Devil wipeout? In Tasmania, that's the fear

Tasmanian devils are dying of a mysterious facial-tumor disease, and scientists are mightily perplexed. "In Tasmania, the Devil Now Faces Its Own Hell" is a New York Times article that examines this strange phenomenon, and what Australian scientists are doing. They're setting up a quarantine program for young devils that show no signs of the disease, to see if they can rescue the population--provided that the quarantined youngsters are disease-free. This disease looks similar to one in dogs, except that dogs just develop antibodies to the virus and don't develop symptoms. In Tasmanian devils, however, it's 100% fatal.

A little genetic diversity would help the devil population, however. As correspondent Sandra Blakeslee writes,

In this hypothesis, tumor cells alone are the infectious agent. In nature, this is not supposed to happen, Dr. Pyecroft conceded. Healthy animals exposed to pathogens, including tumor cells, will normally mount an immune response to fight off the infection.

But genetically speaking, devils are virtual clones. With scant variation in their DNA -- perhaps from a population bottleneck in the recent past -- they may have nearly identical immune systems. Hence they cannot fight off the tumor cells.

Every tumor cell examined so far is the same in every animal, male and female, regardless of area of origin. The chromosomal rearrangements, presumably from the one random mutation, are identical.

Wow.

Ismail Merchant, 1936–2005

The film producer Ismail Merchant, partner of director James Ivory, has died at the age of 68 in a London hospital. He and Ivory were in London to shoot a film adaptation of "The White Countess," by Kazuo Ishiguro. Warren Hogue of the NYT has an obituary of Mr. Merchant, which includes the immortal line uttered by Mr. Merchant describing their recruitment of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala as screenwriter for their first film:

"When we first began, Ruth told us she had never written a screenplay," Mr. Merchant told The Associated Press. "That was not a problem, since I had never produced a feature film and Jim had never directed one."

If only that sort of bravado worked for all of our ventures and projects in life, eh?

Merchant-Ivory movies were wonderful period-piece creations—think "A Room with a View," or "Howard's End" — and it's sad that Ismail Merchant won't be around any more to head up another production. He and Ivory treated their production company as if it were their family—the same people would be employed behind the scenes from film to film—and, according to Hogue's obituary,

Once on the scene, Mr. Merchant was just as likely to be fetching tea for a company member or making one of his celebrated curries for the cast as pitching a fit about cost overruns or schedule snafus.

10 things I didn't know about Google, either

PC World's editor-in-chief, Harry McCracken, attending something called the "Google Factory Tour," which is a bit of a misnomer, since it wasn't at a factory and it wasn't a tour. But never mind—it was a glimpse inside Google. McCracken outlines ten things about Google that he found out from this meeting. (There's even a webcast available, too.)

Google Maps is such a cool thing, especially their satellite imagery. You can have hours of fun with it! In fact, other companies have produced ways of tapping into Google Maps and overlaying their own data with it. Looking to find out where recent earthquakes have occurred in North America? Look no further.

(Here's a quick explanation of the earthquake map site.)

Nifty, eh?

The camera's always on, buddy

Memo to people in public life, including on-camera TV reporters: The camera (or microphone) is always on—even when you think you've handed the shot back to the studio.

Although . . . the guy worked in New York City. Doesn't everyone in New York already talk like that anyway? ;-) So why'd he get canned?

I know, I know—to teach him a lesson. Or maybe because broadcasters are so afraid of the FCC these days.

Give me my ‘su doku’ or I’ll sue

There's a new craze across the Pond: People in the U.K. are going mad over su doku, a Japanese puzzle that has taken the country by storm. Think of it as a crossword puzzle, but with numbers instead of letters.

I think I'll stick to the one with letters—although, truth be told, I've never seen a su doku puzzle, so perhaps I don't know what I'm missing.

