Round Two.

[Ozymandous]

Infact, the whole No Cure For Cancer album has been the soundtrack of my life lately.

If all the money spent on a disease like AIDS, which the odds of catching can be minimized through use of common sense and precautions, had been dumped into Cancer research instead maybe there would be a cure now.

Ah well I guess the squeeky wheel, or ass in this case considering the groups that initially suffered the worse from it, get's the grease regardless of the differences in the amount of people effected in both cases...

*sigh*

[Griselda]

Ozy,

Don't you think you might get more support for your argument if you left the anal sex jokes out of it?

-Griselda

[Griselda]

Doc,

Take care and know that you'll be in our thoughts, even if we can't (yet) email you directly in the recovery room.



-Griselda

[Ozymandous]

What sex joke? I was using a rude reference to the loud political group that has taken a vast majority of the funding that could have been used for cancer research.

No joke implied here, just a reference to a group that *could have* used some common sense to keep the spread of the disease down and had 50% of the funding shifted to real things that help ALL people, like cancer research.

As an aside, what does it matter if I had meant to make a joke or not? Would my joke negate the facts that AIDS is 100% preventable while cancer is not?? Hell, I don't even think scientists know what causes people to even GET some forms of cancer, much less cure it. If a 'joke' would make someone leave a topic alone that easily, well, then that someone must not hold that topic in very high regard or importance then.

[Doc]

The Squeaky Ass Gets The Grease joke was funny as hell... I laughed so hard I nearly coughed up my shriveled old liver.

My doctor told me, and I don't know if he is correct, but it sure caused me to think, if we spent 10% of what we spend on military spending on cancer research, we could have a cure in no time.

Types of Saracomas in particular are very deadly. They are, with out a doubt, one of the worst types to get. And I for one would greatly appreciate a better understanding as well as better treatment options for them. I donated my last one to science. And will do so on this one. Mine are a slightly different species... If one could call them that.

My days grow short. The 4th of May, Tuesday, will be here shortly. I have left certain types of contact info, namely, this website, with my lawyers. If something should happen to me, there will be some sort of final notification. My reply might take a while, as it is something I want to deliver personally, and I don't want any false hope. I would feel bad in my final moments if I were to post that I am alive and well and recovering only to have something happen a day later. False hope is awful. So this might take longer then last time. I will be out of state for a good bit. And then coming home. When I am home and stable, and it is known for sure that I am going to be back to my usual pissy self in no time, I will post.

I have coughed so hard and so much that I am breaking my own ribs. It hurts like hell. They want to put me in the hospital now, but, I refuse to go. Matters to attend to. Plus, I want to spend all the time with my critters that I can.

My wife is utterly convinced that I will be fine, inspite of what the doctors have given us for odds. She stated, "God don't love him enough to put up with him right now and Hell is afraid that he will take over and run the place." Cliche, perhaps, but it made me smile. Perhaps God keeps m around here till the day I finally mellow out. If that's the case, I am going to be here for a long long time.

I still don't even know what the procedure will be, but it could be multi stage surgery. When they go in there, they will work as they go with what they know. If they can burn it out, good. If they have to yank a lung, well, not good, but doable. If other stuff has to go... well, I don't know what's going to happen. They will probably sew me up and let me go out natural like.

[T-hawk]

Hey Doc... Before you go, could you share with us a bit? I've long been curious how someone with your life history would come to be a dedicated Diablo 2 player, a variant scum player at that, and end up in a community like Realms Beyond here. Your path through life to this board is certainly far different than most anyone else around here...

[Ozymandous]

I am glad you laughed at that, even though it really was (I am dense at times I suppose) not meant to be a joke.

I'll be looking forward to seeing you post here in the future again Doc, this place isn't the same without yah! :D

Until then whip that tumor's ass, and show it who is the boss! :war:

[Lissa]

Ozy, you have absolutely NO clue on HIV and AIDS, none.

Let me clue you in on some things, the ones screaming for the help to find a cure are not the homosexuals, it's the third world countries that are being hammered by this disease. Take a look at Africa some time and the amount of people their infected with HIV and/or AIDS, the percentages are staggering and sombering to say the least. The infection there are being communicated mostly by heterosexuals and drug addicts.

Likewise, HIV/AIDS affects far more people than cancer does (sorry Doc, but it's true). The virus also spread by means other than "fudgepacking" as you so eloquently put and think. Simply having someone's blood that is infected enter your system is enough to get you infected (one of the training videos given in clinics is how to deal with being stuck with a needle that may have infectious diseases on it when you accidently get stuck).

This is a disease that isn't 100% preventable like you seem to think, accidents do happen and it is possible to get virus carrying fluids into you while you are trying to becareful. Likewise, certain forms of cancer are highly preventable (skin cancer is one of a number).

I suggest you get yourself educated and do some research before spouting out crap like you have in this instance Ozy.

[Doc]

T-Hawk,

It might be the Mighty Morphinated Cough Syrup, but I am not sure I comprehend what you are asking.

I play games because they are fun. I have always played games. Back in the 70's, I fell in love with computer games. In the 80's, I spent a lot of money on equipment, pretty much the best you could get, and worked as a pro beta tester as a hobby. I still work as a beta tester, but only for small outfits that I admire, like Spiderweb. I have worked for some big names on big games, but, the games I love most are simple games, like the Geneforge series and Avernum.

Gaming serves a dual purpose for me. For one, there is the zen like state of mind that I get playing certain games. Two, I have had all the best ideas in my life happen to me while playing games in said cleared state of mind. A long time ago, I had the brilliant idea of how to save a dying homeless shelter and get it off of the government tit. It was, at the time, considered an insane idea. Something nobody would go for. And most people just balked at the idea and stared at me slack jawed. It took years to turn the ship around, get it sea worthy again, and make it sail my way. I guess it was a variant type idea. As far as I know, my agencies and the Hospitality House in Washington state are the only ones of their kind, fully functioning self supporting entities. And I had a hand in H.H. too. They built a Tshirt printing empire that could sell nicely printed shirts at chinese level prices. I took what I had to work with here, which wasn't much. But it all started with strong backs and a ton of scrap metal. We take no grants, no hand outs, and require no public assistance with the exception of things like food banks and clothing drives.

Gaming for me, can be much the same. Take the bare minimum of what is there and work it into something greater then the sum of it's parts. Variants interest me because taking nothing and working it into something means more. It's fun to power play at times, especially in games like D2... But that's D2. In games like Geneforge II, I have done a no canisters no alliance Agent, on Torment. Which is freaking impossible. In early beta testing gigs, you occasially had to make your self play "minimum" to emulate what a new player might experience when faced with a steep learning curve. So we, the testers, had to hobble our selves as if we had never played the game before and didn't know where the super powerful for the level kill kill die die sword +2 was cleverly hidden behind the innkeepers barrel of trash. I think playing like that stuck with me.

I am over half a century old now. I think my first ever computer gaming experience was a Star Trek game played on punch cards. All the graphics were in your head. It was pretty lame, looking back now with jaded eyes, but, back then, it shook me. It occured to me back in the 70's that it would be games that would drive computers forward. People thought I was nuts. Computers were for businesses. Computers for personal use were laughable. But computers for gaming? It got a lot of giggles. I was called a dumb country hick more times then I can count. I believed in it enough to invest in a small time computer outfit called Apple.

I will probably play games till I die.

[Ozymandous]

One comment Lissa. Wah.

I know about HIV/AIDS, not enough to be a medical student, but I have read about them, and I know what the virus is doing to third world countries.

I ALSO know that when AIDS first hit the US it hit two groups the hardest, the blood banks and the homosexual community. New techniques were developed to screen the blood and donors to make sure the blood supply wasn't tainted again, or the possibility of such contamination was very remote. The homosexual community seemed slower to 'solve' due to resistance to lifestyle changes, or other factors I do not know.

I DO know that manyu commercials and other propaganda methods were used talking about how great the disease, etc was.

Answer me this. If I never had sex or was around anyone with the virus, never got stuck with a needle, etc, would I ever have a chance of getting AIDS/HIV? A very slim, less than 1% chance I bet. Now then, if I did the exact same thing would I be almost 100% immune to cancer? I doubt it.

This is my point. While the news media and other organizations acted like AIDS/HIV was the next black plague and started funneling all sorts of money to it, why wasn't the same thing done with cancer? Is it because AIDS/HIV was tied to sex? And tied even more strongly to male homosexual sex as it's fastest and 'best' way to get the virus? Or was it because some bleeding hearts didn't want others to think they were homophobic so they started the huge publicity campaigns in the 1980's & 1990's?

How many people around the world, in first, second or third world countries die of ANY sort of cancer each year? I would bet it's more than AIDS, although I could be wrong. The simple fact is that AIDS/HIV can be almost 100% avoided if precautions are taken while cancer cannot. Even if you are never out in the sun, lived in a cave there is no guarentee that you'd not get skin cancer, to use your earlier example.

AIDS/HIV *is* preventable, cancer is *not*, it's about time we treated the virus and disease and their cure's in a manner befitting their danger and succeptability for infection/contamination, and THAT was my point.