

Larry Page posts about his voice - raldi
https://plus.google.com/106189723444098348646/posts/aqy6DvvLJY1

======
pud
> Sergey says I’m probably a better CEO because I choose my words more
> carefully.

This is almost the exact same thing members of the band Def Leppard said about
their drummer when he lost his arm in a tour bus accident. They said the
limitation caused him to become a better drummer.

Def Leppard subsequently became one of the most successful hard rock bands in
history when their first album post-accident, "Hysteria," sold 20M copies.
Several of the beats on that album became legendary, including the beat to
"Pour Some Sugar On Me" [1]

I wonder how we could teach ourselves these lessons (without injury, of
course).

[1] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UIB9Y4OFPs>

~~~
braveheart1723
Ask anyone who knows anything bout music - Rick Allen is a not a great
drummer.

John Bonham, Dave Lombardo, Bill Ward, Peart, even Dave Grohl is better than
Rick Allen.

~~~
assholesRppl2
Rick Allen is a great person for continuing with his drumming career with one
(1) arm. Nobody's claiming he's a "great drummer" and your insensitivity
doesn't contribute much here. The comment section is not a record store.

Many people have stronger voices than Page, but the point still stands that
it's how you approach your adversity that counts.

~~~
jusben1369
In all fairness to Mel Gibson above "Several of the beats on that album became
legendary" would seem to imply he was a great drummer. I agree it's rather odd
to take issue with what was an unusual analogy to begin with but it was hardly
an outlandish response/comment.

~~~
jebblue
Mel Gibson? I don't get that but his response was fair and considered and
correct. The OP trolled a highly subjective argument about who's the best
drummer which completely missed the point of the original comment and the
entire story.

~~~
jckt
"braveheart" is part of his handle

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carbocation
Generally, I appreciate it when people with a condition or a risk factor speak
out. I look forward to a day when diseases of all kinds are de-stigmatized,
and each voice helps.

Curiously, I went to fill out the survey linked from Larry's post, and after I
indicated that I don't have vocal cord paralysis, the survey was over for me.
Somehow, I'm surprised they weren't interested in collecting denominator /
negative information from those without the condition.

~~~
cantrevealname
> _after I indicated that I don't have vocal cord paralysis, the survey was
> over_

They're not collecting information from people without the condition.

This is simply their way of getting rid of people who shouldn't be filling in
the survey.

I think it's actually a reasonable UI decision. They could have done it one of
two ways:

1\. Have the page say, "Fill in the survey ONLY IF you have the condition".

2\. Anyone can fill in the survey. But the first question determines whether
you are a candidate or not.

They chose #2.

~~~
carbocation
Yes, it's a nice UI decision.

I'm surprised by the business decision. My feeling is that there is often
value in collecting information on people without the condition (negative
data), should those people somehow feel compelled to participate.

~~~
bcoates
I think they realize that the survey prompt is self-selecting enough that they
can't get a valid sample of non-sufferers through it, and will have to go
elsewhere for a baseline.

------
Lewton
>But I was told that sequential paralysis of one vocal cord following another
is extremely rare. "

Same thing happened to me.. I was told by my doctor that it was like winning
the lottery twice

I was not amused

~~~
nolok
One of my friend contracted two different rare disease, and one of his doctor
made a similar remark. Sometimes you're really lucky, and sometimes you are
really, really unlucky ...

It really sucks that so much of those things will probably never be treated
properly because there is no incentive to do so. That's why initiatives like
this are so great.

~~~
ttrreeww
Health has nothing to do with luck, take it into your own hands (instead of
other's hand) and you will see why. Stop giving up on yourself.

~~~
jknightco
Ah yes, all of those people with chromosomal diseases should just take their
health into their own hands, because it clearly has nothing to do with chance.

</sarcasm>

~~~
ttrreeww
So if your genes are bad, you give up on life? /sarcasm

~~~
jknightco
Not what I said. I was specifically calling you out for this comment: "Health
has _nothing_ to do with luck."

It was either naïve, ignorant, or a bit of both.

~~~
ttrreeww
You have to work hard for health. If you don't.... you'll regret it by the
time it is too late.

