Category: Geek stuff

If it involves physics, math, computer science, electronics or has general geek cachet, this is the place for it.

On smallpox

In 1977, smallpox was eradicated as the result of a massive global effort. Rather than completely eliminate the virus, it was decided that the United States and Russia would each keep a sample. Part of the reasoning for this is that pox viruses are common in the animal world, and could potentially jump between species. Having samples of human smallpox could be useful, in the event that such a thing occurred.

Unfortunately – and rather threateningly – the Russian smallpox sample didn’t sit idly in a freezer. Smallpox is a highly contagious, highly lethal disease and yet Biopreparat, the Soviet Union’s biological weapons agency, made some twenty tonnes of the stuff, tested it on animals, and developed mechanisms to use it as a weapon, including delivery via warheads on intercontinental missiles. This was done at the State Research Institute of Virology and Biotechnology (also called Vector), outside the city of Novosibirsk, in Siberia, as well as at a more secret facility in Sergiyev Posad. It was also tested on Vozrozhdeniya Island. The Soviets made so much that it couldn’t all be accounted for. Quite possibly, some found its way into biological weapons programs in other states, such as China, India, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Cuba, and Serbia.

Whereas human beings once had two major forms of protection from smallpox – immunity resulting from exposure to the virus, and vaccination campaigns – the former is now absent and the latter defunct and potentially difficult to restore. A single case, perhaps arising from some accident, could directly infect hundreds of people and kick off an escalating series of waves of infection, spaced fourteen days apart, as people go through the incubation period and become infectious. Such a global outbreak could kill a massive number of people.

The idea of an accidental release is not fanciful. In 1978, medical photographer Janet Parker became one of the two last people to contract smallpox, working in the anatomy department of the University of Birmingham Medical School. It seems entirely plausible that accidental exposure could occur at some shady biological weapon lab in Cuba, Pakstan, or North Korea.

If anything like that ever happens, people may end up looking on the decision not to stick to just one frozen sample of smallpox as the worst thing the Soviet Union ever did. Hopefully, all the concern and money expended on security since 2001 has at least left the world in a better position to launch a mass vaccination campaign, should the need ever arise.

Our imperfect memories

Slate has produced a good series highlighting the limitations of human memory, particularly how easily it can be manipulated and people can be made to remember things that never took place.

The imperfect nature of human memory has important consequences, including in situations like criminal proceedings and psychotherapy. It is also discussed in this Paul Bloom lecture:

It turns out that the same sort of experiments and the same sort of research has been done with considerable success in implanting false memories in adults. There are dramatic cases of people remembering terrible crimes and confessing to them when actually, they didn’t commit them. And this is not because they are lying. It’s not even because they’re, in some obvious sense, deranged or schizophrenic or delusional. Rather, they have persuaded themselves, or more often been persuaded by others, that these things have actually happened.

Psychologists have studied in the laboratory how one could do this, how one can implant memories in other people. And some things are sort of standard. Suppose I was to tell you a story about a trip I took to the dentist or a visit I took to–or a time when I ate out at a restaurant and I’m to omit certain details. I omit the fact that I paid the bill in a restaurant, let’s say or I finished the meal and then I went home. Still, you will tend to fill in the blanks. You’ll tend to fill in the blanks with things you know. So, you might remember this later saying, “Okay. He told me he finished eating, paid the bill and left,” because paying the bill is what you do in a restaurant.

This is benign enough. You fill in the blanks. You also can integrate suppositions made by others. And the clearest case of this is eyewitness testimony. And the best research on this has been done by Elizabeth Loftus who has done a series of studies, some discussed in the textbook, showing how people’s memories can be swayed by leading questions. And it can be extremely subtle. In one experiment, the person was just asked in the course of a series of questions–shown a scene where there’s a car accident and asked either, “Did you see a broken headlight?” or “Did you see the broken headlight?” The ‘the’ presupposes that there was a broken headlight and in fact, the people told–asked, “Did you see the broken headlight?” later on are more likely to remember one. It creates an image and they fill it in.

It is always troubling to be reminded that we cannot entirely trust our own minds. That said, it is far better to be aware of the limitation and suffer from its troubling implications than it is to ignorantly assume that our memories are an accurate record of past events that cannot be altered.

2010 Arctic sea ice

The extent of Arctic sea ice has dipped below where it was at this time of year in 2007, the worst year recorded for sea ice. Within the next few months, we will see whether it goes on to set a new record low. If so, perhaps it could be the sort of dramatic event that drives people to take climate change more seriously.

It is important to understand that the maximum extent of sea ice during the winter is a less important climatic indicator than the minimum extent in summer. The Arctic is always going to be cold and dark in the winter, when it is hardly receiving any sunlight. As a result, at least a thin layer of ice will form, establishing a large extent of frozen ocean. What is vanishing is the multi-year ice, which endures from year to year. Climate deniers trumpeted how the maximum extent of ice this year was close to the 1979 to 2000 average, yet the major trend in ice extent and volume is ever downwards.

