Review: Sweet Bean Paste

 After reading Days at the Morisaki Bookstore, Amazon recommended that I read Sweet Bean Paste next. The book looked short and Hoopla had it available so I checked it out and read it.

At first, the book read like the typical sensei teaching student mastery novel. You had a guy who was lackadaisical about his job, when a master shows up to teach him how to make really good bean paste, and how to pay attention to every detail in order to master the process.

Then midway through the book we get a sudden change as we realize the identity of the sensei isn't what we think it is, and the book suddenly goes into a history of Hansen's disease and its stigmatization in Japanese society. This in itself is not bad.

What annoyed me, however, is that the book ends in a place that leaves all plotlines dangling. That does'n't mean that there's no closure. The closure is all about one of the main characters, but I'm wasn't very satisfied by it. That makes it hard for me to recommend the book.

Review: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

 I shouldn't like Days at the Morisaki Bookshop as much as I do. It has a lot of cliches in the "bookshop" genre that seem to get repeated:

• A non-reader would suddenly start reading books just because she's surrounded by them. (I'm sure something like this has happened in real life, I've just never observed it)
• A romance is started by accidentally (or deliberately) sharing a book. (I'm sure it's happened in real life, I've just never observed it)
• A mysterious crazy uncle helps the protagonist, and somehow his backstory makes his behavior somewhat more understandable.

Set against that is that the prose (despite being translated) is transparent and direct. The book is also short, and therefore never overstays its welcome, and finally, the protagonist is uncharacteristically surprised by the behavior of other people, breaking with the stereotype of the empathic female character. Events move quickly, and you're never stuck wondering what is the point of the story.

I enjoyed the references to Japanese literature (some of which has never been translated into English and therefore difficult to find or reads for non-Japanese audiences), the used bookstore district in Tokyo (sounds like a wonderful place, but again, if you're not Japanese what incentive do you have to visit?), and the character development that takes place with the protagonist, who does discover the power of stories to heal and empower.

It's an easy book to like and enjoy. Of course, it nowhere comes close to Among Others. If you haven't read Among Others, and you like Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, you owe it to yourself to grab Jo Walton's superior novel.

Re-read: The Last Wish

 Back to my reading duties with Boen, I decided to read him The Last Wish, the first book in The Witcher series. There's a lot to like about this book, chiefest of them is Sapkowski's penchant for twisting fairy tale classics and turning them into a plausible story set in his grim n' gritty setting. The classic story of The Witcher encountering Snow White and then eventually killing her sets the tone for the rest of the book. You also see encounters with the monster in the Beauty and the Beast, as well as the titular story, setting up the classic relationship between Geralt and the sorceress Yennefer. I love the twists in the story and I will happily say that Boen never saw them coming. The action is also intense enough that Boen didn't fall asleep as easily from this book as from say, a typical Neil Gaiman story (which shows that when picking bed time reading you probably shouldn't pick action packed novels).

Reading it a second time, however, I'm constantly reminded of how bad a writer Sapkowski is. His conversations drag on overlong, constantly bringing up irrelevancies. The prose is stilted and he has a penchant for trying to let you view important action from a distance or from the point of view of an irrelevant or ancillary character. So for instance, the terms of The Last Wish are never disclosed to the reader. In some sense you can understand this --- the author wishes to maintain control and authorial discretion over the long term. But it feels like a nasty cheat upon second reading.

I remember that by the third book this technique becomes overwhelmingly frustrating and I gave up on the series. This is one of the few book series where the video game is way better than the book. I'll probably keep reading the next book to Boen but stop after that.

My Chain Waxing Experiment

 I've always been skeptical about chain waxing despite in my early cycling career reading a book about an 80-year-old bicycle tourist who would cook her chain religiously every night. That seemed excessive and not worth the effort. The inimitable Pamela Blayley, however, posted a pictures of her bicycle tour in Ireland last year on Facebook featuring an incredibly clean chain and declaring that she was now convinced it was the way to go. Unlike many chain waxing advocates, Pamela doesn't stop riding when the pavement stops, neither does she stop riding in the rain, so with her experience (along with an appropriately timed Silca sale), I ordered some chain waxing equipment for experimentation.

