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The Pharmaceutical Industry

pharma
You don't have to drink the Cool Aid if you don't want to.

By: W.J. BeerSlugger

You know, as far as I can tell, the United States is the only country in the world to allow direct marketing of prescription medicine to the general public through television, radio and print ad’s.  You may have previously read my take on Cialis which takes on the advertising aspect in a funny way or Latisse which I think for 99% of cases is unnecessary but I think this article will take a more serious turn.

The fact that we spent 291 Billion dollars last year on prescription drugs says a lot about where we are as a nation.  It’s big business, they have lobbyists like any other big business and they get away with a little more just like big business.  Now I’m not here going all Scientology on you and telling you that prescription medications are bad and all you need is a good diet and exercise because there are a lot of great drugs out there that help people immensely, that are keeping people alive.  I don’t have a problem with the Pharmaceutical Industry until I see a prescription medication commercial on my TV.

I really don’t care if it’s Ambien, Mucinex, Lunesta,  Allegra, Viagra, Valtrex, Yaz, Zymbalta or whatever, I hate these commercials as much as I hate tampon commercials.  Why? Because the symptoms of the ailment they describe are so broad, the side effects are listed quite graphically and is it really worth having a dry mouth, a decrease in semen and possible loss of continence just to curb your restless leg syndrome?

What really gets me is that these “Products” are being market to you and I like McDonald’s or Coca Cola when they are actually pretty serious business.  “Ask you doctor about XYZ drug and see if it’s right for you”.  I mean what’s wrong with that statement?  Shouldn’t you intimate to your doctor what kind of symptoms you may be having and then the doctor make a recommendation, if applicable, for a prescription medicine? Isn’t that why the doctors went to medical school, to be able to figure this stuff out?

Instead you have patients going into examination rooms recommending the doctor put them on a medicine before the doctor even knows what’s wrong.  Millions of patients playing armchair physician because a TV ad has them convinced they need such and such medication.

That’s what’s wrong with this situation.  When you go out to eat you don’t tell the Chef how to cook, when you go to the mechanic you don’t tell the mechanic how to fix your car so why are people telling their doctors why they need certain medications without being a medical professional themselves?

It used to be that Prescription Medication commercials were allowed but you didn’t know what they were, now you know what they are, what they do,what the side effects are and why you shouldn’t take said medication if you have a history of liver or kidney disease, are pregnant or will become pregnant or have uncontrolled glaucoma.  Drug companies are putting medication literature that used to be reserved for doctors into places like the Readers Digest and magazines.  It seems the Pharmaceutical Industry wants you to make the choice instead of your doctor and why not?…  you’re pretty smart right.

Drug Companies are aware of IQs and know that only a small percentage of the population are accepted into Med School. They understand that if they want to sell more of their product, they must advertise to create a new market. Millions of dollars go into research and development of these drugs and of course they want to make a profit, after all this is America.

If it were up to me, I’d take the drug commercials off TV and print ads and leave the doctoring up to the professionals. That’s not going to happen though, not while millions and millions of dollars are at stake for the Pharmaceutical Industry and not while they keep pouring money into Washington lobbyists.

I’m surprised I haven’t seen an ad for this yet but here’s my Ritalin commercial:

“Is your child a little too rambunctious, does he or she get easily distracted in school,  have you noticed a change in grades or attitude, do they seem hyperactive at times?  Ask your doctor if Ritalin can help.”

That commercial along with some vivid imagery of children behaving while still having fun would probably up the sales of Ritalin at least 25-30%.

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Parking in Philadelphia: For Free?

parkingBy: Billy BeerSlugger

Last week I parked close about a block away from McGillan’s as I was getting the .25 cent wings and $5 pitchers I so admire.  I was somewhat surprised to see to see a shift in Center City from the old Quarter fed parking meters to the new and slightly improved “Pay and Display” method.

The Pay and Display method is better than the Quarter method because parking rates went up and you don’t always have 16 Quarters on you.  You can put your paper money into one of the pay stations and it spits out a receipt which you display on your dashboard which has a date and expiry time.

