Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine for sale

 

I have 2 brand new OHCM 7th Edition books for Sale. Never used, covered in plastic film. Selling for rock bottom price of RM35.
It is paper back cover.

You can collect personally from me in KL or bank in the money along with PosLaju cost, and I will send it to you by PosLaju.

 

Interested? Leave a message here.
Or email me –
[ d r f u r q u a n (-a.t-) gmail(-dot-)com]

 

also have 2 copies Oxford Handbook ok Clinical Specialities. RM35

If you buy OHCM + Clinical specialities together, price RM 60.

Typing Aids

 

This is going to be very short introduction of a software I have come across and find it enormously useful, to the extent that it has made me recommend this to others who are looking for similar solutions for typing – be it notes, thesis or just typing your usual stuff.

Often you encounter you use repeated phrases and long words which you get fed up of keying in again. I used to use a smart phone based on windows mobile and they had an inbuilt autocompleter  for words as I tapped letters for a quick SMS.

Now lately before exams as I review some of my earlier notes for quick editing and some summarization of topics, i least care about formatting etc and want things really fast as I brain storm. I don’t like short hand stuff when it comes to typing on the computer, thus it made me look out for a typing solution that was similar to what I had on PDAs and Smart phones.

After trying out a few softwares, I ended up with my preferences to LetMeType, and also FastFox Expander. Initially I was quite satisfied with FastFox, but there were a few things It couldn’t do, and eventually I came across LetMeType.

 

LetMeType

Helps you enter text. Running in the background, it analyses what you type. After some time it has collected enough information to guess a word after you have typed the first two or three letters. The list of common words you use is shown against numbers, to follow on with you expansion just hit the number key with corresponding word of your choice.

LetMeType is an open-source free software available for download. This is cool.

Download it here

 

Another that I liked was FastFox.
Unlike LetMeType it does not generate a list of words but infact automatically inserts a custom expansion to shorthand text just after you hit the space after keying in the shorthand text for the word/phrase you like to insert. You can also insert preformatted text, signature, phrases to predefined shorthand text you specify in the program. It is not similar to LetMeType.
It is not free, but a free-version is available.
download FastFox here

What’s so great about Twitter?

 

- Twitter is a global index to ‘now’ – what people are thinking ‘in real time’;

- Twitter permits social networks to meet around a virtual water cooler in real time;

- Twitter is a virtual online town-square where people meet and provide support digitally;

- in practical terms, Twitter is open-access, unfettered, free information flow;

- a wildly easy way to stay connected with online networks @ a single point of entry;

- efficient way to see ’status updates’ of family and friends

- Twitter permits thinking ‘on the fly’; monitoring ideas & thoughts; breaking news;

- an important productivity tool; face-to-face meetings get up to speed much quicker

- Twitter is also a potentially powerful research and information dissemination tool;

- some Twitter feeds, once they ‘mature’, are mini-web conferences on the go

- News alerts and reporting events from on the scene as it happens, by the public, from different angles, different sides (as in #Mumbai Gunmen terror and the #Gaza war)

- A place to discover web, ideas and knowledge from other twitter users.

- A marketing tool to promote and market products, services etc.

- An alternative to RSS feeds, to get new additions to websites or blogs you follow. Many have their own twitter account you can follow, else there are other ways to import feeds too.

 

Please add in more words to describe the limitless uses of twitter.

Getting productive online

How often have you found yourself utterly distracted, juggling a number of windows on your desktop as you multi-task with several things. Towards the end, a small little job becomes to feel like a hell of a workload and sucks up much time.
Yup! Those IMs, Social networking websites like facebook, Microblogs like Twitter, and even News website.
But you actually signed on for work to get done, have a Thesis prepared, A document write up or read some important articles be it academic or otherwise, but not wasteful.
Yet going online invariably leads to opening up of several browser windows, signing on IMs, checking emails every few minutes and doing some leisurely reading.
You think you can handle all this multi-tasking.
But its wrong! Your brain does not handle multi-tasking, every time you switch from one task to another, your brain has to switch mode. And its not as easy for you brain as you do it in computer. Invariably a 15-30 min job may extend to more than an hour or even 2 or more.

There are few tools that I came acorss online, That can actually help you stay affixed with either Writing or reading.
I have tried them and it really works amazingly. It has made my work so fast and online life much much more productive.

Before you actually jump on to these tools, like you always do, here are a few things you should do yourself before you stick yourself to a task to complete.

* Sign-off from your Instant Messenger (the best) or atleast go invisible (Appear offline)
* Close all your opened windows
* Close your Email Inbox
* Its better to turn off music or radio you are listening. But for some this is not much of a distraction.
* Try not opening Facebook, Twitter randomly at any time of the day. Keep a time for it and allot like 20 or 30 mins a day for it. Not more than that.

Coming to the tools I was talking about.

Zap-Reader is a reading tool. A Very simple program script that flashes words from the text you input at a specific rate (300wpm or more). Looks silly but try it yourself. Put in a huge article you want to read and Zap read it. You will actually notice you read it fast and understood it all. It affixes your mind on the tast, cos the words keep changing and you are forced to have full attention on reading. At the same time it maintains your reading speed.

There is another similar tool which is similar – Spreeder
Spreeder allows you to change for color, background and size apart from setting the Reading speed.

Now coming to getting productive while you are typing stuff.
There is a windows based application, which is very simple and really soothing to eyes as you type long.
DARK-ROOM . A thumbnail screenshot of it will say it all.
A neat light weight, no nonsense program just for typing. You can do text wrapping later.
A full screen dark background with cool green font.  Puts your mind entirely into typing your work.

Another online application Write-or-Die
Forces you to finish writing a task in a stipulated time,
uses various alarms and sound clips to keep your attention and speed.
Personally I havn’t treid it but it has received a good response from Writers.

How Internet is altering the Brain

Our minds continuously adapts to different environments and culture it faces.
With the rise of people who spend most of their times doing work on the internet, it has given rise to a different environment their minds are occupied with, and thus this is evolving a totally new system of mind work and will affect a lot of people in their personal development – having both good as well as drawbacks.
reflect on this article from Reuters. Following are some key highlights of it in a Snap.

• Neuroscientist arguing this is an evolutionary change which will put the tech-savvy at the top of the new social order.
• Internet searching has made brains more adept at filtering information and making snap decisions.
• Technology can accelerate learning and boost creativity
• Yet the Drawback – dramatic rise in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses.
• Those who excell in future – will have a mixture of technological + social skills.
• technology has altered the way young minds develop, function and interpret information.
• “The brain is very specialized in its circuitry and if you repeat mental tasks over and over it will strengthen certain neural circuits and ignore others,” ~ Gary Small.
• “Evolution is an advancement from moment to moment and what we are seeing is technology affecting our evolution.”
• Problems of multitasking, info scanning – neglecting human contact skills and losing the ability to read emotional expressions and body language, rapid scanning for new information may cause stress and disrupt neuronal circuits.

Gary Small has written his new book “iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind“

iBrain reveals a new evolution catalyzed by technological advancement and its future implications: Where do you fit in on the evolutionary chain? What are the professional, social, and political impacts of this new brain evolution? How must you adapt and at what price?

While high-tech immersion can accelerate learning and boost creativity, it also has its glitches, among them the meteoric rise in ADD diagnoses, increased social isolation, and Internet addiction. To compete and thrive in the age of brain evolution, and to avoid these potential drawbacks, we must adapt, and iBrain—with its Technology Toolkit—equips all of us with the tools and strategies needed to close the brain gap.