Pepto Bismol

Simple Matters: Living With Less and Ending Up With More
by Erin Boyle
Published 12 Jan 2016

There’s no cabinet stuffed to overflowing with gadgets. There’s no fuzzy toilet seat cover. Or stack of extra tissue boxes. Or toothpaste tube left open on the counter. It’s a spare space. Even if your bathroom is decked out in pink and white tiles—a Pepto-Bismol color I’ve seen in many a New York apartment—you can create the same sense of calm. My current bathroom was spared the Pepto-Bismol pink. It got the butter yellow instead, as well as what you might call a speckled, Mondrian-style floor, if Mondrian used speckles and lacked artistic vision. Still, it’s spare. I have two small lidded baskets propped on the floor for holding supplies that I don’t want to see displayed—extra soap, a hair dryer, thermometers, etc.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)
by Jenny Lawson
Published 5 Mar 2013

“Surely,” I thought, “this will make me seem much more credible and less likely to be put on suicide watch.” Of course, the Pepto-Bismol was no match for the raw power of the ex-lax, and was much like wearing shin guards in the middle of a tornado, except even less effective, because at least with shin guards, when they found your body later you could still wear a skirt in your coffin (unless your legs got ripped off entirely, which could totally happen). But the Pepto-Bismol didn’t do anything at all except turn my tongue black. It crossed my mind that maybe eating a bunch of cheese might help, because I once went to school with a girl who ate too much cheese and got so constipated that she had to go to the hospital to get the poop removed by a doctor.

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It’d be all, “Thomas Edison, who pooped out his own colon, made a variety of inventions and changed the way we live today. Did we mention he pooped out his colon? Because he totally did. Thomas Edison pooped out his colon. Honestly, we can’t stress this enough.” It was about this time that I decided I needed to take action, so I found some Pepto-Bismol and took a full dose. I considered taking more, but at this point I was concerned that I might have to call 911 for help and I didn’t want to have to explain why I’d taken three times the recommended amount of laxatives and three times the recommended amount of antidiarrhea medicine, because even to me that sounded like some sort of poorly planned suicide attempt.

Small Space Organizing: A Room by Room Guide to Maximizing Your Space
by Kathryn Bechen
Published 1 Jan 2012

Round wire baskets hung in the corner above the refrigerator to store potatoes and onions, a basket on top of the refrigerator housed paper plates and napkins, and I put my new set of colorful canisters for flour and sugar (a wedding gift) on the counter behind my dish drainer. Three tiny shelves above my sink held pretty containers for tea, coffee, and sugar cubes, and baskets on top of the cabinets held extra groceries. We repainted the Pepto Bismol pink walls a bright semigloss white that significantly brightened the room and was easy to keep clean. I sewed rug squares together to make a colorful patchwork rug for our kitchen. The final touch was a new curtain on the window and—presto . . . in just a few days, our tiny kitchen was both functional and cheerful.

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So come on, I’m going to once again share with you some of the organizing strategies, ideas, and solutions I’ve personally used over the years. Jacuzzi Train Tub By now you’re familiar with the tiny 20′ × 20′ home we rented when we were just newlyweds. After we finished organizing the kitchen and painting over the Pepto Bismol pink walls, we began making our miniscule bathroom an organized and restful place we could both enjoy. I loved its antique claw-foot tub, and imagine my delight when the whole thing vibrated and the water rippled all on its own the first time I took a bath! We lived across the street from a train track, and guess what?

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman
by Richard P. Feynman and Jeffrey Robbins
Published 1 Jan 1999

Please instruct your wife to confine herself to ordinary letters!” Well, we were ready with the one more dot. The letter would start, “I hope you remembered to open this letter carefully because I have included the Pepto-Bismol for your stomach as we arranged.” It would be a letter full of powder. In the office we expected they would open it quickly, the powder would go all over the floor, they would get all upset because you are not supposed to upset anything, you’d have to gather all this Pepto-Bismol. . . . But we didn’t have to use that one. OK? As a result of all these experiences with the censor, I knew exactly what could get through and what could not get through.

Fodor's Madrid and Side Trips
by Fodor's
Published 16 May 2011

Make sure food has been thoroughly cooked and is served to you fresh and hot; avoid vegetables and fruits that you haven’t washed (in bottled or purified water) or peeled yourself. If you have problems, mild cases of traveler’s diarrhea may respond to Imodium (known generically as loperamide) or Pepto-Bismol. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids; if you can’t keep fluids down, seek medical help immediately. Infectious diseases can be airborne or passed via mosquitoes and ticks and through direct or indirect physical contact with animals or people. Some, including Norwalk-like viruses that affect your digestive tract, can be passed along through contaminated food.

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Some will look familiar, such as aspirina (aspirin), and other medications are sold under various brand names. If you get traveler’s diarrhea, ask for an antidiarréico (antidiarrheal medicine); Fortasec is a well-known brand. Mild cases may respond to Imodium (known generically as loperamide) or Pepto-Bismol. To keep from getting dehydrated, drink plenty of purified water or herbal tea. In severe cases, rehydrate yourself with a salt-sugar solution—½ teaspoon salt (sal) and 4 tablespoons sugar (azúcar) per quart of water, or pick up a package of oral rehydration salts at any local farmacia. If you regularly take a nonprescription medicine, take a sample box or bottle with you, and the Spanish pharmacist will provide you with its local equivalent.

