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Thread: The Damn I'm Old Thread - Putting Up With Being a Geezer

  1. #801
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    Great thread- thanks for the insights from those retired and those approaching...

    I've been working in IT (I know shocker) for around 35 years, got screwed when my job (and most others) was eliminated after a cut-throat takeover and now my commute went from 1/2 hour to 3 hours+ daily. I have two kids heading to college and an increasingly distant marriage. There's little time to keep up with every day obligations much less so playing guitar, music, reading, travel, quality time with family and friends and the passions of life.

    I'm 4-5 years away from early SS and basically I'm hanging in until then. I could go on working perhaps another 10 years but will retire earlier and poorer. Why? Because life is short and I just doesn't make sense being miserable and then retiring in comfort only to die a few years later or worse at my stinkin' desk in the office.

    I plan to exercise, make music, absorb more culture and get more involved in my community. To me being old is appreciating what a fascinating world this is and how miraculous and strange it is to even exist. Each passing moment gets shorter and shorter and more and more fascinating and miraculous even as I feel the light slowly dimming.

    Cheers,

    Bill

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    Quote Originally Posted by Plasmatopia View Post
    Sure, there are studies happening. But would they be biased towards a cure or simply managing the disease?
    I honestly don't know the answer to that question. Here is a fairly short article from last year regarding my companies research efforts. I know there were really high hopes for bapineuzumab and both Pfizer and J & J sunk millions of dollars into it, but in the end the drug did not pan out during phase 3 clinical trials. https://www.biospace.com/article/how...r-s-pipeline-/

    I work on the manufacturing end of things, so my knowledge of the research side is somewhat limited, my wife used to work in human health research (she is now in animal health), so she has a pretty good knowledge of the process.

  3. #803
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buddhabreath View Post
    Great thread- thanks for the insights from those retired and those approaching...

    I've been working in IT (I know shocker) for around 35 years, got screwed when my job (and most others) was eliminated after a cut-throat takeover and now my commute went from 1/2 hour to 3 hours+ daily. I have two kids heading to college and an increasingly distant marriage. There's little time to keep up with every day obligations much less so playing guitar, music, reading, travel, quality time with family and friends and the passions of life.

    I'm 4-5 years away from early SS and basically I'm hanging in until then. I could go on working perhaps another 10 years but will retire earlier and poorer. Why? Because life is short and I just doesn't make sense being miserable and then retiring in comfort only to die a few years later or worse at my stinkin' desk in the office.

    I plan to exercise, make music, absorb more culture and get more involved in my community. To me being old is appreciating what a fascinating world this is and how miraculous and strange it is to even exist. Each passing moment gets shorter and shorter and more and more fascinating and miraculous even as I feel the light slowly dimming.

    Cheers,

    Bill
    Maybe you'd be interested in this thread I started a while back, which has been napping for a few months
    http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...irement-Thread

  4. #804
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buddhabreath View Post
    Great thread- thanks for the insights from those retired and those approaching...

    I've been working in IT (I know shocker) for around 35 years, got screwed when my job (and most others) was eliminated after a cut-throat takeover and now my commute went from 1/2 hour to 3 hours+ daily. I have two kids heading to college and an increasingly distant marriage. There's little time to keep up with every day obligations much less so playing guitar, music, reading, travel, quality time with family and friends and the passions of life.

    I'm 4-5 years away from early SS and basically I'm hanging in until then. I could go on working perhaps another 10 years but will retire earlier and poorer. Why? Because life is short and I just doesn't make sense being miserable and then retiring in comfort only to die a few years later or worse at my stinkin' desk in the office.

    I plan to exercise, make music, absorb more culture and get more involved in my community. To me being old is appreciating what a fascinating world this is and how miraculous and strange it is to even exist. Each passing moment gets shorter and shorter and more and more fascinating and miraculous even as I feel the light slowly dimming.

    Cheers,

    Bill

    <sig out of order>

  5. #805
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    I honestly don't know the answer to that question. Here is a fairly short article from last year regarding my companies research efforts. I know there were really high hopes for bapineuzumab and both Pfizer and J & J sunk millions of dollars into it, but in the end the drug did not pan out during phase 3 clinical trials. https://www.biospace.com/article/how...r-s-pipeline-/

    I work on the manufacturing end of things, so my knowledge of the research side is somewhat limited, my wife used to work in human health research (she is now in animal health), so she has a pretty good knowledge of the process.

