Supplements

On a more personal note I would like to say something about supplements. I have a myriad of complex and serious health issues. Friends, family, and strangers frequently try to advise that I use various supplements to be healthy. I usually try to politely dodge or ignore this kind of advice for a few simple reasons:

• Supplements do not go through the same process with the FDA as medications. 
• Unless a doctor prescribes one they are better left alone. 
• In many cases, such as vitamin supplements, it is a waste of money and just creates expensive urine. 
• In other cases, such as medicinal supplements, it is easy to dose wrong or take something that interferes with other medications. 
• People confuse the word supplement with natural and they confuse the word natural with safe. 
• A chemical is a chemical is a chemical. 
• If you are going to use a medicinal supplement it is no different than using a prescription drug when it comes to the precautions that should be taken.

That said, there are supplements I use that are a net gain for my health. They have been suggested and or prescribed by a doctor. Supplements for all intents and purposes are drugs and should be treated in the same manner. I don't think there is anything wrong with using them as part of a routine to maintain health, I just believe it is better to consult somebody with the proper education on the matter before taking them.

Not So bad After All

I think I was a little hard on the show ,"Adam Ruins Everything" in a previous post. After watching a few more episodes and following some of the sources cited I believe it to be of more educational value than I had initially thought. I still think people that got their news from "The Daily Show" with John Stuart or mistook "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" as a valid documentary are ridiculous, but I can't honestly put  "Adam Ruins Everything" in the same category after a second look.

I think person that clued me into the show by using it as a reference to support ridiculous claims is what threw me off. This person had also tried to claim that security such as antivirus & firewalls only give the illusion of security, that they don't actually do anything. He of course tried to use an episode of "Adam Ruins Everything" to back this ignorant idea up.

The episode the person was referring to was "Adam Ruins Security" and it is the second of 7 episodes thus far. I watched it and saw it touched on some internet related security issues but it didn't support the arguments. At first I viewed the show's reasoning to be reductive but that wasn't really the issue. It didn't support his claims because it didn't address them, not because the subject matter was faulty or biased. It did briefly touch on online security in certain matters like banking, but not on antivirus or firewall software.

I have found the series as a whole to amusing and informative thus far. Much of what has been covered are things that I and some of my friends have known and talked about for several years. it is nice to see the information getting out there. It is sad that I was almost derailed from it by somebody not intelligent enough to understand the it.