This is a continuing post in a series titled, “Reality Has Jumped The Shark.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with the phrase, here’s the Wikipedia entry.

Jumping the shark is an idiom used to describe the moment of downturn for a previously successful enterprise. The phrase was originally used to denote the point in a television program‘s history where the plot spins off into absurd story lines or unlikely characterizations. The expression was popularized in 1985 by Jonathan M. Hein, who would later create the web site jumptheshark.com (which now redirects to TVGuide.com). Hein explained the concept as follows: “It’s a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on…it’s all downhill.

This post, I present to you the sinus relief system.

The ad reports that the system “uses the same principles as jala neti … i nwhich a neti pot is used to pour a saline solution through nasal passages.”

So, let me get this straight. Instead of buying a neti pot for about $10-15, and pouring saline solution through my sinuses, I should spend $100 to have an electric doodad do it for me.

In some examples of reality jumping the shark, the object of ridicule actually provides a functional difference, for example, in minutely reduced labor at great expense. In this case, all you’re doing is eliminating the act of tipping the neti pot to drain the saline solution into your nostril. Instead, you’ll have a pump shoot it up there. For $100. $100 to have another thing sitting on your bathroom counter. $100 to have another gadget that’s going to break in a year and end up in a landfill.