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Cancer and Google’s Science of Happiness

Does Google know the secret to happiness?  Is it as simple as “wishing” it were so?  Maybe, according to Chade-Meng Tan, a Google engineer who is determined to ease the stress and unhappiness of his co-workers. His 3-step plan is intuitive, and even has some scientific evidence supporting it.  Read all about it here: CNN:  Google’s algorithm for […]

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Painting by Rick Barnett

Cancer Scams and Frankenstein

What do cancer scams and Frankenstein have in common?  Besides both being horrible caricatures of something legitimate and real, that is?  How can we compare a mythological monster to shuksters who claim they can cure your cancer? It begins with understanding how cancer scams work.  Specifically, the false hope scams for cancer patients in an […]

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It Hurts (Poem)

  I’ve been thinking a lot about my mom lately; she passed away in November, 2010.  This is for her.   when I was five and life was a song of excitement and innocence the world was full of mystery and I had never felt the pain of hurt or loss of any kind    and then one day a playmate pushed me right off the swing you picked me up   brushed me off    told me not to cry ‘mommy,’ I said, ‘it hurts’ when I was sixteen and in love for the  first time to a young Cuban girl I felt like     an adult doing adult things dates and kissing and groping and late-night phone calls with the cord stretched and twisted through the house  and under my door    and then one day she left me for another teenage crush and I felt world-ending anguish  burning, hot, consuming as only a teenager can feel them you held me close    told me I’d be ok ‘but mom,’ said I, ‘it hurts.’ when I was thirty-five at the end of my marriage holding on to it with desperate and futile hands trying to be a good father to my sons who put me on a pedestal high enough  to rival the gods I fought depression  […]

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The BinaryBiker is a Candy Striper

Today was my first shift as a volunteer at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh. I’ve been wanting to give back for a while now.  I’ve struggled with cancer awareness and activism, because it always made me feel a little . . . vain.  It makes me feel self-conscious.  I don’t want to be […]

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Sturgis 2013 Photo Gallery

I took a lot of photos on my journey from Orlando, Florida to Sturgis, South Dakota.  Enjoy.  Click on any thumbnail to see the full picture.

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Ron Sparks, 2013

Unbowed, Unbeaten, and Alive

My Scar my scar – etiolate; but my vigor remains I stand unbowed, unbeaten, and alive © Ron Sparks, 08/24/13 Over 41,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with oral cancer in 2013.  That’s a lot of people and we’re now finding out that one of the leading causes of oral cancer, in addition […]

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Red Blood Cell

Walk a Mile In My Shoes …

… before you give me unasked for advice on how to avoid getting sick so often. Let me start by saying I have a great support network of friend, colleagues, and relatives who all care deeply for me and my health.  I am gently pushed, reminded  and encouraged daily to lead a healthy(ier) lifestyle, to get […]

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You’re Lucky To Be Alive

You’re lucky to be alive. Sometimes you take it for granted, even with the constant reminder that greets you every morning in the mirror. A jagged 10-inch scar running from your left ear all the way down your neck is the most visible, and yet the least significant, scar you have. You can’t feel the […]

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Animal Crossing, City Folk

How a Video Game – Wii’s “Animal Crossing” – Helped me Cope with Cancer

I was home alone every day with a deadly disease ravaging my body and trying to take my life from me.  My children were in school, my disabled parents were unable to visit me, my wife was at work – providing me the insurance that was saving my life, my brother was working every day, […]

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My New tattoo - the Phoenix

Binary’s New Tattoo

I am a cancer survivor.  In August 2008 I was diagnosed with Head and Neck cancer, and an incredible and grueling journey began.  A journey that included surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, depression, fatigue, hopelessness, anger, despair, and a forced view of my mortality. It was also a journey of hope, love, compassion, understanding, and renewed vigor for life.  When death […]

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