Me and my dad having a top laugh

"Well I'm rumbling in this JCB
I'm five years old and my Dad's a giant sitting beside me
And the engine rattles my bum like berserk
While we're singing "don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work"

My Dad's probably had a bloody hard day
But he's been good fun and bubblin' and jokin' away
And the procession of cars stuck behind
Are getting all impatient and angry but we don't mind

We're holding up the bypass
Me and my Dad having a top laugh
Sitting on the toolbox
And I'm so glad I'm not in school boss
Glad I'm not in school,
oh no

And we pull over to let cars pass
And pull off again speeding by this summer green grass
We're like giants up here in our big yellow digger
Like Zoids or Transformers or maybe even bigger

And I wanna transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex
And eat up all the bullies and the teachers and their pets
And I'll tell all my mates my Dad's BA Baracus
Only with a JCB and Bruce Lee's nunchuckas

We're holding up the bypass
Me and my Dad having a top laugh
Sitting on the toolbox
And I'm so glad I'm not in school boss
Glad I'm not in school,
oh no

Said I'm Luke, I'm five and my Dad's Bruce Lee
Drives my round in his JCB"

By: Nizlopi, the JCB song

Beautiful dawn...

Dawning of a Day, Mont Blanc, Geneva - Nov. 2005, Picture by: *CN*D

"There is nothing else in the world,
I'd rather wake up and see..."

Brain activity in chocaholics

Source: Northwestern University(http://www.nwu.edu/) Date: Posted 8/29/2001

Measuring Brain Activity In People Eating Chocolate Offers New Clues About How The Body Becomes Addicted

CHICAGO - Using positron emission tomography scans to measure brain activity in people eating chocolate, a team of U.S. and Canadian neuroscientists believe they have identified areas of the brain that may underlie addiction.

Dana Small, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Medical School, and colleagues found that individuals’ ratings of the pleasantness of eating chocolate were associated with increased blood flow in areas of the brain, particularly in the orbital frontal cortex and midbrain, that are also activated by addictive drugs such as cocaine.

According to an article on their research that appears in the September issue of the journal Brain, the neuroscientists also learned that the brain regions activated by eating chocolate when it is rewarding are quite different from those areas that are activated by eating chocolate when it is perceived as aversive (as a result of having eaten too much chocolate).

Small is conducting research on the brain regions involved in reward because of the role of reward in addiction. She believes this is the first study to look at the brain’s activity in response to changes in the perceived pleasantness of a "primary reinforcer" -- in this case chocolate.
According to Small, a primary reinforcer is a stimulus that an individual doesn’t have to learn to like but, rather, is enjoyed from birth. Addictive drugs can be viewed as primary reinforcers. Fat and sweet also are primary reinforcers, and chocolate is chock full of fat and sweet, Small said.

Small and her colleagues gave 15 study participants, who classified themselves as "chocoholics," between 16 to 74 squares of chocolate (or about 40 to 170 grams) that had to melt slowly in the mouth. The researchers measured brain activity of participants as they became full and then beyond full to the point where they ate despite no longer wanting to. "In other words," Small said, "eating chocolate went from being a highly rewarding to a highly punishing activity."

Small and colleagues found that different brain regions were activated selectively depending on whether subjects were eating chocolate when they were highly motivated to eat and rated the chocolate as "very pleasant" or whether they ate chocolate despite being satiated.

Small explained that studying the brain’s response to eating a highly rewarding food such as chocolate provides an effective "in-health" model of addiction. "The problem with studying addicts to understand addiction is that we don’t know what their brains were like before the addiction and we therefore can’t determine which brain functions have changed," Small said.

Small also noted that measuring brain responses in normal individuals who ate beyond satiety provided a measure against which the brain response to overeating in many people with eating disorders can be compared and thus serve as the basis for new research on eating disorders.


Small is a researcher in the Cognitive Brain Mapping Group at Northwestern University Medical School. Collaborating on this study were Robert J. Zatorre, Alain Dagher, Alan C. Evans and Marilyn Jones-Gotman, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Why good employees leave/ resign?

"The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization.
The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called First Break All The Rules.

It came up with this surprising finding: If you're losing good people, look to their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, he is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why they quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts withthem. Often, straight to the competition.

"People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. "So much money has been thrown at the challenge of keeping good people - in the form of better pay, better perks and better training - when, in the end, turnover is mostly manager issue." If you have a turnover problem, look first to your managers. Are they driving people away?Beyond a point, an employee's primary need has less to do with money, and more to do with how he's treated and how valued he feels. Much of this depends directly on the immediate manager. And yet, bad bosses seem to happen to good people everywhere.

A Fortune magazine survey some years ago found that nearly 75 per cent of employees have suffered at the hands of difficult superiors. You can leave one job to find - you guessed it, another wolf in a pin-stripe suit in the next one.Of all the workplace stressors, a bad boss is possibly the worst, directly impacting the emotional health and productivity of employees."

