Vitamins - Natural or Synthetic

Real Deal

This area is new for me and I don't understand much about it, as I'm not a Biochemist. I read vitamins from a natural source are more potent and better for ya, but its not based on clinical trials, so I have little proof. The supplement industry doesn't help. It churns out millions of pills each year, mostly in synthetic form but provides little data on the quality or efficacy of its products. They probably care little, as long as sales continue.

There are no regulatory controls on quality or potency other than the daily RDA. Supplement manufacturers get away with what they can, often making unsubstantiated claims in their marketing.

I did some research, but most is anecdotal, with little science to support it. There are claims that natural source vitamins are more beneficial than vitamins from a synthetic source, but its speculative.

My view is you should probably try to get your vitamins from their original source if possible. There are probably co-factors present in meats, fish, vegetables and fruits, that help with absorption and assimilation of vitamins.

Check the label to see if your vitamins are coming from a natural or a synthetic source.

Vitamins From Natural Source

Vitamin	Source	Natural
Vitamin A	Fish Oils Lemon Grass	Natural Natural
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)	Yeast	Natural
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)	Yeast	Natural
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)	Yeast Niacinamide	Natural Co-Natural
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid)	Liver Yeast or Rice Bran	Natural Natural
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxin)	Yeast	Natural
Vitamin B7 (Biotin)	Liver	Natural
Vitamin B9 (Folic Acid)	Yeast or Liver	Natural
Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin)	Liver Micro-organism fermentation Cobalamin Concentrate	Natural Co-Natural Co-Natural
Vitamin B? (Choline)	Soy Beans	Natural
Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)	Citrus, Rose Hips Acerola Berries	Natural Natural
Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol)	Fish Oils	Natural
Vitamin E (Tocopherols)	Veg Oil, Wheat Germ Oil Mixed Tocopherols d-alpha tocopherol	Natural Natural Natural
Vitamin K (Phylloquinon)	Alfalfa	Natural

Vitamins From Synthetic Source

Vitamin	Source	Synthetic
Vitamin A	Acitate Pacitate No source given	Synthetic Synthetic Synthetic
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)	Thiamine Mononitrate Thiamine Hydrochloride	Synthetic Synthetic
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)	Riboflavin	Synthetic
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)	Niacin	Synthetic
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid)	Calcium D-Pantothenate	Synthetic
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxin)	Pyridoxine Hydrochloride	Synthetic
Vitamin B7 (Biotin)	d-Biotin	Synthetic
Vitamin B9 (Folic Acid)	Pteroylglutamic Acid	Synthetic
Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin)	Only available from a Natural source	None
Vitamin B? (Choline)	Choline Chloride Choline Bitartrate	Synthetic Synthetic
Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)	Ascorbic Acid No source given	Synthetic Synthetic
Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol)	Irradiated Ergosteral (Yeast) Calciferol	Synthetic Synthetic
Vitamin E (Tocopherols)	* dl-alpha tocopherol	Synthetic
Vitamin K (Phylloquinon)	Menadione	Synthetic

* The "dl" form of any supplement is synthetic

Sucker's Guide To Being Suckered

Idiots Abound

Browsing the web and reading ad-hoc stuff, I came across a link. A Geek's Guide To Presenting Yourself To Business People.

Yeah right.

How hard can it be? Remember first time you tried to ride a bicycle? You fell off. Remember the first time you played table-tennis (ping-pong)? It was dead easy, right?. Or first time you played 18 holes of golf? Geez that was a breeze! Or the first time you painted a portrait? So simple.

So you're a young geeky guy that does code and math and other stuff that gels with your lifestyle and interests. Now you're gonna transform yourself in 5 easy lessons into a sales and marketing executive, with years of experience behind ya and do a calm, cool, mature, professional presentation, delivered, flawlessly, with accuracy and precision.

And you're gonna do it all without rehearsal, training, or practice. But hey don't worry, you can do it. How hard can it be? Just follow the Geek's Guide To Presentation.

You can learn to ride a bicycle in 5 easy steps.

You can learn how to swim in 5 easy steps.

You can even teach-yourself an obscure ancient religion by reading a book.

How hard can doing a presentation to a panel of business sharks be?

What amazes me time after time, is the presumption placed by the author on the reader. Lay the guilt trip on him/her. If they fail, its their fault.

How many people do you know that passed their driving test after 5 Easy Lessons?

Zero is close to the truth. When you first get in that car, you have to become familiar with the car. You must feel comfortable. You must know how the car functions. Which controls produce which affects.

All this comes through practice. By driving the car. Being in the car. Using the car. Getting to know the car. Getting familiar with the car. Being one with the car.

That may apply to swimming, driving cars or riding bicycles, but don't worry about presenting to a panel of business sharks. You need no practice or preparation. Just get up and do perfect first time. Off the cuff. NOT!!!

If a young geeky reading that article, takes their advice, yeah right. Here's a gun.Go commit suicide in front of a panel of venous carnivores that want your liver.

If you really want to do a presentation, here are a few tips.

1. Prepare a script. Get the red pen out, and use it. No BS allowed.

2. Learn the script by rote. So you can recall the script even if the autocue fails. Do it.

3. Research the panel you are presenting to. Know your audience. Talk to people.

4. Get a haircut, wear a suit, be presentable. Ditch your cool image for a day.

5. Learn their language and use it. Understand what they do.

6. Beg steal or borrow a video cam and record yourself giving the presentation you commit to memory

7. Be critical. Cos if you are not, they will be.

8. Know your subject. (Not suggesting you don't)

9. Convey your subject in layman terms. (No jargon).

10. Prepare an intro. Suck the audience in. Make them want to listen to you. Anecdotes are good.

11. Prepare a body. Make the script tight and concise, to the point. Eliminate ALL verbosity.

12. Prepare a summary. Close with summary and offer.

Thats it. You're home and dry.

Now go do it.

Done!

Flu/Influenza

Bad Cold

Back in 1348, Europe and other parts of the World were hit by a catastrophe, The Black Death (Bubonic Plague) swept through Europe, killing an estimated 25% of the population. The total number dead is said to be between 100 and 200 million. The plague was carried by rat flees. The disease originated in China and carried West along the Silk Route, to the furthest westerly European locations, of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland.

At that time, no one knew what caused the disease. Many believed it was a punishment from God. The atheists knew it wasn't God, as his remit did not include killing his children, cos God didn't exist.

As so little was known or understood about the disease, many beliefs did the rounds, but no-one knew for sure the cause or cure. (Except for the Church, which knew it was punishment for our sins).

To contract the disease, direct exposure to rats (which carried the flees) or an infected body, was essential. In a sense it was quite difficult to get sick if you knew its source, as the flees cannot fly and only jump to 13 inches. If ya didn't know the source... you had a problem.

The disease was thought to be caused by rats, an inaccurate deduction, as the rats acted as hosts. The flees living on rats did the transmission. Flees bite. Suck blood, and in return gratefully dose ya with the Black Plague bacteria (Xenopsylla cheopis). Fair exchange or what?

 

Millions died and the middle ages gave way to the Renaissance. The Age of Enlightenment and the start of science. Thank God for science. Or maybe just thank the scientists?

Time passed and our innate curiosity got the better of us and we began to understand how Nature worked.  The many Laws that governed Nature along with her biological functions. Slowly but progressively we got a handle on things and developed methods and drugs to combat disease. We beat Polio, we beat TB, we beat Smallpox.

The march of medical science was unstoppable. Except for a couple of minor nuisance afflictions: Influenza and the Common Cold.

No matter how hard our Bio-Scientist tried, these two minor ailments had them licked.

Why?

Ya see, they are caused by virus. Virus mutate. That means they change. So no matter what Flu/Cold jab you prepare, the virus will mutate (change) and the medicine will not work. You cannot stop Virus from mutating, its in their blood (so to speak), its in their nature. Constantly mutating to produce new virus forms.

In order to combat something like the black plague, the flu virus or any kind of disease, first you must understand it. How it works. How its transmitted. And how its sustained.

Where does that leave us? Out in the cold?

If you wander round town in winter, you see countless helpless souls sniffling, sneezing, coughing, eyes running, feverish. Yeah. The Flu's in town.

Every winter I watch so many people go down with flu or the common cold.

For years, I too suffered an annual dose. Initially I didn't understand how I was catching the disease. I thought it was due to a weak immune system, or being generally run-down.

When I worked in Central London, I travelled on the tube (subway/underground) into work each day. A carriage full of sweaty, sneezing, wheezing, salarymen. Though I would try to avoid them, best I could, I would end up with a heavy dose of flu each winter. Thanks for nothing. I pay for a train journey and I get the flu as a freebie.

I didn't understand how it was transmitted, or how it could be contained. But now I know.

Recently I stayed with some friends who work in a kiddies school. What a fertile source for virus transmission. After a week, I was down with the flu. Bed-ridden, choked, coughing, sneezing, the works.

I had to understand this thing.

Transmission

How is the flu passed from one grateful host to another?

