social media venn diagram

In all my years of school, I never saw a venn diagram so true.

kincaid vs food

The movie Food, Inc. has ruined what was once a healthy relationship between myself and meat.

As a direct result of that documentary, I am now officially grossed out by the conditions under which chickens are raised and processed, and I'm fearful of the collateral damage to my body as a result of beef consumption.

The ConAgra’s of the world say “let’s create the biggest fat cows as cheaply as possible. Also, it would cost us less if they grew up faster...pump them full of hormones! Time is money, right?”

The corn based feed programs implemented to fatten cows inexpensively, as well as the hormone therapy they are given to grow rapidly, is all done in the name of profit over consumer health. There are many resources outlining the problematic relationship between corn-fed cattle, hormone therapy, and human consumption. Bottom line: gross.

I truly believe we had it right 100 years ago, where local family farms provided for the neighborhood. See: Europe. By allowing giant corporations to control food production, we may have unintentionally stepped on one of nature’s land mines. Where natural processes once stood, scientific alterations now reign. What happens to your ‘natural’ chemical composition when you ingest a lifetime of gene splicing and bovine growth hormone? I bet many of the health problems of today and tomorrow prove related to what we’ve been eating.

The argument goes, “Modern Agricultural Livestock production is needed to feed a growing global population." Well, yes. We do need livestock production that matches our demand for food. But that doesn't mean we need massive food conglomerates producing edible toxic mutants in the name of profit.

Food production should be a sacred act, free from the encumbrances of corporate greed. We are consuming this product in the most literal sense, and if your term "modern livestock production" is a euphemism for all of the practices outlined above, then no...we don't need it. What we need is safe, healthy, natural production of livestock which mirrors or better yet provides a natural habitat for their growth.

Enter: Whole Foods. For just $375 a week, you too can have an all natural diet! I love that it exists, and I hate that I can’t always afford it. Shopping at Whole Foods for a month left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth the next time I was buying cancer meat from the Wal-Mart butcher. Whole Foods: The girl I can’t afford to marry. Yet.

So, yeah...Food, Inc. really kind of messed me up about all that. If you haven't seen it, you really probably should. But it will be the last day you ever crave KFC in your life.

seriously though, how cool is google?

Just when I thought that Google had reached their coolness maximum, they went and did this...

tiny cannon.

things in the rearview

dress (your cubicle) for success.

Guarantee this guy is fun to work with. Especially for an aristocratic 18th century land barron/middle-management account executive.

things that keep me up at night

Here’s a thought that has crept into my head at bedtime every night for the last week:

365 days in a year, call it 80 or so years to live= 30,000 days.

That’s it. An entire life is only about 30,000 days. And that’s a full life; let’s not even do the math on those who go early.

The smallness of 30,000 is disconcerting to me. I find myself suddenly frustrated at all the days I’ve wasted watching TV because it’s raining, the days I’ve simply given away to play Xbox 360 endlessly, the wasteful time spent in bars and clubs. What foolish ways to spend life.

The days add up quickly, too. I’m reminded of being on a boat, glancing back at the shore only to see just how distant it’s become, and how quickly! It happens without notice. Suddenly the events and times in life that had seemed so recent are figures on a distant horizon. The strangest and most irreconcilable element of this phenomenon is the knowledge that you will never again return to those shores.

I’m still digesting the lessons in the 30,000 day reality. I’m sure there are great learning opportunities here; paradigm shifts to be had, philosophical insights to take away. But at this moment, I’m just shocked at how little time we get.