Inspired by Spring

I'm a fan of good bourbon.  Further, I'm a fan of Maker's Mark bourbon, as I visited their distillery a couple of years ago and enjoyed their hospitality.  The brief story:

I was moving across country from Seattle to Providence, RI with my father, and friends Carly and Brandon.  We had my trusty old Volvo and the bright yellow Penske 16' moving van.  Woo hoo!  The drive from Seattle to Providence, however, was interrupted by a southern sojourn to the glorious state of Kentucky, in which we sampled Bon Tiki Mini Mart fried chicken (known to be the best in America), the famous Lexington Hot Brown sandwhich, and a distillery tour at Maker's Mark.  Unfortunately, when on a tight schedule, one has little time for summer road construction.  So when repairs to the Kentucky interstate made us miss the last tour of the day, we were so sad.  So sad.  And yet, upon hearing of our plight (and our great pilgrimage), we were taken on our own little tour, after hours, gratis.  What hospitality!  Well, anyway, since then I've had a bit of a soft spot for the ol' Maker's Mark.

Well, I was thinking about Maker's Mark, pilgrimages, and my not-so-secret desire to grow my own bourbon ingreedients some day, I felt compelled to write the following short piece:

 

A reading from Ryan's Letter to the Kentuckians:

And I did go unto the Makers and make known to them my skill. Unto them, I did say: "Go forth into the land, you men and women,and gather in thine arms the golden wheat and barley of thy fields, discard the chaff, and add to it the wheat that grows red in Winter.
Mark me well when I say unto thee that ye shall add no rye to thine grains, for it is the mark of inferiority and tool of a shoddy craftsman. Instead add these grains, I tell you, to the the cool, sweet spring waters that flow forth, by the grace of Dixie, from the ground in this land. Into a large Vat shall ye pour this Holy elixir. Heat it, I say, slowly, for many days and nights. Drain ye the liquid, and pass it through yon copper tubes and pipes, heated with purifying flame. Visit the cooper, and have made a barrel of such quality, toasted to perfection, and made ready to be filled with thine Spirits. Wait now children, for the Still waters must becalm, for 10 summers. Great patience will be rewarded, I tell you.

If you do this, if you heed my words, and heed them well and true, unto thee shall be delivered the greatest of gifts: a golden ambrosia so Healthful and Right, that all shall know its power, even by scent. You shall call it: Bourbon. See ye this Mark? Affix it to thine vessels, o Makers of Dixie, that all shall know its power. In time, the people of distant lands shall hear, and perchance, even partake of your Bourbon. When they do, they will feel compelled to embark upon a Great Journey, across the mountains, from whence your sweet water flows; across the plains upon which your grains grow. To thine door, shall they Journey. And ye shall welcome them, these weary travelers, with arms and doors flung wide. Unto them shall ye say: 'Behold, road-worn traveler, the Mark of the Makers. Ye have traveled long and well, and thine deliverance is at hand. But take heed: to step through these doors and to partake of the Bourbon is to be transformed. If ye stay with us this night, on the morrow shall ye depart an agent of the Makers, burdened to spread the Gospel of the Bourbon through the land. Aye, cross this threshold and ye shall become an Ambassador.'"

And the Makers made the Bourbon, affixed their mark to the vessels, welcomed the travelers, and spread the Good News of the Bourbon far and wide.  And it is good.

It's April... Let's talk gardens

I've run into a few interesting gardening and growing articles in the NYT from the past few months.  Here's a sampler:

There's this fascinating article on the history (and uses) of horseradish.

Also this from last month on the "future of food growing" through aquatic gardening. 

And, finally, this piece of interesting news.  Apparently, the Vertical Farming idea (pitched, among other places, here by a professor at Mailman School of Public Health) is taking off in some new federal construction.  Super exciting!

Can YOU Find the Incongruity? – Federal Student Loan Program Edition

It's a favorite past-time for many, I'm sure. Finding fallacies in the recent arguments made by Republican congressmen and women about these CRAZY Democrats taking over the country...well, it's like shooting fish in a barrel: "death panels", out of control debt (apparently the debt was under control until now), and my personal favorite "Keep the Government out of my Medicare".

Therefore, in what I'm sure will be a regular series (if I spent the time), let's play Find the Logical Fallacy!

I'm sure you are readily aware that a rather major piece of legislation was passed and signed into law this week. Well, as an added bonus, the Democrats added student loan reform to the bill. Well, the Republicans can't let this slide, can they? I mean, Big Banking is completely OPPOSED to any overhaul of the Federal Student Loan system. Is it possible that the Insurance Industry AND Big Banking might get hit with the same bill? Yes. Cue sputtering lawmaker. 

"The Democratic majority decided, well look, while we're at it, let's have another Washington takeover," said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and a former federal education secretary. "Let's take over the federal student loan program." 

