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The oldest medical database systems are based on MUMPS, now called M by some, which is still used by the VA. They have
updated it to "VistA", which predated Microsoft Vista (wonder if Microsoft chose that name for a medical reason?).

VistA® / CPRS Demo Site:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/
The code:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/page.cfm?pg=1

http://www.innovations.va.gov/innovations/docs/InnovationsVistAFAQPublic.pdf
http://www.va.gov/VISTA_MONOGRAPH/index.asp
http://www.va.gov/vdl/ is the library.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/section.asp?secid=3 covers your Financial question.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/application.asp?appid=144
VistA Data Extraction Framework (VDEF).

http://openvista.sourceforge.net/
"OpenVista is the open-source version of VistA, which is an enterprise grade health care information system developed by the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and deployed at nearly 1,500 facilities worldwide."

1,500 is not all that many considering the market.

Intersystem's Cache' http://www.intersystems.com/cache/ is the contemporary equivlent to MUMPS, a database that claims it can
run rings around things like MySQL in the number of transactions per second.

There are a number of Open Source Medical Databases,they are summarized here:

http://www.linux.com/base/ldp/howto/Medicine-HOWTO/record.html

My very first job was writing medical software, this is when few people even knew what computers were in 1977. Still have my DEC
MUMPS badge that I got at the very first MUMPS conference in DC. Have always felt I should get back into that field. To bad
Dr. Armor and I didn't patent what we were doing then. The pharmacists called up the office in disbelieve asking if these
computer printed prescriptions were real, because *THEY COULD READ THEM*.

The other side:

"VA DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS:
1. FY07 Year-End Med SAS and DSS CNDE Files Available
The fiscal year 2007 (FY07) year-end Medical SAS (Med SAS)
Inpatient and Outpatient files are now available."
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/References/DataIssuesBrief/2007/DIB-0712er.pdf

Requesting Access to VA Data:
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/Support/Training-NewUsersToolkit/ACRSrequest.htm

"Click this button for information, guidance, and FAQs relating to the VA Research Data Security and Privacy initiative."
http://www.research.va.gov/resources/data-security

The oldest medical database systems are based on MUMPS, now called M by some, which is still used by the VA. They have
updated it to "VistA", which predated Microsoft Vista (wonder if Microsoft chose that name for a medical reason?).

VistA® / CPRS Demo Site:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/
The code:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/page.cfm?pg=1

http://www.innovations.va.gov/innovations/docs/InnovationsVistAFAQPublic.pdf
http://www.va.gov/VISTA_MONOGRAPH/index.asp
http://www.va.gov/vdl/ is the library.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/section.asp?secid=3 covers your Financial question.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/application.asp?appid=144
VistA Data Extraction Framework (VDEF).

http://openvista.sourceforge.net/
"OpenVista is the open-source version of VistA, which is an enterprise grade health care information system developed by the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and deployed at nearly 1,500 facilities worldwide."

1,500 is not all that many considering the market.

Intersystem's Cache' http://www.intersystems.com/cache/ is the contemporary equivlent to MUMPS, a database that claims it can
run rings around things like MySQL in the number of transactions per second.

There are a number of Open Source Medical Databases,they are summarized here:

http://www.linux.com/base/ldp/howto/Medicine-HOWTO/record.html

My very first job was writing medical software, this is when few people even knew what computers were in 1977. Still have my DEC
MUMPS badge that I got at the very first MUMPS conference in DC. Have always felt I should get back into that field. To bad
Dr. Armor and I didn't patent what we were doing then. The pharmacists called up the office in disbelieve asking if these
computer printed prescriptions were real, because *THEY COULD READ THEM*.

The other side:

"VA DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS:
1. FY07 Year-End Med SAS and DSS CNDE Files Available
The fiscal year 2007 (FY07) year-end Medical SAS (Med SAS)
Inpatient and Outpatient files are now available."
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/References/DataIssuesBrief/2007/DIB-0712er.pdf

Requesting Access to VA Data:
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/Support/Training-NewUsersToolkit/ACRSrequest.htm

"Click this button for information, guidance, and FAQs relating to the VA Research Data Security and Privacy initiative."
http://www.research.va.gov/resources/data-security

The oldest medical database systems are based on MUMPS, now called M by some, which is still used by the VA. They have
updated it to "VistA", which predated Microsoft Vista (wonder if Microsoft chose that name for a medical reason?).

VistA® / CPRS Demo Site:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/
The code:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/page.cfm?pg=1

http://www.innovations.va.gov/innovations/docs/InnovationsVistAFAQPublic.pdf
http://www.va.gov/VISTA_MONOGRAPH/index.asp
http://www.va.gov/vdl/ is the library.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/section.asp?secid=3 covers your Financial question.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/application.asp?appid=144
VistA Data Extraction Framework (VDEF).

http://openvista.sourceforge.net/
"OpenVista is the open-source version of VistA, which is an enterprise grade health care information system developed by the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and deployed at nearly 1,500 facilities worldwide."

1,500 is not all that many considering the market.

Intersystem's Cache' http://www.intersystems.com/cache/ is the contemporary equivlent to MUMPS, a database that claims it can
run rings around things like MySQL in the number of transactions per second.

There are a number of Open Source Medical Databases,they are summarized here:

http://www.linux.com/base/ldp/howto/Medicine-HOWTO/record.html

My very first job was writing medical software, this is when few people even knew what computers were in 1977. Still have my DEC
MUMPS badge that I got at the very first MUMPS conference in DC. Have always felt I should get back into that field. To bad
Dr. Armor and I didn't patent what we were doing then. The pharmacists called up the office in disbelieve asking if these
computer printed prescriptions were real, because *THEY COULD READ THEM*.

The other side:

"VA DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS:
1. FY07 Year-End Med SAS and DSS CNDE Files Available
The fiscal year 2007 (FY07) year-end Medical SAS (Med SAS)
Inpatient and Outpatient files are now available."
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/References/DataIssuesBrief/2007/DIB-0712er.pdf

Requesting Access to VA Data:
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/Support/Training-NewUsersToolkit/ACRSrequest.htm

"Click this button for information, guidance, and FAQs relating to the VA Research Data Security and Privacy initiative."
http://www.research.va.gov/resources/data-security

The oldest medical database systems are based on MUMPS, now called M by some, which is still used by the VA. They have
updated it to "VistA", which predated Microsoft Vista (wonder if Microsoft chose that name for a medical reason?).

VistA® / CPRS Demo Site:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/
The code:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/page.cfm?pg=1

http://www.innovations.va.gov/innovations/docs/InnovationsVistAFAQPublic.pdf
http://www.va.gov/VISTA_MONOGRAPH/index.asp
http://www.va.gov/vdl/ is the library.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/section.asp?secid=3 covers your Financial question.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/application.asp?appid=144
VistA Data Extraction Framework (VDEF).

http://openvista.sourceforge.net/
"OpenVista is the open-source version of VistA, which is an enterprise grade health care information system developed by the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and deployed at nearly 1,500 facilities worldwide."

1,500 is not all that many considering the market.

Intersystem's Cache' http://www.intersystems.com/cache/ is the contemporary equivlent to MUMPS, a database that claims it can
run rings around things like MySQL in the number of transactions per second.

There are a number of Open Source Medical Databases,they are summarized here:

http://www.linux.com/base/ldp/howto/Medicine-HOWTO/record.html

My very first job was writing medical software, this is when few people even knew what computers were in 1977. Still have my DEC
MUMPS badge that I got at the very first MUMPS conference in DC. Have always felt I should get back into that field. To bad
Dr. Armor and I didn't patent what we were doing then. The pharmacists called up the office in disbelieve asking if these
computer printed prescriptions were real, because *THEY COULD READ THEM*.

The other side:

"VA DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS:
1. FY07 Year-End Med SAS and DSS CNDE Files Available
The fiscal year 2007 (FY07) year-end Medical SAS (Med SAS)
Inpatient and Outpatient files are now available."
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/References/DataIssuesBrief/2007/DIB-0712er.pdf

Requesting Access to VA Data:
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/Support/Training-NewUsersToolkit/ACRSrequest.htm

"Click this button for information, guidance, and FAQs relating to the VA Research Data Security and Privacy initiative."
http://www.research.va.gov/resources/data-security

The oldest medical database systems are based on MUMPS, now called M by some, which is still used by the VA. They have
updated it to "VistA", which predated Microsoft Vista (wonder if Microsoft chose that name for a medical reason?).

