rants and observations

On March 31, 1984 Steve Fonyo started his Journey For Lives cross country run for cancer. He finished the run on May 29, 1985 on a beach in Victoria, raising $14 million dollars for cancer research and becoming a national hero. He met the pope, Diana Princess of Wales, George Harrison and other celebrities and politicians. Things have changed for Steve Fonyo

You may have received the ‘prescription drugs’ email from a friend or co-worker that outlines drug price discrepancies from one pharmacy to another. I tend to ignore those type of emails as a general rule but I had occasion to test the accuracy of the viral email’s claims recently and thought I’d post my findings.

The email in question was titled ‘Costco Prescriptions’ and included a variety of prescription drugs with consumer pricing, cost of active ingredient and percentage of markup. Including the ingredient pricing and the markup is actually quite deceiving because drug companies don’t really charge for the drug itself but rather the cost of development and marketing. Big bucks in the drug world and we, the consumer, pay for it. Through the nose and other orifices.

Newspapers have obviously changed in the last 63 years. The print and paper quality, size, typeface and layouts are quite different in The Vancouver Sun but the most glaring difference is the reporting style. The photo above was published Tuesday, September 2, 1947 in the second section, top and centre. It shows the victims and onlookers at a motor vehicle accident on King George Highway, bleeding and battered bodies still in the car. The driver is obviously dead, blood draining from his nose.

Pop music officially entered the ‘complete shit‘ phase of it’s existence with the recent appearance of The Black Eyed Peas on the American Idol Gives Back broadcast. Don’t believe me? Take a gander at the video below but be sure to have a small bucket handy while you watch this piece of visual and aural excrement.