Obsolescence comes for every gadget. Even a medical icon...!

RIP, Stethoscope?
No. Not at all. Stethoscopes brought about a new level of physical examination, and the application of a more rigorous science to medicine. Once the 'very emblem of a physician', stethoscopes served healthcare professionals for almost 200 years before the advent of handheld ultrasound devices. It will remain so for quite long - for the simple reason - "at best, the price of ultrasound machines may dip into only the $2000 to 3000 range"! Nelson may suspect that individual physicians will begin swapping out their stethoscopes for them. The stethoscope is survived by the long, white coat, and the old leather (doctor's) bag! They certain had a long run. Back before physicians routinely slung stethoscopes around their shoulders, doctors would place an ear directly on the patient. There is some mention of this practice, called immediate auscultation, in ancient Egyptian literature, Nelson says. And the Greek physician Hippocrates described listening directly to the abdomen and chest. But when Rene Laennec invented a wooden proto-stethoscope in 1816, the resulting amplification changed the course of medicine.

"In the next two years, maybe half a dozen companies are bringing devices of this size to the market," says Nelson. Once the price dips into the $2000 to 3000 range, Nelson suspects that individual physicians will begin swapping out their stethoscopes for small ultrasound machines.

It may be several years before ultrasound machines completely replace the physician's trusty stethoscope. But according to Nelson, the end is nigh. "It's not much different than leaps that we've seen in other technologies, like computers or cellular phones," he says.

Obsolescence comes for every gadget. Even a medical icon.

Why you need to plan, Some Good Reasons

What is planning, why you need to plan, 5 Good Reasons

Planning is, perhaps, the most important project management and time management technique. It's just preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve one specific goal. If you do it effectively, you can reduce much the necessary time and effort of achieving the goal. A plan is like a map. Only when following a plan, one can see how much progress towards the goal has been achieved and how far we're from destination. Knowing where we're is essential for making good decisions on where to go or what to do next. One more reason why we need planning is again the 80/20 Rule. It is well established fact that for unstructured activities 80% of the effort give less than 20% of the valuable outcome. We either spend much time on deciding what to do next, or we're taking many unnecessary, unfocused, and inefficient steps. Planning is also crucial for meeting our needs during each action step with our time, money, or other resources. With careful planning you often can see if at some point you are likely to face a problem. It is much easier to adjust your plan to avoid or smoothen a coming crisis, rather than to deal with the crisis when it comes unexpected.
We do have hard-working people putting their best efforts into areas that have little to no effect on strategic success. They’re essentially majoring in the minors—because their activities aren’t aligned with the priorities. We must set direction and priorities, first; Next get everyone on the same page; Priorities make it easier to say no to distracting initiatives. Once you recognize the need to plan, we've the role of becoming the catalyst: for facilitating the buy-in and commitment of our leadership team and the rest of the organization. For a nation it's much more important. Let’s get started.

Why Asians Don’t Always Hug ?

When To Hug Someone. And Why Asians Don’t Always Hug

Hugging. Some of us like to be hugged, and some of us don’t.

I don’t mind being hugged. Don’t mind giving hugs either. Crushing bear hugs. Soft two-second hugs. Group hugs. One arm hugs. Whether we hug someone or not depends on how we feel about them. And how they feel about us.
Post-proposal. Marriage, hugs, and kisses are containers of happiness, warmth and trust | Weekly Photo Challenge: Containers.

Post-proposal. Marriage, hugs, and kisses are containers of happiness, warmth and trust | Weekly Photo Challenge: Containers.

We hug someone we barely know when we like them and feel like we can be friends or more. If we have a nice conversation going and maybe share a laugh hanging out with someone we don’t know well, we might hug them when saying hello or goodbye.

About a year ago I met a blogger friend from the States for the first time. He didn’t mind that I was late to our lunch because I got lost, and we talked non-stop while eating. We parted with a hug. No dramas. Hugging, a show of friendship.

It usually feels okay to hug someone we aren’t best friends with if we have something in common like school or work, and if we don’t hate each other’s guts. Each time I left a job, my colleagues thanked me for my work and hugged me on my last day. Hugging, a show of appreciation.

We might hug someone we know or don’t know when we share moments and emotions together – we probably don’t know what else to do. We hug to celebrate, hug our teammates when we win and strangers when our county scores goals at the World Cup. We hug to make someone feel better when they’re feeling down.

