Breast cancer chemotherapy is known as a therapy of brutalizing proportions. Highly toxic drugs are still given in high doses through chemotherapy but there is a difference. Fat coated droplets are released. These droplets must be heated to 102 degrees before the toxins can be released. The breast is gently warmed until the cell killing compounds are released only in the breast. This brutalizing treatment actually becomes relatively pleasant.

Each year there are 215,000 cases and 40,000 deaths, but slowly, incrementally, new approaches for combating this cancer in a more humane way are being developed. One of the most important advances is gene profiling. Gene profiling determines what treatments will be effective based on the particular female patient’s genetic profile.

Genomic Health Inc. of Redwood City can assess 21 key genes in a tumor-tissue sample. A score is then developed from zero to 100. To determine the effectiveness of the drug taxmoxifen a score is given to that particular woman with a high score being a determent that taxmoxifen will not do the job alone. The cost is $3,400 which is high but not as high as the costs of chemotherapy.

Taxmoxifen has been the most successful drug to combat breast cancer but is not effective after five years of treatment. Disease free survival can now be extended by three aromatise inhibitors named Femara, Aromasin and Armidex. These are only effective in post menopausal women.

The one weapon with the most promise is one that will literally vaporize the tumor without surgery. Pilot studies are being done at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Victoria General Hospital in British Columbia. Instead of surgically removing the cancerous breast tumors they are shot with radio frequency waves. This is useful for only small tumors in older women. Inserted in the breast is a radio probe that is guided to the tumor site by ultrasound. The power radio frequency waves are turned on and it literally shrivels and kills these small tumors.

Online dating is a term that generally refers to the many ways that people have come to use the technology of the Internet as a way to meet people and find romance.

Since its inception, the Internet has proven to be a unique way to initiate human contact. The invention of the “chat-room” allowed people to socialize with other PC-savvy individuals, and a means of making friends across great physical distances. Even as people are coming to realize both the power and the inherent limitations of building interpersonal relationships remotely, the concept of match-making services and online personal ads has sparked the birth and growth of a new industry centered around social interaction using your PC. The services offered range everywhere from online personal advertisement posting similar to comparable “personals ads” in newspapers and other periodicals, to personal ads combined with an email address and instant messenger functions, to heavily-structured and architected systems for matching people with their “ideal mate”. Companies like Match.com and eHarmony.com have used the power of Internet technology to give people yet another option in our search for everything from a dinner companion to a lifetime romantic partner.

The benefits of using the Internet as a tool for finding dates and meeting people are obvious; posting an ad in a local paper might reach a few hundred or a few thousand prospects, while posting an ad online can literally reach millions. Quantity does not necessarily translate into quality, but the sheer volume of options can’t be denied. Additionally, since everyone has different skills and talents, and because some people are less confident and comfortable in social atmospheres like bars, night-clubs, and other “singles” meeting places, the Internet affords many people with the means to present themselves as available and consider prospects in a lower-pressure system, where they have a bit more control over the way that the relationship progresses. On the other hand, letting the entire Internet population know that you are looking for love has its downsides. The increased number of prospects also inherently means an increased number of less-than-desirable contacts. Good online dating services have learned quickly that a certain amount of anonymity is necessary for their customers, adjustable by the customer based on their own comfort levels.

At the end of the day, the Internet is just one more way of meeting people, and while it isn’t a perfect tool that generates perfect results, it has become a part of our culture as the web continues to become a seemingly essential part of our everyday lives.

There is nothing about a credit card, itself, to be afraid and/or ashamed of; you simply need to see it for what it is: renting money.

A credit card is NOT some sort of non-profit organization.

If you never need to use it, it costs you nothing.

However, should the need arise, you don’t borrow, say, $100 and only have $100 to pay back, unless you replace it right away.

Carry a balance for more than a month, and you’ll be paying interest on it–that is, a set percentage of the amount borrowed.

In other words, you are renting money.

This comes in handy for when you want to borrow an amount of money but will only be able to pay part (or even none) of it back for awhile.

Let’s say you need to borrow $2500 for something you want or need right away.

As long as you stay within your credit line (not borrowing more than you’re able to borrow, known as maxing out your credit card), you can rent the $2500 indefinitely, paying only that “rent” known as interest.

Or, you can pay off some of it whenever you can, keeping in mind that the less you owe the lower the rent will be.

Ideally, the best thing to do is to get it paid off a.s.a.p., of course, but that isn’t always possible–and, at times, isn’t always the best way to go for the simple reason that you need to continue to have cash-on-hand at some particular time.

One “perk” that credit card companies offer to at least some of their renters is the chance to get partial rebates when purchasing select items/services by card. This option can be purchased via a nominal annual or one-time fee and is something that would be to your advantage to have should you regularly patronize the kinds of services offered.

If you don’t want to rent money–and can afford to go the cash & carry route–but enjoy the convenience of plastic, one way to go would be the debit card, but more on that elsewhere.