But, I don't think that, even as good as Free Software testing is, that it's good enough to run, say, the firmware of a heart-and-lung machine.
A ventilator is actually much simpler than emacs, mozilla, linux, gnome, etc. Air goes in, air comes out. Air did not all return=>sound the leak alarm. Pressure too high=>set off high pressure alarm. And so on. Even so, there are checks and balances in place becauase it is unwise to trust everything to a single machine. That is, even with all of the testing, they not uncommonly malfunction or fail (sometimes software, more frequently mechanical). Thus, the ventilator does its thing while oxygen saturation and CO2 monitors monitor the results of ventilation and set off alarms when things don't look right.
Now there is much more complex medical software - software that attempts to read EKG's, for example. It is generally not trusted. The EKG will be read by a physician anyway.
Most medical software applications. Visual navigation software for the operating room is complex, and will be a major application of VR. It shortcomings (registration errors, shifting of structures) are very well known by the people using it.
It's not data or money you're toying with there - it's people's lives. *I* wouldn't trust my life to Linux - would you?
Well, you may find youself trusting your life to NT, IRIX, or even DOS:-) - not just in the medical realm.
It seems that when I choose an Ask Slashdot article, my session cookie is just ignored and I am presented with the oportunity to log in again. I get the defaults again (e.g. threaded comments rather than flat). Strange indeed, since I would have guessed that the "Ask Slashdot" hits would pass through the same perl to spit out the html as other types of articles.
1)Make all second generations of the cell steril. Can't be too hard, just simply don't put the genes needed for reproduction in.
I can hear Jeff Goldblum now "Nature will find a way...chaos..entropy...mutations...arrrghhh".
Seriously, this stuff is a bit scary because we may understand the virus really well in the laboratory under controlled conditions, but we have very limited knowledge of what will happen when it's released into a population of humans that have a diverse genetic makeup. The possibility of idiosyncratic devastating reactions, often found in new medications during trials, cannot be eliminated. I don't want to sound like a Luddite here, but I think we should be really careful here and proceed slowly.
If you have something urgent to share with you colleagues and the public - there are plenty of other means available. But for a record that would sit on a library shelf for generations to come - it should be well stable and not rushed out.
Scientific models have always been and will always be imperfect and subject to constant revision. So why spend two years polishing up your (now old) research so that it can sit on the shelf for generations. Your article will most likely be supplanted anyway in a few years. Better to release a reasonable snapshot and move on to bigger and better things.
There just aren't a lot of scientific articles that are worthy of being carved into stone, and many that people would consider worthy are mainly of historical interest. Even if it is a revolutionary paper (Einstein's paper on the photoelectric effect, etc.), you don't want to polish it for two years. Just get it out there and let it impregnate other people's thoughts like a seminal paper should.
However, I do agree with the major concerns for health care providers. If a research article takes one position on a health condition and this is open to the public, this could damage health care treatment. An example of this is if there was some new fangled cancer treatment and it got published in a journal online and if I was a cancer patient, knowing this could present problems with dealing with your health care provider. What if the published research is wrong and incorrect? What if it's misleading to the untrained eye?
The biomed literature is already widely released into the press, e.g. "If you are an overweight diabetic male, eat 7.3 eggs a day (but not less than 6 or more than 9), and live with cats, you will have a lower probability of spontaneous human combustion". People who are interested in finding out what's out there for cancer are going to dig up a lot of the medical literature anyway, as well as a lot of stuff from unconventional sources. The traditional literature, which is frequently not annotated with commentary, can be difficult to understand and easily misinterpreted. Furthermore, a lot of stuff that passes through peer review proves to be incorrect or misleading anyway.
If we can attach commentary from reputable sources to each "article", then the lay person can either try to read everything critically or just choose who he/she wants to believe (e.g. "I'm just going to do whatever Dr.Koop thinks is best in this situation"). They may not understand the statistics behind the NASCET trial themselves, but with ample commentary attached, they can probably understand the bottom line and get a sense of how controversial the conclusions of the paper are.
The internet will make it possible to combine vast amounts outcomes information that could provide the statistical power to prove or disprove ideas that could not be adequately tested by traditional methods whereby a single center ( or a few centers) collects a statistically inadequate small sample of something and publishes it in a peer review journal. Sort of like the power of the CDC, but for everything.
