You already know you can't believe everything you read (except on here, of course). Now, you can't believe everything you see -- at least not if you happen to be looking through one of the five kaleidoscopes set up outside the Chicago River Museum (376 N. Michigan) today.

The Friends of the River have partnered with the Consulate General of Switzerland to give Chicagoans a view of what the Chicago River could look like in a cleaner, more swimmable future (each of the five steel, Swiss Cross- shaped kaleidoscopes -- free to use -- will feature superimposed swimming structures and other images). What do the Swiss have to do with it? They cleaned up their rivers through a variety of environmental policies (sometimes it pays not to be neutral).

So feel free to dream today of a summer day spent splashing around in the river -- just don't get carried away, because we're not there yet.