Darn Democrats! What right does the government have getting itself involved in the Federal student loan program? I mean, really?! The absolute GALL. I'll bet they've got their eyes on food stamps next.

Let's take a peek at the, apparently, non-government run, privatized Federal Student Loan Program…

Background:

Interest Rates. The Federal Funds rate is at, what, 0.25%? My savings account is paying me less than half a percent. My long-term savings rate was just lowered to 1.2%. Hell, I got an email this week offering 3.25% mortgage from ING. I heard a lecture from a man at the NY Federal Reserve last week in which he noted that some economic indicators suggest a negative interest rate might be needed to correct our current situation. 

Yet student loans are capped at an astonishing 6.8%! And that's for the low-priced Stafford loan! If you need to borrow more than $20,000 per year – which, in case you're curious, is less than half the TUITION at Columbia this year (forget food, books, rent…) – you'll need a Federal PLUS loan, whose interest rate is, depending on your financial institution, around 8-9% interest, which starts accruing immediately. The math is astonishing.

Commercial banks and Student Loans: Essentially the Feds provide subsidies to commercial banks to get them to loan to students. In fact, the Feds ALSO assume the RISK of the loan. So the commercial bank is subsidized to (a) find students who need loans, (b) offer them a loan at 6-9% interest, (c) collect that interest, PLUS the Federal subsidy, and – finally – (d) should the student default, these banks then turn to the Feds, who reimburse them for the loan amount. Apparently this system is more efficient because it takes the overwhelming task of marketing and customer service from the Feds and gives it to these banks. If my tone isn't clear enough, I don't agree. Neither does Rep. George Miller, (D-CA), "Why are we paying people to lend the government's money and then the government guarantees the loan and the government takes back the loan?" Good question, Congressman.

When Obama signs this health care reconciliation package student loan reform becomes law. And it will become law without any support from Republicans. This may be attributed to the fact that it's tacked onto the reconciliation package for health care… which is the political equivalent to a basketball team comfortably leading a game, late, whose opponent insists on a full-court press with less than a minute. What do you do? Beat the press, toss the ball above the rim, and flush home a nice two-handed jam for ESPN, just in this case you make the NYT. 

The GOOD news about this reform is that it saves money (CBO says $61 billion), gets the profiteering out of paying for education (at least from the banks; school tuition is another ball-game), expands the Pell Grant program and makes it easier to pay back loans. In a move of shocking simplicity, students will no take out loans through the colleges' financial aid offices, instead of using a private bank. 

The bad news: it doesn't start to affect students until 2014. Nonetheless, I'd call this a net win.

As a parting thought, look at this little gem in the same article: "In lobbying fiercely against the overhaul, the private banks argued that it would eliminate jobs, even though the government will hire many of the same banks on a contract basis to service the loans and perform other back-office administration. Furthermore, the banks said that with the government as the only lender, students would not get the same level of service." 

Have they ever tried calling themselves?  Perhaps they have and are just still on hold.

Gummy Glory

It's an intriguing title for an exponentially more intriguing subject. Vague enough? First, points to Nicole for exposing me to the latest glory of teh intarwebs. This is not only mind-blowing, but crazy. We could also use the title: "When is a gummy bear actually a gummy Megatron?"

Next, cue deep-voiced movie announcer guy: In a land, where snack food is king… One man is on a journey to reshape the chewy, fruit-based candy industry.

Over at the website Pimp That Snack (oh yes, that's its title), there is a magical tale. A tale of ingenuity, of dedication and of too much free time.

I implore you to read it. Now. Right here.

When Statistics Blow Your Mind

I am an apologist for statistics. It's time for everyone to accept that. I have.

I love stats. I also fear stats. Statistics are easily manipulated – indeed, in this post-modern world one could argue that all statistics, by virtue of being measured, are manipulated. I'm sure that I'm not the first person to wonder about Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle as it relates to social indicators. Concepts like "teaching to the test" and "gaming the statistics" exist because people attempt to achieve a statistical gain – in, let's say, student intelligence as measured by a test – at the expense of meaningful advancement. It's what happens when the numbers become more important than what they try to describe.

I think the power of statistics, though, is when they help us to understand a particular dimension of a difficult or complex problem. Hidden complicating variables can obscure a seemingly obvious connection between simple events. The challenge to consider all the complicating factors is a thrilling mental puzzle. Using 14^th Century England as an example – because, why not? – it would seem that the significant decline in exports witnessed in the middle of the century might be attributed to the outbreak of the Hundred Year's War. But with regression analysis, one can see that other factors include poor harvests from a changing climate and -- quite significantly -- over-taxation by the English Kings (Marriott, 1999, pg. 30).

