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I've been trying to wrap my head around how 3d glasses work. I think I'm finally there, but it took making this diagram to get to the bottom of it (although it really confounded things for a bit since my monitor's screen - one of the subjects in my experiment - has a polarized screen).

If you can get your hands on a pair ($16 and they usually come with a free screening of a Pixar or James Cameron movie) they're really fun to play with. Especially if you take the lenses out of the frames.

The ones I have are from RealD 3D who uses circularly polarized lenses instead of linear (which was the source of much of my confusion). Try standing in front of a mirror with the glasses on and alternate closing your left and right eye while looking at you your eyes. Spooky!

Here is a photo of two lenses (1 horizontal over 2 vertical taped to the top of my computer) with diagram:

Explanation:
#1 Horizontal lens on top of #2 Vertical lens

• R1: 2VS - Little or no effect
• R2: 2VM - Little or no effect
• R3: 1HS - Little or no effect
• R4: 1HM - No light passes through
• R5: 1HS over 2VS - No light passes through
• R6: 1HM over 2VM - No light passes through

Key: 2VM = Lens side 2, vertically aligned, viewing monitor

Or you can look at it like this:

Click on the thumbnail below for the full results.

I'm tired of all this nonsense and political posturing regarding LNG tankers offloading in Everett.

Background

Distrigas of Massachusetts LLC has operated a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import and regasification facility located on the Mystic River in Everett, Massachusetts since 1971. They have received over 600 shipments of LNG imported from various international sources. To reach the facility, LNG tankers must pass through Boston's Inner Harbor.

About LNG

LNG is natural gas (widely used in the US for heating and producing electricity) that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. Liquefied natural gas takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state.

In its liquid state, LNG is not explosive and can not burn. For LNG to burn, it must first vaporize, then mix with air in the proper proportions and then be ignited. LNG tankers have sailed over 100 million miles without a shipboard death or even a major accident.

Local Opinions

The route LNG tankers must navigate through Boston's Inner Harbor to the Everett processing plant takes the ships within a few hundred yards of densely populated neighborhoods, notably The North End and East Boston. The giant tankers, carrying what we know to be flammable in a different state, are quite foreboding. Many residents, not knowing the facts about LNG see this as a major threat and security risk - especially following the domestic terrorist attacks on 9/11 nine years ago.

The Yemen Factor

On Christmas Day, 2009, a Nigerian born terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, attempted to detonate an explosive device on board a Northwest Airline's flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Abdulmutallab attended school in Yemen in 2004, 2005, and 2009. This is where Abdulmutallab was introduced to radical Islam.

It was announced on Feb 3 2010 that the Everett facility would be receiving its first shipment of liquefied natural gas from Yemen this month. Due to this announcement, the fear of a terrorist attack on a tanker traveling through the harbor has grown. Specifically the tanker originating in Yemen.

Political Posturing

Many local politicians, including Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and District 1 City Councilor Sal LaMattina have expressed their fear of an attack and disappointment with the Coast Guard for allowing the tanker to travel through the harbor.

While it is understandable for local residents to have apprehensions about giant LNG tankers floating a few football fields away from their frond doors, I think it is the responsibility of politicians to learn the facts before taking a stand.

Sal LaMattina:

Thomas Menino:

The Real Deal

In order to ignite the LNG, it would have to be broken free from the multiple tanks which hold it on the ship, released and mixed with air (at a specific ratio - about 1 part NG to 9 parts air) and then be ignited.

I have never seen a credible scientific paper published that proves this is even possible much less probable.

Furthermore, Lieutenant Erik Halvorson of the US Coastguard (the branch of our Military responsible for and entrusted with guarding us from such attacks) released the following statement:

Are Mayor Menino and Councilor LaMattina then implying that we can't trust the US Coast Guard? If so, we have a much bigger problem. Personally, I think there is a problem with Menino and LaMattina.

Conclusion

The real problem I have here is the blatant disregard for science, educated decisions, and risk analysis. Science tells us that it is very difficult to convert LNG into a flammable state; and Lt Halvorson tells us that this ship movement is safe. The integrity of those we entrust with securing our coastlines and the legitimacy of the scientific method are being questioned.

Summation

From Boston Globe reporter Andrea Estes:

There is no gas on board an LNG tanker (hence the first letter in the acronym) nor is the cargo flammable.

This issue is not about risks. It is about xenophobia, spurious ties to Yemen, and political posturing.

Hey, National Institutes of Health, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and BU Medical School! Are you short on money?! Dudes, I'll give you the four dollars it take to remove the watermark from an iStock image if you don't have it.

As seen in the Boston Herald today (Feb 3, 2010):

I don't have much to add to this. I honestly just want an easy way to reference/find this article about Time Tebow in the future. Here's an excerpt:

Great article.

Oh man. I love Paul Allen now. How many announcers call games with this amount of honesty? Bwahahaha. Reminds me of a newspaper headline that my Dad sent me:
Favre Beats Vikings Again!

"I can't believe what I'm seeing right now." I can Paul!

Listen to the clip below. An instant classic. Way to go Bret!

Stephanie and I walked to her apartment (on 105th) from the Big Nick's on 77th via Broadway on Monday - See route on left. (Yeah, I know Point A is somewhere around 66th. I was thinking that's where we started, but I was wrong - and I don't feel like fixing it. You get the idea.)

I decided to take a picture of every instance of Cooper Black I saw on our journey. To tell the truth, I was a little disappointed. We counted:

• 13 business signs (as in the primary name of business on an awning or otherwise above the entrance)
• 6 posters, sandwich boards, or supplementary information signs
• 1 truck

Of those, the majority (I'd say 80%) were north of 96th street. I thought there would be more. It was noted that we might have had better luck walking on Amsterdam. Hopefully I'll get the chance to try that sometime. Broadway is too consumed with its hoity-toity Copperplate to use much Cooper Black (barf).

I saw about 1,000 that were cooler than these while waiting for the bus in Chinatown and riding through Brooklyn and The Bronx today. Oh well. I don't mean to be too down. There were some nice specimens. Check out the gallery below.

US Department of Homeland Security Aviation Security Directive.

Joel Johnson sums it up well:

And here is an excellent article on the numbers of terrorism by Nate Silver. Some highlights:

Most typophiles would say, "you just do". But the differences aren't as obvious to some people.

To me, Century Gothic just looks like squished Futura:

The x-height of Century Gothic just a little bit taller - enough to make it look a little comical (in a bad way). In fact, the x-height of CG is a full 76% of the total cap height, while Futura's is only 64%:

Perhaps worst of all, the beautiful ascenders that make the relatively large x-height tolerable in Futura are all but missing from Century Gothic:

There are quite a few other differences too (many of CG's x-height letters are near perfect circles where Futura's are narrower, have more character and more pronounces stroke weights - see the 'e' for an example).

Century Gothic is a fine font, but no match for it's inspiration.