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Hacking at Dartmouth in 1969

It probably doesn’t say much about my character that when I first encountered the world of computers back in 1969 at Dartmouth College, my thoughts quickly turned to how I could use them for my own subversive goals. Yes, I was an early hacker. This was in the days before Microsoft, before Apple, even before… Continue reading Hacking at Dartmouth in 1969

The Demise of the Desktop

When based in Louisville, Kentucky, my wife and I each had big, bulky, homemade tower desktop computers. These ran versions of Linux and Windows. I also had an Apple Mac Mini to use for developing iOS apps, as it isn’t possible to develop for Apple without an Apple machine. Occasionally I used a laptop (a Lenovo… Continue reading The Demise of the Desktop

EP Studios Status Report

I’ve been a bit lax on the social media front recently. In fact, there are some days that I forget that there is such a thing as social media — that is, if it were not for my phone’s frequent pinging and buzzing to remind me of its existence. Truth is, I’ve been busy with… Continue reading EP Studios Status Report

Retrofitting Material Design to Pre-Lollipop Android

Android 5.0 Lollipop comes with a complete makeover of the Android user interface. Called Material Design, the new UI replaces the old Holo Light and Dark themes used since Android 4.0. Continuing a trend that started with Microsoft and the flat tiles of their Modern UI, later adapted by Apple with iOS 7 and 8, Material… Continue reading Retrofitting Material Design to Pre-Lollipop Android

Weekdays with Maury

When I was working I never watched daytime TV. Even now I don’t watch much TV, usually just some news shows. Nevertheless recently I had occasion to watch some daytime television and I happened on the Maury Povich Show. Disobeying my better instincts to change the channel, I spent some time watching it, and the similar… Continue reading Weekdays with Maury

Can Writing About Medicine Change Medicine?

I’m getting to the point where I think it might be time to stop or at least decelerate the pace of my writing on medicine. When I retired from medical practice almost a year ago there were a lot of pent up experiences that I felt a need write about. But now I have already written about… Continue reading Can Writing About Medicine Change Medicine?

Whatever Happened to Netiquette?

Let’s harken back to the early days of the Internet, say the 1990s. In those days of yore, characterized by limited bandwidth and lack of flash animations, people by trial and error attempted to work out the dos and don’ts of online communication. This was before Facebook messaging and tweeting, before SMS and MMS. Communication… Continue reading Whatever Happened to Netiquette?

Lost in EPIC Land

One of the many unanswered questions about the handling of the first Ebola case in the United States is the role of the Electronic Health Record (EHR). Initial reports put at least some of the blame for the patient’s being sent home from the hospital despite a high risk travel history on a failure of… Continue reading Lost in EPIC Land

How Much Money Do Academic Experts Get From Drug and Device Companies?

Now that Open Payments data is available to the public I decided to do some snooping around. It’s not hard to do. I was curious as to how much drug and device company money academic experts receive. As a cardiologist specializing in electrophysiology I have been to many national meetings, and it is always the same… Continue reading How Much Money Do Academic Experts Get From Drug and Device Companies?

How to View Your Doctor’s Drug Company Payments

The CMS Open Payments database is up for the public to view, but the site is difficult to navigate. Here is a step by step guide to using the site. Go to openpaymentsdata.cms.gov From the list of databases, click on the General Payment Data with Identifying Recipient Information – Detailed Dataset 2013 Reporting Year (or skip step one… Continue reading How to View Your Doctor’s Drug Company Payments