I can't even get the insurance companies to pay for my patient's medications or vital procedures... forget the neat wheelchair.
Davak
Forget the Segway. Better wheelchairs!
on
Build Your Own Segway
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
The guy that designed the segway also designed the iBot which is basically a wheelchair that can "walk" on 2 or 4 wheels. This includes the easy navigation of stairs.
Forget about copying the segway...
Copy this device! It goes for about 20k... how many people do you think can really afford this thing? This device allows wheelchair-bound people to practically walk again!
Drugs go generic... but I fear this thing will be too pricey for a long time to come.
Water cooling has already become part of PC products. NEC Corp has taken the bold course of implementing a water cooling system in the latest model of its PC, "VALUESTAR TX," launched in May 2003, as the first practical application to desktop PCs.
1. Will the warranty cover water damage? If I buy a system that depends on a water-based system, then the pre-packing company better be willing to cover the dangers. 2. Will water introduce hotter running, shorter-lived systems? This, of course, would lead to higher computer turnover and higher $$$$s for the computer makers.
The question is not if you are paranoid, but are you paranoid ENOUGH?
As the power of computer "thinking" increases, I personally believe that a computer will soon be able to beat any human player by pure power alone. Chess will fail to be dominated by people.
But what stands in its place? Forever I have thought of chess as THE place where the mind can still beat the computer in a game environment.
What will be the next challenge? Where is there a game that requires the uniqueness of human thought over the pure power of computer calculations?
No machine I know of (and I've heard stories about several) can perfectly predict when someone is going to have a heart attack.
No machine that exists can predict when/if a person will have a heart attack. Even a cardiac catherization that allows one to visualize the coronary arteries can't predict this... which is kinda cool.
Heart attacks usually occur when a clot forms on a previous plaque in one of the vessels feeding the heart. Logicially you would think that the tighter and bigger the plaque, the higher the risk of a clot forming and causing a heart attack. However, this is apparently not true. Often large heart attacks are caused by clots from the smaller plaques.
Of course, this article is talking about arrhythmias... not coronary artery disease. Arrhythmias can occur from ischemia but this would be likely be a very poor way to screen somebody for this disease.
Only very, very seldom can I look at a ECG tracing and be able to tell that someone will soon die. Even people who go into dangerous patterns such as ventricular tachycardia (VTach) usually spontaneously come out of it without any symptoms. (Thus the need for the monitoring)
The more we study electrophysiology, the more we realize that more and more patients will really gain from pacemakers and AICDs (shock boxes).
Routine ECG and BP monitoring for a couple of days per year may one day be an effective screening test for early heart disease, hypertension, electrical abnormalities, and such.
Why is a PDA associated device good for this? Cause PDAs are mass produced; therefore, the ability to monitor at home becomes much cheaper. I mean I'm not going to beam you the programs to your personal PDA... but a slightly redesigned PDA will hopefully be much cheaper than our current home monitoring devices.
We compared fecal samples from this unknown animal to the DNA of captive gorillas, bonobos, and chimps," Louis said. "Our preliminary data shows that the mitochondrial DNA is chimp-like."
But mitochondrial DNA is passed down only from the mother's side. So if this species or sub-species is a hybrid of a chimp mother and a gorilla father, current DNA would only identify information from the mother.
First of all... yuck.
If they can obtain enough cells from the poo to extract the mitochondrial DNA, why can't they PCR the rest of the DNA as well?
It must be extremely difficult to find just the cells and resulting DNA from this new ape-like creature. Poo must contain a ton of cells from all the injested material. I just don't understand why it's easier to extract the DNA from the mitochondria? Seems if you have the mitochondria... then you have the cells which should contain ALL the nuclear material.
Anyway... it's been a long time since my genetics/biochem courses.
We have tons of monitors... but nothing very interesting installed on any of them. (Unless you find blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation rate, etc. interesting.)
The secretaries, on the other hand, have found a way to install the latest spyware, useless- crapware on all of their win2k boxes--the supposed megalocked-down-for-patient-privacy-sake boxes.
I had always assumed that the secretaries were really just tricked into installing this crap which installed through the latest, greatest IE exploit... however, now i wonder... maybe they are really 'leet ninja gurus that enjoy punishing their desktops with useless sh!t.
They probably are all running linux and IRC servers in the background without any of us knowing it.
And here I thought they were just sitting on their tails playing java games all day...
Sometimes I will post and read before performing a case. We have a terminal in our procedure room and it's common for people to email or browse the web as we are waiting for the case to get started.
I honestly believe that most of the trolls on slashdot are hospital admin people. What the hell else do they do all day?
