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AS e-mail and texting have become our favored means of written communication, handwriting has almost disappeared. Penmanship is becoming a modern form of hieroglyphics, intelligible only to literary scholars. But one place where handwriting persists is on medical prescriptions, and that's unfortunate. Sloppy writing or inappropriate directions can lead to what doctors delicately refer to as preventable A.D.E.'s, or adverse drug events. These can encompass minor but still avoidable problems, like rashes or diarrhea, and much more serious events like, well, death.

"Today, Wi-Fi is nearly everywhere in Estonia-- you could walk 100 miles and always have an Internet connection-- and it is free. In 2011, 94% of taxes were done online-- usually within five minutes. Cabinet meetings are paperless. Prescriptions are issued electronically. In the larger cities, you can pay for bus tickets and parking by texting-- you can even text for your beer in some establishments. You can sign legal documents from your smart phone. You can vote from your laptop. President Toomas Ilves voted in the last election, presumably for himself, while he was visiting Macedonia. Ninety-nine percent of bank transactions are online. It is possible to start a business in a few hours by logging onto a government web site and filling out a form."