We Took the Plunge

We purchased our first electric vehicle, a 2023 Tesla Model Y. After we take delivery of it, I will likely post other comments about our vehicle, Tesla, and electric vehicles in general.

Lee Family 2022 Year In Review

Our Lee Family 2022 Year In Review is now available, with prior editions available here. Depending on the device you are using, you might be prompted by Dropbox to sign in, download the mobile app, or continue to the website—you can simply select the option to continue or dismiss the dialog box.

Our home movies are available on Victor’s YouTube channel.

Apple Exposure Notification Regional Authorization

In my previous post about Apple Exposure Notification, I wrote about how I was notified by the California Department of Public Health of a possible exposure to COVID-19. I live in Los Angeles, so it made sense for me to receive a notification from the California Department of Public Health. I had suspected that my exposure occurred on a flight from Indianapolis (where I visit often for work) to Los Angeles.

Last week I visited Washington DC for work, and I received a notification to sign up for Exposure Notifications in the DC Health region.

I had previously incorrectly assumed that opting in to Exposure Notifications applied nationwide, but it became clear to me that users must do so for every region. After accepting terms and agreeing to share encrypted data about exposures, I had 2 authorized regions.

It occurred to me that I had already been in DC for 2 days before being prompted to enable Exposure Notification for the DC area. It would have been nice to be prompted shortly after my plane landed in DC. In the future, I will try to remember to authorize exposure notifications ahead of time for the region where I plan to visit. If you plan to do the same, just now that not all states support Exposure Notification.

For a list of states that support Apple Exposure Notification, see the articles by 9to5Mac on 1/16/2021 and APHL (not dated). While mostly in agreement, there are slight discrepancies between the two sources, and I don’t know which one is more current—perhaps they are both slightly inaccurate. To determine with certainty if a region supports Exposure Notification on an iOS device, go to Settings > Exposure Notifications > Active Region > Add Another Region. Then select United States (or another country if traveling internationally) and then select the state or region of interest. It will say, “Exposure Notifications Are Not Currently Available” if the public health authority does not support the Exposure Notification feature.

Track Your Mail-in Ballot

For the upcoming midterm elections, I voted by mail. In the state of California, a ballot is mailed to every registered voter a few weeks before the election. While there is an option to vote in person, I prefer to avoid lines and send my ballot via US mail. Because I had previously registered at BallotTrax, I received two email notifications the day after I mailed my ballot. Here’s the first one:

November 8, 2022, General Election: Ballot Collected by USPS

This is a message from the California Secretary of State on behalf of Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters. The US Postal Service has collected your ballot for the upcoming November 8, 2022, General Election and will deliver it to us soon.

Here’s the second one:

November 8, 2022, General Election: Ballot Counted

This is a message from the California Secretary of State on behalf of Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters. Your ballot for the November 8, 2022, General Election was received and counted. Thank you for voting!

To see if your state or county uses BallotTrax, visit https://wheresmyballot.com. It features an interactive map that color codes states using BallotTrax, states with BallotTrax counties, and states where BallotTrax is not supported.

USPS Package Odyssey

On October 9, 2022, I purchased an item online and chose to have it delivered to me using standard shipping via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). On October 10, I received an email confirmation with USPS tracking number 9400111202557177590295. Initially I was given an estimated arrival date of October 13. However, I was notified that the delivery was running late, so I was given revised arrival dates of October 15, 17, and eventually 21.

The package finally arrived on October 21 after spending 2 days in Wisconsin, 2 days in Kansas, and 8 days in Los Angeles, CA (where I am guessing it was somehow accidentally misplaced). Here is a summary of its journey, based on the USPS tracking information.

Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item

PEWAUKEE, WI 53072 

October 10, 2022, 12:38 pm

Accepted at USPS Origin Facility

PEWAUKEE, WI 53072 

October 11, 2022, 7:41 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility

OAK CREEK WI DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

October 11, 2022, 8:56 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

OAK CREEK WI DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

October 12, 2022, 6:43 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

KANSAS CITY KS LOGISTICS CENTER 

October 12, 2022, 7:25 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

KANSAS CITY KS LOGISTICS CENTER 

October 13, 2022, 4:58 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

LOS ANGELES CA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

October 14, 2022, 7:45 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility

LOS ANGELES CA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

October 14, 2022, 8:55 am

In Transit to Next Facility

October 14, 2022, 9:17 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

LOS ANGELES CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

October 14, 2022, 9:38 am

Departed USPS Regional Destination Facility

LOS ANGELES CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

October 14, 2022, 3:36 pm

In Transit to Next Facility

October 17, 2022

Arrived at USPS Facility

LOS ANGELES, CA 90001 

October 17, 2022, 9:37 pm

Departed USPS Facility

LOS ANGELES, CA 90001 

October 18, 2022, 9:38 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility

LOS ANGELES CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

October 20, 2022, 12:30 am

Arrived at USPS Facility

LOS ANGELES, CA 90001 

October 20, 2022, 11:58 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility

LOS ANGELES CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

October 21, 2022, 12:25 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility

LOS ANGELES CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

October 21, 2022, 3:33 am

Arrived at USPS Facility

LOS ANGELES, CA 90064 

October 21, 2022, 4:16 am

Arrived at Post Office

LOS ANGELES, CA 90064 

October 21, 2022, 5:37 am

Out for Delivery

LOS ANGELES, CA 90025 

October 21, 2022, 6:10 am

Delivered, In/At Mailbox

LOS ANGELES, CA 90025 

October 21, 2022, 4:40 pm

I appreciate the transparency that is provided with the tracking information, and I often sign up for text message and/or email alerts through any shipping service if provided the option. Not that I could really do anything about it, but it’s nice to know where a package is in its journey.

Exposure Notification on my iPhone

I previously wrote about a smartphone-based approach to contact tracing and the Apple-Google partnership for exposure notification. I followed up with additional discussion about SafePass and Exposure Notification Express. Overall, it seems to me that there are many great technologies for smartphone-based contact tracing, but they all suffer from lack of adoption. This means that people have to not only turn on exposure notification capabilities on their phones, but they also have to upload positive test results so that other people can receive notifications. Tonight I received an exposure notification on my iPhone:

After tapping for more information, I was presented with information about COVID-19 that was supplied by my state’s health department:

And when navigating to my iPhone Settings > Exposure Notification, I was informed that the exposure took place on August 4 or 5.

I just wanted to say “thank you” to the folks who have been thoughtful enough to contribute to making Exposure Notification work. The network effect applies here—the more people use it, the more valuable it becomes. I have not yet had COVID, but when (not if) I do, I will be sure to upload my test results in addition to notifying known close contacts. Will you do your part too?

Microsoft Teams for Mac - Universal Binary

Yesterday I posted about the imminent arrival of a universal binary version of Microsoft Teams, and I was wondering when I would receive the upgrade. Moments ago, I noticed that my Teams application had quit and re-launched while the app was idle. As I had hoped, my Intel version of Teams has been updated to the universal binary version of Teams:

The main differences in the app Info display are:

• The Kind has changed from Intel to Universal
• The Size has increased from 265.7 MB to 522.4 MB which makes sense since a universal app contains code for both Intel and Silicon processors
• The Creation and Modification dates have changed
• The Version has incremented from 1.5.00.17261 to 1.5.00.21551
• There is a new Open using Rosetta checkbox which you can use to force the app to run the Intel version

I have only played briefly with the universal version of Teams, and I have not noticed any major differences in speed, although I have yet to join a web conference. The user interface is the same, and I did not notice any major changes in the Preferences settings. In any case, I am happy to have received the update, and I hope you receive yours soon too.

It’s About Time

Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been using Microsoft Teams for work-related communication including messaging and web conference calls on my Mac. On a typical work day, I spend several hours in web conferences and usually have my camera on, as do my co-workers. In December 2021, I upgraded my 2016 Intel-based MacBook Pro to a 2021 Silicon (M1) MacBook Pro. Unfortunately Microsoft Teams has remained an Intel-only app, and M1/M2 Mac users have been asking Microsoft to create a Silicon-compatible version of Teams ever since the M1 processor was introduced in November 2020. While Silicon Macs can use Rosetta to run Intel apps in emulation, there are efficiency gains (e.g., faster speed and less power consumption) with universal binary apps that run natively on Silicon Macs.

There is finally some good news for Silicon Mac users who rely on Teams. On July 13, 2022, Microsoft added “Native Apple Silicon Support” to its roadmap with a general availability release date of September 2022.

