Sunday, April 27, 2014

Enjoying Just Being Alive !


I have been going at everything pretty hard the past 5 years.

Work, especially having to rebuild an entire company and redesign a completely new technology and create a new system after the breach of agreements our "success" was rewarded with in South Africa, has been draining.

The onset of Lori's cancer, over 3 years ago, and the emotional and financial battle to help her beat this evil, has been to say the least, beyond "horrific".

That said, as of today she continues to defy the prognosticators and the "doom and gloom" groups, by simply being alive and enjoying the miracle of just living, each and every day. 

She even got out yesterday with Stephen and Victoria and had a great lunch at Moon Dogs in Rockport sitting by the Gulf of Mexico, watching the waves, and the sea gulls overhead, and enjoying the "miracle of life" everywhere around her.

So, when I woke up this morning and thought of everything I needed to do today just to be ready for the start of a new week I decided to change my behavior.

I decided to take a day and just enjoy the fact I am alive.

I have a great production crew on site in Texas only days away from stocking the largest indoor production shrimp ponds in the world. (At least, the largest of which we are aware.)

Our construction team is beginning to jell and perform at an amazing level of functionality and efficiency. 

We are assembling what I think is going to be a powerful Board of Governors that will become advisers to our company and eventually will be the pool of talent from which we will select our first Board of Directors, maybe as early as next year.

And I am in Maryland for a few days for business reasons.

Now if there is one time of the year that Maryland holds its own with the most beautiful spots on this earth it is here in the springtime. 

And after this particularly harsh winter these first new days of warmth and sunshine are like welcoming home a long lost friend or loved one.

So, I took a hike today. I walked out my front door along Seneca Creek and while I was never more than 1/2 mile from my house, everywhere I looked was new life.

I just read an article last night in the April 28th edition of "Time Magazine" about "Finding God In The Dark" a very interesting story about acclaimed American preacher Barbara Brown Taylor. I have never read any of her books but after this article you can bet I will be downloading at least one of them on my iPad asap.

So, maybe I was feeling a bit more spiritual than normal for me or maybe I finally had gotten a few decent nights of sleep, but I was in a very good mood when I woke up this morning and an early hour plus hike through the woods along the stream bed, only heightened that feeling.

Year round the miracle of life is every where if you look for it, but in the Spring here in Maryland it is absolutely busting lose.




The young fawns are everywhere. I know many of my neighbors see deer as pests which shows me how far people have become removed from the beauty of life. And how sad that is for them. (and I am not going to even let the thought of those who kill these beautiful creatures for "sport" ruin my mood today). 

There were new leaves on the  crab apple trees and cherry trees and apple trees that abound in Maryland but of course my favorites are the dogwoods that are blooming.

I always loved the story of the dog wood told to me years ago by my grandmother.

The story went that the dog wood used to be stronger and taller and harder and more solid then any other tree in the forest and its wood was prized for its length and strength and its lack of knots or blemishes.

It was so strong and straight that according to my grandmother (and I would not then nor would I even today 
:-) ever question her authority on all things spiritual) that:

"It was the tree the Romans sought out and cut down and used to make the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. 

So sad was this event that God in his mercy remade the dogwood tree and it became a spindly, small, bent, gnarly tree whose four petaled blossoms, stained with red at the end of each petal, and with a small crown of thorn like buds in the center, serve to remind all of humankind  and all Creation of the "sin" mankind committed and the sacrifice of the Lord. So that just as new life each spring follows the dead of winter, eternal life (for those that believe) always follows the "death" of this life on earth."


  



The dogwood tree and the blossom above are pictures from the two dogwood trees in my front yard.  The woods all along Seneca Creek abound with dogwoods in bloom this time of year. 

And they just make me smile.

After my walk I took a shower and grabbed a bag of carrots and went to visit Charm, my Arabian mare that is now 28 years old. 

