Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun

So the blogosphere is abuzz (well, not abuzz, but I’ve seen more than three different posts in the past two weeks) with stories about the North Pacific Gyre, and the attendant environmental crisis. The interest has been spurred along by this piece in the New York Times, and this photo essay of garbage-stuffed bird carcasses. It’s really dreadful stuff.

My first reaction upon reading these posts and looking at these pictures was obviously disgust and self-loathing. That should be self-evident. My second reaction, though, was “Old news.” Why? Because I read Cracked.

I’m specifically referring to the June 6, 2009 list “6 Real Islands Way More Terrifying Than The One On ‘Lost‘” (scroll down to #2). The Pacific Gyre has been haunting my nightmares since June! Welcome to my world.

Those of you who are familiar with Cracked know about all the dick-and-fart jokes and user-submitted Photoshop parodies, but their bread and butter is the daily list, like “The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters,” “6 Insane Discoveries that Science Can’t Explain,” and “7 Secrets Only Two Living People Know (For Some Reason).” If you’re not familiar with Cracked, get familiar! I’m willing to say that I learn more from reading a week’s worth of Cracked than I did in college. Sorry, Mom.