On August 3, 2022, Microsoft published a blog to announce the availability of Teams optimized for Apple silicon. They state, “We are rolling out a production grade universal binary version of Teams, which means it will run natively on the entire Mac lineup, including those with Apple silicon. For Mac users, this means a significant boost in performance, ensuring efficient use of device resources and an optimized Teams experience even when using multiple high-resolution monitors during calls or meetings.” Unfortunately they do not provide a download link for the universal version but instead state, “All Mac users will be automatically upgraded with their most recent update to Teams. The generally available (GA) version of the native Teams app on Mac with Apple silicon is being rolled out to customers in increments over the coming months.”

Members of the Office Insider Program may have been testing beta versions of the universal Teams app for many months now, but for regular folks, the Teams universal update is coming soon. Feel free to leave a comment if you’re not in the Insider Program and have received the Teams universal update before September.

James Webb Space Telescope First Images

The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope have been released to the public!

Carina Nebula

Stephan’s Quintet

Southern Ring Nebula

SMACS 0723

Larger versions of these and other images can be viewed and downloaded here: https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

See James Webb Space Telescope’s First Images

I previously wrote about the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. Following a successful launch and then unfolding and assembly of the telescope in space, images have been taken and transmitted back to earth. According to a NASA media advisory, the very first images from the James Webb Space Telescope will be released to the public on Tuesday, July 12, 2022.

The list of cosmic targets for the first images include:

• Carina Nebula
• WASP-96 b (spectrum)
• Southern Ring Nebula
• Stephan’s Quintet
• SMACS 0723

The James Webb Space Telescope will acquire images using near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths which will allow us to better understand the origins of our universe. According to this article, “The Hubble Space Telescope is optimized for visible light but can also detect some ultraviolet (shorter wavelengths than visible) and some infrared. Webb, however, was developed as an infrared specialist and can take on a much larger span of infrared wavelengths.”

The significance of Webb’s ability to detect infrared wavelengths is that due to the expansion of the universe, light from distant objects that are moving away from earth are stretched into longer (more red) wavelengths, an effect known as redshift. It is expected that the capture of infrared light will allow us to view our cosmic history dating back 13.5 billion years to the time that galaxies were formed.

For a listing of all the ways you can view the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, check out this blog from NASA.

COVID-19 Community Levels

I know that most people have grown weary of the pandemic (as have I), but it’s been a while since I wrote about COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created a framework for making public health decisions based on COVID-19 hospitalization and inpatient beds occupied by patients with COVID-19.

The COVID-19 Community Levels framework is described here. It describes the community level framework (pictured above) and includes a COVID-19 County Check where users can enter their state and county to determine if their community level is Low, Medium, or High. For each community level, it describes recommended individual and household-level prevention behaviors including vaccination, masking, testing, quarantine, and other preventive methods. Also for each level, it describes community-level prevention strategies including improving indoor ventilation, providing access to testing and screening, supporting healthcare during surges, and other methods.

A CDC scientific brief is provided here. It summarizes the scientific evidence that was used to inform the CDC recommendations. Finally, a technical presentation is available in .pptx and .pdf format. Key points include:

• Vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to prevent severe disease and deaths from COVID-19
• People who are up to date on vaccines have much lower risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 compared with unvaccinated people
• When making decisions about individual preventive behaviors and community prevention strategies in addition to vaccination, people and health officials should consider the COVID-19 community level
• Health departments should consider health equity, and make use of other surveillance information (wastewater, ED surveillance, etc.), if available, to inform local decisions
• Layered prevention strategies — like staying up to date on vaccines and wearing masks — can help prevent severe disease and reduce strain on the healthcare system

To illustrate how the COVID-19 Community Level is applied to an actual county, see the Los Angeles County department of Public Health press release which categorizes the county at a Medium community level as of June 24, 2022 and describes what would happen in the event that the county crosses the threshold into High community level.

Public health recommendations seem confusing to many people because they change. As difficult as it may seem to follow the changing recommendations, it is necessary to continue to modify guidance as the pandemic evolves. I hope that by shedding light on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels framework, it will be easier to understand the rationale for our evolving public health guidance.