As I have written before I have had Charm in my life since she was 6 months old and like springtime and dogwood trees and baby deer, each spring as I see her shed her winter coat and emerge a bit older but still sleek and still enjoying the sunshine and warmer weather (and yes, her carrots) I smile at the joy of just being alive.



        Charm, David, and Charm's friend, Logan, April 27, 2014. 











Sunday, April 20, 2014

Sunday Morning Dumbing Down


I just had a chance to read two articles from Bob Rosenberry's publication  "Shrimp News".

I seldom read these kinds of articles because 1) they raise my blood pressure and if I want to raise my blood pressure I prefer to drink a good bourbon, and 2) the only thing that drives me crazier (and driving me crazier is a very short trip in any event) than insanity is stupidity. 

As a wise man once said, "truth is much stranger than fiction". 

The following are two excellent examples of that adage. 

It is no secret I think open air shrimp farming is a dinosaur. And I suspect that those individuals invested in open air shrimp farming are just never going to accept or perhaps cannot afford to accept or perhaps do not want to accept that premise. Forget the environmental damage they wreak, just from a disease and pollution and food safety perspective they have outlived their usefulness, if they ever had any. 

(FYI - I think raising fish in net pens, using long lines, or drift nets, bottom trawling, and basically most forms of killing (euphemistically called "harvesting") sea life are dinosaurs, and are basically doomed to extinction either through financial failures or eventually legislation from a growing informed populace who sooner or later is going to wise up and realize we are killing the planet's oceans and our children along with it. (See second article below) 


In any case this is the first article from "Shrimp News" I read this morning. 
Thailand
CP Foods Shrimp Division Faces $30 Million Loss

Bualuang Securities, a financial services and brokerage company in Thailand, predicts that Charoen Pokphand Foods’ shrimp division will post a $30.8 million operating loss for the first quarter of 2014, a 95% greater loss than in the first quarter 2013, but a 12 percent improvement over the fourth quarter of 2013.  Charoen Pokphand Foods is one of the largest shrimp farming companies in Thailand.

But, the securities firm says CPF’s shrimp division will break even in the first half of 2014, as it shifts its business to Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
(My comments: "And do they really think by shifting their production to Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia they are going to avoid EMS,white spot, runt deformity syndrome, pollution, use of carcinogenic preservatives, and so forth and so on? This is getting silly". ) 


I also just sent the following comments and article out to a lot of folks invested in GBT. 

The headline and commentary below are also mine, the article from "Shrimp News" is posted verbatim. This just scares the "hell" out of me.  


Would you feed this to your kids? 

(See article below) 

And people wonder why cancer rates continue to soar? And why our food tastes like crap? And why our bodies continue to develop strange ailments? 

This is just plain stupid but hey, this again demonstrates the power of lobbyists who can buy anything they want from "BIG GOVERNMENT".

Aside from common sense which should tell you radiating food is "NOT" a good idea there are a hundred or more studies that warn against ingesting any type of radiated product or substance. 

ANOTHER SIGN OF THE DUMBING DOWN AND FRANKLY "KILLING OF AMERICANS". 

But the FDA does not think "Avastin" can be should be approved for use for metastatic breast cancer patients like Lori. 

Mark Twain said it best, "we have the best government money can buy". 

April 16, 2014
United States
Washington, DC—FDA Approves Radiation of Crustaceans

In the first week of April 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)approved the radiation of crustaceans—shrimp, crab and lobster—to control pathogens and extend shelf life.  As part of the approval, FDA says radiated crustaceans must carry the bright green radura symbol, the international symbol for radiation.  This is generally sufficient to frighten consumers out of their wits, so the symbol and radiation are not widely used in foods where they have been approved.  For example, radiation has been approved for oysters, clams, mussels and scallops, but the widespread use by the oyster industry of other purification techniques—including pressure treatment to control Vibrios—has meant radiation has not been widely adopted.

The new rule covers raw, frozen, cooked, partially cooked, shelled, dried and ready-to-cook crustaceans processed with spices or small amounts of other food ingredients.

