Four Horsemen | The Age of Consequence

After the greatest financial heist in our history, the modern day 'Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse' continue to ride roughshod over the people whom can least afford it. They are -

One - a rapacious financial system.

Two - escalating organized violence.

Three - abject poverty for billions.

Four - exhaustion of the earth’s resources.

And they continue to gallop unchallenged because we're not questioning the accepted norms.

The documentary, Four Horsemen, is the debut feature from director Ross Ashcroft which reveals the fundamental flaws in the economic system which have brought our civilization to the brink of disaster. 23 leading thinkers – frustrated at the failure of their respective disciplines – break their silence to explain how the world really works. Find some time to watch this.

Here's the trailer. You can watch the entire documentary online at Renegade Economist.

In God We Trust

It's always after the fact. Can you imagine spending 25 years working for, and enabling, the person who committed the largest financial fraud ever perpetrated (for now), and not even being aware of it?

Premiering at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 17-28, In God We Trust follows Bernard Madoff's personal secretary, Eleanor Squillari, in the days after the world discovered his dark secret.

Reframing the conversation around Madoff’s case through the story of one woman’s insatiable search for the truth, directors Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek present Squillari’s findings, and Squillari herself, in this highly personal take on the financial crisis. Here's the trailer -

Pizza Verdi for April Fools

Source: Gary Nadeau

Why Do We Cheat?

Lance Armstrong’s confession has us thinking about cheating in all aspects of our lives. Cheating is a familiar story. First comes the cheating, then comes the lying about it, and then eventually comes the confession, most often because that person has been caught.

So why do we cheat? To answer that question for us is David DeSteno, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University and the author of Out of Character: Surprising Truths About the Liar, Cheat, Sinner and Saint Lurking in All of Us.

Source: Katie Couric Show

The Six Dollar Fifty Man

It's hard to look after yourself in the playground when you're different.

Set in 1970s New Zealand, The Six Dollar Fifty Man follows Andy, a gutsy eight year-old boy who lives in a make believe superhero world where his imagination allows him to perform extraordinary physical feats, to deal with playground bullies.


The Six Dollar Fifty Man from NZ Shorts on Vimeo.

Fredo The Pharmacist

I see the profession of pharmacy as a brotherhood, one big family, but sometimes dysfunctional.

And like some dysfunctional families may do in order to fully understand the root cause of a problem before taking any action, we first try to address an individual family member's bad behaviors by calling them in to discuss it with one of their brothers from the state board of pharmacy.

But that doesn't always work to correct the problem.

As what can happen in many big families, there's often a competitive jealousy driving some members to try to prove their individual superiority, regardless of the potential consequences, that sometimes gets in the way of the entire family's best interests and may lead to their elimination from the family.

But don't just take my word for it, see for yourself.

Fitness Over Fifty

I worked out at the downtown YMCA (across the street from ASU) the other day, and while it's never my intention to compete with anyone else but myself, there's always that one dumbass in his early twenties that gets upset that I can lift more than him, and hatefully views me as "the competition".

Foolish jealousy is a loser's game my young friends. If you only knew that it's exactly the opposite of what you're thinking. I want you to embrace weightlifting, and be like me once you reach my age. If you can outperform me in any weightlifting category, I'm happy for you and your accomplishment.

Don't be jealous of us older guys. Reaching fifty-years of age doesn't mean a death sentence, or that I should be expected to "give up" and act (what you consider) my age. As long as anyone stays off the "juice", a little persistence in the weight room can go a long way in leading a healthy life, living longer, and looking more youthful in middle-age. If I outperform you, don't blame me, it's your fault.


Fitness Over Fifty with Steve of Club Fitness New York from Mighty Productive on Vimeo.

We Will Forget

Fueled by his religious beliefs, Robert Fitzpatrick spent over one hundred thousand dollars of his life savings on subway ads warning that the world would end on May 21st, 2011. A lesson in humanity, the short film We Will Forget, follows Robert in the weeks leading up to the 21st, and ultimately to NY Times Square where he awaits the rapture with fellow believers, onlookers, and naysayers.


We Will Forget from Garret Harkawik on Vimeo.

Hombres Armados | Men With Guns

Dr. Fuentes is a medical doctor and professor nearing his retirement, and is concerned about leaving a legacy. He taught a group of seven - something he views as one of his greatest accomplishments - that trains young people to provide health care to impoverished citizens in the outlying hill country, where small agricultural communities struggle to survive.