Stealth of Nations
by Robert Neuwirth
Published 18 Oct 2011

From a modern medical perspective, we tend to view all these street merchants as fraudsters making miraculous claims about spurious snake oil. In truth, however, many potions that are still common in today’s medicine cabinets started their commercial life as questionable and untested remedies. Vicks VapoRub and Pepto-Bismol (both now owned by Procter & Gamble) originated as patent medicines. So did Bromo-Seltzer, Angostura bitters, milk of magnesia, and Luden’s cough drops. The people who sold these unregulated elixirs, unguents, emollients, and exfoliants have long been considered charlatans. Yet, contrary to the pejorative meaning the word has in contemporary parlance, there once was a time when being a charlatan was an honorable profession.

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., 10.1, 10.2, 12.1 Olusosun, Lagos, Nigeria, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 Onyeyirim, Prince Chidi, 3.1 Onyibo, Remi, 3.1 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2.1, 2.2, 9.1 organ trafficking, 2.1 organized crime accusations of System D’s connections to, 2.1, 5.1, 12.1 excluded from System D statistics, 2.1 state as an entity of, 9.1 Oshodi destruction of, 10.1 policing of, 3.1–3.2 products sold at, 3.1 Other Path, The (de Soto), 11.1–11.2 outsourcing, 9.1 Owonifari Electronics Market, 3.1–3.2 Paraguay bribery in, 6.1, 11.1 business tax breaks in, 11.1–11.2 economic activity in, 6.1, 6.2, 11.1 Lebanese population in, 12.1, 12.2 population of, 6.1 smuggling from, 1.1, 2.1, 6.1–6.2, 6.3–6.4, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4 System D’s importance to, 2.1–2.2 see also Ciudad del Este, Paraguay Paraguayan American Chamber of Commerce, 12.1 Paraguay Vende, 11.1, 11.2 Pareto, Vilfredo, 5.1 Paris, France, street economy in, 8.1 parks and green space, 10.1 patent medicines, 12.1 Paulo Roberto, 1.1–1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1 Payless, 10.1 PC Tronic, 6.1–6.2 peddlers as early globalizers, 4.1–4.2 in London, 8.1–8.2 in New York, 8.1–8.2 in U.S. Revolutionary War, 12.1 morality of, 8.1–8.2, 12.1 war profiteering of, 6.1–6.2, 12.1–12.2 Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil, 1.1 Pemex, 6.1 Penner, Reinaldo, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 12.1 Pepto-Bismol, 12.1 Peru book piracy in, 5.1–5.2 formalization of firms and squatter communities in, 11.1–11.2 Peters, Segun “Satin,” 3.1 PharmAccess Foundation, 12.1 pharmaceutical industry, 6.1–6.2 see also herbal medicines Philippines, System D in, 12.1 Photoshop, 5.1 Piepowder, 12.1–12.2 piracy, 5.1–5.2, 12.1–12.2 benefits of, 5.1–5.2, 9.1 child labor and, 12.1 in American business, 5.1–5.2 in Brazil, 1.1–1.2, 6.1 piracy (cont.)

Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved
by Kate Bowler
Published 6 Feb 2018

I couldn’t sleep last night, and I spent the hours alone, awake, thinking through questions that are useless to me now. Why did the doctors keep sending me home in pain all summer? How could the ER doctor give me antacids and tell me that people come in with all manner of stubbed toes and little things these days? I spent the summer with bright pink Pepto-Bismol in my purse and waves of stomach pain that left me gasping. And, after all that, I got the second-least-sexy cancer, colon cancer. At least it’s not rectal cancer. But I wake up after surgery, surprised. Pleased. As I am rolled through the hallways from the operating room, I see another good friend, Chad, who drove all night from Alabama to stand beside Toban with an encouraging smile on his face.

The Monk and the Riddle: The Education of a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur
by Randy Komisar
Published 15 Mar 2000

''Lenny here," he said, as he strode out the door without a word to me. Rudeness is as good an excuse as any for an exit. I pulled my jacket off the back of my chair with one last look at Lenny's open briefcase. It revealed a stack of files, an assortment of pens, a family picture stuck on with a paper clip, an economy-size bottle of Pepto-Bismol, and some kind of homemade sandwichtuna salad?oozing around the edge of the plastic wrapper. Well, I thought, somebody loves him enough to make a sandwich. Or, maybe he's brown-bagging to save money. Page 24 I told Connie I would be back later. She promised to hold my regular table. We both watched Lenny as he sat at one of the tables just outside the open door.

Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism
by Jeffrey Toobin
Published 1 May 2023

McVeigh drove 1,400 miles to Fort Lauderdale, where his brother-in-law was running his contracting business. (McVeigh could cover so much ground because, as he later told his attorney Jones, he could drive for three straight days and nights without falling asleep at the wheel. All he needed was a supply of Rolaids and Pepto Bismol, because his diet of fast food ruined his digestion.) His older sister let McVeigh stay in a house they were vacating and gave him some construction work at $10 an hour. Characteristically, though, McVeigh was discontented after only a few weeks. As he recounted to Jones, his brother-in-law “appreciated how quickly I was able to pick up on the skills I needed, but I wasn’t fitting in down there.

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Continuing to use fake names, McVeigh and Nichols rented storage sheds in the area for the fertilizer and barrels. The bigger challenge was finances. Since McVeigh left Buffalo almost two years earlier, he had lived frugally, often sleeping in his car or at low-priced motels. He survived on fast food and candy and as a result had a perpetually sour stomach, which he calmed by chugging Pepto Bismol and popping antacids. He had borrowed $4,000 from his father and made a few dollars at the gun shows, buying and selling whatever he could find—military clothing, ammunition, copies of The Turner Diaries. Both men had charged several thousand dollars in gold bars to their credit cards, and they had cashed in several bars to pay for the first loads of fertilizer.