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abrichr
For reference, here's a video of him talking:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4Mzlp6mIaC4#t=23s)

~~~
arantius
And before the injury: <http://youtu.be/ajxYlACeb4w?t=37s>

~~~
huggah
This is after his first vocal cord was paralyzed, but before the second one
was also damaged. You can hear what he called "a slightly weaker voice than
normal which some people think sounded a little funny"--it quavers a bit. I
was hoping to hear his voice before the first injury, but that was before
Google was a phenomenon so there might not be any public recordings of him.

------
sharmanaetor
Scott Adams had blogged about it on Nov 8, 2012:
<http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/larry_pages_voice_update/>

~~~
ariwilson
He doesn't have spasmodic dysphonia though...

~~~
sharmanaetor
Yes. I just thought I'd mention this because I remember reading about it first
via Scott Adams blog.

~~~
k-mcgrady
But it's completely speculative and wrong. It's not really relevant.

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plg
While I think it's laudable that Larry Page would donate what I presume is a
non-trivial amount of money to fund research and treatment into a condition he
himself has, i.e. a voice disorder, at the same time I wonder whether he could
get a bigger bang for his buck by funding the low hanging fruit. Maximum
impact per dollar. Bill Gates foundation has taken this route and I think it's
the right thing to do. There's a part of Larry's story that feels slightly
egotistical.

~~~
wilfra
It's not egotistical, but you could call it selfish. He wants to cure himself.
Steve Jobs was on a similar quest to cure cancer - because he didn't want to
die. Larry wants to speak normally again.

Behind many non-profits and causes there was a similar personal catalyst.
People trying to get rid of the three strikes law or drunk driving were many
times similarly motivated into action by a personal tragedy.

~~~
ipince
You don't know what he wants or doesn't want. It _could_ be selfish, but it
could very well not be.

Maybe he just had the chance to learn a lot more about this particular disease
and so it's more natural for him to invest there. It sure would feel more
natural to me to contribute to research on a disease that I have experienced
first-hand than to some other random one, even if the random one is more
"important." No selfishness there. I would just identify better with the
victims and have a more real urge to help them.

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edouard1234567
Love the comment from Sergey : "Sergey says I’m probably a better CEO because
I choose my words more carefully"

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throwaway1980
> So I’ve arranged to fund a significant research program through the Voice
> Health Institute, which he will lead.

I find this rather awkward. Here we have someone with a ton of money giving a
tiny fraction of it away in a very public manner to a cause that seeks to
remedy one of his own personal afflictions. He comes off looking like a good
guy, and in the process generates excellent PR for his company and social
network. What is the downside? It's as if there isn't one. I don't know why,
but it gives me the squeamy jibbly icks. Same vibe as when he gave away flu
shots at Target.

I guess I have the following questions. Why do the rich need to be our
saviors? Do we really need to justify extreme wealth disparity with extreme
condescension? Can't we just shuffle some defense money to healthcare and make
democratic decisions about how to allocate healthcare funds? Or, god forbid,
raise taxes on the wealthy?

Is the answer really, sorry, no, that's how it has to work in "free market"
capitalism?

~~~
brown9-2
It's not a binary decision. Those with the means can still chose to donate
some of their money to causes they like, and we as a society can (or should)
still chose the way in which we want to allocate public funds towards more
health spending or away from defense spending.

Choosing to donate to a cause that affects him personally is no different than
when people create charities or foundations or donate money to fund research
for diseases that affect their immediate family members - which happens quite
often.

~~~
throwaway1980
I agree, more or less, because certainly there's a long history of people
creating charities to fill in the gaps left by government. It's the way he's
doing it, on Google+ and as the CEO of Google that I don't like. Maybe it's
just because of the mixing of personal and work life or something. I don't
know why, it just gives me a creepy feeling like I wouldn't want to get
involved with the guy. Maybe I'm just jealous because I don't have my own fuck
you money.

------
chimeracoder
> I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis in 2003. This is a fairly
> common benign inflammatory condition of the thyroid which causes me no
> problems.

Larry is indeed very lucky.

One of my good friends was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis after ten
years of misdiagnosed and ignored symptoms. (It's a very rare disease, and
many of the early signs - weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, etc. - can easily
be mistaken for typical adolescence).

In Larry's case, it seems they caught the disease and began treatment before
it completely destroyed the thyroid, which is a real danger - if the disease
isn't diagnosed by this point, treatment becomes much more difficult, and
patients develop heart problems.

Unfortunately, my friend has not been so lucky, and has been suffering with
the complications for several years now.

~~~
foobarqux
> (It's a very rare disease, and many of the early signs - weight gain, mood
> swings, fatigue, etc. - can easily be mistaken for typical adolescence)

Thyroid problems are routinely misdiagnosed as non-existent, not only for
adolescents. Hypothyroidism in particular may be routinely under-diagnosed due
to unspecific symptoms and far too stringent thresholds on thyroid levels.

<http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com>

~~~
bcoates
To the downvoter: if the above is wrong, it's non-obviously wrong enough that
it deserves an explanation.

~~~
philwelch
(Not the downvoter.)

I've read that site several times. Frankly, while I'm sure a lot of patients
don't do well enough on levothyroxine or need more intensive tests than the
TSH, I'm very skeptical of people who develop fanatical, rigid opinions about
how to treat hypothyroidism without extremely careful and rigorous study,
largely because I'm very skeptical about people who develop fanatical, rigid
opinions about _anything_ without extremely careful and rigorous study.

------
aashaykumar92
An interesting point was brought from a WSJ article [1] about Paige's
situation: "Page’s condition has worried the collective tech world and Google
investors". Unfortunately, the article doesn't elaborate on this claim so it
is tough to determine how true this is but like I said, it is an interesting
point and thought-provoking.

[1] [http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/05/14/google-ceo-larry-
page...](http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/05/14/google-ceo-larry-page-reveals-
he-has-vocal-cord-paralysis/?mod=e2tw)

------
jayfuerstenberg
My brain is screwed up. I initially read this as "Larry King posts about his
voice".

Seriously though, I hope Larry Page will recover. It was sad to see Roger
Ebert lose a bit of his zest when he could no longer speak and I wouldn't want
any more people to be forever silent.

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photorized
I hope he gets better.

I also wonder what happened to selfless, anonymous donations. His affliction
doesn't seem (medically or statistically) like something that would require
rallying people to the cause, raising awareness, etc. There are conditions
that matter, that affect millions (incl. children), that don't let people live
normal lives (not kitesurfing - very basic everyday stuff).

The Target flu shot promo didn't seem genuine, neither does this.

~~~
jfoster
Why does the donation need to be selfless? This one almost certainly isn't,
but I don't see anyone claiming that it is, and I don't see any reason why it
needs to be.

------
bane
On Bloomberg

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe4fpGUL_q4>

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rdtsc
It is interesting that he shared this. I like it.

I wonder how it will be perceived. Will stock traders buy or sell GOOG
differently now that they found about it (or found out that the public found
out) about this issue.

Did he have to get the approval of the PR or board of directors before
disclosing it.

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jekl
Couldn't help to notice: <http://i41.tinypic.com/xbszk.png>

~~~
truetaurus
Thats hilarious!

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Mz
Probably not related but it reminded me of Scott Adams' voice disorder, which
I only knew about because I knew a fan of his who had the same thing:
[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15446515/ns/health-
health_care/t/d...](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15446515/ns/health-
health_care/t/dilbert-creator-recovers-rare-disorder/)

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edwardunknown
I know he has the best voice therapists in the world and there's no chance
he'll ever read this but: kazoo. That's my advice for anyone who has to give a
speech or get their voice in shape for any reason. Ukulele & a kazoo 45
minutes every day.

~~~
foobarqux
I saw a study that claimed improvement in sufferers of sleep apnea who played
the didgeridoo.

~~~
edwardunknown
That makes perfect sense for breath training, I came upon the kazoo after
reading that an early 1900s opera singer never did vocal exercises, she just
hummed to warm up. The kazoo works the breath and the vocal cords which are
tougher than other muscles, so you can and should work them everyday without
fear of injury.

~~~
nandemo
Humming _is_ a vocal exercise. It engages the vocal cords.

Not sure why you think humming/playing kazoo should be a good exercise for
someone who has damage in the vocal cords. E.g. the common medical advice for
someone who with a hoarse throat (due to a cold etc) is to let it rest, i.e.,
refrain from speaking. But I'd be happy to see studies proving that wrong.

