There’s an absolutely fascinating paper (yes, I’m being sarcastic) called “Message Format Standards,” that in 1999 was presented to the Department of Health and Human Services National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics. What’s interesting about it is that the paper was written by Doug Pratt, who happens to work at a leading competitor of the company where I’ve worked for 26 years. He’s a systems integration specialist and, well, so am I. Although to be precise about it, Doug specializes in the medical application layer, and I work below that, dealing mostly with LAN/WAN/SAN issues. Still, I think it’s a remarkable coincidence.