Larry Brilliant, who has organised the fight against Smallpox in the early seventies, talks about why people could be pessimistic when looking at a future of global warming, the growing divide between the rich and the very poor and the oncoming of over 30 new communicable diseases.

BUT, he did succeed in his fight against Smallpox, a disease that had killed over 50 Million people until if was eradicated by an organisation of over 150,000 health workes of all cultures, religions and countries. And he sees a growing trend for organisation against our new threats, this time coming from busineness entrepeneurs, politicians and philonthropists.

His case is for optimism, and he is right in this I guess, because without optimism, how could you go on living and working in today’s world? Without optimism, what could you teach your children about their future?

In this captivating article Atul Gawande, an american surgeon, explains how the use of something as simple as a paper checklist has dramatically increased the quality of intensive care and saved hundreds of peoples lives.

He also explains how difficult it is to make this use more widespread as there is still skepticism as to the effectiveness of this rather simple tool (although it has been proved in widespread research). Whereas it seems much simpler to market a new expensive drug or equipment which usually does not yield better results.

Annals of Medicine: The Checklist: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

I think this is fabulous: Kermit the frog shows you how to perform your 15 basic stretches.