You have made my day! If my scribbling can set you on a way to start thinking about new business things, I feel – gulp! ñ happy and humble. And scared a bit.

In all seriousness, if I can help, I am more than willing. Just let me know!

BTW, the end user wants a promise. A hope in a tube. Goodness, just check out the publications, anything that can give a whiff of increased collagen production in the dermis is a Holy Grail, regardless of the efficacy. Beauty of the cosmetics is that the trials are performed on volunteers and they are done by self-assessment. In addition, subjects who do not respond to the treatment are often kicked out from the sample and labeled ìnon- respondersî. In practical terms imagine, what woman will admit that there are no positive effects on her skin if she pays $80/2oz of cream? There is no doubt, one need a very good base, very good fragrance ñ and a gimmick. I can easily dig out the current thinking on collagen stimulation; as far as I can tell oligopeptides and copper are currently in vogue, but I am sure that there is plenty of research in strictly scientific literature to point the direction. Plants extracts are always big because they allow to avoid the bastard regulators ñ the ìall naturalî factor. Something that actually might work is vitamin C, hence multitude of products with it, but if you go to the concentrations that may do you good, the skin usually becomes sensitized. So, the manufacturers put in low level of vitamins and hope for the best. I will give it more thought, too, but we should not be burning Rogerís bandwidth on this subject. When you want to talk, lets exchange emails. You can catch me here almost daily:-)

But then we have Bill-the-Merry Clinton telling us–three or four times in four or five paragraphs–that if you’re his age (i am, to the year) there’s 20 merry years left! Yee-Haw! So adios that crappy ‘retired’ attitude. All it does anyway is train a body to be a human rabbit, always feeling like it’ll get et if its next move ain’t the exact right move, always standing there twitchin’ and watchin’.

But of all presidents, Bill Clinton. you’d think, is–to hear him talk–the last that should need reminding that there are actual people skewered out there on the sharp ends of the Agencies. Sad but true, no one should ever drift far from the knowledge that regardless of what they’ve put into it, or how much their family depends on it, or how friendly a manner they can work into it, any cypherbot with an agency badge–and that unlegislated way-too-broadly-written (by the agencies themselves) “administrative law”–can snuff their ass out on just any brief whim. If you complain, you’re an instant ‘rebel’ who needs teaching a lesson. Those Agency career belts need scalps, and microscopic scalps are easy to get and better than nothin’.

That coping with Leviathan can so utterly negate the individual, is a towering revelation of that great Czech phrase, ‘the incredible lightness of being’.

Ha, looking at the length of this post, there’s another problem with free time! But, funny, just writing/thinking about this stuff–which I try to keep out-of-mind–is for the first time since I sold out 2-3 yrs ago, NOT setting me off into blinking rage. FINALLY it’s receding enough to become merely academic. Ahh, progress? Hey, thanks, Katherine! You and Bubbah Clinton, bof o’ y’all is busy hepin’ de peoples!

I am only half joking myself. This is something I always wanted, but never managed to get a grasp of the business side. The key thing is actually producing the stuff. If anything, you know where to find me. I believe that Genetech started as an idle conversation, or so the gossip goes.

If you ever go into the cosmetics business let me know. I have considerable expertise in skin biology on the research side and number of acquaintances in cosmetics industry. I have noticed that lately people with medical degrees are making most money (see dr brandt brand etc.), so my degree can be utilized to get those 2000x markups. I am already thinking about goat milk line, I am convinced that there are plenty of factors in it which can be used to make some good claims about efficacy of the product. Unless, of course, you have an aversion to goats, which would not surprise me. Smell might also be a factor. Well, letís start with that Bentonite clay.

And ñ power to the neo-cons!