Thursday, October 09, 2008
My Hillbilly VCR
I don't have cable TV anymore and haven't yet hooked up a rooftop antenna. I haven't missed television, but tonight I needed to record a news segment for work. What to do?
I got my little LCD TV out of my emergency kit, and put my Flip Ultra on a tiny tripod. It's not beautiful, but it did the job.
I got my little LCD TV out of my emergency kit, and put my Flip Ultra on a tiny tripod. It's not beautiful, but it did the job.
Labels: gadgets, media, technology, TV, video, work
Voter Registration
Voter registration, voter fraud, purges of voter rolls, and related issues have been much in the news over the last few days.
My sister Linda appeared in a CBS-5 video registering new voters at the League of Women Voters booth at the recent Sausage & Suds festival in San Leandro. (They signed up over 100 voters!)
Fresh Air did an entire hour on voter suppression efforts yesterday.
Miller-McCune published a comprehensive article by David Rosenfeld on Monday.
And to add irony to it all, on Tuesday Jane's sample ballot arrived in the mail. (No, I'm not going to vote for her.)
My sister Linda appeared in a CBS-5 video registering new voters at the League of Women Voters booth at the recent Sausage & Suds festival in San Leandro. (They signed up over 100 voters!)
Fresh Air did an entire hour on voter suppression efforts yesterday.
Miller-McCune published a comprehensive article by David Rosenfeld on Monday.
And to add irony to it all, on Tuesday Jane's sample ballot arrived in the mail. (No, I'm not going to vote for her.)
Labels: Jane, media, news, politics, voting
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
How do you say "Oops!" in Norwegian?
Norway's national tax agency sent CDs containing personally identifiable information (PII) of four million Norwegians to media groups. (The story is here.)
Two numbers stick out in this story: Norway has just 4.6 million inhabitants, and that the CDs were sent to just nine groups. (It would be interesting to know how many send the CDs back, as the agency has asked them to do.)
Two numbers stick out in this story: Norway has just 4.6 million inhabitants, and that the CDs were sent to just nine groups. (It would be interesting to know how many send the CDs back, as the agency has asked them to do.)
Labels: media, Norway, privacy, technology
Monday, June 02, 2008
Senator Kennedy's Surgery
The Washington Post has an informative article on Senator Kennedy's surgery. My thoughts:
First, I'm not surprised that the Senator went to Duke, and Dr. Allan Friedman, for his surgery. I predicted to a friend that he would either see Dr. Friedman, Keith Black at Cedars Sinai, or Mitchel Berger at UCSF (Jane's surgeon). These three are probably the top guns in deep brain tumor surgery in the US.
Second, I'm not surprised that the Senator was talking and feeling good after the surgery. Done well, brain surgery is surprisingly easy on a patient. There aren't any nerves in the brain -- just in the scalp -- so there's not a lot of pain associated. The biggest worry is swelling, and this will likely be approached with fluid restriction for a day or two and Dexamethasone (the hated Decadron).
Third, it's interesting to note that the Senator is planning to do both chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This is an aggressive path, and good for him. The latest treatment mode seems to be to take Temodar (an oral chemotherapy) concurrently with 3D Conformal radiation therapy. They'll likely radiate a 1-centimeter buffer area around the tumor resection cavity (the hole where the tumor was) to try to zap as many stray tumor cells as possible. That is, if it was a good resection. If there were parts of the tumor that couldn't be safely removed surgically, they may try to extend the radiation therapy into those areas.
Last, the Post article makes the point that the Senator's tumor type is not yet known. As I noted in the earlier post, "malignant glioma" is a generic term. I'm curious whether the specific tumor type will be released to the public.
One postscript: is disheartening to see the vitriol spilled in the comments section on the Post's article about Senator Kennedy's affliction. It's one thing to disagree with a person's political point of view; it's quite another to wish a person ill in such an awful, vicious way. I wonder how people who write such things can look themselves in the mirror. I hope they never get ill and have to face such hatred on top of their health challenges.
First, I'm not surprised that the Senator went to Duke, and Dr. Allan Friedman, for his surgery. I predicted to a friend that he would either see Dr. Friedman, Keith Black at Cedars Sinai, or Mitchel Berger at UCSF (Jane's surgeon). These three are probably the top guns in deep brain tumor surgery in the US.
Second, I'm not surprised that the Senator was talking and feeling good after the surgery. Done well, brain surgery is surprisingly easy on a patient. There aren't any nerves in the brain -- just in the scalp -- so there's not a lot of pain associated. The biggest worry is swelling, and this will likely be approached with fluid restriction for a day or two and Dexamethasone (the hated Decadron).
Third, it's interesting to note that the Senator is planning to do both chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This is an aggressive path, and good for him. The latest treatment mode seems to be to take Temodar (an oral chemotherapy) concurrently with 3D Conformal radiation therapy. They'll likely radiate a 1-centimeter buffer area around the tumor resection cavity (the hole where the tumor was) to try to zap as many stray tumor cells as possible. That is, if it was a good resection. If there were parts of the tumor that couldn't be safely removed surgically, they may try to extend the radiation therapy into those areas.
Last, the Post article makes the point that the Senator's tumor type is not yet known. As I noted in the earlier post, "malignant glioma" is a generic term. I'm curious whether the specific tumor type will be released to the public.
One postscript: is disheartening to see the vitriol spilled in the comments section on the Post's article about Senator Kennedy's affliction. It's one thing to disagree with a person's political point of view; it's quite another to wish a person ill in such an awful, vicious way. I wonder how people who write such things can look themselves in the mirror. I hope they never get ill and have to face such hatred on top of their health challenges.
Labels: brain tumor, health, Jane, media, medicine, politics, science
