Being able to tote your virtual self -- i.e., your social-media identity -- from one social site to another sounds like a great idea, doesn't it? So great that in the past few days five different schemes have been announced to let you do just that, backed by key players like Facebook, MySpace and Google. Of course, they don't necessarily all work together, which seems to defeat the purpose. But there's hope yet, expert observers tell The Social's Caroline McCarthy.

We all "know" that the Internet has been a key factor in the decline of the print newspaper business. Reflections of a Newsosaur's Alan Mutter delivers some numbers to back that up.

In comparing data on the rise of high-speed Internet services with the decline of the U.S. newspaper industry, it is evident that circulation began deteriorating when household broadband penetration reached 23% in 2003 and that advertising began faltering when high-speed Internet adoption hit 31% in the following year.

The accelerating deterioration of the U.S. newspaper business since 2004 coincides with the near doubling of broadband adoption in the same period. With broadband penetration at a record 57% at the end of the first quarter of this year, print advertising sales were down by unprecedented double-digit rates and daily circulation was off by a record 3.5%.

Even though the U.S. population has more than doubled in the last 60 years, absolute newspaper circulation this year will be lower than it was in 1946. Newspaper penetration today amounts to less than 18% of the U.S. population, as compared with more than a third of the population in 1946.

Further, Mutter notes that broadband has had the same impact in other nations. Indeed, he found that print circulation and ad sales declined the most at papers in other nations where broadband penetration exeeded 20%.

Nor is the broadband effect confined to newspapers. Other businesses like Yellow Pages have also been hit hard. He cites Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Ginocchio's prediction that "a 1% gain in broadband penetration in a country will drive a drop of approximately 0.8% in sales for print Yellow Pages."

Wall Street Journal columnist Scott McCartney looks at how airline passengers are behaving worse these days, and leaving behind more disgusting residue for the next unwary passenger.

You'll never look at, or reach into, an airline seat-back pocket the same after reading this.

Besides being a repository for magazines, newspapers, books, iPods and air-sickness bags, seatback pockets get stuffed with all kinds of disgusting trash, from toenail clippings to mushy meals.

People do things on airplanes that they would never do in other public settings. They pluck eyebrows, polish nails and pick noses. They stick chewed gum in places only other passengers will discover. They blow noses into blankets that get folded up for the next weary traveler. They prop bare feet up on bulkheads and seats. Sometimes they even engage in sex acts.

One reason frequent fliers and flight attendants perceive an increase in offensive behavior may be the decline in air service -- customers seek retaliation for late flights, snippy workers, lost baggage and unavailable upgrades. ...

Nick Denton's call for tearing down the traditional walls between news and commentary at The New York Times -- "Screw the news-opinion divide," in his words -- is generating quite a bit of discussion among media circles, as you might expect.

Jeff Jarvis agrees with Denton's basic point but quibbles with his interpretation of how blogging has affected the Gray Lady:

What's really happening at The Times, in my view, is that its blogs have been a Trojan horse for the invasion of voice and opinion into the news columns. I say it's a most welcome shot of blood into those old, gray veins. ...

But I think The Times will be the last to admit it's human. So if I were the editor of another paper in the U.S., I'd take down the divide and say that we're all about our perspective with facts; that's our value.

Across the Pond, the Guardian's Roy Greenslade staunchly defends reporting's traditional role even in this digital century. "Let me make it crystal clear: our prime service, our public service remit, is to provide as factual a story as possible," he begins.

I think Denton, and others who support his view, are wilfully misunderstanding the digital revolution. They think that "factual news" appears on the net by magic. It's put there by agency journalists and stringers - the downtrodden peasants of the modern journalistic class structure - and then the squirearchy back at base can play with it to astound readers with their interpretative "stories". Finally, the nobility - the high-profile columnists - can employ their dazzling writing skills to give their own spin at £10 a word.

By this time, the readers may have been entertained but will they be properly informed? Will they have had the chance to assess all the facts? It is a fundamental distortion of the digital revolution to wish away the separation of news and comment as some kind of old-fashioned newsprint tradition that is somehow past its sell-by date.

