If you don't know what a Nitendo "Wii" is by now, then you must:
A.) Be over 35 years old.
B.) Not be around kids (ages eight or older).
C.) Both
Don't feel bad. I am closing in on forty, and if my nephews didn't have a Wii then I would still be in the dark, too.
I don't have much to say about the Wii, except that I had a played some video games with it, and I just kept saying, "Wow, this is so weird! This is really weird. That's weird." You get the idea.
Oh! If you don't know what a Wii is, it's a new type of at-home video game that allows a player to hold a small "remote control" sized device in her hand, and by moving that device around, her movements are transferred to her "player" on the television, such that when she moves (in real life), her digital player moves (in the same way, on screen).
For example, if you are playing tennis (as I did), you would find yourself looking at a tennis court on the t.v. screen, with a digital player representing you and another digital player representing your opponent. In my case, I was playing tennis against a computer controlled tennis champion named "Mitchell", whom my nephews named and created as one of the many choices of a worthy opponent.
When the tennis match starts, you stand in front of the t.v. in a tennis playing stance, ready to hit the ball, serve the ball, or respond however the tennis shot dictates. When you are supposed to hit the ball, you just swing your hand with the control, in the same motion you would for a backhand or whatever stroke you'd need for returning the shot, and the computer makes your character hit the ball using the stroke you used.
You do need to change your stance and footwork to get the shots right, so you really look like you're on the court. And, yes, you do need to move your furniture out of the way and clear space around you to accommodate your high level of frenetic-ism.
It's weird!
You feel like you are really playing tennis, watching your little virtual figure hit the ball back and forth with the virtual opponent. I found myself getting into the swing of things, if you'll pardon a bad pun, and actually worked up a bit of a sweat playing tennis in the basement.
So, what's the point of mentioning this?
I think the point might be, video games are moving into a generation of development that is making it possible to interact with them on a level that engages you enough to make you feel you are really doing the activity, or playing the sport, to the degree that you find yourself getting a workout out of the deal .
Imagine skiing, playing tennis, shooting hoops--getting you workout in, without really realizing you are getting your workout.
Granted, it's not the same as jogging outside, or playing tennis "for real", but it could just be interesting enough to get couch potatoes moving and might be a fun way to get inactive video gaming kids into some level of interaction and physical activity.
Other applications for interactive video gaming will likely continue to develop in the areas of injury rehabilitation and physical therapy. Imagine, you are recovering from a sports injury and as part of your recovery you are given drills that make you feel like you are back on the field, or on the court, or skiing down the race course.
Patients receiving hip or knee replacements could take a virtual walk through a summertime garden, complete with virtual flowers and honeybees, no matter what the weather or season is like outside. This could prove beneficial as a means of getting people moving and enjoying aspects of their recovery.
While the video gaming culture may popularize Wii-like technologies, I believe some of their benefits will spill over mainstream culture in some of the ways I just mentioned.
There's always the risk that alternate realities created via interactive gaming will develop more appeal for some than, say....reality. But that's always the case. If you think otherwise, I have three little words for you: Dungeons and Dragons.
See? Case settled.
If we create alternate realities as a means of escaping our human condition, then we will be running from ourselves, which is not so hot--or so new. Haven't we been doing that all the while? Creating distractions that keep us from the bigger issues, bigger problems? Don't we enjoy running toward a new distraction more than we do sitting with issues that need to be resolved?
Politics, environment, religion, marriage, family, equality--you name it. There are so many things that need to be worked on, that it's easy to just toss your hands up in the air and go check out the latest addition to high-definition television technology.
What does that say about us? What does that say about where we, on top of the food chain, are heading? I think it says we'd better wake up, but what do I know about plasma televisions?
All I can say is, if you find yourself taking a virtual vacation to the ocean because the real oceans are un-swimmable and polluted, it's high time you ditch your Wii-device and get over to Greenpeace, where spinning protest-rich circles around whaling ships in a rubber raft (at which harpoons are being launched, I might add) would definitely provide as much excitement as any virtual gaming device could ever hope to match (I would think...) and you might just do the planet some good, in the mean time.
Well enough of the moral high-ground. I'd better run along. Mitchell just won the last set, and we're going for the best two out of three.
Wish me luck!
Until Wii meet again....
John
P.S. If you want to get a better look at a Wii, this link should do the trick: http://wii.nintendo.com/
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Fluoride in your water? It is not as safe as you think.
Fluoride is one of the chemicals added to drinking water in almost 70% of the municipal/metropolitan water source across the United States.
Most of us have the feeling that fluoride is something we should be taking to keep our teeth healthy. We've been told fluoride prevents cavity formation, protects our teeth, and must be of value if just about every commercially available toothpaste contains it. Right?
Well, let's re-think this for a minute, starting with this question: what is fluoride?
"Fluoride" (as we think of it) for drinking water is most often delivered in a form known scientifically as "silicofluoride".
Silicofluorides are an industrial waste by-product generated by the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers. The wet scrubbing systems of phosphate fertilizer manufacturing facilities captures the silicofluorides destined for your water faucets, which is also rich in additional contaminants such as lead, arsenic and other offending toxins.
(For more information, see: http://www.slweb.org/chemicals.html)
Then, this whole batch of chemical by-products is dumped into your drinking water supply, at about one part per million. Even if one part per million sounds whimpy, it results in a yearly infusion of about 200,000 tons of silicofluorides into the our nation's water supply, just to ensure that we are getting our therapeutic levels of fluoride.
And what are the therapeutic levels of fluoride?
Who knows!
It's never been determined. It really hasn't.
So how can you be sure you're getting enough, or not too much?
Again. Who knows!
If fact, nobody can say for sure that silicofluorides are even safe for human consumption (but you've likely already had a pretty good dose of them in your morning coffee).
The truth is, no human consumption trials have been adequately conducted to determine how safe silicofluorides are (or aren't).
I suppose common sense might lead one to think that a fertilizer by-product, along with lead, arsenic, et.al. would just be plain old bad news added into our water supply, for any reason, let alone for daily consumption. But, like I said, it has not been officially tested for safe levels, so there you have it.
If you want to see for yourself, check out this letter written to a Dartmouth College researcher, sent from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), responding to the researcher's request for proof that Silicofluoride was proven safe for human health and behavior (http://www.slweb.org/EPA-Masters.jpg).
Look. In 1950 it seemed like the right thing to do, adding fluoride to the water, because it was believed that young children needed fluoride to protect their teeth, and the best way to protect teeth was to have kids take fluoride before their teeth even emerged from their gum-lines.
Well, we now have enough material written on the subject of fluoride to understand that its topical application, directly to the teeth, in small doses (i.e. toothpaste) provides more that enough protection to the teeth. We don't need to be drinking fluoride in every glass of water, every day, for years and years to obtain any increased level of protection from cavities.
In fact, we are likely harming our health by our systemic intake of fluoride, yet over 140,000 people in the United States are doing just that, each and every day.
And, if you think fluoride is not at least "suspected" to be toxic to one's system, pick up a tube of fluoridated toothpaste and read the warning about keeping this product out of the reach of children, and how children under the age of six should be kept clear of your toothpaste because they might eat it and need to be rushed to a poison control center, and so on.
Doesn't sound too comforting to me, how about to you?
Some might argue that fluoride, altogether, is useless. After all, if we are eating diets high in tooth-decaying sugars and de-mineralized foods, then why try to combat that with fluoride, when the long-term solution is to move away from cavity-promoting foods.
Skip the fluoride. Eat a better diet. Simple.
For research on dental decay and diet, I recommend reading Weston Price's work, which can be viewed on the Weston Price Foundation site at http://www.westonaprice.org/
His work, as a dentist, really is interesting reading, if this kind of topic floats your boat.
So, what's the harm of too much fluoride?
Many possible health detriments come from too much fluoride in one's system. Tooth discoloration and mottling (fluoridosis), increased risk of certain bone cancers, a reduction in I.Q. levels in developing children, increased lead levels in the blood in the presence of silicofluorides, and on and on.
Follow this link if you want to see a more thorough listing of health deficits created by fluoride consumption (http://www.holisticmed.com/fluoride/).
Well, in case you want to get rid of the fluoride in your water supply, you need to do one of the following things:
1. Get a reverse osmosis filtration system installed in your home,
2. Use an Activated Alumina Defluoridation Filter (starting at around $35.00, requiring frequent replacement of the filters)
3. Use distillation filtration (which is the method used to produce distilled water).
You should know that distilled water is devoid of all minerals, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on which side of the "distilled water debate" you tend to fall. I will leave that up to you do decide.
Most over-the-counter type filters (Pur, Brita, decanter-style, etc.) will not filter out fluoride. You also cannot get rid of fluoride by boiling or freezing your water.
To wrap this up, I think fluoride (or silicofluoride) in the public water supply is a bad policy--it forces people to drink a chemical they may not want in their water, has them pay for the very water service that provides them with unwanted chemicals, and leaves no convenient alternative for its removal (see options 1-3 above).
Why force people to drink a chemical placed into their water that has no benefit to water purification?
Why add a chemical that has not been proven safe for human consumption and has a considerable list of proven side effects and health concerns?
Why not get rid of fluoride in the water altogether, and let people get their fluoride on their own time, as a matter of choice?
You tell me.
Enough water blogging!
(All this writing is making me thirsty).
At the very least, you might walk away from this article asking a few questions that you otherwise weren't looking to tackle today.
Peace.
John
Most of us have the feeling that fluoride is something we should be taking to keep our teeth healthy. We've been told fluoride prevents cavity formation, protects our teeth, and must be of value if just about every commercially available toothpaste contains it. Right?
Well, let's re-think this for a minute, starting with this question: what is fluoride?
"Fluoride" (as we think of it) for drinking water is most often delivered in a form known scientifically as "silicofluoride".
Silicofluorides are an industrial waste by-product generated by the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers. The wet scrubbing systems of phosphate fertilizer manufacturing facilities captures the silicofluorides destined for your water faucets, which is also rich in additional contaminants such as lead, arsenic and other offending toxins.
(For more information, see: http://www.slweb.org/chemicals.html)
Then, this whole batch of chemical by-products is dumped into your drinking water supply, at about one part per million. Even if one part per million sounds whimpy, it results in a yearly infusion of about 200,000 tons of silicofluorides into the our nation's water supply, just to ensure that we are getting our therapeutic levels of fluoride.
And what are the therapeutic levels of fluoride?
Who knows!
It's never been determined. It really hasn't.
So how can you be sure you're getting enough, or not too much?
Again. Who knows!
If fact, nobody can say for sure that silicofluorides are even safe for human consumption (but you've likely already had a pretty good dose of them in your morning coffee).
The truth is, no human consumption trials have been adequately conducted to determine how safe silicofluorides are (or aren't).
I suppose common sense might lead one to think that a fertilizer by-product, along with lead, arsenic, et.al. would just be plain old bad news added into our water supply, for any reason, let alone for daily consumption. But, like I said, it has not been officially tested for safe levels, so there you have it.
If you want to see for yourself, check out this letter written to a Dartmouth College researcher, sent from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), responding to the researcher's request for proof that Silicofluoride was proven safe for human health and behavior (http://www.slweb.org/EPA-Masters.jpg).
Look. In 1950 it seemed like the right thing to do, adding fluoride to the water, because it was believed that young children needed fluoride to protect their teeth, and the best way to protect teeth was to have kids take fluoride before their teeth even emerged from their gum-lines.
Well, we now have enough material written on the subject of fluoride to understand that its topical application, directly to the teeth, in small doses (i.e. toothpaste) provides more that enough protection to the teeth. We don't need to be drinking fluoride in every glass of water, every day, for years and years to obtain any increased level of protection from cavities.
In fact, we are likely harming our health by our systemic intake of fluoride, yet over 140,000 people in the United States are doing just that, each and every day.
And, if you think fluoride is not at least "suspected" to be toxic to one's system, pick up a tube of fluoridated toothpaste and read the warning about keeping this product out of the reach of children, and how children under the age of six should be kept clear of your toothpaste because they might eat it and need to be rushed to a poison control center, and so on.
Doesn't sound too comforting to me, how about to you?
Some might argue that fluoride, altogether, is useless. After all, if we are eating diets high in tooth-decaying sugars and de-mineralized foods, then why try to combat that with fluoride, when the long-term solution is to move away from cavity-promoting foods.
Skip the fluoride. Eat a better diet. Simple.
For research on dental decay and diet, I recommend reading Weston Price's work, which can be viewed on the Weston Price Foundation site at http://www.westonaprice.org/
His work, as a dentist, really is interesting reading, if this kind of topic floats your boat.
So, what's the harm of too much fluoride?
Many possible health detriments come from too much fluoride in one's system. Tooth discoloration and mottling (fluoridosis), increased risk of certain bone cancers, a reduction in I.Q. levels in developing children, increased lead levels in the blood in the presence of silicofluorides, and on and on.
Follow this link if you want to see a more thorough listing of health deficits created by fluoride consumption (http://www.holisticmed.com/fluoride/).
Well, in case you want to get rid of the fluoride in your water supply, you need to do one of the following things:
1. Get a reverse osmosis filtration system installed in your home,
2. Use an Activated Alumina Defluoridation Filter (starting at around $35.00, requiring frequent replacement of the filters)
3. Use distillation filtration (which is the method used to produce distilled water).
You should know that distilled water is devoid of all minerals, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on which side of the "distilled water debate" you tend to fall. I will leave that up to you do decide.
Most over-the-counter type filters (Pur, Brita, decanter-style, etc.) will not filter out fluoride. You also cannot get rid of fluoride by boiling or freezing your water.
To wrap this up, I think fluoride (or silicofluoride) in the public water supply is a bad policy--it forces people to drink a chemical they may not want in their water, has them pay for the very water service that provides them with unwanted chemicals, and leaves no convenient alternative for its removal (see options 1-3 above).
Why force people to drink a chemical placed into their water that has no benefit to water purification?
Why add a chemical that has not been proven safe for human consumption and has a considerable list of proven side effects and health concerns?
Why not get rid of fluoride in the water altogether, and let people get their fluoride on their own time, as a matter of choice?
You tell me.
Enough water blogging!
(All this writing is making me thirsty).
At the very least, you might walk away from this article asking a few questions that you otherwise weren't looking to tackle today.
Peace.
John
Monday, January 22, 2007
Korean Hand Therapy (KHT) reviewed
January 22, 2007
Topic: What's new around here? KHT.
Thanks for checking in and welcome to this site (my first Blog posting!).
I hope this Blog can be the informal touch-stone for patients and readers to receive beneficial information on health and health related topics, with allowances for me to share my thoughts and perspectives on things I think need to be addressed.
So what's new around here??
For starters, I just completed a two-day workshop dedicated to Korean Hand Therapy (KHT), taught by a masterful practitioner and effective teacher, Dan Lobash. Dan has been practicing and teaching KHT methods for 30+years, and is a principle student of the system's founder, Dr. Tae-Woo Yoo.
What is KHT?
Korean Hand Therapy views a person's hand as a microcosic system reflecting the systems found througout the entire body.
Recognizing the inter-connectedness of the body, (afterall, we did each start out as one cell that divided over and over and over...) using the hand to treat the body another way of gaining access to the energetic organization found throughout our entire mind-body field.
The middle finger, in the KHT model, represents the head, neck and torso, while the ring and index fingers represent the arms (up to the shoulder), with the little finger and thumb representing the legs (from hip to foot).
The palm of the hand additionally contains internal organ correspondances, while the front and back of the hand represent their respective surfaces of the body, as well.
How is this applied?
Using the hand to treat the entire body presents a few advantages for the practioner and patient, in comparison to traditional full-body acupuncture treatments.
For starters, the hand is easy to access and treatments can be performed just about anyplace, at any time, without the patient needing to disrobe, stretch out on a special treatment table, or anything like that.
Also, once a patient is shown which points s/he should stimulate on the hand to produce a therapeutic result, s/he can continue enforcing the treatment results, with this home therapy approach.
Granted, KHT is no walk in the park if you really want to master the approach, or wish to use it to treat complicated health imbalances. But, it probably shouldn't be excessively easy to master, as it demands focus, precision and a working understanding of energic flows throughout the body, and how that flow of energy relates to the health of one's body, mind and spirit.
One advantage KHT offers to patients: you don't have to use needles for it to be effective.
Some of you may wish to read that again!
You don't need needles, because the points of the hand can be effectively stimulated using small metal pellets taped over the point(s) which only make superficial contact with the skin.
These pellets are flat discs, about the diameter of a pencil eraser (and even that is too big), and you just tape them onto areas needing treatment, and presto! You are done.
Needles (very small, thin versions of the acupuncture needles normally used) are used in KHT, but generally upon the discretion of the practioner. So, non-needle therapy, producing results similar or equal to KHT treatments using only pellets, will sound attractive to many patients who are afraid of needles.
KHT claims to deliver immediate, or nearly immediate results for patients.
How immediate?
Well, if you came in for a treatment because of back pain caused by injury or strain to the soft tissues (i.e. musculature), you could expect the treatment to produce results as soon as the pellets were placed on your hand/fingers.
Really! Just like that: no more pain.
Sounds exciting, doesn't it?
I think so.
And I will post my KHT results on this Blog, as I gain more experience with this form of therapy.
I hope you are having a good day.
John
P.S. Do you think it's possible to die from drinking too much water? The answer may surprise you. Check this out, if you are curious about the answer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1994678,00.html
Topic: What's new around here? KHT.
Thanks for checking in and welcome to this site (my first Blog posting!).
I hope this Blog can be the informal touch-stone for patients and readers to receive beneficial information on health and health related topics, with allowances for me to share my thoughts and perspectives on things I think need to be addressed.
So what's new around here??
For starters, I just completed a two-day workshop dedicated to Korean Hand Therapy (KHT), taught by a masterful practitioner and effective teacher, Dan Lobash. Dan has been practicing and teaching KHT methods for 30+years, and is a principle student of the system's founder, Dr. Tae-Woo Yoo.
What is KHT?
Korean Hand Therapy views a person's hand as a microcosic system reflecting the systems found througout the entire body.
Recognizing the inter-connectedness of the body, (afterall, we did each start out as one cell that divided over and over and over...) using the hand to treat the body another way of gaining access to the energetic organization found throughout our entire mind-body field.
The middle finger, in the KHT model, represents the head, neck and torso, while the ring and index fingers represent the arms (up to the shoulder), with the little finger and thumb representing the legs (from hip to foot).
The palm of the hand additionally contains internal organ correspondances, while the front and back of the hand represent their respective surfaces of the body, as well.
How is this applied?
Using the hand to treat the entire body presents a few advantages for the practioner and patient, in comparison to traditional full-body acupuncture treatments.
For starters, the hand is easy to access and treatments can be performed just about anyplace, at any time, without the patient needing to disrobe, stretch out on a special treatment table, or anything like that.
Also, once a patient is shown which points s/he should stimulate on the hand to produce a therapeutic result, s/he can continue enforcing the treatment results, with this home therapy approach.
Granted, KHT is no walk in the park if you really want to master the approach, or wish to use it to treat complicated health imbalances. But, it probably shouldn't be excessively easy to master, as it demands focus, precision and a working understanding of energic flows throughout the body, and how that flow of energy relates to the health of one's body, mind and spirit.
One advantage KHT offers to patients: you don't have to use needles for it to be effective.
Some of you may wish to read that again!
You don't need needles, because the points of the hand can be effectively stimulated using small metal pellets taped over the point(s) which only make superficial contact with the skin.
These pellets are flat discs, about the diameter of a pencil eraser (and even that is too big), and you just tape them onto areas needing treatment, and presto! You are done.
Needles (very small, thin versions of the acupuncture needles normally used) are used in KHT, but generally upon the discretion of the practioner. So, non-needle therapy, producing results similar or equal to KHT treatments using only pellets, will sound attractive to many patients who are afraid of needles.
KHT claims to deliver immediate, or nearly immediate results for patients.
How immediate?
Well, if you came in for a treatment because of back pain caused by injury or strain to the soft tissues (i.e. musculature), you could expect the treatment to produce results as soon as the pellets were placed on your hand/fingers.
Really! Just like that: no more pain.
Sounds exciting, doesn't it?
I think so.
And I will post my KHT results on this Blog, as I gain more experience with this form of therapy.
I hope you are having a good day.
John
P.S. Do you think it's possible to die from drinking too much water? The answer may surprise you. Check this out, if you are curious about the answer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1994678,00.html
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