Peace in Ireland

It's easy to see the troubles in this world, perhaps too easy. I suppose it helps us cope with struggles in life, as our eyes focus on the challenges we need to deal with. But twenty years ago, who would have thought that Ireland would find peace and reconciliation? That instead of angry young men with guns and bombs, tourists would roam their streets....

Eileen Ivers is an Irish fiddle player, who has teamed up with Tommy Pipes (perhaps best known for being one of the original Blues Brothers). Their band, Immigrant Soul, has never been mainstream music, so you may not have heard it, but if you get a chance to, you are in for a treat.

Tommy has the most soulful deep voice, which is perfect with Eileen Iver's music. And as an Irish songwriter, Eileen hits on topics that have been big in Irish culture, including the struggles that country has been through. One song they perform beautifully together, Reconciliation, is an old remake, and it just plays across the soul. We all hope and pray the middle east will someday enjoy the fruits of such peace, although that may only come with the reign of our Messiah. In the meantime, let us celebrate with Ireland their hard won victory.

Reconciliation
(Ron Kavana)

When summertime has gone and autumn winds are threatening
To blow our love away 'tis then love will be tested
Arm in arm we'll stand, side by side together
To face the common foe who would tear our love asunder

All ye fairweather friends, where are you now we need you?
Gone like the Autumn rains on dark December mornings
When hard times come around like dark and stormy weather
There's only you and I, my love, to shelter one another

Now there's a time to fight and there's a time for healing
As the sun will melt the snow on clear bright April mornings
Our fight has run its course, now's the time for healing
So let us both embrace sweet reconciliation

You know that old saying, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life"?

Well, you know, it's true.

I just gave my notice at BlueCube.

In two weeks I will start working at Radiant Systems.

At the end of the month I will take the GRE.

In December I will apply for grad school at Georgia Tech.

And if that works out, I will spend the next few years going to GT on a part-time basis (while working).

Wow. Life has suddenly kicked into high-gear, and it's scary.

I hope GT likes me. (weak grin)

What I'm about to divulge will probably shock some people. So my first order of business will be establishing a scapegoat. If you have to blame somebody, blame this little guy. You see him, the little runt hiding behind the Princess-Leah-wannabe. Yep. If you were a nerdy kid back in the '70s, you probably even know him by name: "Twiki". He is the one who got me started, all the way back in 1979.

You see, I was nine years old when the movie Buck Rogers hit theaters. No-one under 30 probably remembers it, but at the time, it was pretty snazzy. Well, for pre-teen boys at least. The hero, Buck Rogers is a space shuttle pilot who finds himself 500 years in the future. As you'd expect, sci-fi action & adventure ensued, and Buck Rogers kicked the bad guys' butts.

But, oddly enough, it wasn't the character of Buck Rogers that caught my attention. It was that little fellow...the robot...Twiki. I don't know why -- he was annoying as could be, with his penchant for blurting "Bidibidibidi" at random times. But still, this crazy notion snuck into my mind: what if I could build one of those? Hey - I was nine at the time, and already had a few years of schooling under my belt. And with a phenomenal imagination to more than compensate for any lack of knowledge, I took on the project.

Unfortunately, my 3 years of Louisiana public education did not get me very far.

By the time I was done, I had a pretty impressive sketch (er, schematic) of his exterior, with some lines and circles indicating where the wheels at his feet would go (walking was too difficult) and the pulleys to control those wheels. Ah, but for the CONTROL of that movement...that was the big thing. I knew there had to be some sort of control box inside him to manage that control: to take input from his surroundings (vision would also prove tricky), translate that into an action plan, and tell those little wheels when to start and stop. I knew this magic box was the key to actually building a robot, but I had NO EARTHLY IDEA how to go about that. So after a little experimenting, I abandoned the project, thinking that was the end of that.

And it was. Mostly. Years went by, and my life went on in many other directions. I grew into a teenager, went off to college, got married and started a family.

But then another movie came out that sparked my imagination, and again, that spark took me in a different direction than most other fans of the movie would follow. The movie was Titanic. You know the story: Spunky young "Jack" wins the heart of well-to-do "Rose", just in time for them to distract the watchmen on the Titanic, and lead to it's sinking and the demise of many, many people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But do you remember that opening scene? When the manned submarine descended to the Titanic wreckage, and released a miniature "pet" submarine on a leash, to go explore the interior of the ship? They did not talk about it in the movie, but that little "pet sub" was an ROV - a Remotely Operated Vehicle (and a true part of how the real Titanic was explored). Of course "vehicle" is a misnomer, because it does not carry people, it's just a "robot on a leash", albeit an underwater robot. I can't tell you why, but something about that just caught me and stirred up an old dream of mine: robotics.

