Side Effects



Pharmaceutical Drugs have an average of 70 side effects or 'drug reactions', with some as high as 525. The listing of these side effects is done to prevent lawsuits against the manufacturers rather than to protect people from them and I believe mainly done to advertise the drug. The most complex labelling can be seen in drugs for psychiatry and neurology, primarily for anti depressants.

The commonly accepted reason for stating all these side effects is for liability however I think it goes deeper than that. It's repetition, attention and acceptance. The side effects are repeated endlessly every time you see mention of the drug. This allows your brain to be conditioned, through repetition, to associate the drug with the condescending speech patterns and intonations of the speaker. Notice their hushed, deep tones and the authoritarian manner of speaking. The next phase of repetition is the daily barrage of advertising for these drugs. They club you over the head with it repeatedly, day after day.

The attention factor comes into play with the glowing scenes of beaches, vacations and trips to New Zealand. This is pure cognitive dissonance- showing something completely unrelated to what is being presented to get you to accept the original intention. Cognitive dissonance theory states that we have an inner drive to hold all of our attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid disharmony, cognitive dissonance occurs when there are conflicting beliefs or behaviors that lead to behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance , i.e.- taking the advertised drug. Your attention is captured by showing you scenes of life that everyone either wants or aspires to attain. Long walks on the beach, birthday parties and beautiful scenery are all part of the set up for the cognitive dissonance they are laying on you.

Through repetition and attention you have now unwittingly accepted the drug proposition in your subconscious mind. The side effects have now become part of the packaging and the repetition of them only further reinforces it. The stating of side effects is done to further assault your mind, cause cognitive dissonance and get you to subconsciously accept the idea of finding out more about the drug. This is done intentionally through statements such as ..may cause internal bleeding...bruising...a tendency to gamble...uncontrolled sexual urges.....death...these are all shock value statements designed to create fear and grab your attention. Your brain wants to restore harmony from these vile conditions through cognitive theory and thus accepts these conditions as something that has to be dealt with- whether they apply to you or not. I believe that the side effects and the stating of them are more important in the advertising of the drug than the drug itself. The call to action is in the side effects as well as the attention gained through cognitive dissonance and repetition. The fear created through these aberrant advertisements is palpable and a primary motivator to get you to "..ask your doctor", about the latest big pharma drug push. The drug cartels of the 80's and the Mexican cartels of today have never been this ingenious in pushing their chemicals onto an unwary public.

Aphorisms

Aphorism: 

1: a concise statement of a principle

2: a terse formulation of a truth or sentiment : adage

-Expect the worst, pray for the best, be happy somewhere in 
between.

-Sleeping until 10:30 is not wrong if you are awake from 3:05 until 5:15. 

-Chance favors the prepared, the prepared usually have a hidden advantage.

-Most interactions with people are about one person trying to get over on the other except in the rare cases of real communication, typically with a spouse or loved one in which case they might still be trying to get over on you..

-The Dalai Lama makes infinitely more sense than the Pope - and he's got a cooler robe.

-Hardship does not make you a better person - just more irritable.

-A valid drivers license is second in importance only to a roof over your head.

-Aggressive stupidity is worse than mental retardation.

-A good attorney is worth the price, a bad one will make you want to commit more crime - against the bad attorney.

-There are no guarantees in life, the best you can do is enjoy the ride- and hope that when your fuel light goes on you make it to the gas station.

-Organized religion is great for keeping people in line- for those that need to be kept in line.

-If unsure, flush twice.

-There are very few absolutes and a very large grey area in between.

-People that use speakerphone are some of the most annoying on the planet.

-Fear takes precedence where experience lacks.

-Going to court is usually a negative experience and to be avoided if at all possible.

-A Syrian merchant once told me "..when doing business in Syria, they F you...at least in the United States they give you a kiss while they are F 'ing you..."

-When your wife comes home and tells you how much money she saved, she is really telling you she overspent.

-Anyone can communicate telepathically -  you just have to live together long enough and in the same space, the problem is not being able to hang up.

-Don't believe the hype.

-A negative attitude can most times be described as being realistic and people have a hard time dealing with reality.

-Money comes and goes - that's why they call it cash flow and calling a plumber might impede the flow.

-It's not what you say - it's how you say it - and when it's said.

-When someone says "huh" or "what'd you say?" - Never repeat yourself, they heard you the first time, be silent and it will register.

-Republican and Democrat are different sides of the same coin - managed and funded by those with the coin.

-Most thing's don't work out - it's how you deal with it that defines you - and realizing the aforementioned.

- A brisk walk through the woods is better than any self help manual ever written - and less dangerous than psychiatry.

-When helping others, be prepared for them to take it out on you- your help might be seen as an attack and they will respond in kind.

  

  

Recruiters

Recruiters for employment are some of the most useless people on earth. They perform a function that could easily be eliminated and given to anyone else in a corporate setting. The idea of a recruiter is in itself flawed and should be eliminated from our consciousness.

The recruiters 'job' is to recommend or eliminate you from a potential position within a company. This is not the case and is the farthest thing from the truth. The problem is that they are so afraid of their job being eliminated that they have no ability whatsoever to make an honest or fair appraisal of anyone that sits in front of them. They are a 'go between' ..an ill defined way station... an unnecessary waste of space and human capital. They are overwhelmed with resume's and the self important nature of their position allows them to actually believe they are capable of making a decision- any decision- on the ability of an applicant to succeed. We would all be immensely better off by running CV's through a scanner that picks up key words, phrases and numbers to be forwarded to a VP or a manager capable of hiring. The recruiters job can be reduced to a simple pre-programmed document scanner which would be better suited to the task.

The personality of a recruiter lends itself to actually believe they perform a viable function. They are delusional at best and wrong most of the time. Internal corporate recruiters are the most delusional and exist primarily as a write off for a company and a head count for medical benefits. Going around them to get an interview is a guarantee of not getting hired, for their self importance has not been properly recognized and placated to. I have seen recruiters "sit in" during interviews which they had no part in setting up in order to be able to feel that they are an integral part of something that was done for them. I have visited corporate recruiters in their little offices and wondered how they justify full time positions and what it is they really do other than fielding phone calls and performing HR functions. These people are actually given their own offices to continue being as useless as possible.

External recruiters are also equally useless and at best, bad actors and as wrong as the day is long.
The typical external recruiter is misinformed, yet tells you he has the ability to find opportunities that match your background and skill level. Ask one of these useless idiots if they read you resume' and they will eagerly respond with "yes..and it looks impressive.." Chances are, they glanced at it and saw an industry they might be able to sell you into like a used car. Be prepared for questions to be asked of you that are on page one of your CV, then to be given  a lame excuse about how 'busy' they are and how many positions they are filling. There is no requirement to be able to read above a sixth grade level to be a recruiter. They simply fake it and never make it. A favorite tactic of the external recruiter is the phone interview. This increases their self importance exponentially...they really believe that they are conducting an interview, when in actuality, they are reading a script that took them six months to master. Thank god the script is only five questions- any more than that and they might have an aneurysm. Don't expect the recruiter to get back to you or give any feed back about your scripted interview, that is well above their pay grade. When called and questioned about their little role play fantasy, they will get nervous, begin stammering and send you an email someone else wrote for them.
I have a great deal more respect for a toll bridge worker than a recruiter, they actually perform a useful function. I don't think recruiters would have the skill set necessary to be a toll taker. It would require a very long re-training for them and a lot of them they probably wouldn't make it.

The obvious solution is to completely do away with any notion of the job title "Recruiter". All recruiters should be mandated to meet once a week in the county or jurisdiction where they live and begin learning to read and write, as well as to apologize for their existence to all who have come into contact with them. Since their occupations have been so harmful to the general public, they should be required to make amends through a mandatory 50 hours of community service.  Any individual that can prove a case whereby a recruiter caused him or her financial harm through incompetence should be able to sue the recruiter in a court of law at no expense to the plantiff. Our society will be much better off and we can all begin to arise from the brain dead sleep of our human energies being tied to aggressively stupid and useless sub humans known as recruiters.

Drive Thru

Drive Thru

  A truly American idea is the drive thru. We have neither the time nor the patience to accept anything less! We need service and we need it now! Whoever came up with the idea is a genius. A holiday should be named in his honor. The only problem is that the natural progression of the drive thru has been stalled. There are many other uses for it.

