RUSTIC FRAGRANCE OF MONEY?

Remember when a Google or dictionary search of the word "musk" would return:

"A substance with a penetrating persistent odor obtained from a sac beneath the abdominal skin of the male musk deer and used as a perfume fixative?"

Type "MUSK" now and you clearly know what you will get.

With wealth closing in on $300B there appears to be no stopping this entrepreneur.

Unlike many other billionaires, he has a favorable rating among regular humans, as if that matters one bit.

And now that he controls Twitter, and has an editorial reach that gives that treasonous pond scum in mar a lago nightmarish orgasms, is it any wonder financial minds think he will become the World's first Trillionaire?

One wonders what he will do with his wealth.

Will he help mankind move toward a more friendly union?

 

Will he help end poverty and homelessness?

How about fund a cure for all cancer and diseases?

 

Will he strive toward peace on earth, good will toward men, and women, and all other possible orientations?

Is it really his job to do any of the above?

It would be nice but don't hold your breath!

He will more likely strive toward making his second trillion.

But he answers the questions with an enigmatic desire to make us, all of us, citizens of the universe.

He wants his Space-X to enable humans to travel to the planets and beyond.

I would say that's a pretty lofty aim, but then again, in the time it took to write this piece, Elon Musk made another billion, so who knows.

Jealousy may make many conclude he is odorous, but an impassionate analysis might find him to possess the sweet smell of persistent success.

CANCER AND THE LONG GAME

Nearly every person in the World can claim to be in a minority.

Being in the minority usually means you are subjected to stereotypes, racism or some form of unjustified hate.

But being in the minority is not necessarily a bad thing, as Bezos, Musk and a few others might tell you.

Dig deep enough into your life and you will find you're a card carrying member of some minority club.

I am sadly a member of a growing minority of people with cancer.

However the fact that the group is growing in size can be attributed to both good and bad things.

For one, the longer we live the chances we will contract some form of cancer grows as there are more carcinogens in the air we breathe and the food we eat than in the past.

And science has been able to detect the onset of a cancer much earlier in it's lifecycle than ever before.

Add to those facts that we also have far better treatments than we did a while ago and, though many of them do not completely cure the disease, they do prolong a patient's life.

As of now roughly 10% of Americans are in this undesirable minority.

One thing that sets members of this particular minority apart is we are not subjected to prejudice and personal attacks. At least not for our disease.

Quite the opposite is true. When someone is diagnosed with cancer they receive sympathy and good wishes, along with the unspoken, 'There but for the grace...'

When 'minorities' view an open house they may sense the urgency of the neighborhood to discourage them from buying.

But cancer has no such timeframe. It plays the long game.

Like the cockroach that hides from or adapts to a new pesticide, cancer can sneak around the body and evade targeted treatments.

It may even lay dormant for years before striking again.

My unwanted guest first arrived late 2000 and was treated the following year.

Nearly 20 years later signs of it's return were noticed in routine bloodwork and the cycle began once again.

According to statistics, in 2020 1.8 million cancer cases were discovered and 600+ thousand others will pass away.

Again, statistically, I happen to be in a majority as I have long since passed the 5 year survival benchmark, at least concerning the first occurrence.

But my clock is now ticking anew and I am not a candidate for the 2000 'successful' treatment.

So I will now do what the doctors tell me and fight like hell to join another minority, people who have survived cancer's long game, twice!

Danger Will Robinson

Billions of years ago some elements combined with each other to form compounds.  These compounds somehow cooperated with each other to produce more of them.  This reproduction eventually led to organisms and life.

But in order for this newly formed life to thrive the individual parts had to somehow work together and create different functions.

As these simple organisms grew and replicated there were mutations.  If the mutation was weak and unfit for its surroundings it died off.  But if it was better adapted to its environment it thrived and multiplied.

Eventually simple single celled organisms found ways to work with others and evolved into multiple cell creatures.

Within each of these creature, these communities of cells there is an orderly separation of duties designed for the greater good.  When a cell breaks down or ceases to function as it should the organism sends out a signal to destroy that cell and thus continue a healthy life.

If we look at what the cells of the body have become we will see various individual shapes and sizes of organs all working together in a society of life.

As long as each community of cells, each area of the body works together for the greater good they all survive.

Evolution has taught these cells that greed is inappropriate within a healthy body.

Cancer cells are part of an organism that do not play by the rules.  They seem to forget that all cells have roles to play in a healthy organism.  They have figured out how to mask their intentions from the body’s police force and in many cases fool healthy cells into doing their bidding.

They wish to multiply themselves at the expense of other cells around them ultimately stopping other functions from working.

As a result they replicate at an ever increasing rate until they foolishly kill the host and with it themselves!