Now I do not condone counterfeiting in the least bit but it kind of popped into my head that you could probably park for free given a scanner, some Photoshop skills and a printer.  Basically what I’m saying is that you can (allegedly) scan a parking receipt and change the date and time to suit your own needs.

I noticed that there is some sort of code on the bottom that probably corresponds with the transaction ID from the pay station.  I’m guessing, at least temporarily, that Philadelphia Parking Authority workers have been trained to read these codes and determine whether the ticket is real.  However, that does not preclude you from placing an object of your choosing over said code to obfuscate it but not the date and time. To tell you the truth though I don’t think the PPA workers care enough to actually check the codes on the tickets while also checking dates and times.  I mean what is their motivation.. really?

That’s not to say that this system is fool proof, there may be other types of security enhancements I’m not aware of but I can’t really see how else to determine a real ticket from a fake ticket given the PPA worker cannot actually reach into your car and inspect it.

Further, it’s not like it’s exactly convenient to have to print out a parking receipt every time you want to go somewhere but if you know where you are going to park and will be there for at least a couple of hours then it may be worth it to take 5 minutes out of your time to manipulate your pre-made PPA Parking receipt template and print it out.

Disclaimer: Any information in this article is given purely for informational purposes and is not intended to be used to defraud any parking system. Not responsible for direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect, error or failure to perform.   At participating locations only. Apply only to affected area. If condition persists, consult your physician.

PS: if anyone tries this let me know how it turns out though I will promptly turn you into the authorities.

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Erin Andrews: Nude?

erinandrewsBy: Billy BeerSlugger

While I was never truly a fan of Erin Andrews, now that I’ve seen her nude while curling her hair I’ve changed my mind.  It wasn’t extrememly easy to track down the video as the lawyers have taken it off of pretty much every website that had a link to the video, but it wasn’t hard to find either.

And to tell you the truth I kind of feel like a pervert for watching a girl unknowingly being taped whilst curling her hair and doing some sort of leg squats.  Luckily that feeling went away after I ate a sandwich and I realized that I had just seen Erin Andrews naked whilst curling her hair and doing leg squats.

The video is pretty grainy, the lighting is terrible.  Reminds me of a video I could shoot from my blackberry which the video was probably shot from a phone or some other device.

Apparently it was shot in some sort of hotel room which begs the question, which hotel staff person tipped off or used the knowledge of Erin Andrews staying in the hotel and which room she was staying in to manufacture a peephole and use it to their (dis)advantage. I guess only time will tell but I’m not sure whether to thank the man or be disgusted with him.

I’ve seen some reports that hackers were trying to take advantage of this phenomenon but I think thats more hype than actuality.  I only found it in one place and virus scanned it so there’s a probability that this is just posturing on the part of the side of ESPN and Andrews’ lawyers.

Anyway, you’re all like “Where can I see it?”.  Well I’m not going to put it on here for legal reasons but I’m sure if you went to a site like say, the largest bit torrent tracker in the world, thepiratebay.org and searched for Erin Andrews it might show up.  And if you don’t know how to work Bit Torrent, maybe this BeerSlugger.com article can help you.

You’re welcome perverts.

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Fathers of American Beer – Frederick Pabst

You know you're major when you have a portrait like this done.
You know you're major when you have a portrait like this done.

By: Billy BeerSlugger

Frederick Pabst was a German born brewer and founder of Pabst Brewing Company.  In 1848 he emigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago.  He spent a portion of his youth as a hotel waiter and then a cabin boy on a Lake Michigan Steamer.  Later he became Capitan of one of these vessels and meet another German, Philip Best, the owner of a small but profitable brewery.

Frederick Pabst took the same route as Adolphus Busch and married the daughter of a brewery owner.  In 1862 Pabst entered a partnership with fater-in-law Philip Best and began mastering the art of brewing.  Some time later he began focusing his attention on expanding the beer market.  Soon he was producing 100,000 barrels per year.