Dr. Fuentes has recently heard rumors that his former students are lost, and possibly dead, so he musters up the courage and travels into the outlands to investigate, and meets Men with Guns.

According to Roger Ebert, it's not until he begins his journey that he discovers a world much different than the one he had imagined. The doctor's journey is enlarged by John Sayles into an allegory about all countries where men with guns control the daily lives of everyday people.

Some of the men are with the government, some are guerrillas, some are thieves, some are armed to protect themselves, and to the ordinary people it hardly matters: The man with the gun does what he wants, and his reasons are irrelevant--unknown perhaps even to himself.

[Original video link remove by source]

The Best Gifts Come From Within

Give the gift of life this holiday season. Take the initiative and learn how to say "NO".


Source: Secret video is released of ‘drunk’ man asking strangers to help him into his car

Free Beer: The Truth About Dishonesty

Bestselling author and professor of psychology and behavioral economics at the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University, Dan Ariely discusses how the principles of behavioral economics can help us understand some of our irrational tendencies, specifically the mechanisms at work behind dishonest behavior and cheating.

One of the most interesting lessons at work is understanding our capacity to think of ourselves as honest - even when we act dishonestly. The implications of Dan's research are far reaching and include a better understanding of the most recent financial crisis and some of the many challenges facing healthcare.


Source: The RSA

A Few Bad Apples

How many times have you heard someone use the phrase "It's always the few bad apples that spoil the whole bunch", or a phrase similar to that? I know that I've heard it numerous times. Heck, I'm sure that I've even said it a few times myself.

But, it wasn't until just yesterday, after discussing the topic of "regulation" when I started to give it more thought and realized that this phrase isn't accurate. If anything, the exact opposite is true - there are only a few good apples in the bunch, trying to prevent the whole bunch from being spoiled.

Let me explain -

Take a look at a population of apples that have fallen not too far from the tree (pun intended).

If you look closely enough, you'll find a few apples that are rotten to the core, a few apples that are perfectly good, and many apples with bumps, bruises and with varying degrees of imperfections.

This large group of imperfect apples could quickly turn bad without someone intervening to prevent their deterioration. And if you look even further, you'll also find that this apple analogy also describes the human population, and how human beings behave.

Just like the population of apples, there will always be a small percentage of straight-out, wholly-selfish, psychopathic, rotten-to-the-core criminals who are unable to control their emotions and will do anything to get what they want, including behaving in inhumane ways.

Oppositely, there will also always be a small percentage of unselfish, compassionate, altruistic, and perfectly unblemished human beings who have absolute control over their emotions and will always behave in ways that best serve the entire population as a whole.

And then there's the rest of us -

We're the largest percentage of the population - imperfect, battered, and bruised people who may not always understand or care how our behaviors might affect others, have varying degrees of control over our emotions, and sometimes behave inappropriately.

Most of us vacillate between the light side and the dark side of our behaviors. It's only after the scales tip to the dark side for the majority of us, when the whole population becomes rotten.

So as you can see, a few bad apples won't spoil the bunch. They're easy to spot. It's when most of the bruised apples go bad that the entire bunch is ruined. Identifying them requires a closer look.

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If history has proven anything, it's that human beings cannot control their emotions, and will behave in ways that satisfy those uncontrolled emotions. When viewed as a whole, more than a few people will tend to act selfishly and cannot be freely entrusted to do what's best, or safe, for the whole.

And THAT'S why we need regulation. If an enterprise has the capability of harming a large percentage of the population, then someone else needs to be looking over their shoulder to ensure they don't.

Don't believe the growing percentage of criminals who "call themselves" Republicans or Libertarians when they say that Government needs to stay out of their business. They're trying to manipulate your bruised and battered mind into enabling their crimes, and to turn you into a bad apple.

America is a Republic. We're a society founded upon, and governed by, laws, rules, and regulations created precisely to protect it's members from the rotten apples intent on harming us. As such, we Americans should expect regulation and welcome it when it's needed.

But, trying to get the politically-appointed regulators to enforce the rules fairly? That's another rant.

Young And Restless Supervision

One of my personal shortcomings is that I refuse to unnecessarily justify myself to anyone else, especially having to explain myself without cause to my supervisors. The way I see it, if you're foolish enough to listen to false gossip without speaking to me directly beforehand, I'm going to consider you to be one of the numerous morons running the show, and I'll never support your efforts.

My attitude may seem self-destructive, but I think it's pretty simple. Ask me anything you want and I'll tell you the truth. But, you're going to have to ask me first. I'm not going to explain myself based upon someone else's lies, especially if you don't dig deeper for the truth and automatically believe rumors.

