Viral Helium

Morgan Freeman, windbag extraordinaire.

The worst thing about the Internet--actually, the only down side--is that you've got to take the good with the bad. It's almost impossible to shield yourself from the trash that's out there since the very act of logging on to just about any website opens up the floodgates. Even if you don't choose to follow something stupid down the rabbit hole, still, you know it's there.

So it is with a new "viral" video showing actor Morgan Freeman sucking helium from a balloon and then talking in his usual drone about something scientific, except he sounds funny. Apparently millions of people are watching this. Sick of being an outsider, I decided I wanted to see it too, just in case it actually contains some sort of valuable truth.

It doesn't. It just makes it clear that some people will do anything for a buck. (I guess, after all, that is a valuable truth.) To learn more, I sent away for a book I recently heard about that explores this very thing. "Thou Shall Prosper: The Ten Commandments of Making Money" talks about how to view the accumulation of wealth in a positive and spiritual light, instead of thinking that rich people are bloodsucking vampires feeding off the poor. Written by a rabbi, I'm hoping it doesn't put me to sleep before I learn how.