Anecdotal Evidence

Is there anything it can't prove? Like basketball teams with inferior talent should always use the full-court press? Oh, Malcolm, sometimes you're too clever for your own good!

Anyway, I'm making this post to say I've gone 3 and a half weeks without a cigarette. This time without the help of the patch. And I've got to admit, the driving force behind this solid, albeit short-lived, accomplishment is the ludicrously high price of cigarettes in New York City. In my weaker moments I snap out of it and think "Ten bucks!?!?!" I love me some Parliament Lights, make no mistake. But F that noise. So I will concede that my experience anecdotally supports the effectiveness of sin taxes, however regressive (and just plain no fun) such taxes might be.

But even in the face of such a concession, I will continue to laugh in your face--heartily and with abandon--if you try to prove a point to me by telling me "yeah, but the same thing happened to me that one time." Seriously. Shut up. And peer review your shit before you come at me like that. Refer to a respected journal. Hell, tell me what you saw on Animal Planet while waiting at the veterinarian's office. Just don't tell me what happened to you! That's a fact, Jack!

But just like the man in the big suit sang:

Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
Facts don't stain the furniture
Facts go out and slam the door
Facts are written all over your face
Facts continue to change their shape

(check out this pre-big suit, super-funky 1980 live version complete with backup soul singers and Adrian Belew wailing away on guitar)