Zane Safrit

Joe Cocker: Woodstock

"The greaseband...meself" .

Enjoy it. Catch the backup singers. Just...perfect.

Check the comments. Ah-h-h, the Generation Gap. You know you're getting old when you have to explain Joe Cocker's performance...

What's a li'l bit o' herbicide in your baby's formula?

The FDA announced yesterday that a li'l bit o' herbicide is just a-ok in baby formula.

    The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released more information about the discovery of trace amounts of the chemicals melamine and cyanuric acid in two popular U.S. baby formulas.

 

"The levels are so low that they do not pose a health risk to infants," cautioned Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. -USAToday.

 

Of course they wouldn't. That's why they've never been approved as 'food additives'. I know, the logic is giving me a headache, too. Here's how it works again:  The chemicals are found in baby food. And that's ok, because they're banned from being added to food.

 

What is cyanuric acid? A precursor for the preparation of herbicides. Who manufactures cyanuric acid? Archer-Daniel Midlands.

 

What is melamine? It's a hard, thermosetting plastic material made from melamine and formaldehyde by polymerization.  It's made with formaldehyde. (Yes, formaldehyde's ok in baby food...because it's been banned as a food additive, too!)

 

What happens when you mix melamine and cyanuric acid together?

 

    Research has found evidence that cyanuric acid together with melamine forms poorly soluble crystals which can cause renal failure (see Analysis section above).

 

And the FDA says renal failure causing agents are just fine in your baby's formula. And that's because they're banned from being added to food...I know. The logic's giving me a headache, too.

 

 

 

Citi...failing right in front of us

Has anyone noticed the number of ads for retail banking services from Citi? It seemed half of the ads last night during some of the sports games were for Citi's lending, banking, retail banking services. And then Citi is continuing to proceed with a $400 million sponsorship deal for the new Mets Stadium.

Maybe they assume the audience is too focused on sports to be aware that Citi just received a few billion dollars to be bailed out. But seriously, who's going to open an account with a bank that can't manage their own finances?

Oh, wait, we the taxpayers are opening an account with them.

At what point do we, US tax payers and their new investors, require a change in management?

Or do we?

One of the rules for managing in tough times is to continue to advertise. But a $400 million stadium sponsorship deal...for the Mets? Does anyone in NY City not know the name of Citi? Or the locations of their branches?

Would a million dollar deal accomplish much the same? You know... a few digital signs around the stadium, their logo on a few tickets, a free toaster to each fan who attends a game against...Pittsburgh. (the toaster reference is from back-in-the-day when toasters were given away to a bank's new customers who opened a checking account...)

Something's very, very, wrong, when a flagship bank needs federal rescue (our tax dollars) to keep it afloat and continues with the same management, making some of the same bonehead decisions.

We're going to learn something from this. What do you think we're going to learn, and when?

And I'm thankful for...

Today's Thanksgiving and I'm thankful for:

Wife, family, my town - Fairfield, IA, my home, Auggie, Kip/Fig/Russo, Mike and Jamie, TomnTish, JoelnRene, Pam and Gwen, Tippy, Max/Moose/Wilbur, opportunities that have come my way in the past this period of learning/assessing/failing,  rewards coming my way, my health, blogs, running on a perfect day (whatever that is, it changes),  typepad, blogtalk radio, my guests on my blogtalk radio show who take their time out to share their thoughts and tips and help, XM radio (but not sirius xm radio), Pandora Radio, Blip.fm, Eban, Dani, Erica, Big Al, my boys from The Hearts Club though our paths have diverged over the years,Garagiste.com,  a good run in the woods, Lorraine and Dodici Restaurant, Ben and Jackie, SWOM, CCU and everyone there, Steve, Mike Wagner, Mike Sansone, Andy Sernovitz, Seth Godin and his Day With event where he talked about this thing called ...blogs,... twitter, and everyone I follow there, Obama's election (he's not The One...but he's a great step forward), YouTube,  the change in our country to get us back on track, social media, citizen journalists, grassroots activism,  Anita Campbell, Becky McCray, David Zinger and Employee Engagement, John Jantsch and the opportunity to blog about life at the Ducttape Marketing Blog Channel, Steve MacGill and Peersight Online, my peer group at PeerSight Online, Lynne Kahle, men's college basketball, Duke-UNC 2 times a year, March Madness, HDTV, John Stewart and the Daily Show, Jack Bauer (not), naps for nieces/nephews (that's coming to mind as I write this post...),  nieces and nephews, ShawnnSarah (yes, seriously, you've taught me a lot...ya thought I left you out, didn't you?), 48web, Blue Sheep, a playoff system for college football (I know it's coming...), all 4 seasons though I prefer...summer as I get older, a fall day, a spring day, a cold and wet day, a summer day, a snowstorm, a downpour, a windy day (no...definitely no), weekends, all holidays, an afternoon nap, espresso, country ham (sparingly), sweet tea and grits (You can't take the South outta me), rock n' roll (long may it live), R&B, live concerts, great movies, watching a movie in a near empty theater, Lord of the Rings (book and movie), the movie Snatch (it's a long story),  my wife's smile and laugh and how it makes me do the same, east coast beaches, Australia (been there), Italy and Switzerland (been there, too), but not Ottumwa, Iowa (I've been there....), a shot of tequila every so often(especially if the bottle's brought back from Mexico), great neighbors, the highway 34 bypass, our country (God should bless all the countries, I just like this one best.)  