Fodor's Costa Rica 2012
by Fodor's
Published 6 Oct 2011

In rural areas you run a mild risk of encountering drinking water, fresh fruit, and vegetables contaminated by fecal matter, which in most cases causes a bit ofturista (traveler’s diarrhea) but can cause leptospirosis (which can be treated by antibiotics if detected early). You can stay on the safe side by avoiding uncooked food, unpasteurized milk (including milk products), and ice—ask for drinks sin hielo (without ice)—and by drinking bottled water. Mild cases of turista may respond to Imodium (known generically as loperamide) or Pepto-Bismol (not as strong), both of which can be purchased over the counter. Drink plenty of purified water or tea; chamomile (manzanilla in Spanish) is a good folk remedy. In severe cases, rehydrate yourself with a salt-sugar solution (½ teaspoon salt and 4 tablespoons sugar per quart of water). Ceviche, raw fish cured in lemon juice—a favorite appetizer, especially at seaside resorts—is generally safe to eat.

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TIP Avoid swimming where a town’s main river opens up to the sea. Septic tanks aren’t common. Do not fly within 24 hours of scuba diving. Over-the-Counter Remedies Farmacia is Spanish for “pharmacy,” and the names for common drugs aspirina, Tylenol (acetaminofina), and ibúprofen are basically the same as they are in English. Pepto-Bismol is widely available. Many drugs for which you need a prescription back home are sold over the counter in Costa Rica. Pharmacies throughout the country are generally open from 8 to 8, though it’s best to consult with your hotel’s staff to be sure. Some pharmacies in San José affiliated with clinics stay open 24 hours.

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* * * Packing List for Costa Rica Quick-drying synthetic-fiber shirts and socks Hiking boots or shoes that can get muddy and wet Waterproof sport sandals (especially in the Osa Peninsula, where most transportation is by boat, and often there are no docks) Knee-high socks for the rubber boots that are supplied at many lodges A pair of lightweight pants (fire ants, mosquitoes, and other pests make covering yourself a necessity on deep-forest hikes) Pants for horseback riding (if that’s on your itinerary) Waterproof, lightweight jacket, windbreaker, or poncho Day pack for hikes Sweater for cool nights and early mornings Swimsuit Insect repellent (with DEET, for forested areas and especially on the northern Caribbean coast, where there are pockets of malaria) Flashlight or headlamp with spare batteries (for occasional power outages or inadequately lighted walkways at lodges) Sunscreen with a minimum of SPF 30 (waterproof sunscreens are best; even if you’re not swimming, you might be swimming in perspiration) Large, portable water bottle Hat and/or bandannas (not only do they provide shade, but they prevent perspiration from dripping down your face) Binoculars (with carrying strap) Camera (waterproof, or with a waterproof case or dry bag, sold in outdoor-equipment stores) Film (film in Costa Rica can be expired and is expensive) Imodium and Pepto-Bismol (tablet form is best) Swiss Army knife (and remember to pack it in your checked luggage, never your carry-on—even on domestic flights in Costa Rica) Zip-style plastic bags (they always come in handy) Travel alarm clock or watch with an alarm (don’t count on wake-up calls) Nonelectric shaving utensils Toilet paper (rarely provided in public bathrooms) * * * * * * Local Dos and Taboos Ticos tend to use formal Spanish, preferring, for example, con mucho gusto (with much pleasure) instead of de nada for “you’re welcome.”

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
by Cal Newport
Published 5 Feb 2019

His first book, Drunk Tank Pink, cataloged numerous similar cases where seemingly small environmental factors create large changes in behavior. The title, for example, refers to a study that showed aggressively drunk inmates at a Seattle naval prison were notably calmed after spending just fifteen minutes in a cell painted a particular shade of Pepto-Bismol pink, as were Canadian schoolchildren when taught in a classroom of the same color. The book also reveals that wearing a red shirt on a dating profile will lead to significantly more interest than any other color, and that the easier your name is to pronounce, the faster you’ll advance in the legal profession.

Buyology
by Martin Lindstrom
Published 14 Jul 2008

The women never saw the logo, just the color—with its powerful associations with engagement, marriage, babies, and fertility. Perhaps for this same reason, the color pink, with its associations of luxury, sensuality, and femininity, is used to sell everything from sleepwear, underwear, perfume and soaps, to drugstore remedies (got an upset stomach? Pepto-Bismol will neutralize and soothe your indigestion) to toys to computers. That’s right, thanks to the unexpected success of a pink laptop manufactured by the Hong Kong company VTech, marketers from Toys “R” Us to the NFL, the NHL and NASCAR are starting to roll out pink versions of their best-selling toys and sports clothing.

How to Retire the Cheapskate Way
by Jeff Yeager
Published 1 Jan 2013

Some of the more valuable finds as Marv dug deeper into his barn-size time capsule: a massive collection of Matchbox cars (many in mint condition); dozens of highly collectible metal lunch boxes; vinyl record albums that had never been opened; dolls and other toys still in their original packaging; boxes filled with classic comic books, metal signs, and other vintage advertising memorabilia for everything from Tabasco sauce to Pepto-Bismol; and an entire box filled with nothing but PEZ dispensers. The other thing Marv realized as he stood in the barn one evening staring at boxes still stacked all the way up as high as the hayloft, was that even at the rapid pace he was working, he might not live long enough to see the last box unpacked.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation: A Novel
by Ottessa Moshfegh
Published 9 Jul 2018

I saw no trace of Ping Xi until I went to the kitchen: Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans; tin foil smeared with the contents of what I could assume was a burrito; the New York Times from February 2. I wrote a list of things I desired on a Post-it and stuck it to the table: “Ginger ale, animal crackers, Pepto-Bismol.” And then, “Remove all garbage after each visit! Cross out the days!” I guessed Ping Xi had been over to take measurements or talk or sketch plans for some video project, but had made no real work yet. I just had that feeling. I pulled a slice of pizza from the fridge and ate it cold, with my eyes closed, swaying under the fluorescent light streaming down from overhead and reflecting back up off the kitchen floor.

