Wednesday, January 20, 2010


water rant


I’ve seen lots of people walking around with Vitamin Water lately – in its snazzy modern bottle and fun, sassy flavors. I gave in tonight and bought one because, hey, I wanted a healthy, uplifting drink that would refresh me.

I settled on “Cran-Grapefruit Balance” which the bottle said was recommended for “gymnasts, ballerinas, tight-rope walkers, people who do yoga… and/or individuals simply requiring equilibrium in their lives.” It also says “vitamins + water = all you need.” It’s even made by a place called “The Center for Responsible Hydration.”
How refreshing and clever, I thought, I would absolutely love a mixture of vitamins and water to make me feel balanced and possibly put me into a category with slim, toned ballerinas and gymnasts!

Then, about halfway through the bottle, I read the small print. And was totally grossed out.
First off, the second ingredient is crystalline fructose. That’s a fancy word for high-fructose corn syrup, pretty much the worst legal thing you can put in your body. There’s a ton of it in the drink: about 32 grams and 125 calories (your supposed to eat 0 grams of the stuff a day). It’s basically no different as drinking a can of coke, except that it doesn’t taste as good.
Secondly, it’s made with distilled water. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding whether or not distilled water is good or bad for you, but I’m not sure I want to put anything in my body that is surrounded by controversy. Not to mention that the little science I do know logically tells me the stuff is bad: because distilled water is stripped of its minerals (“soft”) it will attract vitamins and minerals from your body and you will expel them. That would mean vitamin water actually takes nutrients from you.

Thirdly, there aren’t that many vitamins in it. Way less than in a glass of orange juice.
But the thing that mad me maddest about the Vitamin Water was not that it’s bad for you (most bottled drinks are) but that it s advertising is so dishonest and devious. The drink isn’t “vitamins + water,” it’s a few vitamins + processed sugar + distilled water. And if ballerinas ran around drinking this stuff as if it were water, they’d have trouble fitting into their tutus.
It seems like people are buying this stuff because of the idea: a wonderful tasting drink that makes me think I’m hydrating and fueling my body! And the label tells me I’m smart and uses a really cute sans-serif font! At least Coke sells its soda on the idea that it’s fun to drink, not on false premises.

I’ll tell you a time-tested way to responsibly hydrate: drink some filtered tap water. It’s good for you and it’s a lot cheaper. - seswellllll x

Sunday, January 3, 2010


Things that can't be, should not be.
Expectation can derive from so much, And hatred but a step away.
However, no fault can one have in dreaming.
No sense of loss either.
Success nor goals can quantify your will,
For their eyes will see nothing but what they are told to see.
Do not try to name it. Do not try to earn it.
Things that can't be, should not be.


Even as lies flow from one mouth to another,
The intention transformed from higher,
Lacks the honest and faithful reason.
And this...Cannot be ignored.I shall not fight against it.
I will not break my will against it.
But this will take no more here on.
The wind breaks the tree when it's ready to die, Not before.
Things that can't be, should not be.
Knowing is more than enough for me.
Things that can't be, should not be.


Saturday, January 2, 2010

play, 2010

Fundamentalism (of any kind) troubles me. The world is too big and too intricate to conform to our ideas of what it should be like. In my experience i've found that most fundamentalists aren't so much attached to their professed ideologies as they are to the way in which these ideologies try to make sence of a confusing world. But the world is confusing, and just because we invent myths and theories to explain away the chaos we're still going to live in a world thats older and more complicated than we'll ever understand. So (in my opinion) many relegoius and political and scientific and social systems fail in that they try to impose a rigid structure onto what is an inherently ambiguois world.If we base our belief systems on the humble assumption that the complexities of the world are ontologically beyond our understanding, then maybe our belief systems will make more sence and end up causing less suffering. Though on a lighter note, happy new year everybody! and happy birth-day to vivaevaa.blogspot!

Drug Rant



How can we justify locking people up for commiting actions that have no demonstratable repercussions to any one else? If someones actions compromise the rights or will of another individual, then fine, punish them. But if someones actions dont affect anyone other than the person commiting the actions, then what business is it of the state's? I dont do drugs and i think that drug use is terribly destructive and dangerous, but i dont see how the coundry can arrest an adult for doing something to their own body, An enlightend country should warn it citizens about dangerous activities, but it shouldnt be allowed to lock people up for doing things to themselves. I dont want a government making decisions regarding what i can put in to or do to my own body. Because we find something distastful, it does not justify criminal declaration.