And most of all I'm thankful for the future.

What are you thankful for?

I'm sure I've overlooked a few people, places, things, events. I'm hungry. It's thanksgiving and Turkey's up. But, remind me. I apologize in advance. But if you know me, then you know hunger rules.

The Six Qualities of Innovation Leaders

    1. A mix of emotions and realism.

    2. The acceptance of uncertainty, risks and failures, coupled with an          urge to make their staff learn from them.

    3. A high degree of passion for their mission and for innovation, as well     as the burning desire to share that passion with their staff.

    4. The willingness to proactively search for external technologies and         ideas, and then to experiment with them.

    5. The courage to stop projects, not just start them, and the flair to decide     when to persist versus when to pull the plug.

    6. A talent for building and steering winning teams, and a knack for             attracting and retaining innovators.

What do you think? Is this a complete list? Do you see anything missing?

Full post at Innovation Tools.

Link from MaineBusiness on Twitter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Engineers are cool, again

    As the financial crisis deepens, science and math grads who once flocked     to investment banking are now considering jobs in engineering. -                     BusinessWeek

That's a good thing. Engineering is one of the key resources we'll depend on as we re-invest in our infrastructure and new energy solutions. Engineering will be called on to re-establish our manufacturing base. And engineering will play a key role in innovations that will create new jobs.

And I'm an art major and I'm saying that.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Did You Blog Today?

Did you blog today?

Is it authentic?

I'm listening to Jim Gilmore and Joe Pine talk with DaInnovise Guys Podcast.  They bring up Fortune mag's story with LeBron James. The story isn't on his basketball prowess (it goes though Boston, King James...). It's about his business dealings. And his first question about any business deal is ...is it authentic?

Honestly, I'm a fan of LeBron's. He's an amazingly talented player, mature individual and very smart businessman. He's also innovating a new business model. And this screening criteria, is it authentic, is a sign of his acute attunement to the times.

We, consumers, are very attuned to authenticity or its lack.  Authentic is what stands out. It's an automatic niche-market with a supplier of one: you. And any competitors automatically fail the key criteria, authenticity, because...they merely copy you.

So...go where they ain't. Go where they can't. And that's authentic. That's YOU, your employees, your community.

And listen to Dainnovise Guys Podcast. This conversation with Jim Gilmore and Joe Pine is excellent. But so are all of their recordings.

Disclaimer: I'm interviewing the hosts of Dainnovise Guys Podcast, Gregg and Doug, on consecutive Wednesdays starting December 3rd with Gregg.  That being said, you should listen to their show. Excellent guests, good questions, low-key hosts, all value.

Social Media Links: November 26

(Note: today's my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday, Sistah!)

* Obama's Office of Social Entrepreneurship. Ok, so it's not directly a social media link. But it's a cool, interesting, innovative and timely idea. Create a cabinet-level of Office of Social Entrepreneurship. Has there been a better time? Oh, right: the Great Depression...Ok, seriously, and I was, with a renewed commitment to attracting the best people to serve in our government, and an understanding that entrepreneurs and innovation and small business will drive us out of this economy AND with lots of opportunities for entrepreneurs to focus their talents on solving some of our social challenges...it's a timely idea.

Article by Nathaniel Whittemore at Social Entrepreneurship.