VistA® / CPRS Demo Site:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/
The code:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/page.cfm?pg=1

http://www.innovations.va.gov/innovations/docs/InnovationsVistAFAQPublic.pdf
http://www.va.gov/VISTA_MONOGRAPH/index.asp
http://www.va.gov/vdl/ is the library.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/section.asp?secid=3 covers your Financial question.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/application.asp?appid=144
VistA Data Extraction Framework (VDEF).

http://openvista.sourceforge.net/
"OpenVista is the open-source version of VistA, which is an enterprise grade health care information system developed by the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and deployed at nearly 1,500 facilities worldwide."

1,500 is not all that many considering the market.

Intersystem's Cache' http://www.intersystems.com/cache/ is the contemporary equivlent to MUMPS, a database that claims it can
run rings around things like MySQL in the number of transactions per second.

There are a number of Open Source Medical Databases,they are summarized here:

http://www.linux.com/base/ldp/howto/Medicine-HOWTO/record.html

My very first job was writing medical software, this is when few people even knew what computers were in 1977. Still have my DEC
MUMPS badge that I got at the very first MUMPS conference in DC. Have always felt I should get back into that field. To bad
Dr. Armor and I didn't patent what we were doing then. The pharmacists called up the office in disbelieve asking if these
computer printed prescriptions were real, because *THEY COULD READ THEM*.

The other side:

"VA DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS:
1. FY07 Year-End Med SAS and DSS CNDE Files Available
The fiscal year 2007 (FY07) year-end Medical SAS (Med SAS)
Inpatient and Outpatient files are now available."
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/References/DataIssuesBrief/2007/DIB-0712er.pdf

Requesting Access to VA Data:
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/Support/Training-NewUsersToolkit/ACRSrequest.htm

"Click this button for information, guidance, and FAQs relating to the VA Research Data Security and Privacy initiative."
http://www.research.va.gov/resources/data-security

The oldest medical database systems are based on MUMPS, now called M by some, which is still used by the VA. They have
updated it to "VistA", which predated Microsoft Vista (wonder if Microsoft chose that name for a medical reason?).

VistA® / CPRS Demo Site:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/
The code:
http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/page.cfm?pg=1

http://www.innovations.va.gov/innovations/docs/InnovationsVistAFAQPublic.pdf
http://www.va.gov/VISTA_MONOGRAPH/index.asp
http://www.va.gov/vdl/ is the library.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/section.asp?secid=3 covers your Financial question.
http://www.va.gov/vdl/application.asp?appid=144
VistA Data Extraction Framework (VDEF).

http://openvista.sourceforge.net/
"OpenVista is the open-source version of VistA, which is an enterprise grade health care information system developed by the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and deployed at nearly 1,500 facilities worldwide."

1,500 is not all that many considering the market.

Intersystem's Cache' http://www.intersystems.com/cache/ is the contemporary equivlent to MUMPS, a database that claims it can
run rings around things like MySQL in the number of transactions per second.

There are a number of Open Source Medical Databases,they are summarized here:

http://www.linux.com/base/ldp/howto/Medicine-HOWTO/record.html

My very first job was writing medical software, this is when few people even knew what computers were in 1977. Still have my DEC
MUMPS badge that I got at the very first MUMPS conference in DC. Have always felt I should get back into that field. To bad
Dr. Armor and I didn't patent what we were doing then. The pharmacists called up the office in disbelieve asking if these
computer printed prescriptions were real, because *THEY COULD READ THEM*.

The other side:

"VA DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS:
1. FY07 Year-End Med SAS and DSS CNDE Files Available
The fiscal year 2007 (FY07) year-end Medical SAS (Med SAS)
Inpatient and Outpatient files are now available."
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/References/DataIssuesBrief/2007/DIB-0712er.pdf

Requesting Access to VA Data:
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/Support/Training-NewUsersToolkit/ACRSrequest.htm

"Click this button for information, guidance, and FAQs relating to the VA Research Data Security and Privacy initiative."
http://www.research.va.gov/resources/data-security

The VA is far more than just another hospital. It is supposed to aid US Veterans of all service branchs to see to the needs of them from educational loans, purchasing a home, medical care/assitance and others. See their site: http://va.gov./

If any one hospital or chain of hospitals peformed as consistantly lousey as the VA has that hospital would have been sued into oblivion decades ago. Hundreds of thousands of vets who've used the VA's services can attest. But, we can't neccessarily sue the VA because they're part of the government. Go to any VA hospital in the US. Odds are that after you pass through the pretty facade they've set up you'll find patient after patient sitting in a wheel chair or bed lined along some wall waiting for some over-worked, over-stressed and under-staffed doctor and not getting the care they deserve.

The VA needs to take a lesson from the corporate world and change it's face. Rename itself, start fresh. AND START DOING THEIR G-D JOB! That's the best dismal chance they've got to make things right. As it is right now there isn't a Vet in the US or abroad that thinks highly of the VA. And if there is, I'd find 100 that would refute any positive statement made about the VA.

And, yes - I'm a Vet. My Father is a Vet. My Grandfather is a Vet. My Uncle is a Vet. I don't recall them looking forward to communicating with the VA, either.

In closing, if the VA *did* do their job the homeless wouldn't consist of 25% US Veterans that couldn't re-adjust to civilian life after witnessing the horrors of war!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/08/homeless.veterans/
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/2007/05/mia-in-plain-sight.html

VA's has a PHR in addition to its EHR. Its called MyHealtheVet.
https://www.myhealth.va.gov/

Having a list of medications you're on wherever you are can save your life. There are veterans who have visited emergency rooms while on vacation in the caribbean who have been able to get their med lists to the ER docs.

Not sure I trust MS to do this for me, though.

http://www1.va.gov/CPRSdemo/

Go check out the Veterans Administration Office of Construction & Facilities Management -
TIL (Standards) http://www.va.gov/facmgt/standard/details.asp

VHA National CAD Standard Application Guide

Quote directly from section 2 CAD Software:
"The recommended CAD software platform is AutoCAD 2000 or AutoCAD LT 2000 by Autodesk, Inc. More recent AutoCAD releases are acceptable, with downwards compatibility to the 2000 release."

The GSA (United States Government Services Administration) doesn't specifically call out a CAD package, but all of their CAD standards templates are in DWG (AutoCAD) format.

Those are two of the more official "standards" I could reference fairly quickly. Granted if you could mimic the Autodesk format you would have a chance with another product, i.e. Microstation, but wouldn't it suck to be that other CAD guy and you have to spend all of your developmental budget making sure your software is always up-to-date with Autodesk's current file format?
I work doing Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing design for commercial buildings. Out of over 100 architects that we do work for exactly 2 don't use AutoCAD. They gripe about what a pain in the butt it is to not use AutoCAD, they just don't switch because they are die hard Mac users (And they probably are headed to AutoCAD with either Boot Camp or Parallels).

AutoCAD keeps you on a 3 year upgrade cycle, every three years they change their file format. We have a 2005 Version of their product and are looking at $13K+ to upgrade 4 seats. Why upgrade? They go after the architects first get them to stay on "maintenance" for better support ;) etc.. So they automatically upgrade every year. Then boom that magical file change year comes around and you can't work with an architect's files anymore. They put out conversion tools that never work and if you want to keep doing work you better upgrade yourself. I HATE AUTODESK!!!!

For those who can't tell VistA from Windows Vista, VistA (notice final capital letter) is the electronic health record system used by veterans' hospitals under the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. VistA CPRS is its GUI front end.

As healthcare costs grow, more analysts are willing to argue for rationing of care. According to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), about 25 percent of U.S. healthcare spending is devoted to the last year of life of the 1 percent of us who die each year.

Totaling both VA and Medicare benefits, elderly veterans incurred an average of $43,795 in the final year of life, 40% more than an average Medicare beneficiary accrued during the final year of life. Costs for elderly veterans started increasing rapidly in the final year of life and accelerated sharply during the final 90 days of life. Most of the cost increase near the end of life was for acute hospital services; acute hospital care accounted for 44% and 60% in year 2 and year 1 before death, respectively, and 78% in the final 30 days of life.

That was a classic article. You're right. Malda, Bates, Miller, et.al did it right that time. Instead of supressing the article, which lets face it, was pretty much as blatent copyright infringement as you can get, the damage was compounded.