It sounds like such a simple task to expect that my leaders investigate both sides of a story before making a decision. But, you wouldn't believe how often they fail to do so in the workplace. It's almost like they want to believe in the dirt in order to serve their own personal agenda.. like a bad soap opera.

But, don't just take my word for it. Watch my young and restless ex-wife and my former supervisor caught on hidden home video, and you can see for yourself. People will almost always do what they think is in their own best interests, including bosses, and especially when it come to sex.

The Dark Side Of Hating Robotics

If you think people are having difficulty dealing with increasing crime due to high unemployment levels with humans, just imagine how they'll react when the robots hit hard times?

But, I'm sure someone will probably devise a technological advancement to fix that problem too.


No Robots from YungHan Chang on Vimeo.

Secondhand Smoke Courtesy

I always wondered why my father never went outside when he decided to light one up. Perhaps I should have asked him. Now I think I have a better understanding of his behavior.


Coalition for Non-Smoking "Go Together" from AnneKatherine (Kat) Friis on Vimeo.

Genocide: Worse Than War

I've discussed the horrors of genocide, and the human behavior surrounding it, a few times before on The Cynical Pharmacist. I'm always intrigued by human behavior and about what causes intelligent people to embrace the dark side of life.

Although originally produced a couple of years ago, it's just now that I discovered the documentary entitled "Worse Than War" on my local PBS station. It's a must-watch for the younger generations.

It's a film that documents the multiple genocides of our century, discussing the reasons behind them, why they continue to occur, and what can be done to prevent them. Although I disagree with Mr. Goldhagen's solution to prevent future genocide, I found his film informative and thought-provoking.

You can watch the entire film on your local PBS station, or the linked website. Here's a clip from the film of interviews with imprisoned murderers who participated in the Rwanda genocide -



There's a reason why I posted this one clip from the documentary. It highlights the mentality of those criminals who perpetrate these types of crimes against humanity. To me, most crimes are perpetrated because of two things - ignorance and selfishness.

If you notice in this clip, the one criminal discusses his crimes only as they relate to himself. He doesn't believe ignorance played a role, and doesn't see how he was manipulated by psychopathic leaders to commit his crimes. He expresses no remorse, nor empathy. It's all about him.

Like I've said in my previous posts about crimes against humanity, the small groups of selfish sociopaths and psychopaths who create these hateful situations almost never personally commit their crimes themselves, yet are still able to achieve their goals, and are seldom held accountable.

They're successful because of their abilities to manipulate ignorant and selfish people (video) into supporting their efforts and committing the crimes on their behalf. They find enablers.

And this is where I disagree with the filmmaker's solution for preventing future genocide.

To me, the only solution in preventing the further atrocities of genocide comes from within each of us. It's not something that requires "other" people to address and prevent, especially selfish, apathetic, or corrupt politicians from other countries.

Genocide would never occur again if most of us were a little more skeptical and less trusting, looked beyond our own selfish motivations, controlled our emotions, and didn't enable these psychopaths to suck us into their sinister schemes. It's often as simple as being aware, and just saying "NO".

The Ends Always Justify The Means

I guess it’s all about the corporate dream. It always seems as though the ends justify the means with corporations. What we need is an honest, uncorrupted, independent candidate who'll speak the truth about what's happening behind the scenes in our political system.

I think I'm going to listen to my idealistic offspring and vote for Dexter Holland.

A Divided Nation

The dichotomy in this country is becoming strikingly polar. There's a lot of ignorance and hate out there, and too many people seem to be allowing others to do their thinking for them. Personally, I don't believe most of us understand the seriousness of the problem and where it could lead.

The Super List | A Short Film

The forces of evil are very powerful influences that continue to draw many to the dark side inherent within each of us. Regardless of the reasons, almost all who embrace the dark side do so because they've been faced with challenges and difficulties they felt the light side was incapable of fixing.

But, falling victim to the dark side can often be avoided by taking the time and effort to create a list of our own personal strengths, weaknesses, and even super powers beforehand.

Make a list. It will keep you aware of your abilities and allow you to be prepared to face adversity, and keep you from acting inappropriately when confronted by "other" forces emanating from the dark side.

Does anyone else see the inherent qualities and abilities this young man already possesses without having to resort to using his super powers? They're easy to miss if you're not looking.

One of them really stands out above the rest, making him a good candidate for a career in pharmacy.


THE SUPER LIST - a Super Villain Short Film from Will Gallego 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.