Hospital Websites and Meta Pixel

Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) is in the hot seat again, this time in conjunction with many hospitals and health systems across the country. A tracker called the Meta Pixel was discovered on many hospital websites, bringing into question once again how much you can trust third parties with your sensitive information. According to an article by The Markup, 33 of Newsweek’s top 100 hospitals in the country were sending sensitive data to Facebook via Meta Pixel as of June 15, 2022. The Meta Pixel tracker was found on multiple areas of hospital websites including appointment scheduling pages and password-protected patient portals. The information included medications, allergies, search terms for how doctors were found (e.g., “pregnancy termination”), and other data. Details of how The Markup obtained this information are provided here.

It is common knowledge to many individuals, particularly those who have watched The Social Dilemma, that Meta tracks personal information for its users. So why is the discovery of Meta Pixel such a big deal? In healthcare, a law called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prohibits “covered entities” like hospitals from sharing “protected health information” (PHI) with third parties like Meta.

A covered entity is an individual, organization, or agency that transmits personally identifiable information. It includes health care providers, health plans, and health care clearinghouses. The hospitals that were found to have Meta Pixel installed on their websites are covered entities.

PHI (a.k.a. “Individually identifiable health information” or “personally identifiable health information” or other variations) is defined as information, including demographic data, that relates to:

• the individual’s past, present or future physical or mental health or condition,
• the provision of health care to the individual, or
• the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to the individual,

and that identifies the individual or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual.

In other words, HIPAA law is written in a way that individuals and organizations who have access to patient information are expected to keep it private and only use it when necessary to deliver patient care, handle payment, or perform other permitted administrative functions. According to The Markup:

“I am deeply troubled by what [the hospitals] are doing with the capture of their data and the sharing of it,” said David Holtzman, a health privacy consultant who previously served as a senior privacy adviser in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, which enforces HIPAA. “I cannot say [sharing this data] is for certain a HIPAA violation. It is quite likely a HIPAA violation.”

Meta Pixel has been the subject of several class action lawsuits in several states. Results have been mixed, and you read more about them in the “Legal Implications” section of the article by The Markup. Meanwhile, as patients and as users of technology, we have to ask ourselves if we trust social media and if we trust our hospitals to safeguard our health information.

LA County Public Health Press Release: Abortion

 More info: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/owh/Abortion.htm

Got Internet?

I was in 6th or 7th grade when I got my first full-fledged computer, an Apple //e. It sported a revision B motherboard which was capable of displaying 80 columns of text (instead of the standard 40 columns) and double high resolution graphics (instead of high resolution). It also contained expansion slots where you could add peripherals like a printer (Apple Dot Matrix Printer, baby!), extra floppy drives (5.25 inches, woot!) or a modem which sadly I did not have. I coveted a modem which at the time ranged from 300 to 1200 baud. It wasn’t until many years later and several computers later that I finally got a 33.6K dial-up modem for my Apple PowerBook 1400cs laptop computer.

At the time, internet access was for geeks, and most user interfaces involved some kind of command line which required the user to learn Apple DOS, MS-DOS Unix, VAX, or other operating systems. However, 2 things stimulated the masses of Americans to tinker with the internet. The first was the development of graphical user interfaces which were friendlier to use because most thing could be accomplished by pointing a cursor and clicking. The second was the introduction of America Online, Prodigy, CompuServe, Earthlink, and other internet service providers.

After the internet secured a foothold in the homes of millions of Americans, people started to demand faster internet speeds as well as solutions that did not restrict phone usage while using the internet (a major limitation of dial-up modems). Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) modems were faster than traditional dialup modems, but their usage was confined to niche settings, and people started referring to it as “innovation subscribers didn’t need”. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modems gained more traction than ISDN—they used the same copper wiring as telephone lines and could support telephone calls and internet usage simultaneously.

Nowadays the most commonly used broadband internet access option is cable, although other technologies such as satellite, 5G cellular, fiber-optic, and other options are also gaining popularity. The COVID-19 pandemic gave us even more reasons to use the internet, and internet access has evolved from a curiosity to a luxury to a necessity over the past few decades.

Today the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) was announced as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. ACP lowers the cost of internet service for low-income households to reduce disparities in access to high-speed internet service. Households are eligible for ACP rebates if they participate in one of the following programs:

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps
• Medicaid
• Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Federal Public Housing Assistance (FPHA)
• Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit
• Free and Reduced-Price School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program, including at U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Community Eligibility Provision schools
• Federal Pell Grant (received in the current award year)
• Lifeline
• Certain Tribal assistance programs, including Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Head Start (only households meeting the income qualifying standard), Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Tribal TANF), and Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations

Several internet service providers are participating in ACP. To sign up for to find more details about service providers or how to qualify, visit http://GetInternet.gov.