The Brewing Company eventually became publicly traded and it grew bigger and bigger with the increasing demand.  In 1889 Pabst plunked down $30,000 to procure prime shoreline in Wisconsin’s Whitefish Bay. He developed this land into Pabst Whitefish Bay Resort where, on any given Summer day, 10,000 people would come to ride the Ferris Wheel, rent rowboats, attend concerts, eat freshly caught fish including 5 kinds of whitefish and of course drink Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer.

While Fredrick Pabst passed away in 1904 the company continued to be a leading brewer and Pabst was the first to put beer in a can in 1934.  It required an actual can opener to open and had instructions on how to do so on the side of the can (we’ve come a long way).

In 1999 the production of Pabst beer was turned over to Miller Brewing Company.  They shuttered their last brewery in 2001 in Allentown PA, where they’re closing all the factories down.  After InBev’s purchase of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, Pabst laid claim to the title of  “Largest America Owned Brewer”.  Actually they don’t actually brew the beer (Miller and Lion doing the majority) but Pabst is an American not-for-profit based in California.

Pabst is historically associated with Milwaukee (which Alice Cooper tells me is Algonquian for “The Good Land”).

The “Blue Ribbon” refers to an 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, where the beer won a contest.

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Making it Rain – The Pacman Jones Story

By: Billy BeerSlugger

You know I think Pacman Jones gets a bad rap. Arent you allowed to punch women in the face if you’re throwing money on them, AKA Making it Rain?

This video is astonishing to me.  Not only does it have Pacman, but rap stars Nelly and Jermaine Dupri.  Jermaine Dupri even gets on the DJ’s mic to tell the girls to keep dancing and not bend down to pick up the money that had just rained down on them. Boxer Zab Judah and Houston Texans WR Andre Johnson were there but not in the video.

What may be even more astonishing is how someone had a video camera inside a strip club and didn’t get kicked out immediately.  I know because I’ve tried this.

Overall it’s a glimpse into the lives of people that really Make it Rain instead of Make it Flurry.  I’ve seen a guy drop about $200 in $1 bills on a girl before but that’s nothing compared to the tens of thousands of dollars in the air that night in Las Vegas.

They say Pacman brought in a bag with about $100,000 with him into the strip club and then you wonder how some athletes go bankrupt after they’re done playing.  Then these athletes blame it on anyone but themselves: the league, the cars, the entourage and somehow we’re supposed to fell sorry for them.

Not that strippers don’t need the money, someone’s gotta put those girls through college right?  But what would possess someone to throw thousands of dollars at naked women, I could see a couple hundred or so and the novelty would wear off and it would just be wasting money after that.  Of course I don’t make millions of dollars so I might think differently if I played in the NFL or was a rap mogul.

The good thing is that the girls got paid and the bad thing is that later on that night a strip club employee was shot and paralyzed and this is why Pacman Jones got suspended from the NFL.  Not only that he continues to get into trouble as seen last season when he got into an altercation with a body guard who was appointed by the Cowboys to stop him from getting into trouble.

People are a product of their environment and from what I hear Pacman didn’t exactly have a great childhood but somewhere you have to start blaming things on yourself if shit keeps going bad.  And if he set people up to be murdered etc, the guy should be in jail.  This isn’t the Soprano’s, you can’t just go around killing people that you don’t like.

I’m sure he’ll get another shot at the NFL though, once he finds or pretends to find God and reforms himself.  What a great comeback story that would be.

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Maddenopoly

Bob McFlurry with Sports

I read an article today about the EA Sports Madden franchise that got me thinking.  A University of Michigan economics professor alleges that Electronic Arts collectively overcharged Madden buyers between $701 million and $926 million during the years 2006 through 2009.

The gist of the argument is that when EA and the NFL agreed to an exclusive license for gaming rights and I’m guessing it’s players, that it effectively monopolized the NFL digital gaming sector.  I can remember way back in 2004-2005 when Take Two’s NFL 2K game was sold I believe for $19.99.  I remember playing it with my brother, while it wasn’t as good as Madden in terms of play or functionality, the price worked.  After the exclusive license between the NFL and EA, Take Two had to stop making NFL games, blowing the Madden franchises only competition out of the water and creating a monopoly.