Mostly what I love about statistics (and numbers and indicators and regressions and all of the rest of it) is that it is so interesting to find multi-dimensional connections between events or actions that seem, perhaps, intuitively related but are not proven to be related in that way. Then, with an intelligent model and some good data, suddenly everything becomes clear! It's that move -- from intuition to illustration – is where the magic is for me. It's where people have epiphanies that lead to brand-new research.

[Of course, when one suspects an intuitive link, and goes hunting for results, one will invariably suffer from confirmation bias and a myriad of other statistical ailments. Let us put those aside for another post.]

The reason I'm writing today [instead of studying for my macroeconomics midterm] is that I was recently reminded of Hans Rosling, a Swedish MD/MPH who does some pretty cool stuff at his site Gapminder. He speaks regularly to TED (the "Ideas Worth Spreading" people) about a number of global issues. In this particular video, he's discussing the relationship between HIV/AIDS prevalence and Income. I think it's a pretty good example of what happens when a compelling speaker finds persuasive data and develops a simple, elegant way to demonstrate an outcome. Essentially, this is the highest and best use of statistics, to my mind:

So carve out 10 minutes, and enjoy Hans Rosling.

Claudia’s Visit - With Pictures!

Amity's mother, Claudia, visited us this past weekend. During her visit, we toured Chinatown, Columbia University Medical Center, Columbia University, The Cathedral of St. John the Devine, Rockefeller Plaza, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Fairway Market, the Cloisters, Queens (without Ryan), and beautiful Inwood.

Of course, there was significant Olympics-watching, tea-drinking, and cousin-visiting. In fact, Claudia was able to visit BOTH of her grand-nieces!

Here are some pictures:

The gang at Columbia University, all hail Her hallowed name.   Behind us is Low Library, which bears a certain resemblance to the Library of Congress, especially on the inside. The face of the building, directly about the Corinthian columns, reads

King's College Founded in the Province of New York, By Royal Charter in the Reign of George II, Perpetuated as Columbia College by the People of the State of New York, When they became Free and Independent - Maintained and Cherished from Generation to Generation.  For the Advancement of the Public Good and the Glory of Almighty God.

 Amen.

Rockefeller Center.  Can you detect the wistful look in their eyes? We had just walked past the ice skating rink (below Prometheus there in the background--he's hard to miss, what with the gold).  Still plenty of holiday cheer in this plaza to keep me going until next December. 

Directly after this stop, we crossed the street to check out St. Patrick's Cathedral. Our impromptu visit to St. Patty's was inspired by our earlier visit to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, up by Columbia. What a nice segue....

/sighs.  Oh St. John the Divine....  Look at the stained glass inside this Cathedral!  This is in my favorite chapel, which is the one directly behind the High Altar.  I really want those lamps.  This picture doesn't do them justice, either.  Although, they probably don't look so good without true "cathedral ceilings" to go with.  Sad.


Claudia and Amity are really only in this picture to provide scale.


Each of the chapels is equally stunning, and should appeal to a variety of tastes in neo-gothic cathedral connoisseurs.

We still have yet to swing by and hear Evensong on (I think) Wednesdays.  Popping into this Cathedral in a rainstorm or otherwise unpleasant day is really an excellent way to center oneself in a quiet, reflective, art-filled, beautiful space--which leads me to (wow, I'm on a roll!)...

While not visible in this picture, the Cloisters are simply stunning.  Amity and I ran past here on Sunday (part of a 5.5 mile jog).  Here are Claudia and Amity, right after leaving the museum.  Behind them is the rest of Fort Tryon park, the drop-off into the Dykman Street valley, and then back up to Inwood Hill.  Just over Amity's right (our left) ear is the Hudson River and then New Jersey.

Aren't they sweet?

Pomology

Not just the study of hands, it would appear. ;)

As a native Washingtonian, I am particularly in love with Apples--tasty, crispy, and truly one of the most important foods in anyone's diet. Grown the world over, the apple is a native of (are you ready to be shocked?) Kazakhstan. Years and years (millennia) of careful cultivation took what was a tiny, tart, bitter fruit into the glorious apples we know today.

Of course, as a child, the only apples I remember in the store were the Granny Smith, Golden and Red Delicious (poorly named in my opinion). Then came the Fuji, Gala, Braeburn, and more. And, of course, today, there's the Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Cortland, McIntosh, Crispin, Macoun and more. Did you know, though, that the science of fruit studies (pomology) led to some beautiful artwork, funded by the American taxpayers. Regardez:

Ever eaten a Lilly of Kent? Neither have I. But I want to now.

And that's the point! The USDA's pomology archive in the National Agricultural Library is full of beautiful watercolors, detailing the variety of apples grown around the country. And that's not all. Pears, apricots, citrus, berries…

Thank GOD no one had a camera 100 years ago! Now I want to grow something.

In case you want to check out the USDA archive of watercolors, click here.