Best pun o’ the week

In a glossary for the non-Star Wars geeks out there (I'm more a Trekker than a Star Wars fanatic, though I enjoy Star Wars), Wired editor Adam Rogers writes in Slate concerning the Sith, the villains in the current Episode III movie:

They can often throw lightning from their fingertips, which makes any one of them a Darth and stormy knight.

{groan} — but good. ;-)

New reality show: Desperate Politicians

Yes, there's a new reality show on the Canadian landscape. Following the success of the U.S. show Desperate Housewives, get ready for Desperate Politicians. :-)

L'affaire Belinda: How it happened

Jane Taber and Karen Howlett of the Globe wrote about l'affaire Belinda in "How it happened." Seems as though she was "called to see the principal" last week, in the words of some Tory insiders—she was summoned to a meeting at Stornoway, the residence of opposition leader Stephen Harper. He didn't like what she said to the media about his desire to call an election over the budget, so he told her that she was frozen out of any appearances in election ads.

Meeting former Ontario Premier David Peterson at a fundraiser led to a series of events that culminated in the Prime Minister asking Stronach and some of his aides to meet for dinner at 24 Sussex. I'm sure they discussed the political ramifications, but I was more interested in seeing the menu:

For two hours they talked about public policy and the direction of the country. They dined on veal medallions, toasted pecans, spring turbot, home pickled onions and young cucumbers. For dessert they had chocolate semifreddo, mango terrine, Valrhona chocolate mousse and brandy snap. It was all washed down with a respectable sauvignon blanc and a cabernet merlot.

I'm sure it was the Valrhona chocolate that did it. :-)

What a squeaker—tie broken by the Speaker

Looks like Belinda Stronach's defection this week to the governing Liberals in Ottawa was the magic that Paul Martin needed in having his government survive a confidence vote on the budget. The honourable member for Surrey, independent MP Chuck Cadman, had only decided 30 minutes before the vote that he was going to respect the wishes of the constituents in his riding and vote with the government for the budget. (He's a former Tory, so there was speculation he might not have given the Liberals the nod.)

With Stronach and former Liberal-now independent MP Carolyn Parrish voting with the goverment, the score was tied at the end of the vote: 152 to 152. When there's a tie, the Speaker of the House casts the tie-breaking vote, and by tradition, usually votes to uphold the continuity of the government. Of course, Speaker Peter Milliken is a Liberal MP, so his vote was not a surprise.

Deputy Tory leader Peter MacKay gave an interview to CBC Newsworld yesterday after disappearing from public view the previous day, saying that his heart was "all banged up." Although I think Belinda Stronach did the right thing politically, it seems to have caused a huge mess in her personal life, especially with her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend?—we don't know) Peter MacKay. I do feel sorry for him—it must have been really difficult to face Belinda across the aisle today in Parliament!!!

Margaret Wente, commenting in the Globe, writes about "Martin's White Knight":

You've got to feel for Peter MacKay. Imagine how your heart would sink if your girlfriend came home one night and told you she'd spent the evening with a powerful older man. And now she's leaving you for him. And this man is your arch-enemy. And the two of you had been plotting together for months to kick him out of power and take over. And now he's going to make her a star, and she's going to be plotting against you. Tomorrow, they're going to go on national TV together and tell the world that she's a star and you, poor schmo, are screwed. Your love life and your dream of being deputy prime minister are in ruins. And by the way, she's really busy, so can you please phone the boss for her and break the news?

Ouch, indeed. Wente goes on to speculate that Stronach is always on the lookout for the Next Big Thing in her life, and that's why she never stays in the same job—or with the same man—for very long. (I dunno... that sounds kind of catty. But columnists are paid to come up with choice quips like that.)

