Things Discussed at the Brewhaus turns 21

It’s no surprise with so many life changes over the past year that my opportunities for participating in random drunken babble at my favorite local bar have diminished.  Still, occasionally, I find myself embroiled in some classic conversations. 

So, in recognition of my 21^st, and first “legal drinking age,” edition of “Things Discussed at the Brewhaus,” here are 10 topics I recently discussed with fellow Brewhaus barflies that may help spur further talk at your next drunken gathering:

• A pharmacist ranks antibiotics by effectiveness and personal preference.
• If your sex is really on fire, as the song says, shouldn’t you see a doctor immediately?
• Which old-timey disease is worse:  vapors, distemper or consumption?
• The musical legacy of Burl Ives and his ties to Western Illinois.
• Are ghost riders in the sky simply another reference to ancient aliens?
• The great toilet paper debate and a psychoanalytic comparison of those who prefer their roll to hang along the wall (introverts) versus those who like it over the top (extroverts).
• The fundamental differences between AC and DC electricity.
• The rise of Marshal Joseph Broz Tito to power and Yugoslavia’s subsequent split from the Soviet Union in 1949.
• Fictitious female television ad characters (e.g., Jan the receptionist at Toyota and Flo the Progressive girl) and men who fantasize about them.
• The likelihood that former Illinois congressman Aaron Schock’s close male friends call him by the nickname “the Schocker.”

From the scientific to the sensational, no topic is apparently off-limits when it comes to conversing with friends over $2 Hamm's Special Light cans.  Until the next list is complied, my fellow Brewhaus regulars and I will surely do our best to keep both the drinks and the debates flowing.