Have you seen today's lift off of the Atlantis Space Shuttle?
Awesome as always:
(Lift off at about 6:45)
-R
"STS-122 delivers the Columbus European Laboratory Module and will be the twenty-fourth mission to the International Space Station."
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Bowed Piano
I wish that I could get down to the American Composers Festival in Orange County. There is bound to be some interesting music. NPR profiled the work of one group slated to perform, the Bowed Piano Ensemble Colorado College lead by composer Stephen Scott.
I've been listening to Scott's bowed piano music this morning. It requires several musicians gathered around an open piano playing the strings: "The primary sound is produced by a bow of nylon fish-line, which is rosined, and that's just threaded under the piano string and across it. There's another kind of bow, which is a stick of wood which has horse hair affixed to it, and that's rubbed against the strings to produce a short, percussive sound."
The effect is truly weird. I dig it and hope you do too. (The cat however seems distressed by the sustained notes.)
-R
Some links:
NPR story
mp3: Rainbows, I (watch out, it is a loop)
mp3: Tears of Niobe
Local News Story:
I've been listening to Scott's bowed piano music this morning. It requires several musicians gathered around an open piano playing the strings: "The primary sound is produced by a bow of nylon fish-line, which is rosined, and that's just threaded under the piano string and across it. There's another kind of bow, which is a stick of wood which has horse hair affixed to it, and that's rubbed against the strings to produce a short, percussive sound."
The effect is truly weird. I dig it and hope you do too. (The cat however seems distressed by the sustained notes.)
-R
Some links:
NPR story
mp3: Rainbows, I (watch out, it is a loop)
mp3: Tears of Niobe
Local News Story:
Friday, February 1, 2008
NAFTA/Corn price protest in Mexico
I posted earlier what I'd heard about NAFTA policy having had a negative impact on the ability of Mexico's Farmers to earn a living growing their staple crop, corn. Farmers at risk of loosing their farms worry that they will have to cross the US boarder to find work.
Perhaps you have seen news of the massive protest farmers mounted yesterday in Mexico City against corn-related trade policy. If not, here are some links:
*audio
*video
*text
-R
See the ISS tonight for about 9 minutes from Santa Barbara
According to the NASA Skywatch Application, the International Space Station will be visible to the naked eye as it passes over Santa Barbara tonight from 6:08 to 6:17 tonight in the WNW to NW sky(~3oo°). Let me know if you see it.
link
-R
What prompted this post?
Day to Day interviewed a guy from Texas yesterday named Thomas Dorman who tracks satellites and other stuff orbiting the Earth, much of it observable with the naked eye. It seems there is a lot of metal falling around the Earth. I wonder how many times I have mistaken a satellite for a meteor.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to be able to look up and say, "Look there goes the ISS." Perhaps tonight.
I contacted Mr. Dorman, and he suggested that I use the resources at www.heavens-above.com to track orbitals passing overhead. They have a lot of information about the dozens of communication satellites owned by the Iridium company (a very interesting business story by the way).
link
-R
What prompted this post?
Day to Day interviewed a guy from Texas yesterday named Thomas Dorman who tracks satellites and other stuff orbiting the Earth, much of it observable with the naked eye. It seems there is a lot of metal falling around the Earth. I wonder how many times I have mistaken a satellite for a meteor.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to be able to look up and say, "Look there goes the ISS." Perhaps tonight.
I contacted Mr. Dorman, and he suggested that I use the resources at www.heavens-above.com to track orbitals passing overhead. They have a lot of information about the dozens of communication satellites owned by the Iridium company (a very interesting business story by the way).
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Medical IT
From time to time I attend medical and bioscience professional conferences.
One recurring theme is how much room there is for improvement in medical data management and information technology. Some of the challenges include:
*getting the hodge podge of computer systems found in a large medical facility to interact and share data
*improving methods of storing, accessing & sharing patient records
*tracking treatment results.
I've recently read about some initiatives that may make a big difference.
First, WorldVistA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with a mission to make "medical information technology better and universally affordable." WorldVistA promotes the development and extended use of an open source medical-records program called VistA. VistA was originally created at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The open source nature of the project means that it ought to be very adaptable and robust and could improve wide-spread data sharing.
Second, Microsoft Health has acquired a project called Azyxxi. According to the website, the Azyxxi software can be used to assimilate "patient-centric, financial and operational data into one unified database." This kind of approach ought to help streamline operations in a facility. The project is in a test stage and MS has partnered with some prestigious hospitals to test the system in real-world situations.
And of course Google has been at work on the problem too, with a health information storage program codenamed Weaver or Google Health. There are some screen shots of the project posted on a blog called blogoscoped. It looks like the project combines Google's search technology with a way for patients to access, store and transfer their own medical records. I like the "put the patient in charge" attitude.
I wonder if it will be compatible with the VistA project?
Google posted a video of VP Marissa Mayer describing(in very general terms)what Weaver might become(see below).
