Rare

A stalactite at Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

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Reducing Workplace Violence

My wokrplace's #1 value is Safety. I'm glad we don't include this safety information I found posted at one of my doctors' office. It recommends reducing workplace violence by using Escort services.

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Value Storage

A couple of weeks ago I finally found the home/home business network storage solution I've been looking for for years - Buffalo TeraStation. I have one of each model, 1 Tb and 2 Tb. Each is a standalone RAIDed storage server that you plug into the network and go. The default RAID configuration means that if one of the four hard drives that are in the server fails, the server still runs. You can change to other configurations of the drives, including two pairs of mirrored drives. I purchased a warranty from Fry's Electronics, so that when one of the drives fails, I can just take it in and have them copy the data to a new unit and be on my way.

The TeraStations were very easy to set up. My biggest issue in getting everything set up was that I needed to add a D-Link 8-port switch now that we have too many network attached devices for the 4 wired ports on our Belkin N1 Router, but that's not the TeraStations' fault. I connected them directly to the network, rather than use the USB connection to a desktop computer. Getting each TeraStation on the network only involved plugging the Ethernet cable into the TeraStation and the switch, plugging in the power cord, then hitting the power button. I installed the software which came with the units, which found both of them and has a straight forward interface for configuring the IP address, shares and security. They can be set up as print servers if desired. I set up one TeraStation as a media server for home and the other for business files. Client computers which don't need to do configuration don't need additional software installed. Just go to My Network to find the share you set up from the administration computer. So far, I've managed to rip all of my CDs to the home TeraStation and I'm in the process of copying all of my photographs to it. It is taking me a few days to copy all of the data to the TeraStation wirelessly, but I feel much better with the data on a RAID. We also purchased Buffalo LinkTheaters to stream the media to our livingroom and bedroom, but we haven't installed them, yet.

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How US Health Care Doesn't Work Financially and Why There Will Be a National Health Care System in the US

Although the health care that is available in the US is top notch, especially if you can pay for it, the system is screwed up.

1. Doctors pay a huge amount of money to go to medical school and get paid peanuts for years in Residency. When they graduate, they need to pay off loans and pay for malpractice insurance, so they charge high rates for their specialized services.
2. Hospitals have to pay for the doctors, other health professionals, equipment, etc, so they charge high rates.
3. Pharmaceutical companies try to develop new drugs which costs millions or billions of dollars for research, many of which fail to get to market, which they try to make a profit on.
4. Insurance companies try to make a profit while providing a cushion to consumers of the cost of the above.
5. Patients can sometimes afford health insurance, sometimes not. If not, they end up getting treated any way in the emergency room, which is more expensive than preventative care. The hospital takes it as a loss and raises their rates. Or, patients sue for malpractice or anything else, raising legal fees and insurance.
6. Insurance companies tighten their requirements for insurability and raise their rates to continue to provide services at a profit.
7. Fewer people and doctors can afford health and malpractice insurance. So more people end up relying on the emergency room and fewer doctors practice expensive specialties, making health care costs go up and health care quality go down.
8. Go to #1 and #5 until almost no one in the US is privately insured and there is a citizen's uprising for national health care.

Fortunately, I'm insured and I come from a medical family, so I understand how the system works and I have good health care. Many people are not so fortunate. We are quickly approaching the collapse of the system. Emergency rooms are overflowing. Doctors are leaving private practice or requiring cash payment. Hospitals are frantically looking for ways to save money by consolidating or cutting services. In the US in 2005, between 19 and 45 million people, 6.5% to 15.4%, were uninsured. Although the rate at which the uninsured portion of the population is growing is disputed, that it is growing is not. Eventually, so few people will be left insured, that the uninsured will be electing the government and there will be national health insurance in the US. Unfortunately, unless reforms of how doctors (and other health care workers) pay for their training and continue to be paid, including covering malpractice insurance, and drugs are developed and paid for are also accomplished, the quality of health care will deteriorate for the average citizen and the rate of advancement of health care technology will decline.

Please remember that it is no one aspect of the US health care system that is at fault. It's not just the doctors', or the pharmaceutical companies', or the insurance companies', or the government's fault. This is a sociological (society level) problem. Doctors want to heal their patients. Pharmaceutical companies want to find miracle cures. Insurance companies want as many people as possible paying premiums. Politicians want to be elected to serve their population. Each individual or corporation is trying to survive, even thrive, in the system, but the current rules of competition are slowly destroying the service that the everyone wants, quality health care. We can only overcome this problem by working together to pass reforms in several areas at once to maintain or improve the quality and quantity of health care that we enjoy.

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For the Kids

There was an email sent out asking for volunteers to apply to speak at a Technology Camp for girls at our local University. I responded with the following:

My resume and other information about me is available at http://janinewhite.com. In grade school, I was an A student and took some early computer courses. I was in the first PASCAL AP class that was offered. For college, I was initially accepted to an Ivy League school. I started out in Engineering in college, but failed out due to too much partying and not enough studying. I went a little wild when I was first out on my own. With the ongoing support of my parents, I went back to school at a community college, earning an AA in Humanities with a concentration in Women’s Studies. It was a very nurturing environment and I regained my confidence in my academic skills. Then, I transferred to a private university where I initially was enrolled for Architecture and Sociology and graduated with a BA in Sociology. I immediately went on to earn an MA with specializations in Criminology and Analytical Methods in a top ten Sociology Ph.D. I decided that I didn’t want to be a Professor, so I left school and worked in research and evaluation of rape and domestic violence programs for 4 years. I developed software for the agencies to support their objectives based on my evaluations of their programs and provided ongoing support. I also used technology to automate my own job to make it easier. I came to my current company as an Automation Engineer where I was responsible for most of the applications that run factories. I am now a Project Manager in the same department I started in. I also have a consulting company with my husband, working with financial institutions in fraud and robbery prevention and compliance.

