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Friday, March 19, 2010

Smart Grid Security and the CPUC

I am sure everyone can cite an example in life where various entities (including oneself) are forced into accepting responsibilities they may or may not be prepared to accept. This generally comes about in a somewhat organic manner, and sometimes hits a point where the duty of care rises in a nearly exponential manner, which creates a situation where all activity is then reactive in nature. This is not necessarily the best position to be in, but it happens quite frequently.

An example of this would be the extremely rapid growth of the automotive age in the USA. When automobiles first appeared on the scene, they were indeed a novelty, and certainly nothing worthy of considerable regulatory control. They shared the road with pedestrians, horses and buggies, and bicycles, and as I understand it were quite amicable about it (for the most part). Automobiles were built according to manufacturer specifications which were fully controlled by the manufacturers, and they were generally built with aesthetics, functionality, and profits as the key drivers.

As we all know, the automobile industry quickly made the transition from novelty to way of life within the blink of an eye. It did not take long until the automotive industry become the cornerstone of American manufacturing, and consequently an enormous influencer of economic dominance.

In other words, it got very damn big really damn fast.

As this growth progressed, it soon became apparent that we had to make major changes in the way we, as Americans, did things. It was no longer prudent to assume that everyone would share the road in a somewhat Utopian fashion. While automobiles created ENORMOUS benefits for society, they also introduced SIGNIFICANT challenging issues, many of which were indeed quite dangerous. I am certain I do not need to articulate all of these, since we are all quite aware of the many dangers associated with an anarchistic automotive culture, especially since we are all quite aware of the significant dangers we all face in an automotive society where most people do indeed (by and large) follow the rules. This is quite evident when a solitary driver loses control of a vehicle on a busy highway and causes massive multi-car collisions. It is truly amazing that we all manage to avoid such chaos as well as we do, but we do indeed manage.

...and why is that?

Well, it is because we have learned to do so the hard way. Most of the rules of the automotive ecosystem have come about as a direct result of lots of people dying, or lots of people being forced to live in a society where quality of life is negatively impacted. Seat belts, for example, where not always required in cars. In the early days of seat belts they were an option. They appeared in cars in the early 1900's, but were not required in US cars until the 1970's. In fact, most of the safety standards that exist today for the automotive industry did not appear until the 1970's, and NOT because the US Automotive industry decided it was a good idea, but mostly as a result of the crusades of the venerable Ralph Nader. Seat belts became standard equipment as a direct result of Federal legislation mandating that all carmakers include them. However, it was not until laws were enacted mandating their use by passengers that we began realizing a decline in traffic related deaths. To quote a section of an article from The Prevention Institute:

Mandatory laws have proved effective both in increasing seatbelt usage and decreasing traffic fatalities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that seatbelt use nationwide increased from 11% in 1981 to 68% in 1997. NHTSA reports that the motor vehicle fatality rate as measured per 100,000 population decreased from 21.49 in 1981 to 15.69 in 1997, and also decreased as measured by 100 million vehicle miles traveled, from 3.2 in 1981 to 1.6 in 1997. While these decreases cannot be attributed to the use of seatbelts alone, seatbelts are credited with playing a significant role in these advancements.

Enter California. Being the state with both the largest population of people, the largest economy, and the most cars, California is always a good place to go for significant statistical samplings. California is somewhat notoriously well know for being a first mover on many initiatives that tend to serve the public interest over corporate interests, often at the behest of corporate interests. This, as it turns out, is a very good thing more often than not. When the rest of the USA was (and still is) debating the efficacy of environmental controls, and what should and should not be enforced to preserve our environment, California simply forged ahead and passed what many industry leaders deemed punitive measures to prevent (among other things) automobiles that emit large amounts of pollutants. Because the State of California represents the largest customer base for car manufacturers (1 in 11 cars is in California), the automotive industry was left with two choices. Either they could conform to California emissions laws, or they could find another less stringent customer base.

We all know which way they went, and now that I live in California I am extremely thankful. Anyone who has lived in California's most populous areas knows darn well that there are A LOT of cars here and they are on the road all the time. Prior to the enactment of state mandated emissions standards California regularly had days where the pollution was so severe that people were warned to stay indoors with their windows shut. While California does indeed continue to face air quality challenges in populous areas, the attention this has gotten at the state level has resulted in significant improvements in air quality. Perhaps most importantly, the significant changes automotive manufacturers had to make to their products in order to do business in California has led to a fundamental change in manufacturing which the entire US (and the world) now benefits from.

Let's go back to seat belts for a moment. Despite the mandate that seat belts must be worn when driving, compliance increases only as enforcement increases. This is true with nearly every rule of society, and certainly with rules where the manifestation of ignoring the rule rarely leads to any negative consequences. In other words, since most people who do not were a seatbelt when driving do not experience any negative consequence from not wearing one (they normally do not die or bash their heads against the dashboard or steering wheel), it is quite easy to forego this preventative measure. Compliance with seat belt laws got better as police officers began issuing citations to those who failed to use them. This generally came about as a result of officers pulling over drivers for a non-seatbelt related violation, and issuing a citation for not wearing a seat belt in addition to whatever they had been pulled over for. This is known as a "Secondary Enforcement" law. California, however, is a "Primary Enforcement" state with respect to seat belt laws. In California, an officer can pull a passenger over for the sole reason of failure to wear a seat belt, and issue a citation accordingly. As controversial as this law has become, it has led to a SIGNIFICANT decrease in fatalities. From the same article cited earlier:

California, a primary enforcement state, currently reports 91% usage -- the highest in the country. After the passage of a mandatory seatbelt law in 1986, California's usage rate went from 26% to approximately 45%. By 1992, California's usage had increased to 71%. With the passage of the primary enforcement law in 1993, California's usage rate jumped to 83%, steadily climbing to the current rate. According to the National Safety Council, California's fatality rate has decreased by over 34% since the passage of the primary enforcement law.

Wow! A decrease in fatality rate by over 34%. I would say that is pretty darn significant. I would also say that it is probably NOT all solely due to the primary enforcement, since California also spends a significant amount on programs to continually educate the population on the importance of safety.

As a staunch libertarian by nature (notice the small "l") I generally oppose government intervention. In fact, prior to moving to California I was convinced I was going to find the imposition of such a notoriously intrusive set of rules for my well being to be intolerable. In fact, however, I find it quite nice. I was a smoker when I moved to California, but the nearly militant anti-smoking sentiment coupled with the heavy handed enforcement of anti-smoking laws found throughout the state have forced me to rethink my addiction, and led to a lifestyle which I find far more appealing, since hacking my lungs out every morning was not something I looked forward to every day. I am now living a smoke free life for going on 7 years! The FACT is that smoking is a horribly dangerous health hazard that I am better off not taking part in. Surely I can still buy cigarettes in California (and many millions still do), and there are plenty of places that I could smoke them, but there are plenty more places where I cannot, and those places (such as restaurants) also smell like food, flowers, fresh air, and everything else except stale tobacco smoke residue. In fact, I am often taken aback by the smell of tobacco when I do encounter it today, since it is such a rarity. I am nearly overwhelmed when I go to a state/country where smoking is prevalent, and literally smile from ear to ear when I return home to California and its tobacco averse culture.

So this (finally) brings me to the smart grid, and specifically smart grid security. California, being the typical first mover in nearly all things technology related in the USA is now rapidly deploying a smart grid. As I understand it, we are now approximately 50% rolled out with our AMI products (smart meters and such), and are continuing to move forward. This all began with PG&E at around the year 2000, and has been joined by (among others) SCE. Being at the front line, PG&E has had the dubious pleasure of being the first to experience the challenges of a smart grid rollout, and has had to take action to fix issues as they arose. Security challenges identified in the early days of deployment were certainly not nearly as prevalent as they are today. Security challenges tend to rise as deployments of technology expand (for various reasons), and we learn as we go. Generally the fixes we put in place are reactive in nature (we discover an exploit and fix it), with a more proactive approach to security arising out of parallels that can be drawn by examining proof of concept exploits. Because of our growing understanding of security challenges, both PG&E and SCE have taken a VERY proactive approach to addressing security challenges in the smart grid, and have expended significant resources in cyber security. PG&E has a very competent cyber security team working very hard at addressing these issues, and SCE has teamed up with meter manufacturer Itron to implement an entire AMI solution with security being a major focal point. In fact, Itron has emerged as a leader in AMI security space as a result of this partnership. I applaud this extraordinarily proactive approach taken by both PG&E and SCE, and am quite certain that this show of leadership will serve as a template for the entire US to follow.

...yet this does not address some significant issues.

