutes exploring ChatGPT’s capabilities, please share your findings in a comment on this post. Your comment must be shared before 12pm on Wednesday. What did you ask the “bot” to do? Where was it most successful? What limitations did you observe? Did anything surprise you about this experience? How might you imagine yourself using this resource in the future? What role do you think ChatGPT should have in your coursework at Baruch?

Here are some ideas of tasks to challenge ChatGPT. You can use these as inspiration to come up with your own ideas – the crazier, the better:

• Write a sonnet about Thanksgiving including your favorite dishes
• Write a resume for Joe Biden applying for a job at Starbucks
• Write a diary entry for a student at Baruch College
• Compose a cover letter for you for your dream job
• Plan a cross-country road trip
• Write a song by your favorite artist about the NYC subway
• Give ChatGPT the question you used for your Literary Analysis essay
• Ask it to give you advice about a personal problem
• Ask ChatGPTto teach you how to solve a challenging math problem

In the NFL recently there have been so many issues regarding the debate Grass vs
Turf. In the NFL they use turf for the grounding on the football fields mostly due to Price
and the very little maintenance it requires as opposed to real grass. Recent studies
show that the turf allows players to become more prone to ankle and foot injuries.
Recently one of the NFL’s biggest Stars, Aaron Rodgers suffered a huge season-ending
injury with a torn Achilles tendon. Research has shown that the area in which Aaron
Rodgers suffered his injury can be largely due to the turf they were playing on. About
half the teams in the NFL use turf as opposed to real grass. According to the AP news
players have been 16% more likely to be injured on turf compared to regular grass. I
wrote about this because I believe that an organization as big as the NFL has a
responsibility to take care of its players especially since they are the reasons why this
sport is so popular.
https://apnews.com/article/nfl-aaron-rodgers-achilles-grass-artificial-turf-79212f5443cd2
a0d30fe8c9d981b13c0

Travis scott, well known hip-hop artist held a 2-day festival for his album Astroworld, it was held in Houston Texas. About 50,000 people were in attendance, and many people know Travis Scott is known for holding chaotic and lively performances. Once the concert began, the crowd of people surged to the front of the venue. However, that caused the people in front to become compressed. It became worse and worse as the performance continued. People pressed against each other, lack of air, space, some even say they weren’t able to move at all in that compressed crowd. Suddenly people are passing out left and right in the crowd. People are fainting, having heart attacks, seizures, and screaming for their lives. Travis Scott decided to continue on with his performance, 10 people were reported to have died, two being 14 and 16. Which many people think there were more..

I’ve been to two concerts so far and I plan to go to one next week and January. While at both concerts, I was in the front. My first concert was seeing Don Toliver. I obviously expected mostpits, but even before the concert began the crowd began surging. There was this moment where everyone fell like dominos but we all managed to get back up. Since I’m not the tallest person, I was being pressed against the person in front of me, my mind began thinking about the tragedy that happened at Astroworld. It was a hot summer day, the air felt hot and dense, and I saw 2 people pass out, one right in front of me. The second concert I attended, which is supposed to be calmer since it was R&B, wasn’t too bad but I saw again another person faint in front of me. This is all scary, being at these concerts just trying to see artists I love listening to not knowing that I might be the one to faint in the crowd next. Travis Scott has a concert in December, which I would like to go to, I obviously won’t be in general admission but this tragedy has just made me paranoid to be in tight and aggressive crowds.

https://www.nytimes.com/article/astroworld-festival-what-to-know.html: Astroworld 2021 | Blog Post

Don’t forget that your Literary Analysis Essays are due by midnight on Sunday, November 12th. Your completed essay should be placed in your personal ENG2100 Google Docs folder. You can find the instructions for the essay above under the “Essays” tab. Before you submit your essay, double-check the following:

• Your essay has a title that reveals something about what the essay will be exploring.
• You use the present tense when you are describing what happens in the text.
• You have carefully proofread and corrected all errors.
• You have followed proper formatting guidelines each time you include a quotation.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about your essay. I am looking forward to learning from your analyses.

Instead of our regular classes, each of you will be meeting with me together with your peer review group on either Monday or Wednesday to discuss your Literary Analysis Essays. You can find the schedule below. These conferences are mandatory.

You should be continuing to work on your essay steadily during the entire interval between now and when the essay is due. As I suggested in class, I recommend spending a short time on revision each day (20-30 min), rather than trying to complete the assignment in one marathon session the day before it’s due.

Please place an updated draft of your essay in your personal ENG2100 folder by midnight on Sunday, November 5th. This will be the draft I will be referring to when we meet for our conferences.

In addition to these group conferences, I am also available for one on one meetings next week – both in person and over zoom, so please email me if that is something you would like to set up.

Conference Schedule

Mon 11/6

12:00 – 12:30. Jacqueline, Leilani, Sarahy

12:30 – 1:00. Kadijah, Ezra, Garelys

1:00 – 1:30 Daiyan, Reno, Rogelio

1:30 – 2:00. Rich, Isabel, Angelina

Wed 11/8

12:00 – 12:30. Felix M., Sahir, Ken

12:30 – 1:00. Felix R., Christian, Rony

1:00 – 1:30 Alyssa, Kaitlyn, Lisbeth, Yasmarlin

1:30 – 2:00. Shemar, Ryan

A few weeks ago, A lady went viral for filming a man on her first date, a man she didn’t really know simply because he took her to the cheesecake factory. She refused to get out the car and started filming their conversation about what was wrong about the restaurant. Keep in mind this is their first date, they are still getting to know each other. We find out later in the video, they were suppose to go to a fancier restaurant but the woman was an hour late getting ready so obviously they couldn’t go anymore. She claims that she didn’t think she would get out late from work. The man waited an hour for her in the car downstairs from her apartment. If this was the case, she should’ve scheduled for 5pm or another day. Instead, they BOTH settled for the cheesecake factory because they couldn’t go to the other restaurant anymore. When they arrived at the cheesecake factory she got upset because she didn’t think he would actually take her. She claims it’s a chain restaurant and they should’ve went to the fancier restaurant, but yet again she was late. The man was very kind and understanding and not aggressive at all. He even opened the door for her and she refused to get out the car because she wanted to talk about why he’s taking her there. This sparked conversation across the internet about where you should take a woman on a first date. Most of the internet made fun of the woman because she’s delusional. I also agree, because I grew not being able afford cheesecake factory. Instead I ate TGI Fridays and I thought it was the fanciest restaurant ever. This shows how different people might’ve grew up and how some women want a man to go above and beyond for them even though they again don’t each other; as the first date is suppose to help them get to know each other. Personally I would be fine with the cheesecake factory, because still I am too broke for it. I’ve never went before. This shows how some women have a different definition of the perfect first date. The internet also made a list on where you shouldn’t take a woman on the first date, yet again this list is also a bit delusional. This is an example of Women’s Wrongs.

Cheesecake factory Lady Original Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8BThwsY/

The Internets List:

My Personal List: