Howard Davies-Carr is a proud father of four. Few years back, while 2 of his kids, Harry and Charlie were sitting next to each other, something casually funny happened. It was recorded by Howard, in a footage that lasts for merely 56 seconds, and uploaded in YouTube in 2007.

In the short video, the older Harry puts his finger into Charlie’s mouth only to see the latter not letting his finger go. Harry’s facial expression progressively evolves from excitement to a painful howling and later, a scream. Charlie just giggles.

It was just meant to be one of those moments. Except this one makes them a fortune.

What began as a private family moment suddenly became an instant online hit. The video went crazily viral has now become the sixth most viewed clip all time, garnering more than 430 million views.

Sensing the popularity of the video, Howard the father was contacted by a YouTube representative, offering them to place relevant advertisements next to the clip.

Within a year or two, the family makes more than US$150 thousand dollars, with the video clip continued to be watched all over the world.

Not bad for a less-than-a-minute YouTube video clip.

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Singapore PM highest paid Prime Minister in the world. Surprise? Not really

The world’s highest paid Prime Minister in the world is not so far down south.

Singapore has decided to cut the salary of its Prime Minister and other government top posts following growing complaints and recommendations from government-assigned panel. That, nevertheless, would not stop the country’s PM from still being the highest paid Prime Minister in the world.

The salary of Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong will be cut by 36% from S$3 million (US$2.33 million) to S$2.2 million (US$1.71 million). The President’s annual pay will be reduced by 51% to S$1.54 million, while new ministers will take home about (still generous) S$1.1 million.

In spite of major cut, Lee’s status as the world’s highest paid country leader remains intact. The S$2.2 million figure is way above the next highest paid country head—Donald Tsang, Hong Kong Chief Executive—who earns roughly about US$550,000 annually. Statistically, Lee would earn as much as three times the amount Tsang receives.

The third highest paid leader goes to Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who receives about A$480,000 (US$497,000) while American President Barrack Obama is fourth with earnings of a rather moderate salary figure at $400,000.

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US DoD world’s largest employer

A few days ago, The Economist named the US Department of Defense as the world’s largest employer, based on the number of personnel employed. Altogether, the DoD is now an employer to about 3.2 million workers who provide their service inside and outside of the States.

Where ratio is concerned, the DoD provides job to 1% of the total population in the US.

The usual suspects: Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and China National Petroleum also made it to the top 10 list.

With colossal ambitions, goals and security interest, the DoD is often backed with the largest amount of budgetary resources, far exceeding other government bodies. Some three years back, the annual budget was close to hit the US$800 billion mark, and the figure now certainly has excessively surpassed the amount.  In fact, it was said that the new budget resources for 2010 (covering base and contingencies) amounted up to US$1.2 trillion.

The so-called war on terrorism, to date had cost an estimated US$5 trillion. Other than expenses, wars in which the US is involved had taken many lives of the US armies.

A more detailed observer would also realize that from the 10 largest employers list, more than half of them are from the government sector. They include the Chinese Army, UK’s National Health Services (NHS) and India’s national railway company.  While many governments these days (US included) are being subject to harsh treatment and condemnation for allegedly failing to provide adequate jobs, the truth defies the popular opinion.

A lot has been said about how countries should not rely on the government’s jobs in providing employment but from here, seems some people certainly overestimated the ability of the private sector, which is often hailed as the savior for any country’s vibrant economy. Nevertheless, it is always good to keep in mind that the largest employers in the world may not churn out the best profits, as state-run companies do not work mainly based on financial goals.

Well, who would expect the world’s largest employer is this DoD?

5 top medical schools in UK ranked

This article is for those (or those whose family members, friends and network) aspiring to pursue a medical course in the UK, and subsequently embark on the clinical related career such as medical doctor, nurse, pharmacist or highly specialized areas such as surgery, ophthalmology, neurology, public health and so on.

Between 2008 and 2011, the medical profession has been noted as the most lucrative career, with a number of specialist jobs in this field dominating the list of the highest paid jobs in the US. These include anesthesiologist, surgeon (general and oral & maxillofacial), orthodontist, obstetrician and gynecologist, internist and other physicians. Apart from the US, medical career is also a highly paid profession in other developed nations such as Australia, Japan, Singapore and the UK itself.

All these 5 universities are ranked in the world’s top 50 in the field of clinical, pre-clinical and health by the Times Higher Education (THE) for academic year 2010/2011. 3 of them are in top 5 – Cambridge 3rd in the list (behind Harvard and Stanford), Oxford in 4th and Imperial College in 5th. UCL and King’s College are in 9th and 27th respectively.

The 5 top medical schools in UK are ranked as followed:

1. University of Cambridge

Cambridge University is the second oldest in the UK after Oxford, and was in fact established by a number of people closely associated with Oxford.  Apart from THE, the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) also ranked its medicine programs highly at 2nd place.

Cambridge highly reputed medical courses include neurology & neurosurgery, transfusion medicine, anesthesia, clinical pharmacology, oncology, pediatrics, radiology and primary care. Cambridge is a place for those who desire to become keen scientists with outstanding aptitude for scientific research and discoveries. But it’s not going to be easy to get in though.

[image: ezinemark.com]

2. University of Oxford

Historians are still undecided on the exact foundation date of this prestigious school, but Oxford remains to be considered among the oldest tertiary institutions established. University ranking tables never overlooked Oxford in their lists; the university has always been in the top 5 for any given category.

Medicine in Oxford is divided into four major course stages and types: pre-clinical (1 to 3 of a 6-year course), clinical (year 4 to 6), accelerated (an intensive 4-year course for graduates trained in experimental and applied sciences) and electives (sort of exchange program with other students in the UK or overseas).

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3. Imperial College London

Imperial College is highly suited to those medical students with keen interest in to live within the vicinity of the urban lifestyle. Apart from medicine, it’s also a top notch venue for other academic specializations including engineering, business and sciences. Currently, there are more than 13,000 students in the school, backed by over 3,000 academic and research staff.

Despite only being in existence since 1997 (formed through mergers between Imperial and St. Mary’s), Imperial’s medicine school is among the largest in the Europe, in terms of number of students, number of staff and research revenues. Its biomedical research is one of the most highly funded clusters.

[image: ic.ac.uk]

4. University College London (UCL)

Backed by some 4,000 academic staff (among the highest in the UK), UCL is mainly divided into eight constituent faculties, which collectively helm 100 different departments, institutes and research centers. UCL has the history of being the first English university to begin admission of students regardless of the religion.

Yearly, UCL open medical intake for about 300 students every year for MBBS, in addition to postgraduate program and clinical training. The medical school is also located in the heart of London cosmopolitan, a rather expensive city.

[image: victorianweb.org]

5. King’s College London

Like it or not, the last in the list is also one situated in London. King’s College, which has produced 10 Nobel Prize winners (who include former faculty and alumni), is home to six Medical Research Council centers. It was also one of the two founding members of the University of London, a federation of 31 affiliates.

King’s College medical school offers undergraduate courses, MSCS, diploma, certificate, PhD studies, and professional short courses to thousands of students every year.

[image: kcl.ac.uk]