Random Thinking

Monday is the big day when the updated software we developed is going live in Chicago. Chicago bus riders will be getting email and text message alert capability as well as a bunch of other enhancements. The Chicago Tribune published an article about it today.

Beginning Monday, May 18, CTA customers can sign up to receive customized scheduled e-mails that will provide estimated times for the next buses arriving at a customer’s preferred bus stop(s). Information can be sent to both a customer’s e-mail address and mobile device as a text message.

This should be very cool. If you live in Chicago, be sure to register on the site and check it out. And be sure to leave your comments. I would love to read them.

Today is the birthday of Florence Nightingale. She was born in 1820 in Florence, Italy to wealthy British parents. She died at the age of 90 in London, England having transformed the world. Wikipedia has a great article on her so I am not going to go into details.

At a time when all upper class British women were expected to marry, she refused her suitors and dedicated her life to nursing. Nightingale went to Turkey to help care for British forces during the Crimean War. “Within 6 months of her arrival in Scutari [today part of Istanbul], the mortality rate dropped from 42 percent to 2.2 percent.” It was through her care and her use of statistics to determine what worked best to care for her patients that she was able to achieve what no one else could achieve.

She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.
— The Times

Lo! in that hour of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

So kiss a nurse today in gratitude for what they do.

The NY Daily News has been leading an attack against the doctors (Dr. Thomas Milhorat and Dr. Paolo Bolognese) who performed surgery on Michel for her Chiari Malformation and Syringomyelia. Today I sent a letter to the editor in response. I doubt that the Daily News will publish it because they only print letters that are one or two sentences. So here it is…

My wife has been operated on by both Dr. Milhorat and Dr. Bolognese and they literally saved her life with their skill and knowledge so perhaps I am biased for these wonderful men but here goes…

My first question is, why did the OR staff prep a patient not knowing if the doctor was in the building and ready to perform the surgery? Things happen. What if he had been in an accident? Or a family emergency came up? Shouldn’t the OR staff have verified that Dr. Bolognese was ready and able to do the surgery before they put the patient under and prepped her?

Second, why would anyone expect Dr. Milhorat to do the surgery? This was not his patient. He wouldn’t have been familiar with any issues that needed to be taken into consideration before the operation. Did this patient have a heart condition. Were there other risk factors that had to be taken into account? How was Dr. Milhorat supposed to know how best to care for the patient?

Third, Dr. Milhorat’s salary is not that much when you consider that he is the most experienced neurosurgeon in the state (and perhaps the country) and was running one of the largest neurosurgery departments in the country. $7.2 million is less than Manny Ramirez is losing for his 50 game suspension! How many lives has a typical baseball player saved? And yet for some reason the NY Daily News thinks that it is important to keep bringing this up!

Finally, the Chiari institute does not experiment on their patients. It is true that they are doing treatments that are relatively new but 15 years ago there were virtually no treatments for Chiari. The Chiari institute is dedicated to finding the best and safest treatments for their patients. But when you are talking about complex brain and spinal surgery there are no guarantees and some patients are not going to get better. Plus I would dare the NY Daily News to find a single surgeon in the country who does not have a pending malpractice suit.

The NY Daily News should be ashamed of itself for the way it has covered this topic. Two of the finest surgeons in the country have had their reputations ruined by the one-sided stupidity of its writers. If the editors have the nerve to write a fair article my wife and I would be happy to be interviewed. But I strongly doubt that the NY Daily News has any interest beyond sensationalized headlines.

Time again for the song of the week from my iPod.

Ian Van Dahl is a vocal trance group from Belgium. The group’s music is best described as electronic dance party music. The group was hugely popular in Europe and had only limited success in the US. Before the group broke up in 2008, it’s members were Christophe Chantzis, Erik Vanspauwen, Peter Luts, David Vervoort, and Annemie Coenen. Peter Luts and Annemie Coenen have since formed the group AnnaGrace which is also a dance party electronica group with Coenen singing and Luts doing the engineering.

The group had released two albums and AnnaGrace has an album being released this year. The first album, Ace, was released in 2001 and has been certified gold. The single “Castles In The Sky” was the biggest hit from the album selling more than 4 million copies. The group’s second album, “Lost & Found”, reached #13 on the U.S. Top Electronic Albums chart.

The song “Castles in the Sky” was re-engineered by Tony Tran, an American disc jockey mixing under the pseudonym DJ Mystik. In the age of Napster, many users changed the name of the artist on “Castles in the Sky” to DJ Mystik in order to defeat blocking filters.

Castles in the Sky
Do you ever question your life?
Do you ever wonder why?
Do you ever see in your dreams…
All the castles in the sky

Oh tell me why
Do we build castles in the sky?
Oh tell me why
All the castles way up high
Please tell me why
Do we build castles in the sky?
Oh tell me why
All the castles way up high

Do you ever question your life?
Do you ever wonder why?
Do you ever see in your dreams…
All the castles in the sky

Oh tell me why
Do we build castles in the sky?
Oh tell me why
All the castles way up high
Please tell me why
Do we build castles in the sky?
Oh tell me why
All the castles way up high

This is the original version of the song as recorded by Ian Van Dahl. The vocals are by Marsha (Martine Theeuwen, who left the group shortly after the vocals were recorded), not Annemie Coenen who joined the group after the single was released but before the album was recorded. However, the woman in the video is neither Marsha nor Annemie Coenen. She is Cindy Mertens but she was never part of the group and was used only for this video. Apparently she was a very poor lip syncher so she was not able to produce the effect the group was looking for in the video. So that means that the vocals for the single and the video are by Marsha, the vocals for the album are by Annemie Coenen, and the woman in the video is Cindy Mertens. Confused?

This is the remixed version by DJ Mystic:

The Wordy Shipmates
by Sarah Vowell

If you are one of those 28% who thought George W. Bush was doing a great job as president then you will probably hate this book. That isn’t to say that the rest of you will love this book. Beyond her political quips, there is a style to the writing of Sarah Vowell that is unmistakable and which you will either love or hate. She frequently wanders off topic with jokes about “Happy Days” or her nephew Owen. But if you enjoyed her other books and like her style then you will be in for a treat.

But first, this book is not about the Pilgrims or Thanksgiving. She skips ahead to after the Pilgrims have landed and discusses the other Puritans who landed north of Plymouth Rock and settled in Boston and Salem. In fact, what she is really aiming to discuss is the writing and experiences of John Winthrop, one of the key Puritans, the one who wrote about “the city on the hill” that Ronald Reagan so misunderstood. The book is about the struggles of Winthrop to control Massachusetts and his religious colony when faced with men like Roger Williams who found most of the Puritans not pure enough but still believed that the state had no business interfering in religious beliefs. Williams founded Rhode Island (after being kicked out of Massachusetts by Winthrop) on the basis of separation of Church and State at a time when disagreements about the proper indenting in the Bible could lead to wars. And if your knowledge of Anne Hutchinson doesn’t go beyond her river or parkway in the Bronx, you will be fascinated by her story.

Ms. Vowell’s writing style keeps the book moving, although it does drag in parts, and we end up with a history lesson that could have been quite dull in other hands. Like “Assassination Vacation” we end up learning a lot more than we though we would have when we started without feeling that we have been force fed a history lesson. As I said earlier, if you enjoy the writing style of Ms. Vowell, then I think you will enjoy this book.

Last week, Beth, Nana, and I went to see a presentation of the play “Rent” given by the drama students of Beth’s high school. They were doing a student version of the play. I have to admit that I didn’t expect anything great, after all it was just a bunch of high school kids.

I was shocked. The play was wonderful. The singing and acting were almost good enough for Broadway. The kids who were in the play could be proud of themselves. I was also surprised to learn that one of the kids in the play is a professional actor having had singing roles in a couple of cartoon series.

Beth also enjoyed the play (although she hates the song “Seasons of Love” which is the key song of the second act). Nana seemed to also enjoy the play although I don’t think she quite figured out what was going on. But this isn’t really surprising since the student version never mentions AIDS which is a key part of the play leaving the story a bit confusing. Even with the confusion, the cast did a great job.