Next week we can all read about the follow up stories from the America Plastic Association, the American Balsa Wood Collective, and the Society for the Reuse of Aluminum Foil...
Here at the hospital we use a high-resolution radiograph system. The text IN the system itself is fine; however, the OS text from win2k is extremely small.
Luckily, all of these systems only have the imaging system and the OS installed... so the only program that ever runs is the radiograph system.
Isn't this just a setting, however? I figured the admins were just idiots and didn't bump up the text size.
MusicBrainz already has a free music fingerprint program. It identified about 60-70% of my songs correctly. It also will rename your files and update the ID tags.
The 30-40% it did not find... I could easily find by doing some searching manually through the program.
It was a nice way to completely identify my mp3 collection. Yes, it's a legal collection, but I wanted an easy way to rename the files and id tags.
Anyhoo... the program is pretty buggy so save often. Help the cause.
In an effort to stamp out piracy, the software should also do something that most people would find a little offensive, in a spyware sort of way. The software should search all cache directories, and, without the users knowledge, or more controversially, permission, and rename all.MP3s and.OGGs found to the encrypted file types. Guilt is presumed, that should make the $!#£@*rs happy.
Sounds like a great idea up to this point! What the hell are they thinking? Why would you need to do this?
Why should all the songs that I personally rip and use LEGALLY be changed to some other format?
This guy does have a great idea... I don't know why he threw this little curve ball.
Weiss said the recording industry should lobby for special taxes on CD burners and Internet access as a way to recoup losses incurred from file sharing, an idea that Grokster's Rosso also supports. Rosso was in Washington recently to talk to lobbyists about forming a coalition of file-sharing firms.
Interpretation: We don't mind the RIAA making money... just make them get it from somebody except us
The cell phone shouldn't accept text messages from someone *UNLESS* the user has called the number previously or unless the number exists in the contacts listing.
An easy solution exists for this. The cell phone shouldn't accept text messages from someone the user has called the number previously or unless the number exists in the contacts listing.
What's the odds of getting messages from someone whom you have never spoken with on the phone previously?
Of course, this could be an enabled or disabled option.
Slashdot Mirror
CGI-limits reached, please try again later!
:)
Great for highbandwidth stuff. Right.
Doh, typo.
At least I didn't screw it completely up since I read the book before this last one.
Davak
Am I the only one that saw the first LOTR movies before reading the book? What was I thinking?
It totally destroyed the experience for me as the movie's images were stuck in my head as I read.
At least I didn't screw it completely up and read the book before this last one.
Davak
What? Are you just trolling?
I can't even get the insurance companies to pay for my patient's medications or vital procedures... forget the neat wheelchair.
Davak
The guy that designed the segway also designed the iBot which is basically a wheelchair that can "walk" on 2 or 4 wheels. This includes the easy navigation of stairs.
Forget about copying the segway...
Copy this device! It goes for about 20k... how many people do you think can really afford this thing? This device allows wheelchair-bound people to practically walk again!
Drugs go generic... but I fear this thing will be too pricey for a long time to come.
Alas... the death tune is being played now.
/insert verious jokes about running their server on bongo drums if you wish...
Yes, the server is slashdotted.
To me, the death of another little server is just sad.
Davak
ha! bravo!
1. Will the warranty cover water damage? If I buy a system that depends on a water-based system, then the pre-packing company better be willing to cover the dangers.
2. Will water introduce hotter running, shorter-lived systems? This, of course, would lead to higher computer turnover and higher $$$$s for the computer makers.
The question is not if you are paranoid, but are you paranoid ENOUGH?
Davak
Has there ever been a head to head with air-cooling vs water-cooling?
Water better be damn good to risk my system to the exposure of fluids.
Davak
As the power of computer "thinking" increases, I personally believe that a computer will soon be able to beat any human player by pure power alone. Chess will fail to be dominated by people.
But what stands in its place? Forever I have thought of chess as THE place where the mind can still beat the computer in a game environment.
What will be the next challenge? Where is there a game that requires the uniqueness of human thought over the pure power of computer calculations?
Davak
No machine that exists can predict when/if a person will have a heart attack. Even a cardiac catherization that allows one to visualize the coronary arteries can't predict this... which is kinda cool.
Heart attacks usually occur when a clot forms on a previous plaque in one of the vessels feeding the heart. Logicially you would think that the tighter and bigger the plaque, the higher the risk of a clot forming and causing a heart attack. However, this is apparently not true. Often large heart attacks are caused by clots from the smaller plaques.
Of course, this article is talking about arrhythmias... not coronary artery disease. Arrhythmias can occur from ischemia but this would be likely be a very poor way to screen somebody for this disease.