This included a mini slow cooker, Silca Hot Melt Wax, Silca Chain Stripper (now superseded by Silca strip chip), and Silca Super Secret Lube. The process is far more involved than I'd like, using the chain stripper, then rinsing it off, and then dropping the chain into the melted wax. (Using the strip chip makes it easier --- you no longer need to strip the chain) The irony is that winter is when you might have the most time to do this involved process, but winter is when it's going to rain and quickly wash away the wax.

My experience in winter is that you pretty much have to either rewax or use the Super Secret Lube every time you ride in wet conditions, even if it didn't rain and you're just getting road splash from a wet road. The wax might do a good job protecting the chain from dirt, but it disappears immediately upon encountering any sort of moisture. Silca's claim that each waxing is good for 100 miles is too optimistic.

Having said that, once waxed, the chain stays very clean and the drivetrain on my bikes with the waxed chain is the cleanest I've seen in years. While I do clean the drivetrain every time I replace a chain, I don't do a perfect job, and the chain wax does a good job of picking up the dirt and preventing it from working its way into the chain rollers.

Having said that, it only took 3 months of fairly rainy weather before I worked through a 4oz bottle of Silca Super Secret Lube, making this much more expensive than the oil-based Silca Synergetic Lube. The oil-based lubes only need to be reapplied at most every 400 miles, and don't need relubing even after it rains, at the penalty of being much more dirty than the wax.

Silca and other chain waxing advocates claim that by keeping the chain so clean waxing increases the life of your chain and drivetrain components significantly. My oil-based chains don't last more than 2500 miles and on the triplet I don't get more than 2000 miles. My gravel bike/roadini probably won't get more than 2000 miles either. Having said that, I get my chains for $10/pop, which means that the effort of waxing and re-waxing simply doesn't pay for itself in drivetrain longevity.

So what's the use case for waxing? First, if you don't ride enough to require rewaxing every ride (I have friends who ride enough that 100 mile intervals is essentially every ride or more often than every week), then maybe it's OK. Secondly, on tour where I have to manhandle the timing chain every time I take apart the triplet it's useful to have a very clean drivetrain, though the penalty of essentially having to wax the chain every night seems kinda off-putting.

Ultimately, I don't consider chain waxing to be worth the effort, but in the summer where the intervals between waxing might be worth it (using the wax lube to touch up between waxing efforts). In winter you should just use oil and forget about keeping the drivetrain clean.

Review: Ass Saver Win Wing Gravel

 

I found a batch of Ass Savers Win Wing Gravel on eBay for about $10 each (plus shipping). At that price I bought a whole bunch of the gravel model and installed them on all my bikes and even a couple of my kids' bikes. The contraption looks flimsy and not worth $28 Amazon charges for them, but the installation is a cinch, and to my surprise it had sufficient clearance even with 700x40 Continental Terraspeed tires! A friend took the above pictured Roadini off pavement on the Montebello traverse and I didn't hear any scritch-scritch sounds coming from the fender, which is one of the most annoying things about riding off pavement with fenders.

Ok, does it work? I've been using them on various rainy commutes and I have to say it works as well as my previous, heavier fenders, and I definitely don't get a nasty stripe up my back. The fender does seem to direct a steady stream of water and dirt at the sidepull caliper brakes, but my brakes don't work any less well and it's California so I don't expect the Win Wing to stay on the bike all year.

At full price of $28, it feels like a rip-off. It's just a bunch of plastic and a rubber strap. But for $10 each I think it's good value. I probably should have bought more and given them to friends, etc (I'll grant that most of my friends, being Californians are hard to talk into riding in the rain), or to have as spares, but my kids definitely bike to school every day and it's worth it to keep their backs and pants clear of dirt if not dry, since I have a hard time getting them to wear rain pants.