And what's up with modern religions trying to copyright they're symbols? The VA can put it on a headstone but you can't see it in the list? You can't put it on a t-shirt? What the hell man? Sounds like someone is more concerned about getting their cut than salvation.

http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/06/43/5/kreb s.html
http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/05/42/6/macc lellan.html
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5466213.html

http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/06/43/5/kreb s.html
http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/05/42/6/macc lellan.html
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5466213.html

and the original VistA was released by veteran's affairs in '96, predating that other vista by quite some time.
http://www.va.gov/vista_monograph/

Although many people are not aware of it, the Veterans Health Administration (otherwise known as the Veterans Affairs/VA hospital network) in the United States has progressed from a backwards, poorly-kept system in the 1980s to the best, most advanced medical organization in the nation. Read more here, here, or this reprint from Time Magazine.

It's proof that government + healthcare + technology does not always equal disaster.

Living in an area with no opportunity is no excuse either. Greyhound tickets aren't expensive.

They are if I have not been able to find steady employment since graduating from university. I've had to work for $0.00 per hour at a military hospital for the last 18 months just to keep up the impression that I'm not a total slacker in case a position that pays more than minimum wage opens up in my town. How do you suggest that a university graduate climb out of negative net worth?

Apparently, that was a ploy... a class action lawsuit was already started, and if you accepted their kind offer of trying to protect you, then it meant you opted out of the class action. heh.

Bullshit, I got their email and they're still working out who is going to provide the credit monitoring service.

So there's no offer to accept, yet.

Here's proof in the latest press releases.

From the June 21 press release:

This week, VA will solicit bids from qualified companies to provide a comprehensive credit monitoring solution. VA will ask these companies to provide expedited proposals and to be prepared to implement them rapidly once they are under contract.

VistA is already there .. it helps to tend the sick ..
http://www.va.gov/vista_monograph/
Thanks,
      GerardM

Mine came from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. You might have seen the story about the stolen laptop on the news. If the most well-funded military in the world can't keep a lid on our personal data, who can?

I got mine from the VA, too. The VA is not the Department of Defense, though.

-h-

http://www.va.gov/

"This data contained identifying information including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth for up to 26.5 million veterans and some spouses, as well as some disability ratings."

I know people who think the name of a cow is better than something meaning a broad view (Longhorn vs Vista.)

That's because Vista is taken, multiple times. For instance, the electronic records application used by the US Department of Veterans Affairs' hospital network is called VistA. But then it could be argued that Wii is taken too.

I know people who think the name of a cow is better than something meaning a broad view (Longhorn vs Vista.)

That's because Vista is taken, multiple times. For instance, the electronic records application used by the US Department of Veterans Affairs' hospital network is called VistA. But then it could be argued that Wii is taken too.

Perhaps on your side of the pond. Not on ours.

Concur, and further more there is a shortage of honor guard members available to do funeral details as well. Case and point - when Air Force veterans (anyone that has received an honorable discharge from the military is a veteran of their service) are buried at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery the military honors are provided by a team from either Lackland AFB, Randolph AFB, or Brooks City-Base. Even with the military population in San Antonio available there is a shortage of personnel that are willing (and able) to serve on the base honor guards. Furthermore, of those that are on the base honor guards only a small percentage can play the bugle (less than 1% for the region IIRC).

While an actual live bugler is consider optimal for the funeral details (and madetory for active duty funerals), the digital version is most commonly used due more to logistical reasons that laziness.

Given the propensity of state and federal government to want to classify anything and everything under the sun as "sensitive security information" (or some such arbitrary bullshit), I have to wonder how long it'll be before computer source code currently available under FOIA or its state equivalent (i.e. Veteran Affairs' VistA health informatics software) is also classified that way.

(Has anyone ever FOIA'd their state government for in-house software to look at?)

Correction. There are eight versions of Vista including plain ol' Vista and Open Vista.

Odds are the overlap is probably on purpose. Here's a sample:

• C++ vs (MS) C++
• C++ vs (MS) C#
• RMS vs (MS) RMS
• Vista vs (MS) Vista
• ... and so on ...

Someone familiar with the special terms MS uses could probably dig up plenty more.

Want to mess with the search results? Simply put links on some of your pages to the non-MS definition.

If you look at treatments for PTSD, you'll see that psychotherapy hasn't been proven to be helpful.

On the contrary - a brief scholar.google.com search has a number of articles by researchers suggesting that psychotherapy helps a number of people with PTSD, whatever the cause may be.