You cannot get sick if the flu/cold virus cannot enter your body. Fact.

The most common means of transmission are coughing or sneezing. This fills the air/atmosphere with moist virus laden droplets ready for some one to inhale. Fill their lungs to capacity, and get sick real quick.

People with flu or cold should sneeze into a tissue (kleenex) or their sleeve. DO NOT cough or sneeze into their hands.

If you are staying with someone already infected, stay at least 6ft away from them. This will minimize the chance of virus inhalation.

The other method of picking up the virus, is through contact. If you have the virus and sneeze or cough into your hands, then touch the light switch, door handle, cupboard doors, tap, computer mouse, Tv remote control, book, etc. You transfer the virus onto those surfaces. If you or anyone else later touches them, voila, you're ripe for infection. You need to get it into your body of course, but that's easily done. Touch your lip, mouth, nose, eye, and the virus is home. To prevent the spread of infection:

• Wash your hands several times a day.
• Use disposable tissues to cough or sneeze.
• Cough into a tissue or your sleeve. 
• DO NOT cough into your hands.
• Wash your clothes in a hot wash
• No French-kissing anyone with flu.
  (unless the pain of love is worth the pain of flu).

There is no medicine to cure flu or the common cold. You'll have to stick it out and suffer, then let your body fight its battles.

Stay warm. Get some rest and recover.

Done!

Aggression

Getting Angry

It was in the news today, that military personal (particularly males) are 50% more likely to demonstrate aggression after returning from a war zone. Why does that seem strange? It shouldn't.

Ya spend months preparing these guys to kill and to expose them to fear and possible annihilation. You dress them, arm them, train them to kill.

In many parts of the world dog-fighting is a betting sport. Its horrible and inhumane. A horrible blood sport. Michael Vick a famous American sports personality, was prosecuted for training fighting dogs and taking part in those events. 

The dogs are mistreated. Caged. Fed blood meat. Everything to engender aggression. They can only respond to their conditioning. Aggressively. Put them in a ring with another fighting dog, there's gonna be blood, torn flesh and maybe death. The fighting-dogs are mammals and respond to their environment and their conditioning.

Humans are mammals. Soldiers are conditioned to kill. Conditioned for aggression. This is fine in places like Afghanistan or Iraq. The enemy presents itself, the soldiers re-act accordingly. But there's a problem. By conditioning these kids, by conditioning their aggression response, you can't always turn it off.

As dog-fighters have learned, you can't take fighting-dogs out for walkies, cos if they see another dog, aggression is the result, often attacking and killing other canines without cause.

In a similar way, when these young soldiers, many of which have been traumatised by the horrors of War, when confronted in a social or domestic situation, react aggressively. They don't know how to turn the aggression response off. They have not been taught that yet. Their conditioning takes over with the appropriate aggressive response.

Thats a problem once you're out of the Warzone. The military has not addressed this issue yet.

Done!

Crummy Movie

Bad Flicks

Iwatched an awful movie tonite. It was painful. Directed by that recently deceased movie director Tony Scott. The guy who committed suicide by jumping from the Vincent Thomas Bridge, LA. into the swirling river below, some months back.

The movie was painful. How Scott got the budget for that pleb show is unthinkable. I'm sure Chimps and Gorillas would be intrenched by the movie. possibly even mesmerized. All those moving pictures. All those loud bangs and noises. Wow. The primates would be captivated. But the higher primates would be bored shitless.

Its horrible when you lose a family member, and I feel for the loss of his family.

Nothing is all bad tho. We live in a world of duality. A world of opposites. Contrary to popular belief or Christian dogma, nothing is all bad or all good. There's a mix in there. Half and half. Some good and some bad. Its a fact.

Now we do not have to endure any more Tony Scott movies. He was crap. A shadow of his brother Ridley Scott. I have to admit Tony Scott directed one movie that was watchable. True Romance. Its the only watchable movie he directed. Aside from that his output was risible.

His brother Ridley produced a number of fine movies and won prizes. Ridley spun a few turkeys in his time, but his brother Tony, was the master. Tony Scott had a production line. Go to any Tony Scott movie, throw up and go claim your money back inside 15 minutes of the start.

Dunno what it was, he just aimed for the lowest common denominator.

I watch Unstoppable, this evening. Watch is a gross exaggeration. I peeked across at the TV while I was on the computer. The movie was awful. Totally unwatchable.

There appear to be a whole world of uneducated, uninterested, unintelligible mammalian offspring that want to watch this kind of fodder.

Go enjoy. Kick out. Go to it.

