A Look at Darjeeling no.4: Ahmad

Today we close this small series on Darjeeling teas. What we have today are teas by Ahmad. As I said on a previous installment Darjeeling teas in the past have neither excited me or repelled me.

From what I seen, tea people are really nice  and those who sport the most knowledge, those that can be called connoisseurs, tend to get their kicks through quality and grade over added flavorings. I claim no specialized knowledge and I like to think myself as falling somewhere in between connoisseur and layman.

The first tea, the Ahmad Windsor Darjeeling, is in loose leaf form. Once again, no tea grading info. With this Darjeeling I attempted to informally test myself and see if I could pull out some of its hidden flavors. The result: I couldn't. This tea tastes like... jalapeno! Not spicy hot, but it has all the flavor in there. Wow! I knew that tea could have subtle flavors, but I never imagined something so blatant.   This must be an anomaly. But if you like unusual flavors, but dislike added essences and/or flowers, by all means consider this one.

At the same time that I received this loose leaf as a gift, I also got a tin of English Breakfast teabags from the same brand. The tin looks very nice on the shelf, decorated with embossed beefeaters and English guards, but the contents' only redeeming quality is its strength. It is not Darjeeling by any stretch (nor claims to). This one is probably sold as a tourist trap, leading the unwary buyers to believe that they are getting a genuine English tea experience from their purchase. Talk about two opposing results from the same brand name.

Closing the series now, Darjeeling are fine teas to be sure. Through the series my views have indeed changed moderately in favor of the Darjeelings as a whole. This probably was helped in part by listening concurrently to Tea Rage podcast which trumpets the region. I still prefer my China, but now I begin to see somewhat clearly what the fuss is all about. Over the series there were a few surprises and unusual flavors. Of those tasted, I have to give best award to the First Flush form Golden Tips of Darjeeling followed by the Lipton loose.

Books on the Founding Fathers

On this occasion a quick list of the books I've read on figures of the American Revolution. Not that many, but on the whole good. I rank them according to how much I liked them.

John Adams by McCullough

A more neutral look at this much maligned president and at his times. Some of his purported worst moments are mentioned but not all. Abigail Adams is also extensively treated.

The First American by Brands

Franklin and his business, scientific and diplomatic exploits. Felt that part on the Penns, though important, took too much space. My favorite figure.

Alexander Hamilton by Chernow

Much can be had of Washington's presidency from this one and on the making of the Federalist Papers. The first chapters on his youth I find the least interesting

Thomas Jefferson by Meecham

This bio leans towards Jefferson's exercise of power making it drier than the rest. More lively portraits of him  can be found in passing in McCullough's & Chernow's.  Some balmy domestic interludes are interwoven nonetheless.

Physics For Future Presidents course

Have you ever wished that you knew more about science and how things work? Or maybe felt that despite having an otherwise well-rounded education, you do not have a so sure footing on science, in particular physics, and could maybe understand more if things could be easier math wise? If so, you're not alone. Many of us have wished for a better science grasp and as you may well know, this wish has been recently granted thanks to iTunesU.

ITunesU is a subsection of the iTunes store which holds classes and courses from different colleges and schools from around the country in audio and video. These higher education courses encompass almost the widest possible array of subjects. The best part is that they are all for free.

I have listened to a few, and thought of giving a shout out to one in particular. This one is Berkeley's Physics for Future Presidents imparted by Richard Muller.

This course can be thought as a quick, extensive course in everyday physics. It has an interesting angle, as it tries to answer what information must a US president needs to have on physics for effective policy decisions ranging from national security and terrorism to energy generation and use. Of course, what is true for the US president applies to regular citizens who wish to know more about the those policies, act and decide through their congressmen in the democratic exercise of their rights, and not be bewildered by the scientific concepts. This is achieved through high content conceptual emphasis over mathematical minutia. The end result is that course delivers making the world clearer and, for many, less intimidating.

The instructor, Dr. Muller, is top-notch in credentials and in teaching style.

