If anyone has a chance to see it, Being Human, carried here on BBCAmerica, is worth a look.

It had easily the best opening episode I've seen in a very long time. The background mythology has obviously been well thought out, presenting a coherent world that's still very recognizable.

But it's the characters. These are very accessible beastie-folk, and the relationships are very very well-drawn. They have torment, but they're funny, and they very obviously care about each other. Even the "bad guy" characters have depth.

It's a very well cast show as well - actors as just perfect for their parts, and they're pretty good. Pretty, too, with lots of screen presence.

Figured I'd let folks know.


In Darby and Sara land, we're going to be moving over the next month or so - not far, but more convenient for our current needs. Lots of little jobs to do in the new place, but it's very nice.

The internet can be a very useful place.

I had a bit of an idea the other day, probably nothing new but, who knows?, about newspapers on the internet and micropayments. I wrote up a small proposal:

Dear (Highest honcho on major newspaper):

I am sending this idea to several newspapers with major online components. I am not looking for any monetary reward – in fact, I understand that my idea couldn’t really be laid claim to, realistically – but I strongly believe that only the current paper journalism entities stand a chance of preserving the type of journalism that a free world depends upon, and the only way to preserve those entities is through an effective online model. If my idea is used and works, I wouldn’t mind a little credit, but even that isn’t necessary.

Micropayments – nothing new. And my idea might be something you’ve heard before, but I believe that if all of the details had been assembled, someone would already be using it somewhere.

I’m sure some of the details are common: a sort of “bank,” an account that could debit small amounts to maybe a monthly credit card bill, like a PayPal but without the problems. I suspect that a real bank would be the best choice to put something like this together.

Here’s the twist – your online pages remain open and freely accessible, but next to the content, near the bottom of the reading, is a banner box that essentially contains 2 things: a click-through to the account system so that a newcomer can check it out and enroll; a button that says, “If you believe that this page is worth x cents, click this button to debit your account.”

I believe that news readers are willing to pay for good content, when they may not be willing to pay for access, especially if the individual price points are kept almost ridiculously low – the iTunes model, you could say. And while it is true that many readers will not pay – I often read content I don’t think is worth even a nickel – a significant number of news readers will pay a pittance per story. There’s a pride involved, a feeling of support, even an egotism that may say, “A lot of bums reading this won’t click, but I want to show my support.”

I also believe that the only way for this to work on the long term is for many newspaper and magazine sites to share the debit account site, rather than to make it proprietary. Let the content generate the reward, and the breadth generate the volume that would interest the account holder in the first place. Let each source determine its own price points, and see which ones encourage participation and what’s too much. Also, the start-up costs could be shared among many entities, breaking nobody’s shrinking budget.

Thank you for your time, and good luck.

Michael McDarby

Biology Professor

http://faculty.fmcc.edu/mcdarby/default.htm

(If this works, I might even try it on my niche pages. Maybe I’ll ask for an entry fee waiver when the system’s up and running, eh-?)

And, using a site that listed links to all American newspaper sites, I went state-by-state to the largest papers that I knew (this idea will only work for locals if it gets a pretty global application), tracked down the e-mail of the headest honcho (which was not possible on some), and with the heading The Future Of Print Media Online, sent them one-by-one.

It was the only way I could think of to do it that might actually work, but I didn't really expect it to have much impact.

I've gotten several responses, apparently from the actual recipients, that indicate that they have actually read the suggestions. I've gotten more real responses than standardized "thank you for your suggestion" responses. Wow, the situation must be really bad if they'll listen to me.

I think it will work, though - price-pointed donations (those open-ended donation clicks are intimidating) that just require an account and a click, that could theoretically be applied far and wide, and will work on the responsibility of the reading community. That may be the weakness, but I think I'd click for something I thought was worth it; I might even click twice if I thought it deserved it.

It seems like a relatively simple non-portal, non-subscription system that would reward interesting writing, where something that got linked to a lot could make some bucks, where volume mixed with a reasonable reward request could underwrite the cost of the writing. It might be a way to, gasp, monetize the internet on a totally voluntary basis, pay not per view but for appreciation.

Those of us with our own pages could eventually make maybe $3.00 a month. We'll be rich!

Maybe-?

I'm starting to get a bit more...

