john-norris.net

The goblet excavated at the Burnt City site in Iran has 5 images which when looked at consecutively forms an animation.

This animation has been making its rounds.

By placing the images in on a bowl, it could be a form of a zoetrope.   However, the images are on the outside of the goblet.  That would make it unlike the typical structure of a zoetrope.  However, on the inside of the bowl are marking that could be site lines…  similar to the notches in a zoetrope.  It’s just that is is inside out.

Not sure if those folks so long ago were playing with animation, as in persistence of vision, but it is a nice design idea and certainly something we can explore now.

Here’s a screen shot of Knoh Oh at the Ann Myers Medical Center’s Admission Desk checking out the day’s schedule. To the right of Knoh is an Electronic Medical Record and Clinical Information System application being accessed from within the Second Life client.

It’s more of a proof of concept than anything else, but it does work, and I think would help enhance medical simulations. I could also see it as a great way to train people on how to use the software. One could have several people accessing the same EMR/CIS system in various areas of the hospital sim and run patient’s around.

I hijacked the SL client’s help window, and through it logged into an open source medical software demo. (Technical details at end.)

One of the great advantages to open source is that you really can get the code for free/cheap. Further, since there are no proprietary secrets, there is no reason to hide the software, so the software is easy to try. There are several open source medical software vendors, a few have on-line demo sites, some even have live CD’s one can easily boot up on one’s own PC’s. Wikipedia has a nice list of Free and Open Source Medical Software. One can set up the software and allow others to access it without worrying about licenses.

What I did not do, was create an actual object in SL. No other avatar can look over Knoh’s shoulder and see the screen. It is like a HUD- part of my client. However, other people can log into the same EMR/CIS and use the system as I am. You would get the same result by running the EMR/CIS in a separate browser…just not as cool screenshots

This particular picture features the ClearHealth software running from their demo site. I cannot vouch for their software, but it seems to be of the right weight, covers a multitude of tasks, and works well in the window. Big thanks to ClearHealth for providing an online demo! (I have not spoken to them about it yet.)

How did I do this? A bit of background for some, but the in-world help screen can be used as a web browser (recent Windows SL client, YMMV.) In the SL client go to the toolbar’s drop down “Help” then “In-World Help”. Paste in a URL into the help’s search window and hit return.

PLEASE DO NOT ABUSE THE DEMOS. These companies pay for their bandwidth and need to maintain their severs. If you really want to utilize a particular vendor’s service, contact them. They will most likely be happy to help you out.

THX to ClearHealth and Ann Myers Medical Center who had no idea what I was up to, but are hopefully cool with it.

Best to be ready when the mood strikes-

Hipster template with  finger puppets and Shakespeare.

Hamster pdf

Hamster Scribus source

Released under Creative Commons 2.0

Attribution ShareAlike license

Print out this file and with a little paper craft you can have a circular slide rule addition
to your hipster.

(Use clear plastic for the cursor.)

Many thanks to Charles Kankelborg.

Circular Slide Rule PDF

Circular Slide Rule Scribus source

Confession time:

When I’m on the move, I find my Hipster and Fobster a bit too far out of reach for the quick glance to keep me on track. Plus, if there is something crucial that I absolutely have to remind myself of, I’ll write it on my…. hand.

Yup. Can’t miss it there.

So stretching Hipster technology perhaps a bit too far, I’ve come up with what I call “The Mission Band”. It is not just a big blank thing to write on, or my case a freckled hairy arm, but a tastefully done accent to one’s wrist and memory.

Offered to you under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License…so feel free to make it your own:

Mission Band pdf
Mission Band Open Office Draw file

A plate with a smiley face in relief…perfect for playing with your food.

And an “On/Off” mug that changes meaning with the temperature.

THX BoingBoing

For those interested, Second Life will have a series of things going on concerning World AIDs day, Dec 1st.

Rik has collected information about it.

Looks like they are getting ready over at HealthInfo Island.

I’ll try to get a little time in-world, so feel free to IM me, Knoh Oh.

So I get this month’s issue of American Craft, just about tear off their new half page cover and remember that I need to keep it on as it is part of their new makeover.  I’m thinking “Ho Hum …lipstick on a pig”.  (OK, that was a bit harsh.)

But I find myself surprised.   I find myself wondering if someone at the American Craft Council gets it.  I find myself staring at a book review about knitting.

Why is that important?

There has been a new, alternative, craft movement in the US, at least, for a number of years, that has captured the imagination of a whole new generation of young (and old) minds.  Knitting (note: not “fiber arts”) has been one of its vanguards.

I’ve been wondering about this for over 2 years. And some folks have been banging the drum longer and louder than I.

I think we are seeing the entry of this new, alternative, craft into the mainstream craft world.  Should be interesting.

Thx Bob 

I’m starting to put up podcasts to the different Messier objects.  It’ll take a while, and if it gets too popular, I’ll need to host em somewhere else.

They are going up at this page.

Actually all the files are on the sever, but the links are not set up…so you could change the URL to grab a file that is not linked yet.. .

If you are interested in healthcare in Second Life, here are a few tips to get you going:

I’m taking snapshots in Second Life of various medical venues. I think it is a quick way to get an overview of the variety that is out there, without actually logging into Second Life: www.sluniverse.com/pics/Default.aspx?Name=Knoh+Oh

The main mailing list for folks that are really involved in SL Medical stuff: lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/healthcare

There’s a nice wiki being put together at SLHealthy: slhealthy.wetpaint.com

If you are in-world (within Second Life) you would do well to check out these areas:

• Sexual Health Sim
• Virtual Hallucinations
• The Virtual Neurological Education Centre
• SL Medical Library and Health Info Island
  

There are many more places to go, and things change so much in Second Life I hesitate even linking to these…but I know how it helps to have a bit of direction.

Finally, the reason I went into Second Life in the first place was to check out support groups for a medical informatics class I was taking. I found this BBC produced video about Support for Healing Island and that is what convinced me to give the whole thing a try.