Off-topic: Today's (January 7, 2009) edition of the Christian Science Monitor has published my latest OpEd on health care entitled, "Universal healthcare and the waistline police".

My theme is that adopting government-run universal healthcare will lead to a "nanny state on steroids" deeply antithetical to core American principles of individual freedom and responsibility.

Here is the opening section:

Universal healthcare and the waistline police

Imagine a country where the government regularly checks the waistlines of citizens over age 40. Anyone deemed too fat would be required to undergo diet counseling. Those who fail to lose sufficient weight could face further "reeducation" and their communities subject to stiff fines.

Is this some nightmarish dystopia?

No, this is contemporary Japan.

The Japanese government argues that it must regulate citizens' lifestyles because it is paying their health costs. This highlights one of the greatly underappreciated dangers of "universal healthcare." Any government that attempts to guarantee healthcare must also control its costs. The inevitable next step will be to seek to control citizens' health and their behavior. Hence, Americans should beware that if we adopt universal healthcare, we also risk creating a "nanny state on steroids" antithetical to core American principles...

Read the rest here.

"Who Checks the Spell-Checkers? Microsoft Word's dictionary is old and outdated. Here's how to fix it." (Via ALDaily.)

"Why Saturn's rings are so sharp"

"If You Dropped a Corn Kernel From Space, Would it Pop During Re-Entry?" (Via Instapundit.)

Common writing mistakes. (Via Volokh Conspiracy.)

Recently-fired Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan explains what he'll do with his time off:

...Shanahan told the NFL Network in an interview that aired Sunday that if he does take a year off from coaching, he'll take computer courses and spend some time learning how to send e-mails and text messages.

And apparently rejoining the 21st century...

Must... resist... new Macbook Wheel.

Michael Hanlon has written a detailed first-hand description of parabolic flight and weightlessness. (Via Rand Simberg.)

"The Finer Points of Finding Free Images".

Moore's Law photo gallery.

"Toshiba Introducing 512GB Solid State Drive". (Via Brian Schwartz.)

"Is Yellowstone Park sitting on a supervolcano that's about to blow?"

"The Top 500 Worst Passwords of All Time":

To give you some insight into how predictable humans are, the following is a list of the 500 most common passwords. If you see your password on this list, please change it immediately. Keep in mind that every password listed here has been used by at least hundreds if not thousands of other people...

Don't blame me for the offensive words; you were the ones who picked these, not me.

(Via BBspot.)

Admin note: Because of the holiday, GeekPress will take a long weekend off. Regular posting will resume on Monday, January 5, 2009.

Happy New Year!

"73.4 Percent of All Wikipedia Edits Are Made By Roughly 1,400 People".

Don't forget the Leap Second tonight.

Japanese vs. Western web design.

Winning friends in Afghanistan with Viagra:

...Such was the case with the 60-year-old chieftain who received the four pills from a U.S. operative. According to the retired operative who was there, the man was a clan leader in southern Afghanistan who had been wary of Americans -- neither supportive nor actively opposed. The man had extensive knowledge of the region and his village controlled key passages through the area. U.S. forces needed his cooperation and worked hard to win it, the retired operative said.

After a long conversation through an interpreter, the retired operator began to probe for ways to win the man's loyalty. A discussion of the man's family and many wives provided inspiration. Once it was established that the man was in good health, the pills were offered and accepted.

Four days later, when the Americans returned, the gift had worked its magic, the operative recalled.

"He came up to us beaming," the official said. "He said, 'You are a great man.' "

"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."

"Carrying Gunpowder through Airport Security".

As long as it's in clear 3-oz plastic bags, it must be ok. (Via Bruce Schneier.)

Sudoku and optimization algorithms.

Awesome archive of historical photographs via Life magazine and Google. (Via Michael Williams.)

"Is anybody in charge of keeping satellites from colliding?"

MacGyver multitool. (Via BBspot.)

Vanity license plates that slipped past the DMV. (Via Radley Balko.)

The British Royal Navy has chosen to use Windows XP as the operating system for its nuclear submarine fleet. In contrast, the US Navy uses Linux.

(I wonder if the the little "clippy" assistant asks, "It looks like you're trying to launch a missile...")

Admin note: Due to the holiday, GeekPress will be on hiatus the rest of the week. Regular posting will on resume Monday, December 29. Merry Christmas!

Do you have a privacy right to numbers stored on your cell phone?

Another clever speed camera hack.

Turn cheap "plonk" into a fine vintage by exposing it to an electric field.

"Anti-Anti-Missile Missiles".

Dark energy is either nonexistent or it makes up 3/4-th of the universe.

Eric Raymond's musings on Schroedinger's Cat and asking the right questions.

"Interactive fly-through of Mount St. Helens". You can control the video with your computer mouse. (Via JRW.)

Behind the scenes at Underwriters Laboratories.

This is a classic free market success story of a private safety certification organization filling an important consumer demand.

"Two U.S. scientists have created a step-by-step guide on how to build a supercomputer using multiple PlayStation 3 video-game consoles."

Here's the guide. (Via IPList.)

"Fancy underground robot bike parking in Tokyo". (Via Instapundit.)

"Students in Montgomery County, Maryland use fake license plates to send speed camera tickets to enemies":

High school students in Maryland are using speed cameras as a tool to fine innocent drivers in a game, according to the Montgomery County Sentinel newspaper. Because photo enforcement devices will automatically mail out a ticket to any registered vehicle owner based solely on a photograph of a license plate, any driver could receive a ticket if someone else creates a duplicate of his license plate and drives quickly past a speed camera. The private companies that mail out the tickets often do not bother to verify whether vehicle registration information for the accused vehicle matches the photographed vehicle.

...A speed camera is located out in front of Wootton High School, providing a convenient location for generating the false tickets. Instead of purchasing license plates, students have ready access to laser printers that can create duplicate license plates using glossy paper using readily available fonts. For example, the state name of "Maryland" appears on plates in a font similar to Garamond Number 5 Swash Italic. Once the camera flashes, the driver can quickly pull over and remove the fake paper plate. The victim will receive a $40 ticket in the mail weeks later.

These speed cameras are an technological implementation of the flawed principle of "guilty until proven innocent". These sorts of "pranks" are a predictable consequence of this bad approach to enforcing the law.

(Via IP List.)