As it turns out, each and every organization involved in addressing cyber security as it relates to AMI is operating within a walled environment. I am not referring to the higher level issues, which are being addressed by NERC, FERC, NIST, DHS, DOD, DOE, and MANY OTHERS, but specifically at the application level (where the rubber meets the road). In other words, the vendors making the products that go into the grid are all implementing security as they see fit (based on a collection of "best practices"). In the case of SCE, senior director Paul DeMartini told me (at the CPUC public hearing on March 18th, 2010) that SCE insisted that Itron implement security as a requirement. Being a large customer for Itron, this was quite an incentive to move forward with security at the application level. Yet Itron is not the only vendor in the AMI space (although they are perhaps the largest single meter manufacturer). There are MANY other vendors, and quite a number of them have a significant presence. More importantly, each and every component that all of these vendors make for the grid are all subject to security challenges (some more than others, of course), and all make up a part of the "security chain". A chain, as we all know, is only as strong as the weakest link. While it may indeed be both reasonable and fair to assume that some (if not most) of these AMI products have addressed security in a manner that adequately creates a strong link, it is entirely imprudent to assume that ALL links are adequately strong enough.

So what have we done with respect to security at this application level? Well, we are working on putting together some national standards, auditing, and enforcement policies (NIST,DHS,FERC,NERC, etc.), but we are still quite a way off from finalization. One can surmise that once the Federal rules are agreed on (which is a significant challenge in and of itself), it will take quite a bit of time before enforcement has any significant positive impact. Let's face it, seatbelt laws were first enacted in the 1970's, but enforcement of such laws did not have any significant presence (or impact) for DECADES. The same holds true for EPA laws, wherein California EPA laws still set the high bar for standards, and in fact trump national laws because they are so much more restrictive, and many states simply live under less environmentally friendly conditions.

California, however, must act in a more proactive manner simply because the choices California makes have such a massive impact on so many people. With 36 million people (as of July 2009) in California alone, bad choices (or simply inaction) affects a huge number of people simply within our borders. When you consider, however, that California is the 8th largest economy IN THE WORLD, the choices California makes has a much greater global impact. Did you know, for example, that California produces 12.8 % of ALL agricultural products in the US. Surprisingly, we manage to do this with less than 4% of our nation's farms and ranches (talk about efficiency). Couple this with what California produces for the health care industry (drugs, medical devices, systems, etc.), for our defense industry, and for our financial system and it quickly becomes apparent that California is not just one of the 50 states. It is THE STATE our global existence is most reliant on.

So when things go wrong in California, things go wrong in lots of places. California is no stranger to things going wrong as a result of state level bad decisions and inaction. Perhaps the most recent failure, due to bad security related decisions, was with electronic voting machines.

Do you remember that nightmare?

Let me refresh all of our memories for a moment. California decided that getting rid of paper based voting systems was a good idea back in the early part of this decade (for various reasons), and this led to an enormous groundswell of activity among several companies to create electronic voting machines that would help California get rid of the tyranny of paper, and consequently bring enormous amounts of money to the manufacturers of such systems. One thing led to another, and California ended up spending billions of dollars on electronic voting machines, and so followed the rest of the nation. However, California failed to adequately audit the security of such systems, and consequently the security was audited by hackers and independent security professionals after they were in place. As it turned out, the security flaws were so significant that nearly all electronic voting systems ended up being trashed, both in California and on a national level. The cost of this failure was, of course, borne by the taxpayers. As it turns out, the machine manufacturers were not held liable for these flaws because the systems were in fact CERTIFIED by California (and other states) and given the seal of approval. Simply put, it was The State of California's fault for failing to perform due diligence as far as security was concerned. Moreover, I had the dubious pleasure of working with several voting machine manufacturers after the fact to try to help them fix these problems, and as it turns out some of them had indeed addressed these issues far more adequately than suspected by those who chose to vilify them, but simply did not include better security features in their systems because the customers (i.e. The State of California) simply would not pay for them! California simply chose to inquire about what security features existed, signed off on the agreements without adequately auditing the security, and the rest is history.

As we move forward we learn hard lessons, and hopefully get better because of the lessons we learn. California recently received a big chunk of Federal stimulus money to implement electronic health records (EHR's), and one of the provisions from the Federal government is that the implementation must include security as prescribed by the HITECH act. Since there are few specific Federal guidelines in place AT THE APPLICATION LEVEL, the California Office of Health Information Integrity (CalOHII) has taken the initiative in creating a security committee and has drafted a set of security guidelines AT THE STATE LEVEL. I have had the pleasure of contributing to discussions with this committee (and have indeed been invited to participate, and have agreed to do so), and one of the main reasons why California has taken a state level initiative in security at the application level is because of the enormously critical nature of this initiative, and the enormous cost of failure of a lack of adequate security. Imagine, if you will, a hacker having the ability to alter a medical record, and imagine a malicious reason for doing so, such as altering a record of an enemy to indicate that he or she is not allergic to penicillin (for example), which could lead to death in the event he or she is given penicillin without prior knowledge. A lack of security here is indeed a life or death problem.

So this finally brings me to the California Public Utility Commission (the CPUC), who is now faced with some pretty tough decisions in light of the fact that the entire power infrastructure of the 8th largest economy is potentially vulnerable to significant cybersecurity related attacks (which could effectively shut down our power generation/distribution systems). The CPUC is in place to serve the public interest first and foremost. The vendors in the AMI space are there to serve corporate interests first and foremost. So much so, in fact, that the most significant vendors in the AMI space live behind a rock solid wall of NDA's and refuse to discuss security architectures and applications in any way even resembling a transparent and collaborative nature. I can certainly understand this from a competitive perspective since I too must adhere to such NDA's (and indeed do adhere to them), yet this forces us to live under an environment of corporate self regulation, which, as well all know, does not always seek to serve the public interest in an adequate manner. Again, as a libertarian I am okay with this as a basis for capitalist endeavors, but I am less okay with this for matters of life and death, and to a somewhat lesser degree (perhaps) for matters where I am forced to bear the cost of failure.

Who do you think is going to pay for the parts of the smart grid that must be scrapped in the event of a security failure? I can tell you with certainty that the US taxpayers did indeed bear an enormous amount of the cost of a failed electronic voting system. I can tell you that the California rate payers are bearing the cost of the AMI rollout (either directly or through Federal taxes). If it fails to deliver what we expect it to deliver (security related or otherwise) we cannot simply scrap it and go back to the way it was in the old days without a SIGNIFICANT cost (if that is even on the table). Moreover, if we are forced to replace vendor products due to security flaws, does it not strike you as somewhat interesting that the vendors may in fact directly benefit from the "double dip" nature of this scenario?

In a conversation I had with Aloke Gupta, who is a Senior Energy Analyst with the CPUC and is currently working on energy policy, he informed me that the CPUC has traditionally not been in the "verification business" with respect to public utility deployments. Fair enough, but this does not mean that they shouldn't be. Because the public simply has no choice whatsoever with respect to smart grid deployment in California (or elsewhere, for that matter), we must now rely on security choices which are being made by corporations who are tasked with (as a matter of legal due diligence to stockholders) maximize their bottom lines. The cost of secure components and design simply goes up the more you improve it, and the return on investment is nearly impossible to realize. In fact, the best security tends to completely obfuscate ROI. If there is no security failure, how can one know how much security measures helped? So the public simply cannot hope that the security choices a vendor makes are going to primarily center on what is best for the public interest. It simply does not translate to a bigger bottom line UNLESS everyone must comply with a set of enforced standards, which levels the playing field, and prevents loss of market share due to competition with another vendor who decides to take the "cheap" way out. Ideally, the deployment of the smart grid would have occurred only after security standards, auditing policies, and enforcement procedures were in place, but that did not happen, and may not happen for quite some time. From a national perspective, one can make the argument that with the US being approximately 5% rolled out with AMI, things are moving along at a reasonable pace at the Federal level. However, when you consider that fact that most of that rollout is in California, it now quickly becomes apparent that it is incumbent upon the CPUC to take firm and decisive action well in advance of national standards.

After all, they are here to serve the public.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Smart Grid Privacy Smoke Screen

Whenever I watch news on network media I view everything being said with quite a bit of cynicism. Heck! Security professionals are NOTORIOUSLY cynical. The security professional mindset is designed to quickly wade through layers of what can be seen on the surface and find that which cannot be seen, which tends to tell THE REAL STORY.

Back to the news for a moment. When I see a major topic wrapped with lots of sensationalistic coverage splattered all over the airwaves and news sources, I immediately ask "Okay, what is REALLY going on." Why is everyone talking about who does or does not have the right to use the word "retard" (for example). What is the real agenda, or what are they trying to prevent us from paying attention to.

I know it may sound conspiratorial, but I see this a lot with security, and I assume it happens everywhere else.

Let us discuss security for a moment.

There are some things in the world of security that are complex, and some that are not so complex. There are good ways to protect systems using low cost, medium cost, and high cost components and procedures. When making a determination about what is the best choice (from a financial perspective) organizations that must implement security must always balance the risks with the costs. This is simply how it is done. Many of the risks associated with security are driven by compliance. If an organization does not comply with "the rules", they can be held liable for a failure to perform due diligence. This is, by far, the biggest driver (and headache) for any organization. Security generates no ROI in this case, it simply acts as insurance. Nobody I know likes to pay their insurance premiums, but they all must.

