Re:Electronic Health Records is very hard
on
IT and Health Care
·
· Score: 1
on the contrary, it is NOT conspiracy theory.
My girlfriend works at Children's Memorial in Chicago, and she repeatedly has to deal with doctors who ask for kickbacks (cash, items, trips) to do simple tasks associated with research grants. of course the grants can't pay so the docs help as little as possible.
also, this: Basically, it spells out that overuse of medicine and doctors' drive to make as much money as possible really is at the root cause of our mess of a healthcare system: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande it's a bit of a read but but I found it fascinating enough to get through.
Please, before you label something a conspiracy theory, please look into the idea that the article's author may know a little more about the subject and did do some digging. On the other hand, it IS slashdot so I can understand the skepticism regarding the legitimacy of the article.
Well, have you looked at the state of things lately?
The system is too large to fix. There are too many differing opinions. It may not be that people are too dumb or disinterested (although it's part of it) it's that there is just nothing we can do anymore.
Vote them all out? Ok. Who do we put in there? Have a revolution? Have you seen the weapons they would use on us? Civil disobedience? Yeah, you'll be socially ostracized and bankrupted by court, police, shrinks, or others.
There's just no changing the course of this terrible beast called America. that is what I have come to over the last 10 years through research, discussions, and consideration. I used to be optimistic, but the only thing left now is to spark a fattie once in a while, kick back, and laugh at the whole insane thing. It'll crash eventually and the best thing is to batten down the hatches as much as possible (save,invest globally, learn survival skills), help your fellow man (if he even wants it anymore), and generally lead as productive and enjoyable a life as possible.
I have tried for a long time not to be fatalistic, but at this point it's going to take a MASSIVE catastrophe or very significant event to change the course of the USA. Maybe China will be the one to knock us out of our 50-year funk.
It's something to chew on, but come on! It's a PR FIRM pushing its agenda about how PR firms can help failing industries. They're just vultures looking to pick at the bones, and I don't feel this article is anything more than that.
This is great, and kudos to all who are helping. However, other, more important and powerful world forces are watching carefully to see how the Iranian people conduct their revolution. If the time should come when bigger powers are at risk it seems to me that the chinks in the armor of totalitarianism will not be there for the rebellious (i'm looking at you, China; maybe even the US if you want to put your tin foil hat on and believe that pretty much everybody in the US isn't a sheeple already.)
Also, that's "cheaply" for now. China is buying up commodities at a break-neck pace. If they get a hold of many of those resources it could become much more palatable to get the stuff from asteroids instead.
Hafnium, gallium, indium, dysprosium, neodymium, terbium... shall I go on? All the things that are running out *fast* (try 10 year supply left) which we need for things like cell phones, LCD monitors, and semiconductors.
Many rare earth metals are contained in Near Earth Orbit asteroids. At least one of objects has been visited and was not terribly hard to land on. Robotic mining might not be *easy*, but we've landed and controlled a number of craft on Mars. It doesn't seem like a terribly far cry to send larger, more robust equipment to asteroids to mine them.
Now, finding those rare earths may be a bit dicey. Getting to them could be a challenge on an asteroid. However, with all those resources out there and our supplies dwindling somewhat one has to believe that someone will want to get to those.
Perhaps we should take it a step further and ask what percentage of each of those countries has access to higher eduction. Maybe a better questions is "What percentage is 'middle class' or has access to public education?"
Then apply your method once again to see how well each country is doing.
Where it's at is in asteroid mining, maybe even living on asteroids (see "The Island Worlds" by Kotani) Give people a new frontier to live on and explore. With the potential for a weirdly dystopian future coming down fast (inflation, lack of resources, surveillance) I think it's one of the last places people can get away to, personally.
Sell live shows. Right after the show is done press the shows and sell them to ticket holders. There. You have something that is scarce and that, if the band was good or people had a great time, others want to buy!
Hell, record it in binaural sound! It will feel like you are *at* the show! It's really easy, frankly.
Let the RIAA charge a small fee on the recording or something, I don't know. Everyone gets what they want and there's profit!
Would you work hard for 10+ years just to get paid beans? Besides, it's VERY hard to get Medicare to pay anyway, I believe, so you have to do double work for something that gets you very little.
I know quite a few people in quite a few different corps so perhaps I can shed some light:
People like to THINK they are looking out for the customer. If that means they need to ignore certain facts (like the guy I know who works for MS and will trumpet how wonderful the company is to his grave) then so be it. It keeps the money coming in, keeps their attitude in the right mode to remain employed and productive. Companies also help a lot with the this.
The truly evil companies in my experience are the ones who basically create a cult following with their employees. That way, no matter what the company does, the employees think it's good and right and ok. I see it at Baxter, Abbott (wow, especially them) Microsoft, Apple, Hewitt, and Accenture (who actually DO go the extra mile for their employees). Those are just a handful of the big ones.
