Technorati Favorites

It seems a lot of threads are being spawned by bloggers asking others to add them to their Technorati favorites.

There's a free utility available that virtually automates the process of adding to yours everyone who has added you. Find it at:
internetducttape.com/tools/technorati-favorite-your-fans/
Run it daily or as often as you choose and it quickly catches you up.
Having said that, here's my pitch. Add me to your faves and I will definitely, automatically reciprocate. Hopefully you'll post in this thread to say that you'd added me and the next person to visit will add both of us, and so on. That will help keep the thread fresh and on the front page of this group's discussions for a while.
O.K., here are mine in order that I would like fav'ed:
technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://www.drbashour.blogspot.com

technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://www.drwired.blogspot.comtechnorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://www.lasiksurgeon.blogspot.comtechnorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://www.facial-attractiveness.blogspot.com

And here's my main blogs:
www.drbashour.blogspot.com
A visit would be nice, a comment doubly so.
Thanks in advance!

Personal Productivity Wiki

http://productivity.wikia.com

I just started a wiki for personal productivity.

The focus of the Productivity Wiki is to document ALL resources for personal productivity.

Increasing personal productivity through various means of personal development can also impact professional, management and organization development.

We wish to include all ideas, tools and processes to improve personal, workgroup and enterprise productivity and innovation.

A review of the complete personal development library from which to people may get started in cultivating is also offered.

WE CORDIALLY REQUEST ANYBODY INTERESTED IN TOPIC TO PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO THIS WIKI THE SAME WAY THAT YOU MAY CONTRIBUTE TO WIKIPEDIA

PARTICULARLY NEEDED ARE BLOGGERS SUCH AS MERLIN MANN AND OTHERS TO SPREAD THE WORD TO INTERESTED PARTIES TO HELP DEVELOP THIS SITE STARTED THIS SEPTEMBER 4TH 2008

Needed are documentation, reviews and evaluations of your favorite techniques, methods, software, hardware, tools etc.

For example for Getting Things Done (GTD) one can have an encyclopedia type article documenting the facts about the book, methods, etc. and then maybe many more articles about real world experience and use and comparison of GTD vs. other approaches.

The Best Doctor?

I just commented on a post made by Paul Levy @ http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/

Could not agree more with this post and it is equally true for Doctors as it is for hospitals. Who is "the best" cardiologist? Urologist? Dermatologist?

Patients ask friends and doctors they know for referrals. Do these people really know who is the best... Indeed not, a mythology exists here as well. Referrals are based on such things as visibility, reputation, amiability, affability, availability, sociability and longevity. Very rarely indeed are they based on ABILTY.

I recommend patients go to a specialty group practice and ask very specifically the nurses and assistants who work directly with all the doctors (in surgery if it concerns surgeons) which one they would send their sick relative to. Often it may not be the esteemed head of the practice they were originally recommended.

Ruined iPhone

Today, as Rogers Wireless launches the coveted Apple iPhone, Canadian consumers and politicians will be blitzing the Internet to protest unfair wireless phone contracts.

A Toronto-based Internet marketing company that's spearheaded an online campaign urging customers not to buy the 3G phone is holding a live Webcast at 10 a.m. on July 11.

The Webcast will conclude with the delivery of a hard copy of Oilchange.com's RuinediPhone petition to Rogers. The petition, so far, has garnered more than 60,000 signatures online.

Today, as Rogers Wireless launches the coveted Apple iPhone, Canadian consumers and politicians will be blitzing the Internet to protest unfair wireless phone contracts.

A Toronto-based Internet marketing company that's spearheaded an online campaign urging customers not to buy the 3G phone is holding a live Webcast at 10 a.m. on July 11.

The Webcast will conclude with the delivery of a hard copy of Oilchange.com's RuinediPhone petition to Rogers. The petition, so far, has garnered more than 60,000 signatures online.

Liberal MP David McGuinty (Ottawa South) talks about his "Get Connected Fairly" act.

"We're going to invite Rogers to participate and make a comment to people who are very angry about the pricing," says Jamie Lynch, vice-president and co-founder of Oilchange.com. "People here are fed up at being overcharged."

