Information systems such as Hospital Information systems, Laboratory Information systems, Pharmacy Information systems, Radiology and other related imaging systems and other specialty medical information systems need a mandated federal standard for exchanging patient data which will allow the creation, exchange and management of a Virtual Electronic Medical Record for patients.
Without basic technological standards one could not call from one county to the next, but because there are properly implemented standards and exchange systems one can call almost anywhere in the world with ease. But those standards took a hundred years to evolve. By comparison, the internet, based on tcp and http protocols evolved in less than a decade, because every vendor had a standard from which to build. Meanwhile, I often can't get my data from one section of the hospital, much less between hospitals, because there is no accepted, agreed upon, and implemented protocol for the exchange of medical information.
Every vendor has a proprietary data exchange format and a business model that supports vendor 'lock in.' While that may be good from a business model, it is a disaster for modern medicine. And the additional time and expense of trying to maintain these disparate systems just continues to add to the cost of healthcare. Both hospitals and vendors need to embrace the reality of the need for implementation of good informatics practices in hospitals and clinics.
Medical practices and ethics should supersede business ethics in every situation where software and/or devices are used in medical care. You don't see incompatible medical hardware surviving long in the industry. A needle has to fit a syringe, an IV tube needs to fit a bag, and they do because of standardization. Yet medical software vendors continue to ignore the need for data interchange standards that will support a truly portable Virtual Electronic Medical Record.
What I found fascinating is that this organism, despite having no nervous system, none the less manages to store, act on and pass on the information necessary to perform this tiny miracle of engineering. When humans think of intelligence it is represented by multi-cellular organisms possessing dedicated nervous systems. This picture suggested to me that there may be many alternative organic forms of intelligence of which we are, for the most part, completely unaware.
If an amoeba can store this kind of information, could it be that much of our inactive and unrecognized DNA contains information that our DNA has collected over the lifetime of our evolution, that we just are too self aware to access? It could well be that all life is 'self aware,' but that we are just too biased to recognize it.
Then again, perhaps there is a resource here that we can harness http://snipurl.com.nyud.net/236j3 [PCWorld] or http://snipurl.com.nyud.net/236io [New Scientist].
Your thoughts?
From the site: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/GoCheeta/
"We, the undersigned members of the public, hereby declare our support for Cheeta the Chimpanzee to be honored in 2008 with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"A veteran of more than a dozen classic Hollywood feature films, Cheeta (AKA Jiggs) played opposite such stars as Maureen O'Sullivan, Johnny Weissmuller, Ronald Reagan and Rex Harrison to name just a few.
"Now retired and living in Palm Springs, the simian superstar not only holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest living, non-human primate, he is an accomplished artist. His expressionistic paintings have hung in the National Gallery in London as well as raised thousands of dollars for animal rights charities such as the Jane Goodall Institute.
"Fellow animal actors Rin Tin Tin and Lassie have stars on the Boulevard and many cartoon characters also share the star studded sidewalk. Bugs Bunny, Snow White, Woody Woodpecker, Kermit the Frog, Donald Duck, Winnie the Pooh and The Simpsons have all been honored. The Munchkins deservedly took one of the coveted spots this year. Even Japan's Godzilla shows up on the hallowed Walk of Fame.
"There have been six attempts to secure a star for Cheeta, the last four beginning in 2004. Each time, he has been turned down. We ask the honorable Mayor of Hollywood, Johnny Grant, and his Chamber of Commerce to please consider Cheeta when they choose the next batch of honorees in June 2008 for the 2009 nominations. Seven times lucky? We hope so.
"Cheeta is an inspiration to young and old alike. He represents all the chimpanzees that played Cheeta. His inclusion on the Hollywood Walk of Fame will not only give recognition to one of the international, animal megastars of all time, but focus attention on his fellow primates in the wilds of Africa who now face extinction.
"Please give Cheeta a star while he is still alive. Guaranteed to be a Tarzan yell heard around the world. Ungawa."
Be sure to see Cheeta in person: http://www.gocheeta.com/
When Fred started working the omelet line I was still bringing in my own little containers of eggbeaters. He used to tease me that his eggs weren't good enough. And I would always have to pry open a corner of the carton for him so the eggs would be ready to pour because the containers were so very difficult to open with gloves on. Then he surprised me one day with the news that the Nebraska Cafe had started carrying a new product, which was low cholesterol so I didn't have to bring my eggbeaters.
But every once in a while we would get to talking, you all know how much Fred loved to talk with people, and he would start to put real eggs in my omelet and I'd catch him with the ladle in his hand and we'd joke about it.
I began to notice that on those days, as I would catch him ladle in hand, that he would seem a little less lively than usual, and one day I asked him if he was getting enough sleep. He told me that he was staying up too late playing a computer game and that he had gotten stuck. Fred told me that he was playing "Oni-something-or-other" and as a character the game in 2004, he could not escape Nobunaga Oda at Mont-Saint-Michel.
