My Daylight Savings Time Story

I hate changing the clocks twice a year. It makes no sense to me at all. I can't see where it will save energy, boost industrial productivity, make the streets safer or provide any other benefit. Perhaps when ours was a more agrarian society it made sense, but now it does not.

Today I woke up at 7:45 am, which yesterday would have been 6:45 am. I forgot to change my alarm clock yesterday, so I was an hour behind. When I checked my phone for messages, it displayed a message which read that it had been updated for Daylight Savings Time. Funny thing was, it was still showing the time as one hour earlier than it really was.

I went downstairs and sat in front of the computer to check email. It showed the correct time, but no message that it had updated automatically. So, in my pre-caffeinated stupor I set the time back and hour to match the incorrect time on my phone.

I thought I had PLENTY of time to get ready. I leisurely checked my email, caught up on Twitter, ate my cereal and drank my coffee, took a shower; all the time thinking I was way ahead of schedule.

It wasn't until my friend, Jim, called asking me if I was going to show up for band practice. "Yes," I replied, thinking he was rather anxious. "We're leaving in a few minutes. Why, what's up?"

"Dude, it's 9:20. Did you forget to change your clocks?" Yes, I had. I didn't want to admit it, but I had. This is the first time in many years I missed a time change.

Things worked out OK even though I was very late and we had a couple good laughs at my expense.

I wonder how many other thousands had the same problem this morning? One day I might move to Arizona to get away from this time-changing mess.

Shin Splits Exercise Treatment

Back in the day when I was a strapping young lad I ran quite a bit. I also had occasional problems with shin splints. Shin splints is (are?) a very painful response to high-impact exercise which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to run.

Disclaimer

I'm no longer a strapping lad, nor am I a doctor (though I'm handsome enough to play one on TV). Follow my advice at your own risk. I doubt you can hurt yourself doing what I suggest, but if you do it's not my fault! So there! Nyaa!

The Method

I was very fortunately to have been taught a highly effective treatment and prevention for this terrible malady. I can't remember the exact circumstances, but I think she said she learned it from her yoga teacher. I don't know if it's yoga, but it's simple and it worked very well for me:

1. Stand with your feel approximately shoulder-width apart
   
2. Slightly bend your knees
3. Bend at the waist and rest your hands just above one knee - you might find it helpful to place the opposite foot slightly behind you to help with balance
4. On the side you're leaning on, keeping your heel on the ground, raise your toes as high as you can.
5. Repeat raising your toes until you cannot raise it any more. (If you already have shin splints, this will be somewhat painful)
6. Turn the same foot as far to the left as you can and raise your toes as many times as you can.
7. Turn the same foot as far to the right as you can and raise your toes as many times as you can
8. Switch your hands to the other leg and repeat steps 4-7.

This exercise can also be used as part of your warm up to help prevent shin splints, too.

The key to this exercise is to strengthen the muscles which pull your toes up when your heel is on the ground. This relieves the pressure off the tendons which attach to the shin. It's this pressure which causes shin splint pain.

If you suffer from shin splints, give this a shot. If nothing else, it can't make things any worse.

RFID Passports and Drivers Licenses Compromise Your Personal Data

RFID has great value as it is used today. It also has many excellent potential uses. However, it is totally unsuitable for use in a personal identification system.

Many times I've written about the potential dangers of personal identification cards and passports equipped with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. You can check them out here. My aim in this is not to bash the technology because it has many excellent applications. My objections are strictly limited to RFID-equipped personal identification.

What the problem with RFID?

The inherent flaw in using RFID in identification cards is the very thing which makes it excellent in other applications: The RFID chip sends out a signal containing a small amount of data which a receiver can detect and pass along to a computer. While this is great for companies like Walmart to track inventory going in and out of a store, it's not good for a person when anyone can grab their personal information out of thin air just by passing near them.

Proof Is In The Pudding

For those who think my opinions alarmist, allow me to point out two studies which I believe prove my point:

University of Washington and RSA Research

On December 1, 2008, the Consumer Warning Network reported on research done by The University of Washington and RSA Security in October of 2008 which showed data from RFID chips implanted in the new Passport Cards and "Enhanced" drivers licenses can be received from over 150 feet away. Data recovered from such reception could be cloned to another card in less than 5 seconds. These tests were done with off-the-shelf equipment, not exotic technology available only to government agencies. 

Receiving data from that far away, a criminal could position a receiver near a large gathering of people and clone cards to steal a large number of identities. It is fair to point out that personal information is not stored on these cards; only a unique ID code. However, this code is all that's needed to create a cloned card. Eventually, there has to be a way to match that number to personal data stored in a database somewhere. If there is enough desire, criminals could get access to such a database and get the personal information contained in it.

A Practical Demonstration

On Feb 2nd, dailywireless.org posted an item showing how easy it is for someone to go about reading these RFID-equipped cards. Chris Paget demonstrated how to set up a system to read the cards as one drives around a city. Like in the above-mentioned study, he used off-the-shelf equipment in his demonstration. Although he didn't scan a large number of cards, I believe it's because they are not yet widely used. As government agencies issue this type of card, though, there will be more and more of them in circulation to scan. I highly recommend watching the short video which is quite telling.

Not Just Identity Theft

Given that these cards are so easy to read from a far longer distance than government agencies care to admit, it's also important to consider another potential way to exploit this technology: stalking and tracking. It's not difficult to put together a relatively cheap, but sophisticated, RF direction-finding system. Amateur radio operators do this in "fox hunt" competitions to find hidden transmitters. It would not be difficult for anyone to put together a direction-finding system to track a person's movements. In the ultimate "big brother" scenario, it would be a simple matter for government agencies to install direction-finding equipment around a city and use it to track anyone and everyone.

"Computer, what is the current location of Captain Picard?"

Shields Up!

There is one thing the person who has this type of ID card can do to prevent its exploitation: shield it. The issuers of these cards are supposed to provide a sleeve in which to store the card, the idea of which is to prevent the RFID from transmitting outside the person's wallet or purse. While this is a good idea, I believe it is not good enough. I question how many people will actually educate themselves on how RFID works and realize the importance of using such a sleeve. How many will lose or damage the sleeve and not bother to replace it? Although laudable, providing a sleeve is hardly practical.

I recommend you do your own research to learn more about RFID. I believe that as you educate yourself, you will realize RFID in personal identification is not a good idea and will let your elected representatives know about it.

Visiting Downtown Memphis

When we told folks we were going to Memphis for our 5th Annual Honeymoon, we were told by many to visit the Peabody Hotel and see the ducks and The Rendezvous for ribs. So, we took their advice and did so, on both counts. And we weren't disappointed.

Excellent Ribs

Charles Vergos' Rendezvous is a very interesting restaurant located in Downtown Memphis at 52 S. Second St. Be warned: The actual entrance is in the alley behind Second Street between Union Ave. and Monroe Ave.

After entering, we were sent to the back of the restaurant in what could have been a museum. There were trinkets and newspapers hanging around the room and in showcases. Everything from a tobacco tin collection to airline memorabilia was in this room. It was all very interesting to a history buff like me.

I'm not a fan of ribs; I rarely eat them. But, I have to say the ribs in this place were outstanding. The dirty rice served as an appetizer was very good, the cole slaw was excellent (and spicy, too) as were the beans. All in all it was an excellent dining experience and well worth checking out.

Cute Ducks

The Peabody Hotel is just down the alley from the Rendezvous. This hotel is famous for the ducks which live in the hotel, hanging around in the lobby's fountain during the day. According to the story, the owner of the hotel and his friends were out hunting with live decoys (which was legal in those days) and thought it would be funny to put the ducks in the fountain. The gag turned out to be a very popular draw, so they left the ducks there. To this day they march down from their home on the top floor of the hotel, down the elevator and into the fountain each morning and back up to their home in the evening. It was rather nice to see them frolicking about in the water. An interesting sight, indeed.

image credit: Řehoř

What I Learned At Graceland

My wife and I just finished our 5th Annual Honeymoon. This year, we headed over to Memphis, Tennessee so we could visit Graceland. I sometimes joke that my wife needs to make a "pilgrimage" there every few years.

