Funny for Obama Fans and Foes

Since I am politically obsessed, and this is the near-height of the political cycle, I don't seem to have a lot to blog about when the blog is the no-politics zone. Still, everyone might enjoy this Obama biographical parody mocking the usual convention fare. From the Daily Show...

DNA Statistics Battle

There was an article in San Francisco magazine about the accuracy of DNA identification and the legal battles surrounding it. The article outlines the approach, wherein from a DNA sample, various locations are matched with the suspect's DNA. With 13 matches, the probability is about one in a trillion of it being anyone but the subject or an identical twin. But, due to degradation and other factors, fewer matches are used, and there the dispute seems to begin.

According to the FBI’s own population frequency tables—the ones crime labs generally use to calculate DNA rarity—the chance of finding a coincidental nine-locus match in the general population is about one in 754 million for whites, and one in 561 million for blacks, depending on certain genetic variables.

But it turns out that surveys of databases are showing 9-loci matches at a lot higher frequency. A DNA analyst in Arizona published some results at a conference, and a follow-up showed 90 9-loci matches in a database of 60,000 people.

Arizona, it turns out, wasn’t a fluke: Searches soon revealed similarly disquieting numbers in other state databases. In 2006, for example, a Chicago judge ordered a search of the Illinois database, which turned up 903 pairs that matched at nine loci or above, out of 220,000 people. A search of Maryland’s 30,000-person database reportedly found 32 pairs at nine or more loci. Clearly, something was going on.

As Marc Taylor, a former criminalist for the Los Angeles medical examiner, who now runs an independent crime lab in Ven­tura, puts it, “The bottom line is, we need to have some statisticians go in and find out what the hell is going on.”

What says our resident expert?

Evolution and Editing

I just finished my morning coffee on the deck with the Sunday paper. I often see things in the paper that I noticed online but did not take the time to look at. This morning, I saw a NYTimes article in the SJMercury about teaching evolution. It was amazingly shallow, pretty much a useless puff piece. It told the story of a Florida teacher, David Campbell, who helped write the new teaching standards on evolution. It then covers how he introduced it to his class using a picture of how Mickey Mouse evolved over time. Students offered observations about how his tail got shorter, and the article ends this way:

Campbell smiled. "Mickey evolved," he said. "And Mickey gets cuter because Walt Disney makes more money that way. That is 'selection.'"

Later, he would get to the touchier part, about how the minute changes in organisms that drive biological change arise spontaneously, without direction. How a struggle for existence among naturally varying individuals has helped to generate every species, living and extinct, on the planet.

For now, it was enough that they were listening.

I'm thinking: "Stupid. What kind of reporter is this?" Now having finished my coffee and wandered in to see what news awaits on the Internets, I checked out the real article in the NYTimes. Yow! It is about five times longer and actually offers some depth and insight. Now I feel bad for the reporter.

Maybe this contrast is a better illustration of the evolution of newspapers. You would think that at least the Mercury would include the full article online. Nope. Sigh.

All I Need Is a New Hairstyle

Courtesy of a web site called YearbookYourself, I took a current picture of myself, uploaded it, and voila, got back a reasonable facsimile of what I looked like in 1976. Too close for comfort, I can tell you that.

Where in the World Is Dara?

Climbing the Andes to see Machu Picchu, of course. I posted some of her many pictures on Flickr. The trip starts in Lima on the coast, on to Cusco at 11,500 feet, by taxi to catch a train that took them on to Aguas Caliente. From there it was by bus to Machu Picchu for the day, starting at sunrise. Then back to Cusco and Lima on a thirty hour three-connections trip back home.

All In My Head -- So What!?

I've been an Airborne fan for years, as has Kyla, for some kind of preventive measure against colds when you feel something coming on. Dara can't stand the taste of the stuff any more than Alka Seltzer. Seems the science is against us on this one.

"There is no credible evidence that Airborne products . . . will reduce the severity or duration of colds, or provide any tangible benefit for people who are exposed to germs in crowded places," said Lydia Parnes, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, which filed a complaint against Airborne's makers.

Under a settlement announced yesterday, the privately held Airborne Health, based in Bonita Springs, Fla., will add $6.5 million to funds it has already agreed to pay to settle a related class-action lawsuit. That suit, which alleged that Airborne falsely claimed its products could cure or prevent colds, was settled earlier this year for $23.5 million. Consumers who bought Airborne products between 2001 and 2008 have until Sept. 15 to apply for a refund for as many as six purchases, the FTC said. Claims will be paid by Oct. 15, 2008, the company said in a statement.

Woohoo! Go Bonita Springs! Well, I guess the good news is I'll be able to buy more Airborne with my settlement money.

Can We Stop and Get It?

In an attempt to return the blog to its normally scheduled nonsense, I thought I thought I'd post this picture of the turtle we found in the road on Sunday. I wonder how many times Dad heard me ask, "If we see a turtle in the road, can we stop and get it?" And I know Dara has heard it a thousand times even if we'd never seen a turtle. And now we have.

Google Is Watching Us

This street view of our place from Google Maps is almost alarming and quite up-to-date. I see on their web site they have a way for you to flag inappropriate images. Do you suppose that garbage can sitting outside the gate late in the afternoon qualifies? At least they didn't catch me in my bathrobe chasing a dog across the yard.

Lost Opportunity

With so many dogs now, I guess we're going to have to pass on offering a new home to a soon-to-be-homeless hippo at the Washington zoo. They're making way for new elephant quarters.

But it's not easy finding a home for a 7,000-pound adult male Nile hippo. Happy, who was born at the zoo 27 years ago, needs lots of clean water, for an array of reasons that include his indoor and outdoor pools, where he spends much of his time submerged.

He also needs his own room, so to speak. Male hippos are extremely territorial, and will attack other hippos, or people, that intrude in their space.

Admittedly, he's not even a pygmy hippo. And he might flatten a miniature dachshund.