Slashdot style moderation will work for scientific journals without the slashdot style moderation. The article is the "submission", and the comments are the "moderation" (or peer review, if you will). Comments by people who are established workers in a field would get highest billing, and would not be anonymous.
Several journals that I read have such a system in place already. At the end of the article you can read a few paragraphs about what others in the field thought of it. So you can see if your trusted guru X thought Y's paper on flux capacitors and oscillating overthrusters was BS or not. Much more valuable than just having the article "pass" peer review and get published. Of course, they have to limit it to three or four commentators at the end of each article because of publishing limitations. Online journals won't have this limitation. There is no reason that the vocal experts in a field who are involved in traditional peer review can't migrate to online peer review. These people enjoy their power and probably won't want to give it up when online journals start to gain readership.
Scientific information traditionally published in journals should be free. Lots of libraries have had their funding for journals slashed, and plenty of "well-funded" libraries have had to cut back too. Alas, there will be many clusters of books and journals that go online for those who pay a monthly subscription, such as with MD Consult.
I'm semi up to speed in Perl, but haven't yet done any serious parsing work with it. Are there any modules/extensions that give you yacc/lex functionality in a true-to-perl terse style? I don't wanna go back to yacc if I can do it in perl!
Anybody out there using a multichannel (three or more stereo outs) sound card with Linux? I would like to do zoned audio at home from a single large HD and server, with client control via IR or home intranet. This way the wife can listen to her Tori Amos in the study while I'm piping Eric Johnson into the living room. Of course, multiple stereo systems would solve this, but that wouldn't be as much fun!
The song attributes and ratings will be kept in a mysql database (with different ratings for each user), and playlist queries will be contructed with a simple intranet form.
The last piece of the puzzle for me is the card. Any multichannel card recommendations out there?
That is almost always: a) a recording problem or b) an encoding problem.
I guess it's the encoding then. Xing at 128kbit. The differences are not obvious, but they are there if you listen. I do my A/B "blinded" test by having a friend play the CD or the MP3 through my soundcard and headphones. The MP3's sound great, but in addition to the differences noted above, are just not as "crisp" (I admit this is not a scientific term) as the CD. But definitely good enough for everyday listening.
You must live someplace in Midtown. While some of those houses can be nice and cheap, the problem that I have with them are they are right next to those 'compartmentalized crime' areas which are growing. Yup. I was a bit worried about crime when I first moved in. Three years, so far no real crime except for someone stealing some muddy shoes off of my front porch. They were decent enough to leave their old shoes behind though. There is a lot of renovation going on in Midtown, including my own house, and several nearby shabby homes have been leveled recently for new construction.
The crime stats are usually published in the newspaper by zip code. I check 'em - 38104. There are definitely differences in crime among the various Midtown neighborhoods. I'd say Midtwon can be a good place to live if you don't have kids. Better yet, if you have the $$$, Mudd Island. Otherwise it's Pleasantville out east.
In reality, I'm so busy that I don't have a lot of time for skiing/surfing, and other stuff you can do in LA or Seattle if you have the time. My needs (decent dining, accessable live music, affordable housing, good internet access) are met. I'd much rather live in my house here than in an efficiency in SF or LA. I just can't stand apartments.
Given the crappy public schools, the crime rate, the large scummy and dirty areas, the constant racial bickering, the interstate highways that one must use off-ramps to stay on, etc.
Crappy schools - no first hand experience here. Crime - maybe I'm just lucky so far. Dirty areas - they exist, but Midtown is mostly quite clean. Memphis used to win the national "cleanest city" award before it was discontinued. Interstates - don't forget I-40, which comes to an abrupt halt at Overton Park. I'd say that the 'racial bickering' thing is a bit overblown and hasn't had any measureable impact on me or any of my friends during my time here.
I don't think Memphis is heading for the top of any "Best Cities" lists, but it is quite liveable. You out east?
With my crappy speakers, it's hard to tell the difference most of the time. But when I put on just about any pair of headphones and really listen, I can usually spot the MP3. The cymbal crashes are the most noticeable difference - they are often a little distorted or have a "phaser" effect. Also, the stereo image sometimes changes in noticeable ways.
There will be few incentives to generate the other music which is often just considered filler on the cd anyway. Personally, some of my favorite songs are the ones that never received airtime and would never be considered hits. But in a distribution method where people pick and choose what they want, all the other tunes will be lost by the wayside.
