First it was horse in your lasagne, then horse in your meatballs, and organic eggs that aren't organic. Turns out that commercially produced milk, bread, and soy are actually bad for you, but now your Pepsi tastes like aborted fetus...oh, and did I mention that your horsey lasagne has ties to Cypriot arms traffickers?

 

 

Um...what?! Ha ha ha, this is a joke, right? RIGHT?

 

Unfortunately, no.

By now, unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about the "horse meat scandal" in Europe. But you may not have heard yet that horse has also apparently been found in IKEA meatballs. Maybe you're one of those people who thinks this "scandal" doesn't matter. Maybe you think people should just "get over it." Well if you are, let me explain why it absolutely does matter.

 

But, for those residing in blissful oblivion, here's a recap:

 

A French company bought beef from a Cypriot company (who got it through a Dutch company, who purchased it from two Romanian abotoires) and then sold it to a Swedish company who put it in their frozen lasagne that was then disseminated all over Europe. But somewhere along this convoluted chain the "beef" turned out to be horse...

 

So why should you care if there's horse in your lasagne? Well, the issue is not the animal it came from (although, there is reportedly phenylbutazone in the meat - this is a drug that is banned for human consumption because it reportedly causes cancer), it's about the deception that went along with it.

Not too long ago (2010) there was a massive salmonella outbreak spawned by an Iowan company (Wright County Egg) that had been a little lax in their safety and hygiene regimen (and that's a gross understatement - the company had 426 positive results for salmonella, including 73 samples that were potentially positive for salmonella enteritidis, and this had been going on at least as far back as 2008). But as with this horse meat situation, this company cared more about their bottom line than about the consequences of their criminal (yes, criminal) actions.

Frankly, I don't care about the lack of evidence; if it's been manhandled then it's probably unhealthy. Look at the health consequences of pretty much everything else that humans have tried to "improve." Milk is a good one, so is bread. And that's only the tip of the iceberg! Don't believe me? Just look at the increase in food-related diseases and allergies! People want to bitch about the obesity spike, but look at what's caused/causing it: our "improved" society has made exercise difficult and unhealthy eating easy.

 

A few weeks ago I witnessed the height of our "modern" society's idiocy: I was watching a football game and saw two commercials that made me even more disgusted with the human race (I know, hard to fathom that there's room for more disgust, but sure enough...). These commercials were back-to-back, so kinda hard to miss the absolute ridiculousness of them.

 

The first commercial started out by talking about how the Okinawans are the longest lived people on earth and it's because of their diet, but YOU can get the health benefits of the Okinawan diet by taking this pill that has the synthesized goodness of the Okinawan diet without all the yucky work! WOOHOO!

 

The second commercial started out by talking about how the Japanese are the healthiest people on earth and it's because of their diet, but YOU can get the health benefits of the Japanese diet by taking this pill that has the synthesized goodness of the Japanese diet without all the yucky work! WOOHOO!

 

*facepalm*

 

Really?

 

But that's the mentality these days; it's easier to take a pill than to change your diet. The only good thing to come out of the horse meat scandal is the greater number of people who have made the choice to prepare their own food, rather than buy pre-packaged, highly processed crap. But talk is cheap; in order to change the food industry, action is needed.

The last two months have been a bit rough on me; along with some unresolved health issues, I'm still dealing with this whole unemployment thing. So I've been a bit more angry than usual (and the excessive cold hasn't really helped, either). But, as with my last post, this one was prompted by a bizarre series of incidents from the latter half of this last week, and involving my two favorite sports teams.

 

I have been a Manchester United fan since I was about 13. I adopted them, not because they were at the top of the league, but because I have ancestors from the Manchester area, and because, even though I was looking at many teams at that time, for some reason I was drawn to United. After I came back to the US I was unable, for quite a while, to follow them, as the US wasn't airing their games at that time. But once I was able to reconnect, I have remembered why it was I fell in love with this team. (And is it any wonder? Their current mascot is an adorable devil that goes by the name of Fred, and they also had a goat at one time! - but I digress)

 

 

 

On Wednesday, in an away match to Fulham, roughly 3 mintues before halftime the stadium lights went out leaving the pitch in twilit darkness. Although blackouts aren't unheard of, this was the first time I had ever seen it happen. The lights remained off for about 11 minutes, after which the last few minutes of the first half were completed and the game resumed normal play.

 

My Devils managed to squeak through that game with a narrow win. After a trouncing the week before in an FA Cup match, Fulham were eager to win this game and gave United a real run for their money (plus, Robin has seemed a little off his game in the past two matches, hope all is well with him).

 

I have been thinking about moving to the east coast for a few years now. As you know, I'm an avid genealogist, and I've pretty much exhausted my genealogical resources out this way, so moving to the east coast would put me right in the middle of my ancestral landing spots (some of my ancestors arrived here as early as 1635). Once I finally made the commitment to move I readily adopted the home team of my chosen destination: the Baltimore Ravens.

 

 

The Ravens were named after Edgar Allen Poe's seminal poetic squawker as an homage to the man who lived, died, and is buried in Charm City (aka Harm City, and Bodymore). As you may know, the Ravens made it to the pinnacle of their sport by winning the Super Bowl (aka The Harbowl) yesterday. But shortly after halftime, a strange thing happened: half of the stadium lights when out.

 

(Cue Twilight Zone theme)

 

How weird is that? Both of my teams experience blackouts within days of each other. And both of my teams come back after, to win their respective games by narrow margins!

 

I'm not a big believer in "coincidence." I believe things happen for a reason (and yes, sometimes that reason is because you're stupid and you make back decisions), so for this to happen at a time in my life when I've been almost as depressed as I was at the worst times of my life, I can't see this as a coincidence; this happened for a reason.

 

And the take-away message I got from this is that the lights may go out (things may happen that sap your will), but you can still win - if you want it bad enough.

 

I also believe that the songs we wake up singing can give us insight. Well, I woke up with "After The Rain" in my head. Some songs speak volumes, and this one is a direct response to my experience this week. But honestly, how many "a-ha" moments does it take to get a message across?!

 

 

Sometimes we feel like giving up or giving in, when all we need to do is change tactics. Well, I've told you my motto before, and I can honestly say:

 

I am not giving up.

 

I am not giving in.

 

I am only changing tactics.