HIPAA-cratic oath (or: how to totally miss the point)

Today I went to the doctor and signed in, like they have you do (why do they do that anyway? It's not like they don't know I'm coming, and they acknowledged me showing up by making me fill out my personal information yet again, while taking a copy of my new insurance card.), and I noticed my doctor's office's idea of HIPAA compliance: a note at the top of the sign-in clipboard that reads as follows

It is a HIPAA violation for patients to read over names of patients signed in

(on the real thing the words "HIPAA violation" are highlighted in yellow, not bolded as you see here).

Now, I happen to know a bit about HIPAA, having gone through some training recently relating to my work, and if I am not mistaken, it is the doctor's office employees who have to worry about violating HIPAA. I actually mentioned this to the person behind the desk the last time I was there, and she just gave me a look that said "you're an asshole" (or maybe she said that out loud; it's been a while now and I don't exactly remember).

At any rate, I find it funny that in their quest to try to keep people from reading a completely unnecessary list of names, they point out their own mistaken understanding of the regulation.

Freaky GIF

This freaky GIF is cool, albeit nauseating.

Speaking with Satellites

Today my friend Steven and I got to hear the commander of the International Space Station talking with schoolkids on my ham radio. Steven wrote a post about it, and I can't think of anything more to say about it than what he already said.

Coolest Rubik's Cube (?) ever

I was birthday shopping for my daughter yesterday, as well as shopping for a family game for us all to play on family game night, and I ran across the coolest ever Rubik's Cube: a 2x2x2 cube in the shape of Homer Simpson's head! I have been a fan of the 3x3x3 (original) cube since it came out way back in the day, and in the past year or so really got into learning how to solve it quickly. I have been curious about the 2x2x2, but not curious enough to seek one out and try it. But, when I saw Homer's head, I had to have it. And, for some reason the toy store had it marked 50% off, so I got it for $7.50 USD.

I still haven't figured out how to solve it completely (just like the 3x3x3, getting one layer is easy) but it is fun trying to figure it out.