Uncle's Car Wreck

Sad story.

One of my cousins was valedictorian at her graduation yesterday (Friday). Many from the family were there to watch her give a speech, but her dad was extremely late. Not that this was out of character for him, as he's often "bum-like", but this seemed to be a bit of a low point.

His son kept stepping out to see if he could catch a glimpse of his dad arriving - maybe help him find a parking space to get him inside as quickly as possible. One of those times, he noticed a huge commotion a block over from the school. Then the ambulances. Then the gathering crowds of people.

With a sinking sensation in his gut, he ran over there, to find the scene partially pictured below. My uncle, his father, was the DRIVER of the taxi pictured here. One of 7 cars involved in a wreck when an unlicensed ambulance decided to run a red light at high speed...just because he felt that he could.

My cousin called my dad and uncle at the graduation and they rushed over just as the paramedics had rescued my uncle from the passenger side of the car. No small task either, because my uncle looks quite a bit like me - in the portly department. In fact, looking at these pictures, I'm quite surprised at his survival - though highly thankful.

My uncle was in surgery much of yesterday fixing a broken wrist, arm, knee, and collarbone.

Your prayers will all be greatly appreciated for his family. He is the breadwinner, and it looks like he will be out of commission for a while. He had insurance, but not enough to cover replacing his own car, just for his passengers and for liability. The ambulance driver has been listed as the guilty party and is under arrest after spending a night at the hospital - but with the money-greased legal system there is no guarantee he will be held responsible for any of it. It is now time to see if the newly minted lawyers among my cousins will be an asset for the family.

The other brothers and sisters paid June's rent for them, and gave notice. The family will move into my grandfather's home. After my grandfather passed away he left it to his youngest/unmarried son, and there is enough room there for them.

Overall, we're extremely thankful that my uncle suffered no greater injuries than he did, and after all, a vehicle can be replaced whereas he could not.

Thanks for your prayers...




From General


--
The Old Fool

“If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” -George Orwell.
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Memorial Day

No Greater Love

This is a Canadian comic that is normally dedicated to technology jokes, but they did an awesome veteran's day run.

God bless all of you vets out there.

Best to view them in order:

http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08nov/uf012110.gif

http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08nov/uf012111.gif

http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08nov/uf012112.gif

http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08nov/uf012113.gif

http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08nov/uf012114.gif

http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/08nov/uf012115.gif

--
The Old Fool

“If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” -George Orwell.
-

I love music

Music is emotion for me. Music can be what I rarely let myself be, or cannot be. If it wasn't for that outlet, and the creativity of research and writing, I would be a silly, sad old man with no good release valve. Thank God for music. :-)

Tool


Tool


Seether


Nine Inch Nails


Slipknot


Slipknot


'Tallica


--
The Old Fool

“If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” -George Orwell.

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My friends...

This was not a very easy weekend to cope with. If I did not have the love and support of my closest friends over the past months and years, it would have been an impossible weekend.

The self-imposed hell of writing this week's final chapter in an all-too-short story, that - while mostly beautiful and wonderful - needed that final thrust, would have been absolutely insurmountable. To know that I have them to turn to (or even hide from, knowing they will be waiting for my return when I can face people again) is a blessing that's impossible to describe adequately with words...so I won't try, other than to say thanks.


--
The Old Fool

“If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” -George Orwell.

Engfeh...bleh.

It's been a long day. It's been a bad day.

We're going to have a hard time getting hold of the treatment for me.

The malabsorption issues may be more widespread than a single vitamin as previously thought.

I've had a few cardiac events which other people may deem as scares in the past few days, and today is no better and no signs of it getting better.

It's just not a great day overall. At least music is a great outlet. And writing. :-) I've added something like 4000 words to things I'm working on in the past 24 hours...it helps.

And in addition to writing, I like being self-indulgent and re-reading some of my favorite apropos pieces I've written.

Some of these are:

Courage

Replay

Workshop

Sleepless



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQCGeg7z5kM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9IixYR_p-4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dTo48hSLsw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhxXs6SOve8


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjIPLqOT65w


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEPq054fy2Y


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVLWzluuCNU


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJY-_lBCbk0

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Unruly Wisdom

We have officially started blogging on the Unruly Wisdom blog. The first posts are up.

I have the blog linked on my page, so the updates will post on the right hand side of this page in one of the little apps.

