Progress in the fight against Hospital Acquired Infections

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The problem:

Over the last few years, public attention has been focused increasingly on the problem of nosocomial or hospital acquired infections (HAI’s). Why is there so much concern? A study by the CDC published in the March/April 2007 issue of the journal Public Health Reports, estimated that 1.7 million hospital patients per year ― 4.5 of every 100 admissions ― become infected, causing or contributing to the deaths of nearly 100,000 people per year. (IHI.org) 100,000 people per year is about 1/5 of the total deaths from cancer per year in the US, or about the same as the total stroke or accidental deaths. Or, another way to understand the size of this number, picture the population of South Bend Indiana, dying every year of mostly preventable causes. This is an epidemic.

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Review of “Times” RSS reader application for Macs

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I took a chance a few weeks ago and purchased the “MacHeist” bundle, mainly because I wanted the PhoneView application that lets you get at your iPhone images and music directly, and the cost is very low for all those applications.

MacHeist III is a bundle of 15 little utilities and applications for the Mac, many of which are surprisingly useful and well-written. One of the nicest surprises was an app called “Times”. Times is just a lowly RSS reader, but it does RSS with more style and readability than anything else I’ve seen yet.

(Click images to see larger view)

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Virtual tour: Interesting places to visit in Google Earth

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To use the KML files, right click the “Download KML file” link and select “Save Target As”. Windows may try to add an “XML” extension onto the end of the file name. Change the extension back to “KML” if it does.

You must have Google Earth installed to use these files. Double click the KML file and it should open in Google Earth to the correct spot.

St. Peters, Rome

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Virtual Colorado Tour – Part II: South to Black Canyon of the Gunnison

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Continuing with our travels in Colorado last September

After leaving Grand Junction we drove south on 50 toward Montrose on our way to Ouray, but decided to take a detour to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

The Canyon out to be one of the most dramatic sights on the whole trip. The Black Canyon is a massive gorge cut through PreCambrian rocks by the Gunnison River. It is vast enough so the far side is slightly hazy, contributing to the astonishing sense of depth from the edge.

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Take a virtual world tour down the Canyon in Google Earth! Download this KML file
Double click to open in Google Earth, then click Play as shown:
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10 places to get Free Fonts

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A collection of sites to try when you are looking for free fonts:

  1. exljibris Free Font Foundry

    Nine beautiful designer fonts by Jos Buivenga.

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  2. Betterfonts.com

    This site has both free and paid fonts. The free fonts tend toward the oddball, not the type of font you can use daily, but interesting. The paid fonts are very reasonably priced at $4.99, and you can download their top 500 for $2.77.

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Virtual Colorado Tour – Part I: West to Grand Junction

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Last fall we took a trip around Colorado which took us through nearly every type of landscape Colorado has to offer, including the town of Ouray, nestled in the Mountains, fantastic fall colors of the Kebler Pass area and the dry, dramatic Mesa Verde region in the Southwest.

The map below is an interactive Google map, showing all the main points of interest we hit, and photos along the way.


View Larger Map

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