Rogers did respond partially to consumer clamour for a better data plan, by offering those who activate an iPhone before the end of August the opton to add 6 GB plan to any voice package for $30 a month.

"We heard a lot from our customers, they were very enthusiastic about the iPhone," says Rogers' spokesperson Elizabeth Hamilton. "They were very knowledgeable about how much data they need."

It's unlikely Rogers will accept the invitation to participate in today's Webcast organized by Oilchange.com.

"We generally don't respond to petitions or polls," Hamilton says.

But at least one high-profile politician, Liberal MP David McGuinty -- brother of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty -- will be participating in the Webcast.

The Liberal environment critic says Rogers is using the iPhone as bait to lure Canadians into unfair contracts.

He said Rogers' promotional price cut on its controversial iPhone plan "is very temporary and dubbed it a PR measure.

"I want a long-term solution to this problem."

Many Canadian consumers are outraged that Rogers is charging more for its iPhone data plans compared with providers in the U.S. and the U.K.

Oilchange.com experienced first-hand, the difference between Canadian and American wireless plans.

Petition Against Ridiculous Wireless Data Prices in Canada

As many of you may know consumers in Canada are being gouged by the wireless phone companies here - largely because of the lack of competition.  Many people myself included believe that the companies involved are being particularly shortsighted and the company which made the first move towards what I am going to suggest would likely reap huge rewards.

My suggestion is to go to the Sprint "The Simply Everything Plan".   The plan includes Unlimited talk (including long distance and roaming all over the USA), Web surfing, emailing, texting, video-messaging, picture-sharing, GPS navigation, push-to-talk, and Sprint TV and Music programming.  All for $99!

Many telcom analysts believe that plans like this which allow consumers to no longer fear extra costs, of any kind, is going to drive real change in the marketplace.

The only thing missing in this plan is that it should also include both the USA and Canada with no roaming for either data or talk.  If you are listening Sprint - if you implement this people from Canada will cross the border to sign up with you especially with the current strength of the Canadian dollar vis-a-vis the US dollar.

At minimum the wireless phone companies here should introduce reasonably priced all you can eat data plans like those from AT&T for the iPhone in the US.  I encourage everyone to sign this online petition - it already has 5375 votes as of this writing.

Links:

http://www.petitiononline.com/iPhone99/
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/unlimited-talk-data-plans-wireless/story.aspx?guid=A3CF0343-5242-40A7-B350-51F02F276BBB
http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1113525

Technorati Tags: canada wireless,data plans,simply everything plan,iphone

Friends help define views of beauty - Fourth Facial Attractiveness Article in 2 Months!

Richard Russell (Harvard) and Matthew Bronstad (Brandelis) recently published a study in Perception. They asked adults to rate the attractiveness of various faces, they found that that siblings, friends and spouses were more likely to agree with each other than with strangers."The agreement between pairs of affiliated friends, siblings and spouses was significantly greater than between pairs of strangers drawn from the same race and culture, providing evidence that facial-attractiveness preferences are socially organized," Richard Russell, of Harvard University in Massachusetts, said in the study.

They recruited 20 married couples, 20 pairs of siblings and 41 pairs of close friends and asked each person to rate 74 faces of undergraduates on a scale of one to seven, from very attractive to very unattractive. The responses were also compared with answers from another person they did not know. Close relations were more likely to agree with each other than with strangers and the strength of their agreement also tended to increase along with the number of years that they had been in daily contact.

Links:
Friends help define views of beauty

Ugly Men With Pretty Women

Just a note to myself to clarify and address some of the information and misinformation being reported regarding the findings from the team of Professor Jim McNulty at the University of Tennessee in the Journal of Family Psychology
Basically what is being repoted is that:

• Men who see themselves as better looking than their wives were more likely to be disgruntled and have negative feelings about their marriage,

• “Men who were more attractive than their partner demonstrated a tendency to offer less emotional and practical support to their wives.”

• "Attractive men have available to them more short-term mating opportunities. This may make them less satisfied and less committed to the marital relationship."

• “Men are rated as more likeable and friendly when they have a wife who is very attractive," said Strathclyde University psychologist Alastair Ross

• "Ugly men try harder. They care more about you and treat you like a princess. Good-looking guys are self-obsessed. That’s not attractive."

