Side Effects Include...

I'm fascinated by the side effects of pharmaceuticals. I've noted in the past that if "coma or death" aren't mentioned, they're just not trying hard enough. (I want to help you so badly I'm willing to kill you to do it!) I'm not even sure what they're treating; psoriatic skin conditions, diabetes, heart conditions, depression? Given the downside (to coma or death), I have to think it isn't male pattern baldness. Erectile dysfunction? Would you risk death just to - wait, what am I saying? Of course you would.

I heard a new one last night: Unusual urges.

The Big Lie

Naming is powerful. It imputes meaning. Something to be taken with serious consideration. That's rarely the case, of course. Branding. Marketing. The Big Lie. It makes it feel shiny and new like a luxury automobile carrying more cameras and compute power than the Apollo 11 lunar lander, or a pasta maker that's also a juicer, or an ointment that makes you look like you're fourteen years old again. Do those side-by-side photos really look different to you? 

When did people become so resistant to facts? 

Like… Always? I see you, Galileo.

Chargebacks and Returns

As a pre-teen in Sunday School, I never got the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Maybe because I was the good son. "What the hell, Dad?!?! You know Eric is a loser!" Well, I didn't say that out loud, of course, because saying "What the heck, Dad?!?!?" really wouldn't have carried the same weight.

I truly was the good son.

Are We There Yet

We're not there yet. 

Are we ever? 

I don't know who it was who first said that life was a journey, not a destination, but it's clearly another example of how the truth is a bumper sticker that makes you say, "I knew that." 

Let's Keep Looking

I think aliens visit us on planet Earth on the regular. They just don't stay.

A 2020 Christmas Story

Walking Into a Bar During the Pandemic

 A Democrat, a Republican, and an Independent walk into an otherwise empty bar; the Democrat and Independent wear masks, the Republican is wearing a MAGA hat.