Wok-intensity cooking without all that heat

Remember induction cooktops? I remember seeing them described in magazines and catalogues when I was a kid, and being amazed that a cool surface could actually heat up a pan on the stove. Newer induction models, as described in Deborah Baldwin's NYT piece “Smitten at the Stove: A Stranger Both Hot and Cool,” can actually pack a wallop enough to heat a wok to restaurant kitchen temperatures. (This is a godsend for kitchens in areas where it gets really hot in the summer, like NYC or even SoCal, for instance—no longer do you have to put up with those hot gas jets when you're stir-frying up a storm.) Not cheap, but apparently worth the price—the temperature control on one of these things can even “achieve that elusive trickle of bubbles known as ‘just below a simmer,’” as Ms. Baldwin attests.

Whole-wheat pasta that tastes good? Yep.

Leave it to the NYTs Marian Burros to do the taste-testing for us: she's now convinced that there are some whole-wheat pastas that actually do taste good. Not all of them—some of the extruded shapes, like orecchiete and fusilli, still don't have the right taste or texture—but your typical lasagna or straight noodle like spaghetti or fetuccine, are fine.

In "Sources: Worthy of Your Best Sauce," she lists the best brands. (If you're viewing this a week or two later than when this article appeared, the "sources" link may have gone behind the archive firewall; click on the main story's link, above, and you may be able to get to it.)

Lose your sense of smell, wreck your sense of taste

People who lose their sense of smell, a condition called anosmia, often find that their perceptions of food are all screwed up. This is because our perception of taste is so bound up with our sense of smell; without the nose, just perceiving sweet, sour, salty, bitter, unami (a taste triggered by MSG in food)—and, most recently, fat, yes, fat—leaves food tasting flat, yes, flat. In "Failing the Sniff Test: The Nose, Ruined," Paul Lukas of the NYT tells how anosmia patients re-train themselves to taste food again in a new way.

Your personal data, just ready for the taking

Senator Ted Stevens, from Alaska, instructed his staff to see if they could steal his identity; he had been concerned with how the Internet could make private lives an open book. Tom Zeller, Jr., has an article in today's NYT about how easy it is to find personal data online. As he writes,

His staff, Mr. Stevens reported, had come back not just with digital breadcrumbs on the senator, but also with insights on his daughter's rental property and some of the comings and goings of his son, a student in California. "For $65 they were told they could get my Social Security number," he said.

Not good.

Forty-one graduate students at Johns Hopkins University became mini-data-miners recently as part of a computer security course. Even they were suprised by how easy it was to look up data on people.

"I think what this professor and students have done is a powerful object lesson in just how much information there is to be found about most of us online," said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, "and how difficult it is, how impossible it is, to control what's done with our information."

Indeed. The information by itself, in individual bits, can be fairly innocuous, but put it all together in one nice neat little package, and... well, all it takes is one unscrupulous individual!

What is it with political dynasties?

So Patt Morrison is digesting the effects of an Antonio Villaraigosa victory, and aside from wishing that politicians would just stop saying that they're going to roll up their sleeves, she suggests that the next mayoral race in 2009 would be between Villaraigosa and Hahn. But not the Hahn you're thinking of. The other Hahn. As in the soon-to-be-ex-mayor's sister, Councilwoman Janice.

Could happen. But her thinking out loud raises a point: When did the whole concept of political dynasties get so entrenched? I mean, we had the Kennedys—okay, fine. And then George H.W. begat George W. And half of the "two-for-one" Billary team became a senator after they left the White House, and certain rumour mills are a-twittering that really, no, really, she wants the top job in 2008. (She says she doesn't, but who are you going to believe?) And then after Dubya leaves the scene, maybe Jeb wants a crack at it.

Do some families just naturally have the knack for politics? Are their multitudinous kinfolk just really good at it—blessed with some sort of genetic political savvy that will make them shine in the minds of voters, and make them say, "This person really cares about us, and has good plans for our future"? Or does it really boil down to one simple fact: name recognition on the ballot?

“Gee, I remember Kennedy/Bush/Clinton/Hahn/Whoever... and here's another one from the same family. The other one I liked, so I'm sure I'll like this one, too."