• It appears that handsome men carry a “health warning” that makes most women believe they will eventually prove unfaithful partners.

• Should a beautiful woman date someone who is not so fortunate in the looks department - he will treasure and appreciate her more and much better.

To explain all this in a simple manner one only has to bring up the axiom: "Women marry MPI, Men marry facial and physical attractiveness"
In other words it does not matter too much how the male looks to the female as long as he has MPI (more detail later but basically males that exudes charm and power and combined with wealth and status) she will be happy. To the man what makes him happiest is how attractive his mate is.

Links:
http://www.theseductionbible.com/2008/04/13/why-beautiful-women-marry-less-attractive-men/
http://www.xfxmb.com/content/health/happier-marriages-result-from-attractive-women-who-wed-uglier-men/
http://emilyteng.livejournal.com/21237.html
http://udothedishes.com/2008/04/03/ugly-men-with-pretty-women-just-works-better.aspx
http://teamsugar.com/1547365
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=43539
http://laurafreberg.com/blog/?p=221
http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/love-relationships/68892-why-women-marry-less-attractive-men.html
http://swampbubbles.com/why-beautiful-women-marry-less-attractive-men

Can mobile phones eradicate poverty?

After publishing my last blog entry I noticed that I am not alone in my views:
Shop Talk - Innovation, Marketing and Alliances: Can mobile phones eradicate poverty?
Links:
http://shoptalkmarketing.blogspot.com/2008/04/can-mobile-phones-eradicate-poverty.html
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2008/04/reality_trails_by_mo.html

A COMMUNICATIONS UTOPIA

I just ran across this on an old unpublished website I had written a few years ago interestingly I still believe strongly in this idea. Hopefully one day it will come to be.

This is just a short note of my view of what the world should be like from a utopian communications viewpoint.

Essentially my belief is that:

1. All communications should be free.

2. When you are born you should be assigned a telephone number which will follow you for the rest of your life.

Imagine this world.

You are born Mark Johnson, your telephone number is 514-416-978-3906. You are given a microphone implant and cochlear implants with this phone number. You essentially have technological telepathy. If it any point you want to be not disturbed, no problem, disconnect and divert to voice messaging or accept only text messaging to your single e-mail account which is linked to this phone number. You can also block unwanted numbers accept calls from people you want to talk to even when you are busy, caller id, whatever, you have the freedom to choose. You can disallow GPS location, or allow it.

Imagine you go off to Malaysia for a business trip, you can talk to your wife all you want for free, even on the airplane if you so wish, she can call you if she needs you. You can talk to your kids when they are at school, anything. Just say the word, "call little johnny", and there he is, talking to you in your head.

It does not make sense that wireless licenses are being sold by governments for exorbitant sums to big business whom in order to make back the money has to fleece the consumer. Government exists to serve the people not big business, the people I believe want free communication, let us use the money for that, or at least not demand it in the first place.

Software for Facial Attractiveness

Recently there have been many discussions on a software an Israeli team of computer scientists has developed that ranks facial attractiveness of women first reported in Haaretz, some links include: Haaretz; Geekpicks; Fuzzlinks; CautionInc; ZDNet; Radio Vice; Tech News Daily; Chat Marchet.

One of the most common questions asked by reporters and bloggers is why the software only focuses on female faces? There are, in fact, several reasons for why the researchers made the software focus on women only. The research and software build directly on my PhD work found in "Is an Objective Measuring System for Facial Attractiveness Possible?" available at Amazon.

In that work it is shown that objective models of attractiveness are far more accurate for female faces than for male faces. Software for male faces is possible but would be very unlikely to be as accurate. One of several underlying reasons for this, for example, is that male faces vary in attractiveness to female observers depending on the point they are at in their menstrual cycle. At mid-cycle or ovulation, women find more masculine faces more attractive and at menses, they prefer slightly more feminine male faces. This also correlates with when women are more likely to cheat on current partners.