The movie was lousy.

Do people pay to watch this trash?

The world is poorer for the loss of Tony Scott. And I am truly saddened for his family.

On the upside. We'll not have to watch any more crappy action movies directed by him.

Sad day!

Understand

I don't understand why I don't understand!

Some people have no problem in life. They get up. Go to work . Come home. Eat sleep. Get up next day and more of the same. They have little problem in life. They live and they die.They are like worker ants. Live for the benefit of the specious.  My grandfather was like this. He was a good sort. Never harmed anyone. Lived his life to the end. He died at 93. Smoked all his life. Drank Guinness. Worked every day. He was a regular guy. Lived his life and died. He was a truly a nice person. Other people are different. There are plenty of shits in the world.

I'm not like my grandad. I have questions about life. I have a deep seated itch, that I cannot seem to scratch. I recall when I was a kid I was confused about many things. I remember looking at adults, the grown-ups and thinking, "when I get older, I'll understand". I remember looking at older members of the house we shared and thinking, when I get to 21, I'll understand. I will know. I'll understand. I was around the age of 10.

My 21st birthday came and went. My understanding life of increased a little but not much. There was still tons of stuff I didn't get. I still didn't get life. I didn't understand the iniquities of life. I didn't understand the horrors of life. Why was there war? Why was there famine? Why was there disease. I didn't get it. There was a vacuum. I just didn't know.

There was religion (Christianity), philosophy (Schopenhauer, Kant), psychology (Freud, Jung), science(Einstein, Bohr). None provided the solution. There was still so much I didn't get.

It was like an itch I couldn't scratch.

Christianity offered a view of life. Belief in the after-life and faith in God, in his design. But, there's a problem. What if you get cancer? That's God design and you have to accept it without question. God screwed you. God wants you to die. You read the bible and its like "duh!" What is this stuff? Only this week I learned the Pope had brain cancer. You got that right. God's voice on earth is gonna die of brain cancer. Apparently its God's wish. How does that work?

How do you reconcile that with God's love?

Cos I can't. I have a problem with that notion. God's Earthly voice box is gonna die of a chronic disease? It does not add up. Unless God is having some kind of a joke on the Catholic Church.

Science provides some answers, but does not provide the answer I need. Science deals with external stuff. The "out there". Why does the Earth spin round the Sun and not the Sun spin round the Earth. Why do atoms cling together? What are atoms made of? What are quarks? Does string theory work? Is there an intelligible solution we can conceptually understand? These are not the questions that troubled me. I had little interest, though I did read alot.

Philosophy provided an intellectual approach to a problem. You think it through. Thinking, thinking, thinking. Thinking, thinking, thinking. Thinking, thinking, thinking. Thinking, thinking, thinking. Thoughts do not provide a solution, they only produce more thoughts. You are immersed in the depths of thoughts, but no solution.

Psychology came close. Psychology observes the workings of the mind, whether its the conscious or the unconscious mind. I read Freud, Adler, Jung. (Along with a few others). I still didn't have it.

I read, dug, and studied, but still I didn't understand. There was much stuff I just didn't get. Maybe I was just plain dumb, and there was no way I was going to understand. It was just too deep.But at the back of it all, I still had the gnawing problem, I didn't understand life. I just didn't get it.

Here we are on this tiny planet, a mere speck. A dust particle in the vastness of space. Here on Earth, there was life. No other planet supported life. How come and why? Why go to all the trouble to build a Universe so vast, so incomprehensible so life could exist on a tiny dot in a remote backwater.

For some people, these things are not a problem. They live. They age. They die. Live life as best you can, when you can. Happy go lucky. But I was not like them. Don't get me wrong. I'm not depressed. I don't get depressed. (Which is strange. I guess I should, but I don't). There was this itch, that I could not scratch. Deep down buried deep within. No matter how hard I tried, I could not ignore it.

Why was life? What's it all about? This thing kept coming up. Friends would say "Forget it. Just enjoy life", but that nagging question was still there. I couldn't just forget it.

The Universe took 13.5 billion years to come into existence, just so you can have a great shopping experience.

Is that it? Is that what its all about?

Go shopping. Buy stuff. Get the "buzz". Max out that credit card/charge card.

There has to be more to it than this.

Two Too To

Too Many

The grammar police are back in town. Too many people confuse "two, too and to." How come?

Two is numeric. It is the number two in text form. 

Too means also. As in "As well."

To indicates location or direction. As in "Go to her."

Putting it all together.

"Do you two want to go to the store too?"

Its easy once you get the hang of it.

Done!