Vitamin D is free.
You get it from the sun.
You can't buy it off anybody.
No company can get money for it from you. Unless they sell you eels or oily fish, which contain Vitamin D.
It can cure all manner of cancer and diseases.
Its the "happiness vitamin" because sunshine is known to lower depression and lift mood. No wonder europeans take so many anti depressants.
UV-B rays, which are what cause Vit D production in your body are most prevalent between the hours of 10am and 2pm.
Vitamin D deficiency can cause rickets and bone diseases, especially in young people whose bones are just developing.
Young people who stay indoors all summer won't have enough Vit D to tide them over winter.
Darker skinned people need more sunshine than fair skinned people to be able to produce the same amount of Vit D.
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would be starting to see a problem here.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Eleonore Jeanne Simson
Eleanore Jeanne Simson was one of my third great grandmothers on my mothers side. I really like her. I especially like her name because she’s French (Canadian). When you pronounce it as the French do, it comes out more in English as “Eleanora.” I also feel really sorry for her. She got so ripped off.
Her dad died in March 1835, a few months before she was born, he was a merchant in Montreal. I really want to go visit Montreal, they all got christened and married in the cathedral there. Her mother was the daughter of a public notarary. Her mother remarried when she was about 8 and had a little baby boy who died shortly after. Not long after that her mother died, and her grandmother was appointed her guardian. But her grandmother died only 18 months later and she was left to the mercies of her step father Charles Michel Delisle and her uncle Robert Simson.
Its interesting what you can find out when you google peoples names. I found out most of her biography while she lived in Canada from the book “Decisions des tribunes du Bas-Canada” by Simon Lelievre. The next two paragraphs are taken from the book.
Part of the property of the infant, derived from her father, consisted of thirty shares in the Bank of Montreal. Robert Simson, on the 29th September, 1846, in his character of sub-tutor, gave a notice in writing to the Bank, through its cashier, informing them that C. Michel Delisle had no power or authority to sell these shares. Notwithstanding this notification, C. Michel Delisle sold six of the shares in December, 1848, two more in January 1849, ten more in June following, and the remaining twelve in the following month of September 1849. In all these cases the Bank of Montreal made the transfer of these shares int he books of the Bank, as required by Delisle, out of the name of the father of the respondent, in whose name they were standing, into the name of the various purchasers to whom Delisle had sold them. The question in this appeal is the validity of these transfers.
The respondent, in 1855, married her present husband, Mr Turner, who is also a respondent. In September 1857, about a year after she attained her majority, and being by her marriage contract solely entitled to the property derived from her father, she instituted original proceedings against the bank of Montreal in the Superior Court of Lower Canada, claiming the dividends which had accrued due on the thirty shares from the time of their sale in December 1848, and in January, June and September 1849. The sole question in the cause was whether the transfer of the shares was valid and effectual.
In 1862 she and her husband with their oldest two children emigrated to New Zealand to begin a new life here. Her husband was a founding member of Tauranga’s Masonic lodge, and I suspect that’s how his oldest son Charles met his wife Mary Ella (her father was also a founding member in the same society). Their oldest son eventually became the father of my grandma.
By chance I came across a copy of her will at the NZ archives in Wellington. Her husband refused to be the executor of her will, saying that she had been due to have a large inheritance which was all gone, so theres still a question in my mind about what happened with their court case – did they lose it? Or was it dismissed when they left the country? Maybe I’ll meet her one day and get to talk to her about it.
Her dad died in March 1835, a few months before she was born, he was a merchant in Montreal. I really want to go visit Montreal, they all got christened and married in the cathedral there. Her mother was the daughter of a public notarary. Her mother remarried when she was about 8 and had a little baby boy who died shortly after. Not long after that her mother died, and her grandmother was appointed her guardian. But her grandmother died only 18 months later and she was left to the mercies of her step father Charles Michel Delisle and her uncle Robert Simson.
Its interesting what you can find out when you google peoples names. I found out most of her biography while she lived in Canada from the book “Decisions des tribunes du Bas-Canada” by Simon Lelievre. The next two paragraphs are taken from the book.
Part of the property of the infant, derived from her father, consisted of thirty shares in the Bank of Montreal. Robert Simson, on the 29th September, 1846, in his character of sub-tutor, gave a notice in writing to the Bank, through its cashier, informing them that C. Michel Delisle had no power or authority to sell these shares. Notwithstanding this notification, C. Michel Delisle sold six of the shares in December, 1848, two more in January 1849, ten more in June following, and the remaining twelve in the following month of September 1849. In all these cases the Bank of Montreal made the transfer of these shares int he books of the Bank, as required by Delisle, out of the name of the father of the respondent, in whose name they were standing, into the name of the various purchasers to whom Delisle had sold them. The question in this appeal is the validity of these transfers.
