October 31, 2025 • 40 mins
Happy Halloween! Dr. Kiran Chang joins the show to discuss breast cancer and proper steps to take. Also, Brad Schweiss talks about gold and why they prices are rising.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Remember when it was impossible to misplace the TV remote
because you were the TV remote. Remember when music sounded
like this? Remember when social media was truly social?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hey John, how's it going today?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Well? This show is all about you die. This is
fifty plus with Doug Pike, Helpful information on your finances,
good health, and what to do for fun. Fifty plus
brought to you by the UT Health Houston Institute on
Aging Informed Decisions for a healthier, happier life. And now
(00:43):
fifty plus with Doug Pike. All right, here we go.
Welcome one and all.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I guess we made it to another day, right, another
good looking day actually around Southeast Texas. You just there.
You can't beat a strong high pressure system this time
of year. I'm pretty sure we can thank this one too,
for giving Hurricane Melissa the nudge, the boot in the
rear she needed to turn tail and run off into
the northwest Atlantic somewhere. Good riddance. She's gonna kind of
(01:12):
ricochet off of far eastern Canada. That's as close as
it's gonna get again to landfall. But nothing to see
along the East coast except maybe some pretty good ways
for the wet suit crowd over there. It's gotten kind
of chilly along the East coast with this weather change
we've had for us, though the forecast generally awesome with
(01:37):
a chance for amazing. Would you agree or disagree? Josh, yeah, perfect?
I like that. So moving into the markets real quick.
Nasdak was making the most of a big bump this morning.
It started out kind of okay and then got better
and better, and it was up more than a full
point at eleven o'clock just a little bit ago. The
(01:58):
other three indicators I watch we're still green and have
been all morning, but only by relatively small fractions. Oil
got north of sixty bucks again overnight and we're still there.
A few minutes ago. Gold moving north again around four
thousand and thirty bucks an ounce last I looked. And
we'll have Brad Schweiss on at the bottom of the
(02:19):
hour to tell us what's knocking gold around so much.
By the way, in segment two, before the Gold talk,
and in recognition of Halloween, we're gonna talk about boo biz.
You get that, Josh like that? Okay, I'm making sure
you feel free to speak. You're welcome to do that.
(02:41):
I would, I would appreciate it. I like the interaction.
So you give that one a thumbs up, your thumbs down.
That's a good one. Okay, okay, all right, thank you. Uh.
In the news, the whole country knows now that Chuck
Schumer is sticking to his shutdown plan, mostly because he's
scared of losing favor with the squad and its allies.
And he does it give a filip about you or me,
(03:02):
or any of the people who lawfully or otherwise were
counting on snap money to put food on the table
next week, or his party. Really, he doesn't care about
them either. It's in free fall with no parachute lately.
The money officially runs out tomorrow, but the Senate has
already checked out for the weekend. So the last chance,
(03:23):
the last hope, and a couple of judges up in
the Northeast I think it is where else are talking
about forcing President Trump to do something to keep that money,
to turn that spigott back on. I don't know how
far that'll get in such a short time, but hey,
(03:44):
thirteen votes, thirteen times, and not even a half dozen
Democrats would vote in favor of feeding Americans, over printing
trillion trillion, two trillion, three trillion, whatever, it was money.
They wanted to throw it all over the the world
for outrageous programs and and here as well, some of
the craziest stuff you'd ever hear of. Uh, if you
(04:07):
hear any of them say they won't pay medical bills
for illegal migrants too, by the window that they're they're
just lying straight to your face. A few of them
have slipped and said as much, not not just straight out. Oh,
my contact just fell out of my eye. Well it
hasn't yet, kind of hoping I can get hold of
it before I do lose it. Stand by one second, please.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
I believe I have some contact solution for you if
you need it.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I don't need that, but I need some time. Can
you sing very well? I need about fifteen seconds. I'm
gonna put it back in my eye.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
I'm definitely not gonna be singing live on air. That's
a promise to you, Doug. I can. I can promise
you that I'll never ever happen.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Okay, Yeah, I think I'm good. I may I'll have
to go back and get my drops at my eyes
or at at the break, but the contact is in now.
Well I say that, Yeah, we're good. I can read
things that I shouldn't be a to read with that eyeball.
It's my left one and that's the one that really
needs the help. But all's well, that ends well back
(05:07):
to where I was. What they're talking about with this
entire stop down of the government. I got that clip.
I got that.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I saw a quote from Hakeem Jeffries also that said,
nowhere have Democrats suggested that we are interested in changing
federal law, which by the way, does prohibit spending tax
dollars on non Americans. But hey, lately, looking at how
they've treated ice agents and how they've followed federal law,
not in removing illegal immigrants, I'm pretty sure they care
(05:43):
about nothing about federal law. After all, there is no
need to change something that they already ignore. If you're
not dealing with it, who cares. How much time do
I have? One? One and a bit, Okay, I'll tell
you what. I'll finish this one up and then move
on so I can go get those drops of myce. Basically,
(06:03):
that whole Democrat side unfortunately just acting like in title
little children. They know they're not supposed to take cookies
from the cookie jar without asking, but when mom's not
looking Hey, they're on the countertop, reaching on top of
the refrigerator, elbow deep and just reaching for the last
one that's got a change and it will someday. Cedar
(06:24):
Cove Arby Resort over in Baytown, down Tri City Beach Road,
near Thompson's Bait Camp, right on galveson Bay, all the
amenities you could possibly want in a place to park
your RV for a night a week all summer, next summer,
maybe for a winter week now. The fishing over there
actually gets kind of good this time of year and
might not be a bad idea to try it out
if you don't have an RV, by the way, which
(06:46):
you can. If you do, you can park it on
There's all concrete roads and slabs, electric water and sewer everywhere,
free Wi Fi, and a bathhouse with showers. They might
even sell a little fishing bait in that convenience store
they have there too, so you'll be well set when
you park it in there. If you don't have an RV,
they'll rent you one, which is kind of a cool
(07:08):
deal really when you think about it. You don't have
to go out and spend forty fifty one hundred two
hundred thousand dollars on a new bus or even a
small pop up trailer. Al Kibbi will rent you an
RV so you and your family can experience that lifestyle.
And I really like that idea for somebody who's never
done it, because once you do it, you're gonna love it,
(07:28):
and you're gonna want to go back more and more,
and who knows a few months later, after one of
the big RV shows around here, you might just roll
in there and wave to him from your brand new
RV or whatever. Try it out for yourself. See how
much you're gonna like waking up to that little rustle
of the palm fronds with the breeze and a nice
beautiful water this time of year over there. Cedar Cove
(07:52):
Rvresort dot com. Cedar Covearvresort dot com.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, they sure don't make them like they used to.
That's why every few months we wash him, check his words,
and spring on a fresh coat of wax. This is
fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I was looking at the loud at night with my eyes.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Hi, welcome back fifty plus. Thank you for listening. I
really do appreciate it. On Oh what this is just scary,
scary day. We'll talk in this segment about breast cancer
and an overview to begin with, I guess, and then
a little deeper into the subject and to guide us.
I'll welcome in doctor Karen Chang, diagnostic radiologist with more
(08:52):
than twenty years experience and an assistant professor actually at
Mcgovernor Medical School. Welcome aboard, doctor.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Nay, thank you for having me breast cancer.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Let's just establish this up from breast cancer is not
a thing. How many different kinds of breast cancers are there?
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Yeah, that's a great question. So why is breast cancer important?
I want to just kind of backtrack and start with
that it's the leading cause of cancer related depths worldwide,
and it's the second leading cause of the United States.
So really prevalent affects a lot of the patient population.
