Classic: David Blaine at TEDMED. Great video, insane ideas.

via tedmed.com

"If one person can do it, anyone should be able to." I love insane ideas. They are the best ideas.

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Walt Mossberg video: iPad in Paris (tablet only on business travel)

via online.wsj.com

Now I have been toting only my iPad for business trips (about 4 / month) since the iPad launched. It has been a major success for me in travels vs the laptop. For the 90% of the work of email checking, surfing, reviewing / editing presentations, documents and spreadsheets, etc, the iPad is terrific. The updated versions of Keynote app for iPad is a great way to make impressive presentations (a big part of my job in communicating to customers and employees).

Then add on that I no longer need to carry physical books in my bag or a video player, the iPad is an incredible success. I have at any time 2-3 new books ready to read and 3-4 movies ready to watch. I am reading a book a week now, if not more (previous to iPad it MAY have been a book a month).

I actually found it funny that Mr. Mossberg needed to do an article on traveling with an iPad at this point in time as I think most iPad owners (now in the millions) found this out as soon as they got their ipad. But thats alright, this is also communicating to the 10's of millions of people who are still unsure about iPad and other upcoming tablets.

A major benefit, not to be under estimated, is I now just carry a very light iPad (vs notebook) in a light over the shoulder bag. I have been able to get rid of the ugly laptop roller bag or large backpack, both of which stressed my back. Plus it looks a little more chic. :-)

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Airprint Printing in iOS 4.2 Looks Great; Print Command on Share Button

via justanotheripadblog.com

Posted via email from Suneil Mandava's Posterous

Biostatistics - sometimes cause of death is plain old age.

Some people die like that, too. The trouble is there's not a good name for it.

Is there a single problem that gets the final chain of events going? Or should "old age" under some circumstances be considered an actual cause of death - equal to lung cancer, leukemia and diabetes?

Those questions are becoming increasingly important as more and more people die at very advanced ages without an obvious cause that can be confidently entered on the death certificate.

The difficulty of naming a cause of death in the very old is becoming enough of a problem in the industrialized world that the World Health Organization is likely to address it head-on it in the next year.

"If we can't find a way of dealing with this, then I think mortality statistics will lose much of their value," said Lars Age Johansson, who chairs WHO's Mortality Reference Group and is a biostatistician with Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare. "I see this as very, very important."

Part of the reason it's important is that mortality statistics are the backbone of public health.

Without knowing how the members of a population die, and at what ages, epidemiologists can only guess how many deaths are potentially preventable. On the other hand, good mortality data can identify overlooked problems and help public health agencies decide where to direct effort and money.

The issue is especially topical because experts from around the world next year will start updating the International Classification of Diseases, medicine's official list of more than 14,000 diagnoses.

"Each revision of the ICD is the right moment to reconsider this question," said Gerard Pavillon, a French biostatistician who will c0-lead the mortality statistics committee.

Some places began recording all deaths and their causes in the early 1800s. The original ICD, called the International List of Causes of Death, was adopted in 1893. It had 161 headings (with more specific causes falling under some of them). Paradoxically, it was probably easier for a physician to choose a cause of death then than it is now when far more is known about the complicated physiology of dying.

Today, doctors are expected to list both "immediate" and "underlying" causes of death and how long those diseases had been present. They are also asked to list "significant conditions contributing to death" but not causing it directly. But picking the "underlying cause" - which is the most important one - when a patient has several chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, dementia and coronary heart disease, is often difficult.

via washingtonpost.com

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