When we last visited Graceland a few years ago, we didn't have time to go on the mansion tour. This time, however, we made time to take the VIP tour so we could see everything. It was well worth it.

I learned quite a bit about Elvis during this visit, just as I did during our visit to the Elvis-A-Rama Museum in Vegas (now closed). Here are three tid-bits which I was surprised to learn about Elvis:

1. Elvis was a voracious reader: Seeing how busy he kept himself, it never struck me that he would have much time to read. Part of the Graceland VIP tour is a "secret" room in the back of the mansion. In that room is a display of what his office looked like when he passed. I was quite surprised to see books on philosophy and business in addition to novels of many types.
2. Elvis Was A Monty Python Fan: Inside the "Lisa-Marie" airplane, the tour video mentioned that Elvis would often read or watch movies while flying around the country. The narrator specifically mentioned Elvis enjoyed watching Monty Python. That was quite a surprise to me.
3. Elvis' Reputation for Generosity Is Underrated: Although Elvis has a reputation as being a very generous man, the bounds of his generosity are underrated in my opinion. One of the exhibits in the Graceland mansion details his charitable works. I was quite blown away by the number of charities he helped support as well as the very large number of people he would help just because he heard they were having a hard time. He paid medical bills for numerous people. This was all in addition to his famous giveaways of cars and other items. In the exhibit narration Lisa Marie Presley made a comment something to the effect of: "As much as he spent on his family, he spent far, far more helping others."

Details in the Details

I enjoy seeing the minutia of the lives of famous people. Business documents, for whatever reason, fascinate me. As I mentioned in my post about the Elvis-A-Rama Museum, Elvis' business records also reveal a lot about the man most folks never hear about. For instance:

1. The pool table he bought for Graceland was a used, refurbished one.
2. He was paid $50,000 for his first television appearances (quite a princely sum in the 50s).
3. Elvis' father, Vernon, handled most of the business affairs. Most of the checks on display are actually signed by him and not by Elvis.

Veteran Elvis

Elvis' military service continues to impress me each time I hear a new story. Here's a man who was at the top of the entertainment world when he was drafted. He could have gotten easy duty, and no doubt was offered such. But he chose to go the way of every other young man and do his service with no special favors or favoritism. About the only special privilege he had was permission to live "off post" in a rental home. Even still, he helped his fellow soldiers clean the barracks for Saturday inspections.

I'm not sure what his MOS was, but from the descriptions given in the "GI Elvis" exhibit it sounds like he was a Cavalry Scout. He mentioned in one interview that he spent 6 months of his tour in Germany patrolling the Czech border near Grafenwoehr, Germany. 

All in all, I consider this to have been a class act on Elvis' part.

One of these days I'd like to go visit Germany and check out the Statue of Elvis standing at Ray Barracks in Friedburg, Germany. I've seen it many times, but my wife has not, yet. I think it would be a great treat for her.

Paying Respects

At the end of the mansion tour, one is led past the graves of Elvis, his mother, his father and his grandmother. Although I don't consider myself a huge fan, it was hard not to get choked up about his passing after learning so much about him. He was, truly, a living legend - and the legend doesn't nearly describe who the real "larger than life" man was.

All Elvis All The Time

After our touring, we just happened to catch the weekly Elvis Quiz Show on Sirius radio. Sirius' Elvis Radio broadcasts all "Elvis all the time" live from Graceland 24/7 and each week they have a live trivia contest. The winner this past Friday was a young man from Canada who visits Graceland every year and has won the contest each of the 6 times he's been in it. His prize was to guest DJ on the show. Next time we head out that way, we'll have to email ahead of time and see if we can get in on it.

Image credit: USAREUR and Seventh Army

A Pack of Smokes Eased The Cold War

I my last post, "Healthy Train Stations" I told the story of my trip to Liberec in the Czech Republic on the first small unit military to military contact visit. One of the best benefits of that trip was to learn about things from those on the other side of the Cold War.

Historical Curiosity

One of our group was a bit of a history buff. He asked a lot of questions about what life was like during the Cold War in (then) Czechoslovakia. He asked one of the Czech officers rather pointedly, "Did you hate Americans during that time?" 

The Rest of the Story

The Czech officer told this short story. I'll tell it in first person as he did as best as I can remember it:

When I was a young soldier, I was assigned to a unit that was charged with watching the German border and to report any suspicious activity. One day I was hidden in a fox hole, under a bush, about 100 meters away from the border.

As I was watching the border, I saw two American jeeps on the German side of the line. They stopped opposite from me and were setting up some kind of equipment. I watched intently through binoculars so I could give a good report. 

I thought they did not know I was there. But, suddenly, two of the soldiers got into a jeep and started driving directly towards me. I was very nervous as they came closer and closer. Just as I was about to pick up the phone to report them, they stopped about 20 meters away. The soldier who was not driving stood up in the jeep, waved at me, and threw a pack of cigarettes towards me, which landed about a meter in front of me. He waved again, and they drove back to where their group was.

I knew they had seen me, there was no denying it. I climbed out of my fox hole, picked up the pack of cigarettes, lit one, and waved back at the Americans. Soon they all packed up their equipment and drove off.

That day I learned that soldiers are soldiers. There could be no animosity towards one soldier who was kind enough to give another soldier a pack of cigarettes. After that day, I had no ill feelings towards Americans.

Cigarettes For Peace

I was quite impressed by his story. It goes a long way towards showing how one, seemingly small, random act of kindness can go a long way.

That brings to my mind a question: How much faster the Cold War might have ended if we sent waves of B-52 bombers over the Warsaw Pact countries and carpet-bombed them with packs of smokes? That might be politically incorrect today given how much we know about the ills of smoking, but back then it might have been the bold move of a genius to ease international tensions.

Image credit: http://www.grenzer.com

Healthy Train Stations?

I recently blogged about Google's Language Tools and how they approach the issues of translation. At the end of that piece, I mentioned I might post something about my translation gaffes. Here's a particularly memorable one:

In one of my previous lives I was a Czech linguist in the Army. In December of 1993 I was stationed in Darmstadt, Germany working for as an "Orderly Room NCO." It was rather like being an administrative assistant for the commander. One of my duties was to answer the phone. Answering one fateful call allowed me to go on a great trip.

The Call

This particular call was from a captain who was the commander of a chemical unit located in Vilseck, Germany. He told me he and four of his fellow soldiers had been chosen to make the first unit to unit contact visit with the 1st Chemical Defense Brigade of the Czech Army. They were getting ready to travel to Liberec in the Czech Republic to meet with officers there and discuss joint training exercises in Germany and the Czech Republic. Seeing that the Iron Curtain had fallen just a few years before, this was quite an historic event and the first of its kind between the U.S. and Czech Armies.

Not knowing anything about anything Czech, he asked if there might be someone in our unit who 

could go to Vilseck before their trip and talk to them about the people, culture and military courtesies "over there." He also mentioned they might like someone to travel with them on their visit in order to assist them during times when the official interpreter was busy and to help them make sure things went smoothly.

Might be someone? Of course there was - me! I tried not to show too much excitement, but this was a great opportunity to visit the country I had studied about and whose language I practiced for years. It was also a chance to be a small part of history, this being the first such military contact between the two Armies which until recently had been on opposite sides of the Cold War.

In the end, they invited me to come with them to the Czech Republic, and I very happily went along.