* Reinventing Crisis Communications for the Social Web. This story has social media written all over it. Using social media as a means to communicate during times of crisis (earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, etc) may fulfill the highest calling(?) for social media, if you believe that social media is media that connects, that builds society, that creates and sustains the threads of our nature as social beings in this digital world. I've seen more and more uses of resources like Utterli and Twitter in times of crisis to maintain communication when traditional forms of communication, landlines and cellphones, seem to be overwhelmed.

Article by Brian Solis at PR 2.0. Link from Marketingprofs, aka Ann Handley.

* Is Blogging Dead? This was the theme recently...maybe it's a sign of anxiety over the markets, our future, our economy, NFL playoffs, I don't know...but blogging's very near and dear to a lot of us so as we see turmoil and tumult around us we naturally worry about...our loved ones. I think that's why this question keeps popping up on blogs. Irony, noted.

This is a survey by Debbie Weil, whom I'm a great big fan of her and you should be, also. Her results show...her blog readers (vested interest noted) vote over 8:1 that blogging's got some legs in it yet, baby.

Self-promotion: I answered this question in a post reply to Nicholas Carr. The blogosphere's not dead, Mr.Carr.

* Twitterspeak: 66 Twitter Terms You Don't Need to Know. Don't click this link; you don't need to know these 66 twitter terms. I'm just sharing it for its sign of what's happening in social media: there are 66 terms just for using one of social media's more popular resource.

Found at mashable. I know somebody from twitter shared this link. But I can't remember. If it was you, let me know.

* BloggerInsight Provides Intelligent Chinese CrowdSourcing. I have no idea why this is important. But it may have to do with crowdsourcing as listening tool/philosophy and ...China...and an online tool to crowdsource in China. You can see I'm putting the pieces together in my head as I write. Still...having my thinking branded with ...China + repression + internet controls + censorship...I'm still looking at this title and tilting my head like my dog does when I talk to him.

I don't doubt it's happening. But I'm not blending the title with China + repression + internet controls + censorship. Someone help me.

TheNextWeb is the source of this article. 

* Mufin comes late to the party hosted for many years by Pandora Radio and recently by Blip.fm, among others.   

Music search and recommendation tool Mufin is opening to everyone this     morning.

Yawn...you were saying?  

New on Thursday is both a Facebook app and the previously mentioned         iTunes plug-in that scans your library to give you recommendations.

First off, who uses Facebook much any more? It's a navigation nightmare, with ads of no relevance. Second, why do I need a 3rd party platform to sniff through my audio files....in hopes of...selling me more.

Too much too little too late. There's a song for Mufin's library.

Article from Cnet. Link from...?

* Wikipedia plans to allow video and audio files to enrich its expert's content.   

... users will be able to edit others' videos, and everyone will be able to see the edit history.  Wikimedia is also considering building an online photo editor into the service, so users will be able to do the same things with photos that they do with text--enhance, clarify, and revert the last user's edits.

That's very cool. Imagine going to wikipedia now, then being able to experience...photos, videos, audio files to add depth and dimension. Whew.

* Why she's kissing Tumblr a sad, sad, goodbye. Melissa Chang from 16th Letter blog writes why she's saying g'bye to Tumblr. She's got some great points. More telling though is the lack of response from Tumblr. WTH, I'll keep using you, Tumblr.

* The 12 Days of Social Media Christmas. It's early for this theme. But this one's good. And it's topically significant for this post.

From Mainebusiness.

* Twitter and Personal Branding: The BIG Mistake I See People Make Everyday.  I've made 'em all, I bet. I bet he just used me, secretly, as his case study. (yes, sometimes it is all about me...)

Turns out, he didn't. The author of this post offers some excellent tips, that yes, I see people fail to use, including me (the personalized background). And if I did follow his advice, it would make a difference.

Note to Self:  personalize background on my twitter page AND add more information on my bio.

Author is David Meerman Scott at his blog, Web Ink Now. You should read him regularly.

Link from my friend, StephenLynch.

* 100 Blogs that Will Make You Smarter. (Ok, you're already reading one...) My favorite title was Blog of a Bookslut. There are some excellent references here and some I need to discover. But the links for news include MSNBC, Anderson Cooper (Anderson Cooper?) and ABC's Nightline. Hardly...content that makes anyone smarter, at least as smart as you'd be with other sources like WashingtonMonthly and Debka.  

Blog post at Marcelino.

Link from Jenmccabegorman.

