I continue being not well, and otherwise also as before, so I cannot do
much. But there is a little progress, and in my case and at present it
has to do with B12. So here are some links relating to ME, B12 and also
two links relating to Gibbon+theology.
1. Some ME and B12 links
2.
Gibbon+theology
1. Some ME and B12 links
I have experimented with vitamin B12 before - and to start with, here
is the Wikipedia lemma, including structure diagram:
The reason to experiment with oral supplements B12
(I've found so far no doctor willing to give injections) is that I
have thought since 1979, when my ex and I fell ill with what was
diagnosed as ME after ten years, that one decent hypothesis for much
that ailed us was that our cells did not get enough food or oxygen.
I tried several preparations, but the strongest I could get weren't
very strong and made no noticeable difference.
A short set of reasons plus - I have meanwhile found independently
- a good set of recommendations of supplements to take with B12 is
here:
Now it turns out that - for Dutchies, at least - there is a newly
developed preparation of one of the B12 vitamins (there are several,
and it seems te cyano-variant is better avoided in large doses) here:
This contains 10 mg B12 (in the hydroxycobalamine-acetate form) in
a small tablet meant to be taken sublingually.
I have done so for the past almost three weeks and feel
significantly better especially in terms of more energy, less pain,
and a bit better sleep, and since I can only explain this from this
supplement and the correlation is very significant I report it here.
In case there is more you want to know in few words, there are
these
And in case you want - at present - 177 pages of information about
and around it on Phoenix Rising Forum there is this:
Of this - a LOT of text - I have so far only read the first 8 pages
and the last 10, but the first 8 contain a lot of relevant information by
fredd (alias) who was a lot benefited by it, and learned a lot around and
about it.
There is a lot more to be found on the net and also on several
ME-forums, but in case you are interested, the above should give a
reasonable start.
I will have more about this, since I find the benefit considerable, so
far, and the price relatively low, in that it takes 36 eurocent per pill,
as I buy it (which probably could be done cheaper also).
On a related line, for those who like a picturesque view of
bio-chemistry: Here is a moving 3D animation of biochemistry about the
issue how the cells get energy, with music and all:
There's more there that is nice to look at and that shows how
complicated things are. If you think about it, you realize that what you
see is mostly in the nature of textbook drawings - as in good
biochemistry texts - animated by computer in 3D, but indeed to rather
spectacular effect.
And one hopes it moves intelligent youngsters to the study of
bio-chemistry, or some such study, rather than a pseudo-science, for
which see:
Feynman vs Wessely.
2. Gibbon + theology
As regular readers of Nederlog may know, I like
Edward Gibbon,
the English 18th Century historian and writer of
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire a lot -
see e.g.
When I last looked, more than a year ago, I could find no good edition
of Decline (as it is known, affectionally), but now I have found one, at
an also otherwise interesting site. It starts here:
It seems a very well done html-edition, so if you want to get serious
with Gibbon, now you know how.
It comes from a site ccel.org, that
unpacks as 'Christian Classics Ethereal Library'. As it happens, I am a
philosopher and an
atheist, who has
no truck with any God
of any faith - but
then that is, I think, a rational position based on real evidence and
real science, and anyway there have been many extra-ordinarily
intelligent men (and women) in bygone ages who have been
religious, and
who wrote books that are interesting for various reason.
As it happens, many of the best theological and religious texts,
mostly in the Christian traditions, but not all, have - it seems - a good
edition in html, text or pdf on ccel.org,
so if you are interested in that manner of subject, you should at least
have a look - and I like their editions of Duns Scotus, William
Law, and Thomas Aquinas.
There is really a lot there, and it is presented mostly scholarly, and
they seem not overtly dogmatic, as can also be inferred from their
offering Gibbon, since Gibbon was not particularly religious, and quite
probably not at all, while the chapters 15 and 16 of "Decline" contain
excellent criticisms of religious ideas, and the whole book contains many
fine satirical or ironical asides on religious hypocrisies, such as this
footnote attributed to a Benedictine abbot
' "My vow of poverty has given me an hundred thousand crowns a year;
my vow of obedience has raised me to the rank of a sovereign prince" - I
forget the consequences of his vow of chastity" '(Ch. 37).
