Belief

Our actions reflect our belief.

Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency

Sun exposure
Sun exposure is perhaps the most important source of vitamin D because exposure to sunlight provides most humans with their vitamin D requirement [13]. UV rays from the sun trigger vitamin D synthesis in skin [13-14]. Season, geographic latitude, time of day, cloud cover, smog, and sunscreen affect UV ray exposure and vitamin D synthesis [14]. For example, sunlight exposure from November through February in Boston is insufficient to produce significant vitamin D synthesis in the skin. Complete cloud cover halves the energy of UV rays, and shade reduces it by 60%. Industrial pollution, which increases shade, also decreases sun exposure and may contribute to the development of rickets in individuals with insufficient dietary intake of vitamin D [15]. Sunscreens with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 8 or greater will block UV rays that produce vitamin D, but it is still important to routinely use sunscreen to help prevent skin cancer and other negative consequences of excessive sun exposure. An initial exposure to sunlight (10 -15 minutes) allows adequate time for Vitamin D synthesis and should be followed by application of a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 to protect the skin. Ten to fifteen minutes of sun exposure at least two times per week to the face, arms, hands, or back without sunscreen is usually sufficient to provide adequate vitamin D [14]. It is very important for individuals with limited sun exposure to include good sources of vitamin D in their diet. 

Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency reaches epidemic proportions among people over 50. Only about 5 percent of these men and 1 to 3 percent of the women get their RDI for this nutrient from diet alone. Supplement use bumps up the share of older adults getting the RDI to about 35 percent of whites, 17 percent of Hispanics, and roughly 10 percent blacks.

Answer to Howard

Howard:

The blog is for anything that interests me and is useful for a personal reference when I am writing a newsletter or book or preparing a speech. It is not intended for anyone to read. Indeed, you are probably the first person to read anything written on it, because the vastness of the Internet makes my blog the tiniest astroid in the universe.

The equality of opportunity essay was not intended to mean we should be satisfied with our best effort, but we should continue to improve on our best effort. Our best effort tomorrow should produce better results than our best effort today. If we fail to grow and improve we are failing to give our best effort.

The above paragraph is an example of why it is nice when someone with a discerning mind can read my material. It helps me clarify my ideas--sort of like lounging around in the college dorm talking philosophy.

The tennis/bike analogy is false. When you don't play tennis for two decades, your strokes are rusty, your timing is off, your judgement of where the ball will bounce is off. Plus you have lost a couple of steps, maybe three or four steps. Your stop and start conditioning is off. It will take a tremendous work effort to get to 25% of my level in 1985, but I am going to extend myself if the local pro will give me lessons without requiring me to join the tennis club. 

Brad beat me badly (6-0, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0) in January and I cannot abide rudeness in a son. I am determined to pay him back. (But don't tell him. I want him cocky and overconfident.) After I beat Brad, I will take you on which might mean we will never meet on the court. I know this: I will give my best effort to send Brad packing with his racket tucked between his legs.

I ordered the two books from Amazon yesterday.

If you ever read my blog again please try to make a comment on it. It will be neat to have a comment.

Comment from Howard

'Brief essay' is an understatement!  Or maybe 'trenchant' is a better word because it

is certainly an accurate observation.  And this 'blog' seems to be some sort of professional

forum directed to your clients.  One can not be too careful with such forums.  Personally,

I would sterilize the bitch and be done with it.  But that would be in another reality wouldn't

it? (I'm kidding, I"m really a compassionate liberal...)

    The 'Equality of opportunity' essay was more interesting to me.  I understand that your

words are meant to encourage those who might not have the wherewithal to be the very best

they can be, but something about it rankles, also.  The tennis analogy is telling because I

have experienced it many times.  I get a lot of satisfaction out of giving my best effort when

I win, but when I lose to some young punk who overpowers me, I think that my best effort

is not enough and I need to strive for a higher best effort!  I guess the key point is that I

think one should never be satisfied with a losing 'effort' because even if it is one's best, that

doesn't mean one can't set a higher standard for 'best effort'. 

    OK, I accept your challenge.  I prefer singles myself.  The loneliness of you against the

world!  No fall guys; no excuses.  If you have relearned to hit the ball.  (It's like riding a bike!)

Brad didn't say how good a tennis player you were, but if you turn up to be a 4.5, 5.0, then

I'm toast, but what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger! 

    Reading list:  I do not recommend books lightly to a person as sensitive as Brad because

I am mindful of Dwayne Hoover, the lead character of Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions".

His mind was 'poisoned', as mine was, by reading "Sirens of Titan".  But all of the books I

mentioned are exemplary 'cautionary tales' about where we are going as a culture.  And I

admire Zamyatin the most becuase he was able to recognize this trend as early as 1921....

That qualifies as 'visionary' in my book!  I was a science fiction fan in my early childhood

and came across Vonnegut's "Sirens of Titan" when it was first published in 1961 or so.

I have never recovered!  Nor do I want to....

Equality of opportunity and not equality of result

All of us seek equality of opportunity. Opportunity, however, fails to guarantee equality of results. We may be given the opportunity to try out for the basketball team, but that opportunity fails to assure that we will make the team. 

Some people can jump higher and run faster than others. Some have better minds than others. Some have more musical talent than others. Not everyone will win. We will not receive equal prizes. 

Joy comes from doing the very best we can with the gifts we possess. Doing our very best is good enough. A 3.5 tennis player can have just as much fun as a 7.0 player as long as that 3.5 player gives best effort. 

For the right minded, effort trumps result. We can expect the opportunity to give our best effort, but we cannot expect that our best effort will produce results better than the efforts of others. Doing our best is the best we can expect of ourselves. 

The Hidden Consequence of Compassion

Compassion, a wonderful virtue, has the potential for generating a troubling consequence. Recipients of a  "compassionate government" can develop an infantilizing sense of entitlement--an addiction as lethal as drug dependence.

A patient with six children had been admitted to our psychiatric unit six times with post partum depression. I suggested she consider a tubal ligation. She replied, “I couldn’t do that. I need more money. Every time I have a baby I get a bigger government check.” 

Unearned gifts kill personal responsibility.

 

A Healthy Method to Ban Illegal Immigrants

A British woman planning to start a new life with her husband in New Zealand has been banned from entering the country because she is too fat. Rowan Trezise, 33 has been left behind in England, while her husband, Richie, 35, has already made the move down under leaving her desperately trying to lose weight.  When the couple first tried to gain entry to the country they were told that they were both overweight and were a potential burden on the health care system.   

Source: The Daily Mail

A Cosmic View of Life

We have a serious responsibility not to take anything seriously.    

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

The Law of Unintended Consequences

A recent study done by the Dutch

Obese people are much less costly to the health care system than thin people because obese people tend to die 7-10 years earlier and more money is spent on the aged in the last years of life

Healing

Not everyone who comes to God is  cured. 

•   Curing is temporary
  
•   Healing is eternal
•   We may not be cured but we can be healed
•   Jesus came to make people whole. He came to heal.

Schrodinger's Cat: A thought experiment

In his original thought experiment, Schrodinger imagined that a cat is locked in a box, along with a radioactive atom that is connected to a vial containing a deadly poison. If the atom decays, it causes the vial to smash and the cat to be killed. When the box is closed we do not know if the atom has decayed or not, which means that it can be in both the decayed state and the non-decayed state at the same time. Therefore, the cat is both dead and alive at the same time - which clearly does not happen in classical physics.

Number and Cost of Organ Transplants

Organ	Number of US Transplants Each year	Cost of Transplant Procedure
Heart	2,192	$287,000
Bone marrow	30,000  (Since 1987)	$201,180
Lung	1000	$264,482
Liver	5000	$325,218
Kidney	14,000	$158,490
Pancreas	450	$135,000

Rhetorical Questions on Death

When should we die?

When we are no longer serving a function???

When the cost becomes more than the potential economic benefit of continued life???

How should we die?

Without artificial support???

When does length of life sacrifice quality of life?

A joyless life is not worth living???

Money

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with with you have.

Hebrews 13:5

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

1 Timothy 6:17-19

Retirement Need

Here is a simple formula to determine how long after retirement we can live in the way we have grown accustomed:

Cash + investments/ annual Debt + annual budget = years until money is gone 

Examples:

$1,000,000 retirement money/$100,000 in debt + $100,000 annual budget = 5 years until money gone

$2,000,000 retirement money/$150,000 annual budget = 13.3 years until money gone

Alternative calculation

If you want to live on $100,000 for 25 years and have no debt you will need $2.5 M in investments

($100,000 x 25 = $2.5 M)

$50,000 x 25 years = $1.25 M 

$100,000 x 25 years = $2.5 M

$200,000 x 25 years = $5 M

400,000 x 25 years = $10 M

What if you want to be retired for 20 years at $100,000 annual budget?

$100,000 x 20 years = $2 M

($100,000 annual budget = $8,333 each month)

$120,000 x 20 years = $2.4 M

($120,000 annual budget = $10,000 each month)

$150,000 annual budget x 20 years = $3 M

($150,000 annual budget = $12,500 each month)

Truth

 A great truth is a truth whose opposite is also a great truth. 

Neils Bohr

What Makes Life Worth Living

Someone you love  who loves you in return

Something to look forward to

Work that you enjoy

Cultivating a Life of Quality

Walk 30 minutes 3 x weekly

Stretching 15 minutes 3 x week

Strength training 15 minutes 3 x week

Get out of chair using leg muscles 10 x day

Maintain ideal weight

Eat vegetables, fruits, bread

Vitamin and Ca supplementation

8 glasses of water daily

81 mg aspirin daily

Puzzles and thinking games daily

Limit television and other passive activity

Party once a week/laugh daily/be a friend

Avoid negative people and negative talk

Serve others

Pray and read the scriptures everyday

Worship weekly

2000 Census Figures

Largest 5-yr. age group = 35-39 year olds

Second largest = 40-44 year olds

Largest percentage growth = 50-55 

Over age 65 = 35 million 

12% of the population

1,019,928 over age 90 (0.4% of population)

55,000 over age 100 (in 2005)