FDA said: “At the maximum permitted dose this new use of ionizing radiation will reduce, but not entirely eliminate, the number of pathogenic microorganisms in or on crustaceans.  The maximum dosage of radiation approved is capable of reducing a number of pathogens that may be found in crustaceans, including ListeriaVibrio, and E. coli.  Radiation is not a substitute for proper food-handling practices; therefore crustaceans treated with ionizing radiation must be stored, handled, and cooked in the same way as non-radiated foods.”

“We require that radiated foods bear the international symbol for radiation (radura) and carry the statement “Treated with Radiation” or “Treated by Radiation” on the food label.”



“For foods not in package form, the logo and phrase must be displayed to the purchaser with either the labeling of the bulk container plainly in view or a counter sign, car, or other appropriate device bearing the information that the product has been treated with radiation.  We do not require that multi-ingredient foods that contain ingredients that have been radiated (e.g., spices) be labeled if the food itself has not been radiated, nor do we require labeling of radiated food served in restaurants.”

Because there is no requirement for labeling radiated food in restaurants, this represents a potential avenue for more usage of radiation.  However, anecdotally we have heard that some companies think radiation may compromise quality in crabmeat.

Also the process can be costly.  A company that radiates ground beef was not able to stay in business due to the high costs—about 8 cents a pound—and consumer resistance.

The petition to the FDA to approve irradiation of crustaceans was initiated by the National Fisheries Institute, which also got FDA to approve radiation of molluscan shellfish.

There is a radiation facility in the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi, USA, airport that is used by Crystal Seas Oysters, which fishes, processes and markets oysters, to produce live, in-shell, radiated oysters.  Information: Crystal Seas Oysters, P.O. Box 717, 166 W. North Street, Pass Christian, Mississippi 39571, USA (phone 1-228-452-2722, fax 1-228-452-0801, webpagehttp://www.crystalseasoysters.com/#!/crystal-clear).

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Random Thoughts On This Saturday Morning


Lori had chemo yesterday. Her tumor markers continue to go down, they are now around 49. 

This is down from a high of over 80 a few months ago.

So, there is absolutely no question the chemo cocktail of Avastin, Holaven, and Xaloda works for her.

United Health Care (UHC) is still refusing to pay for treatment. Says no "proof" it extends patients life. FDA is just as bad.

Baylor Oncology doctors have filed an expedited appeal which should be ruled on by this coming Tuesday April 22nd. 

Hopefully, the UHC board will reverse themselves and do the "right" thing. 

In case they do not we are now looking at legal remedies such as a "bad faith" denial claim.

The social pressure from all of you helps, please keep pouring it on. 

This is no longer about just one woman's life. This "cocktail" could extend the lives of thousands or more women in similar situations.

The denial by UHC to pay for this treatment after the decades of us paying expensive premiums to them for premimum health care insurance is not just wrong for Lori, but a larger symptom of what is wrong in America with health care. 

Yes, I agree with the "Democrats" on this one. 

Health care should be a fundamental human (and for all non-human animals) right.

One thought for sure this morning. This fight is going to be like nothing UHC has seen before. 

On another thought train, we are within two weeks or so of stocking the first pond at new facility here in Texas. 

Very exciting. We have put together an amazing team. 

And over the next few months as people start to become more aware of what the technology we have developed can do, global interest (already increasing) is going to sky rocket.

One thought that is starting to be repeated in my head over and over is that now may well be the time I need to start looking at a serious partner to help us take what we have developed and have perfected in growing very large white shrimp sustainably, and start looking seriously at bringing two or three species of fin fish into the system. 

Since we retooled the entire Global Blue Technologies system starting in 2011 and abandoned the system and structure and methodology that we had ended up with in South Africa back in 2007, we have been able to fine tune our ability to grow enormous amounts of marine protein sustainability and efficiently in the re-circulating aquaculture system we developed. 

Despite the fact that we know our original work began in 1998 and despite the fact we know every step of the process occurred including our failures and successes, there still continues to be a large number of "pretenders" claiming they do what we do, or that they were the ones who did it first, etc. 