I disagree. When a musician publishes a LP (or CD), they are often forced to eliminate some of their material because of restrictions imposed by the format or their record company. Sometimes these tracks are pulled from the vault and released on subsequent albums, but the fact is that publishing on the internet will allow musicians to publish all of their material with very few restrictions. So, contrary to your claim, I believe that you will be able to hear gems that in the old days would have been deemed unsuitable for the record. With the "pick and choose what you want" distribution method of the internet, you are free to download every last morsel that your favorite musician has created and burn them to CD (or DVD) in any order you like. The options of the artists and consumers are not diminished in any way by internet distribution compared to the rather restrictive model of LPs or CDs.
Not a bad place. I pay $700/month for a nice 2000 sq ft victorian with hardwoods in a decent neighborhood. You can get a cable modem, ASDL, or cheap ISDN. Decent music scene (birthplace of the blues and R&R, or so they say) with a yearly large music festival and multiple smaller festivals, Beale Street, etc. Decent food, though a little heavy on the barbecue. Crime is not the best feature, but it seems somewhat compartmentalized. No strong tech oriented university though, and not really a "tech" city, though tech jobs exist.
Houston
5 million or so. Cultural diversity and any cultural activity you want. Lots of tech jobs. Very affordable. Downtown doesn't really thrive after dark (unless you are a rollerblader), so you'll have to drive around to various hot spots for entertainment. Oh, and it's very hot and humid in the summer (but winters are mild).
Austin
Great place to go to college. A major tech town. Good music scene. Outdoors activities. SxSW. Real estate prices have risen sharply, but still more affordable than SV and many other big "tech" cities. Very hot in the summer.
I'm interested in whether people believe that telecommuting is a viable model, and how important physical proximity is for software/web development. If Linux can be developed by internet collaboration, then why can't certain commercial ventures follow the same model? It seems like a handful of people with expert knowledge spanning the globe could run a successful business via internet collaboration (especially if it is an internet company). Certainly the talent pool on the internet is larger than the set of people living in any particular place.
Do brains need to be in close physical proximity so that stimulating ideas can be exchanged and amplified? Isn't the net the best place to get and exchange ideas since it is readily accessable, easily searched, and has a much larger pool of ideas coming from people from all walks of life.
I think it has potential. I agree with ditching the sound effects. Interesting talk is the key - this is why I love listening to "Car Talk" each week. The Magliozzi brothers are smart and everything, but they sound like they're just having a whole lot of fun doing their show. The first Geeks in Space segment had a similar tone
If there is a really hard core sysadmin type (or perhaps CmdrTaco is hardcore enough) available for the show, you could do the Q&A "diagnose on the phone" type of stuff that also makes Car Talk interesting. Guests would be really cool too - it would be great to call in and ask Larry Wall a question about Perl or ask an experienced admin how to efficiently solve a particular problem.
Most doctors know nothing about RSI. In fact, the medical profession as a whole knows very little about RSI. So unless you are lucky enough to find a doctor who had a dual practice among athletes and concert musicians (and there are probably only a few such doctors in the US), you aren't likely to get much real help.
RSI is a wastebasket term (very nonspecific) that can be attached to a wide variety of problems that have been associated in some way with repetitive strain. It is just common sense that repetitive strain will cause wear and tear on the body as it does with any other type of machine. That's why we have the joke "Doc it hurts when I do that. Doc replies: don't do that". Repetitive strain contributes to many problems in variable degrees, but is not the only contributing cause for many of the illnesses that it is associated with.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a specific entity with many different contributing causes, including repetitive strain in many cases. The symptoms of CTS are crystal clear to anyone with knowledge of anatomy - the symptoms relate to the median nerve. Any competant neurosurgeon or orthopedic surgeon, and most primary care physicians are intimately familiar with this problem as it is quite common and usually simple to diagnose.
you have to think twice (or 50 times) about going to a doctor and getting a diagnosis of RSIwritten down in your folder.
Why? If you go to the doctor and get your CTS treated, why would future employers discriminate against you. If you are disabled by your CTS (e.g. permanant weakness), then you have a disability and all of the related laws regarding disabilities apply.
Can I get a test to indicate early warning signs of this disease before it occurs? I would glady pay for such a test if it occured. I wouldn't mind if the test was conducted yearly.
