Rational Spice

Saturday, I posted a link to an article on Carl Zimmer’s “The Loom” about the E. coli outbreak. Monday, there were several media reports about a woman from the West Coast who’s already filed a lawsuit.

Just now, this Google Ad appeared on my blog:

E. coli Infection Lawsuit
Bagged Spinach Linked to E. coli
Free Lawsuit Case Consultation

Beyond the issue of sleazy class-action lawyers using Google to troll for clients (and no doubt signing up plenty of people looking for a jackpot), is the issue of what these guys will make. If it’s like most class-action suits I’ve seen in the technology biz, the attorneys will nail down a payday of between six and ten million dollars, and the members of the class will end up with coupons for a couple of bags of spinach.

This is exactly why there’s a need for tort reform: the real winners are the lawyers, and the little guy ends up with a whole lot of “not much”. It’s just wrong.

If you’re reading this via rss, come on by, and if the ad’s still running, see for yourself what these sleazebags are saying.

I managed the time to stop in to the Neon Guild meeting tonight, since it had been a while. (And I wanted to check out their new digs at Inova, too.)

Jennifer McKeever was there, and came over to point out that we had both posted on the E. coli outbreak the other day. It turned out that we quite a pleasant conversation; she’s sharp.

I’ve only read her blog through the cvilleblogs site, which aggregates nearly 200 Charlottesville blogs. It’s easy to forget that there’s a person behind most of those, so it was nice to put a face to a blog name.

One of my favorite science writers is Carl Zimmer, who has a great talent for making science clear and accessible to just about anyone. It’s not something that’s easy to do — I once watched another one of my favorite science writers, Kathy Sayer (who was writing for the Washington Post at the time) grill a NASA Public Affairs Officer in NASA headquarters for half an hour, until he got exasperated and tried to blow her off. She scolded him, telling him, “I can’t make my readers understand until you make me understand!” Another 15 minutes later, she understood, I understood, and the next day, in 10 paragraphs, Washington Post readers understood, too.

Issac Asimov, better known as a science fiction writer, shared the “make it clear” talent as well, although he probably had an extra gene for it somewhere.

Today, Zimmer’s posted a story on his blog, The Loom, providing some background on the E. coli outbreak that’s led to the wholesale disposal of spinach in grocery stores around the country:

There’s a fascinating–albeit gruesome–backstory to this outbreak, which I’ve been researching for my next book, a portrait of Escherichia coli. Escherichia coli is regular inhabitant of the human gut (not to mention the guts of mammals and birds). You carry about a trillion harmless E. coli. E. coli has also become the model par excellence for understanding the nuts and bolts of life. Lots of Nobel Prizes were awarded for research on these fascinating bug.

It’s a great read, and definitely worth 10 minutes of your time.

I’ve long thought that one of the “Crown Jewels” of Charlottesville is the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival. Now in its seventh season, I’ve often used it as an example when I’m explaining to visitors what’s unique about Charlottesville, such as when I had a little time with Christine Todd Whitman last year.

The Jefferson Theater downtown, now undergoing renovation, has been the home of the Festival since its inception. The 2006 edition opened on Sunday, this year at Old Cabell Hall.

The performance opened with Mozart’s energetic Piano Trio in E Major. While much of Mozart is fun, but lightweight, this Trio is richly textured and layered with complexity. Festival co-founders Tim Summers (Violin) and Raphael Bell (Cello), joined by Benjamin Hochman (piano), brought the Trio to life. Summers, in particular, sparkled, dancing on top of Hochman’s forward movement.

The energy of the Trio was a perfect lead-in to Korean composer (and political activist) Isang Yun’s Together, as classically modern as the Trio is classically Mozart. Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto and Norwegian double bass player Knut-Erik Sundquist introduced the piece in some depth, although with a rapport and timing that would lead someone to wonder if these guys were also moonlighting as a stand-up comedy team. The truth, though, is that this was their first performance together.

In the end, Kuusisto and Sundquist should keep up the partnership, because the result was stunning. Together isn’t a particularly accessible piece of music, but the duo did a great job with it. In particular, they took great advantage of the dynamic range that’s available on Old Cabell, ranging from lean-forward soft to in-your-face loud. (Well, in-your-face loud for a pair of unamplified instruments, anyway.) For my money, it was the best piece of the afternoon.

During the introduction for Together, Kuusisto pre-announced their encore: a Swedish folksong. When it came, it was pure fun, a bookend counterbalancing the weight of Yun’s piece. Kuusisto, in what appeared to be black running shoes, channeled Boyd Tinsley while Sundquist — remindful of Paul McCartney — laid down a jazzy supporting groove. It’s not what you expect at a chamber music concert, but it sure did work.

