Matthew's Blog
Breaking the Rules For Fun
I took the two Black & White photographs above at Seattle’s Magnuson Park, where there is a Fin Art Sculpture installation by John T. Young. (If you get a chance, you have to watch his 25-minutes fabulous You Call That Art?! YouTube video!) In the first photo, I...
Red Pens and The Value of Morning Journaling
Each morning, every morning, the first thing I do is start my coffee, go to my desk, pull out my Moleskine journal and my Mont Blanc pencil (2 items which I love to physically engage with!) and I write about two pages. (This is my variant on what Julia Cameron calls...
On Collapsing Structures
Structures are everywhere. There are bridge structures, building structures, government structures, and financial structures. We have our daily structure, our physical structure, and even our cellular structure. And, concerning the theme of my blog, we also have some...
Lazaret? In Writing, Efficiency Isn’t Everything
In a small book project which I am working on, I was researching the cholera pandemics in the 1800s, when I ran across an unfamiliar word: lazarat. Although I have access to several physical and online dictionaries, my go-to dictionary is usually The Online Oxford...
Telemedicine: Is Adequate Care Good Enough?
Adequate care is when a physician sees someone for a cough, correctly diagnoses bronchitis, and then (usually) doesn't prescribe antibiotics. Great care is when a physician sees someone for a cough, correctly diagnoses bronchitis, doesn't prescribe an antibiotic, and...
Are Physicians Philosophers?
Consider a standard definition of philosophy: Philosophy: the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. Physicians certainly are investigators who seek both physical and mental truths. We are also students of two aspects of...
Trust And The CDC’s Twitter Growth During Covid
Healthcare organizations: take a hard look at the CDC’s Twitter growth during “Times of Covid. ” Although some social media growth from the governmental branch—which is a nexus in fighting this pandemic—should be expected, going from 1 1/4 million to 3 1/2 million in...
How My Photography Journey Informs My Philosophy Journey
I am a photographer but I am not a philosopher. I am a student of photography. I have read several technical books about photography, I have taken classes in different types of photography, and I have studied some of the histories of photography. I even have a few...
EHR Ethics: It’s Not About HIPPA
Whenever discussions about electronic health records (EHRs) come up, HIPPA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is often trotted out as the end-all-be-all addressing privacy concerns. “Our software is HIPPA compliant,” answers the industry...