I say to all, if you can produce marine protein efficiently, sustainability, and in an environmentally sound way, bring it on. 

The world needs it. 

God knows, the world's oceans and the creatures that inhabit them need a break.

I am of the camp that believes wars will soon be fought over food and water, not oil and gas.

For a better understanding of how the GBT system evolved I again urge you to go the the globalbluetechnologies.com web site and read about the "evolution of GBT".

Finally a few random thoughts. 

These past few weeks a lot of fears, insecurities, doubts, and other  not so positive thoughts have crept (at times) into my mind

Then the other night I watched on "you tube" the segment from the Disney movie "Frozen" where the young female character sang the (now a global phenomenon) song, "Let it Go". 

(The same song that just won an Academy Award).  

Do yourself a favor and watch and listen to the words of the song.

I do not agree with those who maintain it is a song for children and young people, though I can see its strong appeal to them. 

My thought after hearing the words and understanding the story, is that the song is a life affirming message that reminds everyone, that we as individuals still count as an individual, and there in nothing wrong with being different.

Plato said one time, (in some ancient tome, the title of which I can no longer recall) that "there is no such thing as a "forest" there is just a bunch of individual trees that we call a forest to allow us to order our world".

This is why I abhor those people who harm animals for sport or fun and claim it is for "the good of the species". 

A "species" does not suffer, only individuals feel pain, and fear, and anxiety. 

Good and decency comes in all forms and what may appear a liability at times can often if one stays focused become a driving force for success and progress.

As I watched the animated segment from "Frozen", I was reminded of another saying from my grandmother. 

"Never let religion get in the way of God". 

I leave that for you to ponder as my final thought on this Saturday morning. 


















Monday, April 14, 2014

HELP !!!!!!!!



My grandmother always said, "God never gives you more than you can handle". 

I think that may be true. 

I guess we have go learn to handle what the world throws at us. 

Then again in the the words of Patrick Swayze in the movie Roadhouse  "it is amazing what you can get used to".

In any case this blog is a very simple one. 

I am begging for your help. 

The following appeal was written by my friend and partner of almost 20 years, John Aquilino, Jr. 

It has to do with my wife, Lori and a recent development that has devastated us and her in her fight aginat metastatic triple negative breast cancer "tnbc".

For those of you who read this blog regularly and have followed  Lori's incredible fight John's story will hopefully galvanize you to action. Lori needs your help. We need your help. 

And for the tens of of thousands of women around the world who have or may someday face this dreaded disease called "The Beast" we pray you will respond.

We need you to crash the webs sites below and to tie up their phone lines and to write so many letters they can not handle the load and they, be it UHC, the FDA, whomever, will do whatever it takes to get UHC to start to pay for Lori's treatment using Avastin again. 

                                     Lori is winning. 

        Her cancer is in retreat and now they want to pull the plug. 

                         This is Lori during Thanksgiving 2013. 




Thanks. Please act today, Do not wait. Lori cannot afford to wait. 


 TNBC HOPE & Plea for Help: by John Aquilino, Jr. 

There is real hope for women with metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

The Good News:

Dr. Joyce O’Shaunessy devised a combination of drugs for Lori Jean White, a patient she is treating at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas.

The trio of Avastin (bevacizumab), Halaven (eribulin mesylate), and Xeloda (capecitabine) is working.

Lori’s tumor markers have receded from 75 to 50.  Her brain mets are virtually non-existent and a 4 cm tumor on her liver is shrinking.  This is not a cure…but it is beating back Triple Negative Breast Cancer and extending Lori’s life until research in immunotherapy can defeat cancer once and for all!

Despite an initial four month “expriation date” decree, in February 2011, Lori White has survived for 37 months after being treated at Maryland’s Suburban Hospital, MD Anderson in Houston, clinical trials at Johns Hopkins, Georgetown University, the National Cancer Institute and Mary Crowley Cancer Research Center in Dallas.  

