When I became a student again in August, I decided to upgrade my computing capabilities and bought an iMac and a MacBook Pro (I don’t play golf or tennis so I have rationalized that whatever I would spend on these sports would be more than I spent on new computers). I’ll have more to say about the Macs in another posting, but suffice it for now to say that they are incredibly easy to use than Windows PCs.
There is quite a bit here in patrickWeb about Cloud Computing, and the evolution away from the desktop to the cloud is well underway. One of the more clever and useful cloud applications that I have found is Dropbox. Dropbox provides file synchronization that simplifies many of the things I do. The initial motivation to get Dropbox was my use of Quicken. Quicken for the Mac is unfortunately inferior to Quicken for Windows, so I installed VMWare Fusion and Windows XP on the Mac. This allows me to run a Windows app side by side with Mac applications in a seamless way. VMWare calls this the Fusion view. Fusion solves the issue of being able to run Quicken for Windows on the Mac but it doesn’t solve the other issue which is the location of the Quicken data file.
The location of the file would not be an issue if I only used the iMac or only used the MacBook Pro, but when you use them both, depending on where you are, the location of the file becomes a major issue. Dropbox solves the problem. Here’s how it works. You install Dropbox on each of your computers. It takes a few minutes at most. The result is you now have a folder on your computer called My Dropbox. Anything you put in that folder is automatically uploaded to the Cloud (a server at Dropbox.com). The file is then automatically synchronized to any other computer you have that has Dropbox installed on it. The usage scenario is as follows. I run Quicken on the iMac using the local file which is in the Quicken folder in the My Dropbox folder on the iMac. After I finish using Quicken and close the program, the file is automatically uploaded to Dropbox.com and then downloaded to the MacBook Pro. No login is required and no actions need to be taken – it is all automatic. The next day I take a trip somewhere with the MacBook. I start Quicken and it automatically opens the latest version of the Quicken data file from the Quicken folder which is in the My Dropbox folder on the MacBook Pro. It may sound complicated but it is actually elegant and simple.
Drop box can be used for many other applications in addition to Quicken. Any application that has a data file and where you can specify the location of that data file can take advantage of the concept I described for Quicken. Another application that I have found quite useful is 1Password. 1Password maintains a secure database of logins and passwords for websites that I utilize. The database is stored in a folder in the My Dropbox folder. The 1Password application is installed on the iMac, MacBook Pro, iphone4, and the iPad. They all use the same file and are always in synch.
There are many applications that can take advantage of this concept. In fact, for $99 per year you can get 50 gigabytes of Dropbox storage. This has allowed me to put all of my data folders in the My Dropbox folder. This allows me to run any application on multiple computers and always have the same data. As a byproduct of this Dropbox becomes a backup repository for the data. The concept of desktop, portable, mobile, and handheld devices with synchronized data in the clouds is one that I expect to become pervasive.
Tags: 1password, cloud, dropbox, ipad, iPhone, quicken, sync
Posted by John Patrick on Oct 24, 2010 in
Music,
People 
The occasion was Lehigh University’s Gala2010 fund-raising event in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, home of my undergraduate alma mater. With nearly 1,000 people at the reception, it is hard not always to find friends you hope to see. I ran into John Berseth, a fellow electrical engineering student and clarinet player from the class of 1967. I also caught up with David Wu, dean of the college of engineering. It was great to have dinner with Mike Zisman, a Lehigh university trustee and former colleague at IBM. At our table was Alice Gast, the university president. Dr. Gast came to Lehigh from MIT where she was vice president for research.
The 946-seat autitorium at the Zoellner Arts Center is an impressive place for a concert. Our last visit there was four years ago when Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra gave a great concert that remains fresh in my mind (see Musical Gala — October 8, 2006). Last night’s performance was one I will remember for the rest of my life. I have always admired Yo-Yo Ma and was quite impressed with his surprise appearance and performance at Tanglewood in August (see Tanglewood by Trike — August 3, 2010). Last night, however, was more than special. Eighteen of us had the good fortune to be seated on the stage about fifteen feet to the left of Yo-Yo and the beautiful Steinway grand piano which was played by Kathryn Stott.