The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life
by Timothy Ferriss
Published 1 Jan 2012

I’ve witnessed many all-day Sunday feasts—asados—in the provinces outside of Buenos Aires. These asados are a cultural mainstay and serious business. Roasting a whole lamb, as common in Patagonia as a stuffed turkey in the U.S., often starts at 6 a.m. and finishes near 2 p.m. Argies assume 4 lbs (2 kg) of meat will be eaten per person at such affairs. Bring your Pepto-Bismol. Francis Mallmann is the Argentine figurehead of grilling, the capo, the Mickey Mantle of meat. Raised in the Andes as the son of a preeminent nuclear physicist, Mallmann trained at the most famous French kitchens in the world, later becoming South America’s most venerated Patagonian cook. But, in his own words, he was “tired of making fancy French food for wealthy customers in Buenos Aires” and so returned to his mother tongue: fire.

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For performance-enhancing gear, I settled on a few tactical items: Propane torch: for melting the ice cream, making it easier to consume. Metal spoon: to avoid breakage of standard-issue Ben & Jerry’s plastic. I was told to put the spoon in my mouth ice cream–side down, to minimize brain freeze. Anbesol: topical painkiller for numbing my gums and lips. Anti-diarrheal pills, Pepto-Bismol, Tums, and Lactaid: to minimize the likelihood of violence at either end of my body, at least until crossing the finish line. Vomiting during competition disqualifies you. DOING AS THE ROMAN DOES Roman stands 5'8" and has been 191 lbs at 4.6% body fat. He can deadlift 660 lbs for three repetitions.

Wall Street Meat
by Andy Kessler
Published 17 Mar 2003

It just was. 234 Afterword As an analyst, you weren’t really part of the daily battles on Wall Street, the blocks of stock flying around, the price gyrations, the cold-calling of rich families, the fighting for banking deals. The yelling. The screaming. You were above the scrum of the business. Buying, selling, trading, that was the dirty work of Wall Street, the machinery. Who cares how it’s done, analysts thought, just get it done so you can pay me. Most traders kept chewable Pepto-Bismol at their trading turret; I had a Zagat’s guide and a baseball schedule in my office. Yes, I spent lots of time on the trading floor— a zoo without cages—but was glad it was only a place to visit. I never really understood how these guys made money, and I didn’t want to know. It was only later, when these traders and brokers and bankers stopped making enough money to pay for research, that analysts got their hands dirty and turned into bankers.

Glock: The Rise of America's Gun
by Paul M. Barrett
Published 10 Jan 2012

Inside the front door were withered houseplants turning shades of yellow and brown. The parlors were filled with expensive white couches and divans, but some were wrapped in transparent plastic, presumably to prevent stains. A garish fake leopard skin was draped across one living room sofa. Guest room beds were made up with slippery silk sheets the color of Pepto-Bismol. Glock did not obsess about thread count. The master of the mansion spent much of his time in a windowless basement room, according to visitors. From this underground bunker, he could control the villa’s security cameras and alarms, as well as the air-conditioning and elevator. He could even set the temperature of the heated tile floors in the many bathrooms upstairs.

Yes Please
by Amy Poehler

The group had morphed and now it was the fab four it remains today: Besser, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, and me. Ian was an intense and cerebral guy from New Jersey who was the best improviser I had ever seen. He was a great actor who looked like he wanted to wrestle you. I saw Matt Walsh for the first time when he played Captain Lunatic (Lou Natic), an over-the-top cop who chugged Pepto-Bismol and cursed God. I was in awe of his characters and his distinct voice. Adam McKay and Horatio Sanz were still performing with us on occasion, although both were being groomed to join SNL. Adam was good at everything. He was an unbelievable writer and bulletproof onstage. Horatio was sweet but fearless.

All Families Are Psychotic
by Douglas Coupland
Published 14 Jun 2002

She replied to Ursula, an ex-prostitute in Dortmund, and entered an online discussion about a potential Mexican source of thalidomide to relieve the ulcers in her mouth. Janet and Ursula's old source had moved into the more lucrative field of banned diet medications, and there was gossip that a British firm, Buckminster, was going to have legal supplies available shortly. Janet's pocket buzzer vibrated; she downed her medication plus a Pepto-Bismol as unthinkingly as movie popcorn. The world outside — cars and signage and electrical wires — was almost too smothered in light to read properly, like objects in the movies being sucked into a glowing UFO. She stood up for a stretch. Around her, she saw a few Bryan-ish loser types furtively glued to their screens, doubtlessly ferreting out porn.

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
by Jessica Bruder
Published 18 Sep 2017

At salvaged grocery outlets—known as “scratch-and-dent” stores—shoppers find deeply discounted food past its sell-by date in crushed boxes and dinged cans. Behind the lurid pink façade of an outlet called Addicted to Deals, they buy DVDs—three for $10—and expired vitamins. “This place is freaking crazy,” one shopper wrote online. “It’s like a college dorm room and an abandoned Kmart had a forbidden lovechild, painted it Pepto-Bismol pink, and gave it a phrase for a name.” Quartzsite doesn’t offer much in the way of what city folks consider culture, but almost everyone visits Reader’s Oasis on the east end of Main Street. The bookstore is owned by septuagenarian nudist Paul Winer, who has skin like burnished leather and wanders the aisles in nothing but a knit codpiece.