The respondent, in 1855, married her present husband, Mr Turner, who is also a respondent. In September 1857, about a year after she attained her majority, and being by her marriage contract solely entitled to the property derived from her father, she instituted original proceedings against the bank of Montreal in the Superior Court of Lower Canada, claiming the dividends which had accrued due on the thirty shares from the time of their sale in December 1848, and in January, June and September 1849. The sole question in the cause was whether the transfer of the shares was valid and effectual.
In 1862 she and her husband with their oldest two children emigrated to New Zealand to begin a new life here. Her husband was a founding member of Tauranga’s Masonic lodge, and I suspect that’s how his oldest son Charles met his wife Mary Ella (her father was also a founding member in the same society). Their oldest son eventually became the father of my grandma.
By chance I came across a copy of her will at the NZ archives in Wellington. Her husband refused to be the executor of her will, saying that she had been due to have a large inheritance which was all gone, so theres still a question in my mind about what happened with their court case – did they lose it? Or was it dismissed when they left the country? Maybe I’ll meet her one day and get to talk to her about it.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Closest Thing to Magic
I decided to do something, something that will push me and challenge me. And yes I’m definitely going to do it this time. No more umming and ahhing and procrastinating and weighing up the pros and cons and second guessing myself.
Shortly after, by chance, in the work lunch room, I happen across a newspaper article about the exact thing that I had decided to do (write a family history).
Mum goes looking for something in her storage and finds a huge box with all of my grandmothers research that she carried out while she was alive – letters, photos, family group sheets, lineage charts and more.
A while after that during an attempt to clean my room, I find a little scrap of paper with the email address of a relative who can help me.
My mother just happens to find a phone number for her uncle who she hasn’t been in touch with for years and texts it to me.
Whenever I fix a goal to do something, things always start to happen that push me in what feels like a deliberate direction. When I decided to go on a mission (which at the time I was adamantly set against) everything just fell into place. Not without some hiccoughs of course. Putting together my application, the money, finishing the last paper in my degree, getting my french visa (that was a mission their embassy sucks) and all the million and one other things I had to do. I wonder if its something to do with the subconscious – would I have even noticed that newspaper article if that subject hadn’t been on my mind?
I find it really hard to make up my mind at the best of times. I weigh up all the different options logically then I usually ignore the data I’ve collected and go with whatever feels right. But there’s just something amazing about deciding to do something and watching it all fall into place, as if by magic.
Shortly after, by chance, in the work lunch room, I happen across a newspaper article about the exact thing that I had decided to do (write a family history).
Mum goes looking for something in her storage and finds a huge box with all of my grandmothers research that she carried out while she was alive – letters, photos, family group sheets, lineage charts and more.
A while after that during an attempt to clean my room, I find a little scrap of paper with the email address of a relative who can help me.
My mother just happens to find a phone number for her uncle who she hasn’t been in touch with for years and texts it to me.
Whenever I fix a goal to do something, things always start to happen that push me in what feels like a deliberate direction. When I decided to go on a mission (which at the time I was adamantly set against) everything just fell into place. Not without some hiccoughs of course. Putting together my application, the money, finishing the last paper in my degree, getting my french visa (that was a mission their embassy sucks) and all the million and one other things I had to do. I wonder if its something to do with the subconscious – would I have even noticed that newspaper article if that subject hadn’t been on my mind?
I find it really hard to make up my mind at the best of times. I weigh up all the different options logically then I usually ignore the data I’ve collected and go with whatever feels right. But there’s just something amazing about deciding to do something and watching it all fall into place, as if by magic.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Self Directed Learning
Self directed learning is easy. Its called reading. No not really, I just put that there because I like to read. There are other equally good or better ways to learn, depending on what works best for you. I’m more visual than auditory so I like to see things, displays, images, captions etc.
I read a book once by Orson Scott Card, in his Homecoming series, a futuristic sci-fi fantasy novel loosely based on the Book of Mormon migration story, although it was set on one planet and they were traveling by space ship to another country.
In the story they arrived on the planet, set up camp, divided up due to the jealous rivalries of the two older and two younger brothers and continued on their merry way. There was this one part in the book where one of the characters, I think he was a librarian, had committed some sort of atrocity, I forget what, and as a result they banned him from the library and he was no longer allowed access to any more reading material ever. I was horrified. I couldn’t imagine being without books.
