The Very Excellent Kiva: Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance
Starring:
The Borrowers. The Lenders
<p>Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance from Kiva on Vimeo.</p>
Sciency, fun, medical stuff, and if that's not enough for you there's Heidi Allen digital strategy in health and publishing
and
Neuroscience and pain research
Starring:
The Borrowers. The Lenders
<p>Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance from Kiva on Vimeo.</p>
Every day there are news reports of new health advice, but how can you know if they're right? This TEDtalk features Doctor and epidemiologist Ben Goldacre on the ways evidence can be distorted, from the blindingly obvious nutrition claims to the very subtle tricks of the pharmaceutical industry.
This is via a great new blog TheICECReam.org and encapsulates the open access debate.
If you are an early career researcher you might like to check out their blog:
'Researchers start their careers from numerous backgrounds and in a variety of situations and circumstances. Some of us start out in large, rowdy zoos with lots of noise and smells; others are sentenced 3-5 years of solitary confinement in a wooden cubicle with a 25 year-old computer. And of course there’s everything in between. The level of support, help, companionship and access to expertise varies enormously. Regardless, the issues and challenges are often the same and it’s more than likely that someone else has already struggled through exactly whatever it is that is keeping you awake at night! It seems a shame to waste the collective experience and wisdom of everyone else that has, or is, in a similar situation to you and the ICECReam is about establishing a forum to make use of that resource.'
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen."
*Author: Mary Schmich (USA)
First published: July 1, 1997
Copyright: Herald Tribune
*I haven't been able to verify if this is indeed the correct source for this piece. If it isn't then I guess the Herald Tribune and Mary Schimich, whoever she may be, get a plug which is ok by me.