Lightspeed - it s a history lesson

OK I figured out the deal with the speed of light. That is, why the speed of light is so slowwwww.

It is slow so we can look back in time and see how the cosmos has evolved. That's it - the reason for the slow lightspeed is that it is a history lesson. Without light being the limit, we couldn't figure out cosmology.

It is a great, yet subtle, design - yes I said design. That sez to me that going forward, the speed of light doesn't have to be the barrier to travel arouund the universe that it would seem. Whoever designed the history lesson would also design a way to move around this great wonderful place - we just need to figure it out.

Personal government choice

How would you like to live your dream right here in the good ol USA? You say you can't live your dream because those tax wasting, big government liberals are taking all your money or that the arrogant uber-rich conservatives are killing the middle class. Now you can have it the way you like.

That's right, I'm introducing the cafeteria plan for governmennts. You get to choose how you live here and how much government you want to pay for. Other people make their choice the way they like and live like that. Let's see some examples:

Joe is a Libertarian, he hates government meddling and just wants to do what he wants. He pays low taxes, gets no services, and pays for everything himself. If he drives to work, he pays for the road he drives on, the sidewalk he walks on and if there is a legal suit he pays part of the judge's and bailiff's salaries. If Joe gets sick, he pays directly for the services he needs and not for anyone else. He knows how much stuff will cost and can act in his own best interest. If Joe can't pay for something like a cancer removal, he keeps the cancer until he can pay.

Jake on the other hand is a Progressive. He wants government to give him services and he pays for them. His taxes are high but he doesn't have to deal with constantly paying for little things like fees for driving, using the parks etc. If jake gets sick, his taxes have paid for his treatment and he doesn't have to worry.

If Joe and Jake are mugged, there is quite a difference -

Joe has to pay for the police to handle his case, Jake is covered by the taxes he pays.
Joe has to pay his medical expenses, if the perp is caught, Joe can pay to have him tried and might be able to collect damages; Jake's medical expenses are covered and the courts take care of the criminal.

So pick where you are on the scale from extreme right to extreme left, then pick your plan. Sign up for 3 years to see how it works for you. At the end of the 3 years you can stay where you were or pick some other plan.

Tricks about LEDs

I recently learned two tricks about LEDs

Trick 1 - Ifr you put current through an LED you get light. What happens if you put light into an LED? Yup, you get current so an LED is also a photodetector. It's pobably not very efficient but if you are looking for a cheap detector an LED might work. You really want to measure voltage since the current won't be very large. My limited experiments show that green LEDs deliver the most voltage (about twice what a red LED will do). the actual voltage depends on the light intensity as well as the specific LED so play around.

Trick 2 - I was working on a broken shaft encoder which used an infrared LED and photodiodes. We wondered if the IR LED was working or not but couldn't tell because our eyes don't see IR. Another guy at the lab wandered past and noted that our phone cameras COULD see IR and sure enough they do detect it and make it visible! Again, some cameras filter IR more than others.

The Three (Interfaith) Amigos

I went to a talk by the Interfaith Amigos who are from the Seattle area. I heard them on KUOW talking about their book and thought seeing them in person would be interesting.

It was great to see representatives of the 3 Abrahamic traditions standing together talking cordially about their faiths and how understanding other's faith helped them deepen their own. They were comfortable enough to learn from other traditions and not be intimidated or defensive.

Their message resonated with me - that God reaches out to people in many ways and whatever works to bring you closer to God and to being a fulfilled human is the best faith for you. A mature faith realizes that what is best for you may not be best for the next person.

In America, our political culture seems so confrontational. It is easy to react with fear to people who are not like 'us' in the way they look or the way they worship. I hope this message that we are worshipping the same God but in different ways is spread.

The Amigos -Rabbi Ted Falcon, Sheikh Jamal Rahman, Pastor Don Mackenzie

Their book -

Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-opening, Hope-filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi and a Sheikh, by the Interfaith Amigos

How leaky is Washington Enhanced Driver License?

I got one of the sleeves that is designed to prevent unauthorized reading of the RFID information in a Washington State EDL. I didn't have an actual EDL or reader so I used my building's physical access card and reader which are also a form of RFID. I tested various materials that might shield the card and impair reading the data.

Basically I held a ruler perpendicular to the reader and slid the card and any shielding along until the reader unlocked the door. I repeated this twice for each setup and got the same reading each time. Here is the data:

Distance Description
(millimeters)

146 Raw card, no shielding
62 Card inside EDL sleeve
146 Card inside mylar anti-static envelope
146 Card inside pink (anti-static) bubblewrap envelope
46 Card wrapped in one layer of aluminum foil
22 Card wrapped in two layers of aluminum foil
52 Card with a single sheet of aluminum foil shielding card (not wrapped)
17 Card inside EDL sleeve, then wrapped in two layers aluminum foil

So you can see that the sleeve does make some difference but means an attacker would need to be closer or have a better antenna. I think I will put any EDL or passport I own inside the official sleeve and THEN wrap two layers of aluminum foil over that.

Caveats: this test might not be as accurate as a real test with a real EDL and reader but it shows relative effectiveness.

Since posting this I found out some more info:

Typical building access cards (prox cards) usually run at 125 kHz, The EDL seems to operate at 13.5 Mhz and now it is quite common to operate RFID in the hundreds of MHz.

For some real science about RFID in passports and Enhanced Driver Licenses, check out the paper at www.rsa.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=3557

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK

`We decided to get rid of some of the giant trees in our backyard because they had doubled in size since we bought our home and the needles were killing the grass. Grass should not be crunchy when walk over it.

We got quotes from professional tree folks but Matt and Andrew said they could do the job. We laughed, end of story. Or so I thought.

Then one day I get home from work and Matt has chopped most of the branches off this one tree and he had topped it. Apparently he didn't understand what NO means.


For heavy branches, Matt developed the technique of tying a rope out on the limb he would cut AND tying the same rope on the inside of where he would cut. When he cut the branch the limb would fall but the second knot would stop its fall. Sorry I don't have pictures but I was helping make sure the branches didn't crash.

Here he is cutting a chunk from the trunk. He cuts from the back, then the front, and then just topples the chunk where it lands on the branches acting as padding. 80 pounds * 40 feet is a lot of kinetic energy - you don't want to be under it.


The whole thing took 3 days - 2 days longer than Matt thought but it was very satisfying to have it done. Now all Connie, Andrew and Mark have left to do is cleanup the branches and trunk (20 " diameter!) pieces.

Here is a picture of a cut close to the bottom of the tree. the tree rings are 3/8 - 1/2 inch meaning the tree got wider about an inch a year!
We hope you enjoy this, Ree!




And here is the mighty woodsman! Note the carnage and how the tree is under his feet! Did all that with that little saw, did we?








Whoops! THIS is the brave lumberjack!

Healthcare alternatives

Last night I was thinking of a tiered plan - probably has tons of problems but what plan doesn't?

Here's a 3 tier plan:

Everyone, without exception gets Basic Healthcare for free - and this
has to be as limited as we can - basically preventative medicine and basic care that is cheap at a doctor's office but very expensive at an emergency room. Stuff like prenatal care, colds, flu, TB, possible pandemic stuff we want to keep from spreading, broken bones. Etc.

Then a second tier of healthcare where private plans and the government compete - MRIs, new livers, etc. Not elective but not basic care. Plans could compete on price and coverage.

Tier 3 would be elective stuff - no government plan at this level.

Also one thing that hasn't gotten much coverage - if we insure 47
million more people, we're gonna need more doctors and nurses, clinics, supplies. We'll need to train more people but this is also a boon to employment and
manufacturing.