How to sell your snowblower in New Brunswick

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Carolyn Thomas

“After many reminders constant nagging much encouragement from my lovely wife to get the snowblower sold, I finally got off my butt and posted an ad on Kijiji.”

And that’s when some pretty amazing things started happening in the life of a Canadian man named Weh-Ming Cho. Cho lives in Moncton, New Brunswick (that’s in the pink part up there, about an hour’s drive from the 8-mile Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island).

Last Wednesday morning, he posted an online ad on Kijiji to sell his snowblower during the first snowfall of the season. By Thursday evening, his ad had attracted a whopping 130,000 views, as Cho wrote on his blog, The Blognostifier.

He was bombarded with emails about his ad (over 1,400 so far) — some from as far away as Sydney, Australia — but most of them, he says, were not from potential snowblower buyers, but from people writing to simply say how much they loved his ad. Continue reading →

In Thailand, exercise provides relief from all pain

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Carolyn Thomas

Watch this Thai TV ad reminding us to get moving!

Why you should take Zoloft – for everything!

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Carolyn Thomas

The smarty-pants over at The Onion have come up with a few new uses for Pfizer’s blockbuster anti-depressant drug Zoloft while taking aim at those Direct-To-Consumer (“ask your doctor”) ads convincing consumers they need it. Even though this concept is a gag, it’s frighteningly close to the reality that Big Pharma is creeping towards. Continue reading →

A (Very) Short History of Medicine

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Carolyn Thomas

history medicine egypt

2000 BC – Here, eat this root.

1000 AD – That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.

1850 – That prayer is superstitious. Here, drink this potion.

1920 – That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.

1945 – That pill is ineffective. Here, take this penicillin.

1955 – Ooops. Bugs mutated. Here, take this tetracycline.

1960-1999 – 39 more “Ooops”. Here, take this more powerful drug.

2000 – The bugs have won. Here, eat this root.

Source: British Medical Journal (author unknown)

PANEXA: ask your doctor for a reason to take it!

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Carolyn Thomas

This Stayfree magazine spoof of a fictitious drug called PANEXA would be hilarious if it weren’t so eerily close to how Big Pharma is actually marketing prescription drugs. This “Ask Your Doctor” type of ad is what Big Pharma calls Direct To Consumer advertising – and it really works.

PLEASE READ THIS SUMMARY CAREFULLY, THEN ASK YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT PANEXA AND HOW TO PROVIDE YOU WITH LARGE QUANTITIES. THIS ADVERTISEMENT DOES NOT TAKE THE PLACE OF ADVICE FROM YOUR DOCTOR; RATHER, IT PROVIDES YOU WITH NEW INFORMATION ABOUT NEW DRUGS YOU SHOULD BE USING.

PANEXA is a prescription drug that should only be taken by patients experiencing one of the following disorders: