TRIVIA: how does stitch occur, prevention and alleviation of stitch

During running, its a common occurrence to experience stitches (also referred to as side cramp) someone near the stomach/ under the ribcage. It can occur on either side depending on the individual. It is caused by... is what I want to be able to share, but unfortunately, even scientists do not know the exact cause of stitch. Through reading a factsheet provided online by the Australian Sports Commission, there are a few theories for the cause of stitch. However, previous theories has their loopholes and a more recent and accepted theory is that stitch is caused by irritation of the parietal peritoneum (layer of membrane that line the abdominal cavity).
To put it simply, due to a lack of lubricating fluid between the membranes of the abdomen during exercise, friction between the membranes causes discomfort which we experience as stitch. This pain experienced is usually benign and a quick verification is to stop running and the pain should subside.

Shake off the stitch and continue running

That said, the main problem with stitch is that the runner does not want to stop! Especially when you only started  running for less than 5 minutes and you have to stop due to the stitch when every other muscle of your body is still roaring to go! So what are the ways to treat stitch on the run?

Well I personally tried this method that I found online.

1. Hold the area where you're feeling the stitch by stabbing around it with your fingers. 
2. Change your breathing pattern.  If you always exhale when your right foot lands, change your breathing rhythm to exhale when your left foot lands.

My personal take: It did manage to alleviate my stitch. However, I also added some elements which I think is the most useful to treat the stitch on the run

• Slow down your intensity of the run. Change your pace to a slow jog for a few minutes to shake off the stitch before gearing up your speed again.

If the stitch still persists, you should rest. I know, I shared before to never give up, but there are times you should take a break. To alleviate the stitch, bend forward while holding on the affected area and do deep breaths. You can then start with a slow jog to see if the pain comes back again.

Prevention of Stitch

Though the theory of stitch is unknown, what is heartening is that we do know that doing certain things before running will increase the probability of it. Now the best way is probably to avoid doing these things:

1. Do not eat or drink too much water 2 hours before and during a run. This always gets me and by experience I have stopped any large intake of food/water if I want a great workout session.
2. Run regularly. I realised that the occurrence of stitch is more frequent if I run spontaneously rather than run religiously. It seems that regular training do have an effect to strengthen your abdominal against stitches occuring.
3. Maintain deep breathing and good posture. I probably didn't realise it, but the more I ran, the better was my running posture and breathing rhythm. This explains why you are more likely to get a stitch if you run at inconsistent speeds. Avoid suddenly sprinting at first, always start your run slow and steady.

Finally, if you are interested in running, do check out my previous post on running longer and further. May your next run be a stitch-free one!

EUFASS

Trivia: What sound does a deer make?

When asked the question what sound does a deer make, instinctively I answered "mehhhh". But hey wait, thats the sound of a sheep. So google I did, and boy was I surprised by the sounds they can make.. It can range from a low grunt to a high pitch eeeeeeeeeeeee

Here's a poor attempt to express some of the sounds captured on video in words

1. ehhheeeeehehehhe (video link)

2.eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (sika deer)

3. grrr grrr grrr (fallow deer)

4. moooooo ( red stag) (I'm not kidding)

5. mehh eeeee eeee eee (some deer) - yes there is a certain extent of mehhhh-ing

Well, I hope we all learnt something new today!

Stolen/Lost Ipad – What should I do?

Lost your ipad and wondering what you should do next? Whether you misplaced it or it was stolen, the pain of losing your iPad is real, but first things first, the most important is to protect your privacy. After making sure that your accounts are secure, only then you should try to retrieve your ipad back. Lastly, try to come to the terms with the loss. This blog post will show you how to react, and shares my own experience of losing my ipad.

First things to do for your lost iPad

1. (If it is stolen) Note your serial number and inform the police. A step-by-step tutorial can be found here 
2.  (If you have find my iPad set up) Remote lock or wipe your iPad, send message and check your ipad location using icloud.
3. (If you have nothing set up) Send an email to your own account accessible to iPad with your contact details so that the person who picked it up can see it. Also do the same for facebook and other media accessible from your iPad.
4. Proceed to change passwords for data and accounts accessible from your iPad

The fact is, precaution is still better than cure. A very important lesson I took away from this saga is that it would have been less stressful if I had set up find my ipad or at the minimum set up a passcode and include my contact details on the wallpaper. If I have an iPad again, I would be less lazy and set up the necessary precautions.

Protect your privacy

When I lost my ipad, my very first thought beside the bite of the material loss ($600+!), was that the content in all my emails, notes, dropbox, facebook accounts were compromised. You could be in the same situation, possibly with more accounts accessible through your ipad. Knowing that somebody else can have access to all my data,  I immediately regret not taking the additional precaution of setting a passcode.

Passcode lock

Setting a passcode takes less than 2 minutes to set it up. If you are reading this, and you haven’t implemented a passcode to your ipad yet, do it right NOW. Go to your ipad:

Settings>> General>> Passcode Lock

And input your passcode lock. The iPad also have a additional security to wipe out your iPad after 10 incorrect tries.

Now the problem with the passcode lock is that a honest person cannot return it to you as he will have no clue how to contact you. What you can do is to download free ipad wallpaper apps and add in your contact information on the wallpaper. An important thing to note is to make sure that your number would not be blocked by the passcode dialog box.

Another point to take note is that the passcode can prevent users from using your accounts freely, but not prevent them from taking over your iPad. It does not take a smart thief to figure out that he could break the passcode by restoring the iPad to factory default settings entirely.

Find my ipad

A stronger form of lost precaution would be to setup find my ipad service provided by apple. This service allows you to locate your ipad from a PC, display a message on your ipad, and even beep to help you find it. Moreover, it allows you to set a passcode remotely as well as to delete all your date remotely. The beauty of the remote wipe is that it overcomes the limitation of the security feature of wiping out your iPad after 10 incorrect tries in which your data could still be accessed by plugging into the PC. Thank you Apple!

You can find out more about it at http://www.apple.com/ipad/find-my-ipad.html and set it up in a jiffy.

Worst Case scenario of losing your ipad

Summarizing your potential losses in an engineering style

• Monetary loss of $600+++
• Loss of information only saved locally in iPad
• Compromise of private information which could be priceless
• Misuse of private accounts

Thankfully Apple has a security feature to prompt for password everytime a purchase is made, this should deter thieves from going on a shopping spree. But more than the monetary loss, it is apparent that bigger loss could be inflicted through the loss and compromise of private information and also the misuse of your accounts. The precautions mentioned beforehand should be able to deter most of these potentially huge losses.

In my next article, I will share with you some of my reflection and lessons learnt post-event.

Why is there a ridge on the keyboard buttons "F" and "J"?

Ever wondered why is there a raised bar on the keyboard buttons F and J? Well even if you don’t know the answer, you still deserve the credit for noticing.  As for me, I am not sure whether I noticed or conveniently disregard the raised ridge on both keys altogether.

This further sparked my curiosity what is the purpose? It can’t be a coincidence that every keyboard manufacturer decided to introduce a ridge on these exact two keys.

Touch typing and muscle memory

The answer: Touch typing.  The ridges allow touch-typers to locate their fingers on the keyboard. These amazing breed of people are able to type without looking at the keyboard -a skill that can be acquired through muscle memory. In touch typing, the ridges are used to position the initial placement of the hands on the keyboard.

In fact, if you are a frequent computer user, you might have some degree of muscle memory too! Just try it! Try typing the first sentence of this paragraph without looking at the keyboard. You are able to do it right? Now try to figure out where the individual letters are on the keyboard. You might have some difficulty in identifying all the letters. This is an example of our muscle memory utilized in typing.

Now with these ridges, blind people now are able to use them as a guide to type accurately.

"F" and "J" on IPAD and Android

With new gadgets coming up, did you ever notice that these ridges appear on f and j keys on the IPAD keyboard as well? Though the ridges are useless on a flat touchscreen, I think it is no coincidence but really the result of meticulous design from Apple. Is there also such a feature on the Android keyboard? I don’t recall seeing one…