The other way security ends up in systems is when it has been attacked. Generally the more significant the attack (i.e. the more costly the attack), the better the security solution. I do not want to spend too much time on this particular topic, but it does warrant a mention. This is the holy grail of security professionals, by the way.

In cases where security becomes a topic of discussion, and consequently a major bone of contention among vendors who are subject to security mandates, what frequently happens is that the conversation takes a direction that serves the lowest common denominator. Rather than talk about the "real" issues, we tend to talk about issues that seem to be of utmost concern, but really do not matter nearly as much as the "real" issues. This is often because the more important issues are quite a bit more complex (and consequently more costly) to deal with. By shifting the focus to the less complex issues, organizations tend to appear as if they are solving a problem (and consequently performing due diligence), but they are actually avoiding the bigger issues.

For the last several days I have been reading through piles of comments submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regarding Smart Grid deployment. Within these documents there are quite a few comments regarding Smart Grid security, but the overwhelming language talks about security as it relates to privacy (i.e protection of consumer usage information).

Okay, I do indeed believe privacy is important, and hold it near and dear. California was one of the first states to enact privacy laws, and has definitely led the pack in this arena. I definitely get it. Privacy is indeed important.

Sadly, however, it is a smoke screen. The focus on privacy takes our focus off of the real security challenges we face as we deploy the Smart Grid. Privacy, as it turns out, is not as challenging an issue as preventing large scale attacks of the Smart Grid which could theoretically bring down large SCADA systems. Why do I believe this? Because it simply does not have the WOW effect from a hacker community (and media) perspective. You see, EVERYTHING that is computer/network/system related can be hacked at some point. In an ideal world, the good guys try to keep ahead of the bad guys. The bad guys are always working on taking down what the good guys have built, and the most interesting things to take down are the ones which have the most impact. Hacking my meter (or any one's meter) to see how much power I use just does not get you very much attention these days in the world of hacking. Taking down a generator, however, does.

So as I read through countless pontifications about how crucial it is to ensure our privacy, and consider the extraordinarily low risk of a breach of privacy causing our lives to change in any considerable way (let's face it, how many of us truly feel we have any privacy these days?), I cannot help but think about what an effective smoke screen this is when we consider Smart Grid security. NISTIR 7628 is fully aware of where privacy sits on the scale of things to watch out for, and the February 2010 draft clearly points this out, listing privacy as a tertiary concern as it relates to security.

Yet the public comments floating around the CPUC seem to indicate that privacy is "what it is all about". I certainly do NOT see any discussions of any value indicating otherwise. Nearly every security professional I have spoken to about Smart Grid security finds this focus a bit absurd in light of both the know (non-theoretical) and assumed (theoretical) security dangers.

I think the public should consider this as they strive to educate themselves about security and the Smart Grid.


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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

A New Leader Emerges From The Church Of Big Software. Are We Worthy?

Image Courtesy of YouTube

It has been a while since a new church was formed and a leader has emerged, but, ladies and gentlemen, we are witnessing it right now.  It has it all - a grand palace, lots of rules one dare not break, and, most importantly, a spokesperson with a lot of shame to hand out to those who dare challenge the doctrine.  For those of you considering selling your soul elsewhere, I strongly urge you to consider The Church of Big Software...since it does come with some cool swag.

Let me back up for a minute.  I am trying to tell a story here.  Let's go back a few centuries and consider the days before scientists were permitted to study human anatomy, and before scientists accepted that infections were caused by microorganisms...and not evil spirits entering open wounds and exposed cavities in the human body.  Let's go back to a time when religious figures had the final say about what constituted useful knowledge...and what was a wicked attempt to subvert the teachings of the church.

Let's start with a man named Leonardo da Vinci.  Many people know him as he man who painted the Mona Lisa, and others know him as someone who did much more.  Among his many accomplishments, Leonardo da Vinci is well known for his extremely detailed anatomical examination of the human body.  Leonardo da Vinci painstakenly directed corpses he illegally acquired from the morgue and drew images of the human antonym so finely detailed in nature that many consider them not only extremely accurate, but unrivaled by anyone since.

What some of you may not know is that, prior to being granted permission to study with a prominent physician in Italy, Leonardo was guilty of a crime every time he opened a corpse and decided to study it.  Religious figures of the time strictly forbade such activities, unless one was a physician (which, by the way, was considered someone working with the hands of God).

Being that this is a blog post, I want to fast forward to the work of Ignaz Semmelweis, who many believe to be the father of modern germ theory.  It was Semmelweis who first theorized that the reason people got ill and often died after being operated on was because microorganisms entered the body and wreaked havoc.  He proposed that if doctors washed their hands it would prevent such occurences.  Semmelweis was essentially pronounced a lunatic and his work was soundly rejected.  How can anyone claim that anyone working with the hands of God and of such high social status be unclean?  After all, the medical profession was there to provide healing to those in need.  How dare anyone try to solve a problem they (and the religious community) have not themselves solved?

Thankfully, we know better today.  Doctors wash their hands.  Most people wash their hands, and some basic hygiene has led to a lot less death.  Thankfully humanity does eventually move on from their beliefs and consider that maybe, just maybe, those who point out some flaws in a process may be onto something useful.

Not for Mary Ann Davidson and her Church of Big Software, however.  Apparently she has decided that anyone who is researching security vulnerabilities in Oracle software is guilty of violating church doctrine (which she refers to as a licensing agreement), and must cease and desist or face some sort of punishment (which she suggests in a cleverly veiled way).  If you don't believe me, please read this post found on the Internet Archive Way Back Machine, which Oracle quickly removed from their security blog because, I am assuming, they are not quite ready to construct a cathedral to honor the mighty and powerful Mary Ann Davidson.

After all, there is not enough stained glass in the world for that church...

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Thursday, August 26, 2004

More Illogical Substances Discovered

In a stunning development earlier this morning the IOC banned Frank O’Hara from the Pretentiousness 400 Individual Medley after he had tested positive for illogical substances. This follows on the heels of Robert Frost’s expulsion two days ago for the same offense (“I had a lover's quarrel with the world," Frost was heard to have said). This reporter has obtained the O’Hara test results:
But that’s not why you fell in love in the first place, just to hang onto life, so you have to take your chances and try to avoid being logical. Pain always produces logic, which is very bad for you.

I’m not saying that I don’t have practically the most lofty ideas of anyone writing today, but what difference does that make? They’re just ideas. The only good thing about it is that when I get lofty enough I’ve stopped thinking and that’s when refreshment arrives.
The head coach of the USA Poetry team, Vachel Lindsay, immediately filed a protest citing that any dispute was between him and Frank only, and that the rest of the world should mind their own damned business. Mr. O’Hara himself could not be reached in person or even by telephone.

1 comment:

jose said...

Teehee. A Vachel Lindsay spotting!


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Monday, August 01, 2005

Crosby Stills & Nash Review for What It's Worth

We went to see Crosby Stills & Nash at the Fleet Pavilion Saturday night (it’s actually called the Bank of America Pavilion now but that name is so dreadful I can’t bear to call it that). Three or four songs in, during ‘Long Time Coming,’ my head literally exploded. Their voices were straight from their heyday, especially that of the Lazarus-like Crosby; their harmonies were straight from the angels; and the guitar of Stephen Stills was a revelation—he was channeling the gods! Thank God for Graham Nash. I’m admittedly not his biggest fan (although he sang a majestic Cathedral shortly after), so when he stepped in after the fourth song, I was able to retrieve the pieces of my head from the floor and gather myself back into some kind of composure. Of course I lost it again later on during Wooden Ships or Déjà Vu or Almost Cut My Hair (I was letting my ten weeks since my last haircut freak flag fly!). The crowd lost theirs during Southern Cross and literally stomped on the pieces during Love the One You’re With. Luckily Crosby transported us to someplace where heads are superfluous during his soulful renditions of Guinevere and Delta.

There are few moments in concerts when history or the gods or time or something supernatural and mysterious becomes embodied in the guise of the performers on stage. The best and last time I witnessed this was during a Van Morrison and Bob Dylan concert when Mr. Zimmerman joined The Man for a duet of Knocking on Heavens Door. If there’s anything in popular culture close to the Second Coming that was it for me. But this concert had one of those moments, although lesser of course, when Crosby, pointing to Stephen Stills at the beginning of the band’s encore, said these magical abracadabra words, Buffalo Springfield!, as the band began a soaring version of For What It’s Worth. Un-effing-believable! And for what it’s worth, I thought these old guys were pretty damned good and eternal that night.

Anonymous said...

I have front row seats to see them tonight and am high on your vibes already, man. Now, if they do "Cost of Freedom", I'll cry.

slicedoc said...

