I wrote on another blog that I'm surprised that more stem cell research doesn't go on in Mexico and Central America. I know that Mexico in particular is currently a certain security risk, which is an important factor. I also don't know what kinds of resources the less-developed countries (Guatemala, maybe) have in terms of infrastructure to support a modern lab (electricity and water), so maybe that's an issue. I also don't know what costs are like in a more stable, developed country like Costa Rica and whether they're not low enough to set up facilities there.
In any case, the reason I'm writing about this here is because I've thought on and off that if I made some absurd amount in a lottery win (above 100 million), something I'd like to try is setting up a stem cell research facility in Latin America to offer people (Americans, really) some alternatives in terms of devastating illnesses that might be "untreatable" by doctors in the U.S. Experimental treatments, essentially. And now that stem cells can be harvested from bone marrow and many other sources, I think it's plausible to think that more research can be done in more places, more easily.
One reason I most want to do this is because the news about stem cells in this country has been frustrating to me. Ten years ago, there was a study that seemed to indicate that stem cells would eliminate juvenile or Type I diabetes. Then nothing. The most recent thing that I've heard is that cells take from a cadaver can be injected into a diabetes sufferer and get them off insulin. So what's going on with this? Is it working or not? Are they still doing trials with people or not?
Another field I'm interested in - in terms of stem cells - is dentistry. Again, there was talk about it 8 to 10 years ago and since then, nothing (that I know of). Maybe there's a discussion going on within the community but I don't think there's anything coming up in the larger culture. Or maybe I'm missing it. But it's another field where I'd like to sponsor research (if I can) because I think it could make huge difference to so many people.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Always On The Sixes
Six is a number that comes up in my mind all the time when thinking about lottery winnings. Six and four. But today is a six day.
$60,000: I could easily live for two years on $60,000. I could pay all my bills quite easily and coast.
$600,000: With six hundred thousand dollars, I could live for twelve or more years (and that's giving myself $40k a year, which is more than enough). If I bought a cheap house or moved somewhere cheaper than hear, I could make it last even longer. (I could have bought a house a couple of years ago and I looked at some really cheap ones near me.)
$6 million: Of course, six million dollars would be over and beyond what I could ever need. I could give gifts of largesse to my family and friends; create my own projects, travel and give to charity.
When thinking about large amounts like that, I like to break it down into different configurations to show myself just how much it is. For instance:
I could take $1m a year for six years;
or $500,000 a year for twelve years;
or $250,000 a year for 24 years;
or $175,000 a year for 48 years - I could make more than $150,000 a year for almost 50 years! How great is that??
(Well, this is all fantasy, so I suppose all of it is great, right? [sheepish grin])
And $6m is something I would probably get with even the most basic Powerball or Megamillions win, since their base prize is $15m which is $7.5m even if you lose half in taxes.
$60,000: I could easily live for two years on $60,000. I could pay all my bills quite easily and coast.
$600,000: With six hundred thousand dollars, I could live for twelve or more years (and that's giving myself $40k a year, which is more than enough). If I bought a cheap house or moved somewhere cheaper than hear, I could make it last even longer. (I could have bought a house a couple of years ago and I looked at some really cheap ones near me.)
$6 million: Of course, six million dollars would be over and beyond what I could ever need. I could give gifts of largesse to my family and friends; create my own projects, travel and give to charity.
When thinking about large amounts like that, I like to break it down into different configurations to show myself just how much it is. For instance:
I could take $1m a year for six years;
or $500,000 a year for twelve years;
or $250,000 a year for 24 years;
or $175,000 a year for 48 years - I could make more than $150,000 a year for almost 50 years! How great is that??
(Well, this is all fantasy, so I suppose all of it is great, right? [sheepish grin])
And $6m is something I would probably get with even the most basic Powerball or Megamillions win, since their base prize is $15m which is $7.5m even if you lose half in taxes.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Recently, while staying at my brother's in Pennsylvania, I was in a grocery store; a proper grocery store. We don't have a "proper" grocery store in my neighborhood; it's what I call a "ghetto grocery:" small, ugly, lit badly and carrying an assortment of odd products (t-shirts on a shelf up front?).
When I am in "real" grocery stores I tend to be intimidated and a little sickened - and perhaps a bit high. The high comes from thinking about all the things I could buy and wanting to have and eat thousands of products in the store. The intimidation and nausea comes from the sheer quantity of products on the shelves and the knowledge that not all of them will be bought and that perfectly edible foods will be discarded or go bad because they weren't bought within the time frames of their legally appointed freshness.
How much new food - from cereal to packaged meat - ends up thrown away in this country because it doesn't get bought? How many people could that feed, both here and abroad? That is the sickening part of the equation. I once heard immigrants describing their first experiences of American grocery stores; a woman from Russian talked about breaking down at the sheer abundance after having come from such a lack (and maybe being aware that said lack still persisted even as this bonanza was happening here).
I think anyone would be nauseous with the cognitive dissonance of awareness of the sickening glut of food on offer here while at the same time so many people struggle for even the basics.
So what does all of this have to do with the lottery? Well, two things:
1. As I stood in the cracker/cookie/bread/cheese/butter/milk aisle of that grocery store, I thought about all those people without and wondered what a joy it would be to just open the store to hungry/needy families and say "Take what you want" and foot the bill yourself.
(As I think about it, the actuality of it might - or probably would - be ugly, with people racing through the store like wild animals and possibly fighting over items. I still like the idea in theory.)
2. A couple of years ago I visited my uncle and aunt in Texas and marveled at the Great Wall of cereal boxes in their local Kroger. At that time I thought about creating a project whereby people bought up all that cereal and then chartered a plane to fly it over to some needy/hungry country in Africa; to a refugee camp in Ethiopia, perhaps; something like that. The cereal would be a good dry food that wouldn't spoil easily and would be tasty and (supposedly) full of nutrition (according to the manufacturers).
(Of course, the food charity community has come up with Plumpy Nut, a nutritional paste that is apparently cheap to produce and provides all the nutrition a child needs. Maybe it's just a case of getting it to the right people.)
When I am in "real" grocery stores I tend to be intimidated and a little sickened - and perhaps a bit high. The high comes from thinking about all the things I could buy and wanting to have and eat thousands of products in the store. The intimidation and nausea comes from the sheer quantity of products on the shelves and the knowledge that not all of them will be bought and that perfectly edible foods will be discarded or go bad because they weren't bought within the time frames of their legally appointed freshness.
How much new food - from cereal to packaged meat - ends up thrown away in this country because it doesn't get bought? How many people could that feed, both here and abroad? That is the sickening part of the equation. I once heard immigrants describing their first experiences of American grocery stores; a woman from Russian talked about breaking down at the sheer abundance after having come from such a lack (and maybe being aware that said lack still persisted even as this bonanza was happening here).
I think anyone would be nauseous with the cognitive dissonance of awareness of the sickening glut of food on offer here while at the same time so many people struggle for even the basics.
So what does all of this have to do with the lottery? Well, two things:
1. As I stood in the cracker/cookie/bread/cheese/butter/milk aisle of that grocery store, I thought about all those people without and wondered what a joy it would be to just open the store to hungry/needy families and say "Take what you want" and foot the bill yourself.
(As I think about it, the actuality of it might - or probably would - be ugly, with people racing through the store like wild animals and possibly fighting over items. I still like the idea in theory.)
2. A couple of years ago I visited my uncle and aunt in Texas and marveled at the Great Wall of cereal boxes in their local Kroger. At that time I thought about creating a project whereby people bought up all that cereal and then chartered a plane to fly it over to some needy/hungry country in Africa; to a refugee camp in Ethiopia, perhaps; something like that. The cereal would be a good dry food that wouldn't spoil easily and would be tasty and (supposedly) full of nutrition (according to the manufacturers).
(Of course, the food charity community has come up with Plumpy Nut, a nutritional paste that is apparently cheap to produce and provides all the nutrition a child needs. Maybe it's just a case of getting it to the right people.)
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