I can't tell you why, but for some reason, that dream just grabbed my heart in a powerful way, like having the right key that unlocks a door. It just fit right. Over the next few years, I filled a large binder with thoughts, sketches, ideas, and articles on the subject.

It might be natural for me to say at this point that I chose a career in robotics, and followed that dream, but no, life got in the way. One crisis after another hit, until I found myself as a cancer caregiver, and then a young widower/single father. Through all those difficult years, my family was my main focus, with my job as software developer serving to pay the bills. But deep in my heart, that dream remained.

It would also be natural for me to say at this point that I have laid that dream to rest. Being nearly 40, well established in my career, with a family of six dependent on me, it would be, well, crazy for me to go back to school, to pursue, for instance, a PhD in robotics. Right? Well, some would say that. But a couple of things have spun my world around, making the impossible seem rather possible.

First, there's Gana. Since marrying Gana (almost a year ago now), our household has settled down to a beautiful, peaceful rhythm of life, love and laughter (with the occasional angst that accompanies puberty). Gana has been, to put it simply, marvelous beyond my greatest expectations. God knew what we needed, and He provided that in such an overabundant way with Gana.

Then, there's God. Several months ago I wrote down a list of prayer needs, and started talking with God every morning about that. Since then, I have seen him cross one item after another off that list, answering one prayer after another. When God provides for a need, He sometimes meets the need, and sometimes he completely blows it out of the water. One of my prayer requests was that God would resolve this tug in my heart for pursing robotics, whether by putting the dream away for good, or by opening the door to make it happen. And after all these years of just being a fuzzy dream, a longing in my heart, that dream coalesced into a clear plan in my mind. I suddenly knew exactly what to do, and as I researched the details, everything became very clear (and seemingly, very achievable).

So, here is what I am now looking at: I am planning to take the GRE this fall. If that works out (i.e. I can clear enough cobwebs from my brain to remember calculus), I will apply for grad school at Georgia Tech in January. Coincidentally, GT is just starting a PhD program in robotics this year. IF they accept me, I would start in the fall of 2008. I'll be honest, the odds are against me...but then, I never put much weight on statistics. If this is from God, then the doors of GT will swing wide open. And if it's not from God, well, hopefully I will get this distraction cleared up once and for all. My biggest concern is not about the academic challenge -- I feel ready for that; rather, I want to make sure I keep a balanced life, that I can work my job, go to school, and still be a godly, supportive husband and father. That is critical to me. I decided long ago that anything coming in the way of my family would have to go. So there it is -- a huge chance, a gamble, but something I want to try for.

All in all, I am hopeful. Very hopeful.

Breast Cancer Suspects

It’s amazing to see conventional cancer research sound more and more like what the naturopathic community was warning years ago. The following article by Francesca Lyman (for MSN Health & Fitness) describes suspected environmental causes of breast cancer.

And by the way, welcome to Breast Cancer Awareness Month.




Breast Cancer Suspects
By Francesca Lyman for MSN Health & Fitness

Breast cancer clearly has a genetic component, but "routine environmental exposures and lifestyle may play a major role," according to a recent ground-breaking study by the Silent Spring Institute and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The study, published in Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society, uncovers 216 common chemicals that cause breast tumors in animals and reviews medical literature, including some studies that reveal environmental factors to be influential "in the vast majority of cancers."


Tailpipe Toxins
At the top of the list of common, potent mammary carcinogens are components of car and truck exhaust.

Tobacco Smoke
Like car and truck exhaust, tobacco smoke is a source of many PAHs. Among these are dibenz[a,h]anthracene, considered by EPA to be “probably carcinogenic to humans” as well as mutagenic—meaning that it can cause genes to mutate. It’s laced with many other cancer-causing substances as well, such as dibenzo[def,p]chrysene.

Industrial Combustion Sources
Just as components of car exhaust have been linked to breast cancer and a long list of other illnesses, air pollution from refineries and coal plants also compounds the load. Researchers studying air pollution in Erie and Niagara counties in New York State found a higher risk of breast cancer among post-menopausal women whose birth addresses were near locations recording higher levels of PAHs. The researchers, who used historic air pollution data dating back to the 1960s to measure these trends, thus suggest that exposure in early life to high levels of PAHs may increase one's risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.

