Auschwitz & Life

I have spent the last week in and around Krakow in Poland. This is the nearest big town to Auschwitz and Birkenau. One of my sons is doing research there - on why young people choose to visit Auschwitz, so I took the opportunity to go there too. I've always been curious about the place, and a couple of years ago I read Victor Frankel's "Man's Search For Meaning" which I found very moving. In preparaion for my visit my son recommended I read Primo Levi's "If This Is A Man" and "The Truce". Again moving and thought-rpovoking books.

I was nervous about visiting the actual place, but went anyway. The display cabinets - spectacles, human hair, shoes, documents, shaving brushes, clothes has a numbing effect. Standing in one of the gas chambers .. viewing the place and the gallows where a camp commandant had been hung after the war .. standing in front of a wall where the inmates were shot ... seeing the punishment cells - as if just being there wasn't punishment enough ..

The most disturbing bit for me though was at the end when I climbed into one of the guard towers at Birkenau - I shivered and felt sick. It took me a few minutes to realise why - suddenly I no longer imagined myself as an inmate, now I was one of the people who perpetutated the horror.

I'm still processing my feelings about my visit, but in some strange way that I can't quite get to grips with yet irt affirms life and not death.

Health Informatics - Evaluasi Situs Kesehatan

Sejalan dengan perkembangan teknologi komunikasi saat ini, semakin banyak informasi kesehatan di situs-situs kesehatan dan milis (mail list atau mailing list) melalui Internet, baik yang disediakan oleh pemerintah, swasta, organisasi, kelompok, maupun perorangan, oleh profesi kesehatan maupun bukan.

Menurut penulis, ada beberapa hal yang perlu diperhatikan oleh para pencari informasi kesehatan (pasien) untuk memperoleh informasi kesehatan yang berkualitas di Internet:

• Penyedia informasi: siapa penyedia konten? Identitas individu/curricullum vitae/organisasi/afiliasi yang jelas, bila perlu dicari dulu di Google :D . Bagaimana dengan anonimitas?
• Informasi kontak: apakah pihak penulis menyediakan email atau nomor telepon untuk dihubungi lebih lanjut?
• Terdapat sumber yang jelas: taut/link untuk konfirmasi sumber tulisan (informasi berbasis bukti/evidence based), sehingga informasi menjadi lebih akurat dan berguna

Selain hal di atas, untuk penyedia (provider) informasi kesehatan/situs kesehatan juga sebaiknya:

• Menyertakan fasilitas pencarian/search: untuk memudahkan pencarian spesifik, terutama bagi yang menginginkan topik tertentu dan tidak ingin membaca keseluruhan konten
• Menentukan target audience yang jelas: informasi untuk konsumen/pasien atau profesional
• Bahasa penyampaian sesuai target audience: bahasa pasien/Indonesia/istilah medis
• Kemudahan navigasi dan desain (user friendly): tulisan jelas dibaca, menarik dengan gambar pendukung, dapat dibaca dengan multi browser yang ada (dapat dibaca browser yang berbasis teks saja, standar W3C?)
• Menyediakan layanan interaktif: konsultasi/tanya jawab lebih lanjut via surat elektronik/email, blog, forum, milis
• Diperbaharui: mengikuti aktualitas yang ada

Untuk mengevaluasi kualitas situs kesehatan secara online dapat dicoba di formulir dari Rollins School of Public Health Emory University dan formulir HONcode.

Verbal Questioning Skills For Kinesiologists

this book is published in German by VAK Verlags GmbH. I have just received a request from them to let the University of Dortmund have a copy of the manuscript to make a braille version of the book. Of course, I said "yes"

Blog - Masih betah gratisan

Sementara ini, karena keterbatasan sumber daya manusia, waktu, dan dana..saya masih betah menggunakan hosting blog gratisan ini :)

Mengapa blogger/blogspot ini? Semata-mata karena gratis dan kemampuan edit html manualnya :D

Beberapa perbandingan perangkat lunak blog dapat dikunjungi di:

• Blog software breakdown
• Compare blogging software
• How to compare blog software

Nggak usah bingung..nge-blog aja.. :D

Diperbaharui tgl. 25/04/2006:
Blog ini saya fungsikan sebagai catatan 'perjalanan' dan niat untuk saling 'berbagi', karena saya juga mendapatkannya dari Internet :) ..nge-blog juga belajar dari Internet.. :D

GNU/Linux - Linux di Laptop

Menggunakan GNU/Linux di notebook/laptop kini semakin mudah saja. Pengenalan perangkat keras dan perangkat jaringan telah semakin baik, walaupun kadang masih diperlukan sedikit usaha.

Beberapa taut/link berikut mungkin dapat membantu:

• linux-laptop.net/
• linux-laptop.org/
  
• linux.org/
• linuxcertified.com/

Cara lain adalah bergabung dengan forum atau milis GNU/Linux sesuai distro masing-masing, misalnya di Indonesia ada:

• forum linux indonesia
• googlegroups: id-ubuntu
  

Bahkan Google juga memiliki fasilitas khusus untuk pencarian GNU/Linux di Google Linux. Akses Internet terbatas? Ada majalah Infolinux. Komunitasnya di hampir tiap daerah di Indonesia juga ada, namanya Kelompok Pengguna Linux Indonesia (KPLI).

CAM Case studies

I've started putting more case studies on http://www.healthandgoodness.com but I'm a bit frustrated as I have a lot of kinesiology ones (particularly health kinesiology) but not so many of other therapies. I know there are lots of good practitioners and amazing stories out there, but I need to hear about them, so if you're reading this and your a therapist think about your clients and send me a storyor two. If you've ever been to a practitioner and got a positive story to tell I'd like to hear about that too ..

A Physician´s Weight Loss Secret

Today I found a staement from Lori Domingo. She is "pleased" with a new diet she found on the web...

She states: "I was very skeptical about your program after having no success with 8 other popular weight loss systems.
Then I watched my sister-in-law shrink before my eyes while using your diet system.
Needless to say, it didn't take me long before I decided that if it worked for her, it just might work for me also.
I'm so glad I did. Now I'm 27 pounds lighter."

The interesting thing about this program is: it´s from Joy Siegrist, a medical doctor...

To find out more just click here.

A Physician´s Weight Loss Secret

Today I found a staement from Lori Domingo. She is "pleased" with a new diet she found on the web...

She states: "I was very skeptical about your program after having no success with 8 other popular weight loss systems.
Then I watched my sister-in-law shrink before my eyes while using your diet system.
Needless to say, it didn't take me long before I decided that if it worked for her, it just might work for me also.
I'm so glad I did. Now I'm 27 pounds lighter."

The interesting thing about this program is: it´s from Joy Siegrist, a medical doctor...

To find out more just click here.

A Physician´s Weight Loss Secret

Today I found a staement from Lori Domingo. She is "pleased" with a new diet she found on the web...

She states: "I was very skeptical about your program after having no success with 8 other popular weight loss systems.
Then I watched my sister-in-law shrink before my eyes while using your diet system.
Needless to say, it didn't take me long before I decided that if it worked for her, it just might work for me also.
I'm so glad I did. Now I'm 27 pounds lighter."

The interesting thing about this program is: it´s from Joy Siegrist, a medical doctor...

To find out more just click here.

today's piece of inspiration

Inspiration of the Day:
A dangerously obese man has captured the heart of America by walking alone across the country to lose weight and find his soul. Steve Vaught was in a car accident in which two people died, sending him into years of depression and comfort eating. Hitting 400+ pounds, he realized that he would die if he carried on. After a year and more than 2300 miles on the road, his journey has become a symbolic quest for a better way of living. In response to a $5m commercial offer, he says, 'But how much does my integrity cost? I have done this walk to get my integrity back. I am not going to sell it.'
http://charityfocus.org/php-bin/qad.php?n=2334

Burn Your Fat - Fatburning Secrets of the Worlds Best Models and Fitness Gurus

I have to admit that there is a lot of hype out there about the RIGHT way to lose fat....

Wouldn´t it be nice to loose some weight AND fat? Of course it would...

I literaly read every book about these themes and I repeatedly find:

outdated information
no help section
no refunds
links to other sites asking for more money...