Elections by Q score. {sigh}

The Hat Lady speaks

So, Patt Morrison is blogging for The Times? Super... If she wrote a daily blog, I'd read it all the time. Whenever she fills in for Larry Mantle on Airtalk on KPCC, I listen. And her Times columns are always enjoyable. (Not to mention her hats, whenever she's on Channel 28.)

No, she didn't pay me to say any of that. I am not a plant. ;-)

¿Viene Villaraigosa?

Closer to home, folks up in El Lay have been voting, too. I have no particular attachment to either one of the candidates—neither one of them looks like they can really screw up being mayor (Los Angeles has a city charter of the “weak mayor” variety).

The L.A. Times is experimenting with the blogging thing, just like yours truly, and has an election blog, believe it or not.
(Note: that link may not work in the future...)

If Antonio Villaraigosa wins, he'll at least be famous for being the first Latino to be mayor in the City of Angels since Cristóbal Aguilar in 1872.

Remember him? Well, no, actually, and neither did any of my relatives. My ancestors from the Italian side of my family—including Giovanni Piuma, the first Italian consul general in Los Angeles—didn't start arriving in L.A. until the 1880s. Ah, the good old days, where if you made $300 a year, you were doing fairly well.

B.C. NDP not dead yet—and how about that proportional representation thing?

The results are coming in in B.C.'s provincial election, tonight... so far, it looks like the opposition NDP might win 35 ridings across the province, compared with the last election in 2001, when they only won three! (The governing B.C. Liberals under Gordon I-hope-he-hasn't-had-a-drink-since-Hawai‘i Campbell are leading with 44, so far.)

The thing to watch, though, in this election is that political hot potato known as proportional representation. B.C. voters had the opportunity today to vote on whether they want their provincial elections to be based on a modified proportional representation system. A CP story tonight, referenced above, says:

Running parallel to the election was the low-key referendum campaign that asked British Columbians whether they wanted to adopt a system of proportional representation called the single transferable vote.

Other provinces were watching the results closely.

The problem, as I see it, is how to make this single-transferable-vote system comprehensible to the majority of voters out there (if you want SVT to pass)—and, more importantly, do most people see STV as helpful to the political process, or a hindrance? We shall see.

Belinda crosses the floor to become... Jane Stewart :-)

I opened my inbox this morning only to be greeted by an e-mail from alerts@cbc.ca — the CBC website’s breaking news e-mail bulletin. Quelle surprise—at least to me. Former Tory leadership candidate Belinda Stronach had crossed the floor to the Liberals (not to mention walked straight into Paul Martin's cabinet as Minister of Human Resources, too!). Remember Human Resources? Come to think of it, there's a history of photogenic blonde women in that post: remember Jane Stewart? (Although for the life of me, everytime I try to remember what Jane Stewart looks like, the CBC's Allison Smith keeps popping into my head, instead.)

[Other press coverage: Globe and Mail, NY Times, Toronto Star, National Post, La Presse (CP)]

Stronach will also be in charge of carrying out the recommendations of the Gomery Commission. That's a smart move: get somebody who doesn't have any prior association with the Grits to be the taskmaster over them when Mr. Justice Gomery issues his report this fall. I'm as appalled by anyone else over those revelations about the sponsorship scandal that are coming out of the Gomery Commission's enquiry, but I don't think it's worth bringing down a government over it at this point in time.

The crucial factor in all of this has to do with tallying up MPs' votes in the House. At one point during Paul Martin's part of the news conference this morning, the PM said, “Indeed, the fact is that we still do not know — [laughter from the floor] — wait a minute — [more laughter] — we still do not know if the budget will pass or not. But I gotta tell ya, I can count.”

Indeed he can. By Stronach's defection, the Liberals have picked up a vote, and this means that they and the NDP have effectively tied the Tories and the Bloc. Most likely, if there is a tie, the Speaker of the House, who is a Liberal MP, will be the tie-breaker vote. It should be very interesting.

