Chad's News

Health reform is now law in the United States, but it’s a far cry from the government-run healthcare that exists in the United Kingdom and Canada. It boils down to this:

• Private insurance companies are restricted in their ability to discontinue or deny care.
• Employers must offer health insurance.
• Medicare and Medicaid are expanded.
• Everyone is required to have health insurance.
• Taxes are increased.

Link #1: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/…

Link #2: http://www.salon.com/…

Barbie has certainly come a long way since her inception in 1959.

Link #1: http://www.engadget.com/…

Link #2: http://shop.mattel.com/…

When falling great distances, the primary survival mechanism is luck. But don’t forget to clench your butt.

Link: http://www.origin.popularmechanics.com/…
(via Digg)

In Internet-speak, a proxy is a server that takes your request, sends it to a destination server as if it were coming from the proxy itself, and then sends the response back to you. It acts as a proxy in much the same way that you can use a lawyer as an intermediary or designate someone else to cast your vote at a stockholder meeting. Internet proxies can be used for a variety of purposes, one of which is anonymous browsing.

An anonymous proxy keeps no permanent record of which users have connected to which websites. And since the page request comes from the proxy itself, there is no easy way to track who is actually making the request. (In reality the use of multiple, chained proxies is recommended.) This anonymity is quite beneficial for whistle blowers and victims of political oppression, as well as the privacy- and security-conscious. But it also works for organized crime, terrorists, and other criminals.

Another popular use of proxies (not necessarily anonymous ones) is to circumvent corporate/government filters. The destination website may be blocked, but the proxy server is not—thus allowing the user to view prohibited websites.

Here are additional resources:

• Anonymouse.org and the associated Firefox add-on
• Anonymous Internet Surfing HOWTO
• Public CGI (Web, PHP) anonymous proxy free list
• Tor (warning: Tor is not secure, and don’t even think about hosting a Tor node)

Thanks to Josh for this topic and the links.

At last January’s Consumer Electronics Show, consumer 3D television technology was a major presence. Expect to see actual products for sale later this year.

The good news is that the various industry players appear to be standardizing on active shutter glasses. The secret of 3D technology is that a slightly different picture is presented to each eye. Carefully crafted images can thus fool the brain into perceiving depth. With the old red and blue glasses, pictures for one eye were in red and the other in blue. The red lens would only be able to see the blue picture, and the blue lens would only be able to see the red picture. Thus each eye saw different images. The newer 3D systems in theaters use polarization. Two slightly different “movies” are displayed at the same time. The movie for one eye is polarized a certain way, and the movie for the other eye is polarized at (I assume) 90 degrees to the first. The glasses contain polarized lens that only allow the appropriate movie to be seen by the correct eye, thus showing a different movie to each eye. With active shutter glasses, rather than projecting both movies at the same time, the television quickly alternates between the movie for each eye, first showing the frame for the left eye, then the frame for the right, and so on. The glasses alternate at the same frequency, first leaving the left eye transparent and the right eye opaque, then vice-versa. This happens quickly enough that we don’t consciously notice the change. But the brain does, and it perceives the movie as being in 3D.

To actually watch a 3D movie at home, you’ll need a compatible television. Expect satellite and cable TV companies to start broadcasting some channels in 3D, but I believe the primary use will be with Blu-ray. For this, you’ll need a player that supports both HDMI 1.4 High Speed HDMI and the new Blu-ray 3D spec. The Sony PS3, of course, will upgrade with no problem. But for those of you encumbered with an “old” Blu-ray player, time to junk it and buy a newer model (or at least check and see if it’s possible to update the firmware).

I personally dislike 3D movies because putting the glasses over my prescription frames is awkward and annoying. But if active shutter technology becomes ubiquitous, then perhaps opticians will start offering prescription versions, like they currently do with sunglasses, ski goggles, and dive masks.

June 12^th is the US government’s official cutoff date for wireless microphones that transmit in the 700MHz band. Turns out that these microphones, employed by quite a few churches, schools, and sporting venues, have been “squatting” in the upper regions of the UHF television spectrum (specifically channels 52 through 69). As part of the whole DTV transition, those channels are no longer being used for broadcast television, and rights to that part of the spectrum have been sold to various telecom companies. Starting June 12^th it will be illegal to use the old microphones, forcing many organizations to purchase new equipment.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

Scurvy is a potentially fatal illness caused by a lack of vitamin C. Historically it was a problem for sailors, who went out to sea for long periods on a restricted diet. The cure (eating citrus fruit, fresh meat, etc.) has been known since at least the 15th century, but in a tragic comedy of errors this fact was repeatedly forgotten, misapplied, or misunderstood. It wasn’t until 1932 that vitamin C was identified and definitively shown to be the “cure” for scurvy. The linked article explains the long history, with special emphasis on Robert Falcon Scott’s disastrous Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole.

Link: http://idlewords.com/…
(via Neatorama)

With 3D movies becoming all the rage, Slate takes a look at the difficulties inherent in converting an older 2D movie into 3D. Unfortunately the viewing experience is not as good as native 3D, especially if they do a sloppy job. Also, since it costs more to film in 3D than to convert from 2D, we may see upcoming films doing the conversion anyway.

Link: http://www.slate.com/…
(via Neatorama)

Starting this year US pennies have a new design on the back, with a shield instead of the Lincoln Memorial. The previous time it changed was back in 1959. And based on what happened with the old wheat pennies, it wouldn’t hurt to save a few hundred dollars worth of the memorial pennies as a long-term investment.

Link: http://www.usmint.gov/…
(via The Consumerist)

The linked article has the winners of the National Wildlife Federation’s 2009 photo contest. The eagle about to catch the starling is a pretty amazing picture.

Link: http://www.nwf.org/…
(via Neatorama)

From the article: “A paper in the current issue of Science discusses the ability of a single-celled creature to create a robust network while foraging for food—one that mimicked the Tokyo rail system in complexity.”

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

I was pleasantly surprised to learn of a new tax credit of up to $400 ($800 for married filing jointly). It’s called “Making Work Pay,” and pretty much everyone is eligible. The thing about this credit is that it’s easy to miss—you have to claim it on the main tax form and fill out Schedule M. And keep in mind that this is a tax credit, not a deduction. You calculate the amount you owe and then subtract $400.

Link: http://taxes.about.com/…