My supervisor is leaving us and the supervisor of my supervisor is also leaving the "enterprise"!!! They are both great bosses... so, according to this study, the finger should be pointed to the boss of the supervisor of my supervisor....

Beloved One

This song is from Ben Harper's album "Burn to shine", 1999.
But What I really like is the live version recorded in "Live from Mars", 2001.

"we have both been here before
knocking upon love's door
begging for someone to let us in
knowing this we can agree
to keep each other company
never to go down that road again

my beloved one

your eyes shine through me
you are so divine to me
your heart has a home in mine
we won't have to say a word
with a touch all shall be heard
when i search my heart it's you i find

my beloved one

you were meant for me
i believe you were sent to me
from a dream straight into my arms
hold your body close to me
you mean the most to me
we will keep each other safe from harm

my beloved one"
Written by: Ben Harper

By the Lake, Geneva - Jun. 2005, Picture by: *CN*D

World Health Day - "Working Together For Health"

This year is for us: ALL HEALTH WORKERS!!

World Health Day - "Working together for Health" - spotlight on health workforce crisis

Monaco

Monaco - Aug. 2004, Pict. by: *CN*D

Blue beach

Foz do Douro - Jan. 2006, Pict. by: *CN*D

Sun set - perfect moments

Sun set in Foz do Douro - Sept. 2004, Pict. by: *CN*D

Rice... Damien Rice

Here's another one I really like.... "Cannonball", from Damien Rice...
Heard him for the first time in the movie "Closer" (yes, yes the one with Clive Owen!!!), and then in the first episode of the series "L-world" (which by the way... I also recomend, as they do a great job approaching homossexuality between women - specially considering that the series was produced thinking of the US audience - for that, and for being able to pass the series on TV - I gave all the credits to the producers... Plus... it has an excellent sound track!!!)

"Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
Still a little hard to say what's going on
Still a little bit of your ghost, your witness
Still a little bit of your face I haven't kissed
You step a little closer each day That I can't say what's going on

Stones taught me to fly Love, taught me to lie
Life, it taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball

Still a little bit of your song in my ear
Still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer to me
So close that I can't see what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love, it taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall When you float like a cannon...

Stones taught me to fly Love,
it taught me to cry
So come on courage Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna scare her
It's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna lose

It's not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know"

Damien rice, "Cannonball"

Blunt... James Blunt

I like most songs of his first album... but this one.... this one is my absolute favorite of "Back to Bedlam":

"Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.
You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.
I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be
I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.
I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one. You have been the one for me.

And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bare my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.

In: "Back to bedland" - James Blunt

To move in you

"But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah"
In: "hallelujah" Jeff Buckley

The concept of "to move in you" fascinates me... to have someone else's register of movement in your own body, in our own mechanics of movement, in your muscles, in your skin... is (most of the times) a privilege.....

"Prime"

The new film starring Uma Thurman, Meryl Streep and the young Bryan Greenberg deserves 5 stars from my personal scale!!!
It tells the love story of a 37 year old photographer (Uma) and a 23 year old painter (Bryan) and the therapist (Meryl) of the photographer. The movie has hilarious moments, particularly during the therapy sessions!! Meryl does a great job as a jewish mother and therapist... Especially when Uma starts giving details about her sexual life with the painter - son of Meryl.
It has a realistic end.... I'm usually in favour of happy endings, but this one... is the right one! Not sad, just realistic!!!
Uma is becoming more beautiful as the years go by, and in this movies her wardrobe is gorgeous and her hair is always lovely combed! (nothing like the yellow leather suit she used in Kill Bill)
The sound track of the movie was really well chosen! And you get out of the cinema in a good mood, and not with a ruined night! (Try to watch "Syriana", and then go happily for a drink with your friends..... there's no happiness feeling after "Syriana" - which is absolutely not the case for "Prime"!).
I loved it, and I highly recommend it!!!

Economists

And... according to my "health ecomics" book, economists are usually accused of three sins:

• an inability to agree among themselves;
• stating the obvious; and
• giving bad advice!!!

Lollllllllll (these are probably the only sentences of the entire book that I'll enjoy :o)

Relativism

According to my "Principles of social research" book... I'm relativist in my way of thinking, viewing society and science... Relativism in its extreme form assumes that reality changes and is constructed differently in different times and places. The less strong versions of relativism, assume that other perspectives on reality are worth studying to aid our understanding of people's health beliefs and behaviour. (is there any other way to see a world that is constantly changing, and where diversity rules??) What I really believe is that only when one is flexible and susceptible to change, will one learn and improve one's skills and understanding of society. Being strict implies not being able to adapt, which will imply death, because if you do remember, and according to Darwin: "Usually is not the stronger that easily survives, only those who can adapt will survive and pass their genes to the next generation" :o)