I have only tried the audio version, but I don't think that I miss any of the concepts by using only my ears. Notwithstanding I was so enthusiastic about the course that I bought the accompanying textbook, or tried to. One must be aware that there are actually two main books books by Dr. Muller under the same name. One, the said textbook on two editions, the fall 2007 and the updated 2010 edition; the other, a condensed version of the material, aimed for the general public in paperback grey cover. I, alas, got the latter. Still good and as clearly explained as in the audio, but not the flagship. 

If you're more visually oriented,  the course is also available on YouTube

In closing, need to mention Asimov's Understanding Physics as a possible second companion to the course.  It's fine contentwise, but be wary as it somehow is without the charm of Asimov's other works.

Learning Python on the cheap: Community Service

Time now for another community service. Today I post some links to sites that offer free online Python instruction. What follows has already been previously been posted in one form or another elsewhere. However, I find the resources so good that I cannot refrain from flagging them.

Everyone has their own learning preferences. For me, it's books of course; so I went researching for possible textbooks. After a while it turned out that one didn't have to fork any money for some of the better regarded books on the matter as these were, and still are, offered legally for free online.

Think Python

http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/

This one was the best suited for me as I already had a bit of programming experience. Best part is that it includes exercises. Skipped Ch4 as I couldn't get the module running but it's safe to do so.

Wikibooks

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Python

Learn python the hard way

http://learnpythonthehardway.org/

I didn't quite like the approach, but it's the easiest of the bunch.

Dive into python

http://www.diveintopython.net/

The Python tutorial

http://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/

http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/

Other:

There are surely tons of instructional videos out there. Check those out if you prefer that media. Also take a look at the courses offered in ItunesU.

See if there are any live courses in your community centre.

Happily enough, all of the online books mentioned above display handsomely on a kindle ereader. If you can lay your hands on the larger screen dx, the experience gets even better.

Also ask around to see if your school/local library/organization/company has access to Safari Books or Ebrary. The first one holds all the O'Reilly books plus much, much more. The second one has many of the other standard books. The subscription fees for both are quite steep, but maybe you already have the right though your institution.

The Costume History (Le Costume Historique) by Racinet

Sometimes it is difficult to imagine what people were like in the past, not only on outlook & beliefs, but on more basic aspects as well. What they wore is one of these.  Back in the XIX century Racinet among others made a study of the history of costume  and Le costume Historique is the result.

There are at least three different editions of this work by Taschen: the humongous 2003 deluxe tome, the 2009 white cover edition and the 2012 two volume edition. I got the 2009. Though still somewhat large in size it is now quite manageable compared with the 2003.

The collection itself consists on hundreds of dressed figures covering from antiquity (Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome) to the nineteenth century across cultures and social strata. Understandably, the largest portion of the book is destined to Europe and France in particular. A significant portion is devoted to arms and military outfit. There are also illustrations of various settings, such as the villa, the castle, the court. The illustrations are fair-sized, very detailed and cleanly reproduced.

The biggest caveat though, which I believe  is not  particular to this edition only, is the poor illustration reference key. It appears that Racinet wrote extensive commentaries on all or most of the figures. This info is not to be found here. The editors thought the commentary  too long and instead of that we get the illustrations all right but with laconic explanations. Couldn't they have offered a bit more, at least the headings for each figure? I feel cheated by this, but then again I'm the one to blame for not checking. One can get by by logic and educated guesswork  on some cases, but this is not always so. Oh, also the font is too small which can be a great hindrance for some readers. The cover also offers cause for complaint as can be soiled quite easily.

By itself, if you can look past the cons, it is a recommended book, particularly if you like fashion, ethnography, history or work on cinema or theater. Bear in mind that it is mostly eye-candy as it is.

There must be a good alternative out there. A first try is What People Wore When by Melissa Leventon. This repackages many of Racinet original images mixing in some by Hottenroth into a timeline. Though cheaper than Racinet it only uses a third of all available images (my estimate). On better footing is Histoire du Costume (20,000 Years of Fashion: The History of Costume and Personal Adornment) by François Boucher which might be it. On the plus side it has way more text, extends into the twentieth century and includes photos. However, it is comparatively shorter on actual images. On the same vein is A History of Costume by Kohler which is more analytically inclined. These last two are more scholarly and in a sense oppose the current image oriented Racinets. If English costume is your thing go for Historic Costuming by Truman (b&w). Finally, if you anyway love eye-candy, get Fashion (2 vols) by the Kyoto Costume Institute. This has close-up photos of museum pieces and the fabrics look oh, so beautiful.

A Look at Darjeeling no.3: First Flush

Picking up from where we left last time with the Golden Tips of Darjeeling, today we taste the higher  grade  of the pair: the First Flush.  Golden Tips has plenty  premium teas for sale, but this one appears not be quite on that category though it is a bit more expensive than the Kanchan view and in a smaller package.  

I sent a message to the Golden Tips people through there website to know more about the teas I had with me (Kanchan, and First Flush) before review, but received no answer. Like the previous teas on this series, there is no indication of leaf grading.

So well. When opening the First Flush packet I expected to find something similar to the Kanchan in size and color, but instead I was surprised with almost silvery leaves. For a moment I thought that it might be white tea, but on brewing the first pot, I discovered that it was something quite out of my experience.  Not white tea definitely; but something  in between black and green that defies my precise identification. Gets close to an honest black, but doesn't quite get there on liquor aspect or taste. The brew color, in fact is quite clear with the color of fresh straw moving a bit into lemon.

However, the resulting infusion can be quite good. After half a dozen trials I've got to know this one better. It is delicate and sensitive to to brewing time. About 10% more of the usual black tea amount is needed to give it strength, while  a short infusion time must be followed. Around 3 1/2- 4 minutes yield the best results; a faint bitterness shatters the flavor if left any longer. Also, in my experience, it works better when brewed a cup at a time over a whole teapot. Can't explain this.

As said, the taste is delicate, yet not as faint as that of a white tea. No undernotes did I find. The Darjeeling maltiness is more present than in the Kanchan View, but still comparatively subdued.

So far, this has been the best Darjeeling of the ones I've tasted.

Wishlist for a Chessbase endgame challenge database

The people over at Chessbase have a quite nice selection of training software. These, along with the ones from other providers, such as Chess Assistant, oftentimes prove superior to printed materials because of chess engine and database support, digital organization and the occasional multimedia features such as highlights and video commentary (tiring your eyes by looking at a screen is the biggest downside, but that's off-topic).

From Dvoretsky's manual

Taking a look at their endgame software selection I cannot help but feel there is  gap in there: the lack of a proper endgame challenge database. Let's examine what they do have: there are the Karsten Müller series, now past a dozen; a couple of DVDs by Danny King; Dvoretsky's manual, which in Chessbase media might be its best embodiment; and Kasimdzhanov's Endgames for Experts; all of these, instructional. In light of this, I believe it is high time for them to prepare a database program that tests or challenges the player on the wide-ranging fields of the endgame. Here's my wishlist:

Must:

• Be at least a couple thousands big. Up to a point, the bigger the better. Would-be solvers need a room to exercise
• Be categorized, probably supported by the endgame key features
• Include all areas, not just, say, rook or pawn endings
• Resist the temptation to include studies for difficulty's or beauty's sake. Include them, by all means, only when illustrative of the theme at hand.
• Allow solving, but of course

Should:

• Be in standard *.cbh format
• Include exercises all the way to master strength and, perhaps, just a bit beyond
• Offer some sort of solving ladder such as by difficulty (good) or rating bracket (best perhaps). All the material lumped together wouldn't do
• Offer commentary and/or variations on key positions in a way that clarifies the theme, and on possible, relevant alternatives
• Allow the solver to test herself on a theme or, if possible, on a random mix of several
• Be affordable
• Not be spread over several volumes. Everything fits on a single DVD

Many of these features already exist in the competing Convekta product Chess Endgame Training by IM Alpert, which has an over a decade head start over Chessbase. What brings this one down are the clunky Convekta conventions that can be painful to use.

Go on Chessbase! Show us!

Side note: if studies are your thing, check out Harold van der Heijden's superb database at http://www.hhdbiv.nl/