Ezekiel Bread Recipe

Ezekiel Bread Part 1 from Anitra Kerr on Vimeo.

Ezekiel Bread Part 2 from Anitra Kerr on Vimeo.

Top 10 Reasons why shouldn't you watch TV

"1. Watching TV Wastes Time

5.1 hrs wasted away, every day

Nielsen research showed the average American watched an average of 5.1 hours per day, or 153 hours of TV a month (Q1 of 2009). That’s 1/3 of the time we are awake! This figure is increasing too, quarter by quarter. 5.1 hrs/day is nearly 2,000 hours a year, or 78 days – 2.5 full months. Even though these figures reflect the American population, the figures for other regions probably don’t deviate much.

With all this time spent watching TV, it’s a wonder how we even have time to do anything else. Just imagine if we spend a fraction of this time working on our goals – we’d already be making so much headway by now.

2. TV Slows Down Your Brain Activity 

When you watch TV, brain activity switches from the left to the right hemisphere. In fact, experiments conducted by researcher Herbert Krugman showed that while viewers are watching television, the right hemisphere is twice as active as the left, a neurological anomaly. The crossover from left to right releases a surge of the body’s natural opiates: endorphins. Endorphins are structurally identical to opium and its derivatives (morphine, codeine, heroin, etc.). Activities that release endorphins (also called opioid peptides) are usually habit-forming (we rarely call them addictive).

Indeed, even casual television viewers experience such opiate-withdrawal symptoms if they stop watching TV for a prolonged period of time. An article from South Africa’s Eastern Province Herald (October 1975) described two experiments in which people from various socio-economic milieus were asked to stop watching television. In one experiment, several families volunteered to turn off their TV’s for just one month. The poorest family gave in after one week, and the others suffered from depression, saying they felt as though they had “lost a friend.” In the other experiment, 182 West Germans agreed to kick their television viewing habit for a year, with the added bonus of payment. None could resist the urge longer than six months, and over time all of the participants showed the symptoms of opiate-withdrawal: increased anxiety, frustration, and depression.

That’s why people who watch TV have trouble quitting, because they are addicted. If we want to be conscious people living conscious lives, it’s time to break out of the TV addiction.

3. Most TV Content Today Is Consciousness-Lowering

The average TV show today is consciousness lowering, resonating in the levels of fear, guilt, grief, desire and pride. This differs across TV networks of course – some channels have better content than others. My comments are in reference to mainstream channels/show.

Some examples of shows that are more consciousness lowering than consciousness raising:

• Fear Factor, a reality TV where people are dared into doing fearsome stunts for a sum of prize money. You see people getting scared, terrified, forcing themselves through the stunts for the prize money. I’ve only watched an episode where participants are asked to eat a pie of worms, and I can’t say it’s inspiring stuff. I hear about other episodes from friends and they didn’t seem to be done in good taste either.
• Extreme Makeover, a plastic surgery reality show that does “extreme makeovers” for participants. Participants are people who are unhappy because of their looks. They are given extreme make overs that include surgery, after which they are showed as happy and confident. It somehow drives an underlying message to use surgery as a solution for low self-esteem.
• Joe Millionaire, a Bachelor-like show based on a ruse. Contestants compete to win the heart of a guy (Joe), thinking he  is a millionaire when he’s not. Throughout the show, he lives on a facade of wealth and luxury and the contestants are led on to believe so, up until the finale where the truth is revealed and the final contestant has to deal with the revelation. I don’t see the point behind the ruse. It seemed more of a stage antic to draw viewers without any meaningful intent behind it at all.

Here’s one way you can use to see if something is consciousness raising. Get a sense of how you are feeling first before watching the show. Then as you are watching the show, take a moment to assess how you feel.

• How are you feeling? Happy? Joyful? Upbeat? Motivated? Inspired? Or scared? Worried? Annoyed? Disgusted? Angsty? Weighed down? Stressed?
• What are you thinking? Positive thoughts? Or negative thoughts?
• What do you feel like doing? Do you feel charged up to take action? Make a positive difference? Or do you feel nothing? Lazy? Just want to go and sleep things away?

If it’s the former group, then the content has consciousness-raising effect; if it’s the latter then you can probably do better without it.

4. Lack of Quality Shows

By quality, I’m not referring to production quality. There is no dispute that production quality today is higher than ever. Quality refers to the content of the show.

The Message Driven in Shows

Today, there is hardly any show with that level of impact. There is the occasional good show here and there, but none that has that kind of definitive message. They seem more like good drama and entertainment than anything else. For example, earlier seasons of Charmed would have a “message of the day” embedded in each episode, which gave the viewer something to think about afterward. However, in the later seasons, this became replaced by repetitive dialogue and rehashed plot lines. It was just empty entertainment after a while. I watch, I laugh, but I’m not sure if I learn or pick up anything at the end of the day.

