An argument can be made that Robert Caro – author of The Power Broker and the four volume The Years of Lyndon Johnson – is the greatest biographer, if not greatest writer of nonfiction, of the past century. The Power Broker celebrated its 50^th anniversary in print in 2024, including a special exhibit at the New York Historical Society (if you hurry, you can still visit. The exhibit closes the first week in August. It’s well worth the trip.). Meanwhile, the literary world eagerly (and somewhat nervously) awaits the fifth and final volume of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, which the 89-year-old Caro is still writing and for which he has not yet announced a release date.

There are many aspects of Caro’s writing that elevate him to the pantheon of “great”: his turn-every-page style of investigative journalism, the type of immense dedication to understanding his subjects that he willingly moves from NYC to the Hill Country of Texas to better comprehend the environment around LBJ’s formative childhood years. But for me, the reason I read anything Caro writes is his ability to make even the most mundane topics fascinating.

The Power Broker is a 1,300-page tome (and only limited to 1,300 pages because that was the maximum number of pages that could be bound in a single volume) about early-20^th century urban planning in NYC and the man who made it all happen (Robert Moses). It’s riveting and reads like a novel.

The Path to Power, the first volume of the LBJ series, opens with a lengthy overview of the Texas Hill Country landscape, including three pages dedicated solely to describing the wild grasses of the region. It’s captivating and sets the tone for the entire series.

Today we are releasing the mostly complete agenda for CMEpalooza Fall 2025 (Wednesday, October 22.) As usual, we have designed CMEpalooza with the same spiritual essence as a Robert Caro book: to be both informative and entertaining. Our goal is to take topics that, while important, can also be a bit dry if not presented appropriately and turn them into and enjoyable educational experiences for everyone.

You will see some of the standard topics on the agenda – accreditation standards, grant review, outcomes assessment, etc. – though all with a unique ‘Palooza spin. But you will also see some newer topics that we are featuring for the first time, such as social listening and utilizing circadian rhythm science in educational event planning. We’re happy with the blend of sessions and hope you will be too. And if you’re not, blame Scott.

We still have some pending information for a couple of the sessions and will be making updates over the next few weeks. For now, take a few minutes to peruse the agenda, block off your calendar for Wednesday, October 22, and enjoy the remaining weeks of summer!

Click here for the CMEpalooza Fall 2025 agenda!

It has been brought to my attention that my most recent blog entry, which I posted last Friday, was perhaps ill-timed considering that it was both a Friday and a national holiday. I acknowledge that the number of people excited to spend a portion of their day off reading a CMEpalooza-centric Declaration of Independence parody is likely minimal. However, I would argue that if one were to write a CMEpalooza-centric Declaration of Independence parody, the only day it should be posted is July 4. I regret nothing.

Furthermore, it has also been brought to my attention that there has been disagreement, if not outright disapproval, with some of the “additional” self-evident truths included at the end of the post. Apparently, there are some who believe that pineapple should be on pizza. There are some who think that David Lee Roth leaving Van Halen was not the nadir of civil society. There are even some who prefer more jelly than peanut butter on their PB&J. Heathens all. Once again, I regret nothing. In fact, here are a few more truths we hold to be self-evident, even though they have little to do with CMEpalooza:

• That dark chocolate is the best chocolate and white chocolate should be permanently banned
• That every college dorm room in the U.S. in the fall of 1991 was required to contain at least one (1) copy of Pearl Jam’s album Ten
• That the Wicked Witch of the West from the original Wizard of Oz still scares the everloving crap out of us
• That Frank Sinatra was the coolest
• That Charles in Charge was the worst show with the best theme song (note from Scott: I usually just shake my heads when Derek makes bold proclamations like this, but I must interject here, especially since Derek will soon lambast a different cast change. Charles in Charge actually dumped basically 75% of the cast after its first failed season since the original family was awful, with a very circumspect explanation of why a new family in the same house also needed a ‘manny.’ The second cast was much, much better and many episodes were entertaining. It was certainly a better show than Saved by the Bell, among others).
• That Fruit Stripe was the best gum with the shortest flavor life
• That if you were born in 1970, you were closer in time to the end of WWI (1918) than you were to today’s date
• That, after season 3 of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, they swapped out one Aunt Viv for another Aunt Viv and tried to act like nothing happened, but we noticed. We noticed.
• That Dumb & Dumber was robbed of a Best Picture award in the 1994 Academy Awards
• That Prince’s performance at the 2007 Super Bowl was, is, and forever will be the greatest halftime show ever

Also, I updated the CMEpalooza archive with all the sessions from CMEpalooza Spring 2025. Whoopee.

 

 

 

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for two people to create an alternative means for educating individuals employed in the arena of continuous medical and healthcare education, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the creation of the palooza of CME.

We hold these three core CMEpalooza truths to be self-evident:

• That effective education should be fun
• That effective education should be easy to access
• That effective education should be free

We also hold these two coming soon CMEpalooza truths to be self-evident:

• That the CMEpalooza Fall agenda will be announced soon, hopefully by mid-July
• That we will update the CMEpalooza archive soon, hopefully before the CMEpalooza Fall agenda is announced

Lastly, we hold these next truths to be self-evident, even though they have little to do with CMEpalooza, but are equally important:

• That pineapple should not be on pizza
• That Han shot first
• That Coy and Vance Duke replacing Bo and Luke for season 5 of The Dukes of Hazzard in 1982 was an abomination that we will never speak of again
• That things have never been the same since David Lee Roth left Van Halen
• That the silver in the Dallas Cowboys helmets does not match the silver in their uniform pants
• That peanut butter should be the dominant ingredient in a PB&J
• That Pulp Fiction was robbed of a Best Picture award in the 1995 Academy Awards
• That Joan Jett did indeed love rock & roll
• That single malt Scotch should be served neat
• That Andie should have chosen Duckie over Blane
• That saying “go birds” as a response to anything and everything is still awesome