To the individual everything can look ok. Their world can be programmed to look nice. Many companies are VERY strict about making sure you only learn and know things at your job level and nothing else eg Hewitt or Abbott which are really fucking creepy, but act all "Ra Ra Ra!" about their corporate cult. Put all those cogs together and you can still create something terrible. You just need a handful of people deluded enough (management) to make vicious decisions and be alcoholics to deal with it in order to lead an army of people who think they are doing the right thing.
You're right, many people do want to do the right thing, but when all those little things add up are they really doing something good are do they just *believe* they are?
Diesel emissions are not as clean as the more refined gas. I know it's getting cleaner, but the pollution has to go somewhere (it's being filtered right now from what I understand).
I'm sure it's slightly more complicated than "ask the oil companies", but I can't say for sure.
Both have basically been proven so inefficient as to be laughable.
What about electric? Go ahead and set up a few nuclear plants and run things on electric with hybrid diesel for delivery/freight trucks.
Or force people through the pain they will *have* to go through eventually and move back toward cities in order to use mass transit.
I agree with the parent and I want to subscribe to his/her newsletter. Better that we burn some of it up while finding a replacement than let India and China waste it on two-stroke, inefficient engines.
If I'm not mistaken, although the US uses the majority of the world's oil we actually only contribute a fraction of the pollution due to how efficient our cars are.
Cut back on freight-hauling pollution like trucks and especially supertankers. Those things spew obscene amounts of crap into the air.
This mileage thing is a huge joke that will only make us feel better. The real change can't happen because the companies don't want it to. Now that the big 3 are out of business we can finally make a little change. It isn't until the companies lose their stranglehold on Washington DC that we can get any real change.
There is a different energy density and cost associated with that. For all the people from other countries going on about this gas mileage deal we are talking about 2 different numbers that need to be compared scientifically, not by a surface comparison.
You're making a false comparison, sorry, especially when we are talking about fuel economy. Does that quad core computer burn 300 gallons of fuel per use? Does it burn 300 gallons of fuel per year?
These would be useful questions to answer in order to make a realistic comparison.
It's ok to like your toys. Why don't I go ahead and build a gargantuan Mega-Killer Machine that burns 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel every time I run it through my 600 acres of land, destroying and killing everything in my way and ripping up the land. It's my right! I like my toys! You can't take it away even though it's horrible for the environment.
Just because we CAN do it doesn't mean we *should*, and I think computers are a LONG way from being the polluters cars are (but they're getting there).
MS's latest move might bear out my theory about why they sold those bonds:
MS sold bonds at a rock bottom price because they know those bonds are going to get massively devalued when inflation goes bonkers over the next couple years. MS is raising its prices ahead of this (hyper?)inflation scenario so that they can continue to turn a reasonable profit. Once they set the cost there isn't really any going back. Inflate the costs now for the OS that has to sell for at least a few years.
Microsoft is making a flat-out genius business move:
1)Sell bonds now while people are still scared that the market can go down. 2)Allow inflation to drastically cheapen the bonds when it hits over the next few years. 3)Invest the money from the bonds in R&D, or gold, or something that will have a big return on investment 4)? 5) MEGA-profit.
This is pure investing 101, and anyone dumb enough to buy those bonds should be shot. Now is a terrible to buy bonds.
The same laws that apply to music should apply here. It should be legal to make derivative works!
We have sampled electronica and hip-hop. Without samples much of these genres would not exist. There is a band, Girl Talk, who ONLY uses samples for his music. The music industry is SCREAMING to nail this guy, but he's so popular that he fills concert halls with dancing, crazy fun times and has released at least 4 albums. They're really good although it could be argued that he is riding on the popularity of the songs he samples.
The same should go for games. Just keep making derivative works to overwhelm the system. Sooner or later the companies that aren't using ANY of that content will begin to relent. For that matter, ignore the C&D. OOPS! I left a copy of the dev files on CD in a cafe somewhere and someone just *happened* to walk off with it and finish developing the ROM. Sorry!
As the great Andrew Jackson said: It's their law. Now let them enforce it.[sic]
Slashdot Mirror
on the contrary, it is NOT conspiracy theory.
My girlfriend works at Children's Memorial in Chicago, and she repeatedly has to deal with doctors who ask for kickbacks (cash, items, trips) to do simple tasks associated with research grants. of course the grants can't pay so the docs help as little as possible.
also, this:
Basically, it spells out that overuse of medicine and doctors' drive to make as much money as possible really is at the root cause of our mess of a healthcare system:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande
it's a bit of a read but but I found it fascinating enough to get through.
Please, before you label something a conspiracy theory, please look into the idea that the article's author may know a little more about the subject and did do some digging. On the other hand, it IS slashdot so I can understand the skepticism regarding the legitimacy of the article.
Well, have you looked at the state of things lately?
The system is too large to fix. There are too many differing opinions. It may not be that people are too dumb or disinterested (although it's part of it) it's that there is just nothing we can do anymore.
Vote them all out? Ok. Who do we put in there?
Have a revolution? Have you seen the weapons they would use on us?
Civil disobedience? Yeah, you'll be socially ostracized and bankrupted by court, police, shrinks, or others.
There's just no changing the course of this terrible beast called America. that is what I have come to over the last 10 years through research, discussions, and consideration. I used to be optimistic, but the only thing left now is to spark a fattie once in a while, kick back, and laugh at the whole insane thing. It'll crash eventually and the best thing is to batten down the hatches as much as possible (save,invest globally, learn survival skills), help your fellow man (if he even wants it anymore), and generally lead as productive and enjoyable a life as possible.
I have tried for a long time not to be fatalistic, but at this point it's going to take a MASSIVE catastrophe or very significant event to change the course of the USA. Maybe China will be the one to knock us out of our 50-year funk.
It's something to chew on, but come on! It's a PR FIRM pushing its agenda about how PR firms can help failing industries. They're just vultures looking to pick at the bones, and I don't feel this article is anything more than that.
"Now... there's nothing but flowers"
I thought parent would be modded Funny. Please see the Talking Heads song mentioned above if you have questions.
You are ordered to leave the Bronx!
(mst3k reference, Escape 2000)
I'm surprised no one's posted this yet.
This is great, and kudos to all who are helping.
However, other, more important and powerful world forces are watching carefully to see how the Iranian people conduct their revolution. If the time should come when bigger powers are at risk it seems to me that the chinks in the armor of totalitarianism will not be there for the rebellious (i'm looking at you, China; maybe even the US if you want to put your tin foil hat on and believe that pretty much everybody in the US isn't a sheeple already.)
Also, that's "cheaply" for now. China is buying up commodities at a break-neck pace. If they get a hold of many of those resources it could become much more palatable to get the stuff from asteroids instead.
What can we get more easily?
Let me count the ways:
Hafnium, gallium, indium, dysprosium, neodymium, terbium... shall I go on? All the things that are running out *fast* (try 10 year supply left) which we need for things like cell phones, LCD monitors, and semiconductors.
Many rare earth metals are contained in Near Earth Orbit asteroids. At least one of objects has been visited and was not terribly hard to land on.
Robotic mining might not be *easy*, but we've landed and controlled a number of craft on Mars. It doesn't seem like a terribly far cry to send larger, more robust equipment to asteroids to mine them.
Now, finding those rare earths may be a bit dicey. Getting to them could be a challenge on an asteroid. However, with all those resources out there and our supplies dwindling somewhat one has to believe that someone will want to get to those.
Very good point.
Perhaps we should take it a step further and ask what percentage of each of those countries has access to higher eduction. Maybe a better questions is "What percentage is 'middle class' or has access to public education?"
Then apply your method once again to see how well each country is doing.
Could this start pushing some books out of the richer schools and into the hands of people who need them?
Where it's at is in asteroid mining, maybe even living on asteroids (see "The Island Worlds" by Kotani)
Give people a new frontier to live on and explore. With the potential for a weirdly dystopian future coming down fast (inflation, lack of resources, surveillance) I think it's one of the last places people can get away to, personally.
What else, the bottom of the ocean?
Remove the water, carry the water!
Remove the water, from the bottom of the ocean!
I need to pipe up here:
Sell live shows. Right after the show is done press the shows and sell them to ticket holders. There. You have something that is scarce and that, if the band was good or people had a great time, others want to buy!
Hell, record it in binaural sound! It will feel like you are *at* the show! It's really easy, frankly.
Let the RIAA charge a small fee on the recording or something, I don't know. Everyone gets what they want and there's profit!
Would you work hard for 10+ years just to get paid beans?
Besides, it's VERY hard to get Medicare to pay anyway, I believe, so you have to do double work for something that gets you very little.
I know quite a few people in quite a few different corps so perhaps I can shed some light:
People like to THINK they are looking out for the customer. If that means they need to ignore certain facts (like the guy I know who works for MS and will trumpet how wonderful the company is to his grave) then so be it. It keeps the money coming in, keeps their attitude in the right mode to remain employed and productive. Companies also help a lot with the this.
The truly evil companies in my experience are the ones who basically create a cult following with their employees. That way, no matter what the company does, the employees think it's good and right and ok. I see it at Baxter, Abbott (wow, especially them) Microsoft, Apple, Hewitt, and Accenture (who actually DO go the extra mile for their employees). Those are just a handful of the big ones.
To the individual everything can look ok. Their world can be programmed to look nice. Many companies are VERY strict about making sure you only learn and know things at your job level and nothing else eg Hewitt or Abbott which are really fucking creepy, but act all "Ra Ra Ra!" about their corporate cult. Put all those cogs together and you can still create something terrible. You just need a handful of people deluded enough (management) to make vicious decisions and be alcoholics to deal with it in order to lead an army of people who think they are doing the right thing.
You're right, many people do want to do the right thing, but when all those little things add up are they really doing something good are do they just *believe* they are?
Diesel emissions are not as clean as the more refined gas. I know it's getting cleaner, but the pollution has to go somewhere (it's being filtered right now from what I understand). I'm sure it's slightly more complicated than "ask the oil companies", but I can't say for sure.
Fuel Cells? Biodiesel?
Both have basically been proven so inefficient as to be laughable.
What about electric? Go ahead and set up a few nuclear plants and run things on electric with hybrid diesel for delivery/freight trucks.
Or force people through the pain they will *have* to go through eventually and move back toward cities in order to use mass transit.
I agree with the parent and I want to subscribe to his/her newsletter. Better that we burn some of it up while finding a replacement than let India and China waste it on two-stroke, inefficient engines.
If I'm not mistaken, although the US uses the majority of the world's oil we actually only contribute a fraction of the pollution due to how efficient our cars are.
Cut back on freight-hauling pollution like trucks and especially supertankers. Those things spew obscene amounts of crap into the air.
This mileage thing is a huge joke that will only make us feel better. The real change can't happen because the companies don't want it to. Now that the big 3 are out of business we can finally make a little change. It isn't until the companies lose their stranglehold on Washington DC that we can get any real change.
That's *diesel*.
There is a different energy density and cost associated with that. For all the people from other countries going on about this gas mileage deal we are talking about 2 different numbers that need to be compared scientifically, not by a surface comparison.
You're making a false comparison, sorry, especially when we are talking about fuel economy.
Does that quad core computer burn 300 gallons of fuel per use?
Does it burn 300 gallons of fuel per year?
These would be useful questions to answer in order to make a realistic comparison.
It's ok to like your toys. Why don't I go ahead and build a gargantuan Mega-Killer Machine that burns 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel every time I run it through my 600 acres of land, destroying and killing everything in my way and ripping up the land. It's my right! I like my toys! You can't take it away even though it's horrible for the environment.
Just because we CAN do it doesn't mean we *should*, and I think computers are a LONG way from being the polluters cars are (but they're getting there).
Can we PLEASE put this to rest!?!?!
You guys are using Diesel.
We are not using Diesel.
There is a big difference in the amount of energy that comes out of each per (whatever unit) and a difference in price as well.
Now we can have an argument about how clean each fuel type is, yes. We have been over this a half dozen times before on slashdot.
I am sorry to be so sour.
MS's latest move might bear out my theory about why they sold those bonds:
MS sold bonds at a rock bottom price because they know those bonds are going to get massively devalued when inflation goes bonkers over the next couple years.
MS is raising its prices ahead of this (hyper?)inflation scenario so that they can continue to turn a reasonable profit. Once they set the cost there isn't really any going back. Inflate the costs now for the OS that has to sell for at least a few years.
That's my theory.
Toys in the Attic: "So what was the real lesson? Don't leave things in the fridge."
Microsoft is making a flat-out genius business move:
1)Sell bonds now while people are still scared that the market can go down.
2)Allow inflation to drastically cheapen the bonds when it hits over the next few years.
3)Invest the money from the bonds in R&D, or gold, or something that will have a big return on investment
4)?
5) MEGA-profit.
This is pure investing 101, and anyone dumb enough to buy those bonds should be shot. Now is a terrible to buy bonds.
Sorry there. i know it's illegal to make derivative works in music. Just to clarify
The same laws that apply to music should apply here.
It should be legal to make derivative works!
We have sampled electronica and hip-hop. Without samples much of these genres would not exist. There is a band, Girl Talk, who ONLY uses samples for his music. The music industry is SCREAMING to nail this guy, but he's so popular that he fills concert halls with dancing, crazy fun times and has released at least 4 albums. They're really good although it could be argued that he is riding on the popularity of the songs he samples.
The same should go for games. Just keep making derivative works to overwhelm the system. Sooner or later the companies that aren't using ANY of that content will begin to relent. For that matter, ignore the C&D. OOPS! I left a copy of the dev files on CD in a cafe somewhere and someone just *happened* to walk off with it and finish developing the ROM. Sorry!
As the great Andrew Jackson said: It's their law. Now let them enforce it.[sic]