Saturday, October 29, 2016

Think Global, Drink Local

... was the motto of this year's What's Brewing, a yearly craft beer workshop at the Carl-Schurz-Haus. The CSH beer workshop was directed by Frank Geeraers (Flanders/Freiburg) and changing partners. This event is undoubtedly attaining cult status in its third edition. This year Joe Stange (Missouri/Berlin), a proven beer expert, was the second master of ceremonies who likes to drink locally but always thinks globally. The requests to attend the event were so numerous that the workshop had to be repeated the following evening.

The exchange of brewers between the two continents is flourishing. In the beginning, Americans came to Europe learning and trying hard to overcome the beer without flavor from their large breweries. The resulting craft beer boom in the States then swept back to Europe with brewers "pilgrimaging" to the States, in turn learning how to brew beers different from the European Einheitsplörre (uniform dishwater) within the limitation of the German Reinheitsgebot. In the meantime, craft beer has reached a 20% market share in the US.


Let us start. The first beer the workshop participants tasted was Mahrs Bräu Kellerbier hefetrüb ungespundet (cellar beer yeast clouded unbunged), i.e., the CO2 pressure is kept low during the brewing process. Founded in 1670, the Mahr brewery at Bamberg was initially spelled Mahr's Bräu according to the correct German orthography valid in the 19th century.

Old historical label
New orthographic label

Although they could have kept the historical apostrophe (cool (!)), they did not want to be called Deppen (goofs) and slowly changed their name to the now orthographically correct Mahrs Bräu. That, however, should be no problem for the visitor drinking Mahr's beer local at Bamberg; just ask for a "U," and the waitress will bring the right stuff. The "U" is a yeast-turbid specialty beer with a full-bodied, smooth malt character. Pleasantly tart and lightly carbonated.

It was a good start, and we were looking forward to Citrilla Maisels and Friends, an IPA wheat beer (!), or Bavaria meets California. In fact, Citrilla has flavors of fruity hop (Citra and Amarillo) and yeast combined with pineapple, lime, citrus fruit, and ripe banana. Citrella is likewise refreshing and a full-bodied beer.

Number three served was Berliner Berg, a lager beer in the German tradition brewed in Neukölln borough of Berlin, looking, smelling, and tasting like a lager. You could call the beer global, brewed by an "American in Berlin" using a new German aromatic hop.


There was a short drinking pause and suspense when the door opened, and Frank and Joe entered the room with trays full of plastic cups filled with dark beer. In fact, we were served two different beers that we had to keep separated, placing them to our left and to our right. Were we supposed to drink beidhändig (two-handed)? Not at all; we simply were asked to compare two dark beers.

Not to be confused
Red Baron likes Schwarzbier, and we learned that there is more of it than just the Thuringian Köstritzer* served all over Germany. On our LHS, we tasted Bräunlinger Black Lion; on our RHS, we drank the New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Lager. Founded like Freiburg by the Zähringen dynasty, Bräunlingen is located 60 km east of Freiburg in the Black Forest. For me, the Black Lion was a local beer, while the Enlightened Black Lager from Fort Collins, Colorado, had traveled nearly halfway across the globe.
*Not to be confused with the Saxon dark beer brewed in Krostitz Red Baron drank in Leipzig

Both beers were aromatic, the Black Lion quite subtle, not sweet, and keeping with my taste. The Enlightened Black Lager was slightly sweet and had, in my opinion, too much flavor.

When I traveled in the States in the 80s and 90s imbibing soft drinks and lite beer, I always wondered why the Americans did not jump on a drink that is sparkling, slightly sour but adjustable by adding fruity syrup, low on alcohol, and which above all goes down well, i.e., a drink in the style of Berliner Weiße?

Red Baron loves to drink Weiße mit Schuss (woodruff syrup) when in Berlin, i.e., local, but is Berliner Kindl Weiße all there is to it? Did the white beers my father, born in Berlin, once drank taste different from today's Weiße?

Doesn't it look beautiful?
My two questions were partially answered when Joe presented a graphic drawn on a coaster showing that the onset of Berliner Weisse-type beer in the States started as late as 2007. Since then, the number of breweries and white beer lovers has increased exponentially.

Not forgetting the straw in his drawing (©Joe Stange)
Is there a Weiße beyond the mass-produced stuff you are generally served in Berlin? We tasted Schneeeule Marlene (Snowy Owl Marlene Dietrich) without Schuss. According to experts, yeast is the crucial ingredient. For Snowy Owl, it was recultured using traces of yeast discovered in 40-year-old Berliner Weiße bottles from the former GDR. After the two dark beers, Schneeeule Marlene was a refreshing surprise.

The workshop continued on a sour note with Otra Vez. You will find the following text on the brewer's website: On our search for the perfect warm-weather beer, we wanted something light-bodied and thirst-quenching yet filled with complex and interesting flavors. We stumbled across the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, native to California. This tangy fruit is a great complement to the tart and refreshing traditional gose-style beer. Otra Vez combines prickly pear cactus with a hint of grapefruit for a refreshing beer that will have you calling for round after round. Otra Vez!

In my opinion, Otra Vez had too much taste. What is a great flavor for some people is sometimes obtrusive for me. It seems that some craft brewers put their pride into beers with rich content because the market asks for this. Red Baron likes soft notes both with drinks and food. I still remember the first workshop when Frank warned that taste buds, once saturated by intensely hopped beers, become unable to sense subtle notes in milder beers served later. The same is correct for cheese tasting: Eat your Roquefort last!

The Alaskan Smoked Porter 2013 served next was over-flavored too. Somehow the Berliner Weiße history was repeated when the brewers stated that German-style Rauchbier, i.e., a smoke-flavored beer was virtually unknown in the US until Alaskan Smoked Porter was developed in 1988. The porter is produced in limited "vintages" each year around November 1 and, unlike most beers, may be aged in the bottle, much like fine wine. The beer we drank was brewed in 2013, and, as stated on the label, it is best before the end of 2026 and counting.

Finally, there was even more taste. The imperial stout Evil Twin Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room brewed by Evil Twin Brewing, Brooklyn, NY, has an intense black color topped by a very fine beige head. The nose is complex with molasses and licorice aroma, but also notes of espresso in a perfect balance. On the mouth, you can taste roasted malt and licorice flavors. In the finish, you will find fine notes of chocolate! Sorry, but when even the nose is "complex," you are no longer drinking beer but a liqueur with 10% alcohol. Covered up by all those intense flavors, I did not even taste the alcohol. I could not drink more than half a liter of Evil Twin Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room without asking for a "normal" beer for diluting.

The workshop's bottle parade
This flavor bomb from New York ended the official part of the workshop. Still, Frank being homesick (?), opened a final bottle brewed in his home country called Deux Amis (Two Friends), a product of cultural exchange between Belgium's Brasserie Dupont and America's Lost Abbey Brewery. Deux Amis is brewed in Belgium using techniques perfected over almost a hundred years and receives its decidedly state-side flavor from the addition of American Amarillo and Simcoe hops. The result of this kinship is a dry, refreshing Old World Saison* full of peppery spice that finishes with New World flavors of floral orange and earthy pine.
*Copied as such. French for season


This propitiatory drink summarized the think global motto of the workshop well. Joining the traditional beer style from the old world and refreshing new ideas from the other side of the Atlantic results in the most unique brews, as some of those served at the workshop illustrated perfectly.

Thank you, Frank and Joe, for this entertaining and informative evening.
*

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

No Bridge over Troubled Water?

The renaming of street names with a loaded past is not the only topic occupying Freiburg's citizens. As you probably already know, Freiburg was once divided into two parts separated by a traffic axis, the Karl-von-Rotteck-Ring. Following the Ring's closure to car traffic in 2014, a pedestrian zone is under construction, "unifying" the two parts. A new streetcar line will be the only traffic between the university and the theater. A campus will be shaped between the new university library and the traditional quadrangles with lecture halls.


In the artist's view, the Square of the Old Synagogue is a broad surface covered with granite plates that have already caused a discussion about their heat retention on hot summer days. People have also criticized the absence of vegetation. Well, a few trees will be planted.

On the right-hand side in the back, you notice a water surface (©Stadt Freiburg)
A shallow water basin will mark the layout of the "old" synagogue that the Nazis burned down during the Reichskristallnacht on November 10, 1938. Later they removed all stones.