Davak
Only very, very seldom can I look at a ECG tracing and be able to tell that someone will soon die. Even people who go into dangerous patterns such as ventricular tachycardia (VTach) usually spontaneously come out of it without any symptoms. (Thus the need for the monitoring)
The more we study electrophysiology, the more we realize that more and more patients will really gain from pacemakers and AICDs (shock boxes).
Routine ECG and BP monitoring for a couple of days per year may one day be an effective screening test for early heart disease, hypertension, electrical abnormalities, and such.
Why is a PDA associated device good for this? Cause PDAs are mass produced; therefore, the ability to monitor at home becomes much cheaper. I mean I'm not going to beam you the programs to your personal PDA... but a slightly redesigned PDA will hopefully be much cheaper than our current home monitoring devices.
Davak
Thanks for the input everybody...
Davak
First of all... yuck.
If they can obtain enough cells from the poo to extract the mitochondrial DNA, why can't they PCR the rest of the DNA as well?
It must be extremely difficult to find just the cells and resulting DNA from this new ape-like creature. Poo must contain a ton of cells from all the injested material. I just don't understand why it's easier to extract the DNA from the mitochondria? Seems if you have the mitochondria... then you have the cells which should contain ALL the nuclear material.
Anyway... it's been a long time since my genetics/biochem courses.
Davak
First the optical mouse... now the side scroller! Yeah for microsoft, for once.
Of course, if somebody would just make it illegal to have html that needed to scroll left to right... it would save us much more heartache.
Obviously, this is gonna rock in game play...
Davak
Pulmonary and Critical Care.
We have tons of monitors... but nothing very interesting installed on any of them. (Unless you find blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation rate, etc. interesting.)
The secretaries, on the other hand, have found a way to install the latest spyware, useless- crapware on all of their win2k boxes--the supposed megalocked-down-for-patient-privacy-sake boxes.
I had always assumed that the secretaries were really just tricked into installing this crap which installed through the latest, greatest IE exploit... however, now i wonder... maybe they are really 'leet ninja gurus that enjoy punishing their desktops with useless sh!t.
They probably are all running linux and IRC servers in the background without any of us knowing it.
And here I thought they were just sitting on their tails playing java games all day...
Davak
Sometimes I will post and read before performing a case. We have a terminal in our procedure room and it's common for people to email or browse the web as we are waiting for the case to get started.
I honestly believe that most of the trolls on slashdot are hospital admin people. What the hell else do they do all day?
Davak
Next week we can all read about the follow up stories from the America Plastic Association, the American Balsa Wood Collective, and the Society for the Reuse of Aluminum Foil...
Davak
Here at the hospital we use a high-resolution radiograph system. The text IN the system itself is fine; however, the OS text from win2k is extremely small.
Luckily, all of these systems only have the imaging system and the OS installed... so the only program that ever runs is the radiograph system.
Isn't this just a setting, however? I figured the admins were just idiots and didn't bump up the text size.
Davak
MusicBrainz already has a free music fingerprint program. It identified about 60-70% of my songs correctly. It also will rename your files and update the ID tags.
The 30-40% it did not find... I could easily find by doing some searching manually through the program.
It was a nice way to completely identify my mp3 collection. Yes, it's a legal collection, but I wanted an easy way to rename the files and id tags.
Anyhoo... the program is pretty buggy so save often. Help the cause.
Enjoy.
DavaK
In an effort to stamp out piracy, the software should also do something that most people would find a little offensive, in a spyware sort of way. The software should search all cache directories, and, without the users knowledge, or more controversially, permission, and rename all .MP3s and .OGGs found to the encrypted file types. Guilt is presumed, that should make the $!#£@*rs happy.
Sounds like a great idea up to this point! What the hell are they thinking? Why would you need to do this?
Why should all the songs that I personally rip and use LEGALLY be changed to some other format?
This guy does have a great idea... I don't know why he threw this little curve ball.
Davak
Interpretation:
We don't mind the RIAA making money... just make them get it from somebody except us
AKA, the "not it!" theory.
Davak
Thanks for the information. I would mod you up if they would ever let me have mod points again.
Do incoming SMS messages cost with Cingular?
Davak
The cell phone shouldn't accept text messages from someone *UNLESS* the user has called the number previously or unless the number exists in the contacts listing.
Sorry. Too tired to be posting.
Davak
An easy solution exists for this. The cell phone shouldn't accept text messages from someone the user has called the number previously or unless the number exists in the contacts listing.
What's the odds of getting messages from someone whom you have never spoken with on the phone previously?
Of course, this could be an enabled or disabled option.
Daval