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
by Leonard Mlodinow
Published 12 May 2008

Kahneman knew that human beings, by necessity, employ certain strategies to reduce the complexity of tasks of judgment and that intuition about probabilities plays an important part in that process. Will you feel sick after eating that luscious-looking seviche tostada from the street vendor? You don’t consciously recall all the comparable food stands you’ve patronized, count the number of times you’ve spent the following night guzzling Pepto-Bismol, and come up with a numerical estimate. You let your intuition do the work. But research in the 1950s and early ’60s indicated that people’s intuition about randomness fails them in such situations. How widespread, Kahneman wondered, was this misunderstanding of uncertainty? And what are its implications for human decision making?

The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time
by Joseph Mazur
Published 20 Apr 2020

GIL: Because if you stay here and this becomes your present, sooner or later you’ll imagine another time was really the golden time. . . The present has a hold on you because it’s your present and while there’s never any progress in the most important things, you get to appreciate—what little progress is made—the internet—Pepto-Bismol. The present is always going to seem unsatisfying because life itself is unsatisfying—that’s why Gauguin goes back and forth between Paris and Tahiti, searching.1 In literature and in movies we go back and forth in time with ease, whether the machine is a Peugeot Type 176 or the Starship Enterprise.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Published 18 Dec 2006

Within a few days, Marshall was experiencing pain, nausea, and vomiting—the classic symptoms of gastritis, the early stage of an ulcer. Using an endoscope, his colleagues found that his stomach lining, previously pink and healthy, was now red and inflamed. Like a magician, Marshall then cured himself with a course of antibiotics and bismuth (the active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol). Even after this dramatic demonstration, the battle wasn’t over. Other scientists quibbled with the demonstration. Marshall had cured himself before he developed a full-blown ulcer, they argued, so maybe he had just generated ulcer symptoms rather than a genuine ulcer. But Marshall’s demonstration gave a second wind to supporters of the bacteria theory, and subsequent research amassed more and more evidence in its favor.

Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure
by Julian Smith
Published 7 Dec 2010

I don’t want to look ungrateful. But I’m off-balance, alone and anxious. How will I make it to Sudan if I can’t even get to Sena? Life has just become radically simplified. Everything I need for the next two months—I hope—fills the dark green backpack at my feet. The three essentials: Swiss Army knife, Pepto-Bismol tablets, and earplugs. Flashlight, toothpaste, dental floss: check. Notebooks, digital camera, carefully marked and folded map. No wallet, no keys, no cell phone. There are four twenties under the insole of each of my shoes and another five hidden inside my bulging medical kit. I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many pills on a trip: vitamins, malaria pills, little Chinese kill-anything tablets that look like yellow lentils and taste horrendous.

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
by Sarah Smarsh
Published 17 Sep 2018

Sometimes I walked in to pet the tiny dog that slept next to her, guarding her, and I’d see that even in sleep Betty’s light eyebrows were furrowed and there was a frown on her mouth, which had finally begun to wrinkle as a smoker’s lips will do. She smelled of ash and mint—the cigarettes, her candy Red Hots that she kept in a Mason jar, the chalky pink candies from the dollar store that tasted like Pepto-Bismol, the strong odor of Icy Hot menthol ointment spread across her shoulders to distract her from the pain she felt there. Betty had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, which some doctors said was all in her head and others said was real. Chronic fatigue, or whatever it was, came with another problem, called fibromyalgia, also dubious if one believed medical texts.

The Glass Hotel
by Emily St. John Mandel
Published 14 Jun 2020

The thing with white-sand beaches, blue sea to the horizon under a cloudless sky: that’s a view with two colors, just blue and white, tranquil but you could die of boredom. But the palm-tree-island hotel looked over an inlet to the enormous houses on the other side, and there’s life in that. One of the mansions was pink, memorable because he and Vincent had laughed at it. It wasn’t a tasteful muted pink, it was pink like Pepto-Bismol. “What month is it?” “December,” Alkaitis says. “We were in the Emirates for Christmas.” The doctor’s face is carefully blank as he makes a note, and Alkaitis realizes his mistake. “I’m sorry, I was thinking of something else. It’s June. June 2015.” “Good. Do you know today’s date?”

Been There, Done That: A Rousing History of Sex
by Rachel Feltman
Published 14 May 2022

This test, then, would “demonstrate” whether a patient’s body provided a clear pathway through which these semen could sail. If her vagina was not directly connected to her eyeballs by way of an internal breezeway, she was barren. One of my mother’s patients used strikingly similar logic in the 1990s when she declared angrily that her newborn was covered in the Pepto-Bismol the nurses had given her during labor. She was actually seeing Vernix caseosa (Latin for cheesy varnish—yum), which is a waxy substance that coats a fetus’s skin during the third trimester. I can promise that whatever you eat and drink while pregnant, your baby will not come out covered in it.

Every Patient Tells a Story
by Lisa Sanders
Published 15 Jan 2009

And again. The attacks were always the same. She’d get that queasy feeling for a few hours, and then the vomiting would start and wouldn’t let up for days. There was never any fever or diarrhea; no cramps or even any real pain. She tried everything she could find in the drugstore: Tums, Pepcid, Pepto-Bismol, Prilosec, Maalox. Nothing helped. Knowing that another attack could start at any moment, without warning, gnawed insistently in the back of her mind. She went to the infirmary with each attack. The doctor there would get a pregnancy test and when it was negative, as it always was, he’d give her some intravenous fluids, a few doses of Compazine (a medicine to control nausea), and, after a day or two, send her back to the dorm.

The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
by Rose George
Published 13 Oct 2008

The French call this tout à l’égout or “everything down the drain” (to be contrasted with their earlier habit of discharging tout à la rue). An enterprising sewage treatment manager in Utah arrestingly expressed this by issuing bottles of cleaned sewage effluent, whose labels listed the following ingredients: “Water, fecal matter, toilet paper, hair, lint, rancid grease, stomach acid and trace amounts of Pepto Bismol, chocolate, urine, body oils, dead skin, industrial chemicals, ammonia, soil, laundry soap, bath soap, shaving cream, sweat, saliva, salt, sugar. No artificial colors or preservatives. Some variations in taste and/or color may occur due to holidays, predominant cuisine preference, infiltration/inflow, or sewer cross-connections.”

Fodor's Costa Rica 2013
by Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.
Published 1 Oct 2012

In rural areas you run a mild risk of encountering drinking water, fresh fruit, and vegetables contaminated by fecal matter, which in most cases causes a bit of turista (traveler’s diarrhea) but can cause leptospirosis (which can be treated by antibiotics if detected early). You can stay on the safe side by avoiding uncooked food, unpasteurized milk (including milk products), and ice—ask for drinks sin hielo (without ice)—and by drinking bottled water. Mild cases of turista may respond to Imodium (known generically as loperamide) or Pepto-Bismol (not as strong), both of which can be purchased over the counter. Drink plenty of purified water or tea; chamomile (manzanilla in Spanish) is a good folk remedy. In severe cases, rehydrate yourself with a salt-sugar solution (½ teaspoon salt and 4 tablespoons sugar per quart of water). Ceviche, raw fish cured in lemon juice—a favorite appetizer, especially at seaside resorts—is generally safe to eat.

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TIP Avoid swimming where a town’s main river opens up to the sea. Septic tanks aren’t common. Do not fly within 24 hours of scuba diving. OVER-THE-COUNTER REMEDIES Farmacia is Spanish for “pharmacy,” and the names for common drugs aspirina, Tylenol (acetaminofina), and ibúprofen are basically the same as they are in English. Pepto-Bismol is widely available. Many drugs for which you need a prescription back home are sold over the counter in Costa Rica. Pharmacies throughout the country are generally open from 8 to 8, though it’s best to consult with your hotel’s staff to be sure. Some pharmacies in San José affiliated with clinics stay open 24 hours.

The End of Illness
by David B. Agus
Published 15 Oct 2012

If so, for what? • Breasts: If you’re a woman, do you see or feel any lumps, bumps, or dimples when you perform a breast exam? • Digestion: Any feelings of discomfort to report? Do you have to use any over-the-counter medications for your digestion/stomach on a regular basis (e.g., Tums, Pepto-Bismol, Tagamet, Zantac, Prevacid, laxatives, and the like)? If you have symptoms, are they better or worse after eating a meal? Do you experience an intolerance, sensitivity, or allergy to certain foods? • Headaches: Do you experience headaches regularly? Migraines? Do you know the triggers for such headaches?

Bit Rot
by Douglas Coupland
Published 4 Oct 2016

The first wave of pot products will probably resemble borderline medical products currently existing, like the tubs of creatine or protein that weight-lifters buy at protein shops. The next wave will resemble packaging and labelling in the style of craft beer breweries. The third and long-term packaging may look like Wrigley’s gum or Pepto-Bismol. Boring. Quotidian. Part of the landscape. “Hi, I’ll get two Gatorades, a pack of peppermint Chiclets and a pack of Parrot Head Spritz vials.” Eighteen years ago I was in a second-hand store in Chile and saw a really strange-looking metal vase—quite low-slung and unlike something you’d put roses into.

Zero History
by William Gibson
Published 6 Sep 2010

Perhaps it wasn’t that specifically his office, Milgrim thought. It didn’t look like an office anyone actually worked in. The Swedish boy who’d brought Milgrim in put a gray folder on the teak desk and left silently. There was nothing else on the desk except a shotgun, one that appeared to have been made from solidified Pepto-Bismol. “What’s that?” Milgrim asked. “The maquette for one of the early takes on a collaboration between Taser and Mossberg, the shotgun manufacturer.” Bigend was wearing disposable plastic gloves, the kind that came on a roll, like cheap sandwich bags. “A compliance tool.” “Compliance tool?” “That’s what they call it,” said Bigend, picking the thing up with one hand and turning it, so that Milgrim could see it from various angles.

Miracle Cure
by William Rosen
Published 14 Apr 2017

The following year, Georg anglicized his name by adding an e to it, and welcomed his first child: George W. Merck. For the next twenty-five years, the company prospered. In 1900, it acquired 120 acres of swampland in Rahway, New Jersey, where it built a factory to produce bismuth—the active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol, invented as an antidiarrheal in 1901—cocaine, and morphine. Next door, another Merck subsidiary known as Rahway Coal Tar Products manufactured, among other things, carbolic acid, the antiseptic discovered by Joseph Lister four decades before. By 1917, Merck & Co. was recording sales of $8 million annually—roughly $96 million today—solid, but not earthshaking, considering that same year General Electric sales were nearly $200 million, and U.S.

