Let the Salt Lake Valley Have View Areas at Scenic Spots

   When a scenic view appears along a highway in the outback, we provide a place where we can pull over and view it.
   We should do the same in our cities. Often the lights of the city, and the various views, are gorgeous. If a city wants to sell itself to visitors, why would it not do this? I wish there were such pull-outs in the Salt Lake Valley. Instead, I find sound walls often cut off the views. We should install turn-outs that are high enough that you can see over the sound walls.
   Beauty that is hid is a tragedy. Let our scenic views be on display for all to see.

Will Our Name be Attached to Mismanaging Ecosystem?

   Comes a story in the Deseret News warning that the Great Salt Lake is shrinking so much that portions of the lake bed are turning to a dust bed that could cause great particle pollution.
   A comment online from one naming himself Prodicus warns, "One of the worst environmental disasters of human history was the drying of the Aral Sea." Prodicus notes a productive ecosystem turned into a bowl of toxic dust.
   I google, and learn the lake is but 10 percent of its 1960 size. Much of what once was under water is now a desert, known now as the Aralkum Desert. The lake began to shrink when the Soviet Union began to divert water for irrigation projects. What has happened is recognized as easily one of the biggest environmental missteps in all of history.
   While the toxic elements in the dust are the result of a history of weapons testing, industrial pollution, pesticides and fertilizer runoff, it is the dryness of the lake bed that results in so much dust being picked up and blown about by the winds.
   Salt Lake will not be so toxic. Still, there could very possibly be somewhat of a disaster to answer for. Do we, as stewards of this lake, want to add our names to the list of those who have mismanaged the ecosystems they were given? God gave us much when he gave us the Great Salt Lake. Will we prove unwise and foolish in how we have cared for it?

Call it the House of Humor

   Good humor has no capital, so, make Salt Lake City that. Give this city a venue where wholesome humor is the only humor that reaches the stage. And, as the venue establishes itself, look around the nation -- the world -- in search of anything comparable.
  And, if there is nothing to match it, sing its glories in ads. Market it. Often, that which is great is only limited by its lack of being publicized. Bring in truly humorous comedians, and tell the world this is the place.
   For humor, for good, clean humor.

An Amusement Park with all the World's Finest Cars

   How about a amusement park where you can drive any (or all) of the world's finest and most unusual cars?
   The Lamborghini Veneno, the Ferrari LeFarrari, the Bugatti Veyron, the Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita . . . and most every other dream car. Bring them altogether in one site, and let the world come to test drive them.
   Aye, it will be expensive to stock this "amusement park." One car, alone, is expensive, but trying stock them all? I can see why you wouldn't dare take on creating such a park if you doubted it would work.
   But, consider again how many people are car buffs, how many people would love a chance to drive car after car, all the world's finest automobiles. It would be brazen for Salt Lake City to open such a park, for sure, but it possibly might work. Maybe you could get the car makers to kick in huge discounts just to have their cars represented at the park.

Introducing Salt Lake City's Camhurst Fighter Jet Ride Park

   Come to Salt Lake and fly in a fighter jet!
   I wonder if (and doubt) there is anywhere you can go to put down the ticket price, and soar into the sky, passenger in a fighter jet, spinning and pirouetting and taking your breath away like no roller coaster ride ever thought to do. Maybe fuel costs are to expensive to make this possible, I do not know.
   Salt Lake City's Camhurst Fighter Jet Ride Park, or whatever you want to name it.
   Off top, it sounds like an idea that would work. A very expensive ride, but still an idea that would work. If Salt lake did offer such a venue, certainly it would attract people from all over for thrill of a jet ride.

Big Pharma Deserves Evidence Against it Before We Judge Against it

I speak of our feelings toward President Obama, and the federal government, and Big Pharma, among the many. Sometimes (oft times, that is), we are too quick to jump on others, and to jump on the bandwagon that jumps on them. I think of the Wild West, and of vigilante justice, and of people rushing innocent people to the hang noose.

In some ways, we haven't changed.

We seek out someone to hate, and we all pile on.

We do it in our work circles, and in our social circles . . . and in our politics.  

I do not mean to say there are not things about Obama I do not like. I certainly wouldn't vote for him. And, there are things about the federal government I do not like -- and the IRS, and the BLM. Big Pharma has its problems. Well, indeed, might it drive up prices for its advantage.  

Big Pharma. It is it I am thinking about tonight. I had some exchanges on Facebook about it. Some suggest there are cures for cancer, but Big Pharma won't market them because that would take away their profiting on people having cancer.

My, my. Is it true?

Some suggest Big Pharma stands in the way of medical marijuana. The plant is simply too cheap. It would ruin the pharmaceuticals' ability to charge high end for the drugs now on the market.  

My, my.  

Now, here's the trick: I'm not convinced that the conspiracy theorists are not right on some things involving medicine. I even wonder about marijuana. But, failing to move a cure for cancer because it would remove their market of people being treated with more expensive products?

Maybe, but I would hope not.  

There is a natural inclination for people to find fault and to hate others and to make accusations that simply are not true. Yes, we do it with our friends, and our associates, and our neighbors. We are a fault-finding bunch, we are. And, Big Pharma is a natural target. I do not say everything that is said against Big Pharma is wrong. I just say, we ought to be looking for evidence before we listen too closely to the rumors.  

There is cancer in the winds of gossip. And, that can include the gossip against Big Pharma.

There can be more lies on idle lips, than lies from those the idle lips condemn. When the idle gossiper suggests someone is lying, that, itself, is often a lie.

Big Pharma Would Utilize Marijuana if it Were all so Wonderful

  If marijuana is such a wonder drug, why then are not synthesized components from it already on the market?
   And, performing well?
   I have heard the reasoning that the reason marijuana is not approved for medical purposes in many states is that the pharmaceuticals do not want it approved, as the price is too low and they only want products they can charge a lot for.
   That does sound like a conspiracy theory, perhaps, as the reasoning is that the pharmaceuticals are conspiring against medical marijuana. Still, if the simple definition of a conspiracy theory is that people conspire, then yes, there are going to be conspiracy theories that are real, for people do, at times, indeed, conspire.
   But, I will tell you why I don't adhere to the theory, why I don't think it is the pharmaceuticals standing in the way of medicinal marijuana. If there are components in marijuana that do hold medical promise, they would want to utilize them. They would want to extract those components, stick them pills -- they can set the price on them -- and take advantage of them.
   But, I don't know that there are more than just two products on the U.S. market, and neither of them are setting the world on fire. We have Marinol and Cesamet, which have synthetic versions of marijuana chemicals (Dronabinol and Nabilone, respectively).
   Then there is Sativex, which has been undergoing testing for years without gaining approval. Sativex is derived from botanical marijuana, not synthetics. That it is being tested puts to rest the claim that marijuana cannot be tested since it is an illegal drug.
   Hey, Big Pharma wants to market drugs. It wants successful products. It seeks them out. It has laboratories dedicated to finding them. You think that for some reason they wouldn't look at synthesized chemicals in marijuana? I don't follow that logic.