Stronach, of course, has made no secret that she's had disagreements with other members of the Conservative party, most notably with Tory leader Steven Harper, over issues ranging from same-sex marriage (she's for it, he isn't); and over his attempts to bring down the current government by voting against the budget (she doesn't think that's the right thing to do at this time, although she frames the issue by saying that what she really objects to is the Tories getting into bed with the Bloc Québécois to defeat the Liberals).

I would say that in the area of social issues she is what we'd call a “Red Tory”—but I think that term died out about the time that Joe Clark last sat as an MP. Terry Weber, writing in the Globe, says that Stronach has always been a liberal Conservative.

Now, the odd little angle in all of this is that Belinda Stronach has been “seeing,” in the romantic sense, deputy Conservative leader Peter MacKay. Oh, wouldn't you like to have been a fly on that wall when Belinda told Peter that she was jumping ship and crossing the floor to sit with the Liberals. In cabinet, no less!!!

Some romantic relationships can survive differing political views—see Mary Matalin and James Carville—but their political differences were known to each other from the start. Here we have a slightly different situation: one member of a couple bolts the party that the other one is deputy leader of to join the opposing, governing party. The dynamics there look pretty stressful, wouldn't you say? Well, my best to both of them as they navigate those treacherous waters!

• Update: A CP article in the Globe ruminating on what one Tory insider called "dipping your pen in the company ink" says that McKay was actually one of the last to know of her defection; she called him early Tuesday morning to tell him the news. Her former party leader, Stephen Harper, didn't get a call from Stronach until right before her news conference with the PM.

Meanwhile, I'm glad that the Liberals look like they can avoid losing a confidence vote come Thursday. If the voters want to "throw the rascals out," let's wait until later on this year, après l'enquête Gomery. Minority governments at least should have the chance to govern for a while.

Oh, wait... there was Joe Clark in 1979. He had no chance!

Twirl egg. Egg stands up on end. Now correlate that with understanding damaging weather events.

Phenomenon of the ‘magic egg’ has been cracked by mathematicians

At last, another mystery of the universe—or at least a good conjuring trick—has been solved . . . although it sounds like these mathematicians had a bit too much time on their hands, eh?

La grande snoozefest à L.A

The article mentioned in the previous posting, "L.A. mayor's race gets thumbs down for drama," was dated Wednesday, April 2, 1997—which seems eerily prescient, given that today is the mayoral runoff election up in El Lay, which is seen by many as being a royal snoozefest when compared with other elections in recent memory. Wake me when it's over. Granted, I'm an O.C. boy, so I don't really care who is Grand Pooh-Bah of Los Angeles, but neither candidate is really that inspiring.

Political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe was being interviewed on Larry Mantle's "Airtalk" on KPCC Monday morning, and she said that she was recently researching articles on previous mayoral contests in the City of Angels. She found a headline from the Los Angeles Times from some time in 1973, that said — and I'm quoting from memory, here, so it may not be exact — but something like, "Mayoral Election Leaves Voters Dissatisfied, Bored."

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, as they say!

Finally got one!

A blog, that is. :-)

Back on April 8th, my friend Jim sent me an e-mail, replying to one of my many forwarded articles. It was very succinct, and said, in its entirety:

You know..
You need a blog

:)
- Jim

Part of my reticence in blogging has been that much of my e-mail sent to friends and acquaintances consists of forwarded articles from publications, with the odd comment or two tacked on to the top of said e-mails. The problem with blogging is that many news sites will keep articles up for a week or so, and then hide them behind an archive firewall from then on, asking for coin of the realm every time someone wants to read an article from the San Jose Mercury-News on "L.A. mayor's race gets thumbs down for drama," let's say. (I just tried to find that article at the Merc-News' site, and got directed to a page that asked me for—surprise!—$2.95. Luckily I already had the article saved on my hard drive, from a previous Web peregrination back in 1997.)

Anyway, some sites have ways of establishing permanent links for bloggers to link to, so that is what I will try to do when I reference stories on this blog. I can't guarantee that will work for all publications, but we'll see what works and what doesn't.