The kindest cut

 Today is one of my most favorite days of the year.  With cool nights and a traditionally dry period of the year, my bermudagrass lawn is beginning to go into its annual dormant period.  That means today is probably the last lawn mowing of the season.  It's a chore I detest, and the prospect of a five month hiatus fills me with glee.  In Thornton Wilder's classic play, Our Town, the character of Mr. Webb takes great pride in caring for his modest lawn.  I, however, can only muster the enthusiasm to keep mine barely presentable.  It is a great tribute to the charity of my sole next-door neighbor that he has never complained about my unkempt landscape.  But today, using my trusty old John Deere, I will mow and trim it for the last time in many weeks, and will finally be content. 

That's a wrap

 Today is the last day that Netflix will send out DVDs by mail.  I'm sad to see the service end, for reasons I've already mentioned.  But I understand the business realities of the digital age.  I have enjoyed being a Netflix DVD member for the past eleven years, during which I have watched 577 movies.  The first? Bean- The Movie. The final movie? Whatever Works, by Woody Allen. The lowest rating I ever gave a movie? One star to Four Rooms.   It's been a good run, and I will miss those red envelopes.

National Coffee Day

 Today is the day we celebrate that crucial beverage, coffee.  Happy National Coffee Day!  I've always wondered how we came to create coffee.  Somewhere in history, a person decided that he should pluck the hard stone out of a cherry-like fruit of a particular plant, wash and dry it, then roast it until it was a dark brown.  Then grind it up and mix it with hot water before drinking it.  I offer my deep gratitude to whoever that hero of history may have been.  Coffee is a venerable, old beverage, but is as important today as it ever has been.  In fact, its popularity may have surpassed tea even in such a famously tea-centric nation as England.  The history of coffee is a long and interesting one, worthy of a fascinating book.  (I once owned an autographed copy of this book, but lent it out and it was never returned.  I don't lend books anymore.) As novelist Anthony Trollope once said, "What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?" So sit back and nestle in to your favorite reading space, and enjoy a cup of luxury.

Buy local, drink local: Daysol Coffee Lab, Helena Alabama

Raindrops fallin' on my head

 For decades, I have had a strong interest in the weather, and so my home is a reporting station for meteorological data.  Through an automated Tempest weather station that feeds updates to the internet, anyone may view the current conditions at my location.  But as a less automated endeavor, I make a daily report of rainfall to CoCoRaHS, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. Each morning at a certain time, I and a vast group of registered volunteers across the country go out to take the reading of an accurate rain gauge and send in the reading to the network.  This data is compiled and is made available for use by farmers, meteorologists, civic planners, and others.  It's quite satisfying to contribute to such a useful organization.  The CoCoRaHS network in turn provides me with some nifty graphs and charts of all the data I contribute.  So whenever somebody asks me, "What's the weather like?" I can give them an answer far more detailed than they expected.

Five Amigos

 A few weeks ago, a new podcast appeared and has quickly become one of my favorites.  Strike Force Five is a cooperative effort of five late night talk show hosts: Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers.  In their day (or night) jobs they are competitors, but on the podcast they give the outward impression of a group of true friends.  What began as an informal back-channel running group text thread and sometime Zoom meeting has become a fundraising effort for striking writers and crew members of the respective late night shows.  With sponsors like Pepsi and Ryan Reynolds' stable of companies including Mint Mobile and Aviation American Gin, the five hosts are using their unplanned sabbatical to generate a fund to be shared among the strikers.  Fortunately, the five are amusing and entertaining even without the support of their writers.  (We do learn that in his younger days, Colbert was a SNL writer who was partly responsible for one of my favorite classic sketches.) Talk on the show tends toward the "inside baseball" nature of showbusiness behind the scenes, something which I find fascinating.  There are also enough personal revelations to really humanize the showbusiness icons.  Over the course of eight episodes so far, we have learned about such things as a disturbing bathroom incident involving John Oliver's wife, the connection of Stephen Colbert's mother to a brutal central American dictator, and Jimmy Fallon's penchant for messy late night snacking in bed.  Other topics are not surprisingly out of bounds: Fallon's recent news has received nary a mention, and neither did Kimmel's recent case of Covid which cancelled a planned live charity event of a portion of the group.  The show even has had its first guest, former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who left them with the sobering warning that they will all be quickly forgotten once they leave the host's desk.

With the writer's strike recently resolved, it is yet unclear if this podcast has a future. I certainly hope so, as it is leading the list of my favorite podcasts.  But if it does not continue, I'm hopeful that the merch I recently purchased with become a valuable collectors item.  Don't miss Strike Force Five, wherever you get your podcasts.