* Crashing Motrin-gate: A social-media case study.  Read it. Decide for yourself. I'm not commenting my way into the middle of this brouhaha for the following reasons:

• I'm not a mommy.
• I don't use Motrin.
• I don't carry children close enough for them to wet my shirt through any form of baby-carrier.
• I don't buy strange products from online ads.

In summary, it's not my battle, nor am I inviting myself to it.

Still, it's an interesting case-study in the power of social media and the risk brands run when they fail to respect that. 

Article at Ad-age. Link from Kirasw

* Scoble Says Mike Arrington is Wrong about Google Search.  Robert brings up some excellent points in a disagreement with Mike Arrington of TechCrunch over the usefulness of Google's new search features. I like Robert. Mike is hugely successful.

And this has nothing to do with them.

I think social media will have reached a new maturity when the discussions form more around the content than the personalities. I saw this post twittered many times and each time it was about the personalities, not so much the content.

I cater to that psychology in my tweets. I do it in part as a shout for that person, as twitter is so personal, but also...names, brands, personal brands are attention getters.

And we've all got egos and who doesn't love personal recognition. And I confess I get all atwitter when my username is mentioned along with a bit of praise.

But I think it's a good sign of an open, transparent, media when the content is more important than the author. 

And yes, I note the irony of the title of this link. It was deliberate, to illustrate.

* Obama testing ways to use internet to govern. Yay!

Link from CraigNewmark.

That's it for today. Have a great Thanksgiving.

And, as I'm traveling today, I wrote this post yesterday (today as I'm writing), scheduled it for publishing today, but went ahead and read it for posting at Utterli. I'm just testing that out. It's my second one.

5 Great Questions for Interviewees

From Noah Kagan's OKDork:
   
    1- What’s the most successful thing you have done at this company?

    2- What would it take for you to leave this company?

    3- How do you feel when you are driving to work in the morning?

    4- Think about the hardest question you received during the interview. Ask     it to the interviewer.

    5- What’s the toughest question I can ask you?
    Make sure to say copyrighted by Noah Kagan after you ask. Also, if you ever interview me expect to hear these again:)

Copyrighted by Noah Kagan...There, I got that out of the way for someone's vanity.

Moving on...these are great questions copyrighted by Noah Kagan. But they may be even better used in an interview with your existing colleagues, co-workers, employees, partners, yourself with them asking you.

TwitPic proves you can startup outside the Valley

Noah Everett is the founder of TwitPic, a popular service to share photos on Twitter. He's not from Silicon Valley. Far from it. He's from Tulsa.

At the recent OpenBeta event in Oklahoma City, Everett shared some lessons learned. He talked about dealing with users, complaints, and issues. He commented on revenue generation with brutal honesty.

You don't need to be in Silicon Valley, you don't need big funding, and you don't need a big team. What about the economy? Now is a great time to start a web-based company, Everett says. For one thing, the economy is going to weed out competitors. Everett says he used to stress out over competitors, but has since learned to just worry about his own service.

Everett also talks candidly about previous websites he started that did not succeed.

"I don't really count it as a failure," Everett said. "I learned a lot from it."

Of course, he took a picture of the audience and shared it on TwitPic. (I'm in the back row, on right end, in the blue shirt!)

You can watch the whole video of Noah Everett of TwitPic at the OpenBeta website.

***********************************************************************

Guest Author: Becky McCray writes about small business and rural issues at Small Biz Survival, based on her own success and failures.

Guest Author: Becky McCray writes about small business and rural issues at Small Biz Survival, based on her own success and failures.

Leaders...expect to win

 

Thanks, SandraMartini

Managers Manage; Leaders Lead

A few weeks ago I posted about leadership vs management, the difference between a leader and a manager. The post is titled Vision: Leader vs. Manager.

Ben Simonton and I engaged in a lively debate in the comments section. I'm not sure either one of us were moved to change our mind. The comments did serve to allow us to clarify more fully our thoughts. Mr. Simonton's blog is here: http://managingleadingpeople.blogspot.com/

One night recently I was reading my new copy of Seth Godin's book, Triiibes: We need YOU to lead us.

He wrote on Page 14:

My thesaurus says the best synonym for leadership is management. Maybe that word used to fit, but no longer.

Movements have leaders and movements make things happen.

Leaders have followers. Managers have employees.

Managers make widgets. Leaders make change. 

Change? Change is frightening, and to many people who would be leaders, it seems more of a threat than a promise. That's too bad, because the future belongs to our leaders...

My thesaurus says the same thing.

