Something Fishy This Way Swims

The other day my friend sent me a link to fishscam.com.

I was immediately suspicious of this site claiming that there really is nothing to be afraid of in terms of mercury in your fish and to keep BUYING certain seafood. I was immediately suspicious because whenever there's some campaign out there going up against scientific studies and it's urging you to keep on purchasing certain items, it causes one to stop and wonder- just who is behind this?

Fishscam is a project of the Center For Consumer Freedom and describes itself as:
A growing cabal of environmental activist groups, public health researchers, and government bureaucrats are using junk science to needlessly frighten Americans about the fish they eat.

Something seemed fishy, so I did some snooping around...

According to Source Watch, CFCF is actually a (get this!) FRONT group for the RESTAURANT, TOBACCO and ALCOHOL industries! AAAND- this organization also runs petakillsanimals.com and is backed by Philip Morris!

What seemed fishy IS fishy.

We are overfishing our oceans. This is a fact. An inconvenient, annoying fact? Yes. But a fact it still is. That fact ALONE should be cause for people to adjust their eating and buying habits, but unfortunately for the masses (yes, I'm talking to YOU) that usually isn't enough. People usually don't start to pay attention unless they are DIRECTLY in harm's way, SO yes- mercury in fish IS cause for concern (as are a lot of other things in a LOT of other foods...) and doesn't it seem like common sense that one might not want to indulge in food that contains unspecified traces of a sometimes toxic element? AND isn't it cause for GREATER concern that the food industry is manipulating the public in order to make a buck (which is the oldest trick in the book) and that people (yes, I'm talking to YOU again) are TRUSTING them?!

Just sayin'.

This may seem like a small, unimportant issue in the great scheme of things, but it is in fact something that needs attention immediately and it is a HUGE INDICATION of many other situations much shadier than this.

Creepy little findings like this should motivate each and every one of us to read between the lines and question everything. There's nothing wrong with that. It just takes a little more time and effort and an application of the integrity and individuality so many of us claim to have.

Kittenspiration

Here's a little something to brighten up your day- "Kittens Inspired by Kittens"

This is hilarious and adorable...hilorable!

2 4

Each year my birthday insists on reminding me how very lucky I am. I had yet another fabulous birthday weekend and was happy to have so many of my nearests and dearests on hand to help me ease into my 24th year.

We started out the evening playing board games over drinks at my favorite North Side tavern, Guthrie's and ended out the night at our old college haunt, Trader Todd's, where we danced to our hearts' content with about 3 feet of available space.

Many thanks to those who made it out!

There are more pics where those came from- if you don't have Facebook, click here to view my album!

Dropping it Like it's Luke Warm

The "Funky Fresh Senior Choir " drop some phat beats, yo.

(THIS is a gem!)















*Credit to Jonathan Errico for finding this.

Love is a Mix Tape

It's been a good long while since a book had me tearing up within the first five pages, but Love is a Mix Tape did just that- endearing itself to me almost immediately. This book came highly recommended from my dear friend, Shannon and now I will pay it forward and highly recommend it to you (whoever you are).

It's a true love story with a soundtrack (each chapter is a different mix tape) by Rob Sheffield, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be glad I posted this blog and told you to read it. I promise. Oh, and it's a very quick read.

Go! Read lots and prosper!

A Girl Can Dream

I am stuck in a loveless relationship with Winter.

I need Spring to show up so I can have the courage to end this.

In the meantime, I've taken to looking up other seasons and locations online. I'm told that's normal. Here are some HOT pics of Tahiti (where I'd rather be RIGHT NOW). I think I'm correct in assuming a lot of you are probably feeling the same way about your relationship with Winter, so I thought you'd probably enjoy these as much as I did.