ReadTheIngredients.com by Kerri Lemoie

"The most violent element in society is ignorance." - Emma Goldman

ReadThe Ingredients.com first came online in September 2002 as a food additives database. web.archive.org did a pretty good job grabbing most of it. That wasn't the original intention but it helped me to learn PHP and MySQL starting in 2001. At the time I was employed as a web developer for Amazon and just starting to dig deeper into coding. I am a self-taught programmer (other than on-the-job training and some key mentors who have guided me through). The ReadTheIngredients site was meant to help facilitate this.

Over the years, my career has kept me busy. I retained the domain and used it mainly for email, mail list distribution and friends' email. I swapped hosts when I moved back to RI in 2003 and never was able to prioritize getting it back up and moving forward with other ideas I had in mind. Now in 2009, I'm pleased to revive it as my sandbox again and also the home-base for Lemoie Consulting.

The big question I get is "Why isn't this a recipe site?". Well - it just wasn't the original intention of the domain name. The phrase "read the ingredients" came out of a rant about the willingness of people in our society to pay attention. It was a long time ago, but I'm pretty sure it had to do with me being angry about people taking things at face value instead of seeking the truth. The rant probably also had something to do with not wanting to face the truth and the ramifications of that. I can no longer recall the entire conversation but I do know for sure that in the original unpublished invocation of the site, the Emma Goldman quote up above was on the homepage. For now, I am making some changes in how I pursue life and I'll seek those who are reading the ingredients and making progress in our world or their world because of it. I do believe we are all connected and that putting our best effort forward causes a positive chain reaction.

ReadTheIngredients lives on and has evolved again. It is my sandbox and hopefully more. Maybe even a recipe or two...