The incomplete numbers from Mexico City indicate an unusual number of pneumonia-related deaths in adults aged 20-40 with the rise of this influenza outbreak. The association is mostly inferred, as few confirmatory tests have been run.

The timeline for the Mexican outbreak seems to start in early March from a single source and have spread to virtually the entire country and beyond in a bit more than a month. I'm not sure whether that makes this a particularly more infective flu strain, though - remember that the typical "season" for flu yearly is just a few months, during which time it spread very effectively.

H1N1 strains include the famous "Spanish flu," which also hit healthy young adults more than a typical outbreak (it still had a mortality rate of only around 1%, even with the spread through the WW1 soldiers in the trenches). The "H" is a surface protein on the virus that helps it stick to and enter cells; the "N" is another protein that helps offspring viruses erupt out, killing the host cell in the process.

No one is sure why Spanish flu was more focused on healthy adults, but there are 2 strong possibilities: older adults might have gained immunity from exposure to a different virus in their youth, or this strain might produce symptoms from an overreaction of immune response: better immune response, stronger symptoms. This sort of effect, so far as I can find out, is not characteristic of influenza viruses, though. It's also not clear whether child mortality has been closely tracked in this current outbreak.

Some background: influenza viruses are, as a group, compatible with cells in pigs, people, and several bird types, and tend to "jump" back and forth between them. In a new host, it is to be expected that the first strain will be less compatible at first (adapted better to the old host), but there is a strong evolutionary pressure to not be so destructive that viral offspring can't easily be passed to new hosts. The Spanish flu had a reputation of being able to sicken and kill within a day, but that might have only worked for the virus' survival in extremely crowded conditions, such as cities and trenches; today, especially with better knowledge and press exposure, a strain that severe would have a very hard time perpetuating itself.

So, bottom line, there are obviously some irregularities in this outbreak, but at this time it can't be reliably linked to anything but that it has caught health authorities very much by surprise. Whether it is in any way worse than a typical flu outbreak (which kill tens of thousands of US citizens yearly) still remains to be seen.

Here's what I think is going on based upon what's known:

This outbreak is very widespread in Mexico, and has been for a while. Tourists are picking it up easily, from widely separated Mexican destinations.

Either the virulence is no worse than a regular flu, or the number of dead is much much higher than has been reported. If the flu is as widespread as I suspect, the reported fatalities are not much higher than a normal flu outbreak (although the demographic may be unusual). The fact that the WHO and CDC are reacting somewhat massively means that they are either privy to the real numbers or overreacting.

Time will tell, as the mortality rates in the U.S. will indicate whether this is anything other than a seasonally unusual influenza.

Added -
According to the source listed below, typical US mortality from flu may range from 21,000 to 37,500 - the toll from this strain will have to be pretty high to be anything unusual.

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/163/2/181

But I had to put up this response I got.

So Sara, Graffiti, and I went to a casino to see Art Garfunkel last night.

Maybe 2/3 of the place was filled. Economy? Waning popularity? Who knows?

He works with a small combo of very good musicians. The lead guitarist was most impressive, especially on the Simon & Garfunkel stuff; Graffiti pronounced the bassist and drummer as really good (he's a better authority); the pianist / keyboardist had kind of an odd, discordant style that made me think the piano was out of tune, which it probably wasn't. The combo got several opportunities to shine, as a group and in solos. Art's Graffiti-aged son also joined him onstage for a song and some duet work - he's got a raw version of his dad's voice.

Garfunkel was impressive. His voice is weaker than it once was, and just a bit raspy, and needed a lot of songs to warm up.

But I think a lot of folks will remember the evening as the one where Garfunkel dissed the handicapped guy.

One of the conceits (and I mean that literally) of the concert is that Garfunkel sets up a few songs with "prose poems" from a book he wrote a few years ago. Not a strong part of the show. And, while he was relating one about his toddler son, somewhere off in the room, someone had a bit of an outburst.

At first it wasn't clear what the sound was, but it quickly stopped Garfunkel for a beat. As he continued, it returned, louder, and was obviously an adult producing some sort of spontaneous noise - as in, it obviously was not a child or a heckler. Garfunkel made a couple of statements about how he couldn't present a show with this going on, stepped back for a few seconds, and when the sounds stopped (we don't know if someone was removed during this), he stepped back to the mike and professed that he is "kind to the handicapped, but"...