The planned water basin will have the layout of the old synagogue (©Stadt Freiburg)
Until recently, a commemorative plaque reminded passersby of the barbaric act. Freiburg's Jewish Community greatly appreciates the planned integration of the bronze plaque into the new commemorative water basin.

On an old postcard
Looking at an old photo, you notice that the synagogue was built on a small hill in 1870. The planning staff of the new pedestrian zone was confident that the Nazis had removed the synagogue's rubble, the building's basement, and the surrounding soil too. They confirmed their assumption by probing the site with ultrasound. When the construction crew eventually dug some holes to house the pumping station for the water basin, they only found relics of Freiburg's medieval fortifications. It was a great surprise when they suddenly unearthed some stones belonging to the old synagogue.

©BZ/Ingo Schneider
All construction activity in the area stopped. The Jewish Community signaled that under no circumstances should the stones be touched. In fact, it would have been easy to cover those stones with soil, as planned with the medieval remains, but a little wall turned out to be 40 centimeters too high, protruding into the designed water basin.

The archeological team wrote a report to the Municipal Council and the Jewish Community proposing to leave the more significant part of the stones in the ground. Only a few stones in the way will be removed and handed over to the Jewish Community if they agree.

While visiting the scene Irena Katz, chairwoman of Freiburg's Jewish Community, set her handbag on the relics of the old synagogue but took it away immediately after realizing what she had done. She shook her head skeptically and said, "A poll among members of the Jewish Community has shown that more than 90% of the members are against removing stones."

Klaus Neidhart shows Irina Katz the stones to be taken away (©BZ)
In the meantime, more than 90% of the city council members support Mayor Dieter Salomon, who strongly endorses the position of the archeological team.

Will the two parties reach an agreement? Freiburg's city council will decide on October 29, admitting no plan B exists.


P.S. Abgesang (swan song): Eventually, there was no bridge. In vain, a vigil of about 30 people demanded that the old synagogue be rebuilt to serve as a documentation center or at least the unearthed remains to be conserved and made visible. Although the Jewish Community had initially endorsed the water basin concept and despite a constructive debate, Irena Katz called the city council's decision to stick to the original plans "rigid." Her hope now is that work at the site will not start before November 9, the 78th anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht (Kristallnacht).
*

Monday, October 24, 2016

A Podcast

While in Berlin, I saw a colleague from Wikipedia met at the Wikimania World Conference in London in 2014, where Sebastian took a photo of me. Now, he wanted to make a podcast with me.

Our scheduled meeting was difficult because we blew the first date. I had announced my coming to Berlin early and asked Sebastian whether we could meet at the Mommseneck at Potsdamer Platz for lunch.

Why that place? Whenever I travel, I like to eat the local specialties, which means, in the case of Berlin, hearty cuisine. The dish of my desire was pea soup, like my mother used to make. In the past, the famous place for pea soup was Aschinger, which no longer exists. So I searched the Internet for Berlin and pea soup and found Mommseneck at Potsdamer Platz. In addition to traditional cooking, the place offers a good variety of beers.

Sebastian answered my e-mail: That is excellent. What time are we going to meet?

Me: At Mommseneck on September 19 at noon. Is that ok for you?

Sebastian: That is what we are going to do.

Mommseneck at Potsdamer Platz. House of 100 beers.
Theodor Mommsen, a German historian, shown inside on an original Litfaßsäule
I arrived early. It was a beautiful day, and I decided to sit outside. In studying Mommseneck's choice of beers, I read that they offer Berliner Weiße mit Schuss not only with those classical syrups of raspberry or woodruff but with cherry syrup, too. I am always up for an experiment, but the combination of wheat beer and cherry tastes odd.

As time passed and Sebastian did not show up, I still felt thirsty and ordered the classical Berlin white beer with woodruff syrup. Boy, look at the photo!

The real Berliner Weiße mit Schuss, brilliant in the sun, was served in a beaker
While contemplating the drink, my green view was suddenly disturbed by an incoming e-mail.

Sebastian: I can't find you. How do I recognize you? I am sitting at Mommseneck on Mommsenstraße. Luckily, he had added his cellphone number to his mail.

Well, there are two Mommsenecks in Berlin. I had not repeated Potsdamer Platz in my second e-mail, and he did not read my first e-mail carefully enough. The waitress told me that this mix-up happens quite frequently. Nevertheless, Sebastian and I agreed to meet at the same time at the Zur letzten Instanz. Is this name a symbol?


