There's an old joke about two blind men who, having never before encountered an elephant, are asked to describe it based on what they can touch of it. The one man, brought to the elephant's trunk, has a completely different description from the other, who was brought to its hind leg.

There's a famous experiment, proposed as a test for artificial intelligence, in which a person queries two entities about themselves and tries to determine which of the two is a man, and which is a machine.

And then there's the famous "black box" which, in theory, creates solutions from inputs, without any single entity knowing what it does to "create order from chaos". The black box is, in other words, magick.

Each of these requires that someone (or some thing) create a definition and a solution to a problem based on insufficient, empirical data.

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One of the advantages of modern technology is the ability to view remote events live; another is to discuss a presentation, while it is being presented, "in the back channel" — i.e., in a chat room or on Twitter. These technologies give many of us who could not otherwise attend a technical presentation the opportunity to attend virtually, and to participate. This past week has been chock full of such opportunities.

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One of the issues that crops up with the Mulligan's Stew of insurance benefits that come courtesy of our employers and the States in which we live is the order and manner in which those benefits are applied to the charges incurred by our use of the services covered in those plans. In insurance-company parlance, this is called "Coordination of Care". Back in the days of traditional indemnity plans, medical insurance didn't kick in until after one met an annual deductible, and even then, it was split into two separate policies: normal medical (aka "Blue Cross/Blue Shield") and "Major Medical" (single-incident costs of, in today's money, probably $4000 or more). (READ MORE)

There are a lot of things in this world that I don't understand and don't choose to understand. Politics is one of them. I despise politics. I don't do office politics, I don't play games with people, I feel like I'm a straight-shoting tell-it-like-it-is kind of person. So, I really don't like politics. Which means I don't pay attention to bills and votes and all that nonsense. I should, I've tried, but I don't.

I do know enough to know that the passage of the health-care reform bill today and the fact that it's being sent to President Obama's desk to be signed in to law (which it will) is a big deal.

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A presidential promise. A statement to advance us into a more lucrative future of healthcare. A hope that technology in healthcare can further help fulfill patient’s needs.

"We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost….. All this we can do. And all this we will do."

This quote came from President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address on January 20, 2009. It is a bold statement on his desire to make improvements in todays healthcare system and expand on the successes of technology for everyone. (READ MORE)

I have voted in every presidential election I've been eligible for. Even casting an absentee ballot my senior year of college, which I believe was my first presidential election. All of which seemed rather obligatory to me. I voted because I was supposed to and because it was my right and privilege to do so.

Until this year. I waited in line for about an hour this morning to cast my vote. I've never waited more than several minutes to vote in an election. This is my first presidential election since being diagnosed with diabetes. The first presidential election that I was actually interested in, paid attention to and in some ways looked forward to. The first election where I really looked into the issues to base my vote on how the person in the Oval Office would affect my life.

Selfish? Yes. But I have reason to be selfish this year.

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