That dampened the crowd's enthusiasm quite a bit.

To be fair, I think we just saw someone with a certain show structure and little ability to adjust on the fly, and certainly someone with no ability to recover in a light, understanding fashion. I suspect that Art isn't much of a funny guy, and I'm not inclined to blame him much for fumbling an unusual situation.

But it came close to spoiling the whole experience for Sara. As she said, someone with a new toddler should remember that every expectant parent deals with the possibility that their child might have some problems, and should be sympathetic to parents dealing with such, and their children (I think that's more her special empathy than a general response, but I'm just an insensitive clod). By the end, after many more songs had gone by, she had kind of recovered, but I suspect that the little incident will be front-and-center on her memory of the evening.

I just put up a new webpage that, I hope, applies the principals of evolution by natural selection without getting too weighed down in terms or concepts, but where to really understand the steps you need to absorb the ideas driving them.

I'm curious as to whether I'm anywhere near succeeding.

Please take a look and let me know.

http://faculty.fmcc.edu/mcdarby/Childhood-Disease-Evolution.htm

I just got an e-mail from Ticketmaster about Lewis Black. We love Lewis Black, and have seen him a couple of times, but the Ticketmaster alerts are often for venues that are just too far away.

This was too far away - Buffalo, which is a 5-6 hour drive.

But the appearance was for TOMORROW (Friday!) at 10 IN THE MORNING!

Huh? Is this a desperate attempt to get some sort of audience to turn out (this is the first I've seen this appearance mentioned, and I do look at the regular stuff they send me)? Why is a topical comedian appearing at 10 AM on a weekday in, um, Buffalo?

Maybe this is why Lewis recently reappeared (to much rejoicing) on The Daily Show after not having been around for a while: maybe the concert business is drying up along with everything else.

Hello from New York City!

We decided to come into the city on kind of a family vacation - sorry about not contacting the New York natives, but there was always the possibility that the whole thing might become a big domestic tragedy scene, so better to restrict the sphere. So far, it has gone better than we had any right to expect. We've dressed in many layers (very cold here right now) and done much walking)

On Thursday, we went to see Becky Shaw off-Broadway (yeah, about a half a block off). It's kind of a family study, kind of a comedy, and very enjoyable. The theatre is very nice, everybody close to the action, no amplification needed and no lines missed because of it. It had a couple of people that we gauche tv-watchers knew: Kelly Bishop, from Gilmore Girls, essentially doing a variant of Emily Gilmore but doing it well; Emily Bergl, from Gilmore Girls and Men in Trees (yes we watched that, what's your point-?), showing decent range and surprising sexiness; and Annie Parissi, one of the more forgettable Law and Order eye-candy DAs, definitely stretching her acting chops. The material was interesting, the performances were effective, the dialogue was a bit heavy, but it was a fun experience for all three of us, even giving us much post-play discussion points.

Yesterday, we walked from midtown up to the American Museum of Natural History, wandering through Central Park to get there. Saw much interesting anthropological stuff, the same old biological stuff, and the walk-through Butterfly Conservatory exhibit. On the way back, we left The Boy in a block of music stores, and much enjoyment derived from his being able to try out multiple instruments (no drum sets, alas).

Many of you know that Sara is a Top Chef junkie, and her favorite contestant, Harold Dieterle (the one who always had a pencil behind his ear), has opened a restaurant in Greenwich Village. We took out a second mortgage and went last night, curious to see whether all of those weird ingredients really did produce "great flavor profiles."

They do. Definitely one of the best meals I've ever had. We each ordered different appetizers, entrees, and desserts, and we got two side dishes, and shared. You might want to open a tab with the menu for reference...

http://www.perillanyc.com/index.php?page=menus&sec_id=265

Appetizer: I got the spicy duck meatballs. They were spicy in an odd way, I guess in a way to make the point but not shut down the taste - the heat hit well after the flavor, subsided with each bite, then returned just after it was all gone. What must have been the mint cavatelli (there was no mint, though, so maybe that should be mini-?) were really good, too. The Boy got the scallops and had to be talked into sharing a bit, so that tells you something. Sara got Pork Belly (it had just been discussed on the show too many times to resist), which were so great she almost got them for dessert.