Further allegations suggest that EA increased prices of the Madden game after the exclusive license and gamers had to either eat the increase or not play fictional football games on Playstation, Xbox and the like.

Now there’s a couple points I want to make about this issue, one is that the NFL licensed the rights to EA exclusively.  It could have chose to license to any amount of video game makers but it chose to have only one, EA/Madden.  It’s not EA’s fault they are the only licensed developer for NFL games, however, the NFL only licensing to one company does create a monopoly even if it is considered a “Legal” Monopoly by the U.S. government.

Secondly, many people will argue it’s not a monopoly, that NFL has the right to license themselves to whoever they want. That  NFL video games are not on the level of previous monopolies like Railroads and Phone Companies even though millions of people buy Madden every year.

From Wiktionary.com

Monopoly: A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (company, cartel etc.) exclusively provides a particular product or service, dominating that market and generally exerting powerful control over it.

Seems to me to be exactly what is going on here.  One party (by agreement) exclusively providing a product and dominating the market.

Now, I’m not really complaining, I love Madden.  Each year it was far better than any of their competitors ever were and even though it’s essentially the same game every year with updated rosters and one or two play improvements, I still play the hell out of it.

Probably the point I want to stress the most is that life is all about options and while I didn’t neccesarily like the non-Madden NFL games, it’s nice to know they were there for me if I wanted them.  Now we are kind of married to Madden and if that relationship ever gets a little rocky there’s no more fish in the sea should we have to get divorced.  One of the biggest reasons for divore is money and that is what the guy in the suit against EA is claiming, they jacked up prices.

This may seem like a really insignificant thing especially to non-gamers but under the definition of a monopoly, Madden fits and if there’s anything we know about America, people will sue for the craziest of reasons even if it’s just to get their names in the paper.

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Intercourse: Mt. Joy Light Pilsner

intercourseBy: Billy BeerSlugger

I was in the beer store yesterday and was going to go economy style and essentially get the cheapest beer in there for the Home Run Derby.  I went in the cooler and picked up a case of something or other Light then I saw a sign on a stack of cases of beer for $14.  I’m open to change and we picked up a case of Intercourse Brewery’s Mount Joy Light Pilsner.  This beer was marked down from $30 a case and probably had been sitting in the store for an extended period of time but you gotta roll with the punches.

So once you get past the novelty of a beer called “Intercourse” and start drinking it, I was amazed.  What a truly great session beer. Little to no carbonation which is something I look for in a beer, extremely smooth and no aftertaste.

What was supposed to be a friend and I sitting around and watching the Home Run Derby and drinking a couple of beers turned into the whole case of empty bottles sitting on the kitchen counter this morning.

This beer is brewed and bottled in Wilkes Barre and as far as I can tell only available in Philadelphia and surrounding counties. The Brand is named after Intercourse PA, a town near Lancaster which I’ve actually seen signs for before while traveling on the Turnpike.

I found this case of beer for a steal for $14 + tax at Beer City on E. Girard Ave. i highly recommend you get a case and sample it yourself, just leave a case or two for me.

http://www.intercoursebrewingco.com/ is the shoddily put together website.

Beer Advocate rates it overall as a B-

4.2% Alcohol by Volume


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Pluck You

longbowBy: Billy BeerSlugger

Plucking the Yew!  Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible for the English soldiers to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore incapable of fighting in the future. The famous bow was made of the English Yew tree and the act of drawing the longbow was known as “plucking the yew” or “pluck you”. Much to the amazement of the French, the English won the battle and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French and saying “We can still pluck yew. Pluck you”. Since “pluck yew” is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative ‘F’ and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger salute.

It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as “giving the bird”. And yew thought that yew knew everything.