As far as the types of breast cancers, it really
(09:32):
depends on where they begin and what cells we're looking
at and seeing under a microscope, or whether they express
their news sectors. The most common type of breast cancer
that you will see in almost about eighty percent of
breast cancer segnotes are invasive ductyle carcinoma, which basically means
it starts from the milk ducts in the breast. It
(09:54):
can have multiple subtypes, and there are some aggressive subtypes
as well. They're lobular person normas that start in the
lobules and the breast, and they're about ten to fifteen
percent of the population. But there are other pathological decisions too,
depending on what kind of proteins buying to the receptors,
on the type of cancers, and there are certain other
(10:14):
types of breast cancers that are more aggressive, like see
an inflammatory breast cancer or Paget's disease which is around
the nipple, or metastatic cancer, so lots of types. There
is also another sub type that is still contained. That's
the one that is really important to catch when you
try to do early diagnosis, which is the business we
(10:36):
are in. Doct to Carcinomans two is an example. It's
a non and basic form of cancer that is still
contained within the milk up, so great stage to catch it.
It just stakes zero.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Do we know what tends to cause these things to develop? Initially?
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Yeah, so we actually don't have a definite answer. I
couldn't tell you like it's one thing or just genetics
I think a common thing is people think it's only genetics,
but it really isn't. It's only about ten to fifteen
percent of breast cancers are hereditary, but the vast majority
of them are a mixture of different different risk factors.
(11:15):
And there are certain very simple factors like lifestyle and
environmental factors, like, for instance, the amount of alcohol you consume.
And I'm not saying don't consume alcohol, but there are
certain limits that are after you see a certain amount
of alcohol consumed per day increases your risk. The same
thing about obesity. You know, we've all talked about obesity.
It's not good, right, So that also the way the
(11:39):
estrogen and the androgens in your body react to the
adipose tissue, the fat tissue that can cause that can
be a risk factor too. Physical inactivity, a saturated fat diet, smoking,
high density on minimograms, and some people just have that.
(12:00):
There's a whole bunch of different factors. There's not Mom's
single things.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Alcohol. Alcohol can cause a lot of things you don't
really want to happen, I guess, including breast cancer. Now
let's get into self examination first. Okay, how often should
a woman examine her own breast and what should she
be looking for or feeling for when she does.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Yes, so you know it's never too early when even
as a young woman, you can always do a self
breast exam. We recommend our patients to do self pressed
exam monthly and usually you can kind of paste it
at your own pace. But once you do a self
pressed exam, you are more aware of how your body is.
We know everyone's body is different, and then if you
(12:44):
feel something different a lump or some other changes maybe
nipple discharge or changes in the nipple or a lump
in the armpit, then you know that you need to
reach out to your doctor. Then, other than a self
pressed exam, we ask patients to at least to an
annual exam with their primary care doctor or their obigin
(13:06):
and then the screening metal ground and things come after that.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And so as not to scare anybody in the audience here,
not every lump in women's breast is cancers, right, it is.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Not, no, but it is the most common presenting feature.
So it's really important if someone feels a lump, especially
if they're doing a self press exam or if their
doctor finds a lump, it's very important that that be worked.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Out absolutely, Doctor Karen Chang on fifty plus. Does risk
for breast cancer increase with age?
Speaker 5 (13:40):
Yes, so I actually there is a very there's a
big study that was done with the Sear Institute, which
is with our National Cancer Institute. But basically there's an
increase after age forty and it goes up to about
one percent per year, and then the median age is
(14:02):
around sixty three. So there is a sweet spot after
age forty, and that's why we recommend after age forty
to do annual best exams.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
I've read that some women are hesitant to get tested too,
and I think that their fears could be allayed by
you telling them it's not the way it used to be.
There are better techniques and better machines now, right.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Yeah, So basically a manogram uses X rays to evaluate
to look at the breast. The radiation is very low
compared to say, for instance, compared to the surrounding radiation.
People don't understand when you live, you live on the
soil on the earth, you are getting a certain amount
(14:46):
of what we call background radiation. So the background radiation
is about sixty seven weeks equals one mammogram or it's
about ten transatlantic flights. Wow, it's overall considered a very
safe test, and the benefit of breast cancer early detection
far outweighs the amount of radiation that you received.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Doctor Karen Chang here on fifty plus. Do you know
offhand what percentage of women in this country develop breast
cancer at one age or another?
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Let me see, I think I can, I can pull
it out.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
We'll jump over that.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Let's get to early detection of the sixties.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah, early detection, talk about the importance of that.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Yes, So that's where we come in. So as breast
imaging experts, we start with a mammogram, which is a
typical initial starting point. We recommend screening mirmography starting annually
at age forty and continue until as long as the
patient is in good health and able to tolerate the procedure. So,
(15:50):
screening mammogram has a pretty high sensitivity, which is a
way to say how many cancers does it pick. It's
about six seventy to eighty percent as sensitive screening mammogram. Now,
if we add certain additional techniques like a tomosynthesis, which
is an additional type of screening mammogram, it's a three
D screening mamogram, that sensitivity factor even increases. There are
(16:13):
also other modalities like breast ultrasounds that can be used
in conjunction as a screening modality, especially if patients are
high risk patients. Mostly we use ultrasound for a diagnostic
work up, which means the patients come in with a
lump or some other complaint in their body, and then
we kind of go from there, what are the current
And then there's also one more thing, MRI as well.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Oh yeah, absolutely, MRI. That's kind of the gold standard
for everything, isn't it.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
MRI has a really high sensitivity and it can be
used in conjection with mirmography as a good screening modality
to high risk patients.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Fantastic, What are the what's the I'm assuming a good
prognosis if it's called early.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Yeah, so stage one cancer has a five year survival
rate of ninety eight percent, which is pretty good.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yes, it is. What about current treatment options from stage
to say, we're really down to about a minute and
a half or so, So what do you think?
Speaker 5 (17:12):
Okay, yeah, so you know that's more in the area
of breast surgeon and breast me incology, but bigod thing
is when the patient comes to see a breast imaging specialist,
you're already part of the bigger team. When you see
cases that that have something new or different, we present
them to the bigger group. As far as treatment options,
(17:32):
there are lots of options. There is a conservative surgeries,
there is a larger removal of tissues depending on how
much tissue needs to be removed. There's radiation, there is chemotherapy,
there is hormone therapy. Lots of treatment options there. But
when you I think the starting point the most important
thing is do your self breath exam or have your
doctor do your exam. And if you find something, please
(17:54):
don't wait on that, go and see your doctors.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
If you see something, say something, dog on it. Say
your own life is what you're doing really is saving
your own life by going to the doctor and saying, hey,
look I found this, what is it? And most of
the time I'm guessing it's probably something innocuous. But if
it's not, the sooner you've found it, the better your
chances for living a long, happy life. Right. Yes, sorry,
(18:20):
doctor Kieran Chang, thank you so very much. This has
been really informative. I greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Oh sir, you bet all right.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
We got to take a little break all the way out.
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inside to side diagnosis of your roof to make sure
(18:52):
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there's a problem at all with that roof, they will
probably if it's just the very well, may be able
to fix it with what they have on the truck,
which is fantastic because you don't have to worry about it,
even for twelve hours. They'll just go right back the ladder,
go back up the ladder, take all the stuff up there,
(19:12):
and get it handled for you, so you don't have
to worry about it if it's a big deal, a
really big problem, and you have to do a complete
roof replacement. Two good things. Number one, since most of
us can't just write a check for a new roof.
