John Oliver from the Tonight show on Miss America Pageant - and it's funding of scholarships as advertised

http://boingboing.net/2014/09/27/john-oliver-vs-miss-america.html

'It's 15 minutes that combines real investigative journalism, scathing satire, important social commentary, and, most importantly, compassion.

John Oliver is providing a template reconciling "real" news with the clickbait dystopia -- producing clips like this that use the form of comedy and satire to tell significant news stories that expose corruption and help reform social attitudes.

In this absolutely magnificent segment, Oliver digs into the Miss America Pageant's claim to providing millions in scholarships to women, a claim that allows it to position itself as somehow progressive. Beyond simply demolishing the silliness of this claim -- what legitimate reason is there for a program devoted to helping women go post-secondary education to judge those women based on their appearance in a bikini? -- he actually digs into the funny accounting that the pageants use to grotesquely inflate their numbers, turning a few thousand dollars (or, in one case, no dollars) into millions by multiplying thepotential scholarship benefits by largely imaginary and absurd coefficients. For example, if a WINNER is entitled to partial support at one of thirty colleges of her choosing, the pageant multiplies the scholarship by thirty, even though the winner will attend no more than one of them.

But Oliver digs deeper -- without losing sight of his comedy -- into the state of post-secondary education for women altogether, bringing the whole thing off so brilliantly that you're left gnashing your teeth in rage and holding your sides from laughing so hard. It's such a neat trick -- and it's why Last Week Tonight is the most important thing to happen to news since Jon Stewart took over The Daily Show.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Miss America Pageant (HBO)'

The Al-Qaeda Separatists breakdown...

http://www.vocativ.com/world/isis-2/isis-jokes/?utm_campaign=International&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=outbrain

This Anti-ISIS Joke Is So Funny, the State Department Retweeted It

It's never too soon to take the piss out of black-clad terrorists

Author: Sarah Kaufman

Posted: 09/24/14 07:14 EDT

Is ISIS a joke? The U.S., its five Arab allies and the thousands of people they’ve displaced, terrorized and killed don’t seem to think so. Monday marked the most intense and widespread air campaign against the extremist group since the U.S. began bombing parts of Iraq months ago. But in times like these, there’s still a way to find a good laugh.

To that point, here’s the best ISIS joke on Twitter right now. It’s a too-real guide to the extremist group drawn by Lebanese satirist Karl Sharro that mocks what he sees as the actual ridiculousness of the group’s structures, a series of “pretend” and “nonexistent” entities, by his reckoning:

As Sharro tells Vocativ, his inspiration was a CNN report on the “anatomy of ISIS”:

09/18/14 14:31 UTC@CNN

The anatomy of ISIS: How the 'Islamic State' is run, from oil to beheadings: http://t.co/43B3p4BJ4W http://t.co/w4vVp1axKP

 |  | 

CNN gave a prelude to that report in early September that was mocked extensively on Twitter.

09/03/14 00:27 UTC@_RICHARDHALL

You know things are bad when CNN whips out the Tree of Terror. http://t.co/VQ0tZKV6z2

 |  | 

The U.S. State Department’s Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications retweeted Sharro’s drawing on Monday. It’s all part of the State Department’s SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN specifically created to counter ISIS’ own online efforts called “Think Again Turn Away.”

It’s a small, odd honor that Sharro himself finds more bizarre than anything else. “Maybe it’s a good thing that they have a sense of humor,” he says. Ultimately, though, he feels the State Department should focus less on the social media wars than the serious stuff—like, you know, policy? “Leave it to amateurs like me,” he says, “to do all the mocking.”

wise words...

http://lifeinthefastlane.com/5-lessons-learned/

From the Life in the fast lane blog - excellent medical blog. Awe-inspiring writers. 5th anniversary.
Check out the blog. 

'5 lessons learned

by Mike Cadogan 

This week marks LITFL’s 5th blogiversary and the end of another roller-coaster year.

Over the last 5 years we have published 5000 posts/pages, had >20,000,000 page views and currently open our doors to 50,000 visitors a day. We have seen FOAM go mainstream by becoming an integral part of textbooks and journals as well as stimulating a significant increase in online access to asynchronous medical content globally…for free.

