A couple of posts back there’s a little animation depicting life and death in five seconds. A little depressing and dark, even for me. But it reminded me of a more life-affirming animation I posted a few years ago. If this blog remains “alive” for 100 years (I’ve got a plan), it’s fun to think about this little lady dancing away, hour after hour.
Created by MadAndUgly [via J-Walk]
Fluorescent light diffusers are those plastic panels that cover the fluorescent tubes in the ceiling of your office or cube. The clever folks at Sky-Scapes have created some cools scenes to add a little fun and/or beauty to that space above your head.
You can get blue sky with clouds; jets streaking across the sky; ocean scenes that make it appear you are under water… or you can have your favorite Dilbert character peering down at you.
Not sure I can get approval for my office but I’ll post a photo if I do.
“A nurse’s discovery of a Webcam hooked up by parents in their child’s Boston hospital room has stunned the patient’s doctor, raised a mound of privacy issues and potentially left medical staff looking over their shoulders. The unidentified parents set up the camera so the child’s favorite relative could see what was going on during the long hospital stay.”
“Dr. Deborah Peel of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation said as long as a patient isn’t recording other patients, she doesn’t see violations of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which protects patient privacy.”
“Many people are very concerned that the quality of care in hospitals has decreased so much. I could understand the family wanting a Webcam to prove what care their family did or didn’t get,” she said.” — Boston Herald
That’s the money quote in this story.
Create all the policies you want… hire good lawyers (like Barb)… but as long as families question the quality of the care their loved ones are getting (rightly or wrongly), they’re going to be taking pictures and video. If you wind up in court, you might prevent it from being introduced as evidence, but you’ll have a hard time keeping it off YouTube.
Who’s privacy is the hospital really trying to protect?
If I was having a broken arm set and wanted Barb to video the procedure, on what grounds should the hospital prevent this? Is it okay if she watches the procedure and then opens up her laptop and blogs what she just saw?
The elephant in the room is the appearance of something to hide on the part of the facility and the staff.
Why wouldn’t you train your staff to: “take care of every patient as though what you are doing is being recorded”?
Because, like it or not, it will be.
“I google-image searched “Hippy Witch” and came across this picture. I think it’s a fantastic image!!
Anyway, I’m a musician and I wanted to use it as the sleeve for a single I’m doing for a label called “HoZac.” The name of my “band” is Blank Dogs, it’s a home-recording thing and this picture fits the sound perfect. I guess I’d describe it as “Science Fiction Punk Psychedelia.”
It wouldn’t be used ironically, or poked fun at, I just think it’s a super-great photo and I was wondering if I could get your permission to use it. It’s an indie label and they wouldn’t be able to pay anything for it’s use, but maybe you think it’d be cool!”
Someday in the not to distant future, our nursing homes (“long term care facilities”) will be filled with residents who spent a portion of their lives online. Email, web surfing, etc. They’ll expect/demand net access in this new phase of their lives. (I first posted on this in November, 2005)
If I owned such a facility, I’d install a fast DSL line, just for the residents. And a strong, wifi signal throughout.
I’d invite family members to equip mom or dad with a computer if they wanted and I’d have a procedure in place to make sure access was restricted to that resident and that the computer didn’t walk off (a problem with valuables in many such facilities). I’d arrange to have some computers in the day room that anyone could use.
I’d invite high schools students to take part in a program to show the residents how to use the Internet. Help them send/receive/read email from family members. Send photos back to their loved ones around the country.
I’d put webcams on a couple of the computers in the Day Room (or whatever it’s called). Yes, I know there are privacy issues, but I’d find a way to deal with that. And I’d encourage family members to video chat with their loved ones. Wouldn’t have to be long or involved, just a short “visit” with a familiar face/voice.
All of this is going to happen eventually. But some enlightened, well-run facility has the opportunity to be a leader in this space. The winners are: the resident; the family of the resident; the young people who share their knowledge and –perhaps– get some wisdom in return; and the facility that has improved the lives (if only for a few minutes) of their residents.
Disclosure: My wife, Barb, is a long-term health care attorney and many of her clients own or operate such facilities. But the idea for this post comes from my own interest in all things online and the time I spent visiting my father in such a facility.
I’ve stayed in a few nice hotels so this is not the first time I’ve seen hotel towels folded and arranged in a pleasing manner. But someone in Guest Services here at the Country Inn and Suites (Knoxville) is the Michelangelo of towel folders. I kept using the same towel and wash cloth because I didn’t want to ruin this arrangement. (I did remove one hand cloth before taking this shot)
Then I started wondering how this works from a practical standpoint. Is there just one person who knows how to do this? And he/she races from room to room every day? Or do they require all new hires to learn how to do this? Six weeks of Advanced Towel Sculpture before you move on to Short-Sheeting the Bed?
I’m betting someone on the staff once worked at the Bellagio and was doing rooms one day and decided to have some fun. A supervisor spotted what she had done, called all the other maids in and announced, “Alright ladies… from now on, this is how we fold the towels.”
Longtime pal Randy Evans shares the delightful image above. It is the handiwork of one of the talented photographers at The Des Moines Register (where Randy toils as Assistant Managing Editor). Jerry Perkins, father of Learfield’s John Perkins, is George Washington; Randy is in Abe Lincoln’s spot and Thomas and Teddy are a couple of other Register ragamuffins. This puts my sad little effort to shame.
For some really amazing photographs, stop by the Rozier Gallery here in Jefferson City for a tandem show by Dr. Henry Domke and his good friend Vaughn Wascovich, a Professor of Photography at the University of Missouri. The opening is January 6 but their work will be exhibited through February 24. Henry has captured some beautiful images of lichen, while Wascovich “celebrates the power of photography and the land in our backyards.”
The Rozier Gallery (map) is located in the Union Hotel at 101 Jefferson Street. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