After halftime, all five musicians sat down to one of the best known pieces of chamber music, Schubert’s Quintet in A Major, otherwise known as the “Trout”. Clearly the most anticipated of all of the program’s selections, I thought it was the weakest piece of the concert. While the Quintet started technically well, it took most of the first movement before the performers seemed to be on the same page expressively. Once that happened, though, the five sailed through the Quintet, to the obvious delight of the 400-odd audience members.

I’m not sure if the Festival could have gotten off to a better start. The 2006 Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival continues Thursday, September 14 at Old Cabell Hall. If you even have a passing interest in classical music, you’ll do well to take in a performance or two. Tickets are $16/$22 (or for students, a steal at $6) and can be purchased from the Box Office in Old Cabell Hall: 434.924.3984.

I think this country would be far better off if we found some reporters who didn’t think that food comes from the store.

It seems that ABC News “Investigative” Reporter Brian Ross went shopping for some fertilizer the other day. In the blink of a word-processor, 20 bags of crushed rock became:

a half ton of one of the world’s most dangerous bomb-making materials

Rubbish. While it is true that ammonium nitrate can be used as part of an explosive mixture, the story makes as much sense as putting on dark glasses (to get that “undercover” effect), filling up both tanks of a tractor-trailer with diesel fuel (the other part of an explosive mixture), driving into DC, then running a story about purchasing 200 gallons of “one of the world’s most dangerous bomb-making materials” and positioning it “within miles” of the U.S. Capitol.

What’s clear is that ABC News is using the 9/11 anniversary to a) hysterically whip up ratings (which is shameful) and b) shill for a proposal in Congress that will be expensive, obtrusive, burden American farmers who actually grow the food we eat, and not add one whit of extra security to our lives. The bill, H.R. 3197, and a similar version in the Senate, would require you to register with Department of Homeland Security if you feel like planting a garden and feeding your tomatoes. How stupid is that?

When I fly, my first choice is always to fly in and out of Charlottesville. I’ve never understood making a three-ish hour drive to avoid a 45 minute connection. (Yeah, you can get to Dulles or Reagan faster, but have you driven through Gainesville in the morning lately? Brutal.) Add to that: finding parking, waiting for a shuttle, lines at curbside check in, lines at check in, lines at security, and “show up an hour early” being a rule, not a guideline. Really, who needs the hassle?

Bottom line: Flying from Dulles, Reagan National, or Richmond is just plain flat-out a pain in the ass.

Financially, unless there’s a significant differential, driving to fly makes even less sense. Parking at, say, Dulles is going to run between 9 and 30 bucks a day. The workaround, if you’re going somewhere for a while (and have an early morning flight), is to spend the night at an airport hotel (for a C-note) and leave the car there for free.

And frankly, tickets out of Charlottesville are often a pretty good deal. In July, when I flew to London, Ontario, to play at the World Lacrosse Championships, it was less expensive for me to fly from CHO to Toronto and take ViaRail to London than it was to fly from Dulles to London. Charlottesville to Toronto was even less expensive than Dulles to Toronto.

So, how is the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport promoting itself? By attacking low-fare airlines. Last night I went to the airport’s web site and the first thing I saw was this “skip intro”:

Other than being a reasonably funny use of stock photography, there’s not a lot to like. None of the reasons you’d actually want to fly from Charlottesville are there. Instead, the Charlottesville-Albemarle airport is shilling for expensive, bloated, old carriers.

Here’s the problem: by and large, people LIKE the new, low-fare airlines better than the airlines we grew up with. Before they went out of business, ValuJet was enjoyable to fly. With leather seats and a zillion channels of live TV, I’ve never heard anyone bad-mouth their experience on Jet Blue. Southwest is consistently rated pretty highly by the people who fly Southwest.

So, CHO wants people to fly from CHO because they can’t fly on the airlines that they like. Brilliant.

But wait! There’s more!

The other problem is that the old-style, “incumbent” carriers, aren’t particularly well-liked. Ever try to check a bag that’s 2 pounds overweight? That’s 50 bucks, thanks. Get tied up in traffic on the way to the airport? Some airlines will cancel your reservation, with no refund possible. Want that whole can of club soda? Welcome to the world of “service with a glare”.

While I don’t want to tar all the incumbents with the same brush — Quantas and USAir are my two current favorite airlines — but most incumbents carriers suck. Other than my first flight ever in 1978, I’ve never had a good experience on American Airlines. Ever. Ever, Ever.

So, CHO wants people to fly from CHO because they have to to fly the airlines that they hate. Brilliant.

The bottom line is this: if the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport wants to continue to increase the number of people who use it, they need to come up with a message that’s actually, well, true. (Or, at least one that people might believe.) Because at this point, the people whose minds CHO needs to change — customers of Jet Blue and AirTran and SouthWest, et al — are going to stop listening before they even enter CHO’s web site.