Well, actually thats not entirely true. One summer I was shipped off to stay with my aunty and cousins and they had no books in their house. I nearly went crazy with boredom. No pens or paper, nothing to read in the whole entire house. It was not fun.
Anyway, what I got from the book was a quote from that character a little bit further along in his punishment. He said something along the lines of, When I was banned I didn’t know what I would do with myself. But then I realized after a while, books come from people. Talking and interacting with people cuts out the middle man. I can learn more from people than I can from books.
That was a few years ago. These days I think you can learn a lot more on the internet than you could from books, the whole world at your disposal with the touch of a button, though discernment is an important tool to grasp if you want to look for truth from a website.
I read a book once by Orson Scott Card, in his Homecoming series, a futuristic sci-fi fantasy novel loosely based on the Book of Mormon migration story, although it was set on one planet and they were traveling by space ship to another country.
In the story they arrived on the planet, set up camp, divided up due to the jealous rivalries of the two older and two younger brothers and continued on their merry way. There was this one part in the book where one of the characters, I think he was a librarian, had committed some sort of atrocity, I forget what, and as a result they banned him from the library and he was no longer allowed access to any more reading material ever. I was horrified. I couldn’t imagine being without books.
Well, actually thats not entirely true. One summer I was shipped off to stay with my aunty and cousins and they had no books in their house. I nearly went crazy with boredom. No pens or paper, nothing to read in the whole entire house. It was not fun.
Anyway, what I got from the book was a quote from that character a little bit further along in his punishment. He said something along the lines of, When I was banned I didn’t know what I would do with myself. But then I realized after a while, books come from people. Talking and interacting with people cuts out the middle man. I can learn more from people than I can from books.
That was a few years ago. These days I think you can learn a lot more on the internet than you could from books, the whole world at your disposal with the touch of a button, though discernment is an important tool to grasp if you want to look for truth from a website.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Vegetarianism
There are a lot of good things to be said about being vegetarian. It helps the planet, is not as polluting as cattle farming, doesn’t suck up as much resources as meat production, cooked meat is mostly carcinogenic and loaded with pesticides, hormones and antibiotics anyway etc. The problem is that its easier to theorize about it than to actually do it.
This month I made a goal of being a vegetarian for one month. I lasted exactly 19 days. Oddly enough, for 18 of those days I didn’t crave or want meat at all. I didn’t feel hungry and I didn’t feel deprived at all. My downfall came when I got home from a rubbish day at work without having planned any kind of meal preparation to find an offer of a delicious looking vegetarian rice dish with some salmon on the side. Salmon is my favourite fish. Come to think of it, its probably the only fish I recognize, both taste and appearance-wise. If it hadn’t been salmon I probably would have passed it up. But it was so yummy.
I’ve decided to ignore my familys comments and not to beat myself up anymore about eating, since I regard most of my eating as experiments in what helps my body function or not function. Burger King usually puts me to sleep within half an hour of eating. I used to think that was due to the protein in it, but I’ve since theorized that it’s the carbs –bread and fries that actually do the most damage. When I think about it, bread and potatoes have no taste except what you add to them, and they’re completely lacking in nutrients and have hardly any fibre. I still don’t know why they’re so addictive. Especially roasted potatoes and curly fries.
Anyway, I think that if I didn’t love meat so much I would happily become a vegetarian. As it is, I’m thinking about giving up all but my favourite meats. Salmon, corned beef, bacon and roast lamb at Christmas time. I don’t like chicken and mince that much, I hardly ever have steak and most fish is processed until it no longer resembles anything that came out of the sea.
This month I made a goal of being a vegetarian for one month. I lasted exactly 19 days. Oddly enough, for 18 of those days I didn’t crave or want meat at all. I didn’t feel hungry and I didn’t feel deprived at all. My downfall came when I got home from a rubbish day at work without having planned any kind of meal preparation to find an offer of a delicious looking vegetarian rice dish with some salmon on the side. Salmon is my favourite fish. Come to think of it, its probably the only fish I recognize, both taste and appearance-wise. If it hadn’t been salmon I probably would have passed it up. But it was so yummy.
I’ve decided to ignore my familys comments and not to beat myself up anymore about eating, since I regard most of my eating as experiments in what helps my body function or not function. Burger King usually puts me to sleep within half an hour of eating. I used to think that was due to the protein in it, but I’ve since theorized that it’s the carbs –bread and fries that actually do the most damage. When I think about it, bread and potatoes have no taste except what you add to them, and they’re completely lacking in nutrients and have hardly any fibre. I still don’t know why they’re so addictive. Especially roasted potatoes and curly fries.
Anyway, I think that if I didn’t love meat so much I would happily become a vegetarian. As it is, I’m thinking about giving up all but my favourite meats. Salmon, corned beef, bacon and roast lamb at Christmas time. I don’t like chicken and mince that much, I hardly ever have steak and most fish is processed until it no longer resembles anything that came out of the sea.
Friday, February 19, 2010
In the Waitakeres
I have always loved waterfalls. Theres something beautifully soothing about the interplay of light and water as it falls, fluid and unstoppable. Light splaying off the droplets as it moves downwards, always transforming, ever changing, and yet the falls appear unchanged. I think “pretty” is the best way to describe it.
My aunty and I went to see the fairy falls in the Waitakere’s today. We took some bad advice and ended up completely lost, but thanks to the kindliness of a good Samaritan we met, we eventually arrived back at our car safe and sound.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Dreams - hallucinations or sleep memories?
Fast asleep then wide awake in an instant. What time is it? 4:30am. Are you serious? Its way too early to even think about getting out of bed. And yet despite exhaustion i can't sleep. I put on some soothing music in the hopes of lulling myself into some type of restful state, but it doesn't work. Weird dreams then ensue.
I remember them vividly when I awake. This girl I met in australia and I are being chased by this crazy resourceful guy with tons of money and workers. After chasing my car and putting a train in our direction which we swerved to avoid then somehow he lowered my car into this monkey pit where monkeys were trying to eat us.
The girl with me was totally unaware of what was going on. Needless to say it was a weird unfathomable to say. Sometimes i do have dreams that feel real. Like a place I've been to or someone I know saying something characteristic of them. Then later (sometimes years) something will happen and i'll have a deja vu type impression that either its happened before, or I've dreamed it before. Sort of like a random assortment of colliding factors will suck me into a spooky vortex of the past. Its among the most unreal experiences i've had in this life.
I'm not sure what to make of it.
I remember them vividly when I awake. This girl I met in australia and I are being chased by this crazy resourceful guy with tons of money and workers. After chasing my car and putting a train in our direction which we swerved to avoid then somehow he lowered my car into this monkey pit where monkeys were trying to eat us.
The girl with me was totally unaware of what was going on. Needless to say it was a weird unfathomable to say. Sometimes i do have dreams that feel real. Like a place I've been to or someone I know saying something characteristic of them. Then later (sometimes years) something will happen and i'll have a deja vu type impression that either its happened before, or I've dreamed it before. Sort of like a random assortment of colliding factors will suck me into a spooky vortex of the past. Its among the most unreal experiences i've had in this life.
I'm not sure what to make of it.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Random thorts
Nothing like a change of place to brighten one's mental state.
I took one of my friends out for a girls only midnight snack, icecream and chocolate and by the end of it both of us could vouch for much improved moods.
I returned a library book today only to find out the two books i returned last week were still accruing fines under my name. I found one of them and gave it to the librarian only to be accused of only just having returned it. Now my card is blocked. Typical.
Sleep is the best thing in my life right now.
I took one of my friends out for a girls only midnight snack, icecream and chocolate and by the end of it both of us could vouch for much improved moods.
I returned a library book today only to find out the two books i returned last week were still accruing fines under my name. I found one of them and gave it to the librarian only to be accused of only just having returned it. Now my card is blocked. Typical.
Sleep is the best thing in my life right now.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Anticipation
Theres nothing like a holiday to make you feel better about life, and the anticipation is often better than the actual experience. I read an article from the nzherald a couple of weeks ago about how much more productive people are at work when they have a holiday to look forward to and how travel agents had said that people were planning trips even as they headed back to work after new years.
In exactly one month i will be checking in at the airport for a 2week vacation to the east island. Ideally i would much prefer to go to Tahiti, Fiji or Vanuatu than the sauna that is australia, but since my sister decided to take my nephew to the gold coast for his second birthday, and i missed his first birthday while i was in oz, i really didn't have much choice.
I don't know that i've been more productive at work while planning this trip but i am really looking forward to getting away from everything even just for a little while.
In exactly one month i will be checking in at the airport for a 2week vacation to the east island. Ideally i would much prefer to go to Tahiti, Fiji or Vanuatu than the sauna that is australia, but since my sister decided to take my nephew to the gold coast for his second birthday, and i missed his first birthday while i was in oz, i really didn't have much choice.