Recommended if you can get a good deal on them. Though I guess to be honest the SKS clip-on fenders cost about the same but have the distinctive problem that they don't work well with the Garmin Radar, while these work great with the radar.

Review: Ours Was The Shining Future

 Ours Was The Shining Future is an indictment of the "Brahmin Left" approach to politics. It doesn't brand itself that way, touting itself as a history of the story of the American dream, but it reads to me that way, since it was published pretty recently.

The book explains that we had one shining moment in time in the US where government policy, economic trends, and immigration came together to create momentum for a highly progressive future. He points out that the New Deal was outrageously unlikely:

The historian Jefferson Cowie has pointed out that the New Deal depended on an outrageously unlikely series of events—a depression that gripped the country for more than three years before a reform-minded president took office; an unsustainable coalition of northern liberals and southern segregationists; a reactionary Supreme Court that yielded only after the president won a landslide reelection; and, finally, a world war that unified the country and solidified the creation of mass prosperity. (kindle loc 6424)

Between the Eisenhower administration and the 1980s, the conservatives engineered ways to undo the New Deal whenever it was possible, publishing papers, drawing up list of politicians who were amenable to persuasion, and creating "supply-side economics" as a smoke screen to provide cover for administrations to lower taxes on the wealthy.

Leonhardt points out the similarities between Britain and the USA, in contrast to countries like Japan and Germany, who had much more progressive government policies:

Britain, as a victor in World War II and an economic leviathan for more than two centuries prior, had accumulated one of history’s great collections of interest groups. These interest groups—financial traders, farmers, miners, and others—had caused sclerosis in Britain’s economy. Germany and Japan, by contrast, had been devastated during the war. “We wiped the institutional slate clean for them,” Olson said. As they rebuilt their economies and political systems, they could prioritize the national interest over special interests because their special interests were so weak. Germany and Japan did not rise in spite of their defeat. They rose in part because of it. The parallels between Britain and the United States, though not exact, are plain enough. This country’s postwar period of preeminence produced a set of interest groups that were strong enough to block change. Farmers lobbied for policies that kept food prices high, as Olson had witnessed while growing up in North Dakota. Large corporations and Wall Street firms pushed for tax breaks. Some labor unions negotiated contracts that maximized wages even at the expense of a company’s long-term success. (kindle loc 6138)

 Most of the book is a history of US government policy and the machinations that got to where we are today. The big thing I learned was about immigration:

When immigration is a salient issue, it serves to remind many working-class voters that they agree with conservative parties on questions of patriotism, nationhood, and security. When immigration fades as an issue, voters think less about these questions and more about a society’s economic divisions. Those class divisions, in turn, remind workers that they generally agree with progressive parties on economic policies, such as tax rates and government benefits. Alesina also did pioneering research showing how immigration can undermine support for a generous welfare state. Societies are more likely to sustain such a welfare state, and the high taxes to fund it, when people view their fellow citizens as similar to themselves. Large amounts of immigration make a society feel more turbulent and less like a tight-knit community, at least in the short term. The contemporary United States fits this pattern. About one of every six workers is an immigrant, up from fewer than one in twenty in 1970, and roughly one-quarter of the population is either an immigrant or the descendant of a recent immigrant. The modern immigration wave has transformed the country in myriad ways, and communalists are often uncomfortable with rapid change, even when it has no economic downsides. They value tradition and stability. This is another reason that high levels of immigration tend to make a country more conservative. (kindle 5765)

Leonhardt's argument is that communalists (most working class people) are very different from universalists, who make statements like: "When donating to philanthropy why should we weight the lives of Americans more highly than lives of people in other countries? For the same amount of money we can save more lives outside the USA."  Communalists are more likely to agree with statements like: "Charity begins at home." No prizes for guessing which group of people think are less likely to have college degrees or having working class incomes.

The net net is that recent Democratic policies on immigration, social issues, and others that help working class folks can't over-ride the important issue of immigration. Not only is this true in the USA, but it's also true in the rest of the world, explaining the rise of the popularity of right-wing parties all over the developed world:

“For those who believe in a multicultural America, this question can be uncomfortable to confront, because any system short of open borders invariably requires drawing distinctions that declare some people worthy of entry and others unworthy,” wrote Jia Lynn Yang, a journalist, in her history of immigration law. Because of this discomfort, the modern Democratic Party has struggled to articulate an immigration policy beyond what might be summarized as: More is better, and less is racist. The party has cast aside the legacies of Jordan, Randolph, and other progressives who made finer distinctions. In response, many working-class voters have decided that the Democratic Party does not share their values. Notably, some of these voters are not White and are themselves the descendants of recent immigrants. In the 2020 and 2022 elections, the Republican Party made gains among Latino voters, especially in Texas and Florida, as well as Asian American voters. Polls showed that a sizable chunk of both Latino and Black voters who otherwise leaned toward the Democratic Party preferred the Republican position on illegal immigration. “Immigration,” says Haidt, the psychologist, “is one of the top few blind spots of the left, which causes right-wing parties to win all over the Western world.” (kindle loc 5754)

By the way, I will note that just being an immigrant by itself doesn't make you pro-immigrant. Most legal immigrants I've met also detest illegal immigrants, viewing them as grabbing spots from law-abiding folks who are better deserving. The book also debunks claims such as immigrants doing jobs local born Americans won't do.

Other topics the book talks about include globalization, lowering of trade barriers, and other policies that neo-liberals adopted from the conservatives. Most of them had a deleterious effect on working-class Americans, leading to resentment of the Democratic party once again.

 All in all, the book was worth reading, and brought up salient points as to why immigration will continue to be an incredibly difficult challenge for center-left parties all over the developed world to deal with. Recommended.

Review: Clover Collector's Edition

 I saw Clover's Collector's Edition at the library and the cover said it was a most daring science-fiction work. The art seemed nice so I checked it out.

It's not science fiction. It's fantasy dystopia --- and a not very good one. For instance, the main character's supposed to be a four-leaf clover, the most power kind of sorcerer there is, uncontrollable and therefore forced to be alone. This makes no sense, because anyone that powerful can do whatever she wants, so why would she submit to forced isolation. We never see much demonstration of her powers.

There's a sort of romantic relationship, and references to the past, but we never see resolution of the major event, the death of Kazuhiko's lover/partner. I only found out later through a web-search that the series is indeed incomplete.

The narration revolves around a song with elusively written and vague lyrics. That's OK, but the same song is repeated in bits and pieces throughout the book as well as reproduced frequently in full length. Again, this works in movies or TV but not in comics.

About the best thing about this book is that it's short and therefore I didn't waste much time reading it.

Boen's First Pigeon Point trip

 

Boen has ambitious goals for the summer tour, and I wanted a gauge for how things would go. There was a forecast for good weather on both days that weekend of Feb 10th, so I booked spots for us at Pigeon Point Lighthouse Youth Hostel packed our panniers on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day and Eva chose to meet us at Altamont and Page Mill, and escorted us at a good pace up Page Mill road.

At the top of Page Mill road, Stephan Ellner joined us, having ridden from Woodside, and I had the pleasure of introducing the two of them to each other. At the summit of West Alpine road who did we meet but Bob and Betty from the Western Wheelers! From there we could see all the way to the coast, an unsual sight in the summer but common in winter on days like this.

Eva would go down a bit on West Alpine and then turn around, but Stephan was planning to join us all the way until lunch. We zipped down West Alpine as only a tandem could. It was cold in the redwoods but so pretty. Climbing Haskins Hill was a bit warm as there was no good place to stop and shed clothing, so when were rolled over the top we didn't stop but just zipped down the other side. Well, zipped was a strong word as we were overtaken by the sports car club and a fast pair of motorcyclists. 