Number one they have a finance company they're working with
right now that will help you make those payments a
little easier and stretch them out over time where you'll
have a great roof really quickly right now, and then
(19:35):
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(19:57):
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(20:18):
for the older folks among us. Countryboysroofing dot Com old
guy's rule.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And of course, women never get old. If you want
to avoid sleeping on the couch.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Okay, well, I think that sounds like a good plan.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Fifty plus continues here's more with Doug. All right, welcome
back to fifty plus. Thank you all for listening. I
(20:54):
certain to appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
I want to get into this one pretty quickly, said,
we'll have as much time as possible. We're gonna talk
about this media rise recently in the price of gold,
couple of grand a couple of years ago, and now
firmly standing north of four thousand bucks, announcing to explain
every single bit of that as much as he can. Anyway,
I'm gonna bring in Brad Schwiss. He's the owner of
(21:15):
Houston Gold Exchange and has been for a long time
out there on West tim or Caddy Corner there at
Darry Ashford from a huge cemetery. Bred is your proximity
to that cemetery coincidental? Well?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Having the underlying Uh, I'm gonna be there shortly. I
do have a plot.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Oh gosh, yeah, my my parents are both there, as
are my my wife's dad too. Yeah, dad and step dad.
It's so sorry. All right, So anyway, let's go to gold. Yeah,
after all, here we are. Huh So gold's nearly doubled
in price relatively short time. What's the biggest factor that
moves the cost of gold.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I would say the biggest single thing is just geopolitical,
you know, rousting. For example, China wants to dominate the
world in every category. At some point in time. They're
determined to be one of the biggest holders of gold
in the world, and their banks are buying it, and
(22:23):
their general population is buying it. Even as the prices
go up, they're still not hesitating, so they believe firmly
in that. So there's like a worldwide competition between the
United States and China to be the largest holders of gold.
There's a few other things that are going on in
(22:43):
our world right now that I think are fairly big factors.
I think one of it is the government shut down.
And if the Democrats get their way and we add
another one point five trillion dollars to our deficit, that
will have a long lasting effect on how people decide
(23:04):
to invest.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Yeah, it would. It would make me think a lot
hard about dollars, it really would. I just yeah, we're
printing money. We don't have you know that if if
the gold yeah, why don't the gold miners? Is there
any situation that is the production of gold slowing down
at all? Is there is there none left? What's the
problem there?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
No, I mean the actual production levels haven't changed as
much as people might think. There's still plenty of gold.
And the other thing I've noticed over the years is,
for example, I think it was Uganda announced two years
ago that they had the world's biggest reserve ever discovered
in the world. Yeah, and I do think it was
(23:46):
all just a bunch of hot air and uh, you know, falsehoods.
I think it was just a bluff. And uh you know.
My analysis of that is, if I was a small
country like that and I really did find that much gold,
would I announce it to the world? Keep your mouse
I would probably not, would not say anything about it.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Absolutely keep your mouth shut.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So I just don't think of that.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
And breshwise here from Houston Gold Exchange on fifty plus,
let's talk about gold as an investment. Does it matter
if you buy coins or little bars or jewelry with
it's just so long as it's gold, it's gold. Right.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Well, again, I always make the adage what's right for
mister Jones is not always right for mister Smith. As
far as just an outright investment. Obviously, jewelry is not
the investment you would want because there's a high labor percentage.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Whereas your your bigger one ounce gold coins are kind
of the world standard that most people trade in around
the world and it's globally accepted. Like the American eagle
coin one ounce is you know, the most recognized and
traded coin in the world, all of you know, you know,
you got your Canadian maple leafs are very high on
(24:59):
the list, as well as a South African krigger ends.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Is there any difference in these, say they're all one
ounce coins, Is there any difference really beyond that, beyond
what they look like.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yeah, the manufacturing process is a little bit different. For example,
the kruger in and the American gold legal or alloyed,
whereas the Canadian maple leaf is a pure you know,
twenty four K nine nine point nine. You know, at
(25:31):
the end of the day, there's not necessarily one that's
better than the other. Just different people have different opinions
on what they want to click.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
I'm just going to go buy a bucket full of
this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, well, you know, that's a good idea. The one
thing I did want to bring up, Doug is that
if somebody did want to invest in as you use
that word. I'm here to take care of people whether
they want to buy or sell, So to me, it
doesn't matter. Just everybody has a different need. But if
somebody wanted to put money in the medals, right now,
(26:04):
the gold of silver ratio is still at a pretty
large disparity. So what I'm trying to say is that
silver is going to go up forty percent before gold
goes up twenty percent.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Oh wow, Okay, that's good to know. The silver then
hold on to silver and holds a higher it has.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
A higher percentage upside in the next say five years.
And part of the reason why is all this electronic
demand that we're creating right now, all this artificial intelligence,
solar panels and you know, every every iPhone has a
little scoop of silver in it just for conductivity, and
it's just highly used on an industrial basis worldwide on
(26:46):
multiple levels.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I'm talking about all this like I'm going to make
a move, you know, like I'm a big player and
I'm going to go. I think Josh and I are
going to come by the store this afternoon and buy
a few pounds just for giggles. See what it does.
I got a question for you. It's good to have,
love to have it. Here's the deal. If something's fourteen
carrot gold, clearly it's not pure, and so you buy
it from somebody for the gold content. Can you melt
(27:10):
that down to its component parts or is it just
forever fourteen carrot gold, whether it's solid or liquid. Yeah,
So now that's called the refining process. You can separate
out all the.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Metals and you can strip the alloys out of a
fourteen carrot goal which is fifty seven percent pure gold basically,
and then you'll have leftover metals which could be you know, copper,
and could be silver, could be zinc, could have multiple
different things in it. We even find some that have
cadmium in them, which is, you know, not good for people,
(27:43):
but sometimes manufacturers have slid that little metal in there
to keep them the price.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Wow, that's amazing. Really, it's a fascinating business that it
always has been up. I really appreciate your time with it.
We had a conversation a long time ago about gold
back in the late seventies being around three hundred. I
wish I'd have held on to some of my gold
chains and those gold Marlin I bought back in my
disco dancing and tournament fishing days.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Man, Yeah, but you sure look good when you were
doing it.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Oh baby, did I ever? I got my platform shoes,
my bell bottom pants, and I was on that floor
in my little What were those shirts made of rayon
or nylon or one of those one of the original
things that just soaked through and sweat polyester, That's what
it was. Oh my god. Man, all right, Brad, I'm
gonna go buy. I'm gonna come out and buy a
(28:32):
big old gold chain again, just to celebrate my stupidity.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
I suppose, mercy, we can sell it to you buy
other truckloads. There not a problem.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I know that Brad schweis buying or selling precious metals
and beautiful jewelry and watching all those good things you
have out there. Houston. Goold Exchange dot com. That's where
you need to go to find out where he is
and go see him. He's a great guy. Trust him.
Brad Schweiss, Houston gold Exchange dot Com. Thanks man, appreciate
the goals and opportunities. Thank golly, you've been waiting the
(29:03):
whole segment for that. Haven't you.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I got up early this morning, sir.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Well played bred I see it, man Audios a golden opportunity. Indeed,
he's a good guy, he really is. I do trust
him ut Hell's Institute on Aging. I also trust to
make sure that you and I and everybody else in
our category. Josh has got about forty years to go
before he can go talk to these people. But what
they'll do is, as providers in every medical field, the
(29:31):
people who are part of the Institute on Aging have
taken upon themselves that they didn't have to do this,
but they did, and they went back and dug around
and got more information, more education on how to apply
their specific skill sets to seniors. This is one of
maybe just a small handful of facilities. What's not a
(29:54):
facility really, it's a conglomerate collaboration of all these providers,
more than a thous them just in this area, who
know that we need the extra help, who know how
to take care of seniors. Go to their website, look around.
You'll find all kinds of information you're gonna absolutely love.
You'll spend a lot of time looking at that, I
promise you, And then step back a minute and start
(30:17):
looking for a provider who practices out near where you are.
Most of these people are in the med center, as
you might expect, but most of them also do a
little time week to week in outlying areas from the
Woodlands to Kingwood, to pair Land to Katie to Sugarland,
all the way out to Richmond. I'm sure there's some
out there as well as the big medical facilities out
(30:39):
there now. Ut dot edu slash aging. That's where you
start to find professional advanced systems that will get you
feeling better no matter what's ailing you. Uth dot edu
slash aging, uth dot edu slash aging.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Aged to Perfection. This is fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Welcome back fifty plus. Thank you for listening. I certainly
do appreciate it. Oh my goodness, I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight or nine things I could still talk about between
now and the end the program. Thanks Josh C for
coming in, by the way and covering for Will, who
is he? Jets said it away. I never knew Will
was a jet setter, did you. I had no clue.