I think Beth enjoyed the play so much that she might be interested in getting involved in next year’s play. I think she would have fun so I hope she does.

Time again for the song of the week from my iPod.

Shiny Toy Guns is a Grammy nominated rock band which started in Los Angeles, California in 2002. The group’s music has been described as alternative, dance-punk, and synthpop. The group has gone through several transitions with their female lead singers. The current members are Chad Petree (guitar, lead vocals), Jeremy Dawson (synthesizer, bass), Mikey Martin (drums), and Sisely Treasure (lead vocals, synthesizer, bass guitar). Carah Faye Charnow was the lead singer when the group was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Electronic/Dance Album.

The group has released two albums (although there are two different versions of their first album). Their first album, We Are Pilots, was released in 2005 and then re-released in 2007 when it received the Grammy nomination. Their second album, Season of Poison, was released in 2008. The album reached #47 on the Billboard 200. They have had 5 singles in the top 30 on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart.

The group’s cover of Peter Schilling’s Major Tom (Coming Home) is to be officially released on May 5th but Beth already has a copy from the 2010 Lincoln MKZ commercial (they were giving away the song as a free download) and put it on my iPod. The song is a dance/synth version of Peter Schilling’s famous song. The song is available as an iTunes bonus track and will be available in Amazon’s MP3 store on May 5th.

Major Tom (Coming Home)
Standing there alone, the ship is waiting.
All systems are go. “Are you sure?”
Control is not convinced,
but the computer has the evidence.
No need to abort. The countdown starts.

Watching in a trance, the crew is certain.
Nothing left to chance, all is working.
Trying to relax up in the capsule
“Send me up a drink.” jokes Major Tom.
The count goes on…

4, 3, 2, 1
Earth below us drifting, falling.
Floating weightless calling, calling home…

Second stage is cut. We’re now in orbit.
Stabilizers up, running perfect.
Starting to collect requested data.
“What will it affect when all is done?” thinks Major Tom.

Back at ground control, there is a problem.
“Go to rockets full.” Not responding.
“Hello Major Tom. Are you receiving?
“Turn the thrusters on. We’re standing by.”
There’s no reply.

4, 3, 2, 1
Earth below us drifting, falling.
Floating weightless calling, calling home…

Across the stratosphere, a final message:
“Give my wife my love.” Then nothing more.
Far beneath the ship, the world is mourning.
They don’t realize he’s alive.
No one understands, but Major Tom sees.
“Now the light commands this is my home,
I’m coming home.”

Earth below us, drifting, falling.
Floating weightless coming home…
Standing there alone, the ship is waiting.
All systems are go. “Are you sure?”
Control is not convinced,
but the computer has the evidence.
No need to abort.The countdown starts.

Watching in a trance, the crew is certain.
Nothing left to chance, all is working.
Trying to relax up in the capsule
“Send me up a drink.” jokes Major Tom.
The count goes on…

4, 3, 2, 1
Earth below us drifting, falling.
Floating weightless calling, calling home…

Second stage is cut. We’re now in orbit.
Stabilizers up, running perfect.
Starting to collect requested data.
“What will it affect when all is done?” thinks Major Tom.

Back at ground control, there is a problem.
“Go to rockets full.” Not responding.
“Hello Major Tom. Are you receiving?
Turn the thrusters on. We’re standing by.”
There’s no reply.

4, 3, 2, 1
Earth below us drifting, falling.
Floating weightless calling, calling home…

Across the stratosphere, a final message:
“Give my wife my love.” Then nothing more.

Far beneath the ship, the world is mourning.
They don’t realize he’s alive.
No one understands, but Major Tom sees.
“Now the light commands this is my home,
I’m coming home.”

Earth below us drifting, falling.
Floating weightless calling home…
Earth below us drifting, falling.
Floating weightless calling home…
Earth below us drifting, falling.
Floating weightless calling, calling home…
home…. home…. home… home….. home……

You can see the video for the song here: 2010 Lincoln MKZ