Vultures' Picnic: In Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs, Power Pirates, and High-Finance Carnivores
by Greg Palast
Published 14 Nov 2011

Helicopter canceled. James did show his cautious side by going nowhere without his emergency surgical kit, including “heavy bleed anti-clot applicators, abdominal burn towels, quick-set fracture splints, a syringe sterilizer,” and much more, hygienically sealed. Plus a satellite phone. Ricardo and I travel with Pepto-Bismol tablets, condoms, and mosquito spray, and me, out of habit, K-Y Jelly and a 3.4-ounce flask of Felipe II. And my hat. MANHATTAN, SECOND AVENUE, DOWNTOWN The alarm at five A.M. wakes me up to one of those drippy mornings invented for suicide. What kind of sick fuck would make it rain before dawn?

The Lonely Century: How Isolation Imperils Our Future
by Noreena Hertz
Published 13 May 2020

This is especially true in South Korea, where a market is exploding for what is known as mukbang: the practice of watching someone else eat (copious amounts of) food onscreen, whilst you have your meal alongside them.45 Whilst this may sound improbable it has been a fast-growing trend globally for the past decade and is increasingly popular in Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, India and the United States.46 In Malaysia, watch time for mukbang grew by 150% in 2019.47 The most popular mukbang stars have over 2 million followers and can make six figures a year (in pounds) from the ads that play before and during their videos.48 The most successful have even begun to court sponsorship opportunities. Indonesian mukbanger Kim Thai has partnered rather appropriately with digestion aid Pepto-Bismol, while the American star Nikocado Avocado advertises the computer game Cooking Diary.49 The audience is predominantly people who live on their own. ‘Facing the computer screen, with mukbang serving as their “meal mate” and “chatting” with them, soothes one’s sense of loneliness during mealtimes,’ says Sojeong Park, a researcher at Seoul National University who co-authored a report on mukbang in 2017.50 Indeed, a study released in January 2020 that reviewed thirty-three articles on the impact of watching mukbang found that watching it significantly decreased how lonely people felt.51 The experience of watching your mukbanger eat is not a passive one.

Braiding Sweetgrass
by Robin Wall Kimmerer

I try to cheer him up and tell him, “We’re going shopping across the lake today!” There is a tiny shop in the town across the lake, the Emporium Marine, the kind of general store you find off the beaten track that always seems to have the very thing you need, next to the shoelaces, cat food, coffee filters, a can of Hungry-Man stew, and a bottle of Pepto-Bismol. But that’s not where we’re going. The cattail marsh has something in common with the Emporium, but I suppose a comparison to Walmart is more appropriate, as they both sprawl over acres of land. Today we will shop at the marsh. At one time marshes had a bad reputation for slimy beasts, disease, stink, and all manner of unpleasantness until people realized how valuable they are.

Yucatan: Cancun & Cozumel
by Bruce Conord and June Conord
Published 31 Aug 2000

If we’re in a budget hotel, the first thing we do when we start feeling bad (and it comes on very quickly) is upgrade to a hotel with air-conditioning – maybe even cable TV – and a comfortable bed. A couple of aspirin and plenty of sleep is called for. If we suffer frequent diarrhea and stomach cramps, we take the recommended dose of Imodium AD. Pepto Bismol relieves the symptoms as well, but takes longer. It’s necessary to drink plenty of bottled water or CocaCola with lime or, in severe cases, rehydration fluids such as Pedialyte, available at a local drugstore. We often also drink manzanilla (chamomile) tea, Introduction relaxed and joined a bit in their game, as I could not see what might go wrong.

Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut
by Mike Mullane
Published 24 Jan 2006

While I was forking a sample of the mess into a smaller container I screamed at the bathroom door, “This wasn’t in the brochure!” I sealed the smeared collection container in a plastic bag and dropped it in the garbage can. That contained more medical waste than a New Jersey beach: snotty tissues, other fecal collection bowls, packaging for antibiotics and decongestants, and an empty Pepto-Bismol bottle. STS-36 was being crewed by the walking wounded. Pepe and I were the only healthy ones remaining. I prayed it would stay that way. If the bug slowly worked its way through all of us, there was the potential for a significant delay. If I was the last to be infected, I could get the giant screw.

Against All Enemies
by Tom Clancy and Peter Telep
Published 13 Jun 2011

He thought he’d seen one of the loaders do a double take in his direction. His pulse began to race. He waited a moment more, then lifted the binoculars. The men were back at it and had set aside some boxes whose lids were removed. Ansara zoomed in to find packages of toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, disposable razor blades, and bottles of aspirin, Pepto-Bismol, and cough suppressant. Larger boxes contained small tanks of propane and packages of tortillas, as well as canned goods, including tomatoes and tripe. A bird flitted through the canopy above. Ansara jolted and held his breath. Once more he lowered the binoculars, rubbed his tired eyes, and listened to Lisa in his head: “Yes, I knew what I was getting into, but it’s just too much time away.

Fodor's Essential Israel
by Fodor's Travel Guides
Published 2 Aug 2023

There’s no charge, but a contribution is expected. In Jerusalem, it’s open Sunday to Thursday 8:30 to 6:45 and Friday 8:30 to 11:45. Equipment can be returned elsewhere in the country. OVER-THE-COUNTER REMEDIES At the pharmacy (beit mirkachat), it’s easy to find many of the same over-the-counter remedies as at home. Imodium (Rekamide) and Pepto-Bismol (the local version is Kal Beten) are available over the counter at every pharmacy. Everyday pain relievers such as Tylenol (called Acamol) and Advil are also widely available. You need a prescription for antibiotics. Medication can be obtained from pharmacies, which are plentiful. English is spoken in the majority of pharmacies.