The logical extensions of the drive thru should apply to other areas of our lives. Psychiatry, for example, would be a great business in which to incorporate a drive thru. Simply drive up, state your issue or problem to the first window, pull up to the second window and get your advice and prescription. I envision these drive thru's as relaxing and ambient...Music can be playing and finely landscaped, calming, drive paths would work well. If your issue or problem requires more than 10-15 minutes to resolve, you can pull into the 'extra assistance' lane and spend an extra 10 minutes talking it through. There can be water vapor and misting to cool people off during the summer heat.  Get your prescription and get back on the road, no time to waste! The drive thru shrinks can charge much less for their services. Anger issues? $20, pay at the window. Lithium Tuesdays! Two for one! Got depression? Mondays are our 'Depressive Mondays' specials, all anti depressants are half off and counseling is only $25 for a full 15 minutes! Never leave your car..

Attorneys would benefit greatly and more of them will have work if legal drive thru's were opened. Their billboards can now read  "15 minutes or less, legal problem solved!"  McLaw can be the nomenclature of the day. After all, how much time do attorneys really spend on your case anyway? Over half of it is dumped on a paralegals desk,  the rest of it goes to the billing dept. "Billable hours" can be a thing of the past. Give us billable minutes instead! Much more efficient and practical. The same configuration of a two window drive thru system will work. The drive paths can look formal, like  going through a court house and up legal stairs... Drive up, state your legal issue, choose from a menu of legal defense strategies and their appropriate cost. Work out a payment plan or get a discount for cash at the second window. Get your court date and hit the road, done.

Drive thru schools can replace ineffective public schools and urban killing zones. Stick junior in the front seat, drive up and let him get his lesson plan for the day. Let junior talk to a teacher for 15 minutes, get it straight and its off to get the homework done! The internet can fill in the blanks. This will teach the young ones the true importance of time.  Let them know there is no time to waste, you must be quick to succeed. Once again, the two window method would work well for the drive thru school. There would be no room for misbehavior, no idle time and a sense of urgency can be ingrained in their young minds. Sporting activities could be ordered through the school drive thru and the tykes can be dropped off at the practice field, giving you more time in your day.

City planners will be able to create entire communities whereby you never have to leave your car. Drive thru groceries, gas, drive thru church's - the possibilities are endless. Instead of golf cart communities, drive thru communities. The extra CO2 produced by idling vehicles will only add to the the vegetation surrounding the drive thru service providers. A lush and tropical world, inhabited by smarter, quicker people that are driving thru the mundane aspects of their lives to a less cluttered life awaits us all in the drive thru community.

Transaction Wizard

What does it cost you to leave your house? What is the average cost of leaving your home? I think if we really look into it it would surprise you. Take into account the gas, the average amount of potentially useless items purchased, your time and stress to deal with individuals less qualified than yourself and you will see a staggering amount. Imagine shaving 25% off that total each year, it would probably be enough for a vacation. Savings aside, what about your time and peace of mind?

Living a less transaction filled life is a good thing and is certainly working for me. It's not just about saving money although that is a major part of it, it's about not having to perform a transaction - any transaction. An ATM withdrawal, buying laundry detergent, getting lotto tickets - are all times that can be better spent. Every transaction you perform makes you think about bank balances, bills that are due, income not yet received, and cash remaining...It's an awful thing to have to think about! If we focus on less transactions in our life we will be infinitely happier. "Running" to the store is an activity that needs not to happen. I'm not running to anything except to escape a fire. Try going a day or even two or three without performing any transactions. You will feel like you're on vacation, if you can do it. I have only been able to get to a day and a half so far. Internet transactions also apply, even if you are not physically there you are still performing a transaction, still experiencing the stress filled images mentioned above.

My transaction per day limit is about three, maybe four if absolutely necessary, after that I just shut down. After three or four transactions in a day I feel that I am being nickled and dimed to death. If you're not careful, you will be nickled and dimed to death. It's a death of a thousand transactions, kinda of like carbon dioxide, odorless and silent yet certain death. Hey, lets grab lunch! , OK, there goes $40 bucks...oh, the dog needs food, alright, $22..oh, the printer needs ink....$15  for black only,,,it's endless. Bam, I just spent $100, after the gas, a victim of being nickled and dimed to death.

