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What Dreams May Come

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Re: What Dreams May Come

#311

Post by gnaritas »

robogrowth wrote: post #199
fasteo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are right for the wrong reason. The problem with cancer research is that we are trying to solve an unsolvable problem, wasting disproportionate amounts of money. In some sense, cancer is a symptom of a body gone havoc. Research should be targeted upstream, to really tackle the root cause. It is like trying to fix a hardware issue by patching software. Yes, you can get some results by implementing better error cor…

Youre 100% right and im not a food scientist, but i strongly feel the increase on cancer in humans can be attributed to the largely corn based diet humans are fed.. and the other terrible food items were fed by the powers that be. Everything is made with corn or corn byproducts and its not healthy at all.. not only that were feeding it to all our animals.. its a bad bad situation how our food supply is treated, and t…

> im not a food scientist, but i strongly feel

If science has shown anything, it's that this is the wrong way to think. Leave the answers to those who do the science, feelings are a terrible way to come to conclusions. Blaming corn based on your feelings is irrational and very likely completely wrong.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#312

Post by 300bps »

franl wrote: post #299
300bps wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was happy to make a donation. This hits close to home because my wife was diagnosed with Stage 0 Melanoma-in-situ when she was 35 years old. We have three kids of our own and imagining them growing up without their mother is terrifying. Fortunately, we caught it at Stage 0 though which has a 100% cure rate. So let me stand up on the soapbox for a minute: Everyone should go to a dermatologist every year for an all-o…

Great points all around, thank you for making them! Please don't help perpetuate this myth about whole life being a "rip off" though. Your statement is semi-accurate, but a bit misleading. Don't get whole life - it's generally a rip off Yes, if purchased from a non-mutual, financially shaky insurance company, it's quite likely a bad idea. However, when purchased from a financially strong mutual insurance company (Nor…

I'm in IT but I am also a CFA charter holder (Chartered Financial Analyst). I disagree wholeheartedly on your assertions on whole life. I have only seen whole life be an appropriate investment vehicle for very wealthy families that are doing estate planning. There may be other times where whole life is appropriate but I don't know what they are. In almost all circumstances someone would be better off buying term insurance and doing their own low-fee investing somewhere like Vanguard or Fidelity. They've made it so simple with Target Retirement funds.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#313

Post by gwern »

look_lookatme wrote: post #259
aestra wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he is just comfortable with his life and can't see out of his own worldview. He believes these things are "bare necessities." This is why I have trouble relating to the middle and upper class and especially this guy. I grew up poor. Really poor. My friends in the neighborhood had to live without electricity some times because they got shut off because their parents couldn't pay the bill. I thought we were pre…

"Look up any research on happiness." Boy we are really dialing it up to 11 in this thread.

Seems like a reasonable summary of positive psychology to me: experiences and people, not things.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#314

Post by eranation »

clusterfoo wrote: post #310
eranation wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm praying for you, but besides praying, your post has triggered the following: 1) cried a little, I'm your age, with kids, wife had Thyroid cancer, close to home 2) donated to your fund, hope many more will 3) read about Melanoma, was shocked how much I didn't know 4) made an appointment with a dermatologist, I'm in the risk group apparently 5) emailed my insurance company to increase my coverage My thoughts and pr…

> 3) read about Melanoma, was shocked how much I didn't know. Yeah it's weird how little people know about something so prevalent. People are shocked to find how many different types and sub-types of cancer are out there and how different the prognoses vary from one to the other. I just got the diagnosis a month or so ago (26 y/o, a year after my dad dies of lymphoma... epic wtf's all around). First response is "Oh,…

I hope you recover quickly and that everything will be fine! My condolences on the loss of your father. I'm always paranoid, this is why I used to avoid being checked :)

Re: What Dreams May Come

#315

Post by nate_meurer »

baby wrote: post #255

> Prepare for / pay for my final arrangments : $20,000 I'm not here to bash, but with so much money problem why do people want to spend so much money on their death? If I die I just want people to get rid of my body in the cheapest way possible. Just burn me or give me to science.

For what it's worth, Jonathan said this on 01/19/2014 (his earliest blog post that was tagged "cancer"):

I have told my children that if I should lose this fight that there will not be a funeral, there will be a party, a celebration with music and cake and ice cream and friends and family and dancing and laughing and singing.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#316

Post by nate_meurer »

lnanek2 wrote: post #125

Kind of bizarre seeing someone else's value system which is completely alien to my own. If I was leaving my wife and kids with mortgage and car loan debt, I wouldn't spend $10-20k on a graveyard plot, that's for sure. I don't think I would in any case, I'd just get cremated or whatever the cheapest option is.

