Millions of dollars are raised a year to find cures for “incurable diseases”, often through the hard work and limited resources of the average American. But does this fundraising really make people healthier, or simply fatten the pockets of the drug companies?

“You are poised at the starting line, one foot behind you, ready to sprint. In this life, you are on the fast track, and you must decide if you want to keep those around you who aren’t on the same track.” I’ve heard variations of this before. Whether it’s been that I’m an old soul, or the fact that I’ve got some intense fire in my chart, or even that I’m fully enlightened and just don’t realize it (yes, I’ve been told this – god forbid), most intuitives/psychics/healers/whathaveyous tell me I’m here to get shit done, though maybe not in so many words.

One of my co-editors at Matador, Carlo Alcos, took a particular disliking to a piece I wrote a couple of months ago called, Dating in 2010: Is it All Four-Man Plans and Online Shenanigans? Well, maybe dislike is a strong word, but it certainly triggered him. So we decided to hash-it-out, mano a mano, in the classy, mature way – on a blog for everyone to see.

So it turns out “neurology is not destiny” – at least according to William Harryman. Oh, and a little ole’ study at Rockefeller University. Lotsa big words later, it seems that what all those crazy folks who’ve been saying, “the only thing that holds you back is your mind” were right. Or wait…wrong? Well, whatever. The study basically determined that our brains are not, as we thought, fixed in their wiring early in life, but rather change based on experiences we have and/or are participate in throughout our lives.

Finally, a way for women to “gain hold” in the fight against rape. South African Dr. Sonnet Ehlers has developed a female condom with “teeth” on the inside that attach to a man’s penis during penetration. Here’s the process.

Check out this pretty pink graph that proves money literally doesn’t buy happiness.

It is often as I’m telling a story, something about life and the bigger picture, that I approach the subject with a bit of trepidation. Almost apologizing, mumbling just a bit, I admit the reason that I agree with some general observation is because I believe there is more than just this life. Of course, it matters who I’m talking to. Tribe members can often be noted from afar, and they nod their heads quickly in agreement. Others are just as obvious, and of course, those are the ones with whom I tend to end up in these types of conversations. Their pupils constrict as they attempt to hide their judgment, or they go ahead and more openly question my assuredness of lives before and after this one.