This is a personal article, and I hope you'll indulge me. If you decide to stop reading now, I won't be offended.

Over Thanksgiving, I learned that a friend of mine saw some rough times. It's been five years since our last meeting.

We met in Vegas, and though he was more my father's friend (being a coworker) than mine, I quite enjoyed his company.  He had a decent job, his own condo, and given his behavior at the Super Bowl parties we used to attend, he seemed happy.

At this point, I'm envisioning sitting with him next to an enormous screen in the ballroom of Paris, as he nearly won a very long-shot bet. We were all very excited, but he just sat there looking at the screen with a content smile on his face.

And that will be my permanent memory of him.

Reader Ron Holmstrom in Alaska points out one of the many difficulties faced by those trying to make any sense of homeopathy. He writes:

Doctor Frank's Homeopathic Pain relief TV commercial says:

Call now and learn how to double your pain relief!

How about just add water?

I frankly don't have as much time as I'd like to look through the comments following the items that appear on SWIFT, and I'm sure I thus miss a lot of good material. At this article, I discussed some differences between UK and USA English usage, and though I was tempted to get into car parts - the English have "boot," "lorry," and "petrol" where we have "trunk," "truck," and "gas" - I settled on some place names and proper names. The item got 1,826 hits and 37 comments within the first 24 hours, among which was one from "BillyJoe" that I believe needs my attention.

The androgynous BillyJoe asked:

And, pray tell, what is this doing in Swift?

Reader Frank Trumpy sends us this hilarious ad, a quite serious one, from a circular in his vast collection:

Fathers of Mercy

Dedicated To

THE IMMACULATE VIRGIN MARY AND THE MAGISTERIUM

need men to bring the Mercy of God to all.

Write: Vocation Director

Fathers of Mercy

South Union, KY 42283

Galileo: Nincompoop