Call me a Luddite but I think Greenslade makes some excellent points. When you start mixing commentary and factual reporting, you start going down an extremely slippery slope -- and one that doesn't look particularly slippery from the top. I freely admit that having a point of view or a clear agenda can sometimes help tell a story by framing the facts in a more comprehensible context, or by inciting urgent action. Anderson Cooper's legendary outburst at the ineffectual initial response to Hurricane Katrina comes to mind; not necessarily the best example, just the first one that popped into my head. The problem comes when the commentary eclipses the factual reporting, when the perception of bias -- which may or may not be justified -- casts doubt on the veracity of the underlying journalism. It's an easy trap to fall into. And, after all, what would be the point of reading The New York Times' colorful explanation of a story if you don't trust the actual story?

I love this bit of wisdom from the Fake Steve Jobs:

... big companies are scary; big evil companies are even scarier; but big evil clumsy companies are the scariest of all.

He is, of course, talking about the collapse of the Microhoo merger.

During the past two weeks, two people have been hit and killed by trains in South King County while talking on their cell phones.

Surprisingly -- or despairingly -- it looks like this might be more of a safety problem than you might think, according to our report:

Last year, 17 people were killed by trains in Washington, according to statistics from the Federal Railroad Administration. So far this year, eight people have been killed.

Marmie Edwards, a spokeswoman for Operation Lifesaver, a rail safety education organization, said the distraction of using cell phones near train tracks is a growing concern. The group has just finished a new safety film for middle school students that warns about the danger of talking or texting on cell phones near tracks.

"We are seeing more of it," she said. "People are engrossed in what they are doing, maybe looking down to text and not seeing the train, not looking up. Or maybe they don't hear the horn."

Incidentally, the organization also tells us that it's actually quite easy for a train to "sneak up" on an unsuspecting pedestrian:

Bob Boston, Washington state coordinator for Operation Lifesaver, said people who are hit by trains but survive often say they thought the train was on the other track. Others say they thought it was approaching much slower than the 60 to 80 mph trains typically travel.

"It is a big optical illusion," said Boston.

Modern trains are also much quieter than trains of the past. Tracks are welded rather than bolted, so there is no clackety-clack sound, and quiet engines often push the trains from the back.

"They are deadly quiet," Boston said.

I never thought of nursing as a reverse economic indicator, but it makes sense. As The Wall Street Journal explains:

With house prices falling and the cost of gasoline and food rising, many nurses are going back to work, in some cases to make up for the income of a spouse who has lost a job. Hospitals say part-time nurses are taking on extra shifts. And nursing schools are seeing an increase in people applying for refresher courses on the ins and outs of modern hospitals. Some older nurses are putting off a planned retirement.

"We are seeing a temporary lessening of the nursing shortage," says Jane Llewellyn, vice president of clinical nursing affairs at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. But, she says, "as soon as the economy turns up we'll see them staying home again."

It's a familiar pattern during economic slowdowns. For years, the high demand for nurses has allowed them to design work schedules that suit their financial and family needs. Many start off working full time on difficult shifts and then reduce their hours when they have a family -- the profession is more than 90% female -- or as they approach retirement. But when the economy goes sour, many nurses go back to work full time.

How much of a Web page does the average Internet user actually read? At most 28 percent -- and more likely as little as 20 percent, according to usability guru Jakob Nielsen. He based his conclusion on his own analysis of the raw data from a study conducted in Germany.

The data allowed Nielsen to arrive at "a mathematical formula to quantify exactly how much (or how little) people read online." The details are pretty interesting for anyone in "the biz."

We've launched MySeattlePets, a new community-oriented site where pet owners to compare tips, share stories and photos, and more.

This month, the site is also running a Cutest Cat and Cutest Dog Photo contest.

The Seattle Department of Transportation thinks four proposed new streetcar routes look promising enough to merit further consideration.