Just my type

 One of my frequent weekly rituals is writing letters to family and friends, using one of my collection of vintage typewriters.  One of the oldest is my Oliver No. 5, which was made in Chicago over one hundred years ago.  It has a fairly unusual design, with typebars arranged to each side in a wing fashion.  It is also a 3-bank machine, meaning there are three rows of keys, instead of the more familiar four.  To provide all the common letters, numbers and symbols, it has two shift keys so that each key can provide three characters.  To those familiar with a common keyboard as on more modern typewriters or on today's computers, this takes a little getting used to.  But a week doesn't pass without me tapping out a letter to a family member or a close friend and sending it by mail, using one of these amazing mechanical marvels from the past.

Oliver No. 5

Scientia potentia est

 Just a few days ago, it was announced that the government would resume sending free Covid home test kits to all households, free of charge.  By applying online here, one can receive four free tests to have on hand when needed.  This valuable program helps prevent a resurgence of the disease by giving a quick, convenient diagnosis at home.  When positive, individuals can isolate early to prevent transmission to others, and in appropriate cases begin medication that is most effective when taken early in the course of the illness.  There is also a new and improved vaccine now available that better protects against newer variants of the virus.  I'm a supporter of all these new developments.  Although the pandemic has waned, the disease, for certain individuals, is a significant threat to health.  Due care must still be taken to avoid contracting and spreading a virus that, despite improvements in treatment and growing immunity, can prove fatal for some.  It should be no surprise that as a scientist, I base my actions on fact-based knowledge.  Not religion-driven contrariness or politically emblematic knee-jerk opposition.  Truly sensible individuals will not panic, but will adopt common sense measures to reduce disease and further suppress what has been one of the greatest health emergencies in generations.  

Workin' at the car wash

 Lately, my schedule and declining energy levels have led to my increasing use of automatic car washes, rather than doing it by hand as I once commonly did.  There are two competing carwashes nearby, the venerable Wash It Off and the newer, fancier (and much more expensive) Tidal Wave Auto Spa. I take my car through one of them every other week or so and am always mesmerized by the action of the tunnel mechanisms.  I have occasionally whiled away great swaths of time viewing car wash videos, posted by those who also have a fascination with them.  Having a clean and tidy car is still one of my joys in life.

Java Script

 Let’s be plain- coffee is a big part of my life. And I am interested in all phases of it. From sourcing varietal beans, to roasting my own beans at home, to the various methods of coffee preparation, I’ve approached it all with a scientist’s methodology and a connoisseur’s passion. Over the years, I’ve progressed from a simple hot air roaster to a more sophisticated programmable drum type. Every weekend, I can be found out on the patio, roasting the week’s beans (fresh coffee smells wonderful, but the roasting process produces copious smoke that’s not welcome inside the house).

 

When it comes to preparing coffee, I have many options. Standard drip, French Press, classic Moka Pot, and my pride: a Rocket R58 espresso machine. This professional quality home machine from Milan, Italy is in daily use in our home. I can craft any espresso based coffee beverage you may desire, though my latte art skills still need some work. In a turbulent world, I can always rely on a well-made cup of coffee to anchor my day. 

 

TGIF

 It’s been an especially busy week in the lab, and I’m happy that some light is now showing at the end of the tunnel. Soon, I’ll head home for the weekend…to do household chores. A full weekend of long neglected yard work awaits. At least the worst of the summer heat seems behind us. But lawn mowing and that sort of stuff is never my favorite task. Might I grow eager for a return to the lab by Monday?

Pizza Grace

 After months of good intentions, I finally paid a visit to a nearby pizza joint for a meal.  Pizza Grace may be located in a college town, but it's not your typical frat boy hangout.  Recently nominated for a James Beard Award, Pizza Grace offers authentic Neapolitan pizza made to exacting standards.  For my first visit, I tried the classic Margherita pizza made simply with marinara, mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, and basil. I was not disappointed- the crust was astonishingly light and crispy, with the large, pillowy pockets - alveolatura - that are characteristic of a well made dough. The tomato marinara sauce was rich and aromatic, and the cheese dense and flavorful. A triumph of the pizza arts!

Pizza Grace Margherita

After such a dinner, an equally captivating dessert is needed, and to find it I needed go no further than next door to Cannella Gelato.  What better way to follow the classic Italian pizza than with Italian gelato?  Here I was on familiar ground, as I happen to know the proprietor and have observed his passion for his craft.  He's received training in Italy, and is constantly honing his skills.  Tonight, I sampled Stracciatella and it was a delight!  With the smooth, rich, creamy texture of authentic gelato, I enjoyed a vivid rush of delicate flavor.  It seems almost a divine intervention to situate these two complimentary shops next to each other.  Birmingham certainly lived up to its foodie reputation tonight.