(31:45):
He just turns off and flies out of here. I'm
not even gonna tell you where he went. It doesn't matter.
But it's way colder than it is here. I can
tell you that, and I can promise he's having a
good time this weekend.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Well, yeah, he flew out.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
And here's what I was thinking about right before I
came in here, Josh, think about this. So we'll jets
out of here today to go to a bachelor party
that is a combination bachelor bachelorette party. Did he take
his girlfriend? Do you know?
Speaker 4 (32:09):
I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Actually, I'm just we're just gonna let that hang dangers game,
you know, yeah, TikTok man. The clock is gonna be
ticking on him up there, and I bet she's gonna
if if she's still here, if I were she you know,
will you might want to call him about every twenty
thirty minutes, see what he's up to. And then what
what gets me is there was no mention think about this.
(32:33):
There was no mention of a wedding like maybe Sunday
afternoon and then fly back home. So if he's important
enough to be at the bachelor party, that means he's
important enough to be at the wedding. And he just
throwing just throwing money around, just throw up and throw
it up in the air, make it rain, will you know?
Think about it. He's having a good time, I guarantee
(32:54):
you that, and he deserves it. He deserves it. He
comes in here and puts up with me four days
a week. Uh, that gets him a pass in my book.
One more thing from the shutdown from Fox News, This
one regarding education. Randy Weingarten, the president of the Federation
of Teen of Teachers, has been railing that President Trump
(33:15):
is somehow destroying education with the dismantling of the Department
of Education, furloughing thousands of federal workers there, and education
is just going to collapse, she says, with this shutdown. Well,
guess what, Randy, We're a month into the closed government now,
(33:35):
and the schools are still open and teachers are still teaching.
Teachers usual, they just hate it when people challenge their standards,
which are quite liberal, frankly, and challenge their indoctrination of
students to their credo's. They treat parents too, like hurdles
between them and what they call their children. Well, the
(33:56):
first time I heard that, that really kind of that
really kind of woke me up as to what they
really think of us. Calling the students in their schools,
their children. No, not at all. But guess what, all
through all this big old mess, the schools are still
open and the teachers, the real teachers, are still teaching.
So thanks, but no thanks, Wendy. We have come for
(34:18):
our children and our future speaking to kids. According to MSN,
two judges could rule today on whether President Trump's got
to open this pigot on those snap funds. I was
talking about that earlier. I'm still in shock to learn that.
I learned this week actually that one in eight Americans
are getting free groceries, and I've just got to wonder
(34:40):
how legitimate that gift from American taxpayers is to that
many people.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
All.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I'm one hundred percent for feeding anybody who's truly hungry
and would love to work but can't for some reason,
some legitimate reason. But I am not quick at all
to feed peopleeople who can work but just choose not to.
I saw that one woman I'm sure a lot of
you saw as well on Facebook. I believe it was
(35:09):
either Facebook or Instagram, because you know how social media prominent.
I am never mind, in any event, this woman just
went into a rant over how she was entitled to
these benefits and entitled to this, that and the other
for her children because she didn't have a husband and
(35:31):
she could work, but she didn't want to work. But
so she's got to have our money. That's not how
it works, not supposed to work that way, but it
has for the last umpteen years, at least four of
them I know of, And that's just got to stop.
By the way, today's National candy corn Day. I'll balance
(35:51):
that ranting lunatic with candy corn. And yes, it is
mocked all over the country. I believe I mentioned this yesterday.
In fact, I'm sure I did. I heard somebody talking
about I think it was who does the traffic or
the weather? When sky Mike is on TRH pop quiz
What is her name? Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed
(36:12):
that I don't remember it. I hope she's not listening.
In any event, she talked about it being used for
retaining walls and basically concrete, and I saw, and I
didn't know until yesterday, if you stack up candy corn
just right, it looks like corn on the cob. Yeah,
that's who knew. I didn't know. Where's something fun?
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:37):
I mentioned something from China yesterday. Here's another one I found.
China has introduced a new rule. God, I wish we
had this here, if only? Why not? New rule that
requires social media influencers to have official and legitimate qualifications
before talking about sensitive subjects Edison, Law, Education, Finance. They
(37:03):
have to really know what they're talking about before they
can open their mouths and make fools of themselves and
send people astray. That's the thing. And I'm seeing so
much AI now too, it's really kind of spooking me.
I saw a woman who was I think it was
a woman, Yeah, it was, who was saying the same
sentence over and over in half screen and the other
(37:24):
half of the screen was I think it might have
been Sidney Sweeney is that her name?
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Her?
Speaker 3 (37:30):
And then maybe John Wayne and four fove other people.
As she said it, they're saying it as well, the
same exact same thing. It's all AI, and it's all
scary as hell, it really is.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
It's honestly scary how quick they can turn those AI
videos around. It's not oh yeah, you know, thirty minutes
an hour.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
It's a couple minutes if that. There was one just
two days ago that showed Roy McElroy. That said claimed
Roy McElroy had said something to Caroline Levitt and they'd
gotten into a real heated exchange and it was gonna
change things forever. And I just smelled a rat and
I went ahead and look it up and it was
all a every single bit of it from the how
(38:10):
low can you go? Desk word that a Democrat State
Senator from Maryland Democrat State Center from Maryland plotted to
and succeeded with help in recording two political critics of
hers and then we'll call it an intimate encounter, and
then used that video to silence them, to shut them up.
(38:37):
Charged so far in this allegation are the Senator, her
brother who's a dummy, and another dummy. A Baltimore police
officer was involved in that as well, all three of
them charged, all three of them in a heap of trouble.
As they say Glamour magazine, Oh, this is gonna end
(38:57):
the weekend. I'm just gonna go slow with this one.
Just let it simmer instead of turning it all the
way up to boil right away. The UK edition of
Glamour magazine has published this list of nine Women of
the Year. There's only one hitch to that. You got
any idea what it might be, Josh.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
One of the women passed away this year, not one.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Of them is a woman. Of course, they did that
in the UK, where you can't you can't open your mouth.
If you say something that offends somebody down the street,
they can throw you in jail for doing that. And
this now, I guess, I guess women just don't matter
to Glamour magazine whatsoever. Because nine nine women of the
(39:42):
year and not a one of them a woman, transgender activists,
all of them dressed as women. If that isn't just
a smack in the face to every woman on the planet,
I don't know what it would be it. I'm not sure.
I'm not sure where this is going to lead. I
tell you, what they're doing, though, is taking a stand
(40:02):
a herd. Glamour Magazine taking a hard stand on behalf
of about maybe ten percent of the people in the UK,
while the rest of them are asking theirselves, you know
what they're asking themselves. I'm sorry, what is Glamor magazine?
Never seen an issue, never will probably now and good riddance,
good riddance. I say, um, that's not interesting, that's not interesting.
(40:24):
None of that's interesting. We're gonna take it out of here.
Thank you all for listening. I greatly appreciate it. Josh,
thanks to you for coming in here today. I will
I'll be back next Tuesday here and I will be
back Saturday down the Hall on kbm E on Sports
Talk seven ninety Listen up Saturday morning at eight, we'll
talk about opening day of deer and waterfowl seasons. Audios
Remember when it was impossible to misplace the TV remote
because you were the TV remote. Remember when music sounded
like this? Remember when social media was truly social?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hey John, how's it going today?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Well? This show is all about you die. This is
fifty plus with Doug Pike, Helpful information on your finances,
good health, and what to do for fun. Fifty plus
brought to you by the UT Health Houston Institute on
Aging Informed Decisions for a healthier, happier life. And now
(00:43):
fifty plus with Doug Pike. All right, here we go.