Eventually, my pea soup arrived and turned out to be the third disappointment of the day. There were peas alright and al dente as they should be, but the soup's taste was rather exotic with a touch of curry and green pepper. Regrettably, the dish did not live up to my memories of Aschinger.

Later, somewhat frustrated, I explored the pedestrian area around Potsdamer Platz. A place called Lutter & Wegner caught my attention.

Lutter & Wegner at Potsdamer Platz in the former Huth Building
A place of that name had been famous for its illustrious guests in the 19th century (among other celebrities, poet E. T. A. Hoffmann, actor Ludwig Devrient, author Heinrich Heine, composer Carl Maria von Weber, philosopher Friedrich Hegel, and Reichskanzler Otto von Bismarck) and in the Golden Twenties (nota bene Marlene Dietrich and Josephine Baker). For me, the place became known by a song from Eduard Künnecke's operetta Die lockende Flamme (The Tempting Flame): Im Keller bei Lutter und Wegner ... (In Lutter and Wegner's wine cellar). At the time of the good old "steam radio" in the 1950s, Red Baron had to listen to the arie frequently.

The original traditional restaurant, Lutter & Wegner, located at Gendarmenmarkt, was completely destroyed during the last war. In 1947, black market activities took place in the basement.
 
Lutter & Wegner at Gendarmenmarkt in 1947 ©Bundesarchiv
Following the Wende, Lutter & Wegner opened again at Gendarmenmarkt but at a different site. The other Lutter & Wegner location at Potsdamer Platz is famous, too, but primarily for its original name: Weinhaus Huth.

Wine House Huth was constructed in 1912. It was based on a solid steel structure to accommodate the load of the stored bottles. Therefore, it was the only building that survived the complete destruction of the area during the war and stood isolated in the landscape at the time of division into East and West Berlin. I intended to show you a picture of the Solitaire building, but all copies I found are heavily copyright-protected. Following the Wende, the Huth Building was renovated and integrated into the pedestrian zone of Potsdamer Platz.

Nearby, at Leipziger Platz, I visited the Berlin Mall. This is indeed a vast shopping center but too big.

Look into the Mall of Berlin
Constitution meets commerce.
You walk on articles of our Grundgesetz (Basic Law)
Just opposite the Mall is the building of the Bundesrat, Germany's senate
I made it to Zur letzten Instanz just in time the following day. Sebastian was already seated, and I took my usual bench. My problem is that Napoleon was short; therefore, the seating surface of the historic bench is too narrow. Concerning lunch, I followed the same procedure as last year, ordering Kohlroulade with a dark beer, Märkischer Landmann.

At Die letzte Instanz with ©Sebastian Wallroth
While we were eating, Sebastian recorded his podcast. Here is the link for those of my readers who understand mumbled German mixed with background noises. By the way, the word "penis" was not uttered by me but is, according to Sebastian, the term used most in German Wikipedia either to vandalize articles or to fill holes in texts.
*

Sunday, October 23, 2016

A Personal Note

My readers may wonder why they didn't read about two subjects exciting Freiburg's citizens so much these days. Even in today's Sunday paper, the renaming of streets and the future of the archaeological finds at the site of Freiburg's old synagogue are addressed in two articles side by side. Well, I have already blogged about the first topic describing the facts, but the blog needs more Butter bei die Fische (poking in the eye).*
*The translation I found for the grammatically wrong but colloquial German expression is Put up or shut up, which in my opinion, does not sufficiently describe the meaning in German. Let's say I would have accepted more poking in the nose too.
My friend Jim proposed, "Getting down to brass tacks." This I would instead interpret as Nägel mit Köpfen machen, literally translated as Going to make nails with heads, i.e., starting serious business. Butter bei die Fische means "Giving more substance to the matter, discussion, blogs, etc."


©Der Sonntag
Hold it! Writing a blog is a multiple-stage process:

1. Finding a subject: There are too many at the moment
2. Writing the text is fun and not always the most challenging part
3. Selecting the pictures and formatting them takes time
4. Copying text and pictures into the blog template is easy
5. Getting everything into the proper format takes even more time
6. Hitting the red Publish button

Here is my list of partially drafted blogs you may expect to read soon.