Entree: I got game hen wrapped in bacon. Really really good, and the other bits were so exotic that I couldn't tell you what was what other than the chestnuts. The Boy got duck breast, which was also excellent, and the gooseberries were the sweetest berries I've ever tasted - almost reminiscent of Life Saver candies, and I can't quite decide if they were too sweet. Sara got hanger steak, which may be the best piece of beef I have ever tasted.

Sides: The Boy was resistant to the idea of risotto, but ate most of it. I liked it, Sara was not a fan. The spaghetti squash was good, and the squash, chives, and almonds definitely produced an interesting flavor profile.

Desserts: http://www.perillanyc.com/index.php?page=menus&sec_id=267

The weakest course, and oddly the biggest portions (a lot was left behind, which rarely happens at a table where both I and The Boy are eating). I got the sticky toffee pudding, which seemed more like a cake that a pudding, and was okay. Sara got the vanilla-scented donuts, which were good, but the apple filling was more vanilla, and the pumpkin bavarian cream was like a weird pumpkin filling - whipped cream combo. Not bad, but very odd. And four doughnuts were a lot. The Boy got pear sorbet - they were four half-pear-shaped things that were, well, the closest I can come is apple crisp. The outside was semi-hardened and the inside definitely flavored like a crisp. Good, but not what you expect from a sorbet.

Ambiance - like most stuff in New York, was a long, narrow space, booths on one side, a bar and tables on the other. Pretty dark. Attractive wait staff (Sara suspects some minimum qualification is in effect), but very attractive clientele - I suspect a lot of early dates were being conducted. Across from our table was seated what might be the prettiest girl I have ever seen in person, and there were many more (The Boy liked the Jessica-Biel-type at the next table).

The bill - anyone want to buy a kidney? But we did get there and back by subway, which says...something.

Today it's off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (on foot, if we can get The Boy some new walking shoes) and something adventurous but less pricey for dinner.

This morning, I pulled out of the spam filter a research paper from a student.

The "sent" tag is: 10:09 PM, Thur 3/8/2007!!!!

It is apparently from a student I had back then.

Where would this thing have been for over a year and a half?

A new shortcoming in my students:

I asked a question about "where, exactly, in the Bible is a Dracunculus infections probably discussed?" The answer is Numbers 21:6, as it says in their handout.

A significant proportion - easily three-quarters of the students who chose to answer the question - did not understand how the books of the Bible work. They gave the chapter & verse numbers, but not the book title. I've asked this question in the past, and I don't remember this ever being an issue.

I have no idea what it means.

Second thing -

Here's a test to (supposedly) check whether you have Asperger's Syndrome, probably the mildest of the autism spectrum disorders. I "passed;" Sara "failed."

http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/experiments-in-philosophy/200811/intentional-action-and-asperger-syndrome

Autism is a failure of proper development in the part of our processing that "gets into other people's heads." To one extent or another, folks with the problem can't see how others would not think as they do. It makes the reading of intentions difficult, but I'm not entirely sure that this test completely addresses what's going on.

That, and the questions have a bit of interpretational "wiggle room" in them that divorces them from the internal intent, even with the way they're phrased. You can see that reflected in many of the comments on the page. Interesting, though.

We did go with the too-big space - better too big than too small. I put up a webpage for the "new" club -

http://faculty.fmcc.suny.edu/mcdarby/SwordsAndStrategyFC/MainPage.htm

Negotiating the lease was interesting. We had a problem with a passage that, as written, made us responsible for virtually anything that might go wrong. As an example, if on the 2nd day the air conditioning unit burned out and needed to be replaced, we would have to pay for that. The management people assured me that they don't DO that, and I believe them, but if they sold to a new owner, the wording would allow it. We amended the wording.

The old occupants - a dance/gymnastics school - still had a decent amount of stuff in there, including a big trampoline and a bunch of big, thick mats. They did get them out, on the very last day of the month, and left 2 of the 4 keys to the space.

I made arrangements to switch over electricity and gas. They needed an $1100 security deposit, based on usage that probably dates back to when this was retail space, but whatchugonna do?

