Obviously this is a troll, but I feel the need to respond.
Furthermore, this is Congress potentially legislating over what a European should pay for a European song published by a European company, just because a US website decided to sell it.
NO! The European is deciding what he/she should pay for the European song published by the European company. He/She is doing so by deciding to purchasing the song from the US company. If the European company that published this European song decides to sell this song in the US, than it is bound by US laws governing said sales. If the European company doesn't like said laws, then it has every right not to sell it's products in the US.
I have lots of respect for the US government (on Friday nights at the end of a number of beers) but it can keep its grubby hands out of European (or other) pricing mechanisms, thank you very much; we can do without the guidance of those elected by individuals incapable of reading a ballot form...
As a tech working for a good sized hospital/clinic, that, in the past 3 years, has made leaps and bounds in the technology arena, I can tell you that if you do this right, your patients, and medical staff will most definitely benefit. While we don't yet allow the patient to view his/her medical record online, we do have a good majority of that patients record available to the medical staff, via our Intranet. This past year we have tested workstations in the exam room, and the results were outstanding. Both the medical staff, and the patients were very impressed. So impressed that the company is now in the process of putting workstations in every exam room (well over 500 in the local facility, and a good number in our 40 regional clinics). At least some part, of almost all of our medical systems are computerized, so we import data from those systems to our data warehouse. It is very comforting for a patient that has already seen 2 specialists that day, to be sitting in the exam room of their 3rd appointment, with yet another MD, and have the doctor walk in and instantly have access to the labs, EKG, prescribed meds......etc, that the 2 previous doctors ordered/prescribed just an hour before. This had previously been next to impossible, because of the chunkiness of the paper method. Since we are also a hospital, the benefits are even greater. A for instance: since we are the biggest health care facility in the area, we see a good number of patients. If one of those patients has a serious episode, and gets rushed to the ER, those ER docs can instantly see a good portion of the patients prior medical history, which in that situation, can make a huge difference. There are numerous other benefits to both doctor and patient, and we realize more of them very day.
I'm excited to hear that more and more institutions are doing this. Having the experiences that I have had in the past few years, I can offer a couple pieces of advice: #1) Be far sighted - Have a vision. Know what you want this system to do, and how far you want to take it. That leads into my next piece of advice. #2) Chose your software carefully - We developed a good portion of what we are using today. We did so because there were no products (at least a that time), that were both mature, and did what we needed them to do. Many of the companies offering software for the medical industry just plain suck. You'll find that a good portion of them are using antiquated software (especially on the backend), support from these companies is terrifying, and a good portion of staff time is consumed by repeatedly fixing crappy software. #3) Security - Huge. Hire a specialist, then after he/she is done, hire another......... It's not a one time affair! It should be a constant concern, and needs to be treated with the utmost respect.
I consider you to be quite lucky. You'll be building from the ground up. We had to build around many of the medical systems that we already owned (interfaces galore). Good luck on your journey.
My biggest problem with distance education is my lack of motivation/attention.
Maybe we could make some sort of Nun emulator (E-Nun). I can see the
possibilities now.
"E-Nun has detected that you are not progressing with your course work." "E-Nun
would like to inform the student that pr0n may lead to blindness, and will surely lead
to the burning pits of hell." "E-Nun advises the student to refrain from using the
internet for devils work, and continue with the course work." If E-Nun detects this
sort of behavior again, E-Nun will contact the students mother."
kill -9 e-nun2k
The root of the problem isn't that the Government isn't willing to check these companies power scrambles. IMHO the root of the problem IS that we the people (as a mass) are either stupid, misinformed, or just don't care enough to elect government officials that will keep our liberties from being slowly depleted by the likes of big business.
Slashdot Mirror
Doesn't Babelfish have a Legaleeze translator?
That, my friend, is priceless.
Furthermore, this is Congress potentially legislating over what a European should pay for a European song published by a European company, just because a US website decided to sell it.
NO! The European is deciding what he/she should pay for the European song published by the European company. He/She is doing so by deciding to purchasing the song from the US company. If the European company that published this European song decides to sell this song in the US, than it is bound by US laws governing said sales. If the European company doesn't like said laws, then it has every right not to sell it's products in the US.
I have lots of respect for the US government (on Friday nights at the end of a number of beers) but it can keep its grubby hands out of European (or other) pricing mechanisms, thank you very much; we can do without the guidance of those elected by individuals incapable of reading a ballot form...
Troll anyone?
As a tech working for a good sized hospital/clinic, that, in the past 3 years, has made leaps and bounds in the technology arena, I can tell you that if you do this right, your patients, and medical staff will most definitely benefit. While we don't yet allow the patient to view his/her medical record online, we do have a good majority of that patients record available to the medical staff, via our Intranet. This past year we have tested workstations in the exam room, and the results were outstanding. Both the medical staff, and the patients were very impressed. So impressed that the company is now in the process of putting workstations in every exam room (well over 500 in the local facility, and a good number in our 40 regional clinics). At least some part, of almost all of our medical systems are computerized, so we import data from those systems to our data warehouse. It is very comforting for a patient that has already seen 2 specialists that day, to be sitting in the exam room of their 3rd appointment, with yet another MD, and have the doctor walk in and instantly have access to the labs, EKG, prescribed meds......etc, that the 2 previous doctors ordered/prescribed just an hour before. This had previously been next to impossible, because of the chunkiness of the paper method. Since we are also a hospital, the benefits are even greater. A for instance: since we are the biggest health care facility in the area, we see a good number of patients. If one of those patients has a serious episode, and gets rushed to the ER, those ER docs can instantly see a good portion of the patients prior medical history, which in that situation, can make a huge difference. There are numerous other benefits to both doctor and patient, and we realize more of them very day. I'm excited to hear that more and more institutions are doing this. Having the experiences that I have had in the past few years, I can offer a couple pieces of advice: #1) Be far sighted - Have a vision. Know what you want this system to do, and how far you want to take it. That leads into my next piece of advice. #2) Chose your software carefully - We developed a good portion of what we are using today. We did so because there were no products (at least a that time), that were both mature, and did what we needed them to do. Many of the companies offering software for the medical industry just plain suck. You'll find that a good portion of them are using antiquated software (especially on the backend), support from these companies is terrifying, and a good portion of staff time is consumed by repeatedly fixing crappy software. #3) Security - Huge. Hire a specialist, then after he/she is done, hire another......... It's not a one time affair! It should be a constant concern, and needs to be treated with the utmost respect. I consider you to be quite lucky. You'll be building from the ground up. We had to build around many of the medical systems that we already owned (interfaces galore). Good luck on your journey.
My biggest problem with distance education is my lack of motivation/attention. Maybe we could make some sort of Nun emulator (E-Nun). I can see the possibilities now. "E-Nun has detected that you are not progressing with your course work." "E-Nun would like to inform the student that pr0n may lead to blindness, and will surely lead to the burning pits of hell." "E-Nun advises the student to refrain from using the internet for devils work, and continue with the course work." If E-Nun detects this sort of behavior again, E-Nun will contact the students mother." kill -9 e-nun2k
AMEN!
The root of the problem isn't that the Government isn't willing to check these companies power scrambles. IMHO the root of the problem IS that we the people (as a mass) are either stupid, misinformed, or just don't care enough to elect government officials that will keep our liberties from being slowly depleted by the likes of big business.
http://www.smartmoney.com/bestbuys/banking/index.c fm?story=ebank
Wow, they'll give a Ph.D. in Psychology to anyone these days.