Three Cups of Tea --- Greg Mortenson

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

by Greg Mortenson and David Relin

#1 New York Times Bestseller

4.5/5 stars on Amazon (1,615 cutomer reviews)

#1 in Books > History > Asia > Afghanistan
#1 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > Women
#1 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Philanthropy & Charity
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24 in Books

Time Magazine Asia Book of The Year

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association - Nonfiction Award

And most importantly this books is on my top 10 favorite books list ;)

Media type: Hard Cover paperback Audio CD


The book describes Mortenson's transition from a mountain-climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and educating girls "Peace" in Pakistan and afterwards in Afghanistan. He did this by co-founding the "Central Asia Institute", which has built over 78 schools in the most remote areas of the both countries.

I would like to share some passages from the book with you:

"Hoerni said to Greg: "You love what you are doing in the Himalaya and it doesn't sound like you're too bad at it. Why don't you make a career? The children of those other villages that try to bribe you need schools too. And no one in the mountaineering world is going to lift a finger to help the Muslims. They have too many Sherpa and Tibetans, too many Buddhists on the brain . What if a I endowed a foundation and made you the director? You could build a school every year. What do you say?"



"That day, Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I've ever learned in my life, Mortenson says. We Americans think you need to accomplish everything quickly. We re the country of twenty minute power lunches and two minute football drills. Our leaders thought their "shock and awe" campaign could end the war on Iraq before it even started. Hajji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them"



"These two Christian men have come halfway around the world to show our Muslim children the light of education, Abbas Said. Why have we not been able to bring education to our children on our own? Fathers and parents I implore you to dedicate your full effort and commitment to see that all your children are educated. Otherwise they will merely graze like sheep in the field at the mercy of nature and the world changing so terrifyingly around us."



The entire 257th page of the paperback is very powerful and I wouldn't want to spoil it for you. All in all this book was a great read. Get your hands on it soon. You will not regret it.

To read further reviews:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

Tips On Making The Most of Each Medical Rotation

Here are some tips for making the most out of your rotaitons:

• Be familiar with and able to apply the core content of the rotation specialty.
• Take time to review one or two relevant textbooks and go over any notes you may have
• Read as much as you can about the illnesses of the patients you are seeing.
• Be a team player.
  
• Dress professionally, be on time and be enthusiastic.
• Establish an informal learning agreement with your preceptor, resident or attending at the beginning of each clinical rotation.
• During down time, resist the urge to engage in excessive non-rotation tasks, such as personal e-mail, Web surfing, blogging or personal phone calls.
• Maximize time spent waiting during rotations.
  
• Learn to ask enough questions to satisfy your hunger for knowledge without monopolizing precious time.
• If you know individuals who have done this rotation, ask them for pointers.
• Keep a journal for each rotation.
  
• In the middle of each rotation, ask your senior resident or attending for a verbal evaluation.
• If you are not afforded the opportunity to perform some clinical decision-making and procedural skills that you wish to perfect during a rotation, ask your supervising physician what you can do to gain more experience.
• When you have completed a rotation, take a moment to assess what you’ve learned.
• Avoid asking questions of the preceptor during the patient encounter.
• If you find yourself on the receiving end of harsh criticism, don’t take it personally.

Source:

Tips on Making the Most of Each Rotation (FMIG) pdf

Do you have any other tips?

Psych 1 - General Psychology - Lecture 12

Post event misinformation effect:

-leading questions can influence eyewitness report
-misinformation gleaned from leading questions can be incorporated into memory for event

Hence memory is not pure

Courses Next Semester "401" (forth year semester one)

Some of you have asked me what courses (rotations) I will be taking next semster, so here they are:

• General Medicine I
  
• General Surgery I
  
• Gynaecology & Obstetrics I
  
• Ophthalmology I
  
• Ear, Nose & Throat I
  
• Community Medicine I
  
• Forensic Medicine & Toxicology I
  
• Paediatrics I

Now let me clear out the confusion this may have caused. First of all, yes I will be taking all of those courses cramed up in my 5 month long semester. The system over here is diffirent than that of the US and many other places. Here we will study all of those subjects at the same time along each other, not one subject at a time. Next semester we will take the same subjects again but this time courses designated "II". Yes, as you may have assumed, it kinda sucks. You cannot concentrate as much on the work at hand this way.

