LegendaryLife Blog

It has been a LONG road from start to finish but I’m proud to say that you can now purchase a digital copy of 2847AD, the science fiction book I wrote and researched for extensively and physical form of 2847 A.D.: Solar Horizons from Amazon! YAHOO!!! This has been a major accomplishment for me, I never knew publishing a science fiction novel could be so much work but now that it’s done, it feels wonderful to have achieved this major goal of mine.

If you wish to follow the journey pretty much from start to finish, I have chronicled it on my blog. I mention this in several other postings but these are the major ones.

• 2847: Going Science Fiction
• 2847AD: Writing Science Fiction is Hard!
• Getting through the home stretch
• 2847AD is finally done!
• Transforming your life from Blah to Legendary now available on Amazon!

What made the book especially challenging is that I tried to integrate almost everything I knew about science and then some, at the time. There is so much information out there, it’s really astounding and trying to condense it into a readable form, not only for me but for the general public takes a lot of effort.

I wanted to write a book that was scientifically accurate while at the same time, within the realm of possibility AND readable by somebody who has little to no scientific knowledge.

I believe I have accomplished this goal. I already started on a second volume of this book but had to put it on the back burner for several reasons, including but not limited to the amount of work I’ve been putting into my WoodMarvels.com company. I love design so much… it’s a true passion, as is writing but I think a long break is necessary to get most of the ideas fleshed-out. The further you jump into the future, the more difficult it becomes to imagine the unimaginable and this is really taxing mentally as I discovered. Exhausting even!

My delight: Hydrogen Sulfide

In the book, I describe in detail why I used this very toxic gas, hydrogen sulfide, as a mechanism for suspended animation during long space travels. Today, I watched a TED video and much to my delight, what I described and envisioned is actually coming true! Yes, they have human trials of this and the results are astoundingly positive. Watch the video to learn more about this important toxic gas

TEDTalks : Mark Roth: Suspended animation is within our grasp – Mark Roth (2010)

The Bottom Line

Research, hard work and tremendous passion can even bend even the most impossible of challenges into reality.

A designer whom I worked with on the site WoodMarvels.com (he designed the great looking planes on my site), Jerry, just had a heart attack and here is what he wrote so that this doesn’t happen to you.

Buzvia: Jerry’s Msg

Before getting surgery done, make sure this guy isn't your surgeon!

With all that has happened in the past few months, a few articles I wanted to write about fell off the screen which I am now salvaging and writing about. Part of living a legendary life is having a body that is enables you to do as you wish.

Background Info

RNCentral.com has some really good advice, straight from front-line nurses who have very thoughtful and first hand experience to save you a lot of money by living healthily. Sickness can be avoided with a good lifestyle including plenty of exercise and a great whole food diet but sometimes, hospitals are a necessity, so here are some tips from Heather Johnson that ensure you leave as healthy as possible.

General Advice

1. Care about your Care

Nobody cares as much about your health as you do (or should). If there are some decisions to be made, make sure you are involved in the process.

2. Ask Questions

There is no such thing as a dumb question, only a dumb answer. If you don’t understand why a procedure, medicine or other things are happening to or around you. ASK!

3. Get YOUR care done by somebody you know!

Doctors, nurses and other front-line medical workers are there to HELP you but having somebody you know, such as your own doctor, will make a world of difference in easing your stress levels. Somebody you have a medical relationship with will also have knowledge about YOU that maybe another practitioner doesn’t which may affect outcomes. Always make sure your personal doctor knows you are in a hospital undergoing treatment and feel free to consult with them.

4. Become an open book

No detail is too small or insignificant to be told to a medical practitioner… tell them everything about your health and any conditions you may be suffering from. Knowledge goes a long way towards successful treatment.

5. Become your own expert

If you suffer from a medical condition, make sure YOU become an expert in it. Not only will this help to create informed decisions regarding your care but it also allows you to have an intelligent conversation with your doctor or nurse.

Medications

6. Know and tell your drug history

Every supplement, prescription and over the counter drug you take should be listed along with amounts (quantity / dose) and given to the person caring for you. Drug interactions are a very nasty thing that are avoidable.