I saw them in Hilton Head Island on August 18 -- amazing. One observation from that concert -- while Crosby Stills and Nash were all terrific, their band mates are equally fantastic. Jeff Pevar has to be one of the best kept secrets in the world. His guitar work is really remarkable. Michael Finnegan is great on the organ. And, James Raymond is extraordinary on keyboards. I just wanted to express my appreciation for the musical talents that back up the Big Boys.


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5 Solutions To Utilize Automobile Satnav Systems And Gps Idea While Traveling

  • gratography
  • June 8, 2019
  • Comments Off on 5 Solutions To Utilize Automobile Satnav Systems And Gps Idea While Traveling

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There are several techniques the technology that drives GPS can improve our lives both in the house despite the fact that we travel. Below you will notice some great methods this technology enables improve your present travel experience.

1) Trip Planning. Not merely will be car satnav systems great to possess while by yourself trip, also, they are very practical when organizing your trip. You will not have to focus on never-ending whining about whether we’ve been there even so or just just how much fathers. Your children can pay attention along as you want your trip and find out fascinating places in order to avoid, watch landscape, and get some good great great chow along the way. It’s also sensible to be capable of quite easily find out about fascinating shopping, shows, and also other sights on the way aswell. Getting something for everyone keeps the entire family happy by yourself trip.

2) Getting eateries, theatres, and nearby shops. This is quite crucial not only when planing a vacation to your place but once you have appeared. Many of the nicer automobile navigation systems on the market be capable of form restaurants that are near by. These systems is a many more than fundamental software that’s designed for the only reason for providing directions. They’re completely useful navigational equipment. Those hateful pounds have actually entertainment features, that may permit these to be used as ebook site visitors and/or MP3 players.

3) Keeping tabs of relatives and buddies in crowded situations. Even in the mall, you might have family members going in various places and monitor them all. This is also true at graduation ceremonies and also other events, which can necessitate family distributing out over significant amounts of space departing some out of appearance at times.

4) Secureness when abroad. The very thought of being abroad, especially with teenagers could be very frightening. We want these to become impartial and at the same time you intend to in no way allow them from our view. Using a mobile phone which allows Navigation tracking of your son or daughter is an excellent way to have the very best of both worlds. You’ll be able to preserve a watchful eyesight on where they’re without them inside your direct kind of sight. This permits them the self-reliance to pursue their particular interests so you the dependability of since happen.

5) Tracking important items while traveling. This may by no means seem like this type of big discount until you’ve managed lost luggage an interval or two. The actual fact remains that could be a large fill from the brains of several, especially if it requires laptops and devices that have essential info.

If you haven’t considered these reasons for purchasing a car navigation plan or going for a many selections for security that GPS Concept allows within your daily life, it is time to provide these things some serious thoughts. Our children would be the most important area of the globe we’re able to guard which is actually well worth the negligible purchase in this program required to help you with keeping them safe.


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The Perfect Omelet(te), How to Cook It

They’re easy to cook, right?

We’ll see.

The first thing to remember is that you need the right size of frying pan. This is more important than you may think. Too large, and the omelet will dry out; too small, and it will not cook through.

As a basic guide, you need a 15 centimeter pan for a two-egg omelet and a 25 centimeter pan for a four to six egg omelet. That is, 6 in. and 10 in. respectively. Which, handily enough, is pretty much the size of pans you should have in your kitchen anyway.

The second most important thing is not to beat the eggs.

I’ll repeat that for all of those chefs out there who think they can cook omelets: do NOT beat the eggs.

Instead, abandon the habits of a lifetime and stir the yolks into the whites using a knife blade. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Warm your empty pan through on a moderate heat, add a good knob of butter, turn up the heat and swirl it round to coat the bottom and sides of the pan.

When the butter is foaming pour some into the egg mixture, stir it in and then immediately pour the eggs into the pan.

Shake the pan to spread the mixture evenly. Now, using a fork or thin spatula, draw the cooked egg away from the edge of the pan and let the uncooked liquid run into the space created.

When the omelet is almost cooked, but the surface is still soft and liquid, flip one edge of the omelet towards the center of the pan so that it folds over. Then slide the unfolded edge onto a warmed plate, rolling the folded edge over the top of it as you do so.

An omelet cooked in this way requires no filling, except perhaps some fresh, chopped, herbs added to the egg mixture about 15 minutes before cooking.

What’s that? Oh yes, all right; if you must you can use olive oil instead of butter.

Source by Michael Sheridan

Post Author: MNS Master

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About Us

Our History

Mark Greiner founded our company after graduating from Ohio State University in 1979 with a degree in horticulture. Mark is a highly qualified landscape designer and expert plant professional. He is an actively involved owner, personally selecting landscape plants and overseeing installation to ensure that every project is worthy of his name.

By choosing Greiner Landscaping, you will receive Mark’s personal guarantee of unparalleled quality, workmanship, and attention to detail.

Our Mission

Our purpose has remained the same since our inception: to create beautiful spaces, focusing on designing, installing, and maintaining distinctive residential landscapes with a philosophy that emphasizes personalized service and affordability.

In the winter we maintain safe parking areas and walkways for commercial customers requiring exceptional service quality.

Our Unique Advantage

  • Established in 1979 and proud to serve central Ohio
  • Educated at Ohio State University with a degree in horticulture
  • Experienced professionals dedicated to the satisfaction of our customers
  • Focused on residential landscape design, installation, and maintenance
  • Knowledgeable of new and unique perennials, ornamental shrubs, trees
  • Creative use of structural landscape elements such as patios, walkways, and walls
  • Artistic integration of accents such as lighting and water features
  • Hands-On owner that personally selects each plant and oversees installation crews
  • Locally-Based with deep understanding of local climatology and plant hardiness tolerances
  • Unconditional guarantee on all plantings and workmanship
  • Attention to detail from conception to completion
  • Affordable and value minded philosophy
  • Reliable scheduling and communications at all times
  • Full-Service capabilities to design, install, and maintain exceptional landscapes
  • Private nursery to stock our own selection of new and unique plants
  • Courteous workers who are neat, clean, and uniformed

Contact us today to discover how affordable it is to have the landscape of your dreams!

Isn’t it time you called the professionals at Greiner?

“I strongly recommend Greiner Landscaping to anyone seeking either design and installation or maintenance of your landscaping. For the 23 years I lived in Columbus’s German Village area, Mark and his crew met and exceeded all of my expectations. He designed and planted my exquisitely beautiful front yard for the money I had available, proving his ability to work within a budget while producing a beautiful product. He continued to work with me throughout my residency there, and his emphasis on quality meant I never had to seek out anyone else to provide those services. Regardless of your available resources, I’m confident he and his staff will produce results that meet or exceed your needs.”


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capabilities focusing on outcomes

Searching for knowledge

Involves proactively and diligently seeking information, knowledge or understanding. Researches opinions and facts in order to ensure decisions are evidence-based, rather than relying on unfounded assumptions. It includes proactively looking beyond the day-to-day context to search for new information and facts from a variety of sources, within and outside Lutheran education to support decisions that create the best possible schools/early childhood services.

  1. Gathers information

    Proactively gathers pertinent data by asking questions of colleagues and others who can provide useful information. Draws from the usual, routine sources of information to gain an understanding of current and topical issues. Purposefully works to obtain this information before decisions are made or action taken.

  2. Personally searches

    Personally investigates situations in order to ﬁnd reliable evidence or to get to the bottom of a situation or problem when routine information is insufficient. Proactively asks the relevant questions of key people in one’s local environment to form a more complete picture. Tests information for accuracy and is not distracted by unjustiﬁed assumptions, emotions, value judgements and general opinion.

  3. Searches out and beyond

    Looks well beyond the local environment to consistently review and scan for trends in both Lutheran education as well as the national and international education community to remain abreast of education practices and issues. Gathers information from a wide variety of sources, including research, theology and international best practice.

  4. Searches widely and is knowledgeable

    Searches widely for information from sources beyond education and has contemporary knowledge of social, political, economic, technological or environmental issues that impact on the eﬀectiveness of Lutheran education. Taps into professional networks to understand the historical backgrounds as well as current and emerging information to build understanding and perspective. Is regularly consulted by others as a reliable source of knowledge and wisdom.


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Thursday, January 12, 2006

Harsh but true

Rough article from a Jacket perspective, but the logic is sound:

Georgia Tech beat Auburn and Miami on the road with awesome defense and Calvin Johnson's playmaking. Had Chan Gailey's team played well, there's no way Utah could have competed with them for 60 minutes. But since Kyle Whittingham's Utes played their tails off, while Tech had the stupidity and ungraciousness to publicly state just how much they didn't want to be in San Francisco, the boys from the Mountain West played great, had a fun time, won an Emerald Bowl championship, and built momentum for their season. Tech, on the other hand, gave the ACC--along with Miami--a really big black eye. Hmmmmm... if I had a choice, I'd rather win the Emerald Bowl, stand up for my conference, and smile at the end of a game, rather than go through the motions and embarrass myself and my school. But apparently, some players and teams would rather sulk for a whole month and get blown out in a bowl game. Hopefully, those who didn't cherish their bowl game experiences this year will feel differently the next time around.