The Mad Man: Or, the Mysteries of Manhattan
by Samuel R. Delany
Published 1 Jun 2015

“We like you around this neighborhood—when you do that stuff, you have to be careful.” “I am careful, man,” Tony said. “Most of the time—damn, professor. A whole lot in this neighborhood has changed so much. The Burger King’s all different—” which was true: they’d redone the whole inside a couple of years back, getting rid of the Pepto-Bismol-colored fiberglass booths and putting in a salad bar, then getting rid of that, and putting in all these little plant holders on these new white-and-green partitions. “They closed down the Red Apple,” which had happened only the week after I’d gone with Crazy Joey to the park; but that meant Tony hadn’t been here in the city that long at all.

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
by James Gleick
Published 1 Jan 1992

In one of her mail-order catalogs Arline found a kit for do-it-yourself jigsaw puzzles; the next letter from the Albuquerque sanatorium to Box 1663 came disassembled in a little sack. From another the censors deleted a suspicious-sounding shopping list. Richard and Arline talked about a booby-trapped letter that would begin, “I hope you remembered to open this letter carefully because I have included the Pepto Bismol powder …” Their letters were a lifeline. No wonder, under watchful eyes, the lovers found ways to make them private. The censorship, like the high barbed-wire fence, reminded the mesa’s more sensitive residents of their special status: watched, enclosed, restricted, isolated, surrounded, guarded.

The Transhumanist Reader
by Max More and Natasha Vita-More
Published 4 Mar 2013

Notably, the technological details of the works of fiction were characteristically ridiculous compared to the actual ­technologies used. In particular, fictional technologies are always far easier, far less arduous, compared to the actual technologies which accomplish the feat around which the fictions revolve. Thus we have the simple genetic vector of The Postmortal, the Pepto-Bismol-looking pink liquid of the 1992 film Death Becomes Her, and the repair of the Seven Deadly Sins of SENS. All these fictitious technologies are fairly straightforward, especially if they are explained by the silver-tongued. Indeed, this was the scam that the Taoists and alchemists used to attract the support of their patrons over the last two millennia, that and the conversion of base metals to gold.

Costa Rica
by Matthew Firestone , Carolina Miranda and César G. Soriano
Published 2 Jan 2008

DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT… checking the latest visa situation (click here) and government travel advisories (click here) insect repellent containing DEET; and, if you’re planning large-scale jungle adventures (or staying in budget lodging), a mosquito net learning at least a few basic phrases in Spanish Pepto-Bismol or an antidiarrheal, in case you get a bad dose of the runs sunblock and a hat, so you don’t get cooked by the tropical sun clothes that you don’t mind getting absolutely filthy or wet a swimsuit and a beach towel a poncho for rainy days and wet boat trips a pair of river sandals or reef-walkers and sturdy jungle boots an alarm clock for catching early morning buses a waterproof, windproof jacket and warm layers for highland hiking and camping a flashlight (torch) binoculars and a field guide miscellaneous necessities: umbrella, padlock, matches, pocketknife an appetite for fresh fruit a thirst for cold lager your sense of adventure Prices in Costa Rica are frequently listed in US dollars, especially at upmarket hotels and restaurants, where you can expect to pay international prices.

Frommer's Mexico 2008
by David Baird , Juan Cristiano , Lynne Bairstow and Emily Hughey Quinn
Published 21 Sep 2007

Widespread improvements in infrastructure, sanitation, and education have greatly diminished this ailment, especially in well-developed resort areas. Most travelers make a habit of drinking only bottled water, which also helps to protect against unfamiliar bacteria. In resort areas, and generally throughout Mexico, only purified ice is used. If you do come down with this ailment, nothing beats Pepto Bismol, readily available in Mexico. Imodium is also available in Mexico and is used by many travelers for a quick fix. A good high-potency (or “therapeutic”) vitamin supplement and even extra vitamin C can help; yogurt is good for healthy digestion. Since dehydration can quickly become life-threatening, the Public Health Service advises that you be careful to replace fluids and electrolytes (potassium, sodium, and the like) during a bout of diarrhea.

Frommer's Mexico 2009
by David Baird , Lynne Bairstow , Joy Hepp and Juan Christiano
Published 2 Sep 2008

Widespread improvements in infrastructure, sanitation, and education have greatly diminished this ailment, especially in well-developed resort areas. Most travelers make a habit of drinking only bottled water, which also helps to protect against unfamiliar bacteria. In resort areas, and generally throughout Mexico, only purified ice is used. If you do come down with this ailment, nothing beats Pepto Bismol, readily available in Mexico. Imodium is also available in Mexico and is used by many travelers for a quick fix. A good high-potency (or “therapeutic”) vitamin supplement and even extra vitamin C can help; yogurt is good for healthy digestion. Since dehydration can quickly become life-threatening, the Public Health Service advises that you be careful to replace fluids and electrolytes (potassium, sodium, and the like) during a bout of diarrhea.

1,000 Places to See in the United States and Canada Before You Die, Updated Ed.
by Patricia Schultz
Published 13 May 2007

Former guest Marilyn Monroe’s bungalow has been transformed into a state-of-the-art gym, and an 8,500-square-foot herb garden supplies fresh herbs for the sterling restaurant, which serves one of the best Sunday brunches in town; air-light lemon pancakes with fresh raspberries are a menu fixture. The Beverly Hills Hotel is a friendly rival, even more venerable and flashy. Anchored at the corner of a sweeping curve of Sunset Boulevard since 1912, the towers of the “Pink Palace” grace the cover of the Eagles’ seminal Hotel California album. Though it’s no longer the shade of Pepto-Bismol pink depicted on the record, it’s still a standout, thanks to a $100 million renovation. This grand dame has everything a rich, fashionable traveler could wish for, from a showy pool scene complete with coveted cabanas to rooms and bungalows with butler service and walk-in closets, some boasting more square footage than the average home.