Tumor Burning

A segment aired on ABC’s World News last night that piqued my interest. It was a story on brain tumors and a new effective treatment. But that wasn’t the interesting part (for me), what was interesting was this technique can treat tumors deep within the medial (middle) structures that cannot be seen by just opening up the skull and looking down, or without damaging the other structures along the way trying to get to the tumor. Say I have a tumor in the thalamus. Under conventional neurosurgery I’m in trouble and that tumor will just be allowed to grow be treated by chemotherapy or something and may eventually kill me.

A perspective of where my hypothetical scenario tumor is located.

However, this experimental procedure allows a flexible small laser to get deep in the brain and inside of a tumor, where a heated laser will burn away the tumor from the inside leaving surrounding brain tissue virtually untouched and the tumor virtually gone. This procedure has a much shorter recovery time than that of conventional brain surgery. Medical technology never ceases to amaze me in where we’re headed with it.

Here’s ABC’s segment from last night that explains it better and shows you how it’s done.

Interesting fact – Brain surgery can be done while the patient is awake because the brain has no pain receptors, therefore feels no pain. This is also helpful for feedback for the surgeon so the surgeon doesn’t sever or destroy any important functional connections like speech.

Westboro is at it…Again

Not two hours after I got back from Lawrence, the local news upsets me. One of the first segments was about Westboro and one of their protests. For those who don’t know who Westboro are, they’re from Topeka, they are Anti-homosexual, and their M.O. is liberally expressing their first amendment rights at funerals of dead soldiers. Visit their site if you want to really know more about them. I’m very annoyed by Westboro which I can’t in good conscious acknowledge as an affiliate to any type of church or religion, which is why I left off the “Baptist Church” part of their name. I think it would be a huge insult to the Baptists. They usually make a visit up to the KU campus to preach their usual sermons. I have not seen them this year! So what were they up to this time? Today, they were outside of a local high school to protest (big freakin’ shock right?). The high school’s prom king, of last year, is an openly gay individual, therefore Westboro and Fred Phelps couldn’t allow this atrocity to go unprotested…a year later. The kid doesn’t even go to the school anymore, he has graduated and is now at OU. However, he still made the drive when he heard and made it on time to protest with his former classmates. The fundamentalists were severely outnumbered by the hundreds of high school students who came out to rightfully support of one of their own and protested against Westboro’s opinionated beliefs. The students’ signs showed that they understood the basic message that God loves everyone. The other side had a hard time figuring that out. Shirley Phelps (daughter of Fred) had a sign that had the word “Antichrist” at the top and the name “Obama” at the bottom with Obama’s photo in the middle with demon horns. What’s sadder is that their children protesters had on their usual black shirts that have their motto/slogan of “God hates fags” in white letters. The T.V. station interviewed Shirley Phelps and this is a little of what she had to say:

“Those children elected a prom king, queen, thing,” Phelps-Roper said. “They showed that they don’t have a clue about their duty to obey the standards of God.” (Shirley Phelps – KCTV)

The young man (who drove nine hours) had this to say:

“I’ve been targeted for almost my entire life,” Pope said. “I’ve been out since 14 and being really, really active in school, in the community, I’ve definitely been targeted a lot, but I’m just taking it with a grain of salt, and they’re going to think what they’re going to think, do what they want to do, and we’re just going to do our thing and keep our spirits high.” (Pope – KCTV)

The high schools students put a positive spin on this protest:

The students turned their protest into a fund raiser for AIDS research, passing around a bucket that raised a couple of hundred dollars in less than an hour. (WDAF-TV)

It’s obvious to see why it’s impossible for me and probably anyone else to call what Westboro does religion or religious. Their slogan of “God hates fags” is a blatant preach of hate, which is outstanding that they cannot see that. If you go to their website, there’s a little icon above their search bar that says “God hates you.” Seriously…and if you visit some of their affiliate sites, they also have the same hateful and judgmental tone towards anyone who may be reading. If they actually took time to read and comprehend what they believe they’re preaching when they protest, they would know that God may not like the lifestyle of homosexuality, but GOD HATES NO ONE! It’s as simple as that, those Westboro people don’t know their own dogma.

I wish they would go away!

Not So Desirable

A recent survey from Pew Research Center showed that only 15% of those polled found the K.C. area a desirable place to live. At 15%, the K.C. area is fourth from last of the big cities listed. From experience living here, I concur!

Really though, KC is “equal” statistically with St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and Cincinnati.

My top 5 places I find most desirable
1) Denver/Boulder
2) Vancouver, B.C.
3) Seattle
4) New York City
5) Colorado Springs

Don’t Boycott Bud!

Honestly…I don’t know what the big deal is. Budweiser was bought by Belgian company InBev*. So what? I know there are people (especially those in the Midwest) that take their beer seriously. Now that this has happened, some think drinking Budweiser is now “not American” or “not patriotic.” As if Budweiser overnight became a wuss beer because it is owned by a European company. Please!

Whoever made this video was so clouded with resentment they failed to realize that InBev is a Belgian company not Brazilian.

This is more crying to go along with that world famous “American arrogance” we all have. It is funny. I laughed! All that’s missing here is a Confederate flag and a couple of shotguns. They sound like a couple of NASCAR commentators. Whiten the beard, put some glasses on him, and dress him in red and the guy on the left is Santa Claus!

I don’t know how the majority of America feels about this, but those who want to boycott are really wanting to screw other Americans. How long are they planning to boycott? Is it temporary to show disrespect to the Belgian company? Or is it indefinite because they believe drinking Budweiser is Un-American? InBev has said they won’t close any American breweries so those Americans will likely keep their jobs. I don’t know too much about business, but I don’t see Budweiser allowing another company to take over if they were going to strip Americans of their jobs. Money talks, but would it talk that loud? InBev has also not said anything about an “invasion” of Belgian workers, or that they’re going to close the breweries and move operations to Belgium. However, if these geniuses who want to boycott the company just to get back at InBev or whatever, then that will force InBev to shut down American breweries as well as American jobs. Why would real Americans want to screw other Americans out of a good job? What do people think will happen as a result of their boycotting? What will it accomplish?

Name change? Nice stadium, God-awful sport.

I think the main deal here is tradition. Especially within the city.

“Tens of thousands of other St. Louisans are from brewery families, residents whose parents, grandparents and great-grandparents worked at the brewery and most of them own its stock. Two of my own siblings work at the brewery. A-B treats its employees very, very well. That history and all those connections make most St. Louisans, including me, face this merger with mixed feelings.” (St. Louis Business Journal)

Budweiser has about 150 years of history, InBev claims they go back about 642 years when they began brewing in Den Horen in Leuven, Belgium in 1366! Not bad.

As for me, I’m not much of a beer drinker or a bar person really, I won’t go into why. But everyone has their favorites.

Just a few in no particular order

• Sam Adams

• Heineken

• Budweiser (Select)

• Corona

• Boulevard Wheat

If I were to go to a restaurant, have a steak and beer, I’ll still order a Bud. If I were at a party, which is a rarer occurrence than me going to a bar, it wouldn’t matter (when does it). I’ll drink it if it sports the red, white, and blue; or the red, yellow, and black. Hopefully these reactions are just based on initial anger, and when the fog clears I hope people will realize that boycotting isn’t such a good idea in the long run. They’ll be ending American jobs as well as an American tradition. For those who want to cry that it’s not patriotic to drink Bud anymore, keep cryin’.

Cheers!

* – Looks whose face is promoting this popular slogan, “Se beber não dirija.”