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You Have Colorectal Cancer

by Matthew on March 20, 2010

This has been a rough week. After CT scans, PET scans, colonoscopies, and biopsies a close family member was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. Three days later surgeons removed an entire large intestine and have already scheduled chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

I can’t imagine hearing a doctor say, “You have cancer”. It must be like being struck by lightning – it comes out of nowhere. Your entire life changes instantly. 100 years ago this would be a death sentence but thanks to advances in science and medicine people can continue living for decades after treatment. Even with these advances, the state of the art in cancer treatment is barbaric. Some day doctors will heal the damaged tissue with some Star Trek looking device and wonder how me made it through these dark ages.

In almost all cases, life is preferable to death. As I sit here in her hospital room watching her recover, I’m so happy that she is still here – I hope I can appreciate every moment with her. She has been made to pay a high price for her life and though her faith in God is strong I know that the road ahead is going to be very painful.

If you’re over 50 years old and have not had a colonoscopy, don’t be stupid, get one now. It’s a fairly simple procedure and it may save your life.

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Photos From India

by Matthew on February 22, 2010

It’s hard to capture the reality of India – the beauty, the animals, the poverty, and the smiling kids if you are a really crappy photographer like me. So, I’ve put together a slide show from my trip to Delhi plus pictures from other parts of India that I want to visit next time. At the beginning of Mahabharata, Vyasa says, “once you have finished reading this poem, at the end you will be someone else.” India is the same way – India does not change for you. India changes you.

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The Anti-Sheldrake Phenomenon

February 20, 2010
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By devising a testable hypothesis of natural memory, Rupert Sheldrake has established himself as the world’s central figure in the evolutionary theory of existence. Heir to the lineage of Darwin, Peirce, Bergson, Elsasser and Bohm, Sheldrake bears on his shoulders the weight of their worldview. Attacks on his work amount to an offensive against any alternative to a universe under the control of eternal immutable laws.

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Schools Kill Creativity

February 20, 2010

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The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana

February 20, 2010

The banana is a freakish and fragile genetic mutant; one that has survived through the centuries due to the sustained application of selective breeding by diligent humans. Indeed, the “miraculous” banana is far from being a no-strings-attached gift from nature. Its cheerful appearance hides a fatal flaw— one that threatens its proud place in the grocery basket. The banana’s problem can be summed up in a single word: sex.

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6 Insane Discoveries That Science Can’t Explain

February 20, 2010

We like to feel superior to the people who lived centuries ago, what with their shitty mud huts and curing colds by drilling a hole in their skulls. But we have to give them credit: They left behind some artifacts that have left the smartest of modern scientists scratching their heads.

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Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves

February 20, 2010

Science deserves to be challenged. After all, it is about questioning dogma and almost ceaseless scepticism. But there are those who want to go further, who believe that science deserves a good kicking too. James Le Fanu, a medical doctor and columnist for this newspaper, points out how many details of our lives, from thinking to breathing, are quite astonishing. They are extraordinary for not appearing to be extraordinary.

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Carl Jung and the Holy Grail of the Unconscious

February 20, 2010

This is a story about a nearly 100-year-old book, bound in red leather, which has spent the last quarter century secreted away in a bank vault in Switzerland. The book is big and heavy and its spine is etched with gold letters that say “Liber Novus,” which is Latin for “New Book.” Its pages are made from thick cream-colored parchment and filled with paintings of otherworldly creatures and handwritten dialogues with gods and devils. If you didn’t know the book’s vintage, you might confuse it for a lost medieval tome.

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