But this has come at a cost
Here are 5 thoughts about the last 5 years. 5 mistakes I have made and lessons I have learned. Unfortunately I learned these lessons too late. I hope that recording them now will help others in the future.

1) Family comes first

Altruism requires motivation. Not the motivation of fame and fortune but the motivation to do the right thing and innovate to make change for the greater good. Joining forces with like-minded individuals creates a sense of community and drives the process forward as a collaborative tsunami…
But, the online community is virtual – it is not real. 
True, you may meet these kindred souls and shake their hands, but the online community is not tangible. The support you afford it is recordable in statistics but not in the innocent smiles and warm hugs of your real family. Social acceptance of a well-timed snapshot can never replace the depth of gaze, breadth of smile and nod of appreciation that you were there – in person.
Family comes first – always.

2) The cost of free is immense

The majority of the resources we use, advocate, promote and build are free to the end-user. They provide primary resources for clinical cases and research, and secondary opportunities for discussion and asynchronous education. FOAM perpetuates the expectation that limitless resources should be open access and available to all…for free
But nothing in this life is free – someone always pays.
Payments range from the financial cost of hosting, developing and deploying software through to the physical amputation of time and the emotional burden of expectation.
Be wise about what you are building and understand your limitations…then follow steps 3, 4 and 5 to keep hold of reason 1

3) Learn to say NO

Of course you want to say Yes to everything, after all you are riding the crest of a wave – making a difference. Your time is yours to give, the requests are only small and they will benefit the greater good.
But the requests don’t stop.
They are genuine enough and appear small, even paltry to the requestor – ‘surely just a minor talk here or a quick chapter there is not too much to ask – nobody is that overloaded with work!’ Then they become larger, more frequent and more onerous often involving travel, expense and time – and the pressure mounts.
Isolated requests aggregate, accumulate and coalesce as an asphyxiating tide of failed promises.
Nip it in the bud early. Multi-tasking is a myth. Value your time – not in monetary terms – but in terms of self-preservation. Do well what you do well. Remember – just because you can write eloquently does not mean that you can lecture well; just because you can code, does not mean you have to code for the world and because you have done a favour once does not justify a lifetime of service.
Individuals learn a lot by finding their own way through the maze. Sure, you can record the path you have taken with petals of prose and illuminate the darkest passageways with insight – but limit physical hand-holding to helping your kids cross the road…

4) Learn who to trust

Altruists are in general open and honest – but don’t expect everybody around you to have the same ideals and principles.
For example your ‘open and honest‘ approach to life can easily be interpreted as ‘easy prey cash cow‘ to a malignant narcissist. Avoid potentially cataclysmic tribulations by learning to identify and distrust individuals with narcissistic traits. Protect your intellectual property and practice self-preservation principles even if it appears to be against your naturally trusting nature.
People are better at receiving than giving – if you are a giver, give wisely to prevent a vicious cycle of expectation.

5) Accept assistance

You are not a one man show.
Embrace the community and join forces with like-minded peers. Look to institutions and groups to share the writing, financial and educational load. There are many amazing people in this world – reach out and make the world a better place

…and always remember

 

About Mike Cadogan

Emergency physician with a passion for medical informatics and medical education. Co-founder of HealthEngine. Asynchronous learning #FOAMed evangelist | @sandnsurf | + Mike Cadogan | LinkedIn'

38 degrees

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/moratorium-on-a-e-closures-and-hospital-reorganisations

' Building Burma's Death Railway Moving Half the Mountain BBC Documentary 2014'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03z09n9

'The brutal use of British prisoners of war by the Japanese to build a railway linking Thailand to Burma in 1943 was one of the worst atrocities of the Second World War. For the first time in 70 years, British POWs and their Japanese captors, many now in their nineties, open their hearts to tell the story of what really happened on the 'Death Railway'. Alongside the extraordinary experiences and stories of survival told by the British, their Japanese guards tell of different horrors of war, some never disclosed before.

Exploring how they have survived the terrible memories, this is an often inspiring story that many of these men have waited a long time to tell. What emerges is a warm and emotional journey through the lives of men from different sides reflecting on a terrible event that still haunts them'

Many transferable lessons to be learned here...