Memorial Day

Hello:

You know this picture.

When my mother was alive, we used to go Union Hill cemetery to decorate the graves of her relatives. I learned on one of these visits that she had 9 siblings. I thought, up to that point, my mother had 8 brothers and sisters. But I saw a grave for a Bertha Branch, who died in 1919 from the flu pandemic, the flu that killed so many other Americans.

I had a good friend in high school who died in Vietnam. Dennis was one of my poker-playing friends in high school. It was his death that caused me to oppose the war from that point on.

My brother went to Vietnam. My father is a World War II veteran. Only about 10% of World War II veterans alive now.

Me, I get a high lottery number when the nation had a lottery to replace the draft. Those with low lottery numbers got drafted. Those of us with high lottery numbers did not get drafted. By time I was junior in college I ended my student deferment and went I-A. With such a high lottery number (329) I knew I was not going to drafted. As years went by the new lottery picks got chosen before me. So I was not any Armed Services.

I spent a few hours yesterday reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Starting with polio her cells, called HeLa, helped with many illnesses. These were cancer cells taken from her. I suspect I will learn later is this book that her cancel cells continual growth is because that is what cancer cells to: grow with no stopping mechanism. Our regular cells grow then stop; in other words, our human cells have on/off. Cancer occurs when the cell's stop mechanism fails to work. The cell keeps growing and growing. Cancer is not an invasive thing. It is your own cells causing it.

I am watching today, How It's Made, a show on the Science Channel. Earlier I watch For a Few Dollars More on TCM. I will start to read later.

Steven