The Hundred Years War:

The Hundred Years war lasted more than 100 years, about 116 years, though there were intermittent periods of peace.  The war was actually a series of conflicts historians used to describe the Edwardian War (1337–1360), Caroline War (1369–1389), the Lancastrian War (1415–1429), and the decline of English fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc (1412–1431). Overall, the reason for fighting was for the Rule of France which was vacant due to the Capetian line of French kings inability to produce a male heir. The two party’s pursuing the throne were the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet which, after more than 100 years, the House of Valois won.

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Introducing Dom Richezza

Evel Knievel Limited Edition Nike's.
Evel Knievel Limited Edition Nike's.

New Jersey Correspondent: Dom Richezza

So I’m at the bar Saturday night in Old City, decked out in my favorite Ed Hardy t-shirt, my John Deere trucker hat (straight brim and tilted to the side), my gold chains, got my Sean John jean shorts on and of course my limited edition Evel Knievel Nike’s.

The broads at the bar are ok, nothing I can’t get for a price at the massage parlor and probably a lot more of a hassle. So I get a round of beers and start the reconnaissance mission to spot the cuties. I’m upstairs, I’m downstairs I check out the bathroom scene. I settle in on the first floor and see a group of baby girls and the one of them is kinda eying me up. She’ll look over, ill notice, then shell look away and giggle with her friends.

After I get another beer I get tired of sitting on the fence waiting for something to happen so I just go over there. Start talking up the one broad that was giving me the eyes but I wasn’t really sure if she was feeling it. My mind was a little cloudy at this point anyway from the Jager and the blunt we smoked on the ride over the bridge.

Tried to get the whole group of girls in a little parle but that didn’t seem like it was working either. At this point I’m like fuck it, I start talking to the original girl off to the side and ask her what was up. I’m telling her I came over to talk to her because she was giving me the eyes and she denies it.  Like I didn’t see her give me the “I wanna fuck you eyes from across the bar” and then start laughing.

Finally, I’m like whatever honey, you wanna play hard to get, I’m too good for you anyway and started to walk away. Then this broad starts spouting off about my outfit and Ed hardy sucks and trucker hats went out 3 years ago, my shoes are ridiculous and my friends look like they should be on Growing Up Gotti with the haircuts. So I go right back at her telling her my shoes cost more than her whole skank outfit, that the trucker hat let my head breathe  in the heat and that i’d rather have this Ed Hardy shirt than a blow job from her. Bitch was dumbfounded, didn’t know what to say, kinda walked away in a huff and a puff with her hoity toity ass.  I know she still wanted me.

I mean seriously, my shoes are limited edition and the design on the Ed Hardy shirt I love so much I’m getting it tattooed on my torso sometime after the rims on my Cutlas are paid off.

So of course this girl completely took me off my game and subsequent attempts to entertain some baby girls failed. She got me all flustered.  So I grab my boys and we head back to the car.

Were walking somewhere on Delaware Ave to the parking lot and see some douche bag and this all right looking Betty he had beside him. Right then B starts hollerin’ at this broad and the douche bag really don’t like it. Starts getting in B’s face and then Jimmy just sucker punches the dude and he’s down in a HEAP!

So you got the douchebag laid out on the street, his bitch is crying her eyes out telling me to stop kicking him and Jimmy is bitching and complaining that he thinks he just broke his hand, which later we found out that he did.

Meanwhile, were on the Ben Franklin bridge and B gets pulled over for speeding or some shit. Motherfucker gets arrested for dui, cop finds the blunt roach in the ash tray and Jimmy almost got caught with a perk 30 but swallowed it as soon as the cop told B to get out of the car.

Man I aint had a night this fun since everyone took Ecstasy in Danny Avelos backyard and we ended up getting chased by the cops naked down the streets of Maple Shade after we broke into the swim club to go skinny dipping.

B won’t be driving for awhile though. I got him my lawyers number who handled my aggravated assault case. And Jimmy got a cast and were gonna get Sal to draw some Ed Hardy shit on there. Gonna look tight.

That’s all from Jersey, ill check back with you fag ass Philly guys after the next adventure.

Peace

Dom