-R
One recurring theme is how much room there is for improvement in medical data management and information technology. Some of the challenges include:
*getting the hodge podge of computer systems found in a large medical facility to interact and share data
*improving methods of storing, accessing & sharing patient records
*tracking treatment results.
I've recently read about some initiatives that may make a big difference.
First, WorldVistA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with a mission to make "medical information technology better and universally affordable." WorldVistA promotes the development and extended use of an open source medical-records program called VistA. VistA was originally created at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The open source nature of the project means that it ought to be very adaptable and robust and could improve wide-spread data sharing.
Second, Microsoft Health has acquired a project called Azyxxi. According to the website, the Azyxxi software can be used to assimilate "patient-centric, financial and operational data into one unified database." This kind of approach ought to help streamline operations in a facility. The project is in a test stage and MS has partnered with some prestigious hospitals to test the system in real-world situations.
And of course Google has been at work on the problem too, with a health information storage program codenamed Weaver or Google Health. There are some screen shots of the project posted on a blog called blogoscoped. It looks like the project combines Google's search technology with a way for patients to access, store and transfer their own medical records. I like the "put the patient in charge" attitude.
I wonder if it will be compatible with the VistA project?
Google posted a video of VP Marissa Mayer describing(in very general terms)what Weaver might become(see below).
-R
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Google Map of Medical ParticleTherapy Centers
I provide research and analysis to a private firm that plans to participate in a rapidly developing sector of the health services industry: ion particle radiotherapy.
The term radiotherapy refers to the medical practice of irradiating cancers. These days radiation therapy is usually accomplished by use of a compact linear accelerator that directs electrons at a tungsten target, producing high energy x-rays that irradiate the targeted malignancy.
However, a growing number of patients have been treated with radiation generated by accelerators that emit beams of larger ionized sub-atomic particles, most commonly protons or ionized carbon. Advocates for this type of radiation therapy prefer it over x-ray radiation because they say the unique physical properties of the ionized particles make it possible to better focus the radiation on tumors thereby sparing the healthy tissue nearby. The Wikipedia entry about Proton Therapy is a good resource to learn about this kind of radiation therapy, but I also recommend reading Paganetti& Bortfeld (for protons) and Amaldi & Kraft (for carbon).
A number of equipment manufacturers have now developed particle accelerators specifically for medical use and have incorporated them into complicated treatment devices which are being marketed to medical groups around the world as the centerpiece of a cancer treatment center.
These Particle Treatment Centers are growing in number, and one day on a whim I started a project of mapping the world's particle therapy centers with Google Maps. It is not an easy task as I am not familiar with many of the regions where these centers exist. I haven't done much yet, so I will have to post my efforts later, but while I was working on my map I found that one Stefan W has already been at the same task for months. He isn't always precise in some of his marks, but he has extensive knowledge of the field and has done a lot of work tracking this sector. I will certainly use his very useful map as a resource.
Check out Stefan's work here:
View Larger Map
The term radiotherapy refers to the medical practice of irradiating cancers. These days radiation therapy is usually accomplished by use of a compact linear accelerator that directs electrons at a tungsten target, producing high energy x-rays that irradiate the targeted malignancy.
However, a growing number of patients have been treated with radiation generated by accelerators that emit beams of larger ionized sub-atomic particles, most commonly protons or ionized carbon. Advocates for this type of radiation therapy prefer it over x-ray radiation because they say the unique physical properties of the ionized particles make it possible to better focus the radiation on tumors thereby sparing the healthy tissue nearby. The Wikipedia entry about Proton Therapy is a good resource to learn about this kind of radiation therapy, but I also recommend reading Paganetti& Bortfeld (for protons) and Amaldi & Kraft (for carbon).
A number of equipment manufacturers have now developed particle accelerators specifically for medical use and have incorporated them into complicated treatment devices which are being marketed to medical groups around the world as the centerpiece of a cancer treatment center.
These Particle Treatment Centers are growing in number, and one day on a whim I started a project of mapping the world's particle therapy centers with Google Maps. It is not an easy task as I am not familiar with many of the regions where these centers exist. I haven't done much yet, so I will have to post my efforts later, but while I was working on my map I found that one Stefan W has already been at the same task for months. He isn't always precise in some of his marks, but he has extensive knowledge of the field and has done a lot of work tracking this sector. I will certainly use his very useful map as a resource.
Check out Stefan's work here:
View Larger Map
Nikola Tesla on Studio 360
Novelists Kurt Andersen & Samantha Hunt discuss Nikola Tesla on today's Studio 360.
If you already know about Tesla, you probably won't be bored hearing the same stuff you've already know, but if you don't know much about Tesla, then don't miss this chance to learn about him from a non-technical source.
-R
The mp3 "podcast" is here:
link
PS Here is the film Edison shot of an elephant being electrocuted, a part of his crusade against Alternating Current.
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