Edgar's English Blog

Some products in grocery stores like pastries, cosmetics, candies, soft drinks, and so much more contain artificial dyes that aren't good for people's health. These artificial food dyes are a problem that has plagued our country for decades. Countless articles and papers have been published about the various health problems associated with consuming these dyes. One of the biggest works on artificial food dyes is a paper written by Sarah Kobylewski and Michael F. Jacobson titled Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks. This paper discusses different food dyes and the dangers they present on the human body. They specifically discuss the dyes Blue 1, Blue 2, Citrus Red 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6. In their research, they found that three of these dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6) contained at least one carcinogenic contaminant. Red 40 contains a carcinogen called p-cresidine which is used as a synthetic chemical intermediate in the dye-making process. Their r...

Christmas is what most people consider the best day not just a holiday but the best day of the entire year. According to Statista Christmas ranks top 3 on the best holiday in the United States only being beaten out by holidays like Thanksgiving and Memorial Day surprisingly. Kids like this holiday only because they know they're going to receive something in the morning under their Christmas tree. At least that's how I viewed Christmas growing up, as I got older I started to understand that Christmas was more of a day that we get to spend with the family rather than just a day of handing out gifts.  In my household we treat Christmas like an upgraded version of Thanksgiving, some years we even cook a turkey up too. Other years we make meals for the family like pozole or tamales, something that we can enjoy that day and have enough left over to enjoy for the rest of the week. Every year my household is filled with my whole extended family including uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces,...

Thanksgiving is the holiday that consistently ranks among the top 5 days of the year for most Americans. It's obvious why most people like this holiday, it's a day when you can just share a nice hot meal with the family. Although I find it strange that the president has to pardon a poor turkey every year I do understand what they're going for. The whole concept of having a turkey during Thanksgiving is kind of weird. The holiday would be so much better if we roasted a whole pig. Unlike the turkey, most people can make more versatile dishes with a roasted pig. Granted it would be more expensive and cooking it would be quite the task since they probably wouldn't fit in a regular oven. But in the end, it's worth it since you don't have to eat a dry piece of turkey with some mushy stuffing.  Another alternative to cooking a turkey would be whole chicken, they would finish cooking a lot sooner than a whole turkey and if you need more food you can just add in another....

 Halloween Hypocrisy Halloween is the only time of the year when it's socially acceptable to send kids from house to house asking strangers for candy. This seems pretty counterintuitive since the other 99% of the year kids are told not to talk to strangers. Once Halloween comes around stranger danger goes completely out the window. I don't understand why Halloween came to be how it is nowadays. Out of all the holidays aside from the 4th of July, this seems like the most dangerous. Why would people actively put their kids in danger for a few candies they can just buy at the store? It never really made sense to me but as a kid, I always enjoyed the experience. Then again I have never had a negative experience or heard of anyone that has had a negative experience on Halloween. There are always stories about people putting the craziest things into the kid's candies during Halloween. Like this ( https://twitter.com/bobvulfov/status/660124386326945793 ) online user who found a ra...

 Holidays Now that the holiday season is right around the corner I wanted to do something a little more light-hearted. Have you ever wondered what the most popular holiday In the United States is? Probably not, It's Christmas. Everyone knows Christmas is the most popular holiday, from grandkids to grandma everyone loves Christmas. This is most likely because this holiday brings the whole family together. At least this is why the adults love it, the kids just like that they’re receiving all these nice gifts. In some households like mine, it is tradition to get together and have a big meal like some tamales, pozole, or even cook up another turkey. This is definitely the best part for me since you can be as gluttonous as possible and still end up with leftovers for the next week.  After Christmas, the second most popular holiday is Memorial Day according to Statista. I found this surprising since I was almost certain that It would be something like Halloween or Easter where peopl...

 Mayhem This advertisement is meant to make the viewer smile and even laugh a little. The man’s acting like a teenage girl driving in a pink car around a parking lot irresponsibly. This is playing off the stereotype of teenage girls being worse at driving than regular people. The actor is labeled “mayhem” and shows the worst-case scenario of driving. He does a very good job playing his given role. Allstate tries to get people to understand that the road is by no means safe and that accidents can always happen anywhere on the road. They're trying to promote safe driving in a way that is sure to capture people's attention and retain it. It's the same idea they use for smoking commercials by showing people coughing up teeth or people with an electrolarynx. Allstate made this advertisement for a specific group of people. It was made for people in need of car insurance or people worried about getting into an accident. It is evident when they show a hit-and-run car accident and t...