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Going Pink For October
Matthew Oliphant is inviting anyone and everyone to turn their Web sites pink during October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Nearly 150 sites have done so as of this writing. And by the way, guys can get breast cancer too.
Imagine a month filled with pink fluffy ponies. Bring it on.
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A good reason to revert to OMG Ponies!
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
What color do I make my website for prostate cancer?
OMG, Cancer!!!
//WR
So what's the #xxxxxx code for pink or do we just use 'pink' ( which is kinda dark ).
What else can we do?
BTW: guys, get your selves checked for prostate cancer!
Only 'flamers' flame!
Does slashdot hate my posts?
I'm all sypathetic for cancer sufferers of course, but I have to say I'm personally much more interested in non-cancerous mammaries. I vote we have a National Breast Awareness month (without the cancer) next month. Dunno what color we should turn our websites for that though, I would've said pink, but apparently it's been taken :).
Oh no... it's the future.
We should stop celebrating breast cancer awareness and start celebrating breast awareness. Millions of lives are tragically affected by unawareness of the full size and scope of these breasts. Failure to screen breasts early and often can lead to a rapid deterioration of sexy roles and a premature end to one's film career. Regular examination of breasts needs to be an important part of people's lives.
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"Awareness" is organized complacency.
If you want to fight breast cancer, then do it in a laboratory or hospital setting - someplace where caring actually matters. (...and stick your "pink-website" concept back up your ass where it came from...)
I suggest you read Slashdot
Is there any woman still out there not aware that sometimes her boobs can develop lumps that will kill her? If such an utterly clueless person exists, is turning websites pink really the best way to communicate with her?
I lost a dear friend to breast cancer in 1998 but I think it's screwy to focus so much on it. Look at this PDF table from the National Cancer Institute. It shows that estimated deaths from digestive system cancers (136,180) will be more than triple the number of deaths from breast cancer (41,430) this year. Both figures are for both male and female deaths. Even when you look at just female deaths, digestive system cancers will kill half again as many women as breast cancer will (60,970 vs. 40,970).
Another example of misplaced public health priorities due to the publicity machine.
Insert witty sig here.
Maybe after October, we can have a bake-sale for the deficit!
Nothing disturbs me more about "charities" than the promotion of one disease over another.
Besides breast cancer, we all hear about AIDS constantly, and calls for donations. Yet, AIDS research already recieves a disproportionally large ammount of money, if you look at the number of people who die from it, and the ammount spent on other serious diseases.
Are there any organizations that you can donate to, that just tackle critical diseases at large, rather than having tunnel-vision on one single issue?
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Jeanne Sather, a breast cancer survivor, at Assertive Cancer Patient says "Gag me with a pink ribbon: Where pink marketing really runs wild is in the for-profit sector. Retailers offer pink-themed merchandise, then donate only a tiny share of the profits to cancer research. I'm tripping over these products everywhere I go this month. At the pet store, a pink dog collar printed with pink ribbons sells for $9.99; the tag says 30 cents (30 cents!) from the sale of this product will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the 800-pound gorilla of cause marketing." and more.
I'm a guy who three years ago had a lump-ectomy. (Mammograms are NOT fun, y'all. The girls can KEEP 'em!) Fortunately, it was benign.
That said, "pink sites" is a dumb idea. Or sites of any OTHER color to support a cause. Still, I support freedom of speech and all that. Anyone who wants their site pink because of breast cancer or panther fetishes or whatever, well, more power to 'em.
I still think it's stupid.
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I noticed this last week while walking home from work, passing the Opera House (Sydney) down to the park it was illumiated in completely pink. It looks really cool.
::
This effort is global, cities around the world are getting involved in the cause.
I'm suprised nobody else has seen this, maybe most stay in underground server rooms not to notice?
http://www.globalillumination.org.au/
For Australia, "Porches in Pink will begin a day after the Global Illumination on Sunrise, with Australian porches remaining pink for the duration of October to show Australians' support for breast cancer research."
http://www.porchesinpink.org/
....Temporarily pretend you give a shit about something month/week/day.
God Be Gone
I never knew guys could get breast cancer until a few years ago when I met someone who not only had it but had hasd a masectome (sp?). One nipple was kind of weird when he had his shirt off and yeah he had some scarring. He got lucky in that it was caught early enough that they were able to get it all.
Want unfair? Testicular cancer. I'll never forget being told about that in school during the last bit of senior year. They seperated out the boys and girls and then told each group about it. We guys were told that the rate of incidence was as high for men as breast cancer was for women and OBTW we had been susceptible for it for a year or two but the school district wouldn't allow them to teach us about it till we were nearing graduation. One guy actually turned GREEN and passed out. Never seen someone actually turn green but this guy sure did. The doctor will check you for this and mine always seems amazed that I'm actually aware of it as few men apparently are and he was even more amazed the school had actually told us something about it...
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This comment makes more sense if you know that in much of the industrialised world, colours do not have the same symbolism as in the US:
US: pink = breast cancer, rainbow = gay, red = liberals, blue = democrats
Europe: pink = gay, rainbow = anti-racism, red = socialists, blue = conservatives
I'm sure there's plenty of other examples too, but keep in mind that not everyone sees a pink (or other coloured) ribbon (or other symbols) the same way.
Regards,
--
*Art
Early detection wouldn't even be a problem if women weren't so damned sensitive about strangers groping their breasts. Every time I try to diagnose a girl at the local bar I get smacked and treated like a pervert.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Actually, men can not only get breast cancer, but they can also produce milk. Google for "witch's milk" for some descriptions of this in newborns. This happens in around 5% of newborns of both sexes, and normally stops within a week or two. But most of us no longer believe that it's caused by witches. It's now usually attributed to the mother's hormones that cross the placenta and affect the almost-born fetus.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
I wonder what the creative artists at gOOgle could come up with for their logo for October....
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
While I definately want to keep breasts where they belong, it occurs to me this is an opportunity for wee geeks to show how insensitive we can be.
A common joke in engineering circles is that engineers tend to use their personalities for birth control.
I expect programmers and web masters have this technique refined somewhat.
So if we are to support breasts and the idea of keeping them where they belong, then perhaps it behooves the primary beneficiaries to share the benefits with wee geeks rather than the jocks (jokes anyone?) in the crowd which urban lore would suggest are questionably more desireable?
Thanks for the awareness? How come there's no breast cancer prevention month? Wouldn't an attempt to educate people on how to spot the disease early on and get it properly treated be a better use of resources than some stupid pink theme? It's always walk for a cure, or some other crap like that. They NEVER talk about preventing breast cancer. They use mammograms for that. But with the way things are now you'd think you could stop breast cancer with a big smile and a long walk.
I'll give it 5 minutes.
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Sig: I stole this sig.
Warning: I'm not entirely emotionally rational on this subject. Please read the rest of my post with this in mind.
Look. I am a woman at extremely high risk for breast cancer. My mother had breast cancer. My father had cancer. Going back further, the family history I have of cancer borders on the ridiculous. Furthermore, I have extremely large breasts, which is another risk factor. (The more tissue, the more room there is for tumors to grow. Also, larger breasts make cancer harder to detect just by feeling it, which is your best chance of catching it early.)
At some point within the next five years, I'm probably going to have to undergo breast reduction surgery. I'm still young enough that it hasn't become medically necessary yet, but my doctor's been suggesting it since I was 16. I'm terrified of this. I hate surgery. I hate the risk that I'll lose all feeling in my breasts. I hate the fact that I probably won't even have the option to breast-feed. I hate the fact that no matter what, I'm going to end up with scars on my breasts.
But you know what? At some point, assuming they don't come up with a sure-fire cure for breast cancer, I'll go through with it. Because I'd rather have scarred, numb, tiny breasts than risk dying.
As such, as you might imagine, I am EXTREMELY supportive of breast cancer research. I try to do whatever I can to get those extra dollars in that might allow me to avoid having surgery. I try to attend those goddamn money-raising breast cancer things, despite the fact that I hate hate hate crowds. If I were any good at dealing with people, I'd organize one. Or several. I do do as much as I can within my areas of expertise to raise awareness. Because. Well. I watched my mother go through chemotherapy. I watched my father go through chemotherapy. I heard about my aunt, and my cousins, going through chemotherapy. And every last dollar that goes to breast cancer research is one more chance I have of not dying.
You want prostate cancer awareness to reach the level of breast cancer awareness? Then advertise it yourself. I'm busy.
This shit must infuriate people with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.