Performing less transactions is certainly a solution to this madness however the severe cases of transactional addiction require more robust means. The transactionally challenged could benefit from a transaction meter placed near your front door. This meter would be unobtrusive and would record the exact amount of money spent each time one leaves the house. I envision a touch-less card swipe on the frame of the front door that will record all costs associated with leaving the premises.  All you have to do is walk through it  and it reads your transaction card.You simply enter the mileage from the trip when returning and all purchases are downloaded from your credit or debit card, cash entered seperateley. The transaction wizard calculates MPG, maintenance costs, purchases made, etc and displays them on your mobile phone or to email. You now know without any doubt, what it costs you to leave your house! Imagine getting a reminder email saying "..Congratulations!  You have performed 13 less transactions this week and saved an average of $52 ! Good for you!" Historical purchasing and traveling patterns can be utilized for more accurate assessment.  What a great conversation to have! Wow hun...your little trip to the store cost us $360...How do you know? Transaction Wizard baby, Transaction Wizard...

The New Normal

Normal - a : according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle b : conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern. 


The definition of normal does not include the actions of people today, the workforce or the general attitude of the populace. We are 180 degrees from any possible conception of normal and living in a New Normal that everyone seems to have accepted and embraced.


The first example of this is what I call 'shutting down'. From a corporate to a personal response, the new normal for communication is to simply shut down, not respond and stare blankly.  Prospective employers use this tactic to let you know they are not interested in you. In the past, formal rejection letters were sent to indicate to you to move on and look elsewhere, now it's just a total silence. Total silence - after suited up interviews, power point presentations, documented research and extended, written background explanations are all part of the New Normal. After hours of work, miles of driving and endless phone interviews, the New Normal is to simply never contact you- ever again. Even when the employer is called, texted , emailed and begged for a yes or no answer - they simply shut down and do not respond.  Delta airlines also uses this tactic in the Atlanta Airport to indicate to people that they cannot fly - they shut down- for days at a time. Banks and financial services are also guilty of this lame tactic. They will hound you for days in regards to a payment, you make the payment and don't see evidence of it for days.. While in the employment of a company, the idea of seniority can be achieved within only two years! If you are still around after two years, you are a senior employee! The New Normal for tenure in the workplace has gone from 10 years to two, kind of like the new math, 2 = 10. Ask Continental Airlines where all lost baggage goes, they will tell you- a warehouse in Texas. Ask the TSA where the millions of dollars worth of missing scanners are - they will also tell you - a warehouse in Texas. This warehouse in Texas seems to be a magical place where all lost items end up. I so want to seek out this mystical place and explore it for myself! Maybe all of our tax payer supported bail out money is there too, it is missing after all.. It is the warehouse of the New Normal, a half ass excuse for a place that probably doesn't even exist.



The New Normal is evident in retail and consumer services also. "Pre" tipping - tipping before the service is rendered is ridiculous. A 'pre' tipping requirement should force you to not leave a tip. That would do away with the nuisance. New Normal retail examples include improving something that needs no improvement, like the 'new' Coke - what a disaster.  Not being able to get a decent lunch for five or six bucks is also part of the new normal. You better have at least $10 - $15 if you want to eat lunch. Doctors that put people on Xanax instead of good old fashioned Valium is a deadly New Normal mistake. Xanax has been involved with a very high percentage of drug overdoses in the last few years and is way more dangerous than Valium. It has been proven to cause deadly seizures when you stop taking it and I know people that have been put on Valium to get off Xanax. Renting a house instead of owning has become the New Normal. Almost half of all house dwellers rent. Who can blame them? Every mortgage under the sun is upside down and getting the bastard banks to give you a loan is next to impossible. The New Normal is becoming the New Europe.


