Have You Heard About Vitamin D?

I’d like to share with you something I recently learned that could be of great benefit to you or someone you know.  And no, I’m not selling anything. ;)

Vitamin D deficiency is a widespread problem among people of all ages.  Most of us don’t get much sun, and those of us who do usually block it out with SPF a gazillion sunblock, so we don’t have much Vitamin D.  Some online research I did today at many sites, including NIH, the Mayo Clinic, and WebMD indicated that vitamin D deficiency has been found to contribute to a long list of ailments including the following:

• Heart Disease
• High Blood Pressure
• Cancer
• Autoimmune Diseases, including Diabetes
• Memory Loss, Alzheimer’s
• Bone Pain
• Osteoporosis
• Chronic Fatigue
• Depression
• Weight Gain
• Autism
• Asthma

If you have any of these problems, and even if you don’t, I strongly recommend taking a blood test for vitamin D deficiency.  How great it would be to improve one’s health and quality of life simply by taking a vitamin!

Recent research indicates that current U.S. recommended daily allowances are too low.  Here is some information about recommended dosages and blood levels excerpted from http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/news/20080519/supplement-your-knowledge-of-vitamin-d:

The current recommended daily dose of vitamin D is 200 IU for people up to age 50, 400 IU for people aged 51 to 70, and 600 IU for people over age 70.

That’s not enough, Boston University vitamin D expert Michael Holick, MD, PhD, tells WebMD. Holick recommends a dose of 1,000 IU a day of vitamin D for both infants and adults — unless they’re getting plenty of safe sun exposure.

In 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that breastfed infants receive 400 IU of vitamin D every day until they are weaned and drink at least 1 liter of vitamin D-fortified formula or whole milk each day. The AAP also recommends 400 IU/day of vitamin D for children and teens who drink less than a liter of vitamin D-fortified milk per day.

The Vitamin D Council recommends that healthy adults take 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily — more if they get little or no sun exposure.

A simple blood test — the 25(OH)D or calcidiol test — can tell your doctor whether your vitamin D level is low. The Vitamin D Council recommends that 25(OH)D levels be between 40 and 65 ng/mL. The U.S. National Institutes of health notes that 25(OH)D levels over 30 ng/mL are optimal, and that there is “insufficient data” to support recommendations for higher levels.

IANAD — I am not a doctor — so I am not qualified to confirm that this information is accurate. However, the potential benefit is so great that I wanted to bring this to your attention.  Qualified medical professionals, and others, feel free to comment on this article.

Here are some other related links:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-d/NS_patient-vitamind
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20080609/low-vitamin-d-ups-heart-risk-men
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20080107/vitamin-d-deficiency-may-hurt-heart
http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20031210/lack-of-vitamin-d-linked-to-pain
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/are-you-getting-enough-vitamin-d
http://www.naturalnews.com/025980.html

- Keith

The Loss of One’s Adopted Country – Another Result of the Economic Crisis

I posted this article on my technical blog here, but it is applicable to this blog as well. If you’re interested, feel free to give it a read. I linked to there instead of copying it here so that, in case there is discussion, it will all be in one place.

Amateur Massage

Massage is a great thing.  It can be used to heal, to relax, and to connect. It can be used to solve specific physical problems, such as tight muscles, or in special programs for stress reduction or smoking cessation, or just to improve mood. My certified massage therapist friend Richard explains that “one of the main things massage does is increase the rate of circulation to whatever body part you’re working on. Since the blood is the main avenue that brings nutrients (and also takes away dead/torn/injured tissue) to/from injured body parts, massage can greatly facilitate that healing process. It can also help greatly to reduce swelling – like a sedentary person who sits at a desk all day and has swollen ankles when they go home. This kind of swelling is an easy fix with massage”.

In many Asian countries, massage is part of mainstream life.  In Thailand, for example, the foremost massage school is Wat Po, in Bangkok.  Wat means temple in Thai, and Wat Po is probably the most famous temple in Thailand.

There, as in many other places, friends will massage friends and children will massage parents and grandparents.  Although there are professional massage therapists and massage schools, massage is also done by the masses.

In the United States, however, the giving of massage is usually confined to a high priesthood of professional massage therapists.  The legal requirement for certification often means that an excellent massage therapist from outside the country cannot legally practice here, even if he or she is legally allowed to work.

The result of this suppressed supply is higher prices.  A one hour massage can cost as much as $90 or more.  There aren’t many people who can afford that more than once in a great while.

Panama

It’s January 2009 and I’m in Panama to investigate the possibility of working here. It’s cheaper and faster to get from Washington, DC to Panama City than to California. The time zone is Eastern Standard Time, so collaborating with others in the U.S. does not have to involve bleary eyed conferences in the middle of the night, as would be the case in Asia. Although the Canal Zone is no longer a U.S. territory, and Panama is a sovereign nation, the U.S. dollar (also known here as the balboa) is the national currency of Panama, greatly simplifying financial transactions for U.S. citizens. The cost of living here is significantly less than the cost of living in major U.S. cities.

Here I tell you what I’ve learned about Panama so far. I don’t by any means claim to be an expert; feel free to correct me, and I’ll correct the article. Panama is an international banking center, and home to the Panama Canal. It is bordered on the west by Costa Rica, and on the southeast by Colombia.

The national language is, of course, Spanish. Although I read that due to the American presence in the past, English is widely used, I found that not to be the case. Although I have studied several European and Asian languages, I know only a little Spanish. What a humbling thing it is to be unable to express myself. There have been many times when I felt stupid. In the rare cases when someone communicates to me in English, they are often apologizing that their English is not good. How ironic…I tell them not to apologize, and that it is I who should apologize for not speaking Spanish.

Panama City, the capital city, is the wealthiest Central American capital, and is home to a million plus of the three million plus inhabitants in Panama.

A Panama City public bus

Pak Se, Laos

Arriving in Pak Se

Joi, one of the teachers at Ban Kumuong school in Ubon, Thailand, accompanied me on my weekend trip to Pak Se, Laos. As an Ubon native, she spoke Lao, so she had no problem communicating with the locals. The hard part was communicating with each other — I speak only a few words of Thai, and her English is basic.

We pulled into the bus station in Pak Se, and as soon as we got off the bus, several people hurried up to us to take us to a hotel — not necessarily one we would want to stay at, but one which would pay them a commission. Surprisingly, Joi was ready to go with them, and although since she is more of a native than I, I would usually defer to her, this time I didn’t. Instead we got a songtau (small jeep-like vehicle with a bench on either side) with a French couple and headed into town. Aidan had suggested that we look at the rooms before agreeing to check in, and he was right on. The Lonely Planet guide suggested the Pakse Hotel, so we started there. I looked at the rooms, and wow, what a neat place. $23 for a very nice room, including buffet breakfast. Humble but beautiful decor too.

The Falls

Ubon Ratchatani, the English Crazy Club, and Ban Khumuang School

Ubon Ratchatani

Ubon Ratchatani is a small city in northeast Thailand, about an hour from the Lao border.

English Crazy Club

Bangkok Barcamp, January 2008

27 January 2008

Yesterday was a great success at the Barcamp (http://www.barcampbangkok.org). It was all in all a great day, starting with a very pleasant half hour walk in the morning cool along Sukhumvit Road to the restaurant where the event was held. It’s quite a place, a large, expensive Indian restaurant (lunch was great, by the way). You can see pictures of it at http://www.indusbangkok.com/.

There were about 150 people there, of which about 15 were Indian, European, and American, with the rest Thais. Presentations were about a half hour each. I presented “Unix Command Line Productivity Tips”. We wrote our prospective subjects on papers which we affixed to the wall, and then voted on them. As you can see, each subject posted specified which language would be spoken in that session.

I also chaired a discussion on “Software Development in Thailand”, not to offer any information, but to learn and facilitate discussion. At the Barcamp I attended in Charlottesville, a similar discussion had been one of my favorites. It was a fascinating exchange between the Thai and foreign business owners/managers/consultants and the Thai software developers, most of whom had been out of school for only a few years and were junior in the field.