Amazon Pickup Fail

I tried to take advantage of an offer at Amazon to save $10 for trying to use an Amazon pickup point where they provide either in-store pickup Counters or self-service Lockers. First, I logged in to my Amazon account, and then I found an Amazon pickup location near my home and saved the address to my address book. I added 2 items to my cart, and upon checkout I switched the delivery address to the Amazon pickup point.

However, there were problems with both items. The first item was an article of clothing, and the error message said, “We can't fulfil [sic] your request at this time. Please choose another address or Amazon Hub location.” The second item was a foldable LED desk lamp, and the error message said, “This item is too big for delivery to an Amazon Pickup Location. Please select another address.”

The article of clothing could be folded into a box the size of a tissue box, so I am not sure why the request could not be fulfilled. The foldable desk lamp is 15.35 inches x 7.48 inches x 4.33 inches and folds flat, but my guess is that the 15.35-inch length exceeds the locker dimension at my designation pickup point which if true will severely limit the usefulness of the pickup point. I think it’s a great idea to have pickup points, and maybe Amazon will improve on its execution in the future.

Is Your Child Addicted to Screen Media?

I have a pre-teen child who I sometimes describe as being “addicted” to iPhones, iPads, iMacs, televisions, etc. Although I try to limit how many streaming services our family subscribes to at any given time, there exists an endless amount of freely available content on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and numerous other social media sites to consume a child’s every waking minute. There are also numerous popular video games that suck up time that should otherwise be spent on doing homework, socializing with friends, or sleeping. Therefore, I often find myself asking my child to turn off electronic screens and spend more time in the real world.

Many parents like me may wonder if their children are addicted to screens. To answer this question, one must start by defining a standard way to measure addiction. Some researchers have attempted to do this by developing and validating the Problematic Media Use Measure (PMUM) which is a collection of questions related to behavioral manifestations of screen media addiction in children. Although the PMUM Full Scale consists of 27 items, there is a PMUM Short Form consisting of 9 items with very similar performance. Those 9 items, each representing a factor related to problematic media use, are as follows:

• It is hard for my child to stop using screen media. (Unsuccessful control)
• Screen media is the only thing that seems to motivate my child. (Loss of interest)
• Screen media is all that my child seems to think about. (Preoccupation)
• My child’s screen media use interferes with family activities. (Psychosocial consequences)
• My child’s screen media use causes problems for the family. (Serious problems due to use)
• My child becomes frustrated when he/she cannot use screen media. (Withdrawal)
• The amount of time my child wants to use screen media keeps increasing. (Tolerance)
• My child sneaks using screen media. (Deception)
• When my child has had a bad day, screen media seems to be the only thing that helps him/her feel better. (Escape/relieve mood)

Parents are asked if each of those statements is true for their child in the past month, with responses based on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from Never (1 point) to Always (5 points). The authors state that PMUM scores correlate well with parent-child conflicts over screen media use (e.g., television, computers, tablets, smartphones, and video games) and that it is a valid and reliable measure of screen media “addiction” in children 4-11 years old. They note, however, that additional clinical validation should be done and that cutoff scores need to be established. In this context, do you view media use as being problematic for your child?

Eleven Personality Profiles

I’ve been playing Eleven Table Tennis on Oculus Quest 2 since January 2022. Often abbreviated ETT, it’s a virtual reality (VR) table tennis game that has very realistic physics and overall gameplay. One of the great features of the game is that there are multiplayer modes where you can compete against other players in real time. If both you and your opponent have the microphone enabled, you can also speak to each other during the match. As you’d imagine, there are a wide variety of personalities in the real world, and interesting things can happen when you bring 2 complete strangers together in VR.

When I first started playing ETT, one of my opponents said he liked playing against me because I was “normal”. Unsure what he meant by that, I asked him to clarify. He meant that I engaged in rallies, exhibited good sportsmanship, and acted respectfully during the game. It wasn’t until I played ETT for a few more days before I started to see a wide range of behavior patterns among different players.