I agree, but it made me feel better (poor wording?) to see Jonathan's blog post on 01/19/2014 (the earliest post to be tagged "cancer"):

I have told my children that if I should lose this fight that there will not be a funeral, there will be a party, a celebration with music and cake and ice cream and friends and family and dancing and laughing and singing.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#317

Post by scott_karana »

makmanalp wrote: post #116
jmadsen wrote: post #21

OP here: His donation page is at: https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/w704/beating-cancer-o... which can handle the load much better Should have thought to put that up earlier

Anyone notice that the SSL cert for the donation page ( https://secure.giveforward.com/donate/119408 ) has issues? Firefox says "does not supply identity information". Someone noticed here but got a canned answer: http://help.giveforward.com/customer/portal/questions/124352... Could anyone verify that this is fine? I'm going to donate if it is. Thanks! edit: Looks like safari is fine with it, and a IceyEC mentions ch…

If memory serves, it just means it's not an Extended Validation certificate, which is supposed to physically verify the identify of the issued business/person, rather than just be a generic (but fully secure) cert.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#318

Post by chrisweekly »

darthclue wrote: post #113
adventured wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anything people can do to help further beyond donations? Anything your family needs?

Our basic needs are taken care of for now. We have a strong group of friends and family who have been by our side throughout this entire mess and provided us with indescribable support. Spiritual support of any kind is always welcome.

In re: spiritual support, may I recommend "How to Want What You Have" http://www.amazon.com/How-Want-What-You-Have/dp/0805033173 which taught me to live in the moment when I was faced with my own seeming impending demise.

[I'm 39, have daughters aged 5 and 7, and had a fist-sized brain tumor removed just over a year ago. So, though I'm doing fine right now (next MRI is tomorrow morning, hoping for another clean scan), I can certainly relate.]

If you have the strength, try to take up running. My world-class oncologist (at MGH in Boston) said he wished all of his patients were runners. Not occasional joggers, but real runners as in 3 to 5 miles multiple times per week.

Also avoiding refined sugars and red meat can't possibly hurt and there's a lot of evidence that it can make a huge difference.

More generally, I urge you to fight to stay alive. Anything is possible if you just hang on and keep alive. The pace of innovation and understanding in medical science is accelerating, and “incurable” diseases have been eradicated. HIV was once a death sentence; now patients live about as long as never-infected people. Just keep breathing, and hang on. Positive change is coming.

Sending all my positive vibes and loving best wishes your way. I know you're inundated with messages from strangers but if you read this and want to talk or I can do anything for you, please do reach out. I'm "cweekly" on twitter and gmail.

Love, Chris

PS This excerpt from Alan Watts -- "Think of Nothing" -- also helped me cope, when I thought my end was near. If you're a devout Christian you might find it offensive, but I (a humanist with zen buddhist leanings) found it comforting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ5upMz0_ig&index=35&list=FLf...

Re: What Dreams May Come

#319

Post by sq1020 »

Everyone's death is impending. Life is by it's very nature limited. It baffles me as to how some very intelligent people seem to believe that we can "beat" death, that death can be cured! What a curious notion advocated by none other than the director of engineering at Google!

Someone once asked a sage, "Why do we fear death and cling to life so much?" The sage said, "We fear death because we have prepared nothing for it while we have constructed for ourselves a comfortable, familiar life. Why would you look forward to going to something for which you haven't prepared anything and why would you look forward to leaving something for which you invested all of your time and effort?"

Re: What Dreams May Come

#320

Post by gbhn »

300bps wrote: post #312
franl wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great points all around, thank you for making them! Please don't help perpetuate this myth about whole life being a "rip off" though. Your statement is semi-accurate, but a bit misleading. Don't get whole life - it's generally a rip off Yes, if purchased from a non-mutual, financially shaky insurance company, it's quite likely a bad idea. However, when purchased from a financially strong mutual insurance company (Nor…

I'm in IT but I am also a CFA charter holder (Chartered Financial Analyst). I disagree wholeheartedly on your assertions on whole life. I have only seen whole life be an appropriate investment vehicle for very wealthy families that are doing estate planning. There may be other times where whole life is appropriate but I don't know what they are. In almost all circumstances someone would be better off buying term insu…

Definitely unbundle your life insurance and investments. The only reason I can think of for coupling them is just shy of fraud.

-- someone who once got sold a whole life policy

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