Now, I'm a big fan of Seth's. I've been that way since May '04 when I attended a day with him and he told me about this thing called...blogging and how it was the greatest thing for brands and connecting with customers and authentic relationships since....well, if blogging was president he/she'd already be up on Mt. Rushmore. If blogging was a desert, we'd never have heard of apple pie...That kind of understatement Seth's famous for.

He was right. And I love apple pie, especially when my wife makes it and we have Ben and Jerry's vanilla ice cream and a glass of milk and a cup of coffee, one right after the other...sorry, I have a sweet tooth and I'm hungry right now as I write.

Mr. Simonton, Seth is right.  There remains a fundamental difference between management and leadership, managers and leaders. Leaders lead toward the future. Managers manage towards ...today. It's not to say it's a black or white definition. Great leaders have some very good management skills. And some great managers have very good leadership skills.

It's not a moral difference. One's not better.

They reach their glory together.  Behind every great leader is a great manager and vice versa.  Opposites attract, yin-yang, hot apple pie and cold-cold ice cream. All that.

The difference is the focus of their vision. One's for today with a glimpse of tomorrow. One's for tomorrow with a glimpse of today. Barack Obama and David Axelrod. Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. And both help the other understand the role they play in each other's success.

And the future belongs to the leaders because they saw it first. They'll determine it, how we'll get there, define it and share that vision with everyone...today.

Becky McCray on BlogTalk Radio: Pt. 1

Here's my notes from listening to the first-half of my BlogTalk Radio interview with Becky McCray of SmallBiz Survival.

Becky McCray took time out from running one of her several businesses to talk about small business, rural communities and her tips and resources to make small businesses work and make them work in rural communities.

Becky’s writing a new column on small business at US News and World Report.  Her first post is Top 3 Basics a Small Business Can’t Ignore in Today’s Economy.

She has 4 new ebooks coming out in finance and accounting, drawing the line: what to give away for free, and a couple more.

Note: Becky’s original ebook 20 Small Business Ideas for Small Towns  inspired me to write my own: The Collaborative Hiring Process. You can download it here.

Becky’s inspiration for this ebook was Jon Swanson, one of her guest bloggers. Jon blogs at Levite Chronicles.

A paper booklet is one of the best ways to reach people who are not using the internet extensively.

Get out beyond the usual suspects. That broadens the reach of her message into a new audience. Network Solutions has sponsored the download and possibly  the print version, as well. She’ll hand those out to every economic developer and chamber of commerce.

Becky’s Principle: Taking what you’ve done and using it to help more people.

We get where we are because we stand on the shoulders of giants... We can take two different ideas and if we put them together in different ways then we’ve created new value.

OpenBetaOKC was a terrific event. The networking was outstanding. And she’s using twitter and linkedin to stay in-touch with now.  8 speakers. Her topic was Ways to Delegate without Hiring: Working your way through a crunchtime.

Coolest speaker is Noah Everett, founder of Twitpic. He’s based in...Oklahoma City. Here's a link to a video of his presentation.  Note: You don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to be innovative.

How she started her blog:

 I started doing some emails for friends on rural economic development. Then she realized she wanted to put this on the net.

I sat down with a sheet of paper and thought about what I wanted to say. She lives in a rural area in a state with a declining population and their challenges are completely different than those facing other states or the national economy. 

I wanted a purpose. I wanted to be doing it for a good reason. And she wrote it down and still uses it to keep her on track for what she’s doing now. It’s a historic artifact now...

Biggest challenge facing small business?

Perception. The perception of the economy and its impact on your business.

2 tips from Jay Ehret, of The Marketing Spot:

1. Now’s the time to strengthen your personal relationship with your customers.
2. Find the gap. Find the need that’s not being met.

Becky’s Tips:

1. Continue to learn. Set aside 30 minutes a day to learn to be a better business person.
2. Stay in touch with your local community. Give in your local community. 
3. Network with other small businesses.
4. Support your local newspaper. It’s the communication hub of your town.

Next week, I hope to post my notes from the 2nd half.

 

BlogTalk Radio Guest: Kirsten Haglund: Miss America, 2008

Join me at 9:30 AM, Central, as Kirsten Haglund,  Miss America - 2008, talks about some of her accomplishments during her reign this year, how she's using her term to promote health and wellness among communities, families and especially teens. And what she plans to do after January, 2009. You'll see that I've added this post under the category of healthcare resources.

www.blogtalkradio.com/zane-safrit is the link to listen live or later in streming mode. 