Getting Ready

Up to this point, I had studied and practiced the Czech language for nearly ten years. But, I had never traveled to the Czech Republic and I had never worked as a "live" interpreter. I knew I needed some advice on how to handle the situation. Fortunately, I had a good friend who worked as an interpreter and happened to live nearby. He had 3 pieces of advice for me:

1. Carry a reporter's notebook and write down new words and phrases. This was the most useful thing he told me. I ended up using quite a few pages in the notebook he gave me.
2. Tell the people to look at the person with whom they're speaking instead of at me. This made a lot of sense. Much face-to-face communication is non-verbal, so it pays to watch the person with whom one is speaking.
3. If someone tells a joke, lean over and say to the other person in his/her language something to the effect of: "This person just told a joke which is very funny in his/her language, but makes no sense in yours. Please smile and pretend to laugh."
   
   It is interesting, though, many military-themed jokes which are funny to soldiers in one language are also funny in other languages. Army life is very similar no matter to which army one belongs, so many of the jokes are very similar. I didn't have to use this advice as often as I might have in another situation.

What he did not tell me was how to handle things when you completely botch a translation. That I had to learn on my own.

The Trip

We took the train to Prague and were picked up by our hosts. They whisked us into an awaiting van and told us we were to stop on the way out of the city at the Czech Ministry of Defense offices to meet with the general in charge of all chemical defense troops.

We arrived at the Ministry of Defense building and were escorted to a meeting room which was set up for lunch. At first, we sat and ate and chatted about this and that. Towards the end of the meal, the general stood up and made a toast, wishing for a great era of cooperation.

There was a Czech lady assigned to the group who acted as the official translator. She was employed by the Ministry of Defense to translate manuals for Czech-made military equipment into English. Her English was impeccable and her interpretation abilities were excellent (despite the fact that she didn't think so). As we ate, she did most of the translating, while I jumped in from time to time as conversations moved around the table and to give her a chance to eat. She translated the General's speech quite nicely.

The Trip-Up
Then it was time for our group's leader to make a toast. I don't remember his exact words, though at the time I concentrated on them quite closely. He said something like: "I'm from a small town in the United States and I never thought I'd get to visit other countries to make new friends. I'm usually a man of few words, so please allow me to simply thank the soldiers of the Army of the Czech Republic for inviting us here to meet and to start an era of mutual cooperation and education. We are all very happy to be here and know our countries will enjoy mutual friendship for many, many years. Cheers."

It was that last word which tripped me up. You see, the phrase I intended to translate as "cheers" in Czech is "Na Zdravi" (NAH ZDRA-vi) or "to your health." This short phrase is very similar to the word "nádraží" (NAH-dra-zhee) which means "train station." You can guess which one I said.

One of the Czech officers sitting across from me when I said this caught on very quickly. He almost blew beer through his nose as he choked and pretended to cough an a vain attempt not to laugh. His eyes tripled in size, and as I looked over at him I knew what I had done. I looked across the table and asked him in Czech, "I said, 'train station' didn't I?" He nodded and pretended to cough again to hide his chortling.

At that moment I was mortified. Here we were, visiting ambassadors of the United States Army meeting with Generals and Colonels of the Czech Army hoping to successfully kick off an era of friendship and cooperation and I blew it right at the outset. I didn't even notice if anyone else caught my mistake.

Of course, it was really quite funny. For the rest of  our visit, any time there was a toast to be made, that officer and I would raise our glasses and quietly say "train station."

What's In My CERT Bag?

On Saturday I tweeted that I was repacking my CERT kit into an old XL Army rucksack. A couple of folks tweeted back to ask what I had in my bag. It's a little too long to tweet, so I'll make the list here.

The stuff in the bag is mostly stuff provided by the CERT group I belong to. They provided a nice back pack, but it was too small for my taste as I have a tendency to over-pack. I plan to add some stuff of my own as time goes on. 

For now, here's what I have in the bag:

• 2 Reflective Vests (1 green and 1 yellow)
  
• 1 Roll Yellow Caution Tape
• 1 Hard Hat
• 1 Roll Duct Tape (the handyman's secret weapon)
• 1 Pair Gloves
• 1 Pair Safety Goggles
• 1 Gas Main Shutoff Tool
• 1 Pry Bar
• 1 Pair Knee Pads
• 50 feet 1/4-inch Nylon Rope
• 1 Green Glow Stick
• 1 Particulate Mask
• 3 125ml Pouches of Survival Water
• 1 37X37X37 Bandage (good for slings)
• 3 "Ace" style bandages
• 84X52 inch metallic survival blanket
• 1 4 oz. Bottle Hydrogen Peroxide
• 1 "Blood Stop" Trauma Dressing
• 4 4X4's
• 1/4 oz. Pouch of SPF 30 Sun Block
• 1 Pr. "EMS" Scissors
• 1 Roll 1/2" Medical Tape
• 11.75 inch Trauma Dressing
• 1 Flashlight
• 1 Multi-tool
• 1 non Load-Bearing Carabiner
• 1 Backpack
• 1 CERT Operating Guide by J.L. Darling Corporation
  www.riteintherain.com
• 2004 DOT HAZMAT Emergency Response Guide
• 1 Whistle
• 1 Yellow Lumber Crayon

This is certainly not the end-all be-all list of what one could carry. It's just what I've gathered or have been given so far. I'm still considering what else I might need. Our CERT trailer is very well stocked with supplies which frees me to need much less in my personal bag.

With the larger rucksack I have room for extra clothes, food, water, etc. if I need to have them. I also have lots of nice attachments to hang things on, like my amateur radio HT. I think this bag will work better if I actually have to stay somewhere for a while; as in in a search and rescue scenario. If needed, I can also grab just a few things and put them in the other backpack if that is more appropriate.

Twitter "Re-Tweet" Survey Results

Just before the holidays, Rick Osborne and I got into a discussion about using Twitter to promote blog posts and other writings. As we went back and forth, I came upon the idea of doing a poll to see what other tweeters thought on the subject. 

It would have been nice to have more responses. But, I think there's a good enough cross section of users to get a good idea of how folks feel about the subject.

Here are the results:

How Many Times A Day Do You Check Twitter?

1-3 Times A Day	14%
3-5 Times A Day	7%
5-10 Times A Day	21%
10-20 Times A Day	14%
I'm On Twitter All Day On My Computer	24%
I'm On Twitter All Day On My Smart Phone/PDA	3%
I Really Don't Know/Varies Per Day	17%

How Many Tweeters Do You Follow?

One to Fifty	28%
51 - 100	21%
101 - 200	14%
201 - 300	10%
301+	28%

When You Check Twitter, How Many Posts Do You Read?

First Page (20 Tweets) Only	52%
2-3 Pages (40-60 Tweets)	28%
3-5 Pages (60-100 Tweets)	3%
As far back as it takes to pick up where I last left off	26%

If someone has many followers (over 500), knows those followers are on at different times of the day and wanted to promote a blog post, new web site feature, or other such thing, at what point would you consider multiple tweets as tweet spam?

1 Tweet Every 4 Hours	41%
1 Tweet Every 3 Hours	14%
1 Tweet Every 2 Hours	10%
1 Tweet Every Hour	24%
More than one tweet is spam - period	10%

Here are some of the comments:

I think identifying it as a 're-tweet' helps with the spaminess of it. For me, I don't go too far back since tweets are generally time sensitive and quickly lose relevance. If someone's postings were so important that I couldn't miss one, I might setup device updates so I would get an e-mail or sms notification of it. (That's kind of up to me to decide, not the person who wants me to read their blog ;-| ).

Twitter is a social networking tool. People follow each other because they're interested in networking and sharing content. If Twitter came up with a way that you could notify all of your followers of something new there would be no need 4 multiple tweets. However until that happens multiple tweets R needed. What I find annoying is when most and/or all the tweets coming from someone R all commercials - that's spam 2 me. Multi-tweet but twitter, connect and converse even more. : )

I'm not bothered by people re-tweeting their stuff. I won't follow someone who only tweets the same thing over and over again

I think Twitter usage changes depending on the client you use. Since changing to Tweetdeck from Twitterific, my usage is more focused.

