PBS POV | Granito: How to Nail a Dictator

In a stunning milestone for justice in Central America, a Guatemalan court recently charged former dictator Efraín Rios Montt with genocide for his brutal war against the country's Mayan people in the 1980s — and Pamela Yates' 1983 documentary, "When the Mountains Tremble", provided key evidence for bringing the indictment.

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, a documentary by Pamela Yates, Paco de Onís, and Peter Kinoy, tells the extraordinary story of how a film, aiding a new generation of human rights activists, became a granito — a tiny grain of sand — that helped tip the scales of justice. Here's the trailer -


Related Link: Guatemala: The Secret Files

The Gate | A Short Film

In today’s global environment, it doesn’t matter where you live in the world, everyone is at risk from soulless bastards selling unsafe pharmaceuticals. Counterfeit drugs defraud consumers and deny patients therapies that can alleviate suffering and save lives.

Unfortunately, in some cases, these drugs have caused great harm and fatalities.


THE GATE from Joyrider Films on Vimeo. | Hat tip: Short of the Week

Don't become a victim when buying drugs online! Using just one of the thousands of Internet sites that are anything but legitimate pharmacies can become a prescription for disaster.

Do your homework first. Visit the Partnership For Safe Medicines and learn how to find the safest online pharmacies and recognize the warning signs of a rogue online pharmacy with their tipsheet.

The Cynical Clicker

Although some people may have a cynical attitude about it, finding that one special person for you isn't too difficult. If one looks hard enough, a matching lid can be found for every cracked pot.


The Cynical Clicker from PAOLO PALAZZO on Vimeo.

Love At Any Price

What happens when love becomes each time more materialistic and, let's admit it, expensive?

Daily we become subjects to advertising describing love as something which can easily be bought, consumed and disposed. We learn that happiness is around the corner, but that is has its price.

Sound too cynical for you? This film just might be the antidote!

[Sorry, talented author made his video private] But, it can be watched at this link on Vimeo.


Love At Any Price (Kärlek Till Varje Pris) from Waway Film on Vimeo.

Brown Bag Reviews | What's In Your Bag?

I stopped by Jerry Fahrni's place today and read one his posts encouraging pharmacists to embrace their changing roles from medication dispensers to medication baby-sitters.

I think Jerry knows that, whether pharmacists like it or not, they have no control over where the future of pharmacy is headed. He knows that if they want to continue to be pharmacists, they'd better learn how to roll with the changes or perish.

I like Jerry. He's a good human being, the kind of pharmacist who thinks about others instead of just caring about himself. He knows that while changes in the practice of pharmacy probably won't affect him personally because he's (like me) on the downward side of the bell-shaped career curve, he still cares enough to provide advice to newer pharmacists so they can make better career choices.

But Jerry's supportive advice doesn't always fall on deaf ears.

There are some younger super hero pharmacists, like Andre J., one of the Green Lantern's pharmacy apprentices, who've taken it upon themselves to justify their professional worth to the non-pharmacist decision-makers and embrace MTM services with such a passion that they walk the streets providing free brown bag reviews, and educating the public on safe sex practices.


WhatsInYourBag?! - Superhero Dre from The Frei Group on Vimeo.

Interviewing Super Gono

In this much sought-after interview, our archenemy, Super Gono, discusses and describes the simple, but successful strategies that have led to his recent popularity all across Europe, and have given him the sinister super powers that he's been dreaming about for years.


INPES "Gono" from H.K. McCANN on Vimeo.

Welcome To Life

Welcome to the future of corporate-sponsored healthcare in afterlife. Please select a plan.


Source: Tom Scott | Hat tip: eBaum's World

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, even for those dysfunctional old-school dads who probably mean well.


The Terms from Jason LaMotte on Vimeo.

The Selfish Gene

Have you ever wondered why pharmacists have allowed themselves to become so fragmented or why the profession hasn't united to form just one specific organization that represents all pharmacists as a whole, and one in which all pharmacists belonged? It seems to be an impossible task.

What makes us behave so foolishly? I wonder if perhaps it's because we haven't embraced the "gene-centred view of professional evolution"? Watch this Richard Dawkins documentary which discusses selfishness and cooperativeness to see what I mean.

Dawkins coined the term "selfish gene" as a way of expressing the gene-centred view of evolution as opposed to the views focused on the organism and the group. From the gene-centred view follows that the more two individuals are genetically related, the more sense (at the level of the genes) it makes for them to behave selflessly with each other.