Drawing upon the work of pioneers in personality psychology such as Carl Jung and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator that is based on the work of Jung, I have attempted to list 11 common personality profiles that I’ve seen in ETT.

1. The Beginner. Although I’ve only played ETT for about 2 months, it is obvious to me when I start a match with a beginner. They often do not know which buttons to push to start a match, and sometimes if they are playing the game for the first time, they do not know how to use their controllers to pick up the ball and serve. A player rating of 1500 is often a clue that a player is a beginner. Multiplayer modes include ranked play and unranked play where wins and losses impact your rating only in ranked play. Since a player rating of 1500 is the default rating, it is often indicative of a beginner who has not yet attempted ranked play.

2. The Gradeschooler. These players tend to be shorter in stature, but the obvious giveaway is their child-like voices which you can hear if they have their microphones turned on. I try to go easy on these kids, although I notice that I tend to make more dumb mistakes when playing against them.

3. The Muted. There are setting in my Oculus Quest 2 as well as in-game settings to mute audio. For whatever reason, many players simply choose to mute their audio. Nevertheless, there are ways to communicate with other players. Most commonly I see people wave to me at the start and end of matches, and clap when I win a point. Additionally, if I ask a yes/no question like “Are you ready?” they will nod their head when ready to play.

4. The Jerk. Some players are boorish and rude. This may manifest as arrogant trash talk, making noises while you serve, racist commentary, and any number of violations of etiquette. I’ve been told anecdotally that players who use the spartan mask as their avatar tend to be jerks. Oculus has a built-in feature where you can record the screen and audio, and ETT has a feature where you can report players who lack sportsmanship and common decency.

5. The Enraged. Some players are short-tempered and display visible anger during matches. They might virtually slam their paddle into the table, whack the ball off the screen after hitting it into the net, vocalize frustration with profanity, or any number of other actions to show frustration. Usually I find that their rage is directed at themselves, but if I become the target of their anger, I will promptly exit the room, even if it means that I must forfeit my match in ranked play.

6. The Speedster. Some players rush their gameplay. Immediately after joining a ranked or unranked match, they skip the pleasantries and immediately serve the ball. Some players even forget that they’ve already served twice and it is my turn to serve, but I can still see them going through their serving motion only to realize that they do not have the ball. I don’t know if they are trying to catch their opponents off guard because they almost always have their audio muted.

7. The Spinner. Some players apply a lot of spin on the ball—not just for their serves but also for their forehand and backhand shots. This is a legal approach to table tennis. While this could be perceived as annoying in unranked play where the goal is more to have fun, in ranked play the goal is to win points by whatever methods play to your strengths and to your opponent’s weaknesses. I see these kinds of shots more commonly in players with ratings above 1800. Depending on the mood that I’m in, and depending on how respectful they are, I may or may not enjoy playing against these opponents.

8. The Attacker. Some players are constantly on the attack, so points tend to be short. They either hit winners or unforced errors. I personally prefer not to play against attackers, even if I end up winning the matches.

9. The Defender. Opposite of attackers, defenders tend to be more conservative with their gameplay and keep the ball in play. They will attack and hit winners too, but the key is that they tend to hit high-percentage shots. I usually enjoy this kind of gameplay because it can result in longer rallies which I enjoy whether I win or lose the point.

10. The Actor. These players take on kung fu fighter, rope-a-dope boxer, or other personalities. They usually turn on their microphones and pretend to speak with foreign accents or employ other voice acting roles. I suppose they find it entertaining to take on acting roles, but I suspect that few players enjoy this kind of behavior from their opponents.

11. The Ideal Player. These players have well-rounded abilities that result in entertaining matches. They don’t rely on any particular technique (e.g., drop serve, spin) too heavily to win points. Regardless of their microphone status, they exhibit good sportsmanship by making sure you are ready and will wait if you need to adjust your Oculus headset or wipe the sweat off your foam or silicone cover. Above all, there are likely to be some occasional good rallies that add to the overall enjoyment of the game. These are the players who I add to my Friends list.

Similar to Myers–Briggs Type Indicator results, ETT players may not fall perfectly into any 1 personality profile, so there are numerous combinations of the above. Which personality profile(s) fit you best, and who do you like to play against?