I didn't know the reason people Retweeted their own posts. Now I do and I understand Rick's reasoning. I don't follow too many people, so the RT's aren't too bad. If I felt that's all someone was doing, RT'ing their own posts all day, I might stop following them. But I haven't seen anyone exclusively TR themselves.

If something's so crucial that Followers in different time zones might miss it if not RTed, I suggest the Blogger should send them a DM. S(he) might also encourage their Followers to RSS his/her Blog to avoid spamming the rest of us.

Crocs™ For The King

A while back I wrote about how my wife and I love our Crocs™.

My wife really goes all out when she decorates hers. January 8th is Elvis' birthday. In honor of the occasion and in preparation for our visit to Graceland later this month, she decked out a pair of her Crocs™ in honor of The King. I think they turned out pretty well.

I think what amazes me most is that she can wear these decked out like this and they don't fall apart. The engineering which goes into these creations is really impressive.

Google's Approach To Language Translation

Machine Translations Have Been Pretty Iffy

In a former life I worked as a translator and an interpreter. That experience has made me quite skeptical of machine translated text. In the past, translations I've seen from some software packages have ranged from "OK" to outright terrible. In the past when someone needed translations done and were contemplating purchasing software to do the work, I always strongly advised against machine translations in favor of human ones.  The cost may have been higher, but it was certainly offset by the quality of the work.

To be sure, human translations are not always perfect. There are subtle nuances which can be overlooked when going from one language to another. If the translator is not familiar with technical jargon, mistakes are also quite possible. During my time as a linguist I embarrassed myself on more than one occasion by completely botching a phrase. But, on the whole, humans tend to pick up on things and refer to dictionaries where software could not, no matter how well the package was written.

I think the biggest failing of those software packages, though, was the lack of memory and processing power available. Even today's powerful home computers are not powerful enough to run the serious computations required for the abstract programming a good translation package requires.

Google Has The Tools To Pull Off Better Translations

This is where the folks at Google can shine in this area. A recent posting in the Google Research Blog by Shankar Kumar and Wolfgang Macherey touches upon this very subject. Google has a good approach to language translation. First, they look at translation as a search problem. This makes a lot of sense because much of the same thought process and algorithms which goes into selecting relevant web sites based on key words goes into selecting the appropriate words and phrases when moving from one language to another. Second, Google has the processing power to run very complex calculations. They have the power to run routines which would be impossible for an individual PC to handle.

Basically, the Google method pulls a large number of possible translations for a given phrase and narrows them down to the "safest" one which will cause the "least amount of damage. " There is a link on the blog post which leads to the details of their method. I won't even pretend to understand most of the calculations, but the basic methodology appears to be similar to the way a person might work though a translation - especially if there is time to mull over and check things over once or twice. I think this makes their translations far superior than  those previously possible by machines.

Google's Method Seems To Work Well

I have used Google's Language Tools to help me quickly go through articles in German and Czech (2 languages I at least used to know very well). From what I can see, their methodology works quite nicely. I've at least come to trust them enough to translate items from English to French for our Intranet when the items are shown in our Montreal, Canada location. I'm no Francophile, but from what I can tell at least the basic points are made in the translation.

I love the way Kumar and Macherey describe getting the best translation as doing "the least amount of damage." As I mentioned above, I've caused little bit of damage, mostly to my own ego, with some of my translation faux pas. Perhaps I'll regale a story or two on another day.

La Vita è bella - Life Is Beautiful

Last night we watched a movie I feel good about recommending. The 1997 film "Life is Beautiful" ("La Vita è bella" in the original Italian) is a fascinating story set in WWII Italy. The story is about a happy-go-lucky fellow named Guido (played by Roberto Benigni, who also directed) who falls in love and wins the heart of his lady with his wild, wacky and sometimes absurd sense of humor.

The first part of the story is set in 1939 and tells about the meeting of Guido and Dora when Guido moves into town to work with his uncle at a high-class hotel restaurant. Guido orchestrates a number of "accidental" meetings where he uses his sense humor to win Dora over. The plan works and they marry and have a son.

The second part of the story is much darker. Set in 1945, Guido and his family are targeted for harassment because they are Jews. Guido, his uncle and his son are carted off to a concentration camp. Though she is not Jewish, Dora joins them on the train and is put into the same camp as her husband and son. 

Guido uses his fantastic sense of humor to convince his son they are on a trip planned for his birthday and that the stay at the concentration camp is part of an elaborate game in an effort to win the "grand prize." He even takes the ruse so far as to pretend to leave when his son announces he's tired of the game and wants to go home. 

Although separated in separate male and female parts of the camp, Guido also manages to send special messages to his wife from time to time.

The story culminates when the war comes to an end. Guido hides his son and tries to find his wife to prevent them being carted off and executed by the retreating Germans.

This movie reminded me a bit of "Jakob The Liar" where Robin Williams portrays a Jew in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII who makes up stories about hearing radio announcements to keep up hope in his circle of acquaintances. It also brought back to mind "Closely Watched Trains" ("Ostře sledované vlaky"), the Czech movie about a rail worker in WWII Czechoslovakia.

"Life is Beautiful" is a great story, a jab at Fascism and a lesson in love and sacrifice. The dubbed version we watched streamed off Netflix web site was very well done. Check it out.

Donald E. Westlake

Sometimes books we read become like old friends. Those books are the ones we carry around with us wherever we move and pull off the shelf when we spot then and realize we haven't read them for a while. They are like the literary equivalent of comfort food.

"The Hot Rock" by Donald E. Westlake is one of those books to me. I don't remember where I got it. When I was young my mom and I read voraciously and would exchange paper grocery sacks full of paperbacks with friends and relatives as we read through the piles of books. I think that's where we got "The Hot Rock." Wherever it came from, it ended up on a shelf in my room and followed me all over until a few years ago. I read it many times, enjoying it each time.

(The movie, however, was very disappointing. It's often true that "the movie is never as good as the book" and that saying is true in this case. Read the book, you'll enjoy it much more.)

Donald E. Westlake passed away today. I'll have to get a replacement for my lost copy of "The Hot Rock" and read it in his memory.

The Mouse Wars Part 4 - The Saga Continues

The Mouse Wars Part 3 - One Gone

There has been scant sign of any mice in the apartment since I wrote Part 3 a few days ago. We've heard some scratching under the stairs and in the walls between the closet and the kitchen, but that's been the only activity. Perhaps sealing the gap in the stairs denied the rodents entry into the house proper.

Although we're standing down from high alert, we will stay vigilant for the next week or so just to make sure they don't find another way in.

In München Steht Ein Hofbräuhaus

Please vote for my dream vacation ...

Background

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to live in Germany - twice. My first stay in Germany was in the beautiful Bavarian city of Augsburg. I came to love Bavaria; it's history, architecture, nature, and people. Although it's been many years since I was last there, I dream of going back there again. I was single when I lived there, so it would be wonderful to introduce my wife and three boys to this fantastic place.

Munich Is My Choice

While living in Bavaria, one of my favorite places to visit was Munich. Other than Augsburg, I think it's the most beautiful city in the region. There are a number of great "touristy" sights to visit such as the Marienplatz, the Englisher Garten and the Hofbräuhaus. In addition, there are also a lot of great things to see "off the beaten path."

Munich is also central to many other great places to visit like Augsburg, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Salzburg (Austria), Füssen, and much more; all close enough for a day trip by rail. This makes Munich the perfect base for a Bavarian getaway.

The rental I chose on HomeAway.com has enough room for my family and a few friends or extended family who might like to join us. It's close to many of the great places in Munich as well as the train station for taking off on day trips. The perfect place in the perfect location. If more want to come than this place will hold, HomeAway has many choices in the area which will accommodate more travellers.

The Mouse Wars Part 3 - One Gone

The Mouse Wars Part 2 - The Mice Find Another Way

We now know for sure there are (or were) at least 2 mice - we saw them both today. They were in the middle of the living room, and appeared to be scrapping. I scared them away when I entered the room and they went behind the couch. #3 son got the small blue garbage can ready and we watched. One tried to make a dash in the direction of the door when #3 son dropped the can on top of it.

I grabbed a piece of poster board and slipped it carefully under the upside down can. We slowly flipped the can over and took it outside. There is a large field on the other side of a wooden fence about 150 feet away from the house. We tossed the mouse over the fence. Hopefully, it's not like a dog and able to find its way back.

We chased the other mouse around for a few minutes. It ran into the kitchen under the refrigerator. When I pulled the refrigerator out it ran over my foot back into the living room. We eventually lost it under the couch again.

The gap in the stairs is about to be sealed. This will eliminate another hiding place for them. Perhaps with the loss of hiding places we can successfully catch the ones which remain and get them outside. Our only other hope is that they will eat the poison. So far I think we've had a couple nibbles at it, but no sign of any actual deaths.

The Mouse Wars Part 2 - The Mice Find Another Way

Read part 1: The Mouse Wars Begin

I appears, perhaps, the mice were not entering our apartment through the cracks in the back of the closet we found yesterday. The sneaky buggers were using the closet as a "way point" hiding place to get into the kitchen and/or the bird cage. It was a clever diversion, but one we won't fall for again.

Common wisdom tells us if we see one rodent, there are more. We think we have visual confirmation: a dark brown and a light brown mouse.

There is an alcove between the stairs and the closet in which we patched up the cracks yesterday. We saw a mouse sneak past the small Christmas tree we have set up in front of the alcove and then run around the corner into the kitchen. I followed, but I didn't see where in the kitchen it went. I suspect it followed the wall behind the trash can and the water dispenser, then under the refrigerator. 

Later, we saw what we suspect was another mouse sneak out from under the closet door and around the corner into the kitchen. I followed again, but it was too fast for me.

Upon closer inspection of the alcove and and stairs area we found a small gap between the bottom stair and the wall of the staircase. It's partially covered in carpet, so it was not easily seen while standing above it. This crack won't be as easy to patch as the cracks in the back of the closet. Here, we will probably need to wedge something in the crack to seal it. I'm thinking we could use a soft wood wedge, like those which come in a HAZMAT barrel patching kit.

In the meantime I did lay out some poison. I would still rather not kill it (them), but I don't see a way to catch them unharmed so I can release them outside. Perhaps if we can seal off all the entrances to our apartment, they'll go somewhere else. That would be fine with me. But, with the poor attention to detail which went into this place, there could be dozens of gaps and cracks around the walls. Today we'll concentrate around the alcove and the gap we found in the stairs. Afterwards, we'll have to deal with the situation as it presents itself.

The Mouse Wars Begin

What we've suspected for the past few days was confirmed last night: we have a mouse in our apartment.

Our suspicions started with the faint sound of scratching under the stairs. It was later reinforced when we heard it again just a little louder somewhere behind the kitchen cabinets. Last night, we saw the varmint. It was sneaking out from under a closet door and ran around the corner into the kitchen.

We suspect it's getting food from the bottom of the bird cage. Sidney knocks food down off his feeder shelf onto the floor of the cage so he can scratch around (it's a big cage - about 4 feet wide, 3 feet deep and 5 feet tall). There is a gap where the bottom door meets the frame of the cage which is too small for Sidney to squeeze through, but wide enough for a mouse.

Now the question is: how do we get rid of it? I called our apartment management the other day and the most they would do for us is give us some poison bait, so we're pretty much on our own. Mice have a very important part to play in our ecosystem - outside - so I really would rather not kill it. Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to catch it live for release. Mice are very good at avoiding traps but terrible at avoiding poisons. I can't recall ever seeing a live catch trap for a mouse.

We pulled everything out of the closet we saw it come out of and found some cracks where the skirting board along the back wall meets the skirting boards which go along the side walls. (The builders didn't really pay attention to detail when they built this place). We filled the cracks with silicone caulk and inspected all the boxes in the closet for signs of nesting. After we put everything back in the closet, we heard some scratching under the stairs - where the cracks in the closet led. Perhaps we've sealed it in and it'll have to find another way out - preferably outside.

For now we wait and watch.

Illegal To Be Annoying

City officials in Brighton, Michigan recently passed a law making it illegal to be annoying. It reads in part:"It shall be unlawful for a person to engage in a course of conduct or repeatedly commit acts that alarm or seriously annoy another person and that serve no legitimate purpose." The law was purposely written so that a police officer has the authority to determine what is annoying.

OK - now I'm annoyed. It's hard to understand what these folks were thinking. This gives the police some pretty extraordinary power to detain people based on their own opinion of what's annoying. This opens up the floodgates for people to be arrested and fined for picketing the city hall, for having a disagreement with a neighbor, or letting kids play touch football in the street. These may be "frivolous" examples, but that's where this kind of law can lead.

Bottom line: This type of law is unconstitutional. The good people in Brighton (and Royal Oak - where a similar law was passed) should be annoying their city leaders for passing this ridiculous law and demand it be repealed.

If you read the article linked below, you will also note the Brighton police chief used to work in Royal Oak and now works in Brighton. Coincidence? I think not.

Read the full story on Click On Detroit.

Short Twitter Survey

Recently, fellow tweeter Rick Osborne and I had a tweet-versation about how to best tweet blog postings and other kinds of promotions. I questioned him when he re-tweeted his own tweet about a blog posting on his site a number of times throughout the day.

He had good reasoning for posting as he did. He has several hundred followers who are spread in many different time zones. He was going under the assumption that his followers may only read the first page of tweets and therefore might miss the tweet about the blog posting.

When I go on Twitter, I go back and read all the new posts starting with where I left off during my last visit. My question to him was based on the assumption that most people use Twitter like I do, going back where one left off and reading all the tweets going forward. Under that assumption, repeated posts might be considered tweet spam.

I think we both have valid assumptions; but, since they are both based on how we do things I thought it would be a good idea to ask around and see how others read posts on Twitter. To that end, I've created the following survey to learn how others read posts in Twitter and what they might consider spam.

Please answer the following questions and help us learn about your Twitter habits. After a few days I'll share the results with everyone here. Please feel free to tweet this around your circle.

Live Tweets From A Plane Crash

This morning I read an AP story by P. Solomon Banda about the plane crash of a Houston-bound Continental airliner where someone actually live-tweeted about the crash. You can read Mike Wilson's tweets here: http://twitter.com/2drinksbehind. I don't think I would have the presence of mind to even think about Twitter, but Mike even took a photo on his phone and posted it.

I don't know Mike, but I have to say: well done. I'm glad you made it out OK and thank you for sharing about your experience.

Background:

For those of you who don't "tweet" Twitter is a micro-blogging site. It's a place where people can post their thoughts and observations. It's called "micro" because each post has a strict limit of 140 characters. It's a great place to connect with friends and family throughout the day.

I highly recommend checking it out. If you want an interesting experience, click on the "Everyone" link and read the posts. What you will read are the last 20 tweets posted to the site. You get a very interesting perspective of the stream of consciousness of people around the world.

Whataburger Love in Michigan

My mom enjoys Whataburger. The only problem is, there are none in Michigan where she lives. So, she's limited to visiting when she comes to Texas for a visit.

For the past couple of years, I've thought about getting her some Whataburger merchandise on a gift-giving occasion. I didn't do it until this Christmas, though. I ordered her a Whataburger mouse pad, which looks like one of Whataburger's ketchup containers, and a Whataburger 50th anniversary coffee mug.

Little did I know that my step-dad was a "Whatafan" too. He appropriated the mouse pad. Now I hear they are racing to the kitchen in the morning so they can be first to grab the Whatamug.

I ordered him a whatamug this morning. I can't have those two acting like a couple of kids, can I?