Drinking Alcohol
Most everyone agrees that limiting alcohol consumption can reduce the risk of breast cancer, but the connections get stronger with each new study. Natural cancer-causing substances—primarily urethanes—are found in alcohol, including wine and ale beers. In a recent analysis of six studies that examined 322,647 women, each additional 10 g of alcohol consumed equated to an added 9 percent risk of breast cancer

Toxicants in Food
Food can be tainted by pesticides sprayed on crops, antibiotics used on poultry and other meats, and hormones injected into cattle, sheep and hogs. Some foods may increase the risk of breast cancer by increasing circulating levels of estrogen. They point to the fact that milk sold in the United States (banned in Canada and Europe) containing insulin-like growth factor 1 may put women at increased risk. Also, grilled or charred meat and fish contain various mutagenic agents that occur naturally in the grilling process.

Acrylamides—found in French fries, breads and cereals cooked at very high temperatures—pose problems, as do foods contaminated by styrene from polystyrene (Styrofoam) containers. Fish can also be contaminated with a variety of long-banned chemicals like PCBs, which have been linked to breast cancer, as well as by dioxin, a product of incineration.

Ionizing Radiation
In 2005, the National Toxicology Program classified x-rays and gamma radiation as causing cancer in humans, but ionizing radiation has long been regarded as the most established environmental risk factor for breast cancer.

We're exposed to x-radiation from medical x-rays, mammograms and other radiopharmaceutical treatments. Though these technologies offer great benefits, unnecessary exposure should be avoided.

Our greatest exposure to radiation is from the gamma rays in natural sunlight, which also provides us with beneficial Vitamin D. We get increased radiation from plane travel, as a result of greater proximity to the sun's rays and because the radiation is less filtered by clouds and particulates.

Hormone Supplements
Researchers broadly agree that women’s exposures to natural estrogens over time increases the risk of breast cancer. However, it is only recently that synthetic estrogens and progesterones have been linked to a higher risk for breast cancer.

Findings from the ongoing Million Women Study and the Women’s Health Initiative have found that certain kinds of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), used to alleviate menopausal symptoms, put women at increased risk of breast cancer.

Drinking Water Contaminants
Disinfecting products used to clean water help kill bacteria and keep disease in check. However, Silent Spring researchers caution that some disinfection byproducts of chlorinating water cause mammary tumors in rodents. There’s strong evidence for their causing cancer in humans as well. Likewise, many drinking water systems across the U.S. have been found to be contaminated by pesticides and dry cleaning chemicals.

Household Chemicals
Stain-resistant and flame-retardant chemicals have found their way into our lives—in our carpeting, furniture, clothing, cookware, cosmetics, lubricants, paints, and adhesives. Widely detected in blood samples in the US, PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) has been found to cause breast cancer in animals and is under further investigation.

Silent Spring Institute researchers also point to chlorinated solvents used in paint removers, varnishes, wood sealants, fabric cleaners, dry cleaning chemicals and septic tank cleaners as being suspected human carcinogens.


Gasoline, Benzene, Fuels and Solvents
Occupational studies have mainly focused on men, but a few studies on women workers have turned up elevated levels of breast cancer among those exposed to various petrochemical solvents—particularly women working in chemical factories and dry cleaning shops, hairdressers, nurses in health and science laboratories, and electronics industry workers. Benzene, to which we are exposed in gasoline at the pump and in lawn mowers and other appliances that might be stored in garages and basements, is a potent mammary carcinogen, according to Silent Spring researchers.

Pharmaceuticals
A wide variety of prescription drugs have been found to produce mammary tumors in animals—everything from Reserpine, used for the treatment of mild or moderate hypertension, to Furosemide for pulmonary edema. Many anti-cancer drugs are also known human carcinogens. Check the study's “browse” function under pharmaceuticals.

Miscellaneous Chemicals, Dyes, Whitening Agents
In January 2003, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported their findings on human exposure to environmental chemicals, revealing some 116 toxic and cancer-causing chemicals in the blood and tissues of human volunteers chosen to represent our population. Among the compounds they found were multiple pesticides linked to breast cancer, dioxins that are products of incineration, and other chemicals.

Can our “body burdens” be lightened? Silent Spring researchers advocate reducing as many “preventable” exposures from industrial chemical byproducts as possible. Examples abound: 1,4 dioxane, a contaminant in detergents and shampoos, for example, and fluorescent whitening agents, both have been found to cause breast cancer in animals. The researchers argue that most chemicals used in hair dyes and cosmetics have not been tested for their health effects.

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