Cannella Gelato Stracciatella

Lean Machine

At the end of the month, the DVD shipping system of Netflix will be shut down.  After years of disks arriving by mail in red envelopes, I will be left with only a hodgepodge of streaming services to access movies.  This is a real loss, since the Netflix DVDs were the best way to view obscure and old movies.  Streaming services show new releases, of course, but their selection of low-demand titles is very limited.  This development has already caused me to adjust my film watching habits, since I now have resorted to buying DVDs from online stores.  One arrived just yesterday: David Lean's Oliver Twist.

 The famous director David Lean, known for cinematic masterpieces such as Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago, early in his career also made two films that were adaptations of Charles Dickens novels.  Oliver Twist was released in 1948, and starred a very young Alec Guiness.  Two years earlier, Lean directed Great Expectations which also featured Guiness.  Both films are often included in various lists of "100 Best British Films".  Since there are literally dozens of movie versions of any given Dickens novel, I could (and perhaps will) make it a lifelong hobby to view each one.  But I will start with Lean's version of Oliver Twist, which Dickens wrote as a young newlywed while living in a house that is now a museum, which I visited a few years ago.

Lean's work intersects with my life and interests in several instances.  For example, his classic Doctor Zhivago was released the year I was born and won several Academy Awards.  But late in life, Lean began a project to make a film based on what is one of my lifelong favorite books: Mutiny on the Bounty, by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall.  In the late 1970s, he was doing the type of work necessary prior to filming a contemporary film about the 1789 mutiny.  He had scouted locations for shooting, and had begun the process of having a replica of the Bounty ship built.  Unfortunately for theater goers, Lean dropped out of the project when fundraising difficulties arose.  The film was ultimately made by a production company founded by Dino De Laurentiis.  It was released in 1984 and featured Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins.   Despite an all-star cast and the most historically accurate Bounty replica ever used in film, the movie was not an overwhelming box office success.  One wonders what it might have been under Lean's direction.

The fate of Bounty replicas also fascinates me.  I know almost nothing about the ship used for the 1932 mutiny film starring Clark Gable and Charles Laughton.  But I know quite a bit about the Bounty built for the 1962 film starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard.  That replica was built for the film in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia using traditional wooden ship building techniques.  She was built significantly larger than the original ship, in order to accommodate the MGM film crew.  After use in the '62 film, the ship appeared in various other movies, and was a tourist attraction docked in St. Petersburg, FL.  The vessel was maintained on an irregular schedule, alternating between neglect and major refits.  She received her last maintenance in Boothbay Harbor, Maine in October 2012,  Weeks later while returning to Florida, she sank in hurricane Sandy off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

The Bounty replica used in the '84 film was the most historically faithful of all the major film ships.  This, even though she was built in New Zealand with a steel hull.  Her overall dimensions and wood fittings were closely based on original plans found in English archives.  After the film, the ship saw little use and was home ported in Australia as a tourist attraction.  More recently, the ship has been purchased by a Hong Kong corporation, and her current location and occupation are unclear.

Negroni Week

 By some amazing work on the part of an unknown marketing genious, the classic Negroni cocktail enjoys a week long celebration.  Not just a day, as for example, the cheeseburger basked in yesterday.  But a whole Negroni Week.  I began to enjoy this concoction a couple years ago and have appreciated its flavorful and refreshing characteristics ever since.  From three simple ingredients - gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari - a drink of striking appearance and bold flavor issues forth. To make one for yourself, take one jigger of...  You know what, ignore me.  Instead, watch as bon vivant gourmand Stanley Tucci shows you how to make a proper Negroni.  Enjoy the week!

Time Machine

 My day job as a research scientist, while very fulfilling, can often be repetitive, quiet, and solitary.  This lends itself to my heavy reliance on audio books to occupy my mind during the day's tasks.  Currently I am listening to The Duke's Children, by Anthony Trollope.  I am very partial to the English Victorian novelists, including Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Trollope. Trollope was unique among them as he continued his day job while also being a prolific novelist: he was a senior official in the Royal Mail postal system.  In fact, he is responsible for the design of the characteristic English pillarbox mail collection box.  Therefore, many of his novels have characters writing letters which he describes in much more detail than any other author might.  As a postal enthusiast, I find this especially interesting.

