They blame the media for the country’s political divide, but not Fox News and the other right-wing outlets they follow. Trump has been directly fueling hatred of Democrats for years, and yet the participants in this focus group see him as the solution, not the problem.
Author: DOuG pRATt
What Hath Man(hattan Project) Wrought?
Again and again the question is asked, “Could World War II have ended without the use of atomic bombs?” NBC produced this documentary for the 20th anniversary of the events.
A new book by Evan Thomas takes a deep dive into the history of, and the thinking behind, the decisions.
My son is a Japanophile with a History degree. He read the book, and other than a couple of minor errors he found, he said it presents a compelling argument justifying the bombings of Japan over the alternative of a land invasion.
Promising to be far better than 1989’s flop, Fat Man and Little Boy, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is certain to fill some otherwise empty theater seats this weekend. Watching the opening sequence of Nolan’s Tenet in IMAX was as impressive as anything I have seen, but the rest of the movie was a big, “HUH?” Oppenheimer appears to be a WWII bookend to Nolan’s superb Dunkirk.
This is the definitive collection of archival films taken of the American above-ground nuclear tests.
Note the mention of EG&G in the introduction. Founded by MIT professor Harold Edgerton, EG&G is remembered today for its photographs of bullets going through apples and playing cards. I know EG&G as the financial backer that provided the start-up money for the company where I worked for 36 years.
Commissioner Gordon’s Crusade
Ben McKenzie, who played Commissioner Gordon on the TV series Gotham, has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, as do I, and he came to the same conclusion that I did about cryptocurrency. You can be sure Bruce Wayne is staying away from crypto!
I mentioned McKenzie’s wife a couple of months ago.
An Epic Pickle
Privately held Epic in Wisconsin, the home state of my youngest childhood memories, continues to expand its dominance over the healthcare information software market.
Epic Systems, a Verona-based health care software company that employs around 13,000 people, is developing plans for a sixth campus, and recently received city approval for a 2,050-vehicle underground parking structure to serve that campus.
https://www.wpr.org/more-jobs-verona-dane-county-area-epic-systems-planning-another-expansion
It was a mature, slow-moving market that was kicked into high gear by the HITECH Act, a piece of legislation promoted by Obama and passed by Congress in 2009 as the Great Recession took hold of the economy. This obviously conservative anti-Obama columnist had a point:
That’s in no small part due to the cronyism embedded in the federal stimulus “incentives” — a massive chunk of which the White House doled out to behemoth EMR company Epic Systems, headed by Obama crony Judith Faulkner.
https://nypost.com/2015/10/23/team-obamas-electronic-medical-records-mandate-is-a-disaster/
The move to electronic medical records was already underway, but the HITECH Act not only accelerated that progress, it distorted the outcome by giving physicians more of a say in hospital purchasing decisions.
Before HITECH, Epic was the top software sold to physician practices, but it wasn’t especially popular within hospitals. Doctors were able to use their newfound influence so that hospital C-Suite executives, knowing they would be reimbursed with taxpayer money regardless of the cost, bought Epic.
Epic Systems is, by far, the most expensive vendor selling software to automate hospitals. On the order of $100 million vs. $20 million for a comparable installation from a competitor.
Pigs must be flying, because I agree with this Heritage Foundation commentary. It’s from 2011, when the fix was in and Epic’s competitors could see it was too late to stop Judy and company.
A federal committee that includes a major donor to President Obama and whose company stands to profit from the panel’s recommendations holds in its hands the future of health information technology policy.
Then-VP Joe Biden, to his credit, was more doubtful of Judy and her underlying interests. The two of them reportedly “had words,” and if Biden is re-elected he should consider seeing what can be done to put a check on Epic’s near-monopoly influence.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/07/joe-biden-vs-judy-faulkner-epic-systems-ceo-its-complicated.html
Full disclosure: I worked for an Epic competitor, and I was affected financially by Epic’s rapid HITECH-fueled takeover of the HIS/EHR/EMR market, as were friends of mine. A member of my family is about to be made redundant at work by an Epic installation, with the acknowledgement that “improving workflow” is what software systems should do.
Better Late Than Never
I hope it isn’t too late to submit this to get my driver’s insurance discount!
Fake Plumber At Work – 2
For my next plumbing trick, I’m going to install a faucet in the hall bathroom. Or at least I’ll give it a try.
Looking inside of the vanity, I can see that removing the old faucet will be next to impossible without a special tool. Perhaps even with the tool.