Ugly Scott

My friend Scott is anything but ugly. But, who am I to argue? Whatever he may call his blog, his point of view is unique, thought-provoking and entertaining all at the same time. I invite you to check him out at Ugly Scott.

I Have No Taste - Follow Up

I reported in an earlier post I was having trouble with my senses of smell and taste. You can read it here if you missed it.

I'm happy to report that since starting on the zinc and magnesium supplements my taste and smell are working rather well. I rarely get the burning smell which plagued me and I'm starting to taste things better.

Please remember, if you smell odd things which no one else does go see your doctor. Although rare, these sensations can be indicators of serious health conditions. It's nice to know, though, that if the odd smells are not from a serious health condition that treatment is available.

Beef and Blizzards in Deming

A friend of mine often insisted the World's best Dairy Queen was in Deming, New Mexico. Having never been to Deming, I didn't completely understand why. But, he insisted nonetheless, and was quite adamant about it. I remained neutral on the subject until I had a chance to stop there.

Deming was a small city (maybe it still is), on Interstate 10 between El Paso and Tucson. It's about 1/3 the way to Tucson, and about 2/3 the way to El Paso - depending on which direction you go. I was once on a four-day weekend and decided to drive to Tucson from El Paso to visit my friend. On my way, I had to stop to see what he was talking about.

View Larger Map

Coming from either direction, all the food places were on Pine Street, just south of the interstate. On the east side of town was the Dairy Queen, and on the west was the Arby's. Two of my favorite fast food places, what more could I ask for?

The Dairy Queen wasn't all that much different from the Dairy Queens found in Texas. I did find there were two things which made this DQ stand out: 1. it was in a great location to stop when travelling through the desert and 2. the people were very, very nice. 

When I got to Tucson, I had to tell my friend he was absolutely right about that Dairy Queen, it really was the World's best.

When my boys were small, even before #3 son was born, we loved to eat at Arby's. When we would drive there, I'd get them bouncing in the back seat (as much as one can bounce strapped into a child car seat or booster seat) yelling "Beef, beef, beef, beef, ... !" It was our favorite meal: Beef!

On another occasion, I was driving from Fort Huachuca, Arizona, to El Paso. My family had come to see me graduate from an Army school there and we were on our way back to visit my in-laws in El Paso until we flew back to Germany where we were stationed. During my six month stay at "The 'Chuc'" I drove to El Paso almost every weekend to visit my family. On those trips, I ate quite a few meals at that Arby's (and the World's greatest DQ). I was more than familiar with the road, and exactly how long it took to get to Deming going in either direction.

Heading west to El Paso, about 20 miles outside of Deming, the signs started to appear. They weren't large billboard signs, but smaller signs set just about eye-level, attached to the supports of the larger signs. The signs were shaped like the distinctive Arby's hat, and had the number of miles until the Deming Arby's printed on them. "20 miles to Arby's," "10 Miles to Arby's," "5 Miles to Arby's," (the anticipation is growing) "Arby's - Next Exit." We started bouncing and yelling at the first sign. For 20 minutes we were hollering out "Beef! Beef! Beef!" By the time we pulled into the parking lot we were in a carniverous frenzy and we'd worked up a big appetite.

There is one visit to that Arby's which really causes it to stand out in my memory.

On one of those weekend trips to El Paso, I was riding with an acquaintance who also had family in El Paso. We stopped at the Arby's (of course, I insisted). We got there about 5 minutes to 9:00 pm. I never lived in a small city like Deming, so it never occurred to me that they would be closing at 9. We walked in, ordered, and waited for our food. Then I heard someone back in the kitchen remark something like he'd just finished cleaning the fryer area. I asked, what time they closed? The person who took our order replied that they closed at 9.

Both of us tried to cancel our orders. We insisted, quite strongly, that they not mess everything up on our account. The workers in the place had already started preparing our order and insisted they would never turn away any customer before closing time. They even refused our request to change our "dine-in" order to a "to-go" one. I was very impressed by this, not so much because the entire crew chimed in agreeing that no customer should be turned away before nine, but more because there was not one real "adult" in the entire group. They all looked like high school kids, and most of them probably were. That really stuck in my head even after more than 10 years.

I don't have much call to drive through Deming any more. You can be sure, though, if I do I'll be having beef and Blizzards.

Ambidextrous

I was at the bank the other day with my wife opening an account. The lady helping us was ambidextrous. I watched as she moused with her right hand and wrote with her left at the same time. I mentioned to my wife what a time-saver that would be for me if I could do that. It's like the lady I know who can write with both hands simultaneously - and have what she wrote in both hands be perfectly legible.

What a handy skill (no pun intended). (Well, maybe a little pun).

I wonder if I could practice enough to master left-handed mousing and right-handed writing. Maybe I'll try that some day.

Hilton Hot Water Update

The week after I returned from the Texas EMS Conference, I used the contact us form on www.hilton.com to complain about the hot water problem I had at the downtown Fort Worth Hilton. (You can read more about that here and here).

I wasn't expecting too much more than an apology, so when I received a reply the next day from a Guest Relations Specialist in Memphis giving me a reference number for my complaint it was a bit of a surprise. Later that same day, I received another email from the Front Office Manager of the Fort Worth Hilton offering me 5000 HHonors points.

Naturally, I took the 5000 points, but also stressed in my reply that I told them about my problem so they would fix the hot water situation. Hopefully they will follow up and make some changes.

My group will be attending next year's EMS Conference, again in Fort Worth. If we end up staying there I'm still going to check the hot water as soon as we check in.

Local Radio Disappears

I don't live in a big city, so my choice of radio stations is somewhat limited. This is exacerbated to a large degree because many of the local radio stations are owned by one large national company.

I like to listen to talk radio, especially when the talk is about local happenings. The local talk station (also owned by the big conglomerate) features syndicated shows most of the day, but the morning and evening drive time show were local hosts talking to local people about local events. That is, until this past week.

The morning guy was let go. Granted, he was only doing radio part time, so he'll land on his feet. The real bad thing is now we have to listen to The Wall Street Journal Report. My goodness that is a bad show. It's like CNN Headline News for radio, only worse. I had to turn it off the other day because it was driving me nuts. They play ESPN Radio at night and on weekends. I'm not that huge a sports fan, but at least the people on ESPN Radio are interesting and entertaining. That would have been a far better choice.

I emailed the radio station yesterday to express my displeasure and disappointment at their choice of programming. I went to their web site and sent an email to the address shown on their contact us page. A few minutes ago I got a reply - the email bounced. No such domain.

Why is it that we have to put up with so much schlock? It's all very disappointing.

Please Help The Salvation Army

My sisters are in the process of kicking off a non-profit organization the purpose of which is to help raise money for other non-profit groups and to provide scholarships for those who wish to become firefighters to help pay their way through the fire academies. The group is called Chadderbox and is named for my brother-in-law, Chad Wessels, who was a firefighter killed in the line of duty a few years ago. Chad was the kind of guy who never met a stranger and liked to chat with everyone he met, thus the name "Chadderbox."

Much to my shame, their website at www.chadderbox.org is showing GoDaddy's domain parking page. Click on the link anyway, by the time you read this it might be up and running.

Thankfully, my lack of attention to the web site has not stopped me nor the other members of Chadderbox from fulfulling the mission to raise money for other non-profit organizations. 'Tis the season for the Salvation Army's kettle campaign and the Chadderbox folks have set a goal to raise $10,000 for the Salvation Army during the holiday season, and we need your help. Please consider donating to this worthy organization. I know how busy The Salvation Army was in Texas assisting those affected by hurricane Ike this past fall and I'm sure they'd like to be ready to help with disaster relief again when the time comes. Please click on the link below and give what you can. Thank you!

By the way, the web geek in me loves the Salvation Army's web site. It was very easy to set this campaign up, join, and create the widget which generates the link above. They are very web savvy. Hats off to them for making it easy and fun to help.

