0.58 pounds per person.

I don't know who reads this stuff. I have an idea, but as for actual humans, I'm dumbfounded. Four comments in a week makes me think that more often than not, I'm talking to myself, which isn't all that odd a feeling.

So, in the interim, here's another new study from the center of new studies...

In the past few years, researchers have challenged the effectiveness of Prozac and other SSRIs in several studies. For instance, a review published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in February attributed 68% of the benefit from antidepressants to the placebo effect. Likewise, a paper published in PLoS Medicine a year earlier suggested that widely used SSRIs, including Prozac, Effexor and Paxil, offer no clinically significant benefit over placebos for patients with moderate or severe depression. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies maintain that their research shows that SSRIs are powerful weapons against depression.
Go figure. Pills don't work. Maybe ... just maybe ... people are sad and depressed and a pill isn't going to make that big a dent. I'm just speculating because I'm not a doctor or a drug salesman. Actual medical studies show that the pills don't work, but the pharmaceutical companies say that they do. Whom to believe.

Then, there's this. A top five list of America's best paying jobs, from the gang at Forbes magazine:

1. Surgeons ($206,770) 2. Anesthesiologists ($197,570) 3. Orthodontists ($194,930)

4. Obstetrician and gynecologists ($192,780) 5. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons ($190,420).

Well, I hate to throw a wet blanket on these things, but from where I sit the minimum salary for a Major League baseball player is about 53% more than what a surgeon makes and twice what an oral and maxillofacial surgeon earns. Plus, I can tell you what a baseball player does, but I have no idea what a maxillofacial surgeon does. I suppose "baseball player" isn't a job. In fact, I'd place any of the four major sports, as well as tennis players, golfers and NASCAR drivers ahead of anybody on their list. Maybe Forbes doesn't want to encourage people to aim too high?

And, for the twelve people who stumble over here every day, I'll offer this: Rent, buy or otherwise see "Seven Pounds." That's just my little tip to you as an overall improvement of your entertainment experience and maybe ... just maybe ... something you'll enjoy. It's likely that you didn't see it in the theater, so make up for that minor indiscretion and see it at home.