I don't know that i've been more productive at work while planning this trip but i am really looking forward to getting away from everything even just for a little while.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Inspiration
There hasn't been much lately in my life to interest me, which is kinda sad because i used to have so much interest in so many different things in my life. I would constantly be coming up with useful ideas and projects that would germinate into sprouts then finally fully grown plants and all my time would be spent nourishing these creations of mine until they were satisfyingly complete. But lately i've just felt apathetic about everything. I have watched an unusual number of movies (for me anyway) but they haven't pleased me any.
In the good old days, I would always be taking in information (usually in the form of several books at a time) but i think i possibly had an bookwormish information overload last year because i had no social life since i moved cities and i couldnt be much bothered with most people.
Anyway, my dad read this book when i was a kid about creation, it was called Psychogenesis the idea that 'everything begins in mind', so whenever you see something be it building, tree or scrapbook page, its because it originally started out as an idea in someones head (mans/Gods).
Last night i was thumbing through a nice easy on the eye picture book when i had it. The first flame of inspiration and desire i've had in many moons and suddenly i just knew what i wanted to do. A vision of my future creation was dancing through my mind, and i knew that i was not going to be able to stop until it was completed. The final project is still a ways off and i know that i have a lot to do, but the amazing thing is that i actually want to do it.
In the good old days, I would always be taking in information (usually in the form of several books at a time) but i think i possibly had an bookwormish information overload last year because i had no social life since i moved cities and i couldnt be much bothered with most people.
Anyway, my dad read this book when i was a kid about creation, it was called Psychogenesis the idea that 'everything begins in mind', so whenever you see something be it building, tree or scrapbook page, its because it originally started out as an idea in someones head (mans/Gods).
Last night i was thumbing through a nice easy on the eye picture book when i had it. The first flame of inspiration and desire i've had in many moons and suddenly i just knew what i wanted to do. A vision of my future creation was dancing through my mind, and i knew that i was not going to be able to stop until it was completed. The final project is still a ways off and i know that i have a lot to do, but the amazing thing is that i actually want to do it.
Monday, February 1, 2010
The Fountain of Youth
In my last post on health, all my thinking seemed to be based on looking for the elusive elixir of eternal life or the fountain of youth. Imagine that. A mythological source of regeneration, where an act so simple as drinking could at once restore and completely rejuvenate your aged and oxidised body to a youthful, slim and zestful one. Only old people appreciate how great it is to be young, young people don't appreciate their youth until they're past it, most of the time.
When you look at children bouncing off the walls, driving their parents insane, but meanwhile thinking, you know i wouldn't mind having a piece of their life, the lack of responsibilities and work, just playing and enjoying yourself all day. How wonderful it would be to have that sort of energy 24/7, having a childlike enthusiasm and constant desire to move. Childhood is probably the only time in life when you have such freedom of expression.
The human body is a marvellous thing. Every second of every day you're alive, carrying on so many functions without our awareness. Breathing, heart beat, hormone regulation, disgestion, nutrient assimilation, growth, mitosis, detoxification and temperature control. You don't even pay attention to any of it, except occasionally when its hard to breathe or something goes out of whack.
Now that I think about it, the elixir of life would be a better option for me at the moment, since i'm not that old. My childhood wasn't that fun and neither was being a teenager. I wouldn't want to go back to it. Eternal youth would be a great thing, but keeping the knowledge I've gained over the last 30 years wouldn't hurt either.
When you look at children bouncing off the walls, driving their parents insane, but meanwhile thinking, you know i wouldn't mind having a piece of their life, the lack of responsibilities and work, just playing and enjoying yourself all day. How wonderful it would be to have that sort of energy 24/7, having a childlike enthusiasm and constant desire to move. Childhood is probably the only time in life when you have such freedom of expression.
The human body is a marvellous thing. Every second of every day you're alive, carrying on so many functions without our awareness. Breathing, heart beat, hormone regulation, disgestion, nutrient assimilation, growth, mitosis, detoxification and temperature control. You don't even pay attention to any of it, except occasionally when its hard to breathe or something goes out of whack.
Now that I think about it, the elixir of life would be a better option for me at the moment, since i'm not that old. My childhood wasn't that fun and neither was being a teenager. I wouldn't want to go back to it. Eternal youth would be a great thing, but keeping the knowledge I've gained over the last 30 years wouldn't hurt either.
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