More about the remains of the old synagogue and their future
Reactions to the renaming of Freiburg streets
A report about the recent beer seminar at the Carl-Schurz-Haus
Meet the Chinese ambassador
Parts two and three of my latest Berlin trilogy
Explanation and interpretation of the word karcher and the expression postfaktisch (post-factual).

So please be patient and stay with Red Baron.
*

Saturday, October 22, 2016

On a Sunny Saturday Afternoon

Red Baron lives in a place called Wiehre. The Wiehre was first mentioned in a document dating 1008: King Heinrich II gave the hunting grounds in the area to his loyal vassal Archbishop Aldabero II of Basel as a fief. Initially located on the banks of the Dreisam River, the Wiehre  - meaning Wehr (dam, weir) - is older than Freiburg, founded in 1220.

Today, the Wiehre, Freiburg's largest district, is located solely on the left-hand side of the river. The city administration distinguishes four parts: the Oberwiehre, i.e., upstream of the Dreisam, the Mittelwiehre, the Unterwiehre, and further downstream in the south-west the Heldenviertel (heroes' district), where the streets are named after "heroes" of the First World War, e.g., Manfred von Richthofen aka the flying Red Baron.

Last Saturday, the blogging Red Baron participated in a guided tour of the Mittelwiehre, a suburb where my apartment is located. Although I know my neighborhood well, one is never too old to learn something new.

I had tried to reserve a ticket, but the people at the Volkshochschule (adult education center) informed me that the tour was fully booked. Nevertheless, I went to the meeting point and argued with guide Carola, who said, "I cannot take more than twenty people." To make a long story short, In the end, five registered persons did not show up, which made everybody happy.

We started at the corner of Günterstal-/Urachstraße where, before the First World War, there stood a hotel named Hohenzollern, its name paying tribute to the ruling imperial house. Now, the building houses lawyers' offices and doctors' clinics.

Note the original streetcars (©Carola Schark)
Here is what is left of Hotel Hohenzollern
Built 1898 by C.Hoßmann - F. Weber, restored 1997
Nearby on Urachstraße, the Freiburg transport company (VAG) built its main streetcar depot in 1901. It was used until 1994 when the VAG moved to modern premises in Freiburg's industrial zone in the west. Now, the local fire brigade occupies half of the vast halls while the Freunde der Freiburger Straßenbahn (Friends of Freiburg Streetcars) restore historical rolling stock in the other half.

Streetcar parade in front of the depot
in the years before the First World War (©Carola Schark)
On October 14, 1901, two electrical streetcar lines started operating in Freiburg: Rennweg-Lorettostraße and Rennweg-Günterstal, both passing the intersection Günterstal-/Urachstraße. We were just one day late for the 115th anniversary of the city's electrical streetcar system.

Here is Streetcar 38, one of those in the parade above. In service until 1971, it is now in poor condition but will be restored.


Streetcar number 2 was in service until 1954 and has already been rebuilt. Its electrical equipment by Siemens dates to 1901 and is still operational. The short wagons with serial numbers 1 to 71 made screeching noises when going around tight curves, and therefore, Freiburgers affectionately called them Hobl (literally, Alemannic for a wood plane).

The conservator proudly presents his baby.
Carola, waving her folder, is calling the group to order
We passed the former Anglican church built in 1894, now used by the Seventh-Day Adventists, for whom Saturday and not Sunday is the day of rest.

The Saturday afternoon service had just finished.
Red Baron had to bow his head.
The Christuskirche from 1890, the first Lutheran church in the Wiehre, is under reconstruction for next year's celebration of 500 years of Reformation.

Modeling the outside
The oldest school building in historicized style, initially exclusively for girls, is located at the corner of Turnsee-/Talstraße:

Municipal primary school
Turnsee-Schule.
Von der Stadt Freiburg als Mädchenschule erbaut 1899-1902

(Built by the City of Freiburg as a school for girls 1899-1902).
On our way to the rebuilt St. Marienhaus, now a retirement home, we passed Freiburg's Jugendzentrum (youth center), newly built in the 1950s. We just arrived when the Saturday offener Familienbereich (open family sector) from 1400 to 1600 hours had finished. Kids and even babies animated the entrance area.