In Pescadero we stopped at Norm's market and had their usual delicious artichoke garlic bread fresh out of the oven, still warm to the touch when we bought the loaf. We tore through this using prosciutto and cheese brought from home and a pack of salami Stephan shelled out for. We then stocked up for dinner, bought some partially bake artichoke garlic bread to bring home and parted ways, with him stopping by a coffee shop and Boen and I riding on Cloverdale Road towards Gazos Creek road. Not having been there in years the scenery was fresh and even the potholes weren't as bad as I remembered. Gazos creek was babbling.

At the Highway 1 intersection we turrned right and immediately spotted Pigeon Point Lighthouse, against a 10mph headwind. Thus motivated, Boen made short work of the 3 mile and we were at the hostel at 2:30pm. To our surprise, the hostel manager was flexible and checked us in. We even grabbed the sunset spot for the hot tub!

The park system had upgraded many aspects of the area since we'd last visited, including a new exhibit with the fresnel lens, models of the various shipwrecks at Pigeon Point, a cutaway model of the lighthouse, and even outside there was now a viewing platform where you could get a picture with prisoner rock, and stairs that went down to the beach!

It was low tide, so there were also tidepools to explore. We were glad that we arrived early enough to do whatever we could. With an hour left to our hot tub time we went back to the hostel, made hot water for decaf and for hot chocolate (I should have brought more hot chocolate) and then called the rest of the family before the hot tub.

After a bike ride, the hot tub is well worth the price. We'd looked up the sunset time and had time to watch the sunset at the end of our hot tub session. After that it was dinner time. While the spaghetti and alfredo sauce went down well, Boen didn't like the artichoke pork sausage we'd bought. Fortunately, the Filipino family who were having dinner at the same time had plenty of food and offered to share.It turned out that the mother's name was Bon, a homonym for Boen, and they even brought a Fondue set and gave Boen and I chocolate Fondue with strawberries. It was so good!

Sleep for me was fitful. I guess it was the change of environment, but usually a lot of cycling makes it easier to sleep.

In the morning, someone at the hostel started smoking Marijuana in the living room. Fortunately, we were all done with breakfast by the time I noticed and we just packed up and left in a hurry. Riding North into cloudy skies, it was chilly enough to put on all our layers but by the time we started climbing Bean Hollow road I was getting pretty warm. Once into Pescadero and onto Stager Road, I stopped and took off most of my layers, figuring it was better to be chilly downhill than to overheat uphill.

Stage Road was gorgeous as always, and as we approached Highway 1 we were greeted with a stunning view to the east, with low fog lifting over the hills as the sun warmed the water vapor.

The descent on Highway 1 onto Tunitas Creek was fast and furious, and we stopped by the Bike Hut for a quick break and get rid of garbage and eat more food. The climb up Tunitas was gorgeous, dappled light shining through the redwood trees that made for difficult to photograph scenery that can only be appreciated when you're there in person. The steep part is a 16% grade. It's not a long pitch but it wore us out, so we had to stop to eat and rest.

Past the Purissima Creek Park entrance the grade evens out a bit and past Star Hill Road the grade evens out even more! Inspired, I recalled a song from my high school days:

Just around the bend, is the journey's end, and the sky's singing our song, 'cos it's just a stone's throw from the people I know, whoa, I'm coming back to where I belong.

 At the summit, who did we run into but fellow Western Wheelers Steve and Cheryl Prothero and their group who'd just climbed Kings Mountain Road. The terms of the song were fulfilled! We took pictures, ate the rest of my cliff bar, and went down the road gingerly. The road surface looked treacherous, with debris in corners, water all over the road, and at one point our rear wheel kicked out a rock down a steep hairpin. Fortunately big fat tires and long wheel bases are very stable and we made it down with no problem. I gave Boen a choice between high traffic Foothill Expressway or the lower traffic Arastedero and he had enough energy to give the more climbing option a chance.

We made it home by 1:30pm, and now I'm confident that we're going to have a good time in the Alps!