Welcome one and all.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I guess we made it to another day, right, another
good looking day actually around Southeast Texas. You just there.
You can't beat a strong high pressure system this time
of year. I'm pretty sure we can thank this one too,
for giving Hurricane Melissa the nudge, the boot in the
rear she needed to turn tail and run off into
the northwest Atlantic somewhere. Good riddance. She's gonna kind of
(01:12):
ricochet off of far eastern Canada. That's as close as
it's gonna get again to landfall. But nothing to see
along the East coast except maybe some pretty good ways
for the wet suit crowd over there. It's gotten kind
of chilly along the East coast with this weather change
we've had for us, though the forecast generally awesome with
(01:37):
a chance for amazing. Would you agree or disagree? Josh, yeah, perfect?
I like that. So moving into the markets real quick.
Nasdak was making the most of a big bump this morning.
It started out kind of okay and then got better
and better, and it was up more than a full
point at eleven o'clock just a little bit ago. The
(01:58):
other three indicators I watch we're still green and have
been all morning, but only by relatively small fractions. Oil
got north of sixty bucks again overnight and we're still there.
A few minutes ago. Gold moving north again around four
thousand and thirty bucks an ounce last I looked. And
we'll have Brad Schweiss on at the bottom of the
(02:19):
hour to tell us what's knocking gold around so much.
By the way, in segment two, before the Gold talk,
and in recognition of Halloween, we're gonna talk about boo biz.
You get that, Josh like that? Okay, I'm making sure
you feel free to speak. You're welcome to do that.
(02:41):
I would, I would appreciate it. I like the interaction.
So you give that one a thumbs up, your thumbs down.
That's a good one. Okay, okay, all right, thank you. Uh.
In the news, the whole country knows now that Chuck
Schumer is sticking to his shutdown plan, mostly because he's
scared of losing favor with the squad and its allies.
And he does it give a filip about you or me,
(03:02):
or any of the people who lawfully or otherwise were
counting on snap money to put food on the table
next week, or his party. Really, he doesn't care about
them either. It's in free fall with no parachute lately.
The money officially runs out tomorrow, but the Senate has
already checked out for the weekend. So the last chance,
(03:23):
the last hope, and a couple of judges up in
the Northeast I think it is where else are talking
about forcing President Trump to do something to keep that money,
to turn that spigott back on. I don't know how
far that'll get in such a short time, but hey,
(03:44):
thirteen votes, thirteen times, and not even a half dozen
Democrats would vote in favor of feeding Americans, over printing
trillion trillion, two trillion, three trillion, whatever, it was money.
They wanted to throw it all over the the world
for outrageous programs and and here as well, some of
the craziest stuff you'd ever hear of. Uh, if you
(04:07):
hear any of them say they won't pay medical bills
for illegal migrants too, by the window that they're they're
just lying straight to your face. A few of them
have slipped and said as much, not not just straight out. Oh,
my contact just fell out of my eye. Well it
hasn't yet, kind of hoping I can get hold of
it before I do lose it. Stand by one second, please.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
I believe I have some contact solution for you if
you need it.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I don't need that, but I need some time. Can
you sing very well? I need about fifteen seconds. I'm
gonna put it back in my eye.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
I'm definitely not gonna be singing live on air. That's
a promise to you, Doug. I can. I can promise
you that I'll never ever happen.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Okay, Yeah, I think I'm good. I may I'll have
to go back and get my drops at my eyes
or at at the break, but the contact is in now.
Well I say that, Yeah, we're good. I can read
things that I shouldn't be a to read with that eyeball.
It's my left one and that's the one that really
needs the help. But all's well, that ends well back
(05:07):
to where I was. What they're talking about with this
entire stop down of the government. I got that clip.
I got that.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I saw a quote from Hakeem Jeffries also that said,
nowhere have Democrats suggested that we are interested in changing
federal law, which by the way, does prohibit spending tax
dollars on non Americans. But hey, lately, looking at how
they've treated ice agents and how they've followed federal law,
not in removing illegal immigrants, I'm pretty sure they care
(05:43):
about nothing about federal law. After all, there is no
need to change something that they already ignore. If you're
not dealing with it, who cares. How much time do
I have? One? One and a bit, Okay, I'll tell
you what. I'll finish this one up and then move
on so I can go get those drops of myce. Basically,
(06:03):
that whole Democrat side unfortunately just acting like in title
little children. They know they're not supposed to take cookies
from the cookie jar without asking, but when mom's not
looking Hey, they're on the countertop, reaching on top of
the refrigerator, elbow deep and just reaching for the last
one that's got a change and it will someday. Cedar
(06:24):
Cove Arby Resort over in Baytown, down Tri City Beach Road,
near Thompson's Bait Camp, right on galveson Bay, all the
amenities you could possibly want in a place to park
your RV for a night a week all summer, next summer,
maybe for a winter week now. The fishing over there
actually gets kind of good this time of year and
might not be a bad idea to try it out
if you don't have an RV, by the way, which
(06:46):
you can. If you do, you can park it on
There's all concrete roads and slabs, electric water and sewer everywhere,
free Wi Fi, and a bathhouse with showers. They might
even sell a little fishing bait in that convenience store
they have there too, so you'll be well set when
you park it in there. If you don't have an RV,
they'll rent you one, which is kind of a cool
(07:08):
deal really when you think about it. You don't have
to go out and spend forty fifty one hundred two
hundred thousand dollars on a new bus or even a
small pop up trailer. Al Kibbi will rent you an
RV so you and your family can experience that lifestyle.
And I really like that idea for somebody who's never
done it, because once you do it, you're gonna love it,
(07:28):
and you're gonna want to go back more and more,
and who knows a few months later, after one of
the big RV shows around here, you might just roll
in there and wave to him from your brand new
RV or whatever. Try it out for yourself. See how
much you're gonna like waking up to that little rustle
of the palm fronds with the breeze and a nice
beautiful water this time of year over there. Cedar Cove
(07:52):
Rvresort dot com. Cedar Covearvresort dot com.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, they sure don't make them like they used to.
That's why every few months we wash him, check his words,
and spring on a fresh coat of wax. This is
fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I was looking at the loud at night with my eyes.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Hi, welcome back fifty plus. Thank you for listening. I
really do appreciate it. On Oh what this is just scary,
scary day. We'll talk in this segment about breast cancer
and an overview to begin with, I guess, and then
a little deeper into the subject and to guide us.
I'll welcome in doctor Karen Chang, diagnostic radiologist with more
(08:52):
than twenty years experience and an assistant professor actually at
Mcgovernor Medical School. Welcome aboard, doctor.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Nay, thank you for having me breast cancer.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Let's just establish this up from breast cancer is not
a thing. How many different kinds of breast cancers are there?
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Yeah, that's a great question. So why is breast cancer important?
I want to just kind of backtrack and start with
that it's the leading cause of cancer related depths worldwide,
and it's the second leading cause of the United States.
So really prevalent affects a lot of the patient population.
As far as the types of breast cancers, it really
(09:32):
depends on where they begin and what cells we're looking
at and seeing under a microscope, or whether they express
their news sectors. The most common type of breast cancer
that you will see in almost about eighty percent of
breast cancer segnotes are invasive ductyle carcinoma, which basically means
it starts from the milk ducts in the breast. It
(09:54):
can have multiple subtypes, and there are some aggressive subtypes
as well. They're lobular person normas that start in the
lobules and the breast, and they're about ten to fifteen
percent of the population. But there are other pathological decisions too,
depending on what kind of proteins buying to the receptors,
on the type of cancers, and there are certain other
(10:14):
types of breast cancers that are more aggressive, like see
an inflammatory breast cancer or Paget's disease which is around
the nipple, or metastatic cancer, so lots of types. There
is also another sub type that is still contained. That's
the one that is really important to catch when you
try to do early diagnosis, which is the business we
(10:36):
are in. Doct to Carcinomans two is an example. It's
a non and basic form of cancer that is still
contained within the milk up, so great stage to catch it.