Ping Pong Ping Time

If you’ve played online multiplayer games, you may be familiar with the concept of latency. From an internet service perspective, latency is the time amount of time it takes for data to be transmitted from your device to an internet server and back to your device. Also known as ping time or ping, latency is typically measured in milliseconds. It is distinctly different than bandwidth which is the rate at which data can be transferred from one point to another in a given amount of time.

Lately I’ve been playing a table tennis (usually used synonymously with “ping pong” but there is a difference) game called Eleven on my Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset. Since the game is fast-paced and requires split-second decisions during gameplay, it is vitally important that the movement of the ball feels like it is happening in real time. In my personal experience, I’ve found Eleven to offer amazingly realistic gameplay due to realistic ball physics and seemingly real-time interactions with the ball.

Given that any transaction over the internet is not instantaneous, developers of online multiplayer games must ensure that they are able to measure latency and compensate for it in the rendering of graphics in the game. The developers of Eleven (For Fun Labs, Inc.) have done a really nice job of discussing the concept of latency by illustrating its PingBall feature:

From within the game, players can view ping times and how they vary over time. Suffice it to say that in general, shorter latency is better. According to this website, the optimal latency for online gaming is 20 ms or less, while 20-100 ms may be considered acceptable, 100-150 ms may result in noticeable differences, and latency of more than 150 ms may result in frustration. I submit that these are general guides, and actual gameplay experience will likely depend on the nature of the game.

According to the Eleven Wiki, even more significant than the latency is the stability of the latency. It asserts that “A game with significant stable ping will be much more enjoyable than a game with low unstable ping.” That being said, I am not aware of any standard measure of ping variability that is commonly measured, so the best information we typically have available is ping. Since ping times are influenced by distance between 2 players, opponents in the Friends list are presented based on proximity, with closest friends listed first.

There are many websites that offer internet speed tests, and while all the ones I’ve seen measure bandwidth, not all of them measure latency. Speed tests at Bandwidth Place and Speedtest clearly report ping times in addition to download and upload speeds. Does your ping permit you to properly play ping pong?

US Naval Observatory Master Clock

If you have a smartphone, it is very easy to find the current date and time. But what if you are in a rare situation where you need to find the exact time, down to the second, but don’t have a smartphone? You can search Google for ”time” but it only provides the time down to the minute.

Look no further than the US Naval Observatory (USNO). They provide a master clock which lists the date and time in UTC as well as Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska, and Hawaii time zones.

They also provide a phone service that verbally tells you the time. Just call (202) 762-1401. Those of us past a certain age might expect a female voice stating, “At the time the time will be…” However, the USNO time is narrated by actor Fred Covington according to this article. The USNO has provided the same time-by-phone service since 1978.

Keep Your Fax Machines For Now

I previously wrote about COVID-⁠19 At-home Tests and that insurance companies and group health plans must provide full reimbursement for up to 8 over-the-counter at-home tests per individual per month. In follow-up to this announcement, the Kaiser Family Foundation published a brief study of the methods that private insurers are covering at-home rapid COVID tests. They reviewed publicly available rapid at-home COVID tests coverage and reimbursement policies for the 13 private insurers with at least 1 million fully-insured members across their U.S. subsidiaries between January 18, 2022 and January 20, 2022, and this is what they found:

In summary, 6 of 13 insurers have a direct coverage option, meaning that enrollees can buy rapid at-home tests without paying anything up front or navigating a complicated reimbursement process if the test is obtained through a preferred network of pharmacies or retailers, or through a mail order option.

The other 7 insurers do not have direct coverage but have some kind of reimbursement policy. 4 of those 7 insurers require receipts and a form be mailed in, with one of those 4 offering a fax option, but email and online submissions were not viable options. It is interesting that with all the technology we have available today, 4 of 7 insurers offer reimbursement of COVID tests only via mail or fax. In my opinion, mail and fax are harder to use than online options. I wonder if the new coverage policies will influence their migration to email or online reimbursement processes.

Readability Statistics

You may be familiar with recommendations for certain things to be communicated in a manner that is easily understand. For example, it is so important that public health messaging be understood by people of all literacy levels that the CDC has published a guide for creating easy-to-understand materials.

One specific component that determines how easy it is to understand written works is the readability of words and sentences. If you use Microsoft Word, you may have come across a feature where it calculates readability statistics. For any given document, there are two scores that it provides. The Flesch Reading Ease score rates text on a 100-point scale. The higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score rates text on a U.S. school grade level. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document.

