Month: December 2021

Upgrading our masks

As the pandemic wears on, we need to consider switching to better masks. The simple pleated masks, or homemade fabric masks, no longer cut it. N95 masks are certainly an upgrade. But from an article last week in the Economist, I learned about an even better mask, the FFP2 mask. The FFP2 masks are available on Amazon, or were last week. I ordered 50 of them.

The FFP2 masks have two straps rather than one. One stap goes around the back of the neck, the other around the back of the head. There is a kind of foam gasket over the nose that improves the over-the-nose seal. The filter material is four ply. I ordered a 50-pack last week from Amazon for $28.99. That should be more than enough to last me a while, plus some to give away.

I’ve had all my shots, but the Omicron variant is spreading very fast. As we all struggle to keep the world going around while staying healthy, the simple precautions of masks (with the best masks we can get) and washing our hands are still the best defenses.

Hidden Figures (the book)

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. Margot Lee Shetterly. HarperCollins, 2016. 348 pages.

Margot Lee Shetterly writes that, when she was working on this book, people repeatedly asked her why they had never heard this story before. There is a related question that I find very disturbing. What if this book had never been written? If it had not been written, then it’s entirely possible that these stories would have been lost to American history. That would have been a great tragedy. The book became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. The book was quickly followed by a movie with the same name, focusing on the story of Katherine Johnson.

I find this story fascinating for two reasons.

First there is the story of inequality and how hard some people have to struggle not only to develop the talent they were born with but also to find a way to have those talents recognized and put to use. Fiona Hill, whom Donald Trump called “the Russia bitch,” is a much more contemporary example. In Fiona Hill’s case, what held her back was the fact that she is a woman, and her provincial accent, which elites did not like. Katherine Johnson had even more obstacles to overcome. She was black, and her career began in the 1940s in a still-segregated United States.

Second there is the history of computers and how the history of computers ties in with the space race, the Cold War, the Apollo project, and the eventual creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This is the only book I’ve ever read that illustrates how numbers were crunched in the days before computers. Even before rockets, designing fast airplanes (including supersonic airplanes) required heavy number crunching. This work was done by teams of people with training in mathematics who did the computing work using mechanical calculators made by Monroe, Friden, and Marchant. These people were referred to as “computers.” I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that that’s why we call computers “computers” today. They were the machines that took the place of teams of human computers. The scientists and engineers who needed the early computers made by IBM were the same people who had relied on human teams of “computers.” They simply redirected the term.

Katherine Johnson died in 2020 at the age of 101. The author of this book of course interviewed Katherine Johnson, so the book includes her memories.

The stories of people such as Katherine Johnson and Fiona Hill are immensely inspiring. But there are two sides to that coin. Both Johnson and Hill earned their way up, but there also were lucky breaks and helpers along the way. That side of the coin is inspiring. But the other side is tragic. The tragedy is the many people — poor people without privilege — who never got the education they needed, never got a lucky break, and never had helpers. Hidden Figures and Fiona Hill’s There Is Nothing for You Here are powerful arguments for why all of us should join the struggle for equality of opportunity and economic and social justice. The right, including even the church, demonize the struggle for social justice and even have made an insult out of it — “social justice warrior.” This struggle is not over. Far from it.

Local pecans!

One of my friends here in Stokes County is a horticulturist who used to work for the county’s agricultural cooperative extension service. He was here a couple of days ago for my winter solstice fire. He brought for me a couple of pounds of pecans, which were grown in a pecan orchard only a few miles north of me. The pecan orchard, I understand, is small. It sells its crop to local buyers. This is wonderful.

Historically (and my memory goes back to the 1950s), pecans in this area of North Carolina were brought in from Georgia. Pecan trees will grow here, but I think that, historically, only connoisseurs have grown pecan trees in North Carolina for their own use. I’m no expert on pecans, but I suspect that the warming climate means that pecan trees are as happy now in North Carolina as they were decades ago in Georgia. I have two three-year-old pecan trees in the abbey orchard. They are years away from producing. But, as my horticulturist friend said, pecan trees get off to a slow start as they build their root system.

Walnut trees grow wild here and are quite common. Harvesting walnuts involves a lot of work. By comparison, harvesting pecans is a piece of cake. Or should I say, a piece of pie.

Do I dare make a pecan pie from my local pecans? Pecan pie is the classic Southern American way of disposing of pecans.

Can this old machine be saved?


The eBay portrait of the machine I bought

With apologies to non-nerds, this is a nerd post.

I have written in the past about a quirk I have — empathy for mechanical things. Seeing a beautiful old machine (or any beautiful machine, for that matter) abused or falling into ruin is painful. Like abused or abandoned animals, old machines silently cry out to be rescued and given a forever home, and I hear them. There comes a time in the life of a machine when its value falls to near zero. Many go to landfills, or to crushing machines, at that point. And yet, if an old machine survives to a certain age in restorable condition, its value may start to rise. Think of “barn finds” of classic automobiles. Some barn finds, after being rescued and restored, are worth a fortune.

My particular weakness is for old machines that are complicated and that have a keyboard and a complicated set of controls. That is my favorite kind of toy. My brother, coincidentally, has the same syndrome but with a different twist. His weakness is for old machines with engines. He just bought a 1941 Aeronca airplane. My toys are far less expensive than his, though.

This Monroe 8N-213 electromechanical calculator cost me $125 on eBay (plus a hefty shipping charge). The eBay listing said that it made a noise when plugged in but that otherwise its condition was unknown. On the outside, the machine looked very good and showed no signs of abuse. It was a pretty safe assumption that the inside would be in good condition, too. The problem, though, is that even a machine that went into storage in working condition will soon stop working. All the lubricants dry out and become sticky. The moving parts all freeze up. The process of getting the machine back into working order is long and tedious. It involves cleaning up the residues of old lubricants, then using new oil and new grease to get everything moving again. Getting things moving again means exercising the machine. Not long ago I bought a Remington adding machine on eBay and got it working again, but that was a simple process compared with a machine as complicated as the Monroe 8N-213.

Part of the romance of the Monroe 8N-213 is that it was the type of machine used by Katherine Johnson, the mathematician who worked for NASA and the subject of the wonderful movie “Hidden Figures.” In “Hidden Figures,” a Friden STW10 calculator is shown on her desk as a prop. That is only partly historically accurate. It’s true that the Friden machine and the Monroe machine were contemporary and comparable. But Katherine Johnson preferred, and used, a Monroe. Restoring one of these machines, in a way, is a way to honor Katherine Johnson (and all the old NASA mathematicians and engineers). I hope her Monroe 8N-213 is in a museum somewhere, or maybe in the hands of her family, but I was unable to find out her machine’s fate. There are examples of this machine in the Smithsonian.

My Monroe machine surveyed the trip with UPS, though I was not greatly pleased at how the seller boxed it. When I plugged it in for the first time, the motor ran, but none of the keys worked. Everything was stuck — everything. After the generous application of a solvent (CRC 2-26 is my preference), it was fairly easy to get addition and subtraction working again. Multiplication and division, though, are much more complicated. That’s because, when dividing or multiplying, the machine’s carriage flies back and forth. An addition or subtraction takes only a fraction of a second. But multiplication and division may go on for quite a while. If you try to divide by zero, the machine will never stop (though the Monroe 8N-213 has a handy “stop” key for such situations).

At the moment my machine is stuck again. I made the mistake of attempting to do a division, because I had gotten the carriage moving again. I thought that doing a division might be good exercise for the carriage. But it stuck. It’s not possible to force the machine to come unstuck. That would cause damage. So I have to hope that continuing the process of de-gunking the machine will get the carriage moving again. Once I get things working (fingers crossed), I have two types of grease and two types of oil to apply to the thousands of moving parts. These machines don’t appear to wear out. Lack of use and dried-out lubrication is what disables them.

I estimate that my machine was made around 1956. Its cost then was just over a thousand dollars — about the cost of a new car at the time. Electromechanical calculators were built that were much more complicated (for example, the Mark I that IBM built for Harvard). But the Harvard machine was a one-off custom machine. As far as I know, the Monroe 8N-213 was pretty much the apex of mass-produced electromechanical calculators, just as the IBM Selectric III was the apex of typewriters (I have one, in excellent working condition). You can see a Monroe 8N-213 in operation here, on YouTube. It was computer chips and digital calculators, of course, that brought the era of mechanical calculators to an end.


I’ve removed the case to work on the machine.


Katherine Johnson at her desk at NASA. That’s a Monroe 8N-213 in front of her. It is said that, when a computer helped with orbital calculations, she would check the computer’s work with her Monroe. NASA photo.

Tit for tat


Gavin Newsome: payback as justice. Source: Wikipedia

Gavin Newsome, governor of California, deserves great credit for what may be the most inspired political tactic of the year. He slammed both right-wing Texas and the right-wing hacks on the Supreme Court in a single move. Newsome will work with the California legislature to enact a law that allows private citizens to sue gun manufacturers. The law is to be modeled on the Texas law that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers, a law which the U.S. Supreme Court so far has refused to strike down. Letitia James, the New York attorney general, has called for legislation in New York that would follow California’s lead.

Though “tit for tat” sounds petty and mean, it actually is an effective strategy in game theory. There also is the theory that it was tit for tat which, over time, led to the development of social cooperation and altruism. In tit for tat, you cooperate as long as your opponent cooperates. But if your opponent plays a dirty trick, then your next move is to strike back with an equivalent dirty trick. Both players stand to lose until cooperation resumes.

Are the right-wing hacks on the Supreme Court hackish enough to tie themselves into knots to uphold the Texas law while overruling a California law? They may well be.

For decades, the United States was governable because norms were in place that fostered cooperation and fair play. But today the Republican Party has seen that its only means of getting and keeping power is to violate those norms. Thus political tit for tat, with smart countermoves like California’s, is now necessary.

Democrats have been infuriatingly slow to play hardball with extremist Republicans. The tit for tat should have started years ago, say, 1995. That was when Newt Gingrich, Republican speaker of the House, shut down the government in an attempt to get cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs. (Or was it because Clinton made Gingrich sit at the back of a plane?) President Clinton won that standoff. But Republicans paid Clinton back by trying to impeach him over Monica Lewinsky. Gingrich never got paid back for that.

One of the things I learned in my six years as a Democratic county chair is that, even in small-pond politics, political payback is necessary. When harmful political players play dirty, they must pay a price for it. If they don’t, the dirtiness not only will continue, it will escalate. Democrats wasted years trying to play nice with extremist Republicans. That’s part of how we got to where we are today.

There is a big difference, though, in how tit for tat is played. Nasty players will do things that are simply mean and harmful. Better players will find ways to make tit-for-tat moves that strike a blow for justice.


Newt Gingrich: a pioneer among extremist Republicans playing dirty. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Guernsey

One review described “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” as comfort food. I’d agree but go a step further: It’s a confection, very suitable for the holidays. If you have an annual tradition of watching “Love, Actually,” at Christmas, then you might consider taking a break from that this year and watching “Guernsey” instead.

It’s a period piece, set in 1946 just after the war (though there are flashbacks to the German occupation of Guernsey during the war). The film is worthwhile just for the Guernsey scenery. I had no idea that Guernsey is so rugged, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the island was, and remains, a kind of 25-square-mile garden, with the highest point at 364 feet (111 meters).

Like many good movies, the film is based on a book (published in 2008). The plot is well constructed, the dialogue is smart, and the cast is first rate.

“Guernsey” can be streamed on Netflix.

That nutmeg time of year


Nutmeg shortbread

If obliged to name my favorite spice, I’m pretty sure I would say nutmug. Everyone likes cinnamon. But there’s a kind of magic in nutmeg that no other spice can match, especially during the winter holidays.

My nutmeg shortcake was less than perfect. I used this recipe. Though the egg yolk makes the dough easier to deal with, I can’t say that the egg yolk improved either the texture or the flavor of the shortbread. The shortbread doesn’t melt when you bite it, the same way proper Scottish shortbread does. The egg makes a sturdier shortbread, still very good, though. Also, I only have unbleached bread flour, which may not be the best choice of flour for shortbread.

I buy eggnog once a year. Maybe this year I’ll buy it twice. It occurred to me that eggnog, if poured into an ice cream maker, would make a very nice ice cream without all the fuss required for making proper ice cream from scratch.

Mace is made from a different part of the nutmeg seed, and it’s nutmeg’s milder cousin. I usually use mace for dishes that aren’t sweet, and nutmeg for dishes that are. Year-round, if you can afford the calories, nutmeg-banana smoothies are fantastic.

Nutmeg grows in hot climates and thus would not have arrived in Europe until ships were capable of opening the spice routes. I can only imagine how much those spices cheered up European cooking, starting around the time of Elizabeth I.


Eggnog, from Whole Foods


Tomato-leek soup with coconut milk, seasoned with mace (and pepper)

Gun sales are slowing down


Wikipedia photo

The Economist reports that gun sales are now declining after record sales of guns and ammunition last year. The Economist doesn’t say when the peak was, but it may well have been January 2021, when — surprise, surprise — Donald Trump left the White House and Joe Biden moved in.

According to the Economist, the decline (based on the rate of background checks) was greater in red states than in blue states. Gun sales were down 10 percent in New York State, for example, and 40 percent in South Carolina. Much of last year’s gun-buying panic had something to do with the pandemic, it seems. Still, I’m tempted to see this as evidence that even Republicans feel safer with Trump out of power.

Smith & Wesson reported last week that its profits are down. The Texan newspaper reported that a round of 9mm ammunition, which cost 70 cents in January, is now 30 cents.

The Economist quotes an expert on the gun industry from the University of Georgia:

“‘People are no longer marching on state capitols calling for the heads of governors,’ he says, ‘and there has been a lowering of anxiety around the pandemic, and the election of Biden.'”

If the trend is what I hope it is, then maybe people will feel even safer once we get a bunch of people off the streets and into prison — the Trump family, Republicans who committed crimes for Trump, white supremicists, and the people who attacked the U.S. Capitol.

Why have cafeterias died off?


Under the turkey there is cornbread dressing.

I was at a K&W Cafeteria today for the first time since pre-pandemic days. I found myself wondering why cafeterias are so endangered, given that they are so practical. When I got home I did a little Googling. Wikipedia has a nice article on the history of cafeterias. The answer to my question should have been obvious. It was mainly fast food chains that killed off cafeterias.

K&W Cafeterias filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 22, 2020. The company’s financial situation was already stressed, but the pandemic tipped them over the edge. Some K&W cafeterias have closed, but some remain open under a reorganization plan while the company tries to pay its debts.

According to the Wikipedia article:

“At one time, upscale cafeteria-style restaurants dominated the culture of the Southern United States, and to a lesser extent the Midwest. There were numerous prominent chains of them: Bickford’s, Morrison’s Cafeteria, Piccadilly Cafeteria, S&W Cafeteria, Apple House, Luby’s, K&W, Britling, Wyatt’s Cafeteria and Blue Boar among them. Currently, two Midwestern chains still exist, Sloppy Jo’s Lunchroom and Manny’s, which are both located in Illinois. There were also a number of smaller chains, usually located in and around a single city. These institutions, with the exception of K&W, went into a decline in the 1960s with the rise of fast food and were largely finished off in the 1980s by the rise of ‘casual dining’.”

K&W held out much longer than most cafeterias. The decline of cafeterias is a huge cultural loss. K&W helped keep traditional Southern cooking alive into an era in which people cook less and less at home. I suspect that the displacement of cafeterias by fast food also had a considerable effect on public health and the rise in obesity.

I felt guilty for stopping at K&W. It’s very rare for me to eat out anymore. But now I don’t feel so guilty. The surviving cafeterias need every dollar they can get.

Oysters


Oyster soup, more or less Louisiana style. The sandwich is a winter-style BLT — lettuce from the garden, but no tomato.

Oysters are magical somehow. They’re also slightly creepy. Picky eater that I was as a kid, it’s surprising that I even liked them. But I did, either batter-fried or in a creamy stew. We had them fairly often, as I recall.

In these parts, in the Appalachian foothills and the North Carolina Piedmont, oysters are harder to find than they used to be. People don’t want to shuck them (or don’t know how). And though they’re available by the pint already shucked, I don’t think many people buy them. Rather, when people in these parts eat oysters, it’s almost always in the restaurants that I call fried fish houses.

A neighbor gave me these oysters. He had bought an entire bushel of fresh oysters. A grocery store at Belews Creek regularly has them shipped in by the lorry load, either from the Chesapeake Bay or Florida. As far as I could tell from looking at the box, these came from Florida. The cost was shockingly low — $30 for the bushel of oysters, shipped on ice overnight. My neighbor said that the store sold the entire lorry load an hour after opening in the morning. Somebody knows what to do with them, especially at that price.

It had been 25 years since I’d shucked oysters. That was on vacation near Point Reyes north of San Francisco, back in my moneymaking days. There are two oyster farms there — the Hog Island Oyster Company, and the Tomales Bay Oyster Company. I still have my oyster knife, unused for those 25 years. Opening oysters is rather dangerous work, though I’m sure it gets safer with practice. Today I wore glasses and heavy gloves.

I had at first planned to make a creamy oyster stew. But I decided instead to make something healthier and a bit lower in calories, inspired by a recipe in the Washington Post for a Louisiana-style oyster soup. I used fresh mustard greens from the garden, tomatoes that I grew and canned, and lots of garlic.

With hundreds of thousands of miles of earth’s coastlines to work with, oysters grow (and are eaten) all over the world, though they are not of the same species or variety. I Googled to see if I could find an oyster cookbook with recipes from all over the world. I could not find such a cookbook. On a trip to Scotland in 2018, I sampled one of Edinburgh’s famous oyster bars. It was interesting, and very pricey. It also was rather city-fied. The world, I think, is waiting for someone to make a global oyster tour and write a cookbook on provincial oyster-eating, worldwide.


The neighbor’s bushel of oysters.