I'd love for y'all to browse it and drop a line if you feel like you want to share/contribute something. :-)

See you there!

Acai and Corn

Some time ago I made the comment that what "helps" one group salve it's environmental or health conscience is often at the expense of another's.

Example: Oprah's Acai Run

Read the article all the way through, it's illuminating.

Another example of this type of item was the vast increase in corn prices when the ethanol craze started to take off, and has now become a constant fixture in American life - especially with the summer blends of fuels. Though much of the ethanol corn is American-grown, there is a demand for corn that remains - usually in the form of high fructose corn syrup used so ubiquitously in US consumer goods (the good/bad aspects of that are for another time and discussion).

This increase in corn prices meant that farmers in the "free trade zone" of NAFTA were MUCH more inclined to sell their corn to the US than to the local markets. As a result, the price of THE staple food for the poor in Mexico nearly doubled in price. NEARLY DOUBLE. If you are a poor person living on the EDGE of survivability, and your one staple food goes up that much...well, we can all imagine the consequences in human misery.

But, we're wealthy, happy, and unconcerned by that which we can't see - and can salve our conscience about the "environmental" impact of our wealthy lives. All the while increasing human misery with the very choices we so altruistically enacted.

Finally, there is the misery involved in electronics recycling.

Again, we thrill ourselves with the concept of e-waste recycling. We drop off our machines, and give no thought to what must go on after we have done the great work of dropping them off at the nearest business that recycles waste. And never stop to think of what happens after we drop these off and go on our merry way, thinking of how we have helped to "save" the environment. We may even congratulate ourselves a little bit.

And on and on and on. For the most part, when the great masses of "bleeding hearts" who discover something or another that is "natural" or "great for you or the environment", there is a price in human misery to be paid by some wretched souls somewhere in the world, so that these comfortable, high-minded, obscenely wealthy (by comparison), people can FEEL good about themselves.

Think of the bottled water issue. Look at the previous post. In what we SPEND on bottled water instead of relying on our WONDERFUL local water supplies, we could give the WORLD a healthy water supply. Trust me, coming from Mexico where bottled water jugs of the 5 gallon type are a necessity to prevent e. coli or amoeba infections, the water here is a DREAM. The fact that people despise the wonderful benefit they have available from their tap that many in the world would literally kill for is an affront to all of suffering humanity.

I do not advocate we all become self-sustaining agrarians, don't get me wrong. I simply abhor the self-indulgent joy these small-minded people get when they believe they have done something for their health or the world's good that simply ends up making someone else miserable at their expense. I despise the obtuse perspective that ignores the true nature of their selfish choices. This is the true reason for my disdain of "hippies". People who are so enamored with "bettering" themselves by making more natural choices - etc, etc, etc - but who are merely selfish children willing to plow the world under to satisfy their own self-righteousness and continued existence of their comfortable, worry-free life (again, relative to the wretched souls of the world).

I do not pretend that what I do is without its cost. I understand my relative wealth, comfort, and position relative to the world's poorest, and I do not resent THEM for it. I also am THANKFUL for my opportunities, and while I try not to waste more than necessary, I do not waste the opportunities presented to me. I realize I am blessed, and am thankful for it.

Finally, a great commentary on social 'justice'.

General GRRRRRR

Every once in a while, a string of news stories back-to-back in a day will raise my hackles. Today is one of those days.

Item 1: "Buy Black"
Comment: "Buy from white-owned businesses only" wouldn't fly, why should this???

Item 2: Beauty Brouhaha
Comment: Holds the same views as Beloved Great Leader Obama...but got crucified for them in a way the same community has never crucified the President. This is such crap. I didn't see the online and TV vitriol against the black, latin, catholic, or muslim communities when Prop 8 passed in California. Somehow it was all the predominantly low-key white mormons that got the ravages of everyone's vitriol, and some evangelicals to boot. Grow some balls and dish it out evenly, or don't dish it out at all.

Item 3: Twilight (movie or book)
Comment: How absolutely SAD is it that the concept of a young man who is willing to CONTROL and RESTRAIN himself around his beloved is SO fantastical that it becomes the thing of sighing fantasies for the young tween crowd.

Item 4: Gender-based abortion ok.
Comment: Well, of course, the slow slide to eugenics continues - unrelenting. Future possibilities I would place money on: children with genetic predispositions to diseases. Not currently ill or will be born ill, that already happens to some extent. I mean the POTENTIAL for illness.

Item 5: No peace will ever be possible.
And anyone who believes there will be peace without one side eliminating the other side of the argument from the area (genocide, or 100% displacement), is a naive fool. With children being taught such a degree of racism at such an early age, there is no hope. Of course, the other side will retaliate, and then the back and forth will be justified in each side's eyes. What if the video included two different ethnicities? What if the speaker was a KKK grand dragon saying the same things about Jews? Or a neonazi speaking about gays, blacks, or jews? Instant nationwide outrage. What makes this so pernicious, is this man is not a radical. This man is being a very good "sunday school teacher", teaching pretty much directly out of the book. I've been spending a lot more time familiarizing myself with the source texts to be sure I don't speak out of turn or ignorance.

Related item: impossible to change religion. Again, change ethnicities/religions in the key players, and the rest of the world would be outraged.

Anyway, that's what has recently jumped off the newsreels at me. I'm sure there's more, but that was a lot to read and get mad at in just one afternoon of reading.

Bottled Water

Again, though all who may know me know how far from generally hippie Earth Day Prius-ey I am, I do think that it's the small choices in everyday life that can make all the difference...not gigantic government spending (to combat climate change, for example).

Great little slideshow for all you bottled water addicts out there:

Water Disaster

Original Link

Make small changes in life - waste less, and the world changes. Don't ask for those extra napkins at the drive-thru, don't take more condiment packets than you are actually going to use, don't go for the bottled water - in fact, try to avoid the individually bottled drinks overall, use compact fluorescent bulbs in your home. Small, simple daily changes that when multiplied by the many hundreds of millions in this country, add up to gigantic differences. We don't need gigantic government spending programs to change the world for the better when we can simply be better stewards of our own resources and lives.

Decision

It was certainly a wild ride this last month, mostly of long and bitter disappointments and a waste of precious time. At the end of the month it felt like the main redeeming factor was the ability to spend some time with the family, which is always a plus.

However, it would not be completely fair to characterize the entire month as a complete waste of time. The very last day, something unexpected popped up as a potential avenue for treatment.

In fact, it was something that cropped up between the time I woke up in the morning for my plane flight back here and the time I finally made it into DFW.

I'm playing this one a little close to the chest, I know, but contrary to what my many postings here may indicate, there are things I don't actually share or publish about my health.

This treatment won't be without its severe risks. I got a sobering breakdown from a doctor today, and it will certainly not be as nearly innocuous as I had originally hoped. There is a little bit more than a small chance that the treatment itself will create congestive heart failure, or produce an overnight cardiac arrest by worsening the massively obstructive apnea my CPAP machine deals with on a daily basis.

There is definitely published evidence that in certain cases this solution has worked, and so far 8 years of medical records don't counterindicate me being one of those cases. They don't prove it WILL work, but they don't put me outside the bounds of it working either. There is also anecdotal evidence in my own life that this will produce some results. I've told someone before that they saved my life, or at least extended it, and if this works out, I don't think they'll ever believe how true those words ring. So, there is the chance...the chance...that it will be a major step towards a cure or at least a reversal of many of the worst insulin problems, and though the major risk factors are serious, they are commensurate to the potential benefit.

I have decided that this gamble is worth that chance. And one way or another, we're getting my brother a little bit closer to a solution for him. If we must discard this avenue and keep searching for new ones, might as well get that done sooner rather than later.

There is a secondary confirmation coming in this week as to whether this avenue of treatment may be something worth trying. Honestly, though, I believe I am going to pursue it whether or not the second green light hits. At the moment, there is not much else to be done, and I know I can't stay like this for much longer. I think it's only God's grace that I haven't had a major cardiac event or stroke thus far, and I'd like to do more to keep it that way. :- )

So, I would appreciate your prayers. Yes, that this works, but also for my family. I made this decision, but it affects them as well, and they are on board and supportive. Now, we need to convince at least one of the doctors to sign off on the treatment, and I will begin. Thankfully, this won't even require another trip like the one I just had.

So, this may be one of the last health updates in a while, because I don't expect to get my hands on this solution for another month or so, and won't be able to report on results for another month or two after that...but, as I mentioned before, prayers would be GREATLY appreciated.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me...

Find out what it means to the press...

Press corps...atten-HUT!