Freiburg's Youth Center
In the years before 1960, the municipal sawmill occupied the site. Firewood from municipal forests was cut up and donated to the poor.

Water-driven sawmill (©Carola Schark)

The former creek is a miserable rivulet barely visible through the leaves.

A modern entrance to St. Marienhaus
St. Marienhaus on Talstraße used to be a home for Catholic girls who came to Freiburg as housemaids, protecting them from the vices of the "big" city. A vintage enamel sign serves as a reminder.

Catholic Protection of Girls, Freiburg'Br.
Catholic girls and saleswomen find advice, shelter & job placement,
 the former at Marienhaus Talstr. No 31,
the latter at St. Annastift Holzmarktplatz No. 12.
Nowadays, the building of the Saint Anna Foundation is a retirement home, too.
Another reminder of the old premises is the steeple of the former chapel. It was preserved and serves as a decoration of the courtyard of the retirement home.

A cozy courtyard
On our way back through Hildastraße, we discovered two somewhat hidden landmarks. More than 70 years after the war, the front wall of house number 28 still shows a luminescent arrow pointing to the nearest air-raid shelter in the Hof (courtyard).

Never again
A painted-over landmark
In the corner of the front wall of house number 47, a fastening hook for the catenary of Freiburg's streetcar is preserved. The line running through Hildastraße connecting the Hauptbahnhof (central station) with the old Wiehrebahnhof (Wiehre station) already stopped in 1916 during the First World War.

Our walk in the Mittelwiehre ended at the Kita, i.e., Kindertagesstätte (daycare center) opposite the old Wiehrebahnhof. In the years after the war, wooden shanties at the site served various charitable organizations (Swiss Donation, Quaker, CARE) supporting hungry Freiburg citizens. Thank you.

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Sunday, October 16, 2016

More Hacking

Dear readers,

In July, I reported on the hacking of my blog statistics that came from the east. Now a guy living in the territory of the United States loves to boost the number of my readers. As you may see from the graph, there are periodic spikes of 30, i.e., multiples of 10, in the number of visits to my blog.


These fake visits in steps of 10 are clearly visible in the following graph, too, superimposed by a few actual visits.


I suppressed the completely meaningless display of the weekly blog statistics yesterday night, and o wonder I see no spikes in the upper graph anymore!

What kind of satisfaction do hackers get from spoiling the visitor statistics of my innocent blog? Can't those people use their brains (?) to program something useful? I shall again complain to Google and already know the outcome: no response.
*

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Sauercrowd

Yesterday evening I received the following email:

Project Update #92: iExpander - an expansion device for your iPhone by Charlie Corry

Status Update posted by Charlie Corry (Creator)

Hi everyone,

I had hoped to be able to give everyone a production schedule by now but am still waiting for the quote from the Engineering & Contract Assembly company to tell us the lead-time and cost to make the minor tweaks to get the product production-ready. They have been working in it for 3.5 weeks. We have followed up numerous times and cannot get a commitment from them on a date. As you know, the samples worked but while we were testing them, we did find some things that need to be fixed for the final production run. As soon as we get the dates, I will let you all know.

On other note regarding updates in general: Some of you have stated your desire not to be included on these updates any longer. I would gladly oblige but there is no way for me to take anyone off the email list. The Kickstarter system automatically sends all updates to the email address on file. The only thing I can suggest is setting up your email to automatically send these updates to spam or trash.

Charlie



This email was the trigger to publish a blog that I had already started drafting two months ago:

The other day Der Spiegel published an article about crowdfunding, stressing that some people had lost lots of money when projects did not materialize. Naturally, these people are mad, or as we say in German, they are sauer (sour), so the Spiegel article was titled Sauercrowd. The title alone is worth writing a blog about my experience with Kickstarter projects and their crowdfunding.

Red Baron likes crowdfunding and has several times supported tolle Ideen (great ideas). I invested in many startups, admittedly with mixed success. I never used some of the gadgets I pledged for, paid for, and received. However, others turned out to be rather practical, so I adopted them, but one of the projects never materialized. Well, shit happens. So here comes what will explain the email above:

My worst case is (possibly was) the so-called iExpander that was supposed to expand "the iPhone's Memory, Camera and Battery Life. Expandable SD Memory, Great Low Light Images & 2X Battery Life!" for the iPhone 4 and later for the iPhone 5!