It just stakes zero.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Do we know what tends to cause these things to develop? Initially?
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Yeah, so we actually don't have a definite answer. I
couldn't tell you like it's one thing or just genetics
I think a common thing is people think it's only genetics,
but it really isn't. It's only about ten to fifteen
percent of breast cancers are hereditary, but the vast majority
of them are a mixture of different different risk factors.
(11:15):
And there are certain very simple factors like lifestyle and
environmental factors, like, for instance, the amount of alcohol you consume.
And I'm not saying don't consume alcohol, but there are
certain limits that are after you see a certain amount
of alcohol consumed per day increases your risk. The same
thing about obesity. You know, we've all talked about obesity.
It's not good, right, So that also the way the
(11:39):
estrogen and the androgens in your body react to the
adipose tissue, the fat tissue that can cause that can
be a risk factor too. Physical inactivity, a saturated fat diet, smoking,
high density on minimograms, and some people just have that.
(12:00):
There's a whole bunch of different factors. There's not Mom's
single things.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Alcohol. Alcohol can cause a lot of things you don't
really want to happen, I guess, including breast cancer. Now
let's get into self examination first. Okay, how often should
a woman examine her own breast and what should she
be looking for or feeling for when she does.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Yes, so you know it's never too early when even
as a young woman, you can always do a self
breast exam. We recommend our patients to do self pressed
exam monthly and usually you can kind of paste it
at your own pace. But once you do a self
pressed exam, you are more aware of how your body is.
We know everyone's body is different, and then if you
(12:44):
feel something different a lump or some other changes maybe
nipple discharge or changes in the nipple or a lump
in the armpit, then you know that you need to
reach out to your doctor. Then, other than a self
pressed exam, we ask patients to at least to an
annual exam with their primary care doctor or their obigin
(13:06):
and then the screening metal ground and things come after that.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And so as not to scare anybody in the audience here,
not every lump in women's breast is cancers, right, it is.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Not, no, but it is the most common presenting feature.
So it's really important if someone feels a lump, especially
if they're doing a self press exam or if their
doctor finds a lump, it's very important that that be worked.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Out absolutely, Doctor Karen Chang on fifty plus. Does risk
for breast cancer increase with age?
Speaker 5 (13:40):
Yes, so I actually there is a very there's a
big study that was done with the Sear Institute, which
is with our National Cancer Institute. But basically there's an
increase after age forty and it goes up to about
one percent per year, and then the median age is
(14:02):
around sixty three. So there is a sweet spot after
age forty, and that's why we recommend after age forty
to do annual best exams.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
I've read that some women are hesitant to get tested too,
and I think that their fears could be allayed by
you telling them it's not the way it used to be.
There are better techniques and better machines now, right.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Yeah, So basically a manogram uses X rays to evaluate
to look at the breast. The radiation is very low
compared to say, for instance, compared to the surrounding radiation.
People don't understand when you live, you live on the
soil on the earth, you are getting a certain amount
(14:46):
of what we call background radiation. So the background radiation
is about sixty seven weeks equals one mammogram or it's
about ten transatlantic flights. Wow, it's overall considered a very
safe test, and the benefit of breast cancer early detection
far outweighs the amount of radiation that you received.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Doctor Karen Chang here on fifty plus. Do you know
offhand what percentage of women in this country develop breast
cancer at one age or another?
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Let me see, I think I can, I can pull
it out.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
We'll jump over that.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Let's get to early detection of the sixties.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah, early detection, talk about the importance of that.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Yes, So that's where we come in. So as breast
imaging experts, we start with a mammogram, which is a
typical initial starting point. We recommend screening mirmography starting annually
at age forty and continue until as long as the
patient is in good health and able to tolerate the procedure. So,
(15:50):
screening mammogram has a pretty high sensitivity, which is a
way to say how many cancers does it pick. It's
about six seventy to eighty percent as sensitive screening mammogram. Now,
if we add certain additional techniques like a tomosynthesis, which
is an additional type of screening mammogram, it's a three
D screening mamogram, that sensitivity factor even increases. There are
(16:13):
also other modalities like breast ultrasounds that can be used
in conjunction as a screening modality, especially if patients are
high risk patients. Mostly we use ultrasound for a diagnostic
work up, which means the patients come in with a
lump or some other complaint in their body, and then
we kind of go from there, what are the current
And then there's also one more thing, MRI as well.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Oh yeah, absolutely, MRI. That's kind of the gold standard
for everything, isn't it.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
MRI has a really high sensitivity and it can be
used in conjection with mirmography as a good screening modality
to high risk patients.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Fantastic, What are the what's the I'm assuming a good
prognosis if it's called early.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Yeah, so stage one cancer has a five year survival
rate of ninety eight percent, which is pretty good.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yes, it is. What about current treatment options from stage
to say, we're really down to about a minute and
a half or so, So what do you think?
Speaker 5 (17:12):
Okay, yeah, so you know that's more in the area
of breast surgeon and breast me incology, but bigod thing
is when the patient comes to see a breast imaging specialist,
you're already part of the bigger team. When you see
cases that that have something new or different, we present
them to the bigger group. As far as treatment options,
(17:32):
there are lots of options. There is a conservative surgeries,
there is a larger removal of tissues depending on how
much tissue needs to be removed. There's radiation, there is chemotherapy,
there is hormone therapy. Lots of treatment options there. But
when you I think the starting point the most important
thing is do your self breath exam or have your
doctor do your exam. And if you find something, please
(17:54):
don't wait on that, go and see your doctors.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
If you see something, say something, dog on it. Say
your own life is what you're doing really is saving
your own life by going to the doctor and saying, hey,
look I found this, what is it? And most of
the time I'm guessing it's probably something innocuous. But if
it's not, the sooner you've found it, the better your
chances for living a long, happy life. Right. Yes, sorry,
(18:20):
doctor Kieran Chang, thank you so very much. This has
been really informative. I greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Oh sir, you bet all right.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
We got to take a little break all the way out.
I'll tell you about country boys roofing. Speaking of diagnostics,
country boys John Heittman and his son Zach. One of
the two of them may come out to your house
if you call, might be one of their other technicians.
But whoever goes up on that roof for you is
going to come down with a full service top to bottom, end,
inside to side diagnosis of your roof to make sure
(18:52):
that lid on your house is doing its job. If
there's a problem at all with that roof, they will
probably if it's just the very well, may be able
to fix it with what they have on the truck,
which is fantastic because you don't have to worry about it,
even for twelve hours. They'll just go right back the ladder,
go back up the ladder, take all the stuff up there,
(19:12):
and get it handled for you, so you don't have
to worry about it if it's a big deal, a
really big problem, and you have to do a complete
roof replacement. Two good things. Number one, since most of
us can't just write a check for a new roof.
Number one they have a finance company they're working with
right now that will help you make those payments a
little easier and stretch them out over time where you'll
have a great roof really quickly right now, and then
(19:35):
you get to enjoy the benefits of it while you
kind of pay it back off. The other option is
the discounts that John offers to first responders, educators, and
past or present military. And that's fifteen hundred dollars off
fifteen hundred off of roof replacement from Country Boys Roofing
just for any of those three qualifications. If you lack
(19:57):
all three, if you're just a regular old person and
like me, all you gotta do is drop my name
and he'll give you one thousand dollars off that price.