Regardless of the treatment prior to Dr. O’Shaunessy’s Avastin, Halaven, Xeloda combination, Lori’s brain mets reoccurred followed by the liver tumor. Now with this treatment they have receded!!!!

The Bad News:

United Health Care now refuses to pay for the Avastin – an out of pocket expense in excess of $15,000 a treatment claiming FDA does not approve of Avastin to treat breast cancer and that the O’Shaunessy treatment is “experimental” in spite of the fact that it is working.

Background:

 Avastin years ago proved its ability to inhibit metastatic breast cancer.  In 2011 an “outside” advisory group persuaded FDA to revoke approval of Avastin to treat breast cancer due to their conclusion that the literature showed no benefit of extending or improving quality of life while never denying it did slow the progression of metastatic breast cancer.

United Health Care used that questionable conclusion to determine that the combination of drugs “has not been proven to be effective in the combination requested.”  They are blatantly ignoring the success of the therapy for Lori White and another of Dr. O’Shaunessy’s patients.

United Healthcare’s Duplicity

In its mission statement, UHC claims “our mission is to help people live better lives.”  UHC boasts of its role of “Innovation” saying it devotes “our collective resources …to continuously testing new, targeted ways to raise the bar in health.”  Its corporate “Code of Conduct” lists five values it says drive the company: Integrity, Compassion, Relationships, Innovation, and Performance.” 
Without Avastin in the chemo “cocktail” prescribed by Dr. O’Shaunessy, Lori White will die.  By denying Lori White this three-drug combination, United Healthcare is condemning tens of thousands of other women to die.  Is that Compassion?  Is that integrity? 

That same Code of Conduct says UHC “always acts in the best interest of our customers, consumers and community…”  Is condemning one or ten thousand women to death in their “best interest” or the “best interest of the community?”  The UHC Code of Conduct brochure has a headline blazoned across it: “Never Compromise Ethics.” 

Dr. O’Shaunessy’s treatment using Avastin, Halaven, and Xeloda in combination is working were other therapies failed.  That combination has the potential of extending and saving the lives of countless TNBC afflicted women.  AND UNITED HEALTHCARE SAYS…WE DON’T CARE!

WHERE ARE THE ETHICS IN THAT!

We Need Your Help!

Last year UHC earned $7.3 billion dollars on revenues of $113.8 billion dollars. 

United Healthcare cares about their profits, not about your lives.

Make them feel your outrage.  It’s time to flood their phone lines and mail room with the demand that they pay for this important therapy.  They need to hear from you so other TNBC patients might live.

Call them.  Write them.  Send this to your local radio, television and social media outlets.

UHC from the top executive to its appeals unit needs to hear your voice.

Tell United Health Group & United HealthCare to:

·        Pay for Avastin for Lori Jean White Member ID-913018014:

·       And save countless TNBC patients’ lives

United Health Group CEO – Stephen J. Hemsley
800 328-5979
PO Box 1459
Minneapolis, MN 55440

United Healthcare CEO - Gail K. Boudreaux
866 633-2446

UnitedHealthcare Appeals Unit
PO Box 30573
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0573
FAX 801-994-1083

Tell the FDA –
·       Approve the use of Avastin for metastatic breast cancer
·       Tell United Healthcare to pay for its use against breast cancer

FDA Commissioner – Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg via her Executive Assistant Angela Hoague

FDA Assistant Commissioner for Women’s Health – Marsha Hendersen
·       301 796-9440
·       Assistant Commissioner for Women’s Health
FDA
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
W.O.32-2333
Silver Spring, MD 20993


Friday, April 4, 2014

A Gathering Storm


Another crazy week as we move closer to finishing the installation of all the equipment, paddle wheels, and blowers on module 1 and get ready to start stocking our first ponds within the next 30 days.

We have already started installation of module 2 and are pretty confident we will have both modules up and operating (and stocked) by late summer, early fall.