The best "test" is your own symptoms. The symptoms are related to median nerve compression - clumsiness, weakness, pain, or numbness (typically in the thumb, index, and middle fingers - but can vary) in the affected hand. You are unlikely to have irreversible damage "all of a sudden" from CTS without having significant symptoms first.
Nerve conduction studies can show electrical evidence of nerve compression before any symptoms occur. However, the presence of abnormal conduction data in the absence of any symptoms of CTS doesn't really help much since it doesn't really tell you if you are going to develop clinical CTS.
There is no single test that is completely sensitive and specific for CTS - the diagnosis requires a suggestive history and exam, and can be supported or refuted with electrical studies.
I would suggest not worrying about it if you have no symptoms - just excercise good posture and ergonomics. If you get symptoms, then it is important to pay close attention to the nature and progression of the symptoms (e.g. don't let it progress to significant weakness and clumsiness without treatment because the median nerve can become permanantly damaged from CTS). In the advanced stages of CTS, the pain may actually get better, but the weakness becomes permanant and some of the hand muscles are visibly atrophied. Surgery is the most definitive treatment since it directly addresses the problem (a tight carpal tunnel compressing the median nerve), but the symptoms will often resolve with splints and anti-inflammatory medications.
Symptoms include pain, numbness, weakness or clumsiness in hand caused by compression of the median nerve as is passes through the carpal tunnel (wrist).
The pain may radiate up into your arm
The pain is often related to repetitive activities (such as typing), and can become worse with exertion.
The pain may wake you up at night
More common in females
Some associated conditions: arthritis, pregnancy (and oral contraceptives), hypothyroidism, trauma, amyloidosis, sarcoidosis, tenosynovitis, and several others.
wrist splints and anti inflammatory medications are often helpful
If related to pregnancy, it will often resolve after delivery.
the surgical treatment is to "open up" the carpal tunnel so that the nerve is no longer pinched.
If allowed to continue without treatment, the weakness and numbness can become permanant, and certain muscles (especially at the base of the thumb) can atrophy.
Can you imagine a world where everything's on the CPU? "Whoops! That SCSI controller died. Better go buy a new CPU for that server..." That would just suck!
Ah, but your fault tolerant Transmeta CPU will circumvent the problem and reprogram the sound circuits to take care of SCSI.
Soon, the chip will integrate into the operator(imagine the death of the keyboard). Just imagine having "Intel Inside" stamped on your head, remember the "simpsons" commercial for Intel.
I'm using an Intel chip for my android, Al Gore. My Quayle project, based on an older Pentium, didn't fare so well - a peculiar division bug seemed to plague his spell checker.
Humor and personality modules will be added soon, hopefully before the election.
All in all, my android is performing quite well and everything is proceeding exactly as planned. After the election, I will add infrared vision, ultrasonic hearing, and a wireless LAN implant. Oh yeah, and his actions will be completely determined by the slashdot poll statistics.
Under the Gnome distro on the RH6 CD, Netscape Communicator swells up and brings X and my 64 megs to their knees every few days. Everything just locks up and then it's Ctrl-Alt-Backspace (becauase the Gnome logout selection on the panel doesn't seem to be connected to any code most of the time). I'm really looking forward to a leaner and meaner Mozilla.
But how can you figure out if someone with a certain heart-rate is in actual danger ?
You can't -- until they take the companion "panic button" out of their purse and send in the distress signal that confirms the bra alert:-^) A better idea might be to monitor the EKG with the bra and look for signs of cardiac ischemia such as ST segment changes or T wave inversions.
Slashdot Mirror
A ventilator is actually much simpler than emacs, mozilla, linux, gnome, etc. Air goes in, air comes out. Air did not all return=>sound the leak alarm. Pressure too high=>set off high pressure alarm. And so on. Even so, there are checks and balances in place becauase it is unwise to trust everything to a single machine. That is, even with all of the testing, they not uncommonly malfunction or fail (sometimes software, more frequently mechanical). Thus, the ventilator does its thing while oxygen saturation and CO2 monitors monitor the results of ventilation and set off alarms when things don't look right.
Now there is much more complex medical software - software that attempts to read EKG's, for example. It is generally not trusted. The EKG will be read by a physician anyway.
Most medical software applications. Visual navigation software for the operating room is complex, and will be a major application of VR. It shortcomings (registration errors, shifting of structures) are very well known by the people using it.
It's not data or money you're toying with there - it's people's lives. *I* wouldn't trust my life to Linux - would you?
Well, you may find youself trusting your life to NT, IRIX, or even DOS :-) - not just in the medical realm.
It seems that when I choose an Ask Slashdot article, my session cookie is just ignored and I am presented with the oportunity to log in again. I get the defaults again (e.g. threaded comments rather than flat). Strange indeed, since I would have guessed that the "Ask Slashdot" hits would pass through the same perl to spit out the html as other types of articles.
I can hear Jeff Goldblum now "Nature will find a way...chaos..entropy...mutations...arrrghhh".
Seriously, this stuff is a bit scary because we may understand the virus really well in the laboratory under controlled conditions, but we have very limited knowledge of what will happen when it's released into a population of humans that have a diverse genetic makeup. The possibility of idiosyncratic devastating reactions, often found in new medications during trials, cannot be eliminated. I don't want to sound like a Luddite here, but I think we should be really careful here and proceed slowly.
Home birthing is great, until the baby gets stuck or starts to turn blue!
Scientific models have always been and will always be imperfect and subject to constant revision. So why spend two years polishing up your (now old) research so that it can sit on the shelf for generations. Your article will most likely be supplanted anyway in a few years. Better to release a reasonable snapshot and move on to bigger and better things.
There just aren't a lot of scientific articles that are worthy of being carved into stone, and many that people would consider worthy are mainly of historical interest. Even if it is a revolutionary paper (Einstein's paper on the photoelectric effect, etc.), you don't want to polish it for two years. Just get it out there and let it impregnate other people's thoughts like a seminal paper should.
The biomed literature is already widely released into the press, e.g. "If you are an overweight diabetic male, eat 7.3 eggs a day (but not less than 6 or more than 9), and live with cats, you will have a lower probability of spontaneous human combustion". People who are interested in finding out what's out there for cancer are going to dig up a lot of the medical literature anyway, as well as a lot of stuff from unconventional sources. The traditional literature, which is frequently not annotated with commentary, can be difficult to understand and easily misinterpreted. Furthermore, a lot of stuff that passes through peer review proves to be incorrect or misleading anyway.
If we can attach commentary from reputable sources to each "article", then the lay person can either try to read everything critically or just choose who he/she wants to believe (e.g. "I'm just going to do whatever Dr.Koop thinks is best in this situation"). They may not understand the statistics behind the NASCET trial themselves, but with ample commentary attached, they can probably understand the bottom line and get a sense of how controversial the conclusions of the paper are.
The internet will make it possible to combine vast amounts outcomes information that could provide the statistical power to prove or disprove ideas that could not be adequately tested by traditional methods whereby a single center ( or a few centers) collects a statistically inadequate small sample of something and publishes it in a peer review journal. Sort of like the power of the CDC, but for everything.
Several journals that I read have such a system in place already. At the end of the article you can read a few paragraphs about what others in the field thought of it. So you can see if your trusted guru X thought Y's paper on flux capacitors and oscillating overthrusters was BS or not. Much more valuable than just having the article "pass" peer review and get published. Of course, they have to limit it to three or four commentators at the end of each article because of publishing limitations. Online journals won't have this limitation. There is no reason that the vocal experts in a field who are involved in traditional peer review can't migrate to online peer review. These people enjoy their power and probably won't want to give it up when online journals start to gain readership.
Scientific information traditionally published in journals should be free. Lots of libraries have had their funding for journals slashed, and plenty of "well-funded" libraries have had to cut back too. Alas, there will be many clusters of books and journals that go online for those who pay a monthly subscription, such as with MD Consult.
I'm semi up to speed in Perl, but haven't yet done any serious parsing work with it. Are there any modules/extensions that give you yacc/lex functionality in a true-to-perl terse style? I don't wanna go back to yacc if I can do it in perl!
Have you considered putting two single-channel (stereo) audio cards in one machine?
Haven't tried it, but will consider it if it is cheaper and possible. I would really like at least three channels if I can get it.
Anybody out there using a multichannel (three or more stereo outs) sound card with Linux? I would like to do zoned audio at home from a single large HD and server, with client control via IR or home intranet. This way the wife can listen to her Tori Amos in the study while I'm piping Eric Johnson into the living room. Of course, multiple stereo systems would solve this, but that wouldn't be as much fun!
The song attributes and ratings will be kept in a mysql database (with different ratings for each user), and playlist queries will be contructed with a simple intranet form.
The last piece of the puzzle for me is the card. Any multichannel card recommendations out there?
That is almost always: a) a recording problem or b) an encoding problem.
I guess it's the encoding then. Xing at 128kbit. The differences are not obvious, but they are there if you listen. I do my A/B "blinded" test by having a friend play the CD or the MP3 through my soundcard and headphones. The MP3's sound great, but in addition to the differences noted above, are just not as "crisp" (I admit this is not a scientific term) as the CD. But definitely good enough for everyday listening.
You must live someplace in Midtown. While some of those houses can be nice and cheap, the problem that I have with them are they are right next to those 'compartmentalized crime' areas which are growing.
Yup. I was a bit worried about crime when I first moved in. Three years, so far no real crime except for someone stealing some muddy shoes off of my front porch. They were decent enough to leave their old shoes behind though. There is a lot of renovation going on in Midtown, including my own house, and several nearby shabby homes have been leveled recently for new construction.
The crime stats are usually published in the newspaper by zip code.
I check 'em - 38104. There are definitely differences in crime among the various Midtown neighborhoods. I'd say Midtwon can be a good place to live if you don't have kids. Better yet, if you have the $$$, Mudd Island. Otherwise it's Pleasantville out east.
In reality, I'm so busy that I don't have a lot of time for skiing/surfing, and other stuff you can do in LA or Seattle if you have the time. My needs (decent dining, accessable live music, affordable housing, good internet access) are met. I'd much rather live in my house here than in an efficiency in SF or LA. I just can't stand apartments.
Given the crappy public schools, the crime rate, the large scummy and dirty areas, the constant racial bickering, the interstate highways that one must use off-ramps to stay on, etc.
Crappy schools - no first hand experience here. Crime - maybe I'm just lucky so far. Dirty areas - they exist, but Midtown is mostly quite clean. Memphis used to win the national "cleanest city" award before it was discontinued. Interstates - don't forget I-40, which comes to an abrupt halt at Overton Park. I'd say that the 'racial bickering' thing is a bit overblown and hasn't had any measureable impact on me or any of my friends during my time here.
I don't think Memphis is heading for the top of any "Best Cities" lists, but it is quite liveable. You out east?
With my crappy speakers, it's hard to tell the difference most of the time. But when I put on just about any pair of headphones and really listen, I can usually spot the MP3. The cymbal crashes are the most noticeable difference - they are often a little distorted or have a "phaser" effect. Also, the stereo image sometimes changes in noticeable ways.
There will be few incentives to generate the other music which is often just considered filler on the cd anyway. Personally, some of my favorite songs are the ones that never received airtime and would never be considered hits. But in a distribution method where people pick and choose what they want, all the other tunes will be lost by the wayside.
I disagree. When a musician publishes a LP (or CD), they are often forced to eliminate some of their material because of restrictions imposed by the format or their record company. Sometimes these tracks are pulled from the vault and released on subsequent albums, but the fact is that publishing on the internet will allow musicians to publish all of their material with very few restrictions. So, contrary to your claim, I believe that you will be able to hear gems that in the old days would have been deemed unsuitable for the record. With the "pick and choose what you want" distribution method of the internet, you are free to download every last morsel that your favorite musician has created and burn them to CD (or DVD) in any order you like. The options of the artists and consumers are not diminished in any way by internet distribution compared to the rather restrictive model of LPs or CDs.
Memphis Houston Austin
I'm interested in whether people believe that telecommuting is a viable model, and how important physical proximity is for software/web development. If Linux can be developed by internet collaboration, then why can't certain commercial ventures follow the same model? It seems like a handful of people with expert knowledge spanning the globe could run a successful business via internet collaboration (especially if it is an internet company). Certainly the talent pool on the internet is larger than the set of people living in any particular place.
Do brains need to be in close physical proximity so that stimulating ideas can be exchanged and amplified? Isn't the net the best place to get and exchange ideas since it is readily accessable, easily searched, and has a much larger pool of ideas coming from people from all walks of life.
I think it has potential. I agree with ditching the sound effects. Interesting talk is the key - this is why I love listening to "Car Talk" each week. The Magliozzi brothers are smart and everything, but they sound like they're just having a whole lot of fun doing their show. The first Geeks in Space segment had a similar tone
If there is a really hard core sysadmin type (or perhaps CmdrTaco is hardcore enough) available for the show, you could do the Q&A "diagnose on the phone" type of stuff that also makes Car Talk interesting. Guests would be really cool too - it would be great to call in and ask Larry Wall a question about Perl or ask an experienced admin how to efficiently solve a particular problem.