Of course I had no idea what in the world he was talking about, but I Googled it and discovered that in the game, this was the character's second adventure at Mont-Saint-Michel, and that during the first, way back in 1582, he was supposed to have found the soil patch that was "soft and well-kept" and planted the seedling "Genma Plant" that this character had collected in his travels.
The character needed to do this because, when planted in the "soft and well-kept" earth, the "seedling Genma plant" would grow over the centuries to be tall enough, and strong enough, to allow him to leap over the edge of the wall into its waiting branches and enable him to climb down to safety, thereby escaping Nobunaga Oda.
So the next time I saw Fred, I let him know what he had to do. And sure enough, it worked and Fred was well on his way to his next adventure.
I can still remember seeing the happiness on his face, and the excitement in his eyes as he told me, "Hey Sean, it worked!"
Those moments with Fred are a gift that I will appreciate for the rest of my life. He had his own special way of nourishing our souls as he prepared us for filling our bellies. He was not afraid to extend the hand of friendship to anyone -- he cared not for what we did but found a way to appreciate each of us, just as we are.
So let us all open, somewhere deep in our hearts, that place which is "soft and well-kept" and there plant our memories of him, that they might continue to grow with us, as he would have wanted, a constant reminder to be good to each other.
And if I could tell him one more thing it would be just this -- "Thank you, God speed and good luck on your new adventure."
Stories from the omelet line January 25, 2008 on 3:35 am | About "U" | http://www.unmc.edu/blog/publicaffairs/?p=319/
Obviously we do a fusion prequel/sequel two parter and turn it into a
Trilogy.
In the first half, the Parliament is not happy with Mal, but now they have bigger problems. And so does Mal. In his experiences he realizes that he will not find peace as long as Parliament is still in power. And with the help of his crew he discovers that there is no one better to help him understand and navigate the maze of power and how to attack Parliament than the person he most despises in the universe, the Operative. Through a series of new scenes and flashbacks (Which give us back Wash & Book, for a while) Mal realizes that Book was an operative, and that his nemesis, now in reclusion (like Book was) is the only one who can help him.
So the first of the sequels brings Mal to the realization, and Mal finds him. Their eyes meet, but not a word is said fade to black end of part one.
In the second, it picks up with the exact shot we left before, almost as though we just 'blinked.' The Operative joins Mal's crew (with all the expected edginess) and together they bring down Parliament. (Accomplishing almost single-handedly what the Browncoats could not do openly!)
To paraphrase Independence Day: "Any Questions?" "Let's Do It!"
It used to be that Microsoft was the operating system that strove to be most easily usable by the lowest common denominator, and Linux was perceived as a tool only for the most serious geeks. So, by using Microsoft products for over a decade, end users had been, in some degree, 'dumbed down.' But the main intent, make no mistake, was to please the end user.
Now comes Vista, with some fairly significant changes in how things work. For some, it is a big hurdle. But end users were not Microsoft's only beneficiaries this time. Microsoft has chosen to become its own police force and provide seamless, impenetrable DRM. After all, it's not your content, it really belongs to the person who bought it from the creator. And as we've all seen, that DRM hasn't got a chance.
Microsoft will shortly find itself in a very difficult situation. Do they allow these 'end user DRM modifications,' or do they enforce copyright through reinforcing the DRM? How will this happen? Will Microsoft choose to disable certain features for those users who don't agree with their policies?
I think that we're in for a very interesting period here as Microsoft begins to understand what they are really doing, with both end users and copyright holders.
- This Just In -
"Microsoft has received a patent for Communications. We are now no longer
allowed to communicate without a license."
There is a commotion outside.
"What's that sound?"
The door explodes inward and the room is immediately filled with smoke and
overrun with stormtroopers.
A large and ominous voice booms out.
"You are forbidden to communicate."
I am stunned! I don't know what to think!
Then just as suddenly the first wave of stormtroopers are felled, one by one in
an unimaginably short flash of time.
"Don't know what to think?" a voice says.
I look up and see Jeff Brazos towering above the carnage.
"That's fine by me. I just patented Thought!"
Hmmmmm..... Maybe this one needs a little more thought. I'll file it with the RFID Shielded Wallet and the RFID currency impersonator and we'll see what happens.
YMMV
-/.-
We live in a world where perception is reality. Everyone from advertisers to businesses, education to government practices this form of deception in one way or another, when the stakes are sufficently high; and the usual motive behind it leads in some manner to select individuals profiting at the expense of the general population. Shouldn't we simply identify disinformation for what it is worth? Shouldn't we encourage
-/.-
Thus spake the master programmer: "After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"