Unfortunately we have not yet been able to find cures for all the various forms of out of control cells known as cancer but we must keep trying.

However cancers are not only within a body, they exist everywhere.

If we consider Earth to be a living organism, not much of a stretch, then all the inhabitants thereon can be thought of as individual cells.

Our human society is in fact a living body.

We need to cooperate with each other in order to continue living on this planet of ours.

We cannot afford to kill the host.

We also cannot afford to greedily take more of the resources for our own individual good at the expense of others.

People or groups of people who insist on taking more than their fair share are a cancer on our society.

We use different terms for different groups of these anti-social cliques but make no mistake, they are each one a danger to life as we know it!

Terrorists such as the murdering throngs currently creating havoc in the Middle East are a cancer.

Super wealthy greedy individuals or groups trying to usurp power from the body for their own good are a cancer.

And leaders who look the other way when corporations pollute our planet thus endangering its welfare are a cancer.

Remember that we cannot survive without the Earth but the Earth surely can survive without us.  The body must find a way to work together to rid itself of these cancers just as it found a way to grow from those first elements into a population of 7 billion humans.

Because if we continue blindly as we have in the recent past the Earth will find a way to remove the offending cancer for good!

Cell vs. Cell

For years there has been a debate over cell phones and their effect on the user.  Typically people hold their phones pressed against their ear for the duration of a call and many males wear them on their belts when not in use.
In order for a cell phone to work it must send and receive a signal from somewhere usually a nearby transmitting structure known as a cell tower.
Scientists have claimed there might be a danger of brain tumors or other long term damage to the brain for regular users.  They claim the proximity to the brain of these powerful transmitter/receiver may be scrambling more than voices.
Naturally cell phone manufacturers and service providers as well as the companies who erect the towers pooh-pooh these claims stating the signals are very weak and cannot cause human cell damage.  Even the FCC which is one might hope is on the side of the consumer has come out on the 'not that bad' side of the argument.
These debates flare up once in a while but in our sound bite world they tend to fade away when new issues arise such as, for example an economic meltdown caused by greedy bankers and Wall St. billionaires.
But on Long Island the issue has reared it's ugly wireless head as the towers are once again casting a scary shadow over the Town of Hempstead.
With certain restrictions the town council voted to ban the placement of new towers from being built near schools and residences.  This move should drastically limit their numbers.
The dilemma for consumers however is the ever increasing demand for better phone service and fewer 'dropped calls.'
Now, in a twist with a touch of irony FCC spokesman Bruce Romano (I do like his first name) is telling people that more transmitters would be better for the public and his reasoning is interesting.
Mr. Romano says that a phone will receive better service the closer it is to a cell tower and therefore more cell towers is a good thing.  He states that the increase in the handset's "bars' will show this.
He goes on in his effort to sell the cell by explaining that with more towers the phone would have to emit less energy while pressed against one's ear.
In other words he is admitting that there is a problem and has been one for years!
He is asking us to allow the placement of more wireless signal emitting towers so as to create a more comprehensive mesh of signals within which our phones will work better.
That sounds like a plan.  Build more towers to alleviate the danger of brain tumors due to cell phone use.  Of course in doing so you increase the risk of other types of cancers somewhere else on the body.
Interesting trade off, right?
Perhaps the battle of cell vs. cell is not yet over and more research work needs to be done.  None of us have definitive answers.
Oh and Mr. Romano, don't call me, I'll call you!

E I - E I - Uh Oh!

Ever notice that all a company or entrepreneur has to do these days is add the letter “E” or “I” to the beginning of his product to make it a success?

The start of the phenomenon was most likely the incredible success of Apple’s I Pod and the subsequent I Phone but since then the bandwagon has admitted many passengers.

In America this is usually a good thing and any enterprise that produces sales and sales tax helps the economy. That is unless the new I or E product is just wrong.

Such is the case with the newest fad to help us kill ourselves in a legal way, the E-Cigarette.

This latest technological leap offers a way to continue smoking without the use of annoying tobacco. And it appears to be a loophole against the various public place non-smoking laws around the country. Rather than breathing in the harmful by-product of a burning tobacco leaf we are now given a battery operated stick from which we can suck in nicotine from a refillable canister. And we all know that nicotine will not harm us, right?

For those people who tried to quit smoking by use of the “patch” a nicotine laced gel in a film that you stick on your arm there are strict warnings about overuse. These warnings include nicotine poisoning from using just 2 patches at the same time. You must also dispose of the used patches by folding them on themselves and sealing them in wrappers so as to keep them from being eaten by and thus killing children or pets.

Until the authorities have tested this product and placed appropriate safety regulations upon them I would like to at the very least see their packaging contain warnings such as: “E-Cigarettes are addictive” or even “E-Cigarettes will cause E-Cancer.”