Expertise

I have several major ares of expertise which you can feel free to ask me about through the use of comments on this blog. They are:

• LASIK

• PRK

• Human Facial Attractiveness

• Physical Attractiveness

• Evolutionary Psychology

• Diets to complement overall wellness and fitness particularly "The Zone" and "Paleo Diet"

• Vitamin, Antioxidant and Omega3 Supplements

• Facial Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery and Cosmeceuticals

Of course, you may ask about anything in general that I may be able to help with and who knows I may answer - but if I do not know the answer, believe me I will tell you. Very little I find more irritating than someone who knows it all - the only thing I know with any certainty is that I do not know it all.

Surgery & Complications

Amongst surgeons it is common to say "the only surgeons who do not get complications are those who do not operate". Obviously, just like in any other technical field there are gradations of skill amongst surgeons as there are amongst for example pianists. Excellent surgeons like excellent pianists are far less likely to be off key. However, the human body is also like a piano some are better than others, a finely tuned grand is going to perform better than an out of tune banged up old piano. Some patients because of genetics and environment and underlying medical conditions do not react to surgery as well as another patient might even if the surgery performance was identical. In other words, many surgical complications (intra-operative and post-operative) are just sheer bad luck for the patient and for the surgeon and are not due to surgical error.

I will talk a bit about refractive surgery complications here in this blog as I believe that many misconceptions exist regarding them. By nature I tend to be blunt and very frank, and I will say when a complication is more likely to be surgeon related than just simply bad luck.

In LASIK one common complication post-op is called DLK (diffuse lamellar keratitis) and it is essentially unrelated to the surgical performance or to the surgeon. It essentially is "like an allergy" to the surgery - some patients bodies react to surgery by mounting a stronger immune response than the norm. The immune system orders WBCs (white blood cells) to go to the eye and to the flap of the eye to eliminate the "insult". The only problem is there is no insult beyond the desired surgery and then the WBCs do more harm than good by attacking the flap. If left untreated the DLK response can result in flap scarring or melt and a permanent reduction in visual acuity. Fortunately, if caught immediately it is easy to handle by modulating the immune response using steroids either topically or orally, or both. The WBCs which have already arrived may also be washed out from under the flap speeding up the resolution and minimising the risks of further complications.

Blog Content

A short post regarding the content of this blog and its intent.

My personal mission statement in life follows directly after my first name. Mounir means the one who brings light into your life or the enlightening one. I grew into my name without realizing it when I found myself an Ophthalmologist in 1994 and finally a refractive surgeon (LASIK surgeon) in 1999. To this date I have done over 50,000 refractive procedures mostly LASIK but a few thousand PRK as well. I am not entirely sure but this may be the most of anyone in North America at present. I have been bringing light directly into people's lives 6 days a week for almost 10 years now, by opening their eyes to newfound vision.

Beyond this, however, my goal and the goal of any company or group that I associate myself with is to improve the lifestyle, health and fitness of my clients and /or patients. On a more personal level, I also strive to "awaken" people as much as I can.

Many "conscious" people who look around them in the world realize that most people are walking around in an unconscious fog, living each day relatively joylessly, and for most intents and purposes like sleepwalkers. If I can, I try and wake up these sleepwalkers to all the joy the world has to offer, in the here and now, not in the past or future.

No Original Thoughts

I acknowledge as I start this blog that there are no original thoughts - in all likelihood there are also no truly original expressions of an old thought. Every thought has been expressed in a variety of forms over the centuries, the differences largely as a result of the current language at the time as well as the audience the thought was being directed to at the time.

By current language I mean for example Chaucer's English, Shakespeare's English, or our 21st century American/Canadian/British/Australian English. In other words, language varies with time as well as in nature, French vs. Italian vs. Mandarin vs. Cantonese vs. Hindi vs. Arabic vs. English etc.

So to the current audience varies with time (e.g. a Shakespearean era physician from a current physician) as well as by nature (e.g. the common masses vs. the intellectual minority). Even though all thoughts have likely been presented to all audiences at one period or another in time. Not all thoughts have become realities to all audiences in all times. So re-presenting thoughts in current language to current audiences is I believe the function of those conscious of the thought (and its reality) to those as yet unconscious.

My goal in this blog is to present thoughts in my language to my audience and help them make those thoughts their realities. My goal is for that audience to be the world, hence the use of the "world wide web", let us see how far I get.