Most doctors know nothing about RSI. In fact, the medical profession as a whole knows very little about RSI. So unless you are lucky enough to find a doctor who had a dual practice among athletes and concert musicians (and there are probably only a few such doctors in the US), you aren't likely to get much real help.
RSI is a wastebasket term (very nonspecific) that can be attached to a wide variety of problems that have been associated in some way with repetitive strain. It is just common sense that repetitive strain will cause wear and tear on the body as it does with any other type of machine. That's why we have the joke "Doc it hurts when I do that. Doc replies: don't do that". Repetitive strain contributes to many problems in variable degrees, but is not the only contributing cause for many of the illnesses that it is associated with.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a specific entity with many different contributing causes, including repetitive strain in many cases. The symptoms of CTS are crystal clear to anyone with knowledge of anatomy - the symptoms relate to the median nerve. Any competant neurosurgeon or orthopedic surgeon, and most primary care physicians are intimately familiar with this problem as it is quite common and usually simple to diagnose.
you have to think twice (or 50 times) about going to a doctor and getting a diagnosis of RSIwritten down in your folder.
Why? If you go to the doctor and get your CTS treated, why would future employers discriminate against you. If you are disabled by your CTS (e.g. permanant weakness), then you have a disability and all of the related laws regarding disabilities apply.
Can I get a test to indicate early warning signs of this disease before it occurs? I would glady pay for such a test if it occured. I wouldn't mind if the test was conducted yearly.
The best "test" is your own symptoms. The symptoms are related to median nerve compression - clumsiness, weakness, pain, or numbness (typically in the thumb, index, and middle fingers - but can vary) in the affected hand. You are unlikely to have irreversible damage "all of a sudden" from CTS without having significant symptoms first.
Nerve conduction studies can show electrical evidence of nerve compression before any symptoms occur. However, the presence of abnormal conduction data in the absence of any symptoms of CTS doesn't really help much since it doesn't really tell you if you are going to develop clinical CTS.
There is no single test that is completely sensitive and specific for CTS - the diagnosis requires a suggestive history and exam, and can be supported or refuted with electrical studies.
I would suggest not worrying about it if you have no symptoms - just excercise good posture and ergonomics. If you get symptoms, then it is important to pay close attention to the nature and progression of the symptoms (e.g. don't let it progress to significant weakness and clumsiness without treatment because the median nerve can become permanantly damaged from CTS). In the advanced stages of CTS, the pain may actually get better, but the weakness becomes permanant and some of the hand muscles are visibly atrophied. Surgery is the most definitive treatment since it directly addresses the problem (a tight carpal tunnel compressing the median nerve), but the symptoms will often resolve with splints and anti-inflammatory medications.
Can you imagine a world where everything's on the CPU? "Whoops! That SCSI controller died. Better go buy a new CPU for that server..." That would just suck!
Ah, but your fault tolerant Transmeta CPU will circumvent the problem and reprogram the sound circuits to take care of SCSI.
Soon, the chip will integrate into the operator(imagine the death of the keyboard). Just imagine having "Intel Inside" stamped on your head, remember the "simpsons" commercial for Intel.
I'm using an Intel chip for my android, Al Gore. My Quayle project, based on an older Pentium, didn't fare so well - a peculiar division bug seemed to plague his spell checker.
All in all, my android is performing quite well and everything is proceeding exactly as planned. After the election, I will add infrared vision, ultrasonic hearing, and a wireless LAN implant. Oh yeah, and his actions will be completely determined by the slashdot poll statistics.
Under the Gnome distro on the RH6 CD, Netscape Communicator swells up and brings X and my 64 megs to their knees every few days. Everything just locks up and then it's Ctrl-Alt-Backspace (becauase the Gnome logout selection on the panel doesn't seem to be connected to any code most of the time). I'm really looking forward to a leaner and meaner Mozilla.
Just ask Austin Powers about these smashing weapons. All's fair in love and war...
You can't -- until they take the companion "panic button" out of their purse and send in the distress signal that confirms the bra alert :-^) A better idea might be to monitor the EKG with the bra and look for signs of cardiac ischemia such as ST segment changes or T wave inversions.