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Squid Statistics and Info Web Interface

I have been looking for a squid statistics web interface for a long time, and i finally got one. It was fairly easy to install and configure.

The name of the app is SARG and can be downloaded freely from http://sarg.sourceforge.net/sarg.php

Depending on your architecture, the installation command is

rpm -Uvh http://pkgs.repoforge.org/sarg/sarg-2.3.1-1.el6.rft.x86_64.rpm

Before using it, you might wish to configure the output generation of sarg by

vi /etc/sarg/sarg.conf

and change the output_dir /var/www/html/squid/OUT-ONE to your www directory

To use, run the following in a terminal or add it to cron to run it daily

This command will generate html files for stats in the specified output_dir

That’s all folks.

Screenshot of SARG Generated files:

Read More

How-to: Local Backup with rsync

A backup using the rsync command can be very useful because it:

Takes less time to replicate

rsync will replicate the whole content between the source and the destination directory only once. Consecutive rsync’s will transfer only the changed blocks or bytes, which makes it very fast

uses Less bandwidth usage

rsync will use compression of data block by block at the sending end and decompress at the receiving end

is Secure

rsync uses ssh protocol during transfers and hence allows encryption of data.

The script broken down

I will create a script which will backup my current web directory /data to the same server on a disk mounted at /backup. The script if broken down, can be viewed as:

rsync -azvu –progress /data/ /backup

wher options

  • z is for compress mode
  • v is for verbose mode
  • a is to preserve symbolic links, permissions, timestamp and to be recursive
  • u is to preserve unmodified files at the destination
  • progress is to show the progress during transfer

An extract of the transfer start is:

sending incremental file list
8713 100%    0.00kB/s    0:00:00 (xfer#1, to-check=1004/1010)

ending with:

sent 284122142 bytes  received 230478 bytes  1914832.46 bytes/sec
total size is 379003084  speedup is 1.33

Now, if I perform a second transfer, the result at the end will be much faster. Here’s a extract of that transfer:

[root@sdb backup]# rsync -avzu –progress /data /backup
sending incremental file list

sent 278200 bytes  received 1778 bytes  50905.09 bytes/sec
total size is 379003084  speedup is 1353.69

 The script

Let’s convert that into a nice and clean script, shall we?

Create a file in

vi /scripts/localrsync.sh

Paste the following:

# declare variables

#rsync command, make sure the user you run this file as has the required permissions to the source/dest folder

#we dont need progress or verbose, this runs in background mode

Chmod 777 the sh file

chmod 777 /scripts/localrsync.sh

Test the file

sh /scripts/localrsync.sh

[root@sdb ~]# sh /scripts/localrsync.sh
sending incremental file list

sent 278200 bytes  received 1778 bytes  62217.33 bytes/sec
total size is 379003084  speedup is 1353.69

Add it to crontab,

 crontab -e

Add this line at the end to run it daily, every 2AM

*    2    *    *    *    sh /scripts/localrsync.sh

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How-to: Null Route IP in Linux

It does get quite annoying when you are trying to work(which most of the time, my work involves a lot of research online) and someone(Mr. X) in your network is hogging everything down by his movie downloads. Now, our network is secured by ClearOs, which in my opinion is a really good solution. But.. it does not work when Mr. X is using IDM via an SSH Tunnel, which is not really easy to detect.

So today, after the pain of waiting for 5minutes to wait for my OWN web site to load.. I decided to null route the SSH Tunnel’s IP to the gateway.

[root@clearos ~]# cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS release 5.4 (Final)

ClearOS is running on CentOS 5.4 32-bit, which is great for the command below as root:

route add that_ip_that_i_hate gw lo

use netstat -nr to verify

To delete the routing;

route delete that_ip_that_i_hate

VOILA! Mr.X is gone and my post is here!

Read More

Linux: Deleting old logs

We all know how annoying it can get to have old log files that are not really being used on our production server. Hence, it would be great to implement a script to perform the task on a cronjob so that we can relax as lazy system engineers 🙂 🙂

The script to delete files older than 15 days would be as follows:

# File is saved as root, in /scripts/delete_old_logs.sh

# File needs to be chmod 777 to work

find $PATH_TO_LOGS -type f -mtime +$DAYS -exec rm -rf {} ;

Next, we can schedule it to run on a daily basis, every 11pm:

crontab -e

add this line

*    23    *    *    *    /scripts/delete_old_logs.sh

Read More

How to Install & Configure FTP Server on CentOS 6.2

I recently upgraded the server to CentOS 6.2 x64, which involved backing up to another server, clean re-install with cherokee’s latest version and some other configurations. Among those, was the ftp configuration which has been made by vsftpd.

The installation is quite straight-foward, run the following in a terminal as root:

yum install vsftpd

You will need to modify a few parameters in your configuration file to get it running smoothly.

vi /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf

Set the following:

uncomment the following:

In this process, the user’s home directory will become FTP home directory, which is what we want really.

You need to create an ftp chroot list in /etc/vsftpd/chrootlist by:

vi /etc/vsftpd/chrootlist

Add the ftp created user in this file.

service vsftpd start

Read More


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• The Girlfriend's Approach To Gynecology
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Women’s Preventative Health Services: One silver lining of the Affordable Care Act

Insurance changes, high deductibles, and faulty marketplace applicability are just a few of the burdensome changes invoked as a result of the ACA.  Despite the many changes we’re sure to see in our insurance plans, keep in mind that many of the currently available preventive health screenings not only will continue to be available, but importantly, will be covered at no cost to you (no deductible and no co-pay,) by the ACA mandates.  Annual Pap smear screenings, mammograms, contraception, and vaccinations will be covered by most insurance plans as a “No-fee Preventative benefit”, even if you participate in a high deductible plan.

Whether you find yourself needing to purchase insurance on the marketplace, or not, it’s possible that you may find changes in your current insurance coverage, such as the institution of higher deductibles.  Studies show that participants of high deductible plans are less likely to utilize health services, even those services that are covered at ‘no cost’.

Other recent studies show that fewer than 50 percent of women 18 to 45 know that the Affordable Care Act requires health insurance plans to provide free contraceptives to women for birth control methods (including birth control pills, IUDs, and sterilizations.)  Further, women no longer need a referral to see a gynecologist. Maternity care is provided, as well as counseling and resources for breastfeeding.  STD screening, counseling and resources for depression and domestic violence are also provided as preventive health services, and at no cost to you.

According to the U.S. Department of Health’s Health Resources and Services Administration, “Preventive services that have strong scientific evidence of their health benefits must be covered and plans can no longer charge a patient a copayment, coinsurance or deductible for these services when they are delivered by a network provider.”  Below is a list of covered preventive health services available for women.

Type of Preventive Service

Well-woman visits.

Gynecologist visits.

Cancer Screening.

Pap Smear

Well-woman preventive care visit annually for adult women

No referral needed

Breast cancer screening beginning at age 40

Cervical cancer screening

Screening for gestational diabetes.

Screening for gestational diabetes in pregnant women between 24-28 weeks

Each pregnancy

Human papillomavirus testing.

HPV DNA testing in women with normal cytology results.

Counseling for sexually transmitted infections.

Counseling on sexually transmitted infections for all sexually active women

Counseling and screening for HIV

For all sexually active women.

Contraceptive methods and counseling.

All Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity.

As needed

Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling.

Lactation support and counseling during pregnancy and/or in the postpartum period, and costs for renting breastfeeding equipment.

Each pregnancy

Screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence.

Screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence

As needed

Don’t allow the hassles and the unknowns of our current state of insurance change cause you to default on following through with your own preventative health services.  Be aware of what your current plan does cover for you, and take advantage of the preventive health services that are available to you at ‘no cost’.  Contact your doctor’s office to assist you in navigating these changes, and to schedule your yearly Pap smear, mammogram, or preventive health exam.

Suzanne Hall, MD (@drsuzyyhall)

Women’s Health Medical Blogger at GynoGroupie.com

Eastside Gynecology Obstetrics, PC

Offices located in Macomb, Rochester, Roseville, and Grosse Pointe

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HCHS (HCHS) Class of 2014 Alumni List

Help us Update the HCHS 2014 Class List by adding any names missing from the list below:

Reunions and Haines City High School News

More 2014 alumni from Haines City HS have posted profiles on Classmates.com®. Click here to register for free at Classmates.com® and view other 2014 alumni.

The students that went to school at the Haines City high school called Haines City High School and graduated in '14 are on this page. Register to add your name to the class of 2014 graduates list.

If you are an alumn of HCHS you should register now in the alumni directory. We also encourage you to interact with the rest of the alumni on this site. You can find old friends, share photos and stay updated on the latest school news.