Some points for the kids:

• Understanding technology is important in nearly all walks of life today. Even if your job is not in IT, having computer skills can make your job easier and give you an advantage over others.
• Hard work is recognized. When I partied too much, I had some fun, but I lost my way in the larger goals in my life. When I apply myself, I excel and I am recognized.
• Don’t give up. An initial setback doesn’t mean that you have to give up. Eiffel also failed out of Engineering, but went on to build one of the most famous landmarks in the world. I generally enjoy my job because it is intellectually challenging and well paid. Even on my worst day on the job, I can still smile that I am an Engineer despite initially failing out.
• Find the path that is right for you. If you know what you want to do, great! Go for it. If you’re not sure, keep working on your education, taking classes from a variety of majors, and take on other opportunities, like temp work, internships, volunteering and entrepreneurship. Most students change majors in college and everyone struggles with something in their life. Keep searching until you find a profession that you enjoy because your life will be much more fun and fulfilling doing something that you like.

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Sign Humor

This sign was recently posted near the entrance to the building. This slogan makes sense in the context of safety training, i.e., we want you to go home in as good health as you came to work in the morning, but on its own its mostly amusing. :)

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ASP.NET AJAX Training

Today I took a class, Accelerated ASP.NET AJAX Development, from Interface Technical Training. This is a one day lecture class, with no hands on labs, on how to implement AJAX on Microsoft .NET 2.0 or later using the ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 framework. This is a free, final release framework that provides automated Javascript functionality. You can manually implement Javascript in .NET, but this makes many things orders of magnitude easier. The primary disadvantage of the framework is that it must be installed into the GAC of the server. If your ASP.NET web site is hosted, you'll have to get your web hoster to do the install to take advantage of this framework if they haven't done so all ready to take advantage of it. A couple of other useful tools that we learned about in class, include Firebug, a Javascript debugging tool to use with Firefox, and AJAX Activity Indicators, graphics for displaying asynchronous loading time. I found Ajaxload, which generates custom AJAX activity indicators on my own. The class includes plenty of examples of custom scripting as well as how to do quick drag and drop development in Microsoft Visual Studio. Simon Allardice and Mike Palermo are excellent instructors. You also get a copy Interface's new training DVD, Building Web Applications with Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX, including the class projects and video of Simon explaining them in detail as a take away, which you can purchase separately from the Interface Technical Training store. I highly recommend the class if you're interested in ASP.NET AJAX implementations and you're in the Phoenix area.

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Sending Email From Verizon Wireless TXT Messaging

I figured out how to forward my pager messages to my new phone. However, I was having difficulty figuring out how to respond. In the Verizon Wireless Text Messaging FAQ, it says,"You can also send a message to any email address in the world," and our pagers can be emailed. However, when I try to send a TXT message to an email address, I receive a message, "Cannot recognize one or more recipients or the address is not valid. Would you like to send the message anyway?" If I click "Yes," I get the message, "The Text Message account cannot be used to send e-mail messages." In a call to Technical Support, I found out that there is a workaround. Since the technical support representative had to go to second level support to find the answer, I don't feel bad about calling to find out about how to use this feature.

Instead of entering the email address in the To field, enter 6245. In the body of the text, enter the email address followed by a single space followed my the message you would like to send. Make sure that what follows the email address is a space, not a return. My experience was that the email was not delivered with a return, even though I was told that the message was sent on my phone. In a more graphical representation:

Instead of:

To: someone@somewhere.com
Body:
Everything I ever wanted to say.

Use this:

To: 6245
Body:
someone@somewhere.com Everything I ever wanted to say.

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Novophone Retro Cell Phone Handset

I was searching for cell phone accessories today when I came across this funky one - Novophone Retro Cell Phone Handset! It's great if you want to fill out a retro design look, or you just prefer the feel of a traditional handset. If you want to distance yourself from cell phone radiation, this is a wired headset alternative, but you might suffer from the ergonomic disadvantages of a traditional handset if you use it too much. So, you might consider getting a shoulder rest, too.

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Vote for your favorite PC

Intel has sponsored the Intel Core Processor Challenge PC Designs People Choice Awards. The finalists range from a retro wood to futuristic models. My favorite is the BICOM HMS7. The sleek compact design would fit and be unobtrusive in either my entertainment center or on my desk. The rounded corners, black matte finish and touch screen LED controls, which BICOM admits was specifically designed to appeal to women, do appeal to my design sense. Head on over to vote for your favorite and maybe win a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com. You can also submit your own PC stories and revisit PC history while you're there.

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April Fool's Day MMORPG Fun

Making the rounds of the MMORPGs that I play regularly, I found several have special features for the day. Kingdom of loathing is previewing special upcoming NS13 features. Moving around Shartak is a challenge today as the directions are all reversed, but there are directions available for how to move normally. When I logged into Vampires!, there was a pile of diamond rings I couldn't pick up.



Urban Dead appeared to have suffered an airstrike,



but that was just an April Fool's day feature.

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