I realized that most programs are totally useless. Just these days I came across a website for a weight loss guide that is pretty impressive, with a good amount of quality information about weight loss.

But don´t take my word for it... you can visit the site I found by clicking here.

All the best!

Burn Your Fat - Fatburning Secrets of the Worlds Best Models and Fitness Gurus

I have to admit that there is a lot of hype out there about the RIGHT way to lose fat....

Wouldn´t it be nice to loose some weight AND fat? Of course it would...

I literaly read every book about these themes and I repeatedly find:

outdated information
no help section
no refunds
links to other sites asking for more money...

I realized that most programs are totally useless. Just these days I came across a website for a weight loss guide that is pretty impressive, with a good amount of quality information about weight loss.

But don´t take my word for it... you can visit the site I found by clicking here.

All the best!

Burn Your Fat - Fatburning Secrets of the Worlds Best Models and Fitness Gurus

I have to admit that there is a lot of hype out there about the RIGHT way to lose fat....

Wouldn´t it be nice to loose some weight AND fat? Of course it would...

I literaly read every book about these themes and I repeatedly find:

outdated information
no help section
no refunds
links to other sites asking for more money...

I realized that most programs are totally useless. Just these days I came across a website for a weight loss guide that is pretty impressive, with a good amount of quality information about weight loss.

But don´t take my word for it... you can visit the site I found by clicking here.

All the best!

How Safe Are Natural Diet Pills for Weight Loss?

Many of us have heard horror stories about the ‘diet pills’ that were popular a generation or so ago. These pills, available with a prescription, were basically ‘speed’ – which, in a slightly different form, was sold as a street drug. And yes, these pills did make women lose weight – sometimes a great deal of weight. This weight loss came at a heavy cost, though. A lot of people became addicted to diet pills. Others simply took them for so long, or at such heavy doses, that they ruined their health.

Nowadays, those types of diet pills still exist, but they are not prescribed or used nearly as often as they used to be. In general, people today are more aware of the importance of good health and doing things the natural way. All the same, losing weight is still a going concern, and there are many people looking for an easy way to do it – a ‘shortcut’, so to speak. That’s where natural medicine comes in.

Natural, naturopathic or herbal medicine has been around for literally hundred of years – long before western medicine or modern pharmaceuticals. It has also undergone a bit of a revival of late. People are disenchanted with the mainstream medical system, and looking for answers through an older system of medicine, one that is based on natural substances such as herbs and vitamins.

In fact, you can see how true that statement is just by browsing the shelves of your local drug store. Chances are, there will be almost as many herbal medicines available on your drugstore shelves as there are conventional medicines. Even some doctors are coming to accept the role that herbal medicine and natural medicine has to play. Even if they don’t out and out endorse it, many doctors will concede that natural medicine does no harm, at any rate.


So, when looking for a quick fix to the weight problems that plague so many of us, natural or herbal diet pills might seem very appealing. Actually, they really do have their strong points. Herbal diet pills are not speed – they don’t even resemble the harsh pharmaceutical diet pills of a generation ago, and they work in totally different ways. For example, some natural diet pills work as a ‘glucophage’ – they ‘eat up’ the excess glucose that is circulating in your system after you eat. Glucose, according to some, is precisely what does make you gain weight. It can even lead to other problems, such as diabetes later in life. Glucophage can be a great way of eliminating excess glucose in your system if you happen to eat too much.

Of course, as might be expected, that doesn’t work well for everyone – in fact, it sometimes backfires. You might use it as an excuse to eat even more, in fact, in which case no amount of glucophage can save you! It may also be true that this type of herbal remedy has inconsistent results – it may work much better on some people than on others. That having been said, though, there are people who have used glucophage and had excellent results.

How Safe Are Natural Diet Pills for Weight Loss?

Many of us have heard horror stories about the ‘diet pills’ that were popular a generation or so ago. These pills, available with a prescription, were basically ‘speed’ – which, in a slightly different form, was sold as a street drug. And yes, these pills did make women lose weight – sometimes a great deal of weight. This weight loss came at a heavy cost, though. A lot of people became addicted to diet pills. Others simply took them for so long, or at such heavy doses, that they ruined their health.

