Oh The Things You Can Fill

Oh the things you can fill
For the folks who are ill.
With your bright shiny spatula
Oh, what a thrill.

Besmocked and bedecked out
In Pharmacist clothes
Knowing all of the things
That a Pharmacist knows.

You're quick and efficient,
You're sharp and inventive.
It also just happens
You're anal retentive.

You read slips of paper
To get the specifics
From doctors who scribble out
Strange hieroglyphics.

Could it be Celebrex?
Or maybe Celexa
It might be a Z-Pack
Then it might be Zyprexa

And you bill by computer
AWP
Minus 15 percent
Plus a buck twenty-three.

You fill and you bill
And you feel so dejected
'Cause half of your claims
Are being rejected.

So you pick up the phone
While computerized voices
Keep you waiting forever
Explaining the choices.

Press 1 for directions.
Or maybe it's 2.
Push 'pound' for a message
It sucks to be you.

Then you pour out the pills
On your pill counting tray
And you count, and you count
And you count pills all day.

You count them by fives
To the rhythm and beat
Of the songs that you learned
On Sesame Street

And the customers gripe
And complain while you're fillin'
Could it be the whole world
Is on 'Grouchacillin?'

My pills are too big
And my co-pay's too high!
Take it four times a day?
I cannot comply!

Then you scarf down your sandwich
In one single bite
Which if done in a restaurant
Would be impolite

But a Doc's on line one
Mrs. Jones on line two
She has 500 pills
Will you cut them in two?

And the drug reps, they tap
On your counter, tap, tap.
To give you their spiel
Plus a load of free crap!

There's pens and there's post-its
There's free stuff galore
But the really cool clock's
For the doc who's next door

Then ol' Mrs. Snifflemore
Gives you that smile
And you know once again
That it's almost worthwhile

So you hang up your smock
And put down your free pen.
Tomorrow you'll do it
All over again.

Oh the things you will fill
For the folks who are ill.
With your bright shiny spatula
Oh, what a thrill!

- PharmD Seuss

Hate Crimes

Capital offenses are capital offenses and should be treated as such in all cases without attempting to read your mind as to your intent when you performed such crimes. All (black,white,gay,straight,male,female,etc.) people who assault another person should be treated the same. If you don't feel the current punishments are adequate, see to it that the punishments are changed, and handed out evenly. Don't begin to think you can read someone's mind.

"We hold these truths to be SELF-EVIDENT, that ALL men are created equal..." (emphasis mine).

Only when we as a collective actually hold true to treating all people equally will the outliers see their actions as aberrant and abhorrent. No special treatment for any group, and no restrictions either. Do away with any laws that restrict or assist others based on anything but their factual legal nature, and not on relative moralisms.

From Where You Are

"Every year, nearly 6,000 teenagers go for a drive and never come back," -Dennis Haysbert, Allstate spokesman

From Where You Are

Caution: Newly Licensed

Burden of Proof

Often in discussions, one side doesn't want to have to put forth any effort to defend their position. They use terms like "burden of proof" or start invoking formal fallacies in order to step back and put all the work on their opponent's shoulders. The fact is, the burden-of-proof meta-argument is just an excuse people use to pretend that they can make their case without having to defend it. Invoking formal fallacies is usually a substitute for thinking. It makes no sense to make rules about who only has the burden of proof in an argument. You want to know who has the burden of proof? The claimant. Except that both sides are the claimant, since they each claim a specific, if opposing, view. One claims something, the other claims the opposite. Being a 'skeptic,' or not believing something to be true is also a claim.

You can be skeptical that the Earth is round, so it's really not about who's the skeptic, per se. Also, whether a fact is phrased in a positive frame (is, does) or a negative frame (is not, does not) is incidental and often interchangeable. And yes, the people who are claiming the Earth is round are also claimants. Imagine that, two sides both having the burden of proof. The burden of proof really isn't even about who's making the claim; it's about who feels the necessity to convince the other of their position. Think about it.

Bleach And Ammonia

I researched this to help my daughter with a project she was working on, and want to save the information somewhere so I can reference it wherever I may be. Mixing bleach and ammonia is dangerous, don't try this at home.

Bleach and Ammonia
There are several ways household ammonia and bleach can react. All of them are dangerous. Bleach is about 5% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), and household ammonia is a solution of 5-10% ammonia (NH3) in water (H2O).

Reaction 1
If you have more ammonia than bleach, the ammonia reacts directly with the bleach to form hydrazine (N2H4), a component in rocket fuel, which, in addition to being extremely poisonous, can burn even in the absence of air. It explodes on contact with rust.

2NH3 + NaOCl -> N2H4 + NaCl + H2O

Reaction 2
If you have more bleach than ammonia, the bleach hydrolyzes (breaks down by reaction with water) into sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl), which in turn decomposes into chlorine gas (Cl2) and nascent oxygen (both poisonous). The chlorine gas in turn reacts with the ammonia to form chloramines, also very poisonous.

NaOCl + H2O -> NaOH + HOCl
HOCl -> HCl + O (monatomic oxygen)
NaOCl + 2HCl -> Cl2 + NaCl + H2O
2NH3 + Cl2 -> 2NH2Cl (chloramine)
4NH3 + 2Cl2 -> 2NHCl2 (dichloramine)
6NH3 + 3Cl2 -> 2NCl3 (trichloramine or nitrogen trichloride)