These two musicians are in a category of their own. Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age four. As a child prodigy Yo-Yo began performing before audiences at age five. He performed at the White House for Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower when he was seven. Kathryn Stott is a British classical pianist who began her studies at age five. She teaches at the Royal Academy of Music and performs across the globe. She has been a collaborator with Yo-Yo for more than thirty years.
The evening performance was stunning. The only one-word description I can think of would be “perfect”. I had not heard of Kathryn Stott before but everyone I spoke to was highly impressed. The pieces were complex and she was flawless. The three-movement Schubert Sonata in A Minor was my favorite. The smooth rich tones resonated across the stage from Yo-Yo’s nearly three-hundred year-old cello with great beauty. The second piece was a sonata by Shostakovich. Before intermission was Le Grand Tango by Piazzolla. The second half of the concert started with Bodas de Prata & Quatro Cantos by Carneiro and the finale was a Cezar Franck sonata. The standing ovartions persisted enough to bring on an encore. I did not recall the name of it but I am sure it was by Elgar.
At a small reception afterwards Yo-Yo was cordial and mingled among us. He bubbles with enthusiasm and energy. It was a great privilege to meet him. He spent more than a few minutes with three young girls who were thrilled to talk with him. He seemed thrilled to talk with them too. Yo-Yo is one of the great musicians of the world and at the same time a really nice person. Beyond his incredible pace of performances, Yo-Yo is making a difference in the world through his Silk Road Project. The not-for-profit organization is focused on promoting multicultural artistic exchange. It is an arts and education program that is connecting musicians, composers, artists and audiences around the world.
Other music-related stories at patrickWeb
Tags: alice gast, cello, kathryn stott, lehigh, mit, tanglewood, yo-yo ma, zoellner
Posted by John Patrick on Oct 12, 2010 in
Aviation,
Favorites,
Healthcare 
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had met Dr. Gawande in New York a week or so ago and was quite impressed with his talk about “How To Live When You Have To Die“. The ChecklistManifesto is an easy read because the recommendations are practical and understandable. Dr. Gawande uses examples from medicine and aviation to make the point about how easy it is for people to forget things that can jeopardize the lives of others.
Being a pilot, I already appreciated the importance of checklists. When learning to fly, the checklist is fundamental. You learn to use it all the time, no matter how much experience you have. The book is replete with examples of how things went wrong in a medical setting when a simple step was skipped due to the frenetic pace of the operating room and possible distractions and interruptions.
No one likes to talk about the error rate in surgery, but suffice it to say that the numbers are non-trivial. Thousands of people are harmed in some way. Dr. Gawande believes that simple checklists can dramatically change the numbers. He cites studies where this is proven. His focus and enthusiasm for patient safety is having a positive impact around the world. I look forward to reading his two other books: Complications and Better.
Tags: Aviation, checklist, surgery
Posted by John Patrick on Oct 11, 2010 in
Energy,
Net Attitude,
People,
Travels 
Here are a few pictures I forgot to include from the visit to Cherry Crest Adventure Farm. I also made a few minor changes to the mini website which contains the two wordles I created from the The Declaration of Independence and chapter one of Net Attitude. You can create your own wordle. Just visit the wordle page and paste some of your favorite text. Enjoy!
Tags: agri-tainment, grandchildren, maize, maze, pennsylvania, pennsylvania dutch, ronks, solar, wordle
Posted by John Patrick on Oct 10, 2010 in
Energy,
Net Attitude,
People,
Travels 
Visiting the grandchildren is always a special treat. This weekend we took them to Ronks, PA in Lancaster County in the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. The destination was Cherry Crest Adventure Farm where they specialize in agri-tainment. The huge working farm is a big treat for kids — they can be entertained and also learn. They saw just born baby chicks, learned about various aspects of agriculture, and participated in a number of the more than fifty activities offered. I was impressed with the 180 solar panels on a gentle hill that supplies 90% of the energy of the entire farm. The highlight of the day was the amazing maize maze.
They call it the world’s largest interactive game. The maze has 2.5 miles of trails through more than five acres of corn. Along the way you can find clues to a crossword puzzle and stickers that go on a game board. If you find all the stickers you will see the path to get to the exit. The record is 31 minutes. The maximum was seven hours! This was a very creative deployment that had no flat panels, tablets, PC’s, or WiFi connections.
If you want to make it an even fuller day when visiting the farm you can take an excursion from Paradise, PA to Strasburg, PA on the Strasburg Rail Road, the oldest shortline coal burning steam train.
Another creative idea is wordle. A former IBM researcher had the idea to build software that converts text to an attractive mural. The software examines the text and determines how many times each word was used. It then creates a graphic image of the keywords from the text and each word is sized depending on how many times the word appears in the text. I created two wordles to give you an idea of what wordle does. Give it a try with some text of your own.
The Declaration of Independence
Chapter One from Net Attitude
Tags: agri-tainment, grandchildren, maize, maze, pennsylvania, pennsylvania dutch, ronks, solar, wordle
Posted by John Patrick on Oct 3, 2010 in
Healthcare,
Music,
People,
Public Policy 
Yesterday was a beautiful day in the Northeast. I started out the day with a drive to Manhattan to have breakfast with a dozen physicians and healthcare executives. We had a discussion with Dr. Atul Gawande (2010), Staff Writer for the New Yorker and author of “The Checklist Manifesto”. I will keep the autographed copy of the book on my office bookshelves but I will read it on the Kindle this week. Dr. Gawande made a few comments about healthcare and then opened up for Q&A. Most of the questions and answers centered on the high cost of healthcare and how to best reduce the duplication of efforts and medical errors. This is the focus of his new book and will be the subject of postings here to come.
After the breakfast discussion we headed for the packed SVA Theatre at the New Yorker Festival to hear Dr. Gawande’s talk called “How to Live When You Have to Die”. This is a tough subject. Dr. Gawande cited figures about the staggering cost of healthcare that is expended in the final days of life for millions of people. Even though paliative care can result in living longer, there is an unstoppable momentum to do something. Our impulse is to try anything and everything to preserve life of a loved one when at times this approach results in a nearly unbearable quality of life and significant trauma to family members when the end eventually comes. Hospice is often shunned out of fear of the implications but the result of hospice care is usually more comfort, less suffering for the terminally ill, and less trauma for family members later.
Dr. Gawande believes that the challenge is that doctors often don’t always tell the truth about the prognosis for a person and family members do not want to discuss end of life. He suggested that what is needed is what he called a “breakpoint discussion” with the terminally ill centered around four simple principles. First is an honest assessment of the condition and prognosis. Second is to ask about what fears the person has. Third is to ask about their goals — what do they want for themselves and for their families? Finally is the question of what tradeoffs is the person willing to make — for example, what degree of pain and suffering versus comfort? At the end of his one-hour talk, Dr. Gawande entertained questions. There were many and also many supportive comments about his thesis. At the very end, a young woman walked to the aisle microphone and talked about what it was like to lose her husband to cancer six months ago. She described how they had discussions very much along the lines Dr. Gawande had outlined. She praised the approach but brought the audience to tears.
Atul Gawande is an excellent communicator and is writing about some of the toughest issues in healthcare. I look forward to reading his three books (Better, Complications, and The Checklist Manifesto).
On a brighter note — actually many notes — was an evening performance of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra back home in Connecticut. Guest pianist Gayle Martin Henry performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. It was brilliant. The orchestra was in rare form as it played Schubert’s unfinished Symphony No. 8 and Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony.
Tags: checklist manifesto, end of life, gawande, Healthcare, tchaikovsky