Dramatize

My wife and I were talking about people who always seem to have some sort of drama going on in their lives, be it real or imagined. I don't know if this is the first time it's been used this way, but upon getting off the phone with a drama queen we know, she said that she'd been "dramatized."

I thought it quite apt and offer this new definition of dramatize: To endlessly talk about your problems, real or imagined, to someone else usually while dominating the conversation. "I hate to talk to Ashly, all she does is dramatize."

Dramatized: to have been talked at about someone else's ongoing "drama," normally only because one wants to appear to be polite. "I just got off the phone with Joe and I'm dramatized from his endless problems."

Let's spread the word of the day - dramatize!

Texas EMS Conference - Day 3

The first session of the morning was entitled "The Emergency Reponse to Africanized Honey Bees" by Dr. Bryan Bledsoe. Here are some points he brought up:

• Because someone is stung so many times in an Africanized attack there is not only an allergic reaction risk but also a risk of invenomnation. Even though the venom is no more potent than European bees' but because they sting more during an attack more venom is introduced to the stingee.
• It's hard to tell the difference between africanized and European bees.
• Bee venom contains histamine, pheromones, enzymes, peptides, acids and amino acids.
• Brazilian researchers were experimenting with interbreeding africanized and European honey bees to try to get more honey. Several swarms escaped and the bees began to spread north.
• The bees migrate north at about 200 miles per year. They are now around San Francisco across the country and are even found in Florida.
• Africanized bees prefer to nest in the ground.
• It's important to make a plan to respond to bee attacks.
• Persons who are allergic should not respond to bee attacks even if they are on duty to avoid EMS personnel becoming patients.
• It's a good idea to have a list of experts in dealing with africanized bees to assist.
• A good thing to also have a bee response cache with beekeeping clothing, duct tape, and allergic reaction meds.
• Fire personnel can use water to knock the bees down enough to affect a rescue, but this is only temporary. In order to kill the bees foam or soapy water must be used.
• There is a device called BeeAlert™ which can be deployed to kill the bees. It uses a proprietary surfactant in a fog which will drown bees. The product can also be sprayed on victims to kill the attacking bees.
• Victims need to be carefully evaluated for systemic versus localized reactions. Remove the stingers to relieve pain and stop continuing envenomnation. Consider prophylactic diphenhydramine. Victims with systemic reactions should be transported.

Dr. Bledsoe was the speaker for the next session entitled "Neurological Trauma." He reviewed the physiology of brain injury, signs and symptoms, and treatment options. It was a very good review with some new things - at least new to me.

The Hilton had hot water problems again this morning. My roomie told me he waited about an hour for the hot water to come for his shower in the evening. I don't think we'll stay in this hotel again.

** Follow up on the hot water problem **

Overall, it was a good event. I learned a bit from the sessions I attended - lots of new information.

Now, it comes time to head home. I hope the traffic isn't too bad. Considering this is the busiest travel day of the year, I'm not too optimistic.

Texas EMS Conference - Day 2

First, a note about the hot water: There was hot water this morning and I didn't have to wait very long to get it. I'm glad for that since I was late waking up. My phone locked up sometime in the middle of the night and didn't go off when it was supposed to.

The first session of the morning was entitled: "Precious Cargo: Pediatric Emergencies" and was presented by Bolleter. He had a few points to make regarding pediatric calls and why they shouldn't be difficult:

• Don't Panic
• Take a systematic approach to each call (do the same thing every time and be thorough)
• Look beyond the obvious
• Follow your protocols
• Be aggressive - remember: Ventilation, Oxygenation and Perfusion

The main thing to do is to look for something "that just ain't right."

The second morning session was presented by Dr. Racht and was titled "The Twenty Most Important Things." And here they are:

• Resuscitation
• Hypothermia - post arrest hypothermia. This is new and important. I don't know much about it, so I attended a session on it in the afternoon.
• Airway Management
• Breathing - remember not to over-ventilate
• Stroke Management
• Spinal Movement Restriction
• Infectious Diseases - like MSRA in particular
• The Medicine of Dispatch - dispatch operators instructing the caller on how to assist until help arrives. They can help quite a bit.
• Acute Coronary Syndrome
• End Title Carbon dioxide
• Interoperability (this is still an issue, though it is getting better)
• Weirdos - like those who would perpetrate mass casualties
• Hospital Diversion - Dr. Racht says this practice needs to stop
• Determination of Death in the Field - we need to get better at this
• Keeping Up - there is ALWAYS something new to learn
• EMS Designated Receiving Centers - those emergency departments which specialize in certain areas
• Errors - we need to be more open about mistakes so we can learn from them
• Turf and turf wars. This has to go
• "Customer Service" Pre-hospital, in-hospital, we need to make sure we're doing the right thing, taking care of the patients physical as well as emotional needs. We also need to be sure we treat everyone with respect.
• Love what you do and do what you love - if you don't love EMS then go do something else.

The final morning session I attended was presented by Dr. Pepe entitled "US Trauma Care: Experience in Iraq." This was a very informative talk dealing mostly with trauma care.

One thing Dr. Pepe stressed was not to ventilate so much that positive pressure builds up in the chest, thus slowing or stopping blood flow back to the heart for recirculation. This is something which goes against was I was taught in school which was to bag fast and bag often. Studies are starting to show that for those patients who have hypoperfusion and hypovolemia will more likely have a bad outcome if they are ventilated too much. Bagging needs to be done much slower, around 12 times per minute. Overzealous positive-pressure ventilation hurts patients more than it helps. Also, bleeding must be stopped before fluid resuscitation begins. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time.

Another thing Dr. Pepe brought up which is something I've heard a little about the use of tourniquets. Because of faster response times, quicker time to definitive care and improvements in treatment, any damage which might be caused by the tourniquet can be repaired. It's better to save that person's life than to worry about losing an extremity.

The first session after lunch was entitled "Liability For Negligence of Paramedics and First Responders" given by Kevin Madison who is an attorney and an EMT with a volunteer service.

Kevin discussed current statues and case law regarding negligence in lawsuits in Texas (of course, I'm not an attorney nor do I profess any legal knowledge other than my opinion based on what Kevin said. If you have any questions, please contact Kevin at his web site: www.code3law.com).

The current wording of the "Good Samaritan" law in Texas indicates that EMTs (basic, intermediate or paramedic) are considered "First Responders" and are not to be help liable for damages unless there is willful and wanton (gross) negligence. Current case law, Dunlap versus Young being one example, also holds that the statue covers EMTs.

But, this exemption is not spelled out as clearly in the statue as it could be. The law reads, in effect, that only those who are licensed in the "healing arts" can be held liable for simple negligence. Those licensed professions are listed in another statute and do not include any level of EMT.

The question comes to mind, and has been argued by plaintiffs seeking damages from EMTs, that since paramedics are licensed under Texas law, they should be included in the simple negligence category. The courts, however, have disagreed.

No cases challenging this interpretation of the law has yet made it to the Texas Supreme Court, so the question is still somewhat up in the air. The way to fix this is to lobby our legislators to change the wording of the "Good Samaritan" statute and specifically include EMTs in the language.

The next session was given by Kelly Grason (www.kellygrason.com) and covered tips for handling those occasions when a patient is violent and needs to be restrained. The bottom line is that all EMS services need to have plans and protocols in place to cover these types of incidents. Most don't. Also, most times it's best to let LEOs handle restraining since they are specifically trained to do so. If a patient is restrained by LEO, make that LEO ride with you in the back of the ambulance.

The last session was a fun and entertaining story session by Kelly Grason and Gary Saffer. They told some funny stories with some good lessons on what not to do as an EMS provider. I'm told Kelly has a book out which can be purchased off his web site (linked above). I'll bet it's a fun read.