Nowadays, those types of diet pills still exist, but they are not prescribed or used nearly as often as they used to be. In general, people today are more aware of the importance of good health and doing things the natural way. All the same, losing weight is still a going concern, and there are many people looking for an easy way to do it – a ‘shortcut’, so to speak. That’s where natural medicine comes in.

Natural, naturopathic or herbal medicine has been around for literally hundred of years – long before western medicine or modern pharmaceuticals. It has also undergone a bit of a revival of late. People are disenchanted with the mainstream medical system, and looking for answers through an older system of medicine, one that is based on natural substances such as herbs and vitamins.

In fact, you can see how true that statement is just by browsing the shelves of your local drug store. Chances are, there will be almost as many herbal medicines available on your drugstore shelves as there are conventional medicines. Even some doctors are coming to accept the role that herbal medicine and natural medicine has to play. Even if they don’t out and out endorse it, many doctors will concede that natural medicine does no harm, at any rate.


So, when looking for a quick fix to the weight problems that plague so many of us, natural or herbal diet pills might seem very appealing. Actually, they really do have their strong points. Herbal diet pills are not speed – they don’t even resemble the harsh pharmaceutical diet pills of a generation ago, and they work in totally different ways. For example, some natural diet pills work as a ‘glucophage’ – they ‘eat up’ the excess glucose that is circulating in your system after you eat. Glucose, according to some, is precisely what does make you gain weight. It can even lead to other problems, such as diabetes later in life. Glucophage can be a great way of eliminating excess glucose in your system if you happen to eat too much.

Of course, as might be expected, that doesn’t work well for everyone – in fact, it sometimes backfires. You might use it as an excuse to eat even more, in fact, in which case no amount of glucophage can save you! It may also be true that this type of herbal remedy has inconsistent results – it may work much better on some people than on others. That having been said, though, there are people who have used glucophage and had excellent results.

How Safe Are Natural Diet Pills for Weight Loss?

Many of us have heard horror stories about the ‘diet pills’ that were popular a generation or so ago. These pills, available with a prescription, were basically ‘speed’ – which, in a slightly different form, was sold as a street drug. And yes, these pills did make women lose weight – sometimes a great deal of weight. This weight loss came at a heavy cost, though. A lot of people became addicted to diet pills. Others simply took them for so long, or at such heavy doses, that they ruined their health.

Nowadays, those types of diet pills still exist, but they are not prescribed or used nearly as often as they used to be. In general, people today are more aware of the importance of good health and doing things the natural way. All the same, losing weight is still a going concern, and there are many people looking for an easy way to do it – a ‘shortcut’, so to speak. That’s where natural medicine comes in.

Natural, naturopathic or herbal medicine has been around for literally hundred of years – long before western medicine or modern pharmaceuticals. It has also undergone a bit of a revival of late. People are disenchanted with the mainstream medical system, and looking for answers through an older system of medicine, one that is based on natural substances such as herbs and vitamins.

In fact, you can see how true that statement is just by browsing the shelves of your local drug store. Chances are, there will be almost as many herbal medicines available on your drugstore shelves as there are conventional medicines. Even some doctors are coming to accept the role that herbal medicine and natural medicine has to play. Even if they don’t out and out endorse it, many doctors will concede that natural medicine does no harm, at any rate.


So, when looking for a quick fix to the weight problems that plague so many of us, natural or herbal diet pills might seem very appealing. Actually, they really do have their strong points. Herbal diet pills are not speed – they don’t even resemble the harsh pharmaceutical diet pills of a generation ago, and they work in totally different ways. For example, some natural diet pills work as a ‘glucophage’ – they ‘eat up’ the excess glucose that is circulating in your system after you eat. Glucose, according to some, is precisely what does make you gain weight. It can even lead to other problems, such as diabetes later in life. Glucophage can be a great way of eliminating excess glucose in your system if you happen to eat too much.

Of course, as might be expected, that doesn’t work well for everyone – in fact, it sometimes backfires. You might use it as an excuse to eat even more, in fact, in which case no amount of glucophage can save you! It may also be true that this type of herbal remedy has inconsistent results – it may work much better on some people than on others. That having been said, though, there are people who have used glucophage and had excellent results.