You can use that link to listen in streaming mode to any of the guests on my previous shows. The last two guests were:

* Becky McCray who, among many successes, blogs at SmallBiz Survival, a Top 100 Business Blog.

* Michelle Miller who, among many successes, blogs at WonderBranding.

Healthcare Solutions: Think Big

From Ezekiel Emanuel's post, Think Big, at Health Care Watch:

1) “Make no little plans.  They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.”  So said Daniel Burnham, the architect and urban planner (and fellow Chicagoan).

In health care, big plans are necessary not only to motivate people but as a matter of sound policy. The health care system is broken. It is not enough to just add more people to a broken system. Health care reform must reorganize the system to deliver higher quality care while keeping costs under control. Incremental change that just covers more people will not be sustainable.

I'm with Mr. Emanuel. Incremental change has its place, most notably in building, in innovating from scratch, in small companies, in generating revenues from new products based on incremental change and doing so with a limited budget.

But...that's not the state of our health care system. It's broken and incrementally increasing the numbers of those punished by the terms of this system...only provides the illusion of a solution, for perhaps political gain, merely delaying the inevitable buildup of pressure for systemic change.

Think Big.

Medicare coverage with unemployment benefits.

Consider this:   

How about making sure these families – these hard-working, good Americans – losing their jobs in this downturn and who qualify for unemployment benefits also know that the instant they are approved for those benefits they will also be eligible for Medicare coverage? Emergency healthcare benefits along with the small weekly unemployment checks might keep some families afloat through the months ahead rather than forcing them to either pay huge COBRA benefits (often $1,000/month or more for a family) or go bare for medical coverage.  Why not start now to really put our money into shoring up some people who through no fault of their own are being raped by this downturn so fueled by the powerful who didn’t care one lick about “Main Street?” 

What do you think? Besides extending unemployment insurance, what if we extend medicare coverage to those...who through no fault of their own are losing their jobs and their health insurance and their ability to pay for their healthcare, as well as food and their mortgages.

From  Guaranteed Healthcare

Our healthcare needs: Bail us out

    Looking at the way the government is doling out money these days, I have a proposal to help improve people's health and our system of care. What if the government gave each person $365 of their tax money back to be spent on primary health care?    

    The attraction for the doctor would be no billing hassles, no massive insurance coding system, no extensive overhead, and no bogus pay-for-performance schemes that cost more than they save. The infusion of money would also bolster primary care and might make it more attractive to new doctors over the long haul.

    For primary care doctors, a $1 per patient per day would make for reasonable income from a smaller group of patients than most of see now. Patients would get more time with their doctor when they need it. There would be fewer office visits just so the doctor can get paid for giving advice. - WSJ

It's interesting to read this solution for primary care, where on my earlier post today, experts are discussing the data that confirms our experience as patients that primary care is in crisis. One of the big issues they discuss is the 30 15-minute visits they need to deliver each day. (15% of patients leave the doctor's office not knowing what happened.)

Now, how do you deliver quality preventive healthcare when you have 15 minutes to spend diagnosing, developing a relationship, scheduling regular tests, etc.

Now, here's one way to create a system of income that will allow a doctor to generate the income to make the career attractive, pay off their school loans, staff an office and allow time to invest in your patient's healthcare needs. It's one way.

What do you think?

Redesigning Primary Care

You don't need to be a primary care physician to know there's a crisis in primary care...

Too much to do. Too many patients, too many demands...

These problems are exacerbated by a compensation system that... rewards you for not doing what matters most.

In a roundtable discussion moderated by Dr. Thomas Lee, four experts in primary care and related policy — Drs. Thomas Bodenheimer, Allan Goroll, Barbara Starfield, and Katharine Treadway — explore the crisis, as well as possible solutions for training,practice, compensation, and systemic change.

It's worth watching this video on Redesigning Primary Care to better understand why primary care is in a crisis.

Alvin Lee, Ten Years After: Woodstock, Going Home...by Helicopter

By the time he played this song it might have had more significance for the audience, than just a phenomenal performance.

Generation YouTube likes it, too. 1.5+ million have watched this video. That's more than at Woodstock. Kids, and grandkids....one of the commenters did note the last 10 seconds were missing where he picks up a watermelon and walks off the stage. Perfect. You see an audience member offer it up right at the end.

Enjoy it. Turn it up real loud. The lyrics are simple. The licks....yessss. Check your pulse if you're not yelling with him by the end.