If you don’t have Microsoft Word and still want to calculate readability statistics, there are a number of free online tools that you can use. One of them is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level calculator provided by TextCompare.org. Simply input your text to check its readability score. Another resource is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level calculator provided by Good Calculators. I noticed some variability in the scores with the same text sample, so read the details of their methods to learn more.

Another resource is the Readability Test provided by WebFX. In addition to allowing you to enter a text sample, you can also enter a URL to calculate the readability score of an entire website. It presents scores for Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and a variety of other scores. Here are the results for my blog:

Add Wordle to your iPhone Home Screen

Lots of people are playing Wordle nowadays. There does not exist an iOS or Android app for the game, so it is accessed exclusively via web browsers on desktop and mobile devices. Although I don’t have any statistics on how it is accessed, my guess is that most people access it via their default web browser on their phones. In case you weren’t already aware, you can add a shortcut to the Wordle website (or any URL for that matter) to your iPhone home screen. Here’s how.

Step 1: From your iPhone browser, navigate to the Wordle website, https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/

Step 2: At the bottom of the webpage, tap on the “Share” icon (it’s the icon of the box with the up-pointing arrow)

Step 3: Tap “Add to Home Screen”

Step 4: Tap “Add” (optionally rename the shortcut before adding)

Step 5: Access the Wordle icon directly from your home screen

COVID-⁠19 At-home Tests

If you’re like millions of other Americans, you’re having difficulty obtaining and/or paying for COVID-19 tests. There are 2 promising developments related to COVID-19 tests that you should be aware of.

First, on January 10, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced that insurance companies and group health plans must provide full reimbursement for up to 8 over-the-counter at-home tests per individual per month. Because cost-sharing requirements (e.g., deductibles, co-payments or coinsurance, prior authorization, or other medical management requirements) are prohibited, these tests will be completely free.

Second, on January 14, 2022, the White House announced that the government will begin distributing at-home rapid COVID-19 tests for free. Simply visit COVIDtests.gov starting January 19 to place your order for 4 free at-⁠home COVID-⁠19 tests per residence. There won’t be any shipping costs, nor will there be a need to provide a credit card number. I assume that once there is equal distribution across American residences, there will be opportunities to order more.

Stay safe America!

Convert and Play Apple System 7 Sounds

The other day I stumbled across some items in my closet that probably belong in a computer museum: a 3.5-inch floppy drive (with a USB cable) and a collection of 3.5-inch floppy diskettes dating back to when I used a Mac Classic II in college. Among these old documents I found one diskette that was filled to its 1.4 MB capacity with sound files. The files did not have any extensions, and their icons in macOS Mojave 10.14.6 look like this:

Double-clicking the files did not play the sounds, so I tried to append common file extensions like .wav and .aiff to see if the macOS Finder or VLC would play the sounds, but that didn’t work. That is because those sound files were created in Apple System 7, and the actual sounds were stored in the resource fork where modern macOS applications no longer use this approach.

I found a handy donationware application called SystemSound which can convert System 7 sounds to AIFF or WAVE formats. It also includes an extension that allows you to play System 7 sound files natively in Mac OS X. SystemSound runs on Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later and is free. It worked like a charm, and here is what the user interface looks like:

I found a other approaches to extracting System 7 sounds that I did not test. One of them is an application called File Juicer, and other approaches are discussed in this thread. I hope this helps you make use of your System 7 sound files.

Dial-A-Moon

Most of us learned in school that there is a lunar cycle that repeats monthly (every 29.5 days). In the lunar cycle, there are different phases of the Moon that represent different quarters of the cycle (at least from earth’s vantage point of only half of the Moon’s sphere): waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full Moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent, and new Moon.

However, we all know that the appearance of the Moon on any given day does not always fall neatly into one of the named phases. If you’d like to see what the Moon looks like at any given time in 2022, look no further than Dial-A-Moon which is provided to us by the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio.

Dial-A-Moon lets you see what the Moon looks like at any hour of any day, past or present, in calendar year 2022. Want to know what the Moon will look like on your birthday or on a night when you’ll be camping? Just enter the month, day, and hour in Coordinated Universal Time.

The site also provides links to many high-resolution images and videos that illustrate the Moon phases and the lesser known concepts of libration and position angle. Here’s one such example: