Up in Ontario

Story of Stuff demystifies consumerism

The Story of Stuff is a fascinating web video project that does a great job of stripping away the confusion about how our consumerist society work.

Stark black and white animations and direction narration tell clear, concise stories about how the global economy works. No matter what your political or economic persuasion, The Story of Stuff is timely and topical during our Christmas orgy of presents. Share love, not tokens.

See for yourself:

The whole thing is available for watching in 7 chapters from Free Range Studios on YouTube, or download it from the Story of Stuff website.

I recommend it. I know, it seems hokey, lefty, quaint. It's hard to care and have big ideas. But how else do you think we can change the world?

It has to start somewhere
It has to start sometime
What better place than here?
What better time than now?

– "Guerilla Radio" by Rage Against the Machine

Know your DNA

What would you pay to know the secrets of your DNA? To know where your ancestors originated, how you ended up with a curled tongue, if you were likely to develop a degenerative disease? Or, more provocatively, if your parents really are your parents.

23 and Me is betting their business on that curiousity. They offer a DIY DNA kit. Sign up for their service ($999 USD) and they mail you a plastic tube to spit in and send back to them.

From the saliva sample they work out your DNA and unlock ways to answer questions that get literally right to the heart of each of us.

But despite being oddly fascinated by the process and idea of knowing my genes, I'm not signing up. Sure, privacy is an issue. I'm not crazy about anyone out there having my DNA. And I always feel very cautious about seeking or receiving information that may change the way I see the world. I can never give that information back. Ever since reading Fast Food Nation I can't eat beef hamburgers or ground beef from industrial slaughterhouses.

But really, the biggest barrier right now for me to consider using 23 and Me, or any other DIY DNA service, is that I don't really know what I get for knowing my DNA. So I know my DNA: so what? Now what? My fitness level remains a moving target at the confluence of habits and genetics. My propensity to develop diseases remains.

To quote Popeye, who is sometimes quoted by my mom, 'I ams who I ams.'

The fortune cookie told me to do it

Have you ever wondered who writes the fortunes inside the fortune cookies? Wonder no more.

The New Yorker has a fascinating profile of "a vice-president at Wonton Food, Inc., in Long Island City, Donald Lau manages the company’s accounts payable and receivable, negotiates with insurers, and, somewhat incidentally, composes the fortunes that go inside the fortune cookies, of which Wonton is the world’s largest manufacturer."

Is it insane that writing the fortunes lives on the corner of his desk, as a small responsibility among many? I suppose it just proves that the most important criteria for Chinese restaurants or suppliers in sourcing fortune cookies is supply chain management, distribution network, pricing and other miscellany of business-to-business transactions, not the quality of the fortunes. Is anyone else disappointed to learn this?

Be sure to read through to the end of the New Yorker article for a great payoff, where the fortune writer explains his own axiom for life.

Thanks to Jason Oke for the fortune cookie image.