Malade

Je suis rarement malade, mais bon, un petit rhûme est vite arrivé entre les courants d’air dans les transports en commun parisiens et en bas des tours de la Défense, et les fluctuations de température dans mon bureau qui passe de l’étuve au frigo en fonction de la météo.

Bref, le mal de gorge que je traîne depuis vendredi soir n’étant toujours pas parti malgré un traitement anti-inflammatoire Surgam (3 x 200g par jour) depuis lors, et la fièvre étant même apparue depuis hier soir, je sors le bazooka, i.e. les antibiotiques (Amoxicilline, 3 x 1g par jour pendant 3 jours, puis 2 x 1g par jour pendant 2 jour), et je reste un jour à la maison à boire beaucoup (de l’eau, tout simplement) et à me reposer.

Ce “dispositif de combat” est complêté d’Efferalgan (Paracétamol, 3 x 1g par jour – pour faire tomber la fièvre) et de bonne vieille Solutricine (Comprimés de 0.2mg de Tetracaïne à sucer) pour calmer la douleur.

Be prepared for the offline world

I read an interesting article in today’s PostMagazine, Technology section (Sunday 12 April 2009 edition of the South China Morning Post, a.k.a. Sunday Morning Post). Bien Perez is the main contributor to this section, but this particular article – entitled “Gone, but nor forgotten”, was written by Peter Svensson and illustrated by Steve Yau.

In short, the point is that when you “log off” for the final time (either that you pass away, or become severely disabled, or leave for a “no return” expedition to the planet of the Apes etc.), you can – using one of various new web services – leave relevant information to your dear ones for them to know what to do with your cyberlife and cyberposessions (such as your flickr photo collection or your blog) once your are gone.

Three sites were described in the above mentioned article, namely:

- Death Switch;

- Slightly Morbid;

and

- Legacy Locker.

Check them out before your check out. As the saying goes 1) “shit happens” and 2) today might thus be your last day – sorry – that’s life, and the end of it

Be optimistic – gardez le moral

Two news of suicides and tentative of suicide made some headlines on Christmas’ eve (click on the pictures for more info).

Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet (former employee of Credit Lyonnnais Securities in New York), 65y old NY based french, killed himself after losing US$1.4bio in the Bernard Madoff’s scandal.

Claudie Haignere, 51y old and first french woman (rheumatologist by profession) to go to space, married to another astronaut and with one daughter, tried to commit suicide (but fortunately didn’t succeed).

It is very important, when feeling depressed, to know how to put things in perspective, to know how to reach for help from family and friends. It is too sad to see people kill themselves, or to attempt suide, when then have all they need to be happy (smart, healthy etc.). In the case of  the investor, to loose money “stupidly” might certainly be upsetting, but who hasn’t in the past 12 months? Whatever the darkness you might see at some point in time, there is always some brighness waiting to be discovered nearby and / or very soon.

* * *

Il est très important, en cas de déprime, de savoir garder le moral quoi qu’il arrive, de savoir tendre la main à la famille ou aux amis pour chercher un réconfort. Il n’y a pas d’obstacle insurmontable. C’est toujours trop bête de voir des gens se suicider – ou essayer de se suicider – et c’est d’autant plus incompréhensible quand ils ne semblent avoir aucune raison sérieuse de le faire. Dans le cas de l’investisseur, par exemple, perdre de l’argent “bêtement” est certes vexant, mais de là à se suicider pour celà, il y a un énorme pas que personne ne devrait franchir.

L’animal symbol de la France est le coq (notamment pour les matchs de sport, cf. la marque du “Coq Sportif”), et c’est aussi mon signe zodiacal chinois. Et bien le coq est le seul animal qui chante les pieds dans la merde, alors pensez-y si un jour vous aviez des idées noires!

Long Prayer

Reposted from Nischal Shetty’s Posterous:

A girl asks her boyfriend to come over Friday night and have dinner with her parents. Since this is such a big event, the girl announces to her boyfriend that after dinner, she would like to go out and make love for the first time.

Well, the boy is ecstatic, but he has never had sex before, so he takes a trip to the pharmacist to get some condoms. The pharmacist helps the boy for about an hour. He tells the boy everything there is to know about condoms and sex.

At the register, the pharmacist asks the boy how many condoms he’d like to buy, a 3-pack, 10-pack, or family pack. The boy insists on the family pack because he thinks he will be rather busy, it being his first time and all.

That night, the boy shows up at the girl’s parents house and meets his girlfriend at the door. “Oh, I’m so excited for you to meet my parents, come on in!”

The boy goes inside and is taken to the dinner table where the girl’s parents are seated. The boy quickly offers to say grace and bows his head.

A minute passes, and the  boy is still deep in prayer, with his head down.

10 minutes pass, and  still no movement from the boy.

Finally, after 20 minutes with his head down, the girlfriend leans over and whispers to the boyfriend, “I had no idea you were this religious.”

The boy turns, and whispers back, “I had no  idea your father was a pharmacist.”

Original source unknown.

World Toilet Day 08 – “We Deserve Better”

Did you know that WTO not only meant “World Trade Organization”, but also meant “World Toilet Organization”?

This is NOT a joke. The World Toilet Organization (WTO) is a global non- profit organization committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide. WTO is a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur and an Ashoka Global Fellow. WTO was recently appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water Security.

And today, Wednesday November 19th, they are celebrating World Toilet Day 08!

You can also check the World Toilet Organization entry on Wikipedia and support the group Toilet for All and the cause World Toilet Organization on Facebook.