The National Center for PTSD has information for Veterans Affairs staff on how to treat returning Iraq War Vets, and it includes mental health counseling, including individual counseling, group therapy, and family therapy. (Disclaimer: I am a former VA psych intern)

That's a somewhat unfair assessment.

1. Many are working on creating/have created a version that runs on open source GTM (M being the language that VistA uses). This includes running on other hardware/os platforms than your usual servers, etc. You can see more here

2. The software on the backend has been in development for years and there is quite a bit of work on creating GUI's for the fronted (e.g. the Computers Patient Record System or "CPRS") and I find many users are quite pleased with it. Ask them which they prefer the GUI (CPRS) or the Telnet Session and they'll praise the first and curse the latter so saying they "despise" it without referencing which is not a fair statement.

3. The ease of use for a programmer to create the frontend and backend is amazingly intuitive for anybody whose done GUI & Internet applications.

Now for the not so positive. It's huge and you're not going to download/buy the CD of this and get it installed in your Dr's Office over a weekend. It takes knowledge of the application and system (well documented) to do so. But what class of software so large and complex that incorporates almost everything you need for a Hospital including Imaging, Billing, Admitting and Discharge, Patient Movement, Electronic Patient Record, and much more doesn't require such intensive labor and knowledge skills (perhaps from a contractor)?

The Veteran's Administration Health Care System has an excellent electronic record-keeping system, and can be found even as an open-source format. I'm hoping that they build off of the OpenVista project, and have some standardization across health-care organizations, so that the patient records are more easily transferrable and readable by the providers.

Instead of re-inventing the wheel, get involved in open-sourced solutions. You can find a good list here.

From this list, I have personally only seen VistA which has been used by the Veteran's Affairs Department for a very long time. Certainly long enough to mature. It's scalable and will work with groups of hospitals. It's designed by Doctor's to fit the way they work and it's easy to use (so Doctor's have told me). It's open source, and there's a community web site.

There are cons though: It uses a little-known programming language called M, and although otherwise complete, does not have a module for paediatrics (it's very hard to find child veterans!). The people I have met have been extremely helpful, however, and will help you with any customization or new capabilities.

umm...no. Current MGIB rates are $985/month. FY200 rates were $650/mo for a full time student.

Doubtful it was higher 20+ years ago.

I don't understand why this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. In fact, I suspect that the GPL license, may be too restrictive and not enforceable. US citizens have a right to receiving that code (and other information) in the public domain under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). (There are limits regarding national security, etc.) This has already been done with software in the past.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs has been actively developing and using the VistA (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) software since the 1980's. This software has a proven track record and is used in hundreds of healthcare facilities of all sizes. Many agree that it is at least as good as multi-million dollar systems from companies like Siemens, GE, Cerner, and McKesson.

The VistA software has already been released to the public domain under the US Freedom of Information Act. Since then an active open source community has grown around that freely available code and is even being used in non-government facilities around the world. More recently the open source community and the VA developers have begun discussions on how to combine their efforts.

So if you know of any useful software developed by the US government, speak up and ask for it to be opened up so everyone can benefit!!

The biggest threat to the USA in the future is terrorism.

Terrorism may be the most psychologically frightening threat, and the most unpredictable and difficult to prevent one, but it is certainly not the biggest:

International casualties due to terrorism (1968-1997): 7,427 killed, 29,427 injured.
[from the Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism]

US casualties due to actual warfare (1941-1945): 291,557 killed, 671,846 injured.
US casualties due to actual warfare (1950-1953): 33,686 killed, 103,284 injured.
[from the Department of Veterans Affairs]

Certainly looks like there are bigger threats than terrorism to me.

Until an entire field is covered in it...then several...then a large township...etc. It's not a problem to kill a golf course green with a shovel or burning it, but are you going to do the same with fields and larger?

Two words: Agent Orange!

Problem solved. We already have plenty of experience safely clearing large areas of vegetation. It's simply a matter of using an herbicide that our scientists (don't worry, kids - they're experts!) can guarantee is safe.

Oh, bullshit.

All active duty personnel are enrolled in Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI). If you die while in active duty, your family immediately gets $250,000. Can you see that number? *I* don't have $250k of life insurance, and I think very few people do.

Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance The following are automatically insured for $250,000 under Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI): active-duty members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard; commissioned members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Public Health Service; cadets or midshipmen of the service academies; members, cadets and midshipmen of the ROTC while engaged in authorized training; members of the Ready Reserves; and members who volunteer for assignment to a mobilization category in the Individual Ready Reserve. Individuals may elect to be covered for a lesser amount or not to be covered at all. Part-time coverage may be provided to members of the Reserves who do not qualify for full-time coverage. Premiums are deducted automatically from an individual's pay or are collected by the individual's service branch.

From Here

Stop promulgating lies about shit you know nothing about, and frankly, fuck you for indicating that the servicemen and women of the United States armed forces aren't the best cared for in the world. Eat a dick.

Also This

One of the interesting uses of FOIA that I have seen has been the release of VistA, the software that runs the hospitals for the department of Veterans Affairs.

VistA is a huge suite of programs, and something that would not normally otherwise make it into the public domain. Billions of dollars of investment have gone into this, and there is hope that it can be used more widely.

VistA is written in "M" (sometimes called "Mumps" and with the GPL of the Linux version of GT.M, a compiler and database server for "M" by Sanchez, the whole shooting match is doable on an open-source platform.

More information about VistA hardhats.org and sourceforge and VistA Documentation Library

The level of functionality available from this project is incredible, and in some areas is unmatched by commercial offerings costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Here's a description of the "integrated billing" module of the VISTA software.

Perhaps you were thinking of Some other cemetery?

Arlington National Cemetery Certainly has no white-crosses:)

Over the past year, I've had several more tests done by several different doctors that confirm the bad heart valve. One Army doctor thinks I have Marfan's Syndrome, but I think that's a mis-diagnose due to the lack of evidence and I only have the heart problem. None of the other problems. Anyways, back to the Pink Slip part.

My doctor used this information to deem me "Not Worldwide Qualified" category, which basically means I got fired. Of this, a medical board conviened and confirmed his decision. I challenged their decision on a basis of lack of evidence. They had the results from 2 Echocardiograms and 1 MUGA Scan. They decided that I should be discharged with a severance pay and a disability rating. I did not want to leave the military. So I challenged their decision and flew to Texas to a formal Medical Evaluation Board. After a whole bunch of political and monetary bullshit, I got to see a cardiologist, finally. And talk with an Air Force lawyer. The cardiologist did a few more tests and basically just confirmed that I had a bad Aortic Heart Valve. He does not think that I have Marfan's Syndrome. And my lawyer was of little help. He just wanted to not do any paperwork, I think. He did tell me that if I did challenge the board, I would lose. I would lose because the team of medical experts that sat on the formal MEB would somehow prove that this was a pre-existing, read genetic condition. And if they did, I'd lose everything. The severance pay, disability rating, and my job. So I decided not to pursue it any farther and risk losing everything, so I took their original offer and got out.

They still haven't proved anything other than I have a heart problem. So now, I have a heart problem that could or could not be related to my AF duties, but I have something that I can go to the VA with.

Soooo....to make a long story short, I was fired because of a possibly genetic condition. A Lose, Win situation if you ask me. Sure, I lost my job, but I'm getting out of this freezing place that's in the middle of nowhere and heading back to the states. I start school again next month and will have some experiance 'under my belt.' At least now I can have some chance of getting out of such a deeply entrenched WinNT network that barely has funding and go to something that at least has money flowing into its IT department. And get that piece of paper that says, "[Insert name here] you have shelled out several [ten's of] thousand dollars to us so that we can certify that you are smart enough to become part of the vast corporate ladder."

Amigori

--------------
The Air Force. A good experience if you can deal with politics and stupid people, you can work here.

Too bad they outlawed halon systems.

Ah, I answered my own question. The first page was from a right wing crank so I kept looking for confirmation. I figure the VA is good enough. I should've known it's a CFC gas.

I worked in a building which had several floors equipped with a fixed-pipe system. It's an archive of books and other printed materials so water systems would sort of defeat the purpose. I thought of the danger first because I think if you were stuck in a room when the system went off, you could suffocate.

Looks like this guy(?) flipz has been pretty busy lately. He(?) got into the Department of Veterans Affairs (hack) site, the US Army Reserve Command (hack) and even the White Sands Missle Range (hack) site. They're all NT boxen. I'm no expert or nuthin, but I betcha there might be some common NT security flaw he(?)'s exploiting. All the sites mention his(?) love f0bic. I wonder how she(?) feels about this.

Attrition.org's mirrors