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Home > Uncategorized > 1986

Another good year, with fewer concerts and more clubbing. Most memorably I got into Stringfellows wearing my Manchester United t-shirt I slept in (sad, I know) under my jacket after my friend Paul dragged me out of bed to try the supposedly impossible. Telling the bouncer that you are there to meet a fictional diplomat helps; it adds to the amusement if said bouncer calls out to the head security dude if Mr Diplomat had already arrived. Seems like bouncer and I shared fictional friends. Added bonus to a year with a great summer: no unrequited crushes (alas, no requited crushes either).

Fine Young Cannibals – Suspicious Minds.mp3
In 1985 I was a bit of a FYC fan, having obtained a signed copy of the debut album and seen them live in concert (supported by a comic whose shtick was to get heckled for his non-punchlines, and then make slap down the hecklers with some hilarious one-liners. If anyone has his name, I’d be grateful to know it). “Suspicious Minds” featured on the album, but became a hit in this re-recorded version, with Bronski Beat/Communards singer Jimmy Summerville on backing vocals.

Hipsway – The Honethief.mp3
I discovered Scottish outfit by chance in 1985 when I bought the flopped single “Ask The Lord” from Woolworth’s bargain bin. A very good song, so when “The Honethief” came out, I excitedly bought the 12″ the same week. It became one of my songs of 1986, and still like it a lot (the ’80s synth notwithstanding). The vocals are quite outstanding, I find. It’s a shame Hipsway didn’t make it big, when the poseurs Curosity Killed The Cat did (for a while).

Cherelle & Alexander O’Neal – Saturday Love.mp3
The hints were in the air in 1984 and ’85 with acts like the SOS Band, but 1986 was the breakthrough for the Timbalands of the day, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Alexander O’Neal, Atlantic Starr and Janet Jackson were among their clients who had a big impact on soul music at the time. This was a particularly charming upbeat duet, which I bought on strength of Cherelle’s previous album. I had yet to discover O’Neal, whose follow-up single “If You Were Here Tonight” was one of the best moments in ’80s soul.

O.M.D. – If You Leave.mp3
The O.C. generation will know this as a Nada Surf song. Fulfilling my contractual obligation as an old fart, I feel compelled to point out that while the Nada Surf version is good, the original is far superior. The chorus is another perennial earworm.

Depeche Mode – But Not Tonight.mp3
Depeche Mode didn’t rate this song. They recorded it in one day and chucked it on the b-side of “Stripped”. Except in the US, where this was the A-side (in a bid to cash in on its inclusion on the soundtrack of Modern Girls, which flopped). This is by a fair length my favourite Mode track, a straight-forward love song with a pretty melody enhanced by Dave Gahan’s slightly flat voice.

It’s Immaterial – Driving Away From Home.mp3
One of the great songs of 1986. In fact, posting this song a few weeks ago inspired the idea for this series. At the time I speculated that I bought the single at the same time as “Camouflage”, but that can’t be. I bought “Camouflage” the day I also acquired Hollywood Beyond’s crap “What’s The Colour Of Money”. I don’t remember if I bought any other records when I got “Driving Away From Home”. I cannot promise that my memory will solve this mystery, so prepare for a few sleepless nights wondering about Any Major Dude Without A Heart’s 1980s purchasing record. (previously uploaded)

Stan Ridgway – Camouflage.mp3
Is this song considered a classic? It should be. It has a great driving melody, and it has a narrative that holds the interest; who doesn’t love a good ghost story? Ridgway’s theatrical, half-sung drawl — “And here take his dog tag son” — is very entertaining. I haven’t heard anything else by him (I don’t think I ever played the b-side of the single). Should I?

Jermaine Stewart – We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off.mp3
The late-summer hit of 1986 by a Michael Jackson soundalike. Poor dude should have heeded his own advice: in 1997 he died of AIDS-related causes (wikipedia says liver cancer caused by AIDS. Really?).

Cameo – Word Up.mp3
That codpiece Larry Blackmon wore aroused no suspicion at the time, did it? Cameo were the funk band of the ’80s. They had a great line in soul as well (check out “I’ll Never Look For Love” and “A Goodbye”). I played “Word Up” to death at the time, as I did with the even better “Single Life” the year before. Even Korn’s piss-poor paint-by-numbers cover version a couple of years ago could not undermine my deep affection for the song.

The Housemartins – Think For A Minute.mp3
New Years Eve ’85/86 I saw Madness at the Hammersmith Odeon. The supporting act was an outfit I’d never heard of before, but whose performance I liked better than that of Madness. I bought their existing singles, “Flag Day” and “Sheep”. Then “Happy Hour”, with its clay animation video, became a hit. I was pleased, even though I didn’t really like the song much. The follow-up single was “Think For A Minute”, a pleasant mid-tempo number with a nice horn solo, featuring one of my favourite lines: “I can’t help saying told you so and have a nice final day”. By Christmas, the Housemartins were huge with their acappella cover of Isley Jasper Isley’s superior “Caravan Of Love”. The 12″ single of the Housemartins version featured a great clutch of faux-gospel songs, with Paul Heaton, a Christian, referring in evangelist preaching-style to “the great pilot in the sky”, which I found very funny indeed. Right click and open in new tab for the Funeral Pudding blog which has MP3s of the Housemartins live at Glastonbury in ’86 and other rare material.

Bruce Hornsby & the Range – The Way It Is.mp3
Not a song I liked at the time, but my brother played it in his car when I travelled to South Africa (at this point I’d like to say hello to the lovely Caroline Cave, in the unlikely event she is reading this), so this track evokes a time and place. Which was the point of this series in first place (still is). I started enjoying Hornsby’s music later. The Maybe We Ain’t That Young Anymore blog had a great 10-minute live version up not so long ago. I don’t know if it’s still up (lots of good stuff there anyway).

Erasure – Sometimes.mp3
The breakthrough single for Erasure, with Andy Bell doing his best Alison Moyet impression. I bought this single while it was slowly climbing up the charts. As an obsessive student of the UK charts I was worried about missing it’s progress while I flew off on a holiday to South Africa. It peaked at #2.

Swing Out Sister – Breakout.mp3
Just joyous! It may not please the taste gestapo, but I really like Swing Out Sister. And singer Corrinne Drewery looked very sexy with her flapper’s bob.

Freddie McGregor – Push Comes The Shove.mp3

McGregor had a nice line in light reggae, lovely stuff for the beach, and the perfect soundtrack to getting high from everybody else’s fumes at Sunsplash (in South Africa, you watch a Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates for the same effect). McGregor found hits in 1987 with reggaefied covers of old soul hits which were a bit better than UB40s karaoke records, but did the man no justice. I have no idea whether this track was an original, but it is very lovely indeed.

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  1. El
    July 26th, 2007 at 18:32 | #1

    I agree with you about But Not Tonight! It is one of my very favourite DM tracks! It’s a shame that the band don’t think the same way though :P

  2. Greg
    July 26th, 2007 at 19:45 | #2

    This series is fantastic. Amazing that music was so universal then. Maybe it was just that I turned ten in 1979, and I still was open to anything, but I doubt I share this much music in common with people these days. Looking forward to the rest!

  3. Steve
    July 26th, 2007 at 21:19 | #3

    For some strange reason, I put that O.M.D. song on a tape I made for a girl I wanted to date. Not sure exactly what I wanted to say by that…(and probably why she ignored me [sniffle]).And, “Breakout” is one of my guilty pleasures. Funny enough, I never did like anything else by them.

  4. spacejunk
    August 24th, 2007 at 23:15 | #4

    Re Stan Ridgway … “I haven’t heard anything else by him (I don’t think I ever played the b-side of the single). Should I?”If you liked his narrative structure: yes, you should track down Wall of Voodoo’s “Call of the West” album from 1983

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A view from further west. Very heavy water erosion is evident everywhere. We are indeed fortunate to have such good storm drainage. Many large bridges were lost about ten years ago when the 100 year rains hit hard down in Baja. El Rosario was hit hard as well and many roads disappeared.

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Social Media and Healthcare
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Social Media and Healthcare
Articles and Discussions on the  intersection of Social Media and Healthcare. Relevant to Healthcare Practitioners, Pharma', Insurance, Clinicians, Labs, Health IT Vendors, Health Marketeers, Health Policy Makers, Hospital Administrators.
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Incorporating Social Media into Medical Education

Slides from Social Media workshop for medical educators at Academic Internal Medicine Week 2010. Presenters represent 3 different universities and different rol
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What the Khan Academy Teaches Us About What Medical Education Will Look Like Ten Years

What the Khan Academy Teaches Us About What Medical Education Will Look Like Ten Years | Social Media and Healthcare |

From SFO, I carefully followed my Droid Navigator’s directions off Highway 101 into a warren of non-descript low-slung office buildings—non-descript except for the telltale proliferation of Google signs and young adults riding colorful Google bikes.  I drove around to the back of several of those complexes and finally found the correct numbered grouping.  It really could have been any office or doctors’ office complex in the U.S.  The Khan suite is on the second floor.

There’s a simple brass plate saying “Khan Academy” on what looked like oak double doors. I let myself in and immediately encountered a large, central open space—with long dining tables, food, an ample sitting area with couches conducive for group discussions—and a friendly greeting by programmers and staff.  Oh, and computers—there were lots of computers.  As far as I could tell, nobody had their own office—though maybe Sal does.  Everyone was also open, friendly and passionate about the great work happening there.

After some trial and error, Rishi and I found an unused office and huddled around his Mac for a Google Hangout interview with a Bay Area reporter about the Khan/RWJF health care education project.  Later, I met with Shantanu, the Khan COO and former “math jock” high school friend of Sal, as well as Charlotte, external relations, and Matt, software engineer. They’re all long termers at Khan—that means they’ve been there for about two years.  Overall, the energy was pretty electric.  One other small thing—do not be fooled—these incredible people are, how should I put it—ferociously—intense and focused.

Pioneers in flipping the med school classroom

The next morning, Rishi and I met at Stanford Medical School—in the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge—an enormous and beautiful building off Campus Drive near the hospital that did not exist back in my days as an earnest Stanford law student.   We were there to observe some pioneers in medical education attempt to use Khan-like videos to flip the medical school classroom.  This work at Stanford is part of the currentKhan Academy and RWJF collaboration. We’re trying to understand what happens when a medical school attempts to use the Khan-style videos to change the classroom interaction.

The class we observed was an ECG Cardiology course.  The professor, Dr. Paul Wang, was everything you’d want from a teacher—smart, informed, compassionate, patient—and popular with his students.  The students were great—also smart—and empowered.  Several noted that they liked viewing the video before class.  In fact, at one point, a number of female students grouped around Rishi—once they discovered he was the man behind the Khan medical school curriculum videos—and gushed.  I momentarily flashed to black and white footage of Beatle-mania.

This Stanford class-flipping experience is new—in fact, it’s just a week old—so I got to see it at its beginning.  In the first hour, Dr. Wang essentially gave the video lecture again.  In the subsequent two- hour small group sessions, the students worked with teachers on ECG problem-solving and games.  They engaged well with the teachers and each other—and seemed to be using new vocabulary and identifying ECG patterns pretty adeptly by the end.

The dean, Dr. Charles Prober—a Stanford Medical School champion of moving medical education content into YouTube format and onto the Khan platform— was there.  Another local champion of this work, Dr. Drew Patterson, associate professor of anesthesiology, was there as well.  These leaders, Drs. Prober, Patterson and Wang, are creative and brave people.  They are trying to bring the first ripples of widening care transformation to fortress academia, and no doubt the status quo will not adjust quietly.  Both Drs. Prober and Patterson spoke passionately about the enormous potential of this technology along with changing attitudes about medical education.  They are trying hard to get their medical school to embrace that change and help lead it.

Facing massive changes and challenges

This new work is not without problems, of course.  In fact, it’s pretty challenging.  Rishi and I witnessed early baby steps.  Drs. Prober and Patterson readily admit that they would like to rely more on videos, better empower students to teach themselves based on those videos and more quickly change the role of teachers to be more like coaches.   Rishi and I also, though, wondered about waves of transformation hitting health care now—around, for example, patient empowerment and professional accountability for results and decreased cost.  Those massive changes include efforts to alter the dynamic both between the professional and the patients and among various health care professionals.  Those challenges are enormous and could swamp fledgling incremental efforts to help a few medical students learn well and efficiently.  Right now—in this interesting experiment—these teachers are not yet training for that new day.  I say, though, give them time.

Rishi and I also talked about an even more worrisome point.  What if in the near future much of this learning becomes anachronistically analog?  Imagine the coming proliferation of Watson-like artificial intelligence in health care.  On our visit we observed bright minds learning how to “read ECGs.”  That’s what medical students have done since ECGs came to medicine—that’s part of what medical students must learn.  What about when things change, though?  It’s not too much of a leap to imagine that a device will simply inform teams—including the patient, by the way—of the definitive ECG reading.  All this learning about how to read ECGs would then be superfluous—an “FYI.”  What then?  My guess is that we’ll need professionals who are very adept at taking that knowledge and working together with patients do the actual healing—you know like Bones on Star Trek.

We have a lot of work to do.

Michael W. Painter, JD, MD is the senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This post originally appeared on the RWJF Pioneer Blog.

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Medical Schools Using Social Media for Faculty Development

Medical Schools Using Social Media for Faculty Development | Social Media and Healthcare |

Physicians and scientists at academic medical centers face many competing demands for their time. Efforts to help them improve their teaching or scholarship traditionally have taken place in face-to-face lunchtime workshops. As clinical volume and the difficulty of obtaining external funding increases, faculty members have less opportunities to devote to their own professional development.

Researchers from BUSM and BUSPH surveyed the websites of all 154 accredited medical schools in the U.S. and Canada to locate examples where medical schools have used social media to engage with faculty in a virtual environment. Their findings were recently reported in Medical Education Online.

The researchers found 22 medical schools (14.3 percent) employed at least one social media technology tool in support of faculty development. In total, 40 instances of social media tools were identified — the most popular platforms being Facebook (nine institutions), Twitter (eight institutions) and blogs (eight institutions). Four medical schools have developed integrated strategies to engage faculty in online communities. “Our results show that only a few medical schools, including BUSM, are experimenting with online tools to boost faculty productivity and effectiveness,” said senior author Christopher Shanahan, MD, assistant professor of medicine at BUSM.

According to the researchers, although relatively few medical schools have embraced social media to promote faculty development, the present range of such uses demonstrates the flexibility and affordability of the tools. “The most popular tools incorporate well into faculty members’ existing use of technology and require minimal additional effort,” added Shanahan. The researchers believe more research into the benefits of engaging faculty through social media may help overcome hesitation to invest in new technologies.

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Can Social Media Expand the Audience For Medical Research Articles

Can Social Media Expand the Audience For Medical Research Articles | Social Media and Healthcare |
The use of social media tools, for the purpose of releasing an article in the clinical pain sciences, increases the number of views and downloads

The use of social media tools – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and – for the purpose of releasing an article in the clinical pain sciences increases the number of people who view the article and download it. Social media tools also have implications for the dissemination of medical research articles in other fields.

Generally, anyone interested in accessing research articles either utilizes a research database such as Pubmed or simply follows a few specific journals. As a result, many articles go unnoticed because end users who could benefit from them lack the time to find them. In addition, those who have time to search these databases may be overwhelmed with lots of articles that are not relevant to their needs.

Approach to Address Problem

The researchers selected 16 PLOS ONE articles using four inclusion criteria relevant to the clinical pain sciences, first published online between 2006 and 2011, of interest to readers of a research group blog (, and not previously mentioned in a blog post on The articles were assigned randomly to four researchers who wrote blog posts on them, comprised of approximately 500 words and a link to the online version of the article. These blog posts were randomly assigned two dates: one date for a social media release and one date as a control. The control is not well explained by the researchers and appears to represent a period where nothing is being done to promote the article.

The key innovation in this research project was the use of social media to push research information to end users instead of waiting on the end users to “pull” the information from a database.

Key Results

The key result was a statistically significant increase in HTML views and PDF downloads one week after the blog posts when comparing the control date and the social media release date  (p < .05). However, none of the measures of social media reach, engagement, or virality related to the outcome variable. Hence, some other unknown factors are affecting HTML views and PDF downloads.

Implications for clinicians/health care system

Better dissemination of research can save clinicians time by improving the efficiency of information uptake by them. This is useful for health care systems because this is one of the many ways that a health system can improve its quality. One of the challenges is making sure that the information coming from social media is well catered to the needs of clinicians.

Implications for public health

Improved dissemination of research could also provide benefits to the public. In the case of patients or lay individuals, social media can be used to send not only research articles, but lay translations of the information in order to increase the probability of more people understanding the information. This can contribute to increasing health literacy of individuals.
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A conversation about digital literacy in medical education

A conversation about digital literacy in medical education | Social Media and Healthcare |

A strong advocate for including digital literacy in medical education, self-described “geek medical futurist” Bertalan Meskó, MD, PhD, believes that online communication tools, such as social media, can improve the way medicine is practiced and health care is delivered. His interest in technology and health care led him to create a university course focusing on bringing the web into medical practice and to launch Webicina, which offers curated social media resources in 140 topics and 20 languages for patients and medical professionals for free.

In September, Meskó will lead a Master Class on how to teach social media in the context of health sciences as part of the Stanford Medicine X conference. Interested to know more about the class, I contacted him to discuss his approach for incorporating digital literacy into medical school curriculum. Below he discusses, among other things, top trends in social media and health care and why medical professionals should take an evidence-based approach to social media.

Why do you believe that medical students and professionals should engage in social media?

Being a medical professional means we constantly have to communicate with patients, our peers and even with information. Since social media is now an integrated part of communication, medical professionals must deal with this as well. [It's] the responsibility of doctors to deal with e-patients properly and use the Internet in a meaningful and efficient way.

It is getting more complicated to keep ourselves up-to-date and get medical answers when we have really hard questions, but social media can be useful if used with strategy and design. This is why we have to teach how to properly use these tools.

During a 2011 keynote speech at Doctors 2.0 & You, you advocated for health-care providers to take an evidence-based approach to social media. Can you explain why this strategy is important and how you use it in your own practice?

Including social media solutions in any industry can be a fast and efficient process, but medicine works in a different way. I was trained to embrace evidence-based medicine and I use that approach when teaching social media. There are platforms and solutions that might be fantastic and useful in health care, although sometimes when these are tested in practice, they fail compared to traditional methods.

By using the evidence-based approach, I mean that we should not include something immediately in medicine just because it is about social media… We have to test everything to make sure it’s truly useful.

What are some of the top trends you’re seeing in social media and health care?

Platforms come and go. I’m glad to see that trends are now more about meaningful use. There are fewer medical mobile apps downloaded, and people spending their precious time online seem to use the web in a more efficient way. If I have to mention certain trends, I would say Twitter seems to be the top platform for communication; gamification seems to be the best way to motivate students (the Septris app is a good example); people tend to realize they need to know their communities if they want to crowdsource medical questions; and curation of social media is key; while wearable technologies such as Google Glass will definitely add new practices to using social media.

But the practice of medicine must still take place in real life, and these digital technologies can only be useful after an established relationship between the patient and the doctor.

In 2008, you introduced the Social Media in Medicine course at the University of Debrecen, Medical and Health Science Center in Hungary. In creating the course, what was your process for selecting which topics and platforms to cover?

I was lucky from two perspectives. First, I tried and evaluated all the social-media platforms myself – from Wikipedia to medical blogging to crowdsourcing a diagnosis on Twitter. Second, the university committee gave me a chance [for this pilot class] to make decisions about the content. Since every student filled in online surveys before and after each semester, I’ve got a lot of data based on which changes I made to the curriculum. Due to the basic nature of social media, I must constantly change some parts of the content to meet today’s expectations.

I wanted to show the medical use of a range of social platforms and also wanted to transmit concepts to the students. This is why I launched the course with a series of 13 lectures [on topics ranging] from using e-mails to the future of web.

How has the Social Media in Medicine curriculum evolved over the past five years?

Last year, I moved the course to Semmelweis University, a medical school with over 240 years of history. Now it runs with full house every semester in English and Hungarian. The curriculum represents today’s social media trends (in 2008, I mentioned Twitter in a lecture, now a whole week is dedicated to microblogging) and I also implemented some new approaches.

As all the students in the course are on Facebook, this semester they worked for bonus points on the Facebook page of the course by answering questions about digital literacy every single day. The winner did not have to take the exam last week.

The course has a website where all the lectures, hand-outs and notes are available and students can take tests.

Moreover, using my large social network I try to get a prototype of every important development in medical technology, such as AliveCor ECG and other devices. Students can use these in practice; I really try to train them for the world of technological advances by the time they graduate from medical school.

How would you advise medical schools to encourage students and educators to proactively use social media?

The only way to fill health care with technology-savvy medical professionals is to train them like that. Therefore I don’t think that encouragement is the best solution - but first digital literacy should be included in the medical curriculum as well as in post-graduate education.

Maintaining an exemplary social-media presence is certainly a good start for medical schools. But to persuade students and educators to proactively use social media, good practical examples have to be demonstrated to them. In my experience, this is the best strategy.

What specific tips can you share for medical educators who want to leverage the power of social media by incorporating interactive content into existing curriculum?

For this, educators should first check the digital landscape of the topics they teach by searching for relevant content, resources and even mobile apps. They should listen to other educators who are already active online.

The most important thing here is a quote I’ve been using for years: “If you want to teach me, you first have to reach me.” Therefore I love going to the platforms that my students are already using. This semester it was Facebook, and I managed to teach them and test their knowledge on that platform. It was a real win-win situation.

All medical educators should design a new approach in transmitting the knowledge to students by analyzing what they do online. We do the same thing in the offline world by coming up with new textbooks and creating engaging presentations - why would we not do that online as well?

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Social Media for Residency Programs – #ABIM, #FOAMed, #MedEd

Social Media for Residency Programs – #ABIM, #FOAMed, #MedEd | Social Media and Healthcare |

There has been a lot of discussion lately around the use of social media in medical education. The topic has been researched, discussed and analyzed. Our favorite social media tool for ABIM exam review / medical education is twitter. The platform provides a convenient way to teach, learn from, and connect with others interested in medical education. Our belief is that it can be a powerful tool for residency programs to enhance medical education for their residents. Below is our list of the top internal medicine residency programs using twitter as an education tool:

East Carolina University (@ecuimchiefs) – Internal medicine pearls, trivia, and ABIM exam style clinical vignette questions

University of Chicago (@MedChiefs) – Great internal medicine pearls and information to stay current on what’s happening

University of Texas Health and Science Center in San Antonio (@UTHSCSAIMres) – Great use of twitter for internal medicine board exam prep

New Hanover Regional Medical Center (@NHRMC_IM) – Sharing pearls useful for ABIM board exam review

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (@JeffIMchiefs) – Sharing pearls and valuable medical education articles

University of Nebraska Medical Center (@UNMCIMResidency) – Use of twitter to update residents on conferences and seminars

University of Florida (@UFGenIM) – Sharing important medical education articles

West Virginia University (@WVUim) - Occassional board pearls and RTs of important NEJM articles

There are a few other residency programs on twitter but the posts are few and far in-between. Here’s hoping other IM residency programs follow the lead of the programs above and begin using twitter to provide medical education to their residents! Fortunately, there are some top notch educators have joined twitter to provide #FOAMed (Free Open Access Medical Education). Below is our attempt to list some of the best educators for medical education and internal medicine (ABIM) exam prep.

This is by no means a complete list – In fact, there are a lot more educators and #FOAMed enthusiasts that are on twitter. This is simply a small list of people to follow for Internal Medicine Board exam prep. Even then – we are certain we have missed some really great handles! We’ll keep updating it.

We are also counting on our twitter followers to help make this the best list possible:

Knowmedge (@knowmedge) Salim Rezaie (@srrezaie)UTHSCSA Pearls (@UTHSCSAPearls)Internal Medicine (@IMMemorandum)Medicinemia (@Medicinemia)Joel Topf (@kidney_boy)Edgar V. Lerma (@edgarvlermamd)Haney Mallemat (@Criticalcarenow)Nikita Joshi (@njoshi8)Matt Astin (@mastinmd)Conrad Fischer (@SeeFisch)David Marcus (@EMIMDoc)FOAM Highlights (@FOAM_Highlights)Javier Benetiz (@jvrbntz)Natalie May (@_NMay)

While this post is focused on use of twitter for internal medicine education / ABIM, we would be remiss if we didn’t point out a couple of great #FOAMed lists – GoogleFOAM and Dave Townsend’s “Internet Resources for Medical Students”. Twitter is a fantastic tool for education – there is already a strong and growing #FOAMed and #MedEd community that exists.

If you or your medical residency program are not already on twitter, we highly recommend joining in the conversation! Happy tweeting! #ABIM #MedEd #FOAMed

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Professional use of social media in medical education

Lecture to first year uOttawa medical students by Pat Rich and Ann Fuller
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From Bump To Breastfeeding DVD for parents

DVD containing six films for pregnant women and new parents

Client: Best Beginnings

This ground-breaking DVD was commissioned by child health charity Best Beginnings and funded by the NHS, with support from charitable trusts. We made a series of films following families from pregnancy through birth and the first six months of their baby’s life. Their stories provide vital information for pregnant mothers and new parents to support them in their feeding choices.  The DVD was endorsed by five Royal Colleges and UNICEF and can can be viewed in seven languages including Urdu, Bengali and Somali. Nearly 2 million copies of the From Bump To Breastfeeding DVD have been given to free of charge to families across the UK by their midwife.

"A fantastic resource, brilliant for midwives to have available to them."

Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive, Royal College of Midwives


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Dunhampstead is so small that it can hardly even be called a hamlet. It lies beside the ancient salt way, which runs from Droitwich Spa, 'the salt town' and led Saxon and Roman travellers burdened with salt on into the great forest of Feckenham and beyond towards London.

My childhood home - click to enlargeOur pretty cottage stood by a canal and had been bought by my grandfather in the Twenties for £100. He had come to work on the Galtons' estate as a railway crossing keeper. The Galtons were an aristocratic family, numbering amongst their relations Sir Francis Galton, the well-known eugenicist. They lived in Hadzor House, a stately home two miles from our home.

Galtons family - click to enlargeMy grandmother was a tailoress, who worked for the Galton ladies. My mother remembers being taken there as a child, in a carriage with two coachmen attending. Her 'job' was to read books to the daughter of the house, Miss Emily. Click the picture of my grandmother and the Galtons, taken in 1909, to enlarge it.

The Price of Beauty

The Price Of Beauty