Apr
11
2007

URLs du Jour

2007-04-11

  • At American.com (whatta great name for a website), Jim Harper offers a short primer on what's wrong with the REAL ID Act and advocates replacement with flexible, creative, free-market innovation, currently stifled by government.
    There is an alternative to the REAL ID Act and the national ID on our near horizon. It's identification systems and credentials that are high in quality, easy to use, and privacy protective. This idea isn't just a feel-good. These systems will be huge enablers of secure but private commerce. Identification and credentialing is a multi-billion dollar market if governments can be made to relinquish control of it.
    The bill to opt New Hampshire out of REAL ID has been passed by the House and will be going before the Senate. The good folks at New Hampshire Liberty Alliance will be happy to point any NHites to your Senator, if you'd like to pester him or her either way on the issue.

  • Paul Hsieh of GeekPress rarely ventures into the political realm, preferring to provide pointers to All Things Geeky. But, in real life, he's a doctor in Denver, and he's concerned about efforts to "reform" the health care "system" in Colorado. And today, he posts an open letter to his fellow physicians.
    I completely oppose any form of socialized medicine, regardless of whether it is called "single payer", "mandatory universal coverage", or anything else, because I believe it would be bad for both patients and doctors. Years of experience in the US and other countries have shown that these programs will hurt patients and cause unnecessary patient deaths. As costs inevitably spiral upward, bureaucrats will ration medical services. Eventually, physicians will be forced to practice against their best medical judgment. This is a violation of the fundamental rights of both doctors and patients.
    ("Other than that, though, it's fine!") Paul provides well-reasoned arguments and a host of links to further information. Well worth checking out for those interested in the topic.

  • However, geekiness is never hard to find on the Web, even when Paul Hsieh takes a break. For mathematically-literate geeks only: Bob Palias argues that the traditional value of π was a poor choice; the quantity 2π is actually more fundamental, and makes classic equations more beautiful.

    He may be right, but there's a constituency who would vociferously object: the thousands of geeks who have memorized π to a large number of decimal places to impress … uh, themselves, mostly. (Via Poor&Stupid.)


Last Modified 2007-04-18 3:48 PM EDT