If the Arctic ends up ice-free in the summer, there will be numerous consequences. Species that depend on sea ice – including narwhals, seals, and polar bears – will be threatened. Also, migration between the Pacific and Atlantic will likely allow the emergence of invasive species. Because losing summer sea ice means losing a big white sheet that reflects sunlight back into space, it would also cause further warming.

The nature of addiction

Over on XUP’s blog, there is an interesting discussion on addiction. It is certainly a difficult topic on which to get good information: the academic literature is complicated and conflicting.

Perhaps it is a topic about which our understanding will improve considerably as we delve deeper into cognitive and behavioural psychology, as well as into the relationships between complex dynamic systems like genetics and cognition.

On this site, I have repeatedly argued that the best public policy approach to addictive drugs is legalization, regulation, and the treatment of addiction as a medical problem. Bad as it is to be addicted to legal drugs, at least those thus afflicted don’t need to worry about being poisoned or surprised by a major change in the concentration of active ingredients, since those drugs are manufactured by reputable companies and regulated. Those people also don’t need to worry about the pitfalls of production and supply chains that are dominated by organized criminal groups. Paradoxically, addicts may have the most to gain from drug legalization.

In addition, society at large doesn’t need to worry about the violent and harmful side-effects that arise from that criminal economy. The links between drug criminalization, organized crime, and political corruption are both self-evident and demonstrated by numerous historical examples, from alcohol prohibition in the United States to the largely pointless attempts to stamp out poppy growing in Afghanistan now.

Perhaps an important corollary to the legalize, regulate, and treat approach is to hold producers responsible to some extent for the inevitable addictions to their products that will exist in society. They could, for instance, be required to pay part of the cost for treatment, counseling, and rehabilitation programs.

Probably the best Canadian banking setup

A while ago, I abandoned the Bank of Montreal due to their excessive fees. Really, most Canadians have no reason to be paying fees of any sort for most of their financial needs. I have found the following trio to be convenient and well matched to my needs:

1) Day-to-day banking: President’s Choice Financial

Free chequing and savings accounts, free Interac transactions, free cheques, and free use of CIBC bank machines – PC Financial acts as the clearing house for my basic banking. Pay gets directly deposited in, and I pay bills electronically there. My monthly rent cheque is also provided free of charge by them, including PDF versions of the endorsed cheques that can be accessed online. They never send me annoying paper statements.

They don’t have as many bank machines as some of Canada’s other banks do, but I think that is more than made up for by unlimited free Interac transactions.

2) Savings: ING Direct

With no fees and relatively high interest rates, I think ING Direct is the best choice in Canada for many savings purposes. I have investment savings accounts with them (mostly tax free, but one ordinary one for when my TFSA contribution is maxed out), GICs, and index tracking mutual funds. The 1% MEF on the mutual funds is a bit high, but ING doesn’t charge any fees for buying and selling. ING also provides no fee retirement savings options, which can include any mixture of investment savings accounts, GICs, and mutual funds under an RSP umbrella.

It is easy to transfer money electronically between ING and PC Financial, with about a three day lag in either direction. ING pays interest on the days during which you are waiting for funds to clear.

If anyone is planning to join, give them the ‘Orange Key’ 14534017S1 and they will give you (and me) $25.

In the long run, those wanting to make investments in index tracking funds are probably better off just buying the Vanguard funds best matched to their investment strategy directly. Though such an approach, it is possible to get an MEF of under 0.5%, though it requires paying one-off trading fees and dealing with a bit of inconvenience.

3) Credit card: Citibank Enrich Mastercard

No fees, with 1% cash back. This is the best credit deal I have been able to find in Canada, and I use it for routine payments like internet, my cell phone, zip.ca, and insurance. Just make sure to pay it off in full at the end of every month.

If you spend a lot of money at a particular store, it may be worth getting one of their branded credit cards. That said, many of them are less generous than the Citibank offering. The Sears card, for instance, gives 1% cash back, but it can only be used in blocks to get gift certificates from particular retailers. Citibank just gives you the cash once a year.

Note: The former Citibank Enrich MasterCard is no longer available, since CitiBank got rid of its Canadian credit card operations. The same basic card can now be acquired from CIBC. They call it the ‘Dividend One’ MasterCard. It provides 1% cash back on all purchases, and has no annual fee.

Conclusions

With this this trio, you get most of the financial services ordinary Canadians need while earning decent interest rates, getting 1% back on credit card purchases, and paying no fees whatsoever. Those who are paying $10+ per month for the privilege of having chequing and savings accounts, $0.50 a pop for Interac transactions, or $50+ per year for 1% back on their credit cards should contemplate making some changes.

Are there any even better deals out there that I haven’t found yet?

[Update: 10 September 2010] ING is rolling out a chequing service in Canada, called ‘THRiVE’. Like PC Financial, there are no monthly fees. ING also pays interest on chequing accounts and offers your first chequebook free. Whereas PC Financial allows free use of CIBC machines, the ING service allows free use of machines on the Exchange Network. This mostly seems to consist of local credit unions. All told, I think the PC Financial offering is better.

[Update: 10 November 2010] I have written an open letter to both of these banks encouraging them to stop investing in fossil fuel projects.

Try f/8

The relative aperture of a photographic lens is really important, when it comes to the quality of the photos that arise in most situations.

If you have the sort of camera where you can specify an aperture – as is possible on all film SLR camera, all digital SLR cameras, and many point and shoot digital cameras – try taking some photos using f/8. Almost regardless of the lens being used, this will often generate rather lovely images.

If the shutter speed your camera picks when you set the aperture to f/8 is slower than one over the focal length of your lens, do something to keep the camera still. That is to say, if you are using a 50mm lens with a shutter speed of less than 1/50th of a second, you are likely to end up with a blurred shot. To avoid that, you can brace against something solid if you are just a bit below. If you are looking at really long exposures – say, more than half a second – either put your camera on a tripod or rest it on something solid and use a countdown timer.

f/8 is usually beautiful. It excludes stray photons that are problematic, and it doesn’t usually cause diffraction. Please give it a try.

Displaying carbon footprints

Environmental activist organizations are always dreaming up new pranks to try to get media attention. Here’s one that occurred to me.

You could build some pedal-powered vehicles, a bit like bicycles. They would differ because they would be geared to allow someone to slowly pull a heavy load, rather than to move just themselves relatively quickly. Behind them, representatives from different countries could tow weights equivalent to the mean amount of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted each year by their fellow nationals.

You could have a little procession, arranged from the countries with the lowest per-capita emissions to those with the most. The representative for Bangladesh would only need to tow 900kg. That would be equivalent to a cube of water 97cm to a side, which would weigh about as much as a small car.

Following could be a representative from Sweden towing a 7.5 tonne cube, approximately two metres to a side. It would weigh about as much as three small cars, plus a Hummer H1.

Then, you could have an American towing a 22.9 tonne cube of 2.84 metres to a side. That’s akin to about two Greyhound buses.

The unfortunate Canadian and Australian would be hauling 24.3 and 25.9 tonnes, respectively. Those are cubes of 2.9 and 3.0 metres, each equivalent to about a 20-foot shipping container. That is akin to towing a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Those people would not be moving quickly.

Another way to look at this is to say that it would take the entire payload capacity of the Space Shuttle to carry the average Canadian’s average annual emissions into space.

Tags versus categories for blogs

I have long felt that, while categories play a useful role in organizing information on blogs, tags are just useless noise. I am pleased to see that Matt Cutts, who blogs and works for Google, agrees.

From the words in your actual post, Google and other search engines can tell what it is about. Categories, on the other hand, provide a useful way for someone interested in a particular subject you write about to learn more about it. Someone visiting my blog might only be interested in security, or economics, or photography. Categories let them filter through to just that easily.

They are also a lot less time consuming (though less customizable) than hand-generating an index page or two.

Blackberry Curve versus Nokia E71

I have had the E71 for a while and largely found it disappointing. That said, it was my first smartphone, so I didn’t have much basis for comparison. More recently, I was issued a Blackberry Curve through work. On the basis of using both, I can say pretty clearly that the Curve is superior in most respects.

The E71 is decidedly clunky at multitasking. If you open more than one or two applications (and things like the call log and address book count), it can start grinding slowly and complaining of low memory. By contrast, the Curve seems happy to run a web browser, instant message program, and more with ease. Programs load much faster, and I have never had one crash on the Curve, while they crash often on the E71. My E71 has also been plagued by software bugs ranging from the annoying to the truly infuriating.

Voice quality is comparable between the two, and not especially good in either case. Reception is comparable in both, as are web browsing speeds.

The Curve web browser seems superior both to Nokia’s built-in browser and to the copy of Opera I installed on the E71. Neither really provides an ideal web experience, however. Both give the feeling of accessing websites through a little window in a piece of paper that you need to move around vertically and horizontally. Both also have trouble with some fairly basic web elements, such as logging into content management systems like WordPress.

I cannot comment on third party applications for the Curve, because I have not installed any. Generally, I have found those I had added to the E71 disappointing. A couple of notable exceptions are Google Maps and GMail. The built-in GTalk client on the Curve is rather good. One significant limitation of the Curve is the lack of GPS, which would actually make it much less useful as a primary phone.

Both phones have cameras that are too terrible for any serious use.

Aesthetically, the E71 wins hands down. It feels sleek and solid, whereas the Curve feels chunky and a bit soft. The E71 also looks a lot better, with nice differentiation of colour, the steel back and silver highlights. The Curve is a generic black rubber slab. The keyboard on the E71 is also distinctly better, even though it is a significantly smaller phone. The shape of the keys on the E71 make it easier to type quickly and accurately, while I find those on the Curve awkwardly sized, shaped, and spaced.

In an ideal world, I would put the guts and software from the Blackberry Curve into the body of the E71, with a keyboard and GPS transplant from the Nokia to the Blackberry offering. Given the choice between buying one or the other now, for personal use, I would probably opt for the Blackberry. It falls down on aesthetics and GPS functionality, but seems to be superior in most ways. Regarding my keyboard complaints, it also seems possible that if I had started off with the Curve, I would prefer it now.