As we move forward to increase production by building additional production modules, these first two modules and all the supporting infrastructure they required should prove to have been the most difficult and the most expensive. As the old adage goes, "learning isn't cheap". 

The "winter that refuses to leave" has put us at least 3 months behind from where we wanted to be at this time. 

That said, the water temperatures are rising in the bay and ambient air temperatures are rising so we should have the optimum environmental conditions we want as we begin to bring in the first water for the ponds. 

Modules 3 and 4 here in Texas should go up much faster and with a significant reduction in cost.

The company web site is being handled by professionals now so for details on our progress you can go to: globalbluetechnologies.com

On a much more important front, conditions for a potential storm are gathering between "Team Lori" and United Health Care (UHC). 

"Team Lori", is the moniker we use for all of the individuals (human and four-legged), that spend countless hours every day working around the clock to save Lori's life from this metastatic "TNBC" she has been battling for 37 months. 
                                             



(Above is Sophie and a few of the other poodles with their "Team Lori" t-shirts, which they wear on chemo day.)

As all of you have read, under the treatment of Dr. Joyce O'Shaugnessy and her incredible team at Baylor Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas, Lori has seen dramatic improvement in halting the spread of her cancer.

Several months ago when the ONT-10 vaccine trial Lori was in failed to halt the progression of the cancer in her brain as well as the cancer tumor in her liver and kidneys, Dr. O'Shaugnessy developed an experimental combination of chemo drugs combining Zoloda, Halaven, and Avastin, and started Lori on it. 

At first Lori's tumor markers jumped upwards but Dr. O'Shaugnessy was pretty confident that was the new chemo combo bursting tumors. 

Since then for the past several months Lori's tumor markers have gone down and down dramatically. They had gone as high as 80 but today in Dallas at Baylor her new tests showed a third straight (another 15 points down) drop in her tumor markers which are now down to a rating of 50 and her MRI showed no progression in her brain. 

The chemo cocktail is working and for the first time in 2 years Lori's cancer is being driven back. (And yes, prayer does work).

No this is not a cure, but it is an extension of her life and is buying her time to hopefully get her into a state of remission and maybe, (with enough prayer) and under the genius of Dr. O'Shaugnessy buy her time for a new clinical trials in immuno-therapy to emerge.

This is not only incredible miraculous news for Lori and her team but this could hold promise for tens of thousands of woman who have to face the deadly form of breast cancer called triple negative and nicknamed the "beast". 

Simply put this gives Lori and others like her - HOPE.

So, why is a storm brewing? 

Because "United Health Care Insurance Company" to whom (or is it to "who") we have paid expensive monthly premiums for years and years, as of a month ago started denying payment for Lori's avastin.

Without that insurance coverage this means an "out of pocket" cost of about $30,000 a month for each treatment. And as it is the avastin in combination with the other two drugs that has seen Lori actually begin to beat this very aggressive metastatic demon cancer, not providing her the avastin is tantamount to a death sentence. 

Dr. O'Shaugnessy has appealed to the UHC board and we are awaiting their decision. 

Obviously we and everyone who is aware of Lori's battle is praying that UHC will do the decent, ethical, and right thing, and reverse their decision and continue to cover Lori's current treatment.

If not, I promise everyone the storm will come. 

I have no idea how other people in similar situations deal with this kind of blow. 

That said, the effort that will be made to get Lori's coverage reinstated, to have UHC continue to pay so Lori can use Avastin in concert with Halaven and Zoloda, (which hopefully will be a  combination that other women with "tnbc" metastasis can obtain and have insurance coverage for as well), will become a campaign that will make the siege of Carthage by Hannibal look like a Saturday night "bingo" game.   

Stay tuned. 

On a more positive and happier note, Charm my Arabian mare that I was blessed to have come into my life when she was six months old and I was still living in Michigan, turned 29 this past March. 

Here she is enjoying the second week of spring in Maryland. 

Yes, I said the second week of spring. 

This has truly been the "winter that refuses to leave".