Overdone Content

There’s too much of the same stuff nowadays, and lesser genuine, informative content. Looking at the local TV programme schedule, it consists of the usual few travelogue/food tasting shows, variety shows on slimming/shopping/fashion/etc, 2-3 ongoing singing/talent competitions (alternating between American Idol and local English/Chinese/Malay singing competitions), reality shows of some sort, and dramas with cookie cutter plots. It’s much faster for me to get information I want from Internet than to wait for TV networks to churn out something meaningful.

The genre of reality TV was interesting when it first started, but after some point it became over done. After a while it seemed like network producers were just doing one reality show after the next, creating different spin offs which barely last. I’ve lost count of the number of singing competitions and sequels in Singapore. There is merit for a singing competition, but after a while it seems more like the TV producers are more interested in having successful talent shows than discovering talent.

Over-Commercialization

TV networks are getting overcommercialized. There are more sponsorships and product/service placements in shows than before, more than half of which aren’t related to the show themselves (American Idol, as an example). Back when I was watching American Idol (season 4 or 5), it was strange seeing the finalists sing and dance to a Ford music video every week. There was a total of 4,151 product placements in its first 38 episodes during season 7. I’m okay with commercial advertising, but only where it is relevant and beneficial to the consumer. Most product placements today seem force-fitted. It’s as if the network producers prioritize commercial needs over viewer needs. I believe it’s possible to integrate both together, but producers have not found the sweet spot yet.

In the context of Singapore TV, there have been numerous local variety shows commissioned by sponsors (for example, a beer company, another of a beauty company), and these shows seem to be more advertising outlets for the companies than genuinely informative.

5. TV is Linked With Lower Life Satisfaction

Research has showed that heavy viewers of TV report lower life satisfaction and higher anxiety [Source].

Many of us watch TV, specifically drama serials, because we want to see the stories unfold for the characters. What’s going to happen to X? What Y get the outcome he/she deserves? Will A and B get together? What will the ending be? It’s all very exciting, and the cliff hangers keep us yearning for more. Then for the whole week, we wait excitedly for the next episode to see what happens.

I realized many of us watch TV because we see ourselves in the characters. That’s why TV network producers study viewer demographics and produce shows in line with our needs, so we can relate to the characters. We see the characters living life, going through tumultous challenges, overcoming them and finally achieving what they want. We feel happy for them when they get their happy ending. But what we really want is the same happy ending for ourselves.

No matter how many shows we watch and how the characters develop through X episodes, watching TV isn’t going to give us the life we want. To get the life we want, we need to get out there, take action and create results for ourselves, not live vicariously through TV reels. The happy outcome is ours for the taking, if we start working towards it now.

6. Pointless Advertisements

Watching advertisements is one of the worst ways to use our time. A regular 1 hour segment is made up of 40 minutes actual content and 20 minutes advert. That’s 1-third of TV viewing time, which is a lot. The ads are either a trailer for an upcoming TV show, an advertisement for a product/service or an informercial. The adverts are rarely ever relevant – usually we buy the products because we see the ads, not because we need the products. Many times it’s just an ad to scare us into buying something. This is linked to the next point, which is…

The occult symbolism of the 2012 olympics: Opening and closing ceremonies

Click the link below to read the article

 

http://vigilantcitizen.com/vigilantreport/the-occult-symbolism-of-the-2012-olympics-opening-and-closing-ceremonies/

Animal compassion. What should be done?

Here are some examples of the Hebrew legislation regarding the ethical treatment of animals:

1. It is prohibited to cause pain to animals - tzaar ba’alei chaim. (Exodus 23:5)
   
2. One is obligated to relieve an animal’s suffering (i.e. unburden it), even if it belongs to your enemy. (Exodus 23:5)
   
3. If an animal depends on you for sustenance, it is forbidden to eat anything until feeding the animal first. (Deut. 11:15)
   
4. We are commanded to grant our animals a day of rest on Shabbat. (Exodus 20:10)
   
5. It is forbidden to use two different species to pull the same plow, since this is unfair to the weaker animal. (Deut. 22:10)
   
6. It is a mitzvah to send away a mother bird before taking her young. (Deut. 22:7)
   
7. It is forbidden to kill a cow and her calf on the same day. (Leviticus 22:28)
   
8. It is prohibited to sever and eat a limb off a live animal. (Genesis 9:4; this is one of the “Noachide” laws that apply to Jews and non-Jews alike.)
   
9. Shechita (ritual slaughter) must be done with a minimum of pain to the animal. The blade must be meticulously examined to assure the most painless form of death possible. (“Chinuch” 451; “Pri Megadim” - Introduction to Shechita Laws).