The possible routes, as shown on this map, include lines linking the University District to South Lake Union, Pioneer Square to Seattle Center, downtown to Ballard, and Pioneer Square to Broadway. Estimated costs for the various systems range from $29 million per mile to $50 million-plus per mile.

The existing South Lake Union line cost $40 million per mile.

See reporter Larry Lange's story for more details.

Evolutionary biologist Tadeusz Kawecki set out to find the answer to a simple question: "If it's so great to be smart, why have most animals remained dumb?"

As The New York Times reports, his experiments on flies have led to some intriguing discoveries. It's possible, he found, to genetically program them to learn better over many generations -- but being smart proved a disadvantage when it came to survival. Among other things, fast-learning flies had life spans that averaged 15 percent shorter than other flies'.

One clue comes from another experiment, in which he and his colleagues found that the very act of learning takes a toll. The scientists trained some fast-learning flies to associate an odor with powerful vibrations. "These flies died about 20 percent faster than flies with the same genes, but which were not forced to learn," he said.

Forming neuron connections may cause harmful side effects. It is also possible that genes that allow learning to develop faster and last longer may cause other changes. ...

Dr. Kawecki suspects that each species evolves until it reaches an equilibrium between the costs and benefits of learning. His experiments demonstrate that flies have the genetic potential to become significantly smarter in the wild. But only under his lab conditions does evolution actually move in that direction. In nature, any improvement in learning would cost too much.

Dateline Earth's Lisa Stiffler penned a nice overview of the many controversies surrounding biofuels.

For a quick overview, check out the accompanying chart, How green is that biofuel?

The study making the biggest news the past few days has to be what Roger Highfield, science editor for The Daily Telegraph, calls a "fundamental new insight into the cause of obesity."

An international research team discovered that the number of fat cells in people's bodies remains consistent from childhood. New fat cells are created as old ones break down; obese people simply have more fat cells for their entire lives.

Deborah Smith, science editor at the Sydney Morning Herald, sums it up nicely:

The good news is that about 10 per cent of our fat cells die each year. The bad news is that the same amount of new ones are produced annually to replace them, scientists have found.

The discovery of this cell turnover throughout life could lead to a new approach to tackling obesity, if drugs can be developed that prevent new fat cells from forming.

Losing weight, it turns out, merely involves reducing how much fat is stored in those cells, not reducing the actual number of fat cells.

A New York Times story by Gina Kolata points out that key questions remain unanswered by this study, including:

• Why do some people stay thin until adulthood, then suddenly put on extra pounds?
• Do fat cells removed by liposuction grow back?

Electric cars that you can recharge by plugging into any old wall outlet? Sounds great -- and automakers expect to introduce plug-in hybrid cars in 2010. But there's a big catch, The Wall Street Journal explains.

Basically, their success will depend on how much it will cost to recharge them, and they could actually make electricity much more expensive -- and even boost CO₂ emissions.

From the Journal:

If drivers charge their batteries at night, when demand is low and the utilities have generating capacity to spare, utilities will increase their electricity sales and make more efficient use of their existing power plants. But if most drivers recharge their cars during the day, when demand is twice as high, utilities could have to make or buy extra electricity when it is most costly. They could even be forced to build new power plants.

A study by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory agreed that the number of plug-in vehicles in use and when they recharge could profoundly influence power-generating costs. Under some scenarios, electricity costs would drop, but under others, they could more than double.

Worries about capacity aren't the only source of anxiety and friction. Congress is considering greenhouse-gas legislation that would effectively tax carbon-dioxide emissions. Utilities worry that their power-plant emissions could rise if they have to produce a lot more electricity to power plug-in cars. They argue that if they help cut oil use by furnishing electricity to cars, they should get credit for it. Currently, though, there is no mechanism in the major bills to reward the utilities. ...

Steve Rudman, our sports department's resident statistics guru, now has his own blog, Take 2 Online.

It's based on "Take 2," a detailed, graphics-heavy feature that Steve compiles for the print edition. The blog is graphics-heavy as well, but Steve also plans to include expanded thoughts and commentary.