Update

A couple of days ago was my birthday and yesterday I recived my grades for the semester. Thankfully I passed all my courses. This brings an end to the basic sciences era. I will start my forth year on the 28th of Feb. And with that I will start my clinical classes.

:)

Image credit: mandj98 - Creative Commons

Boy Turns Into A Goat

Yes, science is the answer.

An introduction to genomics

Genomics is the study of the genomes of organisms. The field includes intensive efforts to determine the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping efforts. The field also includes studies of intragenomic phenomena such as heterosis, epistasis, pleiotropy and other interactions between loci and alleles within the genome. In contrast, the investigation of single genes, their functions and roles, something very common in today's medical and biological research, and a primary focus of molecular biology, does not fall into the definition of genomics, unless the aim of this genetic, pathway, and functional information analysis is to elucidate its effect on, place in, and response to the entire genome's networks.

For the United States Environmental Protection Agency, "the term "genomics" encompasses a broader scope of scientific inquiry associated technologies than when genomics was initially considered.

A genome is the sum total of all an individual organism's genes. Thus, genomics is the study of all the genes of a cell, or tissue, at the DNA (genotype), mRNA (transcriptome), or protein (proteome) levels.

Psych 1 - General Psychology - Lecture 11

The schematic processing principle:

Memory is a function of the relationship between an event and pre-existing schemata (knowledge, expectations, and beliefs)

Psych 1 - General Psychology - Lecture 10

Key points from the lecture:

• In rote rehearsal there is no relation between rehearsal and long term memory but when you engage in elaborate rehearsal you find a very solid relationship.
• The elaboration principle: memory is a function of the degree to which an event is related to preexisting knowledge. The more you try to connect up some new thing that you have learned with somethign that you already know the better you are going to be able to remember it later on
• The more elaboration the better for memory 
• Elaboration and organization are the two principles that govern the encoding stage of memory processing 

Official MIT OpenCourseWare 1800 Event Video

"Here is the official video for the MIT OpenCourseWare 1800 event: Unlocking Knowledge, Empowering Minds: A Milestone Celebration. The event celebrates the publishing of the 1800th course on MIT OpenCourseWare. 

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA"

Building a Circuit-Diagram for the Brain

"Jennifer Raymond (Stanford University) is building a "wiring diagram" for the brain. By bridging the gap between individual synapses and whole-brain learning & memory, Raymond's research offers new insights and strategies for medical rehabilitation and K-12 education.
The Future of Human Health is a unique lecture series that features seven very different -- and inspiring -- stories about the frontiers of human health from Stanford's most innovative faculty members."

General Psychology (Perception)

"Perception is intelligent activity. Its not just a matter of mechanically extracting information from the stimulus out in the environment. Rather, the perceiver has to actively engage in problem solving activity bringing his or her knowledge, expectations, and beliefs to bare on the problem of figuring out what the objects in the world are, where they are, what they are doing, and what we can do with them. That is the intelligence of perception and that is the general thrust of the constructivist view."

I Got Me An External Hard Drive

My internal hard drive is almost full. I used the entire 60 GB that I had! Yes, my laptop is about 2 years old and I do not plan on buying a new one soon. So I went ahead and bought an external Hard Drive so I can backup my data and not worry about storage anymore (at least for the up coming months, lol)

Oh, and I got it in red because I didn't want to go with the conventional black.

Here are it's features copied from amazon:

Western Digital My Passport Essential 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive WDME2500TN

• 250GB Hard Drive Capacity
• Installation is a snap because you don't really install this drive; you just plug it in and it's ready to use
• There is no CD to install; the included software loads from the drive the first time you plug it in
• Powered by the USB bus
• No separate power supply is needed
• Fits easily in your pocket or purse, weighs only a few ounces

You can check out the product here:

Western Digital My Passport Essential 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive WDME2500TN (Midnight Black)

How To Network

Evolution and Education

"Overall, the nation has a big problem," said Alters. "Approximately half of the U.S. population thinks evolution does (or did) not occur. While 99.9 percent of scientists accept evolution, 40 to 50 percent of college students do not accept evolution and believe it to be 'just' a theory," he reported.

Many university students have misconceptions about evolution that are amazingly ubiquitous, noted Alters. They believe that evolution is not pertinent to medical research or practice and has no relevance to AIDS, for example, or to antibiotic resistance in microbes. READ MORE

Do you believe in evolution? or do you not?




Image credit: coda - Creative Commons

Can Fat Asses be the Answer to the Environment?

Speechless!!!

The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey by Spencer Wells (YouTube Videos)

From the Back Cover

How did the human race populate the world? A group of geneticists have worked on the question for a decade, arriving at a startling conclusion: the "global family tree" can be traced to one African man who lived 60,000 years ago. Dr. Spencer Wells hosts this innovative series, featuring commentary by expert scientists, historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists.


The rest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV6A8oGtPc4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybji0axp6s0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25Ez4HW104
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA3aINMIWMw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m2-RwYXkWg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0QDrODnN6g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMzaQhqHYnM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZ7zaT5hvU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV3Ws7pyJUI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNlvzhfQex0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KzroCQVDoI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-bnnES42U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT6XsVnuz6o


You can by the DVD here:
Journey of Man

Evolution Related Wikipedia Articles

Biology
Introduction To Evolution
Evolution's Main Article
Evolutionary Biology
Gene
Natural Selection
Genetic Recombination
Genetic Drift
Mutation
Gene Flow
Common descent
Population Genetics
Evidence of common descent
Speciation
Level of support for evolution
Fossil


Again, dear friend, do your homework before you argue with me :p

Evolution Put Into Context

Where does evolution stand in science?

Lets start from the very beginning ...

Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge" or "knowing") is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding of how the physical world works. Using controlled methods, scientists collect data in the form of observations, records of observable physical evidence of natural phenomena, and analyze this information to construct theoretical explanations of how things work. Knowledge in science is gained through research. The methods of scientific research include the generation of hypotheses about how natural phenomena work, and experimentation that tests these hypotheses under controlled conditions. The outcome or product of this empirical scientific process is the formulation of theory that describes human understanding of physical processes and facilitates prediction.



In science, the term natural science refers to a naturalistic approach to the study of the universe, which is understood as obeying rules or law of natural origin. The term natural science is also used to distinguish those fields that use the scientific method to study nature from the social sciences and the humanities, which use the scientific method to study human behavior and society; and from the formal sciences, such as mathematics and logic, which use a different (a priori) methodology.



Disciplines of natural science include: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics, and other cross disciplines.



Biology (from Greek βιολογία - βίος, bios, "life"; -λογία, -logia) is the study of life and a branch of the natural sciences which studies living organisms and how they interact with each other and their environment. It examines the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of living things. Also, it classifies and describes organisms, their functions, and how species come into existence. Biology as a separate science was developed in the nineteenth century as scientists discovered that organisms shared fundamental characteristics. Biology is now a standard subject of instruction at schools and universities around the world, and over a million papers are published annually in a wide array of biology and medicine journals. Most biological sciences are specialized disciplines. Traditionally, they are grouped by the type of organism being studied: botany, the study of plants; zoology, the study of animals; and microbiology, the study of microorganisms. The fields within biology are further divided based on the scale at which organisms are studied and the methods used to study them: biochemistry examines the fundamental chemistry of life; molecular biology studies the complex interactions of systems of biological molecules; cellular biology examines the basic building block of all life, the cell; physiology examines the physical and chemical functions of the tissues and organ systems of an organism; and ecology examines how various organisms and their environment interrelate.



Foundations of modern biology:

There are five unifying principles of biology:

• Cell theory. Cell Theory is the study of everything that involves cells and tissues. All living organisms are made of at least one cell, the basic unit of function in all organisms. In addition, the core mechanisms and chemistry of all cells in all organisms are similar, and cells emerge only from preexisting cells that multiply through cell division. Cell theory studies how cells are made, how they reproduce, how they interact with their environment, what they are composed of, and how the materials that make up a cell work and interact with other cell sections.

• Evolution. Through natural selection and genetic drift, a population's inherited traits change from generation to generation.

• Gene theory. A living organism's traits are encoded in DNA, the fundamental component of genes. In addition, traits are passed on from one generation to the next by way of these genes. All information flows from the genotype to the phenotype, the observable physical or biochemical characteristics of the organism. Although the phenotype expressed by the gene may adapt to the environment of the organism, that information is not transferred back to the genes. Only through the process of evolution do genes change in response to the environment.

• Homeostasis. The physiological processes that allow an organism to maintain its internal environment notwithstanding its external environment.