The Duke's Children, by Anthony Trollope.  Folio Society edition.

My first venture into the tale of the Duke of Omnium was, however, not an audio book but a conventional paper one.  While I read the story, it struck me that though this was a common book, it was in a sense a time machine.  Somewhere in London two hundred years ago, a man sat at a table with a simple fountain pen, ink, and some paper.  With that and nothing more than his own creativity and imagination, he created the complex and elaborate world of the former Prime Minister of England and his family's dramas.  Copies of his writings were made by a then-painstaking printing process, and today are made by a more high-tech one.  As I read my book, I experienced in vivid detail the lifestyle of those who lived centuries ago.  Their speech, values, and daily activities were all brought forth to myself, living in the digital world of the 21st century.  Through a humble and simple book, a man's artistic skill and his contemporary lifestyle could be experienced by a modern reader.  Almost directly from his pen into my mind, 200 years later.  An astonishing achievement.

And if one is to read, why not do it with a little style?  The volume of this novel I read a few years ago was published by The Folio Society, a publisher who specializes in classics, printed and bound with extraordinary quality.  No cheap paperback, this.  My numbered, limited edition copy of Trollope's work was leatherbound, with handmade marbled endpapers and a high quality sewn binding.  It also was a complete version, restoring all the extensive text that Trollope grudgingly cut from his original manuscript in order to fit size requirements of his publishers at the time.  A companion text by a literary scholar is included, all contained in a hard slipcover.  As I say, if one reads, an elegant edition makes it all the more enjoyable.

While I enjoyed this novel the first time in its intended form, I now am re-reading (listening) to it via audio book.  This adds an additional layer of interpretation to the process, removing oneself slightly from direct commune with the author.  An audio book narrator can make or break the whole experience, but I have found one of the best.  When I obtain my audio books, my preference is for those read by Simon Vance.  He is simply the best.  A pleasant speaking voice, remarkable ability to give different voices to different characters' dialog, and an astonishing acting ability make him a leader in the field of audio book narration.

Bread of Life

 For nearly fifteen years, one of my weekly routines has been the two-day process of baking a pair of sourdough bread loaves.  It starts on Saturday afternoon, as I feed my decades-old sourdough culture.  I then divide it and return part to the fridge for use next week.  The rest I feed and mix again and then let  ferment overnight.  On Sunday, the ritual of kneading, rising, forming, rising again, and final baking takes place.  When it's all done, I have two delicious loaves of natural sourdough bread, free from chemicals and preservatives found in storebought bread.  It's bread in its simplest form: King Arthur flour, water, salt, and a pinch of sugar.  During the height of the pandemic, many people took up baking as a hobby, leaving flour supplies for established bakers like me worryingly scarce.  But that's now in the past, and each Sunday the house is filled with the enticing aroma of fresh baked bread.

Sourdough bread

Imagine Dragons

 Approaching a religion in the Deep South, college football is well and truly underway. This year, we are enjoying season tickets to games of the UAB Blazers.

Write soon

 Since postal mail is one of my passions, I would be very happy to hear from you by that mode.  Snail mail will get my attention much quicker than texts, email, voicemail, or any other digital communication.  These days, being able and willing to send a handwritten message by mail counts as one of my superpowers.  Most people I know couldn't gather a piece of paper, an envelope, and a stamp without a great effort.  But for those of you who are up to the challenge, I'd love to hear from you.  On any topic.  And any mail I receive will earn a prompt and confidential response.  The best part is that postal mail evades the internet's all-seeing eyes, and is much more private than its electronic counterpart.  For the intrepid, send your missives to me at:

Peter Eipers
P.O. Box 750
Helena, AL 35080
USA

And they will arrive at my quaint nearby post office box.

Helena Alabama Post Office - via Minox subminiature camera

Old School

I've always been a person who leans toward the anachronism.  Even as a working scientist, someone who ostensibly is involved with new and developing aspects of human endeavors, I remain fascinated by things of the past.  Of history, of traditional techniques, and of all things old-school.  One example is my long running hobby: Postcrossing.  This is a postcard exchange system in which members send and receive postcards from other members from all around the world.  The whole thing is organized via a fairly sophisticated web site, but the actual postcards travel by postal mail systems of the various member countries.  I've enjoyed doing this for about ten years now.  And so, early mornings of most weekends, you'll find me at my desk at home, writing postcards and registering the one I've received.  Postal mail is no longer a very common form of communication, but in those moments I spend each day with postcards, I daydream of an earlier, simpler version of life.  Slower, perhaps, but more intimate and connected.