We moved mostly in on Labor Day. Sara swept the space while I moved in materials and made a list of what we needed. We have 2 bathrooms, but neither had TP racks and only one had a paper towel rack. They need trash cans (as did the main space). The main space also had no electricity that was not lighting-related, which is a problem.

Tuesday we went shopping for stuff on the list, and Wednesday (with the first meeting that evening) I mounted racks - badly, the drywall was kind of odd.

On Monday, we decided to save energy and turn off the air conditioning (we couldn't get the thermostat reset) - I'd turn it back on during the day on Wednesday. Tuesday, I stopped into the management office to discuss our issues. Wednesday, they had a plan of attack on the electricity and were trying to fix the air conditioner (hadn't noticed it turned off at the circuit breaker), and managed to get it so that it didn't work at all for our first meeting, with temps and humidity in the 80s. I managed to leave the space unlocked, but nothing bad happened.

I got a new, high-tech fencing scoring machine with a built-in clock and ran a long extension cord to it. I put fencing strips down, hard to do on a basic cement floor, after plotting the space out on graph paper.

We also found that, in the evening, most of the mall entrances were locked, but folks managed to find their ways in. Many of our old guard showed up to fence in the heat.

We may actually pull this off.

This example is pertinent, but many of them are quite good:

http://www.partiallyclips.com/index.php?id=1370

We spent a couple of days in the old city in Quebec City.

Here's our hotel. We were told it is "the most photographed hotel in the world," and who am I to buck the trend?



( A bit more info, a couple more pictures. )

Back from our long weekend in Quebec. Lots of fun, maybe more on that later; just want to focus on one thing here.

We were able to arrange a tour of the Fauna Foundation, a place that started as a farm animal rescue center (and it still is that), but after some contact with Jane Goodall, branched out to be a primate sanctuary. Most of their primate residents are chimpanzees that had been used in research - many heartbreaking stories.

The place is amazing, much more than I was expecting. There are several buildings, including a very large ones that allow the chimps to be inside or outside, to associate with each other or be by themselves or to interact with the employees and volunteers (the human contact is virtually always through a barrier, these are fascinating but not cuddly creatures). The folks there work very hard at giving the primates an enriched happy life.

I'll give you one story: Rachel, who as an infant was adopted by a wealthy couple who could not have children. She had her own nanny, her own room, human clothes, the whole weird bit, but when the couple divorced, they sold her to a research facility(!). The nanny brought her in a limosine, and as soon as the handlers there took Rachel's clothes, she had essentially a nervous breakdown. For years she had to be on tranquilizers and antidepressants and isolated from people and other chimps (who terrified her at first anyway). The folks at Fauna think she had at least one baby there, though, since she loves cuddly gorilla dolls that she carries all around.

There are many heartbreaking, anger-inducing stories like that. The facility is run totally on donations from individuals, and I can tell you that every penny is going into making this the best primate retirement community one could hope to see. If anyone is looking for a worthwhile cause, this could definitely go on the list.

Here's the website:

http://www.faunafoundation.org/


I am not one to say that research with primates is never justified, but it does not seem to be done with an awareness of the cognitive and emotional / social abilities of the subjects. There are few reasons other than money (and if that's an issue that exceeds the ethical considerations, the studies shouldn't be done) that these monkeys and apes couldn't be treated in ways appropriate to their biology and sociology and given a decent retirement rather than euthanasia.

Some of this sounds very familiar to me - I'm not sure I see such a clear cause-and-effect connection, but it's still a very interesting perspective -

The Kindergarchy -

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/161yutrk.asp

I thought I'd try something new here - kind of an actual journal.

I've been fencing for over 30 years, and coaching for over 25. I've had a fencing club at the place I teach for almost 20 years, but we're kind of parting ways. The room we use - which only we and some PE classes use - had the floor refinished this summer, and the only way the current president would let us continue using the space was to put down and take up our lines at every practice - 2-3 strips, twice a week, 11 months a year.

This is a fencing strip: http://www.redrocktrainingcenter.com/Fencing/images/ofenci1.gif

You can't lay one down with tape very quickly.


So I'm sort of starting my own fencing school / club, although I'll keep some association with the school's club. I have to, I'm the only coach available.

