EMR AIeee!

Epic Systems is doing something Microsoft has done in the past, by putting product development on hold for a security review.

“Ultimately they need to get ready to patch, patch, patch,” he said. “As soon as they think they are patching fast enough, they need to patch faster.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/business/ai-epic-health-records-privacy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1E.cvua.p5Dc8t7-w2a4&smid=url-share

I’m laughing, because rushed patches inevitably result in needing to patch the patches. This is a drill that’s been played out so very many times before. New features always open the potential for new security vulnerabilities.

What confounds me, after these many decades, is the endless cat-and-mouse game between corporations and hackers. Code that wasn’t rushed out the door seems no more secure than the rush jobs. Despite going through multiple staff meetings, peer reviews and security checks, vulnerabilities in software are discovered and exploited by outsiders.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t merely a new, possibly risky, feature being added to an existing, widely-used system. AI is a fundamental change in the way software is generated, content is presented, and how people interact online.

Wanting Wired Isn’t Weird

The Sony wired USB-C earphone I’ve pointed out before is currently $28 on Amazon. Occasionally, it can be had for much less. Who really needs noise-cancelling, anyway?

Lucky $13

I have multiple battery-powered Bluetooth speakers in the house, but I say no to headphones with batteries. Bose has decided there’s enough demand for wired earphones to justify introducing a battery-free USB-C model. Being Bose, it comes with noise-cancelling.

https://audioxpress.com/news/bose-unveils-usb-c-powered-noise-cancelling-wired-earbuds

Bose Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds, $100

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/bose-noise-cancelling-usb-c-wired-earbuds-with-in-line-microphone-and-remote-black/J7C5V6WWZW

Sun-Baked Airwaves

The 9th anniversary of my father’s death is coming up. It had been my intention to buy my parents’ house in Sun City West, Arizona.

One of my (four) sisters, a retired nurse, lives around the corner. She moved there with her husband to care for our ailing mother.

The expectation had been that Mom had a few years to go, but fate was working from a different timetable, and she lasted only a few more months. Dad had another twelve years left in him.

Buying the Arizona house would have required agreeing on a fair market value with my five siblings and paying them for their shares of the property. I didn’t buy the house, but money wasn’t the problem. In fact, it sold for $15,000 less than the figure I was proposing.

There was no single reason why I decided to drop the idea of becoming a “snow bird,” flying from Boston to Phoenix for the winter. The long flight time between Boston and Phoenix was a consideration. Another was the regional popularity of Donald Trump, who was in his first term.

The tie-breaker was melanoma being diagnosed in my scalp. The dermatologist who did the (very significant) cutting suggested that I wasn’t a good candidate for regular exposure to the Arizona sun.

A couple of years later, when Covid hit, I was greatly relieved not having to worry about a second home 2,000 miles away. However, I still ponder what might have been.

Sun City West is an ideal location for running (after the sun sets), with countless, perfectly flat, street routes to map out. Something I certainly would have been interested in doing is joining the retirement community’s radio station, KSCW.

streamdb6web.securenetsystems.net/cirrusencore/KSCW