Texas EMS Conference - Day 1

The EMS Conference kicked off this morning with the keynote address by Dr. John Griswell who spoke on medical ethics. That's a tough sell first thing in the morning, and it's tough to make it interesting, but he did a pretty good job and he brought up some good points:

• Doctors and EMS are in the medical practice together and neither can function alone.
• Ethics is not legality. Legal standards are minimum standards. Ethical standards should go above legality.
• One common denominator in unethical behavior us a sense of entitlement or superiority. "We're better than they are so we can use them," or "They were going to die anyway" statements can be used to rationalize ethical lapses such as in Nazi Germany or in many ethical lapses in the US.

The second session I attended was entitled "America's School Shootings" by Ken Bouvier. His was a very informative and entertaining presentation. Don't get me wrong, the subject was totally serious and Ken was serious. But, he did throw in a joke or two at tasteful and appropriate times. Some of the main points of his presentation were:

• School shootings have been going on for a long time and will happen again. It's up to the police, fire and EMS communities to have a plan in place in case it happens in their area.
• The scenes are usually chaotic and inherently unsafe. Sometimes EMS crews will have to jump in before the "all clear" is given. It could take up to an hour for things to settle down enough to where things are truly "safe."
• The kids who perpetrate school shootings fit a certain profile:
  
• • History of clinical depression or signs of clinical depression which were not noted until after the fact
  • History of suicidal thoughts or actions
  • Had low self-esteem
  • Tended towards satanic and/or Nazi ideals
  • Were taking Ritalin and sometimes another anti-depressant
  • Many were late bed-wetters
  • Most were members of broken homes
  • Almost all were victims of some kind of abuse

It is mostly incumbent on the parents to lock up their guns securely and to only allow kids to use them under proper supervision - especially if they have some of the profile signs listed above.

The last session of the morning was entitled "The ABCs of Cardiac Arrest: Is the 'B' Necessary?" given by Ken Navarro. Ken made some very interesting observations about assisting cardiac arrest victims with compression-only CPR (or CCR - Cardio-Cerebral Resuscitation):

• Despite changes in ALS techniques, there has been no statistical increase in survivals of cardiac arrest victims.
• Studies have show there is no real statistical increase in out of hospital cardiac arrest patients, and good-quality CPR is most effective.
• CPR techniques need to be taught properly and graded objectively. Most people cannot tell if they are compressing deep enough, fast enough and allowing the proper time between compressions.
• Starting in the 16th century and continuing until the 19th, a fireplace bellows was commonly used to resuscitate those in respiratory arrest. (Trivial fact which was interesting to me)
• Compressing the heart alone isn't responsible for moving blood around the body during compressions. It's also the effect of pressure change in the chest which helps move things along. Compressions must be deep enough to change the pressure in the chest to sufficiently help the heart move blood.
• Often times, while using a BVM, too much pressure is built up in the chest so blood movement is either slowed or stopped because the blood can't get into the heart to get pumped.
• Studies show that bystander no-compression CPR is no less effective than more traditional methods.
• A Wisconsin study showed (again) that good quality compressions make the most difference when determining what will lead to greater survivability.

It was a very interesting session.

The afternoon kicked off with a presentation by Kirk Mittleman entitled "Critical Calls Take Critical Thinking." 

He started off the session by showing two video clips showing the importance of seat belt usage and how wearing them can increase the survivability of people in motor vehicle collisions. The first was by the Montana Department of Transportation called "Room To Live" which stressed the fact that there is room to live inside a vehicle during a collision and that being ejected raises the chances of being killed. It is quite a moving story. The second was of a related topic showing how one person not wearing a seat belt can cause injury or death to the other passengers even if they are belted. Here's where you can catch it on YouTube. 

The rest of the presentation was quite good, but I really think these two videos should be the highlights of it. I plan to show these to my kids (one drives, another is about to, and the youngest needs to make sure to wear his belts).

Dr. Ed Racht and Dr. Paul Pepe gave a great talk entitled "In-Hospital Care Driven by EMS" which pointed out examples of equipment and techniques which started in EMS and made their was into hospitals instead of the other way around. Those in EMS have always had to be more "creative" and find ways to get things done for their patients outside the "nice" confines of a hospital. EMS is also aided by hospitals which now specialize in types of care (i.e. trauma, stroke, sepsis, pediatrics, etc.). 

Dr. Racht talked about a web site which rates hospitals by certain criteria based on surveys taken by patients of those hospitals: www.hospitalcompare.nhs.gov. I just checked out some of the hospitals in my area and it was a bit of an eye-opener. I recommend you check it out.

The last session of the day I attended was called "Port-Partum Pre-Eclampsia" given by John Rinard. Not knowing much about pre-eclampsia I found it quite informative. It's especially telling that pre-eclampsia and eclampsia can occur up to 4 weeks post-partum. I had no idea that was the case.

We're staying at the Hilton. It's a nice place with a bit of history. This is the former "Hotel Texas" which is where John F. Kennedy stayed the night before he was shot in Dallas. There are pictures hung all around the building showing President Kennedy at various times around the hotel that fateful morning.

I have a complaint about the accomodations. In the bathroom are the "obligatory" signs inviting guests to help save the Earth by reusing their towels. It's a nice idea, which I often do. But, I think it's rather hypocritical to ask us to save the Earth by reusing our towels when I have to run the water for 10 minutes before it gets hot enough to shave with. That's very wasteful. I know it might be petty, but I've shaved with cold water enough times that I know I don't like it. Although there is not sticker on the back of the door indicating how much the room is worth per night, I'm sure we're paying enough for there to be hot water without waiting that long.
** Follow up on the hot water situation **

There is also a low-flow shower head in the tub. Hotel owners and managers: please hear this - "low-flow" and "water-saving" does not have to mean low water pressure. You can have both water savings and high pressure.

Now, that's not to say I'm totally dissatisfied with the hotel. It's good, but I expect a bit more from the Hilton name.

Dinner this evening was at The Reata. Very good chicken-fried steak and excellet desserts. If you're in Downtown Fort Worth it's definitely worth stopping by.

Texas EMS Conference - The Day Before

We drove up to Fort Worth this afternoon to get ready for the Texas EMS Conference which begins tomorrow at 8:30am. The trip itself was uneventful, other than the unusually high traffic volume compared to other Sundays I've made the trip north. We made our obligatory stop at the Czech Stop in West to get some poppy seed kolache (yes, that the way it's spelled in Tex-Czech and I know it's not a "real" kolac if it has stuff other than fruit on it - but they are so good).

After we checked into the hotel, we headed over to the convention center to check out the exhibition hall. There were a lot of EMS services actively recruiting - I guess showing that medical care is a real recession

-proof field. No matter what the economy is like, people get sick and hurt and need assistance.

I took some pictures of a few interesting vehicles. Harris County EMS had some new vehicles on

 display. I like the new Dodge Charger, though I think it would have been excellent in red or yellow (the Charger being one of the only cars I think looks good in yellow). The

 ambulance looks good in the same color scheme.

There was another, smaller, vehicle on display which I can only describe as a Segway on steroids. there were two models, one which looked pretty basic and the same basic setup, but with plastic motorcycle saddle bags.

We had dinner at Razzoo's, which is a chain restaurant featuring Cajun style food. I hadn't eaten at one before, but we went on the recommendation of one of our group. He did not disappoint, either. The food was excellent and I ate way too much. There is a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse connected to the hotel. I've never eaten at Ruth's Chris and have wanted to try one. Although we are limited in what we can claim on an expense report, we might eat there tomorrow and "eat" the cost over the limit ourselves.

I heard someone call on 146.52 a while ago, but didn't respond when I called back. I'm beginning to think the antenna which came with my Yaesu VX-3 is very limited. The higher gain antenna I purchased separately is rather long and somewhat inconvenient to carry, but it seems to make a huge difference in my transmission strength. I might just switch to it permanently. I'm also thinking a telescoping whip might work well, too. With that I can collapse it for monitoring and extend it when necessary.

I'll write up some thoughts about the sessions I attend tomorrow. I'm looking forward to some good instruction.