In the realm of personal interaction with people, the New Normal will incite rage and cause your blood to boil. Anyone that uses a ring back tone, has a 'song' or 'melody' as their cell phone greeting or has their brat kids screaming into the phone to tell you they are not there, needs to have all phone privileges taken away for at least six months. These abominations have no business using any communication device. Customer service representatives who continually apologize also need to be done away with. One apology is enough. I once counted five apologies in 2 minutes so I hung up. Apologizing continually is a way to insult your intelligence in the New Normal world by placating you to death. The New Normal is also making us stupider by the minute. The 'auto correct' feature that is used while texting a message has been proven to dumb people down and make them worse spellers. Not having to read, comprehend and spell in a half way decent manner has become part of the New Normal. If you like this, then you will enjoy the rapidly approaching day when we simply grunt and groan at each other. I honestly believe the attention span of the average person is about 4.2 seconds. After that, its just a brain dead flat line waiting for the next bright color or loud noise to react to. While walking my dog the other day, I waved at a neighbor whom I know and have spoken to in the past. He stared at me like I had three eyes, a sad victim of the New Normal. He just stood there, in a catatonic state, staring...Maybe his baggage was sent to a warehouse in Texas, he's withdrawing from Xanax and he is an employer who is simply practicing his new method of communication while using auto correct in a text and being apologized to. I don't like him anymore.

Monday Manifesto

Monday is analog, Tuesday through Friday is increasingly digital. There is no escaping this, it simply is and will remain so for the rest of human history. The analog world harkens back to rotary dial phones, video tapes and card catalogs in libraries. It is slow, somewhat painful and irritating. It finds you waiting for a response and most things going wrongly.


People are slower to respond and difficult to deal with on Mondays. No one wants to be there, everything is forced and seems unnatural. Your grand hopes of getting things done early in the week are usually dashed by the inaction of others. It's like that annoying busy signal on a phone or accidentally calling a fax line - typical Monday. By all means do not go to a bank, post office or any government office on a Monday. You will experience hell on earth if you do. The poor souls who occupy these wretched wastelands have not yet awoken into their true hypnotized states yet...At least when under hypnosis they can respond through their programming. A three day weekend with a Monday off is more reassuring than taking a Friday. It's psychological- something about not having to face that god-awful Monday makes our hearts leap for joy!


"First, know thyself", does not even come close to warding off the unseen sharpshooters of the universe on a Monday. They are ever present and they have you in their sights. It is their time to attack and bring you down. It doesn't matter how much 'rest' you got over the weekend..It doesn't matter that you limited your alcohol intake and are not hungover...you'll get whats coming to you, it's Monday. Oh, you think you're 'prepared' and ready to go? Think again. The vortex is swirling and Monday is the time when you are closest to it. It's like being near a black hole when space and time are elongated as you are  spaghetti-fied and stretched into oblivion. Why did I just spill my coffee and forget how to drink ?- It's Monday. Why do I hear Billy frigin Joel while on hold? - yep, it's Monday.


The solution to our Monday dementia is simple and within reach. It requires a re-working of the Gregorian calendar which was forced upon us and inaccurate anyway. The answer is to simply eliminate Monday altogether. Take it out, give it its final resting place and destroy the useless and loathsome day once and for all! It makes perfect sense- we have an even number of days off, why should we not have an even number of working days? Two off four on - not two five. The current week is out of balance with our natural harmonious state- it is anathema! No wonder why we are so dysfunctional on a Monday! A seven day week with 5 working days and two days off is unbalanced to our nature!

Eliminating Monday will leave us with an additional 52 days in the year which equates to an additional 8 weeks and 4 days.  We then add an additional week to the first eight months of the year and extend December 31st to December 35th - it's the holidays- people will appreciate the extra three days off, accounting a day for New Years.
As the days get shorter after the summer solstice, the months of the year will correspondingly get shorter thereby matching our natural rhythms of the seasons in the year. Everyone will feel better and be more productive when we discard the chaos of the impostor calendar foisted upon us.


The winter months will be easier to tolerate with five weeks in them instead of four. For the working man or woman this means five pay checks per month as opposed to four thereby increasing monthly income. Savings rates and economic productivity would increase as well as overall peace of mind and general happiness. An extra four days off during the holidays will also increase the psychological well being of the general public and help people recover from the over consumption of the season.


The simple elimination of a most foul and useless day can change the world and make it a better place. Restoring the natural order and balance to our living days is necessary in this tumultuous time. We must smash the chains of externally imposed time control in our lives and restore the sanctity of time in the human experience. We must destroy Monday.