HoodedHawk

Kirsten and I went to see Vienna Teng (a “Singer, pianist, and songwriter working in a pop folk style”) this Wednesday night at Rams Head Tavern in Annapollis, MD.

I’ve been listening to two of her cds, Warm Strangers (2004), and Dreaming Through the Noise (2006) for awhile now at work, and I really enjoy her work.

Vienna played for about 90 minutes, and sounded great. She had a cello and violinist accompany her. A couple of her songs I hadn’t heard before, but she played most of the ones I was familiar with. We had a great time – the concert was great, and if you get a chance, definitely see her live.

The opening act was Adrianne Gonzalez (on right), who did an acoustic guitar set of about 20 minutes. She was also quite good, and I grabbed one of her cd’s after the set (she signed it for me). Her stories from the road were quite entertaining as well.

Venue:
Rams Head Tavern is a small venue (seats about 250 in the stage area), and we were off to the left of the stage. Unfortunately that meant we were staring at Vienna’s back all night as she played the piano. The tables are *really* small, so unless you want real intimacy with your tablemates, eat in the restaurant before – the narrow tables only support 2 diners, though they seat 4 (more appropriate for drinks and maybe chips). The sound/acoustics were very good, though at times the noise of waitstaff filling glasses with ice overshadowed softer passages. They really should close off that kitchen area better.

Food:

We made reservations for dinner before the show in the larger RamsHead restaurant (onsite). I like the atmosphere – sortof an upscale brewpub, with brick walls and nice tables. I had a “Genius Stout” which was quite good, similar to Guinness. However, I was not as impressed with my meal as I had hoped from the description:

“GM Filet”: 8 oz center cut Filet Mignon enveloped with puff pastry, topped with Mousseline pate and a green peppercorn demi-glaze. Served with a side of garlic mashed potatoes.

Sounds good, right? Well, while the steak was perfectly cooked (medium-rare), it was not “enveloped” with puff pastry; I had been expecting a “beef wellington” type of pastry/meat. Instead, the steak was sitting on top of a flat, squashed pastry. The pate tasted like bland liverwurst, and was too soft. The demi-glaze was uninspired. Overall the dish was quite tasty, but mostly because the steak itself was such a great piece of meat. I didn’t notice until the end of the meal (we were hurrying to get to the show) that I never received any mashed potatoes. Bummer. The salad with honey-mustard dressing was good (mixed greens were crisp and fresh).

I’ll definitely go back, but I’ll probably choose a more pedestrian meal. I’ll be having the Genius Stout again, though!

George Clooney is producing a miniseries for the SciFi Channel based on The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. Stephenson will be adapting his book into the screenplay. I’m really looking forward to this, since The Diamond Age is a great book (Hugo Winner!). yay.

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An article in a recent issue of Nature reports on two (female) Komodo dragons (in two separate British zoos) who have reproduced via parthenogenesis, i.e., without males. No mammals are known to reproduce in this way, and only a few vertebrate species can. These momma Komodos are definitely the largest animals to do so. It is speculated that this would allow a single female Komodo to colonize a new area, e.g., an island. However, since parthenogenesis in komodos only produces males, she’d eventually have to mate with one of her sons to perpetuate the colony. Researchers used genetic testing on the offspring to confirm only one parent. One of the mommas was subsequently introduced to a male Dragon, and she produced a clutch of eggs in the usual way.

A free summary is available at sciencenews.org.

A paper in a recent issue of the journal Nature (see the Nature News Report) reports an x-ray imaging study of the ~2100 year-old bronze Antikythera Mechanism used as an astronomical calendar.

What is remarkable is not only the fact that this is the oldest/most complex geared mechanism known (over 30 intricate bronze gears) – but that nothing as complex is known to exist for at least another 1000 years.

Also, it is quite interesting that such a sophisticated technology should just vanish. Why didn’t a civilization advanced enough to create such a device continue on, advancing in technology? Why did it just stagnate for 1000 years, and we don’t see another example of such tech until the Middle Ages in Europe?

It was found in a shipwreck off the coast of Greece, and is in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. It had been underwater for over 2000 years, so its condition is remarkable. The artifact is basically priceless, so it wasn’t allowed to leave the museum. So, over 12 tons of x-ray equipment were transported to Athens from the UK to image the device.

Read the Nature News report for a great background story. Also see the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project page for more info.

Google has a great new service: Google Patent Search. I tried “gene sequence” and got back over 1200 hits. This is disturbing on a couple of levels, for example: a patent on the Coding sequences of the human BRCA1 gene.

Two things are big issues here:

• How can the (idiotic?) US Patent office grant patents on what any normal person would call a work of Nature? Didn’t the courts shoot that down? They should. This isn’t an “invention”, it’s a discovery of something Nature has done.
• The above patent (and others like it) are also a concern, since mutations to the BRCA1 gene are linked to human ovarian and breast cancer. Thus, patenting the sequence prevents production of generic techniques for detecting such mutations. The patent does also include specific techniques for detecting mutations. I don’t have a problem with patenting certain techniques – but there is a fine line. Patenting the *sequence* crosses it, though.

Somebody needs to give the USPTO a wakeup call.