7. Allergies

If you got them, be sure to tell!

8. Ask about prescriptions

Your health practitioner will know far more about drugs than you ever will but that doesn’t mean you don’t politely ask them to give you additional details about it which you can then research on your own to learn more about.

9. Don’t over/under dose!

Numbers are usually abstract things but when it comes to medicine, they can have serious consequences if they are wrong even by a decimal point. Be sure to double and triple check all dosing with different people before taking your medicine.

10. Double check your medicine

Don’t assume anything, once you get the medication, open it right away, make sure your name is on the bottle and the dosing is correct. If things look a little odd, point it out!

11. Can you read it?

If you can’t read your doctor’s handwriting, then how do you expect a pharmacist to? Make sure the drug name is clearly legible and be sure to ask him to tell you the name orally as well so the two match.

12. Side Effects are BAD

Every drug, even placebos, have side effects. Make sure you read and understand them before taking medication, prescription or otherwise. If you feel “not right” after taking a medicine, call your doctor right away!

13. One stop pharmaceutical shopping

Most pharmacies now track your prescription history in their computers which also double-check automatically for drug interactions and other possible hazards. Make sure you consolidate all your prescriptions at one pharmacy.

14. Measure

Pills may be easy to use but sometimes medication comes in other forms which aren’t as easy to measure. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if there is an easy way to get the right dosage if your drug is in powder or liquid form. If needed, ask them to show you how to properly administer the correct dosage in front of you.

Surgery

15. Know what is going on!

If you are going for surgery, after educating yourself as to what will be done to you, make sure that those responsible for your care ALSO have this knowledge. If there are complications, you want somebody who knows both YOU and the procedure to make an informed decision on your behalf.

16. Surgery is to be avoided

If you don’t need something done, don’t get it done. Packing-in multiple surgeries in one shot may also sound efficient and possibly save you some coin but it also exponentially increases the risk and damage being doen as well.

17. Deal with specialty hospitals

Some hospitals are well known for certain medical procedures, make sure you go THERE to get your surgery done. For instance, if you have a hernia, try to go to a hospital or clinic that specializes in hernias… the motto of “practice makes perfect” holds very true in the medical field.

18. Know your Surgeon

Is your surgeon specialized in the surgery he or she is about to perform on you? Do they have all the right and up-to-date credentials? These are things that are best known BEFORE surgery than in a recovery room.

19. Know what is going on!

This needs to be repeated, if you don’t know what is going on and your caregiver is in the same boat… you are asking for problems. Educate yourself and your caregiver BEFORE surgery.

20. Deal with specialists

Specific conditions require specific knowledge, if you are about to go under the knife, make sure you deal with specialists and even better, get a second opinion as well if you have any doubts.

21. Mark your body!

It seems the media is full of stories of surgeons amputating the wrong limb, doing the wrong procedure on the wrong patient and even leaving tools of the trade behind. If you are going in for surgery, MARK YOUR BODY with the name of the surgery and if you have two of them, make sure your doctor, with pen, marks the incision area with a EXTRACT / CUT / TIE (etc.) LEFT or RIGHT as well. The last thing you need in surgery is having to do it again because the wrong side was fixed

Hospital Stays

22. Keep yourself up to date!

If you haven’t heard back regarding a test of any kind that was performed on you, make sure you ask and find-out the results. Don’t assume no news is good news… especially in a hospital with overworked and underpaid staff.

23. General Hygene

Wash YOUR hands before you touch any wounds and make sure your health care provider does the same. The last thing you need in a hospital recovering from a condition is to get another one!

24. Freedom! Almost…

You got out of the hospital… GREAT!  But do you know what you have to do to make sure you don’t return? If no, make sure you do. Some conditions require specific treatments to be performed.

25. Assign a caregiver

Sometimes you are unable or unwilling, due to the nature of your condition, to tell a medical practitioner what is going on. Make sure that at least one person in this world knows both you and your condition so they can make decisions on your behalf.

BONUS

Getting sick sucks, going to a hospital sucks even more… avoid both by living a healthy lifestyle, don’t smoke, drink or do too many crazy things in a row.

The Bottom Line

Become your own health advocate!

Source:
25 Tips to Help Protect Yourself from Medical Errors By Heather Johnson

Cancer is a disease that, in a high portion of cases, is completely avoidable with proper diet, exercise and healthy living choices (including where and how you live). But for those unlucky enough to be diagnosed with cancer, I found this video that has some promising results. Screw chemotherapy, hello radio waves!

The Bottom Line

The best cure is avoidance.

In North America and to a lesser degree in Europe, when you call customer service, more often then not, your being patched directly through to an Indian call center to handle your requests. Taxes with companies such as H&R Block are also subcontracted to India including a lot of manufacturing, resource allocation and even strategic development. If you have some money and don’t have time to become pregnant yourself, it only makes sense to outsource that to India as well!

Pregnancy

It’s no secret that the entire process of pregnancy takes a number of the woman, that, till now, was simply a birthright, there where no other alternatives. The hormonal, psychological and physical toll or pregnancy stay with her the rest of her life along with the stretch marks. Pregnancy isn’t without it’s risks but as women push their child bearing years into their mid to late 30s, infertility becomes a growing issue as well. India serves an unlimited number of young, economically disadvantaged women who are willing, if the price is right, to become a surrogate. The process occurs through in-vitro fertilization (sorry guys) using the man’s sperm and the woman’s eggs, they are then implanted into the surrogate. The end result? Your child in every sense of the word, sharing no genetic material with the surrogate and your wife or girlfriend gets to keep her amazing body, having a child without ever taking a day off work nor pain associated with giving birth.

Womb for Rent

Now, this surrogate isn’t getting pregnant with your child for the fun of it, she expects to be financially compensated. In India, a woman can expect around $4 500 for the entire process, not a lot by First World standards but this is 15 years of wages for the average maid! She gets pregnant and wins essentially a lottery that sets her up on a better path in the future. She wins as she gets out of relative poverty, the family wins as they get a child out of the transaction. Both winners right?

Self-Induced problem

It’s no secret that one of the major factors causing infertility is age, the longer people wait before starting a family, the harder it will be. A woman as at her peak reproductively in her 20s, out in nature, this isn’t a problem but in the real world, that is right before university, after high school! It seems nature hasn’t adapted fast enough to our ever changing world and now, couples the world over, are paying dearly for it. A woman having a child in her 20s, unless within a very secure relationship, has a higher chance of being marginalized the rest of her life. I wrote a few months back about my experiences working in Canada and Australia at minimum wage jobs, what I may not have mentioned is that the vast majority of the women that where there, you guessed it, started their family in their early 20s if not younger. They where mostly divorced or never got married to begin with, most of them hated their jobs as much as their lot in life. For men, although we can have children all our lives, our peak is in our mid 20s. It isn’t just infertility rates that increase with age by the way, genetic defects rise as well such as Autism, Down Syndrome and a host of other conditions that a family would want to avoid at all costs.

Moral Issues

This isn’t just happening in India, it’s happening around the world, even in the industrialized world so I am not picking on India specifically. The biggest question you need to ask in these circumstances is that if the woman was economically advantaged, would she want to become a surrogate for a family she has no relationship with? Although there are exceptions, I bet 95% of the time the answer will be “Hell No”. So, the question must be asked, is renting a strangers womb for 9 months a moral act? I know that on the streets of Bangkok (Thailand), you can rent a young woman for $20US for a 24 hour period (use your imagination) so is this much different? How much different is renting a woman for 9 months compared to a 24 hour period, or even buying a liver for that matter? These are poor women, who have no real choice, selling the only thing they have to try to better themselves. Alternatively, most people rent their brains and bodies 8 hours a day, so how is even this act different? I am not here to preach, but just think about this and feel free to share your comments.

The Bottom Line

There is no way around this, renting a person, now matter how well intentioned, is still renting a person.

Buzvia: Giving birth becomes the latest job outsourced to India