Archive for the “science!” Category

Well, here’s one thing that doesn’t seem to be in evidence in Sicily: a burbling startup scene.  I dropped in at Web Innovators 26 (it seems only yesterday I was at Webinno18) at the Royal Sonesta to check out the demos and pitches.  As usual, there were some “main dishes” that got longer demo spots and some “sides” that got 15 seconds.  All had tables and the big ballroom was packed.

Maybe it’s the recessionary times, but I noted that the companies on offer seemed to cluster around the more basic of human needs.  Not to say they weren’t smart and sophisticated ideas.  Here’s a rundown, and then I’ll get to the strange underwear theme that ran through the evening like an elastic waistband.

Birchbox, a “new concept in beauty retail” that sounds just a little bit like a fancy coffin.

Chargify, a recurring billing service for serial entrepreneurs who have better things to do than worry about dunning and fraud.

DoInk, a community of “artists, animators and doodlers” reusing one another’s artwork to create animations and drawings.  they ran away with the audience choice award by a wide margin, and many tweets reminded people to “show this to the kids.”

JitterJam, some “web-based social marketing software”

manpacks, just what it sounds like, automated underwear delivery for “busy men”

Milabra, a “Visual Intelligence Platform” that serves up ads based on the color and content of a website’s imagery. Smart MIT guys, cool technology, kinda sluggish demo.

RelayRides, like Zipcar but with your car. Or maybe like Circle Lending but with your car. I like the idea that they allow more driving with the existing fleet of cars.

Trustmarker, a provider of “digital trustmark networks” which are, um, those things, you know, like verisign, but your own. I think.

Marketeers have heard endless variants on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the philosophy of selling “medicine, not vitamins”  but I thought this was largely (not entirely!) a refreshingly down to earth bunch of startup ideas.  What’s more basic than entertaining kids, feeling good about how you look, building trust, and getting around town cost-effectively?

But those concepts are as often as not boring or undifferentiated.  And that’s probably why what’s arguably the most absurd of the ideas – manpacks – was the one that everyone, even the other presenters, was taking about.  As the Lorax pointed out, you do not need a thneed, and as I am pointing out, if you’re too busy to pull together some underwear, you need to re-think your business.  But the image of busy (or more likely, lazy) men ordering a tailored internet subscription to their, um, unmentionables, has a strange appeal.

Manpacks is the youngest of the webinno companies – the only one founded in 2010 – and it’s already got a bunch of press.  I have no idea if it has or deserves any customers.  Maybe it’s just a brilliant publicity stunt for some other business, but it helps us ask two good questions…

1. does your business actually solve a real problem?

2. have you built a story around it that would make anybody care?

I try not to be too much of a food snob but there are a few things that just sort of make me nervous for no good reason, and having sushi far from the open sea is one of them.  This is bogus for any number of reasons, most notably that a great deal of all restaurant sushi even in Japan is frozen at some point – either at sea, right on the fishing boat, or later on for the purpose of shipping or killing parasites.  (If you need a citation on that, check the NYT, and especially note the quick list at the end of what’s usually frozen and what’s usually fresh.) Nonetheless I maintain a Spurious Sushi Exclusion Zone of about 100 miles beyond which distance from open water I am loath to order sushi.

Naturally, once you’ve created an admittedly pointless geographic entity, at least if you’re me, the next step would be to map it.  Sure, it’s usually pretty easy to know if you’re near the ocean or not, and pretty easy to measure on a map to any given place.  But where can I get a map of everyplace that’s more than 100 miles from the ocean?  Sadly, I came up empty, but along the way, I noted this map of the coastline as altered by rising sea levels of various magnitudes.  Limeduck world HQ seems safe to +13 meters, more if I’m willing to commute by canoe directly from the window.

Naturally, this level of flooding would only push the SSEZ deeper inland.

Another note on this topic is that by my rule, there is nowhere in all of Japan where I would not order sushi, because  in Japan the farthest from the sea you can get is only 120km (~75mi), in Maebashi.  This leads me to consider reducing the SSEZ to 120 km.  Because I need the greatest precision in my bogus heuristics.

Perhaps it’s fitting that on this preliminary Boston election day it’s time for another Bacon Technology Update.  Alert porkavore Tangyslice gave me these last week:

Just so there’s no misunderstanding, let’s be clear: there is no actual pork – or actual mint for that matter – in these “bacon mints.” They are entirely synthetic and could probably be kosher if they were in fact food.  That’s what they are not.  Here’s what they are: baconesque.

They are uncannily reminiscent of bacon and yet utterly devoid of true bacon nature.  Miracle of science or sign of the apocalypse?  I’m not sure but after uncharacteristically poor service at Toro, I left the with the tip.

This weekend I went on a three-hour tour with the New England Aquarium’s whale watch with Professor M and her friend J.  An hour before the departure, I got the text message, “forgot Dramamine, please buy some before we leave” I couldn’t find any near the wharf, but was assured that it would be available on board, no doubt at extortionate prices.

We took seats inside the middle deck, plopping down at a table thoughtfully decked out with sick bags. Pretty much immediately after departure, the announcements of the availability of Dramamine started.  Well, the professor and I got the message and took the pills.  The hour-long trip to the whale zone was choppy, with 3-4 foot swells in the wine-dark sea.

I won’t dwell on this at length, but I will say that not in any given year of my college career, possibly not even in all four years, did I witness as much reverse peristalsis as I did on this cruise. Seriously, people – the concession stand sells just three things: soft drinks, hot dogs, and Dramamine – how could you all have picked the wrong two?

When we arrived at the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary and cut the engines, the ride became a lot more comfortable, if a little chilly.  After some slow circles, we started to spot whales.  At first, a pair of relatively rare and fast-moving fin whales, and then later a couple of groups of humpbacks which came pretty close to the boat, or at least allowed the boat to approach them.

The light green area visible above next to the whale is actually its flipper, which is a much lighter color than the bulk of the animal, and often the first part you see through the water before its back and blowhole break the surface. The previously queasy were roused and inspired by even these fleeting glimpses.

The trip back was smoother, owing to the direction of current, but unfortunately a couple more lunches were lost before we returned to port.  Undeterred, we headed off around the corner to Sel de la Terre for dinner.

After warming ourselves with tea and coffee, we had an excellent roasted tomato soup with a taleggio crostini (crostino?) which was a highbrow version of the classic tomato soup and grilled cheese.  It doesn’t hold a candle to that available at Garden at the Cellar, but that’s probably not what Sel set out to do.

For an entree, I enjoyed the sautéed gnocchi with asparagus, foraged mushrooms and piave vecchio.  The rustic hand-cut gnocchi were almost smooth in texture, complemented by meaty mushrooms, sharp cheese and fresh asparagus.  Somehow the transition from the wild windy ocean to a cozy french table wasn’t jarring at all.

I was half-listening to the radio and I was pretty sure I heard the announcer say, “blah blah blah red tide blah blah surf clams and carnivorous snails…”  Carnivorous snails?? On the rampage and out for blood, causing the tide to run red??

OK, they’re not actually on a rampage, and they don’t look like that illustration.  But still, how embarrassing would it be to be so slow or unwary that you could be devoured by a snail?

A little surfing came up with this turgid notice from the Division of Marine Fisheries which outlines what critters are off-limits due to toxins produced by the algae that comprise red tide. I consider myself a somewhat adventurous eater, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen “carnivorous snail” on a menu.

Under authority of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 130, Section 74A and 75, the status of the below-defined areas have been changed to CLOSED TO THE TAKING OF BLUE MUSSELS, SURF CLAMS, CARNIVOROUS SNAILS AND WHOLE SEA SCALLOPS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SEA SCALLOP ADDUCTOR MUSCLE effective immediately. Digging, harvesting or collecting and/or attempting to dig, harvest or collect shellfish and the possession of shellfish, including carnivorous snails, from the below- defined areas is prohibited.

By June 3, the red tide had at least partially subsided, as reported under the possibly punny headline, clam beds partially open but alas, (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) carnivorous snails are still off-limits.

The Division of Marine Fisheries has reopened clam beds in Essex Bay and the Annisquam River for softshell clams and razor clams … The beds remain closed to taking other shellfish including blue mussels, surf clams, carnivorous snails and whole sea scallops …

Answering my earlier question about just what a carnivorous snail might eat, I’ve learned that carnivorous snails have some sort of drill-like attachment that they use to bore holes in the shells of other shellfish in order to devour them.  Eek.  More horrifying mollusc-on-mollusc predation here, including, and I kid you not, “The cone snail: the bearer of flying venom-filled needle teeth.”  Not for the faint of heart.