Front of the iExpander ©Charlie Corry
Back of the iExpander©
The Kickstarter launch was on September 15, 2012, and the funding ended on October 25, with my US $75 included. I shall skip some steps and only mention the scheduled production start on November 22 and the beginning of shipping of the iExpander to Kickstarter backers on December 6, 2012. A tight schedule indeed that was never honored. Yet even now, I am still receiving sporadic emails. Here is #89 to all backers, dated August 26, 2016:

Hi everyone,

Here is the message we received this morning from the Texas design team:

"We have the 2 boards tested and operational. They are being packed up today for shipment tomorrow! No kidding..."

I hope they work for us when we get them. I will advise when we have tested them. Thanks.

Charlie


No kidding. From all that I have read over the years, it seems that the project people are steadily crawling backward when I have already acquired the iPhone 7 plus*. Charlie, not giving up, is fighting an honorable rearguard action.
*The only reason is that the dual camera will allow me to take quality photos in lectures from slide projections.

As a masochist, I look forward to receiving more "progress" reports on the iExpander. But what will I do with a device for my iPhone 5, which I long ditched, when the iExpander eventually arrives?
*

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

A Mystery Solved

At the Museumsgesellschaft yesterday evening, Red Baron listened to a talk by Professor Benoît Sittler of the Institut für Naturschutz und Landschaftsökologie in Freiburg: Grönland im Griff des Klimawandels (Greenland in the grip of climatic change). Dr. Sittler, an Alsacien, worked from 1988 until his retirement in 2014 for the Karupelv-Valley Project in North-East Greenland National Park at an outpost on the eastern coast. Sittler studied, among other ecological topics, the lemming mystery.


There is a strong belief that when a lemming population becomes too big, the animals commit collective suicide to normalize their number for the food available in the region. Here is what Dr. Sittler and his collaborators found out:

The population of lemmings is closely related to that of one of their predators, the ermines. The story goes like this:

Lemmings are terribly reproductive, with four gestations during an arctic summer. A significant population of lemmings presents welcome food to ermines. However, their increases only slowly with the increasing food supply for ermines have an unusually long gestation period of nine months. As the ermine population increases with many lemmings eaten, the number of the ermines will eventually decrease to a low level as there is no longer enough food for all of them. So, when the ermine population declines due to starvation, the lemmings start to rise again*. This interaction formed a periodic cycle of four years until 2000 when a dramatic change in the population of lemmings was observed that is attributed to climatic change.
*A colleague wrote me that such a timely behavior is described by the Lotka–Volterra equations, a system of coupled multi-parameter differential equations with periodic solutions. Thanks, Walter.


The two photos below show that Greenland suffers from an accentuated climatic change. Snow and ice in the mountains decreased dramatically between 1989 and 2007.


In 2000, Sittler's research team observed another anomaly: an increasing number of polar bears going ashore in their quest for food.


The ice floes from where the polar bears used to hunt seals, their favorite food, practically disappeared at the shore near Sittler's camp starting around 2000. The aggressiveness of those hungry polar bears became dangerous, so the researchers had to protect their tents with a high-voltage charged fence during the night.

Greenland is losing ice at a rapid rate. Icebergs are calving from the front fold line of glaciers:


Here is a graph about the build-up of Greenland's kilometer-thick ice cap showing how its weight depresses the land level.


With the lemming mystery solved, another mystery is shown in the following diagram:

Temperature black, CO2 concentration blue
When analyzing deep borings of Greenland's ice cap, glacial and warm periods have been observed over the last 400,000 years. The periodic cycle of about 100,000 years is attributed, among other things, to changes in the position of the Earth in comparison to the Sun, now known as the Milankovitch cycle. At the same time, the CO2 concentration of the air in the ice borings varying from 180 to 280 ppm runs nicely in parallel with the temperature, as the diagram shows.

In fact, over the last 10,000 years, the mean concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere stayed around 280 ppm, but during the previous 150 years, that value has risen to 350 ppm caused by human activities. This increase above 280 ppm is said to be responsible for the observed global warming.

What can we learn from the above long-term graph? What caused the CO2 concentration to vary with temperature? One mystery is solved, and a new one is to be understood.

N.B. All pictures are © Dr. Benoît Sittler
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