CO - The invisible Killer

Seventy years ago cancer was unheard of. Today, seventy years later, cancer was as common as the common cold. What happened?

Seventy years ago, at least in this part of the world, everyone pedalled to school, to work, to the shop for bread and eggs and even to the beach for picnics, the air fresh and unpolluted.

Today, everyone drives or rides a motorbike to all these places, and more, the air heavy with toxic smog and polluted, so bad even babies, just from breathing it, get cancer.

So, what exactly is in the air we breathe nowadays, air polluted by, if we're talking about urban or suburban localities, combustion engine exhaust emissions, leaving aside the zero-carbon emissions of electric vehicles which have yet to become common or fashionable apart from the social status tag such vehicles are sought after by the more affluent upper-middle-to-upper-class echelons of society in this part of the world at least?

Here's what Google says:

Carbon Dioxide (CO2): A significant greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. 

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx): Harmful compounds that contribute to smog and acid rain, and are a concern for human health. 

Carbon Monoxide (CO): A poisonous gas that reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen. 

Unburned Hydrocarbons (HC): Includes volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter that contribute to air pollution and smog. 

Particulate Matter (PM): Tiny solid particles, often seen as black smoke from diesel engines, that can cause respiratory problems. 

Enough to kill an elephant in an enclosed windowless space in five minutes in other words.

Suicidal people used to sit inside their cars, roll up the windows, run a hose from the exhaust pipe to the inside of the car and wait to pass out and die from being gassed to death.

A long time ago, I was at a traffic light stop, on a bike when another bike in front of me with a raised exhaust pipe began shooting puffs of invisible exhaust fumes into my face, a time when like everyone else I rode on traffic congested roads and highways without facial protection, without a mask covering my nose and mouth. 

Within days I was suffering from a two-week long bout of flu, sick like a dog, no pun intended. 

I've been wearing a face mask ever since whenever I leave the house, even at work, as an air-conditioned office is a perfect example of an enclosed windowless environment where the same smog-polluted air outside is sucked in through the air-conditioner's compressor which although filters out small particulate matter such as dust has yet the technological ability to filter out the CO, CO2, NOx, unburned hydrocarbons and other volatile organic compounds in the smog-polluted air outside.

So, it works, doesn't it, this cure-all protective measure against the ill-effects of smog-polluted air?

Not exactly. Eight hours of breathing smog-polluted air sucked in from the outside through air-conditioner compressor vents day in, day out, five-and-a half days a week even with a face mask on isn't exactly fool-proof as the mask itself cannot filter out the CO especially from air-conditioner filtered smog-polluted air sucked in from the outside, and lung tissue isn't exactly made of iron, steel or titanium.

Yup, you said it. An oxygen mask was what I needed, from the house, to work and back, and again from there to whichever place on the chores-to-be-done-next list and back if applicable.

Wait. Why not a gas mask, like the ones worn at the frontlines during WW1? Something like that would make more of a statement, wouldn't it? Let's see . . . 

[M1915 Gas Mask With Filter - Repro by Schipperfabrik, 72.50 Euros, NESTOF online shopping site]

Yes, just what the doctor ordered, pun intended, just what the doctor ordered, yaay!

The Untold Story Of Creation

In the beginning, before there was even a 'beginning', there was only God and his angels, one of whom considered himself equal to God, Lucifer was his name. 

On day, Lucifer, better known as Satan, challenged God, saying, "Create a world and populate it with people made in our image, that of yours, my brothers and mine, make them male and female so that they might propagate and multiply and fill the earth from pole to pole and from east to west, and let us see whom they will follow, whom they will bow down to and serve, you or me."

"Done," said the Lord, God of heaven and earth, and the earth, the moon, the stars, the planets and the other galaxies in the universe were created in the span of six days.

In time, the earth began to be populated from pole to pole and from east to west with people of all the various ethnic types according to their geographical location on the earth, but even before then, in fact, long before even then, Satan began winning the race by laps, turning and luring people away from following the blameless ways of a God-fearing people to following the godless ways of savages, people who did as they saw fit without any regard for what was right or what was wrong, whether based on religious texts or guidelines sent down to mankind by means of enlightened individuals who came to known as prophets or based on their own conscience or instincts, a trend that has endured throughout the ages in spite of the existence of the various law enforcement agencies even at international level.

But God doesn't care, it was rumored, about losing the race, losing the war Satan has waged against him, and that all he cared about was the lost sheep of Israel, whatever that was supposed to mean. 

Even if Lucifer, better known as Satan, won the challenge and gained the whole world and its entire population as his prize, all that God cared about, it was rumored, was the lost sheep of Israel, whatever that was supposed to mean.

Observations # 43

The quality of one's work is usually a good indicator of one's character. The shittier the quality of one's work, the shittier one's character.  

Observations # 42

It might be that Israel's ultimate war goal in Iran was regime change because as long as the current regime was in power Israel's security would always be threatened and at risk either by direct confrontation such as at present or through Iran's regional proxies, kinda like a head of the snake needs to be chopped off thing.

Observations # 41

Donald Trump was proof God was on Israel's side, because if God was on the side of Israel's enemies, Kamala Harris would have won the election and it would be she who was the president of the United States, wearing a kaffiyeh around her neck in solidarity with the enemies of Israel.

Corruption In High Places

Religious beliefs do not make people good and incapable of being corrupted by material wealth. It is the goodness of one's heart. It is one's morals and principles, one's character, that makes someone good and incapable of being corrupted by material wealth. 

Religious or not, people will still lie, cheat, slander and kill. Religion has no say in what one does or does not do. There is no religion that forbids wrongdoing, and even if there was such a religion, people will still engage in wrongdoing given the right reasons or circumstances, or if forced to. 

After all, every religion has its own failsafe, it's own laundry chamber where one's sins, intentionally committed or otherwise, can be washed away like soiled linen can be washed and made like new. 

Catholics have a confessional booth, Muslims have the black stone. 

Isn't God great in this respect?

The Five Steps Of Martyrdom

The first step towards martyrdom is to place one foot in the grave. The second step is to place the other foot in the grave. The third step is to lie down, close the eyes, stop breathing and die. The fourth step is to open the eyes in paradise. The fifth step is to enjoy the rewards of martyrdom in paradise. Sometimes a little outside help is needed in completing the third step, help that is not always appreciated by those who come to pay their respects at the martyr's grave, especially when too much outside help is given without consent.