Category: current events

  • Shout Out to University  of Iowa Hospitals Doctor Joseph Zabner!

    Shout Out to University of Iowa Hospitals Doctor Joseph Zabner!

    Here’s a big shout out and congratulations to my former University Hospitals colleague Dr. Joseph Zabner who received the 2023 Distinguished Mentor Award.

  • Maybe an Iowa State Fair Contest Would Settle the Score in UFO Flap

    Maybe an Iowa State Fair Contest Would Settle the Score in UFO Flap

    I just saw the news story about the whistleblower David Grusch a couple days ago. Apparently, Mr. Grusch’s personal medical record was obtained through the state of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and released to the public. He was one of three people who testified recently at the House Oversight Committee hearing on Unidentified…

  • What Kind of Census Does This Make?

    What Kind of Census Does This Make?

    We finished our Census Bureau survey and it seems like we just did this not long ago. It’s taken every 10 years but it seems like we got this form a few years ago. They say it takes about 40 minutes to complete, but it sure felt like there were many more questions on it…

  • The Dragon Breathes Fire Again

    The Dragon Breathes Fire Again

    Sena and I saw a news video about a technology called “DAX” which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) the other day which promises to reduce or even eliminate pajama time for physicians trying to get their clinical note dictations done during the day instead of taking them home for several more hours of work. The video…

  • New Dominant Covid-19 Variant EG.5

    New Dominant Covid-19 Variant EG.5

    There is a new dominant Covid-19 variant called EG.5. It’s also called Eris. It’s descended from the XBB strains. It’s in the Omicron family and there is no indication it causes more severe disease and would be susceptible to current vaccines.

  • UI Hospitals & Clinics Gets U.S. News & World Report Recognition

    UI Hospitals & Clinics Gets U.S. News & World Report Recognition

    This is just a shout-out to The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics for once again being recognized as one of the top hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Department ranked 6th in the nation.

  • Doctors Still Oppose Board Mandated Maintenance of Certification Programs

    Doctors Still Oppose Board Mandated Maintenance of Certification Programs

    I got a pang of anti-nostalgia after reading the latest article calling for abolition of Maintenance of Certification (MOC), posted by Medscape on August 1, 2023. There is a petition by oncologists to end MOC. So, what else is new? So far it has almost 10,000 signatures. I remember my own petition in 2014 to…

  • The Empire Fires Back

    The Empire Fires Back

    I saw this reply tweet posted to the web. It was the reply of Sean Kirkpatrick, PhD, the director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in reply to the testimony of the witnesses at the House Committee’s UAP hearing on July 27, 2023. I’m not sure we’ll hear much more about it.

  • We Are All Still Learning to Play Pong

    We Are All Still Learning to Play Pong

    I noticed an article the other day about Monash University in Australia getting funding for further research into growing brain cells onto silicon chips and teaching them how to play cribbage. Just kidding, the research is for teaching the modified brain cells tasks. They succeeded in teaching them goal-directed tasks like how to play the…

  • House Oversight Committee UAP Hearing Today

    House Oversight Committee UAP Hearing Today

    We watched the House Oversight Committee UAP Hearing today and it was one of the most interesting presentations we’ve seen in a long while. I make fun of the topic a lot but I thought all the witnesses were credible. In my opinion, the most credible witness today was retired Commander David Fravor of the…