    I don't really know either...that was just the cynic in me commenting. It does seem to me that we live in a ridiculously profit-driven world though.
    <sig out of order>

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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    I disagree. A cure, or even effective treatment for Alzheimers would be like winning the lottery for any pharma company big or small that comes up with something effective. Almost all of the big pharma companies out there have at least some level of Alzheimers research going on as do many smaller bio-tech companies.
    Well, yeh if the company had the patent. But if it was an inexpensive thing, and Big Pharma didnt own it, they would do everything to stop it. This is what has happened to cannabis research, even though the freakin guv has the patent related to using it as neuroprotectant. Only recently has the DEA permitted private research on the topic. Last year before Jeff Sessions started limiting the DEA, the Salk Institute made the discovery which I thought was likely 7 years ago. Now Jeff Sessions is required to approve all applications for research using other than the Fed’s crappy Mississippi weed.

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  8. #808
    Quote Originally Posted by Plasmatopia View Post
    But would they be biased towards a cure or simply managing the disease?
    Best guess is managing it to some level but a cure by 2025.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Firth View Post
    Well, yeh if the company had the patent. But if it was an inexpensive thing, and Big Pharma didnt own it, they would do everything to stop it. This is what has happened to cannabis research, even though the freakin guv has the patent related to using it as neuroprotectant. Only recently has the DEA permitted private research on the topic. Last year before Jeff Sessions started limiting the DEA, the Salk Institute made the discovery which I thought was likely 7 years ago. Now Jeff Sessions is required to approve all applications for research using other than the Fed’s crappy Mississippi weed.
    Weed is kind of in a totally different category because it is a controlled substance. Big Pharma is not going to touch it, and the Feds are going to make any research difficult. Whether or not Big Pharma is actively trying to derail such research is open to debate. Personaly, from my experience, Pharma appears to be ambivalent regarding weed. Conspiracy theorists love to point at some kind of mastermind plot to derail pot (or other substances) as possible treatments, but I can’t say that I have ever seen any evidence of it from my own experience in the industry. I don’t think they really care all that much to be honest. Just my observation from my personal experience. I could be totally wrong……

  10. #810
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    It is well-established that the makers of pain-killing pharmaceuticals are financing legislation to keep marijuana from being legalized. There's only one possible explanation for that.

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    To relieve the Distilleries and mega Breweries of some of the cost?

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    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    It is well-established that the makers of pain-killing pharmaceuticals are financing legislation to keep marijuana from being legalized. There's only one possible explanation for that.
    All I can say, as someone who actually works in the industry, is that it is not something that I ever hear talked about. Yes I have seen articles like this one, and maybe there are a bunch of lobbyist working against pot, but......it is not something that I ever hear mentioned in any day to day operations. Not saying it is fake news, but I think it may be blown a bit out of proportion. I honestly don't think that the company I work for cares all that much either way.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    Weed is kind of in a totally different category because it is a controlled substance. Big Pharma is not going to touch it, and the Feds are going to make any research difficult. Whether or not Big Pharma is actively trying to derail such research is open to debate. Personaly, from my experience, Pharma appears to be ambivalent regarding weed. Conspiracy theorists love to point at some kind of mastermind plot to derail pot (or other substances) as possible treatments, but I can’t say that I have ever seen any evidence of it from my own experience in the industry. I don’t think they really care all that much to be honest. Just my observation from my personal experience. I could be totally wrong……
    I know specifically of a political candidate who was most against medical weed in PA, who was on the take from Big Pharma. Big Pharma is likely to be quite stealthy about those contributions to politics. I do not think that they are against cannabis, it’s just that they want to be the source for all medicine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Firth View Post
    I know specifically of a political candidate who was most against medical weed in PA, who was on the take from Big Pharma. Big Pharma is likely to be quite stealthy about those contributions to politics. I do not think that they are against cannabis, it’s just that they want to be the source for all medicine.
    All I can say is from my experience in the industry, I never hear it mentioned. Now that might be because the company I work for makes only one opioid based drug, and even that one is not a major seller, so maybe we don't have enough stake in it to make much of a difference, but in my 30 years in the industry, I don't recall cannabis ever even coming up in conversation within my company.

    That being said, some of the generic companies (Teva for example who is the generic king) who make the majority of the pain drugs on the market, might have a lot more to loose the more cannabis becomes legal, so their lobbying efforts may be more intense.

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    Doesn't matter whether you've heard it in the hallways or not. The fact is well-established that as an industry Big Pharma is bankrolling the anti-legalization efforts.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Doesn't matter whether you've heard it in the hallways or not. The fact is well-established that as an industry Big Pharma is bankrolling the anti-legalization efforts.
    It is not really about "hearing it in the hallways" as I am in management, and my wife has worked in Pharma research for her whole career so we have some level of "insider" experience with this. I will agree that there have definitely been individual companies who have made efforts to block legalization. Insys in Arizona is a good example as I believe they make some form of synthetic drug that directly compete with pot. They are on public record of helping to fund opposition in Arizona to block legalization. As I mentioned in a previous post, generic giants like Teva probably have a lot bigger stake in this due to the number of Opioid medications that they make. Although I have not heard anything specific regarding them, my guess would be that they would be that they may be individually funding opposition. On the other hand, Teva may be on both sides of the fence as they are in development of a new form of medical marijuana inhaler that they are trying to get on the market. If successful, the only way they would make any money from the device would be if pot was legally available for use in the inhaler. There is kind of an interesting dichotomy in that situation.

    I am still skeptical that there is a huge big pharma conspiracy out there where all of the companies are banded together as a block against pot, as I think many companies don't have much stake in it one way or the other (including mine), but hey, maybe it's all true. Just for the record, my personal stance is I am in favor of legalization.

  18. #818
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    I've been relying on my Kindle more and more because I can adjust the type size as desired. The last printed book I bought was a thick paperback, and I would've had to wear reading glasses and ideally have a bright light every time I wanted to read it. But I hate giving up on printed books. This is also a problem with most CD booklets these days. Anyone (everyone?) else also dealing with this?

  19. #819
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    I can read printed books fine but CD booklets have been a lost cause for a long time. I do spend more time reading on the book apps on my iPad simply because my wife grouses constantly about any light that isn't ambient and I can barely find a decent reading light in the fucking house.
    I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart

  20. #820
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jerjo View Post
    I can read printed books fine but CD booklets have been a lost cause for a long time. I do spend more time reading on the book apps on my iPad simply because my wife grouses constantly about any light that isn't ambient and I can barely find a decent reading light in the fucking house.
    LOL

    I should clarify the last printed book I bought was a mass-market paperback of like 700 pages or so, and it seems these days they tend to make the text tiny to use less paper (and ink I guess).
    But yeah, the Fish reissues the type is like 6pt or something. Come on! They need Large-Type Prog editions!

  21. #821
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    I've been relying on my Kindle more and more because I can adjust the type size as desired. The last printed book I bought was a thick paperback, and I would've had to wear reading glasses and ideally have a bright light every time I wanted to read it. But I hate giving up on printed books. This is also a problem with most CD booklets these days. Anyone (everyone?) else also dealing with this?
    I read almost exclusively on my kindle these days, mainly because of the font. I can still read regular books / magazines pretty well if I have my bi-focal glasses one, but with my contacts (that I wear most of the time) small font is getting really hard to see.

  22. #822
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    As I mentioned in a previous post, generic giants like Teva probably have a lot bigger stake in this due to the number of Opioid medications that they make. Although I have not heard anything specific regarding them, my guess would be that they would be that they may be individually funding opposition. On the other hand, Teva may be on both sides of the fence as they are in development of a new form of medical marijuana inhaler that they are trying to get on the market. If successful, the only way they would make any money from the device would be if pot was legally available for use in the inhaler. There is kind of an interesting dichotomy in that situation.
    .
    Speaking of Teva.......this is all over the news this morning due to the big strike in Israel. Just a couple of years ago Teva was the biggest of the big dogs when it came to generic drugs. They were looked at as our main competition in that area. In the last couple of years the company has fallen completely off the rails. Not sure that campaigning against pot is very high on their priority list these days: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/1.829103

  23. #823
    I don't have much problems with reading, also not with CD-booklets, unless they are printed red on black and with some kind of handwriting-like lettering.
    Don't have an e-reader. I prefer real books, though once I got a book for review as pdf-file, which I rejected. Books on music, which I review most, I get in printed versions.

  24. #824
    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    I don't bother with CD booklets but if I really wanna read one I take my contacts off and I hold the booklet about an inch from my eyes.

  25. #825
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    I've been relying on my Kindle more and more because I can adjust the type size as desired. The last printed book I bought was a thick paperback, and I would've had to wear reading glasses and ideally have a bright light every time I wanted to read it. But I hate giving up on printed books. This is also a problem with most CD booklets these days. Anyone (everyone?) else also dealing with this?
    I gave up on CDs and printed books years ago - everything is now digital. Infinitely more convenient - and I can scale the font if I need to.

    Yet ... I still need glasses and hearing aids
    Regards,

    Duncan

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