Country Boys Roofing Country with a K, Boys with a
Z for you younger members of the audience. And it's
just old school chalk on the chalkboard, Countryboysroofing dot Com
(20:18):
for the older folks among us. Countryboysroofing dot Com old
guy's rule.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And of course, women never get old. If you want
to avoid sleeping on the couch.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Okay, well, I think that sounds like a good plan.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Fifty plus continues here's more with Doug. All right, welcome
back to fifty plus. Thank you all for listening. I
(20:54):
certain to appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
I want to get into this one pretty quickly, said,
we'll have as much time as possible. We're gonna talk
about this media rise recently in the price of gold,
couple of grand a couple of years ago, and now
firmly standing north of four thousand bucks, announcing to explain
every single bit of that as much as he can. Anyway,
I'm gonna bring in Brad Schwiss. He's the owner of
(21:15):
Houston Gold Exchange and has been for a long time
out there on West tim or Caddy Corner there at
Darry Ashford from a huge cemetery. Bred is your proximity
to that cemetery coincidental? Well?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Having the underlying Uh, I'm gonna be there shortly. I
do have a plot.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Oh gosh, yeah, my my parents are both there, as
are my my wife's dad too. Yeah, dad and step dad.
It's so sorry. All right, So anyway, let's go to gold. Yeah,
after all, here we are. Huh So gold's nearly doubled
in price relatively short time. What's the biggest factor that
moves the cost of gold.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I would say the biggest single thing is just geopolitical,
you know, rousting. For example, China wants to dominate the
world in every category. At some point in time. They're
determined to be one of the biggest holders of gold
in the world, and their banks are buying it, and
(22:23):
their general population is buying it. Even as the prices
go up, they're still not hesitating, so they believe firmly
in that. So there's like a worldwide competition between the
United States and China to be the largest holders of gold.
There's a few other things that are going on in
(22:43):
our world right now that I think are fairly big factors.
I think one of it is the government shut down.
And if the Democrats get their way and we add
another one point five trillion dollars to our deficit, that
will have a long lasting effect on how people decide
(23:04):
to invest.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Yeah, it would. It would make me think a lot
hard about dollars, it really would. I just yeah, we're
printing money. We don't have you know that if if
the gold yeah, why don't the gold miners? Is there
any situation that is the production of gold slowing down
at all? Is there is there none left? What's the
problem there?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
No, I mean the actual production levels haven't changed as
much as people might think. There's still plenty of gold.
And the other thing I've noticed over the years is,
for example, I think it was Uganda announced two years
ago that they had the world's biggest reserve ever discovered
in the world. Yeah, and I do think it was
(23:46):
all just a bunch of hot air and uh, you know, falsehoods.
I think it was just a bluff. And uh you know.
My analysis of that is, if I was a small
country like that and I really did find that much gold,
would I announce it to the world? Keep your mouse
I would probably not, would not say anything about it.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Absolutely keep your mouth shut.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So I just don't think of that.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
And breshwise here from Houston Gold Exchange on fifty plus,
let's talk about gold as an investment. Does it matter
if you buy coins or little bars or jewelry with
it's just so long as it's gold, it's gold. Right.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Well, again, I always make the adage what's right for
mister Jones is not always right for mister Smith. As
far as just an outright investment. Obviously, jewelry is not
the investment you would want because there's a high labor percentage.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
That's a good point.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Whereas your your bigger one ounce gold coins are kind
of the world standard that most people trade in around
the world and it's globally accepted. Like the American eagle
coin one ounce is you know, the most recognized and
traded coin in the world, all of you know, you know,
you got your Canadian maple leafs are very high on
(24:59):
the list, as well as a South African krigger ends.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Is there any difference in these, say they're all one
ounce coins, Is there any difference really beyond that, beyond
what they look like.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yeah, the manufacturing process is a little bit different. For example,
the kruger in and the American gold legal or alloyed,
whereas the Canadian maple leaf is a pure you know,
twenty four K nine nine point nine. You know, at
(25:31):
the end of the day, there's not necessarily one that's
better than the other. Just different people have different opinions
on what they want to click.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
I'm just going to go buy a bucket full of
this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, well, you know, that's a good idea. The one
thing I did want to bring up, Doug is that
if somebody did want to invest in as you use
that word. I'm here to take care of people whether
they want to buy or sell, So to me, it
doesn't matter. Just everybody has a different need. But if
somebody wanted to put money in the medals, right now,
(26:04):
the gold of silver ratio is still at a pretty
large disparity. So what I'm trying to say is that
silver is going to go up forty percent before gold
goes up twenty percent.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Oh wow, Okay, that's good to know. The silver then
hold on to silver and holds a higher it has.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
A higher percentage upside in the next say five years.
And part of the reason why is all this electronic
demand that we're creating right now, all this artificial intelligence,
solar panels and you know, every every iPhone has a
little scoop of silver in it just for conductivity, and
it's just highly used on an industrial basis worldwide on
(26:46):
multiple levels.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I'm talking about all this like I'm going to make
a move, you know, like I'm a big player and
I'm going to go. I think Josh and I are
going to come by the store this afternoon and buy
a few pounds just for giggles. See what it does.
I got a question for you. It's good to have,
love to have it. Here's the deal. If something's fourteen
carrot gold, clearly it's not pure, and so you buy
it from somebody for the gold content. Can you melt
(27:10):
that down to its component parts or is it just
forever fourteen carrot gold, whether it's solid or liquid. Yeah,
So now that's called the refining process. You can separate
out all the.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Metals and you can strip the alloys out of a
fourteen carrot goal which is fifty seven percent pure gold basically,
and then you'll have leftover metals which could be you know, copper,
and could be silver, could be zinc, could have multiple
different things in it. We even find some that have
cadmium in them, which is, you know, not good for people,
(27:43):
but sometimes manufacturers have slid that little metal in there
to keep them the price.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Wow, that's amazing. Really, it's a fascinating business that it
always has been up. I really appreciate your time with it.
We had a conversation a long time ago about gold
back in the late seventies being around three hundred. I
wish I'd have held on to some of my gold
chains and those gold Marlin I bought back in my
disco dancing and tournament fishing days.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Man, Yeah, but you sure look good when you were
doing it.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Oh baby, did I ever? I got my platform shoes,
my bell bottom pants, and I was on that floor
in my little What were those shirts made of rayon
or nylon or one of those one of the original
things that just soaked through and sweat polyester, That's what
it was. Oh my god. Man, all right, Brad, I'm
gonna go buy. I'm gonna come out and buy a
(28:32):
big old gold chain again, just to celebrate my stupidity.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
I suppose, mercy, we can sell it to you buy
other truckloads. There not a problem.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I know that Brad schweis buying or selling precious metals
and beautiful jewelry and watching all those good things you
have out there. Houston. Goold Exchange dot com. That's where
you need to go to find out where he is
and go see him. He's a great guy. Trust him.
Brad Schweiss, Houston gold Exchange dot Com. Thanks man, appreciate
the goals and opportunities. Thank golly, you've been waiting the
(29:03):
whole segment for that. Haven't you.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I got up early this morning, sir.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Well played bred I see it, man Audios a golden opportunity. Indeed,
he's a good guy, he really is. I do trust
him ut Hell's Institute on Aging. I also trust to
make sure that you and I and everybody else in
our category. Josh has got about forty years to go
before he can go talk to these people. But what
they'll do is, as providers in every medical field, the
(29:31):
people who are part of the Institute on Aging have
taken upon themselves that they didn't have to do this,
but they did, and they went back and dug around
and got more information, more education on how to apply
their specific skill sets to seniors. This is one of
maybe just a small handful of facilities. What's not a
(29:54):
facility really, it's a conglomerate collaboration of all these providers,
more than a thous them just in this area, who
know that we need the extra help, who know how
to take care of seniors. Go to their website, look around.
You'll find all kinds of information you're gonna absolutely love.
You'll spend a lot of time looking at that, I
promise you, And then step back a minute and start
(30:17):
looking for a provider who practices out near where you are.