Therefore the "selfish gene" concept is especially good at explaining many forms of social altruism, regardless of a common misuse of the term along the lines of a selfishness gene.

Corporatocracy And Pharmacy

Before you read any further, I know what you're thinking. You think that I must be crazy or some type of conspiracy theorist. I'm just too cynical. You know that corporations don't own the politicians or control our society. The American people are in charge of our country and the politicians work for us.

You know that there's no such thing as "corporatocracy". It's just a figment of my imagination.

But nonetheless, the State of Arizona has farmed out their prison pharmacist positions earlier this year to a private company (pdf) from the State of Pennsylvania, and at a higher cost than last year.

As such, there aren't any more "cushy" state jobs, with great benefits, left for pharmacists. Those type of positions have become obsolete. Pharmacists working for the prison system are now "at will" employees whose employment is subject to the whim of those private corporate contractors.

So, wondering how privatization was working out for prison pharmacists who've been on the job for years, I decided to ask a former Arizona State DOC pharmacist about how the changes affected him personally. He didn't seem too happy about it.

Luckily though, he agreed to share a portion of his recorded exit-interview with us for posterity.

Pharmacist Job Market

It's reportedly a much tougher job market for recent pharmacy graduates. But they're stand-up people, persistent, and with good senses of humor. I'm sure that they'll all be able to use their newly gained powers to eventually find employment in the profession.


Monster.com - Superhero from Townhall on Vimeo.

Alex The EMT

All I've gotta say is - be careful out there. Stay out of the hospital.


Source: The Laugh Factory

Smoke-Free Arizona Act Redux

May 31st was World No Tobacco Day. On that day in 2006, Arizona voters passed an initiative that prohibits smoking in most public places. KAET's Arizona Horizon takes a look at the impact of the Smoke-Free Arizona Act five years after it went into effect.

Guests include Bill Pfeiffer, CEO of the American Lung Association of the Southwest and Harmony Duport who is responsible for enforcing the Act for the Arizona Department of Health Services.


Source: AZPBS | Hat tip to Cole Durkee for alerting me.

Tomorrow Is A Long Way Off

Skateboarding legend Christian Hosoi had everything: money, fame, and a very promising career.

After seven years doing crystal meth every day, he hit rock bottom and realized that he had to make a serious decision. He hopes that by telling his story, others will be inspired to make the right choice.


Source: You Are Not Alone

Southern Exposure

Listen up pharmacy students and recent grads. Here's some good advice for the near-term future.

Although I'm the poster child for being debt-free and for living below one's means, for many future pharmacists (including myself once), acquiring student loan debt is a vital necessity for attaining a college degree. Most of us couldn't get through school without it. So, I understand how worried you are about repaying your loan upon graduation. Most pharmacists are responsible people.

But, if you fall prey to those large sign-on bonuses offered by the chains to work in the rural areas of America, you just may regret your decision. I've been there myself, so I know.

But again, don't just take my word for it. See what little chop-chop has to say about it.


Southern Exposure from Tiny Hat Studio on Vimeo.

Feeling Stronger Every Day

Through all of the torn ligaments, tendinitis, pulled muscles, minor aches and pains, and hemorrhoids popping out at inopportune times, I've finally accomplished my goal of getting back into shape.

After years of just working as much as I could, and neglecting my health, I knew that it would take a long time to get back in shape. But, I swallowed my pride at how much strength I'd lost and took "baby steps" along the way, knowing that persistence would eventually pay off. And now it has.

It's been about 18 months now since I began my goal, and I knew the most-difficult part would be making myself work-out when it was the last thing I wanted to do with my free time. But I kept going and it got easier, and more enjoyable, with time. Both my strength and my stamina have returned to near personal peaks, and from this point on I see myself progressing further even faster.

My body is as hard as a rock, and I'm feeling stronger every day. Now I can't wait to get to the gym. But most-importantly, my blood pressure is ideal, my resting heart rate decreased, I've gained ten pounds in muscle-mass, I lift things easier, don't get winded as easily, sleep better, wake up with morning wood, and altogether just feel much better.

And some of the ladies have even been checking out my nice butt (and probably a few men too).

Much thanks to personal trainer, Denise, and friends for some tips and pointers on my techniques which helped prevent further injuries on the track. Your advice was greatly appreciated, but now it's time to go out on my own.