Happy New Year!   Took a blogging break, partly due to being ill over the last few weeks. So, this will remain brief.

To my defence, Prof. Kyle Sue in the British Medical Journal (BMJ, peer reviewed, bona fide high tier academic journal) has suggested that “man-flu” exists.

She writes: “I do think that the research does point towards men having a weaker immune response when it comes to common viral respiratory infections and the flu. This is shown in the fact that they [have] worse symptoms, they last longer, they are more likely to be hospitalised and more likely to die from it.”

It is part of the BMJ Christmas edition and citing real studies, it is not completely serious with some definite tongue in cheek.  The original paper is here (but behind paywall, the BMJ press release is here, not behind wall).

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Highlights of 2017, in the short life of this blog 3.0.  The popular posts have been

1. The academic study on the value of active ownership and stewardship in equity investing  (so some serious thinkers out there)

2. The post highlighting the energy consumption of Bitcoin (now broadly the same as Ireland)

3. The commencement address of Nassim Taleb, this might be due to the quote attrib to Taleb suggesting   “The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” which acted like clickbait.

4. A glimpse inside the head of a 13 year old autistic boy and his book, Reason I jump.

And the more recent look at how to live a life well lived, from a play expert, Bernie De Koven suffering from terminal cancer.

-How do you live, a life well lived?
-If you would do life differently - what would you do?
-What would you tell your 40-year-old self?
-If these are the better days of an early nation, what should I do?”

Read more about the answers and discussion in this 3 min blog post here. 

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I started a post about diets. It turned out to be somewhat vast and confounded, so I’m detangling it before posting. But, as a side note, I compiled some thoughts on living a long life.

This post looks at some of the science thinking behind it, but the life style part can be summed up:

Laugh a lot (Sardininian men) and have friends/community (Okinawan moai, faith)

Walk (Sardininain sheperds, long lived nuns cloister walking) or other (often low impact) physical exercise which is part of your daily routine (hand made food, do things yourself).  Maybe, I will try walking up stairs and not using the lift (I noted the Nesta building was encouraging this the other day)

Do not over eat and use ritual tactics to ensure this (hara hachi bu in Japan, serve food on a counter, so you have to go up for more). The diet evidence is confounded but, simplistically, there is evidence for calorie restriction, and a diet heavy in vegetables.

This post points to some other links and the book, author,  looking at the long lived enclaves of the world (blue zones).  

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Quick hits on jobs and projects (Arts/Diversity/Pharma):  

Sustrans is the charity making it easier for people to walk and cycle.  “We connect people and places, create liveable neighbourhoods, transform the school run and deliver a happier, healthier commute. We are now seeking to appoint a new trustee to join Sustrans’ Board and to chair our London Advisory Board.”

Lessons from Autism

... On Welcome to Holland... "I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! ... All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. ...But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.