• Energy. The attribute of any living organism that is essential for its state. (e.g. required for metabolism)

In biology, evolution is change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. These changes are caused by a combination of three main processes: variation, reproduction, and selection. Genes that are passed on to an organism's offspring produce the inherited traits that are the basis of evolution. These traits vary within populations, with organisms showing heritable differences in their traits. When organisms reproduce, their offspring may have new or altered traits. These new traits arise in two main ways: either from mutations in genes, or from the transfer of genes between populations and between species. In species that reproduce sexually, new combinations of genes are also produced by genetic recombination, which can increase variation between organisms. Evolution occurs when these heritable differences become more common or rare in a population.


God bless wikipedia ;)

How Evolution Really Works

I found this interesting video on YouTube that illustrates how evolution works:

"Evolution is the process of change in all forms of life over generations, and evolutionary biology is the study of how evolution occurs. An organism inherits features (called traits) from its parents through genes. Changes (called mutations) in these genes can produce a new trait in the offspring of an organism. If a new trait makes these offspring better suited to their environment, they will be more successful at surviving and reproducing. This process is called natural selection, and it causes useful traits to become more common. Over many generations, a population can acquire so many new traits that it becomes a new species."

The Joy of Sex Is The Speed of Evolution

"Why does sexual reproduction exist? What is it good for? Why don't we all use asexual reproduction and simply bud off clones."

"Simple. One huge advantage of sexual reproduction is its ability to increase variation thus accelerating evolution."

I need your advice regarding medical visiting electives

If you were a medical student that just finished your basic sciences classes and had a 2 month summer vacation that you wanted to do something constructive with and you decided to take a basic science elective which would you choose?

Biochem:

Micro:

Pharma:

Please let me know what you think. And if you have any better suggestions please go ahead and leave a comment.

Protests Against Attacks On Gaza at M.U.S.T.

Last week there were a couple of demonstrations at my school against the attacks on Gaza.



I filmed this from the second floor of the medicine building.





I filmed this one in front of the university teaching hospital.





This is the actual quality of the video but I have to downgrade is because of YouTube and uploading issues.

2009 Resolutions

Reading 30 non medical books
Doing relatively good at school
Doing a visiting elective in the summer
Working out regularly
Reaching 200,000 site views
Getting a 5/10 google page rank!!!
Start vlogging on YouTube
Making thrice as much money as I made last year on line


What are your 2009 resolutions? Please share :)

Stats and figures to this date

Prep4md blog visits 50,000
Prep4md blog posts 339
Prep4md photos on flickr 357
Prep4md flickr photo's views 13,190
# of videos I have watched on youtube 7,116
# of videos I have tagged as a favorite 175
# of YouTube channels I am subscribed to 57
Following on twitter 18
Followers on twitter 18
# of twitter updates 37
Friends on Facebook 56
# of posts on prep4usmle forum 2,544
# of threads on prep4usmle forum 50
# of blogs subscribed to 92
Money made off the internet $250 :p

Anyone with similar interests?

I am looking for people with similar interests to mine. Here they are in no particular order:

Psychiatry, psychology, sociology, religions, evolution, science, documentaries, edu-innovation, biographies, busting cults and myths, nutrition, web 2.0, humanitarian work, freedom of speech, meeting new people, networking, photography, trying new things, bestseller books, hot new released books, blockbuster movies, ...

Is masturbation bad for you?

Regardless of how silly, stupid, commonsense, naive, or out-of-the-question, this question might be to some, it is not so to others. As a medial student, I have been asked this question several times in separate occasions. I had some spare time tonight so I thought I should get an end for this taboo topic.


I did some searching and googling and found the following articles:

According to wikipedia:

"The physical benefits of masturbation and having an orgasm or ejaculating creates heightened arousal while epinephrine courses through the body, producing the flushed face, shallow breath and post-climactic euphoria. It is held in many mental health circles that masturbation can relieve depression, stress and lead to a higher sense of self-worth. Masturbation can also be particularly useful in relationships where one partner wants more sex than the other – in which case masturbation provides a balancing effect and thus a more harmonious relationship ... Read more"

According to WebMD:

"In general, the medical community considers masturbation to be a natural and harmless expression of sexuality for both men and women. It does not cause any physical injury or harm to the body, and can be performed in moderation throughout a person's lifetime as a part of normal sexual behavior. Some cultures and religions oppose the use of masturbation or even label it as sinful. This can lead to guilt or shame about the behavior ... READ more"

According to an Article for the University of Pennsylvania:

"So, contrary to ancient and popular beliefs, masturbation does not lead to unbridled lust, does not make you blind or deaf, give you the flu, drive you crazy, grow hair on your hand, make you stutter, or kill you. Masturbation is a natural and harmless expression of sexuality in both men and women and a perfectly good way to experience sexual pleasure ... READ more"

According to About dot com:

"Several studies have documented the relaxation effects of masturbation induced orgasm. Aside from the physical benefits, masturbation, when you’re doing it right, is all about “you time” and taking time to focus on yourself is a great way to break up the stress of a busy life. Particularly when used with sexual fantasy, masturbation can be a great escape, a way to let off some steam, and while masturbation alone might not be enough to deal with all the stress in your life, it’s a healthy, free, and non-pharmaceutical tool right at your fingertips (or other body part or sex toy, as the case may be) ... READ more"

According to wikianswers dot com:

"Masturbation is natural. It also helps to lose weight (mind you a very, very small amount) but still. However, not everyone enjoys it ... READ more"

According to this article on BBC:

"They found those who had ejaculated the most between the ages of 20 and 50 were the least likely to develop the cancer ... READ more"



OK the scientific view on this topic is pretty clear but of course some belief schools look at the matter in other eyes. For an example check out this article on Wikipedia titled "Islam and Masturbation"


Please do what you are most comfortable with and do not believe everything you hear. Some people do not know what the hell they are talking about.

Doctor Keeps Licence After Oral Sex With Patient - speechless!

According to this article: "A 44-year-old doctor who performed oral sex on a male patient at a Stockholm hospital in 2007 has been allowed to keep his licence. The doctor has instead been given three years probation by the Stockholm Medical Responsibility Board (HSAN)."

Via- Berci Mesko - Scienceroll

Just For Fun - Photofunia.com

Paris Hilton announcing my new album :p


My latest magazine interview ;)




Rosario Dawson is a big fan of mine :D




You can make similar photos of your own on http://photofunia.com/

Window 7

According to Microsoft:

"It's the next version of Windows for PCs, and it's the result of working hand-in-hand with our partners and with people who use Windows in the real world every day. We're paying particular attention to the things they're telling us are important to them and will make their PCs work the way they want them to—things like enhanced reliability, responsiveness, and faster boot and shut-down. We're also trying to make their everyday tasks easier, like connecting and syncing devices, browsing the web, and managing a home network. Of course, we're also working on new capabilities, so people will be able to do things with Windows 7 that were difficult (or perhaps impossible) to do with PCs before. Finally, we're working hard to ensure that Windows 7 will run on any PC and work with any program that works today with Windows Vista, so upgrading from Windows Vista will be easy."

According to wikipedia:

"Windows 7 is the next release of Microsoft Windows, an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Microsoft stated in 2007 that it is planning Windows 7 development for a three-year time frame starting after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista, but that the final release date will be determined by product quality. Unlike its predecessor, Windows 7 is intended to be an incremental upgrade with the goal of being fully compatible with existing device drivers, applications, and hardware.

Presentations given by the company in 2008 have focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements.

Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, most notably Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are no longer included with the operating system; they are instead offered separately as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.

Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, and kernel improvements.

The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch toolbar has been merged with the task buttons to create an enhanced taskbar or what Microsoft internally refers to as the "Superbar". This enhanced taskbar also enables the Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks. The revamped taskbar also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons.

Screenshots have appeared demonstrating a new feature called 'Peek'. Peek is a quick way of making all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop. A Microsoft spokesman said that "this will be useful for users who want a quick look at the news" in reference to RSS gadgets on the desktop.[citation needed]"

Windows 7 touch screen demo:

I am still using XP. What OS do you use?

1/1/2009 Happy New Year + request

Happy new year dear readers, subscribers, friends, and commentators! I would like to thank you all. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't still be doing this. Please bare with me a couple more years. I still have a long way till I get my MD!



P.S. This blog has about 30 subscribers. But many do not leave any comments. Please come out of the dark and introduce yourself. There is nothing to be shy of ;)



Photo credit: Marcin Wichary - Creative commons