There’s not forgetting hugging those close to us when we see or leave them. Hugging, a show of love. But then again, not all the ones we love are big on hugs. And you can never be sure if that person we just met is okay with hugging.

For some of us, hugging is a special moment. We don’t hug every day and reserve our hugs for special someones. So when someone who we’re not best buds with hugs us, we might resist.

Some of us don’t hug too often because of cultural and religious reasons. In Asian cultures, getting touchy-feely with each other is frowned upon. In countries like Malaysia where thieves are around every corner, we’re wary of people touching us the slightest bit. Arms around us – too close for comfort.

Catching germs and getting dirty is another reason why some Asians aren’t keen on hugging. Being clean is something many of us pride ourselves upon, explaining why we like taking our shoes off at home. More than once I’ve heard my mum say, “Those gweilos hugging. So sweaty.”

Maybe some Asians shy away from hugging because of our nature to be shy. Because we’re respectful of personal space and physical distance.

Growing up, hugging was alien to me. Never saw my Chinese-Malaysian parents hugging each other when I was little. Out of spite my Caucasian classmates pushed me to the ground in the playground. My Asian classmates hid away studying. No one whom I could hug, and no one hugged me.

This changed when I moved back to Melbourne for university. On campus, many of my Asian and non-Asian friends were fond of greeting me with their arms around me. It felt odd. After a while, I decided to go along with this and realised hugging is…nice. Warmth between two bodies. Two people. Two hearts, so close.

My friends say I squeeze tight when I hug them. I suppose I’m generous with my hugs. Earlier this year, I was sitting in a shopping centre and a blonde girl about fourteen came up to me asking for directions. I pointed her the right way. Saying “Thank you”, she bent down and hugged me. Without thinking, I hugged her back. Hard.

When we hug, we love. We learn to give. And above all, we learn to trust.

Do you hug a lot? When do you hug?

Needed an attempt to separate the truth from the noise

We've seen seen the terrorist attacks in Pathankot. And while every terrorist attack is unique in its horror, the coverage tends to follow predictable, not always admirable, patterns: the inaccurate and uninformative phrases that are repeated endlessly; the viral photos that, even if well-meant, tend to be false; the phony experts pushing a political agenda.

Needed an attempt to separate the truth from the noise.

Would we have :
1. Remember, in the immediate aftermath almost everyone will get it wrong. Terrorist attacks are designed to sow mayhem and confusion. Even using best practices, news outlets, witnesses, and governments need time to get the facts straight.

2. As always, local, non-anonymous, and verified sources offer better info. Most news sources will be operating off of second- and third-hand information. Wait for trustworthy, verified reports from those who actually know.

3. Amid all the contradictory statements, focus on consistent reports.

4. The more emotional the commentary, the less reliable the information. Rational thinking is essential in these moments, as well as remembering the lessons of history.

5. Really don’t pay attention to politicians. Incidents like these are uniquely suited to political manipulation, especially in a campaign year, and politicians of all stripes will be tempted to push their favorite agenda.

6. In fact, examine the credentials of all putative “experts.” Just because someone worked in government doesn’t make them a terrorism expert. Even a CIA background is no guarantee of expertise.

7. Pay attention to the language the media uses:

    “Mastermind” … endows terrorists with more power than they have.
    “Sophisticated” … overestimates crudely planned mayhem.
    “Unprecedented” … there is little “new” in terrorist methods.

8. Inevitably, whole populations and religions are scapegoated. Ignore this.

9. Resist reflexive retweeting. Number of shares belies accuracy. Even well-intentioned social media users will get things wrong. Better to wait than to share an inaccurate meme that could have negative consequences. In fact, generally...

10. Be patient. No matter what, the unfolding of the story will take time and mistakes will be made. Allow the coverage to develop and let those who were affected recover and respond in their own way, on their own time.

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To Plan or Not to Plan is Not the Question

Set Priorities, Align Activit
`To Plan or Not to Plan is Not the Question' -  planning is the most important project management and time management technique. It's preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve one specific goal. If you do it effectively, you can reduce a lot of time and effort to achieve the goal. We do have hard-working people putting their best efforts into areas that have little to no effect on strategic success. They're essentially majoring in the minors -because their activities aren't aligned with the priorities. We must set direction and priorities, first. Then get everyone on the same page.

SUBRAHMANIAN SH Mumbai