Most of these people are in the med center, as
you might expect, but most of them also do a
little time week to week in outlying areas from the
Woodlands to Kingwood, to pair Land to Katie to Sugarland,
all the way out to Richmond. I'm sure there's some
out there as well as the big medical facilities out
(30:39):
there now. Ut dot edu slash aging. That's where you
start to find professional advanced systems that will get you
feeling better no matter what's ailing you. Uth dot edu
slash aging, uth dot edu slash aging.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Aged to Perfection. This is fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Welcome back fifty plus. Thank you for listening. I certainly
do appreciate it. Oh my goodness, I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight or nine things I could still talk about between
now and the end the program. Thanks Josh C for
coming in, by the way and covering for Will, who
is he? Jets said it away. I never knew Will
was a jet setter, did you. I had no clue.
(31:45):
He just turns off and flies out of here. I'm
not even gonna tell you where he went. It doesn't matter.
But it's way colder than it is here. I can
tell you that, and I can promise he's having a
good time this weekend.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Well, yeah, he flew out.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
And here's what I was thinking about right before I
came in here, Josh, think about this. So we'll jets
out of here today to go to a bachelor party
that is a combination bachelor bachelorette party. Did he take
his girlfriend? Do you know?
Speaker 4 (32:09):
I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Actually, I'm just we're just gonna let that hang dangers game,
you know, yeah, TikTok man. The clock is gonna be
ticking on him up there, and I bet she's gonna
if if she's still here, if I were she you know,
will you might want to call him about every twenty
thirty minutes, see what he's up to. And then what
what gets me is there was no mention think about this.
(32:33):
There was no mention of a wedding like maybe Sunday
afternoon and then fly back home. So if he's important
enough to be at the bachelor party, that means he's
important enough to be at the wedding. And he just
throwing just throwing money around, just throw up and throw
it up in the air, make it rain, will you know?
Think about it. He's having a good time, I guarantee
(32:54):
you that, and he deserves it. He deserves it. He
comes in here and puts up with me four days
a week. Uh, that gets him a pass in my book.
One more thing from the shutdown from Fox News, This
one regarding education. Randy Weingarten, the president of the Federation
of Teen of Teachers, has been railing that President Trump
(33:15):
is somehow destroying education with the dismantling of the Department
of Education, furloughing thousands of federal workers there, and education
is just going to collapse, she says, with this shutdown. Well,
guess what, Randy, We're a month into the closed government now,
(33:35):
and the schools are still open and teachers are still teaching.
Teachers usual, they just hate it when people challenge their standards,
which are quite liberal, frankly, and challenge their indoctrination of
students to their credo's. They treat parents too, like hurdles
between them and what they call their children. Well, the
(33:56):
first time I heard that, that really kind of that
really kind of woke me up as to what they
really think of us. Calling the students in their schools,
their children. No, not at all. But guess what, all
through all this big old mess, the schools are still
open and the teachers, the real teachers, are still teaching.
So thanks, but no thanks, Wendy. We have come for
(34:18):
our children and our future speaking to kids. According to MSN,
two judges could rule today on whether President Trump's got
to open this pigot on those snap funds. I was
talking about that earlier. I'm still in shock to learn that.
I learned this week actually that one in eight Americans
are getting free groceries, and I've just got to wonder
(34:40):
how legitimate that gift from American taxpayers is to that
many people.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
All.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I'm one hundred percent for feeding anybody who's truly hungry
and would love to work but can't for some reason,
some legitimate reason. But I am not quick at all
to feed peopleeople who can work but just choose not to.
I saw that one woman I'm sure a lot of
you saw as well on Facebook. I believe it was
(35:09):
either Facebook or Instagram, because you know how social media prominent.
I am never mind, in any event, this woman just
went into a rant over how she was entitled to
these benefits and entitled to this, that and the other
for her children because she didn't have a husband and
(35:31):
she could work, but she didn't want to work. But
so she's got to have our money. That's not how
it works, not supposed to work that way, but it
has for the last umpteen years, at least four of
them I know of, And that's just got to stop.
By the way, today's National candy corn Day. I'll balance
(35:51):
that ranting lunatic with candy corn. And yes, it is
mocked all over the country. I believe I mentioned this yesterday.
In fact, I'm sure I did. I heard somebody talking
about I think it was who does the traffic or
the weather? When sky Mike is on TRH pop quiz
What is her name? Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed
(36:12):
that I don't remember it. I hope she's not listening.
In any event, she talked about it being used for
retaining walls and basically concrete, and I saw, and I
didn't know until yesterday, if you stack up candy corn
just right, it looks like corn on the cob. Yeah,
that's who knew. I didn't know. Where's something fun?
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:37):
I mentioned something from China yesterday. Here's another one I found.
China has introduced a new rule. God, I wish we
had this here, if only? Why not? New rule that
requires social media influencers to have official and legitimate qualifications
before talking about sensitive subjects Edison, Law, Education, Finance. They
(37:03):
have to really know what they're talking about before they
can open their mouths and make fools of themselves and
send people astray. That's the thing. And I'm seeing so
much AI now too, it's really kind of spooking me.
I saw a woman who was I think it was
a woman, Yeah, it was, who was saying the same
sentence over and over in half screen and the other
(37:24):
half of the screen was I think it might have
been Sidney Sweeney is that her name?
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Her?
Speaker 3 (37:30):
And then maybe John Wayne and four fove other people.
As she said it, they're saying it as well, the
same exact same thing. It's all AI, and it's all
scary as hell, it really is.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
It's honestly scary how quick they can turn those AI
videos around. It's not oh yeah, you know, thirty minutes
an hour.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
It's a couple minutes if that. There was one just
two days ago that showed Roy McElroy. That said claimed
Roy McElroy had said something to Caroline Levitt and they'd
gotten into a real heated exchange and it was gonna
change things forever. And I just smelled a rat and
I went ahead and look it up and it was
all a every single bit of it from the how
(38:10):
low can you go? Desk word that a Democrat State
Senator from Maryland Democrat State Center from Maryland plotted to
and succeeded with help in recording two political critics of
hers and then we'll call it an intimate encounter, and
then used that video to silence them, to shut them up.
(38:37):
Charged so far in this allegation are the Senator, her
brother who's a dummy, and another dummy. A Baltimore police
officer was involved in that as well, all three of
them charged, all three of them in a heap of trouble.
As they say Glamour magazine, Oh, this is gonna end
(38:57):
the weekend. I'm just gonna go slow with this one.
Just let it simmer instead of turning it all the
way up to boil right away. The UK edition of
Glamour magazine has published this list of nine Women of
the Year. There's only one hitch to that. You got
any idea what it might be, Josh.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
One of the women passed away this year, not one.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Of them is a woman. Of course, they did that
in the UK, where you can't you can't open your mouth.
If you say something that offends somebody down the street,
they can throw you in jail for doing that. And
this now, I guess, I guess women just don't matter
to Glamour magazine whatsoever. Because nine nine women of the
(39:42):
year and not a one of them a woman, transgender activists,
all of them dressed as women. If that isn't just
a smack in the face to every woman on the planet,
I don't know what it would be it. I'm not sure.
I'm not sure where this is going to lead. I
tell you, what they're doing, though, is taking a stand
(40:02):
a herd. Glamour Magazine taking a hard stand on behalf
of about maybe ten percent of the people in the UK,
while the rest of them are asking theirselves, you know
what they're asking themselves. I'm sorry, what is Glamor magazine?
Never seen an issue, never will probably now and good riddance,
good riddance. I say, um, that's not interesting, that's not interesting.
(40:24):
None of that's interesting. We're gonna take it out of here.
Thank you all for listening. I greatly appreciate it. Josh,
thanks to you for coming in here today. I will
I'll be back next Tuesday here and I will be
back Saturday down the Hall on kbm E on Sports
Talk seven ninety Listen up Saturday morning at eight, we'll
talk about opening day of deer and waterfowl seasons. Audios
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