The good news is, I can do this for quite a while and not have to make money with it, using a set-aside account we've decided to use for this. That won't work indefinitely, but it takes away a lot of the pressure. We also have the idea of finding a space flexible enough to do some sort of community wellness co-op, with space maybe for Sara's old judo club, or yoga classes, whatever.

So here's chapter one - finding the space:

The internet is a wondrous thing. Searching for real estate just seems more doable. I spent a couple of days doing searches for commercial space, then contacting agents to see them. We decided to stick with Amsterdam, NY, for several reasons. Mainly, we've been thinking of moving back there to be more convenient to Sara's commute, but even if we didn't, Amsterdam would be the best place to do what we were thinking of doing.

The first spot seemed promising - an old factory that had been renovated. From the posted pictures, it might have allowed a fencing space on one floor and a space convertible to living space above it. Problem was, the agent was...well, another agent I mentioned them to used the term "braindead," and I wouldn't dispute that. I set up 2 appointments by e-mail, and they failed to make either one. At the second, we called them, but they wouldn't come out in the rain!

So we looked at other spaces in Amsterdam. One was a commercial building and a house, but the building was split badly (no continuous floor inside) and the two properties were taxed separately at over $5000 each! Hard to see how that's going to sell.

Checked out a sauce-making factory, but the space was wrong. Plus, it sat partly hanging over a cliff on pilings made from stacked old barrels that had been filled with cement. Another space was huge but just raw open space with no lavatories, and another was neat but would have had to have a wall removed...lots of "almost, but -" moments, plus the agent kept saying, "This space I sold last month would have been perfect."

The agent from the building - house combination called about a space in Amsterdam's Riverfront Center. This is a place that had been built in the middle of the downtown maybe 20-25 years ago, a regular commercial mall with stores, but it pretty much failed, was idle for awhile, and has filled in with things like offices, even a satellite campus for my school, and a dance school had a space they were vacating. Sara and I took a look that Sunday (without the agent, through the windows) - the space seemed huge but would work, if it wasn't outrageously expensive.

On Wednesday I made my official visit. There are two spaces, actually, a long narrow one that isn't really big enough, and a huge one that's actually too big (they actually used to play soccer in it), but there were bathrooms, lockers, security, air conditioning (although we would pay utilities, it's an interior space that's partly embedded in a hill, so the costs there should be okay), and we could use both spaces while just paying for the big one. It'll be pricier than we first envisioned, but usable in many ways. I just need to make sure that we can do the wellness co-op thing - the contract is a little fuzzy in that area.

That's where we stand right now - we'll talk to our lawyer about doing the business thing and the lease, think about signage and such. Leading candidate for a name is the Swords & Strategy Fencing Club - it reflects my coaching approach.

More later, I hope.

Who is Stacy Shirk? Apparently, many folks want to know this.

The actress who was the "non-connected" female Groupie (the other was Melissa Tanchareon, a Whedon family-member-to-be and one of the writers), who was "Stacy Shirk" in the credits but "Stacy Harbert" on the initial Internet Movie Database listing, seems to have people looking for her.

Since the lyrics page has gone up, almost every website traffic report has someone coming in using "Stacy Shirk" as a search term. It took a while before I noticed, and then I started to look at origination points. Malta. France. The U.S. I'm thinking this isn't just family members happy to find her on the interweb.


In a barely-related note, I've had a dozen visitors in the past 12 hours from various parts of the UK, all doing searches on some hairy-tailed, long-clawed South American monkey. What's up with that?


And to continue the randomness, many Dr. Horrible interviews and reviews contain the "favorite line" a person has from the musical, but the lines only repeat in comment threads (someone will give theirs, and others will agree) - in individual accounts, they are wildly different.

What was your favorite line?


EDIT, ONE MORE THING -

I can't watch the last part of Dr. Horrible any more without fixating on what appears to be Sarah Michelle Gellar in dark glasses and black wig (and Captain Hammer shirt) next to the Groupies in the audience.

No, I didn't pick her out, someone else did, but I'm passing the virus on to you with no added fees.

(Well, for as long as you can still connect.)

I've posted the lyrics -

http://faculty.fmcc.suny.edu/mcdarby/Pages/DrHorribleLyrics.htm

There's a brief hawking-their-wares ad on the front end of this, but it's worth it.

My favorite part is the ongoing "your call is important" bits:

http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/317/customer_servicing