Prescription Vending Machine

Perhaps it is progress. Perhaps it is another step towards automation and eliminating the interaction between human beings. There are vending machine now that will fill your drug prescription:

“Self-service technology — having helped itself to a piece of the business in gas stations, banks, grocery stores, movie rental and hardware chains — is coming into the pharmacy.

…The 800-pound device, which is bolted to the floor and tied into alarm systems, sits with one side accessible to employees behind the counter and one available to the consumers on the other side.”

link: Automatic medicine: Vending machines for prescriptions sell convenience

The rationale is that the mechanized prescription service will free up staff time. However, will there be sufficient staff if a business can see that it can save money by eliminating pharmaceutical positions? It just seems a bit sad that faster and mechanized replaces knowing your pharmacist by name - and having that person be part of the health process.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

[tag]prescriptions, vending machines, automation, human interaction, profit, the next wave, health[/tag]

Jordan Farmar: Relief

To use a sports cliché, it was the game within the game. It really didn’t matter about whom the Los Angeles point guard Jordan Farmar was guarding. What was interesting was how this young point guard was going to handle public adversity and whether his coach, Phil Jackson, was going to allow him to play. Game Five in Los Angeles was a pivotal game for the Lakers in their playoff series with the Utah Jazz.

Phil Jackson did keep Jordan Farmar in his player rotation. While Jordan Farmar still had some problems at the defensive end of the court, he answered with some offense. He made a three point shot. Then he took the ball to the basket, made the shot, was fouled and made the foul shot. The offensive production for the evening was six points. However, those six points were needed and Jordan Farmar showed that he would not go away. He kept shooting.

link: Game Five - Lakers and Jazz

There had been speculation that Jordan Farmar would crumble and have his confidence shattered. Less than complimentary comparisons were made to a former L.A. Lakers player, Smush Parker. However, Jordan Farmar went into the game and competed. It was high drama and there was genuine enthusiasm from his team mates when his shots started to fall. Perhaps Jordan Farmar can borrow some of the shooter’s mentality from Sasha Vujacic. In twenty four minutes of playing time, Sasha Vujacic took eleven shots. He made one of them. That’s a nine per cent field goal efficiency. With a shooter’s mentality, though, the belief is ‘the next one is going to be good’.

Welcome back to Jordan Farmar. By the way, the Lakers won: 111 - 104.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

[tag]nba, jordan farmar, phil jackson, l.a. lakers, utah jazz, sasha vujacic, confidence[/tag]

Rent a Bot: A Hacker Business Model

It seems that hackers are looking for more ways to profit. The hacker business model is a direct copy from normal enterprise. Hackers can rent out a botnet trojan:

“Online fraudsters who aren’t highly skilled in the arts of cybercrime can now rent a service that offers an all-in-one hosting server with a built-in Zeus trojan administration panel and infecting tools, allowing them to create their own botnet.”

link: Wannabe Hackers Can Now Rent-a-Botnet

One wonders if the hackers have good support and what their terms of service are. Perhaps hackers can improve the service model of legal enterprises.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster